Hootieleece Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 5 hours ago, Muttley84 said: Best of luck. Puglia was interesting for me also, but being almost double as population (4 mil while my Calabria has roughly 1.9) and with some very big clubs in there (like Lecce, Bari or Foggia) it just seamed a bit off-putting for me. Will be following yours though. Best of luck! I'm not going to create an thread though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 20, 2019 Author Share Posted March 20, 2019 We continue our good form of results and despite meeting big clubs like Chievo or Lecce, our only defeat in the end of the year was a surprising one at home to Ternana. We are now sitting in 5th and pretty involved in the promotion race (although we didnt expected that). But being only 4 points away from the second position at the half of the league we can only dream. Safe to say at this point that we achieved our objective of avoiding relegation, therefore anything else is just bonus. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Don't count it yet you haven't reached the "Magic" number of 40 points! Good job so far though... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 21, 2019 Author Share Posted March 21, 2019 The first offer we received from another club. Benevento are struggling to fight relegation from Serie A but I gladly rejected them. They have worse facilities than us (we are 3 stars in both) and a squad full of rejects and loaned players. In addition I could not abandon the Calabrian project so fast. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 I had a very enjoyable save in Calabria with Locri - on a clay pitch! Good work so far, don't seem too far off getting up to Serie A. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 21, 2019 Author Share Posted March 21, 2019 1 hour ago, smp20 said: I had a very enjoyable save in Calabria with Locri - on a clay pitch! Good work so far, don't seem too far off getting up to Serie A. Feel like we are nowhere ready for Serie A this soon. That doesnt mean we will backup if this happens by a miracle. Locri are struggling in Serie D and producing nothing of note for us Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 21, 2019 Author Share Posted March 21, 2019 We could only bring one player this winter window in. Gatto can play in both wings but is natural on the right, and hopefully he prove strong competition for either Casoli on the right or Fischnaller on the left. Another player for building a team full of Calabrian born, but we are still a bit far from achieving it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 21, 2019 Author Share Posted March 21, 2019 We continue the same pattern in our matches in January and February losing only one game away at league leaders Hellas Verona. We did draw a bit to much games, but also won against Virtus Entella and Frosinone. Therefore we are sitting in 7th now. We are the team with the most draws in the league, if only we could have converted some of them into wins the promotion race would have looked much better for us. With just 12 games to go we are over the 40 points mark and therefore almost sure saved from relegation. I think the places 3-8 qualify for promotion playoff so we have a good change a being there - where anything can happen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 21, 2019 Author Share Posted March 21, 2019 Seems like we already achieved safety cause we already had to pay the bonuses to our players. Now we are under no pressure for the rest of the season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 Glad to see you reach safety. What are your chances in the Playoffs? Or will you continue to build up the foundation for future success. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 22, 2019 Author Share Posted March 22, 2019 7 hours ago, Hootieleece said: Glad to see you reach safety. What are your chances in the Playoffs? Or will you continue to build up the foundation for future success. It depends a lot of where we end up. Higher seeded teams have home advantage in the decisive match and also go through directly when the tie is a draw. We have our chances, so lets hope for the best. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 22, 2019 Author Share Posted March 22, 2019 An undefeated March sees us climbing to 5th in the league, which is pretty good considering we played 3 out of the 4 matches away from home. We had a pretty Italian catenaccio style as we only scored once in each of the games, but that was enough to get 8 points. Still eight games to go in the league and we are in the playoff spots, 5 points away from the direct promotion 2nd position and 6 points away from being outside the playoff 9th position. The table is dominated by the Verona clubs which look favorite to promoting together back to Serie A. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 22, 2019 Author Share Posted March 22, 2019 Our reserves only contain players U21 which we are nurturing for future seasons. The exception is D'Ursi but we want to ship him out, could only loan him cause nobody wanted to buy. Some of the players show good potential but not sure how they will cope in matches of the senior team, guess its a question of slowly integrating them into the squad. At the reserves level they seem to be pretty competitive, 3rd in the League of Serie B reserves is not bad at all, considering most of the other Reserve teams have also older and higher caliber players. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 22, 2019 Author Share Posted March 22, 2019 If we did not lose the game at Carpi we would have been tied with the second place, but really cant complain when we won four out of six games. We are now sitting in 4th with just two games to go till the league finish and its going to be a nerve-wracking tight race till the end. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 23, 2019 Author Share Posted March 23, 2019 We got 4 points out of the last two games, but that wasn't enough cause Frosinone got 6 in the same stages and join Hellas Verona in Promotion to Serie A. We have finished in 4th place, and therefore wait together with Chievo to see our pairing in the next round. Ours will be chosen from the Pescara - Spezia tie, and we will hold the home advantage in the second game. A funny thing is that out of the five teams promoted last season to Serie B we are the only one surviving without problems, the other being relegated or playing the play-out games. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 23, 2019 Author Share Posted March 23, 2019 Oh, well, I guess it wasn't meant to be. We played some friendlies to stay in shape for the playoff matches, and it looked good as we met first Spezia. Won 1-0 away and draw at home 0-0 to reach for the final. In the final we met Chievo Verona and they beat us at home 0-1. In the following match we won away with the same score and I was just making my plans for the over-time when the game finished! It seems that it is true, the playoff matches if the score is equal are won by the higher seeded team. Not sure what to make of the rule, but we now have to prepare for another season of Serie B. A bit frustrating being so close to promotion and losing it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 23, 2019 Author Share Posted March 23, 2019 The team of the season and again our defensive players being the ones with the higher ratings. I guess we are pretty much a typical Italian team in that respect. Our goalscorer had only 11 goals in his book. so we'll need to improve there if possible. Gonna force some of the best players out this summer (like Favalli or Fischnailler) just because they are not Calabrian. It's a risky move, but need some further motivation to grind into the career after losing promotion. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 23, 2019 Author Share Posted March 23, 2019 The only surprise in Serie A was that Juve did not win it this season. They were pretty close though as there wasnt much difference between the top 4: Juve, Napoli, Milan and Inter, but its the nerazzuri who came on top in the end. A huge gap between this four clubs and the rest of the pack, especially the two teams from the capital Roma and Lazio falling behind to Europa League joined by Sassuolo (cause Juve won the Cup after a final with Milan). Joining us in the next season Serie B are Perugia, Spal and Parma. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 23, 2019 Author Share Posted March 23, 2019 I know youth intakes on FM Touch are supposed to be smaller, but this is embarrassing ! Not much to build on that! Which is so curios as one week before the intake we had an announcement about us investing more on youth development. The only player from this year's intake is also terrible bad! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted March 24, 2019 Share Posted March 24, 2019 Fischnaller is a force in my Monopli career (Still in C/C) leads the league in scoring. Too bad you didn't get promoted to Serie A. Maybe they don't have seriously ridiculous rules for registration like Serie C (No more than 22 players over 22 and no more 15 over 23 players except club "Icons" Icons are players that have been with club 4 or more years. Which is a pain when your in season 2 of your save and half your team was ineligible because it only counts from start of save) It turned my save into a "Youth Challenge" and "Academy" real quick. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 24, 2019 Author Share Posted March 24, 2019 Pretty intense transfer activity this summer in Catanzaro. We payed some significant money (at least for our standards), the most off them going for Porcini from Livorno, who can play on both wings but will probably start on the left one. We also signed Gliozzi on a free transfer at the end of his contract. From the loan players we only kept Russo in goal (Genoa wanted 5 million to buy him) and added a 17 years old defender in Geraci (we actually wanted to buy him from Perugia, but he chose Torino instead). At the other end we pretty much got rid of a lot of non-Calabrian players (although some of them were still first choices to us, at the list of out's we can add Favalli whose contract runed out). Despite our good performance last season there is not much expectation from us, it's still just Avoid relegation. I feel we have a weaker squad after leaving a lot of players leave, so might not reach the play-offs as last season. It's interesting who do the media predicts as being the favorite, a Juventus Reserves recently promoted from Serie C - is it based on the reputation of the first team or on players values? After them come the recently relegated teams. We are going to have Calabrian derbies in Serie B this season, as both Crotone (wining Serie C-C) and Cosenza (after the playoffs) got promoted straight back. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 25, 2019 Author Share Posted March 25, 2019 Not sure what to make of our finances, who despite the tight control on the wages for both players and staff are still looking awful. We are bleeding money hard each month. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 25, 2019 Author Share Posted March 25, 2019 The final squad going into our second season in Serie B. Only 4 players left which are non-Calabrian from the total final squad of 27 players. Hopefully next season we can shift them completely and achieve the objective of a fully regional squad. No change in goal with Furlan and Russo rotating in the games and Favasuli providing much needed cover as a third choice. Could not buy Russo as Genoa wanted millions for him and could not sell Furlan as there is nothing Calabrian better on the market in goal. In defense, on the right we have a new face in Maesano, but probably Micelli 19c going to be the starting option (unless the board decides to sell him, already rejected around 500k from various Serie A teams). On the left side Nicoletti and new boy Liotti gonna rotate also. We have a lot of depth in the middle of the defense, with Figliomeni and Germinio starting the season as main mans, but three other solid options in Gallo, Riggio (although he is moaning about not enough game time) and Geraci. Maita gonna be the starting Dm and Foresta and Fornito playing in the two MC positions. We have enough cover here also in the new comer Minardi as first choice, but also Ielo and Pasquale 19b. On the right wing we still have veteran Casoli who is just to good to be let out, but with Porcino and Gatto as solid options also we will need to rotate a bit. After one year of training Stramaccioni 19a is still not ready to play on the left wing, but Puntotiere can cover there and Tripicchio on the right. This season we are going to go with Gliozzi as main striker, with backup a bit far behind at quality in youngsters Guerrisi and Lombardi 19d. If needed Puntotiere can also play here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Finances are horrible for Italian Lower League Teams. Only the League Winner or Top 3 get Prize Money in Serie C or Serie B. ($ 197,000 for Serie C and roughly $ 2.9 million each for the top 3 of Serie B) The TV deals give about $ 1million/year. Ticket sales are crap...My Monopli team made it to Serie B. Sold twice as many tickets as year before (1636/812) and only made $100K. Payroll Budgets and quality of players needed to compete are out of whack with sustainable finances. No wonder all the Italian teams IRL are in such shambles. I am planning on playing "Moneyball" with my players and selling as long as I get good ROI. Also I started putting minimum release clauses in the contracts (High enough that I have a chance to keep and train most players) I sold an 18 yo Striker appraised a $27.5K for $145K and had him loaned back to me for the rest of the season. (Unfortunately he now plays for Empoli in Serie B (The were Serie A when Transfer came in). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 26, 2019 Author Share Posted March 26, 2019 Unexpectedly good debut of the season. First we passed the two stages in the Cup, albeit in front of lower league opposition (including fellow and rivals club Reggina). And then we stormed the league by drawing 1-1 away at recently relegated Parma and winning the home matches with Lecce and Salernitana (both in Italian style with 1-0 wins, the last in the 92 minute). Surprised a bit as I expected us to have a slightly weaker squad than last season, but can't really complain. Will just have to wait and see how much consistency do we have. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted March 27, 2019 Share Posted March 27, 2019 Great Start..hopefully you can keep it up and enjoy safety from the regulation battle. It might be a little early to dream of Serie A. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 27, 2019 Author Share Posted March 27, 2019 We continue our good run of results in September and October. We only lost once to Pescara but they are a top team dominating the league. What's even sweeter in this period is that we defeated both of our regional rivals, 2-1 wins away at Crotone and Cosenza which sent the board and fans to be so happy. A couple of draws saw us sitting on 4th in the League after 13 games, but only 2 points of the direct promotion dream. Agreed it might be a bit early for that, but won't back down if possible to achieve it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 27, 2019 Author Share Posted March 27, 2019 Well, as expected we are out of the Cup, Torino away was a game to hard for us. Lucky they used some reserve players so we managed to push the game to extra-time, but couldnt take more from the game. We also lost at home to Parma and draw somehow against Juventus Reserves who are rock bottom of the league and destined to return to Serie C. We are still in 4th, but the distance to the top three increased, and it seems like Parma, Carpi and Pescare are going to battle for direct promotion till the end. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 28, 2019 Author Share Posted March 28, 2019 Finances going down the hill, almost 3 million on the red. And no way to control it. Just to hope and pray for the best. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 I'm in Serie B myself the ONLY reason I am not further in the red is that I have sold two prospects for about $1million dollars this season. I am still about $1 million in the red in May. I only use 90% of my wage budget and haven't been buying anymore players either. I think it is just horrid financing in Italian lower leagues... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 29, 2019 Author Share Posted March 29, 2019 9 hours ago, Hootieleece said: I'm in Serie B myself the ONLY reason I am not further in the red is that I have sold two prospects for about $1million dollars this season. I am still about $1 million in the red in May. I only use 90% of my wage budget and haven't been buying anymore players either. I think it is just horrid financing in Italian lower leagues... Had a lot of offers for Miceli 19c but I didnt wanted to sell and actually comited him to a longer contract with a 4 million release clause. Now if someone is willing to pay that... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 29, 2019 Author Share Posted March 29, 2019 We continued in the new year in good form and are undefeated in the first two months. Still gutted that we lost a two goals lead against rivals Cosenza at home, but the gap to the promotion places remains at 6 points. At this point of the seasons looks destined we are going to be in the playoffs again, hope with better success this time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 29, 2019 Author Share Posted March 29, 2019 Just four more games to go and we are sitting 4th with just four points away from direct promotion. We and Pescara have the easiest schedules, while Carpi and Parma are playing together and have difficult games with Perugia or Empoli. It's pretty hard to overcome two of the three ahead of us, especially as our goal difference is not that impressive, but we will fight till the end. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted March 29, 2019 Share Posted March 29, 2019 Well you still have the promotion playoffs if you remain 4rth! Good Luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 29, 2019 Author Share Posted March 29, 2019 3 hours ago, Hootieleece said: Well you still have the promotion playoffs if you remain 4rth! Good Luck! Thanks. Already had last year's experience so hope we are ready for playoff now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted March 29, 2019 Share Posted March 29, 2019 13 hours ago, Muttley84 said: Had a lot of offers for Miceli 19c but I didnt wanted to sell and actually comited him to a longer contract with a 4 million release clause. Now if someone is willing to pay that... I wish I could do the same. The AI strikes as soon as I move the players from the under 20's. Since the WHOLE world(30+ teams) is interested the player won't sign a new deal with my team. and then starts kicking up a fuss about leaving so I sell them for $1 million each with a 40% of next sale. I never sell to anyone in the same league...Serie A or Foreigners. I've sold two strikers and a right midfielder that way so far...My team would be far stronger if I could have kept them even though they are all 18 y.o.'s! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 30, 2019 Author Share Posted March 30, 2019 We did it! Somehow the other teams got lost in the way and we continued our good run in the last 4 games only drawing at Padova and winning the rest of the games to get us promoted to Serie A after more than 3 decades. To bad so few people came to witness our victory against Juventus Reserves, but hopefully we gonna attract better crowds in Serie A next season. It is true that 3 of the 4 teams we met got relegated to Serie B, but hey, we did our part! We actually managed to win it due to our better head to head record against Carpi, while Parma slipped into the playoff places, where we can see rivals Crotone in the last position. Would be something for Calabria if they managed to pull one out of the hat and quality too, but there are to many strong teams ahead of them. Good news already as we got a transfer budget of 5.5 million, which by Serie A standards is tiny, but for our club is the biggest I ever had. Still don't think I am going to able to spend it all, as there are not a lot of options for Calabrian players. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 Congrats on reaching Serie A! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 51 minutes ago, Hootieleece said: Congrats on reaching Serie A! Thanks. Might be a bit early for it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 This are the players who achieved promotion from Serie B this season. Furlan, Maita and Casali were the only fundamental players who are not born in Calabria, and they will be all shipped out this summer as we are going to go for a full local squad. Still strong at the back, with not that many goals scored (Gliozzi turned out to be anyway a pretty good signing), and a pretty quiet squad (no player had more than 1 red card this season). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 Update with Career Objectives: x - Full squad of Calabrian or Academy players v - Promote to Serie B - 2019 v - Promote to Serie A - 2021 x - Qualify for Europa or Champions League x - Win a major trophy until the club Centenary in 2029 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 Inter win the Serie A title with a comfortable margin over Napoli, Lazio and Juve, which are all going to Champions league. In Europa league Italy will be represented by Milan, Roma and surprise package Chievo. Relegated at the end of the season are Benevento, Frosinone and Genoa. Parma won the playoffs and will join us and Carpi next season in Serie A. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 I've joined you in Serie A in my Monopli save in 2022! We'll fight like hell but will probably be relegated....the top teams are just to good even when I "Park the Bus"...really missing my sold players as well. My academy doesn't create fast defenders for one thing....but lots of strikers that everyone loves! The Technical skills of the Serie A players will probably be our doom....can't quite Burnley it up. Will probably turn this into a regular journeyman save after getting fired...continue on in the MLS! (My avatar is an Italian-American) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted April 2, 2019 Author Share Posted April 2, 2019 This is getting ridiculous and kinda ruining the experience so far. After last year intake brought us only 1 player, this year we get three of them (but only 2 decent enough and both are MC where we already have a lot of young options). The board won't allow for any upgrades at this stage and finding difficult to get a better HOYD. Since the pool of Calabrian players is not that big it is essential we develop our own players, but at this stage we cant really make it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted April 2, 2019 Author Share Posted April 2, 2019 Some interesting transfer activity this summer at Catanzaro, where we shipped off all of the non-Calabrian players and brought in seven new faces, including some high profile ones as Bellusci from Palermo or Iemmello from Benevento. We actually made a little profit from the transfer window but we had to invest heavily in the salary budget so we can accommodate some of their requirements. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted April 2, 2019 Author Share Posted April 2, 2019 No surprise here as we are predicted to finish dead last. To be honest not to optimist myself, it's just a huge difference to most of the teams in Serie A, but for sure we are going to fight till the end. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 I see you sold a youth academy product was he of no use to your team? Do you have a goalie to replace Furlan? Maita was your DLP and engine that made the team go, Who's replacing him? In my save I am 850-1 and 1-5 to go down. I can't stop shipping goals. we're playing well against the relegation folks (winning or tieing), but anyone half decent scores goals for fun. I lost 0-6 to Frosnione! Joel Campbell scored a hat trick and their CF dominated my 3 CB's. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted April 3, 2019 Author Share Posted April 3, 2019 5 hours ago, Hootieleece said: I see you sold a youth academy product was he of no use to your team? Do you have a goalie to replace Furlan? Maita was your DLP and engine that made the team go, Who's replacing him? He was far from being a solid prospect, actually quite terrible. I fight on keeping the ones we can use around here. We are going to go with Russo our main man in goal this season, and the new arrival veteran Guarna should provide enough adequatr backup. We have no one near the level of Maita, but we going to try Franco and Foresta there, together with playing with an AMC sometimes to give Stramaccioni more game time. Will probably suffer just as much as you soon... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 Good luck surviving. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted April 3, 2019 Author Share Posted April 3, 2019 So this is the squad for our first season in Serie A. We have a change in goal as Russo is going to be the main man this season, tried to buy him this month also but Genoa wanted 9.5 million and it doesnt help he's being called to the U21 Italian team. Somehow we managed to keep Micelli and he'l been starter on the right, Nicoletti on the left, while for the central position new comer Bellusci is miles ahead and we need to pick the best partner for him. Six players for the middle of the park, and have not yet decided on the starters and backups, going to rotate a lot in the friendlies and see who responds better at play. Porcino and Gatto will be the ones starting on the wings, but we have adequate backup for both of them. It bugs me a bit Stramaccioni hasn't yet learned to play on the wing but we'll see how much game time we can give him. We never looked more solid in the striker position as there's not much to pick between Gliozzi and Iemmello (it helps that he can play at AML also), and the the young Lombardi will provided cover when needed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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