FM11 Big Euro Nation: Small Club to Big Club Challenge

[dami]

Two wins out of 7 see my Quimper team in 15th place...My strikers can't score when there's an open goal...

[PRDH]

LLR - I'm actually making money in the LIGA adelante. It's weird. Fairly solid income, still in debt despite it after spending £3.2million upgrading the stadium on reaching this league.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

I think I may be in trouble, first the media are reporting that I may be leaving the club at the end of the season and they were discussing possible replacements, then the council blocked a chance at a bigger stadium, and then when I ask the board for a new contract they say "Your performance as a manager means we cannot" - Oh Crap...

My contract expires at the end of the season so I really hope I can do enough between now and then with my new 4-4-2 to be able to get some results in and get a new contract.

[brettney1980]

Welcome to the Russian Premier League FC Chita .. We hit the bar once the each post and put the ball in the net (offside) in the first half of our first Premier league game vs Spartak Moscow but they score on the stroke of half time and go on to win 2-0.

EDIT: 2nd game we beat Lokomotiv Moscow 2-1 good start.

[Ohanzee]

Good luck LLR. You can do it!

Sold those players refusing to sign new contracts for £16M total, and got a whopping' 5% of it into my transfer budget. Adding to that I all of a sudden have a injury crisis. Been blessed so far and not had much trouble, but right now 5 first choice players are out. Looks like those "hot prospect" players will have to step up sooner than planned.

We're entered straight into the group stages of the Champions Cup this year. Going to play Manchester City, Inter and Hajduk. Guess 3rd place has to be the goal.

[rlipscombe]

fingers crossed LLR - hopefully those media stories will lead to nothing... good luck with the 442.

[PRDH]

Season finished. Report to follow.

I wouldn't worry to much about the press LLR, they make things up, I should know, I'm one of them!!

[brettney1980]

Can i end the season now!? ... Sitting in second after 6 games!!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Thaniks for the support everyone, well it worked well for a period, we lost our first game with the 4-4-2, then won three in a row 3:1, 2:0, 4:1, the best was the last game, after 43 minutes we were down 1:0, a late mistake by their keeper saw it become 1 all at halftime, I fired up and we ripped them to shreds in the second half. The next game we went down 3:0 by halftime and that was it, we managed to go on fire and get 2 back, but the third was off the woodwork in the 91st minute. A lot more chances being made even with our number 1 striker and right wingers out of action.

As for the board I just want a new contract, would hate to have to find a new club.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Can i end the season now!? ... Sitting in second after 6 games!!

I wish that sometimes too.

[brettney1980]

I wish that sometimes too.

Unusual for me i usually end the season well and start poorly.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Unusual for me i usually end the season well and start poorly.

I seem to have issues in the middle of the season, but early on I struggle and then start climbing after 3-4 games, get to the top and then it falls apart before I start to recover near the end.

[Ohanzee]

LLR - When I think about it, I don't think I was ever offered a contract extension until the very end of a season. That is until these last few years we've been in the top. Now I keep getting 3 year extensions. But the first 6-7 years I remember getting "... might leave" news reports about my contract status a lot.

I should probably show this in one of those dozens of threads about regens being crap in FM in the general forum, but I'll do it here instead.

Here's one of the players we'll be facing when we meet Manchester City. Pedro Martins, the God of wingers.

But Inter are even worse. They have 3 of the top 5 highest valued players in the world atm. Alessandro Sabatini, Fabio Pierini, and Peter Dussaut.

Everyone say a prayer to make sure they'll all be struck by lightning please.

[brettney1980]

So we have the meanest defence in the league (apart from top team Rubin) and Terek are the lowest scorers (apart from bottom club Alania) sooo when they came to visit it was always going to be tight right!? 4-2 win then.

[minisav]

Cheers guys

Entered into the 4th Qualifying Round against Montepellier. Won 1-0 at Gayfield Park so nervy times ahead for the away leg.

[duccio]

The promotion of clubs to the lowest playable levels seems to be very heavily dependent on reputation alone. The clubs with the highest reputations in their lower league groups will have the lowest odds on gaining promotion, but once they have been promoted, and likely replaced in the lower league groups by relegated teams with somewhat lower reputations, a way for less well known clubs to gain promotion is open.

I went on holiday in Italy monitoring Serie D grp.E. After the clubs with the highest reputations in the group, Perugia, Arezzo and Montevarchi, bounced to Serie C2, it was Orvietana's turn to get a go in a professional league. That means the holiday lasted for 3 seasons.

So, to satisfy my penchant for managing tiny lower league clubs, I head for this rather striking Umbrian hilltop town.

Orvieto is a town of approximately 20 000 inhabitants. It sits on a flat butte of volcanic tuff with many of the houses built right next to the almost-vertical cliffs (quite reminds of Cuenca in Spain). During times long past, Orvieto's position atop a steep hill gave it a great defensive advantage, and some medieval popes (and other men of eminence) found refuge in the town while Rome itself was defenseless against the onslaught of their enemies. Below the town, dug deep into the volcanic rock, is a labyrinth of caves and tunnels which include wells, stairs, quarries, cellars, unexpected passageways and cisterns. Via these tunnels, many of the homes of Orvieto's noble families were equipped with a means of escape from the elevated town during times of siege.

The Wikipedia article on modern Orvieto's economy only mentions one product: Orvieto white wine. I guess, should the success on the pitch leave too much room for improvement, the wine can still keep spirits high.

The home colours of Orvietana Calcio are red and white, and the away colours are white and red (I wonder if some of the adversaries with similar livery will have to wear their away kit at home). The club's home is at Luigi Muzi stadium that has meager capacity of 1207. Orvietana have adequate training facilities, but their youth setup is almost nonexistent.

For better or worse, Orvietana have appointed Aldo Gualterio as their new manager.

[keef]

Keith Kohlman Hope that works, still not up on this link posting...

First season is almost done, and it's going to be tense. Last 4 get relegated in the French National, and we're one place outside of the drop zone....

Ok so it worked, yay! Will finish the season before coming back with a proper update.

[keef]

Sorry, double post...

Survival!

Not a very encouraging season, but at least I have my job.

All that is required now, is to find some Strikers who like scoring, some Midfielders who can pass or tackle, and some Defenders who know that fouling in the box is a no no.

So not much to do then...

[PRDH]

All that is required now, is to find some Strikers who like scoring, some Midfielders who can pass or tackle, and some Defenders who know that fouling in the box is a no no.

So not much to do then...

That's the dream of all of us!

[PRDH]

End of Season Update - U.D. Pajara Playas de Jandia - 2014/15

"The continued adventure of the challenge's sunshine team."

Transfer Budget: £0

Wage Budget: £14,250

Finances: -£262,375

Finances are somewhat deceiving. Though I'm still in the red, the screenshot will demonstrate that I'm consistently making a profit, just needing to pay off the debt incurred from making my stadium acceptable.

Transfers - 14 IN (£0) 15 OUT (£375,000)

Not as large a turn around as before, I mean it's still huge, but in comparison to previous seasons I was fairly restrained! Pleased with the turn around on Edson, brought in on a free, sold for £300K in January. Again, I feel I strengthened in every position by at least a small amount.

League - 13th l Graph

A slightly odd season in the league. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with the final position. But after the stability of last season, never reachig very high, but never lurching into the drop zone either, this was a bit more stressful. A terrible 1st half of the season saw me in the relegation zone, and I thought I'd have to face the ignominy of a relegation after consolidating. Fortunately, after tweaking my tactics a little (made me very happy), I found some form and rose up the league. About halfway through it looked as if, if I continued the form, I may be able to break into the playoffs. Alas I couldn't maintain the form, or perhaps I just hit a tough set of fixtures, but I stalled into lovely mid-table obscurity. Although, reassuringly, I ended closer to the final playoff position (10 points) than to the last relegation spot (20 points). I hope that means I'm going in the right direction!

Cup - Spanish Cup 3rd Round

After a bye in the first round, and a squeaky win in the second, I was narrowly beaten in the third. Not too disappointed. I'm not sure I'm up to beating Barcelona or Real Madrid to lift the trophy yet! It can wait!

Squad - Players

Once again a large squad change, and I still didn't really find a striker who could consistently score. Proved by the fact my top scorer was Rinaldo, from the left wing with 15, followed by my two strikers on 11, only just ahead of a central defender with 10 all from set pieces (oh God! Am I Sam Allardyce!)

Anyway, as always, for those unfamiliar with my system first teamers will be in bold and in the future exciting young players will be in italics (I don't have any yet)

Goalkeepers

Antonio Adan - A product of the Real Madrid youth set up, he arrived and, although not always at his best, really took the number 1 jersey, starting every game.

Samir Kouakbi - A bit of a come down for young Samir. He went from first choice to not starting a game, then to being released at the end of the season. Tough break, but I wish him well, there's definitely a career out there for him

Pablo Belsue - He's a solid, cheap number 3, but not a lot else.

Defenders

Manuel Pavon - I thought he'd be first choice, but he fell out of the team and never got back in on a regular basis.

Borja - I'm not convinced he's good enough, but he kept young Jeppe out of the side.

Jeppe Mamsen - He was brought in as back up, and after a brief flirtation with the first team, he fell back where I expected.

Ivan Mrsic - Continues in the first team, again, if someone comes up he's not guaranteed a place. (I hope he's not reading this!)

Rodrigo Sanchez Cano - Fell out of the team, but's he's still got potential.

Jakub Sokolik - A great season for the defender. A star, scored goals, stopped goals. A great improvement. He's beginning to look like a proper player.

Matteo Angelini - Young Italian, looks to me like he's got a big future.

Midfielders

Fanuel - After a good period of service, his physical attributes deserted him, and though he managed to get through this season alright, I couldn't justify offering him a new contract, and so he's off to pastures new.

Rinaldo - Typical! He was very ordinary last season, so I didn't offer him a new contract. He then plays fantastically on the left top-scoring and laying on plenty of goals too. Come January, he rejects all overtures from me to head off to Austria. Oh well, part and parcel of the challenge, I'm sure I'll replace him.

Marvin Maietti - Didn't do much this season.

Mikel Alonso - I moved one step closer to Xabi Alonso, by signing up his brother. He had a pretty good season in midfield.

Raoul Loe - Lost his first team berth to Alonso, still hanging around as a good reserve.

David Pino - Tough not to consider him a first choicer but he flitted around so much he didn't have time to make one position his own. He's added to his skills by working on his ability on the right which has probably been what's kept him around for so long.

Leandro Pimenta - Made the centre of midfield his own. He looks like he could be part of a team to challenge.

Thomas Trier - Everyone loves a trier (sorry), he came in to add a bit more Danish to make Mamsen happier.

Amadou Ouattara - Utility man, pity he can't finish for toffee, but I'm determined to make a decent winger of him.

Strikers

Carlos Aranda - Arrived, aged, scored the occasional goal, all in all a decent season for the veteran.

Juanmi - A little disappointed with him if I'm honest. He joined me after not making the cut at Barcelona, hopefully he'll have a good second season now he's settled.

Ibrahima Diedhiou - Didn't start a lot, and then broke his leg towards the end of the season. I can't afford to have crocked players on the wage bill, so was ruthless and told him to pack his bags with his release money.

Story So Far

Season		League				Position			Achievements/Wins
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011/12		Second Division B4		13th				Avoided Relegation
2012/13		Second Division B4		4th				Promoted via Playoffs
2013/14		LIGA adelante			17th				Survival
2014/15		LIGA adelante			13th				Consolidated

Previous Updates

11/12

12/13

13/14

[brettney1980]

Making some progress there PRDH.

Just been offered the Terek job £4,300 contract. £18.5m Transfer budget, £145k wages with current wage spend at £83.85k.

Turned down of course ..

But lets compare that with what i'm dealing with (and i'm 7 places above them) Transfer budget was given £100k with £42k wages .. Not much difference hey!?

Ok so we have some money troubles and the Chairman has pumped in more than £1.5m over the last couple of years to 'help with running costs'

[PRDH]

brettney - At least that shows there's money to be made at some point.

In a recent development, I now love agents. One of them just offered me Badji Sacko, a 17-year-old Malian striker, I couldn't see his stats, so I tried to take him on trial (he's contracted to a club) they agreed, he came in. And this is what I saw. Now he's clearly not the finished article, but for 17 he's great. I obviously immediately bidded, had a £24,000 bid accepted (this is the first money I've parted with) he's agreed, and will sign in January. I'm very excited about him as a prospect!

[rlipscombe]

PRDH - good season of consolidation there. Sacko looks a raw diamond. hopefully he develops well and becomes a star. i am also loving agents. signed a few gems based on their offerings. sure i'll come to hate them down the line....

brettney - there definately is money in Russia then. sure in a couple of years you'll have that sort of cash...

duccio - loved that introduction. really built a picture. that town does look very picturesque... good luck with them....

keef - congrats on survival. at least you stayed up which is the main thing. sure you'll progress next season.

[SnakeXe]

SnakeXe's Messina - Season 7 - 2017/18

Story of the Season:

Serie A - 20th, Relegated

After 2 wins from the opening 4 games we were utterly rancid nearly all season. The few highlights included a point away to Roma, a 3-1 demolition of Inter, and the 2-0 opening day win away at Napoli. The many lowlights included losing 4-0 away to fellow relegatees Sassuolo, smashing the record for number of goals conceded, and dropping to bottom on the last day as Inter avenged the earlier result to win 2-0 at San Siro.

Hopefully we can come back next season with a better team.

Coppa Italia - 3rd Qualifying Round

Absolute carp.

Results 1 - Results 2 - Squad

Transfers - £3.11m Loss

Spent as big as I could but it wasn't enough.

5 Most Important Players:

5. Nicolas Amodio - DM/MC - Didn't play particularly well, but as we're letting him go at the end of the season, I thought I'd give the captain one last nod, as he's played and scored for us at every level.

4. Patxi Rodriguez - DM/MC - New record signing, did well in the opening few games but the rubbishness of the team dragged him down after that.

3. Diego Fabbrini - AMRLC/ST - Scored a few goals from the right wing, didn't really make too many huge mistakes.

2. Clement Copin - AMRC/ST - Good player, shame we won't be able to make his transfer permanent due to the relegation.

1. Abel Petrillo - ST - Our one player who looked at home at this level. Luckily I've got him tied to a 3-year deal, so he'll be around to fire us back up to Serie A next year.

History:

Season    League                  Position  Achievements                   
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011/12   Serie C2/C              2nd       Serie C Cup Runners Up, Playoff Finalists
2012/13   Serie C2/C              1st       Serie C2/C Champions, Promoted
2013/14   Serie C1/B              5th       Playoff Semi-Finalists
2014/15   Serie C1/B              2nd       Playoff Winners, Promoted
2015/15   Serie B                 12th      
2016/17   Serie B                 2nd       Promoted
2017/18   Serie A                 20th      Relegated

Messina 100 Club:

A list of those Messina players who make 100 or more appearances for the club under my management.

Name                Pos        Era                    Apps   Goals     AvR
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mauro Vigorito      GK         2011-Present            207       0    6.82
Nicolas Amodio      DM/MC      2012-Present            183      12    6.93
Enzo Scorza         ST         2012-Present            159      82    7.24
Rosario Licata      D/WB/ML    2011-2016               146       3    6.92
Luca Tedeschi       DC         2012-Present            139       8    7.09
Mario Ortiz         DM/MC      2013-Present            137       5    6.83
Davide Testa        AM/ST      2011-2015               121      40    7.04
Antonio Marino      DLC        2013-Present            115       4    6.86
Diego Farias        AMRLC      2015-Present            103      19    6.90

Next Season:

I said staying up would be an achievement, and it certainly would have been. The target for next season is to not only regain our place amongst the elite, but build a decent enough squad to have a better shot of surviving when we get there.

Forza Messina!

[iacovone]

Wow bad luck Snake - hope to see you bounce back next year

Seems like a lot of progress has been made lately, well done to all that deserve congratulations!

As for me at Quimper, I've just fired it up for an evening session, will keep you posted on how our first season develops!

[PRDH]

Bad luck Snake. I always seem to drop down after one season in the top flight. It doesn't matter as long as you bounce back stronger, which I'm sure you will.

Good luck iacovone

[SnakeXe]

Cheers guys, in a way I'm glad it was obvious after the first 10 games or so that we were doomed, it's horrible when you do ok for most of the season, then get sucked in at the end

[duccio]

duccio - loved that introduction. really built a picture. that town does look very picturesque... good luck with them....

Thanks rlipscombe

Orvietana – Season 1 – 14/15 – Serie C2/B

Pre-season

As it is to be expected, especially as the club has such a modest background, most of the playing squad consisted of players that simply were not good enough to play in C2. Though there were some notable exceptions (screenies of some them in the ”screenshots” section). These footballers were not originally at the club, but were signed by the previous manager during my holiday.

When I was assembling the squad for the new campaign, one of the things that stood out was that there were hardly any unattached experienced players that were willing to even consider joining Orvietana. Or maybe it would be more correct to say that there simply were very few unattached lower league veterans. This must be because of my longer-than-one-year holiday and dynamics of the game and its db. The natural consequence is that I had to sign young players. Once the season commenced, Orvietana had the youngest squad in the league.

Serie C2/B

The season began with the team in reasonably good form. There were victories and ther were losses, and in December the club was fighting for promotion Playoff spots. After Christmas the team did not lose one single match (though there were many draws). This improvement in form, cemented by the signing of new midfieder Filippo Sambugaro, resulted in closely fought title race between Orvietana and fellow Umbrian rivals Perugia. At the end of the day, Orvietana took the trophy home ahead of Perugia by only 2 points. I attribute this success to my very effective strikers who were able to simply demolish opposition defences.

I went only slightly above the maximum wage budget (£9.5K), but still the club stayed out of insolvency only by money injections by the board. The club would really need a larger stadium. The current one is the smallest in the league (1207), but interestigly there were 9 clubs with lower average attendance in C2/B.

Serie C2/B – Winners

Graph

C2 Super Cup

Orvietana faced Reggiana and Rimini in this small cup between the winners of different C2 groups. Orvietana won both of their matches.

C2 Super Cup – Winners

Serie C Cup

Orvieto qualified from their group, but were eliminated in the 1st round by Rodengo.

Fixtures

Screenshots

General

Squad at the end of the season

Transfers

Players

Luca Scapuzzi – Tremendous season by this efficient striker. 31 goals in 28 league appearences!

Cristian Tiboni – Tiboni was offered to me by his agent when he was playing for Panamanian side Deportivo Atalanta. He is Italian eventhough he has now been incorporated into the Panamanian national team (an misses important league games). Probably a mistake in the db that he was in Panama at the beginning of the game? Worthy member of the Orvietana squad.

Giuseppe Mattei & Luigi Turbacci – The two young keepers shared the goaltending resposibilities.

Daniele Baselli – One of the players that were at te club when I arrived. Skillfull ex atalanta midfielder definetely has an importantant role at the club.

Nicola Gardini – Defender who was released by Milan. Solid performances throughout the season. If only he was more determinate.

Surprises

Local council blocks planning permission – I asked for a new stadium, the board rejected the idea and still they tried to go ahead with it! Would have likely been too much too soon - can you spell bankruptcy?

Progress

Season             League             Position             Achievements                   
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2014/15            Serie C2/B         1st                  Group Winners - promoted, C2 Super Cup Winners

[iacovone]

what a first season duccio - superb

as for Quimper we've won a few but lost a few late on. we're hovering around the relegation spots as expected but at this early stage (played 9) I'm still confident we can keep our head above water

[duccio]

Yes it has been going pretty smoothly.

I've only been able to sign 1 new player who certainly is of 1st team quality for the new season in C1. Considering the previous season I still think Orvietana should be in a strong position. The squad is young and has many players who have not, I hope, fullfilled their potential. And the youngsters are getting resposibility, so at least in theory they should be getting a lot of practice and improve.

Am I completely wrong or would anglophones consider the name Quimper to be funny? :confused:

[duccio]

Interesting that I seem at the moment to have only 217 posts. I've posted rather sparingly, but I've been a member for a long time. I thought I had well over 1000 posts. Maybe some of the board's older posts have been removed?

[rlipscombe]

duccio - congrats on a great first season.

SnakeXe - don't get too disheartened about relegation. in long run you'll be better for it and the money you made will help you be better prepared for the next time you're there.

iacovone - sounds like you're doing ok. i'm 18 games in now and i'm pretty happy with how it's going so far... loving life in France.

[iacovone]

duccio - Quim would be considered funny. Quimper maybe not so much...maybe I'm wrong though!

[Crispypaul]

After unfortunately losing interest in my dafuge challenge save, I've decided to give this one a go in Germany. I've chosen Holstein Kiel.

Here is my profile.

[iacovone]

Good luck crispypaul

[Crispypaul]

Good luck crispypaul

Cheers!

First friendly - a 4-3 loss at home to Werder Bremen. Promising at least.

[rlipscombe]

welcome crispypaul - good luck in Germany.

as for Quimper, would he be meaning "camper"???

[PRDH]

Last season I had a reliable back up keeper and my first choice played every game. This season I don't and he's on his second 3-4 week injury of the campaign. Typical!

[duccio]

It was "quim" I was thinking about. Even as a part of a word I though it would be the kind expression that would elicit chuckles from teenage boys who sit at the back of a classroom. I'm probably just immature...

[duccio]

Every team should have three keepers: one is playing, one is on the bench and one is injured.

Another silly joke. I'll get my coat...

[Ohanzee]

Nice progress PRDH. Just 10 points off playoff is a good place to be. Although a couple of those playoff teams look very good. Sacko looks promising. Good luck in the promotion push.

Unlucky SnakeXe. I'm positive you can go straight back up.

Congrats on the promotion duccio!

Good luck in Germany Crispypaul!

[global1]

After a couple of false dawn finally got going as manager of U.D Merida of Spain in division 2 B1.

Mérida Unión Deportiva was the predecessor of CP Mérida, which had been founded in 1912 as Sportiva Emeritense, and eventually came to play in La Liga. This club disappeared in 2000 due to asphyxiating debts.

Eventually, the club's reserve team, Mérida Promesas, born in 1990, changed its named to Unión Deportiva, going on to take Club Polideportivo's place as the main team in the city. Having played mainly in the fourth level as a backup team, it did manage seven presences in the third independently, but returned to Tercera in 2009.

With a wage budget of 14k and a transfer budget of 10k the chairman expected the club to aviod relegation.

KEY SIGNINGS

Basically the whole team was replaced with only 3 members of last seasons team making my squad. the new players a mix of journey men pros and a few youngsters. 2 loans making up the numbers.

the following proving to be key throughout the season..

Elias - brought in on free from division rivals employed as playmaker scoring 8 goals and 14 assists from central midfield and picking up 7 MoM awards.

Gilbert Mushangazhike - 16 goals from the 36 year old after joining from MP black aces.

Albert michael-yobo - signed in January window from Metz fc this 33 year old shored up the defence in 2nd half of season

SEASON

After a slowish start we were sitting in top 3rd of table around xmas. With a few decent teams near the top Castilla (Madrid 2nd team) and Athletico B mixed in with some shocking teams near the bottom namely Ourense with 3 points from 38 game and a whopping 123 goals against.

A mid table finish seemed likely with a possible play off place at best. However the signing of Yobo seemed to sort a leaky defence and a run of 10 wins in a row assured a playoff spot with a few games remaining. With 3 games remaining we moved into top spot for the first time. But a heart breaking defeat to Castilla saw us lose out on top spot by 1 point.

http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee426/wrightyo1981/money.jpg

PLAYOFFS

Avoiding the big guns we made it to the final after twice losing the away leg 1-0 a 2-0 and 3-1 victory seen us through. In the final we played Alicante. A 1-1 draw away was followed by a 1-1 draw at home (them scoring 2 minutes into injury time L). no goals in extra time meant penalties where after a few nerves were shredded we triumphed 4-2.

So we made it - it wasn’t expected and it wasn’t easy I think we will come back down next season our finances are shocking with average crowds of 1500 (dropped to 500 for playoffs don’t know why??) leading to a £700,000 loss. But at least with promotion we get into the cup.

http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee426/wrightyo1981/money.jpg

For now anyways its onwards and upwards…..

[Crispypaul]

Uh oh - just realised I forgot to delete a certain file.

Will restart again tomorrow.

[yababo]

Promoted!!! Yay

report tomorrow

[PRDH]

Congratulations yabado

In Spain it's becoming increasingly clear that my squad is terrifyingly thin in some places. I knew it was, but there were no good wingers out there that I could afford.

[keef]

Congrats to all of you promotees. I'm quite jealous

Snake, bad luck on your relegation, but I'm sure you'll bounce back all the stronger for it. (small consolation as it is)

I'm finding it quite difficult to come across many young players with the talent needed. I already have quite an old squad, the oldest in the French National, roughly 30yo average. Does anyone else have this problem? I'm offering trials like there's no tomorrow, close to thirty accepted this summer/pre-season, and only 3 players with a 3star or higher rating from my Ass Man. 3stars is the minumum i'll accept, and only if I really need someone for that position...

Squad Ratings

Then again, maybe Ass Man is the issue... sigh.... I didn't realise he was such a poor judge....

The 2 missing players from the Squad ratings. http://i980.photobucket.com/albums/ae281/Keith_Kohlman/Paris%20Senart-Moissy/MatasSaadReports_CoachReports.png + http://i980.photobucket.com/albums/ae281/Keith_Kohlman/Paris%20Senart-Moissy/SouleymaneSangarReports_CoachReports.png

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Newton's Darfo Boario

End of Season

2013/14 Serie C2/A

Frustrations of a Master

The Present

The Quick Reference

Predicted: 11th

Actual: 6th (Graph)

Serie C Cup: 1st Round - 3rd Group A

The Manager: Jono Newton - History

Finances: £55k [£550k Loan] (122nd Ita)

Season Tickets: 393 (^9)

The Squad: Top XVIII

Transfers: 2013/14 In:10 (£5k), Out:25 (£13.5k)

Confidence: Untouchable 79%

Achievements: 16/86 (^2%)

The Tale of the Tape

The first part of the season was of course the Serie C Cup, in the group stages we managed to struggle and with 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss to drop out in third, even though we were tied with first and second on points, allowing 3 goals in our loss saw us out.

Then came the league, and with 5 draws in our first 8 games we were in early trouble and hoping that we could turn it around, well the next 8 games continued our weird up and down season as we took 5 wins and 2 draws to end our first 16 game stretch with a 6-7-3 record for 25pts, this put us in touch with the promotion spots and we fought on from here, we always looked like a mid table team. After 24 games we had gone onwards to a 10-8-6 record, a true battle on our hands as we sat in 6th place 2pts out of the playoffs and needing some serious results. Some trouble over the next 7 games saw us still outside and down to 7th with 3 games left, we managed to take three wins from our final three games, beating Mantova for some revenge and knocking them out of the title hunt, but we fell short by just 2pts at the end. For the third year running I managed to come second in the Manager of the Year awards. And the Serie C2/A Team of the Year saw Cimmino, Bau & Cerri make it into the squad. I did eventually get a new contract, it just took a while.

The Key Players

This is our normal line-up in the season. The fans player of the year was named as Alessandro Cerri.

Goalkeepers

GK: Daniele Garlini

GK: Suad Mehmedi

Defense

DL: Alessandro Radi

DC: Liberato Filosa

DR: Martin Cimmona

DRC: Olivier N'Siabamfumu

Midfield

MC: Alessandro Borgese - He is our most capped player and looks pretty good out there on the park, but we do really need to improve the midfield if we are going to be able to gain promotion, so Borgese may just be a bit part player in 2014/15. 7 goals and 5 assists is good, but not good enough.

MC: David Toukam - The signing I made to replace Longo & D'Antoni as they were getting old, solid, but not amazing, I need some spark.

AMRC: Eder Bau - He has done a bit of everything, but his 12 goals was the biggest factor this season, an awesome effort.

MLC: Pietro Arnulfo

Strikers

ST: Alessandro Cerri - He really showed out once we moved to a 4-4-2 and went on to score 9 goals on the season, he will be looking to build on that in the new season and help us out.

Youth Watch

Link to Neppo's Post

MLC: Claudio D'Euigenio (YP1) - D'Eugenio had another solid season as our back-up, in January we changed to a 4-4-2 with wingers and he moved into the left side role for a short while until he injured his hip in March and sat on the side line for the rest of the season, he not only scored his

, but he then went and added a second and also a great assist as he lifted his average rating to 6.70 for this season, admittedly he had less appearances, but a good season. With the 4-4-2 we may see more of him as I have to cut 4k off my weekly wage budget.

DRC: Leonardi Gambini (YP2a) - As I had previously noted last season I didn't think he would play a major role in season, he came off the bench a few times, but he never performed so he is likely to go on loan.

MRC: Mike Turner (YP2b) - Wow, he was amazing given what his stats said, in his 10 games he performed admirably, and even better once we changed to a team line-up which included a Right wing and he slotted in out there as injury cover. Delighted to see him score his first goal, even if it was just a simple slot it into the gap. The Kiwi will be hoping to crack the national side at some point and maybe try to become my highest capped player in the future.

The Past

League Records

|----------|----------|-----------|----------|-----------------------------------|
|  Season  |  League  | Final Pos |  Europe  |           Achievements            |
|----------|----------|-----------|----------|-----------------------------------|
|  [url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/233557-FM11-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=6098653&viewfull=1#post6098653"]2011/12[/url] |   C2/A   |    [url="http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/2193/italianseriec2ainformat.png"]7th[/url]    |          |               None                |
|  [url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/233557-FM11-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=6126963&viewfull=1#post6126963"]2012/13[/url] |   C2/A   |    [url="http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/2193/italianseriec2ainformat.png"]4th[/url]    |          |         Playoff Semi Loser        |
|  2013/14 |   C2/A   |    [url="http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/2193/italianseriec2ainformat.png"]6th[/url]    |          |               None                |
|----------|----------|-----------|----------|-----------------------------------|

Club Records & Competition History

All Records:

Most MoM - Alessandro Cerri: 6

Youngest Player - Leonardo Gambini: 16y 72d

Highest Fees - Paid: 5k (Paternoster), Received: 7k (Paternoster)

Fastest Goal - Jerome Louis Dieme: 22s

Youngest Goalscorer - Claudio D'Eugenio: 17y 93d

Competition History:

U20s Group 5: Winners 2014, 2013

The All-time Stars

All time Best XI

The 100 Club

Player                 Apps  Gls Asts MoM Av Rat
--------------------------------------------------
[url="http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/6964/alessandroborgesehistor.png"]Alessandro Borgese[/url]   101 (7)  28  18   8   6.98

The Future

Predicted Finish: 12th

Expectations: Promotion

Transfer Budget: 0k

Wage Budget: 10k

The Signings: Gianluca Ibba (free), Alan Emperur (free), Raffeale Vallefuoco (free), Fabio Lauria (free)

The Youth: Andrea Cancello (DRC)

[SnakeXe]

Good update LLR, shame you couldn't quite sneak the playoffs, but I'm sure you'll manage it next year!

Congratulations on the playoff win global, hopefully you can stay up next year

Great job winning the title so quickly with such a small team, duccio, keep up the good work

[Almondo]

Cheers for the congrats guys. Now congratulations to those with promotions or even just consolidation. Snakexe unlucky on being relegated, hopefully you'll go straight back up

[PRDH]

Bad luck there LLR, so consistently at the right end of the table. It must just be a matter of time until you get up to Serie C1. I'm expecting it next season.