[FM2007] San Marino "double" Challenge

[Scoham]

What a win for the San Marino natioanl team \o/\o/\o/

http://img453.imageshack.us/img453/6421/legendarywinef3.jpg

Del Prete and that defender I signed both played.

They followed it up with a 2-0 defeat to Moldova though

I didn't realise they beat Moldova the first time, so they've now got 2 wins in World Cup Qualifying

[gavinkil]

haha thats pretty funny.

Got a new batch of academy players (with the update) and not one of them was from san marino. I vaguley remember about 80% of them last time round before the update were from san marino.

Anyone else noticed this?

[georginho_juventusygr]

I'm thinking to resign, but I love this game.

[georginho_juventusygr]

Oh yes, after 18 matches, I'm in 18th position with 9 points difference with the 17th position.

[Ter]

Season 09/10 - Serie B

Well it's into September now and the Serie B campaign is getting underway. I'm out of the Italian Cup after a very unfit San Marino side lost in Extra Time away to Bari 3-2. Again, I'm not really that bothered but it would have been nice to get through and get a tie against a big team for financial reasons. Anyway, it's been a busy pre-season for me this time round and I've brought in a lot of players, some of which I don't really need and I've now got a silly sized squad.

INS

Piotr Cwielong (AM L, ST) from Ruch Chorzow (Free)

Mario Semprini (D LC, DM, M LC) from Cailungo (Free)

Damien Plessis (DM) from Lyon (Free)

Fabio Molinari (GK) from Fiorentino (£10k)

Ivan Marconi (SW, D C) on a Free

Ivan De La Pena (AM C) on a Free

Mario Balotelli Barwuah (ST) on a Free

Stefan Nikolic (ST) on a Free

Rachid Baresh (ST) on a Free

Giovanni Calabrese (D C) on a Free

Carlos Carmona (AM R) on a Free

Coelho (F C) on a Free

Pietro Pipolo (GK) on a Free

I managed to get rid of a few players who didn't play much and were either not going to get a game or were asking for silly amounts of money for a new contract.

Had a decent pre-season campaign with a lot of players who needed games and newly promoted Crotone were the first visitors of the season. They duly went back home with their tails between their legs after being pumped 4-0 with goals from new signing Nikolic (2), Felipe Giacomini and another new signing Coelho. Was a very convincing win and I was delighted by the performance. Hopefully I can get more performances like that this season. I'm currently top of the league but that won't last long.

[Scoham]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I've brought in a lot of players, some of which I don't really need and I've now got a silly sized squad. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I ended up signing some old midfielders that I don't need to build up the squad, although I only signed them because they agreed with my offer of low wages.

Some aren't even that good, one is good technically and mentally with 19 creativity, but all physical attributes under 10. I probably won't play him much because of that, but at the time I was thinking maybe that creativity will be useful. He probably won't create much as he'll never have the pace and stamina to get into positions and play for very long.

[Scoham]

After beating Italy and only losing 2-0 to Moldova, San Marino lost 9-0 to Scotland and Del Prete was sent off They also just lost another match 3-0 and another one of my players (a promising/back up player though) was sent off.

[Flightless]

wonder how long til the manager retires, doesn't look like he's going to get sacked from the international job

[Fastbasher]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Flightless:

wonder how long til the manager retires, doesn't look like he's going to get sacked from the international job </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Could be quite a while, I can see him managing right into his mid-late 60's.

They wont even fire him for losing 20 in a row, and as I (we?) are trying to develop young San Marinese players, we are making his job a lot easier and less likely that he will get sacked.

Maybe by getting a couple of wins in the season, their expectations will be raised. But I doubt it will be enough.

This year (2013/14), I think the national team is better than it has ever been. I think they will have an outside chance over time, as long as everything is right, ie, easy group draw, tactics spot on, no injuries, and one gianormous slice of luck.

Also, my last bunch of youngsters were all Italian. I have 4 San Marinese staff (including myself), so was a little bit surprised by this. I have always had 1 or 2 San Marinese youngsters till now, although they have always been dual nationality San Marino/Italy.

I was thinking, that after the Serie A has been won, it might be an idea to apply for a job at one of the big teams with top training and youth facilities (Milan, Inter, Roma, Juve), and buy all the young San Marinese to have them trained up properly. These teams wont even notice the cost of having all these players in their under 20's, plus there will be more options to loan them out.

Of course San Marino the club will have improved, but not to the level of these clubs. So, they would be better options to train the youth up at.

[Fastbasher]

Season 2013/14 Serie A - Preseason

We finished last season with a debt of 4.1m. The board invested 4m to help us out, but I got a message saying the future of San Marino was still in doubt. I dont really want to have a board change or go into administration and have a points deduction, so I have made heavy efforts to sort the finances out in the off season.

I have trimmed the wages back to 204k pw, when our allowance is 214k. But I have a squad of only 21 players, so things will be tight this season regarding injuries. But, I will have a chance to develop our own, home-grown talented 17yo midfielder, Rafaelle Caselli, who has already attracted a lot of attention from bigger clubs.

We got knocked out of the cup in the 1st qualifying round to some Serie C1 team, but this was a good thing as it allowed me to schedule in three more lucrative friendlies.

Players In

José Montiel, free, Necaxa. (My second South American. Rising star GK with 6 caps for Paraguay at 21yo)

Andrea Mei, free, Inter. (24yo DC, much needed addition to my frail defence)

Players Out

Tim Janssen, 2m, NEC

Jose Manuel Saenz, 900k, Milan (co-ownership)

David De Paula, 500k, Taranto

Geoffrey Tulasne, free, Bologna

Alex Bugli, free, Verona

plus 7 players free released, out of contract.

Despite trimming the wages, and having 4.9m in the bank, I think we will struggle financially again and end up in debt come the end of season.

On the field, it will be another relegation battle. We have a lot of the same players from the last two seasons, so maybe they will play better together now. The only new additions are top quality players, so we have quality if not quantity, although will really struggle if we have an injury crisis. I will try to get some loans in in January.

[Flightless]

The story so far...

2006/07 = 5th in Serie C1/B (no promotion)

2007/08 = 5th in Serie C1/B (promotion via playoff)

2008/09 = 15th in Serie B

2009/10 = 14th in Serie B

Haven't written anything recently because of a few RL issues and my last two seasons being pretty mediocre.

Pretty much the jist of it, was that when we first went up to Serie B i just bought up a load of players who I felt would help keep us a float, which they did and we got to a respectable 15th. However in the second season I realised that half the players i didn't really need, i found that recently relegated spezia had a few players that i fancied so bought them up aswell, so i'm left with a squad of mediocre players basically. However we had spells at the top of the league and half way through I believed that maybe we could get promotion, however our wins curtailed off towards the end, and we finished 14th.

Our finances have blossomed, as when the board decided to expand the stadium they got us to use Rimini's stadium, which meant we were bringing in reciepts of 350k per home game, which has currently pushed us up to 5.5m in the black, meaning hopefully I can get some spending money for my big massive haul out and restructure. Because I'm starting to get bored with Serie B, i've decided not to renew the contracts of around 15 of my players, freeing up around 20k in wages, and whilst still keeping my original first team i'm going to make a few tweaks here and there, to make a concerted effort of getting promotion.

Training facilities have been upgraded to adequate, and my youth facilities are currently in the process of being upgraded. Now back in serravalle and the stadium can now hold 10000 which isn't that much but still more than the 7000.

Tactics have resorted back to a 4-4-2 after feeling that my previous tactic had lost its spark.

Currently got a parent club in Alaves, but they sent me two dud players so hopefully change that, and got a feeder club who i'm hoping to get promoted this season with some help from my players, in order to get an active feeder team.

That's pretty much it, hopefully have more to update during the next season.

[Scoham]

I'm really struggling, I need better players but I don't know where they going to come from. There's almost £5k of wages I haven't taken up, so I basically have too many average and poor players on small wages, I need to find a few good, expensive players to really get anywhere.

[Scoham]

I noticed I've been having the same old problem I've always had. We've got the 2nd best defence in the league, conceding 7 goals in 11 games, but the 2nd worst attack, only scored 8 and two of those were in the game I just played. Just won 2-0 for our first league win in about 6 games

[Scoham]

Forms decent now, but I can't tell if its because I've settled on a basic 4-4-2, improved my teamtalk choices, or got D'Angelo back in the team (his leadership and experience should help a lot).

D'Angelo's got no pace or stamina anymore, so I've put Del Prete next to him to try and make up for that, they're playing quite well together.

[g3n1u5]

so having taken a week off FM to do some coursewok and get some sleep!! i returned to this challenge tonight

i have started jan of the second season quite well and am in touch with 2nd in the league, first is already out of the question

my partent club atalanta have sent me 2 italy u21s and an under 19 so the teams getting better

i have settled on a strange but effective 4222 formation with 2dmc and amr/l playing direct football and it seems to be working abate seems to win almost every header he goes for and russotto is banging them in for fun although he may loose his place to a loan signing or last year top scorer, cantoro, who has recovered from a broken leg

anyway more progress on sunday after a weekend of work and drink

[Scoham]

Is anyone on a standard contract? Or has everyone got the rolling contract problem? I'm stuck on £450 a week forever

[Fastbasher]

Being on 450 a week forever is a good thing. I have been accepting the minimum each time and am now on 12k pw.

My finances are crippled. My chairman just sold one of our best players for 4m, and I am still 2.6m in debt.

We only have 17 senior players left and I can only offer 675pw to join a Serie A team as a key player.

My 1st 11 is good enough to avoid relegation, but if injuries come in, I have to put my kids in who are way off the pace. The board just cancelled a youth/training upgrade due to lack of funds.

My biggest expense is 'other' at over 1m per month. I cant understand all it covers, so cant reduce the costs.

Just finished 15th in Serie A 2013/14. My third relegation fight. With a 4th one coming up. I am starting to thing maybe a drop to Serie B might be the best plan to develop a new team of youths, and hire some coaches long term who dont want a winning lotto ticket to re sign.

All figures are in pounds, but I have no pounds symbol on my keyboard.

[Ter]

My finances are quite good. I'm making roughly £260k each month and have £3.5m in the bank and I'm just into my second season in Serie B (4th season overall)

[Scoham]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Scoham:

I signed this player from my San Marinese feeder club, and loaned him out to my Serie D feeder club. He's improved a bit, and the scout report said he could become a leading Serie C right back, so hopefully he'll keep on improving a bit. I should at least make a bit of money out of him and help the national team.

He at least has the physical side which is a good start. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Improved even more now, very good physically. He's now in my team at centre back now, with Del Prete at right back. The two best (ever?) San Marinese defenders

[Scoham]

Missed the screenshot off-

http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/2561/bonifazi2ni3.jpg

[Fastbasher]

Wow, Bonifazi looks promising on your game. He is pretty carp on mine. Maybe nobody bothered 'developing' him.

Serie A 2014/15 season review

We were once again involved in a relegation battle, yoyoing from 17th to 18th pos. until winning back to back games in rounds 35 and 36, taking us up to the dizzying heights on 13th position. Unfortunately we lost our last two and slid back to 16th.

Finances were once again restricted and in the red most of the season, with minimal transfer budget and only 675pw wages to offer, I had to look to youths for the future.

I decided to go back to my original plan in the game and pick up some promising young San Marinese players on low wages, who I may get to use later in the national team.

Players In

Kamel Gal, free, Louhans-Cruiseaux (Young French MC, for the future)

Nicola Montanari, 16k, Fiorentino (DLC, San Marinese youngster, now an international)

Massimo Zanotti, 24k, Libertas (AMRC, another young San Marinese, now international)

Players Out

Martin Skrtel, 4m, Chievo

Mikel Ibero, 2.5m Athletic

Jose Saenz, 700k, Milan

Luis Garces, free, Porto

Fabio Ricci, free, Valenzano

Pier Marino Della Valle, free, Taranto

Lauri Della Valle, free, Catania

This reduced my wages significantly.

Paollo Nuti is my clubs top league goalscorer with 54, while Luca Del Prete holds the record for league appearances at 197. He also has 60 caps for San Marino the country now.

Raffaele Casselli, of our own youth system is now worth 3.7m. I accepted several co-ownership offers (the latest 2.4m from Milan) but he keeps turning them down, which looks good. He is happy to accept contract extensions from San Marino and is currently on 150 pw. NICE!!! (he has also played for Italy at U19 level)

Leandro Lima won the fans player of the year and almost single handedly kept us up. I forgot to mention he was the Serie A player of the year in the previous season.

Jose Montiel was 3rd place in the Serie A GK of the year, an was in the team of the year, in the reserve spot (after Buffon)

With the finances under control lets see if we can make safety a bit more secure. Aiming for mid table this season. My wage limit has been increased from 170k pw to 235k pw. Our television revenue has increased from 550k per season to 700k per season. Not sure what you need to do for this to increase, as this is my 5th season in Serie A, so it took a while. Maybe reputation or something.

[Scoham]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Our television revenue has increased from 550k per season to 700k per season. Not sure what you need to do for this to increase, as this is my 5th season in Serie A, so it took a while. Maybe reputation or something. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I would think so. You could say league position, how well you do in the cups, if you qualify for Europe, but in the end that all raises your reputation.

[Fastbasher]

Sorry, the television revenue increased from 5.5m to 7m.

An extra 125k per month. That will come in handy.

[georginho_juventusygr]

Season 2006/2007 Review

Well, after 1 season I don't think that San Marino was a good team. They had lack of players in every position and I couldn't find any good players because of the little tranfer budget. With about €201K transfer budget, I managed to buy the following players.

<UL TYPE=SQUARE>

<LI>Gerardo Alfano from Cavese: €18K.

<LI>Emiliano Corsi from Giulianova: €80K.

<LI>Fabio Marco Giordano from Foggia: €110K.

They were all DM. I thought that I needed some DMs to help the defense of San Marino. Fans were first delighted when I brought Corsi and Giordano. And actually, they were always good when my team were struggling. With the rest €1K in my transfer budget, I couldn't buy any players and my team found themselves in the bottom of the league in the end of 2006. It was sad and suddenly, Messina offered me Salvatore Sullo for €0. I agreed although he has already passed his best. He played well and became the playmaker of my team.

I didn't sale any players and I strengthened my squad by loaning the following players.

<UL TYPE=SQUARE>

<LI>Germano di Gennaro from Andria Bat.

<LI>Daniele di Luca and Alfonso Pepe from Celano.

<LI>Andrea Chiappella and Marco Perini from Pergocrema.

<LI>Francesco Madrigano from Cuneo.

<LI>Luigi Arilli from Rende.

<LI>Vincenzo Masturzo from Real Marcianise.

They didn't play much, except Arilli and Masturzo I played quite often. I loaned them just to add a depth in my squad.

Regarding my backroom staff, I signed Giovanni Bonifazi, a San Marinese scout for free. I assigned him to Central Europe, but I didn't think it took a quite long time. He reported good players, but unfortunately, their price was always an unsolved problem. I didn't dare to ask more transfer budget because San Marino were in a financial crisis. The board often gave a cash injection and their financial status was insecure.

I signed some San Marinese players to be trialed, but they were crap unfortunately.

The following is my "A" team.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

Dei

Berardi D'Angelo Ferraro Florindo

Tedoldi Corsi Giordano Faieta

Abate Villa

</pre>

The season was though. I didn't understand why my DFs always did something wrong. They did much mistake, even some own goals by Salvatore Ferraro. And the rest of problems was usual, i.e. long-term injuries, goal droughts, the bar of the goal of the opponents, etc.

And finally, the season ended. San Marino found themselves in the bottom of the league. They were even relegated after just 29 matches.

League Table

But luckily, the board gave me 1 more chance. They extended my contract 1 year with rolling contract clause. Yes, I understood why, i.e. because San Marino are in a financial crisis. And as you've guessed, there will be no transfer budget next season. The board hoped that I could give 1st team chances for my youth. It will be difficult, but I'll try it.

In conclusion, I feel myself as the most sucks manager in this thread. I think none of you got relegated in your 1st season. This is very sad, but I keep going on. I'll never give up and I love this game.

Any thoughts are always appreciated.

[Fastbasher]

Don't lose heart Georginho.

Yes, you have just done something that none of us have done yet. But if you complete the challenge, you will also have done a bit more than anyone else so far. ie, taken San Marino from Serie C2 to Serie A.

With the strengthened squad I think you should bounce back up easily, without needing more players.

As we have all found, finances will be your problem.

Good Luck, keep at it.

[Scoham]

After 4 season I finally made the playoffs, finished 5th on the final day. We lost both legs

I think what helped was playing a simple 4-4-2, with direct passing and a quick tempo, rather than messing around with formations and players etc. Hopefully I can strengthen the squad in the summer, could do with a few better quality players to try and go for the title.

Bonifazi is out for up to 10 months with damaged cruciate ligaments

[Scoham]

I got about 11 youth players through this season, strange as it was always around 6 every season. A few of them are from San Marino, and the assistant recommended a young San Marinese striker, hopefully he'll have decent potential.

[Ter]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I think none of you got relegated in your 1st season </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

When I first started a game like this back in September I got relegated in the first season. I then got two straight promotions so it's not all bad

[Fastbasher]

When I got relegated from Serie B to C1A, I went through a double promotion as well. It seems a rebuidling phase in a lower division is not necessarily a bad thing.

Serie A 2015/16 season review

Well, 2015/16 was a busy year for us. We had our best ever finish of 14th in the Serie A, but could easily have been higher.

There were too many transfers to list, as the higher wage players had their contracts expire, and I got a whole new team of youth players in.

Towards the end of the season we were 6m in debt and there was talk of a takeover. I got offered 10m and 5m for two of my new young stars, and decided to accept and hopefully avoid the takeover.

Wasn't enough. With 9m in the bank, a transfer embargo was placed in early July, and the upgrades that the board had promised, as well as my own fate, were uncertain.

The takeover was on-again-off-again for over 2 months, then finally in mid September we get a new chairman. His name is Fabio Ballardini, the head of a local consortium. He was originally going to hire a new manager, but has decided to keep me on for now. He has also agreed to the upgrades of youth and training facilities, which are in progress as I write.

He put an extra 1.8m of his own money in, and so far I have no problem with him. He is Italian, not San Marinese. But, we have five San Marinese staff, and a Swiss Ass Man, the rest are Italian.

Once again we got 7m for TV revenue, and our sponsorship has been increased from 160k to 1.3m and I finally feel that financially we will be alright in the Serie A. We got a paltry 30k for our 14th place finish.

We have 4 players in the San Marino national team now, Del Prete is up to 68caps. After making the starting lineup during our troubled financial times, he is back to the bench now. So wont add much to his club record 229 caps.

We have two young Brazilians both named Silva. One promising striker, and one solid defender.

The highlight of the season was our club record scorer Paolo Nuti winning the Serie A 'Young player of the year' award. Despite being in his 7th season with us, he is still only 24.

Definitely looking for a top half finish this season. Hopefully the upgrades will help produce better youths and better training.

[Fastbasher]

to my new chairman, Fabio Ballardini!!!!

He just increased the training facilities, and they now say 'Top Training Facilities'.

I go to the Board room, and it says they will not listen to training facility requests as we already have one of the best in the world.

Youth facilities are in the process of being upgraded, and I have to say........

....... there's only one Fabio Ballardini!!!!

[Fastbasher]

Ok, I am in a bit of a quandry, and need some opinions. (plus I want to show you this!)

At the club level I have top training facilities and state of the art youth facilities and academy. I am at the highest level and cant get anymore upgrades. My new chairman upgraded them straight from average.

Anyway, as a result, there have been a few decent San Marino regens coming through, and I have been snapping any promising looking youngsters up I can find. The end result of this, is the national team is significantly better to when we started this challenge.

First they pull this stunning result off

I couldn't believe it, what a result. Just when I was thinking it doesnt get much better than this.......

Four days later they pull this one out of the bag

Note, they are still managed by Mazza, the guy who is managing them at the start. In this group, they also had a home draw with Serbia and an away win over Lithuania. Bottom of the table Bosnia is the other team in the group.

They actually have a very real chance of qualifying for the world cup, before I even take control?!?!?

Does this count towards the challenge?

After all, I am the one who is training up all the San Marinese.

Do I still have to qualify them as well?

How will this bloke, Mazza, ever get fired now??

Anyone else noticed any significant improvements in the National team?

[g3n1u5]

im just beginning my third season and having finished 13th and 11th things are slowly getting better.

im currently using my third tactic as i havent been happy with the other two i have used. the new one is looking good as im dominating games against serie b teams in friendlies

not signed anyone major but got ahold of some more youth from juve as they always seem to do me good, promoted a few good youngsters and got 3 encouraging loans from my parent atalanta

finances are getting better slowly but i dont seem to be getting a good standard regens just yet

the national team are a disgrace, they didnt score for the first two seasons!!! i think it must be the most secure job in world football, ill have to wait for mazza to die at this rate

[Ter]

I said at the beginning of the challenge that you can add a second manager to manage the national team. That's what I've done and put him on holiday using my formation until I'm ready to try my luck at qualifying.

[Ter]

Season 09/10 Serie B - January Update

It's 24 games into the season and San Marino are sitting in 3rd place on 44 points and are looking safe. If I can keep going as I am now then I'll definitely make the play-offs, which would be fantastic. Again, I just wanted to avoid the drop and continue the building process but things have gone a bit better than expected and it's largely the same side as last season that I've been playing. My good Romanian keeper got injured so I've been playing Fabio Molinari, the 19 year old San Marino keeper that my scouts were raving about. He's been good so far. My big striker Stefan Nikolic has been excellent as well, although unfortunately he keeps getting injured The good thing is that I have a lot of good young players coming through and Robert Hirsz and David Sanchi have scored over 50 goals between them for my U20s this season! No surprise that they are top of the league by a mile!

Mario Semprini is a star. He's only played 13 league games and have an average of 7.64. I can't believe I didn't play him at the start of the season and thought he was only going to be a utility player. He's worth £1.9m now and is in the San Marino team. Luca Del who?

Most of my new signings are struggling to get into my team, which has been quite good to have a settled line up. It looks like Giovanni Abate's days at the club are numbered as he's found it difficult to get into the team and I know I can rely on my youngsters to fill in when needed as they have proven.

Hopefully if I don't get promoted this season then I'll be in a good position to push for promotion next season, especially when some of these young stars make it through to my first team. I don't really need any players and all I have bought in this window is a few promising youngsters.

[Fastbasher]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ter:

I said at the beginning of the challenge that you can add a second manager to manage the national team. That's what I've done and put him on holiday using my formation until I'm ready to try my luck at qualifying. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

We realise that Ter, but some of us I think prefer to do it with just one.

I know if I added a second manager, I would be wondering how long I had to keep the job before resigning and applying for it with my original manager.

Every time I see San Marino's group drawn I keep thinking I'm missing out on a golden opportunity, but every 2 years it seems to get better. I mean France, Belgium, Serbia, Bosnia and Lithuania, may look difficult, but if you draw with France, then beat Belgium 2-0, it starts to look a whole lot easier and a playoff spot becomes realistic.

Mazza is 60 this year. Any guesses what age he'll retire?

The general consensus is that it is a job for life.

Maybe after this WC campaign I might add a second to take over, but it just seems wrong. Maybe I could get the missus to take the job, hotseat style. She'll lose interest in half an hour and the job will be vacant.

[Ter]

It's not likely the San Marino job will come available until he retires. I've never seen him be fired or quit. There are no expectations as San Marino boss.

[Ter]

Anyway, recently my U20 side have been absolutely destroying teams. They are 9 points clear at the top of their league and have scored 98 goals in 33 games. Just beat Rimini U20s 7-1 with David Sanchi helping himself to six! Other recent results for my young team...

Triestina 0-9 San Marino

San Marino 7-1 Messina

Modena 1-7 San Marino

San Marino 7-1 Rimini

After 32 games I'm still up there as well. I'm sitting in second place behind Piacenza but it's very tight at the top and I have some hard games coming up. My top striker Nikolic is back from injury and I'll be looking for him to fire me to Serie A if he doesn't get injured again!

[Scoham]

My u20s won the league last season, and I also got 11 players through this season.

I've started the new season with a 1-0 extra time defeat against Serie B Bari in the Italian Cup qualifying round, and then won our first league game 3-2.

I've signed Nigerian striker 'Ike', which just reminds me of South Park. He's not that great but should be a useful player in Serie C with his pace, especially as a sub.

[gavinkil]

Well I finished in the serie B playoffs even with changing my tactic numerious times throughout the season.

I am still unsure what is my best, but I got beat in the playoffs anyway and was slightly annoyed with my team.

So I have made a few signings and got rid of a few unhappy wage hungry players ready to challenge next season.

Noteable signing = Freddy Guran (spelling?)

I am thinking of developing a tactic with a playmaker and hopefully will be making him the linchpin for this.

I also have a young latvian I bought last season who is starting to look really good, Chelsea and Bayern are interested in him.

Other promise is a young DMC la texier I picked up for free last season as juve released him he is now dubbed the new oliver docourt and I sold the co-ownership to fiorentina for 1.5mil just for the cash really.

Nossa has finally upped and left he was my best defender since the start of the game was brilliant he just refused all new contract offers.

So I have done my usual sit and go through the whole free transfer list making offers and on the offer screen seeing what the assistant says. Making offers on players with at least "Good Signing" rating.

Has worked season after season for me, and I have picked up a couple of good young centre backs to replace nossa which I am pleased about.

I cant really see a weakness in my team for the forth coming season, perhaps a 30 goal a season striker. But I have brought in a lecce reserve I got for free to hopefully fill in that gap *crosses fingers*

Things are looking up for club san marino on the national side of things still trying to find some gems.

[CedricRules]

I've started this challenge as well. Almost played a full season.

First game I beat Guilinova at home so things were looking up - then I lost 6/7 in a row. No fire power up front and a leaky defence to say the least.

Anyway, I made it to January transfer window second bottom, signed a DM, Esmir Sabic and Rene Mihelic. I put Mihelic as my playmaker AMC and he runs the show, scoring goals for fun. It looks like I'm going to escape but then he gets injured for 3 months. So ****ed off.

After Mihelic's injury, I play games valiantly but with no cutting edge with the frontmen, end up losing.

Currently got 5/6 games left, second bottom. There's not really any chance of escaping the playouts, so avoiding straight relegation is the aim.

Lancianova (or whatever their name is) got taken over by an Argentinian businessman, promising a £25 million transfer budget. Now there Financial Status is 'rich'. So unfair.

[gavinkil]

Abate upfront is a bit of a legend in serie C just set him as targetman and punt balls at him.

Defence on the other hand best bet is some loans or the polish. Beradi the "right back" plays well in midfield too thats where I have always played him

[Ter]

Abate has been pish for me in Serie B. I'm going to get rid of him at the end of the season as he's not really done anything in the two seasons he's been in Serie B.

[gavinkil]

Aye I got rid of him last season

But in serie C he was on fire just couldnt cut it in Serie B and started to get quite injury prone.

[Ter]

Season 09/10 Review

Well, my second season in Serie B is over and I managed to keep my nerve and hold second place where I had been since round 35 of 42. It went to the last day with me needing a draw to secure promotion and I won 2-1 after going behind at home to Pescara who needed to win to get a play-off place. In the end I only finished a point behind Piacenza who went on a poor run at the end of the season and I managed to claw back a 12 point gap to just one. Delighted to be in Serie A but I'm a bit nervous about the step up and how my young team will cope. My main aim is of course not to get relegated.

The Players

Top Three Average Rating

Felipe Giacomini (AM RC) - BRA - 7.26

Nicola Napolitano (DM) - ITA - 7.24

Stanko Pavlovic (AM RL) - SER - 7.17

Top Three Scorers

Stefan Nikolic (ST) - SER - 11

Felipe Giacomini (AM RC) - BRA - 10

Alfonso Roberto Delgado (ST) - ESP - 8

Top Three Assists

Stanko Pavlovic (AM RL) - SER - 13

Felipe Giacomini (AM RC) - BRA - 7

Giovanni Abate (ST) - ITA - 5

San Marino U20s

A special mention has to go out to my U20 side who romped the U20 league in some style with David Sanchi (SMR) helpng himself to 43 goals and Robert Hirsz helping himself to 36. Both these players will be making the step up to the full squad for next season after those heroics. They've already featured for the first team and scored a few goals when they have had their chance. Simone Stefanelli (SMR) is looking like a ready made replacement for Nicola Napolitano but he'll still need another season in the U20s before he's ready to break into the first team as not even Damien Plessis could break into the team because of Nicola Napolitano's great form and lack of injuries (he got injured just before the last game of the season, and I played the youngster instead )

On their way to lifting the U20 title, the youngsters played 42 matches, winning 27 of them, drawing 6 and losing 9. They scored a massive 131 goals and conceded 50 and finished with a point haul of 87. You can't tell I'm being doing a lot of work on finding good young players can you?

Anyway, onwards and upwards! Serie A here we come!

[g3n1u5]

Season 08/09

not quite finished the season but i have made the playoffs

the result of the year that sealed the playoffs was a 2-1 away win against the champions reggina

the new tactic has been working well and the loan signing from atalanta have been amazing

got a new keeper from inters reserves coming on a free and one of the loan signings has been made permanant

ill update later

playoffs here we come!!

[g3n1u5]

Season 08/09

not quite finished the season but i have made the playoffs

the result of the year that sealed the playoffs was a 2-1 away win against the champions reggina

the new tactic has been working well and the loan signing from atalanta have been amazing

got a new keeper from inters reserves coming on a free and one of the loan signings has been made permanant

ill update later

playoffs here we come!!

[g3n1u5]

so i scrapped into the playoff final with a one all draw but i hadnt realise just how close it was as i only made it due to being the higher seed

so to the final......after a boring nil all draw at home i went one nil down after 3 mins then i changed to my defensive tactic and i ripped thru their defence twice in 5mins before half time, i managed to hold on in the second half despite having a player seent off and having 4 players on internation duty

so im into serie b in 3 seasons!! a new sponsorship deal has given me a huge boost in finance and the board have given me 180k to spend on avoiding relagation (but thats what they sed last year too!!)

im off to search through the free transfers and begin my attack on serie b

[Scoham]

I think I've got too many players now Shame there's no reserve league, really could do with one.

As I said I got 11 youth players through, plus I've signed a few that the scout said would be a 'good signing'. I've loaned a couple out to Cailungo, my feeder club in the San Marino league. I cancelled my other feeder clubs as I didn't think I needed the Serie D one, and Boca San Lorenzo also got relegated to Serie D. The board only ever offered me Boca San Lorenzo back. I could do with a Serie C2 feeder club so more youth players get regular games.

[Scoham]

I signed this player for £1k from a club in San Marino-

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/3800/buglisl0.jpg

I've loaned him out and he already looks good, I think I must have the best 3 San Marinese defenders, possibly players now

He looks good enough to come into the team already.

[Fastbasher]

Congrats on all the promotions guys.

Scoham, I signed Alex Bugli as well. He did okay in Serie B, but was quite a way off the pace for Serie A.

He did become a regular in the National team though, and has over 30 caps.

I too wish there was a reserve league. I want to play a whole team of San Marinese players in it. (Basically the San Marinese national team).

In their World Cup qualifying campaign, they followed up the previously mentioned results with a draw with Bosnia and a second win over Lithuania. With two games to go in the group, they are 3 points of a playoff spot. If they win their next game I might add the second manager, take over and have just the playoffs to qualify for the WC, and complete half the challenge.