The Italian Job! Italian league thread is here!

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6 hours ago, zlatanera said:

@Raymond85 @quee I think the problem is the clubs rep outpacing some of your squad players’ reps - club rep and financial situation showing you high value for your players whereas the AI sees a low-rep player and underbids 

Just accept the underbids? If you must get rid of them. Otherwise, there's no option. We can't all get £100m per player, can we? Haha 

[andrewsgn]

4 hours ago, yonko said:

I feel an urge to manage in Serie A as one of my last saves on FM19. I haven't done it in so many editions that I forgot when was the last time I had an Italian save.

CM'93 Italia stared my addiction to CM/FM series. Parma used to be my favorite in the 90s. But my first love (before Barca took my heart in 1990) was AC Milan with Gullit, Van Basten and Rijkaard.

So I want to bring back the glory days for AC Milan. Anyone got any tips in terms of players that I should target in the first couple of seasons? I want to focus on Italians preferably. My personal preference is to use possession based 433 aka 4141 DM but I'm undecided until I analyze the players Milan start with. 

Winter Update Database and No First Window Transfers, btw. 

I'm thinking about starting a Milan save as well. I usually play 433 but I think I'm going to try to get Giampaolo's 4312 working with Milan. 

This is my first save playing in Italy. Any advice on which leagues to load for transfers/regens? 

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1 minute ago, andrewsgn said:

I'm thinking about starting a Milan save as well. I usually play 433 but I think I'm going to try to get Giampaolo's 4312 working with Milan. 

This is my first save playing in Italy. Any advice on which leagues to load for transfers/regens? 

My only advice is to be aware of the non-EU rules. It can messed up your planning big time!

As for leagues, the normal big leagues should suffice unless you're targeting certain players (especially those from Eastern Europe who doesn't always appears).

Having the Brazilian league loaded can be helpful in getting players from there, but they will also have more financial powers and buy players back to Brazil as well. Some transfers will be more expensive because of it.

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5 hours ago, john1 said:

 

So, this is the Markovic everyone keep talking about. He's not in my game, unfortunately. Does look like a good player!

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On another note, anybody notice that we don't get assist for penalty anymore? Did this change in the latest update? When I started the game it was still there.

[Raymond85]

6 ore fa, quee ha scritto:

On another note, anybody notice that we don't get assist for penalty anymore? Did this change in the latest update? When I started the game it was still there.

If that's true, i'm glad they removed this long lasting bug....

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3 hours ago, Raymond85 said:

If that's true, i'm glad they removed this long lasting bug....

Don't they get it irl as well?

[ajt]

12 hours ago, quee said:

My only advice is to be aware of the non-EU rules. It can messed up your planning big time!

indeed. I thought I was fine, until I signed 2 english loan signings without realising that britain had brexited (we haven't yet, fwiw ).

now I'm wasting 16k per week on loans that can't play and I forgot to include the ability to terminate the loan in their clauses.

have added a filter to my player search now to only show EU nationals.

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4 minutes ago, ajt said:

indeed. I thought I was fine, until I signed 2 english loan signings without realising that britain had brexited (we haven't yet, fwiw ).

now I'm wasting 16k per week on loans that can't play and I forgot to include the ability to terminate the loan in their clauses.

have added a filter to my player search now to only show EU nationals.

I hope in future FM they would include non-EU status in scout reports as well, for that particular nation/league.

[zlatanera]

7 minutes ago, quee said:

I hope in future FM they would include non-EU status in scout reports as well, for that particular nation/league.

They tell you about it when you make the transfer offer, on the left below the initial price and the date of the transfer 

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Just now, zlatanera said:

They tell you about it when you make the transfer offer, on the left below the initial price and the date of the transfer 

Yes, when you are making a transfer offer. If it is included in scout reports, we have all the info to contemplate before even thinking of making a bid.

Info like 'this player is non-EU for Serie A, but he can gain EU citizenship in 2 years in Spain' or 'this player will get his EU status in 3 more years residing in Portugal' etc.

I feel in real life, these are the kind of info that should be included anyway. Instead of manually checking in-game.

[zlatanera]

3 minutes ago, quee said:

Yes, when you are making a transfer offer. If it is included in scout reports, we have all the info to contemplate before even thinking of making a bid.

Info like 'this player is non-EU for Serie A, but he can gain EU citizenship in 2 years in Spain' or 'this player will get his EU status in 3 more years residing in Portugal' etc.

I feel in real life, these are the kind of info that should be included anyway. Instead of manually checking in-game.

Yeah would be useful, and probably realistic too. They do at least tell you if they have Italian second nationality (Padt, Groningen’s goalkeeper, surprised me with that).

Edited June 28, 2019 by zlatanera

[andrewsgn]

Do U21 players count towards the non-EU limit or just players who need to be registered? Also if a player has a second nationality to an EU nation other than Italy, I assume they don't count towards the limit. 

Edited June 28, 2019 by andrewsgn

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7 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

Yeah would be useful, and probably realistic too. They do at least tell you if they have Italian second nationality (Padt, Groningen’s goalkeeper, surprised me with that).

Yup, at least we got notification about Italian 2nd nationality.

Was Croatia non-EU at the start of the game? I swear they were, then now I don't get that red notification in the transfer page anymore (You could only sign 2 non-EU this season).

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Just now, andrewsgn said:

Do U21 players count towards the non-EU limit or just players who need to be registered? Also if a player has a second nationality to an EU nation other than Italy, I assume they don't count towards the limit. 

u22 won't need to be registered for the league (different rules for Europe for new signings) BUT if you exceed the non-EU limit that season, you won't be able to register him or play him at all (not even in the u20s). Not sure for u18s but I would imagine it is the same case (non-EU can't transfer until they're 18).

So if you exceed the limit, better try to loan that non-EU player out, if you can. Apparently, new signings don't get much interest when you offered them for loans.

[zlatanera]

3 minutes ago, quee said:

Yup, at least we got notification about Italian 2nd nationality.

Was Croatia non-EU at the start of the game? I swear they were, then now I don't get that red notification in the transfer page anymore (You could only sign 2 non-EU this season).

Croatia's been in the EU since 2013

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Just now, zlatanera said:

Croatia's been in the EU since 2013

Must remembering it wrong then! I thought had try to make an offer for Marin but because of the non-EU red notification I didn't proceed. Must be a different player somehow.

 

[KF1990]

On ‎26‎/‎06‎/‎2019 at 20:23, ajt said:

if someone needs a good DM for not much money then Ndoj @ brescia is good. he has immense mentals, & in my first season after promotion to serie A he has 7.17 rating from 13 games. obviously there is sandro tonali too but he is more of a boring choice.

oh and if someone looks for a young striker to grow (TM/DLF link up type) then Brijan Ibrahimi is very good. he's already starting at 18 years old for me and already scoring a few goals.

Funnily enough I sold him 1st season to Watford for 2m with a loan back but after being 7 seasons in, he really didn't improve much and ended up in the Albainian Leagues. Ibrahimi just didn't develop and got released. He's in the Albainian leagues too.

[ajt]

2 hours ago, KF1990 said:

Funnily enough I sold him 1st season to Watford for 2m with a loan back but after being 7 seasons in, he really didn't improve much and ended up in the Albainian Leagues. Ibrahimi just didn't develop and got released. He's in the Albainian leagues too.

yes Ibrahimi is a slow developer for sure.

my tactic for this years game doesn't rely on the striker being the main scorer so he is suitable for me, and it just seems a shame to ignore him since he started at the club.

he has decent long shots/technique/composure so I'm trying to get him to place his shots to see if that helps. he's also strong in the air & I have overlapping wing backs so hopefully he gets some goals that way.

he's probably not even a good recommendation for most peoples idea of a striker, but for some tactics he can do a job.

as for Ndoj fiorentina are now trying to sign him.

Edited June 28, 2019 by ajt

[john1]

16 hours ago, quee said:

So, this is the Markovic everyone keep talking about. He's not in my game, unfortunately. Does look like a good player!

Oh, depends on the database size you loaded up. Just been offered 70M for him from Arsenal

[john1]

Going to take a break from my Torino save, Might head to Germany and take over Heartha or Stuttgart.

Will keep a eye on this thread :D 

[john1]

 

Well that didn't last long  Couldn't get into it. Made a big signing and spent 26M on this guy, as we lacking depth at left and right back positions, so will be strengthening both of those positions.

Looks like Marco Franco, is leaving after I accepted 126M from Man City  100M up front and 26M in instalment. plus 50% next transfer  Right now my strikers department is pretty much stacked up with Da Graca and Jovelic, coming back from their loan.

 

Does anyone set up their own scouting assignments or do you leave it to chief scout?

Edited June 28, 2019 by john1

[john1]

 

Gone   Might raid countries for hidden gems I can sign on cheap   Maybe Serbia or Poland?

[ajt]

2 hours ago, john1 said:

Does anyone set up their own scouting assignments or do you leave it to chief scout?

prior to FM 19 the last FM I bought was 2015 so I don't know when this new scouting malarkey came in, and I have no idea how to use it so I just stick to the kind of things I was doing up until this year.

a few scout italy/italian leagues for italians that are first team standard already.

the rest are currently out in central/south/eastern/scandanavia EU mainly to build up world knowledge.

in november I scout the top 100 highest valued players with expiring contracts.

in january/june I mass scout 16 year old regens/interesting first team players. I don't try to poach regens on the regen dates (never have).

I use the filters to change values when doing this, for example in central europe I will not scout a regen worth 40k, but if he's from eastern europe then I probably will.

when doing this I look at my scouting priorities page and cancel any players with red/orange recommended to get through as many players as possible before the transfer windows shut.

I have no idea if some of this is even a good idea, but it's my mad system 

 

Edited June 29, 2019 by ajt

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8 hours ago, ajt said:

prior to FM 19 the last FM I bought was 2015 so I don't know when this new scouting malarkey came in, and I have no idea how to use it so I just stick to the kind of things I was doing up until this year.

a few scout italy/italian leagues for italians that are first team standard already.

the rest are currently out in central/south/eastern/scandanavia EU mainly to build up world knowledge.

in november I scout the top 100 highest valued players with expiring contracts.

in january/june I mass scout 16 year old regens/interesting first team players. I don't try to poach regens on the regen dates (never have).

I use the filters to change values when doing this, for example in central europe I will not scout a regen worth 40k, but if he's from eastern europe then I probably will.

when doing this I look at my scouting priorities page and cancel any players with red/orange recommended to get through as many players as possible before the transfer windows shut.

I have no idea if some of this is even a good idea, but it's my mad system 

 

Definitely better than my way. You know there's a message recommending which competitions to scout? Yup, that's me in first 3 seasons. I'm trying to set more now as I noticed some competition came back with 0 report, because it overlaps with previous assignments (no free scout).

[zlatanera]

I sometimes set a general focus depending on who I'm managing as - if I'm someone like Ajax I'll set the age range to 'Young' but leave the rest un-touched. But then I'll usually have 4-5 short-term scouting focusses done twice per season. For example with Ajax:

- South America (East) [September, February]

- Scandinavia [October, March]

- Eastern Europe [November, April]

- South Africa [December, May]

- Dutch under 19s (filtered by age, not the competition) [December, May]

[ajt]

Season 2020/2021

Competitions  | |  Player Stats | | Youth Intake

Transfers  | |  Finances  | |  Facilities

 

The first half of the season was pretty horrific, but there was a massive improvement in our results once I got down to tinkering with my player instructions. I am pleased to achieve a Europa League spot since we were sitting in 14th place in January.

We really need to get better in attack. We were 15th in scoring and 2nd in defence.

Our best result of the season was definitely our 2-0 away win against Juventus, though we were helped by Emre Can getting a red card early on.

My youth intake wasn't that great but I did get a decent goalkeeper prospect. Unfortunately I haven't had any luck with developing goalkeepers in this years game so I'm not sure how he'll do.

At the end of the season I was offered the spurs job and went for the interview, managed to get the board to increase the wage budget by 100k by virtue of me staying.

I was also lucky enough to win the Serie A manager of the year award.

 

notable players

Leonardo Morosini - Was my top scorer with 13 goals from left inside forward.

Sandro Tonali - Got a 20m bid from Barcelona in January but obviously declined. He is already rated as a leading Serie A DM. He dropped his concern in March about me refusing to sell him, and I managed to quickly get him signed to a 5 year contract with an 80m buyout clause.

Enrico Alfonso - My goalkeeper had a terrific season and ended up winning Serie A goalkeeper of the year.

Nicolo Armin - A young wonderkid centre back that I took on loan from Lazio, looks like he will be great for them.

 

regens

Normally all my saves end up with me selling the whole squad a few seasons in & using regens, but I'm going to try to temper that a bit this save. That said I can't help but sign a few, even if it's just to develop them to sell so that I can afford the best italians.

Eduoard Breton - I needed backup for my striker position and I think he will soon be knocking on the door of the first team.

Filip Walgraeve - I play 3 in midfield so I decided to get my MC of the future early, or at least the best one I could get with my limited transfer funds.

 

next season aim

Being in the Europa League is going to be a challenge as I really lack depth in my squad, in fact I played the same team practically every game for my good run in the second half of the season.

I'll be happy to end up in mid table and reach the knockout round depending on group (I won't have any seeding points at all).

[quee]

6 minutes ago, ajt said:

Season 2020/2021

Competitions  | |  Player Stats | | Youth Intake

Transfers  | |  Finances  | |  Facilities

 

The first half of the season was pretty horrific, but there was a massive improvement in our results once I got down to tinkering with my player instructions. I am pleased to achieve a Europa League spot since we were sitting in 14th place in January.

We really need to get better in attack. We were 15th in scoring and 2nd in defence.

Our best result of the season was definitely our 2-0 away win against Juventus, though we were helped by Emre Can getting a red card early on.

My youth intake wasn't that great but I did get a decent goalkeeper prospect. Unfortunately I haven't had any luck with developing goalkeepers in this years game so I'm not sure how he'll do.

At the end of the season I was offered the spurs job and went for the interview, managed to get the board to increase the wage budget by 100k by virtue of me staying.

I was also lucky enough to win the Serie A manager of the year award.

 

notable players

Leonardo Morosini - Was my top scorer with 13 goals from left inside forward.

Sandro Tonali - Got a 20m bid from Barcelona in January but obviously declined. He is already rated as a leading Serie A DM. He dropped his concern in March about me refusing to sell him, and I managed to quickly get him signed to a 5 year contract with an 80m buyout clause.

Enrico Alfonso - My goalkeeper had a terrific season and ended up winning Serie A goalkeeper of the year.

Nicolo Armin - A young wonderkid centre back that I took on loan from Lazio, looks like he will be great for them.

 

regens

Normally all my saves end up with me selling the whole squad a few seasons in & using regens, but I'm going to try to temper that a bit this save. That said I can't help but sign a few, even if it's just to develop them to sell so that I can afford the best italians.

Eduoard Breton - I needed backup for my striker position and I think he will soon be knocking on the door of the first team.

Filip Walgraeve - I play 3 in midfield so I decided to get my MC of the future early, or at least the best one I could get with my limited transfer funds.

 

next season aim

Being in the Europa League is going to be a challenge as I really lack depth in my squad, in fact I played the same team practically every game for my good run in the second half of the season.

I'll be happy to end up in mid table and reach the knockout round depending on group (I won't have any seeding points at all).

Great season! Playing Thursday-Weekend is hard, just like in real life. No wonder clubs try to avoid it in real life as well.

Armini is a great prospect, he's a first team regular at Lazio at this same stage as yours. He's too expensive for anybody to try to buy him, though. Why does he have 'loan' next to his name, some of the others don't?

Spalek not doing it for you? I got him for my save.

[ajt]

4 hours ago, quee said:

Armini is a great prospect, he's a first team regular at Lazio at this same stage as yours. He's too expensive for anybody to try to buy him, though. Why does he have 'loan' next to his name, some of the others don't?

Spalek not doing it for you? I got him for my save.

I give certain players nicknames when I'm scouting them if I am very interested in signing them. Then I can find them by typing the word (loan/transfer/regen) in the search bar. I am awful at keeping my shortlist in order and find this works better for absolutely essential players. I also use the notes system a lot so when a note pops up on a certain date and the players name has loan by it then I know what it's about straight away.

I should probably just use my shortlist(s) better but I'm used to it now haha. 

Spalek played most of the season as my starting AMR (you can see him at the bottom of the stats screen) but he missed the end of the season with a bad injury. He didn't contribute a lot of goals or assists but I find he's good at linking attacks and tracking back to defend the constant crosses. 

And yes I think I will be taking many loans this season to cover the squad, as I doubt I will get a big transfer budget. 

Edited June 29, 2019 by ajt

[john1]

6 hours ago, ajt said:

Season 2020/2021

Competitions  | |  Player Stats | | Youth Intake

Transfers  | |  Finances  | |  Facilities

 

The first half of the season was pretty horrific, but there was a massive improvement in our results once I got down to tinkering with my player instructions. I am pleased to achieve a Europa League spot since we were sitting in 14th place in January.

We really need to get better in attack. We were 15th in scoring and 2nd in defence.

Our best result of the season was definitely our 2-0 away win against Juventus, though we were helped by Emre Can getting a red card early on.

My youth intake wasn't that great but I did get a decent goalkeeper prospect. Unfortunately I haven't had any luck with developing goalkeepers in this years game so I'm not sure how he'll do.

At the end of the season I was offered the spurs job and went for the interview, managed to get the board to increase the wage budget by 100k by virtue of me staying.

I was also lucky enough to win the Serie A manager of the year award.

 

notable players

Leonardo Morosini - Was my top scorer with 13 goals from left inside forward.

Sandro Tonali - Got a 20m bid from Barcelona in January but obviously declined. He is already rated as a leading Serie A DM. He dropped his concern in March about me refusing to sell him, and I managed to quickly get him signed to a 5 year contract with an 80m buyout clause.

Enrico Alfonso - My goalkeeper had a terrific season and ended up winning Serie A goalkeeper of the year.

Nicolo Armin - A young wonderkid centre back that I took on loan from Lazio, looks like he will be great for them.

 

regens

Normally all my saves end up with me selling the whole squad a few seasons in & using regens, but I'm going to try to temper that a bit this save. That said I can't help but sign a few, even if it's just to develop them to sell so that I can afford the best italians.

Eduoard Breton - I needed backup for my striker position and I think he will soon be knocking on the door of the first team.

Filip Walgraeve - I play 3 in midfield so I decided to get my MC of the future early, or at least the best one I could get with my limited transfer funds.

 

next season aim

Being in the Europa League is going to be a challenge as I really lack depth in my squad, in fact I played the same team practically every game for my good run in the second half of the season.

I'll be happy to end up in mid table and reach the knockout round depending on group (I won't have any seeding points at all).

Fantastic season  Will be interesting to see how you going to keep your players fresh with Europa Leagues fixtures.

[Raymond85]

Well, as i was sure was going to happen, come Jan 2020 i lost my motivation on Juventus save. It's a pity because only italian team with Under 23, so 3 youngster squads to develop (i love that kind of thing).

Will give Italy a little break, might be joining the Northern Ireland challenge with Larne.

[ajt]

On 29/06/2019 at 18:19, john1 said:

Fantastic season  Will be interesting to see how you going to keep your players fresh with Europa Leagues fixtures.

cheers, I've taken quite a few loans on and signed a few decent players to hopefully keep the squad rotated.

not a bad draw, hopefully I can cause an upset and get to the first knockout round.

[Werrett]

Been managing in Italy on Football Manager for a short amount of time and while meaning to post in this forum, I've been enjoying the save far too much to stop and type things up. 

So let's recap the save so far...

 

Frosinone Calcio

Been managing Frosinone for just over a season and a half now (Jan 2020). First season we played a Burnley-esque 442 system and managed to secure a 5th placed finish, missing out on CL football through a winner takes all defeat to Fiorentina on the final day of the season. Not many transfers were made in S1 as we had a lot of players on loan and minimal finances to sanction any major spending. The January window in S1 saw us sell Raffaele Maiello for £4m to WBA, a sale that allowed us to bring in Alexis Cuello as a long-term prospect. Camillo Ciano was turned into a makeshift striker and managed to carry us through the season with 15 league goals in 33 games, but has since been dropped to the bench following a frustrating second season for him.

Currently just progressed into February 2020 and here's a look at the transfers we've made so far along with the squad as a whole. I won't sit and go through every player on here but am happy to post any screenshots or thoughts relating to any specific transfers. Generally we secured second term loans for players who spent the year here last season, but this time we've looked to insert optional future fees, should any of the players become invaluable to us. The focus is also to stay as Italian as possible, with the odd foreign talent coming in to upgrade the squad (not a homegrown challenge or anything, just preference). Our net spend was fairly high, so we need to do well quickly in order to pay this money back. The 442 system has been tweaked a little to get the most out of the players we have now, particularly the more offensive minded full-backs. Pinamonti had his loan renewed despite a lacklustre 2 goal season last term, but has found his feet this year scoring 13 goals in all competitions; hopefully a permanent transfer could be on the horizon for him. With Europa league qualification secured last term we needed to not only improve the quality of the squad, but expand on the size as well. There are still a few iffy areas, particularly in the wings that I'll be looking to address come the end of the second season.

The first half of the season itself was fairly solid, with maybe a few too many draws for my liking. However, this leaves us sitting in the top 6 which is ultimately the end goal for this season. In the Europa league and domestic cup we've been performing above expectations and as of this post we remain a part of both competitions. Here's how things look so far.

The board have agreed to upgrade both the youth and training facilities (which were abysmal), in what is hopefully the start of a true transformation here with Frosinone.

My main question to those of you managing in Italy with a below average club is: What is your main focus? As in, do you look to upgrade your coaching set-up first, or do you look towards infrastructure? Do you focus on youth solely, or do you upgrade your first-team playing squad first? I'm keen to have a successful time here but would like to do things at the right pace so as to not make too many changes too quickly as this could damage the club financially.

Looking ahead to the second half of the season...

The aim for the second half of the season has to be maintaining our stance on a top 6 finish. Re-securing European football will be vital to the finances of the club, but we know this will be a difficult task with many games still to play. In terms of the Europa league I'd love us to go as far as possible, but Shakhtar are a top side and playing away in Ukraine will be a different experience for us. We dream of a TIM Cup Final, but Roma won't make that easy either. 

Elsewhere I'll be doing my usual, scouting far and wide to look for talent to sign next season. The expected transfer budget is set at around £20 million, more than enough to bolster our squad for the third season.

Forza Frosinone!

Edited July 1, 2019 by Werrett

[quee]

3 hours ago, Werrett said:

Been managing in Italy on Football Manager for a short amount of time and while meaning to post in this forum, I've been enjoying the save far too much to stop and type things up. 

So let's recap the save so far...

 

Frosinone Calcio

Been managing Frosinone for just over a season and a half now (Jan 2020). First season we played a Burnley-esque 442 system and managed to secure a 5th placed finish, missing out on CL football through a winner takes all defeat to Fiorentina on the final day of the season. Not many transfers were made in S1 as we had a lot of players on loan and minimal finances to sanction any major spending. The January window in S1 saw us sell Raffaele Maiello for £4m to WBA, a sale that allowed us to bring in Alexis Cuello as a long-term prospect. Camillo Ciano was turned into a makeshift striker and managed to carry us through the season with 15 league goals in 33 games, but has since been dropped to the bench following a frustrating second season for him.

Currently just progressed into February 2020 and here's a look at the transfers we've made so far along with the squad as a whole. I won't sit and go through every player on here but am happy to post any screenshots or thoughts relating to any specific transfers. Generally we secured second term loans for players who spent the year here last season, but this time we've looked to insert optional future fees, should any of the players become invaluable to us. The focus is also to stay as Italian as possible, with the odd foreign talent coming in to upgrade the squad (not a homegrown challenge or anything, just preference). Our net spend was fairly high, so we need to do well quickly in order to pay this money back. The 442 system has been tweaked a little to get the most out of the players we have now, particularly the more offensive minded full-backs. Pinamonti had his loan renewed despite a lacklustre 2 goal season last term, but has found his feet this year scoring 13 goals in all competitions; hopefully a permanent transfer could be on the horizon for him. With Europa league qualification secured last term we needed to not only improve the quality of the squad, but expand on the size as well. There are still a few iffy areas, particularly in the wings that I'll be looking to address come the end of the second season.

The first half of the season itself was fairly solid, with maybe a few too many draws for my liking. However, this leaves us sitting in the top 6 which is ultimately the end goal for this season. In the Europa league and domestic cup we've been performing above expectations and as of this post we remain a part of both competitions. Here's how things look so far.

The board have agreed to upgrade both the youth and training facilities (which were abysmal), in what is hopefully the start of a true transformation here with Frosinone.

My main question to those of you managing in Italy with a below average club is: What is your main focus? As in, do you look to upgrade your coaching set-up first, or do you look towards infrastructure? Do you focus on youth solely, or do you upgrade your first-team playing squad first? I'm keen to have a successful time here but would like to do things at the right pace so as to not make too many changes too quickly as this could damage the club financially.

Looking ahead to the second half of the season...

The aim for the second half of the season has to be maintaining our stance on a top 6 finish. Re-securing European football will be vital to the finances of the club, but we know this will be a difficult task with many games still to play. In terms of the Europa league I'd love us to go as far as possible, but Shakhtar are a top side and playing away in Ukraine will be a different experience for us. We dream of a TIM Cup Final, but Roma won't make that easy either. 

Elsewhere I'll be doing my usual, scouting far and wide to look for talent to sign next season. The expected transfer budget is set at around £20 million, more than enough to bolster our squad for the third season.

Forza Frosinone!

Welcome! Your team is taking shape nicely already! With lots of smart signings.

As for your question, similar to you. If I had won the league in the first season, I would have find it boring and unnatural. Mostly moving unwanted players, trying to get your targets for cheap that hasn't moved, and I liked to keep some original players that were already in the squad as I go along. Some might not be great statswise, but as backup won't matter that much.

When I get FM20 next year, I will redo my Parma save and play it smarter in terms of non-EU situations as well, since now I have better understanding of how it works. Will also attempt to sign Buffon from Juve (unless he's joining Parma instead haha).

For now enjoying my saves, which I haven't played for a few days since I've been sick. Will post an update soon.

[ajt]

Excellent season that is a real achievement. Frosinone got relegated in the first season on my save. I haven't played with a 442 in years but yours seems to work well (and you score way more goals than me haha). I was going to sign Ciano as my new AMR but thought he was too old, seems I was totally wrong on that one!

On 01/07/2019 at 13:53, Werrett said:

My main question to those of you managing in Italy with a below average club is: What is your main focus? As in, do you look to upgrade your coaching set-up first, or do you look towards infrastructure? Do you focus on youth solely, or do you upgrade your first-team playing squad first? I'm keen to have a successful time here but would like to do things at the right pace so as to not make too many changes too quickly as this could damage the club financially.

It's pretty similair for me at any club. I bring in coaches/scouts first (and upgrade them every few seasons) and then look towards infrastructure. I have spent 10m on facilities each season since I got promoted to Serie A. Next season my training facilities will reach State of the Art & Youth facilities will be superb. I don't really sign many expensive players because I haven't got the wage budget to afford them anyway, so most of my signings are under 17 & cheap.

edit: Made it out of my Europa League group & beat Wolfsburg 2-1 in the first knockout round.

Bit of a nightmare draw but at least I will have extra TV money even if (when?) we lose 

Edited July 2, 2019 by ajt

[quee]

9 hours ago, ajt said:

Excellent season that is a real achievement. Frosinone got relegated in the first season on my save. I haven't played with a 442 in years but yours seems to work well (and you score way more goals than me haha). I was going to sign Ciano as my new AMR but thought he was too old, seems I was totally wrong on that one!

It's pretty similair for me at any club. I bring in coaches/scouts first (and upgrade them every few seasons) and then look towards infrastructure. I have spent 10m on facilities each season since I got promoted to Serie A. Next season my training facilities will reach State of the Art & Youth facilities will be superb. I don't really sign many expensive players because I haven't got the wage budget to afford them anyway, so most of my signings are under 17 & cheap.

edit: Made it out of my Europa League group & beat Wolfsburg 2-1 in the first knockout round.

Bit of a nightmare draw but at least I will have extra TV money even if (when?) we lose 

Nicely done! Lots of teams rarely seen that far also, interesting.

[quee]

Just saw that Brazao moved to Inter, 6 months after signing for Parma. There goes my starting GK for FM20 

Upon searching, turns out the initial transfer was to circumvent the non-EU rules.

https://www.football-italia.net/134879/official-parma-sign-brazao

[zlatanera]

7 hours ago, quee said:

Just saw that Brazao moved to Inter, 6 months after signing for Parma. There goes my starting GK for FM20 

Upon searching, turns out the initial transfer was to circumvent the non-EU rules.

https://www.football-italia.net/134879/official-parma-sign-brazao

Weird how they can be so brazenly open about this and...oh wait, its Italy, where a national team icon tells his team-mate to not provoke the racists and pretty much everyone in the football hierarchy takes the racists' sides...

At least I can understand why its not implemented in any way in FM, like Inter having an option on him that expires 1st July 2019 or something, as it doesn't fit the somewhat idealised version of football presented in FM. Matheus something (Brazilian attacking midfielder) at Empoli a couple of seasons ago was a similar thing with Juventus. 

[quee]

2 hours ago, zlatanera said:

Weird how they can be so brazenly open about this and...oh wait, its Italy, where a national team icon tells his team-mate to not provoke the racists and pretty much everyone in the football hierarchy takes the racists' sides...

At least I can understand why its not implemented in any way in FM, like Inter having an option on him that expires 1st July 2019 or something, as it doesn't fit the somewhat idealised version of football presented in FM. Matheus something (Brazilian attacking midfielder) at Empoli a couple of seasons ago was a similar thing with Juventus. 

It did exist before in FM, right? Co-ownership of players where you shared 50% of the players between 2 clubs. Then you did a random, blind bid to get the full rights. That was the day of Golden FM era! 

[ajt]

39 minutes ago, quee said:

It did exist before in FM, right? Co-ownership of players where you shared 50% of the players between 2 clubs. Then you did a random, blind bid to get the full rights. That was the day of Golden FM era! 

Yes mate I remember the days when clubs (especially Inter) would have loads of Co-ownership6. Was always funny doing the bidding!

Did you feel any better yet to progress in your Parma save?

[zlatanera]

43 minutes ago, quee said:

It did exist before in FM, right? Co-ownership of players where you shared 50% of the players between 2 clubs. Then you did a random, blind bid to get the full rights. That was the day of Golden FM era! 

Yeah my first FM, you had to make bids on all co-owned players at the end of the season because that was when it ended irl. 

[quee]

21 hours ago, ajt said:

Yes mate I remember the days when clubs (especially Inter) would have loads of Co-ownership6. Was always funny doing the bidding!

Did you feel any better yet to progress in your Parma save?

I've started now, but taking it slowly. Almost into 3rd week of June and still no 'End of Season Awards' and my players are still not off to their holidays. (I'm still being asked about training each week). Bug?

[ajt]

12 minutes ago, quee said:

I've started now, but taking it slowly. Almost into 3rd week of June and still no 'End of Season Awards' and my players are still not off to their holidays. (I'm still being asked about training each week). Bug?

Sounds very strange, mine are off on their holidays by early June and end of season awards are late May. Maybe try asking in the bugs forum?

[john1]

On 01/07/2019 at 13:53, Werrett said:

Been managing in Italy on Football Manager for a short amount of time and while meaning to post in this forum, I've been enjoying the save far too much to stop and type things up. 

So let's recap the save so far...

 

Frosinone Calcio

Been managing Frosinone for just over a season and a half now (Jan 2020). First season we played a Burnley-esque 442 system and managed to secure a 5th placed finish, missing out on CL football through a winner takes all defeat to Fiorentina on the final day of the season. Not many transfers were made in S1 as we had a lot of players on loan and minimal finances to sanction any major spending. The January window in S1 saw us sell Raffaele Maiello for £4m to WBA, a sale that allowed us to bring in Alexis Cuello as a long-term prospect. Camillo Ciano was turned into a makeshift striker and managed to carry us through the season with 15 league goals in 33 games, but has since been dropped to the bench following a frustrating second season for him.

Currently just progressed into February 2020 and here's a look at the transfers we've made so far along with the squad as a whole. I won't sit and go through every player on here but am happy to post any screenshots or thoughts relating to any specific transfers. Generally we secured second term loans for players who spent the year here last season, but this time we've looked to insert optional future fees, should any of the players become invaluable to us. The focus is also to stay as Italian as possible, with the odd foreign talent coming in to upgrade the squad (not a homegrown challenge or anything, just preference). Our net spend was fairly high, so we need to do well quickly in order to pay this money back. The 442 system has been tweaked a little to get the most out of the players we have now, particularly the more offensive minded full-backs. Pinamonti had his loan renewed despite a lacklustre 2 goal season last term, but has found his feet this year scoring 13 goals in all competitions; hopefully a permanent transfer could be on the horizon for him. With Europa league qualification secured last term we needed to not only improve the quality of the squad, but expand on the size as well. There are still a few iffy areas, particularly in the wings that I'll be looking to address come the end of the second season.

The first half of the season itself was fairly solid, with maybe a few too many draws for my liking. However, this leaves us sitting in the top 6 which is ultimately the end goal for this season. In the Europa league and domestic cup we've been performing above expectations and as of this post we remain a part of both competitions. Here's how things look so far.

The board have agreed to upgrade both the youth and training facilities (which were abysmal), in what is hopefully the start of a true transformation here with Frosinone.

My main question to those of you managing in Italy with a below average club is: What is your main focus? As in, do you look to upgrade your coaching set-up first, or do you look towards infrastructure? Do you focus on youth solely, or do you upgrade your first-team playing squad first? I'm keen to have a successful time here but would like to do things at the right pace so as to not make too many changes too quickly as this could damage the club financially.

Looking ahead to the second half of the season...

The aim for the second half of the season has to be maintaining our stance on a top 6 finish. Re-securing European football will be vital to the finances of the club, but we know this will be a difficult task with many games still to play. In terms of the Europa league I'd love us to go as far as possible, but Shakhtar are a top side and playing away in Ukraine will be a different experience for us. We dream of a TIM Cup Final, but Roma won't make that easy either. 

Elsewhere I'll be doing my usual, scouting far and wide to look for talent to sign next season. The expected transfer budget is set at around £20 million, more than enough to bolster our squad for the third season.

Forza Frosinone!

Brilliant write up  And welcome to this thead :D  and great progress with Frosinone, I do have hit and miss record with them with my Torino save

20M budget is very decent, hopefully you can bring in few players to improve the team, than relying on loaning players in.

[john1]

2 hours ago, quee said:

I've started now, but taking it slowly. Almost into 3rd week of June and still no 'End of Season Awards' and my players are still not off to their holidays. (I'm still being asked about training each week). Bug?

Definitely a bug :(  

[zlatanera]

@quee yeah in my first season with Fiorentina it seemed to take until the end of that 3rd week to finish the season. I think it was because of a youth team tournament, or the Serie C play-offs or something. But on one save and reload it all happened 1 week into June too. 

Does seem like a bug, but sadly not something that will be fixed now until FM20.

[ajt]

Season 2021/2022

Competitions  | |  Player Stats | | Youth Intake

Transfers  | |  Finances  | |  Facilities

 

Another awful first half of the season had us down around the drop zone, but more changes to my tactic saw us pick up many points after christmas. In the end we finish in 8th just outside european qualification.

A good run in the Europa League in which we nearly beat Tottenham (2-1 first leg but couldn't hold on in the second). Tottenham won the competition so I'm pretty pleased with the performance overall. We demolished Schalke and Wolfsburg.

Importantly I got the facilities upgraded once again and a stadium expansion. At the very end of the season the board announced that Brescia will be recieving a new 30k seater stadium, but a location needs to be found first. We sold out consistently so this is great news for our future revenue.

 

notable players

Manuel Locatelli - Ridiculous free transfer from Sassuolo. I used him as one of my rotational DMs but he will get more playing time next season. Does however dive into tackles which is a slight concern.

Federico Dimarco - Free transfer from Inter. Has good attributes for my WB role (great physicals).

David Raya - Great long term signing, only cost 6m upfront with addons. High eccentricity seems to produce some incredible saves. Have signed him to new 77k per week contract (10% of my total wage budget ) to keep him for as many years as possible. He even got a cap for Spain.

Rafael Leao - Free transfer from Martimo, scored 2 goals in the first leg vs Tottenham. Played as an IF until christmas then played as my solo striker after I dropped Ibrahimi. Now has interest from Newcastle, Southampton, Watford.

 

regens

Fabio Bilotta - Managed to get him from Empoli for 2.9m upfront before the big clubs came calling. Should have a bit of room to grow and I can see him being one of my main CBs for the next decade.

Premysl Duda - Bought in from Czech Republic as a 16 year old. Brilliant spread of attributes for his age. Needs to improve physicals but seeing as I use an AP he could slot in there in his early 20s.

Giacomo Cescutti - Robbed Sassuolo once again. Horrendous starting physicals but his striking/mental attributes are really something for a 16 year old.

 

next season aim

Not qualifying for Europe this season may be a blessing in disguise. Possible Champions League qualification on the cards with the transfers I've got coming in next season. Would settle for Europa league.

Edited July 6, 2019 by ajt

[john1]

@ajtWow 14 draws?!   Unlucky to miss out on Europa spot.

[ajt]

3 minutes ago, john1 said:

@ajtWow 14 draws?!   Unlucky to miss out on Europa spot.

Yep. 4th best defence in the league but just didn't score enough goals. Even worse is that the only reason Sassuolo finished above us is because they beat us 1-0 earlier in the season  

Going much better early this season though, 2nd in the league after six games with 10 for/2 against 

[Creativity]

                      

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Brief history of Casale FC

Casale FC, a little known team with an important history, the date is the 12th July 1914, whilst the world is anticipating what would turn out to be the bloodiest war in history, world war 1, this little known team from the little Northern Italian town of Casale Monferrato, is celebrating its maiden Serie A title win. Placing itself in Italian football history with power house clubs such as Juventus and the Milan clubs. A feat that would eclipse the modern-day fairy tale, which recounts the Premier League title win of Leicester, 2015-16 season, masterminded by the Italian Tinkerman, Claudio Ranieri. Whilst, also becoming the first ever Italian team to defeat a professional  English team when they defeated, Reading FC, 2-1, just the year prior to becoming Scudetto champions for the first and very last time. 

The birth of Casale FC goes right back to 1904, a club by the name of Robur FB was formed which represented the city of Casale Monferrato. Sadly, by 1909, Robur FB had gone out of business, only to be reformed by the persistence of Professor Raffaele Jaffe, Casale FC was born later that year in December. Jaffe took an interest when his students notified him they were going to watch a soccer match in the next town, Caresana. When Robur FB dissolved, Jaffe was already bitten by the bug we all know as football, he proposed to Cavasonza and Gallina brothers that they reform the old club. A meeting took place, several matches took place on small pitches at Leardi Technical Institute's Hall, the meeting then concluded and Casale FC was born to be in direct rivalry with  the dominant Pro Vercelli. 

The following years consisted of Casale competing in the lower regional leagues, after which, Casale Fc were accepted into the top tier of Italian football, Nerostellati. In 1911 Casale FC were competing with the big boys. The competition was significantly different to the top tier as know it in Italy nowadays, Serie A. The structure itself was a daunting task, never mind for a little known side with little pedigree at the top level.

After competing at the top level for a few years, the historic win against Reading cemented a dramatic rise and a major achievement for not only the little known Italian side, but Italian football as a whole, being the first Italian team to beat an English side. However, the best was yet to come, as Casale FC only year later were celebrating the only Scudetto win in their history. As mentioned above the structure was different to how we know it. To become champions of Italy, Casale FC, had to first qualify from their Liguria- Piedmont division. Secondly, they had to negotiate a two legged final against the southern/central champions. The route to the title looks tough enough, however the competition was fierce in the form of the goliath that was Genoa and bitter rivals Pro Vercelli, who were in fact in the hint for their fourth straight Scudetto. Whilst be outstanding favourites to do so. 

The rivalry dates back 200 years to 1215. Not originally a football rivalry, the birth of the rivalry came about in 1196, when the City of Casale rebelled to form its own city and independence. Casale Monferrato had been the capital of independent state known as Marquisate Del Monferrato on the north-western fringes of what is now Italy. In 1215, the city was destroyed by the military forces of Vercelli. The city was soon rebuilt by Frederick the second, naturally the rivalry is as strong as ever lived on and is now part of football.

That wraps up the brief introduction to Casale FC, in all honesty there isn’t really a great amount of information out there, there history is great, whilst brief. They have also managed to win Serie B (1929-30), Serie C (1937-38), Serie C2 (1988-89) and Coppa Italia Dilettanti (1998-99). Nothing much in the way of recent success, residing in the lower regions of Italian football structure. 

So obviously, the aim of the save is to get Casale FC back to Serie A and see what we can do from there. I haven’t had much time for Football Manager this year due to work, but I had planned on managing Casale for a few years, so it seemed it would be a good time, now that my private life as settled down and gives me an interesting save to keep me hooked until FM20.

 

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What have we been up to so far?

I’ve played up till January so far in the first season. We are competing in two competitions, in which my aims for each competition are:

Italian Serie D Group A: Promotion

Italian Serie D Cup: Not overly bothered, money for winning might be helpful

Pre-season went very well, I’m pleased we kept the scores down against the top tier teams down to a very respectful score line. I’m very happy with the draw against Pro Vercelli, I arranged it purely to judge the gap, albeit it being a friendly. We saw off all the teams I expected us to, whilst adding a modest amount of money to the bank balance. We also managed to get a feeder club in the form of Palermo, I haven’t used to the link to get any players yet, but the annual fee will go a long way to balance the books. 

We added two players to the squad, Matteo Rizzuto was the first to arrive. I was instantly drawn to his all round mental attributes, which were very good for this level, even the bonus of being a young player too. Normally well rounded players are on the older side and have poor/declining physical attributes at this level, so he was snapped up and will add genuine quality to the central midfield area. Secondly, Pasquale De Vita was brought in for cover in the midfield. It really was a light area in the team in terms of numbers. It lacked any sort of creativity and when Lorenzo Coccolo, the player originally earmarked to be the attacking playmaker in my team got himself injured for 4 months in preseason, it forced my hand into the market. Neither player is out standing, but neither is the league, I’m confident enough between them they will do a steady job.

How have we fared in the league?

The league couldn’t have gone any better really, better than I thought. We ended the year in 1st place, comfortably. Our media prediction before the season had us finishing second from bottom, I was confident we were better than that and could challenge for promotion, but the form we showed knocked that prediction out of the park. The performance was no doubt down to our stupidly good defence, which has only conceded 6 goals in 16 games. With the league restricting the first 11 on a match day by forcing you to play 4 players under the age of 20, 3 under the age of 19 and 1 under the age 18. I decided to have an experienced defence and keeper, which seems to have paid dividends with our form in defence. The aim of the second half of the season should be about keeping our consistent and we should bring home the title, it would be nice to avoid the play-offs as means for promotion.

And the cup competitions?

Again, imperious form in the Serie D cup, just like the league. Delta Rovigo match was a bit lucky, in highsight I probably rotated the squad far too much. The more I am learning about my team though and the form they are showing there is no reason why I can’t complete a league and cup double this year. Though, there is still a long way to go yet. It will be important we stay injury free, as I am not convinced by the depth in certain areas, testament to the Delta Rovigo match.

What we thinking for next season?

I have started to plan tentatively for next season and I have a few players I am interested in if we are promoted. Firstly, Ramon Muzzi, who I came up against when we played Savona in the league this year, he gave us a torrid time. He is also top scorer in the league with almost double the amount of goals as any other player. Fingers crossed they don’t get promoted too. I also see him as someone who I could sell for a decent profit in a few years if he can replicate his form us and develop. If that move doesn't work out then I have spotted Matteo Macchiaroli, from rivals Pro Vercelli, not as good and I may have trouble attracting him from our fierce rivals. Looks okay for a free transfer, providing they don't offer him a new contract. The other player is a rather decent looking player by the name of Roberto Bonaventura, he looks solid all round and will probably replace one of Lorenzo Coccolo or Pasquale De Vita in the team. He looks to be an instant upgrade on either in the more adventurous role in our midfield 3. Finally, I will also look to exercise the link with Palermo for the first time and try lure Luigi Mendola to the club. He looks like a star in the making, will we be an attractive enough option for him next season? I hope so, he looks a cut above everyone else we have in the team and will instantly give our midfield that bit of extra quality it needs.

I also have a pretty all the squad up for contract renewals at the end of the season, which is something I will review closer to the season end, however, Emanuele Testardi is someone who I think can make the step up effortlessly next year, so I have already renewed his contract for another 2 years.