Another San Marino Story!

[Ubernisation]

So, I've done the San Marino challenge in both 2009 and 2011, but never managed to qualify for a major tournament. However, I've bought the game early on in its lifestyle this year, so should have the time to get further before FM 13 I only play the San Marino challenge in FM games, everything else just seems too easy in comparison.

So, for anyone who doesn't know the challenge can be found here. The aim is to win the Champions League with the Serie C2 club, San Marino, and win the World Cup with the 207th ranked nation, San Marino. I've also loaded the Sammarinese league, so I may take control of a Sammarinese club team further down the line, maybe once I've got San Marino (club) to Serie A. I won't be taking control of the national team until I'm in Serie A- it's just fruitless and hopefully by that point I'll have some good regens for the national team.

So my goals for the club are,
1st season: Promoted to Serie C1
2nd season: Promoted to Serie B
3rd season: Mid table Serie B
4th season: Play off challenge Serie B, possible promotion
5th season: Promotion to Serie A

I'll post new goals when I'm in Serie A

I've already finished my first season and am a fair way into my 2nd, so here's a summary of season 1 (taken from the challenge thread):

San Marino Club Season 1.


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Pretty amazing season. I was heading for a perfect season, but I drew 2 games when I was 10 points off sewing up the leads and had a ton of injuries, and drew 2 towards the end of the season when I had already won the league and was playing a few youngsters. Still pretty good though

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Key Players and comments:

Vittorio Ferrero: 30 appearances, 11 goals, 1 assist, 5 MoM. CB already at the club, played him on the right of central defence. He was simply outstanding early season, didn't allow any striker to get past him, scored about 8 goals from corners and 3 from free kicks. His injury coincided with our mid season wobble where we drew 2 games and squeezed past a few others, in fact before he got injured we had only conceded 5 goals in about 25 games. Made a few appearances late in the season as well, although a few from the bench when regaining fitness. Also bought the 50% off Juventus so he's mine now.

Alexis Abrahim: 34 appearances, 24 goals, 14 assists, 6 MoM. For the first half of the season he was providing more assists than goals, and was averaging around 7th in the league for goals scored. Second half of the season he benefited from me moving Gulraiz to winger and him becoming the definitive lead striker, scored a lot more after this move than before it.

Fabricio Cancela: 34 appearances, 1 goal, 2 assists, 3 MoM. Played him as my first choice RB and fill in CB. He was relatively tame up front, my FBs aren't overly aggresive, but was solid as a rock at the back. Owned his side of the field.

Eder Bau: 31 appearances, 7 goals, 17 assists, 3 MoM. First choice right winger after the 6-7th game in- I rotated him and Sodinha initially. He roved up the wing and linked up extremely well with Abrahim. Also scored some nice goals from short passes around the box. The way he cuts in after a run down the wing reminded me of Robben and was a sight to behold.

David Giubliato: 37 appearances, 7 goals, 3 assists, 3 MoM. Was the CB partner to Ferrero at first and was solid but was outperformed by his partner. Following the 2-3 month injury to Ferrero he stepped into his role and scored some goals from corners and dominated his side of the pitch despite is partner being rotated between 2 or 3 players. Very impressed by a player I wasn't expecting too much from.

Mohammed Gulraiz: 31 appearances, 12 goals, 6 assists, 5 MoM. For the first half of the season was the lead striker, but wasn't getting too many goals and was one of the underperformers in the team (although still averaging around 7.00). In the second half I moved him to the left wing and he performed much better here. Although his assists tally is low I don't think this is representative of his play- was excellent down the left wing and outperformed Ingrao who he replaced.

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Pretty standard fare, only notable things is that Rossini was a sub in the first half of the season, but became first choice when I moved Gulraiz to the left wing and did well. Sodinha has a higher rating than Bau, but I frankly don't agree, he wasn't as incisive as Bau. Pinna I signed on a free because Sciarrone got a longterm injury; he performed well in this period but was moved back to sub when Sciarrone returned from injury.

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5 players in the team of the year, can't complain.

San Marino Club 2nd season thus far:

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So the league is going well I did have quite a poor start with a loss and 2 draws in my first 5 games, but I've been on an amazing run since then- although another game to Ternana because I had my 3rd choice keeper in the net and and missed about 20 easy chances >_<. I would be destroying the league but recently relegated Cittadella are going with me. I'm ahead of them in head to head as I won the home match against them 1-0 and it turns out that the last game of the season is San Marino vs Cittadella! Beautiful fixture list there. I'm hoping they slip up beforehand so I won't need to get a win in that last game, as they do seem to be a better team than me in the few times I've played them.

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Was hoping for a good cup run but alas no. I actually dominated Modena, it was an utterly ridiculous game,

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See!?!

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Was hoping to win this trophy, byt Cittadella really are very good. I played a weakened team in the first leg and scraped a win, played a full strength team in the 2nd leg and got totally owned. This is why I fear that last game of the season.

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A lot of activity, although this does cover two windows. The main reason for a massive influx of players is because I got a lot of youth team players, and because I got some excellent scouts how have been unearthing some very good potential players who will come to me for free. I've massively indulged in signing these prospects, and thus expect not to make many signings next season. I'll just be replacing players who can't cut it anymore, and any 4.5/5 start potential. Here's some of the important players,

Here's the most important first choice players,

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Gotta admit Ferrero is consistently surprising me, he's an absolute beast. I'll be interested in seeing how all these playes manage in Serie B should I get promoted.

And here's the best potential (non Sammarinese) players I've signed,

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Joncyzk: Released from Bayern, already 2 stars CA, now being used in the matchday squad.
Puschmann: 2 star CA, potential to be leading Serie B. Released from Leverkusen. In the matchday squad.
Vargun: 2 star CA, potential to be leading Serie B. Released from Leverkusen. In the matchday squad.
Diallo: 1.5 star CA, potential to be leading Serie B. Signed for no fee from a french amateur team.
I've also got a few on loan that I'll snap pictures of when they return, I have 4-5 young players with 4 star potential too.

And the important bit, the Sammarinese regens! And I must say I'm very surprised by their quality.


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My general policy with these young players is going to be this, leave them in the youth teams until they're 18. At 18 I'll analyse them, and ship out anyone who isn't going to be at least Serie B standard. Any player who is about 2 stars CA I will bring into the main squad as subs. Anyone less than 2 stars, or who has too much competition for his position, I will send out on loan for a season. When the players are 20 I will assess them again, and decide whether they're going to make it with me or not. if not I'll try and sell them to the best team possible, I won't care what fee I get, the important thing will be finding them a club to develop at.

Marcolini: Only young, I'll send him out on loan when he's 18 to see how he does. Has the potential to be a 'good Serie A' player!
Toccafondi: Exactly the same as above
Trombetta: Exactly the same as above!
Niola: Also as above
Apolloni: As above!
Ragni: Potential to be leading Serie B
Costigliolo: Leading Serie B
Belardinelli: Leading Serie B

Besides this I have 2 good Serie B and 3 leading Serie C1 potential. All in all a pretty amazing haul of players in 2 season. Compared to FM 11 this is incredible, I would get maybe 3 players who were above 1 star potential each season, and maybe only 1 player every 3 years who was above 3 star. What I need to do now is upgrade my youth facilities asap so that these players can reach their potential. I have a feeling quite a few of these players will fall by the wayside as for the next few seasons my facilities are going to be quite poor. However, I'm still very enthusiastic about the quality of player we are producing. Also some players only have Sammarinese nationality- so they won't be corrupted by Italy

And finally, here's how the Sammarinese national team has been doing without me.

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2011: Actually quite respectable. 2 games lost by a 1 goal margin and 2 by a 2 goal margin aint bad, only 3 real thrashings too. And they scored a goal!
2012: A win and a goal against England! Pity I won't be able to claim the country's first win, but oh well Very good so far. Stats against Moldova show 34:66 posession, 10:10 shots against San Marino. Counter attacking performance it seems.
2013: Two goals in a match is pretty good, even if it is Andorra. Stats shows 55:45 possession and 12:10 shots in favour of San Marino. Looks like they edged the game.

So that's the first update. Will update again after pre season next season But overall think this should be much more achieveable than in previous FM games.

Over and out.

 

[iFortunatus]

Good so far mate your doing well nice lay out plenty of images !! i will be following im also doing the SM challenge smashed my first season like you, i havent signed anyone in my second season yet, was wondering how did you go about finding all your good young regens!?! you got a nice haul of them.

Also Serie C1, was it much more difficult than C2? i might be worrying a little to much about it im hoping i can pretty much keep my whole present team bar a couple of signings and possible youths, =]

 

[kandersson]

great to see this started Uber! Now I'll probably have to start yet another san marino story not sure how to call that

great season, and the NT manager is performing better then I have, still waiting for a competitive win as of 2014...

following this

 

[sammyt]

i'll be following this, glad to see you're producing good regens as it gives hope to me and my save.

 

[Ubernisation]

Thanks glad to see the current buzz around San Marino

@iFortunatus: Regens basically just comes down to scouts. I send half of them out to the country where their knowledge is best to look for potential 4 star+ and age less than 21. The other half I just send to scout a certain region (I had a request to extend my scouting area accepted so I can scout eastern europe, scandanavia etc) without any stipulations to see what they turn up. I also sometimes send 1 or 2 to do the same but looking for players without clubs. Serie C1 weren't that much more difficult, I reckon you could keep the same team from C2 and probably get play offs, strengthen in your weakest areas and should get promotion easily with maybe 4 new players.

@kandersson: Yeah he's doing well hopefully not well enough to raise their expectations for when I take over I decided that if I'm not in Serie A by season 5 I'll takeover anyway.

@sammyt: Thanks And yeah the difference between regens in this and 11 is crazy. I'd be interested to know if it's just San Marino who have been given a boost or if it's all LLM. I don't play any other saves so have no way of knowing.

Next update should be in the next 5 hours.

 

[iamauser]

Good luck mate, Will be following.

It will be interesting to see who has the best game for all us who have written a story

 

[Ubernisation]

So only a day late, but update time!

Season 2:

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So the league turned out to be less tight than it was shaping up to be Despite losing 2 games towards the end of the season (including the showdown with Cittadella), I was lucky because Cittadella had a nightmare last 10 games and fell away dramatically.

Star players,

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Comments on their league form,

Alexis Abrahim (ST):

Most important player at the club, the lead striker with a ton of goals and impressive amount of assists. Hoping he can replicate this form in Serie B

Antonio Costa (GK):

Put him straight into the first team so he can reach his Serie A potential. He performed really well and could be my first choice for a good few years

Lucas Correa (CM):

MY record signing and important player, he's the playmaker in the squad. He made a lott of assists and his long balls and long shots were important for the team.

Matteo Teoldi (LB):

Solid at the back, although doesn't offer quite as much up front. However he doesn't let people get past him easily and snuffs out crosses from the left, and he does link up quite well with Gulraiz on the left.

Mohammed Gulraiz (AML):

Performing very well on the left. He puts in a lot of crosses and some nice passes into the box. He also had some very nice short passing with Difiori and Correa around the box which carves the defence open and lead to quite a few goals from Gulraiz.

Pablo Difiori (ST):

Outshone by Abrahim, but still a solid player. He heads the ball on to Abrahim more often, and is often the player collecting any long balls and setting up the running wingers and other striker.

Vittorio Ferrero (CB):

Amazing season again by Ferrero. He scores a ton of goals from corners and free kicks, and even a few longshots. He's commanding in the area, good at clearing the ball and even makes some runs from the back. He's my Phil Jones or David Luiz.

Wilson Soupraeyen (DMC):

Not that good by the stats, but he converts defence into attack very well, setting up runs for the wingers and snuffing out a lot of attacks through the centre before the keeper even gets a sniff.

Season 3:

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Made more signings than I meant to, but I'm still just under my wage cap. I think this season might be crippling financially. I think I'll need promotion in 2 seasons to balance the books. Going out was players who don't quite cut it anymore, Sodinha, Bau, Sciarrone and some youth players who aren't good enough. Also Ferrero has his buy out clause met (which he wouldn't agree to a contract without) so I've lost him, which is very annoying.

However coming in are some good players,

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I have high hopes for all these players, they're all upgrades on who I had before I believe. van der Linden and Lenoir are two very exciting young players who are straight into the first 11, hoping they can do the same as Costa and develop into good Serie A players. Hoping Linden can fill the Ferrro shaped hole in my squad. Also two youth players I signed last season have developed well and are in the matchday squad,

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This means that in my top 18 players I have 5 who should be able to develop into Serie A players, and still a good crop of young talent.

Now time for the league so far, my aim pre season is just mid table obscurity, a push for play offs would be nice, but I don't expect to be anywhere near automatic promotion
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So here's my squad, Gaston Aguirre who was meant to be my new first choice CB has been performing terribly, so I've dropped him to the bench, Romeo is a striker in his mid twenties who is decent, he's nothing amazing but better than Difiori. I'm hoping he'll allow Abrahim to play at his best and grab some goals himself, definitely a position I'll try to improve on next season. Next season the places I need to strengthen are getting a new striker, centreback, defensive midfielder and maybe right winger, but all in all I think it's a capable squad.

Fixtures:

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So in the Italian Cup I was unfortuante to draw such a strong team and went out early, again I was hoping for a cup run. THe early part of the season went badly with a 1-3-1 record. The 5-1 to AlbinoLeffe was a bit of a turning point though. I raged at the team and called a meeting, and since then we've been doing better. I think I made a mistake in picking the squad bonus payout though. I picked low for the first time ever in FM to save some money, and it ruined our morale. 4 of my players still have abysmal morale despite the decent form, and the only thing cited is the payout bonus. I'm on a bit of a bad run at the moment, but I have some easier games coming up so I'm hoping for a bit of a turn around.

Current League Table:

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6th is pretty impressive I think. I'm in the playoff spots, but in danger of losing touch with the top 4. I'm hoping my next run of games can see me catch up with them though. Before the Xmas break I have Feralpi Salo, Grosseto, Sassulo, Vares and Empoli. I'm hoping for a minimum of 3 wins and hopefully 4 or 5. More importantly I'm 14 points off relegation, and I'm looking more like a top half side than a bottom half, which is nice. Also I'm spending the 4th least amount of money on wages in the league, so that's something.

Done! I'll either update next time I get Sammarinese players, or at the end of the season.

 

[Ubernisation]

Long time no update, not had much time to play recently! This update is a summary of season 3 and season 4 thus far.

Season 3:

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Here's how the season flowed: for the first 1 or 2 months I struggled. Team morale was low, the strikers were failing and I was just mid table. Around mid November we got a few consecutive wins and morale got better, Abrahim scored (had gone 11 hours without a goal!) and things looked generally perkier. By January form was brilliant and there was a 5 way fight at the top between the ones who ended top 5. I was floating between 3rd and 4th for most of the season, but come the last game of the season I was 3rd and 2 points behind 1st and 2nd. However Torino and Cagliari were playing eachother, so if one of them I just had to win. Cagliari won 3-2 but I was beind held to a frustrating 0-0 by Cremonese, however look at this:

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With that 93rd minute penalty I won automatic promotion! Wahey.

Here are some awards me and my team won over the season, as well as a job offer.

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Rejected the job offer of course, but it's always nice to have them Managed of the year was a nice bonus, and I was pretty chuffed about Gulraiz still performing well in Serie B. Frank van der Linden is a fantastic prospect and I'm hoping he can be a part of my team for a while to come.

Now some player ratings,

Antonio Costa (GK): 40 apps, 44 conceded, 14 clean sheets, 0 MoM, 7.02 Average rating

Another solid season. At the age of 20 he's already a reliable keeper, and looks like he could develop still.

Frank van der Linden (CB): 41 apps, 12 goals, 1 assist, 10 MoM, 7.41 average rating.

Still just 20 years old and a commanding centreback and a beast at corners. My most important player.

Mohammed Gulraiz (AML): 37 apps, 11 goals, 15 assists, 6 MoM, 7.31 average rating.

Basically performed just like in Serie C1. Plenty of assists, some nice passing around the box, so nicely played curling shots into the bottom corner. Impressive.

Umut Vargun (CB): 37 apps, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 MoM, average rating 7.07.

Not as impressive as the rest, but another young player with a lot of promise. He's the one who stays back and sweeps up while Frank van der Linden pushed up front a bit more. Solid.

Franck Songo'o (AMR): 39 apps, 9 goals, 5 assists, 3 MoM, 7.16 average rating.

Basically the same as Gulraiz on the left but not quite as succesful.

Alessandro Romeo (ST): 36 apps, 18 goals, 7 assists, 5 MoM, 7.26 average rating.

Brought in to get goals in Serie B, but doubt he'll cut it in Serie A. He did his job though, he was essential in the first half of the season when Abrahim was misfiring massively.

Alexis Abrahim (ST): 37 apps, 12 goals, 14 assists, 1 MoM, 7.16 average rating.

A weird season, he only scored about 3 goals before christmas, but managed to grab a few assists. I threatened to drop him if he didn't pick up his form, but for the rest of the season he improved. Not an amazing goal tally still, but it was enough.

Season 4:

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First the leaving players,

Teoldi, Sophie, Difiori, Paulinho and Cancela were all good servants to the club but their contracts were running out and they were never going to cut it in Serie A. Carra, Muller and Soudant were also not going to make it in Serie A, and I managed to get a bit of cash for them. All the rest going out were youth players who didn't make it or youth players on loan for experience. I did sell a few co-ownerships for some extra cash though, 300k for young CB Mahmutovic, 375k for young def mid Vaessen and 2.6m for centre mid/left winger Pierre Lenoir.

Coming in were again mostly free transfers, my budget is very limited. These are the players coming straight into the first 11,

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Konate and Mohammed I am especially excited about, has a lot of promise. The rest I'm hoping are enough to keep me up. For now I'm not building a team for the future, I'm just trying to stay up for a few seasons while I sort out my finances, mostly by expanding my stadium.

And here's how the league is going so far,

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7 points above the drop and 4 points behind a place in europe, it's solid but unspectacular- just what I want really

Some other news, I've got the board to buy the stadium, so I'll hopefully be able to expand the stadium next season. I'm losing between 600k and 800k per month, so finances really are terrible. Expanding the stadium is the most immediate concern, but if I could get into Europe that would help financially too. I'm out of the Italian Cup again, so a cup run isn't a possibility for cash.

 

[kandersson]

Looks very promising! Konate and Ogbonna are really quality signings.

I was wondering how are you dealing with the best SM prospects? you give them some playing time, let them in the U20 or loan them out?

Also I see you finally took over NT, how are you doing with them?

 

[Aannddyy]

How are you losing so much per month? You receive like £2m per month for TV money don't you? :/

 

[Ubernisation]

@ kandersson:

My general strategy with youth is this, unless they are really spectacular I don't give them first team football if they're under 18, they just stay in the youth team. At 18 I analyse all the players and see if any are good enough to be getting cup games and late sub appearances. If they are moved to the first team squad, if not they stay in the youth team for a year. At 19 I analyse them all again. If they're good enough to get appearances they are brought into the first team squad, if not they go on loan. At 20 I analyse them again. Basically this is where I decide if they can cut it. I sell/release any who aren't making it, and play the rest. THis is basically what I'm going to do with SM nationales- except I won't release player I'll keep them in the reserves and find them a new club. As all the players are 17 or under none have got any action yet. Next season I'll be analysing the first batch of 18 year olds, so we'll see then

I'll post a NT update in January, I've only played 2 matches and they were unsurprisingly defeats Basically I called up as many youth players and would accept.

@Aannddyy:

Seems not, I'm getting barely any TV money at all. I'll post a picture of my finances at the end of the season. But generally it's the fact that my wages are higher than my matchday income- and then there's all the other additional costs of running the club. In January now and my balance is +1.3m. I'm not sure what prize money is for league finishes in Serie A, but I'm hoping that might boost me into the positives again come the end of the season.

 

[kandersson]

I'm afraid there's a bug about yearly TV money in Serie A, apparently we don't get that (SI seemed to confirm the bug)

as for youth I tend to do the same as you, though I noticed in FM12 even 16-17 years olders seem to improve better and faster if given first team action. I have at least four prospects (all 16-18) who are really promising and really look like they could become very good players (I mean REAL serie A players! amazing considering FM11 academy tragedy). Unfortunately I can't give them any PT at Serie A level, so I'm considering sending them on loan (except the ones on youth contract). Usually I'd rather give them training/tutoring at the club until at least 19, but for example even Juri Biordi (who just turned 19) has improved much better on loan in serie C2 than playing for our U20.