JoseRR's FM09 Big Euro Nation Challenge!

[PRDH]

**End of Season Update - Domegliara - Serie A - 2023/24**

Transfers

The transfers for this season were fairly large in number

First through the door was Mehmet Çelik. He was playing in the European U-21s when a scout of mine spotted him. A week later and his deal had been arranged. An attacking midfielder who looks to be a good little player.

Next to arrive was the second 50% of Daniele Marrone. The left-winger goes into the U-20s.

The third player was a young welsh right-winger. Richard Collins is raw, but has good stats in the crucial areas and is only 17.

Next up Guido arrives. A Brazilian full-back he is quick and has a great cross on him. He takes over from Iljin in the first team for the beginning of the season.

Finally there was a transfer to fill the place of the major departure. Luigi Mariani left to join Roma in a £24.5M deal. This meant we were a striker down so we went shopping and came back with Tom Pollemans a Dutch striker who has good physical stats and finishing ability though not a lot else. He looks like he should be able to score goals.

Unfortunately just after the window closed in the first game of the season, Bent Hansen broke his leg. He's out for 5-6 months. Hopefully the other three strikers will hold themselves together until January. I have plenty to spend if I can find someone.

Finally in a deal for the future Ezequiel Lucero has signed a contract to join next season. He would have come this season but my non-EU quota had been filled. His scoring stats for the Argentinean youth team are very encouraging.

In January strengthening was definitely needed, particularly up front.

First through the doors was Pasquale Maio a ball playing forward whose career had stalled at Roma, but at 27 should be in his prime. Anyway, he arrived for £10.25M.

Next in was another signing from Roma, this time a youngster who looks to be a great prospect - Federico Bresciani a young DM/M C.

League

So, another season in Serie A to report on. Domegliara had established themselves at the top end of the table. The season started well with Domegliara managing to hit top spot after a couple of games. Hopes that they could stay there were dashed when a terrible run of form led to a slip from 1st to 12th in 6 games and we sat 10 points behind top spot. From this position it was always going to be an uphill struggle. Anyway, we fought on and managed to get into 6th at the half way stage. Decent form consolidated that position and then with a few games to go before the end of the season, we kicked on - hit 5th with 10 games to go and finally reeled Napoli in, to take 4th and the Champions League spot with 2 games to go. We held it and finished 4th. A decent performance, but we need to put together a season without major slip-ups if we're going to challenge for top spot. Still a 7-0 thrashing of Roma was very satisfying!

Cup

Not much happened in the cup this season, we entered at the Quarter-final stage, and that's where we exited too.

Europe

Back in the Champions League, I wanted to get to the Quarter-finals. We made it through the group finishing in second, behind Liverpool, but were knocked out in the following round by Lyon after a couple of disappointing performances.

Players

Stephen Carriero - didn't get on the field again. More down to Pestana's good form than his own bad.

Artur Pestana - back to his ever-present best. He is a great asset.

Srdjan Stanisic - another few games, he has improved slightly and is an excellent back-up.

Sergio Barbera - he continues to attract interest from the giants of world football, but none are willing to match my asking price of £20M+ which I don't think is unreasonable. A great defender.

Ben Dladla - established as first choice back-up. Dominant in the air.

Frank Heß - I still can't believe he's only 27. He's been a regular for so long, and doesn't look like being replaced.

Antonio Velardi - wasn't a guaranteed first-team starter this season. Nice to have a bit more competition.

Leonardo Barbieri - he is understandably frustrated at playing second-fiddle to Dalla Bona. Good back-up to have though.

Guido - good first season in Italy for the Brazilian, as he made the right-back berth his own, and got his first cap for the national side.

Anton Iljin - replaced by Guido, serves well as a back-up.

Gianfranco Dalla Bona - another to have a good season.

Cesare Peluso - a break through season for the midfielder as he replaces Velardi as the midfielder with the most appearances. He is a better ball-player than Velardi, necessary in a team that wants to attack.

Gerson Ramirez - unfortunately for the young man he got fewer opportunities this season, but Di Mauro is approaching the end of his prime. He has an important role to play.

Marco Novello - 390 league appearances, and cost £3K. He has been consistently in the top few players every season and this was no different. There are however early signs appearing that he may be on the way down. A true legend for the il Nuovi Rossoneri fans.

Daniel Rus - didn't play as much as he'd have liked, but with the first signs that Novello's stats are on the decline, even if his performances aren't, he might start to play a larger role.

Daniele Marrone - made his debut, established himself as back-up.

Stefano Rinaldi - a great season for the winger. Attracting interest from abroad.

Jurgen Schumacher - didn't get on the pitch in the league this season, due to Rinaldi's excellent form and consistency.

Claudio Di Mauro - good season for the attacking midfielder, chipping in with goals and assists.

Mehmet Çelik - another to have a good first season in Italy, battling the impressive Di Mauro for a spot proved a challenge.

Filippo Guarino - played a good number of games at the beginning of the season, but didn't really get going. Must do better.

Pasquale Maio - arrived in January, scored some important goals decent partnership with Pastore.

Diego Pastore - what can I say. 34 goals, 26 in the league. Five in one game against Roma. A great season.

Bent Hansen - recovered from a broken leg to score some important goals in the run in. His overall career record isn't great, but he chips in at the right time.

Awards

Top Goalscorer - Diego Pastore - 34

Highest Average Rating - Marco Novello - 7.28 (44(1) apps)

Fans Player of the Season - Diego Pastore

Can we play you every week - it's got to be Roma. Not for the 0-0 draw in Rome (though that's a good result) but for the 7-0 thrashing back in Domegliara. They won the Champions League too. I have hope!

Youth Player Watch

Another good season for Domegliara's youth as they won their league for the third successive season.

Home-grown

Pier Luigi Farinelli - stayed another season at Bordeaux, making it three, and the longest he's stayed at one club. Nice to he him settle down and get consistent first team action.

Aldo Mazzini - has really flourished in France, just showed how could he may have been if he'd not had Casisa in front of him for so long at Domegliara.

Diego Pastore - his best season yet.

Gianfranco Dalla Bona - continues to hold down a first team place. Approaching his 300th appearance.

Stephen Carriero - still the number 2.

Giuseppe Esposito - having not made enough progress to get near the first team it was deemed time to move the youngster on, and he joined Celano in Serie B in January they were relegated at the end of the season. I wish him well.

Vincenzo Fiore - spent the second half of the season at Serie B side Lecce, where he performed well, yet to kick on though.

Aldo Arena - got on the bench for the first team when Carriero was injured.

Non-home-grown

Vivian Mougin - shares the youth number 1 jersey with Arena. he performs well enough. Such is the domination of our youth that he doesn't seem to have much to do!

Søren Jensen - good season for the youth, he has turned 17 so now is on a proper training schedule. I expect him to kick on.

Michael de Leeuw - prolific at youth level. May move up next season.

Martin Wagner - made his debut for the first team this season during an injury crisis, didn't score, but didn't disgrace himself either. Also he has returned to being a totally Domegliara owned player as Roma did not manage to outbid me. They paid £6.5M for half last summer, he has now returned, for £2.3M.

Richard Collins - establishing himself a talented but volatile youngster. Within weeks of joining, he declared himself disappointed with the standard of Italian football, and homesick. He's calmed down a bit since then.

Federico Bresciani - an expensive youth investment, but he looks to have a bright future.

Other News

-Diego Pastore was the Serie A golden boot winner.

-Claudio Di Mauro was runner up in the Italian player of the year awards.

Aims For This Season Were

1/ Finish in at least 4th place again - Yes, just.

2/ Impress in the Champions' League. Last time I got to the Quarter-finals. I'd like to at least match that - No, fell short.

3/ A win in the domestic cup would be nice. But it is definitely my lowest priority - No, unfortunately only got to the Quarters.

1/3 - Not brilliant, but the most important one (keeping Champions League football, and the money it brings) was achieved.

Aims For Next Season

1/ I want at least 3rd in the league next season.

2/ At least Quarter-finals of the Champions League

3/ I'd like a cup win, but again, least important.

Records

Plenty of records went this season - a lot of them Pastore related!

Average Attendance - 35028

Top Scorer - Diego Pastore - 34

Top League Scorer - Diego Pastore - 26

Most Goals in a Match - Diego Pastore - 5 (v Roma)

Most Man of Match - Diego Pastore - 10

Most League Apps - Marco Novello - 390

Most League Goals- Diego Pastore - 174

Total Transfer Income - £42M

Best Elevens

09/10

10/11

11/12

12/13

13/14

14/15

15/16

16/17

17/18

18/19

19/20

20/21

21/22

22/23

23/24

Overall

Story So Far

Season			League			Position			Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009/10			Serie C2/C		1st				Champions!
2010/11			Serie C1/B		1st				Champions!
2011/12			Serie B			8th				
2012/13			Serie B			11th
2013/14			Serie B			11th
2014/15			Serie B			2nd				Promoted!
2015/16			Serie A			19th				Relegated
2016/17			Serie B			1st				Champions!
2017/18			Serie A			11th				
2018/19			Serie A			10th
2019/20			Serie A			2nd				CL place!
2020/21			Serie A			6th				UEFA place
2021/22			Serie A			8th				Won UEFA Cup
2022/23			Serie A			4th				CL place
2023/24			Serie A			4th				CL place

Trophy Cabinet

Serie C2/C - 2009/10

Serie C2 Super Cup - 2010

Serie C1/B - 2010/11

Serie C1 Super Cup - 2011

Serie B - 2016/17

UEFA Cup - 2021/22

Previous Updates

2009/10

2010/11

2011/12

2012/13

2013/14

2014/15

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

2021/22

2022/23

2023/24

[rlipscombe]

big old review there PRDH!! CL football is a big relief i'm sure. got some really good players there too. like the look of Novello, evan at 32. He's the sort of player this challenge is all about....

really got my fingers crossed for you next season. how far off do you think you are from the top? what, if anything, do you think you need to do?

[PRDH]

rlipscombe - Yeah. The updates just keep growing. I reckon I'm getting close to rivaling LLR's ones. Novello's been a great servant to the club.

I'm not sure what I need to do. I think the squad is good enough. It's the draws against the teams near the bottom that really let me down. I perform fairly well against the top and middle teams. I think the 7-0 win over Roma, who won the Champions League, shows how close I am. Consistency is the big need I think. A really clinical striker would be nice. But apart from that I can't really see any weaknesses.

I'd be interested in people's views on the squad actually. A lot of the players have been around for so long I can't really be objective.

[PRDH]

**Pre-Season Transfer Update**

Well the transfer window has shut, and it's been rather subdued for the Domes. With an initial transfer budget of £37M, we spent £17.5 on three players, but made £28.5M back, leaving us with £47M to spend in January should I wish.

£2.3M went on buying 50% of Martin Wagner back from Roma.

Next in was Argentine Ezequiel Lucero, a transfer arranged a year ago. He looks to have an excellent future, and is classed as a wonderkid.

The only other signing was another striker, the Croatian international Igor Perak, joined for £8.25M, he should be clinical once he settles in he is good with the ball at his feet and in the air, he does lack a bit of pace though.

[rlipscombe]

i think that it is the results against the lower teams that is the key to challenging at the very top. i've been similar to you in that respect. fingers crossed though that this is turning around this season too.....

with regards to the new signings... Wow!! Lucero could well be the best striker in the game in a few seasons. he reminds me a lot of my Villafane, who is frighteningly similar... Perak also looks a really good player too. hopefully these two will help you make the breakthrough again...

[PRDH]

Thought I'd just show everyone who can't remember what Novello was like in his second season at the club, it's the earliest photo i can find.

Found an earlier one, I think it's from when he joined as a raw 19 year old from Melfi. It was way back on page 44! I was at the time worried about him, all of my budget went on him. It was only £3K, but it was a lot back then. Seems strange now - as I type I still have £47M in the kitty.

[rlipscombe]

looking at that screenshot he's come on a long way... mind you you could see at that time he had potential.... developed well under training.

[Dave.]

That's a decent season, PRDH. Congratulations on making the CL again, hopefully you'll be able to really impress in it.

And hopefully that 7-0 thrashing of Roma will give you the impetus to push on and improve your league standing even further.

Good luck for next season!

[Dave.]

Club: Sporting Lucchese

Season: 2017/18

League: Italian Serie A

Transfer Budget: £6.09M

Wage Budget: £247.9k

Opening Balance: £7.43M

Closing Balance: £3.48M

Board Expectations: Attempt to avoid relegation

Media Expectation: 19th

Your Expectations: Avoid relegation

League Record: Pos 7th, W 20, D 5, L 13, F 59, A 53, Pts 65

Italian Cup: 3rd Qual. Round

First XI: (4-4-2) Ingrassia; Magliochetti, Di Cesare, De Luca, La Rocca; Prettner, Marty, Giunchi, Bettini; Boscolo, Nyari.

Top Scorer: Andrea Boscolo 21

Top Assister: Semir Prettner 19

Average Attendance: 15384

Fans Player Of The Year: Luca Giunchi

My Player Of The Year: Andrea Boscolo

Notable Results: 0-4 vs Genoa, 1-4 vs Roma, 4-1 vs Dinamo Tirana, 2-5 vs Ajax, 4-1 vs Napoli, 2-5 vs Dinamo Tirana, 4-2 vs Roma, 1-4 vs CSKA Moscow, 5-0 vs Bologna.

Transfers In: Five players were signed, for a total of £6M. Central defense duo David and Simone Pizzuti were brought in on frees. Young defender Fillipo La Rocca was signed for £1.8M, and young striking talent Alessio Cipilloni was snatched from Inter for a bargain £625k. The biggest transfer fee of the season however, was commanded by Paraguayan goalkeeper Luis Bogarin, who cost a whopping £3.5M. This was a bad move in hindsight, as the South American was backup for Ingrassia, and only made one league appearance all season. He wants to leave now, with Napoli sniffing after him. I may have to sell him slightly cheap.

Best Buy: Alessio Cipilloni. He only played four times in the league, but his talent is unmistakeable. He scored twice in those games, and has five games in eight Under 21 appearances for Italy. At 19, there's plenty of room for improvement yet.

Worst Buy: Luis Bogarin. He was way too expensive for what he gave back to the club, and with the finances starting to go down the wrong way, he may cost the club dear in more ways than one.

Transfers Out: Five players were released or transferred on frees, but disappointingly, no money was made on selling players. The most high profile players to be released were Ogude and Eder Bau, who had both had good times at the club.

Best Sale: I can't really say.

New Records

Highest League Position - 7th, Serie A

Highest Gate Receipts - £400k, vs Ajax

Biggest Win - 7-0 vs Bangor City (Europa League 1st Round Qualifying)

Top Goalscorer - Andrea Boscolo (21)

Most Assists - Semir Prettner (19)

Highest Average Rating - Andrea Boscolo (7.27)

Table

Round-Up: We were fantastic this season, even more so than last season. In fact, this campaign was similar to last's, since we started poorly, and improved to lift ourselves up into the top six. However, unlike last season, we didn't trail off, but kept it going. Juventus, tipped to win the league, had a terrible start, and were left struggling most of the season. However, towards the end, both they and Genoa began to hunt us down, and Juve managed to catch us. Genoa just failed, and if they had won the cup (in which they lost the final to Napoli) they would have snatched the final Europa League spot from us. However, we clung firm, got a little lucky, and booked, for our second season in a row, a European tour.

In the league, Inter beat off rivals Milan just about, winning the title by a single point. It was their first title for nine years, and despite how terrible he looks stat-wise, it seems Luigi di Canio, formerly of QPR, has done a very good job at the 'smaller' of the San Siro clubs.

The main attraction of 2018 though, for the world of football, was the World Cup, this year held in Russia (who had a friendly draw of Ghana, Belgium and Peru, so clearly no fixing involved there.) Some of the early shocks were Germany getting squeezed out of a place in the knockout stages by a plucky Chile side (memories of Serbia in Euro 2016), Scotland and Senegal qualifying in place of the Ivory Coast and Croatia respectively, the USA beating the Czech Republic to a knockout round place, and Belgium winning their group.

A big shock came when Russia, the hosts, were drawn against super-strong France, the holders. Unfortunately for the 150 million odd Russians, and indeed the rest of the non-French world, there was disappointment, as the men in blue emerged victorious. Further shocks came as Chile overturned a strong looking Belgium side, Scotland beat Mexico, and Brazil needed penalties to see off the challenge of Ukraine. Chile then scraped through against Scotland, making them the serious underdogs in the semi finals, which also contained Argentina, Italy and France.

Chile's glorious run continued, after they beat Italy 2-1, and they set up an all-South American tie, after Argentina had beaten France on penalties in a thrilling match which ended 3-3 after 90 minutes, and 4-4 after extra time. However, it all ended in disappointment for Chile when they were crushed by Argentina, 3-0. Still, there's always next time...

SEASON     DIVISION      POSITION      NOTES
2009/10    Serie C2      3rd           Promotion via playoffs
2010/11    Serie C1      5th           Lost in playoff final
2011/12    Serie C1      3rd           Promotion via playoffs, Serie C Cup
2012/13    Serie B       14th
2013/14    Serie B       13th
2014/15    Serie B       3rd           Lost in playoff final 
2015/16    Serie B       2nd           Automatic promotion
2016/17    Serie A       14th
2017/18    Serie A       7th

Aims For Next Season: In order of importance: qualify for Europe again, somehow improve finances without decreasing the overall ability of the squad, give the Europe League another good shot, and finally get past the qualifying rounds of the Coppa Italia.

[el sid]

Very good season there Dave

[PRDH]

Excellent season Dave. I need to pull something out of the bag soon, otherwise you really will beat me to it.

[Dave.]

I'm not too sure about that.. Dome are CL regulars and a big Serie A now under your stewardship, and looking at a few of those players, the squad is definitely more talented and proven than what I have at Lucchese. Of course, I'm going to be trying my best to catch up.

[PRDH]

Novello has just made his 400th league appearance for Domegliara. The first to achieve such a feat for the club. Congratulations Marco. I would say your record will stand for a long time, but it's unlikely. Pastore has made 387 and he's only 27, so enjoy it whilst it lasts is what I suppose I'm saying.

[PRDH]

After a 0-0 draw in the first leg of the Champions League 1st knockout round Domegliara welcome Porto to Italy knowing a win will be enough to send them through to the quarter finals.

Kick off

18 mins - Porto take the lead against the run of play. We need 2 goals.

39 mins - The Domes are back in it as Pastore slips a through ball in for Lucero who slots it home. 1-1 (Porto still up on away goals).

Half-time

69 mins - PENALTY!!

70 mins - Guido puts the ball to the goalkeeper's right and into the bottom corner. 2-1 Domegliara.

74 mins - free-kick on the edge of the area as Lucero is brought down. Claudio Di Mauro lines up the free-kick. Curls it in. SCORES!! 3-1 Domegliara! Has that sealed il Nuovi Rossoneri's place in the quarters? Let's hope so!

84 mins - Dalla Bona hits the corner to the edge of the area where Di Mauro hits it first time into the bottom left hand corner of the net. Classy goal. 4-1, quarter finals here we come!

Full-time - 4-1

After an early scare as Porto got an inconvenient away goal, however, a classy second half performance blew Porto away to allow the Domes to start planning for the next rounds.

[el sid]

Nice one PRDH, quarter finals next

[PRDH]

Nice one PRDH, quarter finals next

Thanks. Got a tough draw against my former bogey team Roma. It could be a tough game.

[rlipscombe]

good luck PRDH

[PRDH]

Quarter-final second leg time. In the first leg we went to Roma and came away with a 1-1 draw. I'm reasonably pleased with the result. A nice away goal to bring back to Domegliara stadium.

Kick-off

45 sec - my personal nemesis Ugbah scores a rocket from the edge of the area. 0-1 Roma

10 mins - Corner. Dalla Bona swings in a left foot cross. Barbera rises at the far post. Heads it back across goal. SCORES! 1-1

18 mins - Roma score again. They now have the away goal advantage and are 2-1 up (3-2) on aggregate.

21 mins - former Domegliara player Luigi Mariani effectively knocks his old club out of the competition by scoring Roma's third.

38 mins - a glimmer of hope as Daniel Rus cuts in from the right to beat the keeper at the near post. 3-2

Half time

91 mins - After 45 minutes of pressure Domegliara equalise, but surely all too late. Roma look likely to go through on away goals. It was Lucero who scored by the way.

93 mins - maybe the last chance. Domegliara have a free-kick on the edge of the area. Guarino wastes it. And that's the final whistle. Roma win on away goals.

Full-time 3-3 (4-4 Roma win on away goals)

Well, we put up a decent fight. We should probably have won the game. We dominated statistically 18 shots on goal to their 5. Disappointing. We have to wait at least one more year. We need to qualify again obviously!

[rlipscombe]

hopefully you can turn it round.....

[PRDH]

And now for another important second leg. It's the Coppa Italia Semi-final second leg v AC Milan - we lost the first leg 3-1, we did at least get an away goal. So now we need a 2-0 victory to progress to the final for the second time in the club's history.

Kick-off

39 mins - Stefano Rinaldi steps up to take a corner. Frank Heß rises and heads home. 1-0 (2-3 on aggregate)

Half-time

92 mins - Di Mauro picks it up on the edge of the area. Sends in a low shot. And . . . ooh . . . inches wide. And that's the final whistle.

Full-time 1-0 (2-3 on aggregate - AC Milan progress)

[rlipscombe]

i've just crashed out of Europe in sympathy for you PRDH... lost 4-3 on aggregate to Villarreal in 2nd knockout round of UEFA Cup.... time to concentrate on title race now...

[PRDH]

Bad luck. Good luck with the title race.

[el sid]

Bad luck in the champions league and the coppa italia prdh I'm sure you can do better next season though

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Well guys I am back so I thought I should show you all the last time I updated, back like 6 pages now.

Des Tiny's Keeping the Fafe

Liga Sagres 2024/25

End of Season Update

Predicted: 4th

Actual: 4th

Title Odds: 4th (16-1)

League Cup: 3rd Round

Portuguese Cup: 6th Round

European Cup: Quarter-Final: Leg 1 - Leg 2

European Rank: 21st (30th) (3rd in POR) (Sp 19, Po 20, Be 25)

Finances: 4th - 30.5M (POR, 92nd in World)

Season Tickets: 1639

The Season in General

The New Citizens: Craford, Juan, Marcel

The Deserters: Alexio to Man City for 13.25M, Costa to Basel for 2.5M, Gresovnik to Dortmund for 5M.

The Stylish: Mendes got himself a haircut.

New Contracts: Des Tiny, Radakovic

The League

A good season in the league, this year we were with the top 3 all the way, Benfica & Porto pulled away in January, but we were ahead of Sporting until 3 games left and then we lost it against Guimaraes and we never recovered. 4th once more, it is just sooo hard for me to crack that top 4.

The Cups

A disappointing season in the cups, bundled out early in both of them.

Europe

Well I had another decent showing in Europe, easily through the group, disappointed to not gain more points as we took a draw in one of the away games. The Groups followed by us travelling to defeat Roma & Shaktar, before we ended up losing to Rangers in a thriller.

The Youth Team

Won their League once more, great work, showing they are the best U19 side around.

vs The Big Three

One of the new sections in here is a look at my history against the big three, I am going to try and get screenies of all these past victories at some point, but it might take a while.

Past Victories

25/09/2016 vs Sporting 1:0 (LS)

30/01/2022 vs Sporting 1:0 (LS)

13/01/2016 at Porto 2:1 (LC)

19/02/2023 vs Porto 1:0 (LS)

08/03/2023 vs Porto 2:2p (PC)

03/12/2023 vs Porto 3:0 (LS)

21/04/2024 vs Benfica 1:0 (LS)

25/08/24 vs Benfica 3:2 (LS)

20/04/25 vs Sporting 2:1 (LS)

This Season

25/08/24 vs Benfica 3:2 (LS)

30/10/24 vs Sporting 1:2 (LC)

24/11/24 at Sporting 1:1 (LS)

15/12/24 vs Porto 1:1 (LS)

08/01/25 at Benfica 1:4 (LC)

25/01/25 at Benfica 3:3 (LS)

09/02/25 vs Benfica 1:3 (PC)

20/04/25 vs Sporting 2:1 (LS)

18/05/25 at Porto 1:2 (LS)

Record: 2-3-4 (17-19) [9pts]

Radakovic's Season

This Season

16 League Goals in 22 Games (27)

29 Goals in 40 Games Overall (41)

Career

134 League Goals in 206 Games

197 Goals in 312 Games

Records in brackets

Overall Starts 305 (305)

Overall Caps 312 (312)

League Caps 206 (206)

Overall Goals 197 (197)

League Goals 134 (134)

Overall Assists 58 (112)

Overall MoM 61 (61)

The Awards

Liga Sagres

Team of the Year - Di Giuseppe, Radakovic.

Forward of Year - Radakovic

Goalkeeper of Year - Gresovnik 3rd

Golden Boot - Radakovic Runner-up

Young Player of Year - Maradona

Most Assists - Di Giuseppe

The Fafeful

Fans Player of the Year: Radakovic

Best XI: Gresovnik, Alexio, Sergio, Mendes, Tarasenko, Juan, Di Giuseppe, Tiago, Rocha, Radakovic, Maradona. Subs: Resende, Marcel, Crawford, Pereira, Zafeiropoulos, Costa, Barata.

Overall XI: Gresovnik, Alexio, Pantovic, Mendes, Tarasenko, Crawford, Di Giuseppe, Moreno, Shala, Radakovic, Marcel. Subs: Carrasso, Garcia, Rocha, Janssen, Tiago, Esnaola, Maradona.

Where are they now?

AD Fafe - Gresovnik, Alexio, Mendes, Tarasenko, Crawford, Di Giuseppe, Radakovic, Marcel, Rocha, Tiago, Maradona.

Other Clubs - Pantovic (Chelsea), Moreno (Getafe), Shala (Blackburn), Janssen (Ajax), Esnaola (Zaragoza).

Retired - Carrasso, Garcia.

The Squad

The Current squads All time stats.

Goalkeepers

Gresovnik - He played every game this season, but has been sold off for 5M, and is being replaced in the summer.

Hunter - Will also be sold if I can get some money for him.

Defense

Zafeiropoulos - With Alexio running off to man City he became the number one right back, even though he is better suited to the centre. He played well and cemented himself in the spot.

Sergio - WOW, he was set to be back-up to Costa for this season and then take his place, but early on he showed he was just better and took over, this saw Costa transferred in january.

Huyghe - The new young centre back doesn't have the quality of the other three for the spot, likely to be transferred as well.

Novais - The youngest of our centre-backs he will be the number one cover for Tarasenko & Mendes, long live the youthful replacements.

Mendes - The vice-captain is growing in the role, and the better defense this season was shown by him at the back.

Tarasenko - Captain Fantastic had another season of leading from the back, without him this side would've conceded a lot more goals. Great work.

Pereira - Playing this season mainly as a left back he has joined the Super Sub lists as he keeps getting a run on, covering wing and fullback is a great player, I will be keeping him around.

Maurico - Started the season as a back-up and ended the season ready to leave, he just was never good enough.

Midfield

Barata - the young right winger from my academy just looks a little down on the quality I am going to need, so another replacement coming in July.

Vanderson - He was well worth the wait and the transfer fee, but to come in and make 4 starts & 19 subs in the second half of the season averaging 6.93 is stunning.

Batista - He had a pretty good season, looks to be about half a season off replacing Rocha in the spot, but the back-up is stunning already.

Tiago - His only let down is his lack of discipline, he has cost us the Champions League with a penalty and a yellow card, unacceptable.

Di Giuseppe - Another great season from this boy as he took the Liga Sagres Assists record, and added to his tallies in all areas, a great player who needs a new contract.

Rocha - Another up and down season, he is good, but not great, possibly on the sale block as Batista moves towards him.

Juan - Another season of sharing the starting duties with Crawford saw Juan become unhappy, I may just sell one of them now as they cannot both fit in my side.

Crawford - Sharing the duties is never the best situation, but with two classy DM's I have no choice, I may just sell one as I have a young gun coming in July.

N'Diefi - Nah just doesn't have it, a sale over the summer.

Strikers

Marcel - It sucks to be the third best striker in a top class team, and Marcel has fallen to that role, a few injuries saw him get on the field but he is a class behind Maradona & Radakovic.

Maradona - Stretching past Marcel as he became number two behind Radakovic and led the scoring charts early on, he slowed a little later in the season, but more than 1 in 2 is good.

Radakovic - He had another stellar season with 29 more goals to the tallies as he stretches out, he is signed for two more years, hopefully I can add one more.

Around the Traps

World Club: Palmeiras

Euro Super Cup: Chelsea

Champs League: AC Milan

Euro Cup: Tottenham

Liga Sagres: Benfica

Liga Vitalis: Leiria

2nd Division: Maritimo B

Portuguese Cup: Sporting

League Cup: Sporting

Super Cup: Porto

Euros: England

Associação Desportiva de Fafe Club History

|----------|-----------|-----------------|---------------------|
|  Season  | Division  | First Phase Pos | Promotion Phase Pos |
|----------|-----------|-----------------|---------------------|
| [url="http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=2119704&postcount=151"]2009/10[/url]  |   2nd A   |       [url="http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/7781/2009101st.png"]4th[/url]       |        [url="http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/8661/200910pro.png"]2nd[/url]          |
| [url="http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=2128016&postcount=176"]2010/11[/url]  |   2nd A   |       [url="http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/5898/2010111st.png"]3rd[/url]       |        [url="http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/4011/201011pro.png"]4th[/url]          |
| [url="http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=2163535&postcount=274"]2011/12[/url]  |   2nd A   |       [url="http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/9030/2011121st.png"]1st[/url]       |        [url="http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/7632/201112pro.png"]2nd[/url]          | Champions
| [url="http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=2266801&postcount=582"]2012/13[/url]  |   2nd A   |       [url="http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/569/2012131st.png"]1st[/url]       |        [url="http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/6647/201213pro.png"]1st[/url]          | Champions & Promotion
| [url="http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=2337396&postcount=891"]2013/14[/url]  |  Vitalis  |       [url="http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/2931/201314.png"]5th[/url]       |        N/A          | 
| [url="http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=2360414&postcount=996"]2014/15[/url]  |  Vitalis  |       [url="http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/2622/201415.png"]1st[/url]       |        N/A          | Champions & Promotion
| [url="http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=2373772&postcount=1032"]2015/16[/url]  |  Sagres   |      [url="http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/4926/201516.png"]13th[/url]       |        N/A          |
| [url="http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=2394792&postcount=1139"]2016/17[/url]  |  Sagres   |       [url="http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/8968/201617.png"]8th[/url]       |        N/A          | EC via Sporting Play
| [url="http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=2420817&postcount=1217"]2017/18[/url]  |  Sagres   |       [url="http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/5683/201718.png"]8th[/url]       |        N/A          | 
| [url="http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=2459304&postcount=1334"]2018/19[/url]  |  Sagres   |       [url="http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/5983/201819.png"]4th[/url]       |        N/A          | EC via League
| [url="http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=3252051&postcount=3914"]2019/20[/url]  |  Sagres   |       [url="http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/301/ligasagres.png"]5th[/url]       |        N/A          | EC via League
| [url="http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=3292188&postcount=4083"]2020/21[/url]  |  Sagres   |       [url="http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/301/ligasagres.png"]8th[/url]       |        N/A          | 
| [url="http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=3302887&postcount=4170"]2021/22[/url]  |  Sagres   |       [url="http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/133/ligasagres3.png"]4th[/url]       |        N/A          | EC via League
| [url="http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=3343231&postcount=4379"]2022/23[/url]  |  Sagres   |       [url="http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8213/ligasagres11.png"]4th[/url]       |        N/A          | EC via League,
|          |           |                 |                     | [b][url="http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/1586/fafevvitguimares.png"]Portuguese Cup[/url][/b]
| [url="http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=3379616&postcount=4628"]2023/24[/url]  |  Sagres   |       [url="http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/301/ligasagres.png"]4th[/url]       |        N/A          | EC via League
| [url="http://community.sigames.com/showpost.php?p=3411019&postcount=4832"]2024/25[/url]  |  Sagres   |       [url="http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/4438/ligasagresz.png"]4th[/url]       |        N/A          | EC via League
|----------|-----------|-----------------|---------------------| 

Home and Away Records in Liga Sagres

|----------|------------|------------|---------------|
|  Season  |  Home Rec  |  Away Rec  |  Overall Rec  |
|----------|------------|------------|---------------|
| 2015/16  |  04-04-07  |  02-04-09  |   06-08-16    |
| 2016/17  |  07-03-05  |  04-03-08  |   11-06-13    |
| 2017/18  |  07-03-05  |  03-03-09  |   10-06-14    |
| 2018/19  |  09-02-04  |  08-04-03  |   17-06-07    |
| 2019/20  |  10-02-03  |  03-03-09  |   13-05-12    |
| 2020/21  |  10-02-03  |  02-04-09  |   12-06-12    |
| 2021/22  |  11-02-02  |  07-04-04  |   18-06-06    |
| 2022/23  |  11-01-03  |  08-02-05  |   19-03-08    |
| 2023/24  |  12-00-03  |  05-07-03  |   17-07-06    |
| 2024/25  |  11-04-00  |  06-04-05  |   17-08-05    |
|----------|------------|------------|---------------|

Home and Away Goals in Liga Sagres

|----------|------------|------------|---------------|
|  Season  | Home Goals | Away Goals | Overall Goals |
|----------|------------|------------|---------------|
| 2015/16  |    17-20   |    15-27   |     32-47     |
| 2016/17  |    23-18   |    18-27   |     41-45     |
| 2017/18  |    23-21   |    13-27   |     36-48     |
| 2018/19  |    30-26   |    31-18   |     61-44     |
| 2019/20  |    31-16   |    20-30   |     51-46     |
| 2020/21  |    25-13   |    15-29   |     40-42     |
| 2021/22  |    34-11   |    33-25   |     67-36     |
| 2022/23  |    26-05   |    26-22   |     52-27     |
| 2023/24  |    32-09   |    23-19   |     55-28     |
| 2024/25  |    32-08   |    31-21   |     63-29     |
|----------|------------|------------|---------------|

Club Records

Competition History

Associação Desportiva de Fafe Players History

The Best of the Best

The 100 Club

Aleksandar Radakovic, Mykola Tarasenko, Miguel Mendes, Di Giuseppe, "Pants", Pedro Rocha, Marcel, David Moreno, Jonathan, Tiago Rodrigues, Kipulo, Tom Crawford, Hector Garcia, Tom Erik Shala, Josu Esnaola, Lisandro Juan, Ruben, "The Monster", Paulo Alexio, Tiago, Paulo Ricardo, Nicolas Aguero, Marciano Janssen, Leonid Kiselev, Francisco Costa, Ernesto, Maradona, John Astrup.

Well now we have ten in the core squad over 100 caps, but this list is quite a spectacular sight now.

Eurotrip

[color=Sienna][i]2017/18                    2019/20               2020/21[/i][/color]
Marijampole, Lithuania     Maribor, Slovenia     Gyor, Hungary
Gyor, Hungary              Elbasan, Albania      Szekesfehervar, Hungary
Cork, Ireland              Liege, Belgium        Montbeliard, France
Milan, Italy                                     Copenhagen, Denmark
                                                Basel, Switzerland
                                                Paisley, Scotland

[i][color=Sienna]2022/23                    2023/24               2024/25[/color][/i]
Trondheim, Norway          Sofia, Bulgaria       Tallinn, Estonia
Salonika, Greece           Lovech, Bulgaria      Basel, Switzerland
Amsterdam, Holland         Tampere, Finland      Salzburg, Austria
Leverkusen, Germany        Bergamo, Italy        Jerusalem, Israel
Le Mans, France            Athens, Greece        Rome, Italy
Palma de Mallorca, Spain   Eindhoven, Holland    Donetsk, Ukraine
Florence, Italy            Manchester, England   Glasgow, Scotland

Completed Aims for 24/25 season

1. Move into the top three (Close, but NO)

2. Beat the Big 3 at home (LS 2w, 1d. YES)

3. Make Semis of Euro Cup (NO)

4. Win another trophy (NO)

5. Fix the finances - (YES)

Aims for 25/26 season

1. Move into the top three

2. Beat the Big 3 at home in League & Cups

3. Make Final of Euro Cup

4. Win another trophy

5. Keep the Finances up

6. Re-sign Di Giuseppe

[PRDH]

Welcome back LLR!

I've missed Radakovic and his goalscoring exploits.

I'd forgotten how comprehensive your updates were. I thought I'd snuck up to equal them in size since your absence, but I'm not evn close. I must try harder.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Thanks dunno how fast I will update cause I am just playing tonight cause I have plenty of spare time. Romping in Europe, struggling in the league (6th), and just lost 5-2 to Benfica lol.

I am still working heaps, and just with sooo much work no time to do my sign-up so will come back here where I can just relax instead

[PRDH]

I'm currently writing my season update.

[rlipscombe]

good to see you back Des... missed you... while i think about it good luck in the CSE awards.... suffice to say you've got my vote!!

[PRDH]

**End of Season Update - Domegliara - Serie A - 2024/25**

Transfers

A quiet season of transfers for Domegliara, or at least those coming in were few. There was more activity in the other direction.

£2.3M went on buying 50% of Martin Wagner back from Roma.

Next in was Argentine Ezequiel Lucero, a transfer arranged a year ago. He looks to have an excellent future, and is classed as a wonderkid.

The only other signing was another striker, the Croatian international Igor Perak, joined for £8.25M, he should be clinical once he settles in he is good with the ball at his feet and in the air, he does lack a bit of pace though.

Only one player arrived in January. With Pietro Marini arriving in a £10.75M deal from Genoa.

League

After two consecutive 4th place finishes it felt like the time to try and kick on and get an even higher league position. So, optimistically we plunged into the season. Our first game was a difficult one, against AC Milan and we lost 3-1. Not a good start. Fortunately it proved a fillip and we went on to win the next 8 games seeing us rise up to the very top, a fantastic start. We dropped off for a few games but let back-up to the top after 12 games a hiccup mid-season saw us drop of the top spot again. We got back to form and kept up the pace with the big boys this saw us flit between 3rd and 4th for the next ten games taking us to the 31st game, when, taking advantage of the games we had in hand, we leapt up to the top again. We stayed there winning games against lesser opposition and drawing a game at home v Inter. So we came to the last two games of the season. We were 4 points clear of AC Milan and 5 clear of third placed Roma. The games however were tough. We faced Roma away before welcoming 6th placed Juventus to Domegliara. We lost the first game to Roma, meaning that going into the final game we were 1 point clear of AC Milan and 2 from Roma. Effectively meaning we needed a win as the likelihood of both losing was slim.

We went into the final round of games. Roma were away at Vicenza, and AC Milan at home to Napoli.

10 mins - Roma take the lead against Vicenza meaning that they were provisionally champions on results between teams.

17 mins - Activity in both games as Napoli take the lead against AC Milan, and Lucero scores for the Domes against Juve. As things stand Domegliara are 1st, Roma 2nd, and AC Milan 3rd.

Half-time - as it stands with half the games gone Domegliara will take the Scudetto for the first time in their history.

A quiet second half in all games, but eventually it comes alive.

84 mins - Jubilation at Vicenza as news filters through that Juventus have scored an equaliser. This means that Roma are back on course to win the title. It is all very quiet at Domegliara, except for a small band if Juve fans from whom the song "Non state cantando più" for the English speakers out there - it roughly translates as "you're not singing anymore". Looking around the crowd there are grown men crying. The dream is over.

87 mins - Kemal Sahin slides in on Filippo Guarino on for Bent Hansen, and he has to be taken off. Domegliara are down to 10 men having made all their substitutions. But they do have a free-kick. Unfortunately Guarino is the set-piece specialist in the team.

88 mins - Novello, on as a substitute in the 77th minute, steps up. The crowd stand. With very little time to go they know that this is probably the last chance. He waits. It's about 30 yards out from goal in the centre of the pitch. The referee blows his whistle. Novello flights the free-kick in. The keeper doesn't move. But is it going wide? It's curling. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL, GOL, GOL, GOL, GOL, GOL, GOL, GOL, GOL, GOL, GOL!!

IT'S IN!! Novello has scored! It's his first league goal of the season. The crowd are up. The noise is deafening. Novello has run to the fans behind the goal and practically disappeared as they engulf him. The manager too has been engulfed by staff and substitutes alike.

Has the man that joined for just £3K as a 19 year old and made over 400 league appearances won his club the title?

As the cameras swap to Vicenza, the Roma fans who had been starting to celebrate, gradually fall silent. There is nothing their team can do.

90 mins - The news that 5 minutes of time is to be added on is greeted by a chorus of boos from the home crowd.

90 + 6 mins - Domegliara have another free-kick. It's out near the corner flag and Peluso steps up. He curls it in, and Barbera makes contact with a diving header. It heads goalwards, but it creeps inches wide of the post.

The Juve 'keeper plays the ball forward to the right back, who surges forward. Domegliara back off. He lofts the ball forward. The Juve player has the beating of Barbera in the air and flicks it on. His strike partner is through on goal. Domegliara have their hearts in their mouths as he bears down on Pestana in goal. But suddenly he stops. The crowd haven't seen it, or heard it, but the linesman has his flag up. He's off-side. A huge cheer erupts. Pestana delays playing the ball. He takes the free-kick. The referee checks his watch. And that's it! Domegliara have won the league.

As the graph shows we were much more involved for the entire season than we have been before never really having a catastrophic dip in form that saw hopes dashed.

Europe

After the excitement of the league season our time in Europe was rather less exciting. We got through to the quarters, where we lost to Roma on away goals. A good performance, and something to build upon for next season.

Cup

An improvement on last season saw us reach the semi-final before losing out to AC Milan on aggregate despite winning in our home game.

Players

Artur Pestana - he continues to keep this position firmly his own.

Stephen Carriero - again only featured during Pestana's few missed games.

Srdjan Stanisic - Continues in his role as back-up.

Sergio Barbera - another good season. He seems to have come round to the idea of staying at the club.

Ben Dladla - featured in the final few games of the season.

Frank Heß - another good season for the centre-back.

Antonio Velardi - a reduced role as Peluso continued to make this position his own.

Leonardo Barbieri - he featured in enough games to be happy to sign a new contract.

Guido - did well in keeping Iljin away from the first team for most of the season.

Anton Iljin - seems happy enough to provide experience cover for Guido.

Gianfranco Dalla Bona - the youth product continues to be first choice.

Pietro Marini - arrived in January and didn't make that much of an impact.

Cesare Peluso - his remarkable rise has continued, from barely getting a game the season before last, to being an integral part of the title winning team.

Gerson Ramirez - again didn't feature as much as he'd have liked.

Michael De Leeuw - makes a few appearances this season.

Marco Novello - It could not be more appropriate that Novello, in a season that has seen him for the first time more as a back-up than as an automatic starter, should net the goal that wins the team the league.

Daniel Rus - replaced Novello as first choice for much of the season.

Filippo Guarino - performed decently in the games he played.

Daniele Marrone - progressing into a decent player.

Stefano Rinaldi - another good season for the first choice left-winger.

Jurgen Schumacher - his progress has stalled and Marrone is now the more established back-up.

Claudio Di Mauro - he and Çelik rotated and both performed well.

Mehmet Çelik - performed well.

Diego Pastore - finished the season as top scorer in the team and league despite missing the last 3 weeks through injury.

Bent Hansen - wants to leave. Scored important goals towards the end of the season.

Ezequiel Lucero - a good first season for the young Argentine, as he scored important goals throughout the season.

Awards

Fans' Player of the Season - Cesare Peluso

Top Scorer - Diego Pastore - 20

Highest Average Rating - Cesare Peluso - 7.19 (47 apps)

Can We Play You Every Week -

Youth Player Watch

Home-grown

Pier Luigi Farinelli - continues at Bordeaux.

Aldo Mazzini - back in Serie A, performed well in a decent Napoli side.

Diego Pastore - top scorer again.

Gianfranco Dalla Bona - still vital to the squad.

Stephen Carriero - useful back-up, but would like a better number 2.

Giuseppe Esposito - scored a decent number of goals for Piacenza.

Vincenzo Fiore - progressing well in the U-20s.

Aldo Arena

Non-home-grown

Vivian Mougin got on the bench again.

Søren Jensen - played well for the U-20 winning team.

Martin Wagner - after his 50% returned for £2.3M at the beginning of the season. AC Milan bid £7M for 50% and so I accepted again.

Richard Collins - has settled down.

Federico Bresciani - played well for the U-20s

Other News

-Diego Pastore is the Serie A Golden Boot winner for the season running.

-The youngsters have again won their league.

-I won the manager of the year award.

-New sponsorship deal announced worth more than £9M per annum.

Aims For This Season Were

1/ I want at least 3rd in the league next season - more than achieved this goal.

2/ At least Quarter-finals of the Champions League - yes.

3/ I'd like a cup win, but again, least important - no.

2/3 not bad. Still the Coppa Italia is elusive.

Aims For Next Season

1/ Retain Serie A.

2/ Semi-finals of the Champions League.

3/ Coppa Italia win.

Records

Average Attendance - 35, 272

Highest Gate Receipts - £1.2M v Liverpool (Nov 2024)

Most Games Won in a Row - 9 (9/24 - 10/24

Most League Apps - Marco Novello - 408

Most League Goals - Diego Pastore - 190

Total Transfer Income - £47.5M 2024

Best Elevens

09/10

10/11

11/12

12/13

13/14

14/15

15/16

16/17

17/18

18/19

19/20

20/21

21/22

22/23

23/24

24/25

Overall

Story So Far

Season			League			Position			Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009/10			Serie C2/C		1st				Champions!
2010/11			Serie C1/B		1st				Champions!
2011/12			Serie B			8th				
2012/13			Serie B			11th
2013/14			Serie B			11th
2014/15			Serie B			2nd				Promoted!
2015/16			Serie A			19th				Relegated
2016/17			Serie B			1st				Champions!
2017/18			Serie A			11th				
2018/19			Serie A			10th
2019/20			Serie A			2nd				CL place!
2020/21			Serie A			6th				UEFA place
2021/22			Serie A			8th				Won UEFA Cup
2022/23			Serie A			4th				CL place
2023/24			Serie A			4th				CL place
2024/25			Serie A			1st				Champions!

Trophy Cabinet

Serie C2/C - 2009/10

Serie C2 Super Cup - 2010

Serie C1/B - 2010/11

Serie C1 Super Cup - 2011

Serie B - 2016/17

UEFA Cup - 2021/22

Serie A - 2024/25

Previous Updates

2009/10

2010/11

2011/12

2012/13

2013/14

2014/15

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

2020/21

2021/22

2022/23

2023/24

[daemonic]

Congrats on the title PRDH and good luck in the CL next year:thup:

[PRDH]

Congrats on the title PRDH and good luck in the CL next year:thup:

Thanks. I'm well chuffed. The board have given me £95M to spend. I'm hoping with it I can make an assault on both fronts.

[rlipscombe]

congrats PRDH. fantastic stuff. think i remember predicting you might do well.....

[el sid]

That's brilliant PRDH I predict you will complete the challenge next season

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Congrats PRDH Great work on the title

[PRDH]

Thanks guys!

Pre-season update.

It was a fairly frenetic transfer window at Domegliara in contrast to previous years with some big money arrivals and departures.

The first of the arrivals was Mendes - a young Brazilian winger who set me back £220K.

Next in was the remaining 50% of Martin Wagner again.

Then came Daniele Felici from Inter for £5M, he didn't stay long, joining Chelsea for £9.5M after spending only 8 days at the club.

Next was the big signing of the summer. Sinan Kocabas arrived from Porto for a club record £22M. He is the first striker I've had for a long time who's had any significant pace. The best bit about him is his ability to use both feet.

After this was a Romanian youngster, Christian Constantin is an exceptionally gifted forward. I hope he has a great future at the club especially as he only cost £575K

Next in was another striker, Portuguese player Ivo Periera joined from Turkish side Kayserispor for £6.5M. Another international player joins the squad.

The next deal saw Domegliara snap up Antonio Toscano in a co-ownersip deal. It's a bit of a gamble as he is untested at the top level. But given playing time could become a very useful player.

Finally, Francesco Marinelli arrived from France in a £2.5M deal. The goalkeeper comes in as one for the future.

Next are the departures.

Antonio Velardi joins Genoa in a £7M deal. He has lost his place in midfield to Peluso and is a heavy burden on the wage bill.

The biggest surprise departure is probably that of Bent Hansen. The player joined Domegliara as a 16 year old and made 251 league appearances for the club. He joins Roma for £22.5M. I'm disappointed that he's gone, especially to nemeses Roma, where he links up with former Domegliara players Dessena, Pellegrini and Mariani. To be fair though it's a cracking return on the initial £240K, and his record of 68 goals in 251 games is hardly world beating. Good luck to the lad. He'll always have a place in Domegliara history.

Other news

Our first game of the season was the Italian Super Cup, which saw us pitted against AC Milan. We started poorly and went 2-0 down. That's when the fight began culminating with an eventual 4-2 victory. Another bit of silverware.

[rlipscombe]

good business there with Felici!! i personally don't rate him so i think you did well there... Kocabas looks good though i reckon he's overpriced? has he a good record? Constantin looks really promising - a bit more pace and he'll be a great winger. Periera won't be more than a squad player in my opinion. that's a lot of money for Hansen. i am amazed he hasn't scored more goals as he looks really good. hopefully he doesn't reach his potential with Roma.

congrats on the Super Cup win. great turnaround!!

[PRDH]

rlipscombe -

Yeah I panicked a bit with the purchase of Felici and regretted it. I wanted a pacy striker. When Kocabas was shown to be interested I just tried to get rid of him. A £4.5M profit from 8 days at the club pleased me quite a lot!

I probably did spend a bit much on Kocabas, he's started well though (2 goals and 4 assists in his first 4 games) and I was in a bidding war with Barcelona. He's got a pretty good record. He scored 17 in 23 last season, and 15 in 24 the season before for Porto and overall he has scored 78 goals in 144 games.

I definitely see Constantin as a left winger in the long run. Hopefully pace will come.

And as for Hansen, I've always been a bit confused by his poor goalscoring record - as a player he appears to have it all, but has just never delivered. To be honest, if I hadn't bought him as a 16 year old, I don't think he'd have lasted as long as he did.

[rlipscombe]

Kocabas has a pretty good record then, and he has made a decent start. plus, if Barca were interested he can't be that bad!! As for Hansen, we'll just have to see how he gets on at Roma.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Well my form in the league is pathetic to say the least, I am struggling along in 5th having scored more goals than anyone else. In the European Cup I am showing Zurich, Teplice & M. Haifa how to play football, through 5 matches I have scored 12 goals and allowed none to be top with 15pts.

Di Guiseppe has dropped out of the starting line-up as my new signing (Matic) has blitzed him all over the park. Tiago is dominating on the left wing as well. Radakovic & Maradona are back from injuries and slowly getting back into it. Rocha has also returned, while the defense seem to be working well together. I am still searching for a star Goalie though and then I think my squad will be complete.

[rlipscombe]

sounds like you're not far off a good team then Des. If only you can translate your european form.....

[Lower Leagues Rule]

My team has the quality and I have built a bit of depth as well with some young guns sitting in the back room behind my seniors (26-28), So I am currently trying to buy some young stars and will use them as my reserve bench, I am going to ignore the cups this season most of the way by playing my second team.

[joetheref]

Uniao de Lamas - Season 1 - Second Division

Second Division First Phase

Table

We had a poor start to the season after many new signings meant the team took some time to gel. The loan signings of Henrique Gomes and Lucas boosted the goalscoring options and this led to a good run of form. A bad run at the end of the season nearly cost us a place in the Promotion Stage but luckily we just managed to hold out in 5th place.

Second Division Promotion Stage

Table

Promotion really wasn't likely after an average first half of the season and we struggled against the higher quality opposition getting just 1 win from 10 but we still held onto 5th place, a performance we can be satisfied with.

Portuguese Cup

2nd Round- Fabril (A) 1-0
3rd Round- Pontassolense (H) 0-0 (4-3 on penalties)
4th Round- P.Ferreira (H) 1-3

Not a great cup run and not one convincing performance in it. Would of liked to get further but we were knocked out by Pacos, a top division side.

Season Review

Transfers

Not much money to spend and we were really short on players at the start of the season, after the man in charge before me released over half the squad. Managed to pick up a fair few players on frees and a couple of quality strikers on loan but still not enough players good enough to get anywhere near promotion, a problem I plan to rectify in time for the new season.

The fans' player of the season was Dias, one of the original players at the squad and he was a rock in the centre of midfield. Here is the best 11.

Aims for next season

1. Reach the Promotion Stage once again

2. Try and sort the finances out (lots of debt )

Season           League                  Position      Promotion/Relegation Stage          Cup
2009/2010      Second Division            5th            Promotion Stage (5th)             4th Round

[Lower Leagues Rule]

A good solid first up season there Joe, hopefully you can build on it towards a better finish in the second season, as for the finances you need to ignore them. It has taken my club 15 years to clear the debt, but I am now at a balance of 10m plus, only through the sale of players do i continue to make a profit, so basically I am trying to pick up as many 17-18 year old starlets as I can right now train them up for a couple of years and then sell them off. I also have the issue of no reserve squad which was a problem in Portugal before the 1st patch. So my reserves either get no games or play for my U19s...

[ghostwriter]

Dave. - good season there in Serie A, moving gracefully towards the top 4

PRDH - congratulations on winning Serie A

LLR - welcome back

joe - respectable first season there, maybe a playoff place is possible next season (not sure how it works in Portugal)

as for Universidad de Oviedo, still 6th, 4 points from the playoffs, 14 games left, there is no chance of catching 1st or even 2nd so the best I can hope for is 3rd and another trip to the more difficult route thru the playoffs.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Thanks for the welcome Ghost, In Portugal lower divisions only the top team from each promotion stage makes it to the playoffs, and then you have to win against one of the others to gain promotion. So this means 2 teams gain promotion from 4 divisions of 12, its not the easiest to get out of, but if you can get out and avoid relegation in season one Liga Vitalis is not much harder.

Good luck with gaining third spot. I am in 5th chasing hard 7pts off the lead heading to the halfway stage and my record is finally starting to improve, though I was knocked out of the cup by a 2DC team, on penalties after my number 1 player this season failed me.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Keeping the Fafe

Quick Mid Season Update

League

Well the Liga Sagres is pretty close so far this season, 5 teams are still in the race at the halfway point, and a spectacular comeback from my boys in game 15. We faced Sporting and were down 2-0 at halftime, I told them we needed to win, they went out and made it 3-2 and we held on through the half, great work with Radakovic injured.

Table

Team       W  D  L  G.D  Pts
Benfica   11  3  1  +27   36
Sporting   9  4  2  +20   31
Guimaraes  9  4  2  + 9   31
Porto      9  3  3  +22   30
[b]Fafe       9  3  3  +13   30[/b]

Boavista   7  2  6  - 1   23

As you can see it is very close for 2nd-5th only 1 pt seperating us.

Europe

Well in the next round we face Sampdoria, and the winner of that meets Udinese or Sevilla. Having topped our group with 6 wins we scored 13 goals to 2.

Maradona, Radakovic, Marcel & Rocha have all scored double figures in goals this season, and we have scored 60 goals in 25 matches, I am more worried that we have conceded 28. But the record is getting better and now we shall fight onwards, domestic cups can just go away and I will concentrate on the League, and another shot at the Euro Cup.

[rlipscombe]

with 7 league games to go it looks like my title challenge is slipping away again.... a few games ago if i'd won all of my game sin hand i'd have been top but i'm 10 behind Barcelona with 2 games in hand. and i've still got to play them and Real Madrid.....

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Oh Rlips thats not any good at all, I still have a rough shot at a title, but I will need to do some damage against Benfica if I want it bad enough. I am using my youth side to good effect, but some of these players need a lot of game time to become top league players, having three top class strikers is a bonus though, it is hurting Marcel though as the third stringer excpet when one of the others is injured.

Hopefully you can have some other results go your way and pull you up towards them a little bit. (What year are you in?)

[rlipscombe]

i'm in May 2018. i've drawn another game now so i really think it's gone now. battling R. Madrid for 2nd now. we've just frozen again in the run-in. frustrating. i'll leave it there and come back to it in the morning.

Good luck Des.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Thanks, see you when you awake hopefully I will have finished a season by then, this game is very relaxing right now.