Right, not a great deal to report so far in my game, but here is everything about it so far:
Leagues running - I am running, in full detail, down to the lowest division, each of Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and USA. Approximate player count: 147,000. I know you can add/remove leagues as you go, but I'm old school and don't like doing that. Of course it slows my progress, but I can live with that for the added depth it brings.
Squad - as soon as I took over (i.e. started the game), it became apparent that Trapani were weak at full-back. I moved to rectify this and made getting both a right- and left-back a priority.
Ex-Romania under-21 international
Sergiu Homei arrived for £18k, quickly followed by
Simone Sini on a season-long loan from AS Roma.
Whilst reasonably strong out wide and with options up-front, the core of the side needed strengthening I thought and so I went hunting for a central midfielder. Amateur
Sjaak Lettinga was brought to the club for no fee, although he has signed professional terms making him the club's top earner at £4.2k per week. Hopefully will be a steady Eddy in there.
The 'big-name' signing was a controversial one, but ex-Juventus man
Alex Pederzoli also put pen-to-paper. He will almost certainly be the best technical footballer in the squad, but he is serving a global ban for another year. I actually thought it was only for a few months, but I misread October 2013 for October 2012 :facepalm: (actually, I think I read it as 2013 but my mind didn't put two-and-two together to make me realise the game is a year behind real-life)
Lastly, I added
Gabriele Franchina, an 18-year-old right-back (who can also play centrally). Whilst I've only got him on loan, I'm eyeing him up for the future and depending on how he progresses here for a season will potentially move towards a permanent deal.
Fixtures - Don't think I could've asked for an easier cup draw. Got minnows Delta Porto Tolle (who?) at home and thrashed them 6-0 without breaking a sweat.
Simone Basso got four.
I've just proceeded to lose my first pre-season friendly 1-0, but I am not overly worried as we dominated; just couldn't stick the ball in the back of the net. Next up is a potentially tricky tie away to fellow Serie B side A.S. Varese, who the media think are likely to be alongside us in the lower half of the table. Up for grabs is a place in the Third Qualifying Round of the TIM Cup.