[FM22] The Great San Marino Challenge

[Lefurjah]

8 minutes ago, Thomassje123 said:

I make liberal use of trials.  Basically, when I get the scouting center update I offer a trial to almost everyone on the list.  Also, with the money you make from CL and ECL in the first season with Folgore you can send scouts out to Italy and Southern Europe for a price.  My biggest issue the first season was that I was constantly listed as 'struggling' with staying in the wage budget.   I basically just ignored it and did what I wanted, hoping the board would reward us second season with a good increase and they did.  That one is a bit weird though because the actually 'wages' for all of my players are $0 but I guess they also include the 'per appearance' fee into your per week wage calculation.   

I have also had an nearly 100% turnover from season 1 to season 2 and expect I might again going into season 3, unless I am able to go pro.  Finally, I use my connections as the national team manager to scout all of those players and try to see who I can lure to the club with promises of playing  in Europe . . . hence why I was able to get Colomubo from an Italian Serie D side

 

I can't and I also can't ask for it to the board. I really want to scout in Italy. Thanks for the screen 

 

 

That is weird that you can't.  Anytime I hit scout on someone outside the range it asks if I accept the additional cost.  

[Thomassje123]

I can do that but I would like to send a scout to Italy so I don't have to search for players myself. I tried to get the full prof status but the board doesn't want it yet. Maybe I can scout in south-Europe after we hit that

 

 

This is my squad now, december season 2

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

A nice little 4-1 win Vs Malta

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I have managed to set a new record for the youngest ever player to play in the UEFA Nations League. 

Gian Luca Simoncini at 16 years and 311 days set a new record.

Matteo Vitaioli just beat Andy Salva's record for the most caps for San Marino with his 74th cap.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I got a tough Champions League qualifier against Icelandic team Valur.

San Marino moving up the Nations Rankings slowly.

Edited November 29, 2021 by Ronaldo Beckham

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Get In !!!

Another away game with us playing FC Flora Tallinn next. It is going to be a tough game ahead.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Wow !!!

I promise no save reloading as I never do that even if I lose a game as it just ruins the fun for me. I was just terribly luckily to grind a result out.

I don't think I will progress further as I am playing Shamrock Rovers next.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Champions League Dream For This Season Is Over

I lost 5-3 on aggregate to Shamrock Rovers. We did very well against strong competition but I think the sending off in the 1st leg and losing 2-1 in the first leg made it a bit difficult for us but I am proud of my boys and we still got a chance of Europeon football in the UEFA Conference.

1st Leg

2nd Leg

I got a Faroe Islands team in the next round of the UEFA Conference

Sorry for all of the mini updates. I just got carried away with the Champions League adventure.

[deadfncat]

fair to say we are the underdogs

 

[deadfncat]

oh wow I have never seen this  sidenote, Serie A is crazy top heavy from what ive seen so far. the lower clubs I can beat but the big 3 just thrash me

 

[Sageda]

A few Years later my first ever win!!

[LUFCspeni]

How's this for a first season in Serie B 

[Thomassje123]

Congrats @Sageda And @LUFCspeni

[TacticalGenius]

Not bad. Still being threatened that we 'need to improve' though.

[Liamboyall7]

Glad i found this thread. Currently just about to start my 2nd season in Serie C, really struggling to find anyone of serie c standard to bring in and the loans are horrific. Dof doesn't offer anything either. But really enjoying this save. 

[Thomassje123]

 

 

F*ck... Won the cup tho so at least we go to the Conference League

[TacticalGenius]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TacticalGenius]

[LUFCspeni]

So... Serie A looks a mammoth task for this squad 

 

[TacticalGenius]

15 minutes ago, LUFCspeni said:

So... Serie A looks a mammoth task for this squad 

 

Ouch.

[TheJonsterMonster]

10 hours ago, Liamboyall7 said:

Glad i found this thread. Currently just about to start my 2nd season in Serie C, really struggling to find anyone of serie c standard to bring in and the loans are horrific. Dof doesn't offer anything either. But really enjoying this save. 

I agree. I'm in the same boat. The only thing I can think of is the club culture of signing Sammarinese players is affecting the DoF recommendations. 

(Having said that, I have a brand new starting eleven this year. Offering trials to pretty much anyone on a free transfer has worked.) 

We finished 3rd in our first season in Serie C, only losing to eventual double champions Ascoli in the second half of the season. We turned professional and I then realised nearly all the first XI were regarded as good or leading Serie D players. The wage budget didn't help much. I'd made do with offering players about £100 - £200 p/w. Turn professional and they want £475 p/w minimum. The squad is a little thin. I may have to suck it up and start playing the youth and turning a blind eye to the lack of technical skills. 

[TacticalGenius]

EUROPE!

[FabioSilva]

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

San Marino's Greatest Victory So Far

 

We are doing well in the UEFA Nations League.

@6499red Nanni got a hattrick for me as well so can you make a note of that when you are keeping track of the records please buddy.

Nanni also beat Andy Salva's record and Nanni now has 10 goals in 32 San Marino appearances

Edited December 1, 2021 by Ronaldo Beckham

[TacticalGenius]

On 10/11/2021 at 21:35, 6499red said:

Get promoted from Nations League D:

@6499red Forgot I’d done this. Image coming soon. 

[Liamboyall7]

8 hours ago, FabioSilva said:

 

Congrats. I'm still stuck in this miserable league lol

[TacticalGenius]

Probably went as well as could be expected I suppose.

[oskumustatuli]

Hi. I'm managing Victor San Marino with claassens databases. It's my third season and second in Serie D. My U20 and U18 are still playing only friendlies. Anyone gone further with claassens file, how is your youth teams doing? Are they promoted to youth leagues?

[FabioSilva]

10 horas atrás, Liamboyall7 disse:

Congrats. I'm still stuck in this miserable league lol

It did not end as i was thinking of but yeah, lucky i clinched the title on the last matchday

4 horas atrás, oskumustatuli disse:

Hi. I'm managing Victor San Marino with claassens databases. It's my third season and second in Serie D. My U20 and U18 are still playing only friendlies. Anyone gone further with claassens file, how is your youth teams doing? Are they promoted to youth leagues?

I use it, My U18 started playing when i got promoted to Serie C, i think U20 will start playing now that i got promoted to Serie B

[LUFCspeni]

How's this for a comeback to keep our survival hopes alive?

Edit: turned out to be a HUGE result

Edited December 1, 2021 by LUFCspeni

[deadfncat]

6 hours ago, LUFCspeni said:

How's this for a comeback to keep our survival hopes alive?

Edit: turned out to be a HUGE result

haha i had a similar end to the season but i played Inter and AC Milan in the last 2 games. was soundly thumped in both, however the team just below me on the ladder lost on the last day and saved me

[TacticalGenius]

Can anyone help with this? AM and scouts seems to be confusing club rating with NT rating... Happens to some scouted players as well, not just players at VSM.

 

I've just confirmed that it's a dual management issue. Quitting as manager of SMNT fixed the overview screen rating. I'll report it.

Edited December 2, 2021 by TacticalGenius

[duesouth]

I've been on pause for over a week due to the dynamic youth ratings bug.  My strategy was based around it (and I'm probably barking up the wrong tree with it !!).  No word from SI if a fix will be save game compatible, but general feeling from other users is that it will be, summed up by this post:

"No-one will be able to tell you anything definitive.  Likely not even SI (and they wouldn't if they could).  Generally, as others have said, fixes are save game compatible.  For the most part, if a fix has some component in the database, then you'll need a new save.  If it's something more core or logic related, then you'll usually be fine.  But that's a general rule, and not necessarily how it will work in practice."

I've missed the save a bunch - haven't found anything even close to it in terms of immersion - so I'll take a flyer and continue over the weekend.  If it needs a new save, it'll need a new save, and I might not bother starting again anyway.

[Oscar Skrt]

Tried this a few years ago, but decided to have another go at it again. Went with a solid 4-4-2 and that had me crushing opponents through most of the year. Voinea is a beast, but couldn't win me the treble as we get FM'ed out of the Dilettanti Cup. Will take over the national team in the near future, but would rather focus on the club getting higher in the league system. Youth intake didn't give me the greatest of players, but there are a few gems in there

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I have managed to convince Emiliano Pedrazzini to play for San Marino. 

Has anyone else managed to convince him ?

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Progress In The Right Direction

This news is not so good.

I managed to win the San Marino treble with Pennarossa and have another try at getting Champions League group football with a 1st Prelim round game vs Estonia team Nomme Kalju FC.

Slowly getting the crowds up with Pennarossa with an average crowd of 718

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Pennarossa Champions League Journey 2nd Attempt

I started with a 3-2 victory Vs Kalju

I now play Montenegro side FK Sutjeska Niksic in the 2nd round.

[TacticalGenius]

@6499red Beat a nation in the top 50:

 

Also:
Qualify for European Championship finals
Get promoted to Nations League C

[Handyfernandy]

For the first time i play Football Manager in my life, i got The Invincibles. This is second season with Victor San Marino in Serie D. We going to champions and of course we will fight for Serie C next season 

I signed many players this season, but only two player whp playing better than other, two of them are Noam Emeran and Salvatore Caturano

All player stat

In years 2024 San Marino National Team make progress to improve. Now we are 201th on FIFA Ranking. 

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

So Far So Good In My Champions League Journey

Very tough game in the next round Vs Moldova side FC Sheriff Tiraspol

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Last Minute Winner

In the first leg it was looking decent with a 1-1 draw in the home leg and then in the last minute Edoardo Soldati scores a last minute winner to give us a good chance of qualifying but I now have a tough home leg against Shariff.

I will play the 2nd leg later.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Brilliant Start To The 2nd Leg

We score in the first few minutes of the game. I couldn't of asked for us to have a better start to the game.

We ended up winning 3-0. What a result.

We have our biggest game ever coming up vs Romanian side FC CRF 1907 Cluj. They might be a step too much for our club but we will try our best.

Also getting there slowly with the development stage at the club.

Edited December 4, 2021 by Ronaldo Beckham

[GoodScrimshaw]

4 seasons in, consolidation in Serie C after finishing 9th.

 

Now, got to 26th Oct with no league reset, no new fixtures. I only have the save file from 3rd July, after when the league usually resets (30th June). Looks like that's it, ****ed. Don't think I can be bothered starting from scratch.

 

I'm guessing if anyone had this issue before, they would have said so. So I doubt it's a database issue. Any ideas?

[Ronaldo Beckham]

All To Play For In The 2nd Leg

I managed to get a 0-0 in the home leg but we have now have the difficult task of play Cluj at their ground with us being the massive underdogs.

And the journey ends with a 3-0 loss to Cluj. 

Oh well there is always the Europa League. I got Linfield in 3rd Qualifying round.

Hopefully I can try do well in that competition.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Massive Progress For Pennarossa

I managed to beat Malmo to secure Europa League group football for Pennarossa and has massively improved the finances of the club. Before the Malmo game Pennarossa had just £800k in the bank and now we have £4m. 

This will greatly help with improving facilities, coaching etc.

I have an insane group of death with me having Besiktas, Celtic and Valencia 

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

A Good Sign Of Progress

[duesouth]

Season 2021/22

Victor San Marino

So, right off the bat, I have to say I clicked with this save massively - in a way I didn't with the manufactured challenge in FM20 and FM21 (or any other save in those 2 games).  The dynamic youth rating bug was a downer, but I've got back into the save quickly after a break, thankfully.  So, I'm in this for the long haul - including if it means I keep playing this save in FM22 and don't buy FM23 when it comes out in November 2022.  I play slowly, so little chance I'll manage 20+ seasons in one real life year.                                            

Now, the change to dynamic youth ratings feels like a game changer for this challenge (at least when SI fix it!!).  As it's new, there's not a pre-defined road map for us to follow.  I've been thinking a lot (too much according to the missus) about how to attempt it - and I've personally decided to go a certain way.  This is just my point of view - and probably very wrong!  So, here's my Baldrick type cunning plan:                                    

We start with San Marino bottom of the world rankings at 210 with a youth rating of 29.  That's the only time I will see the youth rating, as you can't see it in-game.  I've done a little work comparing world rankings to FM youth ratings.  There's not a neat and tidy correlation, but I have estimated/guessed that to improve my dynamic youth rating, I'll need to crack the top 150 in the world.  The next increment, I estimate top 110; then top 70, then top 40 and finally top 10.  The potential fly in the ointment to this cunning plan, is that the tiny population of San Marino will likely put a cap on how high the DYR will go - and it might be you need to have major success to move the needle - it's all unknown.  But I'll push ahead with my plan until I see something to make me think again...                                

The next problem was how to approach the challenge with this in mind.  In theory, one can be extremely aggressive with loans and ruthless in terms of changing your squad with every promotion until you're in Serie A - which will solve Victor San Marino's financial problems immediately (and is really the only way of doing so, although perhaps the transfer market can help keep your head above water).  However, if I do that I figure my youth intakes will become disconnected from the quality of my first team squad.  Most Sammarinese youth players will be coming in at Serie C/D level.  Any dual nationals who might be Serie A standard (because of Italy's excellent youth rating) will want to play for Italy.  Having maxed out my facilities in my FM19 save with San Marino Calcio and still got pretty rubbish intakes (I even went back in again a week or so ago and got my 2045 intake and it was predictably awful - a bunch of 1.5 stars PA), plus losing 3 Serie A level dual players to Italy, and given the Dynamic Youth Ratings, my plan is to try to keep Victor San Marino at, or just above, the level of our intakes.  That should be Serie D near the start of the save, but that would mean being part-time and development will be limited, so for better or worse, my first 5 year plan is:                                    

1.  Promotion from Eccellenza                         

2.  Serie D playoffs                               

3.  Promotion from Serie D                               

4.  Stay up in Serie C                            

5.  Avoid relegation playoffs in Serie C                         

I don't think there will be money to be made in Eccellenza or Serie D in the transfer market.  However, in Serie C, perhaps my scouts can find some U19 players with potential and I can sell them on for a profit and with sell-on clauses.  The trick will be to get them to want to sign for us in the first place - but I'll worry about that if/when I get to Serie C.                                               

In the meantime, with a strong squad in Year 1 in the Eccellenza, I wanted to get out of dodge in the first season if at all possible.  I signed a free agent right back as I thought we were poor at the position, and a backup or two to fill the 25 man squad.  We started the year with a 0-1 loss - going down to 10 men and struggling.  After that, it was smooth sailing.  At the mid-season break we were 11 points clear at the top of the table.  I was a bit worried about an injury crisis, so elected to rotate for mid-table cup games - we did win 2 penalty shootouts, but came unstuck in the Quarter-Final - but I wasn't bothered at all, as the league was my priority.                                   

The second half of the season was pretty easy - and we won the league with ease.  This allowed me to rotate for some of the last games, which was to determine if any of the subs were good enough to remain a backup in Serie D next season, and I'll bring back some of them.

With the board wanting me to sign Sammarinese players, I signed three from San Marino Academy in January just to keep them happy.  I then went through the national team squad and earmarked players who could do a job for me in Serie D.  As soon as their contracts were 6 months from expiring - I approached Alessandro Tosi (DL), Filippo Fabbri (DC) and Matteo Giorgi (DM/MC) and all three agreed deals with us.  I have 3 tactics: an attacking 4-2-2-2 (2 MC's, an AML and AMR), a basic 4-4-2 and a defensive 4-2-2-2 (2 DM's, a ML and MR) - so I need my centre mids to be able to play DM and MC - so Giorgi was a perfect fit.  I'm also going to try hard to sign one of 3 goalkeepers.  My top choice was Elia Benedettini so he's sharp for national duty, but he's just signed a new 2 year contract with Cesena, where he's a backup.  Hopefully when the league year kicks over and we're officially a Serie D club, one of the other 2 might sign for us, or there might be an outside chance I can get Elia in on loan.

Youth Intake

Potential here - but with the training facilities below average and being part-time, I don't know how much they'll realise that potential - we shall see...

San Marino National Team

It can be really tough with the National Team at the start of the save - as evidenced by our 0-9 and 0-10 losses to Poland and England respectfully.  Although I have to admit I'm not 100% sure how it works, but I THINK these results are the single most important factor in improving our dynamic youth rating (as well as our World Ranking).  So, I'm going to give the National Team far more focus than I would normally at this stage of the save.  Of course, there's not much you can do with the inherited squad - so trying is not doing!  We got a win away to Andorra - coming back from 0-2 down to win it in injury time with a Nicola Nanni free-kick.  We then beat them again at home - a tight 1-0 win - to move us up to 207th in the world.  To give us the best chance of winning those games, I basically played a second XI in the fixtures before so the first XI were as close to 100% fresh as possible.  I'm not sure how much friendlies will help (if we can win!), but I'm taking a Tesco/every little helps approach.  We won one (vs Sudan) and drew another (vs Papua New Guinea) with a rotated team to move up to 206th in the world.  The first real chance to move the needle will be the Nations League - the road map in the first year is to be competitive and win 2 or 3 games - and then try for promotion when we get a second crack.  If promotion happens sooner, then I'll take it - and the ranking points!  We've got the slightly tougher group in the draw though, which isn't ideal...  We have Latvia, Kazakhstan and Malta - the other group is Andorra, Liechtenstein and Moldova.  For European Championship and World Cup qualifiers - it will be a case of trying not to get badly beaten against the big boys; the odd shock draw against middle tier teams; and the odd win against the lesser nations.                                  

 

 Cosmos

With Cosmos, expectations were low from the board with the year one target being to finish bottom - not even to avoid finishing bottom!  Even I can do that was my thought!  With 9 foreign players allowed in the San Marino League, I decided from the start to give myself a self-set 5 foreign player limit in year one with a view to reducing this down the road.  I'm not sure I'll go 100% Sammarinese, there might be glass ceilings to break through in Europe down the road which might need foreign talent.  We'll see.  4 foreign players were given free transfers and I signed a bunch of free agents - with the requirements being basically anyone with even a weak pulse!  So, playing a very basic 4-4-2 we actually managed to slightly exceed board expectations... by finishing top of the table!  I prioritised the league, as with Eccellenza it's a 25 man squad so I was worried about injuries, rotating for the Cup and went out in the first round.  We had a couple of periods where suspensions and injuries hit, but for sure I wasn't expecting this.                                             

The playoffs started with a wild game against Cailungo - we won the first leg 3-1 and were 3-1 up at the half of the the second leg and clearly switched off - as they came roaring back to take a 4-3 on the day lead.  It ended 5-4 and 8-5 on aggregate - but the damage was done with that first leg 3-1 win.  Next up were Virtus.  We won the first leg away 2-1, but were nervous for the second leg and lost 0-1 - but went through as the higher seed.  We got Folgore in the final, having lost to them both times in season.  They took the lead in the second half of a tight game - and we threw caution to the wind and went very attacking.  Thankfully, we equalised from a corner with 2 minutes to go.  Extra time was tight with very few chances, so we went to penalties.  The first 8 scored - but our winger Canti went straight down the middle and his was saved - and they scored the last one to win.  Disappointing - but we're in Europe after season one, which is ahead of schedule.

Youth Intake

The youth intake gave me a gem - a 5* CA central defender Marco Volpinari - who was good enough to get called up to the San Marino squad.  He played internationally before playing for Cosmos as I can't register him until next season - but given I have an aging central defender with 4 pace, he's a much needed upgrade.  He's left footed, but his personality is fickle - not sure if we have enough leaders to successfully mentor him, but I'll try.  The rest have potential - but quite whether they will ever get close to that potential with the rubbish facilities at the club remains to be seen - I suspect not.  The board did agree to increasing youth recruitment - but not junior coaching, although I will try again.

My plan is to take the prize money from Europe next year and keep most of it.  The first priority is to turn fully professional and I figure we'll need about £2-3 million in the bank to do so.  After that, we'll upgrade facilities with any future European money.  Hopefully, we can build a better squad so we can rotate a bit more to help with player development - this will drive improvement in our youth intakes more than training I suspect - but is made harder by the limited 25 man squad (it used to be a 99 man squad, so easy to give U19's the odd game or sub appearance).  Careful planning is required and I'll take more time with this side of it than actually playing the games.

@6499red- some achievements, please:

Victor San Marino - Win promotion from Eccellenza.

San Marino League - Qualify for the Champions Playoffs, quarter-final, semi-final and final; plus qualify for Europe.

Edited December 7, 2021 by duesouth

[SoloTitano]

Cool careers from most of you, congrats! Big support from here!

[Sageda]

Hey guys, so im in serie B and i was trying to sign a south africa and i realise that i cant sign non-EU players from abroad, is this a real serie B rule? Does it apply to serie A ?

[TacticalGenius]

Avoid relegation in Serie A in your first season in this division
Qualify for Europe
Qualify for the group stage of the Europa League
Qualify for the knockout stages of the Europa League

Beat a team ranked in the top 50 in the world
Get promoted from Nations League D
Qualify for the European Championship Finals

 @6499red