The Great San Marino Challenge

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As I haven't played a FM properly since the 2009 edition and haven't managed in Italy since circa CM 03/04 so I've decided to make this challenge my first save on 2012!

I have done LLM challenges before so I’m not coming at this completely blind. My usual lower league strategy of setting up a 4-4-2 with pacey wingers, a good goalkeeper and a goal machine sounds like it should work judging by others on this thread.

I don't generally like to use forums to find gems but I did use this thread to pick up Gulraiz and Sciarrone. Conti wouldn't even talk to me and Scorza doesn't exist on my database (I'm on an old laptop so I only have Italy plus the San Marino extras loaded).

I then found Salvatore D'Elia and Sodinha through scoting/player search but it seems I'm not the only one on this thread to pick them up.

I've then gone for a bit of experience to compliment this talented but young squad:
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Both are on (quite lucrative) one year contracts so they can be easily dropped if finances dictate, or some of the original players fulfil their potential soon.

I exceeded my expectations by ending pre-season with 100% record:
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This included winning the inaugural Kandersson Cup, which was only held for its revenue boosting qualities (£400k):
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If I had to describe how seriously the other teams took Kandersson Cup I'd have to go with ‘not very’, although Cesena fielded a half decent side in their obligatory friendly so that was a pleasing victory.

I expect the season will be tougher than the pre-season would indicate but I'm feeling quite confident. Gulraiz just doesn't stop scoring, does he?!

One thing though; I'd like to be the NT manager too but every time I do the add-manager-then-retire trick they re-employ the same bloke (Claudio Venerucci). I've taken the u21 job for now and I'll give it another go after a few months...

After I started this save I noticed a few of you went the manage NT first before add-manager-then-retiring for the club job. Although I'm wary you lose a (quite vital) week at the club, if this works 100% of the time then perhaps this advice should be in the OP for any more new entrants who want to manage both from the start?
 
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I Finally managed promotion to Serie A! after back to back to back promotions! had to rebuild my squad to compete in serie A, im also national manager now and have to play croatia :/
 
First season done and dusted! Finished top of the league by 9 points, however due to some shaky form towards the end of the season (a loss to 2nd place, and 2 draws against relegation threatened teams in the final 5 games) it was a lot closer than it should have been.
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We also, quite convincingly won the Serie C Cup, and C2 Super Cup...
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Here's the list of the transfers that I made through the season.
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Unsurprisingly the top performers were Enzo Scorza and Mohammed Gulraiz. Honourable mentions must also go to Andrea Manucci who was a rock in defence alongside Vittorio Ferrero, Raffaele Longo who (despite not making it into the best XI) was instrumental in midfield, and Salvatore D'Elia who was fantastic at left back, using his pace to pass the opposition wingers and crack killer balls into the area.
Unfortunately the likes of Matteo Pivotto, Vinceno Chianese, Andrea Capone, and Nicola Pagani were utter let downs, failing to impress when given the chance. I'm still stuck with Pivotto and Capone (£900 p/w and £1,200 p/w respectively) as nobody wants them and it'll cost me a fortune to cancel their contracts.
I went for Sodinha and Matteo Bartolini after recommendations from this thread, however both spent a long time on the injury table and didn't get the much of an opportunity to play.

Surprise, surprise, Scorza was the top scorer with 45 goals in 45 games, also notching up 11 assists throughout the season and setting a new Serie C2/A record for goals scored with 33.
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I was impressed with Emmanuel Chiaretti...the Italian filled my deep lying forward role perfectly, but I only started to play him after he kicked off about having so little playing time. I regretted giving him so little time to play during the first half of the season as he came up trumps for me scoring 13 goals and providing 15 assists in 27 appearances.
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And here's my Best XI for the 2011/12 season...
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Unfortunately I haven't had any good youth prospects, but the board has agreed to increase the junior coaching so fingers crossed for next March.
Quick question...how much money have people needed in the bank in order to improve the youth training? I currently have about £500,000 thanks to the pre-season friendlies I've organised, but the board still say that can't find the money.

Cal
 
Unfortunately I haven't had any good youth prospects, but the board has agreed to increase the junior coaching so fingers crossed for next March.
Quick question...how much money have people needed in the bank in order to improve the youth training? I currently have about £500,000 thanks to the pre-season friendlies I've organised, but the board still say that can't find the money.

Cal[/QUOTE]

im in serie a after back to back to back promotions and the board still havent let me upgrade youth or training facilities, ive been under the wage budget every season, you need to get in serie a and earn money or dont cancel contracts and keep way under budget in the lower leagues, good luck mate
 
The San Marino Challenge: Season 1

Season: 2011/12
Final League Position: 2nd
Serie C Cup: Knocked-out in group stage

Firstly, a bit about my tactics. I play a 442 with wingers that are good at crossing and this will show in the next few seasons. I always try and create a youthful team and if the chance comes, sell them for big money.

Before the season began I brought in 6 free agents. 5 of which were older players who I only gave a 1 year contract to. I also signed youth Nicola Bergo who would make much more of an impact than I would have hoped for :D. I usually buy more players and completely change the team but with the media predicting I'd come 4th I took a chance on the lads that were in the club to save some money.

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In my first game I lost to Leece :(, gutted. My first win was in the second game of the season, the second Serie C Cup game against Pavia. Alessandro Fogacci scored a hattrick, this freekick was his third goal of the game:

[video=youtube;sHfuDev8T8g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHfuDev8T8g[/video]

Early on I knew that Nicola Bergo would be key in our success. He was improving and he was consistent. His only problem is that he's injury prone.

San Marino did fantastically well in the first half of the season we even managed to go on a 11 game unbeaten streak. By mid January, I was 1st. 5 pionts ahead of the competition but then I sold my prolific striker, Enrico Polani to Livorno for £16k. I thought I'd be able to cope without him but I was wrong to think that. Nicola Bergo had massive co-ownership interest but I declined all deals due to his importance in the team.

During the second half of the season we began to drop points and soon we found ourselves 4th. A wonder strike by Passoni in March grabbed us a deserved win at Renate and helped us kick on.

[video=youtube;PI5eiH9A7ck]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI5eiH9A7ck[/video]

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My plan was to find myself a decent striker in the summer but there was no need because in March I was gifted a wonderkid in my youth candidates team, Danato Abbrescia.

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I hoped for Abbrescia to give me the goals I needed but the youngster failed to make any impact. The midfielders chipped in with all the vital goals at the end of the season. This strike from Luca Pigini earned us a point at home to Valenzana:

[video=youtube;llBrzyZ-Sxw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llBrzyZ-Sxw[/video]

In the end I finished 2nd in my league as my San Marino team head into C1!

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I asked for improvement on the youth facilities twice in the season, both times it was rejected.:'(
 
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woooooooooooooooooooooooo just before the start of the second season got the offer of the main national job
 
SACKED

well unforgivable I was sacked.

I was coming second in the league but on the day allesandro won the league I drew and went third by one point. All I would have needed in the next few games was for lecco to draw and they did the next game! The only problem was san marino had no manager at this point and lost, and even lost there playoff games! which I definatly would not have!

Going to try again, but lets hope I dont get sacked again!
 
unlucky dude
craigsreds said:
well unforgivable I was sacked.

I was coming second in the league but on the day allesandro won the league I drew and went third by one point. All I would have needed in the next few games was for lecco to draw and they did the next game! The only problem was san marino had no manager at this point and lost, and even lost there playoff games! which I definatly would not have!

Going to try again, but lets hope I dont get sacked again!
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knocked out both the italian cup and the cup i hold the c cup in the 1st round
 
Mid-First-Season Report (I'm not as quick as you whippersnappers; to be at Uni/college again...!)

Walking the league. After 19 games we're 11 points ahead of second (12 from third). Drawn one (couldn't score against a parked bus) and lost one (against second placed Alessandria); both at home. Won all the rest with ease; and a 100% away record. The most difficult game was probably Treviso away but an early Gulraiz strike left the opponents vulnerable to a breakaway goal late in the game.

Gulraiz is, unsurprisingly, my best player/signing; 18 goals from 18 in the league. D'Elia, Sodinha and Ferrero have been the other stand out performers. Sodinha's actually been out since mid-Novemeber with a hamstring injury and, pleasingly, the Sammarinese Vitaioli has stepped in with some man of the match performances on the wing.

We went out of the Serie C Cup in the first round (:() but there were some positives.The first couple of group stage games were against Serie C1 teams and we battled hard and won two even encounters (and went on to top the group with 10 points; I rested a lot of players in the last game). Then we were drawn against yet another Serie C1 side away in the first round. It was another tight affair but ultimately lost 2-1.

The good news is that the two teams we beat in the group stages are currently 1st and 3rd in league whilst the side I lost to are 4th so I'm feeling quite confident this squad will be comfortable in the league above.

I'm losing money badly though (top of the table for wages; bottom of the table for % of stadium filled :(); hoping the 'Mid-Season Trophy' with Lazio, Bologna and Udinese will help out a bit with the finances. Getting rid of some deadwood in the transfer window will too...

I've also managed to get the national job (at last). If anyone else is having trouble just give yourself the u21 job, do well in the league and then force the vacancy in the mid-season break.

We are currently rock bottom of the FIFA rankings so things can only get better! I've organised our first two friendlies as Bhutan (second lowest ranked team in the world) and Andorra (second lowest ranked European team) at Home, so I'm hoping for a good start.

Here's a list of my NT coaches; I've gone for a strong Italian club bias in my coaches as I can't see foreign clubs getting many decent Sammarinese regens with my small database:
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Getting Inter's Giuseppe Baresi as Assistant Manager was nice!
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A tip for anyone taking the NT job; try to favour staff with International Caps. It makes other top coaches more inclined to join the team.

Will hopefully finish the season by next weekend...!
 
Season 2

Season: 2012/13
Final League Position: 1st
Serie C1 Super Cup: Winners
Serie C Cup:Winners

Achievements:
LLM Treble
The Great Escape

It's been a great season for the team and surely enough we end it looking forward to Serie B! Before the start of our second season I began to rejuvenate the squad. Here's the pick of my dealing: Guido Di Deo was a free transfer and was a buy for 1 season but after impressing I've offered a new one year contract as a back-up.

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Alessio Destino was a truly great find. Yet another free transfer but at 17 and with stats like this... I expect great things!

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I got rid of the 'keeper at the end of 11/12 due to me finding a lad called Balzamo. In January he would sell for £220,000. Luckily I had found another kid in July who is in my opinion playing way better than Balzamo ever did... mind you seeing Balzamo's stats now, I might have made a bit of a mistake. :O

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After the start of the season stumble we began to pick up some very good points. I had loaned out Cesena's striker Alex Rodriguez and defender Luca Ricci and both were making San Marino a power in C1.

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By the 2nd half of the season Rodriguez and Abbrescia had formed a dangerous partnership and we went 18 games unbeaten!

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By the end of the season we had earned ourselves an amazing treble and a challenging season in Serie B!

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look like promtion is on the cards for me a second season in a row its febuary and on top by 3 pts
 
San Marino's first ever competitive win
SanMarinovLiechtensteinInformation_Overview.png


FIFAWorldCupUEFAQualifyingSectionOverview_Stages.png


Wow what a result, my own CB regen scoring a double tops off an amazing win against a team ranked 40 odd places up us
biggrin.png

Wonder if we will stay top come the end of the qualifiers
tongue.png
lol​
 
Mullen19 said:
San Marino's first ever competitive win

SanMarinovLiechtensteinInformation_Overview.png


FIFAWorldCupUEFAQualifyingSectionOverview_Stages.png


Wow what a result, my own CB regen scoring a double tops off an amazing win against a team ranked 40 odd places up us
biggrin.png

Wonder if we will stay top come the end of the qualifiers
tongue.png
lol​
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oooh well done! also that San Marino shirt looks so cool (H)
 
My game files have just corrupted so I'm going to have to start the challenge over again. Must say, I'm pretty furious seeing as I've put so much time into this over the past few weeks. Oh well, here we go again I guess...

Congratulations to Mullen btw :D

Cal
 
after being sacked last time

i was top after 23 games and doing well, since then none of my 5 forwards have scored including scorza and im in 4th with 4 games to go. im getting 5+ clear cut chances a game with like 20 shots lol. so wierd :S

any advise?
 
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craigsreds said:
i was top after 23 games and doing well, since then none of my 5 forwards have scored including scorza and im in 4th with 4 games to go. im getting 5+ clear cut chances a game with like 20 shots lol. so wierd :S

any advise?
Click to expand...
get urself gennaro cheitti he scores for fun lol
 
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