Le Aquile - A Palermo Story

[FM_TNSSO]

Playing Napoli just 3 days after our game with Antwerp wasn't ideal and I had a weakened first 11 out there. It showed as we weren't in the game for long periods but we just about managed to hang in there and managed to walk away with a decent point.

This year's youth intake has been a good one with a couple of players looking like future first teamers. We did in fact produce the best prospect during my entrire career at the club...

That player is right back, Danilo Santi, who looks like he isn't that far off first team football despite only being 15 years old! What a future this kid looks to have!

Upon signing his first contract with the club, he's already worth between £8-12 million!!

The future looks very bright indeed, especially as the top 50 wonderkids have just been released and three of my players appear on that list!

Guillem is officially the runner up in this year's rankings, whilst Nereo Mazzon and Stefano Bifulco were the other names on the list.

Back to the action and Serie A threw up a meeting with an Atalanta side that are in serious danger of getting relegated this year. They sat 18th at kick off and this result won't have helped their cause at all!

Lille were up next in the first leg of our Europa Conference League Quarter Final. With the home leg to play first, I was eager for us to get a win to take back to France with us, and we did just that. Could have done without them scoring that late away goal and hope that doesn't come back to bite us in the 2nd leg.

Those 3 goals ensure that we set a new team goalscoring record for the competition this year as well.

I'd have liked an easier league game before playing Lille again, but there was no let up as we played 6th placed Cagliari in the Isole Derby. We very nearly earned the win with a heavily rotated squad, but our rivals knicked a point with virtually the last kick of the game!

We never looked in danger of throwing away our first leg lead in the Europa Conference League against Lille and a win in France sees us comfortably through to the Semi Final where we will take on Athletic Club Bilbao.

Two more wins in Serie A followed, including an excellent result away at Roma. It means that we maintain a position in the top 4 with just 5 games left! We have massive games up next against Inter Milan and Juventus and that could define whether we qualify for the Champions League or not!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Our next game saw us take on the league leaders and if we could take anything from the game at all, I'd be pleased. And we actually performed really well and were good value for our point!

A point that guarantees us a place in European football again next season.

If Inter do go on to secure the Serie A title this season, a lot of it will be down to Timo Werner, who has an incredible 41 league goals in 32 appearances!!

We head off to Spain next for the first leg of our Europa Conference League Semi Final with Athletic Bilbao. I'd gone into this one with the attitude that if we got a draw out there, we could win the home leg to get to the final. As it turned out, we will HAVE to win the home leg now after losing out in Bilbao...the second half sending off of Lorenzo Libutti didn't help our cause!

Before that 2nd leg though, we had a tough league game against Juventus and I had no choice but to rest some first team players, with the Bilbao game in mind and following only 3 days later! However, my second string pulled an outstanding performance out the bag as we thrashed Pep Guardiola's team on their own turf...unbelievable stuff! 17 year old Benjamin Perrot scored the pick of the goals with a wonderful strike from 25 yards out that flew into the top corner!

It was a win that brought us level with Juve on points, guarantees us at least Europa League football next year and puts us in pole position to finish in the top 4 and get ourselves back into the Champions League.

Now our attentions turned back to this year's European competition. We needed a win against Athletic Bilbao to get to our first European final...Two goals in 3 minutes in the first half from our main man up front turned this tie on it's head and put the advantage very much back in our hands! With the way we've been playing recently, I had no doubt from there that we would go on to get the job done and a second half goal from Luquinha (a beautiful free kick) ensured our passage through to the Final!

The Final will be played at Valencia's Nuevo Mestalla and awaiting us there are one of the richest clubs in the world....Newcastle United!

Throughout the course of my Palermo career, Newcastle have spent a whopping £1.31 billion (in comparison I have spent a total of £97 million)!!! Despite that, their highest league finish is only 5th and they still haven't bought their way into Champions League football. On top of that, they haven't won a single trophy either...hopefully that won't change in the final.

Newcastle's most valuable player is Ukranian goalkeeper, Anatolii Trubin who is valued in the region of £99-142 million!! The Magpies paid £70 million to bring him to the North East of England 4 seasons ago!

Back to domestic action and we knew that a win from any of our last 3 games would secure us Champions League football for next season...However, we failed at the first attempt as we are beaten at home by Bologna.

Although I did have a 15 year old playing in that game....maybe I underestimated our opponent slightly.

I really didn't want it to go down to the final day with us having to get a result, so I put out a very strong side against Parma with the view that we would get the job done in our penultimate game of the season. And we did!

With the Final of the Europa Conference League looming, I fielded a second string against Empoli in the final game of the season and both sides provided an entertaining spectacle for the fans in a game that finished all square.

And so it's 73 points and a 4th placed finish for us. We'll be back amongst Europe's elite next season and that is more than was expected of us at the start of the campaign...a successful year in Serie A! The biggest shock of the season is the relegation of Atalanta who were originally predicted a top 6 finish!

​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Europa Conference League Final

As we prepared to take on Newcastle in our first European Cup Final, we would be going into the game as slight outsiders. Both sides come into the match in the same vein of form with 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat from our last 5 games.

Palermo Lineup;

My starting 11 would be my first choice, so if we didn't win this game then I could have no complaints about missing any key players.

Newcastle Lineup;

Newcastle also had no excuses as they were suffering no injuries coming into this Final.

The Magpies danger man is undoubtedly clinical front man, Arthur Cabral, who has 9 goals in 12 appearances in this competition this season!

Our own hitman, Alessio Rosa, also has 9 Europa Conference League goals this year.

In the 8th minute, it was Newcastle who struck first, when Dwight McNeil fired a low powerful shot into the bottom corner from just inside the box...his 18th of the season!

As we passed the half an hour mark, it was Newcastle who were edging the game, with a bit more possession, as we struggled to create chances.

I changed things from an attacking to a more balanced approach and it seemed to be getting us a bit more of the ball and we managed to get a couple more shots in on goal before half time, but still went into the break a goal down.

Early in the second half, goalkeeper Josep Martinez who has been solid since we bought him in January made an awful mistake at the back as his pass fell short of it's target leaving an open goal for Marcos to put Newcastle 2-0 up! We were in trouble!

65 minutes in and it was game over! McNeil dribbled down the left, chipped the ball into the box and De Ketelaere hammered home an outstanding volley to make it 3-0!

Although we weren't entirely out of it yet though. Substitute Josh Quirk curled in a superb strike from 25 yards into the top corner, out of absolutely nowhere, to give us a lifeline!

83rd minute and it was GAME ON!! Since Quirk's goal, we had dominated the game and bagged a 2nd when Nicolo Fagioli put one away from close range after Quirk again had done some nice work down the left hand side! 3-2!

Unfortunately though, we just couldn't find that 3rd goal to complete the come back of all come backs. An emotional final ends with Newcastle lifting their first European trophy since winning the Europa League back in 1969, and we'll go away, lick our wounds and come back stronger!

A few days after the game, the team of the season was announced for the competition and both Alessio Rosa and Alex Telles made the cut.

 

[sahajpal97]

Who is the Newcastle manager on your save?

 

[MatthewElphinstone]

Unlucky big guy!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Who is the Newcastle manager on your save?

Erik Ten Hag has been in charge for nearly 4 years now! Eddie Howe was succeeded by Luis Enrique but he didn't even last a year in the job!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

End of Season 2027/28 Review

Serie A = 4th (qualified for Champions League)
Coppa Italia = Quarter Final (knockout out by Juventus)
Europa Conference League = Runners Up (knockout out by Newcastle United)

Serie A = Inter Milan
Coppa Italia = AC Milan
Serie B = Sampdoria
Serie C/A = FeralpiSalo
Serie C/B = Ternana
Serie C/C = Bari
Coppa Italia Lega Pro = Ternana

Despite earning a point less than we did in Serie A two seasons ago (when we also finished 4th), I genuinely feel that this is the best squad I've ever had and their individual performances over the course of the season were the most impressive we've ever had as a collective group. I can't help but wonder where we may have finished and how much close we might have been to the top two if we'd have been playing our current formation for the whole season. Every defender in the entire squad scored an average rating above 7.0 which is extremely impressive! Gyorgy Szatmari become a really prominent figure in the first team this year and had a great season bagging 10 goals and 10 assists. Shakure Omar was as consistent as ever in his last year as a loanee before becoming a permanent member of the team this coming Summer. Josh Quirk was on loan at Tranmere last season and there was a question mark over whether he'd be able to step up to this level, but 15 goals and 5 assists answers that question. Alessio Rosa again excelled himself up front, leading the goalscoring charts with 34 and finishing runner up in the Serie A golden boot. Daniel Maldini had an impressive first season at the club also contributing to 21 goals with either the strike or the assist. Some of these players are young and with this year's experience behind us, I look forward to next season and seeing how we can progress further!

With our more attacking formation that was created in January, we are performing well above average in virtually every area of the attacking side of the game, compared to the rest of the league.

The Best 11...

The Awards...

Alessio Rosa broke a whole host of records for the club this year, becoming our highest ever league goalscorer (now on 99). He also scored the most goals in a single match and beat Luca Toni's previous record of 30 goals in a season, by scoring 34 this year for us.

Gyorgy Szatmari was named as the Serie A Best Young Player for this past season!

Goalkeeper Josep Martinez was officially rated as the Serie A signing of the season!

During the January window, I signed a young right back from Sampdoria and then loaned him back to them for the rest of the season. Stefano Bifulco actually went on to become the Serie B Best Player of the Season! Needless to say he'll be getting promoted to my first team next year.

We knew that the broadcast money would drop this season with us not being in the Champions League, as would the competition prize money. Despite that, we still managed to bring in decent revenue this season as the club continues to grow year on year.

As we finish the season, we have a cool £42 million in the bank and that is sure to grow next year with the extra money that the Champions League will bring in.

Our stature as a club has grown significantly over the past season as move a whopping 56 places up the European club rankings!

Plans For The Summer

This is the first pre season that I don't feel like I need to make wholesale changes to the squad. We have good depth in most positions already and have some great youngsters coming through as well. The board have given me just shy of £20 million to spend and I will look to add a couple of players and maybe a couple more prospects for the future, but my main aim this Summer is going to be trying to keep the current squad together and fend off any clubs that come sniffing around my best players.

Although we will definitely need a new left back after Alex Telles announced his decision to retire.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

 

[MidKnightDreary]

I really like the Excel recap. Thanks, and good luck!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

I really like the Excel recap. Thanks, and good luck!

Thanks mate. Never done it before but thought it would be a good way to give a quick overview of our progress so far and highlight our key players along the way. Glad it was well received

 

[FM_TNSSO]

As the transfer window opened, the first thing we confirmed was the permanent signings of both Felipe Cruz and Shakur Omar, who have both been here on loan. Both deals were done last Summer out of last season's budget and I'm pleased to have them both on board on a permanent basis.

As per every year, a load of youngsters left the club who haven't 'made it'. The most notable departure was that of Lorenzo Libutti who has been with me for six seasons and risen up the divisions from Serie C with us! He has been a big part of my squad, especially at the lower levels helping us to two league titles. It feels weird to let him go considering he actually had one of his best seasons last year and still made 20 appearances, but with the signing of Felipe Cruz and the fact that I have two of the best young right backs in the country coming through the ranks, it was time to part ways.

One of those young right backs that has been promoted to my first team for the coming season is last year's Serie B Player of the Season, Stefano Bifulco. The 19 year old will be getting an opportunity to show if he can perform at the highest level this season.

Another player that has been promoted from the U20s to the first team this season is 20 year old Bernardo Mosca. The young Portuguese midfielder was signed last season, but I couldn't play him as he'd already played for two teams in a season. He will get his chance to shine against some of the weaker sides in the division this year.

Then I broke the club's transfer record as I forked out more than £10 million for a player for the first time. £10.5 million was in fact the fee it took to entice Riccardo Calafiori to the club. We needed a new left back after Alex Telles retired and I ideally wanted to bring an Italian in. Calafiori has been with Salernitana for the past 4 seasons and we are able to give him an opportunity to step up into one of the top club's in the country (well we're getting there anyway).

Patrick Stolz is a 17 year old Austrian centre back and could have a bright future if he develops as well as I hope he will. He joins from Austrian side LASK for a fee of £3.2 million.

Time for a departure next as Tommaso Nobile left the club to join Benevento. Backup keepers that are happy to sit and hardly ever play without moaning are like golddust, and Nobile has been a loyal servant in that respect. With him turning 31, I felt it only fair to let him go be a first team regular somewhere else.

One thing that was key this Summer was to offload Emiliano Martinez and get his £83k per week off the wage bill. I lost half the money I spent on him and he didn't make a single appearance in a Palermo shirt. He joins River Plate for £3.5 million and will go down as a very rare mistake in my management.

Kaique Jordan is only 19 and is still developing. He made 16 appearances and got 5 assists for us last year with an average rating of 6.89, but I thought he could do with a year of solid first team football to aid his development so he has joined Ascoli on a season long loan.

A youngster that hasn't developed as well as I'd hoped he would is 19 year old winger, Jose Maria Iribarren. I signed him for £825k a few seasons ago, but it doesn't look like he'll be a top player for us so I allowed him to leave for Atalanta in a deal worth £1.7 million.

Another youngster that hasn't 'made it' at the club is Leandro Tramontana. He came through our youth development but he's 20 now and still not good enough for our first team so I moved him on to Salernitana for £600k.

Time to welcome a new signing to the club now and this one could turn out to be an absolute bargain! Pablo Torre has been at Barcelona since 2022, but sent out on loan every season and hasn't quite broken into their team. He spent last season at CF Monterrey in Mexico where he scored 5 times and got 10 assists in 32 games. He was now looking for a club where he could settle and get some first team football and we can offer him that. He cost me a mere £4.9 million and upon signing is worth treble that!!

And in other news, Pep Guardiola left Juventus to become the new Spain manager and Jurgen Klopp took his place.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

I ran this save up to January of the new season, but things just hadn't clicked for us and sitting in 13th place, I asked for more transfer funds to strengthen the squad....the board said no and I pushed and pushed, but they still refused. I then asked for them to increase the wage budget but they said no....I pushed and pushed again to the point that my job was showing as insecure at the club!! A few more poor results saw us drop to 15th in the table and by the start of Feb I was sacked!! This was fun for the 7 and a half seasons we played and has been my best save on FM22 by far.

I'm now going to try something where I don't need to rise up the divisions and build a reputation and squad so slowly, especially as I'm not finding as much time to play FM as I'd like with work going mental and two kids. So I'm going to the English Premier League and going to start something with a team that is not too far off where I was sitting with Palermo after 7 years - that way it'll kind of feel like I picked up where I left off almost. Maybe a mid table-ish kind of team with plenty of potential...someone I've never managed before on any version of FM as well for a completely new challenge.

 

[MidKnightDreary]

Wouldn't happen to be related to your new pfp?

 

[sahajpal97]

Can you please show the league table and all that if possible? This was such a great save. In a strange way I am also happy that the sacking happened at some point of time rather than it being unrealistic like FIFA where you get to the point where you can buy all the top players and keep competing for the title. This is the real beauty of Football Manager.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Wouldn't happen to be related to your new pfp?

pfp?

 

[MidKnightDreary]

Can you do a save recap please?

PFP = profile picture