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_Ben_

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_Ben_ last won the day on March 18

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6,947 "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in"

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  1. Season Nine: A bleak-ish midwinter. With plenty of playing time left before FM25 is even announced, let alone released, I'm able to continue the growth here in Sicily. At times, it will be slower, and, probably for the first time - we've really encountered a bad run in the league. Our goals have dried up a little and, fluke Milan win aside, we really haven't produced the kind of results that are required, hence a slight drop down the league. We are trending for just below our points tally from last year, suggesting that - as I mentioned - we did slightly overperform, by taking the league by surprise more than anything. This kind of form, whether it brings Europe or not, is perfect for the progress I want to make and means that, despite their horrific bad luck, we won't be bobbing up and down like Milan, for example. To ensure that we remain competitive, I have also completed some transfer dealings: Sales of academy players Josep Colell, Roberto Arana, Guille Fuentes and Umberto Micheletti raised a total o €6m for me to put towards wages and transfer fees. This is the second option within my academy plan - profitability on youngsters who cannot reach the first tea. The three Spaniards cost a total of just under €200k so represent a lovely bit of work for me. A total of €400k was spent on buying out the Hoyos clause, a great deal when he's already valued at €60m+ and any profit would be on, at least, €50m. To strengthen the team, I recruited three players. Luca Galletti, despite his chequered past following a big money move to Man Utd, possesses great quality in the middle of the park and some traits that I think will help us in the early transition. I wasn't able to replace Charlie Patino in the summer and, as such, minutes have had to be used elsewhere as I was only left with three natural central midfielders. He's very low risk but I'm happy. Next in is the first of two loanees: Valentino Mendoza comes in from Chelsea with a point to prove as they barely played him since spending €8m on bringing him over from River Plate. An excellent traditional wing back, he's the perfect complement to the creative Fernandes and offers a nice mirror image (both in terms of style an nationality) to what I have on the left hand side. Creative 10 Santiago Zimmerman signs from Arsenal in a loan that will cost about €1.3m. He's had two successful spells on loan at Fulham and one at Ipswich - both in the Championship - and knows how to find the net. I'm told I'll have to look after him a little as he's somewhat injury prone but, as Argentine 10s go, he's already a player I really really am excited about. Both Mendoza and Zimmermann have expiring contracts and I hope to be able to try before I buy, as it were, spending around €2m on loans before signing them both for free. With the returning Migliori - following a decent half season in Portugal, where they decided to play him as a wide centre back - I am now pretty much fully stocked in terms of my first team. We are settled, competitive and, whilst still very much the small fish in the big Serie A pond, are developing nicely. Realistically, few of these players would make it into other sides in European competition but I am trying to slowly and carefully build this project and I think we have some wonderful infrastructure and foundations in place to do so. Forza Biancoscudati!
  2. Season Nine: Consistency A period of time whereby, honestly, I think we're now proving ourselves to be a solid, top half, Serie A side. Results are coming and, even when we don't play well enough, we are becoming increasing able to stay in games and be able to adapt enough to provide a challenge. In club news, we agreed a new affiliate - one of the branch of French academy chains who, hopefully, will provide some youngsters for my own academy. Also, Lazio made a really cool appointment in Rulani Mokwena. If you haven't heard of the 'African Pep' - here is a nice introductory video, although, with an AI voice over, it's not the easiest watch! Our last ten games went like this: Our attacking shape continues to develop and is now looking slightly more o a diamond, as I'm using SS(a)/AM(s) combo in the middle, hoping to create movement in between the lines and passing lanes whereby we are not being crowded out. Obviously, all of this is subject to change during games, depending on how I see things playing out and is also designed to support a changeability in roles for the underperforming Acosta, bringing - for example - the CF(a)/CF(s) role into play instead of just the DLF(s)/F(9) that would usually work with two on rushing second strikers. Despite all the work around structures and movement between them, our goal against Salernitana probably has more to do with a lack of sportsmanship. The two images that show the start and end phases of play see us refusing to put the ball out for an injured player and then, quite easily, beating their lessened press before scoring. If I could have gone Bielsa on them and let them score, I may have done but it's not an option. I guess that things even themselves out as the Como result - a game we dominated - was two lost points that we probably accrued elsewhere! We've settled nicely and, despite having quite a tough run of next fixtures, I feel happy with our position. I'd assume that Monza will drop down to a more realistic position - for them - but, obviously, we were able to maintain for a whole season so there is no reason why they shouldn't, either. Our Europa League table is looking strong as our quest to qualify continues and the youth team, under Michael Beale, are doing great, too! Forza Biancoscudati!
  3. Season Nine: Pleasing start As the transfer window closed and our transfer business was rounded up, I was reminded that both our wage expenditure and commercial income sit way behind the teams that we have, on the pitch, being battling with. Over the next two or three years, we'll - hopefully - reduce this deficit but that will come at a cost to the finances and I need to ensure, that, short term, we have this surplus of sellable talent: another reason for the increased motivation to create a pathway to our/a first team. Our Europa League fixtures were also announced as we kicked off our second season in Serie A: And we've done pretty well! Just the one defeat to table toppers Milan and some strong performances in a big run of fixtures: Roma, Milan, Lazio, Inter and Juventus in the space of six games. In our bigger games, I've utilised a more counter-attacking style, increasing the tempo and passing directness but also stopping some of our counter pressing, which has worked quite nicely. However, the little in-game tweaks I have made to supplement our normal style have been the most interesting, for me, and I've written about three - below: 1. I noticed that all of the play was going between Pescara's right back - an IWB - and their defensive midfielder, in a single pivot. I used the AM - Zapelli - to tight mark him, despite the fact it would pull him out of position, asking the VOL - Pisilli - to move up and mark their pivot. A change from a DLP to a DM in the other central mid role allowed for this extra offensiveness. What it meant was that their wing back would no longer sit centrally in their early build up, which was allowing him loads of the ball. Once the ball had then made it to their pivot - through a different route - we were able to jump on this with two men and win the ball back. Our goal came from this move but it was a success three or four times for the near-hour before Patrick Vieira was able to change to a different approach. 2. Roma play with a diamond so the SS(A) moved to IF(A) in order to create offensive overloads with my wing backs and move themselves out of the congested centre. It also meant that Bellino, the VOL, was able to move into so much more space and often occupied the 10 role, laying on an assist and, probably, should have scored, too. 3. Against more passive presses, like Boavista's, I was able to move the WCB(d) to a L(S) to create a 2v1 in really early transition but also allow another man in a more offensive build up, giving us more ball playing opportunities progressively and more men in and around zone 14 when the time came. With these little changes and nuances in-game, we've secured a nice top half position in the early table: We're a little off last season - but so are Fiorentina, top last year but now in 11th - whereas the likes of Milan and Inter have really sorted themselves out. What I am most happy about is that we've got through a really tough spell of fixtures and none of the next five in the league are against top half clubs, which gives me hope for - at least - ten points or so from this next run. Forza Biancoscudati!
  4. Massive! Champions of Asia! Well done on such a wonderful achievement. What next?!
  5. I know! Even though it says 'Move to Messina squad' - I still think it just means ready for first team football rather than age group football and that doesn't necessarily mean at this level. Took me ages to feel secure in my judgement of that though. They won't necessarily go through all four and some won't even make it past the first or second tier of them but I'm really trying to focus on a way to get high quality minutes for each of my young players, especially as my board-driven aim is to now produce either a conveyor belt of academy talent, moving on to other clubs or a steady stream of Messina lads within my own first team. It's always been the most exciting element of game play for me so, despite all my tactical work - mainly for me to get a better understanding - I'm happy to come home - as it were - both to Italy and youth development.
  6. Barely had time to play this week but decent for my overseas lads, who started their season a bit earlier: Santa Clara lost 3-0 to Benfica so that's not a bad rating! Early suggestions are that he might be quite a defensive minded wing back but he's getting that exposure, which is good. I didn't think he'd actually play this often! He's not registered for the UECL squad, which is fine as long as he get's league minutes and he has. Rudes were poor against Hadjuk but he's opened his account and I hope he'll continue to impress. I really would like to see a combination of goals and assists so I am pleased to see that he's being used as a DLF in his strike pairing, which, more so than in my tactic, will be a benefit as he has someone to work off and feed.
  7. Thank you for taking time to comment! I really appreciate that you've followed my stories and it has brought you enjoyment! There is no real hard and fast rule, if I'm honest. I'm tied a little more with that silly bug that means the U20 league hasn't even reset since 2026, so I tend to look at 18+, really. However, the below screen has been really useful: I always took 'first team' as my own first team but I really don't think it is - Chester isn't ready for Serie A! Once they are on here and of the right age - I can't loan 16 year olds out - they'll get their move and my goal is minutes and top quality performances > facilities once they get to that age. I don't have the data that backs that up but I'd rather give them thirty games at a lower level, maybe even lower than they are able to perform at, if it means they get their professional careers off to a good start: look at Mirabelli, for example: He'd not score like that in Serie B but he's still just eighteen so has ages to get to that level and, hopefully, will do so with bags of confidence. - - - But, also - I want to ensure I don't loan too many out as we are building some strong facilities and coaching staff there and I know it will be of benefit. Plus, if we have three or four kids left, they'll be filling in all over the place and the U18 team will be losing - which, surely, must not be conducive to good development!
  8. Yes and no. I'm building a team that has goals everywhere and, as such, one that means we don't need to rely on a particular player or style of build up to score. Right now, nine goals across my five centre backs - the taller players in the squad - tells me that my set pieces aren't as efficient as I want, so we have to make that up in other ways. Fine when my strikers are scoring, but not so much when they're not. This is why we somewhat got away as the holding mids provided fourteen goals to counter the lack of my forwards adding more. When they all turn up, it'll be a dream! Part of that is recruitment, part of that is coaching and part of that is tactical knowledge. I'm happy with my upgrade on the first one, so now need to focus on the coaching and in-game changes to maximise what I have.
  9. Season Nine: Preparations are underway If I want to take over the world, I have to do it in small steps. Honestly - I don't really want that, but I do want the best youth academy in the country and need to do that through some small steps. I've analysed the trends of what kind of players I'm getting through my academy in order to better work on training schedules to ready them for the next phases of their career, set up some loan deals to my affiliates and then - in a most unlike me move - spent all of my transfer budget, and even a bit more! And I spent it all on just two players, too: When I think of Honduras, I do have some nostalgia around Maynor Figueroa's wonder goal for Wigan and the little insurgence of Honduran players that made the move to the Premier League but, honestly, most of my memories of FM-related Hondurans are those who plied their trade in Italy: Edgar Álvarez – Cagliari, Roma, Messina, Livorno, Bari, Palermo – 2004–08, 2009–12, Julio César de León – Reggina, Genoa, Messina – 2002–04, 2006–08, 2012-13 and David Suazo – Cagliari, Inter, Genoa, Catania – 1999–2000, 2004–08, 2009–10, 2011–12. Whilst the first two have actually represented Biancoscudati and, with that, I feel a sense of realism in that this is an area they've targeted - to some success, too - it is the last whose memory still lives on. I can't find an English screenshot but, here, back in 2003, Suazo was a monster attacker, renowned for his lightning quick pace and scoring ability, which, of course, was easy to exploit back in the day! Now, David Acosta is not a carbon copy of him, but he is the nation's best player at present and one of only two players playing in the top flights of big European leagues, with a winger currently at PSV. I wanted to think both about the presenta and the future with this deal so opted for a younger player - in this case 23 - but then someone who had also scored heavily. There were no U23 strikers across the T5 leagues who had scored more than twenty goals, let alone had any interest in joining us, but, when I widened the scope to include Portugal and more than twelve goals, David appeared. His stats for a top-half Academica de Viseu side are interesting - lots of goals but a really low shot xG: he's capable of doing the difficult things really well, but, obviously - and thanks to the xG Philosophy for this slice of realism - is expected to not reach such heady heights again given his large overperformance. What has drawn me to him though is he's more than just a big forward with some traits that would initially make me shout 'Target Man!' - he's good on the ball, links play, is really brave and works hard for the team. We were nearly priced out - €9.25m rising to, potentially, €12.5m is all of my money this summer and it means that there will be no spending on new wing backs or replacing Charlie Patino, who left on a free. It also meant that I had to rush another sale, which didn't go down too well with the board - and that was of Luca Kmet, enabling me to free up the non-EU spot for the Honduran. Literally, I looked for the easiest to move midfielder and he hadn't done as well as some of the others; it's a harsh world but we need to make ourselves better and David does that. Guido Hoyos makes his move after securing the Serie B title with Como and, probably, being the best young keeper in Europe, if not one of the best overall keepers, too. I felt the difficulty in selling club icon Esposito, especially as we didn't quite offset this deal, getting €8.5m for him but - like Acosta above - I need to do these things for the better of the team. Hoyos is, by far, the best player at the club and I hope to build the team around him for years to come. I still insist that, player by player, we are not a top ten team, let alone a top six team but, as a team, we are a collective and the cohesion between us allows us to do what we are doing so well. Not wanting to ruin that, I think that two in and just a few out means very little will have changed and the core of the team - Hoyos, Amey, Cubarsi, Lucenti, Bellino, Vinci and Acosta is really strong and settled, allowing slower recruitment and development of other areas. With the first team set up, I turned my attention to the youth side after being able to get two new affiliates on board, seemingly making the most of the new season reset on that request! Biancavilla of Masalucia (birthplace of academy lad Luke Chester) are an Eccellenza side now after being relegated from Serie D last term. They're the lowest level of affiliate and I haven't sent anyone there, just yet, but may do should I have those Serie D level players who need football at 18 and are maybe low in confidence. Next up, I was able to add Portuguese side Santa Clara to the arsenal of clubs that operate under my wing. They're mid table and have decent training facilities but, importantly, will give my players access to opposition such as Benfica, Sporting and Porto - where the real gains are made. I've sent a total of twelve players out on loan: Three players returning to this level in Palazzolo, Mirabelli and Colell, albeit at a new club. Whilst the three of them performed really well, I'm not sure quite how much they developed so want to just ensure that they have access to first team football - especially for Mirabelli, who would - I'm sure - benefit from another strong season in front of goal. After some really strong progression, Colzi moves out too; he's not 18 yet but I'm interested to see if the strong progression continues or was just a flash in the pan. Cassano and Kouakou are kind of in the shop window now, moving up from the Eccellenza to Serie C but are old enough now to have matured and played a decent amount of games, just now needing the finishing touches for them before, most likely, being sold on. Traore lit up Serie D at Trapani but returns a level higher, as does Nicolini as I realise that I've sent them three attacker, which will likely see Andrea move to a striker role where his pace could be terrifying for defenders. The newly promoted Serie B side get my two Spaniards, fresh from spells in Croatia. I'm not entirely sure about either, as I've previously mentioned, so hope that this is the best way to increase value for a future sale. A real wildcard decision here and one I may come to regret. I don't really thin that Gueye is good enough to play top flight football in Croatia but my decision was made based on the fact that they have a Conference League campaign and, with a new manager who favours two strikers replacing a man who favoured one, they have a shortfall here as well as the fact that striker slots had already been taken elsewhere at my feeder clubs. I'm hoping that Santa Clara can be my finishing school and provide a year out before entry back into the first team, so that is where Migliori has gone. He was strong in Croatia and this is a step up for him but he should be among the better players at the club. I have really high hopes for him. - - - I'm excited! Time for some tactical battles. Forza Biancoscudati!
  10. Season Eight: Great now; even greater in future? Our final three fixtures produced three points but I didn't expect them to come in the order that they did, as we lost to Cremonese but beat a Napoli side who had realised that second place was locked up and were already on holiday. Confirming our best ever finish, this has been an absolute joy to manage. I've said all season long that I've expected the bad form and, honestly, it's never truly arrived. Yes, we had flirted with third our fourth place and a dream Champions League campaign but we're far from ready and my job is to steadily build the team and the club, so this - already - is a season of huge progress. Milan and Napoli are the big movers from last year, whilst Juventus have really suffered and Inter too, in all honesty. Atalanta still can't break past fifth placed and Frosinone will enter the Europa Conference League, qualifying for Europe for the first time in this save after finishing nearly twenty points above their average and recording their highest league finish, obviously. Our player stats are interesting - most notably showing the lack of a true goalscorer or, in the sense of not using a traditional nine, a number of players who could take the bull by the horns and score heavily. However, strong performances from Bellino and Lucenti, who contributed twenty-four times between them felt strong. A total of twenty-one assists came from the wing backs with only Mussolini being left behind there. Six and eight, respectively, contributions for Kmet and Farrera are ok in their first season in Italy but I do feel that they will need to kick on next time around if we want to replicate this as their 'competition' - Owusu and Vinci recorded eleven and thirteen each. Over the summer, I want to focus to shift away from the first team. Despite a setback in search of a new stadium, the board have decided that they want to give me three years to create the best youth academy in the country. A match made in heaven for my playing style. So I'm going to dive in to what I've got, spend my hours and minutes on the game micromanaging this and, maybe, leaving the first team alone a bit more. With Hoyos coming in, I need to secure a move for Esposito - a really hard thing to do as he's one of the top keepers in this league but absolutely won't accept sitting on the bench, and rightly so - but aside from that, I anticipate little else to do! Kicking off my reshuffle is a bit of staffing news.. Michael Beale, who - for me as a Villa fan - maybe has a bit of a tainted reputation despite being the brains behind the Gerrard-era, joins after two years out of football. I don't know what would tempt a manager to join a youth side, but he brings vast experience and his real life experiences in South America should be ideal for the type of players I'm going to be building here. Joining him are two further English staff, after my adverts alerted some top young coaches: Christopher Butler and George Danaher are not my normal type of appointments but I really want quality here rather than my normal focus of nationality, ex players and personality and can all join together on their intensive language course across this season! They form part of a team that works with the youth sector, who have demolished the U18 league this year, falling at the final hurdle to Inter U18s. A bug in my game means that we've got no U20 league, which is why I'm putting so much more effort into the affiliate program. Currently, I have: Rudes: 3rd in the Croatian top flight and a UECL team next year. Taranto: 1st in Serie C Girone C and a Serie B team next year Trapani: 1st in Serie D Girone I and a Serie C team next year Palmese: Eccellenza Calabria and maybe promoted to Serie D next year. This means that I've nearly got teams in all areas, depending on the Palmese promotion or not promotion. I'm going to be looking at providing four or five players to each of these clubs and then will also be looking at bigger clubs in European top flights for those who just need that finishing. This, however, can't be possible if I don't prioritise their development and have a clear goal for them from a very young age. Below are the top-rated players within the club: Moraga is an odd player but top of the list in terms of CA and PA. I feel like I've developed him well but then again, I look at him and feel he's slightly unfinished but, after 136 games for us, I don't feel like a loan would work. Then again, over 60% of his appearances have been off the bench and he flits around between wanting to be a defender and a holding midfielder, with me never really putting all my energy into one of the two. Migliori has had two loan spells - Virtus Entella in Serie C and Rudes in the top flight of the Croatian league - but now needs to move somewhere more reputable (above 25th in Europe) to really fine tune the last bit of his game. In Sacchetti, Chester and De Cicco, we have a strong group of U18 players, which Zago will join after being the top youth candidate this year. I'm not too sold on what I want to do with my new lad but I'm thinking of going down the Lisandro Martinez route of an undersized but strong, brave and right place, right time defender. The first three, though, have key roles to play in my team and will hopefully grow, in tandem, in three of the four midfield roles. Chester is a cut above the rest but, ever since he came into the club, I must say that I am excited by the wrong footed element of Sacchetti at left wing back. Girard cut his teeth on loan last year and will continue that, and Gueye will be moved to a club, probably at Serie C level - likely to be Trapani, in order to meet his needs. It's also pretty cool because I don't think I've ever had a Mauritanian player in my squad! All of the youngsters in this pot train with the first team and I think that it's having a really good impact on their development, mixing with the experienced professionals. I will have to be more careful this year to manage this as, with us entering European competition, our training schedules will be somewhat lighter around mid-week fixtures and I want to ensure that, despite the strong coaching setup in both areas, they're getting the consistency of training as well as quality of it. Traore's loan at Trapani was cut short with a broken ankle but, with 27 goal contributions in 20 games, he's surely good enough to get a crack at Serie C. Nicolini bloomed in the Eccellenza and will add another season to his half season spell in Serie D. He's one dimensional but a real threat when carrying the ball and has scored heavily, like Traore before him. I love Mirabelli as much as the Trapani fans do after he contributed forty-two times in thirty games last year but my fear is he's just not sure whether he's a forward or an attacking mid; jack of both trades but master of none. A loan to Serie C will happen but I'm conscious that he and Gueye are very similar so can't send them to the same place! The next crop of players has some first teamers in but, honestly - like with Moraga - I feel a sense of an underperformance in the development of Vinci and Biagioni, but I must consider that 'five star potential' in Serie C - when Vinci graduated - is very different to now and, in all likelihood, he's probably reached his ceiling and that will just reconfigure as the season goes on. There's some decent youth here but I'm not necessarily sold on any of them truly being in the style of what I want: Palazzolo is a decent sweeper keeper but the rest - Arana, Colell and Fuentes - don't really have the necessary attributes and may look to be used for profit and FFP compliance, should we need it. The last list of above average players here actually contains four of my important first team players and two players who have gone through this whole process themselves, Lucenti and Owusu. In terms of loans, Kouakou will continue but move somewhere other than Palmese, probably but the rest will probably stay. Although I don't necessarily post about them that much these days and, certainly, I don't go into the depth will Excel as I used to - I have a fairly rudimentary piece of work that charts their attribute growth from entry to exit of my youth setup and, interestingly, you can see that it is Matteo Colzi who has made the most attribute progress year on year so far in this test. - - - I'm now at the hyper focus stage of this save, trying to maximise everything I can through the club to achieve the bigger picture! Forza Biancoscudati!
  11. Brilliant answer - just what I was looking for. I'm far too attached to my players so always hate to sell a youth player but also my big problem is that I trust them too quickly - throwing them into the team when they're definitely not ready! Do you look to give priority to affiliates first and then offer around or is it just a case of best fit?
  12. I too have been very surprised and some of the results just feel odd - even though I've analysed in detail, watched in detail and micro-managed to the best of my abilities! I think - and, spoiler here - we finished sixth - that, really, that's us being the ninth 'best' team with Juve, Roma and Lazio all having what you'd expect to be one off poor seasons. Going forward, it's just going to be about managing the off seasons for other teams and capitalising, plus, when the time comes, managing our own off season. We'll find our true level soon and, particularly next season, I think we'll struggle more as teams now know what we're about. I'm going to have to really be on it tactically!
  13. Absolutely! It's really interesting to follow AI squads, and managers, longer term to see what they're doing and to help predict where they could be going. I've played the last three games now and, whilst not wanting give anything away about our form, it's clear to see that Juve have been somewhat unlucky - finishing ninth but should be sixth. This is different to both Lazio and Roma, with the formers xPos 13th and the latter 17th, which is consistent with the fact that Galliarossi did flirt with relegation at times. Interestingly, all three have sacked managers with, probably, Ronny Deila being the most successful, taking Lazio from 16th in October to their finish of eighth. Whilst Maresca managed to halt the rot that saw Klopp drop from 3rd to 10th in four league games, he hasn't really turned it around, with just a 38% win percentage. Roma's old boss, Fossi, had been at the club six years since being taken from Serie C side Gubbio whereas Lucarelli comes in from Ipswich and has only won three of his first ten games at the club. The makeup of their squads is interesting, too. Now classed as only 'okay' financially with a spend of just €1.6m this year, I do wonder if these expensive, highly paid players will be on their way following a failure to make Europe. Juve's youth system is obviously strong but they've given less than 1,000 combined minutes to U21 players, obviously using their Next Gen squad, who play in Serie C. I do have concerns for them long term, if I'm honest! Despite having a world class Totti regen in Giunta, the Roma squad feels a bit lopsided and odd in terms of quality. I don't quite think they're bottom half but with pretty much just the massive Kusi-Asare to play off up top, were quite easy to play against in their old 442. Lucarelli likes a diamond midfield so it'll be interesting to see what the likes of Brennan Johnson and Nicola Zalewski do over the summer, too. The Lazio squad is the most interesting because, whilst being the weakest of the three, is very young and, honestly, I do think they have the right man in Deila to get the best out of them. With the likes of Sambi Lokonga, Almada, Pellegrini and Moise Kean in their squad, they've also got some experience to help bed in these lads. But, interestingly, Inter have just sacked Kompany and have Deila as their prime candidate, so that might completely mess things up! Also in the bottom half are tycoon owned Udinese, who've splashed cash but never really made it and a really young Thiago Motta-managed Torino side, who looked good at times last year.
  14. Love this post. Really, really inspirational for what I want to achieve in terms of almost an ‘in house’ development pathway. How many of these will move on to better affiliates or stay for a J2 season? Where do you make that cut off between prospect and first team integration?
  15. Season Eight: Unprecedented successes. What we're doing here is actually unprecedented. No team, since the start of the 2023/24 season, that has been promoted to the top flight and remained there, with records until last season, has finished above 15th placed in their first go at this league: 24/25 - Parma finished 17th 25/26 - Verona finished 20th 27/28 - Cremonese finished 20th and Parma finished 15th 28/29 - Pescara finished 20th 29/30 - Salernitana finished 16th and Verona finished 15th 30/31 - Parma finished 18th and Cremonese finished 17th But we're not just talking mid-table, or top half - we're threatening the displace the big boys and finish in a spot that, at worst, will see us in the Europa Conference league, just twelve months after wrapping up a Serie B title, twenty-four, thirty-six and forty-eight after promotion heartache and just five years after promotion from Serie C - the third tier of Italian football. Across that period of time, we have a couple of regulars, one of whom has gone on to become a multiple record breaker: Whilst his compatriot from the youth team in 2024, Jacopo Lucenti - club captain - is probably more important, it is Ali who now holds the record for more appearances and goals for the club - with 104 in his 235 league games. Jacopo is four games behind and, probably, over the course of next season, will overtake my mercurial second-striker but this news has come at a good time for me, as I wrangle with the disappointment of a long term injury for Montoro, which has seen his loan prematurely ended and my youth intake. The full sixteen graduates were signed and now join a 24-strong setup in the youth team as I really want to ensure that, among this tactical work and first team recruitment, I don't forget about the core of the club - and that is the Sicilian and southern Italian element to our player development. From some quick map searching, I can see that, currently, we have eight Sicily-born players with a further four being born south of Naples - the traditional cut off line between North and South. In the first team, that number drops to three: Lucenti and Owusu are from Messina itself, whilst Vinci hails from Santa Croce Camerina, which is on the south side of the island, due north of Malta. Viti hails from near Florence, Bellino from Milan, Esposito near Naples, Amey from just north of Genoa and Mussolini and Pisilli from Rome - so it's clear that the more developed players we have aren't coming from local to us. A quick search of those born in the top (above about 40,000 population) Sicilian towns and cities gives me 719 players with three of the top four highest valued being ours - the aforementioned Lucenti and Owusu as well as Migliori, who is out on loan at Rudes at the moment. As part of our rise, I want to take over from both Catania and Palermo - the two biggest cities - as the lead producer of Sicilian players, born or just bred here. Away from the geography lesson, we've done pretty well on the pitch! A superb first five and a much more expected second as tired legs and some little niggling injuries are taking their toll. 4-0 wins over Atalanta and Udinese, two top ten sides, is another sign that we are absolutely here to fight among these giants of football With the title likely heading to the red side of Milan this year, our focus is on securing continental football for next year, which, given that we play Cremonese, Napoli and in-form Lazio in the last three, is likely to not be Champions League football, which, obviously, I'm fine with. The catapult from Serie B to here worked best because we built slowly and, honestly, give me top ten next year and some fun in Europe and I'm more than happy! Forza Biancoscudati!
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