[FM22] San Marino build a nation (Folgore/Falciano)

[TheNapalmNerd]

Doyle contract extended

Two years added to his contract. By far our best player and we got rid of his release clause at the same time. Huge deal for the club.

[TheNapalmNerd]

A few upgrades!

 

We've been spending a lot of money lately as our economy is very strong. I think we're taking in about 30M euro from having players out on loan this season which combined with the money from entering the champions league and selling Palacios has put us in a very strong financial position. The money from the Jørgensen transfer hasn't been spent yet, as he'll join us in three days.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Announce Baturina

This is a transfer I'm very pleased with. He was already on a contract where we didn't need to pay extra for Inter to cover half his wages, and he is a player that will cover our right wing perfectly. One of the things I've come to like about this game is the fact that I'm using lots of players i've never had in my squad before. This guy feels like a huge upgrade on Yade, and another one that could take us higher in europe.

Still no new player at right back though. And no one special available yet. I'm checking for updates every day in who's available to us.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Sporting at home!

This is huge! We have a good chance of going through, but I'm still dreading the away game. Seven yellow cards tells the story of a team that were under pressure, and players who aren't at the level of the opposition, but we somehow managed to get a massive result.

I decided to keep Francis for the remainder of this season as he is a team leader, and he has been a valuable player to us for almost five seasons. I did not expect to be using him for that long,, when he signed the free transfer i august 2021. Now we're in 2026 and he is by far our longest serving player.

[TheNapalmNerd]

We finished the job - Through to the next round

A match I actually think could have gone either way, and with the way it played out, I was hoping to win, for the nation coefficient. A draw is a great result against Sporting in Portugal.

We're up against the record winners of the Europa League in the next round. Luckily we start at home. Our succes depends on that, but it will definitely be a hard draw, which won't grant us many chances of progression.

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

Some potential out on loan:

Two right backs, a left back, a right winger and a left winger.

There's lots of potential out there, and our future is looking very bright.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Win at home against Sevilla:

Things are not exactly good. They scored a penalty and a free kick, and those two goals put a lot of pressure on us in Sevilla, which I don't think we'll be able to cope with.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Massive win in Spain

This is crazy. We dominateed them and won both matches, and they even played with their best players in both matches. We've really moved forward this season with our signings and our general level of football in Europe. Next season will be exciting if we can get some replacements in goal, defence and attack. Our midfield is very strong now. Baturina has really been a delight in our squad.

Another unlucky draw, but then again. It's hard to be lucky in the draw with the remaining teams:

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

Win at home!

Once again Baturina is really doing a great job. I'm already checking in on him every week, to try and extend his contract and get rid of his release clause.

[TheNapalmNerd]

YEEEESSSS!!! Crucial draw!!!

Most definitely not an amazing match from us, but two individual goals from Joao Pedro (who is worth every penny we spent on him) and Dewsbury Hall, that secures a huge result and we are into the semi finals of the Europa League in only our fifth season. This is crazy!

We have Napoli next

[TheNapalmNerd]

Positive effect on reputation

[TheNapalmNerd]

Loss in Italy

Not a great match and Denys Bain my substitute has just signed for an extra season, but he might not be here next season anyways. I'm glad we got a goal, but it shows that we didnt have a home match in the first leg. We've been very strong in San Marino. I'm just hoping things can turn around, but this looks like the end for this season.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Season's over

Overall an okay performance against a much better squad than ours, and it of course also helped them that Osimhen is just a world class player, who can score from nothing. Heartbreaking as we were making a comeback and had leveled with them, before being overpowered by a mighty side.

The season is over, and now we're just waiting to see how things go in San Marino, and if there are any potential players in the transfer list. Right now there's not.

[TheNapalmNerd]

 

We're into the champions league qualification again.

Edited September 10, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

[TheNapalmNerd]

Club owner has changed:

This is great as the new vision for the club is to develop young players using the clubs facilities, and right away this happened:

Our economy is still looking great, and we have lots of assets in our squad, if anything happens. We're rejecting lots of bid for our players right now. It will take some serious bids as we are not able to buy any replacements that are near the level of our current best players.

 

And another upgrade:

Really enjoying that last one as there no longer seem to be any restrictions in our transfer setup except for our still abysmal reputation of course. But we're moving forward very fast. If we can have another season like the last one, we'll get very far.

Edited September 10, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

First round of qualifying. - Hapoel Haifa away

Not much to say. We've been in the champions league the last two seasons and I'm expecting us to go at least into the playoffs. Only new face so far in the squad is centre back Rhys Williams who we signed up on a free transfer after he was let go by Liverpool:

[TheNapalmNerd]

Next up we have the Georgian champions:

[TheNapalmNerd]

Huge amounts of money are going into the club right now:

Dewsbury-Hall was third choice in midfield and we've got his replacement Romeo Lavia lined up on a free transfer, so this seems like a no brainer and my director thought the same as well.

Right now we have three more players on the verge of leaving for high sums:

I've already replaced Badé with Rhys Williams in central Defence, and Iluz is a player we signed on a free transfer and lent out hoping he could turn better than he has. Millan has scored many important goals, but will need replacing if we are to take a step to the next level. And we can easily replace him with a player on a free transfer, so the money will come dear.

Along with those four transfers we've sent lots of players out on loan with most loans contributing 175K a month for the next two seasons.

I've made sure that most players are out until the end of next season. This brings in a lot of money and the players will get consistent football elsewhere making sure they will enhance their abilities and become valuable assets at this club or another in the future.

[TheNapalmNerd]

[TheNapalmNerd]

First match in Tbilisi

Allround an excellent performance and a good match to get some new players in. We switched Baturina to the left hand side and threw Joao Pedro up front after Selling Millan and not being able to register a replacement in time. Cvetic is a serbian talent who can become very good in the future, and already has a high level being about 3,5 stars in the squad.

We've introduced our new full backs in this match. I made the mistake of not giving Olaza a new contract in time and he went away on a bosman. His replacement Doumbia is an okay player, but not at the level of Olaza:

We've also introduced Ronael Pierre-Gabriel as an alternative to Francis. We really a physically stronger player on the full back, and he gives us that upgrade. Other than that they are pretty level.

[TheNapalmNerd]

[TheNapalmNerd]

Win at home

Up against the croatioan champions next round:

[TheNapalmNerd]

Into the playoffs

[TheNapalmNerd]

We're basically in the Champions League

[TheNapalmNerd]

Three seasons in a row with champions League

Francis didn't do himself any good by getting a red card so fast. After five years in the starting lineup, it has become quite clear why he had to be replaced. He's been a great servant at this club and forever a legend in my opinion.

We're seeded third in the group stages once again:

And ended up in another strong group, although I believe we're at least at the same level as Celtic:

Third place should be possible once again.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Announce Valente

We needed a player who could backup both midfield and attack and Valente ticks those boxes providing classy cover and competing for the starting 11 both places.

 

Meanwhile we've said goodbye to our former first choice goalkeeper Finn Dahmen and replaced him with Inaki Pena:

Dahmen became unhapppy when we rejected offers for him and Pena is a capable replacement coming in on a free transfer. The sale of Dahmen has financed the acqusition of Valente.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Our odds have gone down

The last two seasons have seen us have odds as high as 6.001. We're still far from the top sides though.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Not a great start:

Hard to get a great result in this one, especially when your captain gets a red card in the middle of the pitch...

[TheNapalmNerd]

Loss in Liverpool

Didn't expect to get a result here anyways... The next two matches are what is important:

If we can get two good results vs. Celtic, everything can be fine.

Edited September 11, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

We take the first one at home!

Things got way too exciting at the end, but we managed to get the result and now we only need not to lose in the away game, then everything should be fine otherwise we're done for this season as we're not of the quality to get a result against Roma or Liverpool yet..

[TheNapalmNerd]

Win in Scotland

Crucial win and we are nearly in the Europa League!

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

Loss to Liverpool

Heartbreaking as they turn things around in the end after being under pressure most of the match. We would actually have gone through to the knockout stages of the Champions League had we won this match, but I didn't really expect a win, but was really hoping for the draw. That's not the worst thing however. Celtic beat Roma in Scotland, and are putting pressure on us before the last round.

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

Win in rome!!

A massive result in Rome, as we dominated Roma from the start of the game, knowing that it was a draw in Liverpool and one goal could throw us out of europe. Then in the 70th minute we finally got the goal that would secure our progress through to the Europa League knowing that it was still goalless in Liverpool, which would actually send us through to the first knockout round of the Champions League. My heart stopped when VAR came up and disallowed Paladinos goal. We secured it, and no goal was scored in Liverpool resulting in a huge upset in this group, and our best Champions League campaign so far:

[TheNapalmNerd]

We're underleved against all the seeded teams who were drawn second, and I actually think Milan was the lucky draw here. I'm hoping January is good transferwise.

[TheNapalmNerd]

The transferlist as of 15th december - With a well known face on it:

We're not really in the market for a central midfielder/left winger as those are the positions where we posses the most quality, but having Palacios back in our squad wouldn't hurt us. He's got a high reputation which might help our club stature as well. Letting go of him in the first place was the start of huge improvements in our squad as it opened up for us to buy several players that strengthened our starting 11. It might be a good idea to have him back already.

Looking at our best eleven, it might make sense to have him back and be a valuable starter or sub. We are still lacking full backs of higher quality. It seems the easiest place to strengthen so far is midfield. Pedro and Valente who play up front, were both bought for midfield as well.

[TheNapalmNerd]

A legend will be leaving the club

After a season where he hasn't played that much Francis came and asked to be loaned out in order to get first team football. At that age we'd rather sell him, and after offering him out two times a bunch of clubs came with attractive offers we couldn't reject. His presence in the squad will be missed.

Edited September 12, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

Announce Kristensen

Until now we haven't had the chance to succesfully cover up our right back, when suddenly both Kyle Walker Pieters and Rasmus Nissen Kristensen became available. Both are the same age, but Kristensen is a little better allround, and we went out and spent big on him. Money is no problem at the club right now, but we still did the payments after appearances clause because I know most of the players want short contracts with us. If they extend their contracts we'll be happy to pay. This is a huge upgrade in defence, and definitely one that will be good for the future.

Edited September 12, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

Announce Parisi

Another much needed improvement in our full backs. I would have liked someone of even better quality, but the market is not there right now, and Parisi is a great player after all.

[TheNapalmNerd]

I really like the new director

No arguments once again. This will be two upgrades to the youth facilities in one season, which is huge when considering that I managed to get the training facilities up to state of the art and our youth facilities stalled their evolution and currently only adequate. This will be good for the future of the club.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Something is happening in San Marino

This January transfer Window we managed to spend more money than all of La Liga Santander. We spend a lot of money on talent in the last week:

We managed to sign up Troy Parrot on a free transfer. He's an okay sub to have, and we need a player to balance out the squad as we didn't have enough players in the first team squad for the San Marino matches to be played with all reserves in games leading up to a european feature.

In Central defence we managed to get Matteo Lovato and Andrea Papetti, meaning we now have five players capable of playing in central defence and two who are there in terms of registration regulations.

 

Other than that we bought in some great talent that could be the future of this club and possibly world football. Matthew Taylor especially looks very good for the future. Russel, Taylor and Parodi have all been lent out to get first team football:

Great attributes and personality. Annoying height that might hinder him in the future as a defender, but for now we've signed him up to see what he can become.

Another one with great stats and personality. He looks the full package for the future. Could become very good within four seasons. His loan deals could pay a bit off his high price as well in the meantime.

Another one with great potential who could become very good if he realises his potential.

 

The January transfer window is over for now, and we've come out a lot stronger than before. We'll give Milan a run for the Champions League in the first knockout round. they still ahve a much better team than us, but we have high morale from always destroying the teams in San Marino, and a low reputation that might suggest they will underestimate us. I'm hoping that will do the difference. We do have a problem with players wanting away, which might potentially hinder us though:

These are all starters at the club...

Edited September 12, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League First Knockout Round: Milan (H) part 1

The starters:

This is about as good as it an get for us right now. Rønningen Jørgensen is suspended as the only player, and that would probably have moved Baturina out on the right wing. It is actually kind of a delight for me to see that Okoli is now the lowest rated defender in the starting 11. Our January transfer window has really changed a lot for the better in defence.

 

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League First Knockout Round: Milan (H) part 2

WE WON!!!

It's still very tight, but a win is a win and this is good both for coefficient and reputation, so we'll take it anyday! We actually dominated them for the first hour until the injury. I made a mistake in subbing Lavia in and moving the players a bit around. After only ten minutes on the pitch Lavia committed their penalty and then everything changed, and they put us under a lot of pressure. That win was spectacular.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Players out on loan:

As we have progressed a lot with our starting 11 so have our players out on loan. We have 2 players who could walk right into the first team right now and become valuable players had it not been for Kristensen and Doyle in their positions. Most of these are lend out for the next season as well.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Our season is over:

I had hoped for more, but they were just better than us and they absolutely destroyed us. This match actually highlights a problem we've had for some time. Our strikers aren't taking their chances. Martin is a talent whose progress has stalled because we've kept him at the club to become homegrown, and Valente is more of a midfielder.

I should also have put up a more defensive tactic in first place, but we're still hurt by registration regulations, and the fact that we keep on strengthening our squad all season, so there's naturally a problem in meeting registration.

Still. We were up against a better opposition and are just happy we made it into the latter stages. We really should have been in the europa league right now realistically speaking.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Youth intake:

I haven't made many updates on our youth intakes, and there's a specific reason for that. There's really not much to talk about if we want to focus on the positive future of San Marino

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Economy

Our economy is very strong even after a season where we paid off the cost of both Tommy Doyle and Joao Pedro, while buying a massive amount of talent for the club. Our loan players are bringing in a high amount of money every month for this club. I don't think there's much to do in the summer as we don't seem to have that many players of a sufficient level interested in joining us at the moment. so we might save up money for december/january when most players are available to us due to not getting enough gametime elsewhere.

Our biggest objective this summer is to solve an upcoming crisis in defence as Parisi our left back doesn't want to extend his contract unless we agree to unrealistic terms. I'm hoping we can solve that soon.