FM24 - I Rossoblù (Bologna FC 1909)

[Jogo Bonito]

My search through Italy (and Sicily) has taken more than one real month to reach this point.

I've created kits for Palermo, Juventus and (AC) Milan and even had a short test with the Sicilians which unfortunately didn't stick. The latter two were interesting options as Juventus have a squad I could work with and improve, whilst Milan in my eyes are the opposite but have a great history, culture and iconic stadium, The trouble with the latter two is they're just a bit too big and I felt I needed to go with a slightly more modest club. Spoilers on the kits made for this trio below for anyone interested.

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That all pointed to Torino, but there is a great thread on them in here and I wouldn't want or be able to compete with that fantastic story. I looked (then looked again, and then some) at every Serie A side. Consideration was given to Roma, Lecce, Atalanta etc.

But finally I decided there was a mid-expectation outfit, who had a good season, and nobody was writing about managing them. They have some key players likely to leave in Summer 2024 and this was the last opportunity to mange the group that had delivered a fine season for the fans.

Bologna Football Club 1909, commonly referred to as Bologna is an Italian professional football club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna that plays in Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. The club have won seven top-flight titles, two Coppa Italia titles, and one UEFA Intertoto Cup.

The last of those seven top-flight successes was in 1963-64 but I Rossoblù (The Red and Blues) just completed a fine 2023/24 season in 5th place of Serie A and will be playing Champions League football next season. As the squad is likely to disintegrate (or let us say evolve to be kind) this presented a chance to manage the club and see if we can get close to their real-life exploits.

Edited July 3 by Jogo Bonito

[Jogo Bonito]

The city of Bologna, a typically charming Italian setting

Time to meet the new manager, an unfamiliar name, but perhaps a familiar face to Serie A fans...

Macron have been kit suppliers to Bologna since 2001, but they have been replaced by Italian outfitters Lacatoni for this story

New Home kit

Away kit

I have no why you would choose both 2nd/3rd kits as predominantly white, but that's what they did (their real 3rd kit is a lot more red though)

Third Kit

 

Edited July 3 by Jogo Bonito

[Jogo Bonito]

Director of Football Marco Di Vaio made us aware that we had no spots available for extra non-EU players this season as two had arrived already

This suits the philosophy of the new manager though, as the preference is to build up the Italian core anyway

Now we will take a look at the Serie A sides we will be competing against in 2023/24

The 20 sides of Serie A are headed up by Internazionale (Inter Milan), their neighbours (AC) Milan, plus Juventus

But beyond that there are other challengers including the Rome pair of Lazio and Roma, Napoli and the ever-impressive Atalanta

Fiorentina, Torino and Bologna would be considered slightly weaker, but with the right manager and tactical ideas, they may make an impression 

And now we take a closer look at Bologna to see how we shape up for the new campaign

After terminating all loans other than Remo Freuler (as the club had an option to buy) the new manager only made a few moves 

Incoming Transfers

The list of new recruits above sees four (Italian) arrivals, two for the first-team and two for the U-20 group

Michele Di Gregorio come in as the new first choice goalkeeper

Antonino Gallo also made the switch and will be our starter at left-back or wing-back

Mohamed Seck (central defender) and Marco Palestra (right-back) are youngsters who will go in to the U-20 group for further development

After cancelling some loans, we also recruited another Italian, stiker Samuele Mulattieri, on a season-long loan from Sassuolo

Finally we recalled defender Kevin Bonifazi from his loan elsewhere to complete the below 23-man squad

Our tactical approach befits our status as a mid-table side, and will primarily see us attempt to keep it tight at the back

We then want to pounce on the break and make use of the talented players we have for counter-attacking damage

The 4-3-3 was the first tactic created and we hope this will be our most defensive structure (this was used throughout pre-season)

Our 5-1-3-1 variant also should give a solid foundation but we think this might actually permit more fluidity in attack

Our seasonal targets have been outlined via the below message received from Giovanni Sartori

Edited August 4 by Jogo Bonito

[Jogo Bonito]

Season 2023/24 Part 1 (July to September)

We embarked on a training camp in Italy and set up a series of friendlies against lower-level Italian sides with some history of their own

Using our 433 tactic outlined above, we were very satisfied to come through our early tests with a 100% success rate from six matches

The impetus was then carried in to our Coppa Italia opener where we coasted to a 4-0 half time lead against Modena and eased off after the break

For our Serie A opener away at Udinese, we sprang a surprise by launching our 5-1-3-1 formation

We hadn't trialled it or trained it to that point, but the 4-1 win was a superb endorsement of this secondary tactic

For the following games we flipped between the two depending on opposition strength and our own available players (some drop out when we switch)

September ended with a couple of defeats, but we fought hard at Atalanta so only the home loss to Lazio left us actually disappointed

The last couple of games have seen us without left centre-back Riccardo Calafiori and an on-form Dan Ndoye which did seem to affect us 

As a result of their absence we had gone to the 433 and of the two formations we use, this seems to be the least effective so far

Ndoye sprained his ankle ligaments on 17th September and was ruled out for 6-7 weeks so we will miss him, but Calafiori is due to return now

Despite those two defeats, we have made a good start to the season, and sit 5th after six Serie A fixtures

The media prediction is 10th and anything above that will be seen as a decent first campaign

Striker Joshua Zirkzee (much-wanted IRL) leads the way in goals scored, whilst Gallo, Ndoye and Jesper Karlsson have also shown good early-season form

Some other news from this period saw Juventus keen to sign Colombian central defender Jhon Lucumi

We accepted an offer which could reach 12.5 million Euros, but delayed and eventually decided we could make good use of him this term

As a left-sided central defender he will only be a regular starter when we play him central of three (five) at the back or if Calafiori is out

if we only play four Calafiori is going to start before him whenever available, so we will reconsider his role again in January

And behind the scenes, we are always looking at opportunities to snap up highly-rated and affordable young Italian talents

One such deal has already been struck, with Padova's central defender Giovanni Leoni (16) due to join in July 2024

This youngster is much in demand, but we have taken advantage of inside intel to snap him up on the cheap when his loan at Sampdoria ends

Another modest bid has been made for Cremonese midfield prospect Guido Della Rovere (16)

As we close here, the club have accepted an offer of Euros 185,000 for the transfer, but personal terms have not been agreed with the player

These type of signings are a key part of our strategy, and we hope that one becomes two - and hopefully more - throughout the season

Edited July 3 by Jogo Bonito

[danyates8]

Them kits look fantastic, great work 

[Jogo Bonito]

34 minutes ago, danyates8 said:

Them kits look fantastic, great work 

Thanks very much, I really felt pleased with the Palermo ones! Milan I thought were 'good' and Juventus felt a bit weak. I've also made my own for Bologna (now shown above).

Edited July 3 by Jogo Bonito

[El Payaso]

Really nice choice of club. Hopefully you can continue building up where Thiago Motta's reign ended. Or are you starting in 2023?

[Jogo Bonito]

2 minutes ago, El Payaso said:

Really nice choice of club. Hopefully you can continue building up where Thiago Motta's reign ended. Or are you starting in 2023?

Thanks very much, it's been quite a quest to find the right club, and also to find one that hasn't featured on these pages. I'm using the FM24 squad, starting in 2023/24 and the only thing I have done was to terminate the inherited loans other than Freuler who had a 'buy option' included in his loan. 

[CameronFM]

1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said:

I've created kits for Palermo, Juventus and (AC) Milan and even had a short test with the Sicilians which unfortunately didn't stick. The latter two were interesting options as Juventus have a squad I could work with and improve, whilst Milan in my eyes are the opposite but have a great history, culture and iconic stadium, The trouble with the latter two is they're just a bit too big and I felt I needed to go with a slightly more modest club. Spoilers on the kits made for this trio below for anyone interested.

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My lord these kits are beautiful! I know you think the Juventus ones are "weak" but I think you have captured the essence of modern-day Juventus kits well with those designs.

But sadly that Bologna home kit is the one that takes home the crown - my word!  Can you ask if they will produce that as a third kit for me going there in September? 

Really looking forward to this journey!

[Jogo Bonito]

20 minutes ago, CameronFM said:

My lord these kits are beautiful! I know you think the Juventus ones are "weak" but I think you have captured the essence of modern-day Juventus kits well with those designs.

But sadly that Bologna home kit is the one that takes home the crown - my word!  Can you ask if they will produce that as a third kit for me going there in September? 

Really looking forward to this journey!

I really appreciate the kind words on the kits! Usually I do try to keep the same manufacturer brand as reality, but I really didn't find a good template from Macron for what I wanted. The home version I am pleased with so great to hear it's not only me that thought it looked decent! I kept the original sponsors as it's the family company of the Chairperson.

I hope the story will be a worthwhile read, I'm almost done with the updating the intro pages above.

[warlock]

3 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

we have made a good start to the season

I'd say so . Nice club, nice kits... you're up and running from the off. Following, obviously 

[CameronFM]

A great start already, really intrigued with the 5-1-3-1 and how it looks in the match engine and transitional play. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Great start to your life at Bologna. I hope you bring success to the club. 

 

[El Payaso]

A decent of not even good start to the season.

What I love in Serie A is the fact with a club like Torino there are at 6-7 teams that are really hard to beat even at home. Based on the start, you also hit this wall with Lazio and Atalanta who are of course part of that group of teams. 

I of course also have a boogey team in Salernitana whom you luckily managed to beat. 

[Jogo Bonito]

19 hours ago, warlock said:

I'd say so . Nice club, nice kits... you're up and running from the off. Following, obviously 

Thanks mate, good to have you following!

19 hours ago, CameronFM said:

A great start already, really intrigued with the 5-1-3-1 and how it looks in the match engine and transitional play. 

I'm keen to see that myself, it wasn't the first tactic I created for the club but so far it seems to suit us quite well. Time will tell.

11 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Great start to your life at Bologna. I hope you bring success to the club. 

 

Thanks mate, I'll just settle for a good season if I can achieve it!

11 hours ago, El Payaso said:

A decent of not even good start to the season.

What I love in Serie A is the fact with a club like Torino there are at 6-7 teams that are really hard to beat even at home. Based on the start, you also hit this wall with Lazio and Atalanta who are of course part of that group of teams. 

I of course also have a boogey team in Salernitana whom you luckily managed to beat. 

Yes the last two results slowed the good start, but happy so far. The reason Serie A appeals, as you say, is that there are a number of clubs capable of winning, and quite a variety of teams geared up to reaching the Europe & Conference League spots. We should be in that mix, but the media prediction of 10th is my first (minimum) target.

[jamesh123]

On 03/07/2024 at 19:42, Jogo Bonito said:

The city of Bologna, a typically charming Italian setting

Time to meet the new manager, an unfamiliar name, but perhaps a familiar face to Serie A fans...

Macron have been kit suppliers to Bologna since 2001, but they have been replaced by Italian outfitters Lacatoni for this story

New Home kit

Away kit

I have no why you would choose both 2nd/3rd kits as predominantly white, but that's what they did (their real 3rd kit is a lot more red though)

Third Kit

 

Fantastic thread mate, I do love an Italian save! Out of interest, what have you used to design the kits? As I’m looking at creating some myself for my save 

[AlfieLucas]

Love seeing Italian saves, and very good choice of club. Wish you the best of luck, just not against the best team in the world

[Jogo Bonito]

On 05/07/2024 at 16:27, jamesh123 said:

Fantastic thread mate, I do love an Italian save! Out of interest, what have you used to design the kits? As I’m looking at creating some myself for my save 

Thanks and good to have you here! I'm not sure if I can say on here so will send you a DM about it.

On 06/07/2024 at 00:19, AlfieLucas said:

Love seeing Italian saves, and very good choice of club. Wish you the best of luck, just not against the best team in the world

Thanks for dropping by and for your interest! Are you referring to Tottenham? 

[Carambau]

Wonderful! Looking forward to enjoy a new career thread from you   

[Jogo Bonito]

Season 2023/24 Part 2 (October to December)

After a decent start to the season, we entered October needing to recover from back-to-back league defeats

A trip to Turin for a clash with Juventus was not exactly what we needed, but the hosts had been in poor form so maybe the timing was right

We claimed a superb 1-0 win thanks to Scottish box-to-box midfielder Lewis Ferguson - but then-leaders Milan were next up as we returned to home turf

The visitors roared in to a 2-0 lead, but two second-half goals from our resilient bunch earned us a very fine point

The month was rounded off by an inability to beat Frosinone on the road, and then a very sound 3-1 win at home to Monza

November saw a routine 2-0 win over Bari in Coppa Italia Round 2, with young striker Santiago Castro  grabbing his first goals for the club in a rare outing

Two draws against high-flying sides Fiorentina and Napoli followed, with the point in Naples being a fantastic effort against the now-comfortable league leaders

November finished with a lovely 4-1 home win over Hellas Verona, which took our unbeaten league run to seven matches 

Even the loss of important defender Riccardo Calafiori for six weeks from 11th October (lower back stress fracture) did not massively hinder our progress

December started with a tame draw against Cagliari on our visit to Sardinia, and another one back at home against a Torino side flying high in the top three of Serie A

We then set off for Milan, where Internazionale were beginning to improve after a slow start

Two early goals at San Siro put is in an unexpected position, and despite them pulling a goal back we held on to claim a superb 2-1 victory

We had a bit of luck with young midfielder Giovanni Fabbian scoring an 89th minute winner to see off Sassuolo, before our final game of the year at AS Roma

The capital side had started the season on fire and had the longest unbeaten run lasting 15 matches, but when we faced them they had lost the last two

Leading scorer Joshua Zirkzee was the difference on the day though, the striker's first-half goal being enough to earn a 1-0 win at the side still sitting in 2nd place

At the end of December, we were on an unbeaten league run of 12 matches, spreading three months since the end of September

There were perhaps too many drawn games against teams below us in the table, and some of those dropped points were a little disappointing

But we had won away against Juventus, Inter and Roma, held leaders Napoli at their place, and shared points with Milan and surprise-challengers Torino at home 

There were some kind words about the performance of the manager to this point too

Just as we were about to share the status of the club's league and financial position, Joey Saputo delivered this surprising New Years Day bombshell 

That's great ambition from the board, and with the transfer window now open we would have to see whether this changes our transfer thoughts

With the above news freshly announced, here is where we sit on 1st January 2024

The performance graph is steady and sees us sit 5th, the same ranking also applies in terms of attacking and defensive outputs

Financially, we now have some funds to do some business if we wish to do so - but we already have some deals (one major) to announce 

On 1st September 2023, just before the deadline closed, we saw that Inter had mutually terminated the contract of injury-plagued midfielder Stefano Sensi

We made tentative enquiries, but the wage demands where three times what we were willing to pay for a player with his fitness record

However, on 7th December we talked to his agent again and we were able to agree a much more satisfactory two-year deal to bring the Italian free agent to the club

Prior to that, a fee of 200,000 Euros had been agreed with Cremonese to bring 16 year-old midfielder Guido Della Rovere in to our U-20 squad from January

And we also recruited a new striker due to an injury picked up by loan-forward Samuele Mulattieri on 19th December

The young attacker suffered a torn calf muscle in training that would see him ruled out for up to three months, and we only then had Castro to support Zirkzee

These circumstances directed us to pay a club record fee of 21 million Euros for Italian international striker Mateo Retegui from Serie A side Genoa

We feel the fee and 52,000 Euros per week wages sanctioned may have been a little high for the Argentine-born player, but we also had another reason for doing so

Because on 2nd January, true to real-life, the rumour mill is suggesting that Zirkzee would be keen to join AC Milan if a big offer comes in

We don't want to lose the Dutchman at all, but with cash in the bank we now had a chance to cover two scenarios in one swoop

Retegui's arrival would see us hold a permanently-contracted alternative for Zirkzee, or to field a replacement if our top striker did indeed ended up exiting 

 

The media has certainly picked up on this story, with claims like the below doing the rounds

And just before Retegui was announced, the following statements were attributed to our Technical Director

Luckily, FM24 does not mention the 40 million Euros contract release clause, so that may help us fight off bids, or at the very least, drive up the price

And perhaps the greedy (and not even FIFA licenced) agent will help us retain his services anyway

In our next update, we will take a look at some of the other things happening off the pitch at Bologna, including a peek at our Youth sides

We'll also showcase some of our first team support staff which we have been steadily improving, and we;ll add a stadium teaser in too...

[Jogo Bonito]

1 hour ago, Carambau said:

Wonderful! Looking forward to enjoy a new career thread from you   

Thank you for the kind words mate, good to have you watching too!

[Jogo Bonito]

With the board willing to invest in helping the club push on, it seems like a good time to tease a design of a potential new stadium

This seems to offer a stylish and modern look with a superb way of integrating traditional features of importance to the club, fans and city itself

These ideas may not come to fruition for some time, but plans are definitely there in the background

Back in the present time, we also want to take a look at our Board, Directors and key staffing personnel

Those highlighted are new arrivals since this project began in the summer (Tiago Mendes, Flavio Roma, Emiliano Betti and Daniele Tognaccini)

We've really tried to concentrate on Italian personnel, but made an exception to appoint our Portuguese assistant (after we let the old one exit with Thiago Motta)

In this parallel universe, Motta is strangely still unemployed since the summer 

But our 'new' Tiago - comfortable in Italy and apparently fluent in the language after playing for Juventus (2007-2009) - has certain key skills we wanted to exploit

When looking for a right-hand man, tactical coaching and people management qualities are always important, and his name and reputation enhanced his appeal

  

The remaining Senior staff are shown below, most were already here but a certain number of improvements and additions have been made

With our first few months at Bologna behind us, we want to also take a moment to showcase how our Youth sides have been doing 

Starting with our U-20 'Primavera' group, where we have been leading the others since the season started

Striker Tomasso Ravaglioli (17) has been in great form, with 12 league goals being part of his overall return of 19 goals from just 18 appearances

Central defender Mohamed Seck and right-back Marco Palestra (who we signed from AS Roma & Atalanta respectively in the summer) are also developing well

Swedish winger Kazper Karlsson is already being talked up as a potential senior squad player, and central defender Wisdom Amey is another making good progress 

Kacper Urbanski has also dropped down from the Seniors to this squad, and the midfielder from Poland is one who will earn opportunities soon

With other new arrivals set to play here a few years above their age group, the future looks good for the club

The U-18 Academy side has also been leading their way since the season started, so more promising signs here 

Swedish striker Bamir Sadiku (16) leads the way in goals with 16 from 14 games, whilst attacking midfielder Gabriele Mazzetti (17) has 11 from 16 appearances

We have a couple of central defenders and another striker who seem reasonably well rated by the coaches at that level

Edited July 7 by Jogo Bonito

[CameronFM]

Great to see Bologna achieving so much so early on, deals for Sensi and Retegui are statements of intent!

Both U20s and U18s performing to the levels that they are is also good news for the future - do you have any plans for any of the aforementioned U20 players to feature in the senior squad?

[Jogo Bonito]

On 09/07/2024 at 00:15, CameronFM said:

Great to see Bologna achieving so much so early on, deals for Sensi and Retegui are statements of intent!

Both U20s and U18s performing to the levels that they are is also good news for the future - do you have any plans for any of the aforementioned U20 players to feature in the senior squad?

Thanks for the comment, yes so far so good and pleased to have two more Italians in the first team squad. Well, one Italian and one Argentine 

Season 2 hopefully might see one or two of the youngsters from the U-20 group added to the first-team squad. It's definitely something I would like to see happen, as long as they can cope with the step-up.

[Jogo Bonito]

Season 2023/24 Part 3 (January to March)

January started well with 2-0 wins against a pair of relegation-battling sides and new striker Mateo Retegui grabbing a brace from the bench in the latter

Fiorentina then dumped us out of the Coppa Italia in Round 3 and we followed it up with a terrible home defeat to struggling Udinese in the league

The month was rounded off in better fashion with a convincing home win over Empoli

February was a bit of a struggle as we lost at Genoa and only drew at home to Atalanta and a Juventus side who have been between 12th and 15th all season

The result of the month was a fine 3-1 win secured at Lazio

March opened with a good 2-2 draw against high-flying AC Milan at San Siro, but we decided to try and sharpen up defensively after that

This saw the back-three retained but with two defensive midfielders next to our wing-backs and the same front three attacking players as usual

A narrow win over Frosinone hinted this might work out, and a clean sheet in a 0-0 at Monza backed-up this view

Despite conceding at Fiorentina last time out, even that 2-1 win in Florence can be seen as a successful day out

The transfer window had seen Retegui and teenager Guido Della Rovere (U-20 talent) arrive, whilst there was one departure

27 year-old Italian centre-back Kevin Bonifazi left for Empoli on 12th January for 2 million Euros as he was unhappy with his lack of playing time

AC Milan did follow up their interest in Joshua Zirkzee with a 35.5 million Euros offer on 3rd January, but we didn't accept the offer

The striker was initially unhappy but calmed down when we agreed he could move if we don't achieve Champions League football this year

We also agreed three pre-contract deals for midfielders to arrive in the summer, all of which seem to be good value deals for the club

We don't intend to retain Remo Freuler next season and are trying to move out Nikola Moro, hence making these moves early

Michael Folorunsho (capped by Nigeria instead of Italy in game) is probably the most exciting of the trio, and should be first-team material next year

Gaetano Castrovilli agreed 'squad player' status and will earn 38,500 Euros per week - we have to see if his injury history can be put behind him

The unproven Daniel Maldini agreed 'fringe player' status on 13,500 Euros per week but another Italian squad-man is always a positive

Ironically we could have had his father Paolo Maldini join as Technical Director, in a very complicated and costly job re-shuffle

His arrival would have seen Giovanni Sartori shift to Director of Football and Marco Di Vaio being fired from that role, but we pulled the plug on it in the end

Marco has done a good job in his role over the years and had scored plenty of goals for the club too

After factoring in the large termination compensation, we decided it was unfair and illogical to proceed - for now at least!

On 1st February, Joey Saputo reminded us that small monthly repayments were about to begin on the loan taken out on New Years Day 

At the end of March this is the current status of the club, with a steady performance graph and financial stability established

One of the targets we set ourselves was to concede less than one goal per game over the 38-game season, and we are just about on track so far

Zirkzee remains top-scorer so far, but was ruled out for four weeks on 11th March with a groin injury and we are a few weeks away from his return

We are now looking forward to the final eight games of the Serie A season, and as the table above shows it is still very tight in the top eight

We're not expecting to push past any of the top four, although a good run might achieve it

Of more concern is the fact that the three teams below us are all very close and we could easily fall as low as 8th if we stutter

Edited July 12 by Jogo Bonito

[warlock]

2 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

it is still very tight in the top eight

It is, but you're very much in the hunt for European football.

2 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

we could easily fall as low as 8th if we stutter

No stuttering  

[Carambau]

Looking good - all you need is a good run of wins now and it is going to be Champions League next season  

[Dong21]

10 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

AC Milan did follow up their interest in Joshua Zirkzee with a 35.5 million Euros offer on 3rd January, but we didn't accept the offer

Great news. With Zirkzee on the verge of joining Manchester United in real life I have been paying even closer attention to how he is performing for you.

The season seems to be very much going to plan @Jogo Bonito. Good luck for the end of season run in!

Edited July 13 by Dong21

[_Ben_]

Good luck on your run in!

[El Payaso]

Maldini is an interesting signing. I was considering him with Palermo but opted to look elsewhere due to some of his negative tendencies as a player. 

Serie A tends to create these kind of endings to the seasons due to the fact of it being very hard to predict. I don't know why Inter often struggles under AI Inzaghi, but that has been the case in all of my saves. 

[Jogo Bonito]

23 hours ago, warlock said:

It is, but you're very much in the hunt for European football. No stuttering  

We are thankful as always your support. Could we deliver or would we fall short? You're soon going to find out...

17 hours ago, Carambau said:

Looking good - all you need is a good run of wins now and it is going to be Champions League next season  

More confidence, also appreciated. But in those final eight fixtures we would face Napoli (H), Torino (A), Internazionale (H), Sassuolo (A) and Roma (H), so there were only three fixtures we might be expecting to win. 

15 hours ago, Dong21 said:

Great news. With Zirkzee on the verge of joining Manchester United in real life I have been paying even closer attention to how he is performing for you.

The season seems to be very much going to plan @Jogo Bonito. Good luck for the end of season run in!

Good to see you back and thanks for the best wishes. Zirkzee isn't really a prolific scorer either in game or in reality, but he has a decent all-round game.

10 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

Good luck on your run in!

Many thanks, we have a tough run-in so luck may very well be needed.

10 hours ago, El Payaso said:

Maldini is an interesting signing. I was considering him with Palermo but opted to look elsewhere due to some of his negative tendencies as a player. 

Serie A tends to create these kind of endings to the seasons due to the fact of it being very hard to predict. I don't know why Inter often struggles under AI Inzaghi, but that has been the case in all of my saves. 

We ended the current campaign with 21 first-team squad members, so Maldini is unlikely to play a major role unless Saudi comes calling for some of our best players. If he earns a place that would be pleasing though.

It seems the AI fancies AC more than Inter, and yet the Inter squad is far better than their city rivals. Hellas Verona seem to be the biggest AI failures as they have been abysmal here and I saw similar in other stories. Juventus also never getting above 12th has been a real shock. Serie A does seem to be the most competitive of the top leagues, a strong appeal indeed.

Edited July 13 by Jogo Bonito

[Jogo Bonito]

Season 2023/24 Part 4 (April to May)

As we entered the last two months, we had eight Serie A games left to try and match the achievements of real-life Bologna

Unlike reality though, only the top four would gain Champions League football for 2024/25 as no Italian side was winning the Europa League

High-flying Napoli visited for the first of these games, and a solid 0-0 draw was a satisfying outcome against them, despite being the home team

We then won (but not comfortably) at whipping-boys Hellas Verona, who were enduring a torrid campaign that saw them relegated with only two wins all season 

The 4-1 win over Cagliari was sealed with four goals before the break, and then we grabbed a good point away at 7th-placed Torino to close out the month

At this point we were 4th, with Internazionale just behind us on goal difference with only two goals being the separator

May saw us then host Inter in the opener and again we were happy to grind out another 0-0 to keep up our GD advantage over them

The run didn't get easier as we headed to Sassuolo in 6th, but we managed to steal the points with a narrow 1-0 win

Inter were matching us result-by-result and so we remained 4th with two games to go - but already-crowned Champions AS Roma were the next to tackle

We welcomed the capital side with a guard of honour, but a flat performance saw us disappoint home fans with a 0-2 loss and Inter drew to go one point ahead

The final round saw a trip to Lecce who were low in the league but safe from relegation, and we would have expected to win

However, the pressure seemed to affect us and we couldn't respond to an early goal as a 1-0 defeat rounded off the campaign 

It transpired that even if we had won, Inter had done the same anyway so we would still have finished behind them in 5th

The tough run-in saw us only conceded one place in the league, and we cannot be unhappy with the season on the whole

Our top league scorer was Joshua Zirkzee, but 14 goals wasn't very special as he played the majority of games

The stand-out player for me was summer signing Antonino Gallo, who had started the first 34 league & cup games before missing three with injury in April

The left-back (wing-back) was voted Player of the Year in his first season at the club, and has proven to be an excellent acquisition

Another key player was goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio, and losing him for five weeks in mid-April with a wrist injury definitely made us weaker in the run-in

However, we had managed to meet our target of conceding just less than one goal per game, with 36 in 38 games being 4th best in the ranking

We also won the Fair Play award for least cards, which is nice - but could we actually be too nice?

Finishing 5th sees Europa League football on the agenda for next year and we must admit the extra fixtures from that are causing some feelings of anxiety

The board set out the initial budgets at this point, and we aren't unhappy with what we have here

AS Roma were the deserved title-winners, but AC Milan and SS Napoli were also strong throughout the whole season

Hellas Verona had a season from hell, and were seriously adrift of everyone else from start to finish

If we can turn a few more of those draws in to wins next season - and if we cope with the burden of extra fixtures - we should be set for another decent challenge

Here are the player statistics for all competitions across the 41-game season (excluding the couple that didn't stay with us until the end)

Apart from those already highlighted, Jesper Karlsson also deserves praise for his contribution - and for picking up no yellow cards in 40(1) appearances

The Swede had played virtually all games as a shadow striker and his fair-play earned him a Gentlemen of the Year award!

The board (and fans) were very satisfied with 5th as they only asked for a top-half finish (media prediction was 10th)

Daniele De Rossi of AS Roma was somehow not chosen as the best coach in Serie A, but this was a nice sign of respect for the work done here at Bologna

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

This wrap up of the season finishes with a brief look at our Development sides

A very strong campaign for the Under-20 squad saw them finish 2nd in the Campionato Primavera table

This took us in to Play-Off territory, and ultimately we lost 2-0 to AS Roma in the final  

We have picked out the player stats by order of appearances, there are several that have stood out (and earned professional contracts)

Striker Tommaso Ravaglioli (18) and winger Kazper Karlsson (19) were leaders in terms of attacking output, the former with an incredible 37 goals

We rejected numerous big transfer bids for central defenders Wisdom Amey & Mohamed Seck (both 18) this season, and one or both may be in the senior group next term

Left-sided Uruguayan central defender Joaquin Sosa (22) will be returning from loan at CF Montreal, so the plan for all three centre-backs will need to be evaluated

Another returning loan player is striker Antonio Raimondo (20) who scored 11 in 38 games for relegated Serie B side Ternana 

Right-back (or wing-back) Marco Palestra is also likely to be promoted if we don't enter the transfer market for a new man

Midfielder Kacper Urbanski excelled when we dropped him down from the seniors to get regular game time

His form and recommendations from our U-20 staff push for inclusion in the main squad again, but we will already have good numbers in that area of the pitch 

Creative midfielder Guido Della Rovere (now 17) also impressed with his attacking output after joining midway through the season for a nominal fee

We have a number of other potentially good young players to be watching from the U-20 squad of last season, in addition to those captured above

But we have already added more young Italian talent to the squad ahead of next season, with a free transfer swoop for Lazio's Jacopo Sardo on 1st May 2024

And we are also eagerly awaiting the arrival of central defender Giovanni Leoni (17) on 1st July 2024

There aren't useful screen shots for the Under-18 squad, but they did win their league after an impressive season

6'5" Swedish striker Bamir Sadiku (16) scored an impressive 31 goals in 27 games, but we are not totally convinced whether he will actually make the grade 

The youth intake was decent if not spectacular, with midfielder Danilo Del Colle and striker Alessandro Rossi (both 15) the pair that catch my eye most

The midfielder is the better prospect, and already seems to be developing nicely in important areas

The more raw-looking forward has something there if he continues to improve his finishing, certain mental and all physical attributes

The staff see others from the youth intake as strong prospects, but time will tell if their eye for talent is better than that of the first team manager

Season tickets for the 2024/25 season are now on sale and we hope the fans will buy in to our project with European football back on the agenda

In our next update we will take a look at pre-season, transfer news and our updated squad status

We will also reveal if there are any new kits - the home shirt is definitely here to stay, but we are currently considering an away kit design along similar lines

Edited July 14 by Jogo Bonito

[warlock]

A very good season, and a well-deserved award for the manager 

Plenty of reasons for optimism, too, with the youngsters coming through.

Onwards and upwards!

[Jogo Bonito]

3 minutes ago, warlock said:

A very good season, and a well-deserved award for the manager 

Plenty of reasons for optimism, too, with the youngsters coming through.

Onwards and upwards!

Thanks mate, appreciated. I'm shocked that De Rossi didn't win the manager award, but happy to have made a good impression.

Lots of decisions to be made in the first-team squad - who to keep and who to sell on for decent sums. It would be nice to get a few of the youngsters in to the senior squad next season, but obviously not at the expense of being successful on the pitch. Apart from the free-transfers already done, there won't be much incoming at all - unless Saudi clubs turn the head of any players we want to keep.

[danyates8]

Good effort in the league, If I were you id look to the Europa League with excitement especially given how your u20's performed. Plenty of opportunity for them to shine! 

[Jogo Bonito]

On 15/07/2024 at 11:10, danyates8 said:

Good effort in the league, If I were you id look to the Europa League with excitement especially given how your u20's performed. Plenty of opportunity for them to shine! 

Thank you. Ultimately we are looking to keep our best youngsters playing in the U-20 matches, but kept the senior squad to about 22 players so they'll be expecting call-ups at certain points. They've been with the first team on our training camp so we managed to take a closer look at a few of them.

I have to say it's been a horrible pre-season, not what I was expecting at all. And I don't just mean in terms of results.However, I finally got through to the start of the new season, update to follow.

Edited July 17 by Jogo Bonito

[Jogo Bonito]

Season 2024/25 Part 1 (pre-season fun and games)

Since last winter we have heard lots of noise about AC Milan interest in key striker Joshua Zirkzee

Throughout the summer this speculation really stepped up a level with the Italian sports papers suggesting a deal was virtually done

Legendary 'Football Italia' pundit James Richardson was even flown out to talk through the story being reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport

But it turns out that Milan didn't conclude the deal, leaving the door open for other big clubs to register their interest 

At the time of writing, Zirkzee remains at Bologna - but title-winners AS Roma are showing serious intent to prize him away

No doubt James will be sat waiting in an Italian cafe somewhere, ready to tell everyone how the story unfolds 

The fact that the Dutch forward hasn't gone has sparked what can only be described as a horrific pre-season on the back of such a positive campaign 

Player after player has been knocking on the door since the season ended, and it began with their belief that we should let Zirkzee leave

Added to that, most of the first-team regulars of last year demanded pay increases, but not realistic ones at all

The majority wanted three or four times their current salary, which were not achievable and ultimately talks with most of them broke down

We were very willing to offer new contracts, and happy to double the money of most - but the greed of the group made the manager question his position at the club

By the end of July, the dressing room mood was not in a good place at all

However, the manager decided he would not walk away, and accepted a new and improved contract being offered

The training camp consisted of 32 players and included several of the promising youngsters that the club rated highly

Teenage defenders Wisdom Amey, Mohamed Seck, Marco Palestra & Giovanni Leoni plus strikers Antonio Raimondo & Tommaso Ravaglioli all made the tour

But formation-tinkering and the mindset of the players meant that results didn't go as well as we expected

On the eve of the new season, below are the transfers in and out, with the highlighted players being first-team members (five in and three out)

In addition, we didn't renew the loan of previous club captain Remo Freuler, so the depth numbers remain very similar to last year

The big sale was centre-back Jhon Lucumi and we delayed on this for 21 days before finally agreeing he could leave

We also delayed three weeks on sanctioning the loan (without any buy options) of striker Santiago Castro to Cagliari

He wasn't yet justifying his wage of 35,500 Euros per week and the Sardinia outfit will be paying 100% of it and giving him regular starter status 

Midfielder Nikola Moro didn't get much game time last season, but even his loan with a mandatory buy clause took us several weeks to accept

A few of the U-20 squad were also sold, and there may be one or two more who will exit if we don't see them having a first-team future in later years

Most of the incoming deals were done astutely with good quality being found via the free transfer route

Two of the three fees we paid were for young Italians joining the U-20 squad, but striker Lorenzo Lucca is going to fill a gap in the final senior squad

His arrival prompted us to let Castro head out on loan, and even if Zirkzee goes, we now have good deputies with him and Mateo Retegui plus some youngsters

We've added four midfielders to the squad, with Daichi Kamada being a 'value' wildcard that hadn't been planned to that point

On the eve of the new season we have a first-team squad of 22 players as shown below

Defensive numbers are low, but Michel Aebischer & Dan Ndoye are capable of playing wing-back roles when needed as they did many times last year

We also have a fair number of U-20 defensive talents who we predict can and will be called up to aid the senior squad

Central defender Sam Beukema has been appointed new club captain, and was the only senior player who agreed a 'double your money' new contract

You might notice we have launched a new away kit for the coming season, based on the designs of the popular home shirt (our 3rd kit is also unchanged)

Off the pitch, there were no great changes on the training ground

Fitness Coach Niccolo Prandelli was poached by AC Milan this summer, but we are about to recruit Matteo Osti to take his place

And we already added experienced duo Maurizio Sarri (Scout) and Mario Cecchi (Coach) to our backroom team in early July

It's been far from tranquil during these past few months, and we still have a number of unhappy key players with the new season about to begin

We hope, perhaps naively, that the squad will settle down and do their talking on the pitch now the serious business is here again

We failed to get a back-four working well in pre-season, so have reverted to three and wing-backs again

The difficulty we have is then how to give enough starts to the copious amount of midfielders in our squad of 22

With the extra Europa League fixtures ahead, we imagine that this will work out somehow though

Edited August 4 by Jogo Bonito

[warlock]

What would FM be without a dressing room revolt? 

What works for me is to make conciliatory noises, and then ignore them. As long as you don't escalate, and don't rise to media bait, it usually blows over. Fingers crossed 

Sarri as a scout seems like a bit of a coup; got to be a good signing. And I was somewhat startled to see Sydney van Hooijdonk... I thought he was dead. Imagine my surprise to find that in 2026 he's only 26 and - in my save - plying his trade in Utrecht!

[Jogo Bonito]

1 minute ago, warlock said:

What would FM be without a dressing room revolt? 

What works for me is to make conciliatory noises, and then ignore them. As long as you don't escalate, and don't rise to media bait, it usually blows over. Fingers crossed 

Sarri as a scout seems like a bit of a coup; got to be a good signing. And I was somewhat startled to see Sydney van Hooijdonk... I thought he was dead. Imagine my surprise to find that in 2026 he's only 26 and - in my save - plying his trade in Utrecht!

It's totally unrealistic that FM still has all these confrontations and unreasonable contract demands. Sometimes players ask for four, five and six times their wage when they are already on long-term first team contracts. Hopefully it will blow over, as you suggest.

Sarri was a shock to me, but should be a good addition to our pool. Young Sydney actually scored 23 in 45 for Norwich on loan in-game, with 23 in 46 for Heerenveen before that too. But we only want foreign players who are important to us, otherwise we want to become largely Italian, so he had to go after returning from loan.

 

[warlock]

1 minute ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Young Sydney actually scored 23 in 45 for Norwich on loan

Sliding doors... he bagged 19 in 44 in my save, but didn't get into double figures in the next three seasons. Getting rid was surely the right move 

[Carambau]

Scout Sarri  Good luck in the Europa League  

[Jogo Bonito]

On 18/07/2024 at 00:39, warlock said:

Sliding doors... he bagged 19 in 44 in my save, but didn't get into double figures in the next three seasons. Getting rid was surely the right move 

Yes, probably it was the right move as he only has 1 goal in 6 games at Cremonese this season so far (Serie B).

On 18/07/2024 at 09:28, Carambau said:

Scout Sarri  Good luck in the Europa League  

 Yes quite a coup to land Sarri as I think he is better than being a Scout at a club like Bologna. He probably needed to spend more time in places he could smoke, and we were the lucky  beneficiaries of that lifestyle choice!

Edited July 20 by Jogo Bonito

[Jogo Bonito]

Season 2024/25 Part 2 (August-October)

After an unexpectedly tough summer battling player revolts and less-than-inspiring friendly results, it was time to tackle the new season

Our opening day trip to Rome didn't lift spirits as the 2-1 scoreline for Lazio didn't really do them justice

We bounced back with two wins and clean-sheets as Empoli and Monza were brushed aside to close off the month of August

September was a mixed month with disappointing defeats to Frosinone and Torino, but we also secured a good home win over Napoli

We also launched our Europa League campaign, and this went well as we beat IFK Goteburg 2-0 to get off to a good start

October was better as the only defeat we suffered was away to AC Milan, who are strong again in this new season

We've won our 2nd and 3rd games in Europe, so our prospects there are very encouraging at this stage 

In Serie A, after a drab 0-0 home draw with promoted Parma, we picked up valuable points with 1-0 wins over Spezia and Sassuolo

We've struggled to find rhythm so far this term, switching formations from game to game and never really finding a blend or style that suited

But in recent weeks we have reverted to our preferred formation of last year, and we immediately seem to be more cohesive - especially defensively

The performance graph shows how our ranking has fluctuated, but hopefully we may maintain this improvement for a while longer

AS Roma never managed to raise the funds they needed to sign Joshua Zirkzee in the summer, but the striker hasn't been in good form for us anyway

Unhappy, unsettled and unsure of himself, he hasn't yet bagged a single league goal - but luckily has netted three times in Europe

Our other two strikers haven't really delivered too much either, in contrast to 19 year-old Santiago Castro who we loaned to Serie A rivals Cagliari

The Argentine only netted two for us last year (in one Coppa Italia game) but already has 6 in 9 for them (plus a goal in his only Coppa Italia game outing)

We did also sanction a few more late deals in the transfer market, all of them outgoing

Orji Okwonkwo was a player who was away on loan last year and we sent out again with a mandatory fee of 375,000 Euros agreed

Federico Mangiameli is a young striker we wanted to see play regular senior games as he may have a future at our club

And finally we let Stefano Sensi move to Saudi club Al-Taawoun for a fee of 4 million Euros - all pure profit on a player we signed for free last term

We do have an offer of 5 million Euros and personal terms agreed for Valentin Gomez, a left-sided central defender from Velez in Argentina

But some of our own young Italians have done well when given minutes this year in that position, so we want to be sure we don't block their progression

More likely is the signing of young Italian midfielder Aaron Ciammaglichella of Torino on a long-term deal for 1.6 million Euros - if we wish to complete on it

Edited July 20 by Jogo Bonito

[warlock]

Frustrating for the first couple of months but cause for optimism lately, and a very good start in Europe.

Finances are looking healthy, too. 

KUTGW 

[Jogo Bonito]

1 minute ago, warlock said:

Frustrating for the first couple of months but cause for optimism lately, and a very good start in Europe.

Finances are looking healthy, too. 

KUTGW 

Thanks mate, too soon to say we are back on track, but definitely there is more confidence that we have rediscovered our best selves. 

[Carambau]

This doesn´t look too bad at all - you have a perfect record in europe and i can see you are starting a nice winning streak in the league now  

Edited July 21 by Carambau

[KlaaZ]

On 18/07/2024 at 00:36, Jogo Bonito said:

It's totally unrealistic that FM still has all these confrontations and unreasonable contract demands. Sometimes players ask for four, five and six times their wage when they are already on long-term first team contracts. Hopefully it will blow over, as you suggest.

Sarri was a shock to me, but should be a good addition to our pool. Young Sydney actually scored 23 in 45 for Norwich on loan in-game, with 23 in 46 for Heerenveen before that too. But we only want foreign players who are important to us, otherwise we want to become largely Italian, so he had to go after returning from loan.

 

The contract revisions aren't that unrealistic, I think, but the amounts involved are. I've been wondering if they're somehow linked to the amount of money you have in the bank, in the sense that players would know you have the financial status to pay them what they are asking for.

Great first season, by the way, very impressive! How did Orsolini do? I remember him from my Parma save a few editions back, he was a monster IF on the right back then.

[Jogo Bonito]

On 21/07/2024 at 10:11, Carambau said:

This doesn´t look too bad at all - you have a perfect record in europe and i can see you are starting a nice winning streak in the league now  

Thanks for the encouraging words. It's true we started much better in Europe than expected, and the league improvement came when we were beginning to write off our hopes of repeating the first season.

On 21/07/2024 at 11:31, KlaaZ said:

The contract revisions aren't that unrealistic, I think, but the amounts involved are. I've been wondering if they're somehow linked to the amount of money you have in the bank, in the sense that players would know you have the financial status to pay them what they are asking for.

Great first season, by the way, very impressive! How did Orsolini do? I remember him from my Parma save a few editions back, he was a monster IF on the right back then.

Agreed, new contracts are not the issue - the amounts involved certainly are. Wage increases of two, three and four times your existing salary are not realistic in my opinion when already on a first-team contract. Doubling your wage would be a good result for a player earning a new deal. It could be that club balance may influence attitudes, our CFO and admin staff might need to deploy more diplomacy!

Orsolini had a good first season (6 goals and 9 assists in 40+1 appearances), but has increased his output in the second year. He plays as AMR (IWA) with instructions to stay high-up and wide and cut in more often. In fact, him and my shadow striker Karlsson (positioned just left of centre) are the only pair regularly scoring. The lone striker hasn't delivered, whichever one we select this season.

Update to follow as we have now reached January 2025.

Edited July 22 by Jogo Bonito

[Jogo Bonito]

Season 2024/25 Part 3 (November-December)

After a resurgence towards the end of October, we blasted through November with a serious amount of confidence

The league delivered wins in all three fixtures, the two at home without conceding and the other being a great 2-1 win away to Fiorentina

We let two late goals in against LASK Linz to drop our first points in Europe, but we edged past SC Braga next time out to seal our passage to the next stage

December always promised to be tough, with Juventus, Internazionale, Atalanta and reigning champions AS Roma all tough opponents

The improved defensive displays of the last few months went out the window in bizarre 4-4 home draws against Inter and Roma

We were better on the road, but picked up no points with narrow defeats against Juventus and Atalanta

In Europe, we again did the business, edging out VfL Wolfsburg 1-0 before a vital Serie A victory at Lecce ended the year in a better mood

The lack of goals from any of the strikers is alarming, but the supporting cast behind them have luckily been delivering consistently

At the end of the year, we sit 6th on 30 points after 18 games, with the pair from Milan leading the pack by quite a margin already

AS Roma are doing well again, Genoa (4th) are doing much better than anybody would have expected, and Juventus have improved a fair bit since last year

Below us, Lazio, Atalanta, Napoli and Fiorentina are all pushing us and very much in the mix for continental football

Due to those crazy results in December, we went from 2nd best defensively to 8th best - but we won't have a tough run like that again anytime soon

Financially we are in a good place, and we have money to spend if the right (Italian) player comes along

Back in November, leading striker Joshua Zirkzee decided to focus on his career here rather than keep pushing for a move away

Unfortunately, apart from a brace against Palermo in early November, he hasn't delivered any more goals for us

In view of his improved mindset, we tried to offer him a 100% increase on his wages of 22,000 Euros per week - but he wanted a ridiculous 125,000 Euros

Firm interest is still there from AC Milan and AS Roma, so there is a chance we may allow him to leave for around 45 million Euros this winter

We decided not to seal the 5 million Euros transfer of left-sided central defender Valentin Gomez back in November

There was no doubt over the player (or fee/wages), but we have a couple of young Italians we are giving minutes to and we don't want to block their pathway

However, we did complete the 1.6 million deal lined up for Torino 'Primavera' midfielder Aaron Ciammaglichella a day later

He's a talented lad who plays regularly for Italy at his age level and having seen him play live before, we know exactly what we are getting with him

Aaron will join our U-20 squad this season and our group at that level is really taking good shape now

At the end of November we also took the decision to allow Daichi Kamada to leave after just 12 fruitless substitute appearances since his free signing in the summer

He wasn't making an impact and we can't afford to carry a player on 40,000 Euros per week, so we let him head to Saudi Arabia for a cut-price fee

The 3.7 million Euros received was pure profit, and his tax-free Saudi wage upon completion on 1st January soared from 40,000 Euros to 275,000 Euros per week

We've been looking to round-off our U-20 recruitment plans as some of our talents from there have now been promoted to the main squad

An offer of 650,000 Euros for Monaco's young French attacking midfielder Saimon Bouabre was withdrawn despite his impressive potential

But we are still keen to lure another Italian youth international in Kevin Zeroli of AC Milan to the club

The midfielder is another we like after seeing him live, but it will take a fee of 3.5 million Euros to bring him in

We must be sure that we don't need that cash to bring in a first-team player, but if it remains unspent we could well go back in for him

As the transfer window opened, we did commit up to 200,000 Euros on another Italian youth prospect, 18 year-old right-back Vittorio Magni

He's out on loan from AC Milan already, so will join our U-20 squad in the summer to fill the void left by the promotion of Marco Palestra to the first-team group

Speaking of young talents, our U-20 side is again right near the top of the tree despite letting some of our best prospects graduate to the seniors this term

We are at the start of January now and will see what the rest of the transfer window brings

And then we need to try and push hard to secure another year of European football next season

Edited July 22 by Jogo Bonito

[warlock]

39 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

the pair from Milan leading the pack

Yes, looks like they're gone already; everything else still to play for, though. 

Always much to learn from the way you approach your transfers with an eye on both the long- and short-term implications. Good stuff