Regensburgese, Solo Gioventù. (Roughly translated as Regensburg Italian Chapter, Youth Only).

[Jimbokav1971]

So after getting sacked at Regensburg in Germany, (I blame the league rules but the reality is that I was particularly pants), I was looking for inspiration from somewhere and it was sadly lacking in Turkey where I went next, (despite some reasonable morale-boosting success). I was determined to persist again with a Youth Only career, but this time I was going to make sure that I created the Game-World properly to ensure that when I got my desired club promoted, they at least had enough bodies for me not to be able to use a threadbare squad as a feeble excuse.

For those that are interested, (and I might reference my previous saves in this thread), my previous saves can be found here.

(FM14) Son in the Game Project, (sponsored by Neppo's Youth Player Challenge).

(FM14) My Big Fat GK can score more than your Big Fat GK, (Blast from the past challenge).

(FM14) The Sammarinese Challenge.

(FM14) (GIB) No transfers, no loans, no grey players, just YOUTH.

(FM16) Regensberg, (literally).

I didn't really enjoy a lot of the (GIB) save if I'm honest, (on a domestic level it was too easy and I didn't even have to play the games). Additionally, (and surprisingly I might add), the (GIB) leagues are not included in the Beta. If you are going to add a new league in, as SI did with (GIB), then it needs to stay in because people will get used to playing there.

That left just the San Marino challenge, (or at least Italy as a structure), for me to return to. San Marino had since been relegated, (which was a positive rather than a negative in my mind), and the only issue was that I needed to actually holiday in order to get them playable. In previous years, you would just holiday to the day before the league reset day, save on that day, and then keep processing that 1 single day until your desired team was promoted. After approx. half a day of processing that 1 single day, and even going back and trying from the start on numerous occasions, I still couldn't get San Marino promoted to "playable" and I was on the verge of taking over a few small Italian clubs that I had never heard of. The only ting stopping me though was that if I was playing in Italy, I might as well be managing San Marino, (so I kept on trying). Eventually I decided that it just wasn't going to happen, (for whatever reason), and rather than going back and reloading again and again, I would actually go forward a full season and try to get them promoted at the start of the 2017/18 season. Surprisingly, (and I have absolutely no idea why), this worked a treat first time around and I was now the new Manager of San Marino club side.

In my previous attempt at the San Marino challenge, I took over club and Country from the outset and as a result I went a full 10 seasons at one point without a competitive victory for the NT. This time around I have decided that that's a mugs game and I am going to let some other poor sod do all the graft. Then after I have built the club up, (assuming they don't sack me too), I am going to swan in and take all the National Team glory. (Well that's the plan anyway).

In addition to the San Marino challenge, I will also be attempting the Youth Only challenge. I've had some success in ths San Marino challenge before, so I need to try something else really and Youth Only is the biggest draw for me. If I get sacked in Italy, I will just try and do the same type of Youth Only save somewhere else.

At some point I will also be experimenting with trying, (once again), to get my GK to score, but after dabbling with FM15, my understanding is that SI have fixed penalties.

I will openly admit that I am not at all bothered if I don't win lots of trophies in this save, but I will be peeved in the extreme if I get sacked again. (I mean REALLY peeved). I have had a son in the game with my last 2 major saves, (yes, very very VERY lucky I would agree), but to balance that up, both were of very poor ability and the 2nd off-spring came right towards the end of the (GIB) save when I was winding things down. The result is that I am highly unlikely to make it 3rd time lucky.

Right at the outset, (once again assuming that I do not get sacked), I am planning to play this save for a full 2 years. I now longer have the time to spend playing that I once had, and although as the save progresses I will attempt to make use of an IR skin to speed things up, it could be a long long time before we get there.

[Edit]

I forgot to mention that a huge reason for me wanting to play in Italy, (even without San Marino being an option), is the ability to select 12 subs.

While you can still obviously only use 3 of them it means that it is FAR easier to select youngsters on the bench and then introduce them in their preferred positions.

In the past I have used my subs like this, (and will probably do so again because approx 2.5 seasons with FM16 has shown me nothing that suggests that GK's will get injured in-game, although I appreciate that others have reported this).

1. Centre-half.

2. Defense-minded midfielder, (who will play on the left of a 2).

3. Left winger.

4. Right winger.

5. Striker.

6. Striker.

7. More balanced midfielder, (who will play on the right of a 2).

8. Centre-half.

9. This spot really should go to a GK but instead I just select a random youth prospect who is not yet ready for Senior football.

10. Left-back.

11. Right-back.

12. AMC.

[Jimbokav1971]

Short-term goals for the save.

1. Not get sacked during the 1st season. (No really. I am deadly serious about this!)

2. Not get sacked during the 2nd season. (It was actually a 2nd season sacking at Regensberg).

3. Not get sacked during the 3rd season. (If I can get past the 3rd season I think I wil be safe).

4. Score a goal with a GK, (and work out if there is potential to challenge the Lucio 155 career goals record).

That's all I'm really looking for at the outset. As things change and develop, then obviously I will re-evaluate things.

[Jimbokav1971]

Start of 2017/18 Season.

Starting Squad.

Squad ranked by CA.

Squad ranked by PA.

We have a total of 31 players at the club. As you would expect, all 7 of the best players at the club, (rated by CA), have (ITA) either as a 1st or 2nd Nationality. Contrstingly, (SMR) is only represented twice in the same group of 7 players, (with (GER) also included).

The good thing is that there seems lots of room for development in most areas, there are a few PPM's scattered around, we have 3 (F.Pro) players, 1 (Det) player and 2 (F.Det) players.

I'm still waiting for the DoF to sort out the rest of the staff at the moment, (he will not be bringing in any players), but we do need an Ass Man.

[Jimbokav1971]

I've asked for "develop players using the Club's youth system", but it wasn't what they were initially looking for.

It worked out ok though and this should help temper expectations.

[Jimbokav1971]

Something that has surprised me is that young players who came through the clubs academy are deciding that we are not a big enough club for their ambitions and are refusing to sign pro contracts with us.

I have started at the top, (in terms of PA), and am slowly working my way down, but 4 of the top 6 have already declined to even enter into negotiations, (which is a shame as I would obviously have been willing to splash the cash), but I can only hope now that our performances throughout the season will make them reconsider.

Currently Benjamin, Pennisi, Longo & Guidi are all refusing to negotiate.

[Jimbokav1971]

We've had a really tough start to the season as it took me ages to work out who my best team was and now, (after seemingly conceding goal after goal from corners and hardly creating anything ourselves, I have just realised that the tactic I created uses contain.....

Contain! I have never used contain in my life at the beginning of a game.

[deltablue]

You didn't realize what your tactic was based on?

[Jimbokav1971]

You didn't realize what your tactic was based on?

No. I had somehow swapped it without realising.

[noikeee]

You'd think with contain you wouldn't be conceding goal after goal. That's an unfortunate way to begin, hopefully you still salvage the season.

[Jimbokav1971]

No. Not particularly goal after goal, but goal after goal from either a corner, a free-kick or a pen. We were conceding very few goals from open play and were creaying little/nothing ourself.

I haven't played much with contain, and never a whole game. I don't think it's designed for that. Constantly just defending defending and then defending some more.

Playing with it towards the end of a game, (or half), is the sum limit of my experience. I didn't enjoy using it for a full match at all, (even by accident).

[DodgeeD]

Good luck with this challenge combo

Looks like President Bozzini could do with lightening up though

[Nobby_McDonald]

Good luck **** fan, er I mean Jimbo.

[Jimbokav1971]

Good luck **** fan, er I mean Jimbo.

I don't get it.

[Jimbokav1971]

Looks like President Bozzini could do with lightening up though

He does look like he needs to lighten up.

[Adelaidean]

I don't get it.

I think it's because you said you had a soft spot for Port Vale in the other thread, Nobby is a Stoke fan

[Nobby_McDonald]

Adelaidean knows.

[Gramm0]

Looking forward to see how you progress! You have a very high potential squad, but looks like you have to get promoted soon to be able to keep them... quite a challenge. Best of luck

[Jimbokav1971]

San Marino club side. End of Season update.

I am still not managing the NT side yet, (I have enough on my plate).

League Table.

League Fixtures 1.

League Fixtures 2.

Cup Fixtures.

League History.

Facilities.

Board Confidence.

Finances.

Goal-scoring GK watch.

To those that have followed my threads over the past few years, you will be aware that I have somewhat of a penchant for getting my keepers up the other end and sticking the ball in the back of the net. I wasn't willing to give my GK pens or free-kicks this season, (I really didn't want to get sacked again), but I was willing at least to let him go up for corners, (no really).

I have a set-up that I thought would allow me to recycle the ball again and again if it was cleared and throughout the whole season, we only conceded once from my GK being upfield for corners. The jury is still out on exactly how effective his presence in the opposition box is, (the stats say we only scored 1 goal direct from a corner), but I know that we scored many more from 2nd phase corners and these should still count in my book.

Key Players.

Longo (ITA) (Bal) was the only ever-present in the squad throughout the season as he played all 38 games at left back.

Guido (Det) may not have much hair, (but we don't care), for a 17yo, but a return of 15 league goals in a team that was almost relegated is not to be sniffed at.

Benjamin (ITA) (Bal) was our most creative influence and he contributed 11 assists despite being first suspended and then injured during our run-in. Unfortuantely, he is the one player who I have been unable to tie down to a new contract. It looks like our 3rd best player, (rated by CA), will not be here next season. The good news is that we have a speedy young 15yo (ITA) waiting in the wings to step into his shoes. Not as good right now, but certainly with the potential to be more than decent.

Zafferani (F.Amb) was on the opposite flank to Benjamin, and while maybe not as creative, was far better in front of goal. I swapped and changed my tactics and wide instructions especially in the 1st part of the season, and I really need to have a long hard think about how to get the most out of him next season.

"]Pennisi (ITA) (F.Pro) PPM[/url] is our best player, (rated by CA), and is currently wanted by Serie B side Salernitana.

2018 Youth Intake.

[noikeee]

Congrats on making it to season 2.

[Jimbokav1971]

OK. I'm having a bit of a think here and I have a plan that I hope won't see me fall foul of my own "Youth Only" rules, and I would like your opinion on it.

Yes YOU!.

There seem to be quite a few players knocking about who have previously played for us and would improve our squad.

Now I am not suggesting that I should be able to sign players just because they once played a couple of games for our Youth Team, (or even our Senior Team), but I am suggesting that if their very first club was San Marino, then that would indicate that they are a product of our Youth Academy and as such meet the criteria for this thread.

To clarify.... this next bloke would NOT be able to sign.

But this bloke would be.

What do you think?

[Jimbokav1971]

In other news......

Vicenza, (of Serie B), are in for our left back Longo.

[dllu]

Now I am not suggesting that I should be able to sign players just because they once played a couple of games for our Youth Team, (or even our Senior Team), but I am suggesting that if their very first club was San Marino, then that would indicate that they are a product of our Youth Academy and as such meet the criteria for this thread.

What do you think?

I completely agree. If you (as in your club) produced them, I say they are eligible.

And besides, this is not an "official" Sammarinese challenge career as such, so feel free to bend the rules!

[TotalNoob]

I completely agree. If you (as in your club) produced them, I say they are eligible.

And besides, this is not an "official" Sammarinese challenge career as such, so feel free to bend the rules!

It is pretty official, check Sammarinese thread in challenges section.

But i'm agreed with this rules, i'm actually playing like this already, sometimes i sell players for profit, for example selling someone for 30 mil, then buying him back in couple years for 15mil. Gonna start youth only with this rule in FM16 soon!

[Nobby_McDonald]

I'm with this. If he came through your youth system, then he's been developed by your club and is fair game to resign.

[Jimbokav1971]

San Marino club side. End of Season 2018/19 update.

I am still not managing the NT side yet, (I have enough on my plate).

League Table.

League Graph.

We flirted with the Playoffs for much of the season, but I think what happened is that my eye was turned by our Youth Intake and as soon as I started to weaken the starting XI we just couldn't cope. As a result we only won 1 of 9 games after the Youth Intake, drawing just 3 more.

League Fixtures 1.

League Fixtures 2.

Cup Fixtures.

League History.

It's worth pointing out that the League History graph is always 1 season out of date. The graph below shows the relegation in 2014/15 and then the gap until 2017/18 when they were promoted again and then the 1st season 14th place finish.

Facilities. I haven't even tried to upgrade anything yet. We are £600k+ in debt and I just don't want to spend cash that we haven't got. I'm happy with the 1st intake and delighted with the 2nd intake so is there really a short-term need anyway?

Board Confidence. It's simple really. Anything other than the sack is fine by me and I think that relegation to a non-playable league is the only reason that will cause that right now. In FM14 I was relegated from Serie B and not sacked, but it wasn't enjoyable and I would rather take things nice and easy in the early stages.

Finances.

Goal-scoring GK watch.

End of Season Awards.

Fans Player of Season.

Goal of the Season.

A nice little triangle on the right flank followed by a cross and near most volley.

[video=youtube;zeiqpONuVW0]

Signing of the Season. Hang on. I promise I'm not changing my plans. I will discuss transfers lower down and explain.

Supporters player of year already so it's a no-brainer that he is also signing of the season.

Young Player of the Season.

I have never had a GK win an award like this, (even a prolific goal-scoring GK), so I'm not sure of this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Top Goalscorer.

Most assists.

Highest average rating.

Transfers In.

Just hold on for a second. No I haven't sold my sould to the Devil, but after speaking to readers in this thread and the other one, I have decided that it is ok for me to re-sign players who have come through our Youth Academy in the past. We were really struggling for depth, (especially at the back), and in Vitaioli (F.Det) we had a player who could cover a number of positions and add some real quality to the starting line-up.

Just to clarify, it's not ok for these players just to be classed as "HG at club", but they must have actually come through the Academy here meaning that San Marino is listed as the 1st club on their hostory screen. What's frustrating is that many (SMR) players are actually produced by Federazione Sammarinese which is not a club at all but the whole of the Samarinese structure. Any players that have this "club" listed 1st on their history cannot be classed as HG at the San Marino academy.

​

Neri Profile.

Neri History.

Vitaioli Profile.

Vitaioli History.

Sartori Profile.

Sartori History.

Raschi Profile.

Raschi History.

Simoncini Profile.

Simoncini History.

The one player that I really wanted was GK Aldo, (who was produced by our academy), but he has retired from Professional football and is unwilling to play for a Professional club. He would be a considerable improvement on our existing GK's.

Youth Intake 2019.

Battistini.

[abulezz]

I wish I get a Battistini in my Youth Only save!

[Jimbokav1971]

I wish I get a Battistini in my Youth Only save!

He looks great, and Gorizzizzo is decent and has 15 for passing so I'm more than happy with the Youth Intake.

The personalities are more of an issue.

[Nobby_McDonald]

I wish I had his barber.

[deltablue]

He looks terrifying!

[Jimbokav1971]

I wish I had his barber.

I've just had a look and I have a total of.... I lost count, but I think it was a total of 16 mohawks of various lengths and styles.

I'm thinking of doing "The Mohawk Challenge" where you can only play a player if they currently have a Mohawk on match day.

[Nobby_McDonald]

You should post some pictures. Do they all go to the same barber?

[Jimbokav1971]

You should post some pictures. Do they all go to the same barber?

Wide mohawk.

Ginger Mohawk.

Wide Mohawk(ish).

Wide Mohawk.

Black Mohawk.

Short Mohawk.

Bouffont Mohawk.

Ginger Mohawk.

Bouffont Ginger Mohawk.

Black Mohawk.

There are loads more but that's about half the squad.

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Day 2020.

I was really after a GK, but I suppose I just have to be content with the overall PA and the few reasonable personalities.

I've got a Professional, a Resolute and 6x Fairly Determined which is not too shabby at all. The Pro and the Res are great and a F.Det player has determination of at least 15 so while I am lacking in Pro tutors, determination isn't a bad make-do.

GK. A Keeper is probably what I am most desperate for. Ideally I would obviously like a (SMR) player to come through, but to be honest I don't really care that much and would be happy with an (ITA) GK.

DL. Left back looks an are of considerable strength at first glance, but 1st impressions can be misleading, (and are in this case). I had managed to get Longo to sign a new contract at the start of the game, (and of course I hood-winked him like everyone else with an additional 2 year option clause).

Most of the other players on the list are either centre-backs or right-backs and it's only really Neri I have had as a back-up. As Maggio is more of a centre-half than full-back, (despite the report). Neri will be important to us over the next few seasons and of course Longo is vital rather than important.

DR. Right back is another problematic area, (we have a few). and this is important because left-wing and right-back are significant attacking outlets for us. Obviously Tardini is currently my 1st choice, but he is really the best of a poor bunch and is lacking in the attacking abilities that I ideally want my DR to show. Borelli is his successor in waiting, but really isn't good enough defensively yet to get in very often.

DC. Although we struggled at centre-half at first, I was lucky enough to see Giardi come through that 1st season and he and Grandoni sort of became my 1st choice partnership by default. It is certainly an area where we need to improve though. Colomba could be just what we need at a gianticwhoppingenormous 6'7".

MC. I have grouped both DM's and MC's together here because I don't currently use a Regista. I am considering reintroducing it, but what is putting me off is that is the tactic I used in the early stages of the 2014. If I can, I want to avoid that sort of repetition.

Pennisi is obviously the man for us in the middle of the pitch, and we rarely if ever win without him. We only have him until the end of next season, (he has never agreed to sign a new contract so no cheeky 2 year option here I'm afraid). As a result he is still on a Youth contract at the age of 19, (and will be 20 when he leaves). He's going to be very hard to replace. Tosi looks great, (passing of 14), and Gorizzizzo goes one better at 15, but they are still very raw and I would much prefer to play one of them with Pennisi.

AML. Like right-back, left wing is an important slot for me and we have been more than a little understrength here. Ciacci and Battistini were our early players, but I have been biting the bullet and playing the younger players with higher PA more often. Anciono and Fabaro will certainly add some depth out wide on the left, (even if it might take some time to develop them).

I don't particularly like Battstini, (bottom of the pile), but I do like his professionalism and will hoping I can hold onto him long enough to take advantage of that. The biggest issue, (there are another couple of smaller issues), is that he CA rating is so poor that Ancione for example was already classed as having better CA than him when he was "born" on Youth Day.

AMR. I'm not 100% sure why, but I have always preferred left wingers to right-wingers, (possibly because I'm a lefty), but the right flank certainly looks stronger than the left in this squad. I brought Vitaioli in for some much needed CA and experience, but you can see that both Luca and Natali are currently ahead of him in the pecking order. I actually prefer Natali's "stat balance", but Luca started the last game. Either way, we've certainly got some decent depth on the right,

AMC. We don't play with an AMC and we only actually have 2 players at the club who can't play in another position and neither is worth commenting on at this stage.

SC. I have been tempted to play Vitaioli up front, (and have done so on occasion), but I really don't want to and even though the best strikers I have are all lacking in their own way, I would rather stick with them I think. Rosario and Battistini are both decent for such a young age but it's actually been Guido who's been our main man so far, (with whoever else gets the nod for that particular game).

Overall.

I used to just look at the "Youth Day Page", (1st graphic in this page), but now like to compare the positions as above, independently of other positions, and I find it gives me a better perspective on that individual position. What I also like to do however is compare the new Youth Intake to the whole of the existing squad like this.



It shows me a decent comparison of the best new young players promoted and how our PA is developing as a squad. For the next couple of decades, (at least), it's going to be all about the PA.

[Jimbokav1971]

San Marino club side. End of Season 2019/20 update. Lega Pro B, (Serie C/B).

I am still not managing the NT side yet, (I have enough on my plate).

League Table.

League Graph.

I always seem to lose focus after Youth Day each season and this season was no different with us winning just 1 of our last 9 games, (and drawing just 2 more). We lost 6 of the last 7 but luckily had already pocketed enough points to keep us up, (albeit narrowly).

League Fixtures 1.

League Fixtures 2.

Cup Fixtures.

League History.

Please remember that this screenshot is always a season behind.

Facilities.

Board Confidence. My job is classed as "secure" (56%), but again it was much better than that earlier in the season until we again fell away after Youth Day.

Finances. The finances show that we are only approx £0.5M in debt, but that really doesn't tell the full story. The reason that we are only £0.5M in debt is because the board have invested £1M+ this year just to cover running costs, and somewhere in the region of £0.75M last season.

Goal-scoring GK watch.

End of Season Awards.

Fans Player of the Season. Our (SMR/ARG) GK was the Young Player of the Season last year and he went one better this year collecting the main award. I like that he is being recognised, but he isn't actually very good, (is the only regular starter who is still graded by Youth Silver stars). Despite that, I do love any recognition that GK's get so I won't complain. (Can't wait until I get a good one).

Goal of the Season.

A peach of a goal from outside the box. Decent, even if I do say so myself.

[video=youtube;POaV-ZDAfQs]

Signing of the Season. We didn't sign anyone.

Young Player of the Season. Our GK picked up this award again. I would rather than Young Player award went to someone else when it is won by a Youth Player, but I'm not overly bothered. Our top goal-scorer only managed 5 goals this season and our GK managed 3, so..... he is probably a worthy winner of both awards.

Top Goalscorer. 3 players shared the spoils here as I will admit that I confused myself with new roles and the limited ability of the players involved meant that they struggled to adapt. I have to find a balance between a role/duty that suits the tactic, and one that suits the individual players involved.

Most Assists. Luca was only 16 for most of the season, so a return of double-figure assists in his first full season is very pleasing indeed.

Highest Average Rating. It's no surprise that our young GK also collected this award.

Transfers. There were no transfers in or out this season. Apart from a GK who has retired from Professional football, there is nobody out there who I can find that improves our squad and is interested in returning. In terms of transfers going the other way, I have decided that rather than selling players 1 year before their contract expires, I am just going to keep them at the club for as long as possible and then just let them leave on a free. They are not worth a load of money anyway, (even our best players), and we are losing so much money that it's like a drop in the ocean.

2020 Youth Day.

(20a) Rosario (Bal) (2020).

He might not have the double-figure attributes that stand out like a sore thumb, nut he is better than decent nevertheless. His strength seems to be his mentals which is unusual, and he seems more able to adapt to different roles than some of our other more one dimensional strikers.

[Jimbokav1971]

Our GK was named in the 2019/20 Serie C/B Team of the Year.

[Jimbokav1971]

The U21 Manager has been sacked and it made me have a look at the results.

They have actually done relatively well in friendlies, (gaining wins against Armenia, Latvia, Liechtenstein (twice), Gibraltar (twice), Luxembourg and Andorra), but in competitive games, a solitary draw at home to Montenegro is all they have to show for their troubles. With that in mind, it isn't really a surprise that he was shown the door.

I fleetingly considered applying for the vacant position, but need to build my own reputation and then club to develop first. It is certainly something I would consider in the future though.

[Jimbokav1971]

Some of you who have read my drivel for a while now, will be more than aware that I have a penchant, (some would say obsession), with goal-scoring Keepers.

For the last... almost 4 seasons now, I have had my GK going up for attacking corners. He was more there as a nuisance value, while the ball was ideally delivered elsewhere, and despite sticking with it for a long period, (4 seasons is a decent go in anyone's book), the time has come to bring the experiment to an end, admit that it failed, and draw a line under it.

We have just played top of the table Virtus Entella and they smashed us 5-0. That wasn't the deal however. What was the deal, is that 2 of their 5 goals, (including the opener), were scored as a result of our GK being up for corners. That we have only conceded once in the previous period, (more than 3.5 seasons), is ok, but the reason that Virtus were able to exploit this was that we have recently changed our attacking set-up in order to include a player offering a short option. It was an attempt by me to drag another defender out of position, (and it worked), but the problem is that it also means that this defender is often the first player to the ball when it is cleared away from goal back in the direction from whence it came. Previously, I would have recycled the ball with ease, but it still wasn't effective enough in actually putting the ball in the net so I looked to improve things. This is better, (for obvious reasons), but the GK just can't go up anymore as a result.

On the plus side, he is still taking pens and is now also taking free-kicks.

[Nobby_McDonald]

That is a lot of mohawks.

[Jimbokav1971]

I'm going to post some pics of the squad ranked by PA and also separated into various positions. Please be aware that some players will appear on more than 1 list and just because they are on a particular list does not mean that they are actually any good at playing in that position.

GK's (ranked by PA).

This area is has obviously seen huge improvement in this intake, not just in PA, but also in personality. The one slight negative is that I actually don't like the overall attribute balance of the new player (21d) Mirko (F.Pro).

DL's (ranked by PA).

Longo has been our 1st choice left-back since the start of the save and is a player I really like, but he only has 15 months left on his contract and is un-willing to enter into negotiations with regards to a new one, so the chances are he will be leaving on a free at the end of next season and I will need to have a replacement lined up by then. My back-up left-back has been 23yo Neri, (who was one of the players I brought back to the club), but new Youth player (21a) Corrado looks like a better player to me and I like his attribute balance.

So while neither our CA nor our PA improves with this intake in this position, it is actually a really vital position to strengthen depth in so that at the end of next season I have someone to either back-up Neri, (or vice versa).

DR's (ranked by PA).

This is next on my list for improvement and if I'm honest I was hoping for something in this position this year. While Corrado can obviously play there, he is actually a left-back, (and is needed there). (19e) Marino is developing well and is just starting to look good enough for the position now, (after initially looking more like a short useless centre-half). (19e) Borelli actually looks really decent already and I have high hopes of him despite the slightly lower CA/PA ratings.

DC's (ranked by PA).

Although (21f) Luca doesn't look great, again he adds depth and I'm very aware that especially in this position we seem to have a bit of a larger gap between the CA of our best players in this position, and their PA. It's all well and good ranking players by PA and saying "this is how good they can be", but if the reality is that they are currently nowhere near that level in terms of CA, well then that's an issue. It might not always be an issue, (and I certainly hope not), but certainly is in this position at the moment.

DM's & MC's (ranked by PA).

This position is my single biggest area of concern. Pennisi is the best player at the club and his contract is about to expire and he will be leaving on a free. We have nobody anywhere near his level of CA and after he goes we will really down to the bare bones with 4 players, (Maggi, Tosi, Rorizzizzo & Di Rosa) covering 3 positions. That;s just enough when you factor in injury, suspension and fatigue. I am properly desperate for a decent DM or MC to come through next season now.

ML's & AML's (ranked by PA).

Another area that needs improvement I'm afraid. Although it looks like we have a few options here, quite a few of them are not best suited to playing wide left. Maggi is better centrally, Ricci is more of an AMC, (but I am trying to change that), Ciacci is better at AMC, Vitaioli is better on the right or up front, and the others are all PA and not much CA.

MR's & AMR's (ranked by PA).

Contrastingly, the right flank is actually a real area of strength. Looking at this now, it probably means that Rosti, (although a righty), will probably feature more often on the left.

AMC's (ranked by PA).

Although this isn't a position that I currently use, with such a shortage of DM's and MC's, we could have to utilise them at some point. Zavoli is the only player really in contentionm though.

SC's (ranked by PA).

We are not scoring enough goals for sure, but I'm not really sure is that because of the strikers or the service that they aren't getting. I suppose that the truth is a bit of both. I'm not overly concerned with the strikers though and I would much rather the best player of next years intake be a centre-half or even a wide left player.

[Jimbokav1971]

That is a lot of mohawks.

Of the 16 players promoted via the 2021 Youth Intake, 7 of the 16 have mohawks of varying degrees and colour.

Someone has pointed me in the direction of a hair-pack and although I'm really not into cosmetic add-ons like this, I may have to.

[MADA]

Of the 16 players promoted via the 2021 Youth Intake, 7 of the 16 have mohawks of varying degrees and colour.

Someone has pointed me in the direction of a hair-pack and although I'm really not into cosmetic add-ons like this, I may have to.

yeh the debski one is incredibly easy to use. it's made a big difference.

[Jimbokav1971]

San Marino club side. End of Season 2020/21 update. Lega Pro B, (Serie C/B).

I am still not managing the NT side yet, (I have enough on my plate).

Season Review.

League Table.

You will see that we started off REALLY poorly and it was a bit of a surprise to me exactly how poor we were in the early games. What actually became the turning point was a game in which we conceded 5 goals, (against eventual Runners Up Virtus Entella), but rather than just conceding 5, what was really the catalyst for change was the fact that we conceded 2 goals from attacking corner situations, (with our GK stranded upfield). We were 14th of 18 teams in the league at that stage and to be honest we were in freefall. I stopped playing and instead started reading, thinking and planning. Normally I would look to sign new players to improve the squad however in this save that isn't an option so I had to do something else. Set-Pieces were something that I had to look at. It's all well and good throwing caution to thew wind and sending my GK upfield, but if it isn't working then we need to acknowledge that and change things or this save will come to an abrupt end in both relegation and the sack.

I knew I had to change things, (with regards to set-pieces), but I was a but stumped as to where to start. I was feeling a little lost. What happened then was that Cleon re-tweeted an interesting tweet from someone @KeysiRensie, (who I have seen re-tweeted before but who'm I didn't follow), and it gave me the inspiration to look at things with fresh eyes. The article in question was actually about throw-ins and with the exception od using long throws with that ppm, it's not an area that I usually put a huge amount of effort/thinking into. Although I didn't use the same instructions/set-up as described, it really focussed my mind on what was possible and allowed me to start with a clean slate. At the same time I looked at other set-pieces and even changed the overall formation to 4141. At the time that I was creating and apadpting the new tactic, Cleon hiself was releasing atricles on both a counter-attacking style of football and also a separate posession based style. I found both of these very interesting, (especially the counter article), and I must admit that not only did it influence my thinking, but it also gave me a sort of foundation to build on in terms of allowing me to have an idea in my head of how I wanted us to set-up and then I was able to develop that in different areas to suit the, (extremely), limited abilities of my squad.

At 1 point we went 7 games without conceding, but this was very much a false dawn as we also failed to score in 4 of these games and the simple reality is that with 3 pints for a win, just not conceding was not enough to see up move up the league. Better to win 1 and then lose the next game rather than draw both of them and remain unbeaten, (something that often holds me back). Contrastingly, at the back-end of the season, we won 7 of our last 10 games as we finally seemed to get the balance between keeping the ball out at one end, and sticking it in ourself at the other end.

League Graph.

League Fixtures 1.

League Fixtures 2.

Although there was 1 period of decent form in the 1st half of the season, there was far more consistency in the 2nd period.

Cup Fixtures.

League History.

Facilities.

There is no change here, (because we have no money), and there will not be any change unless we either get promoted or we get a very ambitious board, (who would probably want a new manager anyway so be careful what you wish for).

Board Confidence.

63% will do nicely for me but I will have to keep an eye on the situation at board level because I am certainly not pulling up any trees.

Finances.

It's all well and good saying that we can just ignore the finances and that we will either get promoted up the league and the finances will improve, or we will get sacked and the finances will be none of our concern, but in my situation, (where progress especially in the early years might be slower), the long-term financial situation is more of a worry where we don't just have the potential to sign these 1 or 2 special players who can fire us into the Playoffs. Although we are £644,000 overdrawn, the board have actually invested just under £2M over the past 2 seasons just to keep our heads slightly below water. Losing approx £1M per year is surely not something that the board will allow to continue.

As a result, this can be of no surprise.

Goal-scoring GK watch.

We weren't awarded a single penalty all season, and our GK's didn't manage to even get a shot on target according to the stats, (although I know for a fact that there was a goal-bound shot from a corner that was blocked inside the 6 yard box).

End of Season Awards.

Fans Player of Season.

This was an absolute no-brainer for me. He won Fans Player of the Season, Young Player of the Season and was without doubt our best player. Unfortunately his contract us due to expire at the end of the season and he is not interested in signing.

He is still on his initial Youth Contract and I have been unable to get him even to the table to negotiate with regards to sigining a Pro one. I won't mind so much him leaving just as long as he goes on to play elsewhere and doesn't simply retire from football.

Goal of the season.

[video=youtube;OwzHKXpoNXc]

This is the 1st time that we have actually scored a proper good goal. It was a bit of a sjock when it came in and my intial reaction was "where the hell did that come from?".

Signing of the Season.

There weren't any signings. There was a left winger who had previously been released who I wanted to re-sign, but frustratingly he decided that he would rather retire from football than play for us again.

Young Player of the Season.

Pennisi won this one too. As our squad is so young, I think it likely that for a while the winner of the Fans Player of the Year award will also win the Young Player of the Year award too.

Top Goalscorer.

Most Assists.

Highest Average Rating.

Transfers.

None.

2020 Youth Day.

(21a) Corrado (F.Loyal) (2021).

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Day 2022.

It look s a better than decent intake, but the 1st thing that jumps out at me is the abundance of wingers in the group. 7 of the 16 players seem to be most suited to playing as a winger. Well for a start we can only play 2 at a time, (has anyone ever tried to play with more than 2 wingers?) and the other thing is that the wide attacking positions are probably our biggest area of strength in the existing squad.

The next thing that strikes me is that we have a decent (SMR) GK and surprisingly he is NOT dual Nationality. IN FM14 it took me about 10 seasons to just get an average GK produced. This bloke should develop at least to "average" level, (whatever that is).

The next thing that I notice might not seem that strange to some of you, but in view of the fact that none of my facilities or coaching levels have increased, it is certainly strange to me. The CA of every single player in this years intake is still judged on Senior player comparisons, (gold stars), rather than Youth player comparisons, (silver stars). This really is a surprise to me and if I'm honest I don't fully understand it.

Something that as so far been poor in this save is player personality in the Youth Intake. Although there are many poor examples here, I have 3x F,Det and a F.Pro out of the top 5 players. That's not too shabby at all.



(22a) Steni (Bal) (2022).

The best player in this intake, (ranked by PA), doesn't look great right now. As he is ranked best "by PA", and we are looking at him as a Day 1 15 year old, I don't think we can read an awful lot into that. It's all about the PA baby!

Squad ranked by PA.

3 of this years intake make it onto the 1st page of the squad list, (ranked by PA), and as we haven't had any facility improvements and still have the same HoYD, (I can't even remember what he's like if I'm honest), then I suppose 3 out of 17 isn't too bad. The only real issue is the guy at the top of the rankings, (Longo), is about to leave on a free having been forced to see out his contract.

GK's ranked by PA.

You can see here what I mean about the CA of this years intake. They are all gold stars where we still have players from previous intakes who are still being rated with silver stars, (and what squad they are in, what contract they are on or how old they are seems to have no relevance). IN any case, as mentioned above, Giovagnoli is indeed an impressive prospect for the (SMR) NT, especially when you consider that Aldo, (1st choice GK for NT), is approaching retirement, and MMG (SMR/ARG) has already been included in the senior squad. Just look at the difference in PA between the 2 and the CA is already on a par.

DL's ranked by PA.

As mentioned above, Longo (ITA) (Bal) is about to leave on a free pending the expiration of his Youth contract. He has refused to even negotiate a new contract and has been upsetting the rest of the squad since the close of the last transfer window of his contract. I find it hugely frustrating that players don't recognise when a contract is open or closed and have this impact on their thinking. Longo's replacement in the short -term will probably be Neri, (one of the players whom I brought back), and he will be backed up by long-term successor Corrado.

DR's ranked by PA.

18yo Marino is by far the pick of our right backs, although Borelli needs to be given more game-time and has the PA to improve.

DC's ranked by PA.

Demurtas is a welcome addition to our centre-half ranks. Some of the others are very one-dimensional, and while he is similarly restricted, the hope is at least that he and some of the others will develop into less restricted players.

DM's and MC's ranked by PA.

After starting with a 442, I have adopted a 4141 but I am struggling to fill the DM position. Di Rosa is the only player really suitable at the moment, (and even then he isn't that suitable). The HoYD prefers a 451 rather than anything else, and I wonder if this has an influence on the lack of non-winger wide midfielders coming through. I could really do with a DM. More than that, I'm desperate for a decent DM.

ML's and AML's ranked by PA.

This is an area of relative strength with Ricci, Ciacci & Ancione all vying for a starting position.

MR's and AMR's ranked by PA.

Right wing/midfield is even more impressive than the left, and when Longo goes, Luca will become our best player. He is ably supported by Natali & Ferretti and of course the experienced Vitaioli is equally at home on the left flank or up front.

AMC's ranked by PA.

Although I don't play with an AMC, and probably won't for the forseeable future, we have a number of players who can only play in this position so it would seem silly not to include them. Steni of course is the best player from this intake, but we also have Zavoli and Giacobbi to think of.

SC's ranked by PA.

Battistini, Guidi & veteran Vitaioli are the most likely to start but the big potential improver is Rosario who has only featured sparingly at this stage and is developing nicely.

[Jimbokav1971]

It may have taken me 6 years, but I have finally completed my 1st coaching course.

[Deisler26]

Congrats on your C licence

[Jimbokav1971]

San Marino club side. End of Season 2019/20 update. Lega Pro B, (Serie C/B).

I am still not managing the NT side yet, (I have enough on my plate).

National C Licence.

I asked once at the end of the 1st season, (and was declined on the basis of finances), but they had no such issue when I asked again this season.

Season Review.

League Table.

It was a bit of a strange season in that I thought we were doing really well for a while, but as usual, after the Youth Day we seemed to implode and it too a change of formation and tactics to halt the slide down the table after 5 consecutive losses.

League Graph.

League Fixtures 1.

League Fixtures 2.

Cup Fixtures.

League History.

Facilities.

Board Confidence.

Finances.

Debt/Loans.

When the new board took over, thy refinanced the debt tothe tune of £0.5M over 5 years.

Goal-scoring GK watch.

End of Season Awards.

Fans Player of Season.

(19b) Luca (Pro) PPM was the runaway leader of just about all the awards. He scored the most goals, created the most assists, and was equal best MOM award winner too. He obviously also won Young Player of the Year too. The only thing he didn't win was goal of the season.

Goal of the season.

How this goal won the goal ahead of the overhead kick that I posted earlier in the thread is simply beyond me. Madness!

[video=youtube;sJieouMi4EY]

Scored by Guidi (SMR) (Det).

Signing of the Season.

We didn't make any signings this season. There are a few ex players still on my watch list, but nobody too keen in re-joining at this stage.

"]Young Player of the Season[/url].

Top Goalscorer.

Most Assists.

Highest Average Rating.

Transfers.

There were no transfers in at all.

Transfers out.

2020 Youth Day.



(22a) Steni (Bal) (2022).

[Jimbokav1971]

My 1st choice GK has only scored 8 goals in 225 appearances and as he is injured I handed a debut to my 16yo Sammarinese GK.

It took him just 12 minutes to do this.

[video=youtube;7lCJdQfCMBA]

[dllu]

Seems like he's not exactly lacking in confidence either. Quite the jaunty victory "dance"...

[Jimbokav1971]

Congrats on your C licence

Thanks. I got knocked back when I asked during the 1st season and then sort if forgot about it for about 6 years.

[Jimbokav1971]

Seems like he's not exactly lacking in confidence either. Quite the jaunty victory "dance"...

Eccentricity 2 though.