Atalanta secured an immediate return to the best league in the world by blowing away Serie B with over 100 goals and points. But they faced a big step up in quality if they were to meet the board's objective of surviving in Serie A - which wasn't helped by a poor financial situation.
Heading back 30 years in time, Atalanta have just been relegated from the greatest league in the world, Italy's Serie A, and are red-hot favourites to be promoted at the first time of asking. To achieve that aim, the club took a massive gamble by turning to a rookie local football lover to deliver a change in fortunes - Bergamo-born coach Roberto Lombardi.
Growing up in the early 1990s, some of my earliest memories of "getting into" football news and watching football were formed by Channel 4's Football Italia. We'll celebrate that with new series in the 1994/95 database for FM24.
There had been a seismic shift in the fortunes of FC Pompei in the five years that previously unknown Roberto de Vesuvius Sulpicius had been in charge. And the minnows defied all the odds to remain in Italy's Serie C/C for a second season.
Manager Robí Sulpicius faced the significant challenge of his entire first-team squad being out of contract and a worrying financial situation overshadowing his need to rebuild for Serie D.
Under the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, FC Pompei were mounting hopes of a title challenge in Italy's 5th-tier Eccellenza Campania A under new manager Robí Sulpicius.
In our latest explosive Football Manager challenge, we'll attempt to rise from the ashes in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius with FC Pompei.
Despite only losing once in the first half of the 2028/29 Serie A campaign, Empoli FC found themselves trailing leaders Napoli by five points. But there were certainly shoots of optimism at the young side's improving fortunes against Italy's traditional big boys.
The old FM24 goalkeeper injury curse hit Empoli FC hard and curtailed their push for a maiden Serie A title in 2027/28. But that disappointment aside, we'd built an exciting young squad in Tuscany and the club was very much on the up.
Europa League champions Empoli FC were flying high, heading into 2028 sitting 2nd in Serie A and with the Champions League knockout stages tantalisingly close.
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