Pirlo Picks up the Pipe at Sampdoria - 24/25 Season Serie B

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A point from two games isn't great. It's going with ups and downs. Just realized your team is depending for a considerable deal on loaned players. Maybe Andrea Radrizzani (former owner of Leeds, now Samp) can find a more stable way into the future.

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@Danimal5981 wrote:

A point from two games isn't great. It's going with ups and downs. Just realized your team is depending for a considerable deal on loaned players. Maybe Andrea Radrizzani (former owner of Leeds, now Samp) can find a more stable way into the future.

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Ups and downs in deed, without a win in four games now. Draws vs Pisa and Parma were okay, both top teams, and in both I also had to come back to avoid defeat after falling behind. But I should definitely have performed better in these last two, especially in the home game.

Well, yes, I inherited a squad with no less than 8 players on loan. So I did have this concern about who was going to be recalled. Apparently it was only two of them, even though neither Panada nor González have played enough for their owning clubs to see this as a good loan deal for the player in question.

The club owner may be able to help out, yes, but I believe he's already helped them to avoid bankruptcy, and I wouldn't expect him to be able to / want to fill out a blank cheque to go crazy on the transfer market. I've actually done my business already, just behind on my updates, and I've signed three players: one free agent, one (more) loan signing and one bargain, costing me a million euros, despite having a 1,8m market value. So a sensible approach so far.

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Good to see the young lad has had his debut, I keep meaning to ask, is he a youth player that just happened to be there when started and got idea or someone you added to the career?

Seeing Sampdoria were up to 7th is a great improvement, a few slips since with draws maybe, but going in the right direction overall. Also some good business so far, would be a shame to lose a top player, but if the price is right and the potential of younger players coming in or through it may be worth the risk as his value may go down, but the departure could be more costly also if form drastically drops.

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@thurlow885 wrote:

Good to see the young lad has had his debut, I keep meaning to ask, is he a youth player that just happened to be there when started and got idea or someone you added to the career?

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I thought someone would eventually ask who this narrator was. It is a real footballer, and I've made a few hints about his identity so far (58 OVR, 19 years old, English, CM/CAM, Chelsea academy). He isn't someone I would have expected you to guess or anything. But the hints were there, if someone had been curious and wanted to investigate 😉

His name is Charlie Webster, and he's also named on my most recent update, being one of my three best performers in that game. I didn't really know about him beforehand, but he ticked a few boxes as a long term player (young, real face, absurd agility rating), and I decided to make him the narrator, then writing "the diary" in his own tongue.

In real life he's on loan from Chelsea to Heerenveen, actually both scoring and being sent off in his second game there. But in game his transfer to the Dutch club was apparently permanent, though set to run out in 2024. This meant I could sign him early for only €300,000, so he'd arrive on January 1st. Storywise he's been here since the summer though, again and again being neglected a chance to prove himself. But in game he hasn't been available to me before now. I did consider putting him in the squad beforehand, but since I wanted to start with experience being the priority, I didn't want to feel the need to push this teenager into the lineup too often to avoid him stalling his development. Hopefully me playing him regularly for the second part of the season will be enough to more or less maintain whatever potential the kid has.

Ah gotcha, I did notice Webster being named whilst previously it was The Narrator and I saw the rating etc making the squad list you posted earlier. For some reason the Chelsea info didn't stick in my mind, still it's a good unique way of telling the story 

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@thurlow885 wrote:

Ah gotcha, I did notice Webster being named whilst previously it was The Narrator and I saw the rating etc making the squad list you posted earlier. For some reason the Chelsea info didn't stick in my mind, still it's a good unique way of telling the story 

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Thanks, well, at least it's a bit different than my previous ones. Like yourself with the newspaper, just trying something different to avoid a copy/paste scenario, which Career Mode could quite easily become. The Chelsea info; I believe I mentioned other loan players coming from big addresses too; Stankovic and Esposito from Inter, Estanis from Barcelona, Lemina from PSG, González from Juventus, so coming from Chelsea wasn't a big deal in that regard. So just a small hint that was easy to miss, I think.

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Finally a win for Samp again: currently hanging on to a place in those despised play-offs. Jeremy Ménez at Bari..., wow! I thought he had quit, but here he was in Serie B all along (and for quite some years now, I read...)

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@Danimal5981 wrote:

Finally a win for Samp again: currently hanging on to a place in those despised play-offs. Jeremy Ménez at Bari..., wow! I thought he had quit, but here he was in Serie B all along (and for quite some years now, I read...)

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Yes, my rise in form was certainly replaced by a slower period, so it was good to get back to winning again. I was surprised to see Ménez too, he actually used to be a Career Mode favourite of mine. But I did also believe he had retired by now. A fun discovery to learn that he hasn't.

I didn't realise that Sampdoria had dropped into Serie B...

Excellent graphics; I especially like the "diary" graphics...

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@CO88LER5 wrote:

I didn't realise that Sampdoria had dropped into Serie B...

Excellent graphics; I especially like the "diary" graphics...

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Thanks man! I appreciate the feedback.

Yeah they were relegated last season, almost being bankrupt too, until former Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani swooped in and saved them.

A few departures with some expected, could very well be good business if the new signings work out.

Have managed to open a gap between self and bottom half of the tableso looking good for a top half finish. All pretty close in the spots above. Could very well be a very interesting and exciting 2nd half of the season 

Good to see Webster getting in on the action too

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@thurlow885 wrote:

Have managed to open a gap between self and bottom half of the tableso looking good for a top half finish. All pretty close in the spots above.

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Yes, that's true. Venezia seem to be in No Man's Land in 10th, with teams being closer to each other in both top 9 and bottom 10. With number 8 entering the promotion play-offs and number 9 not doing so, it's beginning to look very interesting who will be the one to miss out.

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Six games to go. With a push, 3rd is still on the cards. Risk of falling outside the top 8 is small, except for Bari. It depends a bit on the emaining program really. But I'm expecting you end up in the play-offs you so much despised at the beginning of the story 🙂

Webster has broken his duck, finally, good on the lad!

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@Danimal5981 wrote:

Six games to go. With a push, 3rd is still on the cards. Risk of falling outside the top 8 is small, except for Bari. It depends a bit on the emaining program really. But I'm expecting you end up in the play-offs you so much despised at the beginning of the story 🙂

Webster has broken his duck, finally, good on the lad!

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The remaining program is a mixed bag:

33 - Brescia (H)

34 - Spezia (A)

35 - Como (H)

36 - Südtirol (A)

37 - Lecco (A)

38 - Cittadella (A)

So there are two from the top and four, who are all still in danger of relegation. We play most of them away from home though, which has been a bit of a drag. But perhaps this was mainly an issue in the first half of the season, being undefeated in league games away from home since early December.

So with a second half (of the season) being better than the first half, I assume we are closing in on the playoffs after all. I do still have some reservations about a premature promotion, but we'll see where it goes from here. I don't think I'll miss out on purpose.

It's contradictory to say yay doing great, but too great maybe? Have the similar dilemma, not gonna forfeit the chance at promotion through the playoffs, but for the team currently have it would be better to have another season in this league like with your Sampdoria. Webster well and truly getting involved, a future star and legend for Sampdoria or a future cash cow who they sell for millions and millions later on?

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