FM11 Big Euro Nation: Small Club to Big Club Challenge

brettney1980 · November 30, 2010

Congrats on winning the Bundersliga ToMexico!

PRDH · November 30, 2010

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End of Season Update - U.D. Pajara Playas de Jandia - 2017/18

"The continued adventure of the challenge's sunshine team."

Transfer Budget: £37,520

Wage Budget: £49,916 pw

Finances: -£1,524,126

Transfers - 11 IN (£250,000) 11 OUT (£1,000,000)

See earlier update for full details, but they bedded in well and performed well.

League - 6th | Graph | Playoffs

So, after last season's disappointments I told myself that I wasn't going to get my hopes up. That resolution lasted a full ninety minutes as 5-2 win in my opening game had me dreaming of title wins. I was brought back to earth fairly quickly as I dropped down into midtable. Some unpredictable form saw me sitting in midtable (12th) at the half way stage of the season. Now I've finished strongly in almost all my seasons so I was still hoping I could sneak up to challenge the playoff positions by the end of the season.

Luckily this season followed the others, and I did indeed play much better in the final third of the season. As the graph shows I changed gear and immediately leapt up to hover around, and challenge 6th place for the run in. A couple of dodgy results put my playoff place in danger, but I hung on, and with a great last few games I kept the position to give myself a chance of promotion.

In the first round of the playoffs I faced Deportivo. Now I actually have quite a good record against them and so went into the home first leg with reasonable confidence. It was warranted as I managed a 3-1 victory to set myself up for the second leg. However, the second leg didn't go quite to plan. I was 3-0 down and facing being knocked out after 62 minutes. Pimenta scored in the 79th minute to take it to extra time. An uneventful period of extra time meant penalties, the first shootout of my career. Kenny de Zeeuw scored the second sudden death penalty to win the tie for Pajara Playas 4-5 on penalties.

In the final we were to play Almeria, again, I had the first leg at home and established a 3-2 lead. A decent result, but two away goals would make it tricky. Kike scored in the 56th minute to extend the lead, and we held on, despite a nervy end after Almeria scored in the 81st minute. We were promoted. La Liga next season, and what a challenge that will be!

Cup - Quarter Final

Finally we showed some fight in the cup and reached the quarters before being knocked out by Sevilla, some good results including a two-legged victory over Athletic which may bode well for next season (hopefully).

Squad - Players

As always, for those unfamiliar with my system, first teamers will be in bold and exciting/interesting players (often youngsters) will be in italics

Goalkeepers

Jakob Busk - 3rd choice keeper who managed to make it to the bench occasionally.

Aitor Fernandez - Started the season as first choice, but picked up a nasty injury in January which meant I had to put Schettino in, once he returned he couldn't take back his place.

Lorenzo Schettino - First choice for the second half of the season. Impressed without being outstanding. We conceded quite a lot of goals over the season, but fortunately the players at the other end of the pitch meant it didn't matter in the end.

Defenders

Stopira - Kept Krol out of the side for most of the season, and performed well enough, I think the defence is an area that will need to be improved for the top level.

Krzysztof Krol - Useful back up for the defence, performed well when he got into the team.

Jakub Sokolik - How the mighty have fallen. He had a couple of seasons as the team's best player. The last couple of seasons though he has been something of a liability. I'm going to try to ship him out this summer.

Martin Angha - Really a rotation between the three centre backs (Angha, Angelini, and Mathis) they all did well enough over the season, I think they might be able to cut it, but I'm not sure.

Matteo Angelini - Fell out of favour slightly towards the end because of the form of Mathis. He has also not quite progressed as I hoped he would, we'll see what is out there as to whether he stays.

Fabio Casini - First choice right back whenever fit. Performed well, and has improved over the season.

Georges Mathis - Amazing goalscoring feats from the pick of the back four. Not technically the best of them, but played spectacularly.

Midfielders

Koke - A good season for the midfielder. An integral part of a midfield which managed to dominate a lot of midfields in the division. Should be able to keep his place for next season.

Peter Amodu - The young defensive midfielder had a good season. It'll be interesting to keep an eye on his progress as he's excellent physically.

David Pino - Starting to see the effects of age, his pace has deserted him, played fewer games and I think probably ought to leave over the summer.

Leandro Pimenta - Another very good season for my playmaker. He is definitely one who should be able to compete next season.

Massimiliano Di Dio - Good back up, played fewer games than he might due to the fact he always seemed to be injured at the same time as Koke.

Brian Neergaard - I thought he'd become first choice but de Zeeuw's excellent form kept him to appearances from the bench for much of the season, still think he could be a good player for the club.

Kenny de Zeeuw - One of the reasons for our promotion. Along with Sarabia he was an assist-machine creating 22 goals in the league. An astonishing performance.

Pablo Sarabia - Similar to de Zeeuw, he did a great job on the left wing keeping the ageing Pino on the bench, he created 19 league goals.

Giuseppe Silvestri - Pretty good season for the improving attacking midfielder, he meant we didn't collapse when Pimenta was injured/suspended.

Strikers

Kike - Scored 13 goals and created 14 for others, a good season for the support striker, though his days could be numbered with the increasingly mature performances of Sacko.

Terence Makengo - Scored 31 goals in 30 league games, and 36 in 37 overall. What more could you ask? An excellent season. We scored a huge number of goals and he was responsible for almost a third of our 98 league goals this season.

Jiri Sadek - Interesting player, excellent finisher, and a good passer. I'll keep him around and see what becomes of him.

Rocco Oddo - In for a free, I'll look to sell him over the summer mainly because he didn't once get on the pitch.

Badji Sacko - Continues to improve, had his best season this year, he looks to be growing into the support striker role. He needs to improve his mental stats, but that should happen as he gets older and more experience.

Thomas Berg - Another who came in on a free, this time in January, he looks good, but if I can get something approaching his value over the summer I'll let him go.

Targets for next season

1/ Survival

2/ Survival

3/ Survival

Story So Far

Season		League				Position			Achievements/Wins
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011/12		Second Division B4		13th				Avoided Relegation
2012/13		Second Division B4		4th				Promoted via Playoffs
2013/14		LIGA adelante			17th				Survival
2014/15		LIGA adelante			13th				Consolidated
2015/16		LIGA adelante			8th				Narrowly missed playoffs
2016/17		LIGA adelante			10th				Backwards step
2017/18		LIGA adelante			6th				Promoted via Playoffs!

Previous Updates

rlipscombe · November 30, 2010

congrats PRDH - good luck in La Liga. got some good players there - i know Koke well and Makengo's record is incredible. let's hope he can achieve at least 50% of that next season....

brettney1980 · November 30, 2010

Good going PRDH good luck in La Liga, whats your expectations? Target?

Almondo · November 30, 2010

Congrats PRDH. hope you can keep them up

PRDH · November 30, 2010

rlipscombe - I'm hopeful about Makengo in la Liga, he's got pace, and that can trouble anyone.

brettney - I've told the board I'll attempt to avoid relegation, that's all I expect. I feel the team might be good enough, but then in my two previous games on this challenge I've thought that and I've been relegated back down both times with Domegliara and Romorantin. I wouldn't be surprised if it happened again.

Almondo - Thanks, me too!

brettney1980 · December 1, 2010

European Cup time once again ... 4th Qual. rd vs Dinamo Tbilisi

Home: 2-0,

EDIT: Think i'll play 2nd leg tomorrow.

PRDH · December 1, 2010

A squad of 25 with as many U-18s as possible really isn't very large! I've signed too many players, not really sure which ones to keep in the squad and which to leave out.

Lower Leagues Rule · December 1, 2010

And Darfo Boario have made it up...full report to come, but a 4:1 over Venezia and a 6:2 over Bassano we pass through into the Serie C1. Neither of the opposition scored at the Comunale was we won 2:0 & 3:0 at home after 2:1 & 3:2 victories away. We have an average attendance of 94% of our capacity but cannot upgrade as the council blocked it...

rlipscombe · December 1, 2010

congrats LLR. bummer about the ground though....

PRDH · December 1, 2010

Pre-Season Update - U.D. Pajara Playas de Jandia - 2018/19

"The continued adventure of the challenge's sunshine team."

Transfer Budget: £1,602,276

Wage Budget: £95,973 per week

Finances: -£1,637,051

Transfers - 11 IN (£925,000), 13 OUT (£1,100,000)

There's always likely to be a bit of movement when you change division, and that's what happened at Pajara Playas. Let's deal with those who have left the club first.There are a few who have made a significant impact to the club's success who will get a namecheck here. David Pino has finally gone, he had gone far further than I thought he would with the team, and he never actually disappointed, age caught up with him though, and I couldn't see him cutting it in La Liga. The other name you may recognise to leave his Jakub Sokolik. Considering he turned into a liability in the last couple of seasons I wasn't going to trust him against some of the best players in the world.

Well, that's enough of the goodbyes, let's welcome some players to Fuerteventura.

The first player through the door was Austrian centre-back Patrick Goller. He signed for a £35,000 fee. He's not going to set the world alight, but he adds some much needed depth to the defence.

Next came some experience in the form of the free transfer signing of midfielder Michel, he's got experience of the top division which could be invaluable for my rookie squad. He'll be there or thereabouts in first team reckoning this season.

The third important transfer of the window was my first dip into the loan market. Gerard Laplaud, a stiker/attacking midfielder will be spending the season in Fuerteventura. This youngster looks to have a lot of potential, and if he performs well enough I would certainly, at this point, consider pursuing a permanent deal.

The next player I'll introduce is something of a hot prospect. At just 18 he avoids the need to be registered, a very handy thing indeed, Ousmana Sidibe is a defensive midfielder who, after costing just £28,000, looks to have the world at his feet, once he gains some experience at least.

A second dip into the French loan market resulted in the signing on loan of an 18-year-old French winger/midfielder. Kylian Thiebaud is a couple of pace points away from being a hugely exciting winger. I'm sure he's got a big career ahead of him anyway, and I hope to kick start it in the sunshine isle of Fuerteventura.

Next through the doors and it's a bit of squad depth again. Mark Isa a Nigerian full-back who again has ability if he can work on the mental side of the game. Hopefully he can learn a bit about that and turn into the player his technical ability deserves. He was one of my more expensive transfers this season costing £240,000.

After letting Aitor Fernandes leave at the end of last season we looked a bit under-strength in the goalkeeping department. The £275,000 signing of Vitor Carvalho should go some way to solving that problem. An excellent shot-stopper, he should spend the season challenging last year's number 1 for the first team place.

Finally, it's another hot prospect. At just 18, and costing a mere £120,000 Facundo Ortega looks a very promising midfielder. A very exciting technical player, he, like a lot of South American players, will need to bulk up a bit if he wants to rule Europe, but given his young age, he will surely grow in strength as he matures.

Now, as I'm sure you've noticed, I've not exactly splashed the cash. If I'm honest the reasons are twofold. One, I want to preserve some financial security, and two, I wasn't all that impressed with the talent on show at my end of the market. I'm on the lookout for bargain gems. We'll see what happens this sesaon, I'm certainly not hoping for anything more than survival.

PRDH · December 1, 2010

Horrible start to a game. I kick off against Malaga, I immediately go up their end and on 25 seconds Pimenta hits the bar with a header from just outside the six-yard box, it goes out for a goal-kick. They launch it forward win the header and score from the second ball.

As it stands I'm played 4 - lost 4 and am 2-0 down in the 5th game. Not a great start to my La Liga career! Yup that's 0-5 now.

brettney1980 · December 1, 2010

European Cup time once again ... 4th Qual. rd vs Dinamo Tbilisi
Home: 2-0,

EDIT: Think i'll play 2nd leg tomorrow.

£870k for getting to the Euro Cup group stage is very needed ... Oh yeah we drew 2nd leg 0-0 (6 games without conceeding a goal now).

EDIT: Euro Cup Group stage draw - we're 3rd seeds.

Group B: FC Brasov (Romania), FC Chita (US), Wolfsburg (Germany) + Inter (Italy).

Tough tough group.

Almondo · December 1, 2010

that is a tough group Brettney

Edit: I'm nine points clear of Leverkusen with 3 games to play. If we get a point the league is ours

DizzyIzzyB13 · December 1, 2010

A.C. Voghera 2015/2016

6th in Italian Serie A (pred: 20th) | Transfers 1, 2 | Finances | Graph | Player Stats 1, 2

The League

A fantastic season for the club ended with securing 6th spot in Serie A. As the graph shows, we were a solid midtable team for the first 2/3rds of the season, before a strong run in let us finish in a very good sixth place. It could have been even more - had we managed to convert two goalless draws in the last two games into victories, we may well have managed to claim 4th spot. Equally, though, had we lost them, we would have dropped all the way to tenth, so I can't complain about our finish. The closeness of the teams in the middle, our strong finish and perhaps a fortunate ability to draw instead of lose - we had the fewest defeats in the division and the most draws - helped us to a position that could easily have been 6 places lower. Ultimately, though, I think we were a solid team, and the improvements I made to the team in terms of defence really helped us. Resultswise, a number of games stand out. Early on, a convincing 3-0 thrashing of defending champions Inter set the stage for the season and was sweet revenge for the 5-0 drubbing they inflicted on us lat the end of last season. Later on, a last gasp goal from winger Emanuel Rivas put the cap on a thrilling 4-3 victory over Chievo.

The Cups (Italian Cup, Final)

After three successive first round eliminations in the Italian Cup, I expected number four when we drew AC Milan at the San Siro at that stage. However, a breakaway goal from David Bon in the 4th minute and a late Canizares strike on the counter-attack secured a 2-0 win over an understrength Rossoneri side. Up next was a visit from Juventus in the quarter final, and a full-house at the Voghera Stadium was treated to another victory - this time 2-1 over another understrength side. In the semi-final, goals from Bon and Odibe set-up a 2-0 win in the first leg at the Voghera Stadium, before a second leg in which which jumped out to a 2-0 lead half way through the first half before Lazio pegged us back to level terms on the night, leaving us with a 4-2 aggregate victory.

And so we went to the Stadio Olimpico in Rome to meet Napoli in the final. It was a tense game, dominated by the Neapolitan side. A goalless first half was on the verge of being followedby a golless second period when disatster struck - having made all my substitutions, striker David Bon was taken off injured in the 88th minute, leaving us with 10 men to finish out the game. I left my team without a striker, unwilling to upset the defensive balance of the team. We withstood the assault from Napoli to the end of normal time, 5 tense minutes of defensive play. Into extra time we went. Almost immediately, everything went wrong - Napoli went straight on the attact, forcing a corner. It was fired into the 6 yard box, chaos reigned with defensive mix-ups, and Gabriel Silva scrambled the ball hom to give Napoli the lead. We had everything to gain and nothing to lose at this point, so I switched into my overload formation, and the rest of the half was end to end football as our ten men fought valiently to try and get back in the game. We reached the half in extra time one down. I looked at my tactics and saw how tired my team were - half the players who'd started the game were down in the 50s, and the rest were pretty tired. I sent them out and prayed. From the restart we went on the attack, and when it was repelled, fullback Michael Kongsted sent substitute Jean Silva free down the right. He whipped in a cross that evaded everyone, except substitute midfielder Jean-baptiste Lemoine, who just managed get it under control and lay the ball back to fullback Nicolas Guerrero. Guerrero whipped in an early cross to the far corner of the six yard box. And when the ball arrived, one man was destined to get on the end of it - the longest serving member of the Voghera squad, my final signing of my first transfer window, veteran of all four divisions we've played in... Jean Silva beat Napoli scorer Gabriel silva and fired a volley inside the near post to level the match! Thus commenced 13 minutes of Napoli attacking and valient defending that fought bravely to protect Luigi Turbacci's goal.

And so it ended. All square. Penalty shoot-out time.

Edinson Cavani stepped up first for Napoli. Tubacci guessed the right way, but he was unable to keep the ball out of his bottom right corner. 1-0 Napoli.

Etzaz Hussain was first for us. He took a similar shot, but didn't fire it as low or as far to the 'keeper's right. Mansaray got his hand to it.... but the power of Hussain's shot meant he could just palm it into the net. 1-1.

Alejandro Gomez took Napoli's second penalty. High, just to the 'keeper's left... Turbacci almost got a hand to it but in it went. 2-1 Napoli.

The hero of extra time followed our regular penalty taker. Jean Silva fired low to the 'keeper's right and nestled the ball in the bottom corner. 2-2.

The tension mounted. Napoli's scorer Gabriel Silva was next up. He fired in his left-footed penalty.... AND IT FLEW OVER THE BAR! 2-2!

Advantage Voghera, but the game wasn't over yet. The rock at the heart of our defence took our third penalty, and coolly sent one low up the middle, and uynder the goalkeeper. 3-2 Voghera.

Casemiro followed, under pressure to score. He nearly botched it - he fired his spot kick low, to the 'keeper's right but he almost went too wide, and the ball just about went in off the post. 3-3

It was a time for experienced heads, so next up was Leonardo Ponzio, at 34 the oldest member of my squad. The defensive midfielder's penalty crept in the bottom corner, out of reach of the goalkeeper. 4-3 Voghera.

The pressure was on. Fabio Quagliarella had to score to keep Napoli in with a chance. The experienced Italian international stepped up. I skipped a breath... AND HE FIRED WIDE TO HAND US THE ITALIAN CUP!

Awesome result for the club. It helped that we faced severely weakened teams in some cases, but that final was one of the most tense and dramatic games I've ever played on FM, and I'm so happy that the hero for my team was a guy with the tenure Jean Silva has. Awesome, awesome outcome.

The Players

Our big improvement on last season's performance can be attributed to a number of factors. First was a tactical change. Last season, we were being ripped apart by attacking midfielders, so I switched from a 4-2-3-1 formation with wingers, a sole AMC and two MCs to a 4-5-1 with a DM, two MCs and AMR and AML supporting a lone striker. In order to achieve this, I sold my AMCs who couldn't play anywhere else and brought in DM Leonardo Ponzio. Although his average rating and other stats were unremarkable, he made his mark in less quantifiable ways. His main effect was on other players - pretty much all my defenders and goalkeepers credited him with organising the defence, and as a result the rest of my defenders really stepped up their game, upgrading my defence from the third worst in Serie A to the best. The other major reason was a switch I made up front. Cristian Tiboni has been a great servant for the club, but his inability to deal with pressure being put on him by other managers meant I was forced to drop him and I'm considering selling him on. In his place started Frenchman David Bon, who is possibly the most maddening player I've ever come across on FM. His pace and skill on the ball meant he caused havoc in defences, but his poor finishing and mental stats meant that he failed to convert as many of them as I'd like - perhaps the most common commentary line I saw this season was "Bon did so well until the finish". His discipline is terrible, too - 15 yellows and 2 reds over the course of the season. Having said that, he's actually given me a real appreciation for the match engine and SI's new method of generating players from templates - he plays in games exactly as you'd expect based on his stats with lots of skillful running with an inconsistent end product and as a result, I can see how he's generated from the same template as a Theo Walcott, for example. Still, other players benefitted from his inability to finish, with winger Mads Nielsen in particular stepping up his goalscoring from last season.

The star man, however, was Odibe again. The central defender performed even better than last year. He was second in avaerage rating again, behind back-up fullback Nicolas Guerrero who bdidn't play much, with a higher average than last season (7.24) and he secured 8 man of the match awards, which lead the rest of the team. His 5 goals were a useful contribution, good enough for joint third on the team and a demonstration of the threat he posed from set-pieces. Also notable was a dramatic improvement in his discipline, drawing only 4 yellow cards all season. The other stand-out player was Gustavo Mutti, who managed to get himself selected in the Serie A Team of the Year, which is a good reflection of hsi value to me. I wish he'd quit complaining about wanting to move to a bigger club, though...

The Finances

The clubs finances are in very good shape now. The new stadium is definitely helping a lot - it's massively improved our income and we're very profitable now, making over £8m last season. Hopefully they might actually let me spend some of it...

The Future

The future is looking quite bright for the club. Obviously, EURO Cup football is going to be useful in terms of increasing the club's reputation and bringing in solid income, which can only benefit the club, although there will be concerns over fixture congestion. With European football, though, comes the spectre of my lack of home-grown players. Clearly, we need to produce more of our own players in order to be able to select European squads. At the moment, I'm going to have to leave gaps in the squad to make up for my lack of players.

[b][u][color="red"]CLUB HISTORY[/color][/u][/b]

[b]SEASON	LEAGUE	POS.	Notes[/b]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]11/12[/b]	C2/A	[url=http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee69/DizzyIzzyB13/AC%20Voghera/2011-2012/SerieC2ATable.png]1st[/url]	Champions, Serie C Cup winners, Serie C2 Super Cup winners
[b]12/13[/b]	C1/A	[url=http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee69/DizzyIzzyB13/AC%20Voghera/2012-2013/ItalianSerieC1A.png]1st[/url]	Champions, Serie C Cup Winners, Serie C1 Super Cup runners-up
[b]13/14[/b]	B	[url=http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee69/DizzyIzzyB13/AC%20Voghera/2013-2014/SerieB.png]2nd[/url]	Promoted
[b]14/15[/b]	A	[url=http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee69/DizzyIzzyB13/AC%20Voghera/2014-2015/SerieA.png]17th[/url]
[b]15/16[/b]	A	[url=http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee69/DizzyIzzyB13/AC%20Voghera/2015-2016/SerieA.png]6th[/url]	Italian Cup winners, qualified for EURO Cup
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[b][u][color="red"]TROPHY CABINET[/color][/u][/b]

[b]Italian Cup[/b] - [url=http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee69/DizzyIzzyB13/AC%20Voghera/2015-2016/ItalianCup.png]15/16[/url]

[b]Italian Serie C1/A[/b] - [url=http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee69/DizzyIzzyB13/AC%20Voghera/2012-2013/ItalianSerieC1A.png]12/13[/url]

[b]Italian Serie C2/A[/b] - [url=http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee69/DizzyIzzyB13/AC%20Voghera/2011-2012/SerieC2ATable.png]11/12[/url]

[b]Italian Serie C Cup[/b] - [url=http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee69/DizzyIzzyB13/AC%20Voghera/2011-2012/SerieCCup.png]11/12[/url], [url=http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee69/DizzyIzzyB13/AC%20Voghera/2012-2013/ItalianSerieCCup.png]12/13[/url]

[b]Italian Serie C2 Super Cup[/b] - [url=http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee69/DizzyIzzyB13/AC%20Voghera/2011-2012/SerieC2SuperCup.png]11/12[/url]

[b][u][color=purple]MANAGER AWARDS[/color][/u][/b]

[b]Italian Serie B Manager of the Year - [url=http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee69/DizzyIzzyB13/AC%20Voghera/2013-2014/SerieBManageroftheYear.png]2013/2014[/url][/b]

[b]Italian Serie C1/A Manager of the Year - [url=http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee69/DizzyIzzyB13/AC%20Voghera/2012-2013/SerieC1AManageroftheYear.png]2012/2013[/url][/b]

[b]Italian Serie C2/A Manager of the Year - [url=http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee69/DizzyIzzyB13/AC%20Voghera/2011-2012/SerieC2AManageroftheYEar.png]2011/2012[/url][/b]

brettney1980 · December 1, 2010

that is a tough group Brettney
Edit: I'm nine points clear of Leverkusen with 3 games to play. If we get a point the league is ours

Good luck, let in my our first goal in 8 games (first defeat in 10) in a 1-0 loss to Spartak 2 points clear at the top though after 21 games.

Home vs Wolfsburg next ...

brettney1980 · December 1, 2010

Wow alot of draws there DizzyIzzy good season getting into Europe though.

EDIT: What a time for Chazika (CB) to score his first goal, and help us beat Wolfsburg 1-0!

EDIT2: Wow just beat Rubin in league and who should score again!? Chazika and in come the bids damn those vultures ...

DizzyIzzyB13 · December 1, 2010

There've been a lot of teams who've drawn a lot of games in Serie A in my game - the season before, Bologna drew 17 whilst getting relegated, and in the first season, 3 teams drew 15. It's weird, it's not like I was getting a lot of similar draws, I got the full range of them, from 0-0 snoozefests to 0-0 games where it's a miracle nobody scored to close games where I couldn't hold on to win to close games I had to come back to level to a 4-4 where I blew a lead... I guess it was just one of those seasons.

brettney1980 · December 1, 2010

There've been a lot of teams who've drawn a lot of games in Serie A in my game - the season before, Bologna drew 17 whilst getting relegated, and in the first season, 3 teams drew 15. It's weird, it's not like I was getting a lot of similar draws, I got the full range of them, from 0-0 snoozefests to 0-0 games where it's a miracle nobody scored to close games where I couldn't hold on to win to close games I had to come back to level to a 4-4 where I blew a lead... I guess it was just one of those seasons.

I've had one of those last season actually drew 10 altogether 8 in 10 games near the season start!

EDIT: Beat Brasov 3-2 (Away) and Inter and Wolfsburg drew soo .. We're top!!!

rlipscombe · December 1, 2010

PRDH - not the best start there!! some promising signings though who should serve you well in the future. good luck turning that form around.

DizzyIzzyB13 - congrats on reaching the european places and for winning the Coppa Italia!! great achivement for you there. good luck for the new season. hopefully you can maintain that late season form and push on towards the Top 4 next season.

brettney1980 · December 1, 2010

Lost both Euro Cup games vs Inter (2-1 @ Home, 4-0 Away).

In League with 3 games to go we're top and looking atleast garenteed a Champions League spot next year.

EDIT: 1 game to go Home vs Krasnodar (who are bottom already down) Draw or Win and we're champions.

PRDH · December 1, 2010

First win of the season! In the tenth game of the season, so I'd better not get carried away! But still! I don't know what happened but I beat Betis 5-1!

brettney1980 · December 1, 2010

Good win PRDH have you managed enough draws to keep you out of relegation zone??

EDIT: Half Time 2-0 up and Zenit are losing 1-0 soo we're in drivers seat .. Got to be our year now right!?

EDIT2: FC Chita are crowned Russian Premier League Champions!! Brettney Glazastov enters the Russian Hall of Fame!

PRDH · December 1, 2010

Good win PRDH have you managed enough draws to keep you out of relegation zone??

Definitely not. I've got one win, one draw and eight losses! I'm not bottom though. Because Osasuna have only got two draws.

DizzyIzzyB13 · December 1, 2010

My board have such low expectations, they've set me the target of reaching the fourth qualifying round of the Italian Cup. This year, I'm starting from the first round, one round later...

rlipscombe · December 1, 2010

congrats Brettney!!

DizzyIzzyB13 · December 1, 2010

Aaaaaand into the EURO Cup group stages I go with 2-1 and 2-0 wins over Kilmarnock. Not the most challenging tie, it has to be said.

Seeded third for the group stage, I drew Ajax, Celtic and APOEL. Not the worst draw, I might be able to get out of this group...

rlipscombe · December 1, 2010

not a bad draw at all that Dizzy..... good luck.

brettney1980 · December 1, 2010

Good draw Dizzy can see you getting out of that ..

Just drew 1-1 with Wolfsburg in Euro Cup a draw against FC Brasov (@ Home) will be enough to put us through.

Almondo · December 1, 2010

Season review 2017/18 - Wuppertaler SV Borussia

League - 1st

Well what can I say. We hit the top and stayed there only losing one game all season long. I can't be any happier with the boys.

German Cup -

1st RD away @ Osterholz

2nd RD away @ Koln

3rd RD home vs Kaiserslauten

Qtr Final away @ Osnabruck

Semi Final away @ 1860 Munchen

Final neutral venue vs FC Bayern

so we couldn't hold onto our German cup but it pales into significance with the league win

The European Adventure

Final Group table

Fiorentina         H [url=http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/almondsnuts/big%20euro/season%208/HFiorentina.png]1-1[/url] Champions Cup Grp E
Rangers            A [url=http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/almondsnuts/big%20euro/season%208/ARangers.png]3-0[/url] Champions Cup Grp E
Liverpool          H [url=http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/almondsnuts/big%20euro/season%208/HLiverpool.png]0-0[/url] Champions Cup Grp E
Liverpool          A [url=http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/almondsnuts/big%20euro/season%208/ALiverpool.png]1-1[/url] Champions Cup Grp E
Fiorentina         A [url=http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/almondsnuts/big%20euro/season%208/AFiorentina.png]0-0[/url] Champions Cup Grp E
Rangers            H [url=http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/almondsnuts/big%20euro/season%208/HRangers.png]1-0[/url] Champions Cup Grp E

Olympique Lyonnais H [url=http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/almondsnuts/big%20euro/season%208/1stkoleg1.png]1-1[/url] Champions Cup 1st KO RD 1st leg
Olympique Lyonnais A [url=http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/almondsnuts/big%20euro/season%208/1stkoleg2.png]1-2[/url] Champions Cup 1st KO RD 2nd leg

So out at the same point I was last year. I enjoyed the run in the ECC this season. Hopefully we can take it further next season.

Transfers

Not many in but a few let go free.

Finances

Finances supplemented by prize money once again.

Key Players

Martin Franc. every team needs a good stopper between the sticks and I have one in this Czech player

Borja. Another good season for the young spaniard.

Tonnie Litjens.. Has taken the left back spot and made it his own.

Tomas Bohac. Another great seasin for the Czech international.

Ernesto Theiler. Another good season for the right winger.

Keiran Gibbs. Another good season down the left for Gibbs.

One's for the future

a couple this time round.

Javier Garde. This young spanish keeper could be great in years to come and he's already had offers placed for him which I turned down.

Andrey Akimov. This young russian has come into the team with the youth team.

Yasin Acar. Signed as a long term replacement for Gibbs. Hopefully he'll be great in the future.

other news

I got the Manager of the Year and the Player's Manager of the Year. Meanwhile Tomas Bohac was chosen in the Team of the Year. The board are also making more of the stadium seated with the addition of 4,245 seats.

Season  |   Division    |  position  |    Cup       |  Europe          | Acheivements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11/12   |   German 3rd  |     2nd    |   N/A        | N/A              | Promotion
12/13   |   German 2nd  |     5th    |  1st RD      | N/A              |  None
13/14   |   German 2nd  |     1st    |  Qtr Final   | N/A              | Champions
14/15   |   Bundesliga  |     6th    |  Semi Final  | N/A              | Stayed up.
15/16   |   Bundesliga  |     3rd    |  3rd RD      | N/A              | Champions League Qualification
16/17   |   Bundesliga  |     2nd    |  2nd RD      | ECC Group stage  | Champions League Qualification
17/18   |   Bundesliga  |     2nd    |  Winner      | ECC 1st KO rd    | German cup winners
18/19   |   Bundesliga  |     1st    |  Runner Up   | ECC 1st KO rd    | League Winners

Wuppertaler SV Borussia 100 club

Name            | Position    | Apps    |    Years        | Goals        | AvR
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Johnny Leoni    |   GK        | 129     | 2012-2017       |   0          | 6.88     
Andrea Romano   |   MC        | 207     | 2012-present    |   29         | 7.07
Michele Rigione |   DC        | 188     | 2011-Present    |   10         | 7.02
Badri Akubardiya|   DL        | 125     | 2014-present    |   6          | 6.94
Ernesto Theiler |   M/AMR     | 144     | 2014-present    |   20         | 7.01
Luca Siligardi  |   AMR/L     | 164     | 2011-present    |   23         | 6.90
Yakubu          |   ST        | 135     | 2014-present    |   62         | 7.07
Paul Pogba      |   MC        | 118     | 2014-present    |   13         | 7.00
Domagoj Duspara |   AML       | 140     | 2011-Present    |   15         | 6.93
Juho Makela     |   ST        | 119     | 2011-Present    |   73         | 7.11
Daniel Halke    |   DC        | 103     | 2012-present    |   4          | 7.00
Borja           |   DRC       | 128     | 2015-present    |   5          | 7.15
Jermain Defoe   |   ST        | 124     | 2015-present    |   49         | 7.07

Major Competiton winners

Champions Cup - Man Utd

Euro Cup - Arsenal

brettney1980 · December 2, 2010

Great season Almondo good luck going further in Champions League next season.

brettney1980 · December 2, 2010

Brettneys Russian Adventure Season 8 - 2018!

A great season and the formation/tactics i struggled with the previous season came good this year, signed players to suit the formation and they came good. Maxim Fomin came in on loan and from his hattrick in his first game he went from good to excellent we had an agreement in place to sign him for 2.6m after his loan but even though i'm on his favoured personnel list he wouldn't even enter nogotiations this was the only real bad point in the season. We made the Euro Cup group stage and with Inter, Wolfsburg and FC Brasov of Romania in the group we weren't too confident until that is .. We beat Wolfsburg first game (@ Home) then beat Brasov (Away) and we dared to dream. We lost both games vs Inter but came back with a draw in Wolfsburg and even though we lost at Home to FC Brasov (very dissapointing performance) it was enough to see us through and we face Tottenham in the first KO round!

Finances - Transfers - Confidence.

Table - Graph.

Awards: Manager of the Year + GK of the Year.

A typical FC Chita Lineup;

GK, Nigmatullin

RB, Korobov

CB, Chazika

CB, Marquinhos Parana

LB, Tagirbekov

DMC, Landeka

CM, Tupazinho

CM, Golyshev

AMR, Shalaev

AML, Piazon

CF, Fomin

Season      Division            Position   Trophys      Acheivements
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011        First Division      14th       None
2012        First Division      11th       None
2013        First Division      3rd        None      Manager of Year 3rd.
2014        First Division   Champions, 1st Div Title  Manager of Year!.
2015         Premier Div.       5th        None       Qualified 4 Euro Cup.
2016         Premier Div.       4th        None       Won vs CSKA Moscow
2017         Premier Div.       4th        None       Euro Cup 4th Qual. RD
2018         Premier Div.       1st!     Premier Div. Russian Champions!

Almondo · December 2, 2010

Thanks Brettney. Congrats on the league win there as well.

rlipscombe · December 2, 2010

two cracking league wins there Almondo and Brettney...... good luck with your respective CL campaigns next season too.

PRDH · December 3, 2010

Some great seasons coming in now guys.

Unfortunately mine isn't one of them. I'm 7-0 down at the Camp Nou after 50 minutes. Embarrassing. Still, it's not these games that are going to make or break my season. I just hope it doesn't destroy the team's morale.

[edit] - I think that's my worst performance ever, on any version of this game. Final score was 10-0. Humiliating!

Lower Leagues Rule · December 3, 2010

You should post that in the records thread

Biggest defeat - maztheplaya - Dorchester vs Truro - 6:2 - Proof

Haha...sorry PRDH, best of luck heading forward, I am sitting here with my brand new laptop getting everything set-up ready to go for Football Manager 2011.

Important Installs in order: Google Chrome (IE sucks), Steam, FM11...anything else.

ToMexico!! · December 3, 2010

2020/21 - Hallescher FC - German First Division

Transfers - 9 IN for 18.75m & 22 OUT for £3.5m

Lots out this season as many youth players were released. Josh Gray was the only first team player to come in, he slotted in beside Jacobs in CM to replace the ageing Tiote or Gago. I spent a huge 8m on a 17 year old DC who has great potential, although he became unhappy very easily as he was not playing much.

League - 1st

Second league title in a row with Bayern this time pushing us all the way. I did open up a nice 7 point gap but managed to lose to Bayern and draw with Kaiserslauten, which closed the gap. But four wins from four at the end kept the momentum up and meant we held on to that top spot.

German Cup - Quarter Final

Cruised past BFC Dynamo, just got by Koln and eased past HSV. I then had to play Dortmund in the quarter finals at a bad time really, players were knackered from European games but nevermind, slight progression.

Champions League - Semi-Finals

Qualified top of a group consisting of Anderlecht, Juventus and Man Utd. We played CSKA Moscow in the first KO round and beat them home and away in a couple of close games. German rivals Leverksuen were up next in the quarter finals and we lost 2-1 in their backyard but managed a 1-0 home win to send us through on away goals. In the semi's Porto were just far too strong for us as we lost home and away 3-0 on aggregate.

Squad - GK/DF

Squad - MF/ST

Clean Sweep from Gokay Kok, leading the goalscorer, goal making, Man of the Match and average ratings charts.

Other Notable Players - Tevfik Baytar and Gonzalo Barreto

Finances - Again in comes the prize money, around 45m this season. Ever improving sponsorship is generating over 10m a season too which is great. Still knocked back about the new stadium. Will ask now as I have money in the bank. Although the board have agreed to improve the youth recruitment network.

Season  | League          | Pos  | Cup           | Europe            | Other Achievements
11/12   | 3rd Division    | 2nd  | n/a           | n/a               | Promoted
12/13   | 2nd Division    | 10th | 1st Rnd       | n/a               | Consolidation
13/14   | 2nd Division    | 3rd  | 2nd Rnd       | n/a               | Lost in Play-Off Final
14/15   | 2nd Division    | 2nd  | 2nd Rnd       | n/a               | Promoted 
15/16   | 1st Division    | 11th | 2nd Rnd       | n/a               | Survival
16/17   | 1st Division    | 5th  | 2nd Rnd       | n/a               | European Qualification
17/18   | 1st Division    | 3rd  | Qtr Final     | Europa 1st KO     | Champions League Qualification
18/19   | 1st Division    | 2nd  | 2nd Round     | CL Qtr Final      | So close! 
19/20   | 1st Division    | 1st  | 2nd Round     | Semi's of EL      | Champions
20/21   | 1st Division    | 1st  | Qtr Final     | CL Semi Final     | Champions

PRDH · December 3, 2010

Well. For better or worse my first La Liga season is over. I'm out tonight, so I'll write up a report tomorrow for you all. I'm going to keep you in suspense until then, I'll just let you all have a look at this humiliating result and see what conclusions you can draw from it for how the rest of the season went!

Ohanzee · December 3, 2010

So much great progress in here in just a couple of days.

PRDH - Congrats on the promotion! I see it's not started well in the top division. Hope you can fight yourself into a safe spot. Ouch! At the Nou Camp experience. Aww, you're done. Well I really hope you made it out of the relegation zone, but I'm guessing not if you're using that result as a picture of the season?

LLR - Congrats on the promotion!

DizzyIzzyB13 - Great season! Good luck in Europe! Board expectations can be weird some times to say the least.

Almondo - Congrats on winning the league!

brettney1980 - Congrats on winning the league! Good luck against Tottenham!

ToMexico!! - Congrats on another league title! Great run in the ECC. Getting close!

rlipscombe · December 3, 2010

PRDH that was a tough result!! what went wrong??

good luck with the new laptop LLR....

brettney1980 · December 3, 2010

Well done getting to the Champs league Semi's ToMexico good league win looked close.

rlipscombe · December 3, 2010

1. C.S. Louhans-Cuiseaux

Ligue 2 - Season Preview 2012/13| Transfers |

Summary

So, after last season's shock promotion i have set about building a squad capable of competing in Ligue 2. Looking at my squad i felt that we were quite lucky to gain promotion and i had to make some wholesale changes to give myself a fighting chance. The board gave me £2.2 million to spend and a wage budget of 29k p/w which was a help. however, some of the budget has been converted to wages to help bring in sufficient quality.

The Players

Here’s a look at some of the key players for me in my promotion season:

Goalkeepers

Quentin Beunardeau - young French keeper brought in for his potential. Rated as being a good Ligue 1 keeper, he could well be my future and willpush Aymes hard in the coming years

Loris Delle - keeper sent to me by parent club Metz. decent back-up, but unlikely to be more than that.

Defenders

Nuelson Wau - Dutch Antilles RB with plenty of experience. Will strengthen our RB options

Benjamin Mendy - Young French LB with plenty of potential. Has started a few games early on but didn't set the world alight....

Sylvain Armand - Experienced French defender released by PSG - delighted to bring him in and he is the new club captain.

Matheus Vivian - Another experienced head, signed after his release by Nantes. Adds competition

Stjepan Cvitkovic - signed on a pre-contract he will also provide plenty of options in central defence.

Maxime Ruggeri - Belgian LB with loads of potential....

Midfielders

Nabil El Zhar - Moroccan winger signed on a free. Ex-Liverpool player, his career must have tailed off to join us. Fand were unsure about signing but i have high hopes for him.

Stephane Dalmat - Experienced French midfielder who can play central but whom has performed well in LM. Will give Gohiri a real push for his place.

Edouard Cisse - you guessed it, another experienced Frenchman signed after his release by Marseille. hopefully his experience will be vital this season.

Mourad Meghni - Algerian midfielder signed on a free after his release by Lazio. We have some real options in midfield now and he just adds to them.

Viktor Macek - young left winger with plenty of potential. will be a star for us soon hopefully. youngest player to have played for Louhans-Cuiseaux by almost 2 years.

Thorgan Hazard - brother of Eden, Thorgen has just as much potential and i was determined to get him. 300k did the trick. French U-21 midfielder.

Franck Raffalli - another signing with an eye on the future, he could also be a great player for the club in upcoming seasons.

Kamel Ramdani - Algrerian attacking midfielder will bulk up our midfield options.

Kevin Konstant - Guinean midfielder with bags of ability. hoping for a good season from him.

Strikers

Ali Mathlouthi - Signed on a free after leaving Strasbourg, he was National topscorer last season. pleased to have him, hopefully he can step up to Ligue 2.

Pavel Nemec - Young Czech striker signed for £160k. plenty of potential but also a real 1st team contender too.

Jonathan Nanizayamo - Young African ST with potential.

My Predicted "best newcomer" - Stephane Dalmat

My Predicted "best youth signing of season" - Thorgan Hazard

Targets

Survival - that’s what it’s all about really. I hope my squad is good enough - time will tell.

ALLEZ LES ROUGES ET JAUNES!!

Ohanzee · December 4, 2010

Looks promising rlipscombe. Think Hazard will be a great capture, whether you get to keep him for his career or not. Good luck!

I've got going a bit again myself. Been scouting the European International U19, 21 and 23 teams for youngsters with no contracts. Didn't manage to attract to many, but a few. Problem is they are all away on duty while we play games. Bit of a fail there on my part, but we got a more than big enough squad to cope.

Still going for youngsters, and our oldest player atm is 23 years of age. Average age of the squad is 20. I like it. :cool:

So far we're doing good in the Serie C1/A. It doesn't seem to have that much higher quality compared to C2, but we've only played 4 of the teams yet, so to early to tell. We're already out of the Italian Cup. Almost managed to cause an upset against Padova (Serie B), but after 0-0 in 120' minutes we lost 5-4 on penalties.

yababo · December 4, 2010

Absolutely gutted my file has corrupted for Sports Interactive. Had to delete and reinstall. Gonna have a crack at Germany. Had just got to Serie A with Perugia.

Proflile - Stuttgarter Kickers

Lower Leagues Rule · December 4, 2010

Newton's Darfo Boario

End of Season

2014/15 Serie C2/A

Persistence for Promotion

The Present

The Quick Reference

Predicted: 12th

Actual: 2nd (Graph)

Serie C Cup: 1st Round - 3rd Group B

The Manager: Jono Newton - History

Finances: £50k [£550k Loan] (126th Ita)

Season Tickets: 393 (NC)

The Squad: Top XVIII

Transfers: 2013/14 In:9 (£0k), Out:15 (£28.5k)

Confidence: Very Secure 67%

Achievements: 23/86 (^8%)

The Tale of the Tape

The Serie C Cup saw us drop from Group A into Group B as there were a lot more Northern clubs this season, though we won 2 at home we lost both away to finish 3rd once more.

As the graph above shows in the league we started a little poorly before climbing comfortably into the playoff positions, this seemed to fall apart after we drew with Pizzighettone who were only in the mid table positions. After that it took us 9 games before we grabbed another win, but 6 straight wins to finish the season saw us climb up into 2nd and straight into the playoffs.

The Playoff semi-finals saw us meet Venezia, this meant we faced them for 3 straight games, the final league game saw us win 1:0, we then traveled away for the first leg of the playoffs. We managed to steal a 2-1 victory and went home knowing that a draw would be enough to take us through. A solid 2:0 victory with another goal to Vojtus put us into the final against Bassano.

The Final, as per the rules the top side travels in the first leg and we took a 3:2 victory from that game, and a 3:0 victory at home gave us an easy victory and a great promotion. Jakub Vojtus has been on fire all season, delighted to then see him named Fans Player of the Year.

The Key Players

This is our normal line-up in the season. The fans player of the year was named as Jakub Vojtus.

Goalkeepers

GK: Daniele Garlini - He beat out Mehmedi early on this season and never looked back after that. A fairly solid season for the Italian Keeper, not sure if he can actually make the step up though.

Defense

DL: Alan Pereira Emperur - A solid season at left back

DC: Liberato Filosa - The strength of the backline early on, he fell into shadow behind Dentice.

DC: Manuel Dentice - WOW, I signed him as a back-up to fill some roster space, but in the end he was far and away the best player in the centre we had completely dominating the opposition near the end.

DR: Martin Cimmona - He started out in the same effort as the previous season, but fell out of favour once Dentice came along and dropped to the reserves.

DRC: Olivier N'Siabamfumu - Captain Fantastic, solid in all positions across the back.

Midfield

MC: Alessandro Borgese - The only remaining member of last seasons midfield was only on the bench, but better than out of a job.

MR: Fabio Lauria - Started on the transfer list as he looked to be the lesser of all our right wing options, but a double injury to Turner & Dianda saw him step in and steal the job.

MC: Roberto Previtali - One of two central midfielders signed for the season, solid.

MC: Filippo Carobbio - Solid strength in the midfield and he scored plenty as well.

ML: Raffaele Vallefuoco - The Left wing has become a true pillar of strength for this team now. Will be hoping to stay with the squad following the promotion.

Strikers

ST: Alessandro Cerri - The best striker last season has dropped behind Vojtus, but with a 2 ST formation being used now he topped the assists for our squad and the league even though he was supposed to be the Poacher, and Vojtus the Target Man.

ST: Jakub Vojtus - The target man was the real difference maker this season, plenty of goals and substantially better than it could've been.

Youth Watch

Link to Neppo's Post

ML: Claudio D'Eugenio (YP1) -

DRC: Leonardo Gambini (YP2a) -

MRC: Mike Turner (YP2b) -

DR: Andrea Cancello (YP3) -

The Past

League Records

|----------|----------|-----------|----------|-----------------------------------|
|  Season  |  League  | Final Pos |  Europe  |           Achievements            |
|----------|----------|-----------|----------|-----------------------------------|
|  [url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/233557-FM11-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=6098653&viewfull=1#post6098653"]2011/12[/url] |   C2/A   |    [url="http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/2193/italianseriec2ainformat.png"]7th[/url]    |          |               None                |
|  [url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/233557-FM11-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=6126963&viewfull=1#post6126963"]2012/13[/url] |   C2/A   |    [url="http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/2193/italianseriec2ainformat.png"]4th[/url]    |          |         Playoff Semi Loser        |
|  [url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/233557-FM11-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=6169565&viewfull=1#post6169565"]2013/14[/url] |   C2/A   |    [url="http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/2193/italianseriec2ainformat.png"]6th[/url]    |          |               None                |
|  [url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/233557-FM11-Big-Euro-Nation-Small-Club-to-Big-Club-Challenge?p=6222938&viewfull=1#post6222938"]2014/15[/url] |   C2/A   |    2nd    |          |             Promotion             |
|----------|----------|-----------|----------|-----------------------------------|

Club Records & Competition History

All Records:

Competition History:

Serie C2A: 2nd 2015

U20s Group 5: Winners 2014, 2013

The All-time Stars

All time Best XI

The 100 Club

Player                   Apps  Gls Asts MoM Av Rat
----------------------------------------------------
Alessandro Borgese     127(20)  33  25  11   6.97
Olivier N'Siabamfumu   129 (2)   2   4   2   6.97
Alessandro Cerri        98 (9)  37  37  15   7.12

The Future

Predicted Finish: 18th

Expectations: Avoid Relegation

Transfer Budget: 0k

Wage Budget: 11.5k

The Signings: None

The Youth: Italo Frara

Screenshots are still to come. Had an issue with taking screenshots on my new laptop.

SnakeXe · December 4, 2010

SnakeXe's Messina - Season 11 - 2021/22

Story of the Season:

Serie A - 9th

This was a weird season, to begin with we seemed to draw every bloody match, then in the second half of the season we'd go on a massive losing run, then a massive winning run, regardless of the quality of the opposition, with our form only becoming slightly normal towards the end of the season. As it is, we ended up in limbo on the last day, with the possibility of ending up anywhere between 6th and 11th depending on the day's results.

We were away against the side below us, Napoli, but we'd been performing well recently and I had high hopes we'd take a win to put pressure on the teams above us. As it was, we did play well, but couldn't break down the Neapolitan defence, ending with a 0-0. Sadly, we actually slipped down a place, as Udinese climbed above us on their superior head-to-head.

So, a sort of season of regression really, although it probably didn't deserve to be. We're performing better against the big teams, but becoming more complacent against the small ones. Think I might have to rethink my tactics or something.

Coppa Italia - Quarter Final

Beat rivals Catania with a resounding 4-1 win in the 1st Round before losing to Roma in the Quarter Final.

Europa League - 1st Knockout Round

Almost a carbon copy of our first campaign, knocking out Eastern European opposition on the qualifiers, this time disposing of Croatian side Rijeka, before being drawn in a group with a big English club - for last season's Man City we had Liverpool.

The other two clubs in the group were Hannover and Lech, and luckily we were able to pick up enough points from them to get through the group in second place, because Liverpool tore us a new one home and away.

Surprise surprise, Valencia lay in wait in the 1st Knockout Round. Surprise surprise, they scored 5 goals against us and knocked us out again, before being knocked out in the Semi-Finals themselves. Again. I feel like Bill Murray.

Results 1 - Results 2 - Results 3 - Squad

Transfers - £26m Loss

Again, shocked at how much I ended up spending. I'm definitely going to have to dial it back next season as with all the transfer fees we're paying over 48 months we're starting to lose money. Best signing was probably Walter Aguero, despite his injury problems he brought a touch of class to proceedings, and for once we had a reliable penalty taker. Only outs were squad players who'd gotten old (Rossi, Marino, Ortiz) or were on stupid wages compared to their ability (Fernandez, Ismodes).

5 Most Important Players:

5. Yohan Sallaberry - AML - Deputised well for Pagola, shame they play in the same position.

4. Walter Aguero - ST - Did well enough to make me hopeful for next season, his injury problems stopped him from getting going so many times though.

3. Stefano Tulino - D/DM/MRC - The rock that holds our defence together.

2. Abel Petrillo - ST - Turned provider a lot more often this season, bringing his goal total down a little. Still managed to become our record goalscorer, and still a huge player for us.

1. Jon Pagola - AMLC - Cracked our record for assist making this year with a mighty 18.

History:

Season    League                  Position  Achievements                   
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011/12   Serie C2/C              2nd       Serie C Cup Runners Up, Playoff Finalists
2012/13   Serie C2/C              1st       Serie C2/C Champions, Promoted
2013/14   Serie C1/B              5th       Playoff Semi-Finalists
2014/15   Serie C1/B              2nd       Playoff Winners, Promoted
2015/15   Serie B                 12th      
2016/17   Serie B                 2nd       Promoted
2017/18   Serie A                 20th      Relegated
2018/19   Serie B                 2nd       Promoted
2019/20   Serie A                 7th       Qualified for Europa League
2020/21   Serie A                 6th       Qualified for Europa League
2021/22   Serie A                 9th

Messina 100 Club:

A list of those Messina players who make 100 or more appearances for the club under my management.

Name                Pos        Era                    Apps   Goals     AvR
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mauro Vigorito      GK         2011-Present            217       0    6.82
Abel Petrillo       ST         2016-Present            199     100    7.17
Nicolas Amodio      DM/MC      2012-2018               183      12    6.93
Antonio Marino      DLC        2013-2021               180       5    6.88
Mario Ortiz         DM/MC      2013-2021               169       5    6.83
Patxi Rodriguez     DM/MC      2017-Present            168      13    6.85
Enzo Scorza         ST         2012-2018               159      82    7.24
Nicolas             D/DM/MC    2015-Present            159       5    6.85
Victor Amoruso      MC         2018-Present            159      13    6.94
Rosario Licata      D/WB/ML    2011-2016               146       3    6.92
Francesc Alcalde    AMLC/ST    2014-2020               145      45    6.98
Luca Tedeschi       DC         2012-2018               139       8    7.09
Filippo Vitone      AMRC       2018-Present            138      22    7.08
Mogi                DRC        2017-Present            134       0    6.76
Nicola Ravaglia     GK         2018-Present            127       0    6.90
Diego Farias        AMRLC      2015-2019               126      19    6.90
Davide Testa        AM/ST      2011-2015               121      40    7.04
Mauro Quiroga       DM/MC      2019-Present            111       9    7.04
Rene Kooiman        DC         2019-Present            105       2    6.84
Ruben               AML        2015-2019               103       7    6.86
Stefano Tulino      D/DM/MRC   2019-Present            103      11    7.10
Fausto Rossi        AML        2016-Present            102      18    6.97

Next Season:

Definitely need to get back into Europe, but would also like to make a real positive statement about the club going forward. Therefore, next season's target is 5th place.

Forza Messina!

PRDH · December 4, 2010

End of Season Update - U.D. Pajara Playas de Jandia - 2017/18

"The continued adventure of the challenge's sunshine team."

Transfer Budget: £1,602,276

Wage Budget: £94,000 per week

Finances: -£2,485,721

Transfers 13 IN (£1,100,000) and 15 OUT (£1,800,000)

(Lifted from my Pre-season update)