So... I have been playing as Manchester United for so long now, 8 seasons in, it is a save I love to play, but I want to give myself a new challenge.
Palermo are intriguing, I remember watching them in Serie A with Miccoli and Pastore, they have had quality players such as Dybala, Cavani, Belotti and Ilicic just to name a few. Who doesn't love a pink kit too!?
But now they are in the lower league (Serie D, Group I) in Italy due to financial problems.
My task is to bring them back to Serie A! It may be a long difficult task, but I am determined to get them back and even into the Champions League. I don't know the exact promotion route, but I will take it one season at a time, trying to get the best results I can and we will see what happens.
If it is possible, when we start getting more money in the save, I want to bring back some of their ex players I mentioned.
I would love your help too, so if you want to recommend tactics or signings please let me know!
I am excited to get into a new challenge! I have decided to load all the leagues as 'view only' so we can access more players.
We are predicted to finish 1st in the league which is good but also put's come pressure on us.
Our squad looks okay, we need back up for striker, centre back and left back
I am going to use the 4-2-4 tactic that is working well in my United save.
With barely any money to work with, the next few seasons will see little to no signings.
In pre-season we play Serie A giants Lazio and Serie B Chievo, and a load of other rubbish teams. Lets see how we get on.
Our best midfield got injured... great!
First loan signing: Tafa In!
Second loan signing: Martina In!
Third loan signing, ex AC Milan Wonderkid!: Mastour In!
Highlights of Pre-Season:
Ricciardo - First goal of the save!
Ricciardo scores against Lazio!
Crivello against Chievo!
Martin v ACR Messina!
Floriano v Nola!
Overall a very strong pre-season. We should be able to win Serie D with the squad we have. The aim should be to build our finances over the next two season's so when we get upto Serie B/A we will have enough funds to strengthen our squad. I am confident about this season. We showed some character to compete with Lazio, who put out their strongest team too with the likes of Immobile and Milinkovic-Savic playing!
AUGUST & SEPTEMBER | THE BEGINNING OF OUR JOURNEY!
So the beginning of our journey with Palermo starts here, our first competitive fixtures. After relegation from Serie B due to lack of funds, we are clear favorites to win the league this year, so with the pressure on us from the media and the fans, we have to start strong.
As I went to start my first game I realised an interesting rule in Serie D, we must start 1 under 18 player and 3 under 20 players! That threw a little spanner in the works for my starting XI, but we have enough young promising players coming through to make it work, and makes it exciting as we have to give young players game time.
We are flying! What a start!
I was looking at my staff, and how good is my Head of Youth Development! We have to keep him around for the long run, hopefully he can develop some quality players as we rise through the Italian leagues.
Highlights of August & September
Lucera v Roccella!
Lucera v Nola!
Martinelli v Acireale!
Mastour first Palermo goal!
Mendola Cup Screamer!
So we end our first month in charge undefeated, without conceding a goal! It is a dream start for the boys in pink. I don't imagine this to go on forever, but right now we are in dream land!
Top of the league!
Our two key players so far have been Lucera the young goalscoring winger, and our midfield maestro Martinelli who has 3 goals 4 assists already!
2020-04-13 23:42#268600ScottT :
A very good start. You should absolute blitz through the division this season.
I believe I should too! The big challenge will be keeping the squad competitive as we rise through the divisions, we are technically a semi-pro club, and don't have much financial status right now, so I expect the first season to be quite easy, but difficult from then on.
So I have decided I am going to play a few month and then post an update, rather than sharing every game each month because otherwise I will have to write too much, and so far we are smashing the Serie D so it is rather predictable
FIRST HALF OF THE SEASON | COULDN'T BE GOING ANY BETTER
So we have reached January 2020 and we are top of the league. I knew we were favourites to win the league but now we are doing so well I am getting really excited and enjoying this save. We have some unbelievable players who I will discuss soon, and we have a promising youth intake coming by the looks of things. We are currently undefeated this season! This is my opportunity to perhaps win the league undefeated, a feat I have never achieved on FM. If we are able to win the league without a loss all season Palermo will forever be in my heart.
I showed you our Head of Youth Development in the previous post and he has announced that this could be the 'Golden Generation' of the club! I have high hopes, and the young players will be crucial for us as we progress, as we cannot really afford to sign anyone, and we have to have young players in the starting line-up, so there is a real opportunity for youngsters to develop and get first team game time here at Palermo.
We have been smashing the league! Just a couple of narrow wins, the rest have been dominating displays. I wonder what the jump will be like in quality when we inevitably get promoted to Serie C.
Top of the league, only one game drawn, Savoia have also been strong this season, and are somewhat challenging us for this title this year.
The Key Performers
Martinelli.... oh Martinelli, this guy is incredible! He is top goalscorer of the league and his a center midfielder! His transfer value is greater than our whole club finances! 15 goals and 11 assists in 20 games is immense, all of his goals have been screamers, free kicks and he has scored I think 3 penalties. What a player, I want to keep him on, but already thinking could we cash in on him for twice his value, the decision will have to be made next season as his contract ends in 2021 and I don't think we will be able to afford his new contract, but we will try.
Lorenzo Lucca, the Italian Crouch! I love a tall striker in FM, especially when he is banging in the goals. Lucca's stats don't jump out but he has been delivering the goods, 3rd top scorer in the league and at just 19 years of age he has room to develop. He is on loan from Torino though, probably going to see if I can loan him again next season.12 goals in 15 games is pretty good.
Lastly, Raimondo Lucera, our tricky winger seems to score when we need him most. In all of our closer games it is always Lucera who pops up with the winning goal. 10 goals and 5 assists in 20 games is a pretty good return from a winger, he is a player who I am sure we can resign and he is still just 19 too so could be a crucial player for us for quite a few seasons still.
We continue the resurgence with Palermo, can we go undefeated? That is my goal now! Will our Youth Intake provide us with some young quality prospects, can we strengthen and compete for a title again next season?
The next update will answer most of those questions.
After our fantastic start to the season we were top of the league in January and the fans, board and players were expecting us to get promoted. This was a chance for us to not only get promoted, but win the Serie D without a loss. This would go down in history for the club, and for me as a manager, and that was our goal!
We won the league with 6 games still remaining!
I was worried that once we won the league the players performances might decline, but we had to keep them motivated and fighting, wanting to win every game.
We went on a fantastic run, won 26 games in a row! How you may be wondering? We are clearly the best team in the league so that helps, but my secret was keeping the same starting XI as often as I could, and barely changed the tactic, I only made changes in game. You will see at the end of the season when looking at our players stats that I only used about 14-15 players all season. It is something that I notice seems to work, play the same players so they build confidence, form and relationships.
We got our Youth Intake with just 4 games left in the season. I was expecting big things, and I was somewhat let down, although these three players will certainly feature in the First Team over the next few seasons, with 4 star potential each.
Balastro looks the best to me, I will chuck him straight into the first team for the remainder of the season.
Without a doubt our best player this season was Alessandro Martinelli. This guy is incredible.... Genoa and SPAL were scouting him for the second half of the season, so I was over the moon when he resigned, he will stay with us for another 2 seasons!
Our final game of the season was against the 2nd place team in the league, away from home. A tough game! And with a lot on the line, we went 1-0 down and managed to come back with a late late winner! A hard fought 2-1 win meant....
We went the whole season unbeaten! Just 1 draw! An incredible season, one that I will never forget! This is also a sneak peak at our key performers of the season, look at the top scorer and top assister in the league..
A closer look at how the league table finished. We truely were incredible this season, 116 goals scored in 34 games, only 16 conceded, I am a little bit gutted we drew our 1 game 0-0 against 13th placed Palmese! Still an incredible achievement, can we do it again in Serie C ? Or will the quality jump be too much?
It is official.
We also had the Serie D Cup Final which we went into full on confidence and we brought the trophy home!
A double in our first season here at Palermo, a dream start.
Here is a closer look at our results in the second half of the season:
KEY PERFORMERS THIS SEASON
Raimondo Lucera
Our teenage winger was a sensation this season! 18 goals and 16 assists is a great return, I am hoping we can develop him into a crucial player for our team. At just 19 years of age he still has plenty of growth to come, and plenty more goals for the lads in pink!
Lorenzo Lucca
Our big striker on loan from Torino was incredible this season. Any cross that came in he got onto and finished. I will do everything I can to get him back at Palermo next season. 26 goals will be hard to replace, he was our second top goal scorer this season.
Hachim Mastour
A good bit of buisness I pulled off getting him on loan for the season. I remember seeing his highlights on Youtube when he burst onto the scene as the next wonderkid at AC Milan. This season he performed well for us! 19 goals and 13 assists. Our winger were crucial this year! We already managed to sign Mastour back for next season for another year on loan.
Livio Balastro
I threw him into the starting XI for the last 5 games of the season and he did well! 4 goals in 5 games, and an absolute screamer on his debut! I know his stats don't look great but I am determined to develop players through our youth system, and what better way than chucking them in and letting them play!
Balastro Debut Goal:
Alessandro Martinelli
What can I say about him... He was our best player this season without a doubt. I have never seen numbers like he put up in any FM I have ever played. During the second half of the season SPAL & Genoa (Serie A) were scouting him and I was nervous I would have to sell him and he would become unsettled. But he continued to perform all the way through, signed a new contract! And finished the season with 32 goals and 27 assists! Incredible. I decided to put together a montage of all of his goals.. an appreciation post about his increadible season, enjoy the the man, the legend, Martinelli.
All Martinelli's Goals
Overall squad stats:
After the season we had two more games in the Serie D Poule Scudetto, I don't know what it was? I think it was a cup for all the Serie D winners, anyway, we lost our first game ! Luckily it wasn't in the league!
After our loss, we won again, put it meant we were out of that cup.
We managed to increase the finances during the season, I wan't to keep improving the finances each year, and I will be carefully selecting who I sign as we move up the divisions.
Our awards this season.. you probably could have guessed.
The board expectations for next season:
Next season we progress to Serie C. Still with little to no money I am going to have to rely on loan's and the current squad I have to get us promoted again. The board expect us to get a top 2 finish, I am aiming to win the league again!
After a dream season last year, we have to build our squad and go again. This is just the beginning, but we are one step closer to reaching the glory of Serie A that we are aiming for.
I don't expect us to go unbeaten again, but certainly challenge for promotion again.
After gaining promotion we have turned from semi-pro, to a professional club.
I was delighted to sign a new contract before our second season, meaning I have at least 2 more years to develop Palermo.
I was very active in the transfer market! But I only bought in players on expired contracts or loans. I am aiming to increase the club funds as much as I can so that when we are closer to Serie A we can start buying players ready for that level. For now, loan players should be good enough to get us up.
TRANSFERS IN
We needed another right-back as a back up to Accardi, who is unsettled and want's to leave the club. Doda came in on a free transfer, a young promising talent.
Mendola was a solid player for us next to Martinelli last season, so I was excited to be able to bring him back as his contract expired at his last club.
Monzialo came in on loan as a back up winger from Juventus.
Bellodi came in as a back up centre back from AC Milan on loan.
Colido is a big transfer! Again on loan but straight into the starting XI, I see him being our next Dybala, and if the season goes well will look at potentially bringing him in permanantly.
Juwara came in on loan also. Will mainly use as an impact sub, but he also has 16 finishing! So he should hopefully be able to finish chances late in tight games.
Emmers also came in on loan. He will start in midfield this season creating a powerful midfield duo alongside Martinelli.
Plizarri came in on loan from AC Milan. Another player who will start as he is a lot better than our keeper Pelagotti who played last season.
Gravillon came in on loan from Inter. Probably our best loan signing! He looks like a monster, and will be our first choice centre back this season.
Lucca our big striker from last season come's back again on loan once more. With Colido and Balastro in the team, Lucca will likely be our 3rd choice striker, but will certainly be given a chance as soon as one of the other start to under perform or get injured.
A lot of signings! But quality players who will improve us. I am proud of how much I improved the squad without spending any money! I am confident this team can perform will in the Serie C.
TRANSFERS OUT
I sold just one player. Accardi left for almost twice his transfer value! He was unhappy as he wanted to play CB instead of RB, so I let him go. Doda will now be our starting right back this season. This transfer almost doubled our club funds!
Of course bids also came in for Martinelli, but nothing I couldn't turn down. I managed to keep him, and I am hoping he can carry us again to another league title.
The finances are looking very healthy! Even after bringing in all those signings.
Unfortunately Juwara picked up a bad injury in pre-season and will miss the first couple of months of the season.
We are predicted to finish 2nd in the league, but we are 100% aiming to finish 1st!
Our results in pre-season were actually very good! We drew with AC Milan, and beat Serie A side Sampdoria. We should have beat Udinese too! we conceded against them in the 93rd minute, and then lost on a penalty shoot-out that went on forever. I decided to play the big teams to try and increase our revenue and it worked a treat as we also realised we are ready for the season. If we can beat and compete with Serie A side's surely we can win Serie C!
The highlight of pre-season was our late equalizer against AC Milan... guess who...
Martinelli of course!
This is how our team will line up for the season. I am so excited, and think we have an amazing team for just our second season into the save.
Incredible work buddy! Great to see so many new dedicated writers at our disposal here. I'll be catching up on this! Great work PS: Love the banner with Cavani and Dybala:)
2020-04-16 08:32#268682Eoin97 :
Incredible work buddy! Great to see so many new dedicated writers at our disposal here. I'll be catching up on this! Great work PS: Love the banner with Cavani and Dybala:)
Cheers mate! I like designing banners like that, happy to make one for you if you are writing a story
2020-04-16 08:50#268683leckuno :
Great work finishing of the season unbeaten and good business in the transfer window as well. Good luck with the new season
Thanks mate! I am proud of that achievement! Serie C is much harder league, wait till you see how we are doing now...
