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Post by Ben on May 30, 2019 7:41:56 GMT
Balancing the booksI've been playing through the save, getting my teeth into the team and some player development but a lot of the financial things have completely passed me by. I know, as a small Italian based club, and knowing the history of small Italian based clubs, that we will always struggle financially, but I have not done anything to attempt to rectify that as of yet. Here is the current overview of our finances: As you can see - the sponsorship money at the start of the season is a nice little boost and then, over the course of the season, we progressively get further and further into debt before being bailed out again. There are a couple of little bumps - where I got £240k for a sale from an ex-youth player and then £350k when I sold (or should I say, when the chairman sold) striker Maio. When you factor in all of the money that we brought in last year, yet still recorded quite heavy losses - you can see that we need a sustainable plan. Obviously - the plan is to play at a higher level and earn more money from sponsorship, gate receipts etc but, at the moment, that isn't going to happen. Therefore things like this need to happen: This is for the sale or Roberto Sironi - a player who was amongst my best last season. Unfortunately, we need to maintain a flow of cash and, unwilling to enter re-negotiations and with only 12 months left on his current deal, I had to sell. I had offered him out with only a 50% of next sale included - as I hoped to be able to negotiate with clubs. I had, ideally, wanted the money to be paid in a few installments to save the tax hit at the end of this season and to ensure that we are always staying reasonably level with our money but Brescia responded with this all up front. Sironi is valued at £125k so this is a huge markup and, when countering Venezia's offer to match that of Brescia's, they walked away - meaning that I didn't really dare push them to the point of withdrawing. Brescia are a solid Serie B side and it is likely that Sironi will not actually play and I won't make millions on his next sale clause - however, I will look to cash in on that in a year or so for an amount of his value, if he is not playing. We are down a solid (performing anyway) first team player but up to about £900k in the bank and I'm hoping that we can start to build a solid financial footing.
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Post by Ben on May 30, 2019 8:04:20 GMT
Have you thought about playing friendlies against other clubs who play the 4-3-3 narrow in order to find a better way for your squad to crack that formation? I haven't no. However, when looking at the abilities of the teams we face who play that flat 4-3-3, they are both considerably better than us. I make some tactical tweaks - making sure we're not over run but the quality tends to shine through. With Suditrol promoted, that is at least one foe we won't have to lose to this season!
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Post by Ben on May 30, 2019 8:11:22 GMT
If only we had some fans...
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Post by Ben on May 30, 2019 16:02:25 GMT
Potential?
Finally, a concrete idea of how good a player could become rather than the 'could improve in the future/could improve a lot.'
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Post by Ben on May 30, 2019 20:23:27 GMT
2023/24 Mid Season UpdateWe are sitting in a solid position in the league, a couple of places above our media prediction and inside the playoffs, where the board expect us to finish again this year. We have played relatively well - only really being 'out' of one game - the loss to Arezzo. However, our form is concerning - out of the nine teams above us, we have beaten only Teramo and Latina and drawn, just, with Rimini - losing to the other six. On this form - there is no way we can/should be promoted, but, as I mentioned earlier, the wheels are in motion and we are moving forward with our plan.
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Post by Ben on May 30, 2019 21:10:18 GMT
Leadership worriesThe above image shows an issue that I have with my squad at the moment. With the hierarchy now such a big thing in FM19, whereby any players in the team are impacted by those who are perceived to be leaders - this is something I must address. These three players are all team leaders - those who have the biggest influence on the rest of the squad, passing on positive, or negative, things to the rest of the playing staff. Whilst Leadership is not an attribute that rises or falls with the changes in hierarchy, I worry that my three leaders aren't actually all that good at it. Marconi is the best of that bunch, but himself, isn't really old enough nor experienced enough to have that cool/calm/leader hat on when I need it. He also plays as a left winger and, from my own experience at varying levels of football, found it hard to either instigate leadership from the wing or be led by a player who is not always at the centre of the action. Neither Gasperi or Pellini are good leaders and this is sometimes a reason why I feel we can get overun in the middle of the park. Gasperi has a good level of determination, Marconi's is average but Pellini's is poor - I really do not want these characteristics to be passed on to the rest of the squad. Take a numeric value for Pellini (I don't have one) of 2 - the team, as a whole, would slowly move towards that level and would then become a) useless at 1-0 down and b) not going to grow and reach their potential. Next, all of the players are 'balanced' - which doesn't tell me a lot about their hidden attributes. When adding in their media handling - I get - Gasperi - Balanced/Level Headed - Marconi - Balanced/Media Friendly - Pellini - Balanced/Level Headed Balanced/Media friendly is the hardest of the bunch to take anything from as there are no minimum or maximum values for anything (I don't think) but Level Headed is as below: Level HeadedProfessionalism 13-20, Loyalty 12-20 So both Gasperi and Pellini are reasonably professional and reasonably loyal - but there are no other direct links that will be able to narrow that down. From that - they are all not ideal for team leaders, but, if anyone, Gasperi should be the one they learn from!
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Post by Ben on May 31, 2019 8:26:53 GMT
Season Four Youth IntakeAn initial look at that screen would suggest that we have two standout CA players - Mularoni and Giorgetti with maybe Giorgetti being slightly better due to the necessity for a more rounded game in his 'specialist role' - although that is somewhat incorrect as an IWB just has to be wrong-footed (I would class IWB, RPM, F9, CF, RMD, CWB as specialist roles because you need to be good to be them). My HoYD is clearly doing a good job of sweeping up all the Sammarinese talent from Serravalle - a town with a population of just over 10,000 continuously giving me nearly ten players a year! We still have our problem with ambition from somewhere within the backroom as seven of this bunch are unambitious and won't look to reach whatever potential they are. At this low level - there are no indicators of anything different from their media descriptions, either. I am delighted though with this intake as it gives me potentially three players for my first team and one that is already better than the majority of his competition in that position. Mularoni is Determined/Media Friendly/Reserved: Determined Determination 18-20, Ambition <12, Professionalism <18, Leader <19 Reserved Controversy 1-5, Professionalism 15-20 So he's not overly ambitious, but has professionalism between 15-17 which I would consider to be great and is nearly a great leader but won't cause any controversy. These kind of traits are really what I want to be able to pass on to the younger players if and when he becomes a team leader. Elsewhere, I really like his first touch and passing. Whilst he's not the best finisher, he's reasonably composed and will get into solid positions off the ball. He works hard and can tackle and hold his own, even if he is a little lightweight at the moment. When comparing his octagon with others, he's already the most rounded player in his area and, like Stefanoni the year before, will be straight into the first team. Part of my tactical evolution is to use inverted wing backs to allow us to dominate possession in the middle of the park. I currently have a right footer who I play at left back but this talent will be ideal to fill in on the other side. Giorgetti looks pretty solid for an IWB, he is good at tackling, works hard, can mark and head well (and is reasonably tall) and isn't useless with the ball - although he can't dribble (not that I want him to). Being two footed also means that he and Muratori can swap sides whenever we are facing naturally gifted wingers. Lots of good things in his report - consistent, enjoys big matches and no mention of a competitive streak - which would be awful with aggression as high as it is. Finally a winger who actually looks like he can do something going forward. Once his weaker foot has been trained to a decent level, he'll work on becoming better technically. However - he, in future, might be an upgrade on the very defensive Marconi. ---- With us being unable to maintain any kind of bank balance - I have been very harsh and deliberate cutting these players down. I cannot afford to keep all of them on Y/C at £140k p/w so have kept just five. I may have missed one or two prospects - but at this level, I am unsure of how good they could actually be anyway.
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Post by Ben on May 31, 2019 11:58:16 GMT
National team support
In the space of four years at the club I have been able to make the San Marino team 'professional.' By that - I mean that all of my Italian citizens of a certain age have taken Sammarinese citizenship and have usurped all of the amateurs playing in their league. Whilst these players are not remotely good for international level, they are slowly improving the fortunes of their new adopted national team. Long may this continue.
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Post by Ben on May 31, 2019 13:14:32 GMT
2023/24 Season ReviewI have started with the overview of our season this time so that I can begin to compare this season to last. We have finished three places lower but progressed further in the playoffs and, in my mind, are a much better team. Firstly - here is the full league table and the tree of the playoffs: We ended up ninth place this year - two points behind last year but with more wins and, unfortunately, more defeats. Our play, at times, was considerably better than what we have ever been able to achieve before. In the end, Cesena won the league, beating us on the final day as AlbinoLeffe faltered. If you look at the league table though, Rimini and Lucchese, like us, are very much on the up and they may have an appalling season next year and return to what has been reality for them. Of the teams that didn't go up - Arezzo have recently moved to the Girone so may move away again should the relegation/promotion impact on the geography of the league and AlbinoLoffe, Latina , Fano and even Ascoli have proved themselves to be beatable by us. I would like to think that we can have a good crack at finishing somewhere between 3rd and 5th next season - depending on the team that is relegated. With us falling a little below last year in the regular season - I wanted to compare the players who played a large part of both seasons. Firstly, our defence welcomed a new player, Pietro Della Pina, but the rest remained the same and all of the players seemed to perform better. Finally goals came for Manca and Muratori, the first of their careers and they all upped their interceptions per 90 minutes as we looked to press a little more aggressively where possible. Pellini, in front of them, performed well too but did take a dip creating and scoring goals for us. Gasperi had a much better season, making double figures for goals once again but his partner Battistini is slowly losing his place - racking up one more assist but one less goal and generally looking a lot less threatening in the CM(a) role. Up top comes the big change - Molinari has scored a decent amount of goals and I hope he can go on and improve that again next year. Our backup striker Casali only scored once (and has 3 in 31 so far in his career) so there is little depth but, if I can keep him fit, I hope he'll do even better. Below are the new additions: Stefanelli has played every minute and notched up 20 clean sheets - a fantastic achievement for a 17-year old. Likewise, Della Pina and Casadei have come in and made positive changes to this team and I hope they will continue into next season as they have now cemented themselves as first choice. Below that - Maiolo, Giorgetti and Mularoni have made a good breakthrough towards the end of the season but Mangione, Casali and Gaggioti are all very poor backup players at this point. --- I'm happy with the progress we have made and hope for more next season!
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Post by Ben on May 31, 2019 13:23:43 GMT
Maybe because ten of the starting XI play for my club?!
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Post by Ben on May 31, 2019 14:58:02 GMT
2024/25 - A season of hope? A quick look at the odds predicts us to finish 11th this season but I fancy our chances of finishing a little bit higher. I have just quickly looked back at the ten teams predicted to finish above us, to gauge what competition could be like this season. I believe that Pisa are the strongest team in this league, performing well in both of the GIrones they have been in. They will be a good indicator of how good we are - we only lost 1-0 to them both times last season, although they did have their worst finish to date. Livorno are a bit of a yo-yo club at the moment but have managed to keep pretty much the whole team that played last year and they can offer a significantly bigger financial package than any of the other clubs - it'll be interested to see how their morale is though. Ascoli are on a downward trend and I expect them to be beatable, as with the teams below them, even runners-up AlbinoLeffe. Arezzo beat us last year over and we lost once and won once against them - they are probably my biggest threat. On the other hand - we have five new teams to this league from Serie D. I know that Modena used to be a good solid side (and I know that my balsamic vinegar comes from there) but they've been out of the reckoning for far too long. Rieti, Santacargelo and Savona were also very much beatable the last time they played at this level and Pontedera struggled for a couple of seasons in Girone A before spending two years in Serie D. My aim is to take 30 points from these teams and pick off what I can from the higher rated clubs.
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Post by Robson on May 31, 2019 22:03:37 GMT
Ben, sir, you are a man that enjoys grounding out insanely tough saves. All the best my friend.
Had a chuckle when you said the team were so bad it was near pointless giving them tactical instructions.
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Post by Ben on Jun 1, 2019 19:43:49 GMT
Ben, sir, you are a man that enjoys grounding out insanely tough saves. All the best my friend. Had a chuckle when you said the team were so bad it was near pointless giving them tactical instructions. Robson - thanks! Actually, the most rewarding part for me comes at the point whereby we are solid in the second tier and looking to build a side for promotion to Serie A. The wages are cheap, the standard of football is good but you can still out-tactic other teams and the facilities are good enough for your players to develop really well, allowing you to chuck youngsters in to the fold. We are still quite a way from that point though! Yeah - I could ask them to mark a player but with 1-5 for marking and positioning - making sure they are on the pitch is a start!
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Post by Ben on Jun 1, 2019 19:45:22 GMT
2024/25 Mid Season Review
Mid way through the season and I am very happy with where we are and how we are playing, on the whole. Only two defeats, both narrow, but both to late goals and an absolute rock solid defence but we have been somewhat stagnant again upfront - with Molinari failing to find the net since the first game of the season. My pre-season predictions of Pisa being towards the top have been accurate but a solid 1-1 draw away from home has given us the upper hand. It is Viterbese, though, that have surprised everyone, however I do expect them to fall away as the season goes on. I don't know if I'd yet class us as title contenders but, from our experience two years ago, getting into the playoffs as a higher rated team does count in the event of a draw.
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Post by Ben on Jun 1, 2019 20:17:54 GMT
Money made from players that haven't impacted our club in my time makes it even better
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Post by Ben on Jun 1, 2019 20:47:30 GMT
Season Five Youth IntakeI've had a good look through this intake and I think that it is the weakest of the lot but it has provided me with one player in a role I need depth for, centre back.
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Post by Ben on Jun 2, 2019 8:03:59 GMT
2024/25 End of Season ReviewWe very much bumbled our way along to the end of the season - infuriating draws and dull football where I even switched to only commentary for periods of extreme boredom. We managed to find the net a meagre 38 times this season - 1.0 a game, but did keep the defence exceedingly tight, conceded less than 0.5 a game - at just 16 goals. Viterbese faded, as I predicted and Pisa pushed Arezzo all the way. We then entered the playoffs, which went well - until this. The second leg of the semi final, we are 1-0 up against Latina, who finished 4th in Girone C. Yet the National Team have a fixutre on the very same day. Six debuts were handed out to my youth team and that marked the end of the road. We are always asked about postponements but, as I presume this game falls outside of regular season time, we were missed off for this one. Next year - I want to avoid the lottery of the playoffs and win the league. To do that, I must become more aggressive and we must turn a significant portion of those draws into wins. I will be looking at moulding the 4-1-4-1 into a 4-4-1-1 and try and push on. Six seasons in this league is more than I had planned for but, finances aside, we are building something very strong - we just need to find that last bit.
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Post by Ben on Jun 2, 2019 17:18:36 GMT
2025/26 Squad PreviewAs mentioned at least fifty times so far in my journey - my squad overall is poor, but I am at a point where my first XI is getting quite strong. As we go into the season with an outside shot at promotion - I thought I'd quickly profile them. Stefanelli has been an absolute revelation since being generated in my academy. The 18 year old has 51 clean sheets in his first 95 league games and my staff believe that he is already at a Serie A level. He has great handling and reflexes and makes great decisions. He leads from the back and communicates well with the defence. He has incredible vision but not really the passing and technique to pull it off but I'd like to think that his mental attributes do offset that somewhat. He is also two-footed so his attributes are lower than his overall CA would suggest, which tells you just how good he actually is. My team, as mentioned, rate him as being good enough for Serie A but also being able to improve a lot more in the future. He has two years left on his deal and, realistically, I stand little chance of being able to extend this unless we are in Serie B, which adds extra impetus to our challenge this year. Going forward - he is already a pretty complete keeper but I will continue to train him as a sweeper keeper with a focus on passing. It has definitely risen over the few years he's been in the team and, even if I can't make him particularly great at it, it'll certainly minimise a weakness. My favourite player of this save to date. Alberto has broken into the team over the past twelve months and is a perfect fit for what I want at full back - either footed and able to play on both flanks. Sadly, he lacks the the technical prowess to really contribute to our possession style but he's quite physical, works hard and knows how to tackle. Right is his strongest foot but he may actually find himself moving over to the left flank allowing Muratori to come back to his favoured right hand side at some point. He's consistent, currently a good player for this level and, I'm told, will improve a fair bit in the future. Maybe not the wing back I want at the club in fifteen years, but certainly a good addition to the team right now. Pietro epitomises our struggle really - he's good enough for this level but not the type of player I want. Far down the line, I want to be able to play with ball playing defenders, but Della Pina is way from that - he can barely control and move the ball on. That being said, his actual defensive attributes are really solid - heading, marking, tackling, bravery and positioning. He does lack a little in pace and we do play a fairly high line but I've not really seen him be exposed of yet. My backroom team feel that he is potentially going to be able to play at Serie B level but is not far from being usurped by 16 year old Selva, the last product of my academy as his lack of consistency does let him down along with his height and very poor technical attributes. I could pretty much copy and paste what has been said above for Nicola, a player who was already at the club when I took over. He too has potential for Serie B but is also very limited on the ball. I am training him as a BWM(d) at the moment in an attempt to make him useful if and when I can develop a more technical centre half as he's a well rounded and high ability player as well as being our captain at the moment. Like Manca before him, Muratori has been at the club since before I took over. He was shoehorned into the left back slot as an IWB(s) but with the emergence of Giorgetti, I may look to move him back to the right. As I am toying with the idea of removing the DM role, I fear his (lack of) dribbling may come into play a bit more with more space in front of him - but everything else he does for that role, he is actually pretty good at it. I've struggled with wingers in this save - clearly a difference between the footballing upbringing in Italy and Portugal, and Casadei isn't really an exception to that. He's pacey and is good at dribbling but is clumsy in possession and has no real end product. Still - he's got a fairly professional personality and seems to quite a good character - he's one of the few that hasn't moaned about bids being rejected. Pellini has previously played as the DLP in the DM strata but with my probable move to an AMC instead, I need to decide which role to use him in. He is one of only two non-newgens left within the XI now and is well rounded, mostly. I have written about my worries for him as a team leader with such poor determination and such open personality and media handling but, since he's signed a new deal as a backup, seems to have moved down the pecking order a little. I do have another midfielder who is quite close to taking over his place in the first team, so his minutes may be limited this season. Mularoni has made himself a regular despite his very young age as he is probably the most technical player in the first team. He's developed reasonably well over the past two years and is quite well rounded mentally - even if he is lacking in some technical aspects. He can, however, pick a pass and this is something I'll look to develop him to do with the correct traits over time. As I said - I don't seem to be particularly blessed with great wingers so far in this save. Segoni is pretty physical and works hard and can dribble - but again, his final ball or finish is lacking. He plays a supporting winger role, and will now be aiming to link up with the AP so time will tell just how much his lack of on-the-ball ability will hold him back. Another one with a solid personality who has developed pretty well of late. The second non-newgen, Gasperi has played as an MC for the majority of this time. I will look to use him a bit further forward from now on (now my experiment at IWB has ended, anyway). He's solid across the board to be fair. Found form at the latter end of the season, coinciding with the trait of trying first time shots. He now looks a lot more threatening in the box but sadly his pace doesn't really lend itself to the slow and methodical build up we are using. Much like some of our defensive players, he's the type I need right now but not who I'll want in the future.
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Post by Ben on Jun 2, 2019 21:04:02 GMT
Hopefully the new chairman can clear these debts...
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Post by Nick on Jun 3, 2019 19:35:32 GMT
There's nothing like a new Ben save to tempt you away from your own save.
Cracking progress mate. I'm a big fan of the slow and steady way you play. You seem to have some really good players, although it's much harder to gauge exactly how good without the numerical visual. Stefanelli is the pick of the bunch for me.
How are you doing on the training/coaching front? Are your staff at a decent level?
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Post by ttgb on Jun 4, 2019 8:35:16 GMT
There's nothing like a new Ben save to tempt you away from your own save. Cracking progress mate. I'm a big fan of the slow and steady way you play. You seem to have some really good players, although it's much harder to gauge exactly how good without the numerical visual. Stefanelli is the pick of the bunch for me. How are you doing on the training/coaching front? Are your staff at a decent level? I agree, already looking for a new save.
Would also like to see how those players are numerically. Looking at the bars most seem capable at Serie A level already.
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Post by Ben on Jun 4, 2019 18:57:40 GMT
There's nothing like a new Ben save to tempt you away from your own save. Cracking progress mate. I'm a big fan of the slow and steady way you play. You seem to have some really good players, although it's much harder to gauge exactly how good without the numerical visual. Stefanelli is the pick of the bunch for me. How are you doing on the training/coaching front? Are your staff at a decent level? I agree, already looking for a new save.
Would also like to see how those players are numerically. Looking at the bars most seem capable at Serie A level already.
Thanks Nick and ttgb! I'm sorry to draw you away from your saves! Yeah - I've always liked to make slow and steady progress - I imagine some players would be close to CL victories within six seasons but this slow and steady build feels a bit more realistic and also keeps me very much invested within the game. My coaches are average at best, albeit the best in the league, but I've been prioritising good personalities in order to try and impact our youth intakes. I'll go into more depth when we are a slightly bigger club. As for the numerical figures - I had to drop a file into a folder somewhere - let me find that, move it, re-start the game (which I'm currently pretty glued to this evening) and then I'll get some screenshots up (there is no tick box option for some reason in this FM).I haven't seen these players with numerical attributes in this save so it'll be interesting for me too.
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Post by Ben on Jun 4, 2019 19:07:33 GMT
2025/26 Mid Season ReviewIf I was to say that we were flying, I may be slightly overestimating our attacking prowess, but we are making really good progress and our position within Serie C is the best that it has ever been. Despite moving to a more offensive shape, with largely similar instructions, we have maintained an incredibly tight defence. We are sometimes rather lacklustre going forward and that has shown as we have failed to break down teams and not scored more than two goals in a game this season. I worry that Ascoli are very strong this year and catching them may not be particularly easy - even if we held them to an away draw.
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Post by Ben on Jun 4, 2019 19:58:31 GMT
I have been incredibly careless in my squad depth for goalkeepers and, above, is listed the total amount of keepers across my three squads. Of course, I post this when Stefano Stefanelli injures himself and is out for two months. I can only hope that my youth intake contains at least one goalkeeper...
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Post by Ben on Jun 4, 2019 20:29:45 GMT
Season six youth intakeHere is the overview but I'll save time with the information - not one I'm proud of. Domenico D'Urso signs, due to only the fact he's a goalkeeper but due to my money saving necessity, there isn't a lot else to post about.
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Post by Ben on Jun 4, 2019 20:40:38 GMT
With a goalkeeper... Without a goalkeeper...
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Post by Ben on Jun 4, 2019 21:24:29 GMT
Takeover.Interestingly, it was a consortium that has taken us over, rather than a board member, as first predicted. It seems Maurizio doesn't like being out of football... But doesn't really give managers too much time...
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Post by Robson on Jun 4, 2019 23:09:49 GMT
Ouch. Nasty keeper error/situation, hope it doesn't completely derail the season.
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Post by Ben on Jun 5, 2019 21:02:50 GMT
Ouch. Nasty keeper error/situation, hope it doesn't completely derail the season. It did! See below...
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Post by Ben on Jun 5, 2019 21:03:42 GMT
2025/26 Season ReviewThe goalkeeper misdemeanour really hurt us but we finish in our highest ever position at this level with a record amount of points amassed. It was, as first predicted, Ascoli, who went on to win the league with recently relegated Ternana not even making it back into the playoffs. Two whipping boys in the shape of Sanremo and Viareggio are always a bonus when it comes to securing the 'easy' points but we do seem to be pulling away from the chasing pack of playoff hopefuls now and are able to mix it with the bigger boys in the league. Sadly, we were unable to mix it with the bigger boys in other leagues. Cremonense, also fourth places finishers in their Girone, took us apart in the return leg and give us our seventh season at this level to look forward. Disappointing, definitely, and one that can probably be attributed to a mistake on my behalf - only having one goalkeeper within the whole club. My player performances are, once again, a little inconsistent and somewhat disappointing. Striker Molinari has, once again, had a really poor season up top and has only found the net nine times but wingers Casadei and Segoni has performed admirably, which was a role reversal from previous years. Whilst this first team squad is now delivering on levels of versatility, with most players being able to play in two positions, it is still threadbare and injuries have and will continue to decimate it. Going in to next year my thoughts are that we probably have a strong enough first team to earn promotion to Serie B but we certainly do not have the squad depth to be able to stay there in the long term.
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