POD's Football Manager 14 San Marino Challenge.

[P O\'D]

Hi guys I'm back and once again in control of my favourite club in FM history. Once again trying to complete the biggest challenge in International Football and hopefully going to repeat my previous success. For those of you who missed the last challenge check it out here http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/330395-San-Marino-Challenge-My-last-game-of-fm2012

Last time out success came easily and I managed to win the World Cup, Euro Cup and everything at domestic level. I also nurtured and managed the brilliant Agostino Morello who is one of FM Careers all time greatest players (check out the records thread) but is certainly the great virtual SM player of all time.

I decided to pass on FM13 so here we go with FM14 and me being tactically crippled by the loss of classic tactics.

[P O\'D]

History

League History

2013-14 - Serie C1/A - 15th

2014-15 - Serie C1/B - 1st (Promoted)

2015-16 - Serie B - 22nd (Relegated)

2016-17 - Serie C1/B - 1st (Promoted)

2017-18 - Serie B - 1st (Promoted)

2018-19 - Serie A - 5th

2019-20 - Serie A - 8th

2020-21 - Serie A - 3rd

2021-22 - Serie A - Champions

2022-23 - Serie A - Champions

2023-24 - Serie A - Champions

2024-25 - Serie A - Champions

2025-26 - Serie A - Champions

2026-27 - Serie A - Champions

2027-28 - Serie A - Champions

2028-29 - Serie A - Champions

2029-30 - Serie A - Champions

2030-31 - Serie A - Champions (10 in a row)

2031-32 - Serie A - Champions

Cup History

2013-14 - Serie C Cup - Group Stage

2014-15 - Serie C Cup - 2nd Knockout Round

2014-15 - Serie C1 Super Cup - 3rd

2015-16 - Italian Cup - 2nd Qualifying Round

2016-17 - Italian Cup - 2nd Qualitying Round

2016-17 - Serie C Cup - Champions

2016-17 - Serie C1 Super Cup - Champions

2017-18 - Italian Cup - 3rd Qualifying Round

2018-19 - Italina Cup - 1st Round

2019-20 - Italian Cup - Champions

2019-20 - Europa League - Last 8

2020-21 - Italian Cup - Last 8

2020-21 - Europa League - Last 8

2020-21 - Italian Super Cup - Runner Up

2021-22 - Italian Cup - Champions

2021-22 - Champions League - Last 16

2022-23 - Italian Super Cup - Champions

2022-23 - Italian Cup - Champions

2022-23 - Champions League - Last 8

2023-24 - Italian Super Cup - Runner Up

2023-24 - Italian Cup - Champions

2023-24 - Champions League - Group Stage

2023-24 - Europa League - Semi Final

2024-25 - Italian Super Cup - Runner Up

2024-25 - Italian Cup - Champions

2024-25 - Champions League - Runner Up

2025-26 - Italian Super Cup - Champions

2025-26 - Italian Cup - Last 8

2025-26 - Champions League - Semi Final

2026-27 - Italian Super Cup - Runner Up

2026-27 - Italian Cup - Champion

2026-27 - Champions League - Quarter Final

2027-28 - Italian Super Cup - Winner

2027-28 - Italian Cup - Quarter Final

2027-28 - Champions League - Quarter Final

2028-29 - Italian Super Cup - Runner Up

2028-29 - Italian Cup - Winner

2028-29 - Champions League - Champions (Challenge Pt.1 Completed)

2029-30 - Italian Super Cup - Winner

2029-30 - European Super Cup - Winner

2029-30 - World Club Championship - Winner

2029-30 - Italian Cup - Winner

2029-30 - Champions League - Champions

2030-31 - Italian Super Cup - Winner

2030-31 - European Super Cup - Winner

2030-31 - World Club Championship - Winner

2030-31 - Italian Cup - Winner

2030-31 - Champions League - Last 16

2031-32 - Italian Super Cup - Winner

2031-32 - Italian Cup - Last 8

2031-32 - Champions League - Winner

International History - Holland

2024-25 - World Cup Qualifying - 1st

2026 - World Cup - Group Stage Failure.

International History - San Marino

2028-29 - World Cup Qualifying - 6th

2030-31 - Euro Cup Qualifying - 4th (of 5)

Ranking History

2028 - 127th (143rd when I took over)

2029 - 116th

2030 - 120th

2031 - 77th

Trophies

Serie C1/B - 2015, 2017

Serie C Cup - 2017

Serie C1 Super Cup - 2017

Serie B - 2018

Italian Cup - 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2027,2029, 2030, 2031

Serie A - 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027,2028,2029, 2030, 2031, 2032

Champions League - 2029, 2030, 2032

World Club Championship - 2030, 2031

Manager Awards

Serie C1/B Manager of the Year - 2015, 2017

Serie C1 Manager of the Year - 2015, 2017

Serie B Managers Manager of the Year - 2018

Serie B Manager of the Year - 2018

Serie A Manager of the Year - 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027,2028, 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032

Serie A Managers Manager of the Year - 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029,

[laBOMBA]

me being tactically crippled by the loss of classic tactics.

Join the club!

Good luck mate

[P O\'D]

thx mate. It makes the game kind of hard to get my head round so far.

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

Pre-Pre-Season 13-14

Club Info:

Club - San Marino

Division - Italian Serie C1/A

Media Prediction - 16th

Board Requirements - Consolidation

Reputation - Local

Training Facilities - Average

Youth Facilities - Below

Junior Coaching - Adequate

Youth Recruitment - Fairly Basic

Club Value - £1m

Stadium - 5250

Season Ticket Holders - 120

Manager Info:

Reputation - Local

Wage - £1700

Manager Points - 0

Hall of Fame - n/a

Overview:

I arrived at the club knowing staying up was my goal and the side I had were predicted to come last in our Division. A baptism of fire, I though was optimistic I could do that, if I could get in the players I require on freebies and one or two loans wouldn't go amiss either.

Squad Analysis:

Keepers - Our keepers on average were in the midway to poor standard for our Division, with only our first choice being remotely competent.

Giacomo Venturi on loan from Bologna will be our no.1 for the season, his understudy will be Gianluca Vivian. Nothing else of note.

Defenders - A quick look through the Division showed us as having the worst workrate and first touch overall in the League, our defence also was the weakest in the league for Heading, Jumping and Positioning (so I'm expecting some horror shows.) we also placed in the bottom 3 in strength and accelleration. Not a good sign.

Allessandro Fogacci is our on decent defender as limited and all as he is. The rest are all to be replaced as soon as possilbe. Terrible footballers.

Midfield - Midfield was more competent but still ranked last in the defensive side of the game, with us being worst at tackling, but also poor in team work and stamina. On the bright side though our midfield did have the highest technique in the league and we were 3rd best in creativity. Guess we'll be playing the Arsenal/Dortmund way and hoping to outscore the opposition.

A decent midfield saw Anchor Man Pacciardi, winger Poletti attacking CM Ghelardoni and loanee Stefano Sensi leave us okish with other loanees to cover.

Attack - Up front was another disaster with our strikers being worst in the Division at sticking the ball in the net (finishing), and sticking the ball in the net (heading), we were also quite poor at movement and anticipation, though we did do quite well in accelleration coming in 2nd best. Despite being the best rated in my squad we had lots of creative attackers but not cutting edge.

Graffiedi was our only useful Attacker with a few more loanees on the book to make up the numbers. Among my only attacker and 4 loanees I had 2 inside forwards and 3 false 9's. Not a goal getter among them...

Overall

Going off my comparison with other sides I guess we'll be trying to use our pace up front and our creative midfield to keep the ball and play killer through balls. At the back we have to hope for a miracle.

Juding off what I have in front of me I guess it going to be my favoured 4-3-2-1 formation, with short passing and through balls. As for what approach we should have at the back imho it will be hope for the best.

So it was into preseason in need of some reinforcements and trying to instill some backbone in this team. Heres hoping...

[P O\'D]

PreSeason 13-14

Just a day after my first press conference I managed to bring in my first signings. Right back Pisani was a huge improvement on arguably our weakest position and Slovenian international Andrej Komac was a quality experienced midfielder with a hard working attitude which was much needed and it was the Slovenian who scored my first ever goal for San Marino, hitting an equaliser before we eventually got thrashed 5-1 by HSV.

Italian Trial day led to a few offers and the first man arriving was a striker, Antonio Toto is pretty useless but named after my favourite band, pity he's not a defender or I'd have made an awesome hold the line reference. He was quickly followed by a winger who was good enough for the first team squad, Davide Grotto would probably see a fair bit of action during the season.

A trio of loans from Bologna saw the number of newcomers up to 7 and half our team were now loanees from parent clubs.

Two iffy friendly results saw us to our first competitive game a Serie C Cup game agaisnt Rimini and to say it was a disaster was a huge understatement, we dominated the first half hour, conceded from a corner and than fell apart, slumping to a 2-0 defeat. Horrid espcially at the back.

We feared slighty better in our second game, but despite deserving to win we conceded a late equaliser to see the game finish 1-1 with Santarcangelo. We bowed out of the competition though as Santarcangelo earned at draw at Rimini to end our interest for the season.

Heres hoping the league goes slightly better...

[Foot]

Good luck mate. I think you should be happy if you make it through the season without getting sacked. Your squad is puss.

[P O\'D]

puss indeed but I enjoy a challenge.

[P O\'D]

Season 13-14 PtI

We began our league season with a horrid home performance getting absolutely destroyed and probably deserving to lose by alot more than the beating we took. Lots of work to be done. We snook in 3 more freebies on deadline day and I headed into the season worried about what was coming.

I had to tame our aggressive attacking football in favour of more ball retention and a more patient game and it immediately gave reward, we travelled to Como on a wing and a prayer according to the media, but after falling behind early we put them to the sword. Graffidei starring with 2 goals. A brilliant win and I finally felt like I've found a way to play.

11 goals in our opening two games, certainly entertaining.

Things settled a bit in the next game and despite being on the back foot we earned at point at home to Venezia thanks to a 91st minute equaliser.

Normal goal service was resumed at Virtus, a topsy turvy game seeing them shade us by the odd goal in 9. 22 goals in our 4 games so far. Abnormal is an understatement.

Defeat at home to Reggiana followed again thanks to horrible defending, conceding a crazy penalty and than failing once again to defend a corner.

An away win at fancied Vicenza despite having 5 first teamers out injured followed as our topsy turvy season continued and than another game of many goals saw us take an 85th minute lead again Carrarese only for the visitors to hit back on 90 as that elusive home win still eluded us.

The greatest shock of all came next... a 0-0 draw at home to FeralpiSalo and than a total collapse against Pro Patria saw us fall 3-0 down at half time before a late consolation and the following match saw us get hammered at home to Cremonese despite a hattrick from Graffiedi. (Side Note: Never in FM history have I lost 6-3 while playing using contain at home. Really disappointed at the number of high scoring games in the current ME)

We ended our winless streak with a credible 0-0 draw at home to underachieving AlbinoLeffe meaning we hadn't won in 7 home league games this season. Our next game away to Lumezzane saw us as usual boss possesion but concede silly goals but we fought back from 2 down to earn a point.

Another capitulation followed at Savona, 3 down at half time yet again this time in a 4-1 battering. Another away draw saw us make the midway point on 15 points, crumbling after leading a bottom club Pavia for much of the game.

We travelled to Alto Adige with our 5-0 opening day thumping in mind and to be honest were expecting more of the same but we managed to contain our hosts and possibly could have snook away with 3 points but 0-0 was a fantastic achievement.

Our best performance of the season came at Como so could we repeat the feat and finally get a home win???? It all looked so likely when we bossed the game for 53 minutes with a 1 nil lead but than disaster, 2 goals in a minute saw us fall 2-1 behind and despite nicking an equaliser we fell to yet another home defeat.....

We've now gone 9 games without victory and sit second last... We really need to find some home form as we've only taken 4 points from 24 there and have the worst record in the league. Away from home we have the 5th best record in the league.... can't get my head around it.

The media now have predicted us 15th as opposed to 16th so I suppose we're not doing too bad.

[P O\'D]

Season 13-14 PtII

It was a goal crazy opening to the new year with us shipping 10 in our opening 2 games and scoring 9, both losses though and my job started to get under pressure.

This was quickly followed by two more defeats including coming out on the wrong end of a 7 end thriller at Reggiana and our 13 game winless streak showed we were quickly slipping behind the pack that led us and getting cut off.

Our fifth and sixth straight defeats of the new year saw the media start to question my job before a postponement bought me some time.

Next up was a 6 pointer with the side a point above us, FeralpiSalo were on as bad a form as ourselves heading into the game and it was a real chance to gain some momentum. We dominated the game but it didn't matter the inevitable happened and a 1-0 lead ended up in yet another defeat.

A shock home point and our first in ages saw us hold a slender 1 point advantage over the basement club Pavia heading into an away trip with table topping Cremonese. And in a way only we can we shocked the world. We hammered them first half had 12 shots on target and led 2-0 at the break. Our hosts improved hugely and got back in the game on 50 but we held firm and even had a 3rd disallowed in a dramatic win.

On the back of our shock away win an even bigger shock was to follow at home. We blew a 2 goal lead at half time to be level at 2-2 with Lumezzane but for once we didn't crumble and tore our opponents apart for a 5-2 win. Our other winger and for once no Graffiedi doing the damage, Vito Cozzi finished the game with 1 goal and 4 assists. A home win and it only took till our 27th league game of 30.

AlbinoLeffe brought us back to earth in a tight game and proved old habits die hard in throwing away a 2 goal lead in our penultimate game of the season at home before rounding off our season at home to bottom club Pavia with a draw that kept us above them.

[P O\'D]

Season Round Up 2013-14

Serie C1/A - 15th (Board Expects - Consolidation)

We met our objectives but barely as we had what was probably my worst run in FM history. Still onwards and upwards.

Serie C Cup - Groups (Board Expects - 1st Ko Round)

We failed to hit our target and that was a big no no but we'll try again next season.

Player Stats

Top Goalscorer - Mattia Graffiedi - 14

Top Assists - Mattia Graffiedi - 9

Top Rating - Mattia Graffiedi - 7.1

Appearances - Giacomo Venturi - 32 (the keeper played every game.)

MotM - Mattia Graffiedi - 5

I think its fair to say Graffiedi is our player of the year than. He was our loan plus in a very, very poor season.

[P O\'D]

World Cup 2014

[MShing]

Nice write up. I enjoyed reading about your season. Hard luck on the bad run of form, I hope it improves next season it could be down to ME issues. (Hopefully) look forward to your next posts. You are inspiring me to try this challenge which I may do once I see how my lower league Belgium save get on.

[deltablue]

Tough second-half of the season

[P O\'D]

MShing - Dont think its ME issues as much as me adapting to not having my sliders. Still I'll get it right eventually, though I do think there are too many goals in certain games. My second 5-4 wirth Virtus saw me using contain for the entire match.

Db - Yeah, tough indeed though we didn't get relegated cause Italian football got restructured.

[P O\'D]

Pre-Season 14-15

Club Info:

Club - San Marino

Division - Italian Serie C1/B

Media Prediction - 6th (of 20)

Board Requirements - Respectable Position

Reputation - Local

Training Facilities - Average

Youth Facilities - Below

Junior Coaching - Adequate

Youth Recruitment - Fairly Basic

Club Value - £0 (-£1m)

Stadium - 5250

Season Ticket Holders - 120

Manager Info:

Reputation - Local

Wage - £140 (-£300)

Manager Points - 0

Hall of Fame - n/a

Major Trophies - 0

Minor Trophies - 0

Games Played - 34

Games Won - 7

Win % - 20

Goals Scored - 62

Goal Difference - -12

PreSeason Review

I set about reshaping the club top to bottom. Loans ended and alot of first teamers left on frees as they wouldn't sign a new contract. Our major signing was Legendary Centreback Alessandro Nesta and another notable was Finnish legend Jari Litmanen.

I let the new DoF handle incoming loans for the first team and set about tryin to improve on last season.

Friendlies went as expected with one or two thrashing but mostly we did as expected.

This time the Serie C Cup began possitively, we destroyed Cuneo 4-1 in our opening group game and 3 days later dispatched Serie C new boys Chiavari 4-2 at home to qualify for the first round.

Much more positive start than last season.

So a much more positive start heading into the new season. Interestingly we start the season away to Chiavari so if we can get a repeat performance I'll be quite happy.

[AK22]

A tricky start, but at least the second season has started better than the first!

[P O\'D]

thanks AK mate, much better.

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

14-15 Season Pt1:

We surpassed all expectations in our opening fixtures, first we hammered Chiavari 7-0 away and than surpassed even that scoring 8 times in a stunning 11 goal match at home to Lucchesse. Interestingly Chiavari lost their second game 7 nil again this time away to Perugia.

We tasted our first defeat in 5 despite twice leading at Carrarese in a game that only featured 5 goals, quite dull after the 24 in the 3 games preceeding it.

Our mental frailty was called into question as we were terrible in a 1-0 home defeat to Grossetto for our second straight defeat but we answered said critics by scoring 7 or more for the 3rd time in 5 games, thrashing Pontedera 7-2 on their own turf.

A poor home result despite a decent performance against Pisa was followed by a game against Cuneo in which we had 30 shots to their one, missed a penalty and resuced a 1-1 draw as our inconsistent form continues.

Normality was reumed in the cup with a dominating performance despite the lack of goals against Brindisi to move into the second knockout round and a tough tie with Perugia.

A stupid redcard saw us blow a 1-0 lead at home to Viareggio and it all started to feel like last season when we threw away two points in the tie at Teramo but we found some elusive home points thanks to sub Bottones 87th minute winner against Reggiana.

Next up was Gavorrano, where we led 1-0, trailed 2-1, led 3-2 before another bit of defending that could only be done by some terrible computer AI allowed our host to steal an equaliser.

A tight Serie C Cup game against Perugia was ended by a silly red card and our right back one again being a complete f**king idiot. As we collapsed to 3-0 down after being level at the red card. 2 late goals got us back in the tie but as equaliser wasn't to be and it was over for another year.

Back to the league where we hosted Gubbio and for the first time in ages we showed our good side, thrashing them 5-0 at halftime and adding a 6th in the second period. A red card settled the trip to Spal this time in our favour, coming from behind for a 3-1 win despite right back Pisani trying his hardest to make me think he's involved up to his eye balls in Italy's notorious match fixing scandal.

It took a late goal to see off Poggibonsi as we earned our 3rd straight league win despite a late consolation. A 5-1 away thrashing of Foligno saw us make it 4 in a row and fire us to 5th in the new look Serie C. A pair of og's helped as we than recorded win no.5 in a 4-1 victory over Prato.

Despite some wayward finishing and missing 6 of 7 clear cut chances a Nesta pentaly edged us past Carpi for yet another win and kept us within 5 points of the top of the table. Our 6 games won in a row being a new club record.

An inspired substitution decision if I do say so myself saw me replace our top striker with sub Bottone and his brace saw us hit back from a half time deficit to lead Savona only for them to score a clearly offside equaliser when down to 10 men in injury time to deny us victory.

We travelled to league leaders Perugia in the final game of the first round and despite a thumping 6-3 defeat, I couldn't but be impressed with our showing this season thus far...

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[P O\'D]

14-15 Season Pt2:

After our thumping last time out it was nice to see Chiavari next on the fixture list and a 7-0 half time lead was quite the way to bounce back. We only added one more in the 2nd period but 8-0 was our biggest and best win of the season.

A comfy win away at Lucchese saw us beat the second of the bottom two in a week before a huge game which saw us in 4th host 5th placed Carrarese.

That game was to be a classic. We started well domianted the first half and led 2-0, than we imploded and let Carrarese pull two goals back, one a crazy penalty, lost Poletti to injury. His replacement Graffiedi edged us ahead, but our opponents hit back again. We than lost our left back to injury and had central midfielder Urso sent off but clung on for a draw by the skin of our teeth.

Another big game followed away to Grosseto this time we were well beaten despite takin an early lead and another injury for Poletti made thing worse.

It took a late 2nd goal for us to bounce back against Pontedera and a comfy wins over Pisa and stumbling over the line at home to Cuneo kept us in the playoff hunt though a 2 month injury to star player and captain Nesta put a slight tarnish on it.

A trip to top of the table Viareggio followed and a win would have put us right in the automatic promotion hunt as we trailed the table topper by 6 points though they had a game in hand. We bossed the game and in spite of falling behind early one we thumped our hosts to fire ourselves right into the mix for Serie B football, halfing the gap on the team we just thrashed though their game in hand was likely to be pivotal.

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[deltablue]

Much improved this year

[P O\'D]

14-15 Season Pt3:

Our fifth win in a row follwed in a comfortable game at home to Teramo but the injures were starting to pile up, we were now missing wingers Graffiedi, Poletti along with Nesta and our best Midfielder Daniele Forte. Our last staring midfielder Urso also picked up a late yellow so we were down our entire starting midfield plus Nesta for the trip to Reggiana.

We lost striker Uche to injury just before kickoff and lost our other first team striker Gavilan to injury after 30 minutes with the game tied at 1-1 so we were only down 7 of my best 11 for the second half. Surprise, surprise first choice left back Cordeddu limped off early in the second half making it 8 first teamers in the sickbed (must get a bigger bed) and as we hung on for a draw our 3rd best striker Bottone picked up a minor injury too. I hate this game sometimes...

Our wingers were both back in training for the home tie with Gavorrano, a half fit Graffiedi and Bottone having to start the game left me slightly worried. We bossed the game but lacked cutting edge but eventually our visitors broke and we picked up another victory to close the gap at the top to 3 points after Carrarese stuneed Viareggio in gameweek 30.

A 5-1 away win moved us above Viareggio but Poggibonsi's win over Carpi kept us from top spot. Disaster struck at home to Spal falling 3-0 down after 5 minutes!!! We got a goal back but it was only one and we took a major blow to our promotion charge. Viareggio won and Poggi only drew putting Via top ahead of Poggi on goal difference with us in 3rd 3 points back. Perugia clawed their way back into contention a futher 2 points behind us.

The biggest game of our season was next, away to Poggibonsi, a win would put us right back in the mix a draw not awful but a loss would end our title hopes. We stormed into a 3-0 lead after the hour but that only woke our hosts, two goals in a minute put us under huge pressure for the last 10 minutes. We held firm and fell over the line, Viareggio slumped to another shock defeat, this time at home to Pisa and Perugias win at Cuneo left it tight at the top, but most imprtantly it was us who led the way...

So its tight at the top but our scoring power has given us a massive advantage imho....

[P O\'D]

Much improved this year

Thx mate, I think I was trying too hard to implement my FM12 styled tactics in my first season and I've come to terms with no sliders finally.

[B.W.G]

Excellent work with San Marino so far,hopefully you can come out on top of what looks to be an extremely close finish.

[P O\'D]

thx mate, tight isn't the word... Nerve wrecking seasons end.

[P O\'D]

14-15 The Climax

We hosted Foligno next and again we did our best to throw the game away slipping 2-0 down in the first ten minutes, hit back to 2-2 but trailed 4-2 at half time. 4-2 finished 5-3 and my temper was raging, Wins for Perugia and Poggi knocked us too third but defeat for Viareggio put them 4th.

A team after getting a dressing down and a half scraped an 85th minute winner at Prato to keep barely keep us in the hunt. Poggi won again to go 3 points clear and Perugia and Viareggio played out a draw as the league table changed hugely. Viareggio slipped to 5 points behind the leaders, Perugia 4 putting them in huge trouble and allowing them no room for failure with 3 games to go. Two horse race I'd say now. Interestingly we host Perugia on the final day of the season.

We hosted Carpi in round 36 and for once we didn't f it up in the first 10 minutes. In truth we were poor but Gavilan headed home a corner on the hour for a 1-0 victory. Huge result under the circumstances but I have to say I'm worried about our form. Poggi won again and Perugia managed to stay within 4 points but Viareggio ended their title hopes with a draw.

Two games to go:

Poggi 75,

San Marino 72,

Perugia 71.

We faced a tough trip to Savona while Poggi had an equally tough home tie with Grossetto, Perugia had a very winnable away trip to Teramo in the penultimate round of fixtures.

A huge set of fixtures and a huge set of results. We did our bit beating Savona 2-0 thanks to a pair of secondhalf goals. Perugia as expected thrashed Teramo 5-2 and the result we needed, Poggibonsi fell apart at home to Grosseto going down 4-1 after leading early on.

One game to go:

San Marino 75,

Poggi 75,

Perugia 74.

That game with Perugia is going to be a cracker. Poggi travel to Pontedera though and should win.

We would be missing our top midfielder Urso and right back Pisani through suspension and Perugia would be on a high after winning the Serie C Cup.

Just to make it interesting I'll do my notes though out the game.

And so it began.

8 minutes: As usual disaster at homein 1 down. Perugia heading for the tile.

17 minutes: in 1-1 Us heading for the title thanks to Ucha beating the offside trap. At half time it was 1-1 in both games.

55 minutes: in Poggi go 2-1 up, Poggi heading for the title.

67 minutes: in we head home from a corner. Titles back in our hands.

72 minutes: Perugia miss a sitter. Nerves are in shreds here....

79 minutes: Poggi score a 3rd. We have to hold on, backs to the wall here....

92 minutes: Champions after a 2-1 win. Glory, Glory San Marino...

Serie C Super Cup:

We were joined in the quest for the Serie C Super Cup by AlbinoLeffe and the once mighty Bari. We would play our two games first before Albino and Bari rounded it off. I was hoping there game would count for nothing when the time comes.

A trip to AlbinoLeffe was first up and it was proving a tough tie. We gave a great account of ourselves but Nesta had a horror show and we fell to a 3-2 defeat.

The home tie with Bari was another tough tie and yet again our defensive frailties showed, trailing twice from corners but sitting at 2-2 at halftime. Another Nesta horror show was to follow, we fell 4-2 behind and despite a late consolation we finished bottom of the Super Cup.

Bari went on to comfortably win against Albino to claim the trophy.

[P O\'D]

Season Round Up 2014-15

Serie C1/B - 1st (Board Expects - Midtable)

Stunning season and I'm quite shocked. We were brilliant early season and no words can describe our second half of the season. Stunning performances all around and a fantastic promotion.

Serie C Cup - 2nd KO Round (Board Expects - 2nd KO Round)

We hit our target here and fell to Perugia who went on to win the competition. Could easily have bein us but not to be.

Serie C Super Cup - 3rd (Board Expects - Midtable)

A failure but one I'm not too displeased about. Hope the board dont sack me because of it.

Player Stats

Top Goalscorer - Manuel Gavilan - 33 - The Loanee from Bologna was immense.

Top Assists - Davide Poletti - 25 - The 33 year old winger was a real star adding 11 goals too.

Top Rating - Davide Poletti - 7.65

Appearances - Manuel Gavilan and Giacomo Venturi - 44 (Every game)

MotM - Manuel Gavilan - 5

[P O\'D]

Pre-Season 15-16

Club Info:

Club - San Marino

Division - Italian Serie B

Media Prediction - 22nd (of 22)

Board Requirements - Avoid Relegation

Reputation - Regional

Training Facilities - Average

Youth Facilities - Below Average

Junior Coaching - Adequate

Youth Recruitment - Fairly Basic

Club Value - £60k (+60k)

Stadium - 5250

Season Ticket Holders - 120

Manager Info:

Reputation - Regional (Local)

Wage - £1600 (£400)

Manager Points - 32 (+32)

Hall of Fame - n/a

Trophies - 1

Games Played - 76

Games Won - 32

Win % - 42 (+22)

Goals Scored - 147

Goal Difference - 39

With my entire team leaving, retiring and just refusing to play for £250 a week we began life in Serie B with 0 player in the first team. 3 players in the reserves and a might 5 in the youth team.

So on a wing a prayer and a 36k wage budget I had to find an entire squad. No pressure than...

Recruitment was intense but we managed to bring in a squad in time for our first competitive game of the season where we opened our season with a toughie at home to Grosseto. The winners would be rewarded with a shot at Lazio.

Not bad considering I had only 3 weeks.

It was a poor showing against lower level opposition in my first ever Italian Cup game and an indication of how tough Serie B was likely to be that despite controlling the game for long periods we were dumped out of the cup after extra time.

In truth it was a poor preseason and likely to be a long struggle ahead...

[P O\'D]

15-16 Pt1

Our Serie B debut was at home to Novara a team predicted to be midtable and they showed us just how tough life at our new level was going to be. Despite an evenish game they showed a more clincal touch and eased 3-0 ahead before we got a late consolation. Long season coming up...

Supposed relegation rivals Ascoli were next up and despite being outplayed 2 late goals by sub Roberto Rocchi and a red card for the oppostion keeper put us in a great postion. Our hosts did manage a very late goal back but we edged to our first points.

We rode our luck at home to Avellino with the visitors missing a 90th minute penalty and blazing the rebound over and open goal as we stole a point to leave me feeling happy with our opening 3 games.

Only an injury time penalty denied us an undeserved backs to the wall victory at Cremonese but it was still another fantastic result and stretched our unbeaten run to three matches before we were handed a dose of reality at Cittadella as we returned to the bottom half of the Division.

A terrible trio of fixtures followed at home to Brescia quickly followed by away at title favourite Catania and rounding off at home to Empoli. A wrongly called 92nd minute offside goal gave Brescia an undeserved point in the first, we came back from 2 down against Catania only to be undone by horror defending from a corner and the final game saw us absolutely thrashed by an on song Empoli as we slipped down into dogfight territory.

Things didn't get any easier when we travelled to Lecce who blew us away scoring 4 times in the first half and despite a better showing in the second half the game was long gone.

A huge clash at home to fellow strugglers Spezia followed and even looked promising when we took and early lead. Well that last for all of 30 seconds and we trailed 6-1 at the break before going down 7-2. Our season was falling apart.

Another thumping brought us 1/4 of the way into the season and it was time for major changes or I could well be jobless come christmas...

[AK22]

Blimey, talk about a close finish

Struggling a bit in Serie B, but it may start clicking soon and you'll pull away from the bottom.

[P O\'D]

was indeed, tight I seem to be pulling away in Serie B alright, pulling away at the bottom....

[P O\'D]

15-16 Pt 2

Another home defeat followed to AlbinoLeffe so I decided to abandon last seasons tactics. Little change as we slumped to another defeat our 7th in a row at Latina.

Finally after switching to the most defensive tactic i've ever used we managed to end the run. An injury time winner against high flying Virtus Entella shocking Italian football and causing me mild cardiac arrest.

Had we turned a corner? Nope, parent club Cesena made sure of that, hammering us for their 6th straight win.

We came from 2 down at Modena to go in level at half time, took the lead but were denied by a late penalty, still a valuable point.

A quite stunning victory at home to Livorno followed, we led 2-0 after 20 minutes, than slumped to 3-2 behind after 50. A lucky equaliser looked to have earned us a point and we finally had a little luck as we scored a ridiculously offside winner. 3 needed points though.

A trip to bottom of the table Crotone was must win for us and despite leading twice we managed to shoot ourselves in the foot. Shocking result as we slipped 6 points off safety...

Next up would be high flying Ternana and we did it again, we went 3 nil down at half time, fought back to 3-3 and gave our opponenets a soft winner as we slipped to the foot of the table.

A huge game with Bari who sat just outside the relegation places 6 points above us was up next and bringing up the seasons mid point. As expected we were absolutely crushed The 4-3 scoreline not at all reflecting the fact Bari eased 4-0 up. Serie C awaits...

[P O\'D]

I5-16 Pt III

If my hope for the second half of the season were to be better, a red card in the first minute after the winter break soon put a stop to that. We tried our hardest to give Novara their softest 3 points of the season and accomplished said feat in style. 6-1.

Another 4-3 loss, our 4th in 5 games pretty much relegated us even this early in the season. We were now 12 points off safety and my job was starting to look in trouble.

Avellino were next to tear us to sunder, cruising to a 5-1 win as we all but gave up after 5 minutes and me at a loss.

A shock win over high flying Cremonese looked likely when we went 2-0 up, unlikely when we went 2-2 and than just when I was expecting to lose we won 4-2. Shocking. Footballs a funny old game.

Citadella were one of 4 teams on 26 points and sitting 19th at the edge of the relegation zone when we faced them from 10 points below. What can I say 0-5. F*** *** **** ****. That is all.

We got a shocking point away at Brescia next time out, in the first of four tough ties. We followed that with a second point at home to high flying Catania, a result that moved us off the foot of the table but also saw us fall 14 points from safety.

We were never likely to get anything from high flying Empoli so imagine my shock when we took an early lead from the spot and again on the stroke of half time. It wasn't to be in the second half though and Empoli hit 3 unanswered goals to get home comfortably.

Lecce were a big side in a bad position, one of four teams sitting on the edge of the drop zone. It was a horrid performance despite going a goal up and we were well beaten.

We stunned Spezia with two early goals to pick up our first win in what felt like an eternity but we still sat 14 points from safety but followed it up with a poor home showing against Siena. Still 14 points and only 10 games. We need a miracle.

We took a hiding off AlbinoLeffe in week 33 as the gap widened to 15 points with 9 to play.

Next up was 3rd bottom Latina who we trailed by 14 points.. 0-4, back to the foot of the table and make it 17 points with 8 to play.

Our loss to Latina put Virtus in the drop zone and wouldn't you know that they would be next.. We found ourselves 2 up after 10 minutes, yet 3-2 down after half an hour and 4-2 a minute later. Yup that defensive strategy really works. 6-2 at half time. So I decided if the game wants to ignore defensive instructions so should I. We switched to overload. Final Score Virtus 8-5 San Marino. 18 points and 7 games to go. We could be relegated next time out.

Our parent club, top of the table Cesena were next would it be the fatethat the team whose reserves got us promoted sent us back down? Yes, yes they would and in some style. We bowed out of Serie B on a 0-7 scoreline. In temper I offered my entire squad to other clubs.

My job is still safe because we're broke and they can't afford to pay me off....

Pescara handed out our next thrashing easing to a massive win.

Than out of no where we decided to actually play football comfortably beating Modena, stunning Livorno away, and thumping fellow relegated side Crotone to take 9 points in a row yet make absoutely no difference to anything. I'm still depressed.

High flying Ternana brought us back to reality in the penultimate game of the season before we said goodbye to Serie B at home to Bari.

[P O\'D]

Season Round Up 2015-16

Serie C1/B - 22nd (Board Expects - Avoid relegation)

Another stunning season but this time for all the wrong reasons. Losing our entire squad preseason was a huge blow and a huge mistake as replacements were weaker. We wouldn't have earned promotion last season with this seasons squad.

Italian Cup- 2nd Qualfiying Round (Board Expects - 2nd Q Rd)

We hit our target here despite losing the first game...

Player Stats

Top Goalscorer - Antonio Gravina - 23 - Second time in a fow a loanee was our top scorer.

Top Assists - Alessandro D'Antoni - 8 - He's signed somewhere else for next season.

Top Rating - Antonio Gravina - 6.98

Appearances - Mario Coppola - 42 - Also leaving.

MotM - Alessandro D'Antoni - 3

[P O\'D]

Pre-Season 16-17

Club Info:

Club - San Marino

Division - Italian Serie C1/B

Media Prediction - 2nd (of 22)

Board Requirements - Promotion

Reputation - Regional

Training Facilities - Average

Youth Facilities - Below Average

Junior Coaching - Adequate

Youth Recruitment - Fairly Basic

Club Value - £170k (+110k)

Stadium - 5250

Season Ticket Holders - 120

Manager Info:

Reputation - Regional (Local)

Wage - £1600 (£400)

Manager Points - 32

Hall of Fame - n/a

Trophies - 1

Games Played - 121

Games Won - 41

Win % - 33 (-9)

Goals Scored - 261

Goal Difference - -30 (-69)

Another busy preseason of comings and goings saw us plan for our new season and I felt optimistic this time. Taking alot of power from our DoF and taking responsibilty for signings myself.

We lost all our friendlies although against tough oppostion and it was a nervy side who entered our season kicked off against Ancona in the Italian Cup Qualifiers First Rd. and we coasted through to Rd2 and a tie with Bari.

We travelled to Bari in hope more than expectation and is spite of a great performance we fell to the odd goal in five.

[B.W.G]

Shame about the relegation but hopefully you will be able to bounce straight back up!

[P O\'D]

Shame about the relegation but hopefully you will be able to bounce straight back up!

Hopefully, we should do better this term, I've taken on transfer duties as our DoF was replacing crap with worse crap on higher wages.

[deltablue]

Tough season in Serie B

[P O\'D]

Tough season in Serie B

Character building haha. Hopefully we'll do better next time.

[P O\'D]

16-17 - Early Season

We began the season with a performance fitting of promotion contenders with a solid away win at Giulianova despite a red card A poor first 45 at home to Aquila saw us trail 2-0 at half time but we fought back to earn an injury time 3-3 draw.

News of a proposed takeover started to filter through the media. Would it be for the better of for the worse.

We trailed 2-0 again early doors at Prato, fought back to 2-2, went 3-2 down and in the end won 4-3 in a thriller. Next up was a home tie which saw us face title favourite Livorno, so it was essentially the divisions top 2 playing an early 6 pointer. Again we were forced to fight back from a halftime deficit before taking a fantastic victory. 10 points from our opening 4 games. Much more like it.

The takeover seemed to be moving along as well.

Next up was another promotion chasing side in Viareggio and a hattrick from on loan PSV youth DeGeus saw us crush our opponents but the result was tarnished by a red card for centreback Benassi and a toothless performance saw us drop 2 points at home to Pontedera as we slipped to 3rd.

Struggling Gubbio were next and again a poor first half saw some halftime hairdryer treatment and we managed to grab an equaliser, Benassi picked up his second red in 3 games though an it cost us any chance of a win. 7 games unbeaten but 3 draws saw us sit 5th.

News of the takeover being completed put us in good spirits ahead of the Serie C cup tie at home to Barletta who were easily dispatched as we movied through to the 2nd knockout round against Brindisi. No investment was coming though.

Next up we hosted the Divisions only other unbeaten side, Savona, a club who I took a dislike to for not particular reason last time we were in Serie C. By half time it was clear we were going to be the only unbeaten team... 5-0 up. In the end centre half Porto ended up with a hattick as we romped home 7 nil.

We faced a trip to another title chaster next, Perugia were a team in form, only losing once in their 8 games so far. Another Benassi red card his 3rd of the season already cost us a win but we somehow grabbed a late equaliser.

We barely clung on to win despite a 3-0 lead at home to Gavoranno, as our first team injury list reached 5 key players but we still disposed of Foligno to maintain our charge.

A cup break against Brindisi saw a shocking performance but we scraped by their 10 men after extra time. We got a moderatley difficult 3rd round group.

Another biggie face our tired squad (as everytime i try and rest players from training the game crashes) when we hosted Grosseto who sat a place below us in fourth, we passed this test with flying colours leading 5-1 at half time and cruising home. Giovinco playing on the wing hitting 4 goals and 3 assists as we went back to the top of the table.

We rounded off the first third of our season away at midtable Aprilia. Despite playing half the game with 10 men (for once no Benassi) we won 4-3, scoring twice form 3-2 down despite having a man less.

So we haven't lost a competitive game since Bari a massive 15 games ago. Much happier than this stage last season.

League table makes for good reading too.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[P O\'D]

15-16 - Mid Season

A poor showing at home to Frozinone saw us drop 2 more points was followed by a thumping of Bellaria and a decent win over Cuneo despite an iffy performance as ourselves and Livorno pulled away to create a 6 point gap to the chasing pack.

The Serie C Cup was up next and only a wonderful performance by their keep stopped us by beating Trapani by a cricket score but 2-0 was enough for a comfortable win 3 points.

A comfy win over Rimini took us to 20 competitive games without defeat before we hammered Chieti and Foggia to make the halfway point of Serie C unbeaten and kept alive our hopes of being crowned invincibles.

Back to the Serie C Cup and progress after a brace of Ventre penalties broke the visitors resistance and we cruised through.

We eventually saw off Giulianova in the first game of the return fixtures, had to fight back from 2 down with 5 second half goals to win at L'Aquila and crushed Prato for our tenth win in a row and put us in great form as we travelled to Livorno for the biggest game of the season.

We led Livorno by 2 points in the race for automatic promotion with 3rd place being a further 9 points back heading into the tie at the end of the winter break and luckily thats how it remained after a game where we were battered for 90 minutes but stole a 2-2 draw.

A poor showing at home to Viareggio let Livorno back level with us but we got our first win in 3 at Pontedera and we easily dispatched Gubbio to make it 26 withouth defeat in Serie C and 30 overall.

[B.W.G]

That's quite a lot of goals,should aim for +100 goal difference

[P O\'D]

15-16 - End Of Season

Serie C

The first of the final third of the season games was away at high flying Savona, a tough tie but one we really needed to win as Livorno would most certainly take 3 points at home.

It was a disaster and we fell to our first defeat. We started poorly fell 2-0 down. I subbed 3 players at half time (all with minor injuries) and we lost two more to injury just after the break. We battled on with 9 men and even got one back but it just wasn't our day as Livorno took full advantage.

A freak goal 70 minutes into a poor performance saw us break Perugia to get back on track and a Livorno draw allowed us to cut the gap to a single point.

A tasty draw in the Serie C cup semifinal saw us pull none other than Livorno and we would do battle once more. An exciting prospect to learn on the eve we almost handed them the championship, trailing 2-0 to bottom club Gavorrano before coming back to win 3-2 and keeping the gap at a point.

Another injury which meant we now had 9 in the first team (including my 3 best strikers) marred us dispatching Foligno in style and next up our much changed team faced pipped playoff chasing Grosseto 3-2 to put us back on top by 2 points.

7 games to go: San Marino 76, Livorno 74

Serie C Cup

The cup semi with Livorno was a game where we were again on the back foot for long periods but a 1-1 draw game us the advantage heading into the return leg. Pro Vercelli led Lecce 2-0 in the other.

Serie C

Without yet another striker and a mounting injury and suspension list we easily dispatched Aprilia but Livorno offered us no respite.

6 gtg: San Marino 79, Livorno 77

We dismantled Frosinone to keep out lead as Robinho (yes f**kin Robinho in Serie C) earned Livorno a huge win at Savona to keep pace.

5 gtg: San Marino 82, Livorno 80

Serie C Cup

Robinho or no.. they weren't taking our cup final spot and we hammered them in the 2nd leg at our place. 4-0, hopefully we'll rattle them and cruise to the title as well. Livorno aside though we would face Pro Vercelli in the final.

Serie C

A good win over Bellaria saw us move closer to our return to Serie B but still Livorno refused to let up, despite us already breaking the Division record for points.

4gtg: San Marino 85, Livorno 83

We faced 5th place Cuneo on the same day Livorno faced bottom of the table Gavorrano. Again we both kept things as they are, even the goal difference, both winning 4-0.

3gtg: San Marino 88, Livorno 86

Serie C Cup

The first game of the cup final was up now. Away at Pro Vercelli was no easy task but we bossed the game and came away with a deserved 2-0 lead. One hand on the trophy.

Serie C

We were 6-0 up on second bottom Rimini at half time and won 8-0 in our best performance of the year but yet again Livorno wouldn't f*** off.

2gtg: San Marino 91, Livorno 89

We hosted Chieti in the penultimate game and a red card after five minutes meant it could be a long match. Chieti than imploded earning the games 2 and 3rd red cards in the first few minutes of the second half putting us in a 10 against 9 advantage. We couldn't take advantage though and it finished 0-0. Livorno won again and we were level.

1gtg: San Marino 92, Livorno 92

Serie C Cup

And before the title decider we had one more challenge, the 2nd leg of the Serie C Cup Final. We took a 2-0 lead home from Pro Vercelli and in truth we never looked threatened till our keep imploded and got a red card just after the break. Benassi headed the goal that killed the tie and than we just never looked like losing. We had our second trophy.

Serie C

And so we went to the final game of the season away at Foggia while Livorno hosted Aprilia who they were expected to batter. We only needed to match their points toal. Here we go again...

4 minutes: Livorno 1-0 up, Livorno 95, San Marino 93

8 minutes: We take the lead. San Marino 95, Livorno 95

23 minutes: 2-0 San Marino. Getting closer. San Marino 95, Livorno 95

26 minutes: 3-0 San Marino. They think its all over....

29 minutes: Goal Arpilia. 1-1, San Marino 95, Livorno 93. Livorno need a miracle.

29 minutes: It is now. 4-0 San Marino

40 minutes: Maybe its not done yet. San Marino 4-1 Foggia.

44 minutes: Is it an implosion??? San Marino 4-2 Foggia

Half Time: San Marino 4-2 Foggia, Livorno 1-1 Aprilia

67 minutes: Edging closer. Livorno 1-2 Aprilia, we remain 4-2 up. Livorno need to score twice and for Foggia to do the same. Highly unlikely

85 minutes: Porto heads home from a corner. We are the champions. San Marino 5-2 Foggia.

90 minutes: Its over we are the champions, no time for Robinho cause we are the Champions of Serie C1B.

The double!!!!!

Serie C Super Cup

We weren't done yet, Vicenza and Catanzaro awaited in the Super Cup.

Vicenza away was first up and likely to be the tougher tie than home to Catanzaro. 1-1 at half time but we got on top second half winning 4-2 and put one hand on our treble.

We hosted Catanzaro knowing a win would make their game with Vicenza pointless. They defended like lions and we couldn't break them down 0-0, so it all hinged on Vicenza vs Catanzaro. It went to the wire, Vicenza won by the odd goal in 7 and we had our treble.

[P O\'D]

That's quite a lot of goals,should aim for +100 goal difference

Done, and just about.

[P O\'D]

Season Round Up 2015-16

Serie C1/B - 1st (Board Expects - Promotion)

Like the first time we won it, we did it in style and over and epic battle. Still ourselves and Livorno are head and shoulders above the rest and it was well deserved.

Italian Cup- 2nd Qualfiying Round (Board Expects - 3rd Qualifying Round)

We didn't make our target bowing out to Bari a round early. Understandable as Bari are a strong side.

Serie C Cup - Champions (Board Expects - Don't Care)

We won it anyway, in essence the semi with Livorno was really the final. The winner was always likely to beat Pro Vercelli.

Serie C1 Super Cup - Champions (Board Expects - Dont Care)

Another trophy and we were undisputed kings of Serie A.

Player Stats:

Top Goalscorer - Pim de Geus - 35 (on loan from PSV) Nicolo Zanetti - 29

Top Assists - Antonio Calabrese - 27 - (Another Loanee) Lorenzo Remedi - 24

Top Rating - Lorenzo Remedi - 7.87 (For once one of our own 16 goals and 24 assists)

Appearances - Matteo Pisseri - 50

MotM - Pim de Geus - 8

[Dexter_Morgan]

Amazing season there Better luck this time in Serie B

[duffy89]

Great season, hope Serie B goes well

[P O\'D]

thanks lads.

[P O\'D]

Pre-Season 17-18

Club Info:

Club - San Marino

Division - Italian Serie B

Media Prediction - 14th (of 22)

Board Requirements - MidTable

Reputation - National

Training Facilities - Average

Youth Facilities - Below Average

Junior Coaching - Adequate

Youth Recruitment - Fairly Basic

Club Value - £2.2m (+£2m)

Stadium - 5250

Manager Info:

Reputation - National (Regional)

Wage - £1600 (£400)

Manager Points - 72 (+40)

Hall of Fame - n/a

Trophies - 4

Games Played - 169

Games Won - 78

Win % - 46

Goals Scored - 432

Goal Difference - 93

So I was back to Serie B and rebuilding again. The joys. I was still handling transfers myself and quitely confident of a better run than on our last attempt. So it was to be a busy summer of recruiting on a shoe string budget albeit a vastly improved one compared to last time.

Friendlies again were as expected, and our competitive season began at home to Reggina in the Italian Cup 2nd Qualifying Round. So it was that we began our season with a win albeit it a poor performance. Our new look squad edged Reggina with a 93rd minute winner to take us further than I've ever taken us in the Cup before where we would face Serie A's Catania.

We gave a really good account of ourselves away at top division Catania, we came from a goal down to lead Catania heading into the last 10 minutes but they scored a world class freekick to take it to extra time. Early in the extra time we had a player limp off injured leaving us to finish the game with 10 men. Catania then made their quality account blowing us away with 3 goals in 5 minutes.

A promising beginning to the season.

[P O\'D]

17-18 - Early Season

The season began away at our old friends Livorno and we beat them as bad as the cup semi's 0-0 at half time we destroyed them second half and made a confident start to Serie B.

Brescia were expected to show us a better example of what Serie B could offer but we pretty much had the points in the bag at half time with a 3 goal lead before finishing with 5.

A poor first half at Ascoli saw us trail 3-1, only for a brilliant second half to see us come back to maintain a 100% record but some shocking defending at home to Modena saw us throw away 2 points.

Another poor defensive performance was luckily overshadowed by our attacking prowess as we beat Bari at home 3-2 and a good win over Vicenza kept us in touch at the top.

We gunned down Benevento in a one sided affair at the Olympico to go top as Cremonese dropped points for the first time.

I was offered an interview at Reggina but declined before we thrashed Varese on their own turf and was immediately offered the Novara job. Another win followed over Spezia to make it 28 points out of 30 as we asserted a dominance on Serie B even I couldn't have predicted.

Round 11 saw our first defeat misfiring at home to Empoli despite bossing the game but we responded by torturing Virtus, 5-0 up at half time before ending up with 7 and a huge win over Chievo kept me quite happy.

Livorno came calling next but I quickly dismissed their interest and we went on to destroy Catanzaro away, were made to work for our win over Cittadella at home and than faced off in a huge tie with fellow title chaster Cremonese. It didn't go well, we got absolutely battered to slip back though we still retained the lead.

Parent club Cesena were next and we crashed to a second straight defeat, Cremonese failure to win meant we still led at the top but only by a point from Pescara.

A trip to 4th placed Latina was next saw us in control and ahead 2-1 ahead after 40 minutes when needless red card gave our hosts a penalty. They missed and we clung on to return to winning ways. Luckily we edged 2 points ahead at the top thanks to Pescara having a blip.

We won again at home to Siena, won a thriller at Padova to move 5 points clear as Pescara beat Cremonese and reached the seasons midpoint with a 6 point lead after thrashing AlbinoLeffe.

So another fantastic run and a totally unexpected lead... lets see if we can hold it.

[P O\'D]

17-18 End Season

A win over Livorno saw us extend our lead to 7 points, another at Brescia and a draw at home to Ascoli kept it as we started to look like we really were going to win the title.

Modena away was next and another 3 points saw us stay 7 points clear at the top but most importantly were now clear in the promotion places by a massive 15 points from Latina and Pescara who were really falling away.

We fell to defeat at Bari but luckily so did Cremonese at Cittadella of all places, and while we bounced back at home to Vicenza our rivals dropped points again and we pushed 9 points clear.

More dropped points from our rivals allowed us to capitalise away at Benevento to make it 11, and we thumped Varese at home in spite of losing 2 starting midfielders to injury, as Cremoneses woeful month continued. We led by 14 points from Pescara.

We faced said Pescara outfit next and hit back from 2 down to earn a point, Cremonese again failed to win so it remained at 14 and a hard fought win over Spezia. A tired and injury hit team managed to win at Empoli. We coasted past Virtus at the Olympico to put ourselves in a fantastic postion with 9 games to go.

9gtg: San Marino 81, Pescara 65, Cremonese 65

We were deservedly beaten at Chievo in round 34 as the gap slipped to 13 points with Latina joining Pescara and Cremonese on 68 after winning 2 games in 3 days.

8gtg: San Marino 81, Latina 68, Pescara 68, Cremonese 68

A shocking first half saw us fall 3-0 down at home to Catanzaro, we rallied in the 2nd period but only managed to pull 2 back. Taking the ***** at the wrong time imho..

7gtg: San Marino 81, Pescara 71, Cremonese 71, Latina 69

A good roasting before the Cittadella game saw us respond with a 5-1 halftime lead as we bounced back in style. The second half was poor but we hung on to win 5-3 and other results seemed to magically go our way. A huge step towards the title, with only Pescara of our rivals picking up a point.

6gtg: San Marino 84, Pescara 72, Cremonese 71, Latina 69

Our biggest game of the season was the home tie with Cremonese, a win would mean they couldn't catch us and promotion, possibley even the title. A horror start saw us 2 down early on but we showed some character for once and fought back brilliantly hitting 5 unanswered goals to end Cremonese and Latinas (who are falling apart) hopes of catching us. 2 horse race now for the title and we were ahead by a couple of miles. Also we were going to Serie A regardless.

5gtg: San Marino 87, Pescara 75, Cremonese 71

Parent club Cesena was next and a win would make it done. We lost here last time out so had a double incentive. Despite falling behind again early it was never in doubt. Cesena couldn't cope with us. Pescara though made our win needless falling at Chievo so the title was over if we had never kicked a ball.

4gtg: San Marino 90 and Champions, no one else matters.

If we could take 10 points from our final 4 games we would reach 100 points, it was the only possilbe target I could think of to keep focused so we set about it. We drew at home to Latina to leave us needing 3 straight wins, a poor performance but a win all the same at Siena saw us get the first, a comfy win to see off Padova at home but we somehow managed to blow a 2 goal lead against 10 man AlbinoLeffe to fall just short.

Interestingly Latina held their bottle as everyone around them lost on the final day to join us in Serie A. Cremonese won the players as I picked up both manager awards on offer.

Season Round Up 2017-18

Serie B - 1st (Board Expects - Midtable)

Brilliant we're joining the big boys, savage season and I'm quite stunned.

Italian Cup - 3rd Qual Round (Board Expects - 3rd Qual Round)

We hit our target here but weren't good enough to compete in all honesty.

Player Stats

Top Goalscorer - Carmine Vigorito - 28

Top Assists - Lorenzo Remedi -27

Top Rating - Lorenzo Remedi - 8.05

Appearances - Vigorito - 44

MotM - Lorenzo Remedi - 13

[P O\'D]

Pre-Season 18-19

Club Info:

Club - San Marino

Division - Italian Serie A

Media Prediction - 18th of 20

Board Requirements - Avoid Relegation

Reputation - National

Training Facilities - Average

Youth Facilities - Below Average

Junior Coaching - Average

Youth Recruitment - Average

Club Value - £18.75m

Stadium - 5250

Season Ticket Holders - 375

Manager Info:

Reputation - National

Wage - £2300

Manager Points - 138

Hall of Fame - n/a

Trophies - 5

Games Played - 213

Games Won - 110

Win % - 51

Goals Scored - 564

Goal Difference - 162

Preseason begand with the good news of work beginning on training and youth facility upgrades finally (It only took 5 years of badgering).

26 players and staff moved on all deemed not good enough for our new level and so yet again we set about rebuilding. Players and staff came and went and we hired alot of big name staff including Massimo Ambrosini, Nicolas Anelka, Ricardo Carvalho, Gianluigi Buffon and other ex worldclass players.

More good news was us improving our youth recruitment network and best of all was work beginning on a new stadium and a few days later Mikael Silvestre was appointed new Director of Football. We were making huge progress off the pitch but I was still worried about the quality we had on it.

So we began our season in the Italian Cup 3rd Qualifying Round at home to Chievo and luckily for us a shocking defensive performance was again outdone by an amazing attacking one as we fought back from 3-1 down to win 5-3. 2 injuries though were a concern.