DaneBramage

March 2025 Results I was absolutely raging after the trip to Empoli. Even playing the side bottom of the table, we still couldn't get an away win. I was absolutely raging six minutes into the trip to Lecce. Even playing the side that had replaced Empoli at the bottom of the table, we went behind really early on. Luckily we fought back into the game, and despite them doubling our xG, a brace from Andrija Novakovic finally ended our away day hoodoo. American goals: 5 (32 for the season) American assists: 2 (23 for the season) ---------------------------------------------- Serie A We've put another point between us and the bottom three. ---------------------------------------------- USA Senior Squad: 0-1 v Morocco (friendly) Under-23: 1-1 v Morocco (friendly) Under-20: 4-3 v Morocco (friendly) ----------------------------------------------

February 2025 Serie A Two home wins, two away losses. I was hoping for 4-6 points this month, so I'm happy that we reached the upper end of that tally. We definitely did it the hard way and with an element of luck, but we were clinical against Fiorentina while they were wasteful, and Titas Krapikas in goal was MOTM when we dented Napoli's title hopes. The less said about the thrashing by Spezia... American goals: 4 (27 for the season) American assists: 3 (21 for the season) ---------------------------------------------- Serie A If only home games counted we'd be 6th. We're 12 points clear of the bottom three so I think we can rule out relegation, but it would be a lot more comfortable if we could get any kind of results on the road. Sort that out and we're not far off becoming a decent midtable side. ----------------------------------------------

January 2025 Departures A few of the second-string that weren't getting much gametime were shifted out. All of them had contracts expiring in the summer, so we made some good money moving them on early. ---------------------------------------------- Signings We brought in three new players to bolster our ranks, and I think the two outfield players are definitely of a higher quality than those who left. Indiana Vassilev (Bulgarian second nationality) has joined from my nemesis club, Hellas Verona. He didn't play much for them so hopefully we can make better use of him. He'll be cover for the attacking positions. Taylor Booth (Italian second nationality) is another player who hasn't played much in recent years, so could do with a change of scenery. I'm tempted to throw him straight in at right-back, but he can do a job if needed nearly anywhere on the pitch. Daniel Szabo (Hungarian second nationality) will be our new back-up goalie. ---------------------------------------------- Results I was aiming for three points this month, so was pretty annoyed when we didn't get them against Torino. They just put ten men behind the ball, and we couldn't break them down. But the win next time out was a big bonus. Atalanta are the reigning champions, so turning them over was a very pleasant surprise. The stats backed-up that it was a well-deserved win, we were by far the better team on the day. American goals: 2 (23 for the season) American assists: 2 (18 for the season) ---------------------------------------------- Serie A Ticking along nicely. A few more points on the board, and we have a decent buffer over the bottom three. ----------------------------------------------

December 2024 Youth Preview I'll believe it when I see it. ---------------------------------------------- Results A mixed month, with two wins, a draw, and two losses in the league. Everything good about our results is continuing to come from Andrija Novakovic and Luca De La Torre, they really are carrying the team. Malik Tillman set up one goal this month, but he's struggling to match last season's impact with just two goals and two assists so far. American goals: 3 (21 for the season) American assists: 2 (16 for the season) ---------------------------------------------- Serie A We just need three teams worse than us. Currently there are seven. Ace. I've included the extended table this time to illustrate the difference between our home and away from. At home we've done really well. A record of 5-1-1 has given us 16 points from a possible 21, with a goal difference of +11. But away, we barely even show up. A record of 0-2-6 has given us just 2 points from a possible 24, with a miserable goal difference of -20. ---------------------------------------------- Hellas Verona I hate them. I hate them so much. I can accept having crap records against the top clubs, but now I dread playing these guys. This also includes them knocking us out of the Coppa Italia two years in a row. ----------------------------------------------

November 2024 Individual Honours A well deserved award for Andrija Novakovic. He was in great form last year, and he's banging them in this time too. Doesn't get a look in with the national team though. ---------------------------------------------- Results Good win over Lecce. Two assists from Luca De La Torre for Andrija Novakovic sent us on our way, and even after going down to ten men we held on for the last half-hour. But the follow-up against Hellas Verona was absolutely abysmal. An expensive one for the players too - in addition to refunding the fans, seven of them were fined a week's wages. American goals: 2 (18 for the season) American assists: 2 (14 for the season) ---------------------------------------------- Serie A We're still outside of the relegation area, so it's going well. But our defensive record is terrible. ---------------------------------------------- USA Senior Squad: 4-1 v Kuwait (friendly) Under-20: 5-0 v Canada, 4-0 v Dominica, 2-0 v Grenada, 3-1 v Trinidad & Tobago, 3-0 v Aruba (North American Championship First Round Group Stage, finished top of group), 1-0 v Canada, 2-1 v El Salvador (North American Championship Second Round Group Stage, finished top of group), 2-1 v Mexico (North American Championship Final, winners) ----------------------------------------------

October 2024 Results The only think I love more than a surprise Instant Result, is two surprise Instant Results. Andrija Novakovic might have missed a penalty against Lazio, but he more than redeemed himself with all five goals against Juventus and Milan (the current top two) American goals: 5 (16 for the season) American assists: 4 (12 for the season) ---------------------------------------------- Serie A I did worry with this tough month coming up that we'd sink into the relegation area, but the two points we earned have kept us afloat for now. ---------------------------------------------- USA Senior Squad: 3-0 v El Salvador, 4-2 v Haiti (friendlies) Under-23: 3-2 v Haiti (friendly) Under-20: 5-1 v Haiti (friendly) ----------------------------------------------

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I recognised his name from a Fulham FM20 save I had. Looked him up on there and saw that I'd released him after one year, and just 3 (12) appearances and 1 goal. He's made a much better impression this time - 2 goals and 3 assists already, from 2 (5) appearances. Players signed from the Italian lower leagues (which I'm classing as anything below the division we're currently in). This was one of the board culture requests at the start of the career, but it's dropped off now.

September 2024 Results Losses to Sassuolo and Fiorentina made it three defeats in a row. In each of them we'd conceded within the first 10 minutes, and two of these had been down to dreadful defensive mistakes. I called the team in for a meeting afterwards and told them they needed to get their act together quickly, and made a couple of changes to the starting line-up. Jonathan Tomkinson and Luca De La Torre came into the team, and repaid the faith immediately with goals against Spezia. Andrija Novakovic added a brace while Joel Pohjanpalo came on to score a delightful chip, giving us a massive win. We had three games in eight days, so the second-string was rotated in to take on Napoli. Predictably they got hammered, but it left the first-team fresh to face Empoli. The decision worked out nicely, we blew them away and Andrija Novakovic scored a hat-trick (reaching 100 career league goals). American goals: 10 (11 for the season) American assists: 6 (8 for the season) ---------------------------------------------- Serie A After three games this made for pretty depressing viewing, but the two wins has given it a much better look. ---------------------------------------------- USA Senior Squad: 2-0 v Curacao, 0-2 v New Zealand (friendlies) Under-23: 3-0* v New Zealand (friendly) Malik Tillman played and scored. Under-20: 0-0 v New Zealand (friendly) Under-19: 3-0 v New Zealand (friendly) ----------------------------------------------

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. ---------------------------------------------- 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 ----------------------------------------------

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. ---------------------------------------------- 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. 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) 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. 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. ---------------------------------------------- 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) ----------------------------------------------

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. ---------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------

USA National Team This is the current senior squad. ---------------------------------------------- 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. 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. ----------------------------------------------

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 ---------------------------------------------- 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. 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. 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. ----------------------------------------------

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. ---------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------

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) ---------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------

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. tytvhb.mp4 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) ---------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------- USA Under-23: 4-2* v Mexico (Olympic Games Qualifying Final) Malik Tillman played and scored. ----------------------------------------------

Youth Intake 2024 >>>>>>>>>>>>> No point going into any detail with this. Terrible. ----------------------------------------------

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.

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

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) ---------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------

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

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) ---------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------

January 2024 Job Interview Another offer, and this time it's my first from another Italian club. Below us in the table, declined. ---------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------

December 2023 Youth Preview ---------------------------------------------- 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) ---------------------------------------------- Serie A Only the one game, so no real change. Still five teams worse than us. ----------------------------------------------