San Marino "double" Challenge 2008

[Oktober]

Got £500k I think, but I was so far under the wage budget I could move another £800k or so. Lazio paid £1.6m to co-own my San Marinese youngster I signed on a free, then bid £0 the next season so got a massive profit on one player who never even left!

Going into 12/13 I've got £1.8m transfer money as standard, and £60k/week allowed wage budget. My total wage costs are £47k, so I could move another half a million to the transfer budget if I needed it. Coming so close to promotion last year must have really boosted my clubs reputation, because now £3m+ valued players from the Bundesliga are showing up as interested.

Still cant touch Napoli's huge spending power though... they're damn lucky they went straight back up, they had tons of backup players earning upwards of 50 grand a week! Even with administrators in I think they only lost 3 or 4 players... just cant compete with that.

Incidentally, both my huge stadium expansions have been paid for entirely by a grant. My first silly 151 seats cost £500k of my own money that I had to take out a loan for, second season in Serie B got a £2m grant for the 3000-odd seats and moved to the much bigger ground in Cesenatico, and this season I've moved again to Rimini's ground and got a £3m grant to get 4054 seats put into the Olimpico.

Transfers season 10/11

Transfers season 11/12

Finances at start of season 2012/13

[jamiechuter]

Thought most people in here would like to see this!

http://s257.photobucket.com/albums/hh217/jamiechuter/?a...iverpoolOverview.jpg

[jamiechuter]

I'm also toying with the idea of getting the Maglia Ufficiale azzurraat 50Euros that's £37 might be worth itfor the craic

[Oktober]

I'm very tempted by the national team's one...

[jamiechuter]

Not there yet maybe once we get to the World Cup

Just the Calcio Azzurri pehaps with Doudin 99 on the back How sad am I?

[elmullet23]

how did u get tht skin in yr pics?

pretty snazzy with the proper badge n that...

[xx2olegendxx]

Needed a break from my Dafuge challenge game and decided to give this one a go.

Meet the new manager of San Marino San Miguel

After reading through all the posts in this thread I noticed one of the biggest issues early on in the game seemed to be regarding finances. So my first aim was to get rid of the entire first team and reserve squads. Even the decent players most have done well with. There was no real intrest for any but insisting that they all had to go I offered them all out on free transfers with a 50% sell on clause which managed to clear out most. The rest I unsettled fined and upset enough till they agreed to a mutual termination.

I took every player Cesena had available to loan who would except, even the ones with long term injuries. May well come in useful for the run in. Then set off scouting the local regions to fill the rest of the squad.

The end result was pleasing, a young squad capable of competing at this level and hopefully as they mature the next also. It does have weakness in certain areas but we will see how we go. The end result is we now have a weekly wage total of 6K.

Not really got going with the season yet but have just completed my first league game winning 3-0 at Reggiana.

Transfers

Squad

[Oktober]

Hmm, 'interesting' approach there! I worked out that about £6k/week was what was needed at that level to break even, so that should help.

I basically just tried to ignore the dreadful finances, bought cheap and sold players on. Before Serie B had to make a couple of decisions, players like Adrian Pit were very good for my level, but I couldnt afford not to sell them on, plus I could replace them for half the price.

Hopefully this season I'll make the Serie A, in yet another Italian ground! I wonder if I could make a new record for that, 'most grounds played home games at' or something since this is my 3rd! Oktober Park would be the 4th as well if we get a new stadium once we're up there...

I'm really looking forward to the challenges of the Serie A. Playing as Merthyr Tydfil in England the massive amounts of TV money allowed me to quite easily dominate the Premiership after 5 years or so by taking a long term approach and basically signing one world class £20m player per year until my whole team was good enough. Without that TV money in Italy the top teams will be much, much harder to crack, as we're always going to have far less drawing power in the transfer market than teams with Champions League football and revenue.

[xx2olegendxx]

£892 profir last month

Think the word you were looking for was crazy not intresting.

I can just tell the fans are wondering what the hell is this madman doing with our club.

In my first friendly I played everybody out of position in the most stupid formation you will ever see. Got beat 9-0 then fined the entire team 2 weeks wages for poor perfomance.

[Oktober]

Transfer window's closed now and we're locked in for 2012/13, where we're aiming for promotion in our third different 'home' stadium this year. I felt the squad was good enough to forego any major changes, so I hope my faith in them is well-placed!

We've run into our first flaw with the passport issues through playing in Italy, my right back Bamba became eligable for Italian residency due to his days with me reverting to Italian, and took the passport. He'd been called up to Ivory Coast once so couldnt have played for San Marino anyway, but thats a potential issue to watch out for, especially if we end up moving again next season two potential national stars could end up with Italian instead of San Marinese passports.

I cleaned out a lot of my reserves and backups, so my squad's looking a bit thin. Lazio didnt bid for Canini, so we have him remaining at right wing - and my fans overjoyed at my capture of a star player, hmmm. The non-EU spot went on someone very special indeed - a player who can play in more than one position, and actually has the attributes to match! Marco Antonio could well prove invaluable at international level when he naturalises at age 25, as with the nation's limited talent pool someone who can slip into right back or right wing could be very valuable. Combined with our homegrown stars on left wing and central defence, when my squad gain their passports over the next couple of years we could be heading for a golden generation, with at least Serie B quality players in goal, central defence, defensive mid and on both wings. I just hope I can finally settle into the Olimpico now, and get back to some San Marinese regens instead of generic Italians!

[exacerbating]

Strangely enough, just like xx2olegendxx I want to take a break from the dafuge challenge for a while so I've started this.

I'm thinking finances and building up the youth academy will be a major part of this challenge, so that's what I'm going to try and focus on.

Adriano Ibrahimovic

[Oktober]

Good luck to all the newcomers!

Its very much a challenge of two halves, at club level anyway... Serie C, and upwards. For the early stages, free transfers are your friends! Its also highly beneficial to get a German and Spanish feeder club - no matter how small, as they each give a massive amount of scouting knowledge. Early on I didnt worry too much about the national team at all and just focused on getting the club to the Serie B. Dont be too sentimental at hanging onto players - there'll just about always be someone who can do their job just as well at half the cost. I'm on my third near-identical defensive midfielder now after I was able to flog both my others for half a million each

Serie B and onwards it gets different, and I've tried to think more to the future. Every year my non-EU slot has gone to an under 21, with an eye to the future, and once I'm able to scout worldwide I'll be looking for 17 year olds - not only club homegrown, but eligable for San Marino at 22, so for most of their career.

Couple of helpful hints: for Brazilian kids in particular, you can get round the U18 law by setting transfer to 'end of season' or signing them at the end of their contract. For the Brazilians that means that they'll come in late December, so keep an eye on holding your non-EU spot til then.

Simple other thing I like to do is sign physios who are employed by nations. Normally a physio will only have 1/2 a bar of knowledge for his home country, and loses any knowledge of a country he's been in once he signs. If theyre also national physios though, they'll get 100% knowledge, and keep it! My current one is Dutch, and the extra scout knowledge that'd normally be wasted could end up being very useful. Mexico and Brazil are another two countries with world class physios to pinch later on.

[xx2olegendxx]

07/08 - Season 1

A good first season in the end. Cutting back the wage bill managed to keep us in the black just about.

With the players brought in to replace the old squad plus the help of the additional loan signings from Cesena we took the C2/B title at a stroll in the end. The 10 point gap could have been much more but for some por form in the closing stages which saw us win only 2 of our last 10 games, losing 5 and drawing 3.

Partly down to me cancelling my link early with my parent team when it became clear that they were heading for relegation. My idea behind that was to get a better look at the players I brought in to decide who could cut it at a higher level and to start my search for a replacement parent team early so they would be in place for the new season. It payed off the board found 3 teams from Seria B, the two other relegated teams and Rimini. They dont have the greatest of squads to loan from but much better than starting the season without a parent team.

Table

Now its off to scout for talent in time for the new season.

[xx2olegendxx]

Some good work done pre season. My new parent team Rimini turned out to be a poor option, hardly any players available that could hold down a place in my new look team. I found a few real gems amongs the regens and free transfers though, two in particular my Ass man (rated 20 judging PA) has said could develop into good Seria A players. Will post them since they are Regens Julien Santini Gerd Winter. I also found a San Marinese player with good potential. The squad has good depth to it, still a few weak areas but I have high hopes of a good season and hopefully a serious challenge at the top end.

[jamiechuter]

It's getting quite exciting now in the run-in to the 2018/19 season!

San Marino look likely to finish 6th in Serie A (For the 4th consecutive season ), nothing exciting there... But...

After the first leg of the Coppa Italia Semi Finals at home against Palermo we take a 3-2 to Sicily with us

AND....

We are 3-2 up after going to Deutchland to beat Bundesliga leaders Nurnberg in the UEFA Cup Semi's just need to hold on back at the Olimpico and we are in the UEFA Cup Final!!!

(I think financially it only becomes worthwhile if you win and get to play in the Euro Super Cup!)

[mizan]

Am I the only one that doesnt get a parent club?

After winning promotion one season ago, I cancelled my link with Cesena due to us being in the same league.

Yet the chairman doesnt give me a parent club?

Anything I can do? Ive asked him 4/5 times now.

Currently in my 5th season, second season in Serie B- spend 5 hours between 25th June- 10th July- must be a record!

Spent all the time looking for players, found a lot of good players but they dont want to come.

Need a good GK, any ideas?

[xx2olegendxx]

Originally posted by mizan:

Am I the only one that doesnt get a parent club?

After winning promotion one season ago, I cancelled my link with Cesena due to us being in the same league.

Yet the chairman doesnt give me a parent club?

Anything I can do? Ive asked him 4/5 times now.

Currently in my 5th season, second season in Serie B- spend 5 hours between 25th June- 10th July- must be a record!

Spent all the time looking for players, found a lot of good players but they dont want to come.

Need a good GK, any ideas?

Even without a parent club you can get some good players on loan from Seria A reserve teams. I am in C1/A and I have 2 keepers on loan Giacomo Bindi from Inter Milan and Christiano Novembre from Juventus. Quite a few knock you back and wont come but I am sure in Seria B you will have a better choice.

If you are searching for loan listed players make sure you dont have your Ass man filter un realistic targets.

[Oktober]

I got lucky with one goalkeeper who was out of contract in a reserve team and fairly good for my level, then I had to go to Brazil to find a replacement when he buggered off.

I couldnt find another Italian parent after Cesena, but my board keeps giving me links automatically with pointless foreign top division teams. Already had Cadiz and now Derby, neither of whom have been remotely useful.

With some of my players gaining their San Marino passports this year I decided to take charge of the national team as well. Felt slightly wrong since I normally wouldnt do it, but it is part of the challenge to take the country too so I removed Mazza and applied, and they fell over themselves to appoint me. Undoubted star of the team is my now £3m rated, 'leading Serie A potential' AML/ST Marco Canini, who's just developed far beyond all expectations and is looking potentially genuinely world class.

Nicoló Guerra is also developing very well, although I'm at something of a crossroad as to what to do with him. I'm not convinced he's quite good enough to slot into my first team, but I'm loathe to let such a talented homegrown youngster go. It would probably benefit the national team a lot more though if he was at a decent Serie B side when I'm in Serie A, so I'll just have to see. My first game is at home to Ireland in late March, so shall be very interesting then to see what kind of fight I manage to put up. Alechenwu, my DC is due his passport in the summer, then theres a year's gap but after that there should be a new player every year becomes eligable, plus any talented kids that pop up in the mean time. My national assistant is a world class coach at Catania, so maybe they'll get one or two, and even while I was at Rimini for my second Italian youth intake, I still got a decent kid through born in Domagnano, so Cecena and Rimini (plus Cesenatico) should occasionally get a decent local San Marinese kid through their system.

League-wise, at around the halfway stage we're frustratingly low down, as key injuries at the very start of the campaign left us sorely lacking in goals and points. With a fully fit squad though we're ripping teams apart, so hopefully if we can keep racking up the points we'll be right up and challenging towards the end. Unlike last year there's no Napoli-type team in our league to fear, and we even managed to give Empoli a shock at their place. Ideally though the other teams will all drop points and we can get up automatically, although its looking more likely we'll be challenging in the playoffs again.

[mizan]

Bindi and Novembre are good for Serie C, but Im looking for a bit more quality.

Ive got about £1.5m to spend, looking to splash it on a new goalkeeper, I can be very picky when it comes to buying players!

My scout says 'definite purchase' on a few keepers, but Im still iffy.

But I'll look and see what I can conjur up.

Good luck to everyone else!

[xx2olegendxx]

Originally posted by mizan:

Bindi and Novembre are good for Serie C, but Im looking for a bit more quality.

Ive got about £1.5m to spend, looking to splash it on a new goalkeeper, I can be very picky when it comes to buying players!

My scout says 'definite purchase' on a few keepers, but Im still iffy.

But I'll look and see what I can conjur up.

Good luck to everyone else!

I would go with a loan though while your still in B. That way you can be sure of getting someone of real quality when you have the lure of top flight football.

[xx2olegendxx]

Originally posted by Oktober:

I got lucky with one goalkeeper who was out of contract in a reserve team and fairly good for my level, then I had to go to Brazil to find a replacement when he buggered off.

I couldnt find another Italian parent after Cesena, but my board keeps giving me links automatically with pointless foreign top division teams. Already had Cadiz and now Derby, neither of whom have been remotely useful.

With some of my players gaining their San Marino passports this year I decided to take charge of the national team as well. Felt slightly wrong since I normally wouldnt do it, but it is part of the challenge to take the country too so I removed Mazza and applied, and they fell over themselves to appoint me. Undoubted star of the team is my now £3m rated, 'leading Serie A potential' AML/ST Marco Canini, who's just developed far beyond all expectations and is looking potentially genuinely world class.

Nicoló Guerra is also developing very well, although I'm at something of a crossroad as to what to do with him. I'm not convinced he's quite good enough to slot into my first team, but I'm loathe to let such a talented homegrown youngster go. It would probably benefit the national team a lot more though if he was at a decent Serie B side when I'm in Serie A, so I'll just have to see. My first game is at home to Ireland in late March, so shall be very interesting then to see what kind of fight I manage to put up. Alechenwu, my DC is due his passport in the summer, then theres a year's gap but after that there should be a new player every year becomes eligable, plus any talented kids that pop up in the mean time. My national assistant is a world class coach at Catania, so maybe they'll get one or two, and even while I was at Rimini for my second Italian youth intake, I still got a decent kid through born in Domagnano, so Cecena and Rimini (plus Cesenatico) should occasionally get a decent local San Marinese kid through their system.

League-wise, at around the halfway stage we're frustratingly low down, as key injuries at the very start of the campaign left us sorely lacking in goals and points. With a fully fit squad though we're ripping teams apart, so hopefully if we can keep racking up the points we'll be right up and challenging towards the end. Unlike last year there's no Napoli-type team in our league to fear, and we even managed to give Empoli a shock at their place. Ideally though the other teams will all drop points and we can get up automatically, although its looking more likely we'll be challenging in the playoffs again.

Good luck with your first International

I tried the same thing with the international job but they rejected my application, probably a little soon to be looking at that anyway though.

What is the deal with players who have not accepted citezenship, as San Marino manager can you encourage them to take it?

[Oktober]

Only non-EU players will take the second nationality... of which you're only allowed to sign one a year. Mass naturalisation is much easier with Vaduz and Liechtenstein where you can have 10 at a time

[xx2olegendxx]

Originally posted by Oktober:

Only non-EU players will take the second nationality... of which you're only allowed to sign one a year. Mass naturalisation is much easier with Vaduz and Liechtenstein where you can have 10 at a time

Damn I thought a few would. That really does highlight the difficulty of the challenge.

The 1 non EU player you sign really does have to be carefully picked. Obviously you want them young and of a decent standard but go too high and they will be getting called up for their home nation before long.

I am only in season 2, I seen 2 that were to good to refuse as well one from Uganda joining in 2009 and another from Gambon joining in 2011, both sure to be called up for those nations.

Looks like its South American rejects from now on.

[Oktober]

Picking up a Brazilian or Argentinian at 18 though would have them eligable by age 23, so even some world class kids if you keep them quiet and out the first team probably wouldnt be called up by then. In my Merthyr Tydfil game I had my utterly world class super-striker only got his first cap for Brazil a few weeks before he was due his Welsh passport, and I'd had him making sub appearances from as soon as I'd signed him so had a huge rep.

[xx2olegendxx]

Originally posted by Oktober:

Picking up a Brazilian or Argentinian at 18 though would have them eligable by age 23, so even some world class kids if you keep them quiet and out the first team probably wouldnt be called up by then. In my Merthyr Tydfil game I had my utterly world class super-striker only got his first cap for Brazil a few weeks before he was due his Welsh passport, and I'd had him making sub appearances from as soon as I'd signed him so had a huge rep.

Yeah, I wasn't thinking better to realise now though than later into the game. I was searching obscure national teams squads for unattached players and found a good defender, he recommended this other kid but since he was 15 it meant I could get him to sign there and then but not come till he was 18. Not sure if I can pull out of the deal now either

[jamiechuter]

I've got a large database so these players may not be in your game but:

Yann Sommer and Eugeny Pomazan are my two goalkeeping recommendations for you!

Pomazan has actually picked up San Marinese nationality and is just awesome was so excited about signing him so hope you can get him Sommer was a bit of a filler though.

Also I have seen off Nurnberg and am now into my first Cup Final ever! (After 11 seasons!) where I will play last years UEFA Cup runners up, Portsmouth! I'm thinking the odds are stacked against me but hopefully with some luck I can pulloff the upset, so wish me luck boys!

[jamiechuter]

A lil something for you mizan, cost me £350K in 2012

Originally posted by jamiechuter:

Eugeny Pomazan is a Russian goalie who naturalized but for some reason is overlooked by Mazza

[Oktober]

Good luck! Portsmouth were my perennial mid-table nemesis in the Premiership, they cost me the FA Cup in a potentially treble winning season and broke a 20-game unbeaten streak, despite not being very good.

This season is incredibly frustrating. The pattern goes: We score. Yay. We score again. Its ruled out. We defend nervously and look about as dangerous going forward as a pair of mittens, despite having forwards with 18 and 20 finishing. The other team equalise. Score draw.

We're definately the team to bet on if youre playing the pools...

I've got my first international coming up, against Ireland away. We basically have one world class player (Canini), about 3 fairly decent ones... then utter dross. And one of the decent ones is out injured.

[Watson156]

Originally posted by Ter:

San Marino Challenge 2008

It's back and it's, er, more or less the same as it was before. As before, the challenge is pretty simple. Take the San Marino club side from the lower Italian leagues to Serie A and the second part is to qualify for an international tournament with the international side. You can do this in any order you please and have two managers if you want.

Setting Up Your Game

Leagues: Italy down to Serie C2 and any others you want to choose

Database Size: Your choice

Retain Players From Nation: San Marino

Rules

This is just for fun so there aren't really any rules. If you want to cheat to enjoy this challenge then go ahead and cheat, but don't come on the forums boasting about your progress if you have cheated.

Good luck guys!

This is mainly to Ter: I was wandering if it would be ok to use this challenge over at Susie?

[Oktober]

I dont think I've ever had as much fun losing 5-0 as I have against Turkey. San Marino are awesome. We made them work damn hard for it, and almost scored 3 times, carved their defence apart then missed the one on one. I'm cheering on every tackle, every completed pass is a victory!

[Oktober]

Final Table

Wow, that was a truly epic end to the season.

With lead striker Fillo out, the season started incredibly slowly, as we couldnt seem to find a goal from anywhere. His understudy backup failed to do the job, and it wasnt until 10 weeks in and dangerously near the foot of the table that we got our star man back and started to turn the 0-0s into wins. However, surely the damage was done and we were destined for mid-table disappointment.

It took a lot of battling, but we slowly climbed the table, finally taking one of the extremely tight playoff spots around May when we moved back into the Olimpico. With fixtures coming up though against the league leaders, there was a slight oppertunity that we could maybe even steal second, although time and games were rapidly running out to do it.

A promising 2-1 win over Brescia closed the gap between second and the chasing pack, but we couldnt capitalise away to Empoli, effectively handing them the title. With 4 games to go though, there were only 2 points in it - but only 3 from 7th spot and missing the playoffs entirely. Two wins at home to Treviso and away to Avellino opened up the gap between me and the closing pack, but with only two games remaining we needed Brescia to drop points to go any further.

We got our favour on the second last game day when Lecce took a 4th minute lead, and with us 1-0 up and cruising at home to Piacenza we finally sat in second place. Even Brescia's equaliser didnt affect it as we had a better head to head, so all we had to do was match their result in the last day...

And then disaster struck. With practically their first attack of the game, Piacenza equalised in the 88th minute, stunning the Serravalle crowd and taking all the life out of the team. There was to be no reply, and Brescia escaped from their slipup at Lecce.

On the final match day we needed a favour from already relegated Pescara, but Brescia were 2 up within 10 minutes against 10 men, and all was lost as we slumped to a dull 0-0 draw away at Livorno, the spectre of playoffs looming. However, for the second season in a row we held the top league advantage, so all we had to do was not lose.

First up were 6th placed Catania away, who we'd taken 4 points from in the regular season. It didnt take long though for the task to get much, much harder, as within 13 minutes they'd taken a 2 goal lead, and we were looking distinctly uninspired. Fan favorite Tomas Jablonsky pulled it back to a reasonable scoreline, before right from the kickoff at half time David Williams completed his hat trick to win it 3-1. We were down, but not out, although we had it all to do back in Serravalle.

The team fired up, we took it to them from the off, and good attacking play and pressure paid off when Jablonsky fired in a rocket from outside the area after only 10 minutes. If we could only get another goal, our league advantage would take us to the final, but Catania were holding on for dear life. As we tired in the second half, it seemed that the dream was cruelly slipping away...

84th minute, and a breakaway was cut short, giving us a free kick near the halfway line, and a chance to pump it up into the box. The long ball came in... and a shove! Penalty! Catania were furious, but the referee was having none of it! The pressure was immense, and up stepped Esmir Sabic to give us a shot at promotion. Hit high to the right... and past the goalkeeper! 2-0 on the night, and we have the advantage with only 6 minutes on the clock! Catania were stunned and with all the fight gone, never threatened again as the celebrations no doubt continued in Serravalle long into the night, and a certain Bosnian defender needs never to buy himself a pint again.

Hellas Verona were the only obstacles standing between us and the Serie A, and this time lessons had been learned. Within 4 minutes new January signing Franceso Ripa had powered in the opener, and Verona seemed tired and out of ideas. Despite a lucky goal before half time, the lead was restored by Jablonsky within 8 minutes, then doubled by another Ripa screamer with 10 to go. Verona showed up to the second leg already beaten, and to a packed house we played out a 1-1 draw to finally make it to the promised land of the Serie A!

Seeing as its now half past 4 I should really head for bed, but that is not going to be an experience I forget in a while. It was the Serie B playoffs in FM07 as well that provided my best moment, so clearly the league is good to me for drama, but not so much for my health!

[elmullet23]

anyone got a decent skin for 08???

[jamiechuter]

The skin in my game that you seemed to like is called: dDs2.1 can't remeber where I got it from but I'm sure google will help you!

Also I found this Logo Pack for all Italian Leagues thought I'd share it as it's made San Marino alot more colourful

http://www.sortitoutsi.net/index.php?page=downloads&area=file&fileid=4779

Oh and I just found this from willster07

oh yeh heres a awsome skin for u all skin

[Ter]

This is mainly to Ter: I was wandering if it would be ok to use this challenge over at Susie?

Go for it. As long as you link to here where you got the idea from

I've started my own game now, currently just chugging through the first season to get it out of the way. I call this my assessment season where I get better players and find out who I need rid of.

[Watson156]

Okay thanks Ter have added it at Susie and have also added a link to the challenge over here.

I started my own game a few days a go and managed to get the team promoted at the first time of asking but when i went to load the game today it said that the save game can't be loaded. Is there anything that i can possibly do?

[mizan]

Well done Ocktober!

Thanks for the player tip jaime will have a look at him.

My plan is to make my youth acadamy top notch and once I've dominated Serie A (eventually!!) I'll try my hand at the national job, to try and qualify for something!

[Oktober]

Originally posted by Ter:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">This is mainly to Ter: I was wandering if it would be ok to use this challenge over at Susie?

Go for it. As long as you link to here where you got the idea from

I've started my own game now, currently just chugging through the first season to get it out of the way. I call this my assessment season where I get better players and find out who I need rid of. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hint: everyone

man, Serie A is harsh... I've not been given any extra room in my wage budget, £2m to spend thats been cut down to £200k and 2000-1 to win it. Cant afford to bring anyone in at all, and my two star kids are both after moves to bigger clubs. It'd be a huge achievement to avoid coming straight back down.

[Watson156]

Does anybody have a saved game of the San Marino game where they have been promoted in the first season?

[Scoham]

Originally posted by Watson156:

Does anybody have a saved game of the San Marino game where they have been promoted in the first season?

Why would you need that? They're playable at the start?

Unless you mean you want to see what people did to get promoted in the first season?

Might give this ago, finding dafuge's challenge very hard with the level of players being so low.

[jamiechuter]

Okay I'm going to try and make my posts a little more professional and readable so in conclusion to my 2018/19 season:

San Marino Calcio 2018/19

LEAGUE

SERIE A :-

Media Prediction:- 7th

Expectations:- Continental Qualification

Final Position:- 6th

Once again we finish 6th this the 4th consecutive season which was a big disappointment as we won our last three games which included one against Inter and one against Juventus but we stayed level on points with Udinese and behind them on results between teams

COPPA ITALIA

Expectations:- Quarter Final

Achieved:- Runner-Up

The Coppa Italia was a large success making it all the way to the final our first ever cup Italian Cup final appearance which saw us up against Juventus whom the Titans had seen off in the league just over a week beforehand however this cup was not to be for the underdogs as Juve cruised to a 3-0 lead in the first 30mins before an inspirational half time team talk saw the Titani pull it back to 3-2 but Juve scored on the counter to end San Marinese dreams...

The highlight of the cup had to be the 3-0 victory against Inter in the QF's to see us on our way.

CONTINENTAL

UEFA CUP :-

Expectations:- Second Knockout Phase

Achieved:- Runner-Up

The true success of the season and the reason this season will be remembered, as once lowly San Marino marched into the finals of a European cup competition, it may not have been the big one but it meant alot all the same, with may high points along the way including a victory in the group stage against Everton, knocking out first Wigan and then Liverpool before facing winners of San Marino & Everton's group Zenit St. Petersburg a team with an unbeaten record in said group and then 1.FC Nurnberg, the eventual Bundesliga Champions who were seen off and the Semi Final Stage but not before San Marino's key player Sergiy Goncharov picked up his second yellow causing him to miss the final against 2016 Premier League Champions Portsmouth.

In the final Goncharov's flair and creativeness from midfield were largely missed as injury to Yoann Gourcuff meant San Marino had to play with 2 defensive midfielders and hence struggled up front going down 3-2 in the final with a 89th minute winner for Portsmouth but with £3M generated from TV money the UEFA Cup for the first time in 3 seasons became worthwhile for San Marino Finances!

AWARDS

Two awards of note were handed out to San Marino players in the 2018/19 season close:

Italian Player of the Year was handed to 22 year old Enrico Musu who bagged 18 goals in 28 games with an average rating of 7.21

Foreign Player of the Year went to Argentinian Right Winger Sergio Torres who in the 2018/19 season broke his own San Marino record for the Most Assists in a season, with 22 in around 40 games and an average rating of 7.40 in Serie A.

It is also worth noting he beat 2nd place Sergiy Goncharov also of San Marino to the award

Manager James Chuter also came Third in the Serie A Manager of the Year.

San Marino National

World Ranking:- 128th

Nothing really exciting to report here except for San Marino have picked up 2 points in their futile attempt to qualify for Euro 2020 in Norway drawing with Malta and the Republic of Ireland.

Giampaolo Mazza is still at the helm but in the opening weeks of the new 2019/20 season he has announced he will retire from football on the 16th June 2020 and leave his post vacant for anyone that may want to take over!

[Oktober]

Who are the national team's best players? Do you have any nationalised?

[jamiechuter]

Right now that beast is out the way! I've begun season 2019/20 but can't be arsed to write it up like that at this time but I've been giving buckets of money and so spend a little bit wildly whilst bringing in some big money (£24M!!!)

and I've won my first two Serie A games 3-0 which has put us in 1st I'm hoping for BIG things this season!!!

[jamiechuter]

Originally posted by Oktober:

Who are the national team's best players? Do you have any nationalised?

Unfortunately they are still the same as on the last page not much change there!

Originally posted by jamiechuter:

As for wonderkids there have been a couple of lads whom I would say are worthy of a top national team place;

Mattia Pancotti is a fairly expensive striker who has smashed the San Marino Top Scorer record he now has 13 international goals :O

Riccardo Fiorentini is a good right back whom I decided to bring back to the motherland and he's now Titani captain!

Eugeny Pomazan is a Russian goalie who naturalized but for some reason is overlooked by Mazza but don't worry he'll be the first to get a call once I get into Mazza's old office.

And these are a few other players of San Marinese nationality worth note:

Guerra

Chiaruzzi

Selva

Was also devastated to hear only non-EU players will take S.M. nationality that's really ruined things here

Oh well...

OOooooooohhhhh and also I finally got (On about the fifth time of asking) a commercial link feeder club Praise be to JEF Utd of Japan

and now we are up to 25th in UEFA Rankings following UEFA Cup final!

and Training and Youth Facilities have been upgraded but the Stadium Expansion was again blocked by the council

[jamiechuter]

Originally posted by Oktober:

man, Serie A is harsh... I've not been given any extra room in my wage budget, £2m to spend thats been cut down to £200k and 2000-1 to win it. Cant afford to bring anyone in at all, and my two star kids are both after moves to bigger clubs. It'd be a huge achievement to avoid coming straight back down.

that is the Truth Serie A (Sky Italia) don't give their money to anyone you have to earn it!

That has been the big challenge finding the player to keep me in the top half whilst selling the other to survive financially! Sooo many free transfers and youth players!

[Watson156]

Originally posted by Scoham:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Watson156:

Does anybody have a saved game of the San Marino game where they have been promoted in the first season?

Why would you need that? They're playable at the start?

Unless you mean you want to see what people did to get promoted in the first season?

Might give this ago, finding dafuge's challenge very hard with the level of players being so low. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

What i mean is is there somebody who has a saved game with San Marino in the second season with the club team having got them promoted in the first season.

[Oktober]

25th of January, and with the Euro 2016 groups drawn and 19 games played in the league, seems like a good place for an update.

Firstly, the national team. Despite getting hammered in our first 3 games, only Ireland really dominated us. 4-0 in Dublin was disappointing for the lack of fight shown, but we did well against Turkey at home, holding out reasonably and creating a few chances before eventually going down 5-0 to Hamit Altintop's 'shoots with power' PPM. France were given quite a shock, rather embarrasingly taking right up until the stroke of half time to finally knock down our barricades with a lucky Henry toe-poke at a corner. Two quick goals from Henry and Ribery gave them some relief, but still slightly poor from the mighty French to have to work so hard to dig out a win in Serravalle.

Moving into the new domestic season, and our first two games were against Latvia in Riga, then Ireland at home. Latvia really looked like it was going to be a historic day for us, in the end finishing 1-1 and giving me my first point in charge. Really though, we should have had all 3 and a moral victory was claimed, only slightly soured by the dismissal of Abe Alechenwu on his debut for his new country. Ireland got quite the scare when we went a goal up from a deflected free kick after 27 minutes, but missing our new Nigerian-born star through suspension our defence couldnt hold, eventually losing 3-1 at Ireland were run ragged trying to put the result beyond us.

Next up was a trip to Iceland, which ended in utter insanity. Despite high hopes of getting a result, we were 3-0 down just before half time when Luca Matteoni took it around the keeper to send us in at the break with a chance, but still trailing.

Homegrown star Canini pegged us back to within touching distance with an excellend placed shot from range, then only 6 minutes later the tiny republic were sent into raptures by Matteoni's second tap-in from a corner. Could we really get a win? Iceland were having none of it though, and within a minute went up the right wing and scored from a cross. With 13 minutes to go though, the English referee risked the wrath of the home support by giving a controversial penalty, with Canini bravely stepped up and slotted home. 4-4 with 10 minutes to go.

Again though, Iceland werent waiting around, and this time it took them a whole 2 minutes to restore their lead, with yet another cross - clearly our full backs are an issue. 5-4, 8 minutes to go, surely this time the drama was over and we were to go home empty-handed despite our best attacking performance in history.

Injury time, and a long punt upfield surprisingly caught the Iceland defence out, leaving a gap through the middle. Through it surged amateur Murata star Massimo Michelotti, who summoned all of his 6 finishing and composure to put it past a stranded Icelandic keeper and earn us an astounding 5-5 competitive away draw.

There was little time for celebration though, as a trip to Turkey loomed, however it seemed that certain sections of the media were getting ever so carried away. A supposed 'ex-international' (I'm blaming Andy Selva) provided much hilarity pre game by claiming we could win against the world number 13, but really after last time keeping the score below 5 would be an achievement.

Galatasaray's Batuhan put a stop to the dreaming within 12 minutes, but Turkey seemed surprisingly docile, perhaps consigned to their fate of needing a favour from Latvia in Dublin. Stunningly after half time, we very nearly gave them cause to give up on even that, as our 'lethal' front man Matteoni found space between two defenders who probably earn more per week than his house is worth, and fired a rocket shot into Fenerbache's Volkan's top corner to level the scores at 1 all. Sadly it was not to be, as Batuhan managed to complete a hat trick, but scoring in Bursa and keeping the score down to only 2 goals was definately cause for celebration. Despite finishing bottom of Group 2, our 2 points and 10 goals is promising for the future.

During Euro playoff time, two friendlies were scheduled against similarly ranked Fiji - ranked a single place above us in 121st, and fellow minnows Bhutan. Maybe some close games, Bhutan should be beatable, but Fiji might be a bit much as they had a full team, managable and competing in the OCE Nations.

Ah. Or maybe not.

Bhutan was a simple 4-0 win, where we actually found ourselves as massive favorites for surely the first time ever. Generally though things looked bright for the future, with new players nationalising due soon and the prospect of some new stars popping up. Fastforward to the 25th of January, and our Euro group was drawn - maybe slightly disappointing that we got some of the stronger top seeds, but there should be a few games in there winnable. Georgia and Azerbaijan should be fun, and we'll be aiming to give Greece and Slovenia a difficult time at the least. England admittedly are a little much, but as a Scot it'll definately be good fun trying to embarrass them . Slovenia in September are up first, so we can see if any potential new stars appear in the summer.

----------------

Domestically, I'm doing surprisingly well. Much like in Serie B, almost every game seems at least close and competitive, even with the same squad that was playing at the lower level. It took a clearly offside goal in the 90th minute to scrape a win at Piacenza in the first round of the cup qualifying, but once there we've stunned a couple of 'big' teams, knocking out Cesena easily, Parma on penalties, then Fiorentina over two legs in the first round of the cup proper. Inter in the quarters does seem too much though, and a 2-0 loss at home leaves it all to do in the San Siro.

9th in the Serie A at the halfway stage and surely safe, attention needs to turn to next season and how to improve on it. Finances have been stabilised by the sale of wonderkid Giacobbe to Gimnastic Taragonna for £12m on the final day of August, which surprisingly doubled my wage budget and left me finally with some cash, but not enough time to spend it. With the transfer window back open though, I dont appear to particularly need any strengthening, just to be on the lookout for improvements in quality to be made. A world-class goalkeeper would help, although Fulham's Lukasz Fabianski has rejected us twice on wage grounds. The now exactly 13000 seater Olimpico has been providing us with a decent amount of revenue, and hopefully with increased TV money for our league position and the outside chance of European football, next season will open a few more high-quality doors for us.

[Ter]

All my games end up going down the same road...

It's March and I've already got four players coming at the end of the season on frees, I signed five in January and eight in pre-season. You might be thinking that's not too bad, but I'm actively looking for more and I know, just know at the end of the season I'll pick up lots of players who have been released from their club and have an almighty wage bill that I struggle to cope with.

Why do I do this?

[Scoham]

Originally posted by Ter:

All my games end up going down the same road...

It's March and I've already got four players coming at the end of the season on frees, I signed five in January and eight in pre-season. You might be thinking that's not too bad, but I'm actively looking for more and I know, just know at the end of the season I'll pick up lots of players who have been released from their club and have an almighty wage bill that I struggle to cope with.

Why do I do this?

I've done that before with smaller clubs. You can't choose between players, or look at a player and think he could be useful.

Its not always obvious which players are slightly better.

[Oktober]

Final table, Serie A 2014

Overall a very successful season, against all odds managing to finish in a European spot despite being favorites for relegation. Despite finishing so tightly, it didnt seem that any of the main teams truly outclassed us, but theres an obvious gulf between the top 5 fighting for Champions League spots and the rest of us that will no doubt prove very difficult to crack.

Marco Canini was one of three top performers, but the highest rewarded one as he scooped the prestigeous Young Player of the Year award, not bad going at all for a kid from San Marino. While Canini rotated around left wing, attacking mid and up front, the excellently named Richmond Bossman was stunning in his sole left wing position, belying his supposed 'average ability'. Also arriving on the scene was our non-EU signing Joao, who might not have impressed the fans with his off-pitch arrogance, but most certainly did the business on the pitch. Despite repeated warnings from a 'former star' about concerns over his maturity, he applied himself excellently and already looks to be establishing himself as a key first team player, so long as his attitude wont stifle his development. I can only hope that it takes longer than his 5 year residency to get called up to Brazil, as I'd love him in the AMC role for the country!

UEFA Cup football should allow us to attract much better quality players, so hopefully with some shrewd investments we can challenge the big boys next time around and turn a few of the closer draws into comfortable wins.

[jamiechuter]

I've got a feeling someone's gonna be VERY disappointed by the sheer lack of money involved in the UEFA Cup I know I was

It's probably less than a tenth of the money involved in the Champions League

I'm starting to get really ****ed off by my team now they dominate almost every match then a one off shot from 25 yards goes in against us in every other away game which I don't see how I can defend against and it means we just can't maintain any kind of form

Match Stats (so you can share my pain)

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