Foggia - Season 1 - Something Old, Something New

Aaaah, the familiarity of Foggia. The welcome from the Foggiani is to be expected for such a managerial heavyweight, but it is inspiring nonetheless. The seemingly endless fields, the war memorial and the splendour of the Cathedral of Santa Maria de Fovea all tug on the heartstrings of the usually unemotional Fantashtico...

...that is until he remembers quite how shoddy the first team squad at U.S. Foggia really is.

Only 14 players depart in Season 1, but somehow, cash is accrued. Alzano even pay 7k for the absolutely worthless Faveo. Good news, it allows me to spend a little money for once. Still only a total of 220k, spread between 21 players, but at this level, that's a Godsend.

A couple of old classics come in (Adolfo, David Collins and Agustín), I surprisingly tempt the wonderful Bras to such an awful level of football for 16k, but mainly I sign players that I've never signed previously.

In midfield, the prolific Kristian Selnæs and the dependable Billy McKinlay arrive. Wingbacks for the new formation are provided in the shape of Bryan Roy and Ecuadorian international Augusto Jesús Porozo and further firepower brought in from Uruguay with Juan Pablo Rodríguez.

The new formation is the ridiculous looking but widely spoken of WWW2 Hard Tackling formation; apparently the formation of choice for players across the globe, so who am I to argue? 2 centre backs, 2 wingbacks, a DMC, 3 central midfielders, an AMC and a striker.
So, only one up front, but I'm not exactly blessed with a legion of golden strikers after Joao Paiva and To Madeira turn me down, so here goes.

And wow, what a formation it is. P34 W31 D2 L1. 109 goals scored, 18 conceded. Ludicrous. David Collins scores an almighty 53 and becomes Foggia's highest ever scorer in just one season. Adolfo scores 23 and makes 17 more. Selnæs gets 19 from midfield. Agustín performs better than he's ever looked like doing and obtains 22 assists. Needless to say, the league is won, by miles.

I even win the Serie C Cup. Unheard of! Monza rolled over 3-0 on aggregate in the final.

David Collins secures Fan's Player of the year, and rightly so. Sant'Anastasia finish 12th, safe midtable obscurity, but enough to retain the services of Luigi. For now... I fear they may come a time were this formation feels like cheating, but for now, I'm loving the goals. Onwards and upwards...

Luigi Fantashtico

In an effort to provide myself with a potential rival in Italian football, I create a non-player - Tash's twin brother Luigi. So as not to mess with the game too much (not firing anyone) I install him as Sant'Anastasia's assistant manager, but provide him with all the talents required of a potential managerial great. Hopefully in a few seasons he'll go it alone and climb the ranks to rival his more illustrious brother.

Meanwhile, Tash eyes up yet another stab at Foggia...

Napoli/Bayern Munchen: Another Laptop's Demise

Balls. Another lost game. Another useless laptop.

I was enjoying that one. Success in Naples continued for another couple of seasons until I needed a new challenge. Bayern were floundering, so I took a stab at German football, dragging Bjorn Bahr with me (turns out he's Thomas Hassler's re-gen, no wonder he was great).

But that game's been dead a while now.

What's that? Another computer? Foggia's a-calling...