Developing Swiss Football

[anxiousAnarchist]

Youth Intake 2029

An decent intake, with three guaranteed signings and three punts. My U18s side has been a bit light in the last few years so I filled it out with some weaker prospects with decent personalities just to see how they come along. But there's still some promise here.

Pietro Berner is yet another high quality striking prospect. I've had a number over the years, Paolo Longo, Armend Thaqi, Thibaud Jacob, and Dylan Maury, but none have reached their potential. We'll see how he comes along. He's got a great attribute spread, good height, and high determination, but low Off the Ball and Finishing are very concerning. But his potential is skyhigh so we'll see how he develops.

 

Aymen Abbes is an attacking midfielder with a bizarre stat spread. Frankly, I have no idea what to do with him. But even with his great potential, Natural Fitness of 4 is a stumbling block I don't think I can get past. I would have very serious thoughts about sustained first team play for any player regardless of ability. So while it's unlikely he makes the first team, he may be a decent prospect to sell on later.

Mickael Delorme is a right winger with great speed and pretty solid technicals for an U18 player. He's short, could develop into a nice backup for Gautschi, who is on his was to club legend status himself. His potential is nothing fantastic but if he reaches it he'd be a capable squad member for years.

 

Edited October 12, 2020 by anxiousAnarchist

[anxiousAnarchist]

SEASON REVIEW 2028/29

The Expectations

Off the back of a two great title winning seasons, but the key sale of Alianello, my hope was to begin rebuilding the squad, blood some youngsters. At this point, it's more about revitalizing the club identity I was going for rather than by necessity. We have the money to go out and recruit top quality talent, but this will hopefully utilize more Swiss talent, develop players for the national team rather than prioritizing club success and delay the seemingly inevitable domestic dominance we're achieving. We were only predicted to come in 2nd after losing our star striker, but that's never stopped us before.

The Results

We won the league with 72 points from 36 games with a nine point gap between us and second place FC Sion. Perhaps most interestingly has been the gradual collapse of Young Boys and the decline of FC Basel. I've noticed this in FM before. The elite clubs from Europe's smaller clubs tend to rely on Champions League money to the point that missing it for even a few years can cause total collapse. Young Boys haven't seen Champions League football since 2023/24, and are wallowing in the midtable, and this may be where FC Basel is headed. For much of the season they were only 4th or 5th despite being predicted to finish 1st. It'll be interesting to see how things shape up with this dramatic change in the Swiss financial landscape, and if Basel can't secure some Champions League cash soon they may be headed the way of Young Boys. Our average attendances also rose to nearly 15,000 which I'm very pleased with. It's been slower growth than I hoped, but consistent, really picking up with the recent seasons in the UCL.

The Squad

The squad never hit the heights of last season, but that was expected. Gautschi was a key performer once again, with 21 goals and 3 assists from 35 starts. Our midfield trio once again was really the deciding factor, chipping in with a total of 17 goals and 18 assists between them. Ambro has reached 30 years of age however, with Santoro just behind him at 29. Ntuli is luckily still only 25, just reaching his peak. I have a couple potential fixes in the academy, but if I have to go into the transfer market at all in the next few years I anticipate this being why. On a more positive note, our recent promotions all did very well. Mandrapilias played very well and has continued developing nicely, and Baptiste Robert generally played well. Our striking options could have been better but I have two other prospects worth trying next season, and at worst Dylan Maury showed himself capable of playing at a Super League level.

The State of Switzerland

Some fantastic news this season though! Switzerland has risen once again, this time to become Europe's 6th most reputable league! This will go a long way to helping us keep talent in the country, but even more important is the second Champions League place, going automatically to the group stage! This will provide one lucky team $20mil a year in income! Honestly, it's probably bad news for our domestic dominance, but great news for Swiss football in general, and at this point, I'm more concerned about that. I hadn't made a post about it, but Switzerland made it to the Quarter Finals of the World Cup in 2026 (featuring a couple of appearances from Servette academy graduates  ), and with 2030 just around the corner, I'm eager to see if they can improve even further. Last summer's Euros was a disappointment, a Second round exit to future finalists Holland was seen as underachieving. Anyways, the Champions League place is great for the league, and hopefully can make a big difference in promoting Swiss football.

[anxiousAnarchist]

Raiding Swiss Academies

Over the last two years I've started using the war chest the board has given me to recruit U17 Swiss players from other clubs. I wanted to improve the standards at Servette FC and supplement our youth sides, and the money was going to waste just sitting in my unused transfer budget. Plus, by picking them up before they hit 18, they are guaranteed to reach homegrown, "trained in club" status by 21. So I figured I'd showcase some of the prospects brought in over the last few years.

 

Bernhard Thuring is a highly technical attacking midfielder who could be exactly what I'm looking for in the Trequartista position. He's rough around the edges but could be a real nice player with the right growth. Most pressingly, his mentals need work, with Off the Ball, Decisions, Anticipation, and Vision all needing work. He was brought in last summer for a little over half a million from FC Basel, which makes him a very low risk gamble. I haven't had a lot of luck developing strikers ouside of Alianello, so we'll see if Thuring can be the one to make it.

Ignacio Gil is a Spanish-Swiss left winger from Grasshopper Zurich I picked up for $140,000. Pennies for a really promising wing player with excellent Natural Fitness, Determination, and Work Rate. His personality is poor though, a "Mercenary." Regardless, he's spent a season in the U18s already where he played well, and with the right tutelage can hopefully improve even further. He's not an inside forward, which is what I've been playing so far, but the roles could easily switch. Also, I've been considering moving to a 4-4-1-1, a formation I'm very used to playing with and like a lot, and he could be great in a system like that, where the Work Rate to get back into defensive position would be really valuable.

Ervin Pasha is a more recent addition. For $1.4 million from Young Boys, Pasha is an ideal candidate to replace one of Ambro or Santoro in the long term. At only 18, he's got a great attribute spread, positive personality (Driven), and already has fantastic Passing and Vision. I think he's a slam dunk, and am very excited to see how he comes along. 

I picked up two other players over the last two seasons, Martin Weirather, another AMC, and Issam Djelassi, a DC. Both have good potential but I won't overly inundate you with prospects for the time being. The three above are star performers who could potentially be in and around the First Team sooner rather than later, so I wanted to show them off while they were still works in progress.

[anxiousAnarchist]

Alianello Clause Pays Off

Well that was quick! Following RB Leipzig's lifting of the  Champions League Bayern Munich went in for the key striker in a deal worth $74 million! With our 50% sell on fee attached, the club earned another $37 million, making the total earnings from the deal $82 million. It's a great achievement for the club and is amongst the crowning achievements of my time at Servette. All the more interesting is the fact that Alianello has not just stagnated but regressed during his time at Leipzig, with a few attributes dropping a point. It does beg the question "what if." If we kept him and developed him for another year and he continued his development who knows, but we never would have gotten a fee like Leipzig's $74mil without some astounding performances in Europe. I'm confident we made the right move, and with the club's balance breaking $100 million, the board certainly aren't complaining!

[anxiousAnarchist]

Midseason 2029/2030

Been trying to get back into this save after a couple weeks' hiatus. An injury to the mercurial Gautschi stifled our offense for most of this season, but our defense has played out of this world. Only conceding 7 goals in 18 games has been incredible to watch, with Cedric Poirier quickly establishing himself as a first team member. PSG have come knocking though, and with only a year and half left on his contract and his refusal to commit to a new one, he may be leaving the club come summer. Robert Martinez has played well at striker, and Alexandros Mandrapillas has done a great job at right back, though fitness has been an issue for him. We're currently top of the league, and with Gautschi returning from injury, I don't expect second place FC Basel to close that gap any time soon. 

In Europe, we finished 3rd in our group, behind Marseille and Bayern. We did manage to beat Marseille at home and hold Bayern to a draw while away though, two great results. Still, a much greater pressure is going to need to be put on continental performances going forward. We are now flush with cash, and with the league secure and transitioning the squad to a younger look, the long term goal of elevating Swiss football to be one of Europe's best our last main objective.

 

[anxiousAnarchist]

Youth Intake 2030

This year sees a pretty decent intake. Two really promising players with a total of 5 signatures.

Fabrice Gonzalez is a right back with some nice physical attributes and a strong Work Rate. He's Brave, which is an attribute I value really highly in defenders, but he's quite short at 5"6 and doesn't have high Determination. Definitely a raw prospect, but his potential appears very high, and at only 15 there's lots of time for him to grow.

Alen Hodzic is a left sided wingback in a very similar mold. A raw physical prospect with high Bravery, Determination, and good Work Rate, though Hodzic comes through at 6"3. His technical are similarly poor, and his Natural Fitness is well below average, but we'll see how he comes along. Determination has been hard to come by this save so I'm glad to see someone with such a high rating.

[anxiousAnarchist]

SEASON REVIEW 2029/2030

The Expectations

Another year, another championship, or so I hoped. The squad is in the midst of a transition, and an early injury to Gautschi was concerning, but I was positive about our chances to retain the league. Europe is now the big frontier for us, an area where we still flounder compared to Europe's best. Some decent performances and a couple of wins in the group stage were all I could ask for.

The Results

Our league form really only improved after the break, finishing with my highest points total yet with Servette FC, 85 points from 36 games. Our defensive form kept, with only 21 goals conceded in 36 games (less than half of next best FC Basel, who conceded 44). This was partly because of a shift to a 4-1-4-1, essentially pulling my wingers back. I felt like a change and with my attacking star Gautschi injured felt we could afford to play a bit more conservative and grind games out, and it worked pretty well. In Europe we struggled, crashing out of a tough tie against Lyon in the Europa League Knockout round 4-6 on aggregate. Still, a strong season. Next season will see the real culmination of my squad building plans

The Squad

This marks the last year of what I would call our core squad. The midfield will likely hold for another year, but soon Father Time will come knocking in that department too. I would say this rebuild has been extremely successful though, with sustained success and improvement throughout the process, even in the face of some stalled development, injuries and the general chaos that comes with running a club. To contrast, here is the Best XI from our 2024/25 side, my first title winning side:

Some great icons in that team, and staples of my entire career so far. Busset (who departs this year), had been with me my entire save from day 1. Choe Song-Hyok, who, now 33 will retain a backup role for another two seasons before presumably retirement. Wober, who will likely step aside this season to blood some prospects. Santoro and Ambro still have another season in them, but the age has been creeping in for some time now. By the start of next season, my starting XI will likely look like this:

With Ntuli and Gautschi at only 26 they will soon be the only players remaining from that side. It's the end of an era, but some great prospects and strong, homegrown players all over the pitch are exciting.

As far as this past season, Mandrapilias was by far the breakout star. A lockdown defender on the right wing with excellent defensive attributes saw him stonewall even the league's best offenses. Santoro lit the league on fire as well, shattering his previous best season with 21 goals scored, all from midfield. He hit his stride big time becoming the team's highest scorer as Martinez proved to be a strong facilitator from STC. I've yet to decide whether or not to maintain my 4-1-4-1, as the added space for the midfield attack as well as defensive stability is definitely worth considering in the long term.

The State of Switzerland

The Swiss Super League retains its #6 spot, with Servette continuing our rise to become the 33rd most reputable club in Europe. With a bank balance of nearly $140 million, the board has moved to purchase the Stade de Geneve, so now our gate receipts will be entirely our own. It's a big investment (almost $50 million), and it's now up to me to fill those seats. 

Heiko Herrlich has now moved up to become 3rd placed in the Swiss Super League Hall of Fame, with that gap looking smaller by the year. I'd love to take that #1 spot, so we'll keep chugging along.

[anxiousAnarchist]

Midseason 2030/31

A really incredible burst of form sees us 1st with 48 points from only 18 games, with a staggering 52 goals! Decisive victories including a 5-1 battering of FC Basel is by far the most dominant we've played all save, exceeding even last season's monstrous defensive performances. The biggest improvements seem to be Robert Martinez's continued development at STC, where he's easily the best striker we've had barring Alianello, and the promotion of Ignacio Gil to cover our left wing. Gil joined us in 2028/29 for pennies from Grasshopper Zurich, and gives us a fantastic all around presence. Choe Song-Hyok had been a quite stagnant presence on the left for a couple years, and Gil's athleticism, Work Rate, and Crossing are a great addition. With Martinez's movement opening up more space for Gil, Gautschi, and the midfield runners, particularly Ambro, we've got the whole squad firing on all cylinders. 

The UCL was less exciting, with a group stage draw of Lyon, Tottenham, and Hadjuk Split leaving us 3rd place on 8 points. Disappointing, but we'll push on in the Europa League. With little competition or pressure in the league, I may start throwing some youngsters into the first team to see how they do, just to keep the season interesting.