libbyshuss

Season Summary So after our year on year steady improvement this was supposed to be season I pushed on to European qualification. 11 games into the season and no victories suggested that wasn't going to happen and that we were back in a relegation battle. Luckily the second half of the season was much stronger and we finished with 5 victories from the last 7, making our finishing position look a lot more comfortable than we actually were for most of the season Players It wasn't all doom and gloom though. This was the first season where Fabio Frau 38C was going to start and play a full season for us. He didn't disappoint! Our first ever golden boy! and our first ever #1 in the NXGN list! very exciting! I'm not sure if he'll live up to that potential though, but it will be fun finding out. Here he is now:- Youth First intake with maxed out recruitment and coaching! and with my new super good HoYD! was it any good? yep!!! preview was very exciting.... but it didn't quite prepare me for the intake, which is possibly the best intake I've ever had. 9 elite talents!!! At this stage of the save as well A real mix of personalities and determination and no real obvious future wonderkids. Best of the lot is possibly this lad:- It does mean my youth teams are now ridiculously strong. I have at least twenty potential 5 star players in there now, which makes it difficult choosing who to bring through. Very exciting few seasons ahead though! Look how good the U18 team are! Career

@Daddy ah, bad luck. those losing runs are an absolute nightmare @Vlach good luck with Catania! Hopefully you do a bit better than me!

ah well, looks like my Italian adventure might soon be over soon. Here are my results so far this season.... Bad luck turned into one of those ruts it's impossible to get out of. If I escape this I'll be amazed!

Season Summary I was a bit worried after a dodgy start with no wins in the first 5 but it turns out we are now a bog-standard mid-table side. Which will do for now I guess. baby steps and all that. frustratingly close to Europe though, that's got to be the next aim! Players Fabio Frau 38C - really nice surprise this! Our normal striker got injured for a month and I had nobody in the first team squad to cover. So I dipped into the U18s and picked Fabio. He's a 4 star potential but at 17 I wasn't expecting anything much. Not only did he keep his place he ended the season with 17 goals in 18 games. Very exciting! be interesting to see if he can carry it on in a full season at only 18. It would be a huge bonus if he can! Armando Lika 35F - Our Albanian winger is now 21 and developing really nicely. By far our best player this season and attracting attention from the premier league. Only Sheffield United for now though. It's a solid squad but there's no star playetrs or wonderkids. Highest transfer value is only £13m. I could really do with a superstar or two Youth Before the intake this year I managed to upgrade both facilities and youth coaching. How much difference did it make? Quite a lot it would seem! My best preview so far! but that only counts if the intake is as good.... and with any luck it will be. A very nice amount of elite talents there None really stand out though. Starting attributes aren't great and personalities are only generally ok Career It's been really slow going but we're gettting there, step by very small step. I'd love to break into Europe next season but we may have to settle for mid-table mediocrity again.

Season Summary Our 4th season in Serie A and our 4th season as the favourites to go down! And this one was the most satisfying season yet as we were completely bog average the whole season. But being closer to Eruope than relegation was a nice surprise, as was our 4-1 win against Milan. We're slowly getting better! Players Two breakthrough players for the first team this season:- Armando Lika 35F - 20 year old Albanian left winger. Spent last season on loan in Albania and was really good, coming back a nice shiny 4 star potential. So I stuck him in our team and he repaid us with 7 goals and 4 assists in 36 games. Which is ok, if not earth shattering. But he also played 4 times for the national team and still has the potential to get better and better. Davide Vincenzi 37A - Goes to show how poor our options at centre back are - he;s our first choice at only 17 years old! looks like he could be a proper player as well Youth I treated myself to a nice shiny new HoYD. he looks yummy! so how well did he do on his first intake? well, not his really but, you know A nice bunch of elite talents but they got crappy determination and personalities look at this awesomely named English striker I got! 2 determination! i'd love for him to make it but i'm not convinced..... Wonderkids no official wonderkids and and nobody in the nxgn either. I could really do with some to move on to the next level but can't see where any will come from in the existing youth squad tbh Finances and Upgrades interesting.... Career

thank you, i had no idea! Changed it now

they don't participate in any league, looks like you're right about that bug the reserve manager doesn't schedule any friendlies either - i have to do everything myself. little bit annoying but not game breaking

Season Summary Well, what should have been a great season turned into a really worrying one. 5 wins from the first 6, including a 3-2 win away at eventual champions Juventus, sent us top. I knew we wouldn't stay there but didn't think the drop off would be quite so bad. the next 32 league games yielded only 4 victories! 1 in the last 21! keep that up and we will be bottom of the league next season.... Youth Another 5 star preview! It's about time we started getting decent intakes! The intake was a cracker! really exciting! sadly their personalities weren't the greatest but what can you do? The best two prospects are these two lads:- Finances and Upgrades Finally the board granted me some junior coaching upgrades! i can't believe it! and we maxed out training facilities too, so with any luck we can make that small step to the next level. Mid-table mediocrity!!! Career

Season Summary Still by far the favourites to be relegated we again defied the odds to stay up. Although we got a similar amount of points to last season it was a lot more comfortable as the bottom 3 were different level bad. We were never in any danger of going down but I would have liked a few more points. Not every season are going to have 3 sides so clearly weaker than the rest Players I'm playing 4-3-3 at the minute and it's our midfield that are keeping us up. All 3 are Serie A quality. defence and the wings are letting us down though. I really need some better intakes! Youth This would help! finally, a promise of an excellent golden generation intake! But would the intake be excellent? yes! and yet only two elite talents.... Vicenzi looks the pick of the bunch Wonderkids he's still on the list! he's still refusing to sign a new contract cos he wants to play with better players! Career I'm still gonna be favourites to go down....

congratulations!!! well deserved just for sticking it out! whenever I've done Engalnd getting out of the National regionals was always by far the hardest. Hopefully you'll find yourself flying up the leagues now!

Season Summary First season is Serie A! and to be honest, it felt like it was going ok but we were never more than 5 points away from relegation, which was a little close to comfort for my liking. When our final 6 games were against teams in the top 12 I started to worry, but luckily we pulled out a win against Udinese and stayed up. A fantastic achievement considering our squad. I expect next season to be another battle to stay up Players Vincenzo Capiluppi 29D showed he can perform as as a striker at Serie A level but he spent a lot of time suspended. He got sent off 3 times! He kept asking for weird contracts - 37k a week with a 2.1m release fee - until the end of the season when he finally settled for a team high 21.5k a week (with no release clause!). Still only 22, hopefully he can improve in Serie A Raul Marin 33A - my best youth prospect. At the start of the season I threw him in as a 17 year, because why not? He was brilliant and was rewarded with his first full cap at the end of the season! Not only that but.... My second appearance in the NXGN list although I've yet to get an official wonderkid. Hopefully Marin will be the one! His £25m release fee is looking worrying now but he's playing hardball on a new contract Youth I was preparing myself for the funniest, worst youth intake of all time after that preview I got so when it came in I was weirdly disappointed. it was actually ok! Two elite talents isn't bad at all! Finances and Upgrades Serie A gave us 29m in TV money which was amazing. So with all that money you'd think the board would be falling over themselves offering us upgrades and you'd be wrong. We're still stuck on average junior coaching level. They will not shift! One lousy training ground upgrade was all they gave me Career

Season Summary What a season! Champions!!!! I guess the signs were there from the very beginning - our first match was home against pre-season favourites Spezia, and we won 4-0! But it wasn't until Dec-Feb that we really stamped our authority on the league and pulled away. Even a mini injury crisis in the last couple of months didn't stop us. Serie A here we come! Players We got a nicely balanced squad now. first choice striker Ejupi 26H was suspended for the first game and his replacement Capiluppi 29D scored a hat trick. After Ejupi scored o goals in 4 games with a 6.30 rating following, Capiluppi became first choice striker. Ejupi got his chance at redemption in March when Capiluppi knackered himself for the remainder of the season. But I got a new first choice striker now! Youth It wasn't a perfect season. An awful preview followed by an awful intake. 2 stars! no elite talents! I still signed about 7 though, they had amazing personalities. 5 professional, a resilient and another one i forget that didn't suck. Finances and Upgrades We got a takeover! they cleared the debt, didn't provide any money for investment and then changed the club vision to sign players U23 for the first team. Dammit. Career Can we stay up in Serie A next season? Unlikely, to be fair. The real question is will I get sacked after our inevitable relegation?

Season Summary Much better season although our old problems return. With 2 games to go we could have gone up automatically but we went and lost them both. Cagliari were just too classy for us in the play offs but losing 3-2 on aggregate is no disgrace. Players Endri Ejupi 26H was back to his old stuff. After 7 games he'd already matched his goals output for last season. He made his full Albania debut as well! Overall the squad is of a good level for Serie B but not quite Serie A yet. so even if we'd gone up we'd have finished bottom. Youth Finally! a decent intake! excellent with 4 elite talents is very nice, although none of them really stand out as the future superstar i crave Finances and Upgrades Still losing around 6m a season which makes upgrades an impossibility. So our facilities are slowly degrading instead with no chance of us improving them. We really need something to change soon. All Time Youth Records Career

Season Summary After three play-offs in three seasons this was a return to reality. We weren't awful, but we really weren't good and bumbled around all season. Weirdly, we'd go through periods of being unbeaten and then not winning, rather than being consistently inconsistent. But no mind, a boring mid-table season is the finish Players We don't really have the players to push us any further I don't think. No real stars and the best players are still only Serie B level at the moment. Our best player, Mateo Hasani 28A, was sold before the season started as teams kept getting closer and closer to his 4.2m release fee so I offered him out for £4m +50% and Real Betis bit and off he went. His value was still only 4-6m so I don't think he'll be making us a fortune yet Endri Ejupi 26H - I was expecting a lot out of my Albanian striker after his solid but steady year on year improvement. But this season he couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo. He was rubbish! and if I had a decent youth back up he would have been out on his ear. But we struggled on and he finished top scorer on a massive 8 goals. Somehwat down on last season's 24. Hopefully it was just a blip Stefano Melani 29A is the star of the team. Now 20 he is regarded as a Serie A standard player and has only 2 years left on his contract. With a 4m release fee for clubs in higher divisions I can't see us holding on to him much longer either. he really wants to leave as well, which is never a good sign! Best two youth players to break through as first team regulars were Andrea Fabbri 30A in midfield and Vincenso Capiluppi 29D, who is a natural at LW, RW and up front, which makes him a hugely useful addition to the squad. Potential Serie A quality as well! Youth So, the main problem I have is I literally can't remember the last time I got an excellent intake. They are all average/good for some reason (possibly that I cannot get the board to improve my junior coaching above average). Anyway, another underwhelming preview followed by an even more underwhelming intake A promised good intake turns into a 3 star average intake that looks like this:- 2 elite talents aren't bad I suppose and there was a nice range of nationalities. But still, I was hoping for more with exceptional youth intake. All time Youth Records Interesting to see Fabio Vaccaro 24B at the top of the appearances table. he's a classic squad player in this type of challenge - a jack of all trades and master of none! He is equally as inept at CM as he is RW, LW and AMC, which means he often finds himself in the first Xi despite never being first choice. Bevilacqua 27A is still pondering around Serie B. I have a 50% clause on him but I'm more likely to get nothing than any money from it I suspect. Finances and Upgrades Still not great. Losing around 4-5m a year which meant the board had to do this halfway through the season:- It also means that they are not in the slightest bit receptive to any requests for upgrades, meaning i'm kinda stuck in a weird limbo. It always happens in these challenges though, I often go seasons at a time treading water before something happening to push us on to the next level. Who knows what it could be, maybe I'll finally get lucky with an amazing newgen? Career We're an established Serie B side for now, which is all the board want, but the players all throw their toys out the pram should I have the temerity to suggest we are in any way more ambitious than try to avoid relegation. So I guess another season of consolidation, while successfully bringing through a couple of youth players, will do.

i think you'll be fine, we can all see it's a bug and not you. good luck!

Season Summary Well, looks like we're an established Serie B club now, despite the media predictions still under-valuing us. The players tend too as well. Every time I say we'll aim for a mid-table finish they get all huffy and claim I'm setting them up to fail. But we're a good side now! Third time in a row we make the play-offs and third time in a row we fail in the play offs. But we keep getting there, and that's the main thing. One season we'll get a bit of luck and that'll be it! Players Mateo Hasani 28A - My Albanian left winger/cum right inverted winger. Now has 19 Albanian caps and is rated as a Serie A level talent. With a 4m release clause, only 2 years on his contract and a constant refusal to sign a new one I think he'll be a Serie A player sooner rather than later - hopefully with us, but more likely with someone else. Stefano Melani 29A - CM, still only 19 and my other Serie A rated player. He also wants to leave for a stronger club and also has a 4m release clause. If we can hang on to him promotion isn't out the question but it is a rather big if Edris Ejupi 26H - I love players like this! clearly not rated in my initial intake but forced his way into the side and thrived. Halfway through the season I abandoned my 4-6-0 and went to 4-3-3 and he was the spearhead of attack. Constantly improving and constantly getting into the Albanian squad - yet to make his debut though! Youth An ok preview, but the lack of A grade talents was a worry The intake was weirdly ok. Only 4 players worth signing but the two elite talents look pretty good. Chiapetta looked the best. I wanted to sign 4 but in the end i could only sign 3. Never seen this before:- Now that's just mean! what's the point of an intake if i can't sign them????? All time Youth Records Facilities and Upgrades Still have no money and now my youth facilities are downgraded! aaargh!!!! Career

nah, i had faith in you! some of those players you were churning out looked amazing, made me wish I'd started in Turkey! congrats on finishing the challenge!

i'll be honest, i had you down as the most likely to complete it first this year. Sorry @HenTheChicken!!! good luck!!!!

congratulations!!!! amazing achievement!!!

I use Visme, which is pretty much just the same as Canva very easy and intuitive to use

Whenever I do England I always find that first promotion is by far the hardest. I completed it with Whitby last year and I think it took me around 10 seasons to get out that bottom tier, it's just a nightmare. Sometimes you just need a bit of luck getting some cash to improve your youth recruitment/junior coaching. makes a huge difference down there. Once you get to league 2 it seems so much easier and you fly up the leagues

Season Summary A second unbelievable season. Again we were favourites to go down so I didn't expect too much but we started pretty well. Mid-table around October with little hint as what was to come. 8 wins out of 9 and suddenly we were top of the table at christmas! we couldn't quite maintain that level of form but heading into the final four games we were second in a really strong position for automatic promotion. All four teams we had left to play were in the bottom half of the table too, all fighting for survival. we won two and lost two - it often happens playing those teams fighting for their lives at the bototm. Little annoying as it meant we were in the play offs again. This time we got to the final only to be outplayed by Verona and beated quite easily. Still, two unlikely play-off campaigns in two seasons is a pretty impressive run for us Players I'm still playing my 4-6-0 formation (or 4-3-3-0) which seems to really suit my players. The best players this season were:- Edris Ejupi 26H - My Albanian striker who can't hit a barn door with a banjo when played as striker is a different proposition when played as an AMC second striker. 20 now, looking good and made a few Albanian squads, including one that meant he missed out on the play off final. He didn't come on. Mateo Hasani 28A - Our second Albanian star. 19 years old, made his international debut, coveted by Serie A teams and asking to leave. 9 caps by the end of the season! He's a natural left winger but he's much better suited as an inverted right winger in my formation, which is where he usually plays. Got a wicked left foot! Fabeo Vaccaro 25B - spent last season sulking on the bench as Hasani took his place on left wing. Moving Hasani meant he was brought back in from the wilderness - to become our best player of the season! Stefano Melani 29A - 17 year old central middie who convinced me to cash in on Manuel Bevilacqua 26B, our best player from last season. We sold him for 4.7m plus 50% sell on and Stefano made sure we did not miss him at all. Gonna be a cracking player if we can hold on to him! Wonderkids Very nice! did not expect this. I mean, only 50th, but still - we got on the list! Youth So we all know how important youth intakes are! so imagine my excitement when this preview came in.... And then picture the pure joy on my face when the intake came in and was actually judged worse!!! i signed 4, and 2 of those 4 are temperamental personalities, my absolute least favourite. Luckily not Barbieri who gives us options at CM and LB at least. All Time Youth Records Corrente 24A is now a free agent after being released by Parma Romagnoli 24F played 6 games this season Bevilacqua 27A joined fellow Serie B side Sampdoria. and only did ok. He is now wanted by Lecce and looks like he'll be sold for less than we sold him for. Not ideal.... Career not sure we're good enough yet to push for Serie A so I guess I'd be happy with another season of consolidation. I do need my board to give me some more upgrades but they're totally refusing!

Season Summary Again we were favourites to go down so to have the season we did have was unbelievable! We took our strong finish to the season before into the new season and went 7 games unbeaten which set us up nicely. Whereas before it might have kickstarted a plummet down the league we were much stronger this season and picked up good results throughout. A finish with 4 straight wins placed us 5th and into the promotion play-offs! We got through the preliminary round thanks to home seeding, but then went out to Venezia for the very same reason. I'm not complaining - the aim at the start of the season was survival so to make the play-offs was just a massive bonus. Can we keep it up next season? Players Endri Ejupi 26H - Albanian striker who did really well on loan a couple of seasons ago , so I gave him achance last season. he was crap. I gave him the first 9 games of this season, where we were brilliant and only lost once. He scored zero goals with an average rating of 6.56. Absolute toilet. So I experiemented with more people up fron but by christmas it was clear that nobody was any good. Then it hit me. Why even bother with a striker? So I went 4-3-3-0 and after 2 games injuries presented Ejupi with his chance at redemption. He was an absolute revelation as a second striker behind nobody! ended up with 15 goals! my toilet striker! Manuel Bevilacqua 26B - Midifielder and absolute star of our team. Only two years left on his contract and he's already making noises about leaving. In reality there's no way I can keep him. He's Serie A standard already. Biggest decision of this save so far is going to be when to let the lad go.... Samuele Binda 25A - Poor old Romagnoli, my star keeper. Knackered his spine last season and put himself out of action for a year. So Binda came in, after an impressive loan spell, was brilliant, won young player of the year, and is now by far my first choice keeper. Romagnoli is now fit and on the bench. It's hard not to feel sorry for the lad. I might cash in on him tbh, for some reason my youth intakes keep throwing up decent keeper prospects. Youth A 5 star excellent intake promised! And it came in, but with only 3 elite talents! Gah.... The pick of the bunch:- He could well be the perfect replacement for Bevilacqua, but will need a couple of years to build up those physicals. Finances yeah....... so we were losing money, but no more than I ever have done, when we got taken over, with our debts of 6m cleared! We carried on losing money when I got this message:- I didn't think things were that bad! Anyway, this new board seem supportive of me and far happier to throw money at the clubs problems than the board before. Which suits me to be honest! Career We'll still be around 20th in the prediction league I'd have thought so survival is again our main priority

Season Summary An unbelievable season! We started brilliantly, with 3 wins and draw in the first 5 to go third. After 1 win in the next 14 it came clear that those 3 early victories were against the 3 worst teams in the division - and we were clearly the fourth. By the time we went into the winter break we were in the bottom 3. So I hatched a plan of playing friendlies against the worst teams I could find to build up our confidence. It's amazing what a 16-2 win can do! 4 wins and a draw out of the first 5 after christmas and it was looking good! and then six straight defeats plunged us back in trouble. We managed to somehow put together an 8 match unbeaten run at the end (six draws!) to pull out of trouble and qualify for the play-offs! Novarra were favourites, and won the first leg 4-2. I've never massaged morale as much as I did before the return leg and amazingly it worked! we won 3-0!!!! I was convinced we'd be relegated for so long and we somehow pulled it out the bag! Players Filllipo Garace 25B - I was desperate after christmas so gave Fillipo his debut because at that stage, why not? And he was great! all the way to the end of the season! Manuel Bevilacqua 26B - looks like my first real proper talent. Started the season as a back up for midfield and ended by far my most valuable player. Antonio Romagnoli 24F - my other proper good player! I was convinced I was going down when this happened to the lad how the flip do you do your spine in that badly lifting weights??? what a numbnuts.... Youth ooooo, a golden generation! bring it on! and the intake looked nice with this lad the pick of the bunch! he looks a cracker! Finances and Upgrades Career After three relegation battles in Serie B I'd love for a nice boring season. But all three seasons we've been favourite to go down and I'm pretty sure i'll be favourite again next season. I need a superstar striker or something!