crouchaldinho Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 Crouchy's 'Lessons in Calcio' Journeyman Save - Project 2: A.C. Mezzocorona (Season Two at Communale 2013/14) Click here for post 188 which shows how the first half of this season went. Below, I'm posting up an image of the results we recorded after the winter break. I'll talk you through the results and my thoughts as we tackled the second half of this campaign. Our form more or less continued how we left off after the winter break. Five wins in seven games saw us pushing on through January and February with an excellent run of form. The turning point of the season occurred in March. As I suggested in the winter break update, I had the feeling that our biggest worry would be suffering injuries to key players. If that happened, I felt that we could lose our way because we really don't have much squad depth or quality in our backups. As it turns out, that was exactly the reason for a run of bad form in March which really harmed our chances of winning the title. We lost our star striker Andrea Mandorlini, and both wide players, to give us some real difficulties as we reached a pivotal point of the season. We also lost Luca Righini for a couple of games with injury. The injuries to the striker and wide players occured against Borgo a Buggiano, which was very much a Pyhrric victory. Following this match, we lost three in a row. We lacked creativity in the wide positions and just did not have a good enough forward to come in to play alongside Wilker. Once again, I called it exactly right in my winter break update when I said that I most fear Bassano and Aversa Normanna. We played both of them away and lost in the first half of the season. I felt that both would be difficult rivals to overcome in this second half of the campaign. As it turned out, we lost a key game at home to Bassano in the middle of March, which was a big blow. However, With Mandorlini back at the end of March, we did manage to record an absolutely massive victory against close rivals in the table in the shape of Aversa Normanna. You can see the goals from this match in the following video: [video=youtube;Gr51dr5hdaQ] A couple of quality goals there from Mandorlini for our first goal and Wilker for our third. I honestly thought this victory was a turning point and that we would push on to win the title now. However, there were still some twists and turns to come, and they weren't to be in our favour. The poor run of form had impacted upon morale and we needed a recovery period in order to get back on track. However, in a title race as tight as this one, the one thing you don't have is time for blips. In April, the home loss against Cuneo and the fact that we dropped to points at home against Montichiari, really hurt us. Aversa Normanna were hitting top gear at just the right time and ultimately we paid for these slip ups. The 1-1 draw away at L'Aquila pretty much sealed our fate. Despite a win in the final match of the season, we lost out on the title race by one point. We did however gain promotion, which is absolutely massive and beyond anything the board expected for this season! It felt a bit anti-climatic to have lost the title after leading the table at the end of 2013, but to get promotion still felt massive and was the first major achievement of my managerial career in Italy. Screenshots: League Table League Positions Graph As you can see from above, we led the table for a good portion of the season but just couldn't get over the finishing line. Italian Cup - did not enter. Serie C Cup - Nothing of interest to report. Treated as a pre-season competition so I wasn't worried when we went out early. We finished in 4th place in the group stage. Transfers - We did good work in the transfer market, I feel, building an excellent first eleven for this level. Just a shame outside that starting eleven we had very little quality at all, which cost us in the chase for the title. Andrea Mandorlini was the best signing for sure. Wilker came in and took a while to settle but he ended up scoring some vital goals for us in the end. Lusito Campisi was also an excellent signing. Squad Statistics Key players: Luca Righini - After a disappointing start under my management last season, the playmaker improved drammatically this season to become one of our key players. He was superb, setting up goals and also scoring some vital ones too. Lusito Campisi - A new signing who came in to play on the left side of midfield. Was an important player for us, providing assists and goals from the wide left position. Andrea Mandorlini - Our best striker. Scored a massive 21 goals for us in the league. Ended up as an absolutely key player and we struggled without him in the team. Wilker - The Brazilian forward started off slowly but ended up scoring some vital goals. He also scored one or two crackers as far as I am concerned really showing his class. Those guys were really the four who made a difference for us this season. We were an otherwise fairly average side carried by these guys, especially Righini and Mandorlini. Career Overview: Season Team League Position Achievements/outcomes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2011/12 A.C. Giacomense Serie C2/A 18th (Took over after 18 games) Relegated 2012/13 A.C. Mezzocorona Serie C2/B 9th 2013/14 A.C. Mezzocorona Serie C2/B 2nd Promoted! Next Season: I signed on for another season. I was hoping for a good move to come up, to be absolutely honest, but in lieu of a decent move it seemed sensible to sign on for another year with Mezzocorona. I'll be keeping my eye on other jobs. I think next season will be tough, for sure, as we don't have the money to compete with the bigger clubs we'll be up against at C1 level. I suspect I'll have a tough relegation battle on my hands. In that sense, I'm not looking forward to next season, but having said that sometimes I find the relegation fights to be the biggest thrill on FM! I'm most worried about making sure that my best players sign on for another year. After that, it'll be a case of strengthing that defence as I feel a good and solid defence will be key to survival at the next level. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 My A.C. Giacomense Record (2011 - 2012 [133 days]): P W D L F A Win % Competitions Won ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 5 7 7 17 23 26% None My A.C. Mezzocorona Record (2012 - present [705 days]): P W D L F A Win % Competitions Won ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 105 43 31 31 126 105 40% Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Girone B Runners-up Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flamers Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Well done Mr Crouchy! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Good to see things going much better with Mezzocorona. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Well done Crouchy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deisler26 Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Congrats on the promotion, Crouchy! (again!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted February 20, 2012 Author Share Posted February 20, 2012 Thanks man. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcidBurn Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Well done on the promotion. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted February 20, 2012 Author Share Posted February 20, 2012 Cheers AB! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Unlucky on not taking the title but then I guess the consolation prize is okay! Great job. I can't honestly say I enjoy difficult campaigns where we're fighting relegation, there's just too much tension. It is far more gratifying winning points when they're tougher to come by though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HotChocolate Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Unlucky on not taking the title but then I guess the consolation prize is okay! Great job.I can't honestly say I enjoy difficult campaigns where we're fighting relegation, there's just too much tension. It is far more gratifying winning points when they're tougher to come by though. It's much nicer winning points when you are at the bottom then when you are at the top Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted February 24, 2012 Author Share Posted February 24, 2012 Three points when you're fighting at the bottom always feels amazing! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRL88 Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Three points when you're fighting at the bottom always feels amazing! One of the better feelings on FM. Fingers crossed you can fight off relegation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackripper Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 congrats on promotion Crouchie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamshankley Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Is Crouchy lost in Trento? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flamers Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Crouchy is lost in Winterhold. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 Lost in some cave, more likely. It's all Lydia's fault. She said, 'oh look, a cave, I wonder what's inside?' Turns out that there was a lot of undead that needed 'Fus Ro Dahing' and hitting with a Daedric mace. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flamers Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 *Flamers likes this* Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted March 27, 2012 Author Share Posted March 27, 2012 Project 3 - Season Three at A.C. Mezzocorona - Season 2014/15 Preview With thanks to SnakeXe for the format for this post, which I have pretty much shamelessly copied! Board Expectations: Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Girone B - Stay clear of relegation TIM Cup - Enjoy the experience Coppa Italia Lega Pro - Get to first round My Expectations: Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Girone B - Try to survive! TIM Cup - Not expecting to go too far so will treat it as a pre-season warm up Coppa Italia Lega Pro - I normally treat this like a pre-season competition but looks like the board have actually set me an objective this time so I'll need to try to meet that at least Budgets: Transfer - £0 Wages - £12,200/week (£16,000/week currently - Not good management of the wages. I must admit I'm thinking short-term and selfishly about this. I want success for myself and I'm not thinking about the long-term stability of the club. The risk, of course, is that there will be extra pressure on me to succeed and the board will be on my case if we don't do well.) Balance: £68,316 (looking a lot better - the recent success has helped and the board have got loans and put money in to cover the previous debt) Squad: I've improved on things slightly from last season. All free transfers. We changed things around at the back due to losing a few players at the end of their contracts but I think we're at about the same strength there. A shame not to have improved upon things really. And, in all honesty, that's the case across the board. We strengthened the depth somewhat but, in reality, we haven't improved the actual quality of the first team. I think we've done okay in terms of transfers but I'm under no illusion that our budget has held us back and that we are going to be looking to punch above our weight this season. Key Men: Luca Righini - Decent technical midfielder who I'll be hoping can do a good job for us in the middle of the park. Luisito Campisi - Very good wide player who should be an asset for us this season. Wilker - This guy improved as the season went on last year so I'll be looking for him to get off to a good start this year and keep the form up all season long. Could be an important player for us. Andrea Mandorlini - Our top scorer last season. We'll once again be relying on him to knock in the goals. These are the magic four for us and all of them attacking players. They did it for us last season so let's hope that they can do it again. I don't know what to expect from this season. I think it's going to be tough, for sure, but I hope we'll have enough about us at least to survive. Tactical approach: Again, I toyed with the idea of 4-2-3-1 but the players we have really set-up for a 4-4-2 pretty well and it worked well for us over the last few seasons. 4-4-1-1 will be a back-up with Righini capable of playing in behind the striker if we need him to do so. Otherwise, it'll be a no nonsense 4-4-2. Righini will be key in the middle and Wilker vital up front with the support of a partner in the shape of Andrea Mandorlini who will most likely be our main goalscorer. It's a fairly basic 4-4-2 set-up. I'm looking for Wilker to be the creative influence up front. We'll start with this system and see how things progress as the season gets started. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted March 27, 2012 Author Share Posted March 27, 2012 BTW, if you are wondering what has happened to impede my progress on this save over the last few weeks, it's called Skyrim. :o Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted March 27, 2012 Author Share Posted March 27, 2012 Video highlights of Crouchaldinho's Mezzocorona side causing the shock of the round in the Italian Cup away to Serie B side Cesena! [video=youtube;5o1Ir7ptezw] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted March 27, 2012 Author Share Posted March 27, 2012 We've drawn Serie A side, Cagliari, in the next round. Another tough away tie. No pressure on us. I'll be going there without much expectation and we'll just enjoy the experience. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike7077 Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Your career threads are always so immersive, Mr. Crouch. Took me ages to read through all this, but I got there. And it was worth it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Glad to see you back on the FM horse, rather than a more literal horse in Skyrim, crouchy! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted March 27, 2012 Author Share Posted March 27, 2012 Your career threads are always so immersive, Mr. Crouch. Took me ages to read through all this, but I got there. And it was worth it. Cheers Mike! Nice to be in touch with you again, friend. Hope all is well with you and glad to see you tackling an FM career again! How are things at Southport btw? Still going to matches? Glad to see you back on the FM horse, rather than a more literal horse in Skyrim, crouchy! Indeed. I do actually have a horse on Skyrim. Love that game. It's amazing! But yeah, got the FM bug coming back atm. Want to get that Hellas Verona job in this career! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted March 27, 2012 Author Share Posted March 27, 2012 Crouchaldinho was proud of his Mezzocorona side as they managed to take Serie A side Cagliari to extra-time in the TIM Cup 3rd Qualifying Round. Unfortunately, Crouchy's boys just didn't quite have enough to finish the job but the effort from the newly promoted Serie C1 side was impressive against Serie A opposition! [video=youtube;L3--IvXv_dI] So ends our little run in this competition. Went much, much better than I expected! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike7077 Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Cheers Mike! Nice to be in touch with you again, friend. Hope all is well with you and glad to see you tackling an FM career again!How are things at Southport btw? Still going to matches? You bet I am! 4th in the Conference at the moment. Decent chance of making the play-offs. On a budget of about £1.50. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted March 28, 2012 Author Share Posted March 28, 2012 Do you guys remember how I had difficulties in getting my Mezzocorona team to score goals in my first season at the club? I forgot to share with you all the secret tactic that I employed in order to get them putting the ball in the back of the net with some regularity. This was it: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 I've just been reading about that as it happens. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deisler26 Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Crouchy, I'm with you on Skyrim. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRL88 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 That picture is great. I saw it on Yahoo Sport yesterday . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 Crouchy, I'm with you on Skyrim. Speaking of Skyrim, check out this amazing video - http://kotaku.com/5897181/stop-hoarding-things-in-skyrim-or-your-housecarl-will-leave-you Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 Crouchy, I'm with you on Skyrim. Speaking of Skyrim, check out this amazing video - http://kotaku.com/5897181/stop-hoarding-things-in-skyrim-or-your-housecarl-will-leave-you Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 Crouchy, I'm with you on Skyrim. Speaking of Skyrim, check out this amazing video - http://kotaku.com/5897181/stop-hoarding-things-in-skyrim-or-your-housecarl-will-leave-you Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 Anyone else a bad hoarder in Skyrim? I have so many dragon bones & scales that I could make armour for the whole of Whiterun & Solitude. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Haha yeah I have loads of rubbish - especially books! I started off reading each new one I found then got bored and thought "I'll read them later". No, I haven't. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 WINTER BREAK SUMMARY - Project 2: A.C. Mezzocorona season 2014/15: As you can see, things have generally gone very well for us in the first half of this season. We certainly aren't pushovers in this league and we've been competing and pulling off some shocks in this division. In terms of league position, we've been flirting with the play-offs but we go into the break on a poor run of form that sees us having dropped down slightly to 7th in the table. We kicked things off with some friendly matches, which I won't go into detail about here as they aren't very interesting! The games against Venezia, Ostia Mare and Triestina were all friendly matches. The first competitive games of 2014/15 saw us playing in the TIM Cup (Italian Cup) qualifying rounds. We had a nice little run in this competition, despite the fact that I treated it as a set of pre-season friendly matches. Beating Carpi away set us up with a big tie against Serie B side Cesena. As you've seen from the videos I attached above, we pulled off the shock of the round by beating them away from home. We then went up against Serie A side, Cagliari, and took them to extra time but didn't quite have enough to secure a result in the end. As previously said, videos are attached in the posts above. A nice little run to start the season and it made me optimistic about our chances of survival. As it turns out, I shouldn't have been too worried about our chances of survival this year. We've got a strongly gelled squad, which is proving to be absolutely key. Furthermore, as long as we can keep our key four players fit (that's Righini, Campisi, Wilker and Mandorlini) it feels as though we can beat anyone on our day. We kicked off confidently in the league with a solid 2-0 victory at home to Carpi. I was delighted with everything about this game except for one thing: an injury to Andrea Mandorlini that would see him out for four to five months. I have to admit to being absolutely gutted about this and doubting our chances, such was the importance of keeping my key four players fit. Four had become three and we now had to rely on Righini, Campisi and Wilker to carry this team. In all honesty, we've be relegation fodder without those guys! Going away to Pro Vercelli and getting a 1-0 win was a massive result and a testament to my team's determination and desire to win football matches. Great stuff. We carried on with a decent run taking us up to the defeat at home to Casale. However, this was a Serie C cup (Coppa Italia Lega Pro) match and I put out a reserve side, so I wasn't too disappointed to go out of the competition. Up until this point, I had been really proud of my underdogs battling away and causing some big shocks in the league. Honestly, I didn't know how we'd been doing it this season. In some matches, the odds were so high against us that it's totally crazy, and the opposition have definitely been superior, but somehow we've managed to upset the odds and have often seemed to come away with something. Following on from the cup exit, we drew away to Savona. However, in the next game, we had an absolute nightmare at home to Portogruaro and lost 4-1 at home. A bizarre result against a lowly team. Just a bad day at the office, was my thought and hope. We followed it up with an away win at Mantova and a home win against Como. This little run of two straight wins felt like a big boost. I felt pretty pleased with myself. A tricky run of games was coming up as we headed into November but we were amazingly equal to playing some pretty big sides in the shape of Cremonese and AlbinoLeffe. A draw away to the former and a win away to the latter was fine indeed for our small club. Unfortunately, against Spal, despite a fantastic away point, we lost another member of the key four players in the shape of Lusito Campisi to injury. We would be missing our fantastic winger for four to five months, the same as Mandorlini's injury duration, and this came as a massive blow. And it shows from our form as we headed towards the Christmas break. We rely so strongly on those four magic players, that to have only Righini and Wilker available, was devastating. Draws at home to Treviso and away to Pergocrema show the determination of this squad and their ability to grind out results. However, it was too much against top of the table Hellas Verona (the club that I badly want to manage in the future!) and against Avellino, as we crashed into the Christmas break with two straight losses. Harsh. With Mandorlini coming back into the team soon, I'm hopeful that we can pull things around again. Gutted to lose Campisi though as he has been superb for us this season so far. I simply don't have the quality in backup to come even close to replacing him either. The team are strongly gelled, very determined, professional and ambitious, and well capable of staying in this division. To push for a play-off position would be amazing. Ultimately, I can say right now that it depends on us keeping those key four players fit and available. Campisi could be back in March and at that point he could feel like a new signing, and a superb one at that, particularly if he can immediately recapture his form. Will that be too late to keep up the challenge? I shouldn't worry too much, I guess. The point of this season was to survive and we have the potential to be doing slightly more than that. We can at least properly consolidate at this level if we keep the important players fit. I've had some nice compliments from other managers this year, which is a nice touch by SI. My side's football has been praised, with other managers saying that we like to move the ball about nicely, which is mostly true, although it is more true to say that we adjust to whatever situation we find ourselves in (e.g. if I need to, we will sit deep, go direct and grind out results!) But nice of them to recognise our good football when we do play some decent stuff! I've also had some managers commenting on the job I'm doing with such a small squad. No truer word could be spoken. It's a small squad and losing one or two key players could be devastating. It's a curse to have such a small squad but I suppose, in some ways, also a good thing as it means that we've been able to gel extremely quickly as a team. One key factor in our overachieving so far this season is the fact that my players 'would be willing to die for each other'. I've always found matching player personalities and working on team gelling to be two vital factors to work at as a football manager and I feel that my work in these areas has been very important to an otherwise small club with a fairly mediocre team (a few players excepted). You see the importance of the big four players I keep mentioning in my squad. They're top of the average ratings for a start. Out of the four, I'm a little disappointed with Righini's contribution. He was player of the season last year. This year, he hasn't contributed as much, but his pass completion ratio is the best in the team to be fair. Without Mandorlini, who was injured in the first league game of the season, the emphasis for scoring goals has fallen to our other talented striker: the Brazilian, Wilker. You can also see the importance of Lusito Campisi and why I'm so gutted about losing him to injury for such a long time. He has the most man of the match awards in the team and has scored and set up some key goals for us. We go into the winter break in 7th place. Pretty decent really. In terms of goals scored and conceded, we're middle of the table. Our defensive record isn't too bad, averaging a goal a game, which I'm fairly pleased with. I don't think our league position is a fluke. I think we should end up around this kind of position at the end of the season. Would be good to be a little higher and in the play-offs but I have a feeling that we'll end up just outside. My biggest worry, as always, is that we'll suffer injuries to key players. If that happens, we could lose our way, but I don't think we'll be in danger of getting sucked into a relegation battle unless there is some sort of total disaster. Things are looking pretty good so far and I'm satisfied enough with the first half of this season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 Haha yeah I have loads of rubbish - especially books! I started off reading each new one I found then got bored and thought "I'll read them later". No, I haven't. I collect every book I find apart from spell tomes which I sell (I'm not a mage like character and I only use restoration spells). So I have a ton of filled bookcases in my houses in Whiterun and Solitude. Plus a chest devoted to books. I did plan to try to collect every book in the game but I don't know if I'll ever actually do that. Like you, I started off reading every one that I found, but quickly realised that I wasn't going to keep that up! Now I just read ones with interesting titles. Lusty Argonian Maid series ftw! I've read quite a few of the books. Some are quite interesting and fill in some details that I didn't know about (I'm new to TES). Others, not so much! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted March 31, 2012 Author Share Posted March 31, 2012 Crouchaldinho's Mezzocorona pick up a massive win against top of the table Cremonese: [video=youtube_share;PwNJ34CJWTA] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike7077 Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 What does "facci sognare" mean? I suppose I could put it into Google Translate, but you can never totally trust the translations it gives. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted March 31, 2012 Author Share Posted March 31, 2012 Facci sognare = Make us dream! I guess it's a common Italian football chant. From the opening chapter of Tim Parks' A Season With Verona: A chant starts up. 'Verona, Verona segna per noi!' Verona score for us. It spreads around the curva. 'Verona, Verona, vinci per noi!' Win for us. It's a liturgy. Hellas Verona, facci sognare! Make us dream. Awesome book btw. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 Awesome book btw. Fully agree. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted April 1, 2012 Author Share Posted April 1, 2012 Crouchy's 'Lessons in Calcio' Journeyman Save - Project 2: A.C. Mezzocorona (Season Three at Communale 2014/15) Click here for post 237 which shows how the first half of this season went. Below, I'm posting up an image of the results we recorded after the winter break. I'll talk you through the results and my thoughts as we tackled the second half of this campaign. The first five games of the new year continued on where we had left off at the end of 2014. We were poor and struggling to put points on the board. The draw away to Carpi wasn't terrible, I suppose, but the draw at home to Pro Vercelli was pretty awful, especially given the fact that we threw away a two goal lead in that match against a poor team. Three straight losses with no goals scored followed as we really fell down the table. However, recovery wasn't too far away, and the end of February and beginning of March brought a five game unbeaten run with four wins out of five games recorded. Among these excellent results was a 3-1 win against eventual champions Cremonese. The end of March, going into April, saw a return to some up and down form but by this point we had more or less secured our position in the top half of the table. The 1-1 draw against Hellas Verona away from home was a particularly good result and one that I was pleased with. I hope to return to Verona one day in the not too distant future to manage my favourite club but for now they are out of my league and in a very literal sense too as they managed to get promoted come the end of the season. In the end, we finished 8th in the table, which was a great finishing position for a side many expected to finish bottom! We won more than we lost and scored more than we conceded, which for a side tipped to be relegation battlers is a massive success! For me, this had been a great season, establishing my managerial credentials at a new level. We shocked some clubs much bigger than us with massive results during the season. We played some good football and got plenty of deserved praise from other managers. All in all, this was a really creditable and praise worthy season. It was officially recognised at the end of the season when we were named the league's overachievers. What we achieved this season is well beyond anything the board expected! Finishing where we did felt brilliant and I think we proved to be a worthy addition to this level of football in Italy. This seemed to me like a really good achievement in my early managerial career in Italy. Having got the official 'overachievers' tag at the end of the season, I had hoped that other clubs in Italy were sitting up and talking notice of me as a manager. Certainly, I seemed to be the name on many other managers' lips. Many of them complimented me on my side's style of football or my ability to overachieve with a small squad. Would a bigger club perhaps come in and give me a chance soon after what I had achieved with Mezzocorona ? I hoped so! Our finish in the league this season was a record high for the club: Screenshots: League Table League Positions Graph As you can see from above, we started really well and probably didn't perform as strongly in the second half of the season. Certainly, our excellent start was an important factor this season. Italian Cup - See some posts above this regarding our great run in this competition. We beat Serie B side Cesena away from home. Then, we draw with Serie A side Cagliari, also away, but were knocked out of the competition in extra time. A great experience for my team. Also some good exposure for me as a manager. Hopefully my reputation got a boost from this little run. Serie C Cup - Nothing of interest to report. We got knocked out in our first game in the competition. I didn't take it seriously and fielded the reserves. The league was always the priority this season. Transfers - As said in the pre-season review, we didn't really improve the squad. One thing that we did do was to bring in some backups and to put together a squad of players which meant that we didn't have to rely on loans in order to get by this year. Squad Statistics Key players: Luca Righini - It certainly could be said that Righini didn't perform as well as I had hoped he would. His pass completition ratio of 84% is impressive but he didn't quite do enough damage creatively in my opinion. Still a decent enough season from him, if not as good as I had hoped it would be. Lusito Campisi - An exciting wide midfielder who suffered an unfortunate injury and didn't quite get back to the heights of his early season performances. Andrea Mandorlini - A decent enough return in terms of goals but, like Campisi, he suffered badly with a long injury and he didn't manage to hit the ground running when he came back. Wilker - The Brazilian forward was player of the season, for sure, really showing his class. 19 goals and 8 assists is a great return. He was voted fans' player of the season and you can clearly see why. Those guys were really the four who made a difference for us this season. We were an otherwise fairly average side carried by these guys, just as we were last season. This was the team of the year: Career Overview: Season Team League Position Achievements/outcomes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2011/12 A.C. Giacomense Serie C2/A 18th (Took over after 18 games) Relegated 2012/13 A.C. Mezzocorona Serie C2/B 9th 2013/14 A.C. Mezzocorona Serie C2/B 2nd Promoted! 2014/15 A.C. Mezzocorona Serie C1/A 8th Overachievers! 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crouchaldinho Posted April 1, 2012 Author Share Posted April 1, 2012 Next Season: Big news! I move on to a new job! Mezzocorona has been a great experience but I really feel that I have done all I can here. I feel that I have repaid their faith in me. Mezzocorona gave me my chance after my failure at A.C. Giacomense, but I feel that I've given as much as I've received in the sense that I've promoted them and, not only that, but taken them to their best ever finish in the Italian league system. They are in much better shape than when I joined them and they've got a decent squad now and should be able to build on this and stay at this level at the very least. In these terms, I leave without any guilt. I've done my bit to the take the club forward. And also, I think we can call Project 2 a success. Promotion and consolidation is great stuff. Also, I feel that my managerial reputation has been given a decent boost from my time at Mezzocorona. I'm not expecting to move on to much bigger and better things. But I hope that there is a bigger club at this level willing to give me a chance. Unfortunately, Mezzocorona made it an easy decision to decide to leave. They offered me a contract with wages of £1.2k per week. Nothing wrong with that. But they indicated that my player wage budget would be even less than last season and indicated that they would expect me to fight relegation again this season. I felt that it was an insult. After finishing 8th, I wanted a little bit of support from the directors. I didn't expect a lot of money in the budget and certainly no transfer budget. However, I at least expected a slight increase on the wage budget given what I've done at this club over the last three seasons. I was livid. Even by challenging their expectations, I could not see a way forward in terms of getting more support, so I made up my mind to resign. If the club are not willing to be ambitious and to support a talented young manager such as myself then clearly it is time for me to go on to somewhere else more ambitious and hopefully a club that will recognise and appreciate my managerial genius! Upon leaving, there was a mass exodus from Mezzocorona as twelve staff members decided to walk out with me. It is sad to leave Mezzocorona with some bitterness. I was 'untouchable' at the end there and surely well loved by the fans. I do wish Mezzocorona all the best for the future but it is time to move onwards and hopefully upwards. We all know the club I want - Hellas Verona! - but it's too early for that. My reputation won't be sufficient and they are back in Serie B, so my time there is for the future. Right now, I need to be more realistic and to work at a smaller club in order to earn the right to manage my favourite club eventually. I immediately set about looking and applying for jobs at the same level, however I was looking for a bigger club with which to test my managerial skills. I am even willing to drop down to a lower level if a club had stability and the support in place for a manager like myself to really shine. So, I'm unemployed again, and looking for my next football club. Let us see what comes of this! My A.C. Giacomense Record (2011 - 2012 [133 days]): P W D L F A Win % Competitions Won / Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19 5 7 7 17 23 26% None My A.C. Mezzocorona Record (2012 - 2015 [1085 days]): P W D L F A Win % Competitions Won / Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 143 57 43 43 179 153 39% Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Girone B Runners-up Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 Sad to leave a place like that Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flamers Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 I am sure it will be worth it in the long run Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted April 1, 2012 Author Share Posted April 1, 2012 Project 3 - A.C. Perugia Calcio It takes me a little while to get back into management this time around. With no decent jobs immediately available I decided that my first priority was to take a little holiday. It felt strange letting the season get started without having a team to prepare! In the end, I made up my mind to bide my time and keep an eye on managerial vacancies coming up during the season. It took until the end of November 2015 for me to find my next job. I was quite excited when I got offered the position! We'll be heading south from Mezzocorona, Trentino, to manage A.C. Perugia Calcio! A.C. Perugia Calcio is located in Perugia, Umbria. Their colours are red and white and they play their home games at Renato Curi. The club is affectionately known as Grifo. Wikipedia lists the nickname of the club as Grifoni (Griffons), which I assume is a reference to Griffins (a mythical winged monster with an eagle-like head and the body of a lion). This would make sense given the logo on their club badge. It also sounds kind of awesome to me. I aprrove! Some of our rivals include Ternana, Fiorentina, Arezzo and Torino. We are in the same league as Ternana only from that list, so that will be the main derby game for us (called 'dell'Umbria derby'). Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about 164 kilometres (102 miles) north of Rome. The city of Perugia has a population of 168,066. The attendances appear to be around the 4,000 mark (compare that to around 900 at Mezzocorona). We have around 1,763 season ticket holders (much more than the 200 odd that we had at my last club). It is clear that I am managing a much bigger club here with a lot more potential. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted April 1, 2012 Author Share Posted April 1, 2012 This is the club badge: Now most of you who know your Italian football will know that Perugia used to be a fairly big club back in the day. You'll no doubt have heard of the name anyway if you have a passing interest in Italian football. Perugia have since fallen on harder times, as many clubs in Italy seem to do, and they have reformed on two occasions. The first time in 2005 and more recently in 2010. They started out in Serie D again in 2010 and have now arrived, in the year 2015, at Serie C1 level. Here are some awesome facts about A.C. Perugia Calcio, mostly found out from Wikipedia! The club was originally founded in 190 but was reformed in 2005. Prior to this, the club spent a large part of its years directly before this footballing tragedy in Serie A (their last relegation came in 2004). The club is well known in Italy for going through the entire 1978–79 Serie A season unbeaten and still not winning the championship, instead finishing runners-up. Wow! Sounds like my kind of club! During its successful years prior to the recent disasters that have befell the club, Perugia was known for taking a chance on players from 'non-traditional' footballing nations, and was the first European team of Japanese star Hidetoshi Nakata. Finally, the team came under scrutiny when its owner, Luciano Gaucci, criticized and eventually terminated the contract of his own player, Ahn Jung-Hwan of South Korea, for scoring the golden goal that knocked Italy out of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. I love Italian football. They are all mostly football mental over there, basically! Perugia were predicted to do quite well this season and to be comfortably mid-table. I should mention, of course, that they are playing at Serie C1B level, which is the same level as Mezzocorona but we are in a different division. Perugia are currently struggling, however, in 15th place in the table. It doesn't look too bad in terms of the points tally of many teams higher than them being quite close. My immediate job is clearly to steady the ship and take them up to the safety and comfort of mid-table. This is the first time I have had a season at a club where my club are not expected to fail miserably. Interesting times. I haven't done much analysing of the squad yet nor have I thought much about my strategy. It seemed too big an opportunity for my manager to turn down. It's worth noting that though the wages offered were the same as at Mezzocorona, the wage budget was much superior, so I at least have something decent to work with here in order to bring in some new players. The pressure will be a different one here as this is a bigger club. I'm used to scant resources and overachieving. At this club, more will be expected of me, for sure. It's going to be a shock to the system not to have a well gelled squad and not to have my system firmly in place with players to complement that system. I think it could be a tough month to begin with but I'm hopeful that the winter break will be very helpful being as it is just around the corner. I think this should be a good challenge at Perugia and I see potential here to build a team and improve the club's standing over the next few seasons. I feel excited and I feel even more sure now that the decision to leave Mezzocorona was the right one. Of course, diaster here could set me back, but let's think positively. I just have to stick with my priniciples and have faith in my footballing ideas. Given time, I feel confident that I can be successful at this club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 Good club, try not to sign Bashir Al-Assad's son though Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted April 1, 2012 Author Share Posted April 1, 2012 Here is the league table upon my joining the club: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Cuneo | | 13 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 18 | 10 | +8 | 27 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Catanzaro | | 13 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 15 | 9 | +6 | 25 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Benevento | | 13 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 14 | 9 | +5 | 23 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Giulianova | | 13 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 19 | 12 | +7 | 23 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Latina | | 13 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 21 | 14 | +7 | 22 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Andria BAT | | 13 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 17 | 13 | +4 | 22 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Ternana | | 13 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 14 | 15 | -1 | 21 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Siracusa | | 13 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 16 | 10 | +6 | 20 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Prato | | 13 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 17 | 12 | +5 | 18 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Barletta | | 13 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 15 | 14 | +1 | 17 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Crotone | | 13 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 14 | 12 | +2 | 16 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Südtirol-Alto Adige | | 13 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 10 | -2 | 15 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Ancona | | 13 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 16 | -1 | 14 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Foligno | | 13 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 19 | -12 | 13 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| [b]| 15th | | Perugia | | 13 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 15 | -8 | 13 | [/b] | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Viareggio | | 13 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 15 | 21 | -6 | 13 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Aversa Normanna | | 13 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 12 | 20 | -8 | 9 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Poggibonsi | | 13 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 19 | -13 | 7 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Just so you guys have an idea of the situation I am finding myself in upon joining Perugia. Things don't look too bad to me but we really must get clear of the dreaded relegation play-out zone! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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