[FM23] An American Takeover of Venezia

[DaneBramage]

VENEZIA FC

The last 22 years have been pretty chaotic at Venezia. The 21st century started with a celebration, finishing 4th in Serie B and clinching promotion to the Italian top flight.

But their time at the top only lasted one year, as relegation immediately followed in 2001/02. Worse was to come, as the owner sold up in July 2002 to buy Palermo instead, taking 13 players with him. Venezia struggled on but were plunged into financial difficulties and suffered another relegation in 2004/05. But again, there was more bad news to come. After relegation they were declared bankrupt and demoted another division.

The club re-formed in 2005/06 and won promotion from Serie C2 at the first time of asking. But they found life in Serie C difficult and after three years at this level, went bankrupt again.

The club re-formed again in 2009/10, and were demoted into Serie D. It took three years this time to get back up to Serie C, and guess what happened next? Yes, bankruptcy again!

Once more, Venezia were placed back into Serie D for the 2015/16 season. But there was good news this time. A takeover by American investors saved the club and they were promoted immediately. A second consecutive promotion followed, and Venezia started the 2017/18 season in Serie B. After narrowly avoiding relegation in 2018/19 when Palermo were demoted due to 'administrative non-compliance', the club was taken over by Duncan Niederauer, the American former CEO of the NYSE.

With the club now in a much better financial situation improvements were swift, and in 2020/21 promotion out of Serie B was confirmed. 

There's always a disaster around the corner for Venezia though, and they finished bottom of the 2021/22 Serie A, once again being relegated.

[DaneBramage]

The Americans

In addition to the owner, there are also a couple of Americans as part of the board as directors.

The influence isn't just in the boardroom though, it's also on the pitch.

The senior squad includes four American players, the highlight being club record signing Gianluca Busio, who cost $6.5 million from Sporting Kansas City.

There's also a Polish-American and a Portuguese-American in the under-20 squad.

This is a key part of the club's culture, as signing of American players is something they would prefer.

Edited November 8, 2022 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

The Aim

To win things, obviously.

Namely Serie B, then the Coppa Italia, Serie A, and the Champions League.

And the intention will be to do this using as many Americans as possible (second nationality also counts). There will be at least one American in every starting line-up.

I would also like to take over the US national team at some point, and then flip things around - try to win as much as possible with as many Venezia players as possible in the team.

[DaneBramage]

Recruitment

The board culture has four points, and I will focus on two of them.

Sign American players - This is the key one. At present our scouting is limited to South Europe, so a couple of scouts have been sent out to find any Americans in the region.

Sign players from the lower levels of the domestic game - This will also be followed. The remaining scouts have been sent out to look over Serie C.

Sign high-reputation players - We're in Serie B, I don't think signing high-profile players is a particularly realistic proposition right now. So this isn't a main focus, but hopefully down the line we'll be able to pick up some big name Americans.

Sign players under the age of 23 for the first-team - This won't be strictly followed. I'd assume any Serie C signings would likely fall into this category anyway, but established Americans may not.

In addition to the above, there will be a couple more routes for players to join us.

The youth intake - Obviously. We all look forward to this each year, and we all like seeing graduates break through and become part of the team.

Feeder clubs - I think this is something that probably isn't utilised enough, so I want to look into it a bit more. At present we have 11 affiliated clubs, nine from the Italian lower leagues and two from the Slovenian lower leagues. They all have greyed-out squads so aren't much use at the moment, but I'll keep an eye on them when the youth intakes come around to see if there's anyone worth snapping up. And once I'm more established in my role, will be looking to add more feeder clubs of a better standard.

[DaneBramage]

The Squad

I've inherited a massive senior squad, with 30 players in it currently. I'll go with it for now, and by January should start seeing who fits in to my plans and who has played themselves out of the club.

There's a few names I recognise here - Denis Cheryshev from previously being on the books at Real Madrid, Aaron Connolly is here on loan from Brighton, and Andrija Novakovic came through the ranks at the club I support, Reading.

The good levels of determination make me happy, as does the huge array of nationalities.

One alarming point is the wages of Luca Ceppitelli and Michael Cuisance. Both are on more than £30k a week, double the amount of anyone else. They better perform well to justify these figures, otherwise they could be prime candidates for an early exit.

[DaneBramage]

Expectations

The board want us to finish in the top-half, and the supporters want the same. The top two get promoted, while 3rd-8th go into a play-off (unless 3rd finishes 14 points ahead of 4th, in which case they go up automatically). So I'd like to aim for the top 8.

  

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Rivals

The supporters have a lot of enemies. Unfortunately, none of these clubs are in the same division as us. Padova, Vicenza, and Triestina are in Serie C, Mestre in Serie D, and Treviso in the fifth tier (that's a fall from grace - Wiki says they've had the same kind of bankruptcy and re-founding issues).

So hopefully one or two of these teams can get their act together and get promoted into the same tier as us, or a cup draw will be kind.

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Facilities + Finances

Very average, though the youth training could do with being brought up to scratch sooner rather than later. Finances will of course be the issue, I assume that money will trickle away pretty quickly.

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Departure

We had one departure before the season started with 37 year old goalie Niki Maenpaa leaving for Real Sociedad. The transfer fee was negligible, but getting his £7.25k weekly wage off the books will save around £350k over the course of the season.

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Edited November 5, 2022 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

August 2022

Results

Nope, this is not the start I had in mind.

Being drawn against a Serie A side in the Coppa Italia was unfortunate. We could have done with drawing easier opposition to gain some more games and thus more opportunities to use more of the squad, but it wasn't to be. Torino sent us packing sharpish.

Getting hammered 3-0 by Pisa on the opening day of the Serie B season was less than ideal too, and I have no idea how we conceded four times at home against Perugia, from an xGA of just 0.89.

Still, at least Aaron Connolly is filling his boots. And Andrija Novakovic and Gianluca Busio both helped contribute to this with an assist each.

Spoiler

American goals: zero

American assists: 2

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Edited November 5, 2022 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

September 2022

Results

Another loss, and I was starting to think this might be a pretty short-lived career. We did battle back from 2-0 down to 2-2 (including a first All-American goal, Tanner Tessmann setting-up Gianluca Busio), but conceded the deciding goal in the 88th minute.

We went back to the drawing board and with a revamped line-up performed much better against Cittadella, Domen Crnigoj announcing himself with a double. He then followed this up with another at Benevento.

Spoiler

American goals: 1

American assists: 1 (3 for the season)

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Serie B

Nothing special at the moment, we've lost more than we've won, but the final two results of the month felt better and like we were going in the right direction.

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Formation

I started the season with a 4-4-2 gegenpressing line-up, but it wasn't working and we were conceding a lot of goals (15 in 6 games). 

With the AssMan's guidance I've switched it up to a 4-5-1 vertical passing formation instead. There's a lot of in possession instructions, it looks a little cluttered but nothing seems to contradict itself, so we'll see how it goes.

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USA

Senior: 4-3 v Panama (North American Nations League Group Stage, finished in 1st place), 0-2 v South Korea (friendly)

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Edited November 7, 2022 by DaneBramage

[DomD]

Interesting club and board culture. Good luck with getting promoted.

In my current save I spent a season and half at Gubbio in Serie C. I mostly enjoyed my time there.

[DaneBramage]

26 minutes ago, DomD said:

Interesting club and board culture. Good luck with getting promoted.

In my current save I spent a season and half at Gubbio in Serie C. I mostly enjoyed my time there.

In FM20 it took me seven years to get out of Serie C. The play-offs were an absolute nightmare, lost in them six years in a row. Glad to be starting in the division above this time.

[DomD]

Yeah, exactly. I was probably heading for my second playoffs in a row, so when a new opportunity came along, I took it.

[DaneBramage]

October 2022

Results

Andrija Novakovic, take a bow son. Came off the bench two games in a row to grab late winners. We definitely had an element of luck against Cagliari, we only had three shots on target but we scored with all of them.

The Frosinone game was really frustrating though, our luck balancing out as we dominated the tie without scoring. And the match at Modena had me pretty annoyed, struggling against the side bottom of the table at the time. Joel Pohjanpalo hadn't had much chance to make an impact yet due to injury, but he came off the bench here to rescue a point.

Sudtirol were a side that I considered managing as they have a similar signing philosophy, but with Austrian players instead. We dominated the game, taking 73% of the possession, and made the breakthrough just before the interval. A second goal after the break was enough to give us the win, though we were holding on at the end as they threw everyone forward and Jesse Joronen did a good job keeping a clean sheet.

Spoiler

American goals: 3 (4 for the season)

American assists: 1 (4 for the season)

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Serie B

An unbeaten month sees us move up the table, and we've now reached the play-off places. 

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USA

Under-20: 2-0 v Mexico, 1-1 v Mexico, 0-3 v Costa Rica (friendlies), 2-0 v Guyana, 5-0 v Haiti (North American Championship First Round Group Stage)

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[the_hdk]

Interestng take  will follow!

[DaneBramage]

November 2022

Results

The games came thick and fast in November, with four games in just 12 days ahead of the World Cup break.

Andrija Novakovic scored his third goal of the season against Ternana, and for the third time it was also the strike that won the game.

Lots of people around here have their goalkeepers on penalty duty; I have the Americans instead, and Gianluca Busio scored from the spot against Cosenza.

SPAL were very lucky to leave with a point. We just didn't have our shooting boots with us, hitting the woodwork thrice but not getting a single shot on target.

Spoiler

American Goals: 2 (6 for the season)

American Assists: zero (4 for the season)

Serie B

Going nicely. At less than 1.5 goals scored per game I'd like to see a few more, buy who wouldn't?

USA

Senior Squad: 0-0 v Scotland (friendly), 1-0 v Wales, 0-1 v Iran, 1-3 v England (World Cup Group Stage, finished in 3rd place, eliminated)

Under-20: 3-0 v British Virgin Islands, 4-0 v Bonaire, 7-0 v Barbados (North American Championship First Round Group Stage, finished in 1st place), 0-0 v Honduras, 3-0 v Guatemala (North American Championship Second Round Group Stage, finished in 1st place), 2-0 v Canada (North American Championship Final, winners)

Edited November 7, 2022 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

December 2022

Results

I didn't realise we had games in December. I clearly didn't look at the fixture list properly and thought the break went until January. Thus we weren't ready for the trip to Ascoli and were really off the pace, going behind in just the 4th minute. We had less than 40% possession but somehow still managed to steal an undeserved win, through a pair of long distance efforts.

We were much better against Bari and Reggina, picking up full points for the month and making it 14 games unbeaten.

Two more clean sheets for Jesse Joronen, he now has nine, more than anyone else in the division. Just behind him is Gianluigi Buffon, still playing at the age of 44.

Spoiler

American Goals: 2 (8 for the season)

American Assists: 2 (6 for the season)

Serie B

Magic. We're real contenders.

Youth Preview

Never mind, maybe next year.

[shimera]

Good luck there! I was pretty excited when Venezia promoted last season but haven't managed to bring the victories in FM22, now they are relegated too...

[DaneBramage]

January 2023

Departures

Luka Ceppitelli had been a regular in defence, but at 33 years old, and with only six months left on his contract earning over £30k per week, it was an easy decision to let him go.

Maximilian Ullmann had been injured and not played a single minute, so by default he was only third-choice left-back. Also, it's another £10k per week saved.

Arrivals

We've made our first signing, an American-Lithuanian who was based in Croatia. We've possibly paid too much for Rokas Pukstas, our £550k offer was accepted immediately without any negotiation, but he's kept his 5.0 star potential after arriving so hopefully it will turn out to be a bargain.

Spoiler

Results

We started 2023 with a good win and the Americans dominating the scoresheet, but the rest of the month was poor.

We slogged away against relegation-threatened Como, finally equalised with a few minutes to go, then conceded almost immediately afterwards. Parma scored with their only substantial attack of the game, Jesse Joronen was caught badly out of position and got lobbed.

American goals: 3 (11 for the season)

American assists: 2 (8 for the season)

Serie B

We've deservedly lost top spot, and it's looking a little let rosy now with Brescia and Genoa both having games in hand.

Edited November 7, 2022 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

February 2023

Results

A frustrating month, with two home wins and two away losses.

Ottar Magnus Karlsson has just returned to the club after being on loan during the first half of the season, scoring 9 times in 18 games for Oakland Roots in America. I was annoyed with my left-wing choices so he was thrown in cold against Benevento. Ninety minutes later and he'd had a hand in all four of our goals that afternoon, with two assists, a pre-assist, and winning the foul that got us a penalty. 

Spoiler

American goals: 3 (14 for the season)

American assists: 1 (9 for the season)

Serie B

We've slipped another place and we're now outside of the automatic promotion spots. It's all very close though, there's barely anything between the top four, and 5th aren't far off either.

[DaneBramage]

March 2023

Results

One home win, two away losses.

We've forgotten how to play football on the road, that's now five away losses on the bounce.

American goals: 1 (15 for the season)

American assists: zero (9 for the season)

Serie B

We are in real danger of bottling this. A play-off place should be safe, which in fairness is what I wanted at the start of the season. But when you're top for a while expectations rise, and playing so poorly now is disappointing.

USA

Senior Squad: 3-0 v Honduras (North American Nations League Semi-Final), 3-0 v Mexico (North American Nations League Final, winners)

Under-20: 3-1 v Argentina, 1-0 v Colombia (friendlies)

Edited November 8, 2022 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

2023 Youth Intake

 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

No change between the preview and the intake unfortunately.

At least I had the warning to not expect much early, so I can't be too disappointed.

Carlo Paleari (22A) is probably the only one with enough potential and a good enough personality to stand a chance.

I'm unable to sign Kingsley Frimpong (22J) as he's a non-EU player. Seems a bit silly that he'd come through the academy then.

Spoiler

Edit: I've screwed up all the tags here. All players should of course be 23X.

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Edited November 9, 2022 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

April 2023

Results

We haven't been playing at our best this month, but for the most part we've still been grinding out results. Our first two games were against the sides 20th and 19th in the table, and we could have run up a cricket score if we'd showed any composure up front. Instead we took a pair of 1-0 wins, Joel Pohjanpalo coming off the bench in both matches to grab the late winners.

We'd risen to 2nd in the table, but were then up against Brescia in 4th.  Joel Pohjanpalo was rewarded with a start and he repaid the trust with another goal. Next up was SPAL, but our away day woes came back to the fore as they scored in the 2nd minute and we never looked like competing.

Then it was 2nd v 3rd when we played Ascoli, and it wasn't looking good when we went in 1-0 down at half-time. Nicholas Pierini was given some rare gametime as a sub, and he changed the direction of the tie. First he won a penalty (Tanner Tessmann originally saw his effort saved, but tucked away the rebound), then scored a tap-in of his own. Finally we played Bari, another contender, and we pulled out a good performance to take the win and stay in 2nd place.

Spoiler

American goals: 1 (16 for the season)

American assists: 1 (10 for the season)

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Serie B

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[DaneBramage]

May 2023

Results

It's embarrassing how poor we were this month. We had a four point lead going into the final three fixtures, yet repeatedly failed to push on and clinch promotion.

Our away day incompetence was out in full force against Reggina, going 2-0 down within 30 minutes. We went ultra-attacking and Joel Pohjanpalo got one back on the cusp of half-time, then sub Ottar Magnus Karlsson made himself a hero again with a brace. Then we conceded from a 95th minute corner to ruin my day.

We've been good at home all season, but really didn't show it against Ternana. Jesse Joronen was awful in goal, and was at fault twice (earning himself a week's fine, and subbed at half-time). Luckily Joel Pohjanpalo came to the rescue with a stoppage-time equaliser.

On the final day we travelled to Cosenza. Somehow, we were still 2nd in the table, equal on points with Ascoli. We'd beaten them home and away this season, so had the better head-to-head records, so we just needed to match their result. When Joel Pohjanpalo gave us the lead it looked good. Then Cosenza's 34 year old right-back stepped up to hit a screamer, his first goal in 5 years...

American goals: zero (16 for the season)

American assists: zero (10 for the season)

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Serie B

Wahey!

Ascoli could only draw on the final day, they didn't overtake us! By the skin of our teeth, we've done it.

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USA

Under-20: 2-0 v Iran, 1-2 v Italy, 1-2 v Paraguay (World Cup Group Stage, finished in 3rd place), 3-0 v Paraguay (World Cup Second Round)

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[DaneBramage]

2022/23 Season Review

The Players

Bit of a weird season. Although we were promoted, there wasn't much going on in the way of standout performances.

Jesse Joronen kept 16 clean sheets throughout the year, the second highest total in Serie C.

Only four players hit an average rating of 7.00 or higher, and Pietro Ceccaroni was one of these with 7.00 exactly. He was voted the fan's player of the year.

Nobody reached double figures for either goals or assists. David Connolly started the year up top but when he stopped scoring, Andrija Novakovic took over. He scored 9 times, but again when the goals dried up, he was replaced by Joel Pohjanpalo, who also notched up 9 strikes. He did this in far few minutes too, I probably should have given him a proper chance earlier on.

Michael Cuisance was the top creator with 7 assists, but he's also a little whingebag who wants to consider his options when his contract runs out next year. Hopefully the promotion will convince him to stay, otherwise I might have to try and cash in this summer.

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History + Facilities

A first season promotion! At the start of the year I would have been happy with a play-off place, but after a slow start we moved into contention. We briefly topped the table in December, then spent the rest of the year in 3rd or 2nd place, finally clinching promotion on the final day.

I knew we'd lose money throughout the season, but I didn't realise it would be quite this bad. Even after claiming £2.15 million in prize money for finishing in 2nd place, we still lost over £10 million this year. Next year's Serie A TV money can't come soon enough, we'd have been in real trouble trying to keep the squad together otherwise. And we need to start bringing the youth training up to par.

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The Americans

Just over a quarter of our goals came from Americans, with Andrija Novakovic the highest contributor.

31 different players made appearances this season, four of them were American. 

The only signing this year was an American.

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[LastSon]

Very curious to see what Americans get added to the team for next year. Following!

[DaneBramage]

8 hours ago, LastSon said:

Very curious to see what Americans get added to the team for next year. Following!

Thanks. With the lack of money it'll mainly be freebies and youngsters this time, but we should be better set for the winter window.

[DaneBramage]

June 2023

Finances

Our transfer budget is minimal, and following a lot of automatic wage increases after promotion we're over budget there.

 .

This TV money will do nicely, shame it's coming in throughout the season rather than all in one go now. It'll take a few months to get back into the black, let alone have funds to spend.

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USA

Senior Squad: 2-2 v Costa Rica (friendly), 2-0 v Qatar B, 2-0 v Trinidad & Tobago (CONCACAF Gold Cup Group Stage)

Under-20: 2-1 v Belgium (World Cup Quarter-Final), 2-0 v Italy (World Cup Semi-Final), p2-2 v Brazil (World Cup Final, winners)

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[DaneBramage]

July 2023

Job Interview

Bottom of the MLS Western Conference. No thanks lads.

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Departures

Marco Modolo played a lot last year, but at 34 I didn't want to give him a new contract. There's a couple of 18 year olds I'd rather use as back-up. Patrick Leal was an American in the Under-20s, but he was never going to make it and had unrealistic contract expectations. Mattia Aramu was on loan at Genoa last year and he could definitely have done a job for us, but other clubs could offer a lot higher wages.

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Signings

Cheap and cheerful signings for now. Two Americans brought in, and one player from Serie C, for a grand total of nothing. All teenagers though, so players for the future rather than impacting the first-team straight away.

I have no idea how Giannis Papadopoulos was scouted. At the time we were looking at Germany and the UK, yet somehow my AssMan spotted him. Has racked up 38 appearances in the American lower leagues. A lot of potential, but he needs to hit the weights. And you've probably already guessed this, he has Greek as his second nationality.

I like the look of Jack McGlynn. He has Irish as a second nationality, so I guess that's how he was found. At the time of being scouted he was unattached after being released by Philadelphia Union, so he's been training with us for a few months now ahead of joining this window. Made 46 appearances in the MLS, mostly off the bench.

The other signing focus was players from the Italian lower leagues, and Thomas Sandon has been brought in from Serie C side Vicenza. He made 31 appearances as they finished 15th last year.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

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USA

Senior Squad: 0-0 v Suriname (CONCACAF Gold Cup Group Stage, finished in 1st place), 1-0 v Costa Rica (CONCACAF Gold Cup Quarter-Final), 0-1 v Jamaica (CONCACAF Gold Cup Semi-Final)

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Edited November 10, 2022 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

August 2023

Departure

Mikael Johnsen was out on loan last year, so never had a chance to become part of my plans.

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Expectations

The aim is just to avoid relegation. It's probably a long shot, but hopefully we can give it a go.

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Results

The opening day of the season saw us travel to Genoa, who were promoted alongside us as Serie B champions. It would have been a good chance to get some early points on the board, but our terrible away form has carried over to the new division and we got hammered.

A few first-teamers played in the Coppa Italia against Cesena, but it was largely a chance for the rotation players to try and make an impression. The result was never in doubt, but the winning margin was disappointing.

American goals: zero

American assists: 1

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[DaneBramage]

September 2023

Results

We didn't expect anything from Inter or Napoli, and prioritised the Torino and Cremonese games. We could easily have come away from those matches with six points, but individual mistakes (by each of our full-backs) meant we had to settle for a pair of draws.

American goals: 3 (3 for the season)

American assists: zero (1 for the season)

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Serie A

No wins yet, but we're outside of the relegation area so it's all good. We just need to find three teams worse than us.

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USA

Senior Squad: 3-1 v Japan, 4-0 v Egypt (friendlies)

Under-23: 2-2* v Egypt (friendly)

Rokas Pukstas played.

Under-20: 2-0* v Egypt (friendly)

Jack McGlynn played and scored.

Under-19: 3-0 v Egypt (friendly)

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[DaneBramage]

October 2023

Results

We had a fun day out at Salernitana, smashing them to record our first win of the season. Gianluca Busio created the first goal before scoring a brace of penalties. We weren't really at the races against Spezia and gifted them the opener, but kept it at to grab a stoppage-time equaliser.

Losing to Fiorentina was disappointing, they were in 20th place at the time. Lazio hammered us, but we did cause them a few worries with three late goals.

American goals: 5 (8 for the season)

American assists: 1 (2 for the season)

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Serie A

Even with our first win we've dropped to the bottom of the table. We've got the worst defensive record in the division, but our attack hasn't been too bad, so I don't think we're completely doomed. We'll certainly be putting up a fight.

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USA

Senior Squad: 1-3 v Germany, 1-1* v Algeria (friendlies)

Gianluca Busio played.

Under-23: 1-2* v Algeria (friendly)

Rokas Pukstas played.

Under-22: 3-0* v Guatemala, 1-3* v Argentina, 5-1* v Chile (Pan American Games Group Stage, finished in 2nd place), 0-3* v Brazil (Pan American Games Semi-Final)

Tanner Tessmann played 4 games and scored once, Jack McGlynn played 3 games.

Under-20: 2-0 v Algeria (friendly)

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[DaneBramage]

November 2023

Job Interviews

I'm in demand and both Los Angeles sides made an approach. If I was interested LAFC would be the better option (2nd in the Western Conference and 5th in the overall standings), compared to the Galaxy (8th and 18th), but I declined both offers.

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Results

What a month!

We played really well and battered Sampdoria, we hit the post three times and a higher scoreline would not have been undeserved.

We took the expected loss against Milan, but somehow managed to beat Juventus. We only had two efforts on target all game, with an xG of 0.36, but made the most of setpieces. Ridgeciano Haps set up both goals, one from a corner and the other a wide free-kick, and both were headed home at the far post.

American goals: 1 (9 for the season)

American assists: 1 (3 for the season)

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Serie A

Out of the relegation area and up to 15th.

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USA

Senior Squad: 2-0* v Martinique, 3-1* v Guatemala (friendlies)

Gianluca Busio played in both games.

Under-22: 4-0* v Mexico (Pan American Games Final, winners), 2-0* v Guatemala (friendly)

Tanner Tessmann played and scored in the first game, Jack McGlynn played in the second game.

Under-20: 4-0* v Guatemala (friendly)

Rokas Pukstas played.

Under-19: 3-0 v Guatemala (friendly)

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[DaneBramage]

December 2023

Youth Preview

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Results

After last month's heroics the loss to Sassuolo was a big disappointment, taking us back down to earth with a really tame display.

I'd forgotten that we were still in the Coppa Italia, given that the First Round was back in August. After conceding in the the first few minutes we fought back to equalise, then took control of the game and pulled out a two goal lead. Bologna hit back with a stoppage-time consolation, but it was too little too late.

American goals: 1 (10 for the season)

American assists: 2 (5 for the season)

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Serie A

Only the one game, so no real change. Still five teams worse than us.

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[DefinitelyTaylor]

Still a very tightly congested division. 

[DaneBramage]

January 2024

Job Interview

Another offer, and this time it's my first from another Italian club. Below us in the table, declined.

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Finances

We have a positive bank balance!

It's taken a while to get here, with the TV money trickling in we've been making small profits each month this season, and after a bit of wheeling and dealing we're finally in the black again.

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Departures

We shifted three players this month, all from the senior squad. Michael Cuisance and Domen Crnigoj were both starting players last season, but were also difficult about wanting to move on. Cuisance had been replaced in the first-team this year, and with only six months let on his contract I was actively trying to move him on. Crnigoj was still my first-choice right-winger, but then he got himself sent-off for a two-footed lunge and I'd had enough.

Denis Cheryshev was only a back-up, and the wrong side of 30.

Getting more than £3.5 million is of course a great boost to removing our negative balance, but also getting £65k a week off of the wage bill will help a lot going forward.

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Signings

The lack of funds meant we couldn't make any permanent moves this window, but we have picked up one loanee to fill in on the right-wing. Malik Tillman has come in from Bayern Munich until the end of the season, after scoring 14 times in 17 games for their B team. He played in the SPL last year, contributing 7 goals and 6 assists for Rangers. He has 5 caps for America, and has German as a second nationality.

Spoiler

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[DaneBramage]

January 2024

Results

Our final game of 2023 was beating Bologna in the cup, but the rematch in the league saw them beat us easily. This was followed up by a dismal loss to Hellas Verona, when we just capitulated after Domen Crnigoj got sent-off (the final straw which saw him transfer-listed immediately).

We weren't particularly good against Frosinone, but managed to grab the only goal of the game for a much needed win. Malik Tillman made a great impression on his debut at Empoli, poking the ball home at a corner, but disaster struck twice in the last few minutes. First we conceded an equaliser in the 88th minute, then Malik Tillman limped off with an ankle injury that will rule him out for the next month.

We rotated a bit for the Coppa Italia match with Hellas Verona and although we took the game to extra-time, were dumped out. That left me in a pretty bad mood so I used IR to get past the expected whooping from league-leaders Atalanta as quickly as possible, but somehow my AssMan earned us a draw. 

American goals: 4 (14 for the season)

American assists: 1 (6 for the season)

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Serie A

Just about keeping our head above water. We do have a game in hand compared to some of the teams around us, but it's against Roma.

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[DaneBramage]

11 hours ago, DefinitelyTaylor said:

Still a very tightly congested division. 

Absolutely, the second half of the season is not going to be easy. Think I need to make a sacrifice to the FM Gods.

[DaneBramage]

February 2024

Results

We had a tough run of games in February, and I've got no complaints about not earning anything from Inter, Milan, or Napoli. In fact, managing to score against each of them was a bit of an accomplishment, as well as not being smashed in any of these games.

But the home loss to Genoa was massively soul-destroying. We should have coasted to victory, but we threw away the points from a pair of stupid individual errors.

I know it's a bit early in the season to call any game a six-pointer, but the Cremonese tie felt like it might be. On his return from injury Malik Tillman came to the rescue to give us the win. We were reduced to ten men in the 68th minutes, but we managed to hold on.

American goals: 3 (17 for the season)

American assists: 2 (8 for the season)

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Serie A

We're still just outside the relegation area, the win over Cremonese was a vital one otherwise we'd be the other way around.

We now have two games in hand, and of the six games coming up in March, five are at home.

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[LastSon]

Tillman! I would to see some of the best Americans at the end of the season to see how they've progressed. I hope Busio is progressing.

[DaneBramage]

March 2024

Results

We did well to get ourselves back into the game against Torino, but for what seems like the umpteenth time this season, we gave away a goal and lost due to an individual defensive error. The party poppers were flying a few days later though. We were one down against Spezia when they had a man sent off. We went ultra attacking, and changed to two up top. And up stepped Malik Tillman to grab two late goals for the win.

The next two games were utterly miserable though and put me in a huff, so I used IR when we hosted Lazio. The stats show that Lazio were by far the better team, but Andrija Novakovich had other plans. The defence couldn't handle him, and he scored a magnificent hat-trick.

American goals: 6 (23 for the season)

American assists: 1 (9 for the season)

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Serie A

About as we good as we could hope for. A game in hand and five points clear of the bottom three.

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USA

Senior Squad: 2-0 v Portugal (friendly)

Under-23: 3-0 v Panama, 3-1 v Costa Rica, 1-2*v Mexico (Olympic Games Qualifying Group Stage, finished 2nd in group), p1-1* v Jamaica (Olympic Games Qualifying Semi-Final)

Gianluca Busio played in two of these games.

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Edited November 13, 2022 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

15 hours ago, LastSon said:

Tillman! I would to see some of the best Americans at the end of the season to see how they've progressed. I hope Busio is progressing.

If we stay up he can definitely take a large slice of credit for it. His 4 goals so far (in just 6 games) have won us 7 points.

At the end of the season I'll drop a few screenshots of our American lads, and the current national team.

[DaneBramage]

Youth Intake 2024

 >>>>>>>>>>>>> 

No point going into any detail with this. 

Terrible.

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[DaneBramage]

April 2024

Results

What an absolutely awful month. I don't even care about getting smashed by Roma and Juventus, that's to be expected. 

But we didn't even get a single shot on target against bottom-of-the-table Sampdoria. We had the prime opportunity to beat Bologna, but Andrija Novakovich missed a penalty.

And against Sassuolo we had not just one, but two left-backs sent-off, before Jesse Joronen and Pietro Ceccaroni decided to do this.

 

 

If we get relegated, this is the month that did the damage.

American goals: 4 (27 for the season)

American assists: 1 (10 for the season)

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Serie A

Four games left, we're on a horrendous run of form, and the gap has been reduced to four points. Squeaky bum time.

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USA

Under-23: 4-2* v Mexico (Olympic Games Qualifying Final)

Malik Tillman played and scored.

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Edited November 13, 2022 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

May 2024

Results

We came into the final month with a four point lead over Frosinone, and four games left to play.

And we started May with a great victory over Empoli. Andrija Novakovic got a brace, but the show was stolen by a hat-trick of assists from Ridgeciano Haps. Frosinone lost, and we were seven points clear.

Up next, we played Frosinone. 17th v 18th. Any kind of positive result would have guaranteed safety. Then we conceded in the first minute, and it was downhill from there. The gap was down to four points.

Then Atalanta battered us. And so did Roma. If Frosinone picked up four points or more from their final two games we were in big trouble...

American goals: 6 (33 for the season)

American assists: 2 (12 for the season)

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Serie A

Wahey! Frosinone drew on the final day, but they were doomed in the penultimate week when they lost to Sassuolo.

We rode our luck at times, but I would have taken this 100% at the start of the season. Chuffed.

Some worrying things of course; we never won consecutive games, and the goals conceded column is a disaster. 

But ultimately, we just needed to be better than three other sides. And we were.

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[DaneBramage]

2023/24 Season Review

The Players

This was a tough old season, and this shows in the average ratings. Only two players finished with an average of over 7.0, and it doesn't take a genius to guess which two

Andrija Novakovic had a great campaign, taking the step up in divisions in his stride. He doubled his goal tally from last year, and was voted the fan's player of the season.

And Malik Tillman, what an addition to the team he was. Joined in January on loan, had a small setback with injury, but was a key player over the final few months. There's an optional fee of £3.7 million to take him permanently, and I hope we can pull that off this summer.

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History + Facilities

We made money throughout the season, and our balance now looks a lot healthier than it did a year ago. The prize money for finishing 17th was a slightly underwhelming £1.2 million.

I haven't yet asked for any facilities to be upgraded. The youth training is the obvious one in need of a boost, but it may have to wait depending on what else happens this summer.

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The Americans

A massive percentage of our goals came from the Americans, more than two-thirds. While that's good, it does also illustrate how low the contribution from the rest of the squad was.

34 players made appearances for the first-team, 8 were American.

Of our four signings this season (including loans), three were American and one was from the Italian lower leagues.

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[DaneBramage]

Venezia - The Americans

Senior Squad

Gianluca Busio is the first name on the teamsheet. If he's fit, he plays. His numbers took a bit of a hit adjusting to Serie A, but wasn't outclassed and will hopefully be part of my squad for a long time to come.

Spoiler

 

Andrija Novakovic didn't have a great Serie B season and found himself out of the starting line-up a lot, but he's smashed it after promotion. The best season of his career to date.

Spoiler

Malik Tillman is a large part of why we're still in Serie A. Made a massive contribution after joining on loan. Hopefully we can make it permanent this summer, though with our budgets both the transfer fee and wage will be high.

Spoiler

We play three in midfield, but Tanner Tessmann has never quite managed to make any of the starting spots his own. He's pretty much fourth choice but these positions so still sees plenty of gametime, but it's often off the bench. 

Spoiler

Jack McGlynn came in on a free, and after a few months with the Under-20 team has now been introduced to the first-team squad. Had a run in the first-team towards the end of the season and will be probably be a starter next year.

Spoiler

Jack De Vries was the back-up right-winger behind Domen Crnigoj, now he's the back-up behind Malik Tillman. Hasn't really contributed much, is unlikely to ever become a key member of the team

Spoiler

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Under-20

Erik Slowikowski - goalkeeper, never going to make it. Unlikely to ever be a back-up option, will probably be released at the end of his contract.

Spoiler

Giannis Papadopoulos made a handful of appearances this year, but spent most of the time with the Under-20 squad. Not impressed by the amount of downward arrows. Probably needs a season out on loan.

Spoiler

My first signing was Rokas Pukstas, and he made a handful of appearances towards the end of the season after returning from a loan spell at Toronto. Lots of potential, will probably look to give him some more senior football next season.

Spoiler

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[DaneBramage]

USA

National Team

This is the current senior squad.

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Wonderkids

There were two Americans named in the 50 stars of the future list.

Gabriel Slonina came in really high, as runner-up. He was picked-up by my scouts when they were checking the UK, but realistically he's way out of my range unless Chelsea want to send him out on loan.

Spoiler

Obed Vargas was placed in the 40s. As we've used our full scouting budget I can't see his full attributes, but based on what my scouts do know he looks like he could be a good signing.

Spoiler

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Edited November 16, 2022 by DaneBramage

[LastSon]

Pukstas looks like he can be somebody for this Venezia side. Very cool to see!

[DaneBramage]

June 2024

Clause Activated

I'd been monitoring a clause we had for a player sold before my time. We would be due 40% of the next transfer fee, and this clause had been fluctuating between £1.2 million and £2 million over the last year. He's 29, there doesn't seem to be any transfer interest, so it seemed like a good time to cash this in now at it's presumed peak of £2.45 million.

This will give our transfer budget a nice little boost.

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Facilities

With a bit of cash at hand it also seemed wise to invest some of it in upgrades. Improvements in three places were requested; junior coaching was rejected, but youth facilities (currently below average) and youth recruitment (average to adequate) were both approved.

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Feeder Clubs

I looked at all our affiliate clubs (well over a dozen) and ditched any without any players in their squads. That left just three, but none of these are in active leagues.

    

I requested another and was offered a Serie C side, along with two Serie D clubs. Obviously I selected the former of these three, Trento, to have an active club available to send players on loan, and to also monitor their youth intakes for anyone worth poaching.

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USA

Senior Squad: 1-2 v Argentina (friendly), 1-4 v Brazil, 2-0 v Peru, 2-3 v Ecuador, 3-1 v Venezuela, 2-1 v Colombia (Copa America Group Stage, finished 3rd in group)

Under-20: 2-1* v Japan, 1-0* v Belgium, 3-1*v Botswana (French Youth International Group Stage, finished top of group), 0-1*v Mexico (French Youth International Semi-Final), 2-2p* v Brazil (French Youth International Third-Place Play-Off)

Rokas Pukstas played in all five games, scoring once.

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[DaneBramage]

July 2024

Departures

A big change at the back, with Jesse Joronen leaving for England. He'd been my number one for the last two years, generally consistent but with the odd howler. So I would have been happy keeping him for another year, but when I doubled their initial offer and Fulham agreed to the higher fee, I decided to let him go. 

Two left-backs also went. Ridgeciano Haps wanted to explore his options at the end of his contract, and signed an agreement with LA Galaxy. The deal actually fell through, but I'd already signed a replacement so I didn't re-sign him. And I didn't actually realise Thomas Sandon had gone until now. I definitely removed him from part-exchange negotiations at one point, but I guess he was put back in without me noticing. Still, he was rubbish when he did play so it's not much of a loss.

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Arrivals

Malik Tillman! I've said enough about him previously, it was no-brainer to trigger the permanent signing from Bayern Munich. I didn't think we'd have enough budget originally, but selling the clause mentioned in June covered that.

I was looking at Luca De La Torre a while back, but he went to Nashville instead for £1.2 million. And I guess they have just as little understanding of MLS registration rules as anyone else, as they released him after just a few months. We managed to pick him up on about a third of what he was asking for previously. Will be cover for the attacking positions. Has a Spanish second nationality.

Spoiler

I had a couple of 18 year olds as my fourth- and fifth-choice centre-backs last year, and they struggled. So Jonathan Tomkinson is a cheap and cheerful signing to to fill in here. Played just 10 times on loan for Stoke last year, so let's hope we don't have to rely on him much. Doesn't have a second nationality, so is my one non-EU signing for the year (I think, assuming I understand the rules correctly)

Spoiler

We had the worst defensive record in the division last year, so we needed some re-enforcements at the back. I'm not sure we really got them though, just replacing a couple of leavers. Jayden Oosterwolde has come in as a signing from the Italian lower leagues, as Parma have just been relegated to Serie C. I think he looks pretty decent though, I'm happy with him.

Spoiler

Our final signing was a goalie to replace Jesse Joronen. My priority signing went and signed a new contract with his current club, which left me scrabbling a bit to get someone in quickly, in time for pre-season. Titas Krapikas is another signing from the Italian lower leagues, this time Serie B side Ternana. He had a good season for them, keeping 14 clean sheets in 38 games and conceding only 30 times. He has more international caps than anyone else in the squad. Could be inspired, could be a disaster.

Spoiler

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USA

Senior Squad: 1-4 v Uruguay (Copa America Quarter-Final)

Under-23: 1-2 v Italy (friendly), 0-2 v France, 1-1 v South Korea, 0-3 v Netherlands (Olympics Group Stage, finished 4th in group)

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[DaneBramage]

August 2024

Expectations

I'd be very happy with just grabbing 17th place again. I think we need to have a few Serie A seasons to build up our bank balance before we can really look at pressing forward.

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Results

A defensive howler put us behind early on against Pisa. A quickfire double just before half-time put us into the lead, but we conceded an equaliser later on to take the game into extra-time. Luca De La Torre came off the bench to score a wondergoal on his debut.

Atalanta could have made this a cricket score on another day, but we escaped with just a 1-0 loss on the opening day.

American goals: 1

American assists: 2

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