[FM15] For the fatherland – Trials and Tribulations in the Bel paese...

[CRM2009]

Background

For all the interest I have in Italian football, I never really got going with an Italian team on this game. Belgium (home country), the Scandinavian countries and (more recently) Asia somehow always manage to draw and hold me. In all the years I have been playing Championship/Football Manager, I managed to get past pre-season in only three Italian saves.

The first ever game I started was with Fiorentina on CM2 and lasted exactly 17 games, in which I didn’t win a single match. The end of my tenure at Artemio Franchi (still somewhat surprised I lasted that long…) was immediately also the end of my very first venture into digital football management.

I then returned south of the Alps to manage my favorite Inter Milan on CM00/01. For 2 seasons, I struggled to come up with a successful formation that made the best of my star purchase Sol Campbell . I deleted that game in frustration after I had lost the Scudetto on the final day of the season for the second year in a row.

Finally, it was Serie B Ternana who made me leave Club Brugge on CM01/02. In about 7 years, I built a team of absolute nobodies, but managed to clinch the Serie A title anyway. That game crashed a couple of days later and I must have subconsciously concluded then and there that Italy was really not meant for me…

Recently though, I re-read Tim Park’s “A Season With Verona”, in which the writer reflects on Italian society by describing events that take place as he travels to each of Hellas Verona’s games in the 2000-2001 season. Immediately, my somewhat dormant interest in (Italian) football was re-awakened. Apart from ordering the Joe McGinniss book, I also started up a new FM15 game that would give me some time away from my Royal Antwerp FC career.

[CRM2009]

Game details:

FM15 – V3

Large database with international players of all continents loaded (22.000 in total)

England – League 2 – View Only

France – Championat National – View Only

Germany – 3. Liga – View Only

Italy – Lega Pro – Playable

Spain – Segunda B – View Only

[CRM2009]

Italian football is in a sorry state these days. Juventus’ rocket-like return to Serie A domination is undeniable prove of the weakness of the competition (or the persistent presence of favoritism towards the big teams and their rich owners). In Europe, the club teams play second fiddle and the Squadra Azzura has been reduced to an also-ran in international competitions. In fact, qualifying for the big tournaments is now considered an achievement in itself as compared to the expected fait-accompli of the past.

So immediately I decided that this save game could not only be about me taking control of some Italian outfit. If I was going to do this, than it would be to restore Italy as football’s nr.1 country, nothing more, nothing less. Or to say it with Andreas Moller “Milan oder Madrid, Hauptsache Italien.”

I always prefer local players over foreign-born ones (hence my current frustration with RAFC, where league rules are clearly to my disadvantage and I could just field 11 Brazilians and dominate the league start to finish). But for this game I will go the extra mile: Italians only (Sammarinese could be the unlikely exception to that rule)! As to not overcomplicate things, players with dual nationality will be acceptable for my teams.

Playing mostly LLM, I will start this game in the Lega Pro (Italian 3rd Tier. I didn’t even know Serie C1 and C2 had been restructured…) and see where the game takes me from there. I tend to be loyal to my initial employer, but I also know from these forums that the Italian Leagues are hard to climb. So I might jump ship at one point in time to further the game and my career (or get sacked). I don’t have any favorite (having a season ticket the year that I lived in Milan was a sobering experience for my Inter fandom) or disliked teams in Italy, so I might basically pass through anywhere. Nonetheless and in case I end up leaving my first team, I’d be nice if I could have a go at any of these teams: Hellas Verona (the book), (Il Grande) Torino or either of both Rome teams.

As for my first employer, I considered starting unemployed but then decided against it for I didn’t want to start the game in a relegation struggle and without a chance to build the squad. I then started looking for Frank the Llama (apparently he has retired and passed the scepter to his cousin Paco?) to get some advice on whom to pick. That day however, I came across an article about Kevin Prince Boateng. The article at one point referred to 2013 friendly where he had led his team mates of the field after Milan’s black players had been repeatedly insulted by opposing fans. The opponent of that day: Aurora Pro Patria 1919.

I strongly condemn racism and other forms of discrimination, at the stadium or elsewhere, but this team was just the one for the adventure I was about to start. I mean, I was doing this for Italy, and here was a club that carried this motto in its name! So out goes Marcello Montanari and in comes Massimiliano Colluci, a 34 years old former lower league professional footballer with Audax Italiano (Chile) as his favorite team*.

[CRM2009]

Aurora Pro Patria 1919 is a football club from the town of Busto Arsizio (82000 inhabitants) in Lombardy, about 30 kilometers north of Milan. Nicknamed Tigrotti (Little Tigers), they are an interesting case for the football historian. Contrary to what their name suggests, they were not founded in 1919 but in 2009, after the original Pro Patria et Libertate (from 1919) had gone bust in 1995. In between, Gallaratese from Gallarate (nearby town of 53000 inhabitants) changed its name to Pro Patria Gallaratese G.B. to claim the legacy, until they went bankrupt as well on the back of an ambitious attempt at promotion to Serie B.

The current club is nonetheless considered a continuation of the original Pro Patria (et Libertate, somehow Liberty lost its appeal), which comes with a couple of bragging rights. Pro Patria were a founding member of the Serie A in 1929 and spent a combined 13 years in Italy’s top league. The rise of professionalism after WWII pushed the financially weak, small town teams out of the top tiers however and since their 1956 relegation, Pro Patria have been on a downward slope with subsequent relegations and bankruptcies. Among the famous players that wore the blue-and-white shirt is Laszlo Kubala, the Barcelona star who arrived in Busto Arsizio right after fleeing his native Hungary. The trophy cabinet holds only a couple on lower tier league trophies.

Pro Patria play at the 4627 all-seater Stadio Carlo Speroni, named after a successful long-distance runner that later worked for the club as a masseur for over 30 years. The stadium is, like most in Italy, owned by the city and is considered in good condition. The corporate and first team training facilities are rated adequate, but the youth facilities are only poor. The club has adequate youth coaching but only fairly basic youth recruitment. With insecure finances, it seems unlikely that any of this will change in the near future.

The team is not short of rivals and in good Italian tradition seems to have a quarrel with nearly every neighboring town. With Legnano (Eccellenza Lombardia – 5th Tier) we play out the dell’Altomilanese Derby, whereas games with Varese (Serie B), Novara (Lega Pro A), Como (Lega Pro A), Mantova (Lega Pro A), Lecco (Serie D – 4th Tier), Pavia (Lega Pro A) and Alessandria (Lega Pro A) are fiercely contested over the right to claim pre-dominance in the region. Pro Vercelli (Serie B), Ravenna (Eccellenza Emilia-Romagna) and Prato (Lega Pro B) are also considered must-win fixtures, which makes that we are seldom without a game with a rival on the horizon.

[CRM2009]

The board welcomed me to the club stating that they’d be happy if we could avoid the drop and gave me a 50000 €/week wage budget and 35000 € for transfers. We’re predicted by the media to finish dead last in the Lega Pro A, which collects the 20 most northern teams of the third tier. We actually even start the season with a -1 deficit as punishment for financial mismanagement, a fate our local rivals Mantova and Pavia share with us.

Novara, Albinoleffe and Pavia are considered the strongest teams in our division and will battle it out for the league title and single guaranteed promotion spot. I already mentioned that, according to the media, we are the most likely to go down this year. I looks as if Giana Erminio, FeralpiSalo, Monza and Mantova are the clubs we should be looking at leaving behind us to stay in Lega Pro for yet another year.

In the Lega Pro B, it is Pisa that rings the biggest bell, though it is also noteworthy that the Sammarinese San Marino play in this division. The Lega Pro C holds three teams that played in Serie A recently: Salernitana, Lecce and Regina are big clubs, but remarkably not considered favorites for the title. The witches of Benevento are the media’s hot tip for the Lega Pro C crown.

[CRM2009]

There are 60 teams in the Italian third tier Lega Pro, split evenly between 3 regional divisions (A = North, B = Central, C = South). The champions of these divisions are guaranteed to go up to Serie B, whereas the numbers 2, 3 and 4 of each division qualify for a playoff table. This playoff table ranks, first the squads that became 2nd, then 3rd and finally 4th, according to their collected points. The team that finishes last in this playoff table (that is one of the three teams that finished 4th in their respective Girone, but has collected the least number of points) drops out of the playoffs, whereas the others play each other for 1 remaining promotion spot. Should however the 19th of the Serie B manage to put less than 5 points between itself and the 18th, this 19th team of Serie B stays up and there is simply no Lega Pro Playoff for a fourth promotion spot.

At the bottom of the divisions, the 20th and last team goes down to Serie D. Nrs 16 to 19 play each other in a playout to determine 2 more teams that drop down, for a total of three relegated teams per division, or 9 for the entire tier.

[CRM2009]

I re-shuffled the backroom staff a bit, hiring a third scout and moving an U20s coach into the U20s manager’s position. I also terminated the contracts of a physio, the U20s physio and the U18s fitness coach in order to keep within the board’s limits to the size of our backroom staff.

The squad looks good. In fact, there seems not that much difference in quality with any of the title favorites and us. Our absolute star is Allan Baclet, a 28 year-old French striker on loan from league rivals Novara. We are paying his 2400 €/week salary in full though, something I just couldn’t carry with the poor state our finances are in. So I immediately terminated his loan after which Novara sold him to RC Lens for 120000€. Veteran striker Serafini, who is in his 6th season with club and is considered a legend, will have to fill the big Frenchmen’s boots.

The Baclet-departure left us with only one non-Italian in the first team squad: Liam Graham, a 23 year-old D R/C and very promising New Zealander. Regretfully, no-one was prepared to fork out the 250000 € I offered him around for, so Liam will be with us until his contract runs out at the end of the season. Remarkably, we have a further 3 foreigners in our youth squad, which will all leave when their contracts expire.

• Dematija (GK) – Greece/Albania

• Ryustemov (MC) – Bulgaria

• Coulbaly (SC) – Mali

I cancelled a further 4 loan deals on players we were paying 1000 €/week or more (including the Moscati you’ll see return in the early games) and also asked the board to severe our link with Grosetto. The Tuscans are just another Lega Pro club like us and had only little to offer in quality loan players. The board subsequently came up with Serie A’s Napoli as our new parent club. Five of their youngsters will spend the season with us, though only Di Fiore (SC) will be part of the first eleven at Speroni this year.

To increase squad depth on the left side, I brought in Simone D’Angelo (DL) and Raffaele Selicato (ML) on loan from rival Lega Pro teams Benevento and Martina respectively. Through agent offers and scouting the trial games, a further 7 young Italians joined our ranks. Only Scampini (MC) will be part of the first team.

The friendlies were all pre-determined, so I have no idea how much we are making off of them. The results went mostly our way, but the boys did have to fight for it. In the end, they offered a good mix of opponents and allowed for a good idea of our best eleven and the tactic to best play them in.

14/07/2014 – (H) vs. Pro Patria U20s: 3-0: Galdini (OG), Moscati (2x)

19/07/2014 – (H) vs. Locarno: 3-2: Casolla, Serafini, Porcelluzzi

26/07/2014 – (H) vs. Roda JC: 3-1: Casolla, Porcelluzzi, Candido

31/07/2014 – (H) vs. Pro Vercelli: 0-0

16/08/2014 – (A) vs. Mezzolara: 3-1: Di Fiore, Bovi, Arseno (OG)

26/08/2014 – (A) vs. Aurora Seriate: 1-0: Di Fiore

We also played both fixtures of our Lega Pro Cup Group stage in between these friendlies and made a clean sweep of it.

09/08/2014 – (H) vs. Pordenone: 4-1: Terrani (2x), Casolla, Moscati

24/08/2014 – (A) vs. Lumezzane: 3-2: Gerolino, Graham, Terrani

The conclusion is that we will mainly play a classic 4-4-2 this season, but the squad is also practicing a 3-5-2 which will make the most of our squad depth along the central axis of the field. The starting line-up as we go into the first league game of the season:

---------------------------------Mellilo (GK)----------------------------

Graham (DR) – Lamorte (DC) – Gerolino (DC) – Taino (DL)

D’Errico (MR) – Calzi (MC) – Scampini (MC) – Selicato (ML)

--------------------Di Fiore (SC) – Terrani (SC)---------------------

[CRM2009]

30/08/2014 – (H) vs. Pavia: 4-1: Di Fiore, D’Errico (3x)

03/09/2014 – (A) vs. Giana Erminio: 2-1: Gerolino, Serafini

06/09/2014 – (H) vs. Monza: 1-1: Lamorte

13/09/2014 – (A) vs. Lumezzane: 3-1: Di Fiore (P), D’Errico, Bovi

17/09/2014 – (H) vs. Novara: 0-0

21/09/2014 – (A) vs. Bassano: 0-4

24/09/2014 – (H) vs. Alessandria: 1-0: Terrani

28/09/2014 – (A) vs. FeralpiSalo: 0-1

05/10/2014 – (H) vs. Real Vicenza: 3-0: Di Fiore, D’Errico, Calzi

11/10/2014 – (A) vs. Pordenone: 0-0

The first quarter of the season saw us face off with 3 rivals and 5 teams predicted to finish in the bottom half of the table. Needless to say, we needed points from these early fixtures if we were going to stay out of the relegation battle and get the fans on our side. We suffered quite some minor injuries (2-3 weeks absence) throughout September and couldn’t field our strongest team until the Real Vicenza fixture. Especially D’Errico’s absence at the end of September had a big impact and we picked up only 4 points out of a possible 12. Still, we collected more than enough points and are 8th after 10 games, with Como leading the pack. Already, the first fringe players have started to complain about lack of first team football, but I need them to keep their head down and be prepared for when we might need them.

We also played another Lega Pro Cup fixture and are through to the 2nd round. San Marino might be the only professional club from the country with the same name; they nonetheless fielded not a single Sammarinese for this game. We missed 6 players that were away to play international (youth) games and were dominated start to finish. Still we were lethal in front of the net and our reserve goalie earned himself a MoM award between the posts.

08/10/2014 – (A) vs. San Marino: 4-1: Serafini (2x), Terrani (2x)

[CRM2009]

19/10/2014 – (H) vs. Renate: 3-2: Di Fiore, Lamorte, Brunori Sandri

25/10/2014 – (A) vs. Cremonese: 1-4: Di Fiore

01/11/2014 – (H) vs. Torres: 6-4: Di Fiore (3x), Calzi, Serafini, Terrani

08/11/2014 – (A) vs. Mantova: 1-4: Selicato

15/11/2014 – (H) vs. Südtirol-Alto Adige: 3-0: D’Errico, Graham, Serafini

24/11/2014 – (A) vs. Como: 2-5: D’Errico, Placidi

28/11/2014 – (H) vs. Albinoleffe: 3-1: D’Errico, Arati (2x)

06/12/2014 – (A) vs. Arezzo: 1-2: Di Fiore

14/12/2014 – (H) vs. Unione Venezia: 1-0: Gerolino

07/01/2015 – (A) vs. Pavia: 3-1: Di Fiore, Placidi, D’Errico

We showed great force of will against Renate to come back from behind twice after they had been awarded a penalty kick, but then started on a series of away defeats that would only stop at the last game of the quarter. Luckily, we did pick up the points at home and finish the second quarter just outside the play-off places in 5th. Albinoleffe have grabbed the top spot, despite their loss to us on the 17th match day.

The game against Torres already qualifies as game of the season. We overturned a 3-goal deficit to win that game with a pre-war score and had another 2 goals disallowed. Shortly after I signed a new contract, the Gazetta dello Sport featured an article on me in late November, claiming that I was a guarantee for goals. With 30/28 in 16 games, I don’t think that was too much of an overstatement. As if to confirm the Gazetta’s evaluation of my management, the boys scored and conceded within the first minute of our next league game vs. Como.

We also got through 2 more rounds of Lega Pro Cup football. We seem the only team taking the competition seriously though as our opponents field mostly fringe and youth players. I also try to rest a couple of key players, but my squad players have until now risen to the occasion without exception and we now find ourselves in the quarter finals.

22/10/2014 – (H) vs. Südtirol-Alto Adige: 5-3e: Guglielmotti, Serafini (4x)

06/12/2014 – (A) vs. Pisa: 4-3: Terrani (3x), Arati

More players have started complaining about their (perceived) lack of playing time and the atmosphere in the dressing room is suffering. The injuries are also getting worse and I have to resort to my U20s to make up a full squad on a weekly basis now. Especially the derby with Mantova was a heated affair and we lost 3 players on injuries that will rule them out for a couple of weeks in addition to Nicola Bovi, who is out for 4-5 months with a torn calf muscle.

I did not manage to offload any of the unhappy players, but did add another winger in the winter mercato. Marco Gorzegno (D/M L – 33 years old) joins from Carrarese for 20000€ and should take some pressure off D’Errico, who until now was our only offensive impulse from the midfield.

[Northwood_dk]

Love it. Great read so far CRM2009.

If you like Italian football and FM also check out "Pro Vercelli -run of play" by Brian Phillips (ex Grantland writer) if you have not done so already.

[CRM2009]

Love it. Great read so far CRM2009.

If you like Italian football and FM also check out "Pro Vercelli -run of play" by Brian Phillips (ex Grantland writer) if you have not done so already.

Thank you. Is the story update available on these forums somewhere? I find the runofplay.com format a bit tiring to read.

[CRM2009]

10/01/2015 – (H) vs. Giana Erminio: 2-2: Serafini, Lamorte

17/01/2015 – (A) vs. Monza: 0-0

25/01/2015 – (H) vs. Lumezzane: 3-1: D’Errico, Terrani, Serafini

31/01/2015 – (A) vs. Novara: 0-2

With both Di Fiore (4 months!) and Terrani (4 weeks) injured, I loaned Matteo Bellucci from Parma on the transfer deadline so I would have some alternatives up front. Another youngster to join on loan that day is Federico Dimarco from Inter. He will play as our starting DL as both Taino and D’Angelo were unconvincing (though not bad).

08/02/2015 – (H) vs. Bassano: 3-2: Gorzegno, Serafini (P), Calzi

14/02/2105 – (A) vs. Alessandria: 1-1: Sosa (OG)

22/02/2015 – (H) vs. FeralpiSalo: 3-0: Terrani, Serafini (P), Coulibaly

01/03/2015 – (A) vs. Real Vicenza: 2-2: Serafini (2x)

07/03/2015 – (H) vs. Pordenone: 4-1: Serafini, Terrani (2x), Gorzegno

14/03/2015 – (A) vs. Renate: 2-2: Terrani (2x)

The third quarter of the season started in a frustrating way. We dominated the game vs Giana Erminio but in the end had to thank our GK for coming away with a draw. Against Monza it was not any different, but that game was also notable for the fact that our young Malinese striker Coulibaly made his debut. As Coulibaly has no future in Busto Arsizio, this was playing time I would have preferably given to another of our young strikers. But as those were all too exhausted/injured to take place on the bench that day, it was for the Malinese to make a good debut for the Tigrotti. The rest of the fixtures were mostly memorable for the reoccurring injuries to our strikers as we played our way to some logical results, the draw in Alessandria coming off 2 own goals in extra time.

The board also injected 600000€ to help with running costs, but that doesn’t get us very far as we still lose about a third of that figure per month. Maybe that will change once our attendance numbers increase. We currently draw about 1000 spectators per game, but impressed many more with our fan day demonstration against Pordenone.

Overall, the league table is split in three distinctive groups. The top three has clearly separated itself from the rest of the league and will battle it out for the title in the remaining 8 games. Como are currently top, but only 1 point separates them from both Novara and Albinoleffe. They also still have to host Albinoleffe, whereas Novara play only teams that have nothing to win or lose no more. They are therefore (and because they have the strongest squad) my personal favorites for the title.

Ten points behind Albinoleffe, we are the best of the rest in 4th, with 1 point on Mantova and 2 on the equally surprising Unione Venezia. Renate are another 5 points behind in 7th position and should be out of the race for the final promotion play-off spot.

At the bottom of the table, Pavia (15 – 27 pts), Giana Erminio (16 – 25 pts), Pordenone (17 – 24 pts), Real Vicenza (18 – 23 pts), Arezzo (19 – 22 pts) and Monza (20 – 22 pts) are well behind the league’s midfield (Lumezzane 14 – 34 pts) and will have to fight courageously for the one safe spot (15th) between them.

The Lega Pro cup continued as it had started for us and we played some easy fixtures against boys and old men. Especially Albinoleffe fielded a squad in which no one looked as if he would know how to use a shaving kit yet and offered up 2 easy goals for our U20 striker Placidi, without ever threatening Contini, our 2nd GK. We’re now actually in to the finals, where we will meet Cremonese over 2 legs.

28/01/2015 – (H) vs. Albinoleffe: 2-0: Placidi (2x)

11/02/2015 – (H) vs. FeralpiSalo: 3-1: Selicato, Serafini, D’Errico

25/02/2015 – (A) vs. FeralpiSalo: 0-0

[CRM2009]

Right before the start of the season’s finale, we take in some youngsters from the academy. Though my staff advise me to basically sign them all, there’s three that have them especially enthusiastic: Pierluigi Sangiovanni (GK), Manuel Marchioro (AMC) and Paolo Dellera (DR). In the end, I sign 7 of the batch to my U18 and release the rest.

In between of our final dash for a playoff spot, we also played a two legged final against league rivals Cremonese for the Coppa Italia Lega Pro.

18/03/2015 – (A) vs. Cremonese: 1-1: Bellucci

15/04/2015 – (H) vs. Cremonese: 2-0: Serafini (P, P)

Going into the first leg, Cremonese were without manager and we were the better team in both games. Bellucci’s goal put us in a good position for the return at Carlo Speroni. Nerves showed in the return however and, despite keeping Cremonese at bay, we also did not create any real danger in front of our home crowd. Maybe the referee just wanted to make sure the most deserving team got the cup, or maybe he was impressed by the sold out stadium; whatever the reason, he awarded us two penalty kicks late in the second half, which the experienced Serafini slotted past the Cremonese goalie.

The board and fans were delighted with this silverware, though they had initially indicated that the cup held no importance to them. Still it is a nice thing to win a competition and should we miss out on the playoffs, we will at least have this moment of glory to sweeten the memory of this season. Terrani however got injured again in the first leg and probably won’t be available for our remaining fixtures. I later also learned that this victory puts us in next year’s TIM cup, where we might hope for a big name fixture to help us with the finances a bit.

Of the three teams still in contention for the final playoff spot, we have by far the most difficult schedule, with both Como and Albinoleffe among the opponents. We also still all play each other in this final quarter, so the race is destined to be a nail biter. We furthermore have to make sure we don’t drop too many points in finishing fourth, as we should manage at least 8th in the combined Lega Pro playoff table in order to qualify for post-season.

21/03/2015 – (A) vs. Torres: 4-0: Serafini, Arati, Gerolino, Bellucci

25/03/2015 – (H) vs. Cremonese: 5-0: Grozegno (3x), Graham (P), D’Errico

29/03/2015 – (H) vs. Mantova: 4-1: Bellucci, Zima (OG), D’Errico, Brunori Sandri

What an amazing start to the quarter! 13 goals scored against 1 conceded and we beat our main (local and competitive) rivals with great ease. We look absolutely set for the playoffs. Regretfully, Gerolino injured himself in training after the Mantova game and will not return before the end of the regular season.

12/04/2015 – (A) vs. Südtirol-Alto Adige: 0-1

19/4/2015 – (H) vs. Como: 2-2: Serafini (2x, (P))

25/04/2015 – (A) vs. Albinoleffe: 1-3: Lamorte

03/05/2015 – (H) vs. Arezzo: 0-1

Just as we needed the points most, we hit our worst streak of the season, collecting 1 out of a possible 12 points, and that one only from an undeserved penalty kick against Como. There were definitely some poor refereeing decisions (2 goals disallowed vs. Albinoleffe) to complain about, but this shameful month of April is really largely due to poor team and some extremely disappointing individual performances (Di Fiore is a different guy since returning from injury, Graham seems to have already abandoned us). We miraculously still hold on to fourth spot however as Mantova and Venezia are not in prime form either.

4. Pro Patria – 62

5. Mantova – 62

6. Unione Venezia – 61

So it all came down to the final game of the season against Unione Venezia, who we beat 1-0 back in december. Theoretically, a draw could be sufficient, provided Mantova lose at home to Bassano (8th). That’s no risk I wanted to take though, so we went out in our usual attacking formation to try and bring the three points home from La Serenissima. Grozegno was suspended for this game, whereas Venezia was at full strength with veteran (41) goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini and former Serie A winger Vinicio Espinal.

Our attacking intentions immediately resulted in 3 attempts on goal within the first 5 minutes, but it took the full 45 minutes before Calzi, back after being rested for 2 weeks, put us in front. The second half then started with a roller coaster 20 minutes, in which Venezia twice equalized before (who else) D’Errico put in yet another goal to take the lead for a third and final time. Little football was played in the final 30 minutes as both teams turned to a very physical type of play and only the many yellow cards still offered something of excitement. Mantova at the same time disposed of Bassano 2-1 in a match of which the result did no longer matter.

10/05/2015 – (A) vs. Unione Venezia: 3-2: Calzi, Di Fiore, D’Errico

[CRM2009]

1. Novara – 80

2. Albinoleffe – 80

3. Como – 76

4. Pro Patria – 65

5. Mantova – 65

6. Unione Venezia – 61

7. Alessandria – 57

8. Bassano – 57

9. Cremonese – 55

10. FeralpiSalo – 52

11. Torres – 49

12. Lumezzane – 48

13. Renate – 48

14. Südtirol-Alto Adige – 47

15. Pavia – 41

16. Arezzo – 36

17. Giana Erminio – 35

18. Real Vicenza – 31

19. Pordenone – 28

20. Monza – 25

[CRM2009]

Although Ternana (19) and Varese (18) both finished the Serie B with 48 points (hence there were 0 points, which is clearly not more than 4 points, between them), there were still 4 teams to be relegated from Serie B and thus another promotion spot available from the Lega Pro playoffs (a bug or not programmed in? I couldn’t care less at the moment). We actually collected the highest number of points of all the 4th placed teams and were therefore matched with the 2nd placed team of the Lega Pro playoff table: Benevento. Regretfully for Savona, from Lega Pro B, they collected the least points and were subsequently not allowed into the playoffs.

1. Albinoleffe – 80

2. Benevento – 74

3. Reggiana – 65

4. Como – 76

5. Reggina – 70

6. Ascoli Picchio – 64

7. Pro Patria – 65

8. Juve Stabia – 65

9. Savona – 61

Benevento had been the media favorite for the Lega Pro C title, but fell 5 points short of Matera. Without any real stars, they still possessed more quality than us throughout their squad and were the clear favorites for this single legged quarter final, especially with home advantage on their side. The match couldn’t have started worse for us, as the Campanians scored in the 4th minute on their first attempt. We then took control of the game and got the equalizer after 15 minutes from a recovered Di Fiore. Benevento immediately took advantage of our celebratory mood and got back ahead a mere minute later, after which the game continued for forty minutes without any real excitement.

Ten minutes into the second half, Gerolino joined the fray on a rare corner and headed our second equalizer past Piscitelli. Battling to keep control of the midfield, Scampini then received his second yellow card after 73 minutes, which put us to a serious disadvantage. Rushing forward for the winning goal, Benevento however forgot our veteran striker Serafini, who put us ahead only minutes after being reduced to 10 players. We then dug in to defend our lead but were only successful for ten minutes after which Marotta was allowed to bring the score to 3 all and put the game into extra time. That our young midfielder Romano missed a penalty (first of the season) in the 89th minute seemed only natural and I left most of my furniture unscathed…

Both teams were completely exhausted and dragged themselves to the penalty shoot-out. A misunderstanding between 2 Benevento defenders however put D’Errico alone in front of the goal in the 102nd minute and gave us an unexpected lead, which Mazzeo cancelled out just seconds before the final whistle with his second of the evening. I actually left the room during the penalty shoot-out, but it turned out to be an easy thing, with Benevento missing 2 of their 4 penalties.

The semifinals of the playoffs matched us with Ascoli Picchio, 3rd in the Lega Pro B. Once more, a team without stars but filled with quality players. We sold out Carlo Speroni for the home tie, but this did not inspire any of the players to exceptional feats. Despite our early lead, Ascoli were the better team throughout the game. They controlled the match start to finish and needed only 5 minutes to score 3 times. Our second goal, just before the final whistle, has somewhat improved our chances of progressing, but whoever saw this game would be a fool to still put money on us.

As expected, we shouldn’t even have bothered with the trip to the Marche as Ascoli played a mature game to put them through to the final, which they would win 5-4 on aggregate to AlbinoLeffe. Gorzegno was the only player to display his regular season form and the lackluster performances of Terrani and Bovi actually made me decide not to extend their loan/contract after all.

17/05/2015 – (A) vs. Benevento: 4-4e: (4-2P): Di Fiore, Gerolino, Serafini, D’Errico

24/05/2015 – (H) vs. Ascoli Picchio: 2-3: Di Fiore, Gorzegno

31/05/2015 – (A) vs. Ascoli Picchio: 1-3: Gorzegno

[CRM2009]

International football:

/

Club Competitions:

• Champions League: Chelsea vs. PSG: 1-1 (4-2p)
  
• UEFA Cup: Tottenham vs. Gladbach: 2-1
  
• Premier League: Man City (W), Hull ®, Swansea ®, Crystal Palace ®
  
• Bundesliga: FC Bayern (W), Hannover 96 ®, Hertha BSC ®
  
• Liga BBVA: Real Madrid (W), Almeria ®, Levante ®, Eibar ®
  
• Ligue 1: PSG (W), Caen ®, Nice ®, Metz ®
  
• Serie A: Juventus (W), Palermo ®, Atalanta ®, Verona ®
  
• TIM Cup: Roma vs. Genoa: 5-0
  
• Serie B: Catania (W), Perugia (P), Livorno (P), Ternana ®, Carpi ®, Pro Vercelli ®, Pescara ®
  
• Lega Pro Girone A: Novara (W), Pro Patria (4th), Real Vicenza ®, Pordenone ®, Monza ®
  
• Lega Pro Girone B: Pisa (W), Ascoli Picchio (P), L’Aquila ®, Gubbio ®, Atletico Pro Piacenza ®
  
• Lega Pro Girone C: Matera (W), Paganese ®, Lupa Roma ®, Vigor Lamezia ®
  
• Coppa Italia Lega Pro: Pro Patria vs. Cremonese: 3-1a
  

Personal awards:

• 2015 Lega Pro A Manager of the year: Massimo Colluci
  
• 2015 Lega Pro A Player of the year: Andrea D’Errico
  
• 2015 Pro Patria fan’s Player of the year: Andrea D’Errico (78% of the votes)
  

[CRM2009]

GK:

• Contini (19 apps) – 7.11
  
• Melillo (32 apps) – 6.94
  

DL:

• Taino (27 apps) – 6.77
  
• Dimarco (15 apps) – 6.79
  
• D’Angelo (26 apps) – 6.91
  

DR:

• Pisani (24 apps) – 6.77
  
• Graham (46 apps) – 6.82
  
• Anastasio (12 apps) – 7.24
  

DC:

• Lamorte (50 apps) – 6.88
  
• Gerolino (45 apps) – 6.86
  

ML:

• Selicato (15 apps) – 7.03
  
• Gorzegno (25 apps) – 7.12
  

MR:

• Bovi (12 apps) – 7.13
  
• D’Errico (48 apps) – 7.65
  
• Arati (19 apps) – 6.91
  

MC:

• Romano (14 apps) – 6.78
  
• Calzi (46 apps) – 6.94
  
• Scampini (44 apps) – 6.90
  
• Giorno (15 apps) – 6.62
  
• Brunori Sandri (10 apps) – 6.80
  

SC:

• Di Fiore (26 apps) – 6.91
  
• Sarafini (45 apps) – 7.26
  
• Placidi (18 apps) – 6.72
  
• Terrani (32 apps) – 7.16
  

[Northwood_dk]

Great game against Benevento. To bad you missed out on promotion in the end. Always a next season.

Any reason you are not using any pictures?

[CRM2009]

When playing these early seasons, I didn't take any screenshots as I didn't want to bother with the make up work.

But I already realized the reading here is a bit tough, so I'll have them in as of the end of next season, though I'd need to read up on how to include them and which file hosting would be best...

[Deisler26]

I would also recommend the very excellent 'Calcio' by John Foot.

[CRM2009]

Our performances last year have clearly raised the bar on the expectations. The media predict we’ll finish 9th and the board will accept nothing less than a safe mid-table finish. To achieve this, they have made available €37500/week for wages (we’re spending €32000) but not a single penny for (additional) transfers. I understand their position however as we are almost 1 million Euro in the red and I had already spent €150000 on pre-arranged transfers. Our losses of last season amounted to 61% of our turnover and there is little on the horizon to expect an improvement from. Somewhere in mid-August, the board did inject another €600000 to help with running costs.

My purchases were all prospects for the future (something the board is not happy about – despite an agreed philosophy) and my main activity to field a competitive squad for the upcoming season was extending contracts of the key players.

No less than 27 players left the club when their contracts expired on 30/06/2015, in addition to the loan deals I did not extend. Most prominent among them were Liam Graham (D R/C – 46 games) and Nicolas Bovi (AM R – 12 games). Udinese got Nanni, who is a promising MC that signed with us on a free early last season and was yet to make his first appearance.

In replacing the first team fitness coach, I made only one change to the backroom staff. I also extended my contract with 1 year together with our head of youth development, who is performing admirably.

The friendlies were all arranged to improve form, confidence and finances. Because of their rapid succession, many U20 and U18 players strengthened the match squads as to not overburden the players. We did lose Audino for two months during the Ivrea game. For a moment, it seemed we’d get Napoli’s Insigne on loan as a replacement, but he chose to spend the season with Serie B’s Crotone.

Either because of our Lega Pro league finish or Cup win, we also entered the TIM Cup 1st qualifying round with a bunch of non-league and other Lega Pro teams. Our run was short but rewarding, playing at the famous La Favorita, shaking hands with Zinedine Zidane (Palermo coach) and receiving €20000 in appearance fees. Additionally, we are also spared the Copa Italia Lega Pro early stages and will only enter that competition in the 2nd round proper.

The relevant strength of our squad is much the same as before, though the league has definitely become stronger with 2 arrivals from Serie B (Pro Vercelli and Carpi). The boys are optimistic though and were seriously disappointed when I put it to them that I believed that we could again challenge for the playoffs.

D’Errico, Audino and Scampini are our key players, but the most important staff member will probably by Luigi Valcarenghi, our head physio. Injuries last year prevented us from fielding our best team even once and especially the forwards were constantly out of contention. If il dottore can keep our players fit this year, we should have every chance to finish in the top 4 again. Going into the season, this is our first eleven:

---------------------------------Melillo (GK)----------------------------

Calabri (DR) – Lamorte (DC) – Gerolino (DC) – Taino (DL)

D’Errico (MR) – Calzi (MC) – Scampini (MC) – Gorzegno (ML)

--------------------Di Fiore (SC) – Audino(SC)---------------------

[CRM2009]

Hmm, something seems to have gone wrong with the pictures. Just add the URL is it? Maybe something in my photobucket account?

[Northwood_dk]

[ img] infront of the URL and [ \img] behind (without the extra space) should do the trick.

And the photo bucket need to be public

[CRM2009]

[ img] infront of the URL and [ \img] behind (without the extra space) should do the trick.

And the photo bucket need to be public

Both are the case...

Anyway, the game just crashed at the end of the 4th season when I was supposed to join Bologna on a pre-arranged contract. I tried loading the auto-saves, but they all have the move already in them. Even if I declined to join them, the game still crashes....

So that's the end of this career I'm afraid. The thread may be closed...

BTW. I won the Lega Pro and Coppa Lega Pro in 2016, The Serie B in 2017 (and made the TIM Cup quarter finals) and finished 14th in my first Serie A season in 2018 (together with a first round TIM Cup exit)