[FM10] Serie A-A-A-A - Stayin' Alive!?

First of all, I should say that I'm already in 2019 with this save, but I'll start with a small history of my work.

Game Database: Custom (Medium + all players from: Argentina, Brazil, Sweden, Russia, The Netherlands, France, Spain, England and San Marino)

Leagues Loaded: Italy (Serie C2C and higher), France (Ligue 1 / View-Only), England (English Premiership / View-Only)

No edits except for the changing of competition names to their proper ones.

I started the game with San Marino Calcio (also known as A.C. San Marino) in the Serie C2/C. They are the only professional club from the Republic of San Marino, playing in the Italian league system. I named myself Cornelio Guglielminpietro, San Marinese manager with the smallest reputation possible at the start of the game.

In my first two seasons, I just built my side, finishing 6th (1st season) and 4th (2nd season), but losing the playoffs that year. Signing players on free transfers, improving club staff and finances and trying to get myself in a good stead for when I got promoted to Serie C1. In my first season, I closed a deal with Parma to sign their young striker (who was at that point at loan to our rivals, Bellaria) Stefano CRISCI, who had been tearing the league apart. More about him in a later update.

In my third season, we pulled that promotion off, finishing 4th in the Serie C2/A and winning in the playoffs to get promoted to Serie C1. It was also in this season that I got my first worthy regen (or is it newgen? which is preferred on this board?) Gennaro D'ANTONI, a San Marinese DRC. More about him as well in that later update.

In Serie C1, we didn't spend time hanging around and 'fighting relegation'. In the first season we finished 6th, then got promoted in our second year in C1, finishing second and qualifying (again) from playoffs in our second season. During these years, I gave attention to improvement of youth and training facilities, investment in players that can keep us up in Serie B and an attempt to sign more Italians.

Serie B was more difficult. It took us three years to get out of that. In the first year we fought relegation for a long time, then ended the season with a great streak and managed to finished 16th. At this point I started investing more in squad depth, as well as expanding the stadium. The second year saw us finishing 11th, after having been in a playoff spot for a long time. Then, finally, in our third year, with the help of two new signings; Pablo BRUNELLI and José MOTTA, both Argentinian/Italian, and a striker and MRC, respectively, we got promoted. Finishing 5th on 72 points, we beat Livorno and Bari in the playoffs to go up to Serie A.

Serie A report in the next post.

So 2017/18 was our first season in Serie A. Before this season, I made arguably my best signing of my career, picking up Hungarian right-midfielder Gabór SZABÓ for just €110,000 from Debrecen, a player who would later grow to become the Young Player of the Year as well as the Fans' Player of the Year. For the first months, our debut year was a nightmare - collecting just two points from our first fourteen games before our first Serie A victory against Triestina on 20.12.2017. From that point on, things improved - fueled by our winter signings of CARLINHOS, a Brazilian defender, Eric LEWIS, an American DMC and the loan signing of Gianluca Farina from Internationale, another central defender. In the second half of the season, we beat Fiorentina, Sampdoria, Triestina, Cesena, Cremonese and Fiorentina again, but also, we scored a historic 5 - 0 win over a dire Internazionale side - who were challenging AC Milan for the title at that time. A BRUNELLI hattrick and a brace from CRISCI made sure that even if we did go down - we would be remembered.

We finished 17th with 32 points, eight clear of relegated Triestina. In the summer, we signed a few more players. Of those players, striker EDINHO (2,6M) and defender SILVA (5,75M), both Brazilian, were by far the biggest names. Goalkeeper RICHARD, another Brazilian, joined on a free transfer.

In the second season, the story was almost the same as in the first. We found it hard to get going (although the wait for a win wasn't that long this time, coming in our seventh match, a 2 - 0 defeat of Salernitana) and were looking certain to get relegated in the winter. The main positive of our first half was defeating Sampdoria in style (4 - 0, four goals from EDINHO).

Again, a good winter signing, Argentinian defensive midfielder Bruno ZUCULINI, helped us collect the points we so sorely needed in the second half of the season, defeating such clubs as Torino, Cagliari, Brescia, Fiorentina and Sampdoria, as well as a 4 - 4 draw with AS Roma.

This saw us finishing 16th with 38 points, nine ahead of Sampdoria, who got relegated in 18th place.

Now, the real-time updates will begin - presumably in chunks of a month.

SEASON 2019/20

CLUB INFORMATION

Training Facilities: Top

Youth Facilities: Good

Stadium: Olimpico, Serravalle.

Stadium Capacity: 9539

Coaches: 14 (1 first team, 4 youth)

Scouts: 11

SQUAD

Time to post a screenshot of my squad and my starting XI.

Goalkeeper Richard:

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/826/richardr.jpg

New Signing Alphonsus Okoronkwo, right back (free transfer)

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/9932/okoronkwo.jpg

Brazilian defensive pairing Silva and Carlinhos

http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/3839/silva.jpg

http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/2880/carlinhosz.jpg

San Marino (Nation) captain and club man Gennaro D'Antoni

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/4258/gennarodantoni.jpg

Hungarian Wonderkid Gabór Szabó (right midfielder)

Bruno Zuculini and José Motta,

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/4391/brunozuculini.jpg

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/4510/josemotta.jpg

Left winger Israel (to be replaced)

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/5052/israelm.jpg

Strikers Brunelli and Edinho

http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/4382/pablobrunelli.jpg

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/6094/edinho.jpg

Club captain, most apps, most goals and ICON; Stefano Crisci.

Crisci's History:

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/901/criscihistory.jpg

PRE-SEASON

I've got quite a few friendlies scheduled. I play feeder clubs Ancona and Virtus Lanciano, new parent club Genoa, as well as Cosenza and KF Tirana - I've also decided to create a friendly cup, called the Coppa Sammarinese, where we host CSKA Moscow, Feyenoord and Athletic de Bilbao. CSKA will be the opponent in the semi-final.

TRANSFERS

After selling my left-back Van den Heuvel, it's time to sign a new one. Currently, all DL's I've found which are good enough are also being massively overpriced by their clubs, which means I need to keep looking for just a little longer.

There's a good chance that Pablo Brunelli will leave. Unable to break into the side since Edinho has arrived (only 18 apps last year, most of which were sub-ons), Brescia have come sniffing after him. If I get a good price (4.5M +), he'll be off.

A transfer kitty of €15M + 4M for the Van den Heuvel transfer should be more than enough to get the following which I lack: a DC (backup only), a DL, an ML, an MR (backup only) and possibly a striker if Brunelli leaves.

NEW PLAYERS

Alphonsus Okoronkwo, my right back, was signed on a free transfer from FC Utrecht. I had good experiences with him, giving him his Nigeria debut at the age of 20, he has now grown out into a full international (although I have left Nigeria long since).

Walter Antonini was released from Reggina. I managed to snap him up, as a useful left-back who also has the potential to develop into a player which I can sell for a fee between €1-2M.

Giacomo Poloni is a regen who has joined our youth setup this year, being touted as my Assistant as a 'star of his generation'. I will do my utmost to make him as good as possible for the future, because I want to start managing the nation of San Marino as well when the current manager is sacked.

Hello Peej!

Well done on getting San Marino promoted to the Serie A and also on staying there.

I'm looking forward to the next updates.

July and August 2019

TRANSFERS

This pre-season, most of my attention was taken up by attempts to strengthen my squad, particularly on the left flank, where we were very short of capable players. With that in mind, I signed the following players.

CRYSTIAN. A DRL I signed for €1,7M from Zenit St. Petersburg. Currently first choice left-back.

http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/1458/crystian.jpg

Souleymane DIALLO, signed on a free after he was released from Lyon. Also a left-back, but currently the direct backup behind Crystian. Will probably be sold after this season.

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/3976/souleymanediallo.jpg

Roberto FERNÁNDEZ GARCÍA, a wonderkid who I had to pay €8.25M for when I wanted to sign him from Besiktas. He was too good nót to sign, and his arrival has unfortunately forced Carlinhos into a backup role. I'm hoping Fernandèz will score some goals, as well.

Krasimir DOLAPCHIEV, a Bulgarian AMRC who I got on the cheap, just 95K from Levski Sofia. Contemplating giving him a nickname to make things easier, but can't think of a good one yet.

http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/6388/krasimirdolapchiev.jpg

Only one player has left us. I loaned out Khalid SMITS to Varese (where he made his mark in the first friendly by scoring four goals in a 4 - 0 win), hoping he'll develop into a player who is capable to perform in Serie B, as he's not going to be good enough for us.

FRIENDLIES

The friendlies went well considering how poor my squad fitness was, even for pre-season. We scored quite a few goals, which I hope will be a good indication of how things will go this season.

Virtus Lanciano - San Marino 0 - 2

Cosenza - San Marino 1 - 2

San Marino - Genoa 1 - 1

San Marino - CSKA Moscow 0 - 1 (Coppa Sammarinese Semi Final)

San Marino - Feyenoord 2 - 1 (Coppa Sammarinese 3rd place playoff)

Ancona - San Marino 0 - 2

San Marino - KF Tirana 4 - 0

Pre-season goalscorers:

Crisci 4
Edinho 3
Fernández García 2
Szabó 2
Motta 2 
Matera 1

COPPA ITALIA

In the 3rd qualifying round (the first round we enter), we were drawn at home to Serie C1/B side Pro Vercelli. This 'should' be an easy match, and our board want to see us progress to the 4th round.

Despite a kind of domination you normally find on a niche website, we missed a lot of chances. This will need to be improved in league matches, where we will likely not get as many chances.

San Marino - Pro Vercelli 3 - 1

'24 Motta 1 - 0
'33 Carraro 1 - 1
'54 Edinho
'72 Motta 3 - 1

MOTM: Motta (9.3)

SERIE A

So, with our preparations concluded, our squad pretty much complete and the cup match with Pro Vercelli out of the way, we are now finally starting our third season in Serie A. These are the teams that will play this season. Mantova, Lecce and Triestina got newly promoted. AC Milan are the holders, having won the league for the last four seasons in a row.

We start our season with a home match vs Cagliari, followed by a home match vs Udinese, and then our first away match, as we play Triestina.

Next update will be at the end of September. Any suggestions on how to improve your reading experience will be considered.

August/September 2019

TRANSFERS

Just before the deadline day, I decided to sign a 3rd goalkeeper, Thierry CHAUVEAU. Liverpool wanted to get rid of him, even if that meant letting him go for free. This seemed like a decent deal. Chauveau will be playing in the U20's as long as he's not needed in the first team.

SERIE A

We kicked off the season at home, playing the Cagliari of manager John Terry. Then followed Udinese, who had won the Champions League in 2014 and hadn't performed anywhere near that level since. Our first away match was against newly-promoted Triestina, our former parent club.

Our first test against a top side came in the shape of Genoa, a team who had been running AC Milan close the past few years.

We had a great start to the season, with Crisci continuing what he did at the end of last season, scoring goals. Edinho was also good in two matches, but notably missing in the others.

San Marino - Cagliari 2 - 0

'77 Crisci 1 - 0
'90+4 Szabó (p) 2 - 0

Man of the Match: Szabó (8.0)

---

San Marino - Udinese 3 - 0

'32 Crisci 1 - 0
'59 Edinho 2 - 0
'62 Edinho 3 - 0

Man of the Match: Edinho (9.3)

---

Triestina - San Marino 1 - 5

'3 Crisci 0 - 1
'12 Zuculini 0 - 2
'45 Edinho 0 - 3
'52 Edinho 0 - 4
'80 Acacio 1 - 4
'87 Matera 1 - 5

Man of the Match: Edinho (8.8)
---

Genoa - San Marino 3 - 0

'16 Wellington Silva 1 - 0
'33 Wellington Silva 2 - 0
'79 Bolzoni 3 - 0

Man of the Match: Wellington Silva (8.2)
---

San Marino - Brescia 2 - 2

'6 Motta 1 - 0
'18 Djuric 1 - 1
'60 Janota 2 - 1
'85 Zozulya 2 - 2

Man of the Match: Zuculini (7.9)

---

Catania - San Marino 2 - 0

'11 Mertes 1 - 0
'16 Stuani 2 - 0

Man of the Match: Mertes (7.8)

League Pos: 6th

Player of the Month: Bruno Zuculini (6 matches, 1 goals, av. rat 7.42)

A mixed month. Of course, a sixth place is good, but we lost matches we threw a win away against Brescia. Still, I suppose beating Udinese and collecting ten points from our first six matches is a good start to the season, a lot better than our previous two seasons. Maybe we can gun for mid-table this season, though I assume I'm not good enough tactically for that.

Next update: October 2019.

(do you like this way of match reports, or do you prefer screenshots?)

October 2019

The Month of the Absentees

This month brought us some challenges, including top defender Fernández García's absence as he played for Spain (who reached the final and lost to England) at the Under 20's World Cup.

We started the month with a fit squad, but that quickly changed as my best players fell one by one. Gábor Szabó got injured for two months on international duty with Hungary, goalkeeper Richard was injured in training and during the match with A.C. Milan, Edinho was injured and will be out for 3 months with a hip injury.

Despite these issues, we managed to pull off a credible draw with A.C. Milan and beat Lazio Roma.

Matches

Torino - San Marino 3 - 0

'10 Esref Tuncer 1 - 0
'13 Bertolini 2 - 0
'22 Esref Tuncer 3 - 0  
'62 Tinga (Torino) red card

Man of the Match: Esref Tuncer (9.1)

---

San Marino - A.C. Milan 1 - 1

'33 Edinho injured (replaced by Crisci)
'42 Crisci 1 - 0
'61 Pato 1 - 1

Man of the Match: Meyer (8.1) 

---

San Marino - Lazio Roma 1 - 0

'66 Brunelli 1 - 0

Man of the Match: Brunelli (7.5)

---

Napoli - San Marino 1 - 0

'88 Barbosa 

Man of the Match: Barbosa (7.8)

League Pos: 9th

Player of the Month: Zuculini (4 games, 0 goals, av.rat 7.2)

---

The lack of depth in our squad cost us the draw with Napoli. The game was played in mid-week and most of our players already had a condition of below 70% after 70 minutes, giving us fewer and fewer chances at goal as the match progressed.

This is a problem that I will seek to address in the winter.

November 2019

Fo' Swizzle, ma nizzle

In november 2019, Switzerland manager Lucien Favre retired, and after my failed adventures with Nigeria (2014-2016) and Holland U21's (2016 - july 2019), I felt it was time to try my hand at international management yet again. After remarkably easy negotiations (no doubt helped by the good season San Marino were having so far), the Swiss board asked me to become their manager, which I duly accepted.

I have brought Francesco Toldo along with me as a goalkeeping coach - he is the only member of my staff who will be joining me at Switzerland.

The Swiss were rather unimpressive in their attempt to qualify for the 2020 European Championship, as they finished 5th in their qualifying group, below Germany (1st), Belarus (2nd), Finland (3rd) and Kazakhstan, although they did tie for points with the latter two on 12. Luxembourg finished bottom with no points.

Matches

The month went very well, despite some additional injuries, to Motta and D'Antoni (Richard returned). There were only three matches to be played due to clashes with international fixtures, but we won all three of us, propelling us further up the table and defying the pre-season prediction of rock bottom.

One of the most impressive players in this month was Michal Janota, who had a difficult time last year, failing to perform and often being on the bench for weeks on end, but who has lit up this year and became our player of the month.

San Marino - Lecce 2 - 0

'11 Matera 1 - 0
'29 Crisci 2 - 0

Man of the Match: Janota (8.1)

---

Atalanta Bergamo - San Marino 1 - 3

'11 Ponomar 1 - 0 (p) 
'43 Silva 1 - 1
'87 Brunelli 1 - 2
'90 Brunelli 1 - 3

Man of the Match: Brunelli (8.5)
---

San Marino - Reggina 2 - 0

'69 Zuculini 1 - 0
'73 Motta injured (three subs made already)
'84 Israel 2 - 0

Man of the Match: Zuculini (8.3)

League Pos: 6th

Player of the Month: Michal Janota (3 matches, no goals, av. rat. 7.5)

December 2019

Month of Hardship

December was a month to forget quickly, with only one league win and a cup triumph. Despite problems on the pitch, San Marino fan-forums and news paper reports were far more interested in the trouble in the dressing room, where SILVA and RICHARD, two members of the clubs Brazilian contingent, notified the club and management of their desire to leave and try their luck at a higher level. Initially, I decided not to let either of them go, but when I noticed Silva had stopped performing completely (3 ratings below 5.5 in just as many games), it seemed to me like a good time to get rid of him. Richard, at least, kept performing to an acceptable level - despite conceding 15 goals in 5 games.

Silva will be leaving the club in January, moving to A.C. Milan for a fee of €10,000,000. I'm actually a bit happy to see the back of him, as he never performed to the level I wanted him to in his]season-and-a-half at the club.

We also brought in a forward on a free transfer, 20-year old Spaniard Ignacio Mayordomo who was released from the Real Madrid youth. He will be adding more depth to our squad.

Coppa Italia

In our 4th round qualifier we played fellow Serie A-side Cagliari.

San Marino - Cagliari 1 - 1

'61 Crisci
'75 Manu

Penalties: 5 - 4

Man of the Match: Manu (8.3)

We will face Internazionale away from home in the next round.

Serie A

This month was extremely hard on the fans and players, with 14 goals conceded and only five scored. In our defence, we played some of the best team in the league this month, including the two teams that are currently on top.

Fiorentina - San Marino 4 - 1

'10 Ruben 1 - 0
'23 Jovetic 2 - 0 
'42 Jovetic 3 - 0
'45 Brunelli 3 - 1
'67 Ventimiglia 4 - 1

Man of the Match: Jovetic (8.9)

---

Palermo - San Marino 4 - 0

'7 Vega 1 - 0 
'15 Tagliani 2 - 0 
'45 Guibert 3 - 0
'57 Vega 4 - 0

Man of the Match: Ledda (9.1)

---

AS Roma - San Marino 4 - 1

'3 Oliviera 1 - 0
'35 Crisci 1 - 1
'36 Alberto 2 - 1
'56 Oliviera 3 - 1
'88 Le Van 4 - 1

Man of the Match: Oliviera (8.8)
---

San Marino - Mantova 3 - 2

'17 Janczyk 0 - 1
'54 Crisci 1 - 1
'78 Janczyk 1 - 2
'82 Szabó 2 - 2 (p)
'85 Pisani own goal 3 - 2

Man of the Match: Janczyk (8.9)

League Pos: 8th

Player of the Month: Nobody. Everyone was equally terrible.

January 2020

Get Money, Buy Medicine. Oh, and we won awards.

This month saw our players battered with transfer speculation following the good results of our season so far. Players like Brunelli, Szabó and Motta were bombarded with interest from other clubs.

This was in part because of the awards we won (although all of those were runner-up awards)

SILVA, despite poor performance, won the Serie A Defender and Serie A Young Player of the Year runner-up awards.

Stefano CRISCI won the Serie A Italian Player of the Year runner-up award despite an average rating of 6.55 in the 18/19 season and a 6.51 rating in the current one (the award bemused me, but made me feel warm inside)

Enrico MATERA became runner-up in the Serie A Goal of the Year award, for a solo effort he scored against Triestina.

And finally, I won my own award. I was runner-up in manager of the year, finishing behind Walter Zenga, who is currently destroying the league with Palermo, so that made sense.

---

Transfers

The first thing that happened in the transferwindow was Silva's move to A.C. Milan for €10,000,000, a record fee for the club. This triggered a foray into the transfermarket for a new DC, and I found one in Marco PEDALINO, who I signed for €3,700,000 from Stade Rennes in France, where he was also born. However, he has chosen to play for the Italian national team.

I managed to hold on to players who were linked with moves like Brunelli, Szabó and Motta, so these were the only changes in our team.

The Silva transfer and the cheapish replacement we got for him meant that we are now over €20,000,000 on our bank balance. That means we should be able to get some serious investment done in the summer, preferably for young players.

---

Coppa Italia

Despite battling away against Internazionale, we were no real match for them, and we lost 1 - 0 (and it could have been more). Thus our Coppa Italia adventure ended, but we got further than the fans and board expected.

Internazionale - San Marino 1 - 0

'19 Coutinho 1 - 0

Man of the Match: D'Antoni (7.3)

---

Serie A

This month saw us grab mixed results, but I was pleased with how it went as we had some big games to play.

San Marino - Juventus 3 - 2

'8 Paloschi 0 - 1
'18 Crisci   1 - 1
'40 Zuculini 2 - 1
'60 Szabó 3 - 1 (p)
'76 Blanco 3 - 2

Man of the Match: Edinho (8.1)

---

Internazionale - San Marino 2 - 0

'39 Coutinho 1 - 0
'69 Foti        2 - 0

Man of the Match: Konstantinidis (7.8) 

---

Udinese - San Marino 1 - 2

'41 Edinho 0 - 1
'44 Motta 0 - 2
'45 Oscar 1 - 2

Man of the Match: Motta (7.7)

League Pos: 8th

Player of the Month: Crystian (3 apps, 0 goals, av. rat 7.20)