San Marino- Attempting the Impossible

[flez85]

Summer 2015 Transfers

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After a year away, Bouy rejoins the team on loan. I actually thought I had him signed on a free but Juventus offered to renew his contract right after I offered him and he opted to stay with them. Can't really blame him but he only got a 1 year extension so maybe we'll get him in the end. Unfortunately he was injured in a friendly and will be out for around 4 months so I'm thinking of terminating his loan anyway to free up some finances. Mitrovic rejoins us for another loan and Livieri comes back permanently on a free. Going out is a bunch of deadwood, Olivieri was getting old and Ferri didn't turn out like I had hoped, plus had to make room for a couple of center backs on the youth front that have some potential. Habarugira also finally leaves as I still haven't fully forgiven him for our confrontation 2 years ago. I signed up a promising fellow American as a scout and he really has made a difference, coming up with a pair of Croatians that he feels have the potential to be great Serie A players. Here's all of the new signings:

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I'm really excited about the prospect of the two Croatians. I wasn't really looking for another striker but couldn't pass up Zmajla who Adailton agrees would be a good Serie A player with the potential of being a leading star in the top division. Kotarski isn't quite as developed but has the same potential and will hopefully reach it quickly with plenty of first team experience. Unfortunately the more I think about it the more I'm leaning towards getting rid of Bouy for now and revisiting the possibility of signing him permanently at the end of his contract. Here's a screen of the American scout I hired towards the beginning of last season:

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Promising Youth Players

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All with 3.5 star PA, hopefully they can develop as much as Adailton thinks they can. I'm skeptical, but you never know. I really need to upgrade our youth facilities but until we can get our finances in a better state it's not going to happen. Speaking of...

Finances

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Still in the red, though we are projected to make some of it up throughout the season. The wage budget has been lessened since last year but surprisingly I don't think that's much of a problem. The addition of these new signings make the team better as well as putting us in position to have a decent Serie A squad in a couple of years if everyone develops properly.

Team Depth Chart

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I think I've done well to put together a squad that should achieve our goals for the season, which despite finishing 4th last year is a mid table finish. I think we were a little lucky finishing as high as we did last year and there's some good teams we'll be competing with. For the sake of improvement I would like to see a promotion bid, but I want to be realistic about it as well. With Bouy injured I'm going to search for another AMC to take on loan or sign on a free but if it doesn't happen I'll just stick with the 4-1-3-2 that did us so well a season ago.​

 

[flez85]

I haven't received a ton of feedback, though the comments made have all been positive, so I want to ask everyone following for advice on how to make this story better. I realized starting out that monthly updates were going to take up a lot of space and time so switched to every two months, but even that has totaled 6 pages in a mere 3 seasons. I'm thinking I'll switch to two updates a year for now unless I hear from you to keep going with every 2 months. It will be a bit tedious for anyone reading a career that should last to at least 2034 and beyond to start at the beginning.

Also any tips on how to improve the format or any changes/extra screens that you feel would help this story feel free to share. This is my first story other than attempting one during the blog era so I'm learning as I go.

 

[Ashleigh1984]

I like the format, keep to monthly updates as followers like myself can keep up to date easier. Don't worry about the size of the pages, klippy once one an Athletic story over 20 years with monthly updates and people read from the start.

personally I think it flows better.

 

[flez85]

I like the format, keep to monthly updates as followers like myself can keep up to date easier. Don't worry about the size of the pages, klippy once one an Athletic story over 20 years with monthly updates and people read from the start.

personally I think it flows better.

Thanks for the feedback, really do appreciate it. I'll stick with doing updates every month or so then. I think I read klippy's story for a while last year, but I was trying to keep up with so many that I lost track of which was which and stopped reading all together! That's why this year I'm planning on picking 3-4 to keep up on and your's will be one of them. I like seeing people battle up the ranks with a lower league team and seeing what they can achieve, the stories that start with a top division club, even a middle to bottom team, tend to lose my interest.

 

[Ashleigh1984]

Thanks for the feedback, really do appreciate it. I'll stick with doing updates every month or so then. I think I read klippy's story for a while last year, but I was trying to keep up with so many that I lost track of which was which and stopped reading all together! That's why this year I'm planning on picking 3-4 to keep up on and your's will be one of them. I like seeing people battle up the ranks with a lower league team and seeing what they can achieve, the stories that start with a top division club, even a middle to bottom team, tend to lose my interest.

ready made clubs are good for winning titles and buying the best players but if you want a good challenge then bottom up with a youth policy is a fun way to go.

 

[martin_2304]

Great story so far, one of my favourites!

Made some amazing signings, pity Pitbull didn't come up with the goods, might have even got those extra couple of points to get the automatic promotion. Amazed at Burnley in the Champions League and well done on the 0-0 with England. Keep up the good work!

 

[flez85]

Great story so far, one of my favourites!

Made some amazing signings, pity Pitbull didn't come up with the goods, might have even got those extra couple of points to get the automatic promotion. Amazed at Burnley in the Champions League and well done on the 0-0 with England. Keep up the good work!

Thanks man! Glad you like it. Yeah, was disappointed with Pitbull but Gerardi really stepped up and did light years better than I was expecting.

 

[flez85]

August-September 2015

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Mixed bag of results, it seems like some games we come out firing on all cylinders and can't be stopped then others we fall asleep on the pitch and get dominated. We won the Competzione Amichevole once again as expected. We're still in the Coppa Italia with our win over Serie A side Torino, which is the result I'm happiest with even with some good results in the league. Siena would be the most disappointing result because we were cruising to a 1-1 draw until they popped up in the 90th to score a demoralizing late winner. We need to find a way to get points away from home, not scoring a single goal in any of our away games sans Brescia where we went goal crazy. I was expecting a loss against Udinese but wish we could have kept it closer. Next up in the cup we go away to Serie B side Sassuolo so hopefully we can get into the next round.

League Table

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6th place isn't bad, I would accept that as a successful season if that's where we finish. Looks like Udinese has the potential to run away with the league for an immediate return to Serie A. Sassuolo was really probably one of the stronger sides in the league last year but poor coaching left them struggling towards the bottom of the table. Once they got a new man in charge however they've put on some good performances and might be able to challenge Udinese for the league title. Lots of football left to be played though so anything could happen at this point.

Squad

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These ratings are a little inflated due to playing largely inferior competition in the Amichevole, where Gerardi scored 3 of his 10 goals. It's nice to see the Croatians blending in quickly, Kotarski has been a rock at the back and is already starting to develop nicely. Zmajla brings what I was asking for all of last season in a striker to pair with Gerardi that can score goals as well as create them. He's had 4 goals and 3 assists in his 6 league games. Comi was also doing well before he got injured for a few months, but once he's back I might think about playing all three up front in a change of tactics. I almost let Camara's contract expire last year because Adailton only rates him at two stars now, but he's proving that would have been a dire mistake, especially with his intended replacement Liviero being injured for the month of September.

Transfer

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I brought this guy in on loan to play in the AMC spot, but after some mediocre performances I might not be using him much. In the tactic I use him most attacks are played through his position.​

 

[flez85]

October-November 2015

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Started off good, continuing our unbeaten run to 7 before a disappointing loss to Ascoli, who I thought we should have handled fairly easily even with the match being away. After that our offense exploded, scoring 5 against Livorno with the final 3 coming in the last 20 minutes after being tied at 2-2. The craziness continued in the cup with an away match against Sassuolo in which Comi became the hero, ensuring it would go to penalties by scoring in the injury time after extra time! I have to post a screen of this nail-biter:

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Absurd! Can't blame the men too much for coming out flat against Ternana after that, even though it hurt our league standing (we were sitting first going into that game).

League Table

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Sitting pretty in 3rd now and hopefully will be able to push on and win the league. I added two different versions of a flat 4-3-3 that resemble my two 4-1-3-2 tactics and the 4-1-2-1-2 that I've been. I've mostly been using them at home, but I think it's helped as we lead the league in goals scored and our defense hasn't overly suffered having the best goal differential by 5 goals.

Squad

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Kotarski has been tearing it up, winning 81% of his tackles, completing 80% of his passes, and just being a pain in the *** in general. His fellow Croatian Zmajla has been great as well, finally giving us a second striker that bags goals consistently. Gerardi continues to be lethal in front of the net as well. Unfortunately Kotarski was injured in training and is expected to be out 2-3 weeks, but I think the main difference between last year and this year is our overall depth. Players get injured or tired and there's not much of a drop off when their backups go in.

Transfer

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Got one final transfer in, this one on deadline day. He popped up in my scout report on deadline day and with his potential I couldn't pass him up. Hopefully I can get him out on loan, though we've been having some injury problems in midfield so he might just stay and get that vital first team experience here. He was a regen at the beginning of the game, born in Botswana and coming through the youth ranks at Chelsea before being released.​

 

[flez85]

December 2015

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Probably the easiest month of the year with 4 of 5 games at home and all games played against teams in the lower reaches of the table with the exception of Modena who is overachieving this year after finishing the last three seasons just above relegation. Gerardi ensured it was no challenge scoring a hattrick to put him back on top of the Serie B scoring chart. The only somewhat disappointing result was at home against bottom of the table Carpi in which we had to rely on Jeff April to score the winner deep into injury time on only his second game played with the club.

League Table

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We're starting to pull away from the pack with Udinese keeping it tight. My goal of a mid table finish this season has been scratched, I want to be champions! Juve Stabia were never going to hold onto first having barely escaped relegation via the playout last year. The surprise is Crotone, who were relegated from Serie A last year and this year are sitting 21st staring at back to back relegations. It is admittedly very tight towards the bottom so there's still plenty of time for them to turn it around.

Squad

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Kotarski came back from injury a bit sooner than expected and picked up right where he left off, playing in the final 3 games of the month. Gerardi is the man who really turned it up for the month as he looks to defend his title of Serie B's highest goal scorer. Hopefully he won't get the chance next year. Zmajla continues to impress and Panatti, Sturaro, and Mitrovic all had a great month. I've been getting co-ownership offers left and right for both of the Croatians, mostly from Serie A teams. So far they haven't fussed over the offers being rejected and hopefully they'll be content to stay for years to come.

Serie B Player Stats

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Kotarski is the league's highest performer and Gerardi has scored the most goals. Zmajla is just one assist off of tying for first as well as sitting in 7th for goals scored at 11.​

 

[flez85]

Had the chance to change season expectations so here's what I went for:

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​

I'm not sure what's going on with my finances because before the season it the budget and the amount spent were about $20k less than what they showed before I changed them. Not sure if it's a glitch with the game or if something else is going on. I went ahead and changed the expectation to top half finish which should be easily acheivable barring a complete meltdown. I did this not necessarily to bring more players in, rather to extend current contracts that will expire at the end of the season.

 

[flez85]

January 2016

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If I was afraid of how the team would do in Serie A if we manage promotion, I'm not anymore. We extend our run in the Italian Cup and are through to the semis! Parma was content sitting back and passing the ball around without much attacking movement and it was working at least to keep the scores level at 0. I don't think they were expecting my substitutes to pull this off!
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Comi came on in the 69th minute and scores a hattrick in the space of 8 minutes! All three of his goals were set up by the other two subs used. That forced Parma to finally turn up the pressure, but by then it was too late and they only managed one late consolation goal. Next up was a league match away to Siena, which was always going to be tough but we couldn't use tiredness as an excuse this time with 9 days to prepare. We did manage to split the possession, have more shots on target and one more ccc but we just couldn't get past their keeper. Next up was a match against Fiorentina who we knocked out of the cup two years ago. I was afraid they'd be out for revenge and teach us a lesson, but no!
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We dominated the first half, then played increasingly defensive in the second which worked well enough. Fiorentina did manage to score to make the last 20 minutes nervy but our defense held up for the win. Next in the cup is a home-away series against Sampdoria, who are sitting 3rd in Serie A at the moment. I just want to give a good showing, but who knows what could happen! This run has been a good boost to the finances and we're almost broke even.

The final match of the month was at home against Pisa with a mere 2 days separating the last two games of the month. We managed to scrape a 1-0 victory although I think the margin should have been bigger.

League Table

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Despite losing one of our two league games we remain first in the table. Udinese is still putting the pressure on and Siena, with their win against us, can now lessen the gap if they win their game in hand. It's looking to be a tight 3 months ahead.

Squad

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Kotarski continues to impress but Gerardi's performances slip. Zmajla has been off and on but luckily both Comi and Coda have been doing well.

Transfers

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Mitrovic accepts my contract offer to return next year permanently. Bouy recovered nicely from his injury so I loaned him back in and sent April on loan to Blackpool. Bouy this time accepted my contract offer and closed the deal so he'll be with us permanently as well. I also extended the majority of the players' contracts that were due to expire, all that were part of the first team anyway, except for one:
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He wanted me to triple his salary and give him all sorts of crazy bonuses and clauses. Hopefully he'll come around before his contract expires but I'll be looking for a replacement in the meantime just in case.​

 

[flez85]

February-March 2016

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A decent run of results, but my fears of Gerardi going cold were realized. That on top of the fact that he wants triple his salary to sign an extension put me on a hunt to find a replacement for him. The draws against Lecce, Reggina, and AlbinoLeffe were disappointing as we really should have come away with more, however the wins against Sassuolo, Udinese, and Pescara were just what I was looking for. We managed to hold Sampdoria to a draw at home in the first leg of the cup semi final, though I knew going to play at their stadium was never going to be easy. They went up 2-0 at half and I was sure we were going to see our fantastic run come to an end:

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But it didn't! Kotarski powered in a header from a corner then 7 minutes later Ciaramitaro won the ball at midfield and played it perfectly between two defenders for Coda to jump on and score an easy goal. After that we just hung on for the last 30 minutes to book our ticket to the final! We'll meet Juventus in a match that everyone will undoubtedly expect them to win.

If you couldn't tell from those screens, I found Gerardi's replacement in yet another Croatian:

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I've had my eye on him for a while, one of my scouts found him a few years back but he wasn't interested in joining on loan from Juventus. After being released he was more than happy to sign for less than half of what Gerardi was asking for and without the huge bonuses.

League Table

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Still sitting at the top and probably have one of the easier schedules of remaining games. With the 9 games that are left when we played them before the half way point we won 7 and lost 2. If we can have a similar run this time around we'll surely be crowned champions. Our last game is away against Cremonese and looks to be our most difficult match left. Hopefully we can secure the league before that game.

Squad

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After contract negotiations failed Gerardi really fell off and hasn't scored in the last 13 games. I'm probably going to put Comi in his place to see what he can do. Kotarski remains consistently awesome and Zmajla has been doing well too. Mitrovic was the one to really up his performances recently, hopefully he keeps it up when he's with us permanently next year.​

 

[flez85]

April 2016

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April saw two expected wins to start out then a disappointing home loss to Ternana. We rebounded well though with two good away wins to close out the month. The Ternana loss really hurt because it put them just 3 points behind us in 2nd.

League Table

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We've done it! Ternana got destroyed by Cromonese 0-5 in the final round of the month allowing us to widen the gap. Only 1 point from the remaining two games and we'll clinch the title! I'm hoping we can get at least that point in the next match at home against Modena so we can rest some of our first team in the final match so we can have them ready for the cup final against Juventus.


Squad

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The performances put on by Kotarski and Zmajla has a number of Serie A clubs making offers but I'm not willing to listen to any of them at this point. I got them both on a free so I guess if they start to demand a transfer I can make a good profit off of them but I'm hoping they'll want to stay. Gerardi continues to struggle and has blown any chance of getting his contract extended.​

 

[Trophy_Whorder]

congrats in your season seria a will be a tough challenge for you best of luck

 

[flez85]

congrats in your season seria a will be a tough challenge for you best of luck

Yeah man, I have a feeling next season will be stressful. It will be interesting to see what kind of budgets I'll have to work with, I'll probably need to work some miracles in the offseason. The unbelievable cup run will hopefully help with that, both in regards to increasing finances and giving us the reputation boost needed to sign the type of quality players I'll need to bring in. Thanks for the comment!

 

[NathanCarr]

any decent San Marino players came through youth team yet?

 

[flez85]

any decent San Marino players came through youth team yet?

Not really, I definitely need to upgrade the youth facilities but my main focus will be on staying in Serie A next year. Here's the best of my youth:

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I don't think any of them are going to break into the first team anytime soon for the club, but since the national team is a joke and will lose no matter what team I put out I'll be sure to get them some time with the senior squad. Maybe one or two of them could develop.

 

[flez85]

May 2016

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We got the win against Modena which sealed the league title. The Cremonese match was mostly younsters and backups to give the first team a rest to face Juventus in the Italian Cup final. Did it pay off?

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No, but I'm not too bothered. Just the fact that we made it all the way to the final is absurd. And losing to Juventus, who won Serie A yet again, means something else for us.

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That's right! Our first season in the top division and we'll have the distraction of European football to deal with. At least it should help the finances.

League Table

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What a great season! We completely smashed my expectations in both the league and the cup. After securing the league I got a good bit of news:
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Decent acheivement being the 8th best American coach according to the hall of fame, but to be honest most of the other American coaches are ****.​

 

[Bluehawk]

Hey man, I took some time to read your story, it´s very well written! You´ve done a good job managing San Marino! I actually have a game managing the team(I haven´t added myself to the national team tho, I want to earn it) so it was good to catch up some stuff, since Im currently at Serie B! Well done! I can understand your admiration towards Adaílton, but man, I think I ´ve seen you mentioning this guy at least a hundred times! hehehe


Keep up the good work!