Managing All Over The World

Hello and welcome to the next post in my attempt of the Great San Marino Challenge. In the last post, I showed you how well we were doing in the Serie B, but could we continue our form for the remainder of the season. Let’s look at the results.

So we had a very good end to the season, losing just 3 times. However we drew a hell of a lot of games, which hampered our promotion push. However, the automatic promotion race truely ended with a 0-2 loss away at Torino. They were 2nd so losing to them put them 7 points clear, and they don’t drop many points.

However the fight was not over yet, as we did manage to finish in the play-off spots. Also joining in the play-off’s were Empoli, Udinese and Juve Stabia. So, who did we have in the play-off Semi-Final.

We were drawn against Empoli, who are decent but beatable. We drew 1-1 away which wasn’t too bad, meaning we had an away goal. However Italy is of course a strange nation, and therefore away goals do not matter, as ‘seedings’ come into play. If you are higher seeded, then you go through. This rule came into play as we drew 1-1 at home with Empoli too, expecting it to go to extra-time I was surprised when it said we were in the play-off final.

So, who went through between Udinese and Juve Stabia…. I think you can guess.

We faced Udinese in the final, and of course, like all good Italian play-off’s…. there were 2 legs. We played at home first, which we had to win. Luckily, we came up trumps and smashed them 4-2, giving us a handy lead to take away. I wasn’t too worried about their away goals as… well they don’t matter here.

In the 2nd leg, we came out with a terrific 2-0 win, meaning we got promoted with a 6-2 aggregate!

Wow, simply outstanding from my squad. Not only have we been promoted to the Serie A, we were given £2.17m for getting there… more than this club has even seen I think. So, hopefully I will get some decent budgets and I can get the squad to stay up next season. Here is the final table:

Cesena were crowned Champions, with Torino following them up. Although Udinese lost in the play-off Final to us, they were given Europa League football, after reaching the Cup Final but losing to Juventus. Four teams were relegated, due to the ‘play-out’ rules that apply to the Serie B.

The Serie A will be much harder and I will need to improve. I am also worried as a lot of players were on loan, so as those expire, I will have no players. Anyway, I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

I was handed a new contract after sealing promotion to the top flight:

I extended my stay by at least 2 more seasons, on a significant wage rise. Hopefully I wont get sacked if we don’t stay up next season, as I really don’t want to end the challenge so early.

Finally, I have one more thing to show you before the National Team update. Tibor Cica, my young Croatian starlet has praised me for my efforts to take San Marino up, however I would like to praise him, as if you look at his season stats, he has been sensational.

He played 41 games overall, and scored 10 goals. A very good tally for a MC. Physically and mentally, he is superb for his age, and these will only improve as time goes on. Although he isn’t amazing technically, he is still a very good player with loads of potential. He will hopefully be a constant feature in my Serie A side.

San Marino: National Team Update

I will probably do these updates at the end of every domestic season, in the ‘Post-Season posts’. So, we’ve played quite a few games, and lost them as you may expect too.

So yeah, a few positive notes however. We only lost 0-1 to both Moldova and Poland which isn’t too bad considering we are 209th in the world. Obviously before we can improve, we need the domestic side to be in the Serie A and Europe to raise funds for the facilities to be upgraded.

Although the World Cup is over, there are the Euro’s to look forward to. We recently received our Euro’s Qualifying group and although I expect nothing from it, we could scalp a few results here and there… probably not.

Sweden, Germany, Lithuania, Slovakia and Belarus. Not the easiest for us, although there never was going to be ‘easy’ for us. I hope we can get something from Lithuania, although we’ll have to wait and see.

Thanks for reading and please comment/vote!

Hello and welcome to the next post in my attempt at the Great San Marino Challenge. So I am currently at the end of the January transfer window in my 2nd season as San Marino manager. This post will cover the results so far, the table and the January transfers. So, first things first, how have we done over the period:

Wow… just wow. We have done fantastically this season. We had a troubled start, winning just once in our opening 7 games, but since the signing of Pelle on loan, we just seem to be doing really well. Another encouraging note is that in the final 4 games of the period, we have kept clean sheets while scoring 2 goals a game. Granted, the teams in those 4 games are not the best in the league but it is good to see.

Our biggest scalp of the season has to be our 2-0 home victory over Udinese. The Italians still had Asamoah, Di Natale and other big names, so to get the result we did was fantastic. So, what has this done to the table?

We currently sit 4th with a game in hand over most teams. I seriously think that we can challenge for promotion, something I didn’t expect at all. We would be top 2 already if it wasn’t for our wobbly start. However I am happy and if we don’t go up, we should be better financially equipped to gain promotion next season.

Now for the transfers. Before we begin, I was offered the chance to change my season expectations:

I didn’t want to set myself the ultimate target of promotion, however I went for top-half finish. It would give me the same transfer budget, but an extra £6k in wages.

Anyway, onto the transfers for the January period. Here are the outs:

Only 1 player left the club in January, and that was Julio Colombo. I sold him for £150k which is a good price to get. I got him on a free in the Serie C1/A and he was terrific then, however this season he wasn’t the best. Also, as you will see, I signed a new DL on loan as well as 2 other DC’s so he was just surplus and eating £1.1k a week.

Also leaving the club were 2 of my loanee’s, whose loans were terminated. Bouy was no longer required as he just wasn’t stepping up to Serie B life and that gave me £800 a week back. The other player was Acosty on loan from Fiorentina. He got injured in the game against Verona and he would be out for 4 months. Rather than have him sit there eating my wage bill, I sent him back to the Serie A to recover. That gave me back £625 a week.

Now for the ins:

I signed 3 more players, one of which was a loan signing. Here they are:

Luca Barlocco: DL   (£0 Loan Fee / 100% of Wages — From Atalanta)

I signed Luca on loan as his attributes were much better than Colombo’s. He is a very bright young talent and should do well in this division. Hopefully he can stop wingers from bombing down the wings and producing crosses. Furthermore, his wages are lower than Colombo’s so overall it’s a good deal for us.

Matteo Lanzoni: DC   (Free Transfer)

I signed Lanzoni as he looked to be good from his attributes. When the scout report came in they said he was 3 star ability so I went in for him. When he joined, it seems the rating has fallen to 2 stars but he should still be good for cover. If needs must we can sell him in the Summer for a profit.

Raio Piiroja: DC   (Free Transfer)

I signed the Estonian DC as some vital experience in our back line. Although recently we haven’t conceded many, but I know the teams we have played recently are not the best. I am basically trying to prepare for the bigger teams by signing Piiroja. He is only contracted until the end of the season so hopefully he can serve us well until then.

Thanks for reading and please comment/vote!
P.S. I will do an update regarding the national team in the next post.

Hello and welcome to the next post in my attempt of the Great San Marino Challenge. As you saw in the last post, we scraped through the play-off’s to earn promotion to the Serie B! Just 1 division behind the Serie A and all its wealth and European opportunities. This post will cover the pre-season activities that the club underwent including transfers and friendlies.

Let’s begin with the season expectations and the money received through TV rights for the season:

So I was given £1m over the season for TV rights, more than we have ever received before. Also, my season expectations came and I was given a transfer budget of £87k, with about £9k in wages. In return the board wanted to avoid relegation, which should be a doable task.

Let’s look at who left the club in the transfer window:

So quite a lot of players left the club. I had to let Sereni leave as although he was my best GK, he was injured for too long and too much. All the others who got released were not Serie B level. Crivello and Casolla went back to Juventus and Cesena respectively as their co-ownership deals expired. I loaned out a San Marino DC, Biordi, and a San Marino ST, Selva. Del Sole left the club for £10k, again as he wasn’t Serie B level.

Now for the ins:

I brought in quite a few players, 4 free transfers and 8 loans. Here they are 1 by 1:

Armando Perna: DC   (Free Transfer)

I signed experienced DC, Perna, as I felt I could use his ability in my defence. I don’t want to concede many goals so I am hoping that he can make many good tackles and blocks, to help my keeper out.

Tibor Cica: MC/ML/MR   (Free Transfer)

I am really excited about Cica. I signed the versatile midfielder on a free on just £2k a week, and he should be a fantastic, key part in my midfield. The young Croatian is definitely a good Serie B player, and if he can reach his potential, he will definitely be joining us in the Serie A when we go up.

Mads Laudrup: MC   (Free Transfer)

Another good midfielder signed on a free transfer. Mads is only 24 but is clearly a good Serie B player. Hopefully he and Cica can hold the middle of the park well and create chances for our forwards.

Edoardo Pazzagli: GK   (£1.5k p/m Loan Fee / 50% of Wages — From AC Milan)

He’s not exactly up to Sereni standards but Pazzagli is a decent GK at this level. Hopefully he can provide a good service and keep out as many goals as he can.

Raffaele Schiavi: DC/DR   (£2.5k p/m Loan Fee / 50% of Wages — From Parma)

I signed Schiavi on loan as backup/cover for my current DC and DR. He isn’t a terrible player and should do quite well in the Serie B. I am hoping that he can use his good heading to clear crosses and set pieces away better than we did last season, as that was one of our problems.

Oassim Bouy: MC   (£0 Loan Fee / 100% of Wages — From Juventus)

The first of 4 Juventus loanee’s is Oassim Bouy. The Dutch MC should be able to handle the Serie B, having been on loan in this division last season. He will mainly be used as backup but I wont be afraid to bring him on.

Gabriel: DM   (£0 Loan Fee / 100% of Wages — From Juventus)

I brought 19 year-old Gabriel in on loan as I felt he could do a very good job in this division. He has good attributes in the right areas and hopefully he can sit in front of the defenders and cause opposition forwards some trouble.

Marco Di Benedetto: ST   (£0 Loan Fee / 50% of Wages — From Juventus)

I didn’t sign Benedetto for the first team, but he will be used mainly as backup, coming off the bench or covering injured players. He has good pace and a decent finish on him but his mental attributes need a lot of work.

Boadu Maxwell Acosty: AMR/AML   (£0 Loan Fee / 50% of Wages — From Fiorentina)

I signed Acosty on loan for the same reason as Di Benedetto, backup. He can play both wings and has a lot of pace to give. He isn’t much else and that is why he will mainly be a bench warmer or covering for injuries.

Filippo Boniperti: AML   (£0 Loan Fee / 50% of Wages — From Juventus)

My 4th and final loanee from Juventus is Filippo Boniperti. He is a good AML and should provide decent ball into the box and he can get a few goals too. He may not be the best in this league, but last season he got a 7.02 average rating on loan in this division so hopefully he can do well again.

Roberto Guitto: DM/MC   (Free Transfer)

I signed Guitto on a free as I felt he could be good coming off the bench for us. He will not start many games but I think that he could be a good player and at just 22, he isn’t your typically old Italian DM.

Graziano Pelle: ST   (£3k p/m Loan Fee / 50% of Wages — From Parma)

I am really happy about this player. I signed Pelle on loan from Parma as I felt Adailton could use some help up front. Pelle is a good ST who knows where the goal is and hopefully he can score quite a few for us. My only concern is that he is a typical Italian player… no pace.

Now onto the friendlies:

We didn’t have the best of results for the pre-season friendlies, losing them all except 1 against Real Spal. Although this does make me slightly concerned, I do feel that we can survive the Serie B.

Thanks for reading and please comment/vote!

Hello and welcome to the next post in my attempt of the Great San Marino Challenge. I have just finished the 2012/13 season, and as you may recall from the previous post, we were sitting in the play-off’s. My aim was to finish there and see what we could do in the play-off’s as I knew reaching top spot would be a bit too far.

So, how did we do? Here are the results for the remainder of the season:

It was again, quite mixed with 7 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses. Overall the form was decent, but we looked poor on the away games towards the end. The highlight of the period has to be our thumping at home against Trapani. We smashed them 6-1 with Adailton getting a hattrick and 2 assists.

These results earned us a play-off spot! However we were drawn against one of the best teams in the division, Lecce. So, how did we cope against them?

We won the first leg 1-0! The only goalscorer was Adailton, however I did feel that the 1-0 win wouldn’t be a significant margin to park the bus on. I went for a counter attacking approach to the 2nd leg however it finished 0-0, meaning we scraped through with a 1-0 aggregate win.

So, into the play-off final. Usually, play-off finals are done over 1 match, but it seems in Italy that the play-off finals happen over 2 legs as well. Here’s how we got on!

We won the 1st leg at home 2-0, with Davide Poletti getting both goals. He usually provides Adailton but it seemed in this match that he wanted to steal the glory himself.

In the 2nd leg, we did lose. Adailton and Poltetti scored our 2 goals however we managed to concede 3 goals against Cremonese. So, did we go up?

We did! We won 4-3 on aggregate meaning we are now going up into the Serie B. This is the highest the club has ever been so I am glad to be the bringer of success. Hopefully my budgets will be good and I can improve where I need to.

Finally, the board were so delighted with my efforts, they offered me a new contract.

I am now on £1.9k a week, a massive £1.5k increase. I would rather have that in the player wages budget but there we go. As there is no news for the International side, the post ends here.

Thanks for reading and please comment/vote!