Search
On FM Scout you can chat about Football Manager in real time since 2011. Here are 10 reasons to join!

Resurrecting Palermo

Our journey to bring Palermo back to Serie A & beyond!
Started on 13 April 2020 by FMBlake
Latest Reply on 18 July 2020 by d4vidjames
Pages  
SEASON 7 | CAN WE PUSH FOR A EUROPEAN POSITION?



After a fairly successful first half of the season, I was feeling quietly confident that we could push on and secure a position for European qualification. We are still eyeing a quality striker to support Guttierez, as Colombo hasn't quite been good enough for us. We drew too many games in the first half of the season, so I am looking to play more attacking in the remainder of our games. I have been reading all your comments too and taking them into consideration when I make decisions in this save. I agree that we have been very reliant on loan players. I believe now is the time to start developing our youth academy players, and focus on looking for permanent transfers moving forward. So I will look to start Marino and Migliaccio in as many games as I can, as well as playing Meile in our midfield where there is a lot of competition for places.

We played Napoli, at home. They have a very strong team, the centre back partnership of Armini and Koulibaliy is frigthening!


They beat us in a very tough game 3-0. Although, we had more shot's on target, possibly we could have done better, in a game that on paper looks worse than it was.


During the transfer window I wanted to clear out a few more player's who haven't quite been important this season, and increase our transfer budget.

Schiro was sold to Torino for £3.8 million. He has been okay for us in the past few seasons, but we have a lot of midfielders and I would rather give game time to young Meile, than Schiro.


Another close game against a tough team Fiorentina, resulted in a loss. 3-1 defeat, but the bright spark was Meile who scored a quality goal from distance, his first goal for the club.


The next player out the door was Goudmijn. He could have been a good player for us, but his terrible injury last season meant that he has never really had a chance to contribute this season, and I decided to cash in on him now, still looking to increase our transfer budget. He went back to the Eredivese for £5.75 million that could rise to £7 million. Not bad for a player we signed for free.


We finally found our goal scoring form, only against bottom of the table Verona. A good all round performance, Maldini was the star of the show.


Arsenal came in with a big offer for our young right back Marino! £10 million and he is only valued at £300k! That showed me that he is a quality young prospect and even though the offer was nice, I rejected it. I want to develop him into a world class right back for Palermo, from our youth academy. I am envisioning him being the first choice right back from now on.


After searching the transfer market extensively for a striker, I ended up deciding on this man. Brian Brobbey is a name that a lot of people know and can develop into a beast in FM. My scout's don't rate him all that highly, but I like the way he looks. I have never actually used him on FM and always wanted to try him. So we splashed out £10 million on him which we will pay in installments over 3 years. My plan is for Brobbey and Gutierrez to start up front together as we employ a more attacking 4-2-4 formation for the remainder of the season. He cost us a lot of money and is now Palermo's record signing, so the pressure is on him to succeed.


Brobbey's debut was a crazy game against Roma. 5-4 we lost! We scored an equalizer in the 94th minute through our centre back Pirola, only for Roma to score the winner in the 95th minute! Brobbey got on the scoresheet and a draw would have been a great result.


Maldini will miss the next 5-6 weeks after he picked up an injury against Roma. The classy winger has been an important player for us this season and will be hard to replace. Joel Riberio steps into his position, the man who signed for free from Juve hasn't had a lot of game time and will now get his chance to impress.


We received another big offer for Marino! This time Liverpool offered £12.5 million. Again, I rejected... this man is a hot talent that everyone wants. We will do everything to keep him at Palermo, a big pay rise and a new contract is in sight for our young full back.


Schiro returns only a week after we sold him. We wanted to make a statement against the lad we just sold.


And oh boy did we make a statement. A comfortable 4-1 win. Gutierrez with a brace, and Meile on the scoresheet again. At just 19 years old Meile is really making a name for himself starting a good run of games in Serie A and playing very well.


We played Napoli away. Brobbey picked up a knock in training so we went back to our 4-3-3 tactic with Gutierrez leading the line on his own. Napoli's front 2 looks dangerous though; Jovic and Jota will be hard to stop.


We put in a great performance and drew the game 3-3! Pol Joensen was a different class, scoring a brace against a very tough defence.


We then had a good 2-0 away win against Sampdoria. Gutierrez scores yet again.


This was followed by a tough loss to Cagliari who are 4th in the league this season! They are certainly over achieving and we hope to be taking their position in the very near future.


We were 2-0 down against Udinese at home, and luckily for us they got a red card in the first half. Everything completely changed then and we went on to score 5 and win the game 5-2! Brobbey and Gutierrez with a double each, that is what I want to see from my dynamic duo up top!


We lost to Juventus 2-1 in a close game. 2 early goals were cancelled out by Mane late in the game.


We then had a tough result to take against SPAL. We were 2-0 up, Brobbey had scored again, to go on to concede two goals in the second half and drop 2 points. These are the sort of games we must win if we want to qualify for a European spot.


Our annual youth intake was the worst we have had in 7 seasons..


A narrow 1-0 victory over Brescia put's us 11th in the league.


The board are delighted with our progress as a club. Although we are 11th in the league and I would like to be higher, the board help me to realize that we are already exceeding expectations. We have certainly made Palermo a secure team in Serie A, and can safely say now that we are an 'established Serie A' club.


We had a tough away game against Atalanta, but came away with all three points. A solid 2-0 win.


After our poor youth intake this season I have requested the board to improve the youth facilities which to my delight they accepted. Hopefully we can have more players like Meile and Marino come through in the coming seasons.


Our next game was against Lazio, top of the league and with the leagues top goal scorer - Esposito.


And it was a masterclass from that man. We could not stop him. Gutierrez showed the world what he can do scoring a brace. Although it meant that we wouldn't move any further up the league as we picked up another loss.


Sadly Gutierrez is injured again. He will miss the remainder of the season. I really hope that he and Brobbey can stay fit next season and build a great partnership together.


Our penultimate game of the season was a good victory over Parma. That man Brobbey scored again.


The last game in the league was against Inter Milan. We had nothing to lose so we went all out attack and took the game to them!


And it payed off! A great way to end the season with a victory against Inter Milan. Maldini scored in his last game for the club as his loan ends. A very warm positive note to finish year 7 with Palermo!


In other news, our Under-18s won the league! I was very happy to see this as I really am keen to bring more youth academy players into the first team. I am always looking to give players a chance no matter how old they are.


At the end of the season, it was Esposito who won the golden boot, but our man Gutierrez was 3rd top scorer in the league, even with his injury troubles holding him back. I really see him lifting the golden boot at some stage in his Palermo career.


And I thought this was hilarious. We won the 'Fair Play Award'. The least amount of bookings in the league this season. What a change! My fine system must have worked. Discipline was a big problem last season, and I have stamped that right out of the club.


Our results in the second half of the season were not as good as I was hoping. Although looking back, most of the games we lost we were the underdog and favourites to lose. We still picked up a good number of wins. We have to be fairly happy with how the season ended.


The final league table saw us finish in 11th place. We beat the media and board expectations, and will look to improve once again next season. Inter and Lazio were clearly the best teams in the league. There is still a decent gap for us to close to qualify for Europe in future seasons.


The board have given us even more money than we have ever had to spend next season. I am going to invest in permanent signings and try not to rely on loans. I do have one player coming in on a pre-contract who I am very excited about... I will let you take a guess who: He has played for PSG and Italy and will be the perfect mentor for Meile...


The End of Season Awards saw Maldini crowned as the Fans Player of the Season as well as Young Player of the Season. Gutierrez was Signing of the Season. Kingsley scored Goal of the Season. Kingsley was decent for us this year. He didn't ever amaze me, but he was consistent for sure.


Goal of the Season:
Michael Kingsley v Torino


Key Performers

Daniel Maldini
He will be missed next season. He played very well for us and had the second most assists in the league this year. 6 goals and 11 assists in 34 apps. Not bad at all.


Juan Manuel Gutierrez
He is probably my favourite player in the team at the moment. I just want him to stay fit! 17 goals and 5 assists in just 31 apps. He is quickly becoming a world class player and will continue to lead the line for us next season.


Lorenzo Pirola
This man was a rock as the heart of our defence this season. The fact we signed him for free too is incredible as his attributes are very good and he is still developing. He will be our number one defender next season and continue to make a big impact at the club.


Antonio D'Emanuele
The youth academy prospect has developed into an important first team player. Orlando came in on loan and was supposed to start alongside Pirola but D'Emanuele's performances solidified his spot. 7.03 average rating in 12 games is very good, he may have the chance to be the first choice center-back next season alongside Pirola unless we find anyone else better in January


Brian Brobbey
The big money signing! I can't be too hard on him.. he came in with a lot of pressure on him, picked up a couple of knocks and still scored 5 goals in 12 games. Not too bad at all. I will continue to help him grow and support him into hopefully becoming a world class striker for the boys in pink.


Overall, this was another successful season. 11th in the Serie A is no easy feat and the team is slowly developing into a very good Serie A side. The young players this season will only get better next year. We have a lot of players coming in next season also on permanent transfers which will strengthen the team. Next season I will certainly be aiming for a top 10 finish.

Review of Seasons Past:
Season 1: Won Serie D (Unbeaten Season)
Season 2: Won Serie C
Season 3: Relegated from Serie B
Season 4: Won Serie C
Season 5: Won Serie B
Season 6: 16th in Serie A
Season 7: 11th in Serie A

Thanks again for all your support, keep the comments and feedback coming, I love to hear from all of you.

As always, thanks for reading!
Have to be happy with that end of season form. 11th looks respectable, even more so when you consider how close you are to the teams ahead of you. A good season overall and it looks like you have laid down the blueprint for future successes. Hopefully the addition of Marco will bolster the team’s midfield and help to push you towards contention for European places!
1
Progress is progress, keep going and you'll find yourself in amongst the top sides I am sure of it
A great season and 11th is very respectable place to finish in your 2nd season back up. Continual progress is what you want to see. Focusing on youth is a great way to do it and it shows with the offered you are getting in for them as well
1
Improving year-on-year since your promotion from Serie C, what could be the next step?!
1
Good to see that fair play award, seems the fine system worked wonders and that can be seen in the league position. A midtable side now with a good attacking line it seems. Hopefully you can avoid as many injuries next season and put pressure on those European places!
1
A fantastic improvement on last seasons placing of 16th. You look an established Serie A side now, and you have garnered up some incredible talents like Brobbey and Gutierrez and your young full-back. Hopefully you can make a top 10 finish a reality in season 8!
1
A respectable finish again this season. Lots to build upon for next season where I suspect you will improve on this season's finish once again.
1
Justice - You are spot on, let's push on next season!

Griffo - Cheers mate!

Tedbro20 - For sure man, trusting the youth seems to be paying off and it is great having 4 youth academy players in our starting XI

Jack - You will find out soon ;)

TheLFCFan - Yeah man no one put in a bad tackle the past season lol. Gutierrez has to stay fit! If he does I believe he will score over 20 goals in the season and take us to the next level.

Eoin97 - Thanks mate. I am really happy with the team we have built and the next transfer window we made the team even stronger! Will post update about that later tonight :) Without doubt my favourite transfer window so far with some quality additions.

ScottT - Cheers man, I am always looking to improve so expect nothing worse than 10th next season.
SEASON 8 | OUR BEST TRANSFER WINDOW SO FAR!



We finished last season in a respectable 11th position in Serie A. It is now time to try and progress even further. My focus this season is to finish top 10 and develop a more attacking tactic. Part of the philosophy this season is also to invest in permanent transfers that will add experience and quality to the squad. In the past 7 seasons we have tried to invest in free signings and loan players in. That tactic has paid off and the club now has 'rich' financial status.

It is time to spend some money.

I decided to sell some players who I knew wouldn't feature too often for us this season. The first player to leave the club was Donsah. He had one good season for us but with Roudaut and Kingsley bossing our midfield and Miele coming through, sadly there was no more room in the team for Godfred.


Our Head of Youth Development has now retired. So we have to look for someone to replace him this season. Although the last two seasons we have had poor youth intakes, he still helped to bring some quality players through during his time at the club.


He had really good stats too! He will be a hard man to replace.


As most of you predicted, Marco Verratii came in on a free-transfer. I was very happy to be able to bring him into the club! Although he will mainly be a sub this season, he will add valuable experience, and still has really outstanding technical ability. I see him as the perfect mentor for Miele.


I needed a full-back to provide cover for our young starters. De Winter looked like a good signing as he can cover both left and right full back. He is already a good Serie A player and still has room to grow. He cost us £2.2 million from Juventus.


Ngongang was the first of two centre-backs to join the club. The Spaniard signed from Valencia for £2 million. The 21 year old looks like a decent back up player, with 4 star potential he could one day start for us too.


Nuno Santos signed to play on the left wing after Maldini's loan ended. He cost us a mere £1.5 million from Benfica. His versatility will also be important for us this season.


De Vos was the second centre back to join. This young player looks like a real gem! We signed the Belgian from AA Gent for £2.3 million. I am hoping he can develop at Palermo to his full 5 star potential as he would be our best defender!


Diego Esedin is an interesting signing. I signed him knowing I couldn't register him due to lack of Non-EU spots. But he was available for free and looks like a class player who can develop into a world beater. He will be loaned out straight away and be an option for us next season.


We signed an Englishman! Strange signing to say the least but Hodges was released from Arsenal, and I was happy to sign him. Another free-transfer, he looks like a quality winger with bags of potential too.


I needed a back up striker and Sgro was the man we picked up. His stats don't amaze me but he is another player with a lot of potential. We signed him for £2 million from PSG. He must be decent if he was playing for them right??


We bought in a new Head of Youth Development. Reuzeau, formerly HOYD for PSG and Monaco, this man can hopefully bring through talent like he has done in the past.


The Chairman expects us to finish mid-table this season. A fair expectation, I am hoping to finish a little higher.


Our latest signing I thought was quite a nice addition to the squad. I was looking at the player's without a club and saw Quincy Promes and couldn't resist. The Dutch winger has lost some of his pace, but still looks a decent player who can provide cover in any of our front 3 positions.


As Promes came in, Ribeiro left. This covered his signing on fees and bonuses. A nice bit of business if I don't say so myself.


Overall I think we had a very successful transfer window. I signed players to build the squad in almost every position. This is the most serious I have taken any transfer window...


I used an Excel spreadsheet to plan this season, something I haven't done in a long time. But it helped me look at my squad and see the positions that needed improvement. Do you guys do anything like this for your saves?


This season I would like to play more attacking and really want Brobbey and Gutierrez to build a good partnership. We will focus on wing play and high pressing this season. I have 4-3-3 as our more defensive tactic that we can use against bigger teams.


Here is a look at our squad for this season. I am really excited and can't beleive how far we have come! We have so many good players after 7 completed season's of grinding through Italian lower leagues, we are starting to look like a really competitive team on paper.



To my surprise, the media are expecting us to finish lower than last season! This motivates me even more to push on higher than 11th and prove the media and bookies wrong!


We had a good pre-season (ignore the AC Milan game), and are rearing to go for another year!


Transfer deadline day was craaaaazy! We had bids for Urso, Joensen, Gutierrez, Migliaccio and Marino. Big clubs tried to steal my key players right before the window shut. I rejected all the offers even the offers more than double my players value, because I am happy with our team and want to see how we do this season.


Our first game of the league was against SPAL. They signed our man for the last three seasons Maldini for £7 million. I was looking at signing him too but thought we did well bringing in Nuno Santos, Promes and Hodges for less than half the price.


We started the season almost perfect! A 3-0 win! Gutierrez and Brobbey both score, I am hoping we can continue this dream start for the remainder of the season.


I am so optimistic about this season, and loving this save so much. It is so enjoyable to play and I feel we are very close now to taking Palermo to the next level. I am already thinking about the Serie A title and Champions League Final... my ambition will drive me to continue this story and take Palermo right to the top! Are you with me??

As always, thanks for reading!
Every right to pleased with that window. Most impressive signing might have been the new HoYD! A brilliant way to start the season with a 3-0 win. Big things to come.
1
Prove them wrong!
Verratti was awesome for me in FM2019 at age 32-35 in a similar save I had. Hope he proves to be a beast here as well.
Some very nice signings there and hopefully they can help you to start climbing up the table
1
I also rate the signing of Verratti, hope he is excellent for you
1
Some very impressive signings and a great result against SPAL. I know Justice uses documents and spreadsheets for his saves.
1

You are reading "Resurrecting Palermo".

FMS Chat

Stam
hey, just wanted to let you know that we have a fb style chat for our members. login or sign up to start chatting.