Nobby_McDonald Posted September 10, 2012 Share Posted September 10, 2012 Well done Crouchy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashton321 Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 Well done there mate some decent progress, great cup win. I love Italian football myself, I like Livorno because of their total left wing beliefs and because Cristiano Lucarelli. I also like Atalanta despite their far right leanings more so for the amazing side that they had in CM01/02. Of the big clubs I quite like another right wing club In Fiorentina. I have just finished Miracle of Castel Di Sangro despite reading it numerous times and I have now just picked up 'A Season With Verona' I have heard good things about this so I am hoping its good. Anyway I digress great updates mate hope you have fun in Europe Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaycar Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 Well done Crouchy :-) A question please, what role do you give your AMC playmaker, support or attack? I always score plenty with a 442 but a 4411 the goal threat is somewhat less. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 I give him a support duty with my forward as the attack duty. That is my preferred way of doing things but I will alter it with different players. It does depend on the players really. I like to have the AM complement the striker. So, for example, in my case the striker is the out and out goalscorer and I want my AM to be a playmaker focusing on creative play. If, however, I had a striker who was better at dropping deeper and holding the ball and an attacking midfielder who was a real goalscoring threat in and around box, I would operate in the opposite way. I nearly always make some alterations in the advanced instructions to add extra creativity to the AM, in particular, if he has the ability to be afforded it. With a great partnership between the AM and ST, the goals will flow. I think it's trickier to get the right partnership though and certainly more tricky than with a 4-4-2. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 Well done Crouchy. Thanks Nobby! Well done there mate some decent progress, great cup win.I love Italian football myself, I like Livorno because of their total left wing beliefs and because Cristiano Lucarelli. I also like Atalanta despite their far right leanings more so for the amazing side that they had in CM01/02. Of the big clubs I quite like another right wing club In Fiorentina. I have just finished Miracle of Castel Di Sangro despite reading it numerous times and I have now just picked up 'A Season With Verona' I have heard good things about this so I am hoping its good. Anyway I digress great updates mate hope you have fun in Europe Cheers Ashton. A Season With Verona is a great read! Enjoy! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted September 19, 2012 Author Share Posted September 19, 2012 Crouchy's 'Lessons in Calcio' Journeyman Save - Project 5: Hellas Verona (Season Six at Marcantonio Bentegodi 2024/25) The media had us down for another mid-table finish in pre-season. I tried to bring in some young talent in the transfer window (see transfer section below) and hoped to prove them wrong. My target for this season was to qualify for Europe again via a top 6 finish. There was also the small business of trying to defend our Italian Cup win of last season. Below, I'm posting up two images of the results we recorded this season, broken up into the first half and the second half of the season. I'll talk you briefly through the results and my thoughts as we tackled the job of continuing to overachieve in Serie A. Results for first half of the season We lost the Supercoppa Final against Inter but afterwards everything seemed to go from good to totally amazing! We started our league campaign by winning our first four matches and going on a nine game unbeaten run taking us up to November. Despite ending our unbeaten run at home to Juventus, we quickly got back on track and managed to go unbeaten again for the next seven games taking us up to the winter break. At this point, we were right up there in full title challenging mode. Could the underdogs of Verona really challenge for the Scudetto? We qualified for the group stages of the Europa League with ease, beating Club Brugge over two legs. We were drawn with Rennes, Man Utd and Sion. We drew with Man Utd at home and then I faced my first trip to England for the other game against them where we unfortunately lost 1-0. Man Utd were just too strong for us. We still finished in second place in the group and therefore got through to the knock-out stages. A great first-half of the season. During this half of the season, I also reached my 200th game in charge of Verona and my 500th game in management! Results for the second half of the season We started well after the winter break but suffered a total crisis at the end of January. We faced Fiorentina away and lost 7-0. It was just a complete and utter nightmare. Everything went wrong in the first-half and then I made the mistake of trying to chase the game in the second half. All that happened was we conceeded more and I further destroyed the confidence of my team. My biggest ever defeat as a manager. A disgrace. Meanwhile, in the TIM Cup, we hammered Juventus to get through to the quarter-finals and then edged through on penalities against Genoa in the quarters. So far so good in terms of defence of our cup. In the semi-final, we were to play Fiorentina, just weeks after the 7-0 defeat and general debacle in the league. We lost the home leg 2-0 and I considered our chances to be nil for the second leg. It looked as if we would be exiting the cup and therefore failing to defend it. Things went from bad to worse. With morale at an all time low, we were well beaten by Palermo away in the league. Then, we played Chelsea in the Europa League and once again lost, this time at home, giving us a huge disadvantage for the second leg of the tie at Stamford Bridge. Sure enough, my second trip to England as a football manager was not much better than my first, as I saw my Hellas Verona team knocked out of Europe by Chelsea. After a home defeat to Ascoli in the league, the worst of this crisis was over, but our chances in the title race looked bleak. We'd also been knocked out of the Europa Cup and our chances in the Italian Cup were looking slim too. We had some hit and miss form in the league in March but the general feeling I had is that we were turning things around. At the beginning of April, we went into our second leg of the Italian Cup semi-final away against Fiorentina trailing 2-0 from the first leg. We put in the performance of the season to come back and then to beat Fiorentina 3-0 meaning that we led 3-2 on aggregate. Unbelievable! We had well and truly got our revenge for the 7-0 league match earlier in the season and also got rid of a few demons haunting us over that result, I would think. Also, we were through to another Italian Cup final! In the league, we really pulled it together in April. We won 6 out of 9 games, drawing 1 and losing 2. It was enough to keep us in an unlikely title race with Inter the main other contenders and Sampdoria also chasing. Our improved form took us into the final game of the season knowing that a win would secure us the Scudetto! Regrettably, we just didn't have enough against Torino and recording just a point meant that we handed the title to Inter. Quite frankly, I was amazed to be in the title race until the final day and so I wasn't too disappointed not to have secured the title. It did mean that I had missed out on another title in my career by finishing second but the season was a success as far as I was concerned. Also, next season would bring Champions League football and that is something to be extremely happy about. The final match of the season saw us go up against third placed Sampdoria in the Italian Cup final. We won the match on penalties to lift our second consecutive Italian Cup! A wonderful feeling but we had really used up all of our luck in winning this competition again! This is what our cup run looked like. Here are the stats from the final: Overview and stats Line-up and ratings Job offers: During the course of the season, I was offered jobs at Lazio, River Plate and Palermo. All were rejected. Information & Screenshots: Final table: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | ECC | Inter | | 38 | 24 | 8 | 6 | 94 | 29 | +65 | 80 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| [b]| 2nd | ECC | Verona | | 38 | 24 | 7 | 7 | 76 | 48 | +28 | 79 | [/b] | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | ECC | Sampdoria | | 38 | 23 | 8 | 7 | 77 | 44 | +33 | 77 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | EC | Genoa | | 38 | 22 | 8 | 8 | 54 | 33 | +21 | 74 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | EC | Fiorentina | | 38 | 21 | 8 | 9 | 80 | 49 | +31 | 71 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | EC | Palermo | | 38 | 21 | 7 | 10 | 60 | 37 | +23 | 70 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Juventus | | 38 | 19 | 9 | 10 | 71 | 49 | +22 | 66 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Lazio | | 38 | 16 | 10 | 12 | 50 | 43 | +7 | 58 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Torino | | 38 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 49 | 46 | +3 | 53 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Roma | | 38 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 56 | 54 | +2 | 53 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Milan | | 38 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 62 | 61 | +1 | 50 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Udinese | | 38 | 13 | 8 | 17 | 50 | 57 | -7 | 47 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Ascoli | | 38 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 46 | 62 | -16 | 44 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Parma | | 38 | 11 | 10 | 17 | 35 | 46 | -11 | 43 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Catania | | 38 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 40 | 60 | -20 | 41 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Napoli | | 38 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 59 | 73 | -14 | 39 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Siena | | 38 | 10 | 8 | 20 | 43 | 57 | -14 | 38 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | R | Bologna | | 38 | 8 | 8 | 22 | 39 | 64 | -25 | 32 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | R | Cagliari | | 38 | 5 | 11 | 22 | 28 | 80 | -52 | 26 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | R | AlbinoLeffe | | 38 | 2 | 5 | 31 | 25 | 102 | -77 | 11 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Italian Cup: WINNERS! This is what our cup run looked like. Here are the stats from the final: Overview and stats Line-up and ratings Transfers: IN: | Date | Person | From | Fee | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3.7.2024 | Giangaspero, Fiorenzo | Bari | £2.4M | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8.7.2024 | Buick | Free Transfer | Free | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14.7.2024 | Romano, Federico | Roma | £350K | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22.7.2024 | Larrea, José Luis | Bilbao Ath. | £8.25M | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 25.7.2024 | Nijssen, Ruud | Free Transfer | Free | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 28.7.2024 | Savi, Angelo | Brescia | £2.4M | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30.7.2024 | Janus, Kamil | Saint-Étienne | £1.5M | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8.8.2024 | Battocchio, Cristian | Siena | £1M | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Total | | £16M | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| I found it hard to attract the right kind of players to Verona. Mostly, this was because I wanted to keep the wages fairly tight and also because I did not want to overpay agents as a point of principle. I decided to focus on young players and the likes of Fiorenzo Giangaspero, Jose Luis Larrea and Angelo Savi were bought with the long-term in mind. Kamil Janus ended up being one of my best signings. The young German came in and became an important team member immediately. The older Christian Battocchio was another good bargain signing who added considerable experience to the midfield. OUT: | Date | Person | To | Fee | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30.6.2024 | Petrucci, Davide | Free Transfer | Free | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30.6.2024 | Nunziata, Luca | Free Transfer | Free | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30.6.2024 | Conti, Flavio | Free Transfer | Free | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30.6.2024 | Gardner, Robert | Free Transfer | Free | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30.6.2024 | Quercia, Cataldo | Free Transfer | Free | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6.7.2024 | Larsen, Torben | Empoli | £250K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10.7.2024 | Fuska | FC Bayern | £3.3M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10.7.2024 | Zanier, Sergio | Fiorentina | £3.1M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15.8.2024 | Bell, Graeme | L'Aquila | Loan | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Total | | £6.75M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Getting rid of some deadwood. Also, a big loss on Cataldo Quercia who I had to give up on. Young striker, Fuska, also went but I at least got our money back on him. Squad Statistics: | Pkd | Inf | Name | Position | Apps | Gls | Ast | MoM | Pas R | Tck | Drb | K Pas | Sh T| Yel | Red | Av Rat | Nat | Age | Value | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | GK | Hol | Quique Arca | GK | 54 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 59% | - | - | 1 | - | 0 | 0 | 6.82 | ESP | 26 | £2M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DR | Hol | Domenico Vetere | D (RLC) | 46 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 78% | 4.14| 0.51| 25 | 0% | 9 | 0 | 7.06 | ITA | 30 | £1.4M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DCR | | Drissa Diarra | D (C) | 45 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 67% | 2.26| 0.02| 4 | 37% | 12 | 0 | 6.82 | MLI | 26 | £2.2M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DCL | Hol | Angelo Savi | D (C) | 16 (3) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 67% | 2.19| 0.17| 1 | 33% | 1 | 0 | 6.59 | ITA | 19 | £2.2M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DL | Hol | Gil Melo | D/WB (L) | 48 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 82% | 2.36| 0.45| 31 | 20% | 9 | 1 | 7.01 | BRA | 27 | £3.4M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MR | Hol | Kamil Janus | M/AM (R) | 36 (4) | 5 | 17 | 4 | 75% | 2.42| 2.51| 17 | 42% | 2 | 0 | 7.16 | GER | 21 | £2.3M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MCR | Wnt | Jan van den Heuvel | DM, M (C) | 48 (3) | 5 | 2 | 2 | 84% | 3.15| 0.33| 22 | 19% | 10 | 0 | 6.97 | NED | 26 | £2.2M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MCL | Hol | Rafinha | M/AM (C), ST | 34 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 88% | 2.20| 1.18| 45 | 34% | 4 | 0 | 7.24 | BRA | 32 | £1.7M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | ML | Wnt | Mile Kujundzija | M (RL), AM (L) | 43 (5) | 10 | 13 | 0 | 78% | 1.70| 3.31| 18 | 48% | 11 | 0 | 7.08 | CRO | 26 | £3.8M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | AMC | | Elvis Mroki | AM (L), ST | 31 (11) | 15 | 11 | 7 | 83% | 2.19| 2.07| 53 | 56% | 5 | 0 | 7.39 | COD | 27 | £4.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | STC | | Hugo Paulico | ST | 42 (2) | 36 | 7 | 10 | 77% | 1.29| 1.68| 15 | 53% | 12 | 1 | 7.34 | POR | 28 | £4.6M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S1 | Hol | Buick | GK | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | BRA | 26 | £1.9M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S2 | Hol | Federico Romano | D (RL), WB (R) | 7 (17) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 82% | 2.79| 0.44| 10 | 100%| 1 | 0 | 6.85 | ITA | 29 | £475K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S3 | Hol | Eduardo | D (C) | 5 (9) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 71% | 1.78| - | 0 | 60% | 2 | 0 | 6.67 | BRA | 30 | £275K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S4 | Hol | José Luis Larrea | M (C) | 2 (11) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 79% | 2.23| 0.25| 7 | 20% | 0 | 0 | 6.74 | ESP | 18 | £8.25M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S5 | Hol | João Paulo | M/AM (R) | 11 (15) | 1 | 3 | 0 | 78% | 2.35| 1.08| 4 | 44% | 1 | 0 | 6.70 | POR | 28 | £1.6M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S6 | Hol | Joel | M (L), AM (LC) | 9 (19) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 83% | 2.09| 2.70| 8 | 42% | 3 | 0 | 6.85 | ESP | 25 | £2.3M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S7 | Hol | Fiorenzo Giangaspero | M (L), ST | 5 (12) | 4 | 1 | 0 | 79% | 3.15| 1.15| 1 | 46% | 2 | 0 | 7.04 | ITA | 18 | £2.4M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Cristian Battocchio | DM, M (C) | 43 (3) | 6 | 10 | 2 | 84% | 2.92| 0.38| 55 | 26% | 6 | 0 | 7.04 | ARG | 33 | £900K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Ceri Maggs | D (RC) | 40 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 68% | 2.21| 0.18| 5 | 42% | 2 | 0 | 7.01 | WAL | 26 | £2.1M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Aaron McQuade | M (RL), AM (L) | 8 (9) | 4 | 3 | 0 | 80% | 2.38| 1.89| 3 | 37% | 3 | 0 | 7.04 | NIR | 25 | £1.1M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Serdar Kayan | DM, M (C) | 11 (20) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 85% | 3.02| 0.20| 9 | 25% | 2 | 0 | 6.74 | SUI | 25 | £1.6M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Marc McCullough | ST | 1 (2) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 84% | 1.91| 1.91| 1 | 50% | 0 | 0 | 7.20 | NIR | 25 | £525K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Declan Adams | D (RC) | 9 (1) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 74% | 3.63| 0.12| 2 | - | 0 | 0 | 7.01 | NIR | 23 | £1.7M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Key players: Hugo Paulico - This guy is my hero. He once again scored a ton of goals for us and broke a bunch of records. Great goals to games ratio. Rafinha - Spent a lot of the season playing behind the striker in a typical number 10 role. However, as Mroki improved and learnt that position, Rafinha started to play deeper in central midfield. Did a great job in either position. Elvis Mroki - Retrained to AM but it took him a long time to learn the position. Didn't play as many games as a result. Despite lack of competency at AM, he still put in some performances to behold. A top player. Mile Kujundzija - Great wide player who did the business again for us this season. Kamil Janus - Brilliant young German wide player. A bargain signing. Was really solid and should continue to improve. Next Season: Can we continue to overachieve? It's going to be tough. We should be able to consolidate our position as a top 6 team given that we'll now have the funds and the reputation associated with a Champions League team. We need to improve defensively as a priority in the summer. We were scoring plenty of goals but conceding too many this season. Career Overview: Season Team League Position Achievements/outcomes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2011/12 A.C. Giacomense Serie C2/A 18th (Took over after 18 games) Relegated 2012/13 A.C. Mezzocorona Serie C2/B 9th 2013/14 A.C. Mezzocorona Serie C2/B 2nd Promoted! 2014/15 A.C. Mezzocorona Serie C1/A 8th Overachievers! 2015/16 A.C. Perugia Calcio Serie C1/B 13th (Took over after 13 games) 2016/17 A.C. Perugia Calcio Serie C1/B 2nd Promoted via play-offs! [b]Serie C Cup winners![/b] 2017/18 A.C. Perugia Calcio Serie B N/A (Left after 16 games with the team in 18th place) 2017/18 Brescia Calcio Serie B 10th (Joined after 16 games with the team in 14th place) 2018/19 Brescia Calcio Serie B N/A (Resigned after 34 games with the team in 13th place) 2019/20 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie B 2nd (Joined after 15 games, team in 14th place) - Promoted! 2020/21 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie A 17th Survival 2021/22 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie A 11th 2022/23 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie A 10th 2023/24 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie A 6th [b]TIM Cup winners![/b] 2024/25 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie A 2nd [b]TIM Cup winners![/b] My A.C. Giacomense Record (2011 - 2012 [133 days]): P W D L F A Win % Competitions Won / Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 5 7 7 17 23 26% None My A.C. Mezzocorona Record (2012 - 2015 [1085 days]): P W D L F A Win % Competitions Won / Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 143 57 43 43 179 153 39% Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Girone B Runners-up My A.C. Perugia Calcio Record (2015 - 2017 [739 days]): P W D L F A Win % Competitions Won / Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 91 43 22 26 148 110 47% Coppa Italia di Lega Pro Winners! Lega Pro Prima Divisione Runners-up Lega Pro Prima Divisione Play-off Winners! My Brescia Calcio Record (2017 - 2019 [497 days]): P W D L F A Win % Competitions Won / Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 62 24 19 19 82 76 38% My Hellas Verona F.C. Record (2019 - Present [2013 days]): P W D L F A Win % Competitions Won / Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 244 113 57 74 370 273 46% Serie B Runners-up TIM Cup Winners (2024 & 2025) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Wow what a season! I think you'll win it next season - Mroki being comfortable at AMC should see him crack the 20 mark for assists, and with Paulico getting on the end of them you'll be laughing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerud Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Congrats on the cup! You did great in the league. Next year could see a strong title push. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Excellent year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Even better. Now for the Champions League. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaycar Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Amazing season Crouchy, missing out by a single point must have been a bit hard to take however. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted September 26, 2012 Author Share Posted September 26, 2012 Wow what a season! I think you'll win it next season - Mroki being comfortable at AMC should see him crack the 20 mark for assists, and with Paulico getting on the end of them you'll be laughing. It was quite a season. Beyond my expectations. I still think that we are really a couple of players away from becoming title challenging regulars. We rely heavily on Rafinha, Mroki and Paulico. Plus, we really need to improve the defence. Congrats on the cup! You did great in the league. Next year could see a strong title push. Thanks Cerud! Excellent year. Cheers DB. I was delighted with it. Worried that next season won't be quite as good as this one now! Even better. Now for the Champions League. Indeed! Should help financially and add to our reputation. I really need to try to establish Verona as Champions League regulars. That's the next challenge. Amazing season Crouchy, missing out by a single point must have been a bit hard to take however. You'd think so, wouldn't you, but actually I was just amazed to be in the title race at all on the the final day. I didn't expect it and therefore it didn't hurt too much to miss out. Had we been one of the title favourites then I think it would really have hurt but to have overachieved so much felt like a success already. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted September 26, 2012 Author Share Posted September 26, 2012 Actually got my first two very tempting job offers in my new season with Verona. Spurs and Liverpool have both offered me jobs with very healthy looking transfer and wage budgets. I've had to turn them both down though. I'm not finished at Verona yet and I am enjoying my time at the club. I also have ambitions to win a Scudetto in Italy before considering a move away from my adopted home country. My contract at Verona runs until 2028 and I want to see it through unless I just get an amazing offer that I feel I can't turn down. I'm very attached to my players at Verona so I'm quite happy here at the moment. Really, it would be nice to be at Verona for 10 years, which would take me up to the 2029/30 season. After that, I imagine that I would prefer to move abroad rather than to another Italian club. That's my idea at the moment. We'll see how things pan out though. If I can be good enough as Verona manager, I would love to win them their first Scudetto since 1985. Despite last season's great run, I still feel as though we are quite far away from some of the top teams, especially Inter who have won the last two titles. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 Crouchy's 'Lessons in Calcio' Journeyman Save - Project 5: Hellas Verona (Season Seven at Marcantonio Bentegodi 2025/26) 'If a Scudetto in Rome is worth 10 in Turin, then it’s hard to imagine how much one must be worth in Verona.' This season, the media actually improved its opinion of our team, predicting that we would finish 6th in the table. I tried my best to improve the team but found it challenging. If there is one thing FM12 has got right, it is the difference between the rich and the poor in football. I refused to pay extortionate fees to agents and to accept rip off clauses in my player contracts. I stuck to my principles and focused on youth again, trying to bring in young and hungry players to add depth to the squad rather than directly to improve the first team. Therefore the starting XI was much as it was last season and I was expecting a challenging season but one in which I hoped European qualification would be the minimum outcome. Below, I'm posting up two images of the results we recorded this season, broken up into the first half and the second half of the season. I'll talk you briefly through the results and my thoughts as we tackled the job of continuing to overachieve in Serie A. Results for first half of the season For the second year in a row, we opened the season by losing the Supercoppa Final against Inter. We never seem quite ready for this opening fixture but we did at least match Inter in this match and we were actually very unlucky not to get some kind of result. I think a draw would have been a fair result based on the balance of play and I felt reasons for optimism rather than disappointment as we had matched what would be one of our main rivals this season. Our start in Serie A was pretty decent as we went unbeaten for seven games recording five out of seven wins. A loss at home to Juventus was a huge disppointment and a bit of a shock to the system but we bounced back quickly with solid wins at home to Milan and away to Palermo. This set off a nice little run of six league wins in a row and, although it was still early, we were looking good for a title challenge! We lost away to Fiorentina, who would turn out to be one of our main rivals for the title along with Inter, but a solid win over Genoa at home saw us go into the winter break looking like real title contenders. In the Champions League, our form had been really up and down. We beat Porto in our opening game at home in some style but then were completely outplayed in Madrid against Atletico Madrid. The same pattern continued as we completely outplayed Rangers and really ought to have scored a hatful but then went away to Scotland to play the away game and were embarassingly well beaten by them. We followed this up by being hammered away to Porto but, remarkably, still found ourselves in contention for the knock-out stages. An excellent win at home to Atletico Madrid saw us get through the group stages and into the knockout rounds! We couldn't seem to get a win away from home in the Champions League but somehow we had managed to sneak through the group stages and into the business end of the competition. Seeing as the board only wanted us to 'enjoy the experience', anything more than this would be a bonus! Results for the second half of the season January went rather nicely in the league as we won all of our four matches in Serie A. The most important of these games was away to title rivals Inter. Unbelievably, we pulled off a real smash and grab win, with Hugo Paulico grabbing a brace of goals to see us take an unlikely three points from the San Siro. I honestly felt it unlikely we would get anything from this game but this was one of those days where my tactics and team talks really seemed to pay off in a big style. It was a massive performance. In the TIM Cup, we won our first round game against Roma but found ourselves unable to defend the cup this time around as we were beaten at Palermo. In the league, we continued picking up points and playing well until disaster struck away to Catania. A poor day at the office, we just did not have that spark about us and lacked the ability to get a grip on the game. Worrying signs for a team with title aspirations. The loss really rocked the boat and we found ourselves unable to beat Sampdoria at home and Lazio away. In the Champions League, we also lost our first leg home tie against FC Bayern. We were really well beaten. The confidence of the team had taken a real knock in the previous games before this match, for sure, but also, we just didn't look as though we could live with a club of Bayern's size just yet. At around this time, I took a decision to change things a little and I decided that Rafinha and Mroki did not work well together in the same starting XI. I decided to prioritise the more experience Rafinha over Mroki and use the latter as a super sub option. A risky strategy as Mroki was on really good form but it seemed that we needed to priortise one playmaker style player over another in this instance. Elvis Mroki's reaction seemed to be 'challenge accepted'! He continued to score goals and influence games coming on from the bench. We got back into some good form by beating Juventus at home and Milan away. The second leg of our Champions League tie against Bayern came at a bad time really. It was just as I was trying to stabilise the team. I have history with this kind of 'blip', as you'll know if you've been following my career, where I find it hard to turn around bad runs of form and they often end up costing me. I was determined not to let that happen this time. Unfortunately, we were beaten by a superior Bayern team in the second leg and knocked out of the Champions League. I wasn't too disappointment as I wanted to focus on the league title anyway. But once again, morale was at rock bottom and I was left trying to pick up the pieces as we desperately tried to battle for the title in a three horse race between ourselves, Fiorentina and Inter. At the end of March, we went away to Atalanta in the league and lost. I started to panic. One major issue was the form of Hugo Paulico, who couldn't seem to find his scoring form any more. In previous seasons, he was hitting goals almost every match. It suddenly occurred to me that Paulico had not scored the beginning of February. I began to rotate the front two, giving Mroki time up front in place of Paulico as he struggled to regain his form in front of goal. Mroki also some playing time in place of Rafinha as playmaker for odd games too, so therefore got plenty of playing time. At the beginning of April, we had a key moment in our season when we played Palermo at home. We found ourselves 2-0 down at half-time in this match and I was starting to doubt my team's title credentials as Inter and Fiorentina pushed forward. At half-time, I gave an aggressive team talk to the players demanding that they put on a real performance in the second-half. With a gung-ho approach, we got the game back to 2-2 and even went 3-2 in front only to concede a late equaliser by Palermo. The result was disappointing but the second-half performance was excellent and it showed a true team spirit. At this point, I didn't know if we could win the title but I did know a little more about the character of certain players in my team and about who I could rely upon. We followed this game up with three straight wins before a showdown against title rivals Fiorentina at home. Fiorentina were quickly emerging as our main title rivals by this point as Inter had slowly faded into the background with some disappointing results. Fiorentina, as you know, are a team I have history with. My Verona don't win against Fiorentina. They've thrashed us both 5-0 and 7-0 in the not so distant past. Out of 14 matches against Fiorentina under my management, Verona have won just 3, with Fiorentina winning 9. They are not my favourite team to play. We went up against Fiorentina with key players Elvis Mroki and Hugo Paulico missing and it showed in our performance. We were well beaten by Fiorentina as expected and I had to go back to the drawing board and try to repair the morale in the dressing room. Fiorentina edged ahead in the title race and it looked unlikely that we could recover. There was nothing for it but to win all of our remaining matches and to hope that Fiorentina would slip up. Mroki rallied the troops and We recovered from the disappointment to beat Genoa away, Roma at home and Torino away. Bouncing back so quickly with solid performances and results showed the form of champions. Fiorentina did slip up and our prayers were answered. Seemingly unable to perform under the pressure of both a title challenge and a Europa League run, they drew at home with lowly Siena and were beaten away by Napoli. Their consoliation was to win the Europa League final as they beat Dortmund on penalties in the final in Hamburg. The final game of the season at home to Inter was meaningless as we had already secured the title. We played a number of youth players and nearly won the match only for Inter to equalise late on to take a draw from the game. After the match, I lost my sense of professionalism and stoked the rivalry between myself and the Inter manager, who has constantly been playing mind-games with me over the last few seasons. The Scudetto was ours! Hellas Verona champions! Crouchaldinho had brought glory to Hellas Verona with the first Scudetto since Osvaldo Bagnoli's team won the Serie A title in 1985! We had won the title for only the second time in our 123 year history! On a personal note, after 16 seasons and 5 different clubs, I have finally won my first league title! There have been second place finishes with Mezzocorona in Serie C2/B, Perugia in Serie C1/B and even Hellas Verona in Serie B and Serie A, but I have never managed to clinch a title. This is my first! I've finally managed to win a league title and I want more! Job offers: During the course of the season, I was offered jobs at Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool. I was very tempted by both but had unfinished business in Italy and decided to stay put in Verona. Information & Screenshots: Final table: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| [b]| 1st | C | Verona | | 38 | 26 | 7 | 5 | 76 | 32 | +44 | 85 | [/b] | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Fiorentina | | 38 | 23 | 11 | 4 | 78 | 30 | +48 | 80 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Inter | | 38 | 24 | 5 | 9 | 80 | 39 | +41 | 77 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Genoa | | 38 | 23 | 2 | 13 | 77 | 51 | +26 | 71 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Lazio | | 38 | 19 | 11 | 8 | 58 | 31 | +27 | 68 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Juventus | | 38 | 20 | 5 | 13 | 60 | 55 | +5 | 65 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Palermo | | 38 | 18 | 9 | 11 | 73 | 50 | +23 | 63 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Ascoli | | 38 | 18 | 7 | 13 | 60 | 63 | -3 | 61 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Siena | | 38 | 16 | 11 | 11 | 66 | 60 | +6 | 59 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Sampdoria | | 38 | 15 | 6 | 17 | 53 | 52 | +1 | 51 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Udinese | | 38 | 14 | 6 | 18 | 57 | 66 | -9 | 48 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Milan | | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 45 | 56 | -11 | 47 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Bari | | 38 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 55 | 68 | -13 | 45 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Torino | | 38 | 12 | 6 | 20 | 43 | 54 | -11 | 42 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Roma | | 38 | 11 | 5 | 22 | 45 | 62 | -17 | 38 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Atalanta | | 38 | 10 | 6 | 22 | 41 | 74 | -33 | 36 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Catania | | 38 | 9 | 8 | 21 | 50 | 69 | -19 | 35 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | R | Parma | | 38 | 9 | 8 | 21 | 46 | 68 | -22 | 35 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | R | Napoli | | 38 | 8 | 8 | 22 | 50 | 83 | -33 | 32 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | R | Empoli | | 38 | 7 | 6 | 25 | 38 | 88 | -50 | 27 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Champions League: This is how our group finished: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | At. Madrid | ESP | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 6 | +7 | 13 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| [b]| 2nd | Q | Verona | ITA | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 9 | -1 | 9 | [/b] | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Porto | POR | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 10 | -2 | 7 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Rangers | SCO | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 10 | -4 | 5 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| We were knocked out in the First Knockout Round by FC Bayern. Here is the final competition tree: Champions League 2025-26 Italian Cup: Beaten by Palermo in the Quarter-finals. Transfers: IN: | Date | Person | From | Fee | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6.7.2025 | Thiago Paulista | FC Bayern | £7.75M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8.7.2025 | Arroyo, Ibon | Osasuna"B" | £1.4M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8.7.2025 | Bagshaw, Graham | Derby | £2.3M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12.7.2025 | Schwarz, Oliver | Sevilla Atlético | £2.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24.7.2025 | Timor, Eusebio | Valencia Mestalla | £2.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15.8.2025 | Hernández, Sebastián | San Lorenzo | £6.5M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Total | | £23M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| As I said above, I refused to pay massive agent fees and to agree with certain clauses in player contracts. Therefore my options were somewhat limited and I focused on youth players. Thiago Paulista was my big signing and much needed to improve things in central defence. Hernandez was an expensive buy for a youngster but he has since earned the label 'wonderkid' and will definitely get more football next season. OUT: | Date | Person | To | Fee | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30.6.2025 | Romano, Federico | Free Transfer | Free | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30.6.2025 | McCullough, Marc | Free Transfer | Free | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1.7.2025 | Eduardo | Coritiba | Free | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3.1.2026 | Timor, Eusebio | L'Aquila | Loan | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9.1.2026 | Bell, Graeme | L'Aquila | Loan | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Total | | £0 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Just your usual end of season contracts running out etc. I was disappointed to lose Marc McCullough who had been a good player for the club but he just wasn't playing much and wasn't really in my plans so it was best for him to leave. A solid player, he joined us whilst we were in Serie B and played 103 games in total scoring 11 goals. As a striker, that goals to games ratio is very poor, but he was always a solid player and a hard worker. He was with us for six seasons in total. Since leaving he has signed for Hearts. Squad Statistics: | Pkd | Inf | Name | Position | Apps | Gls | Ast | MoM | Pas R | Tck | Drb | K Pas | Sh T| Yel | Red | Av Rat | Nat | Age | Value | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | GK | Hol | Buick | GK | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 56% | - | - | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 6.70 | BRA | 27 | £2.2M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DR | Hol | Declan Adams | D (RC) | 1 (2) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 79% | 2.94| 1.18| 0 | - | 1 | 0 | 6.70 | NIR | 24 | £800K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DCR | Hol | Drissa Diarra | D (C) | 45 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 67% | 2.75| 0.05| 3 | 25% | 6 | 0 | 6.98 | MLI | 27 | £3M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DCL | Hol | Thiago Paulista | D (RC) | 48 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 69% | 2.34| 0.11| 7 | 43% | 6 | 0 | 6.99 | BRA | 26 | £4.3M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DL | Hol | Gil Melo | D/WB (L) | 46 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 79% | 3.29| 0.54| 25 | 40% | 7 | 0 | 7.13 | BRA | 28 | £4.6M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MR | Hol | Kamil Janus | M/AM (R) | 44 (3) | 9 | 8 | 3 | 75% | 2.60| 2.51| 17 | 31% | 11 | 0 | 7.10 | GER | 22 | £2.1M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MCR | Int | Jan van den Heuvel | DM, M (C) | 43 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 85% | 3.58| 0.17| 14 | 17% | 8 | 1 | 6.94 | NED | 27 | £3.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MCL | Hol | José Luis Larrea | M (C) | 9 (21) | 1 | 4 | 0 | 81% | 3.06| 0.49| 14 | 15% | 6 | 1 | 6.83 | ESP | 19 | £2.8M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | ML | Hol | Fiorenzo Giangaspero | M (L), ST | 9 (17) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 81% | 1.78| 1.51| 3 | 57% | 2 | 0 | 6.77 | ITA | 20 | £2.1M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | AMC | Hol | Rafinha | M/AM (C) | 42 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 88% | 2.18| 0.70| 39 | 42% | 2 | 0 | 7.01 | BRA | 33 | £1.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | STC | Hol | Sebastián Hernández | AM (L), ST | 3 (2) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 76% | 1.48| 1.48| 0 | 50% | 0 | 0 | 6.70 | URU | 19 | £4.7M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S1 | Int | Quique Arca | GK | 48 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 65% | - | - | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | ESP | 27 | £2.8M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S2 | Hol | Ceri Maggs | D (RC) | 1 (4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 62% | 1.62| - | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 6.90 | WAL | 27 | £1M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S3 | Hol | Cristian Battocchio | DM, M (C) | 23 (8) | 1 | 4 | 0 | 86% | 2.18| 0.35| 16 | 16% | 3 | 0 | 6.81 | ARG | 34 | £750K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S4 | Hol | João Paulo | M/AM (R) | 5 (15) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 81% | 1.70| 1.53| 4 | 33% | 2 | 0 | 6.84 | POR | 29 | £400K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S5 | Hol | Graham Bagshaw | M (L), ST | 2 (12) | 1 | 3 | 0 | 73% | 2.33| 1.17| 3 | 25% | 0 | 0 | 6.76 | ENG | 21 | £2.7M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S6 | Hol | Elvis Mroki | AM (C), ST | 34 (11) | 23 | 20 | 8 | 82% | 2.02| 1.46| 71 | 43% | 9 | 0 | 7.53 | COD | 28 | £7.75M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S7 | Int | Hugo Paulico | ST | 35 (3) | 24 | 4 | 8 | 75% | 1.45| 1.82| 8 | 58% | 10 | 1 | 7.14 | POR | 30 | £3.3M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Domenico Vetere | D (RLC) | 42 (5) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 76% | 4.11| 0.37| 8 | 25% | 7 | 0 | 6.87 | ITA | 31 | £875K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Mile Kujundzija | M (RL), AM (L) | 40 (1) | 4 | 6 | 1 | 80% | 1.89| 3.41| 21 | 51% | 5 | 0 | 7.05 | CRO | 27 | £2.3M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Ruud Nijssen | GK | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | NED | 27 | £1.2M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Joel | M (L), AM (LC) | 1 (5) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 80% | 1.61| 2.14| 3 | 37% | 0 | 0 | 7.08 | ESP | 26 | £1.3M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Aaron McQuade | M (RL), AM (L) | 1 (5) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 75% | 1.95| 0.97| 0 | 100%| 1 | 0 | 7.27 | NIR | 26 | £775K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Serdar Kayan | DM, M (C) | 3 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80% | 1.62| - | 3 | 0% | 0 | 0 | 6.80 | SUI | 26 | £1.3M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Sct | Graeme Bell | M/AM (C), ST | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 55% | 1.41| 2.01| 2 | 58% | 3 | 0 | 6.53 | ENG | 22 | £130K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Angelo Savi | D (C) | 4 (5) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 63% | 1.56| - | 1 | - | 1 | 0 | 6.72 | ITA | 20 | £1.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Oliver Schwarz | D (RL) | 9 (18) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 77% | 2.47| 0.07| 6 | 100%| 4 | 0 | 6.58 | ESP | 18 | £2.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Loa | Eusebio Timor | DM, M (C) | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75% | 4.07| 0.33| 3 | 25% | 0 | 0 | 6.52 | ESP | 17 | £1.2M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Ibon Arroyo | ST | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ESP | 17 | £1.2M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Key players: Elvis Mroki - Even when coming off the bench and despite the fact that he did not have a permanent position, he was just exceptional. I rotated him between the AMC playmaker position, the striker role and the bench. Scored 23 goals and recorded 20 assists (SnakeXe was right!) which is an amazing record. And he's called Elvis! Hugo Paulico - My usual favourite player had one of his worst seasons since joining the club. It was still a very good season but by his standards he was disappointing. 20 league goals in 28 league games is nothing to be sniffed at but the huge period where he couldn't find the net really worried me and he didn't look the player he has been in previous seasons at times. I'm considering that Mroki and wonderkid Hernandez might end up pushing Paulico for his starting spot. As a result, I may even consider Paulico's captaincy for next season. He will definitely stay at the club and be used as an option up front but I'm afraid that I may be coming to the point where I have superior goalscoring options to consider. Gil Melo - One of the signings that allowed us to make our 'breakthrough' in Serie A and he is still going strong. Another extremely solid season from the fullback. Kamil Janus - The young German wide man continues to improve. I'm expecting more from him in the coming seasons as he starts to mature as a player. Rafinha - Brought in with Gil Melo as one of our Serie A 'breakthrough' signings. Now getting a little older but still doing the business. Started off the season in the middle of the park but quickly moved back to his number 10 position behind the striker as I realised that he was more effective there. This was another good season from him. What he does is to dictate play and keep the ball magnificently and his key passes and successful pass ratio is always the highest in the team thanks to his excellent passing, creativity, decisions and technique etc. Rafinha is now getting a little older and may be approaching his final season or seasons with the club. I need to search out a replacement as a priority. Although he doesn't get really high average ratings like some other players in the team, we really seem to miss him badly when he doesn't play. He holds everything together, makes everything happen in the final third, and generally keeps things ticking over. With him, we can pass teams to their defeat. Without him, we can look ordinary, and so I need to look at a new number 10 as a priority this summer to make sure we have a replacement when Rafinha hangs up his boots. Next Season: Can we defend our title? It's going to be tough. The priority will be a Champions League place. Another title would be amazing but at this stage we are still building towards becoming the main contenders in this league. In the transfer market, I really need to invest in more youth and also in a more immediate way improve our options in midfield as Battocchio and Rafinha hit their mid-30s. Career Overview: Season Team League Position Achievements/outcomes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2011/12 A.C. Giacomense Serie C2/A 18th (Took over after 18 games) Relegated 2012/13 A.C. Mezzocorona Serie C2/B 9th 2013/14 A.C. Mezzocorona Serie C2/B 2nd Promoted! 2014/15 A.C. Mezzocorona Serie C1/A 8th Overachievers! 2015/16 A.C. Perugia Calcio Serie C1/B 13th (Took over after 13 games) 2016/17 A.C. Perugia Calcio Serie C1/B 2nd Promoted via play-offs! [b]Serie C Cup winners![/b] 2017/18 A.C. Perugia Calcio Serie B N/A (Left after 16 games with the team in 18th place) 2017/18 Brescia Calcio Serie B 10th (Joined after 16 games with the team in 14th place) 2018/19 Brescia Calcio Serie B N/A (Resigned after 34 games with the team in 13th place) 2019/20 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie B 2nd (Joined after 15 games, team in 14th place) - Promoted! 2020/21 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie A 17th Survival 2021/22 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie A 11th 2022/23 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie A 10th 2023/24 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie A 6th [b]TIM Cup winners![/b] 2024/25 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie A 2nd [b]TIM Cup winners![/b] 2025/26 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie A [b]1st[/b] [b]Serie A title winners![/b] My A.C. Giacomense Record (2011 - 2012 [133 days]): P W D L F A Win % Competitions Won / Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 5 7 7 17 23 26% None My A.C. Mezzocorona Record (2012 - 2015 [1085 days]): P W D L F A Win % Competitions Won / Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 143 57 43 43 179 153 39% Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Girone B Runners-up My A.C. Perugia Calcio Record (2015 - 2017 [739 days]): P W D L F A Win % Competitions Won / Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 91 43 22 26 148 110 47% Coppa Italia di Lega Pro Winners! Lega Pro Prima Divisione Runners-up Lega Pro Prima Divisione Play-off Winners! My Brescia Calcio Record (2017 - 2019 [497 days]): P W D L F A Win % Competitions Won / Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 62 24 19 19 82 76 38% My Hellas Verona F.C. Record (2019 - Present 2407 days]): P W D L F A Win % Competitions Won / Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 293 143 64 86 458 322 48% Serie B Runners-up TIM Cup Winners (2024 & 2025) Serie A (2025-26) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRL88 Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 Congratulations on Serie A . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 Well done Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 Wow what a season! I think you'll win it next season - Mroki being comfortable at AMC should see him crack the 20 mark for assists, and with Paulico getting on the end of them you'll be laughing. What a post! Amazing season, Crouchy! I know how difficult it can be to go from challengers to winners in Serie A, and to do it whilst refusing to compromise your principles as a manager is truly excellent work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 Well done Thanks DB! Congratulations on Serie A . Cheers SRL88! What a post! Amazing season, Crouchy! I know how difficult it can be to go from challengers to winners in Serie A, and to do it whilst refusing to compromise your principles as a manager is truly excellent work. Indeed, what a post. Yeah, you were spot on in the end! I think it did help me quite a bit that both Inter and Fiorentina were falling over themselves to hand me the title! Really beyond those two other teams, the league isn't all that strong, to be honest. Still, I'm delighted with the achievement. At one point, I was wondering if I was ever going to win a title on this save. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 Difficult decision time, guys. On the one hand, I'm extremely tempted. It fits in with my whole calcio theme, would be a great challenge and has great potential rewards. The World Cup 2026 has just gone so I could aim to stay on for four years and build for the 2030 World Cup. It gives me another crack at the World Cup (as those who have followed previous threads of mine would already know, I've never won a World Cup on FM and it's the major thing missing from my FM CV!) I would also have the opportunity to work with some top players and to get some experience on the International scene in this career. Finally, I would find it extremely hard to leave Verona but landing the Italian national team job would feel like a good reason to go. On the other hand, it maybe feels a little early in my career still. I've been in the game for 16 seasons but it feels like I'm only just making the breakthrough at the top level. My manager is, like, 42, which feels quite young for International management. Then again, these opportunities don't come along very often. Then we have my club, Hellas Verona, who are down as my manager's favourite club. He would find it quite hard to leave Verona, for sure. I've become quite attached to my current crop of players and I have some youngsters to come through in the future. If I did go with the Italy option, I would most likely create a backup save for myself so that I could continue progress with Verona away from this career thread. It's a tough choice. Managing the Italian national team is almost like the ultimate for the calcio phase of this save. Beyond that, I could look to move abroad and apply my 'lessons in calcio' to other leagues entirely. I should point out here that I've decided against managing a club and country at the same time even though that is a possibility in the FM world. I want to have a 'realistic' career (as much as that is possible in FM!) and so if I take an international job, I will leave the club job. I feel a bit stuck in making this decision so any advice would be appreciated. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 I guess taking the Italian job would be a realistic thing to do (aside from not winning that much at top level, your recent achievements would definitely get you noticed, and you're still better qualified than recent English England managers so I would't worry about that too much), though not the move I'd want to make given it means leaving Verona. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcidBurn Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 I'd stay until I'd won the Champions League. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 I guess taking the Italian job would be a realistic thing to do (aside from not winning that much at top level, your recent achievements would definitely get you noticed, and you're still better qualified than recent English England managers so I would't worry about that too much), though not the move I'd want to make given it means leaving Verona. Yes, I think it would be 'realistic' to be offered the job as I've think I've probably achieved enough to be considered and I am, by this point, basically an adopted Italian in my own mind, having been a manager in Italy for 16 years. I do really fancy the Italy job but leaving Verona would suck. I was just thinking to myself, though, how awesome it would be to have that huge pressure that comes from an international job for the first time in my career. I've more or less managed underdogs the whole time and not really had the pressure that I must win. That would certainly come in the Italy job and I would have a new and higher pressured challenge on my hands. I'd stay until I'd won the Champions League. Yeah, that is the major gap on my CV now that I've won pretty much everything there is to win in Italy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 I'd stay with Verona, international management is what you do when you've done everything you wanted to in the club game in my eyes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 I'd stay with Verona, international management is what you do when you've done everything you wanted to in the club game in my eyes. Yeah, that's pretty much how I was feeling really. Although I was very tempted by a new challenge and the pressure of huge expectations for a change. I think you, DB and AB have pretty much helped me to make my mind up. I think it's too early in my career, I have more to do with Verona and I'd also like to get a really huge club under my belt before considering international management. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 Job very well done Crouchy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 Thanks Nobby. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaycar Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Congrats, that's a huge achievement! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted October 2, 2012 Author Share Posted October 2, 2012 Thanks Jaycar. It felt pretty damn good to land my first league title after 16 years in the game. What a way to do it as well, with Hellas Verona taking their second ever Scudetto! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hursty2 Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 I love a good Italian adventure and I've probably already said this to you at some point! In FM13 expect some Italia action from me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerud Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 A good decision to stay. Always want to chase that Champions League trophy! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pearcey_90 Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Just read through the whole lot... LOVE IT! Amazing thread and achievement! Do feel you should have taken the international job of Italy! As you have won all their is to be won in Italy and you could win the UCL after being in charge of Italy as you will have the pick of the clubs to join! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
london boy Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 Just read through the whole lot and what a great thread! It was a really great achievement to get so far and win Serie A! I was looking for inspiration for where to start my FM13 career and after reading through the thread, I've found it! I've always loved managing in Italy. Used to love playing CM Italia back in the day and watching Football Italia. Haven't managed in Italy so much in recent versions but I've always wanted to start of in C2 and take a team to the top. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted October 17, 2012 Author Share Posted October 17, 2012 I love a good Italian adventure and I've probably already said this to you at some point! In FM13 expect some Italia action from me. Good stuff! Yeah, I think I will most likely return to Italy again in FM13. I love it here. A good decision to stay. Always want to chase that Champions League trophy! Indeed. Although might not happen as FM13 is nearly here. But who knows? Just read through the whole lot...LOVE IT! Amazing thread and achievement! Do feel you should have taken the international job of Italy! As you have won all their is to be won in Italy and you could win the UCL after being in charge of Italy as you will have the pick of the clubs to join! Thanks! I'm glad I didn't take the Italy job actually. I like my Verona team and I'm pleased I stayed on. Just read through the whole lot and what a great thread! It was a really great achievement to get so far and win Serie A! I was looking for inspiration for where to start my FM13 career and after reading through the thread, I've found it! I've always loved managing in Italy. Used to love playing CM Italia back in the day and watching Football Italia. Haven't managed in Italy so much in recent versions but I've always wanted to start of in C2 and take a team to the top. Thanks! Indeed, Italy is definitely a nostalgic place to manage for me too. I had one of my best ever saves on CM03/04 in Italy and so when I play there it always reminds me of good times in my past CM/FM managerial lives. Huzzah! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted October 17, 2012 Author Share Posted October 17, 2012 Crouchy's 'Lessons in Calcio' Journeyman Save - Project 5: Hellas Verona (Season Eight at Marcantonio Bentegodi 2026/27) Final season in FM12? This could well be my final season in FM12, so let's get started and see how I did as I possibly say goodbye to my Hellas Verona team. For now, anyway. This season, the media predicted that we would finish 3rd in the table. Obviously, I wanted the title again, but I was also mindful of the fact that last season could well have been a one-off. With a young team still developing, I wondered if we would be able once again to hold out against the might of Inter and Fiorentina, the other main contenders, in a title race. What I got out of this season was my most fun and exciting season in FM12. It was a real rollercoaster ride. At one point, I thought that we might even win a treble, and at another point I realised that we might well end up completely empty handed. We were marvellous and infuriating at the same time all season long. Once again, we over achieved with a team of young and hungry players who, in reality, should have no right to challenge an established side like Inter to the Scudetto. I tried my best to improve the team in the summer but as always I found it challenging. I stuck to my principles, refusing to pay big fees and overinflated wages. I focused on youth again but was also able to strengthen the first team without compromising my principles. Rod Challinor and Lucas were quality signings in midfield and defence respectively. Below, I'm posting up two images of the results we recorded this season, broken up into the first half and the second half of the season. I'll talk you briefly through the results and my thoughts as we tackled the job of continuing to overachieve in Serie A. Results for first half of the season We started the season by beating Lazio in the Supercoppa Final and therefore finally managing to win the opening fixture of the Italian season after a couple of seasons of losing out to Inter. Here is the Match Overview & Stats and the Formation and Ratings. In the league, we started decently, going unbeaten for four games before losing out to Juventus away from home. The Juventus match was my 300th match in charge of Hellas Verona. This defeat seemed to kick us into gear though and we then recorded ten victories in a row in the league taking us on a 100% run from the beginning of October to the middle of December. Beating title rivals, Inter, at home 4-2 was a real highlight of this period. We set a new club record for consecutive wins. Diaster struck just before the winter break. First, we lost what should have been a routine win at home to relegation battlers Novara. Then, we lost our last fixture of 2026 away to Fiorentina. We didn't just lose, we were outplayed and outclassed by Fiorentina. We weren't even really in the game. Very worrying to lose out so comprehensively to title rivals like that but then Fiorentina have always been a side that we struggle to get anything against. In the Champions League, we had made decent progress in a remarkably tough group containing Barcelona, FC Bayern and Rangers. We lost our away games to Barcelona and Bayern, as expected. However, we beat Barcelona at home in thriller and drew with Bayern in a drab 0-0 draw. Beating Rangers home and away was enough to see us through the group stages! I should mention that in October, I reached another landmark, which was my 600th game in management. Results for the second half of the season An unbeaten run in the league took us through to the middle of February where we would face a tough match away to Inter. We lost, painfully, to put more pressure on us as we continued to fight for the Scudetto. At the end of February, we lost again, this time at home to Milan. Usually, I have great luck against the Milan teams, but this season my luck looked as though it was deserting me. In the Champions League, we drew Chelsea and I expected to lose. We had had little luck against English sides in the past and I felt that my young side would struggle against English clubs with their more established stars and great financial might. However, we absolutely hammered Chelsea in the first leg and scrapped away in the second leg to record a 4-1 aggregate win. My first victory over an English team. In March, we thumped Catania and Bari 5-0 and 5-1 respectively to show that we were definitely title contenders and should be taken seriously. However, a disappointing draw at home to Bologna followed and we then went up against Udinese away and lost narrowly by a single goal in a 1-0 defeat. In the TIM Cup, we were making good progress and we navigated our way through to a semi-final against Ascoli. We beat them comfortably over the two legs to set up a final against Serie B side Parma. A great chance to put at least one trophy in the cabinet this season. Despite my doubts about our Champions League potential, my team were overachieving and into the Quarter-finals to face FC Bayern. We have considerable recent history against Bayern and not much of it is in our favour. Depressingly, and somewhat predictably, my team lost the home leg 1-0 and I imagined our chances were all over. However, in an epic second leg away in Bayern, my team triumphed in the most outstanding way. It was a performance of true maturity and professionalism from my young team. And it was one of those games where, as a manager, you think to yourself, 'wow, I got my tactics spot on today'! We set up to frustrate Bayern and primarily to stay in the match for the majority of the game. The plan was always to sit deep, to play on the counter, to frustrate the opponent and just to keep in with a chance of winning the game. In the last 10 minutes, with Bayern frustrated, nervous and running out of steam, we attacked looking for an equaliser and we found it as Hugo Paulico answered our prayers. We battled through extra-time and ended up taking the game to penalties. Without anything to lose, my players triumphed in the penalty shoot out to take us through to the semi finals of the Champions League. I was starting to dream that we might even win the whole thing! We kept up the pressure in the league but things were so tight between ourselves, Fiorentina and Inter. Right up until the final game of the season, we could have finished first, second or third, such was the tense nature of this closely fought battle for the Scudetto. As it turned out, we exited the Champions League at the semi-final stage, without too much disappointment after such an excellent campaign and after such improvement in the competition. In all honesty, we just didn't have the squad depth to navigate successfully the various competitions. The Champions League run almost cost us the league title. That's right. The hammer blow of being knocked out hit us hard. We played title rivals, Fiorentina, at home, in a must win (or at least a 'must avoid defeat') match and lost. One thing I've not quite got the hang of in FM12 is turning around bad patches of form. We needed to get a win against Palermo. It was paramount that we got something. But we lost that match, away from home, 2-0. The title was an unlikely possibility and out of our hands now. It involved a certain permutation of results going our way and I didn't dare hope that they would. We played Roma away on the last day of the season. I tried to raise the tired and shattered minds of my demoralised team for one last battle. I succeeded with passionate team talks as I saw my side romp home to a 3-0 win. As I watched the results from other matches coming through on the feed during the game, it was looking as though we were going to finish third with Fiorentina winning the title. However, on the 61st minute, everything changed, as news came from Genoa that they had scored against Fiorentina. Indeed, Genoa held on and we had an absolutely epic finish to the season. From third place into first in a second. Ourselves and Inter tied on points but us with the superior record therefore taking the Serie A crown! Did we deserve it? Hard to say. I honestly thought Fiorentina would win it as I think they were the best side and we just could not beat them. However, some how, despite losing eight games and despite my young side slipping up and not having enough about them to compete in three competitions, we claimed a very unlikely title. A title to add to the Hellas Verona folklore! We rounded off a thoroughly exciting and satisfactory season with a 2-0 win over Parma in the TIM Cup final. To end the season with a double is absolutely wonderful, particularly as it seems to me that we could easily have ended up with nothing. This season was a pretty powerful experience for me and a good way to finish my time with FM12, I think, so that I can move on to new adventures in FM13. This season is one of the few in which I have pounded my fist against the desk in frustration as well as pumped my fists in the air in joy at an unlikely victory. The fist pumping moments include the Champions League first knockout round victory against Chelsea and the quarter-final victory over Bayern. They also include the excellent home victory over Inter Milan in the league and, of course, that massive all important victory over Roma on the final day and, in particular, news of the goal in Genoa! The first pounding moments include baffling results where we dropped points at home against the likes of Novara and Bologna. Two terrible displays against Fiorentina. And, of course, those two losses in May which almost saw us throw away the Scudetto and would have done had it not been for a 61st minute goal in Genoa on the final day of the season! All in all, this season felt good and summed up why I love football and FM. I'm not just saying that because I won two trophies, although that obviously helps! I honestly believe though that had I finished the season empty handed, or at least lost that title on the final day and finished third, I would still be saying that this season was awesome. I have become an iconic figure at Hellas Verona, which is a great feeling. In my mind, this is my last season on FM12, but who knows, maybe I will return to this save in the future and go after becoming a legend! Job offers: During the course of the season, I was offered jobs at England U21s, Italy, United States, England and Australia. As you know, I was tempted by Italy, but in the end all job offers were rejected had unfinished business in Verona! I should also mention here that I was linked with the Chelsea job the day after my Hellas Verona knocked them out of the Champions League. Information & Screenshots: Final table: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| [b]| 1st | ECC | Verona | | 38 | 26 | 4 | 8 | 82 | 33 | +49 | 82 | [/b] | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | ECC | Inter | | 38 | 25 | 7 | 6 | 102 | 42 | +60 | 82 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | ECC | Fiorentina | | 38 | 24 | 9 | 5 | 72 | 27 | +45 | 81 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | ECC | Milan | | 38 | 21 | 6 | 11 | 65 | 42 | +23 | 69 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | EC | Juventus | | 38 | 20 | 7 | 11 | 76 | 50 | +26 | 67 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | EC | Sampdoria | | 38 | 18 | 11 | 9 | 69 | 46 | +23 | 65 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Genoa | | 38 | 18 | 10 | 10 | 75 | 52 | +23 | 64 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Palermo | | 38 | 14 | 15 | 9 | 55 | 43 | +12 | 57 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Lazio | | 38 | 15 | 8 | 15 | 57 | 51 | +6 | 53 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Bari | | 38 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 44 | 47 | -3 | 50 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Roma | | 38 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 51 | 54 | -3 | 50 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Ascoli | | 38 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 56 | 56 | 0 | 49 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Udinese | | 38 | 12 | 9 | 17 | 48 | 60 | -12 | 45 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Catania | | 38 | 10 | 10 | 18 | 39 | 69 | -30 | 40 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Torino | | 38 | 10 | 8 | 20 | 50 | 79 | -29 | 38 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Bologna | | 38 | 7 | 16 | 15 | 43 | 62 | -19 | 37 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Monza | | 38 | 7 | 11 | 20 | 33 | 67 | -34 | 32 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | R | Atalanta | | 38 | 8 | 7 | 23 | 31 | 79 | -48 | 31 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | R | Siena | | 38 | 8 | 6 | 24 | 48 | 84 | -36 | 30 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | R | Novara | | 38 | 5 | 10 | 23 | 45 | 98 | -53 | 25 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Champions League: This is how our group finished: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | FC Bayern | | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 5 | +12 | 13 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| [b]| 2nd | Q | Verona | | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 10 | [/b] | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Barcelona | | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 11 | -1 | 8 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Rangers | | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 18 | -14 | 2 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| We were knocked out in the Semi-finals by Marseille. Here are our results in the competition: Champions League 2026-27 Results Here is the final competition tree: Champions League 2026-27 Tree Italian Cup: WINNERS! Here are our results in the competition: TIM Cup 2026-27 Results Here is the final competition tree (taken from the first round only): TIM Cup 2026-27 Tree Transfers: IN: | Date | Person | From | Fee | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1.7.2026 | Ladis | Villarreal | £2.6M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6.7.2026 | Challinor, Rod | Celtic | £9M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12.7.2026 | Juan Bautista | Atlético"B" | £500K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17.7.2026 | Santos, Armindo | R. Madrid | Ln Fee £1.6M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24.7.2026 | Henrique | Sampdoria | £6.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6.8.2026 | Lucas | Hannover | £10M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Total | | £30M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Some decent signings here. As I said above, I focused on youth, as you can see from this news item! But I also brought in some talent that would improve the first team immediately. Rod Challinor seemed to be a quality midfielder at a relatively decent price compared to other midfielders of his abilities, so I swooped to sign him up. Henrique added some more steel to the midfield. Finally, Lucas was the big signing, for £10m. He ended up being quite the success for us as he slotted in at the back and performed really well all season. Attacking midfielder Ladis was one for the future as was fullback Juan Bautista (although he got games immediately due to our shortcomings in the fullback positions and he performed well). Finally, I signed Armindo Santos on loan. A great prospect and already a top player in his own right, I saw him as a possible understudy to Rafinha. His wages are a major stumbling block, so I figured that I would get him on a season loan to see if I could increase the possibility of him wanting to sign for us in the future. OUT: | Date | Person | To | Fee | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30.6.2026 | João Paulo | Free Transfer | Free | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 30.6.2026 | Bell, Graeme | Free Transfer | Free | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14.7.2026 | Arroyo, Ibon | Chievo | Loan | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21.7.2026 | Timor, Eusebio | L'Aquila | Loan | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24.7.2026 | Maggs, Ceri | Sheff Wed | £725K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 25.7.2026 | Serdar Kayan | Schalke | £900K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 28.7.2026 | Battocchio, Cristian | Boca | £150K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6.1.2027 | Nijssen, Ruud | Valladolid | Ln Fee £170K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14.1.2027 | Larrea, José Luis | Almería | Loan | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15.1.2027 | Bagshaw, Graham | Aston Villa | Ln Fee £350K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17.1.2027 | Ladis | L'Aquila | Loan | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | Total | | £2.3M | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Just your usual end of season contracts running out etc. It was sad to see Ceri Maggs and Serdar Kayan leave but we have grown as a club and they are no longer good enough for our current ambitions. Squad Statistics: | Pkd | Inf | Name | Position | Apps | Gls | Ast | MoM | Pas R | Tck | Drb | K Pas | Sh T| Yel | Red | Av Rat | Nat | Age | Value | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | GK | IPR | Quique Arca | GK | 56 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 68% | - | - | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 6.91 | ESP | 28 | £3.7M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DR | Hol | Oliver Schwarz | D (RL) | 53 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 79% | 4.21| 0.15| 16 | 0% | 10 | 0 | 7.08 | ESP | 19 | £3.1M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DCR | | Drissa Diarra | D (C) | 47 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 71% | 2.75| - | 5 | 18% | 7 | 1 | 7.02 | MLI | 28 | £3.7M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DCL | Hol | Lucas | D (LC) | 44 (1) | 6 | 1 | 1 | 72% | 2.49| 0.11| 4 | 53% | 10 | 1 | 7.17 | BRA | 29 | £7.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DL | Hol | Gil Melo | D/WB (L) | 50 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 79% | 3.70| 0.55| 29 | - | 12 | 0 | 7.14 | ITA | 29 | £7.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MR | Hol | Kamil Janus | M/AM (R) | 49 (1) | 8 | 15 | 5 | 78% | 2.40| 2.19| 20 | 42% | 9 | 0 | 7.08 | GER | 23 | £2.8M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MCR | Wnt | Jan van den Heuvel | DM, M (C) | 49 (1) | 4 | 6 | 2 | 85% | 3.99| 0.25| 13 | 28% | 12 | 0 | 7.03 | NED | 28 | £5.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MCL | Hol | Rafinha | M/AM (C) | 43 (4) | 2 | 7 | 0 | 86% | 2.70| 0.86| 37 | 41% | 9 | 0 | 6.93 | BRA | 34 | £1.4M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | ML | Hol | Joel | M (L), AM (LC) | 9 (16) | 6 | 1 | 3 | 83% | 2.50| 2.60| 3 | 43% | 2 | 0 | 7.07 | ESP | 27 | £725K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | STCR| Hol | Elvis Mroki | ST | 47 | 27 | 11 | 12 | 79% | 2.42| 1.93| 42 | 49% | 12 | 0 | 7.45 | COD | 29 | £7M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | STCL| | Fiorenzo Giangaspero | M (L), ST | 41 (5) | 20 | 9 | 5 | 81% | 2.03| 2.23| 19 | 52% | 17 | 0 | 7.21 | ITA | 20 | £5.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S1 | Hol | Buick | GK | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | FRA | 28 | £1.6M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S2 | Hol | Juan Bautista | D (L) | 5 (6) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 80% | 3.13| 0.49| 4 | - | 3 | 0 | 7.16 | ESP | 18 | £575K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S3 | Hol | Thiago Paulista | D (RC) | 11 (6) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 66% | 2.50| - | 1 | 75% | 4 | 0 | 7.03 | BRA | 27 | £2.8M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S4 | Hol | Rod Challinor | M (C) | 23 (18) | 2 | 9 | 2 | 83% | 3.90| 0.87| 37 | 27% | 5 | 0 | 7.09 | IRL | 27 | £5.75M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S5 | Hol | Henrique | M (C) | 12 (6) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 85% | 3.76| 0.08| 2 | 31% | 5 | 0 | 6.81 | BRA | 29 | £3.7M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S6 | Hol | Sebastián Hernández | M (R), ST | 15 (20) | 7 | 6 | 1 | 84% | 2.04| 2.33| 14 | 47% | 5 | 0 | 7.10 | URU | 20 | £4.2M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S7 | Inj | Hugo Paulico | ST | 9 (17) | 11 | 4 | 2 | 81% | 1.98| 2.39| 7 | 69% | 2 | 1 | 6.99 | POR | 30 | £2M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Hol | Domenico Vetere | D (RLC) | 4 (9) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 78% | 4.38| 0.49| 3 | - | 3 | 0 | 7.03 | ITA | 32 | £250K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Mile Kujundzija | M (RL), AM (L) | 27 (5) | 4 | 4 | 1 | 81% | 2.13| 1.99| 14 | 35% | 3 | 0 | 6.95 | CRO | 28 | £3.8M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Unh | Aaron McQuade | M (RL), AM (L) | 3 (2) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 77% | 1.94| 0.32| 1 | 25% | 1 | 0 | 6.75 | NIR | 27 | £1.9M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Armindo Santos | M/AM (C) | 7 (17) | 0 | 4 | 0 | 83% | 3.54| 0.91| 17 | 25% | 2 | 0 | 7.01 | POR | 26 | £8M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Frt | Declan Adams | D (RC) | 1 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 68% | 0.60| - | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0 | 6.70 | NIR | 25 | £325K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Unh | Angelo Savi | D (C) | 9 (7) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 71% | 2.06| 0.09| 0 | 75% | 2 | 0 | 6.78 | ITA | 21 | £2.3M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Key players: Elvis Mroki - Fantastic player! This season, I reverted to 4-4-2 as plan A so that he could play up front as second striker and have more opportunities to score goals. His tally of 19 in the league and 27 overall is very good for a second striker. Often man of the match and usually a key player for us. He was named in the African team of the year. Fiorenzo Giangaspero - With Hugo Paulico having a poor season last year and seemingly being past his best, I turned to youth. At the beginning of the season, I thought that another young player called Sebastian Hernandez would be my main number 9 striker. However, in the end, this young man, Fiorenzo Giangaspero, proved to be the main man for the role. He improved significantly as the season went on and became a real asset. Still rough around the edges at only 20, this guy showed real potential and scored some very important goals for us. He is a model professional and seems to be learning and developing so quickly. I have huge hopes for him in the future. This was the season that he really broke through. I expect even more from him next year and hope that he might become important for the Italian national team too. Lucas - The highest profile signing of our summer. He was worth it though and made a big difference to us at the back. Solid and dependable. Finally a reliable defender to play alongside Drissa Diarra. Gil Melo - When I talk about this guy, I always mention that he was one of the signings that allowed us to make our 'breakthrough' in Serie A. This season, I trusted him as my new club captain and he repaid me with another great season. A solid player, always reliable. He has matured into an excellent player and one of the first names on the team sheet. This season, he became an Italian national and is now the first choice left-back for the Italian national team. Kamil Janus - The young German wide man continues to improve. I'm expecting more from him in the coming seasons as he starts to mature as a player. Right now, his pace and dribbling ability is enough for him to get by, but I'm still hoping we can squeeze some more improvement out of him. This season, I went with 4-4-2 as my plan A with Mroki up front and Rafinha in midfield with Santos or Challinor as backup. The plan B was 4-4-1-1 with Rafinha or sometimes Santos behind Giangaspero, Paulico or sometimes Hernandez. Rafinha performed well and is still one of our best passers of the ball and best creators. He is, however, showing his age now at 34 and I think next season he may become more of a backup player. If it wasn't for Mroki, I think I would switch to 4-4-1-1 or 4-2-3-1 and operate with a playmaker in the hole. However, I'm certain that Mroki's best position - the one in which he can do most damage - is up front. Next Season: This is likely to be the last season on FM12 for me as FM13 is coming soon! If I do come back to this save then the main question will be can we defend our title? It's going to be tough. We've won two in a row but there is absolutely no certainty that we can repeat the feat. Inter and Fiorentina are stronger, for sure. At this point though, you would hope we could get stronger as we invest in the team some more and start to see some of our younger players maturing. As usual, the priority will be a Champions League place. Another title would be amazing but at this stage we are still building towards becoming as big as one of the established big sides in this league. In the transfer market, I really need to invest in more youth and also in a more immediate way to find a solution to the fact that Rafinha is about to hit his mid-30s. There is a good young team coming through though and I am particularly interested to see what might become of young Italian striker, Fiorenzo Giangaspero. Career Overview: Season Team League Position Achievements/outcomes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2011/12 A.C. Giacomense Serie C2/A 18th (Took over after 18 games) Relegated 2012/13 A.C. Mezzocorona Serie C2/B 9th 2013/14 A.C. Mezzocorona Serie C2/B 2nd Promoted! 2014/15 A.C. Mezzocorona Serie C1/A 8th Overachievers! 2015/16 A.C. Perugia Calcio Serie C1/B 13th (Took over after 13 games) 2016/17 A.C. Perugia Calcio Serie C1/B 2nd Promoted via play-offs! [b]Serie C Cup winners![/b] 2017/18 A.C. Perugia Calcio Serie B N/A (Left after 16 games with the team in 18th place) 2017/18 Brescia Calcio Serie B 10th (Joined after 16 games with the team in 14th place) 2018/19 Brescia Calcio Serie B N/A (Resigned after 34 games with the team in 13th place) 2019/20 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie B 2nd (Joined after 15 games, team in 14th place) - Promoted! 2020/21 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie A 17th Survival 2021/22 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie A 11th 2022/23 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie A 10th 2023/24 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie A 6th [b]TIM Cup winners![/b] 2024/25 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie A 2nd [b]TIM Cup winners![/b] 2025/26 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie A 1st [b]Serie A title winners![/b] 2026/27 Hellas Verona F.C. Serie A 1st [b]DOUBLE WINNERS: Serie A title & TIM Cup![/b] My A.C. Giacomense Record (2011 - 2012 [133 days]): P W D L F A Win % Competitions Won / Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 5 7 7 17 23 26% None My A.C. Mezzocorona Record (2012 - 2015 [1085 days]): P W D L F A Win % Competitions Won / Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 143 57 43 43 179 153 39% Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Girone B Runners-up My A.C. Perugia Calcio Record (2015 - 2017 [739 days]): P W D L F A Win % Competitions Won / Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 91 43 22 26 148 110 47% Coppa Italia di Lega Pro Winners! Lega Pro Prima Divisione Runners-up Lega Pro Prima Divisione Play-off Winners! My Brescia Calcio Record (2017 - 2019 [497 days]): P W D L F A Win % Competitions Won / Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 62 24 19 19 82 76 38% My Hellas Verona F.C. Record (2019 - Present [2743 days]): P W D L F A Win % Competitions Won / Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 349 179 71 99 566 366 51% Serie B Runners-up TIM Cup Winners (2024, 2025 & 2027) Serie A (2025-26 & 2026-27) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 Awesome season to finish things off! I do hope we can see a bit more of Giangaspero though Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted October 17, 2012 Author Share Posted October 17, 2012 Awesome season to finish things off! I do hope we can see a bit more of Giangaspero though I'm tempted to keep the save going on the side. What I think I might do is to remove all leagues apart from Italy and just keep this going as a one club save with Hellas Verona from now on. Then I could always come back to it for a quick season now and then in the future. I do feel as if it is a save that I still have plenty left to do in. What do you think, SnakeXe? As a break before I go into FM13, I've actually been playing my Saints save on FM10, which I intend to play on and off in the future, so there is definitely a possibility to keep this one going too. Especially if I remove some leagues and just focus on making it a quick and easy save to pick up and play. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 That sounds like a good idea to me - I can't see you going through the upheaval of changing clubs if you're just playing casually, and ensuring it runs as quickly as possible will mean you can get through seasons as fast as possible for a quick Verona fix Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 Hope you go out in a blaze of glory. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted October 18, 2012 Author Share Posted October 18, 2012 That sounds like a good idea to me - I can't see you going through the upheaval of changing clubs if you're just playing casually, and ensuring it runs as quickly as possible will mean you can get through seasons as fast as possible for a quick Verona fix My only worry is that it might unbalance the database but I guess I'll just have to wait and see. I imagine that it'll probably sort itself out in the long run. I think I'll go back to a small club to big club save for FM13. I'm not sure I'm that great at getting into career games. There is a lot of upheaval when you change club, you're right, but also I think I just like building up the history with one club and one set of players at a time. It also gives the benefit of loading less leagues which makes things much more speedy when processing through the seasons. At the moment, I'm thinking of going with a Big Euro Challenge for FM13. I have never taken part in the challenge but have always been tempted by it. At this moment in time, I'm unsure whether I will stick to Italy for my Big Euro save or whether I might try something different like Portugal. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 Great job Crouchy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted October 23, 2012 Author Share Posted October 23, 2012 Great job Crouchy. Thanks Nobby! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypanimz Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Great career Crouchy. I really enjoyed reading through it. Looking forward to see how you do in FM13. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadManager Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 If that is the end, its a great to go out. Retaining the title, and becoming a club icon seems to be the perfect finish. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike7077 Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 It's been a hell of a ride. Brilliant thread to follow. If it is the end, I look forward to your FM13 career. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted November 5, 2012 Author Share Posted November 5, 2012 Great career Crouchy. I really enjoyed reading through it. Looking forward to see how you do in FM13. If that is the end, its a great to go out. Retaining the title, and becoming a club icon seems to be the perfect finish. It's been a hell of a ride. Brilliant thread to follow. If it is the end, I look forward to your FM13 career. Thanks very much for the posts guys. Much appreciated. It was a satisfying career. I had my wobbly period at the beginning and also in the middle at Brescia but otherwise feel as though there was plenty of success. I was really pleased, in particular, that I managed to land my 'dream job' at Hellas Verona. This is the end of this thread, for now at least. I still have FM12 installed and may come back to it at some point. If I do so, I think I will remove all of the other leagues and just focus on Hellas Verona. But for the present, I'm switching to an FM13 career. I'm back in Italy again as I feel I have unfinished business. See here for my new FMCU thread: 'Mezzocorona, vinci per noi!' - Crouchy's Big Euro Challenge Attempt! Thanks to everyone who was following and commenting on this thread btw. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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