The Amalfi Academy (Youth Academy Challenge) [FM24]

[mannojunior]

The Amalfi Academy

Welcome to another FM24 save of mine. I am currently blogging my save with Spartans FC (Scotland) over on the FM Library website but since the winter update I've had the itch for a new save and after reading through the forums I stumbled across the Youth Academy Challenge thread. After reading through the updates I was hooked and well, here I am! The only change I am making from the official challenge thread is that I have decided to take charge of Sorrento Calcio 1945, instead of holidaying through a season and managing a newly promoted club. Sorrento are newly promoted into Serie C in Italy so it's close enough! 

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The Rules

For those interested, you can find the official Youth Academy Challenge thread here.

No transfers in are allowed, including loans - we can only sell players

Staff signs are allowed

If we are sacked then it is game over

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The Aim

To win Serie A

To win the UEFA Champions League

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The Club

Sorrento Calcio 1945 are based in, you guessed it, Sorrento which is on the Amalfi Coast in Italy. The club was promoted to Serie C in the 2022/2023 season and play at the Stadia Italia, located just off the port of Sorrento. Having visited the city last summer, I seem to have grown a fondness for the club and did I mention how nice their kits are? 

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The Manager

Meet Luciano Mancini, a 27 year-old Italian with no management experience. His plans? To win it all with kids!

 

Edited March 10 by mannojunior

[CameronFM]

Wishing you all the success in the YA Challenge! Thoroughly enjoyed my time in Hungary as we have discussed, hope you can replicate some of that success in a bigger country!

[mannojunior]

5 minutes ago, CameronFM said:

Wishing you all the success in the YA Challenge! Thoroughly enjoyed my time in Hungary as we have discussed, hope you can replicate some of that success in a bigger country!

Going to need it mate! Your inbox will be filled with expletives when it’s all going wrong 🤣

[mannojunior]

July 2023

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Head of Youth Development

Given the premise of this challenge, it was only right that the first thing to do was to hire a new head of youth development. We've brought in Maurizio Schiavon who will certainly do the job for now and I hope he will bring through some solid players in our first full season. I think year on year I will review the intakes alongside who is available and may well end up chopping and changing the head of youth development quite frequently. 

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Squad

We've got a very good looking squad to start with. The first thing I noticed is how young the squad is and I think it may be the youngest in the league in terms of average age. Lots of loan players as you'd expect and I will certainly try and get our money's worth out of them! A really well rounded squad, especially in terms of positions which means that we will have the ability to play more formations if we need to. 

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Players of Note

Alberto De Francesco seems to be the pick of the bunch. For Serie C, I think he will be a very solid creative midfielder. Likely to be deployed in either an AP or DLP role for me.

Another midfielder, this time a more defensive one in the form of Angelo Bonavolonta. By no means a world beater but certainly our best defensive midfielder and I would imagine he will end up playing as a BWM. 

Finally, we have a very exciting prospect in the form of Ludovico Del Sorbo. He will certainly get game time this season to progress and at 18 he's got room to improve and become our number 1 in Serie C.

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Season Preview

Bookmakers have us down as being relegated. Slightly harsh I feel, especially considering the squad we have. Let's see how pre-season goes before we make any predictions.

 

[CameronFM]

17 hours ago, mannojunior said:

Head of Youth Development

Given the premise of this challenge, it was only right that the first thing to do was to hire a new head of youth development. We've brought in Maurizio Schiavon who will certainly do the job for now and I hope he will bring through some solid players in our first full season. I think year on year I will review the intakes alongside who is available and may well end up chopping and changing the head of youth development quite frequently. 

 

I like the look of him to come in and do a job in the first season. Balanced personality is a good start, but it’s the determination that worries me!

Aware you have spoke about chopping and changing the HYoD, I would be mindful of the negative effects this could have in terms of lacking consistency.

Personally, I would try to keep someone around for at least 3 seasons to average out their results and then assess from there, but I could be doing this wrong and are yet to see evidence that this is a thing. 

Have you got a play-style and shape in mind? Aware that this won’t be applied for a while until you get intakes into the club, but keen to see your plans for the short-term. 

[mannojunior]

40 minutes ago, CameronFM said:

I like the look of him to come in and do a job in the first season. Balanced personality is a good start, but it’s the determination that worries me!

Aware you have spoke about chopping and changing the HYoD, I would be mindful of the negative effects this could have in terms of lacking consistency.

Personally, I would try to keep someone around for at least 3 seasons to average out their results and then assess from there, but I could be doing this wrong and are yet to see evidence that this is a thing. 

Have you got a play-style and shape in mind? Aware that this won’t be applied for a while until you get intakes into the club, but keen to see your plans for the short-term. 

Best of a bad bunch really! I’m hoping as our rep increases better options become available. 
 

Not set on a shape yet as I’m still assessing the squad but we have a good spread positionally. I’m trying to focus on ensuring that I find my best eleven without the loan players so that I can try and give the contracted youngsters some time and then I can fill the rest from there. 
 

Initial thoughts are likely to be either a 4-3-3 with a DM dropping in between the 2 CB’s or potentially a 4-4-2 diamond. 

[mannojunior]

Pre-season 2023/2024

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Pre-season results

Six games and six wins. A really positive pre-season, although we shouldn't read too much into it. It gave me a chance to finalise my best eleven and the tactical shape for the season.

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Tactical Approach

With the players at my disposal, I have opted for a diamond, to incorporate the many central midfielders at the club. It might be ambitious, but I'm looking for a high press, pass and move system. I am trusting the technical ability of the players to deal with this tactical approach. We aren't going long, which many might favour in our position. Instead, I'm looking to move the ball quickly, keep the passes shorter and press high out of possession. I have also trained a 4-3-3 to flick to if needed.

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I am confident that this man will score goals for us this season. He's only a loan player, so I can't get too attached but he scored 10 goals in pre-season. 

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Finances

Things are looking okay and with no players coming in (obviously) it means we aren't spending an awful amount. Will be keeping a keen eye on this. 

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Having taken inspiration from @Punch I am going to be channelling my inner nerd and keeping track of progress with spreadsheets. One thing to note is that we are actually ground sharing with Potenza this season, before returning to Stadio Italia for next season.

 

[CameronFM]

32 minutes ago, mannojunior said:

Pre-season 2023/2024

 

These are beautiful! Big fan of the colours and patterns!

Ravasio looks the part, and should be a massive player even for this level. As you say, shame about not being able to get attached to him, but a good starting point for the season.

[mannojunior]

15 minutes ago, CameronFM said:

These are beautiful! Big fan of the colours and patterns!

Ravasio looks the part, and should be a massive player even for this level. As you say, shame about not being able to get attached to him, but a good starting point for the season.

The home kit has been on my wish list for a while now!

May as well get some use out of Ravasio whilst he is here.

[mannojunior]

September 2023

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An inconsistent start to our Serie C campaign. Two poor defeats to kick off the month but we hit back with an emphatic 4-1 win over Cerignola. Our run would have continued had corrupt officials not cost us against Messina. Firenzi's winner for Messina was incredibly allowed to stand, despite him being clearly offside. Looks like I'll need to get used to this! We then finished the month in good fashion as we snuck home a 92nd minute winner at home to Picerno. Six foot four centre back Vincenzo Di Somma thumped a header in from a De Francesco corner to send the home fans into raptures!

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Five games into the Serie C season and we are sat in 11th. Not much that we can read from this as there is a long season ahead of us but to have two wins under our belts already is one small step towards survival.

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We've had some really good and some really bad individual performances so far. Alberto De Francesco has been the standout so far, with 2 goals and 4 assists from CAM. 17 year-old Domenico Musella has taken his chance up top and has hit two goals, albeit in the same game. Ciro Loreto from left wing back has got forward well and has contributed two assists. Hopefully more to come from him given that the left wing back has more attacking freedom than his counterpart on the right.

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We have to give a lot of credit to this man who I reinstated after the first two defeats. He's made some big saves and has demonstrated that he will be our number one for now. I started off with Del Sorbo between the sticks but two really awful performances told me that he wasn't ready. At 26, Albertazzi still has time to improve and come into his own.