[FM20][FM21][FM22][FM23] Calcio

[edgar555]

On 27/01/2023 at 11:37, n1mez said:

Anybody aware of a database with the -15 points for Juventus? 

Pr0's DB has it

[Lambo95]

Is Serie A bugged this year or have the rules not been updated?

 

With Brescia I’ve just finished level on points at the top with Juve but had a better H2H so thought I’d won the title. Even got the trophy lift at full time.

 

 

I come out of the match and get a news item saying I have to play a playoff with Juventus to decide the title. Under the rules section it says H2H is the tie breaker 

[Raymond85]

3 ore fa, Lambo95 ha scritto:

Is Serie A bugged this year or have the rules not been updated?

 

With Brescia I’ve just finished level on points at the top with Juve but had a better H2H so thought I’d won the title. Even got the trophy lift at full time.

 

 

I come out of the match and get a news item saying I have to play a playoff with Juventus to decide the title. Under the rules section it says H2H is the tie breaker 

New rules from this season: they brought back the playoff for title and relegation decider that was in place until the 90s

But you are right, there is a bug in the rules page, i can't find the playoff. It must only appear when you end level. They should update the page

[Mackem742]

On 11/02/2023 at 14:02, Lambo95 said:

Is Serie A bugged this year or have the rules not been updated?

 

With Brescia I’ve just finished level on points at the top with Juve but had a better H2H so thought I’d won the title. Even got the trophy lift at full time.

 

 

I come out of the match and get a news item saying I have to play a playoff with Juventus to decide the title. Under the rules section it says H2H is the tie breaker 

This happened to me in my 1st season with Roma. Finished level on points at the top with Lazio of all teams! I won the game 1-0 and won the title. 

[WilsonJuve]

On the new winter update if managing  Juventus your Serie A aim for the first season and every year of the 5 year plan is to avoid relegation from Serie A 

[Raymond85]

Reason n.1 to start an Udinese save:

 

Reason n.2 to start an Udinese save:

 

Keep them both as long as you can and in 2027 this might happen:

 

 

Who needs Haaland to have fun?

[Daws88]

On 02/03/2023 at 18:53, WilsonJuve said:

On the new winter update if managing  Juventus your Serie A aim for the first season and every year of the 5 year plan is to avoid relegation from Serie A 

The computer failed to avoid relegation on my Inter save....tied on 30 points and finished 18th 😂

It does seem a little unrealistic though, so I reloaded my save and they finished 17th..

Shall I see how they get on in Serie B just for a laugh 🤔😂

[Vakama2619]

On 03/03/2023 at 04:53, WilsonJuve said:

On the new winter update if managing  Juventus your Serie A aim for the first season and every year of the 5 year plan is to avoid relegation from Serie A 

10 hours ago, Daws88 said:

The computer failed to avoid relegation on my Inter save....tied on 30 points and finished 18th 😂

It does seem a little unrealistic though, so I reloaded my save and they finished 17th..

Shall I see how they get on in Serie B just for a laugh 🤔😂

Tempted to bump the points deduction up to -50, seems like an instant relegation if I do that tho 🤣😂

[goonergez]

So I’m currently contemplating a save at the bottom of the available Italian pyramid. Minus the odd trip during the ultimate challenge I can’t say I’ve ever really tried my hand in Italy before and it’s something that’s intriguing me. Anybody know of any rules or information that may be of inteeest. Whether league or club related? Or tactical advice as the players at that level don’t actually seem too bad.

[Raymond85]

54 minuti fa, goonergez ha scritto:

So I’m currently contemplating a save at the bottom of the available Italian pyramid. Minus the odd trip during the ultimate challenge I can’t say I’ve ever really tried my hand in Italy before and it’s something that’s intriguing me. Anybody know of any rules or information that may be of inteeest. Whether league or club related? Or tactical advice as the players at that level don’t actually seem too bad.

Non EU players is confusing when you reach serie A. Best you imagine them as a work permit, and you can only get 1 new one each season, unless you sell one out of italy or one retires or is set to release, then you can get 1 extra each season (1+1). Non eu transfers within italy are free and dont count on limits or freeing up second spot. Under Serie A you cannot get non eu players from out of italy, only within.

This is the easiest quickest way to explain it, it's easier to understand it with experience rather than explaining it

[goonergez]

1 minute ago, Raymond85 said:

it's easier to understand it with experience rather than explaining it

Yeah a big part of my trying a save in Italy is just for a new experience out of the safe haven of the English leagues. I'm not particularly good at the game but hoping I can try and take a team from Serie C up to the top. I am normally guilty of kind of rushing my saves but I am planning on this being a one club long term one so will try to take my time a bit. I see all of these people taking rags to riches teams and praying that one day I can do it myself. I'm currently trying to choose my club and have limited it down to either Piacenza, Vicenza or Triestina.

[Raymond85]

5 ore fa, goonergez ha scritto:

Yeah a big part of my trying a save in Italy is just for a new experience out of the safe haven of the English leagues. I'm not particularly good at the game but hoping I can try and take a team from Serie C up to the top. I am normally guilty of kind of rushing my saves but I am planning on this being a one club long term one so will try to take my time a bit. I see all of these people taking rags to riches teams and praying that one day I can do it myself. I'm currently trying to choose my club and have limited it down to either Piacenza, Vicenza or Triestina.

If you want the extra challenge, Rimini might be a nice idea. It's the most famous tourist beach town in Italy, and has never been in Serie A. They are the team that launched Arrigo Sacchi's manager career to top levels, and the only unbeaten team agains Juventus in that famous Serie B season after match fixing relegation, where they had a really strong but unlucky team, with Handanovic, Matri, Jeda, Brighi and Valliani who all went on to be serie A players (and Samir one of the best goalkeepers in the world). They are newly promoted in Serie C. I'm going to give them a go later in the year for sure and try and get the first Serie A promotion in history.

[goonergez]

@Raymond85ill definitely take a look. I’m planning to start tonight so I’ll add them to my list of possibilities.

[DanBeats90]

Hi all. Looking for some inspiration for an Italian save, starting in Serie C and working up (either with one club or as journeyman - not sure which yet). Any good club recommendations? Ideally somebody that isn’t a big favourite at this level (e.g. Pescara) to make it more of a challenge. Thanks in advance!

[WilsonJuve]

20 hours ago, DanBeats90 said:

Hi all. Looking for some inspiration for an Italian save, starting in Serie C and working up (either with one club or as journeyman - not sure which yet). Any good club recommendations? Ideally somebody that isn’t a big favourite at this level (e.g. Pescara) to make it more of a challenge. Thanks in advance!

Messina is a fantastic challenge. Expected to finish 14/20 in Serie C Girone C so not favourites like you asked but their biggest draw is their location SICILY. No Sicilian football club has ever won the Serie A title. They play in a 38,722 seater stadium which in real life has a beautiful but different design style. Several off the pitch problems have seen them demoted and folding on a couple of occasions first bankruptcy then sporting fraud. This team deserves a break and someone to lead them to the promised land.

[Adzke]

Has anyone taken on the challenge of Juventus since the update? I'm having a hard time getting into a new save, but I would like to play with Juve. Are they any fun with the new challenge? I see the board are simply expecting you to stay clear of relegation...

[Jogo Bonito]

On 13/04/2023 at 20:11, Adzke said:

Has anyone taken on the challenge of Juventus since the update? I'm having a hard time getting into a new save, but I would like to play with Juve. Are they any fun with the new challenge? I see the board are simply expecting you to stay clear of relegation...

I set up as Juventus and reloaded numerous times, eventually I got a start where only the first year had that 'avoid relegation'. No idea why it changed but made it much more realistic than the lame default five years avoid relegation demand. So try doing that and you may get lucky as I did. I've only done pre-season by the way, so nothing to report yet.

[Vladis]

BRESCIA CALCIO

As I often do lately, for more immersion in the game, starting my career with a new board I have sympathy to. This time legend says that the new owner of Brescia is the richest businessman of Switzerland, Ernesto Bertarelli, who was born in Rome and made his fortune in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. And new Managing Director is a club legend Andrea Pirlo who left his managing career and returned home from Turkey.

This is how new board looks for now:

Let me immediately mention that there are no significant financial investments in the club and are not expected. The only major investment from Bertarelli is the purchase of the stadium. This will attract some additional money to the club.

 

So I`m near the start of season 3 and it`s time for quick summary of first two year in managerial seat.

SEASON 2022-2023

Transfers

Full Table

Coppa Italia - Quarter-Final (lost to Juventus)

Top goalscorer -  Florian Ayé (25 goals)

Most Assists -  Ahmad Benali (10 assists)

Most PoM Awards -  Stefano Moreo (10)

We won the league surprisingly easily. And just as importantly for me personally, I finally managed to create a successful tactic with 3 central defenders (5-2-1-2), which I have never managed before in any of the FM series (maybe because I`m a big fan of 433).

 

SEASON 2023-2024

Transfers

Full Table

Coppa Italia - Second Round (lost to Empoli)

Top goalscorer -  Florian Ayé (16 goals)

Most Assists -  Cédric (9 assists)

Most PoM Awards -  Florian Ayé (5)

A sensational return to the elite. With a 90% squad made up of players who played in Serie B last season the team was able to take a high 9th place (the club's record is 8th place).

The secret of success in my opinion is the following:

1. Great team cohesion among the squad

2. Well balanced squad without notable weaknesses (even though overall level of our players is probably one of the lowest in Serie A)

3. Solid tactic with focus on quick counter-attacks but at the same time patient bulid-up in positional attacks)

 

CURRENT SQUAD (JULY 2024)

We signed several new players this summer, the most notable one is Petagna on free. Transfer budget doesn`t allow us significantly strengthen all the lines but I don`t have any complains as we move step by step, signing young, may be underrated players and developing them.

Key players:

 Mangraviti - Papetti - Cistana. Our fundamental trio in defence.  All of them are academy products! 

 Florian Ayé - main weapon in attack. Top goalscorer for two seasons in a row.

 Flavio Junior Bianchi - another indispensable striker. Significantly developed in last two years and now is very good well-rounded forward. 

Top youth prospects of last two intakes

Edited April 19, 2023 by Vladis

[Adzke]

I am now playing as  Juventus, and I want to have a strong focus on bringing in the best young Italian players, and the top players from the Serie A. I have however never delved into new focus thing or scouting (as I find it yields 0 players when I send them out myself). Does anyone have an idea on how to achieve this with my scouts focusing on domestic and Italian players?

[dothestrand]

Having simmed the first season, I took over Atalanta from the Summer of 2023. They had qualified for the CL in 4th the previous season, so that was nice.

I wanted to do my usual thing of rebooting the squad as a totally home-grown squad of younger players (ideally under-23). This meant a huge fire-sale of nearly 200m worth of players. The board were very kind to give me 15% of that back!

I spent the 15m I had left in the kitty on Empoli's wonderkid AMC, Tommaso Baldanzi. Also incoming were:

Filippo Mane (Dortmund, 6m)

Nicolo Tresoldo (Hannover, 5.5m - the new Christian Vieri!)

Tommaso Pobega (Milan, 8m)

Andrea Belotti (Roma, 3.2m - not quite fitting my youth policy but he will provide depth and he'll only be here one season probably)

Nicolo Rovella (Juventus, 10m)

Lorenzo Pirola (Inter, 4m)

Cesare Cesadai and Fabio Miretti came in on loan from Chelsea and Juventus respectively. Andrea Cambiaso came in from Juve on loan as backup in the wingback positions

We line up in a vertical tiki-taka, 5-2-2-1 formation.

GK: Carnesecchi (Gollini, Sportiello)

CB: Mane, Okoli, Scalvini (Pirola, Cittadini)

RWB: Zappacosta (Zortea)

LWB: Valeri - who the AI has signed from Cremonese the past season for 1.8m (Ruggeri, with Cambiaso able to play both flanks)

CM: Pobega, Rovella, Miretti

AM: Cesadei, Baldanzi, Pessina (generally, all of the six midfielders besides Baldanzi are flexible enough to play either CM or AMC)

ST: Tresoldi (Belotti, Piccoli, Cambiaghi)

14 games in, we have a 7pt lead at the top, but that's based on playing weaker teams by and large, so I wouldn't expect that to hold. Top three would be nice. We've got through the CL group stages as we had a favourable group. The board have given me 50m (we have 180m in the bank!), so I've made Miretti's transfer permanent and will have around 40m left for the January window. I'm pretty happy with the squad at the moment, but we could do with some more depth in AMC, ST and wingback positions. I signed Lucca, Zainolo, and Terracciano, the Verona RWB, to replace Zappacosta (who will leave at the end of the year). 

 

Edited April 29, 2023 by dothestrand

[Swills417]

Atalanta players - Demiral, how good is he? In my save Atalanta are at real risk of relegation second season (FM23) and he looks like he might be available. Will be for my Everton side? He could be the guy we need if they are relegated. Scalvini has already been moved on but the below are all still there:

Hojlund

Koopmeiners

Lookman 

Any of these worth poaching?

 

[n1mez]

Have anybody played with Napoli this year?

I started the game at 20th february 2023, and Napoli were 11th there, and i had alot of points up till CHL. I Managed to get 4th on the last day, in a direct duel with Fiorentina, and i lost to them and we had the same points.

Next season im the winner of the Scudetto, and are in the semis of the UCL. I love the game, and i really love the players and the city.

Kvicha is amazing, so is Osimhen but also Anguissa, Lobotka, Kim..

[dothestrand]

I won Serie A with Atalanta in 23-24 by 2pts, despite having a 7pt lead with three to go. True to form, you buckle a bit in FM when the title is within grasp, but fortunately Sampdoria couldn't prevent us winning 1-0 on the last day. Milan, Napoli and Roma finished 2nd-4th.

Out January signings (above) made a difference (we signed Gabbia from Milan too as a rotation CB) and will help the squad remain strong. We have a nice kitty for next season, which will allow for some squad changes. Belotti, Zappacosta and Zortea (replaced by Bellanova for half the money) will move on, and I'll take bids for Pessina. Scalvini and Valeri will attract bids and I'd be OK with selling the latter in particular as Luca Pellegrini is joining. Otherwise, we have about 40m left to bring any first team players in, plus build our youth squad up with talented youngsters from within Italy. Really exciting is the signing of Simone Pafundi from Udinese for 12m. In real life, he has already made his Italy debut at 17!

[quee]

Hello everyone. Good to see some familiar faces still kicking here. Just got FM23 and trying to set things up before starting.

Anybody have an idea why my facepack is not working after I added latest changes? It was working when I used my old folder (FM21), and when I started to add latest updates to it - it has stopped working.

Going to play Parma as usual! 

[Daws88]

On 01/05/2023 at 10:19, n1mez said:

Have anybody played with Napoli this year?

I started the game at 20th february 2023, and Napoli were 11th there, and i had alot of points up till CHL. I Managed to get 4th on the last day, in a direct duel with Fiorentina, and i lost to them and we had the same points.

Next season im the winner of the Scudetto, and are in the semis of the UCL. I love the game, and i really love the players and the city.

Kvicha is amazing, so is Osimhen but also Anguissa, Lobotka, Kim..

Napoli are insane to manage in this year's version. 

The players you've listed are ridiculous. Keeping hold of Osimhen is the only struggle. And the players wanting new contracts which they deserve. 

Weirdly enough, the AI is hit and miss with them. Atalanta were my only challengers. 

Gone for Roma again, more of a rebuild. Lost the first season to Alatanta after they beat me in the 39th game, as we ended on level points.

[WilsonJuve]

7 hours ago, quee said:

Hello everyone. Good to see some familiar faces still kicking here. Just got FM23 and trying to set things up before starting.

Anybody have an idea why my facepack is not working after I added latest changes? It was working when I used my old folder (FM21), and when I started to add latest updates to it - it has stopped working.

Going to play Parma as usual! 

Nice to see you back in here. Always like following your Parma exploits. Really struggled to settle on a long term save this year.

[Vladis]

Season 3 is over with my Brescia side. After great return to Serie A (9th place last season) we went further and for the first time in Brescia history qualified for major European cup (I don`t take into account Intertoto Cup two decades ago)

SEASON 2023-2024

Transfers

We were very limited in finances so I was searching for bargaing deals. Two promising young players Svit Sešlar and Mitja Ilenič were sign from Slovenia, decent goalkeeper Aleksandar Popovic came for free from Partizan (and went on loan to Osasuna in January after purchasing Rizzo on loan from Lyon). Petagna is a top free transfer, as well as Pirola for 125k from Inter. 

Serie A

We are making history! There were few drops in form during the season but strong November-December and last matches of the season allowed us to finish in top 6. 

Coppa Italia - Third Round (lost to Atalanta  0-2)

 

Best XI 

-------------------Petagna---Bianchi-------------------

-------------------------------Sešlar------------------------------

Beruatto---Bisoli---Bertagnoli---Ghiglione

-------Mangraviti---Papetti---Cistana--------

--------------------------------Rizzo-------------------------------

Full Squad details

 

Youth Intake

Only one youngster is deserved to be presented 

Marco Marcato - very promising defender. One of the best in last three intakes.

[john1]

Just finished my first season with Roma, Won the league and Coppa Italia and beat Forentina in the Coppa Italia Final 3-0.

Just got this beast through the youth intakes, already played few games in the league and Europa League.

Transfers

Bought in from Rodin to Inacio. Sold Abraham, to Real Madrid but felt I could have got slightly more. Ibanez, wanted to leave so bought in Inacio from Sporting. Signed Meret after selling Patricio to Inter due to his age.

Also signed Nicolas Seiwald(14M) and Vitor Roque(20.5M) for next season

[aaaawren]

Started with Milan on my PS5, at the world cup break with just 1 loss all comps and Divock Origi as the top scorer. Good times.

[quee]

First Update

Pre-World Cup Break - November 2022

Serie B adventure awaits!

My updates won't be as screenshots-heavy as my previous Parma entry. Want to spend more time playing instead of worrying about making a detailed journal for everything 

This is my current plan for this iteration of my usual Parma save:

1. As usual, I will only be buying players if my scouts provided reports on their own recommendation. I'm not a fan of going through the national teams list or top club list and manually scouting the good players. Of course players that played against me or from those that I attended a match or from news report and social media headlines are naturally available to me as well to be scouted. Trying to replicate real life knowledge where I wouldn't know who to look for right away 
2. Took me a few days before I could get the save going as I didn't have a storyline-idea for this save. On FM20, it was all about Buffon and Kulusevski. Looking through the squad list this time around, there's none that I was sure that would make me stay engaged and interested for a long term save. That said, in line with the board vision of u23 players (and when my staff meeting suggested that Delprato to replace Vazquez as Vice-Captain), I would like to base my squad this time around Delprato, Balogh, and Circati for the long term. I would like to keep Corvi as my Buffon successor if he develops well enough, if not he will stay as my backup GK in the long run. Apart from these 4, Buffon and Inglese will be around until they retire hopefully  So, 3 defenders and potentially a GK that I can make this of interest to me narrative-wise 
3. Hopefully I won't need to abuse the loan system as much as before, but will depend on finance especially if I get promoted to Serie A. Even with the loan-list filter, if they don't have a scout recommendation then I won't be able to bringing them in - hopefully this will limit my options and keep this challenge fun. My goal is to not lose interest after 1-2 seasons, winning everything too soon tends to do that for me 
4. With Argentina winning the World Cup recently, I had the urge to replicate the glory days of Parma before with so many Argentinians prominent in the side. This is optional as would depend on budget and who I can get. Currently Parma have 5 - Vazquez, Ansaldi, Estevez, Valenti, Chichizola.. far cry from Sensini, Crespo, Almeyda, Veron, Ortega, Balbo.. 

Fixtures:

Spoiler

Was disappointed to went out of the Coppa Italia after only just one game, especially after falling behind 0-2 after just 28 minutes and managed to pull back level only to lose in the 92nd minute  Though facing a Serie A team was consolation as the board and fans didn't expect too much.

Not a good start for my first 2 games, then changed from counter attack to pressing tactic and seem to improve the performance a bit. I had the mentality of facing off Serie A teams all the time by playing cautiously and setting up to counter only. 

Losing to Ternana at home was my worse result so far since they were 20th at the time and I got overconfident by playing all the younger players at once 

Winning 3-0 against Cagliari was the best performance so far since they were expected to be above us and Parma was in control throughout the game.

Serie B table:

Spoiler

Board expectation was to challenge for top 4, and Parma were predicted to finish 3rd. So, decent expectation without too much pressure.

Frosinone led Serie B for most of the season despite predicted to come 4th. A slump in form by them in November has seen Reggina (predicted 5th) steadily risen to the top. Only Cagliari has not met expectation so far in terms of challenging for the top 4.

Parma has the best offence in Serie B but also the worse defence in the top half. Only 8 more teams in the bottom half have conceded more than Parma so far 

Serie B player stats:

Spoiler

Bobby English been my best player so far, leading the way with 14 goals in 14 (3) appearances. 

He had a mini slump in November where he played poorly and not scoring in 3 games (fatigue played a part I think). Benched him for the final game before the World Cup and he scored in the 92nd minute after coming on for the final 15 minutes. Hopefully the World Cup break will freshen him up now.

Vazquez came to me early in the season that he is looking at his options at the end of his contract, so unlikely I will keep him despite him being my creative outlet for most of the season.

That is until Man's injury forced me to play Zanimacchia on the ring wing instead of the left. He has been brilliant since then, picking up and sharing the creative responsibility with Vazquez on his shoulder. Always seems  to be my more dangerous player going forward too. Him able to play across the forward positions also gave me flexibility to cover injuries.

Parma player stats:

Spoiler

Balogh actually been my best defender according to the analyst, unfortunately he made some mistakes in November bringing his averages down - which I attributed to him being fatigued from travelling for Hungary u21 in between Parma matches. He missed 3 games because of international duty.

I had started the season with Balogh-Circati partnership, but Circati made so many mistakes each game that I had to pull him out of the starting lineup. Valenti had an injury, so Osorio got the nod to partner Balogh and Osorio been great in providing the experience needed at the back. The only defender with above 7 average (until Ansaldi came back from 2 injuries in August which made him to miss 9+ weeks) Ansaldi has since assisted 4 goals in 6 games since he came back to the side.

Circati started to play better when he is partnered with Osorio or Valenti, so having an experience partner is key for him this early in his career.

Whilst Delprato been solid, he hasn't lived up to my expectation. Coulibaly been better in most games production-wise when he got the nod ahead of Delprato - 5 assists vs 2. Hopefully I can figured out a way to get the most out of Delprato, though I still prefer him for his defensive stability against stronger teams.

In midfield, Juric been my mainstay so far. This is despite my assistant manager keep recommending Sohm to start ahead of him. I have been struggling to get Sohm to perform unfortunately, and before the season started I had in mind for him to be my first choice alongside Bernabe. Juric double against Benevento (was 4th) was the best midfield performance of the season so far.

Vazquez, Man, Zanimacchia, Mihaila are my most played and rotated players amongst 3 position. When Man got injured and missed 6+ weeks to injury, I struggled with rotation and had to play players out of position to replace them. Without these 4, I would think Inglese would struggle to score the numbers that he did.

On the line thoughts...

Spoiler

Circati nationality flag switched to Italy despite him not being called up to any of the youth side yet. He started the game with Australian flag and I wanted him to stay an Aussie since I never managed one before  This always annoys me somehow when it comes to dual nationality player (Reyna was automatically English instead of American after a month for example in older FM)

Giovanni Fabbian been a driving force for Reggina surge up the table, but somehow I don't have a scout report on him yet  I would be interested in him for sure in the future.

Apart from him, there's none that I know for sure that I want to bring to Parma so far. Though, the Carboni brothers were one of the earliest recommendations I got. Would look at options if I can get them especially Valentin to cover my attacking positions.

What's next?

Next update in January post-World Cup, Parma 3 matches in December, and some thoughts on transfer targets for January.

If anyone read this, let me know what you think. Always welcome any feedback and hope you enjoy sharing the journey for my beloved Parma! 

PS: anybody know how to use imgur link for screenshots? I posted the BB code but the image didn't show, for now I had to manually drag my screenshots. I totally forgot why I had to use imgur instead of the direct drag method - I think for viewing size for others?

Edited May 11, 2023 by quee
screenshots not uploading, been a while since I do this I forgot how I did it with imgur.

[quee]

 

Second Update

Post-World Cup - December 2022

World Cup 2022:

Spoiler

Argentina replicated real life!  (I put my nationality as Italian-Argentinian, hence my interest in watching them )

Attended Poland vs Argentina, Australia vs France, Uruguay vs Portugal, Morocco vs Belgium in the Group Stage.

As well as all of Argentina matches in the Knockout Stages except the Final, since Parma have a Serie B match as well on the same day 

At first I was super impressed with how all the individual awards were the same as irl, then I realised Messi only scored 2 goals in the game whilst his Golden Shoe number was 7 goals.. So it must have been pre-determined to reflect real life.

Messi not even making the Dream Team was also another hint that he shouldn't have won Golden Ball

Fixtures:

Spoiler

After the Group Stage of the World Cup ended, we returned to action in Serie B.

It was 25 days after our last match.. In my wisdom, decided not to arrange any friendlies since my players were almost dead on their feet. Thought doing extra training only would compensate everything...

Nope , played badly in 2 of the games, all my best players didn't performed or picked up some knocks and injuries. 

Biggest victim was Inglese again, he played poorly before suffering a knock against league leader Reggina. Came off the bench to score a penalty against 10-match unbeaten Palermo (5th) - only to suffer another knock in injury time.

Came off the bench against Pisa carrying an injury - 2 headers against the post towards the end of the match 

Not a great month of December for Parma!

Serie B table:

Spoiler

And for the first time, made me worry about getting promoted to Serie A. So much so that I checked the rules for promotion from Serie B again 

Suffice to say, 3rd and 4th won't guaranteed anything for us.

Maybe December is a blessing in disguise as I would have been happy to keep rotating and playing the younger players against weaker opponents otherwise.

Now, it will be full strength as much as possible for every match. 

Serie B player stats:

Spoiler

Torregrossa scored an injury time winner against Parma in that last match vs Pisa to complete his hat-trick and surged up the Capocannoniere ranking 

January Transfer Window Plan:

Spoiler

The board didn't even informed me they are providing £3.1m in transfer budget.. I was sure we would get zero 

Though, with my wage over-budget, not sure I can get anyone with that money.

My recommended scouted players are not many of quality, in my shortlist only 2 are of immediate interest for short-term and long-term - The Carboni brothers.

Would like to try to get Valentin in on loan to provide cover across the attacking positions as those were where I lacked numbers for good rotation. Franco is out on loan but he is a Bosman this summer - though Roma is interested in him as well which will make it difficult to get him.

With that in mind, decided to focus on solely finishing the season with current squad intact - minus the surplus that I can sell or loan out.

I would like to take the option to buy Zanimacchia before the summer if possible (£2.6m) or I would adjust the wage budget and try to get someone in on a Bosman instead.

Free agents and Loanee status:

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I won't be renewing Ansaldi's contract (how is he our highest paid player at £30.5k p/w in Serie B) and Vazquez (£16.25k p/w) will most likely accept an offer from another team since he is looking at his option - though I wouldn't mind keeping him but not something as a priority.

Then we have 6 first-team quality players out on loan with big wages. Kurtic (£30k p/w) is the only expiring this summer but I might try to keep him on a much lower wage if possible since he is a perfectionist for mentoring. If not, he will be released as well.

The rest have a contract until 2024. I will try to sell Grassi (£27.5k p/w) and Cyprien (£17.75k p/w).

I am undecided on Hernani (£27.5k p/w) (a mainstay for league-leading Reggina) and I have no idea what to make of Tutino (£9.25k p/w) - a £4.7m purchase by Parma only to be loaned out to Palermo immediately.

Only Pezzella (£13.75k p/w) I'm sure I want to keep. Italian and 25 years old only and of Serie A quality. Him being resilient is a bonus as well.

Summer Transfer Window Plan:

Spoiler

Is  the Recruitment Focus broken? I set the World Cup as a top priority focus (6 scouts were assigned to it) and yet I barely get any recommendations.

I guess most of the players won't be interested in Parma since we are in Serie B? Hence no reports.

Only got Volpato (Roma and Australia) from Near Matches that made it into my shortlist.

From the World Cup matches I attended, I found one player that I'm super interested in and with a good storyline for Parma - Marcus Thuram 

Eventhough he is a Bosman this summer, it is unlikely he will be interested in joining Parma, let alone us having enough wage budget for him. Can only be a dream transfer for now!

What's next?

Next update: January Transfer Window!

 

 

Edited May 13, 2023 by quee
Removed extra screenshot.

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Third Update

Winter Transfer Window 1 - January 2023

Parma dealings:

Spoiler

Sent a few underused u20s out on loan just to get some money saved. Santuro was surprisingly wanted by Inter, and since he was 4th choice at best, happy to let him leave. Only 20% of transfer income though 

1. As expected, Valentin Carboni came in to provide rotation options across all the attacking positions. From scout reports, I thought he is mainly an AMC (Vazquez needed the most cover), but his recommended position after arriving is AMR. Will have to test where his best position is in the 6 months he is here.
   Spoiler

   

    

2. de Fanti was signed in October actually and after a scout recommendation around the time Parma was struggling with wingers due to Man's and Zanimacchia's injuries. He is 18 years old, thought he could be another body at best - nothing special. This was when I was still unfamiliar with my youth players - turns out I had similar options already in Bonny and Sits. (Forgot to mention in 2nd update that Bonny came off the bench twice for the AMR position in December and played really well both times in 15+ minutes - 1 assist + 7+ average rating both times) de Fanti was a non-factor in the end, why I completely forgotten about him and didn't mentioned him before  One u20 match and few days later, he was injured in training for 7+ weeks with a broken collarbone.
   Spoiler

   

    

3. Bahachille is one of my favourite discovery so far in all my FM experience. The new 'Agents Offers' interface during Transfer Deadline Day was one of the best addition they had done in recent times . It provided me with more options as who I could scout (Recruitment Focus is failing me so far). Found some 18-20 years old who are of interest to me now. Though without a scouted report, I couldn't really be sure if I should make a move or not especially with my limited budget.

The reason I took a risk with Bahachille - he was a free agent, even-though his scout report was minimal from his agent. Decided to offer him a trial with 8+ hours left, just to get more idea how his ability and potential reports would show (before realising it doesn't show anything more). Liking with what I could see, he signed with 3 hours left - the media already called him a panic buy (kinda agreeing with them )

Spoiler

 

Transfer window summary recap:

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1. Parma
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2. Serie B
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3. Italy
   Spoiler

   On top of Bennacer and Koopmeiners below, Odriozola (Madrid > Inter) £14m, Lucas Vazquez (Madrid > Milan) £9.25m were the top 4 transfers.

   

    

4. Around the World
   Spoiler

   1. Declan Rice (West Ham > Newcastle) £77m

   2. Mikel Merino (Sociedad > Madrid) £77m

   3. Ismael Bennacer (Milan > Liverpool) £43m

   4. Josip Sutalo (Dinamo > Tottenham) £43m

 

Other Targets?

Spoiler

1. 

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Tried to offer him a contract as well, but I didn't have enough wage budget. Didn't want to adjust my transfer budget yet (trying to save it for more important deal like Zanimacchia's optional clause) since I knew he most likely would accept the offer from the bigger clubs.

2. 

Spoiler

If I couldn't afford Franco Carboni, no way I could afford Thuram  He wanted a minimum £79k p/w, and my Star player max I could offer was only £31.5k p/w. The fact he even talked with me was surprising on itself. Parma-born Thuram will be a target in the future I guess. Him staying in Germany might be a blessing in disguise as I would imagine it would be harder to get him from Juventus especially.

In another news..

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1. This saddened me a lot.. 

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Ever since he announced he wanted to explore his option at the end of the season, I knew he would most likely move on. But the fact he did this was what hurt the most.. 

He was approached by 3 clubs > I offered him a new contract (couldn't before this) > he accepted > only to go back to Pachuca and asked them to match my offer 

He been playing well in January too and his physical is still great for a soon to be 34-years old. Would have love to keep him for Serie A next season and beyond. I always had preference to keep good older players until they retired in my Parma saves before (Bruno Alves, Massimo Gobbi, Buffon..)

2. Worth a shot 

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With my scouts not returning many interesting reports so far, I thought I would check the players list. Was surprised to see Danie Alves at the top with minimal A+ scouted report. I thought why not? Would be a good mentor for Delprato, so I scouted him and when it came back, tried to offer a contract. Surprisingly he only wanted £1.1k p/w!

Of course he rejected it once the other clubs came in with 10 times my offer 

3. Injury return

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Biggest injury return so far, will see if he fits in my plan for the rest of the season and next.

4. New contract

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Got a message saying that Bernabe wants a new contract since his is running out next year.

Wasn't really my priority to resign him so soon, especially with my limited wage budget. But after Vazquez confirmed departure, I need to secure my potentially next best creative outlet in the middle of the field - though Bernabe hasn't been that great for me compared to expectation as my best central midfielder attributes-wise.

Him being my highest valued player also help me to decide to extend him, even if just to protect his value if I decided to move him in the future.

The new contract starting in the summer instead of now will help me save around £40k of wages until it kicks in 5 months.

 

What's next?

Next update: End of Season 1!

 

 

[sedge11]

So I have been playing a Man Utd save, and after 5 seasons of success I decided to resign and take another job. 

There were a few jobs about - Inter finished 8th, their squad is still really good and with no european football, I felt this would be too easy. Poch then replaced me at Man Utd, so the Napoli job was available, they have an ageing squad but its still a ridiculous team, so again thought would be too easy for instant success.

Then Favre reitred from Roma, in 5 seasons their highest finish has been 6th.

Their last trophy was in the 2nd season winning the Coppa Italia and europa conference. So I decided this was the job for me.

Their squad needs alot of work, with Abraham, Zaniolo, Belotti, Ibanez and Dybala among others all gone, so thought this was a good challenge.

So our transfers going into our 1st season with Roma.

The 2 free transfers were done before I joined. Lucca had moved about abit and never really got consistent game time, so for 3 mil he's a bargain. Hansen-Aaroen joins us from Man Utd, Caqueret is a player I really like and I needed midfield depth.

Milanovic comes in as our starting CB.

Lopez was our 2nd non EU signing, we couldn't register him but all the big clubs were sniffing around him so had to sign him now otherwise I wouldn't get another chance. He's now on loan at Freiburg.

So the tactic I am using is a modified version of my tactic at Man Utd. Pellegrini is the only player missing otherwise this is also my best 11.

So lets start the journey with Roma, and see if we can make them the dominate team in Italy.

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Fourth Update

Youth Candidate Intake 1 - March/April 2023

Decided to do a quick mini-update for the first Youth Intakes and some contract situations.

Youth Candidate Intake 2023:

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Pretty good first intake! Though I do realised these reports are scaled down relative to Serie B. Happy nonetheless, especially since Rivalta is Parma-born! 

Was interesting to see Argentinian and Romanian newgen popping up as well.

Some contract situations.. 

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Here's the story..

1. Corvi had one of the best goalkeeper rating I can remember since the early CMs and FMs. It was his 2nd penalty saved as well this season.

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2. Five days later.. 

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3. Some talks.. 

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4. Joyful moment 

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5. Always count your blessings in disguise! 

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This situation made me renew 3 of the players that I want to keep long term since their contracts are expiring in 2024. Only Balogh didn't get a renewal from the 4-named players at the very start of my update - mainly because he has 2 more years compared to the others, and he's not playing well and out of the side at this time in the game.

This made me wonder if I could had done more to persuade Vazquez when he first came out with exploring his option moment  At least it prepared me for Corvi and others from it..

Other news:

Spoiler

Despite not spending any money, we are struggling financially which adds to the challenge immensely and making it more fun for me.

Luckily we have a Chairman who wouldn't mind helping out with the running cost of the club to stay afloat 

Have a feeling this will be the first of many cash injection in the coming years until we established ourselves again...

I'm also liking this new NXGN top 50 feature they included! Allows me to scout the hyped up young talents as you normally would in real life 

Of the 50, only 1 was discovered by my scout prior to the list coming out. It is unlikely I will be able to get any of them even if I was interested due the finances involved. Definitely have zero interest on the bigger names on the list, just not my kind of signings when playing as Parma. 

So cool to keep track of their movements though! Maybe with luck, I could be interested in getting one or two a few years into the future 

What's next?

Next update: End of season 1! Lots of drama at the top and at the bottom of the table for Serie B! Stay tune and hope you enjoy the ride with Parma 

Edited May 17, 2023 by quee
Added one small entry

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Fifth Update

End of Season 1 - May 2023

What do we have here? 

Spoiler

That's right! A 3-way title challenge! Its been a fun season and enjoying myself a lot 

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Would have been a lot closer if Genoa didn't drew their game before this came out...

Parma also just won against Reggina prior to this - the one and only time we had won against a top 4 side up to this point in the season.

Fixtures:

Spoiler

Learnt my lesson from the post-World Cup poor form and performance. Arranged 2 friendlies this time 

Wanted to go to Valencia for warmer weather, but they were unavailable. Instead we played in the snow in Salzburg 

Performance were not great in the beginning, especially Inglese not playing well when starting. Had to keep bringing him off the bench in February because of it.

Worse performance of the season losing 1-3 to Suditrol.

Turning point of the season was the lost to Genoa at home actually. I berated from the touchline a lot during the match and was throwing bottles in the dressing room 

Interact with players by warning them of poor performances (including Inglese) and it seems to work and we started to play better 

Best performance was the 1-0 win against league leader Reggina at their home ground - first time this season where there's not many highlights of the opponent attacking. It was the first time we also had won against a top-4 side this season. The win against Frosinone earlier on was when they were already dropping to 5th.

Favourite moment definitely Circati late winner vs Venezia - 1. it was his first goal ever 2. confirmed promotion to Serie A 3. it gave us a chance for the title on the final day. Folklore hero in the making! 

 Final day drama...

Spoiler

Whilst there was not to be a dramatic final day win for Parma, since Reggina also won their match, there were plenty of other matches of importance for the play offs and relegations.

1. Como and Cosenza winning their matches confirmed their play offs position. Suditrol, Brescia, Pisa all could have pipped them to it if results had gone their way.

2. A combination of Ascoli winning against 6th place Cagliari, and Cittadella holding on to draw 0-0 away to Venezia saw the latter got relegated in front of their home crowd.

A Venezia win would have relegated Cittadella or a Cagliari win would have relegated Ascoli who started in the lowest position between the 3.

Serie B table:

Spoiler

Serie B player stats:

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There were times in February where Bobby English wasn't playing well and not scoring and he was behind in the Capocannoniere race by 3 goals. To finish 8 ahead just showed how much dropping him to the bench helped him to rediscover his form 

Vazquez finished with 14 goals and 20 assists.. 

Parma Player Stats:

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Records:

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1. 

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2.  

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Inglese then scored a hat - trick in the next game vs Pisa to equal the record. It took him another 3 games to break Crespo's record but there wasn't any message notification of the achievement. Strange. 33 goals in total in 39 matches.

3. 

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4. 

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5. 

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In other news:

Spoiler

After the Pisa match, with only needing a point to confirm promotion against Venezia, decided to take the option on Zanimacchia - before Serie A status will change his wage demand 

I still had £3.1m from January Window which had grown to £3.6m somehow when I made the offer. £2.6m was the agreed option from the loan deal.

It was done and signed in time before the Venezia match - though he didn't play well in that game to mark the occasion  

With Vazquez leaving, that's 38 goals and assists I need to replace. Man and Mihaila can only play on one side of the wide attacking positions effectively, why signing Zanimacchia was important for Parma since he can play across all 3. None of my other realistic targets would be cheaper than him, so he will be my first official transfer not on a free 

Season Storyline - Special Recap Edition!

Spoiler

1. Favourite moment of the season!

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Folklore origin story 1 

Last minute goal, first goal for the club and career, promotion confirmation on the line and keeping title hope for final day alive?

Whats not to love about Circati! 

 

2. Heroic Corvi! 

Spoiler

Look at this form! 

He already had 7+ ratings on 6 other occasions prior to this amazing sequence. So that's 12 in total! 

Interestingly, he was benched for 5 games prior to the 8.8 match vs Cosenza - because he had a 6.0 against Suditrol in Parma's worse performance of the season beforehand.

He saved 2 out of 3 penalties too during the season!

In comparison, Buffon had eight 7+ rating matches in 21 matches. Corvi played 18 matches. Both had 7 clean sheets. 

More importantly though, Buffon had 5 matches where he played with 6.4 rating and under. Compared to Corvi 2.

Special mention, Corvi also got the only 10-rating for training in the final week of the season! He had been 9+ since December too!

What a character! Loving all these origin stories for Parma folklore legends in the making 

3. A goodbye? 

Spoiler

Last game for Parma, and he just went on to play a blidning 10/10 match! Parma only one this season 

Parma will miss his 14 goals and 20 assists 

He also scored 14 goals for Parma in unsuccessful Serie B promotion campaign last season.

One of my biggest regret ever not being able to keep him as I would like for him to retire with Parma alongside Buffon and Inglese 

4. Buffon's journey?

Spoiler

Parma living legend! El Capitano! My initial plan before the save was for Buffon to play most of the matches...

Despite registering eight 7+ rating matches, he also had five matches with 6.4 and under. He also had a lot more 6.5 than 6.9. It seems most of the goals were easy as well...

Buffon started 20 matches and came on as a sub once.. More on that below 

That said, nothing will change! He will still play next season and until he retires 

I did played him in Parma's last home match just incase he decided to retire. Immersion, you know? 

I even brought him on as substitute in the 91st minute of the final game of the season - just incase Reggina happened to concede a late goal.. so Buffon would be on the field as Captain to lift the Serie B trophy! 

Alas, not the dream ending scenario but all the storyline and narratives were super fun for me!

 

What's next?

Next update: Finances, squad thoughts and plans for Summer Transfer Window!

Edited May 17, 2023 by quee
Week 37 table instead of final standing

[RVP32]

I'm still looking around for a team and I only have a handful of options to pick from left but the Serie A has been strongly calling me again, after saves with Inter (back during the Icardi days) and a very enjoyable Roma save a couple editions back.

Ran the pre-season with Lazio and I enjoyed it a lot so far. With Immobile, Sergej and Luis Alberto there are 3 quality players to play with, while also have Luka Romero around to develop into a player to join them quality-wise. Would be fun to have them become a club that regularly wins trophies while maintaining the Spanish affinity they have regarding players the last few years.

Additionally, there's also AC Milan. Looking at the squad, there's a lot I want to change. For starters, I definitely want to make it more Italian. Looking at Inter with the Italians (especially quality ones like Barella) makes me jealous. Furthermore, there's some nice young talent, which I like to develop, and some oldies that can function as good tutors (Kjaer, Giroud). The dream would be to get Donnarumma back if I were to pick Milan, but I'm accepting that will be a very expensive mission.

Anyone else that has taken charge of either of those two teams? And how did it end up for you? Quite interested in hearing about the endeavours!

[RobAnt80]

Is there something wrong in Serie A after the World Cup first season? Every single save I can't win a game after the World Cup and winter break finishes. It's like the team dies overnight. From top four form to relegation form. Same on every update as well. 

[sedge11]

My 1st season with Roma is done.

Their previous highest finish in 5 seasons in this save was 6th, we did one better and got 5th.

So close to top 4, but a couple of losses late in the season and a lack of depth just cost us. Milan under Ten Hag won the domestic double.

Europa league was a tough one and our lack of depth got exposed as we struggled a little in the group stage, we did manage to get to the semi final though but eventually lost out to Lyon, who won it.

Here were the player stats.

Lucca was incredible, 22 in the league and 16 in the europa league. Our problem was a lack of back up for him, with Pellegrini our next highest scorer with 14. So that was a main target for next season, to give Lucca some support. I brought Dybala back on a free, Roma had released him before I joined, and he was still without a club, he did well in 6 months but has now retired, which was a shame.

So very quickly onto our transfers for our 2nd season with Roma.

I wanted to give some help to Lucca, and we did that with 3 attacking signings. Grealish is 32 but for a free is great option, Bardghji joins me on loan from my old club, he has a option to buy in the loan but its for 48 mil, so not sure how I will work that one out. Kean had scored alot of goals for Genoa, so comes in as a back up to Lucca, he wasn't my 1st choice but the lack of champs league football hampered my plans for the striker role, as a couple of my options went to other clubs.

Nianzou and Bamba gives us alot more depth at CB which will help us alot. Correia is a regen LB who looks very good, 4.6 mil was his release clause.

 

I feel very confident we can achieve something this season, I fully expect to win the europa league, we are easily one of the best in it, and we have won our 1st 2 games against our hardest opponents. We have had an excellent start, with only 1 poor result against Inter stopping us from have a 100% record. Lucca, Grealish and Bardghji have formed a great front 3 so far.

What's been most pleasing is the clean sheets, defensively we were poor last season and didn't have great depth, and you can immediately see the benefits of our signings with 6 clean sheets in 8.

 

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Sixth Update

End of Season 1 Review - July 2023

End of Season Review:

Spoiler

Serie B Awards:

Spoiler

 

 

 

Finances:

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Second cash injection from the board. This is getting more interesting and challenging than anticipated - and I'm enjoying it a lot 

2nd season budget - after taking into account Zannimacchia's £2.6m transfer fee I think. Any incoming transfer fee I will only get 20% added to the budget 

1st of July, the finance is looking like this. A lot of work to do to repair the club finances.

This is interesting..

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Parma never once hold the top position in Serie B. Found this to be really interesting despite being a late title challenger.

Unexpected transfers..

Spoiler

So, whilst trying to sort out contracts and planning for my 2nd season.. I noticed Hernani and Grassi already had transfers arranged.

This was weird since I never accepted any bids. Thought it was a bug. Then I started a new game to see clauses..

Yep, Hernani, Grassi, and Pezella all had Promotion/Avoid Relegation clauses in their loan deals.

Pezella's Lecce didn't survived the drop on the last day - where 4 matches involved decided the final relegation spot. Got lucky really since Pazella was in my plan.

 

Squad and Summer Transfer Window Planning:

Spoiler

The main dilemma for me will be who to replace Vazquez in the AMC position.

After much deliberation and looking at feasible targets, decided to change my tactic to a 4-1-2-2-1 from 4-2-3-1.

This is mainly because I have more CMs and DMs. It would also hopefully help my leaky defence in a stronger Serie A.

Losing Vasquez was such a blow on how we played in Serie B, that I would need 2 new players for the AMC position. Budget wise I don't think this is feasible. I'm already making dues with just Zanimmachia, Mihaila, Man sharing 2 positions without much depth for the wing positions.

Will see how the transfer movements and availability pan out in the Summer - at the moment I have no one particular target. 

Except maybe bringing Fabbian on loan from Inter (had planned Hernani to anchor my DM position), and maybe Carboni back for a 2nd loan spell as well. We will see.

I'm planning to improve Parma's finances as well as much as I can. It might be another 3-4 seasons before I can get players that I want. So exciting! 

What's next?

Next update: Summer Transfer Window!

 

 

Edited June 6, 2023 by quee

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Seventh Update

Summer Transfer Window 1 - July - August 2023

 

Parma Transfers:

Spoiler

So.. Where's Fabbian and Carboni? Inter accepted my loan offer for both but Fabbian refused to come and Carboni decided to go to LASK of Austria instead. 

With most of my budget going to contract renewals, I had to look at loan and free transfers.

I considered going for real wide players like Buannotte of Brighton or Romero of Lazio on loan, but opted for Tresoldi instead because his future fee is affordable at £2m.

Long term, he will be playing upfront as my pressing forward. But he is flexible enough to play on either wings for now off the bench to give some depth there.

Armini was recommended by my scout, thought he would be a good replacement for Osorio as my 4th CB and also to fill in for Delprato when I want a more defensively more solid RB than Coulibaly especially against bigger clubs.

I also had offer accepted and agreed with Seslar for £1.2m. After 3 weeks of delaying it, decided to cancel because 1) he is more of an AMC 2) He would be competing with Bernabe in midfield instead of playing together 3) needed all the money for possible free agents signing for the rest of the window. He joined Lazio instead. The fact that the like of Dortmund, Napoli, Monaco, etc. offered to buy him might indicate something more is there with him. Might regret this one in hindsight 

Of the outgoing, Cyprien was the hardest for me to take off the wage bill. Accepted 2 good offer from Ajaccio of France and Ulsan of Korea, Cyprien asked for £600k wage compensation - which I had to agree to make him move.. Only for him to reject them anyway

Luckily Sporting came in with an even better offer weeks later and Cyprien compensation was only £77k in wage - works out perfectly in the end. Strangely, Sporting transfer listed him straight away. I noticed this when I got an offer from his agent in August. A bug?

 

Transfer Window Roundup:

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Top 3 transfers were Rodrygo (£79m) from Madrid to Man City, Unai Simon (£64m) from Bilbao to Tottenham, Matheus Cunha (£63m) from Atletico to Wolves.

Biggest movement in Italy was Wonderkid Scalvini moving from Atlanta to Juventus for £63m (£50m upfront).

Inter also got Mitoma from Brighton for a bargain £24.5m, who surprisingly got relegated in England.

Contracts:

Spoiler

My biggest dealings had to be on the contract-front to manage the finance better.

Managed to get my 3 highest earners to drop their wages by a huge amount. Kurtic from £38.5k > £14k, Buffon from £32.5k > £9k and surprisingly Inglese also agreeing for a wage cut from £34.5k to £21k.

Biggest renewal increase  was Pezzella from £17.5k to £25k p/w but it will kick in at the end of the season when his contract is expiring  Camara and Zagaritis also got an extension at the end of the season since their contract is expiring.

My top 3 current highest earners are Man £34.5k, Inglese £21k, Bernabe £19k. Very happy with this. Though, Man's renewal might cause me some problem. Decisions need to happen then whether to break the wage structure or move him on before his contract is expiring in 2025.

Finances:

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One of my target was improving the finance and I think I did that by being frugal on the transfers. Went from £5.8m in the red on July 1 to £1.08m in the red now.

Even more satisfying, was able to get our wage bill down from £480k to £357k p/w now 

Hopefully more room for flexible transfers in the summer wage wise.

 

 

Coppa Italia:

Spoiler

Overall thoughts:

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This is the hardest Parma challenge I've played in FM due to the major financial constraints. But its also worthwhile and so much fun.

Would probably like to bring in one or two more loan players, but decided to save cost on wages and decide to give the younger players a chance this season before finalising my long term squad with full knowledge of everyone potential.

In previous FMs, I would sign some free agents with half a mind to sell them for profit. Found a good young Bulgarian GK Vustov, but he asked for £10k p/w - more than Buffon's new wage! And more than my first choice, Corvi! Sacrilege!

Decided to forego him, and when he signed for CSKA Moscow, his transfer value is £6m 

But its also fun this way in my opinion. Slow and steady progress organically instead of gaming the system too much.

Parma Squad for 2023/2024:

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GK - Buffon, Corvi, Turk

RB - Delprato, Coulibaly

RCB - Circati, Balogh, Dierckx

LCB - Valenti, Armini

LB - Pezzella, Zagaritis

DM - Sohm, Juric

RCM - Bernabe, Badashille, Hainaut

LCM - Kurtic, Camara, Mir

RW - Man, Bonny

LW - Zannimachia, Mihaila, Sits

FWD - Inglese, Tresoldi*, Benedyczak*, Charpentier

*Since Inglese usually starts and play most of the minutes, Tresoldi and Benedczak will come off the bench more for both RW and LW positions respectively.

Finally..

Spoiler

What's next?

Next Update: Midseason break and preparations for Winter Transfer Window!

Edited June 6, 2023 by quee

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Eight Update

Season 2 Midseason Break - January 2024

 

Fixtures:

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Serie A Table:

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Serie A Player Stats:

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Parma Players Stats:

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Records:

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Why Buffon started the season first choice 

Finances:

Spoiler

Normally I would try to persuade my staff to stay, but when I saw the decent compensation amount, I decided to let it pass. Could use as much income as I can.

Since Cyprien is transfer listed and playing zero matches, decided to cash in on this clause for extra transfer budget for January.

I wonder how close Parma can get to Juventus in the next 5 years.

Almost out of the red!

Interesting Tidbits so far..

Spoiler

Never seen this kind of injury for FM before, a player wearing protective mask.

First Consortium takeover talk of the save that I saw.

Parma Transfers:

Spoiler

1. This was more of a necessity and chance opportunity. One of the few reports returning a 3* CA within my budget in terms of wages.

There was a time where all 3 of Man, Mihaila, Zannimachia all out injured one after the other. I feel Mosquera would at least give us some extra options out wide. He will be taking the non-EU slot this season. Hope this risky signing pays off somehow 

2. And this is why I could only think of wage budget. These clauses took out all of my remaining budget - which went to zero in early December.

3. This is a very interesting find by my scouts. Had him on trial for 4 weeks and he did really well in the u20s, seems to have good potential. No-brainer signing this one. He might replace Armini as 4th choice CB since Armini is struggling to perform.

Running Commentary Thoughts:

Spoiler

Pretty good start to life back in Serie A for Parma!

Needed an extra time winner in the Coppa Italia from young Bonny.

The first 3 games in Serie A were our best performances. Even in the lost to Roma. The last minute winner against Inter was celebrated in real life 

Then reality kicks in the 0-3 loss to Juventus. Buffon had a 5.7 rating.. and our performances been generally bad until December.

Most of the draws and wins were from comebacks from 1 or 2 goals down. We seemed to play better against bigger teams due to our counter attacking tactic.

In December decided to play more control game against non-top teams, and performances improved a bit.

Young Tresoldi been impactful off the bench, with some important goals. I think we will make his move permanent for sure as we like his fit with the team.

As the Parma squad page above in Parma Players stats indicates, our performance been generally bad. Only five players above 7 rating. But such is life of a team trying to avoid relegation. 

Have seen enough of some of the younger players that I will loan them out for the 2nd half of the season as Parma's squad size is quite big. Especially now with Mosquera and Paskotsi coming in to improve the quality of the squad's depth.

What's Next?

Next Update: Midseason break and January Transfer Window!

[oze07]

thiniking of doing an italian save, their under 21 team is class. Id love to build an all iatalian first 11, just wondering what team would be best to try with?

[CR#7]

42 minutes ago, oze07 said:

thiniking of doing an italian save, their under 21 team is class. Id love to build an all iatalian first 11, just wondering what team would be best to try with?

 

Roma, Atalanta, sassoulo

[Vladis]

On 05/05/2023 at 23:23, Vladis said:

Season 3 is over with my Brescia side. After great return to Serie A (9th place last season) we went further and for the first time in Brescia history qualified for major European cup (I don`t take into account Intertoto Cup two decades ago)

SEASON 2023-2024

Transfers

We were very limited in finances so I was searching for bargaing deals. Two promising young players Svit Sešlar and Mitja Ilenič were sign from Slovenia, decent goalkeeper Aleksandar Popovic came for free from Partizan (and went on loan to Osasuna in January after purchasing Rizzo on loan from Lyon). Petagna is a top free transfer, as well as Pirola for 125k from Inter. 

Serie A

We are making history! There were few drops in form during the season but strong November-December and last matches of the season allowed us to finish in top 6. 

Coppa Italia - Third Round (lost to Atalanta  0-2)

 

Best XI 

-------------------Petagna---Bianchi-------------------

-------------------------------Sešlar------------------------------

Beruatto---Bisoli---Bertagnoli---Ghiglione

-------Mangraviti---Papetti---Cistana--------

--------------------------------Rizzo-------------------------------

Full Squad details

 

Youth Intake

Only one youngster is deserved to be presented 

Marco Marcato - very promising defender. One of the best in last three intakes.

My career in Italy is developing in a very interesting way.
I just finished my 5th season with Brescia and in April I already agreed a contract with Fiorentina, which despite the not very good last two seasons, now is a real force in Serie A, primarily because of the solid financial injections into the club.

But first, a brief summary of five years at Brescia, the most successful period in the club's history.

The club has progressed from season to season. After a bright comeback in the elite of Italian football Brescia immediately established itself in the league and for the last 3 seasons was among the leaders and represented Italy on the European club scene, first in the Europa League and then in the main tournament of the old world - the Champions League.

Not the biggest results but the fact we were there is already a huge success.

As for the domestic cup, only in the last season we got really far (up to the semifinals).

 

The roster for the summer of 2027 of course changed a lot compared to the first season in Serie B, but our transfer policy was always well-balanced, each season we kept the core of the team and then strengthened some positions.

This is how Overall Best 11 looks like. I would only sweep Yeboah and Aye as Florian spent his 8th season in club and have made a much bigger contribution to the club's success at the distance than Yeboah who was only 18 months in a club before move to Tottenham. 

 

Our highest fee paid was Joe Scally who was signed a year ago for total fee 7,5M. And highest fee received is for Yeboah - 15M. As I already mentioned he joined Tottenham in this winter transfer window.

Other facts about our squad:

- 8 players from original squad of 2022 are still at the club: Mangraviti, Cistana, Papetti, Bisoli, Labojko, Bertagnoli, Bianchi and Aye.

- Defensive trio Mangraviti-Cistana-Papetti are Brescia home-grown players. 

- Two players from last four Youth intakes already debuted for senior team - Steffano Dell`Orco (currently on loan at Monza)  and Pietro Guglielmino

- 4 young players in the club system have really high potential (up to 4.5-5*).

 

I`m leaving club in a very healthy financial position, with significantly upgraded facilities and with perspectives of growing further (I hope).

As for me (my alter ago) - I finish my job here with 55% win percentage and  being awarded by the league as the Manager of the Season 26/27. 

 

Now I`m on the way to Florence and ready for the hard work of transforming Fiorentina and bringing it up to my own standards.

 

Edited June 7, 2023 by Vladis

[quee]

@VladisHow is Seslar for you?

[quee]

  

Ninth Update

Winter Transfer Window 2 - January 2024

 

Parma Transfers:

Spoiler

As mentioned in Update 8, Paskotsi was signed after 4 weeks trial in early December. Mosquera coming in as Bosman.

Now, the plan was for Mosquera to give depth on the wings positions.. but suddenly it feel congested there since I prefer to play others ahead of him when he was on the bench.

Then there's the problem of my midfield. Kurtic hasn't been great, so much so Mir is starting and performing ahead of him. 

I wanted to bring in Cameron Devlin from Hearts in the summer as a Bosman (I like his mental stats and his tenacious description).. before realising he is only 1cm taller than Bernabe - who is small enough at 170cm. Don't think its wise to have to pair small players in the center of the pitch unless we are dominating possession like Barca 

Devlin was also non-EU so had to cancel that plan. Where things get complicated is when Caseres appeared on my radar. Problem is he is non-EU as well. So had to loan out Mosquera abroad for Caseres to be eligible to play this season. Wanted to loan Camara instead but he suffered a Torn Groin injury to rule him out of getting any interest.

Caseres is good enough to be 2nd best player in my midfield, and he is 3 years younger than Devlin and 7cm taller!

Problem will be the non-EU situation next season. Not a good start for Mosquera's Parma career.

1. PASKOTSI

Spoiler

2. MOSQUERA

Spoiler

3. CASERES

Spoiler

 

Around the World Transfer Roundup:

Spoiler

Top 3 transfers were Johan Bakayoko from PSV to Inter (£73m), Buendia from Villa to Leicester (£56m), Maxime Esteve from Montpellier to Juventus (£41m).

Surprising that 2 of the biggest transfers came from Italy.

January Fixtures:

Spoiler

Luckily we had a crazy good month in January. 7 games unbeaten run before the loss to Roma.

The Fiorentina and Roma match we were out on our feet due to the fixture congestion and the penalty shootout win in Coppa Italia.

Our February fixtures aren't kind either. I'm expecting the opposite month instead 

Crazy match in the Coppa Italia where young Turk was the hero in the penalty shootout 

Thoughts..

Spoiler

I was super interested in getting either James Gomez (CB) or Stiven Shpendi (AML) - both available for £1-1.2m.

Gomez unfortunately signed with Juventus before I can finished scouting him.

Shpendi is a 20 year old Perfectionist Winger - that alone is very interesting for me. Might revisit him in the summer if I have the money.

Unfortunately I didn't have any money for even £1m transfer this window 

I could have adjusted expectations for more budget, but didn't want to risk getting sacked if we performed poorly in the 2nd half of the season.

The board then offered me a new contract before end of January anyway. At least a bit secured now. 

But as posted above, the February run of fixtures is scary for us.. Expecting a real struggle!

What's Next:

Next Update: Youth Candidate Intake 2.

[Vladis]

21 hours ago, quee said:

@VladisHow is Seslar for you?

Not top level, but good enough for Serie A, especially as rotation option. And he still have few years to develop further. 

[quee]

  

  

Tenth Update

Youth Intake Candidates 2 - March 2024

 

Youth Candidates:

Spoiler

This is unexpected! Usually Parma won't get decent regens until season 5 or so. Great surprise nonetheless! 

With Parma's financial shortcomings, these kind of prospects will help from within the club.

I do wonder if FM23's newgens are more random in terms of nationality? There were Argentinian and Romanian in the first one, 2 Nigerians and a Georgian in this one. I'm liking it though, not complaining! 

Obasi is a bit too small for my preference in defence, but will manage I hope!

And here is Luca Rivalta one year on in his development:

February & March Fixtures:

Spoiler

So, not only did we survived the scary February, we came through it really well!

2 goals down against Inter, injury time equaliser against Juventus, injury time winner against Bologna.. and my favourite result so far - 2 goals down against Roma in the Quarter Final of Coppa Italia away from home, only to come roaring back with a 5 - 2 win!

Inglese came on in the 70th minute.. only to score a hattrick 

In Other News:

Spoiler

The 4 - 0 win against Empoli confirmed Parma's survival from relegation this season 

It was a special match as well as Young Marconi got his first professional goal on his 3rd substitute appearance for Parma.

If I were to redo this save, I would change a few things such as sorting out Vasquez's contract and giving Bonny, Camara, Marconi more attention to develop them for long term future. I feel I wasted some of their development already 

The Juventus match was Buffon's 225th appearance for Parma as well.

What's Next:

Next Update: End of Season 2!

 

Edited June 10, 2023 by quee
Added Luca Rivalta from first Youth Intake

[Vladis]

@quee Obasi looks like a real wonderkid. Could be an elite wing back in few years.

[quee]

24 minutes ago, Vladis said:

@quee Obasi looks like a real wonderkid. Could be an elite wing back in few years.

I hope so too. Does newgens still grow in height in FM23? They used to be in the older FMs. Obasi might even be a good winger, but I rarely retrained players. Might be a good time to start