libbyshuss

Season Summary League - Well, it was the season I was expecting last year with all those youth players! we were playing well but just kept losing - Christmas time saw us 18th with 3 wins out of 17 and in a real relegation scrap. Then something clicked and we started getting the results our performances deserved and started climbing the table. Too late to get back into Europe though! Europe - which is a shame cos it's fun! here's our adventure in the European Conference League this year We were knackered and down to the bare bones for the Celta Vigo second leg. We'd battered them at home as well, should have won it 4 or 5 nil. but what can you do? Cup - finally! a decemet run! all the way to the semi-final where we lost to Brescia. we shoulda won that! Players Lorenzo Lippi 42K is still the star player. 42 goals in 48 games this season, now 23 and reaching the peak of his powers. Tarek Ramadan 45A scored 80 in 27 starts for the youth teams so I really wanted to get him some game time this season. I used him sparingly at first but then found the more I used him, the better we played and the more we'd win. So he started every game after christmas up until the end of February when he broke his leg. Really upsetting as he was just hitting his stride and looking like a potential superstar. He should be fit in time for the start of the new season so we'll see what he can do in a full season! 16 goals and 6 assissts from 25 appearances, mostly as an inverted right winger. He looks good! Luca Mengoli 44B - could he be my first proper wonderkid? signs are looking good! Youth Another golden generation! and some really good personalities this time too! woohoo! The top prospect is Pignatelli - and he looks really, really promising!!!! Wonderkids Still no proper ones but the NXGN top 50 is nice to see again Numbers 1 and 3!!! Ramadan came through my affilliate club in france as well - i love affiliate clubs! Career it's a bit of a slog in Italy - there's so many top clubs to steal the best youths from you. might take a while to get there, and probably maxxed out youth facilities. I didn't complete it with Whitby until we had the best youth facilities in the world so....

Season Summary Really pleasing season! I felt we were stagnating a bit at the end of last season and decided to really shake things up. I promoted our best 5 youth prospects to the first team at 17/18 - a good year or two before I usually like to do it, and at least 4 more than I usually like to promote! But I felt desperate times called for desperate measures. As a result, i wasn't expecting too much and would have been happy with just survival while the youth players bedded themelves in. But I surpassed my expectations by finishnig 7th and qualifying for Europe. We could have done better as well but a poor start (5 defeats in first 7) and finish (1 win in last 8) ruined us. But back in Europe next season! Players Really interesting! for some reason I'm finding that my poorest players at intake are more often than not turning into my best first team players. After Lorenzo Lippi 40K winning golden boy twice and U21 FIFA best player 3 years in a row come this:- |I don't think I've ever had a plyer rated at intake as an M ever make the first team, let alone win golden boy! I mean, M is just ridiculous! bottom of the pile stuff! I hardly ever even sign that many youth players! oh, and i still have Tarek Ramadan 45A to promote - 80 goals in 22 starts for the youth teams!!! Quite excited by him Wonderkids Promoting so many youth players to first team football at such a young age is always a gamble. I knew it had paid off when the list for this years top 50 wonderkids came in though:- Four of my players in there for the first time! Khafi 42J is a Moroccan full back I sent out on loan who has done really really well. Mazzoleni 43C and Rietveld 43B are full back, Mengoli 44B a midfielder, which I'm really pleased about as I was running a little low on middies. Youth Another 5 star golden generation promised! and I was very excited to see 6 elite talents come through! and then I looked at their personalities and determination and it all came crashing down honestly, other than Giorgi could it be any worse?? Really disappointing to be honest, i'd swap them all for a professional 2 star potential! Career

Season Summary Europa League - I really like the new format, it's fun! Here were our results Which meant automatic qualification for the last 16! We did really well in the knockout stage as well! To be honest, we should have won it! Sadly it took the focus of the league a little bit and we only finished 9th, so no european football next season, which is upsetting cos it's fun! Youth Another cracking youth preview and intake! Intake was very nice and my French affiliate club came up trumps for me! Wonderkids Really interesting! I had a Morrocan youth, didn't look much good so I sent him out on loan. And yet... he made the top 50 wonderkid list! Career

We're back in Europe!!!! Europa League this time! Mainly down to Lippi 40K who is looking by far our best ever newgen this save so far. Youth Another cracking preview and intake! Hopefully they prove better than the last couple of years have done in the end. Best thing about the intake was the two Portugese, one French and one Dutch player - the fruits of my new affiliate teams finally! sadly none of them look any good! Best of the lot is this lad:- Also, got onto the top 50 wonderkid list! Kyrell Moore 40A is an Irish centre back who I decided to give a first team spot to this season. One of the only players left with a 4 star potential after the purge of last season! he had a pretty poor season to be honest but hopefully he'll start showing that potential soon. Although Petrovic 40G, who made the list last season, is now only a 2.5 star potential Serie B talent so...... Career Completing the challenge in Italy is still looking a long, long way away to be honest.

Season Summary Our first season in Europe was great fun! We qualified easily for the league stage, won 5 out of 6 in the league (including away at Celtic!) to qualify for the last 16. We drew Celtic, went away in the first leg and somehow contrived to lose 7-3. We won the second leg easily but at only 3-1 we crashed out. Really disappointing in the end! Our league form suffered though. We made a poor start and never really recovered, spending the whole season bumbing around mid-table. As soon as we'd get within touching distance of Europe we'd end up losing the next 4 on the spin or something. Frustrating in the end Players So here is where it gets weird. At the end of the season my Assman/HoYD decided to completely re-eavaluate the squad. Previously decent Serie A talents are now good serie B talents and my 20 or so 4 star youth prospects dropped to only 2 4 star youth prospects. I've never known anything like it, they decimated my squad! in terms of their ratings anyway. But looking at the transfer values of them I can't really argue with their conclusions. 20 seasons in and my top talent is worth 11m. it's worrying to be honest.... It might be partly explained by the emergence of my new best player Lorenzo Lippi 40K You can see how little i rated him on original intake, given the letter K. But it's not surprising really. Here he is a couple of months after intake day:- Rubbish right? But I always sign up youth prospects if they have decent personalities and he had a nice one. Last season I had way too many youth players so sent all the ones with the lowest potential out on loan. Lippi 40K went to Serie C and played really well, coming back with a new super 4 star potential! so I decided this season to play him in the conference league, see how he did. He did well! 11 goals in 12! By January he'd replaced my old golden boy Fabio Frau 38C as our first choice striker and was brilliant (Frau 38C is now rated as serie B standard and valued at 4m btw. what the heck is going on?) By the end of the season Lippi looked like this:- and he won this! and was top of the nxgn wonderkid list too Petrovic at 46 was rated as a 4 star potential at the time! now? 2.5 star potential. what the heck!!!!!! Youth So another fantastic intake! although by the end of the season they had all again been completely decimated Career I need some top quality players pretty soon if I'm going to get anywhere. But for some reason they're just not coming.

Season Summary Our best season yet! 7th place finish gets us into the Conference League for next season! Which, given the amount of youth prospects I have now, is gonna be a godsend. Only bad part of the season was the Sicilian derby, which we somehow managed to lose 6-0 to Palermo. They also knocked us out the cup as well! They finsihed 19th and got relegated so we got the last laugh! Players Good solid squad full of decent Serie A players now. None of them are superstars though, or even close to stars. Our best player, Fabio Frau 38C, is still only valued at 9m. He might be a Golden boy winner but I have a feelnig he won't be with us in a couple of seasons time. Youth This new HoYD I have is insane Jack! Not content with supplying us with 9 elite talents last season, he's gone and upped it to 11 this time around. Again, a mix of personalities and nobody stands out as a future star but I really can't complain. 20 elite talents in two seasons at this stage is unreal! I also managed to get another couple of affiliate sides as well. Serbia and Portugal this time, so hopefully we'll see a wide range of nationalities start popping through For the second season in a row the U18s made us proud Career

i hope you got a 50% future fee clause! that value is insane!

Season Summary So after our year on year steady improvement this was supposed to be season I pushed on to European qualification. 11 games into the season and no victories suggested that wasn't going to happen and that we were back in a relegation battle. Luckily the second half of the season was much stronger and we finished with 5 victories from the last 7, making our finishing position look a lot more comfortable than we actually were for most of the season Players It wasn't all doom and gloom though. This was the first season where Fabio Frau 38C was going to start and play a full season for us. He didn't disappoint! Our first ever golden boy! and our first ever #1 in the NXGN list! very exciting! I'm not sure if he'll live up to that potential though, but it will be fun finding out. Here he is now:- Youth First intake with maxed out recruitment and coaching! and with my new super good HoYD! was it any good? yep!!! preview was very exciting.... but it didn't quite prepare me for the intake, which is possibly the best intake I've ever had. 9 elite talents!!! At this stage of the save as well A real mix of personalities and determination and no real obvious future wonderkids. Best of the lot is possibly this lad:- It does mean my youth teams are now ridiculously strong. I have at least twenty potential 5 star players in there now, which makes it difficult choosing who to bring through. Very exciting few seasons ahead though! Look how good the U18 team are! Career

@Daddy ah, bad luck. those losing runs are an absolute nightmare @Vlach good luck with Catania! Hopefully you do a bit better than me!

ah well, looks like my Italian adventure might soon be over soon. Here are my results so far this season.... Bad luck turned into one of those ruts it's impossible to get out of. If I escape this I'll be amazed!

Season Summary I was a bit worried after a dodgy start with no wins in the first 5 but it turns out we are now a bog-standard mid-table side. Which will do for now I guess. baby steps and all that. frustratingly close to Europe though, that's got to be the next aim! Players Fabio Frau 38C - really nice surprise this! Our normal striker got injured for a month and I had nobody in the first team squad to cover. So I dipped into the U18s and picked Fabio. He's a 4 star potential but at 17 I wasn't expecting anything much. Not only did he keep his place he ended the season with 17 goals in 18 games. Very exciting! be interesting to see if he can carry it on in a full season at only 18. It would be a huge bonus if he can! Armando Lika 35F - Our Albanian winger is now 21 and developing really nicely. By far our best player this season and attracting attention from the premier league. Only Sheffield United for now though. It's a solid squad but there's no star playetrs or wonderkids. Highest transfer value is only £13m. I could really do with a superstar or two Youth Before the intake this year I managed to upgrade both facilities and youth coaching. How much difference did it make? Quite a lot it would seem! My best preview so far! but that only counts if the intake is as good.... and with any luck it will be. A very nice amount of elite talents there None really stand out though. Starting attributes aren't great and personalities are only generally ok Career It's been really slow going but we're gettting there, step by very small step. I'd love to break into Europe next season but we may have to settle for mid-table mediocrity again.

Season Summary Our 4th season in Serie A and our 4th season as the favourites to go down! And this one was the most satisfying season yet as we were completely bog average the whole season. But being closer to Eruope than relegation was a nice surprise, as was our 4-1 win against Milan. We're slowly getting better! Players Two breakthrough players for the first team this season:- Armando Lika 35F - 20 year old Albanian left winger. Spent last season on loan in Albania and was really good, coming back a nice shiny 4 star potential. So I stuck him in our team and he repaid us with 7 goals and 4 assists in 36 games. Which is ok, if not earth shattering. But he also played 4 times for the national team and still has the potential to get better and better. Davide Vincenzi 37A - Goes to show how poor our options at centre back are - he;s our first choice at only 17 years old! looks like he could be a proper player as well Youth I treated myself to a nice shiny new HoYD. he looks yummy! so how well did he do on his first intake? well, not his really but, you know A nice bunch of elite talents but they got crappy determination and personalities look at this awesomely named English striker I got! 2 determination! i'd love for him to make it but i'm not convinced..... Wonderkids no official wonderkids and and nobody in the nxgn either. I could really do with some to move on to the next level but can't see where any will come from in the existing youth squad tbh Finances and Upgrades interesting.... Career

thank you, i had no idea! Changed it now

they don't participate in any league, looks like you're right about that bug the reserve manager doesn't schedule any friendlies either - i have to do everything myself. little bit annoying but not game breaking

Season Summary Well, what should have been a great season turned into a really worrying one. 5 wins from the first 6, including a 3-2 win away at eventual champions Juventus, sent us top. I knew we wouldn't stay there but didn't think the drop off would be quite so bad. the next 32 league games yielded only 4 victories! 1 in the last 21! keep that up and we will be bottom of the league next season.... Youth Another 5 star preview! It's about time we started getting decent intakes! The intake was a cracker! really exciting! sadly their personalities weren't the greatest but what can you do? The best two prospects are these two lads:- Finances and Upgrades Finally the board granted me some junior coaching upgrades! i can't believe it! and we maxed out training facilities too, so with any luck we can make that small step to the next level. Mid-table mediocrity!!! Career

Season Summary Still by far the favourites to be relegated we again defied the odds to stay up. Although we got a similar amount of points to last season it was a lot more comfortable as the bottom 3 were different level bad. We were never in any danger of going down but I would have liked a few more points. Not every season are going to have 3 sides so clearly weaker than the rest Players I'm playing 4-3-3 at the minute and it's our midfield that are keeping us up. All 3 are Serie A quality. defence and the wings are letting us down though. I really need some better intakes! Youth This would help! finally, a promise of an excellent golden generation intake! But would the intake be excellent? yes! and yet only two elite talents.... Vicenzi looks the pick of the bunch Wonderkids he's still on the list! he's still refusing to sign a new contract cos he wants to play with better players! Career I'm still gonna be favourites to go down....

congratulations!!! well deserved just for sticking it out! whenever I've done Engalnd getting out of the National regionals was always by far the hardest. Hopefully you'll find yourself flying up the leagues now!

Season Summary First season is Serie A! and to be honest, it felt like it was going ok but we were never more than 5 points away from relegation, which was a little close to comfort for my liking. When our final 6 games were against teams in the top 12 I started to worry, but luckily we pulled out a win against Udinese and stayed up. A fantastic achievement considering our squad. I expect next season to be another battle to stay up Players Vincenzo Capiluppi 29D showed he can perform as as a striker at Serie A level but he spent a lot of time suspended. He got sent off 3 times! He kept asking for weird contracts - 37k a week with a 2.1m release fee - until the end of the season when he finally settled for a team high 21.5k a week (with no release clause!). Still only 22, hopefully he can improve in Serie A Raul Marin 33A - my best youth prospect. At the start of the season I threw him in as a 17 year, because why not? He was brilliant and was rewarded with his first full cap at the end of the season! Not only that but.... My second appearance in the NXGN list although I've yet to get an official wonderkid. Hopefully Marin will be the one! His £25m release fee is looking worrying now but he's playing hardball on a new contract Youth I was preparing myself for the funniest, worst youth intake of all time after that preview I got so when it came in I was weirdly disappointed. it was actually ok! Two elite talents isn't bad at all! Finances and Upgrades Serie A gave us 29m in TV money which was amazing. So with all that money you'd think the board would be falling over themselves offering us upgrades and you'd be wrong. We're still stuck on average junior coaching level. They will not shift! One lousy training ground upgrade was all they gave me Career

Season Summary What a season! Champions!!!! I guess the signs were there from the very beginning - our first match was home against pre-season favourites Spezia, and we won 4-0! But it wasn't until Dec-Feb that we really stamped our authority on the league and pulled away. Even a mini injury crisis in the last couple of months didn't stop us. Serie A here we come! Players We got a nicely balanced squad now. first choice striker Ejupi 26H was suspended for the first game and his replacement Capiluppi 29D scored a hat trick. After Ejupi scored o goals in 4 games with a 6.30 rating following, Capiluppi became first choice striker. Ejupi got his chance at redemption in March when Capiluppi knackered himself for the remainder of the season. But I got a new first choice striker now! Youth It wasn't a perfect season. An awful preview followed by an awful intake. 2 stars! no elite talents! I still signed about 7 though, they had amazing personalities. 5 professional, a resilient and another one i forget that didn't suck. Finances and Upgrades We got a takeover! they cleared the debt, didn't provide any money for investment and then changed the club vision to sign players U23 for the first team. Dammit. Career Can we stay up in Serie A next season? Unlikely, to be fair. The real question is will I get sacked after our inevitable relegation?

Season Summary Much better season although our old problems return. With 2 games to go we could have gone up automatically but we went and lost them both. Cagliari were just too classy for us in the play offs but losing 3-2 on aggregate is no disgrace. Players Endri Ejupi 26H was back to his old stuff. After 7 games he'd already matched his goals output for last season. He made his full Albania debut as well! Overall the squad is of a good level for Serie B but not quite Serie A yet. so even if we'd gone up we'd have finished bottom. Youth Finally! a decent intake! excellent with 4 elite talents is very nice, although none of them really stand out as the future superstar i crave Finances and Upgrades Still losing around 6m a season which makes upgrades an impossibility. So our facilities are slowly degrading instead with no chance of us improving them. We really need something to change soon. All Time Youth Records Career

Season Summary After three play-offs in three seasons this was a return to reality. We weren't awful, but we really weren't good and bumbled around all season. Weirdly, we'd go through periods of being unbeaten and then not winning, rather than being consistently inconsistent. But no mind, a boring mid-table season is the finish Players We don't really have the players to push us any further I don't think. No real stars and the best players are still only Serie B level at the moment. Our best player, Mateo Hasani 28A, was sold before the season started as teams kept getting closer and closer to his 4.2m release fee so I offered him out for £4m +50% and Real Betis bit and off he went. His value was still only 4-6m so I don't think he'll be making us a fortune yet Endri Ejupi 26H - I was expecting a lot out of my Albanian striker after his solid but steady year on year improvement. But this season he couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo. He was rubbish! and if I had a decent youth back up he would have been out on his ear. But we struggled on and he finished top scorer on a massive 8 goals. Somehwat down on last season's 24. Hopefully it was just a blip Stefano Melani 29A is the star of the team. Now 20 he is regarded as a Serie A standard player and has only 2 years left on his contract. With a 4m release fee for clubs in higher divisions I can't see us holding on to him much longer either. he really wants to leave as well, which is never a good sign! Best two youth players to break through as first team regulars were Andrea Fabbri 30A in midfield and Vincenso Capiluppi 29D, who is a natural at LW, RW and up front, which makes him a hugely useful addition to the squad. Potential Serie A quality as well! Youth So, the main problem I have is I literally can't remember the last time I got an excellent intake. They are all average/good for some reason (possibly that I cannot get the board to improve my junior coaching above average). Anyway, another underwhelming preview followed by an even more underwhelming intake A promised good intake turns into a 3 star average intake that looks like this:- 2 elite talents aren't bad I suppose and there was a nice range of nationalities. But still, I was hoping for more with exceptional youth intake. All time Youth Records Interesting to see Fabio Vaccaro 24B at the top of the appearances table. he's a classic squad player in this type of challenge - a jack of all trades and master of none! He is equally as inept at CM as he is RW, LW and AMC, which means he often finds himself in the first Xi despite never being first choice. Bevilacqua 27A is still pondering around Serie B. I have a 50% clause on him but I'm more likely to get nothing than any money from it I suspect. Finances and Upgrades Still not great. Losing around 4-5m a year which meant the board had to do this halfway through the season:- It also means that they are not in the slightest bit receptive to any requests for upgrades, meaning i'm kinda stuck in a weird limbo. It always happens in these challenges though, I often go seasons at a time treading water before something happening to push us on to the next level. Who knows what it could be, maybe I'll finally get lucky with an amazing newgen? Career We're an established Serie B side for now, which is all the board want, but the players all throw their toys out the pram should I have the temerity to suggest we are in any way more ambitious than try to avoid relegation. So I guess another season of consolidation, while successfully bringing through a couple of youth players, will do.

i think you'll be fine, we can all see it's a bug and not you. good luck!

Season Summary Well, looks like we're an established Serie B club now, despite the media predictions still under-valuing us. The players tend too as well. Every time I say we'll aim for a mid-table finish they get all huffy and claim I'm setting them up to fail. But we're a good side now! Third time in a row we make the play-offs and third time in a row we fail in the play offs. But we keep getting there, and that's the main thing. One season we'll get a bit of luck and that'll be it! Players Mateo Hasani 28A - My Albanian left winger/cum right inverted winger. Now has 19 Albanian caps and is rated as a Serie A level talent. With a 4m release clause, only 2 years on his contract and a constant refusal to sign a new one I think he'll be a Serie A player sooner rather than later - hopefully with us, but more likely with someone else. Stefano Melani 29A - CM, still only 19 and my other Serie A rated player. He also wants to leave for a stronger club and also has a 4m release clause. If we can hang on to him promotion isn't out the question but it is a rather big if Edris Ejupi 26H - I love players like this! clearly not rated in my initial intake but forced his way into the side and thrived. Halfway through the season I abandoned my 4-6-0 and went to 4-3-3 and he was the spearhead of attack. Constantly improving and constantly getting into the Albanian squad - yet to make his debut though! Youth An ok preview, but the lack of A grade talents was a worry The intake was weirdly ok. Only 4 players worth signing but the two elite talents look pretty good. Chiapetta looked the best. I wanted to sign 4 but in the end i could only sign 3. Never seen this before:- Now that's just mean! what's the point of an intake if i can't sign them????? All time Youth Records Facilities and Upgrades Still have no money and now my youth facilities are downgraded! aaargh!!!! Career

nah, i had faith in you! some of those players you were churning out looked amazing, made me wish I'd started in Turkey! congrats on finishing the challenge!