Alex Tant-Brown’s FM21 Picks

Alex Tant-Brown can be found on Twitter @alextantbrown

FC Andorra – Can’t to Candorra
In 2018 Gerard Pique bought a little known Spanish team in the 5th tier of Spanish football, Futbol Club Andorra are sed team. FC Andorra are a club that are not steeped in the greatest history, their finest hour coming in 1994 where they won the Copa Catalunya, beating both Barcelona and Espanyol on their way to victory. However, the club have never progressed past Spanish footballs most gruelling division, the Segunda Division B. Spain’s third tier is usually dominated by ‘B’ Teams of Spains largest clubs, and sometimes their recently fallen giants. In your first season at FC Andorra you will have to battle; the B teams of Barcelona, Espanyol, Valencia and Villarreal; the second  division stalwarts that are Hercules and Gimnastic de Tarragona; and the rising star that is UD Ibiza.

Andorras largest club has never made it further than the Segunda Division B, but this time it is a real possibility. With large enough budgets to make manoeuvres in the transfer market and a relatively strong side, FC Andorra seem primed for promotion, reaching the second tier is a feat that no other Andorran team has managed. An interesting facet to FC Andorra is that their youth academy produces mainly Andorran nationality players; which makes for an interesting side quest of can you improve the Andorran national football team as well as your own? Your main focus however, is Andorra FC and despite their controversial promotion to the Segunda Division B; can you prove that FC Andorra not only belong in Spains third tier, but can reach the dizzying heights of La Liga and beyond?

If you’re looking for a challenge? Use these challenge requirements: Win La Liga and the Champions League with 50% of players in the first team squad having Andorran nationality.

Palermo
Oh how the mighty have fallen. In the past decade Palermo have gone from Dybala and Cavani to relative obscurity in the Italian game. Palermo are the 7th oldest club in Italy with a rich history, the days of UEFA Cup participation and regular top half Serie A finishes seem like a bygone era. A series of seasons of financial mismanagement under former owner Mauricio Zamperini led to relegation and an inability to win promotion from Serie B. A false dawn beckoned in 2018, when an English led consortium came in to buy the club from Zamperini. Only for the club to change hands a further two times between December 2018 and May 2019, the final owners of Citta de Palermo (as they were then known) had a club that was in Serie B. However when submitting their paperwork at the end of the season, they were barred from not only re-entering Serie B in 2019-20 but all professional leagues in Italy. 

A phoenix club did arise and the newly created Palermo FC found themselves in Serie D (the highest level of non-professional football). With new owners and a recent history that makes some EFL clubs look good, Palermo were on the way up. Winning promotion from Serie D, after the suspension of the football campaign due to Covid-19. I Rosanero are looking for another promotion this season; having a side that is brimming with quality, expectations are high for Palermo. But, can you stave off the bigger clubs that come in for your star men? Or can you use Palermo’s considerably high budget to perfect an already good squad and win promotion to Serie A?

Boreham Wood
‘The Wood’ as they are affectionately known have never tasted English League football, and its about time they did. Barring a minor blip in 2018-19 where they finished 20th in the National League, Boreham Wood have been a side that has been on a relatively steady rise from the depths of non-league. They have great facilities for a non-league side, and although on a shoestring budget they have a massive parent club in Arsenal. If you can negotiate a loan clause into your affiliate agreement, you may well end up with many promising youngsters at your disposal for a fraction of the cost. 

As mentioned before Boreham Wood aren’t the richest of clubs, and a relative overachievers when it comes to their budget and status. Normally teams the size of Boreham Wood don’t make it to the EFL, and usually fail at the final hurdle (The National League) and ultimately fall upon relegation. However, the current core of players at the club are enough to mount at least a play-off challenge. Keeping hold of Kabongo Tshimanga will be key to any hopes of ‘The Wood’ doing well, can you be savvy in the transfer market and succeed where so many clubs have failed by reaching the EFL?