DaneBramage

July 2025 Departures A few players left at the end of their contracts. Facundo Zabala, Dennis Johnsen, and Ottar Magnus Karlsson all had important roles at varying times, but all had outlived their usefulness now. ---------------------------------------------- Signings We made four signings this month, none over the age of 20. Three were Americans on free transfers, while the other was an Italian from a feeder club. We started off with a mini-raid on Barcelona, taking a couple of players from them. Adrian Gill doesn't look too far off being a regular starter, his attributes are looking pretty good already. The only issue is making sure he plays enough, as competition for midfield and wing roles is tough. He is 100% American. Coming with him was Diego Kochen. He turned down our advances a few times over the months, eventually agreeing to join when his contract had only a few weeks remaining. He has Peruvian and French as his second (and third) nationalities. Pretty sure he had 5.0 star potential when we scouted him, only 3.5 now is a shame and perhaps indicates why there wasn't much competition to sign him. Evan Rotundo has already been halfway around Europe. He has a French second nationality, but is now moving to Italy after coming through Schalke's youth set-up in Germany, and then spending three years in Belgium with Genk. During that time he made 12 top-flight appearances, and another 80+ second tier appearances with their youth team. Giacomo Paciello is a cheap-as-chips signing from one of my feeder clubs. Doesn't really look up to much but had the highest potential there. No risk at this price. ---------------------------------------------- United States Senior Squad: 2-0 v Canada (friendly), 4-2 v Guadeloupe, 0-0 v El Salvador, 3-2 v Trinidad & Tobago (CONCACAF Gold Cup Group Stage, finished top of group), 1-0 v Haiti (CONCACAF Gold Cup Quarter-Final), 2-1 v Mexico (CONCACAF Gold Cup Semi-Final) ----------------------------------------------

June 2025 Poached Two more academy players stolen away in quick succession. ---------------------------------------------- Facilities + Feeder Clubs Upgrades all round! Training facilities - Due to technological advances these have been re-classed as adequate rather than average. Spending £950k to bring them back up to average, should be completed in November. Youth facilities - Spending £1.6 million to bump these up from adequate to average, should be done by November. Junior coaching - Improved from adequate to good. Youth recruitment - Improved from average to adequate. Apart from feeder clubs. I wasn't allowed a new one. Trento were relegated last season (from Serie C to Serie D) so now I'm left with no affiliates in active leagues. And the link with Union Pro (Serie D) was terminated. ---------------------------------------------- New Stadium A loan has been taken out for £45 million to build a new stadium, which should be completed in time for the 2028/29 season. Funding is being helped by a sponsorship of £21.5 million. Repayments will be £350k per month. Our current capacity is 11,150, which we sell out on a regular basis. The new capacity will be 22,000. ---------------------------------------------- United States Senior Squad: 2-1 v Ghana, 3-0 v Chile (friendlies) Under-23: 3-1 v Ghana, 1-2 v Chile (friendlies) Under-22: 2-1* v Chile (friendly) Rokas Pukstas and Jack McGlynn both played in this game. Under-20: 0-1 v Ghana, 1-0 v Chile (friendlies) ----------------------------------------------

2024/25 Season Review The Players Andrija Novakovic was again the star man, top scorer with 20 goals and voted the fan's player of the season. It feels a bit harsh though that he was the only player to finish with an average rating above 7.00, given that we ended up six positions higher than we were expected to. Luca De La Torre was the next highest contributor, with 7 goals and 10 assists. Titas Krapikas kept a respectable 11 clean sheets in 33 starts. ---------------------------------------------- History + Facilities Our league positions are progressing nicely, improving each season so far. We had our first sets of facilities improved this season, and I'll be asking for more over the summer. We received £2.4 million for the league finish. Our bank balance has doubled, and that's even with spending nearly £5 million more on signings than we received on sales. It's still not massive mind, we can't yet go out spending big cash on new players. ---------------------------------------------- The Americans Nearly all of our goals came from Americans. That's not surprising given that all of our attacking positions are filled up by them. Our strongest line-up generally includes seven Americans, a Lithuanian goalie, Dutch left-back, Italian centre-back, and a Danish midfielder. Of the eight signings this season, six were American. 31 players made first-team appearances for us this season, 13 of them were American. ----------------------------------------------

May 2025 Results I wanted to punch thing after the Cagliari loss. I was resigned to the fact that we wouldn't get anything from this final month. Indiana Vassilev had other ideas. He hadn't done much so far since arriving but he turned on the style against Roma. We were 4-2 down, then Roma were reduced to ten men in the 62nd minute. Vassilev was subbed on in the 79th minute, and 20 minutes later he'd made himself a hero. He terrorised the Roma defence, grabbing two goals within five minutes of entering the pitch, then kept his nerve to clinch his hat-trick and the win with a 97th minute penalty. On the final day Indiana Vassilev scored again, but Taylor Booth took the MotM award for a pair of assists. The final two games were the first time we'd won consecutive Serie A fixtures. Incidentally, I'd adjusted the tactic for these matches, going from vertical tiki-taka to gegenpress. It was just a punt to see if it would have any effect, but it seems silly not to stick with it a bit longer now (or the start of next season anyway). American goals: 7 (44 for the season) American assists: 5 (30 for the season) ---------------------------------------------- Serie A We were in 13th place a lot of the season, and we eventually finished there. Can we call this midtable? I think it's borderline, but might just get away with it. After the losses at the start of the month I was worried we'd drop a few places, but the wins to end the season stopped that from being the case. That away goals conceded column is appalling though. When we lose, we often lose big. ---------------------------------------------- United States Under-20: 2-0 v South Korea, 1-3 v Colombia, 3-2 v Germany (World Cup Group Stage, finished 2nd in group), 0-1 v Saudi Arabia (World Cup Second Round) ----------------------------------------------

April 2025 Poached This is the first player we've had stolen away from our academy, and it's to another Serie A side. Hopefully it's a sign that our intakes might be starting to get better, although the 0.5 star potential isn't particularly encouraging. ---------------------------------------------- Results I wanted at least seven points from this month, so six isn't a disaster. We took our customary loss from Hellas Verona, but I was more disappointed by the home defeat against Genoa. Next time out though we battled away to just our second away win of the season. A 91st minute penalty was a pretty sweet way to do it, though lots of the travelling fans were already in the carpark at this point. American goals: 5 (37 for the season) American assists: 2 (25 for the season) ---------------------------------------------- Serie A We dropped a position after the losses, but rebounded back up to 13th with the win over Benevento. And we can't be caught, safety and another season is Serie A has been confirmed. ----------------------------------------------

2025 Youth Intake >>>>>>>>>>> What happened?! Can only assume my HoYD was drunk when he e-mailed the initial preview. Personalities and determination look a lot better than the previous intakes, so that's something at least. And Paraguay is the fifth different nationality we've seen come through. ----------------------------------------------

March 2025 Results I was absolutely raging after the trip to Empoli. Even playing the side bottom of the table, we still couldn't get an away win. I was absolutely raging six minutes into the trip to Lecce. Even playing the side that had replaced Empoli at the bottom of the table, we went behind really early on. Luckily we fought back into the game, and despite them doubling our xG, a brace from Andrija Novakovic finally ended our away day hoodoo. American goals: 5 (32 for the season) American assists: 2 (23 for the season) ---------------------------------------------- Serie A We've put another point between us and the bottom three. ---------------------------------------------- USA Senior Squad: 0-1 v Morocco (friendly) Under-23: 1-1 v Morocco (friendly) Under-20: 4-3 v Morocco (friendly) ----------------------------------------------

February 2025 Serie A Two home wins, two away losses. I was hoping for 4-6 points this month, so I'm happy that we reached the upper end of that tally. We definitely did it the hard way and with an element of luck, but we were clinical against Fiorentina while they were wasteful, and Titas Krapikas in goal was MOTM when we dented Napoli's title hopes. The less said about the thrashing by Spezia... American goals: 4 (27 for the season) American assists: 3 (21 for the season) ---------------------------------------------- Serie A If only home games counted we'd be 6th. We're 12 points clear of the bottom three so I think we can rule out relegation, but it would be a lot more comfortable if we could get any kind of results on the road. Sort that out and we're not far off becoming a decent midtable side. ----------------------------------------------

January 2025 Departures A few of the second-string that weren't getting much gametime were shifted out. All of them had contracts expiring in the summer, so we made some good money moving them on early. ---------------------------------------------- Signings We brought in three new players to bolster our ranks, and I think the two outfield players are definitely of a higher quality than those who left. Indiana Vassilev (Bulgarian second nationality) has joined from my nemesis club, Hellas Verona. He didn't play much for them so hopefully we can make better use of him. He'll be cover for the attacking positions. Taylor Booth (Italian second nationality) is another player who hasn't played much in recent years, so could do with a change of scenery. I'm tempted to throw him straight in at right-back, but he can do a job if needed nearly anywhere on the pitch. Daniel Szabo (Hungarian second nationality) will be our new back-up goalie. ---------------------------------------------- Results I was aiming for three points this month, so was pretty annoyed when we didn't get them against Torino. They just put ten men behind the ball, and we couldn't break them down. But the win next time out was a big bonus. Atalanta are the reigning champions, so turning them over was a very pleasant surprise. The stats backed-up that it was a well-deserved win, we were by far the better team on the day. American goals: 2 (23 for the season) American assists: 2 (18 for the season) ---------------------------------------------- Serie A Ticking along nicely. A few more points on the board, and we have a decent buffer over the bottom three. ----------------------------------------------

December 2024 Youth Preview I'll believe it when I see it. ---------------------------------------------- Results A mixed month, with two wins, a draw, and two losses in the league. Everything good about our results is continuing to come from Andrija Novakovic and Luca De La Torre, they really are carrying the team. Malik Tillman set up one goal this month, but he's struggling to match last season's impact with just two goals and two assists so far. American goals: 3 (21 for the season) American assists: 2 (16 for the season) ---------------------------------------------- Serie A We just need three teams worse than us. Currently there are seven. Ace. I've included the extended table this time to illustrate the difference between our home and away from. At home we've done really well. A record of 5-1-1 has given us 16 points from a possible 21, with a goal difference of +11. But away, we barely even show up. A record of 0-2-6 has given us just 2 points from a possible 24, with a miserable goal difference of -20. ---------------------------------------------- Hellas Verona I hate them. I hate them so much. I can accept having crap records against the top clubs, but now I dread playing these guys. This also includes them knocking us out of the Coppa Italia two years in a row. ----------------------------------------------

November 2024 Individual Honours A well deserved award for Andrija Novakovic. He was in great form last year, and he's banging them in this time too. Doesn't get a look in with the national team though. ---------------------------------------------- Results Good win over Lecce. Two assists from Luca De La Torre for Andrija Novakovic sent us on our way, and even after going down to ten men we held on for the last half-hour. But the follow-up against Hellas Verona was absolutely abysmal. An expensive one for the players too - in addition to refunding the fans, seven of them were fined a week's wages. American goals: 2 (18 for the season) American assists: 2 (14 for the season) ---------------------------------------------- Serie A We're still outside of the relegation area, so it's going well. But our defensive record is terrible. ---------------------------------------------- USA Senior Squad: 4-1 v Kuwait (friendly) Under-20: 5-0 v Canada, 4-0 v Dominica, 2-0 v Grenada, 3-1 v Trinidad & Tobago, 3-0 v Aruba (North American Championship First Round Group Stage, finished top of group), 1-0 v Canada, 2-1 v El Salvador (North American Championship Second Round Group Stage, finished top of group), 2-1 v Mexico (North American Championship Final, winners) ----------------------------------------------

October 2024 Results The only think I love more than a surprise Instant Result, is two surprise Instant Results. Andrija Novakovic might have missed a penalty against Lazio, but he more than redeemed himself with all five goals against Juventus and Milan (the current top two) American goals: 5 (16 for the season) American assists: 4 (12 for the season) ---------------------------------------------- Serie A I did worry with this tough month coming up that we'd sink into the relegation area, but the two points we earned have kept us afloat for now. ---------------------------------------------- USA Senior Squad: 3-0 v El Salvador, 4-2 v Haiti (friendlies) Under-23: 3-2 v Haiti (friendly) Under-20: 5-1 v Haiti (friendly) ----------------------------------------------

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I recognised his name from a Fulham FM20 save I had. Looked him up on there and saw that I'd released him after one year, and just 3 (12) appearances and 1 goal. He's made a much better impression this time - 2 goals and 3 assists already, from 2 (5) appearances. Players signed from the Italian lower leagues (which I'm classing as anything below the division we're currently in). This was one of the board culture requests at the start of the career, but it's dropped off now.

September 2024 Results Losses to Sassuolo and Fiorentina made it three defeats in a row. In each of them we'd conceded within the first 10 minutes, and two of these had been down to dreadful defensive mistakes. I called the team in for a meeting afterwards and told them they needed to get their act together quickly, and made a couple of changes to the starting line-up. Jonathan Tomkinson and Luca De La Torre came into the team, and repaid the faith immediately with goals against Spezia. Andrija Novakovic added a brace while Joel Pohjanpalo came on to score a delightful chip, giving us a massive win. We had three games in eight days, so the second-string was rotated in to take on Napoli. Predictably they got hammered, but it left the first-team fresh to face Empoli. The decision worked out nicely, we blew them away and Andrija Novakovic scored a hat-trick (reaching 100 career league goals). American goals: 10 (11 for the season) American assists: 6 (8 for the season) ---------------------------------------------- Serie A After three games this made for pretty depressing viewing, but the two wins has given it a much better look. ---------------------------------------------- USA Senior Squad: 2-0 v Curacao, 0-2 v New Zealand (friendlies) Under-23: 3-0* v New Zealand (friendly) Malik Tillman played and scored. Under-20: 0-0 v New Zealand (friendly) Under-19: 3-0 v New Zealand (friendly) ----------------------------------------------

August 2024 Expectations I'd be very happy with just grabbing 17th place again. I think we need to have a few Serie A seasons to build up our bank balance before we can really look at pressing forward. ---------------------------------------------- Results A defensive howler put us behind early on against Pisa. A quickfire double just before half-time put us into the lead, but we conceded an equaliser later on to take the game into extra-time. Luca De La Torre came off the bench to score a wondergoal on his debut. Atalanta could have made this a cricket score on another day, but we escaped with just a 1-0 loss on the opening day. American goals: 1 American assists: 2 ----------------------------------------------

July 2024 Departures A big change at the back, with Jesse Joronen leaving for England. He'd been my number one for the last two years, generally consistent but with the odd howler. So I would have been happy keeping him for another year, but when I doubled their initial offer and Fulham agreed to the higher fee, I decided to let him go. Two left-backs also went. Ridgeciano Haps wanted to explore his options at the end of his contract, and signed an agreement with LA Galaxy. The deal actually fell through, but I'd already signed a replacement so I didn't re-sign him. And I didn't actually realise Thomas Sandon had gone until now. I definitely removed him from part-exchange negotiations at one point, but I guess he was put back in without me noticing. Still, he was rubbish when he did play so it's not much of a loss. ---------------------------------------------- Arrivals Malik Tillman! I've said enough about him previously, it was no-brainer to trigger the permanent signing from Bayern Munich. I didn't think we'd have enough budget originally, but selling the clause mentioned in June covered that. I was looking at Luca De La Torre a while back, but he went to Nashville instead for £1.2 million. And I guess they have just as little understanding of MLS registration rules as anyone else, as they released him after just a few months. We managed to pick him up on about a third of what he was asking for previously. Will be cover for the attacking positions. Has a Spanish second nationality. I had a couple of 18 year olds as my fourth- and fifth-choice centre-backs last year, and they struggled. So Jonathan Tomkinson is a cheap and cheerful signing to to fill in here. Played just 10 times on loan for Stoke last year, so let's hope we don't have to rely on him much. Doesn't have a second nationality, so is my one non-EU signing for the year (I think, assuming I understand the rules correctly) We had the worst defensive record in the division last year, so we needed some re-enforcements at the back. I'm not sure we really got them though, just replacing a couple of leavers. Jayden Oosterwolde has come in as a signing from the Italian lower leagues, as Parma have just been relegated to Serie C. I think he looks pretty decent though, I'm happy with him. Our final signing was a goalie to replace Jesse Joronen. My priority signing went and signed a new contract with his current club, which left me scrabbling a bit to get someone in quickly, in time for pre-season. Titas Krapikas is another signing from the Italian lower leagues, this time Serie B side Ternana. He had a good season for them, keeping 14 clean sheets in 38 games and conceding only 30 times. He has more international caps than anyone else in the squad. Could be inspired, could be a disaster. ---------------------------------------------- USA Senior Squad: 1-4 v Uruguay (Copa America Quarter-Final) Under-23: 1-2 v Italy (friendly), 0-2 v France, 1-1 v South Korea, 0-3 v Netherlands (Olympics Group Stage, finished 4th in group) ----------------------------------------------

June 2024 Clause Activated I'd been monitoring a clause we had for a player sold before my time. We would be due 40% of the next transfer fee, and this clause had been fluctuating between £1.2 million and £2 million over the last year. He's 29, there doesn't seem to be any transfer interest, so it seemed like a good time to cash this in now at it's presumed peak of £2.45 million. This will give our transfer budget a nice little boost. ---------------------------------------------- Facilities With a bit of cash at hand it also seemed wise to invest some of it in upgrades. Improvements in three places were requested; junior coaching was rejected, but youth facilities (currently below average) and youth recruitment (average to adequate) were both approved. ---------------------------------------------- Feeder Clubs I looked at all our affiliate clubs (well over a dozen) and ditched any without any players in their squads. That left just three, but none of these are in active leagues. I requested another and was offered a Serie C side, along with two Serie D clubs. Obviously I selected the former of these three, Trento, to have an active club available to send players on loan, and to also monitor their youth intakes for anyone worth poaching. ---------------------------------------------- USA Senior Squad: 1-2 v Argentina (friendly), 1-4 v Brazil, 2-0 v Peru, 2-3 v Ecuador, 3-1 v Venezuela, 2-1 v Colombia (Copa America Group Stage, finished 3rd in group) Under-20: 2-1* v Japan, 1-0* v Belgium, 3-1*v Botswana (French Youth International Group Stage, finished top of group), 0-1*v Mexico (French Youth International Semi-Final), 2-2p* v Brazil (French Youth International Third-Place Play-Off) Rokas Pukstas played in all five games, scoring once. ----------------------------------------------

USA National Team This is the current senior squad. ---------------------------------------------- Wonderkids There were two Americans named in the 50 stars of the future list. Gabriel Slonina came in really high, as runner-up. He was picked-up by my scouts when they were checking the UK, but realistically he's way out of my range unless Chelsea want to send him out on loan. Obed Vargas was placed in the 40s. As we've used our full scouting budget I can't see his full attributes, but based on what my scouts do know he looks like he could be a good signing. ----------------------------------------------

Venezia - The Americans Senior Squad Gianluca Busio is the first name on the teamsheet. If he's fit, he plays. His numbers took a bit of a hit adjusting to Serie A, but wasn't outclassed and will hopefully be part of my squad for a long time to come. Andrija Novakovic didn't have a great Serie B season and found himself out of the starting line-up a lot, but he's smashed it after promotion. The best season of his career to date. Malik Tillman is a large part of why we're still in Serie A. Made a massive contribution after joining on loan. Hopefully we can make it permanent this summer, though with our budgets both the transfer fee and wage will be high. We play three in midfield, but Tanner Tessmann has never quite managed to make any of the starting spots his own. He's pretty much fourth choice but these positions so still sees plenty of gametime, but it's often off the bench. Jack McGlynn came in on a free, and after a few months with the Under-20 team has now been introduced to the first-team squad. Had a run in the first-team towards the end of the season and will be probably be a starter next year. Jack De Vries was the back-up right-winger behind Domen Crnigoj, now he's the back-up behind Malik Tillman. Hasn't really contributed much, is unlikely to ever become a key member of the team ---------------------------------------------- Under-20 Erik Slowikowski - goalkeeper, never going to make it. Unlikely to ever be a back-up option, will probably be released at the end of his contract. Giannis Papadopoulos made a handful of appearances this year, but spent most of the time with the Under-20 squad. Not impressed by the amount of downward arrows. Probably needs a season out on loan. My first signing was Rokas Pukstas, and he made a handful of appearances towards the end of the season after returning from a loan spell at Toronto. Lots of potential, will probably look to give him some more senior football next season. ----------------------------------------------

2023/24 Season Review The Players This was a tough old season, and this shows in the average ratings. Only two players finished with an average of over 7.0, and it doesn't take a genius to guess which two Andrija Novakovic had a great campaign, taking the step up in divisions in his stride. He doubled his goal tally from last year, and was voted the fan's player of the season. And Malik Tillman, what an addition to the team he was. Joined in January on loan, had a small setback with injury, but was a key player over the final few months. There's an optional fee of £3.7 million to take him permanently, and I hope we can pull that off this summer. ---------------------------------------------- History + Facilities We made money throughout the season, and our balance now looks a lot healthier than it did a year ago. The prize money for finishing 17th was a slightly underwhelming £1.2 million. I haven't yet asked for any facilities to be upgraded. The youth training is the obvious one in need of a boost, but it may have to wait depending on what else happens this summer. ---------------------------------------------- The Americans A massive percentage of our goals came from the Americans, more than two-thirds. While that's good, it does also illustrate how low the contribution from the rest of the squad was. 34 players made appearances for the first-team, 8 were American. Of our four signings this season (including loans), three were American and one was from the Italian lower leagues. ----------------------------------------------

May 2024 Results We came into the final month with a four point lead over Frosinone, and four games left to play. And we started May with a great victory over Empoli. Andrija Novakovic got a brace, but the show was stolen by a hat-trick of assists from Ridgeciano Haps. Frosinone lost, and we were seven points clear. Up next, we played Frosinone. 17th v 18th. Any kind of positive result would have guaranteed safety. Then we conceded in the first minute, and it was downhill from there. The gap was down to four points. Then Atalanta battered us. And so did Roma. If Frosinone picked up four points or more from their final two games we were in big trouble... American goals: 6 (33 for the season) American assists: 2 (12 for the season) ---------------------------------------------- Serie A Wahey! Frosinone drew on the final day, but they were doomed in the penultimate week when they lost to Sassuolo. We rode our luck at times, but I would have taken this 100% at the start of the season. Chuffed. Some worrying things of course; we never won consecutive games, and the goals conceded column is a disaster. But ultimately, we just needed to be better than three other sides. And we were. ----------------------------------------------

April 2024 Results What an absolutely awful month. I don't even care about getting smashed by Roma and Juventus, that's to be expected. But we didn't even get a single shot on target against bottom-of-the-table Sampdoria. We had the prime opportunity to beat Bologna, but Andrija Novakovich missed a penalty. And against Sassuolo we had not just one, but two left-backs sent-off, before Jesse Joronen and Pietro Ceccaroni decided to do this. tytvhb.mp4 If we get relegated, this is the month that did the damage. American goals: 4 (27 for the season) American assists: 1 (10 for the season) ---------------------------------------------- Serie A Four games left, we're on a horrendous run of form, and the gap has been reduced to four points. Squeaky bum time. ---------------------------------------------- USA Under-23: 4-2* v Mexico (Olympic Games Qualifying Final) Malik Tillman played and scored. ----------------------------------------------

Youth Intake 2024 >>>>>>>>>>>>> No point going into any detail with this. Terrible. ----------------------------------------------

If we stay up he can definitely take a large slice of credit for it. His 4 goals so far (in just 6 games) have won us 7 points. At the end of the season I'll drop a few screenshots of our American lads, and the current national team.