Totti & Toni Power Roma Past Elfsborg In EURO Cup!

Francesco Totti scored 2 goals and Luca Toni added a goal in the first leg of Roma’s EURO Cup 3rd round matchup with Sweden’s IF Elfsborg.  Roma won the first tie at home by a 4-0 score.  Then the teams headed to Sweden for the 2nd leg and Toni scored another goal to lead Roma to a 3-0 clean sheet.  The results propel Roma into the 4th qualifying round and it spells the end of the tournament for Elfsborg.

Preseason Update

Press:  You’ve reach your first competitive matches of the 2009-2010 season, two legs with IF Elfsborg from Sweden in the 3rd qualifying round of the EURO Cup.  How do you think the team will perform?

Paolo:  We’re really looking forward to these matches.  We expect to be contenders for the cup so this is where we start.

Press:  You’ve only had 2 friendlies leading up to these matches, plus you had to cancel 2 friendlies due to scheduling conflicts.  Will team fitness be a problem?

Paolo:  I’ll admit I”m a little concerned about a few guys, but as long as we’re careful hopefully we’ll come out of these matches healthy.

Press:  Following news that Francesco Totti signed a contract extension you touted him as a future manager.  Would you consider bringing him onto your staff when he retires?

Paolo:  Absolutely, but right now we have football to concentrate on.

Press:  You did make a few changes to the team, especially to the scouting staff.  Can you tell us about them?

Paolo:  Sure.  We came to a mutual termination with scout Francesco Trancanelli.  Then we went out and expanded our scouting team by hiring Paolo Berrettini, Antonio Comi, Abdel Djaadaoui, Carmine Falso, Daniel Karbassiyoon, Andrea Pastorello, Txema Noriega, Furio Valcareggi, Ed van Stijn, Barry Whitebread, & Rudi Wojtowicz.  We now feel like we have the staff to help us accomplish the goals we have for the squad.

Press:  You also signed defender Mario Masini on a free.  Can you talk about him?

Paolo:  It was primarily a depth move, but in Masini we also add a veteran presence with leadership qualities.

Press:  Any other plans for signings in the near future?

Paolo:  There might be one or two more, but they’ll be primarily depth moves.

Press:  What formation and tactics do you intend to use?

Paolo:  The current makeup of our squad favors a 4-4-2 diamond formation with 2 midfielders, so that’s what we’re going to start the season using.  You’ll have to watch our games to see our tactics.

Press:  There were some changes to the club’s affiliations correct?  Can you discuss those?

Paolo:  That’s correct.  We ended our affiliations with Bellinzona and Sambenedettese and we’ve asked the board to consider new feeder affiliations.  I want to add to our affiliations in Italy.

Totti Signs Extension!

July 17, 2009 – Rome, Italy
Star forward and AS Roma Captain announced today through his agent that he’s agreed to a contract extension through the 2010-2011 season to stay with the Giallorossi. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but a source inside the Roma back room said that Totti took a pay cut to stay with the only club he’s ever played for.

Roma’s new boss Paolo said “We’re thrilled to have extended Totti’s contract and we fully expect him to play his entire career here. And when he retires we hope he’ll consider a back room job.”

Save Info

Just some quick info on how the save is setup.  I installed myself as Manager but I’m using the nickname Paolo (my real name is Paul).

I’ve got all the Italian leagues enabled and playable so that players that are loaned out will actually play.  I also have the top leagues in England, France, Germany, and Spain enabled and playing so their top teams play full seasons.

I’m set as an “International Footballer” so expectations are high.

Ciao Paolo!

Press:  Ciao Paolo!  Welcome to AS Roma and the Giallorossi!  Can you talk to us about your plans for Roma, both for the near future and in the long term?

Paolo:  Grazie.  I’m very happy to be the one to lead the Giallorossi into the future.  I fully intend to turn us into a European power house on the same level as Milan, Inter, Barca, and Man U.  The board has asked me to bring a focused direction to the team.  That direction will be to strengthen the squad through Italian youth.  We’ll of course take full advantage of the terrific youth facilities we have here in Rome, but we’ll also look to acquire young Italian players from wherever they are playing and bringing them home to Italy.

Press:  Has the board given you full reign to lead Roma into the transfer market?

Paolo:  Yes, but everyone knows money is tight.  I’ll be looking to make intelligent deals in the transfer market that will strengthen our squad for years to come.  There will be no quick fix buys.

Press:  You only have a few days till the players report to start training for the 2009-2010 season.  Will you be making many changes between now and the start of the Serie A season?

Paolo:  No, not many.  We have a very good squad here and we should be able to qualify for continental competition, which is our focus this year, without making major changes.

Press:  Are there any roster moves you’ll be making right away?

Paolo:  Yes, a couple.  We’ve brought GK Artur back up off the reserve squad and taken him off the transfer list.  He’ll play out his contract here this year, probably in a backup role.  We also terminated the loan of GK Bogdan Lobont due to his injury.  If he’s going to be out most of the season there’s no reason for us to be paying him to sit on our bench.  And finally we restored DMC Ricardo Faty from the reserve squad.  He still has a role to play on the main team.

Press:  The contracts of Totti & Taddei are both due to expire next year.  Do you intend to retain them?

Paolo:  Totti is a cornerstone of this franchise and we’ll do everything we can to keep him.  I can’t speak to anyone else’s contracts right now.  We’ll have to see how the season plays out.

Press:  Luca Toni’s loan from FC Bayern runs through this season and reports are that there is no future clause for him.  What are your plans?

Paolo:  Luca has spent most of his career in Italy and we’d like to see him finish it in Roma.  But there are some financial hurdles that must be overcome.

Press:  There are currently one dozen players younger then 25 years old on the first team and the reserve squad.  Will they get to play for the first team or will they be loaned out?

Paolo:  We have some congestion at some positions so a few will most likely get loaned out.  Others may get to play.  Since my focus is to build with Italian youth, players who fit that vision will play as much as I can reasonably use them and still compete on a nightly basis for the Scudetto.

Press:  Roma currently has affiliations with 14 teams, most of which are Italian.  Do you intend to continue those relationships?

Paolo:  We’ll evaluate each affiliation and make decisions on a case by case basis.  If the affiliation is beneficial to us, we’ll keep it.

Method To My Madness

I’ll be writing this blog as if it were a series of newspaper articles and interviews.  Feel free to post comments.  I hope you enjoy reading!

Restoring the glory of Roman football through the strength of Italian Youth!

Welcome to my Football Manager 10 blog about AS Roma.  My desire for this save is to build AS Roma into a European soccer power by taking advantage of the strength of Italian youth.

My inspiration for starting this save is a topic that was started by deejay10 on the SI forums where he discussed building teams “the right way” by playing the game with unique requirements or restrictions.  He encouraged using self imposed restrictions to provide a more realistic approach to team building.  You can read the full thread here:  http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=200842

I will manage Roma with the following self imposed restrictions:

• I will not take advantage of the first transfer window and will start the 2009-2010 season with the exact AS Roma squad available to me when the game starts from the 10.3 database.
• I will not make any changes to the backroom staff for the 2009-2010 season.  If they were good enough for the real Roma, they’re good enough for me.
• Since my intent is to build an all Italian squad, I will not extend contracts for any non-Italian players or backroom staff, no matter who they are.
• For any players on my team who are not Italian, when they begin the final year of their contract I will transfer list them and try to get some sort of compensation for losing them so I can use that money to acquire new Italian players to replace them.
• For backroom staff who are not Italian, once their contracts run out I’ll allow them to leave so I can use their wage allotment to hire Italian backroom staff members.
• I will not spend more than half my available transfer budget on any one player in any one transfer window.
• I will not finance transfers using monthly payments.  If I don’t have the money to complete the deal up front, there’s no deal.
• I will not take on loans unless the players are Italian and I really need them to fill a position.  Taking on loans will be a last resort.
• I will regularly ask my board to improve Roma’s training facilities until they are at least “Excellent”.  My ultimate goal will be to get them to build “World Class” facilities.
• If I don’t have a spot in my first team or backups for a good youth player that I’ve acquired or that has joined my team by coming through my academy, I’ll loan those players out to Serie B or below squads in the hopes they’ll gain first team experience.

The only exception to my rule about hiring backroom staff is in regards to scouts.  If I cannot find an Italian scout who has knowledge of a region I want to scout, then I’ll try to find someone who does.

Finally, I’d also like to thank Falahk, Shootie, and all the responders to their official FM10 AS Roma threads:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=200947

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=160751