gtzpower

Boldly striding into 2008, the Serie C2/B table looks like this and the future looks bright for San Marino Calcio.

From my very first match in charge of the club, it was obvious that major changes needed to be made sooner rather than later as we slumped to a dismal 7-0 friendly loss to Cecina. Lack of fitness and/or motivation aside, only two players from that day were retained as an entire new team's worth of players were brought in. Having been given the option to either win promotion or the league outright, I chose the latter and put the funds to good use, knowing I'd not soon get them again. Would it pay off?

Early signs in the Serie C cup weren't promising, as we crashed out in the group stage. The team performed well, but dropped 4 points due to Dei errors, so right on the brink of the window shutting a final new goalkeeper was brought in, and the team were tasked with nothing less than the league title.

Amazingly, the team gelled very quickly, with the new goalkeeping gamble paying off, Michele Tardioli more than earning his repeated clean sheet bonuses. Building on our rock-solid backline, David Solari provided the firepower going forward to take a lot of solid victories, supported in part by the stunning performances of Giampiero Maini.

Going forward, obvious weaknesses are the age of the key players in our team - Maini in particular is very unlikely to continue at the level we've been enjoying for long, and a good replacement AMC is proving extremely hard to find. We also seem to have played most of our difficult games at home so far, so the second half of the season could well prove much more problematic. On the other hand, it may also allow us a comfortable enough lead at the top to go into those games with very little pressure, while underneath us there is very little difference between the chasing pack. Finances are unavoidably poor as expected, so scouting knowledge will become invaluable at finding gems on free transfers.

For the short term though, Roma have accepted a £0 bid for Adrian Pit, whom we are currently in negoatiations with. If terms can be agreed, he will surely be a major, major coup for the club.

gtzpower

Pit has agreed terms. Massive, massive signing for the club.

gtzpower

Tardioli's ability and form crashed and I dropped down the league like a stone, conceding virtually every shot on target. I dont think I've ever detested one of my own players so much before, he's single handedly killed my season. There's a replacement coming in in the summer, but have to start over.

The most concerning thing though, is this. I knew that I shouldnt have been sacked in my previous game, this seems to just prove how massively broken the confidence is - its actually inverted, where if I overacheive it goes down and underachieving puts it up. I've tried not to be too critical of SI, but really... this should NOT be an issue. And I just know that I'm going to have to wait until February to get a fix for this, because it looks bad if the game needs 3 patches rather than "just one and a January transfer window update". Combined with residency issues and the broken B-team registrations, and issues with amateur teams not turning pro, I'm beyond disappointed at how this version of the game has turned out when there was so little added to break it so substancially.

gtzpower

http://img410.imageshack.us/my.php?i...idence2dj7.jpg

So to recap:

Long-term ambition, I fulfilled. Board are disappointed I didnt.

Short-term ambition, I utterly miserably failed. Board are utterly elated.

retired_wrkhudur

are you playing with the patch??

gtzpower

Yes, both games that went wrong were started with the 8.01 full patch. I was waiting for the updated db to start an Italian game because of the Roma/Lazio Delle Alpi issue.

retired_sajnesh

Nice update BBC :thup: How's Portsea island coming along?

Sorry to hear about the slump Oktober. It really does seem that you have to get out of C2/B in the first two seasons to have a chance here. Pit looks excellent though - he's playing Serie A in 2012 in my game. Albeit as a right winger

2010 / 11 Season Update - spotg

2010/11
Serie C1/B: 2nd (won playoffs)
Pld 34, Won 17, Drn 11, Lst 6, For 72 , Ag 43, GD +29, Pts 62


2009/10
Serie C1/B: 5th
Pld 34, Won 16, Drn 8, Lst 10, For58 , Ag 41, GD +17, Pts 56

2008/09
Serie C2/B: 1st
Pld 34, Won 25, Drn 8, Lst 1, For 86, Ag 33, GD +53, Pts 83

2007/08
Serie C2/B: 3rd
Pld 34, Won 14, Drn 13, Lst 7, For 45, Ag 37, GD +8, Pts 55


A season of decent progress on the previous, with the key signatures of Caldirola and Cala on loan from Livorno at centre back, and our first "Serie A potential" player, the Romanian Chipciu, recommended to the club by his U-21 colleague Mandrusca. And it was the goals from Mandrusca and Cristea which provided the main platform for the charge to promotion - 54 between them. Whilst we got nowhere near Champions Avellino, we were fairly confident that we could take any other team in the league, and that was how the play-offs panned out as Catanzaro were dismissed 7-2 on aggregate, and Grosetto 3-2 to put us into Serie B.

We made the first round proper of the Serie C cup, and were humiliatingly dumped out by Melfi of Serie D. The humiliation was tempered slightly by Melfi's run to the final, but the fans were reminding me of that loss well into the end of the season..

Two major events for the club on promotion. A new two year contract for Spottiginio, with a brief to avoid relegation from B by the end of it, and the announcement of construction of San Marino Stadium. A 10037 seater stadium with under soil heating, due to be ready on July 3rd 2011. The possibility of breaking even in a season arrives..

Yet again, no news on improvements to facilities or in the national side - they have still to score a goal in competitive football...

retired_sajnesh

This update brings us up to date pretty much, so we'll have a post shortly with screen shots of key players, records, etc

2011 / 12 Season Update - spotg
2011/12
Serie B: 7th
Pld 42, Won 16, Drn 13, Lst 13, For 60 , Ag 58, GD +2, Pts 61


2010/11
Serie C1/B: 2nd (won playoffs)
Pld 34, Won 17, Drn 11, Lst 6, For 72 , Ag 43, GD +29, Pts 62

2009/10
Serie C1/B: 5th
Pld 34, Won 16, Drn 8, Lst 10, For58 , Ag 41, GD +17, Pts 56

2008/09
Serie C2/B: 1st
Pld 34, Won 25, Drn 8, Lst 1, For 86, Ag 33, GD +53, Pts 83

2007/08
Serie C2/B: 3rd
Pld 34, Won 14, Drn 13, Lst 7, For 45, Ag 37, GD +8, Pts 55

Excellent first season in Serie B saw us miss out on the play-offs on head-to-head record with Verona - probably a blessing to tell the truth, as we were nowhere NEAR ready for promotion, and only a superb unbeaten run of 16 towards the end brought us up from trouble. Key signings we're a Belgian U21 centre back, who should be good enough for A should we make it, and for some unknown reason, the captain of the Spanish U21 side was rotting at german side Furth, and came to us on a free. His goals once he settled in were the key to our 16 match run.

Got through two qualifying rounds in the Coppa Italia to be unceremoniously dumped out 3-0 at home by Messina.

Financially we're just about in profit now, thanks to the TV money of 1.5m available in B, but still only enough to increase training facilties by a single notch, and nothing for the youth facilities.

On the plus side, the end of the season saw the retirement of the San Marino manager, and Spottiginio is hired, with a team loitering in 162nd in the world, and still without a competitive victory.

retired_sajnesh

I hope beyond all hope that this works. This has taken ages.

spotg screenshot special

San Marino Calcio

Club Info

Team Landmarks
Records, Part 1
Records Part 2 Club Info Affiliated Clubs Finances Confidence

Manager

Spottiginio

Key Players

All TIme Best Eleven Christian Cristea Yalcin Erkaya Alexandru Chipciu Tudor Mandrusca Mike Hanson Sercan Sararer

San Marino National Team

Team Info
Squad Rankings Records

Key Players
Albani Bindi
De Luigi Selva Toccaceli

The Challenge Ahead
Euro 2014 qualifying

retired_Ginger Leavell

Jeez spotg, Serie B alreay?? :eek:

Developed any San Marinese wonderkids yet? :p

I've been trying to drag Queens University Belfast up from total obscurity to relative obscurity, but I WILL be having a go at this!.
Getting sick of a league where even the big clubs are part-time. You find a decent player and within six months his stats have regressed to the point where he's next to useless because the training is guff. Oh well, better be getting on with it.

KUTGW!! :thup: