Educated Hick Posted February 21, 2006 Author Share Posted February 21, 2006 “ You know, this is excellent wine.†“ Is it? I detest wine.†“Your loss.†“No doubt, but until the French admit that their wine is actually US vintage; I won’t be drinking the stuff.†“How do you figure?†Very simple, the French countryside was swept by a grapevine disease way back in the early 1900’s. California growers shipped grape stock to France to keep their wine industrygoing.†The French should be grateful, instead,..†“Freedom Fries.†“Exactly.†“Why’s France on your mind anyhow, we’re in Italy.†“Guess I’m just irritated at our scouting mission. We failed to find any decent French basketball players when we were there.†“To be fair, that Parker kid wasn’t too bad.†“Yeah, but he’s what, 15 or something…besides, he can’t play college basketball; he’s earning a paycheck.†“True, but can you tell me why we’re in Ragusa then?†“Sure, there’s a hotshot young rebounder, whose only 17, good size at 6’8 and 210. More importantly, he’s on a developmental contract, so if he wants to play college ball, he can. Our job is to scout the kid, tell him about our school and start the recruiting process. “ “Ok, so lets not talk shop any more. You still writing on that website, haven’t seen you on there in a while.†“You mean CMS? Nah, I haven’t gotten the new 01/02 version yet. I’ve read some “interesting stuff.†“Like what?†“Well, you’ve seen the story that the Dutchman put up- Belfast Celts something.†“Yeah, saw that, Belfast Crap more like and instead of singing, they should be screaming, cause it’s bad. Of course, everyone’s riding Mark about it, so why shouldn’t I?†“True, Raptor’s just too damn easy of a target, like shooting fish in a barrel.†“Yeah, not a fair contest. Did you see that our fellow Yank Brydog posted something new?†“Yeah, you mean that Croatian drivel, with the ugly-ass title?†“That’s the one, with the far-fetched lost tourist gets a job intro not to mention the ugly writing and that godawful title, ‘How the hell did I wind up in the Croatian Second division?’ or somesuch.†“It’ll win a Mao award, and that ain’t a compliment.†By the end of this, Derek and I had polished off the excellent food at a hole in the wall bistro near the gym in Ragusa. It was about time for the basketball game to start. As Derek and I headed up the street towards the gym, we passed a small oval that we presumed to be the soccer pitch. Almost causally Derek spoke again: “Hey Gus, you remember that Larisa story?†I replied, “Yeah, by David T. wasn’t it?†“Yeah, remember how it opened with a man running down the street screaming that the local side needed a manager?†“Uh, yeah, your point?†“Take a look to your left, man. I’m outa here, good luck.†As Derek broke into a brisk pace, I stopped and looked to my left. There was a short Italian man running towards me, babbling in broken English. I couldn’t escape. “Ah sh*t.†And, that’s how I became manager of Ragusa, a team in the bottom reaches of C2C football. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 “ You know, this is excellent wine.†“ Is it? I detest wine.†“Your loss.†“No doubt, but until the French admit that their wine is actually US vintage; I won’t be drinking the stuff.†“How do you figure?†Very simple, the French countryside was swept by a grapevine disease way back in the early 1900’s. California growers shipped grape stock to France to keep their wine industrygoing.†The French should be grateful, instead,..†“Freedom Fries.†“Exactly.†“Why’s France on your mind anyhow, we’re in Italy.†“Guess I’m just irritated at our scouting mission. We failed to find any decent French basketball players when we were there.†“To be fair, that Parker kid wasn’t too bad.†“Yeah, but he’s what, 15 or something…besides, he can’t play college basketball; he’s earning a paycheck.†“True, but can you tell me why we’re in Ragusa then?†“Sure, there’s a hotshot young rebounder, whose only 17, good size at 6’8 and 210. More importantly, he’s on a developmental contract, so if he wants to play college ball, he can. Our job is to scout the kid, tell him about our school and start the recruiting process. “ “Ok, so lets not talk shop any more. You still writing on that website, haven’t seen you on there in a while.†“You mean CMS? Nah, I haven’t gotten the new 01/02 version yet. I’ve read some “interesting stuff.†“Like what?†“Well, you’ve seen the story that the Dutchman put up- Belfast Celts something.†“Yeah, saw that, Belfast Crap more like and instead of singing, they should be screaming, cause it’s bad. Of course, everyone’s riding Mark about it, so why shouldn’t I?†“True, Raptor’s just too damn easy of a target, like shooting fish in a barrel.†“Yeah, not a fair contest. Did you see that our fellow Yank Brydog posted something new?†“Yeah, you mean that Croatian drivel, with the ugly-ass title?†“That’s the one, with the far-fetched lost tourist gets a job intro not to mention the ugly writing and that godawful title, ‘How the hell did I wind up in the Croatian Second division?’ or somesuch.†“It’ll win a Mao award, and that ain’t a compliment.†By the end of this, Derek and I had polished off the excellent food at a hole in the wall bistro near the gym in Ragusa. It was about time for the basketball game to start. As Derek and I headed up the street towards the gym, we passed a small oval that we presumed to be the soccer pitch. Almost causally Derek spoke again: “Hey Gus, you remember that Larisa story?†I replied, “Yeah, by David T. wasn’t it?†“Yeah, remember how it opened with a man running down the street screaming that the local side needed a manager?†“Uh, yeah, your point?†“Take a look to your left, man. I’m outa here, good luck.†As Derek broke into a brisk pace, I stopped and looked to my left. There was a short Italian man running towards me, babbling in broken English. I couldn’t escape. “Ah sh*t.†And, that’s how I became manager of Ragusa, a team in the bottom reaches of C2C football. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted February 21, 2006 Author Share Posted February 21, 2006 August 2001: I soon found out about the little man who had ran after me. He was the club chairman, and to put it gently, he was about two cards short of a full draw. That was why he had commandeered me, a guy with very little soccer knowledge. It transpired that the chairman had a crazy vision of a club with no players above the age of 24. Furthermore, he was limiting me to three transfers a year, though I could sign any free agents I chose and I could loan in as many players as I wanted. I nodded absently during this spiel, wondering if Derek was sitting in the stands laughing his ass off at my predicament. I wondered if this was a very unfunny practical joke. After finishing, the chairman slid a sheaf of papers towards me. I scanned the type and was prepared to hand back the papers and head over to the gym when I noticed three things on the last page. One was the yearly salary of the job, which was about five times my current salary. Second was the fact that the club would pay my apartment rent, utilities, and related expenses, plus a car lease, and three, the club would pay both my US and Italian taxes while I was an employee of Ragusa. I stared at the chairman, who gave me a wide-toothed grin. I looked at the paper again, thought about the deal, calculated how much I could save in the bank, and signed without really knowing what I was getting myself into. I was already a sports coach, so the mental parts of coaching, like planning and motivation were second nature. I quickly came to speed with drills and tactics, I had to as I had no coaching staff whatsoever. Thankfully, most tactics and drills are the same throughout all sports. Only the methods change. What I lacked was experience and context, not knowledge. Adding to the sense of panic was the fact that Ragusa started play and mere two weeks after I arrived. Fortunately, the club had an impressive number of under 24 players on the roster, so numbers for the first games wouldn’t be terrible. The problem was that most of the younger players were wingers and my system didn’t use them. Undaunted, I began drilling the players on my own. They could tell I was just as new to the pro game as many of them were. But, they weren’t about to contradict “Crazy Al,†who might fire them. While I put the youngsters through practice, I began cleaning house, selling, releasing, and in one case giving away outright, the over 24 players. We raised a fair amount of dough and I managed to convince a second scout to join the club. I sent both scouts out, and told them to canvass the countryside for young players, and to start signing them in a hurry. They tried their best, but by the time the first game rolled around, I still had to field a lineup that was woefully out of position. I suppose we were lucky to draw the game 0-0. After the game though, youth prospects from all over Central Europe. Enough quickly poured in, so I was able to release the players that didn’t fit my system. But, they weren’t learning anything either, as I remained the only coach on staff. I suppose we were lucky that we didn’t do worse in the Cup competition, finishing the four game group stage with a no wins, three draws and one loss record. I could only hope that things improved in September, once the league season started. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 12.8.01 Tivoli H Serie C Cup Grp A 0:0 2905 22.8.01 Paternò A Serie C Cup Grp A 1:1 2032 D'Apice 26.8.01 Pordenone H Serie C Cup Grp A 1:2 1629 Cointe 29.8.01 Gladiator A Serie C Cup Grp A 0:0 1719 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted February 22, 2006 Author Share Posted February 22, 2006 September 2002: “Mad Al†told me in a private meeting that he hoped my reign as Ragusa manager would be long and successful. Of course, he was nuttier than the proverbial fruitcake. He had kept flying off the handle when I released the over 24 players whom no one was interested in buying. I kept reminding him of his goal of an under 24 utopia. That would calm down the chairman, but not always. He flatly refused to let me release a 27-yr old midfielder who had been signed the year before at great expense. Al told me bluntly that the man was a club icon and would not be released. However, the man’s contract was so excessive that no other team was willing to buy him. I wound up giving him away for no fee at all. I didn’t care, I was rid of him. Meanwhile, no coaches were willing to deal with “Crazy Al†so I remained without staff. This rapidly became a problem as the trickle of youth prospects quickly became a tidal wave. I couldn’t coach everyone by myself and it quickly became apparent by our league results that something needed to be done. Two draws, a win and a loss are a fairly mediocre record. By the middle of the month, coaches were finally becoming interested in working with me and I finally began to assemble a backroom staff. I lucked out when I interviewed a perfect candidate for the assistant manager’s job. The man could coach youngsters and tactics with unbelievable skill. I would not be surprised if a Serie A team hired him on in a couple of years. Once he was on board, the rest came easily and not a moment too soon. The coaches would have kept the team from sinking any lower. Not that “Mad Al†cared much; he kept telling me that I was doing a wonderful job. But then, Al was just about the poorest and least astute sports owner I’d ever met, so I knew to take his words with more than one grain of salt. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 2.9.01 Catanzaro A Serie C2/C 1:1 6500 Cointe 9.9.01 Giugliano H Serie C2/C 1:1 2604 Bru 16.9.01 Latina A Serie C2/C 3:2 3458 Barrero, Ferreri pen, Picchi 23.9.01 Gladiator H Serie C2/C 0:1 2505 30.9.01 Tivoli A Serie C2/C </pre> 1:1 2182 Picchi Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted February 22, 2006 Author Share Posted February 22, 2006 October 2001: We continued to prove that we could do one thing well this season; stalemating our opponents. The month saw two draws and two losses in the four games played. However, we finally did round out the coaching staff completely, as “Mad Al†suddenly became almost normal. We added two more scouts as well, who began to mine the center of Europe for rough emeralds. I seriously doubted that we could find diamond players, but I figured at this level topaz could do just as well. There was no room for cubic zirconium however, as a couple of players who had the misfortune to break team rules, found them released. We also had to release a couple of the lesser talented lads who were supplanted by better talent. As the transfer deadline loomed at the end of October, we scored a public relations coup. A 19 yr Old Italian striker with bags of talent, but no work ethic, chose us over an offer from Scottish side St. Mirren. Gentile was promptly tossed into the first team forward mix. As the transfer deadline passed, I had reasonable hope that this team, with an average age of 18.75 and a payroll of 600,000 pounds for 50 players, could be coached to win some games. Mad Al reverted to insanity towards the end of the month when he declared himself proud of Ragusa’s place in the table. This would have been commendable were it not for the fact we were in 15th place and in the relegation playoff zone. As the month closed, I urged Al to spend more time on the finances of the club. We were running in the red with no real prospect of getting out. In sum, it was a rather bleak month. But, hey, November couldn’t make things much worse. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 7.10.01 Puteolana H Serie C2/C 1:1 3248 Cointe 14.10.01 Frosinone A Serie C2/C 1:2 3892 De Simone 21.10.01 Brindisi H Serie C2/C 1:1 2491 Cointe 27.10.01 Lodigiani A Serie C2/C 0:2 3343 ************************************************************************************************ Italian Serie C2/C - Sunday 28th October 2001 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2001/2 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Palmese 9 3 0 2 8 9 3 0 1 6 4 18 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Fidelis Andria 9 4 0 1 10 5 1 2 1 4 4 17 3rd Paternò 9 2 2 1 10 9 2 1 1 11 7 15 4th Olbia 9 4 0 0 10 3 1 0 4 4 7 15 5th Frosinone 9 3 2 0 7 2 1 1 2 7 9 15 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6th Giugliano 9 3 1 0 8 2 1 1 3 6 9 14 7th Tivoli 9 3 2 0 11 5 1 0 3 3 7 14 8th Igea Virtus 9 2 2 0 5 3 2 0 3 8 8 14 9th Catanzaro 9 1 3 0 7 5 2 1 2 3 4 13 10th Acireale 9 2 0 2 8 6 2 1 2 7 9 13 11th Puteolana 9 1 2 2 4 6 2 1 1 12 6 12 12th Gladiator 9 1 1 3 5 7 2 2 0 4 2 12 13th Brindisi 9 2 0 3 4 7 1 2 1 7 7 11 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14th Nocerina 9 2 0 2 9 8 0 2 3 7 11 8 15th Ragusa 9 0 3 1 3 4 1 2 2 6 8 8 16th Gela 9 0 2 2 3 8 1 3 1 5 6 8 17th Latina 9 2 0 2 6 6 0 2 3 2 10 8 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Lodigiani 9 2 1 2 7 9 0 0 4 2 7 7 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted February 23, 2006 Author Share Posted February 23, 2006 November 2001: Once I realized that the transfer deadline only prevented us from making money transfers and not free agent signings, I sent all my scouts back out to look for players. This time the scouts fanned out all across Europe. As they recommended players, I had to determine whether the player was better than our existing 50. In many cases they were and I remained busy drawing up release papers. All this activity irritated Mad Al who kept bitching at me to keep the players we had under contract. Over and over I patiently explained that the players we brought in were, in theory, better than the outgoing lot. But, I’m not sure Al believed me. He might have had good reason to be skeptical. Our league performance continued to be abysmal. All we could do it seemed was to draw or lose. Our apogee was when we took a commanding 2-0 lead at home in the first half of a game, only to watch as the opposition scored two goals late to force us into yet another draw. This team was on the verge of collapse. Finally, at the end of the month, I felt that three reserve team players were worthy of first team minutes. The shakeup helped us secure a 1-0 victory in the last game of the month. For once, this allowed us to end a moth on a positive note and cause Mad Al to praise my managerial skills to the sky. I did tell you that the poor bastard isn’t mentally there. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 4.11.01 Fidelis Andria H Serie C2/C 2:2 3458 Picchi, Barrero 11.11.01 Paternò A Serie C2/C 1:1 4372 Mantioni 18.11.01 Palmese H Serie C2/C 1:2 2612 De Simone 25.11.01 Gela A Serie C2/C 1:0 2583 Vacca ************************************************************************************************ Ragusa - Wednesday 28th November 2001 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2001/2 Senior Club Stats ================================================================================================ No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Abate, Francesco - - - - - - - - ---- - Alderuccio, Pietro 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 - Alessandro Indricchi, Pao 3 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 - Andrès, Julien - - - - - - - - ---- - Angelici, Paolo - - - - - - - - ---- - Antenucci, Mattia - - - - - - - - ---- - Arabia, Pietro - - - - - - - - ---- - Arnolis, Xavier 7 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.75 - Barrero, Miguel Ãngel 6 (1) 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 6.57 - Bennardo, Angelo 9 0 13 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 - Briglia, Massimiliano - - - - - - - - ---- - Bru, Jonathan 9 (3) 1 0 0 0 3 0 1 6.42 - Campailla, Giovanni 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.17 - Cirillo, Marco 7 (1) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.88 - Cointe, Benoît 8 (1) 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.78 - Cusell, Tonnie - - - - - - - - ---- - D'Apice, Nicola 5 (3) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 - De Col, Nicola 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.75 - De Simone, Matteo 8 (2) 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 6.70 - Dentale, Rosario - - - - - - - - ---- - Ferreri, Vincenzo 7 (2) 1 0 1 (1) 1 1 0 1 6.33 - Feudi, Simone - - - - - - - - ---- - Gallicchio, Claudio 12 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 7.33 - Gargiulo, Guido Ramon - - - - - - - - ---- - Gentile, Giorgio 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 - Heijink, Erwin 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 6.33 - Iafrate, Stephan - - - - - - - - ---- - Lenea, Giuseppe - - - - - - - - ---- - Lestani, Michele 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.40 - Libralesso, Giulio 10 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 - Mantioni, Adriano 7 (3) 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 6.60 - Miguel, André - - - - - - - - ---- - Montella, Gianluca - - - - - - - - ---- - Moreira 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.86 - Musumeci, Giorgio - - - - - - - - ---- - Nuno, Jorge 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 5.50 - Picchi, Christian 12 3 0 0 1 0 0 2 7.17 - Ricci, Andrea 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.33 - Salami, Mattia 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 - Salvatore, Gianclaudio 6 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 6.67 - Schiavone, Paolo - - - - - - - - ---- - Sette, Francesco - - - - - - - - ---- - Sorrentino, Tonino - - - - - - - - ---- - Tassone, Domenico - - - - - - - - ---- - Tirelli, Paolo - - - - - - - - ---- - Ursino, Graziano - - - - - - - - ---- - Vacca, Valerio 8 (2) 1 0 0 4 0 0 1 7.00 - Verdú, Eduardo - - - - - - - - ---- - Vico, Oscar - - - - - - - - ---- - Zanetti, Valentino - - - - - - - - ---- </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted February 24, 2006 Author Share Posted February 24, 2006 December 2001: Since the Christmas vacation began halfway through the month, only two games were played. We opened the month with a 1-0 win and then drew the next game 2-2. So far, it was our best stretch of the season in terms of form. Naturally Mad Al was impressed out of his mind. Shortly before the break began, we signed a 21 yr old French defender on a free transfer. This would be unremarkable save for the fact that the guy ha all the attributes to be, by far, the best forward at the club. So, I set him to practicing to become a forward. Instead of having sense and realizing that his future lay as a forward, Sasser began to whine about how he hated his training program. I ignored his pleas and resolved grimly to make him a forward. We are desperately thin up front and about to get thinner as both our starting forwards turn 25 in the next couple of months. We lack quality finishers and Sasser is an extremely good finisher. You’d think that he would want to be a forward getting his name in the papers for scoring goals, rather than be a backline grunt who might get a mention if they do a great job shutting down the opposition. At any rate, once the three week break started, I put all coaching concerns aside and headed back to the States. At home, I had to convince everyone that I myself hadn’t gone insane by taking an uncertain job in a strange land. I pointed out that my job security was better than most in these times and that I was making more money than I had been. It didn’t convince anyone as my family knows next to nothing about soccer. Still, I came back to Ragusa in the New Year feeling somewhat more optimistic about our chances for the new year. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 2.12.01 Igea Virtus H Serie C2/C 1:0 2245 Cointe 9.12.01 Olbia </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted February 25, 2006 Author Share Posted February 25, 2006 January 2002: It was a busy month for the Ragusa front office. Both of our starting forwards left as they were about to turn 25, in addition a reserve midfielder, whose contract was up at the end of the year was sold. None of these transfer netted any momey, but each transfer contained a quarter of next sale clause, so, we do have the chance to make some cash off the deals. Naturally, I filled the roster slots with more youth signings. After the flurry of moves, we became even more of a peach fuzz team as our oldest player was 23 yrs old. Paradoxically, the roster upheaval sparked a dramatic rise in form. Although we lost the first game of the New Year, we ripped off two straight wins and a draw to make some nosie in the league. Predictably, Mad Al was beside himself with glee, but dark clouds loomed ahead. The club was simply not financially viable. We weren’t drowning in red ink, but we were being slowly strangled by it. The bean-counters at the club kept informing me that we needed to do something about the debt; however, I decided to ignore them. After all, I had been hired by Mad Al, not the accountants. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 9.12.01 Olbia H Serie C2/C 2:2 2477 Vacca, Mantioni 16.12.01 Acireale A Serie C2/C 1:1 3632 Cirillo 3.1.02 Nocerina H Serie C2/C 0:1 3457 13.1.02 Catanzaro H Serie C2/C 2:1 3481 Cirillo, Feudi 20.1.02 Giugliano A Serie C2/C 1:0 2749 Cointe 27.1.02 Latina H Serie C2/C 2:2 3365 Levanto og, Picchi ************************************************************************************************ Italian Serie C2/C - Wednesday 30th January 2002 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2001/2 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Igea Virtus 20 9 2 0 21 4 4 1 4 14 13 42 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Palmese 20 5 3 3 21 21 6 1 2 16 11 37 3rd Fidelis Andria 20 6 3 2 24 14 3 5 1 12 9 35 4th Olbia 20 9 0 2 22 9 2 2 5 10 13 35 5th Acireale 20 6 2 2 27 14 4 2 4 13 18 34 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6th Paternò 20 4 3 4 22 22 5 2 2 21 14 32 7th Lodigiani 20 7 1 2 21 11 3 1 6 12 16 32 8th Brindisi 20 4 2 4 11 13 5 2 3 19 15 31 9th Frosinone 20 5 3 1 10 5 3 3 5 16 19 30 10th Tivoli 20 4 4 1 16 10 4 1 6 17 18 29 11th Ragusa 20 2 6 3 13 14 3 4 2 10 10 25 12th Nocerina 20 4 3 3 23 20 2 2 6 16 24 23 13th Gela 20 4 2 5 15 19 2 3 4 9 14 23 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14th Gladiator 20 1 2 6 8 15 4 3 4 12 14 20 15th Catanzaro 20 2 4 3 12 13 2 4 5 13 22 20 16th Giugliano 20 5 1 3 13 8 1 1 9 10 25 20 17th Puteolana 20 2 2 5 10 15 2 3 6 18 20 17 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Latina 20 3 0 6 11 19 0 3 8 8 25 12 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted February 26, 2006 Author Share Posted February 26, 2006 February-June 2002: I forgot save the month by month stats and tables and I’m in the next season, so it’s all lost. I also lost the update I just typed up for this period, so I’m going to keep this retyped version brief. We were not able to build on our January success. As the season wound down we contined to be woefully inconsistent. We did just enough to keep ourselves safely clear of the relegation playoffs, which made Mad Al happy. The club finances continued to sink into the morass. To illustrate this point consider that in the month of May, we made 645 pounds while spending 96,000 pounds. The only way we’ll get out of the hole is if we move up the divisions. This is a bit of a dicey proposition, but kids are able to go on long winning streaks, so it could be done. Roster wise, players continued to come and go. I gave up trying to convert two defenders into forwards, as both refused to make the switch. They were summarily released and more fresh faces took their place. As the summer holiday began, I resolved to work the boys so hard that the next season would seem like a vacation to them. If they relaxed and had fun during the seaon, good things might happen. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************************************************************ Italian Serie C2/C - Wednesday 8th May 2002 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2001/2 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Igea Virtus 34 12 5 0 29 8 7 4 6 24 19 66 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Pl Olbia 34 13 2 2 32 13 6 4 7 25 23 63 3rd Pl Lodigiani 34 12 3 2 35 15 7 1 9 24 21 61 4th Pl Palmese 34 7 6 4 33 32 9 4 4 29 25 58 5th Pl Tivoli 34 8 6 3 29 20 7 2 8 25 25 53 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6th Brindisi 34 7 4 6 24 22 8 4 5 31 26 53 7th Frosinone 34 9 5 3 24 16 4 8 5 24 26 52 8th Paternò 34 7 5 5 33 30 7 4 6 36 34 51 9th Acireale 34 9 3 5 39 22 5 5 7 20 28 50 10th Fidelis Andria 34 9 3 5 34 21 4 7 6 18 23 49 11th Nocerina 34 8 4 5 41 32 4 4 9 34 44 44 12th Gela 34 6 3 8 24 32 6 5 6 24 28 44 13th Ragusa 34 3 8 6 21 23 7 5 5 23 22 43 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14th Pl Catanzaro 34 5 5 7 23 27 4 4 9 20 32 36 15th Pl Puteolana 34 5 3 9 22 30 4 3 10 25 32 33 16th Pl Giugliano 34 7 3 7 28 23 1 4 12 14 36 31 17th Pl Gladiator 34 2 6 9 17 30 4 4 9 12 24 28 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th R Latina 34 6 2 9 18 25 1 4 12 13 38 27 ************************************************************************************************ Ragusa - Wednesday 8th May 2002 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2001/2 Senior Club Stats ================================================================================================ No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Abate, Francesco 4 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.40 - Alessandro Indricchi, Pao 16 0 23 0 0 0 0 2 7.00 - Andrès, Julien - - - - - - - - ---- - Angelici, Paolo - - - - - - - - ---- - Antenucci, Mattia 7 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.29 - Arabia, Pietro - - - - - - - - ---- - Arnolis, Xavier 16 (1) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.76 - Barrero, Miguel Ãngel 12 (2) 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 6.50 - Bennardo, Angelo 17 0 21 0 0 0 0 0 6.94 - Brachet, Jimmy - - - - - - - - ---- - Brenne, Bjarne - - - - - - - - ---- - Briglia, Massimiliano - - - - - - - - ---- - Bru, Jonathan 14 (3) 1 0 0 0 3 0 1 6.53 - Calleja, Albert - - - - - - - - ---- - Campailla, Giovanni 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.22 - Ciai, Michele - - - - - - - - ---- - Cointe, Benoît 17 (5) 8 0 0 0 0 0 2 6.59 - D'Apice, Nicola 9 (5) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.71 - De Simone, Matteo 21 (5) 3 0 0 2 1 1 3 6.77 - Dubois, Nicolas 5 (1) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.83 - Feudi, Simone 16 1 0 0 3 1 0 2 6.88 - Gargiulo, Guido Ramon - - - - - - - - ---- - Gentile, Giorgio 23 6 0 3 (2) 3 0 0 0 7.04 - Guida, Davide - - - - - - - - ---- - Iafrate, Stephan - - - - - - - - ---- - Larsen, Dagfinn - - - - - - - - ---- - Lestani, Michele 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.40 - Libralesso, Giulio 27 (1) 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 6.89 - Mantioni, Adriano 13 (6) 2 0 0 1 3 0 1 6.58 - Moreira 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.86 - Novello, Lucas 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 - Picchi, Christian 28 4 0 0 3 0 0 2 6.93 - Salami, Mattia 22 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.55 - Salvatore, Gianclaudio 11 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 6.64 - Sanders, Carlos - - - - - - - - ---- - Schiavone, Paolo - - - - - - - - ---- - Schröder, Markus - - - - - - - - ---- - Secondini, Enrico - - - - - - - - ---- - Sette, Francesco 2 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 - Sorrentino, Tonino 6 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.67 - Stessl, Robert - - - - - - - - ---- - Tassone, Domenico 9 (1) 4 0 0 2 0 0 0 6.80 - Tirelli, Paolo - - - - - - - - ---- - Vacca, Valerio 20 (3) 4 0 0 6 0 0 1 6.87 - Vaugeois, Sébastien - - - - - - - - ---- - Verdú, Eduardo 17 2 0 0 1 5 0 1 7.41 - Vico, Oscar - - - - - - - - ---- - Zanetti, Valentino - - - - - - - - ---- </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted February 27, 2006 Author Share Posted February 27, 2006 July trough August 2002: July held three things in store. The first was that new youngsters began arriving by the truckload and replacing the youth on the team that just weren’t going to make the cut. None of these players figured to make an immediate impact on the first team squad, but many of them would vie for spots, especially on defense, where turnover was expected soon. Indeed, two central defenders who played on the first team were jettisoned, one was getting close to 25 and was sold for a 25% later sale clause. The other began whining about his contract and was released. One thing about a young team, you don’t have to put up with much guff, because there’s always a replacement in the wings. The second bit of July news was that training camp officially opened. I had been working the lads hard all summer to be sure, but now it came with a real purpose in mind. When I gathered the 47 players together for a meeting on the first day of camp, I looked each directly in the eye as I gave a speech. I told them that now I would expect more from them. The players had now had a year to get used to my 4-3-1-2 system and now they should start to play with more confidence. I empathized the fact that we had enough talent to win the division and move up, which would mean better paychecks. The players seemed to be listening intently, but one can never be too sure of that. The third thing to happen in July was that Japan stunned the international scene by winning the World Cup. Of course, by the semifinal, all the big powers were gone. In the biggest surprise of all, Argentina failed to make it out of the group stage. Brazil lost in the quarters as did France. In short, it was an upset-laden tournament that would keep the pundits busy for four years until the 2006 Cup rolled around. In August the season commenced with the Serie C Cup. To be honest, I regard this event as nothing more than preseason. Perhaps it’s my American bias at work, but I regard cups as a waste of time. At least the Serie FC Cup can be used as a warm up to the league season, which is the most important thing on the schedule. With a four game group stage, I was able to give my 22 man first team squad two games apiece, which gave each gave each man much needed match time. It also served the purpose of helping me figure out which 11 would be the starting lineup. All the players on the first team squad rotation, meaning that they’ll get games and that a fist team will take shape as the season progresses. Two of the central defenders I had signed over the summer, Mertens and Bonn, established themselves as first team material in the four games. To the wonderment of all, we actually won the group stage with two 1-0 wins and a pair of draws. Everyone was excited that Ragusa had finally won something, but I had other worries on my mind. Palermo had signed one of our goalkeeper coaches as a scout and there was no easy way to fill the vacancy. I wound up telling my asst. manager to coach the keepers in addition to tactics. Still, I would be on the lookout for an unemployed coavh to take over the position if one could be found. I also filled out the entire scouting roster, so that our hunt for talent could proceed more effectively. Despite staff concerns, we headed into the league season with a nice head of steam. The players were confident about their play and I could only see good things ahead for us. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 11.8.02 Brindisi A Serie C Cup Grp B 1:1 2482 D'Apice 18.8.02 Martina H Serie C Cup Grp B 1:0 1805 Feudi 25.8.02 Pro Vercelli A Serie C Cup Grp B 1:0 2189 Abate 28.8.02 Savona H Serie C Cup Grp B 1:1 2161 Mantioni pen ************************************************************************************************ Ragusa - Sunday 1st September 2002 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ Squad ================================================================================================ No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Abate, Francesco M LC ITA 28.4.81 21 - - £5K 11.6.05 £10K - Alessandro Indricchi, Pao GK ITA 29.3.83 19 - - £5K 14.6.04 £18K - Andrès, Julien D R FRA 12.11.82 19 - - £5K 7.6.05 £10K - Antenucci, Mattia D/DM L ITA 27.10.84 17 - - £3K 16.6.04 £7K - Arnolis, Xavier D/DM R BEL 17.12.84 17 - - £30K 18.6.04 £22K - Born, Edgar D RC GER 29.6.83 19 - - £12K 15.6.05 £24K - Bourget, Mathieu SW/D C FRA 24.9.83 18 - - £12K 11.6.05 £30K - Brachet, Jimmy D/DM RC FRA 30.8.80 22 - - £5K 14.6.04 £22K - Brambilla, Ivan D C ITA 28.5.86 16 - - £8K 25.6.05 £16K - Brescia, Gianluca D C ITA 24.11.86 15 - - £8K 15.6.05 £14K - Briglia, Massimiliano S C ITA 27.2.83 19 - - £5K 5.6.04 £24K - Calleja, Albert DM C ESP 7.10.82 19 - - £3K 15.6.05 £10K - Cointe, Benoît AM RC FRA 25.8.81 21 - - £12K 18.6.04 £14K - D'Apice, Nicola S C ITA 11.7.82 20 - - £22K 7.6.04 £18K - De Simone, Matteo M LC ITA 5.1.82 20 - - £30K 18.6.06 £40K - Doria, Vittorio F RC ITA 29.6.86 16 - - £9K 3.6.05 £35K - Dubois, Nicolas M C FRA 27.7.83 19 - - £3K 11.6.05 £16K - Feudi, Simone M RC ITA 5.2.82 20 - - £3K 8.6.04 £20K - Fierens, Gert M C BEL 19.5.84 18 - - £10K 7.6.05 £18K - Förster, Steffen S C GER 2.10.84 17 - - £7K 22.6.05 £28K - Galetti, Giacomo M C ITA 19.6.84 18 - - £8K 28.6.05 £18K - Gargiulo, Guido Ramon GK ITA 28.10.82 19 - - £5K 11.6.04 £8K - Gentile, Giorgio S C ITA 23.6.82 20 - - £24K 13.6.04 £120K - Grassi, Denis M C ITA 29.9.82 19 - - £12K 15.6.05 £26K - Guida, Davide D R ITA 29.3.83 19 - - £3K 3.6.05 £14K - Hartig, Jörg S C GER 6.12.84 17 - - £9K 8.6.05 £20K - Lestani, Michele D C ITA 3.5.86 16 - - £3K 8.6.04 £8K - Mantioni, Adriano M RLC ITA 1.3.84 18 - - £3K 23.6.05 £12K - Marco, Gonzalo GK ESP 27.6.82 20 - - £20K 23.6.05 £10K - Mertens, Marc SW/D C BEL 24.6.82 20 - - £8K 19.6.05 £22K - Michel, Cédric AM RC FRA 21.3.83 19 - - £14K 21.6.05 £24K - Moreira S C POR 12.4.82 20 - - £16K 14.6.04 £18K - Moulin, Gérard DM LC FRA 10.3.85 17 - - £9K 8.6.05 £10K - Novello, Lucas S C ITA 31.10.83 18 - - £3K 15.6.05 £35K - Picchi, Christian D/DM L ITA 15.4.82 20 - - £26K 14.6.04 £30K - Romano, Giacomo D L ITA 3.2.83 19 - - £6K 10.6.06 £12K - Salami, Mattia D R ITA 21.9.81 20 - - £30K 7.6.04 £35K - Sammarco, Alessio F LC ITA 12.2.85 17 - - £8K 26.6.05 £28K - Sanders, Carlos D/DM RL BEL 29.5.83 19 - - £3K 28.6.06 £12K - Schiavone, Paolo D C ITA 6.8.88 14 - - £3K 28.6.04 £7K - Schröder, Markus GK GER 31.8.81 21 - - £5K 6.6.05 £14K - Secondini, Enrico D LC ITA 21.3.83 19 - - £3K 28.6.05 £12K - Sette, Francesco S C ITA 5.6.82 20 - - £3K 16.6.04 £16K - Sorrentino, Tonino M RC ITA 12.3.85 17 - - £3K 15.6.04 £9K - Tirelli, Paolo D L ITA 1.2.84 18 - - £7K 12.6.05 £10K - Vaugeois, Sébastien F C FRA 30.7.81 21 - - £5K 18.6.04 £18K - Verdú, Eduardo D RC ESP 28.7.82 20 - - £16K 13.6.04 £35K - Vico, Oscar S C ITA 12.3.84 18 - - £3K 8.6.04 £12K - Zanetti, Valentino M C ITA 22.3.84 18 - - £3K 18.6.04 £7K - Ziegler, Markus AM/F C GER 6.8.82 20 - - £8K 15.6.05 £35K </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted February 28, 2006 Author Share Posted February 28, 2006 September 2002: This was the most glorious month in Ragusa’s history. Never before had the franchise ranked so high atop a professional table. Never had the fans seen so dominant a team. They couldn’t believe it, hell I couldn’t believe it. Our Cup success had hinted that we were a good team, superior to last year’s squad, but I didn’t expect us to win three of four league games. The wins were capped by a spectacular defense and an emerging Gentile, both of whom found ways to hide a suspect midfield and a still anemic attack. But, why quibble over small details like that when the team is winning? To complete this wonderful picture of Ragusa, my seven man scouting crew was finally beginning to earn their keep. They were beginning to find some diamond-quality players, who would either play large roles in the future or make us a lot of money, preferably both. The only downside to this influx of talent was the fact that I was continually releasing players and draining the non-existent club treasury. But you do what you have to do to build a better team. As we polished off the month with a win, I hoed we could keep the momentum going. Certainly the first team squad was facing stiff competition to keep their jobs away from the red-hot reservists. The reserve squad had yet to lose a game and several players on that team would get first-team callups by the end of October, when I would do the first real squad assessment of the year. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 8.9.02 Martina A Serie C2/C 2:1 4970 Gentile, Abate 15.9.02 Paternò H Serie C2/C 1:0 2514 Michel 22.9.02 Brindisi A Serie C2/C 1:2 2475 Gentile pen 29.9.02 Giugliano H Serie C2/C 3:0 3494 Michel, Gentile, Moreira ************************************************************************************************ Italian Serie C2/C - Wednesday 2nd October 2002 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2002/3 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Thiene 4 2 0 0 4 0 2 0 0 6 1 12 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Ragusa 4 2 0 0 4 0 1 0 1 3 3 9 3rd Fidelis Andria 4 1 1 0 2 1 1 1 0 3 1 8 4th Catanzaro 4 0 2 0 2 2 2 0 0 4 2 8 5th Palmese 4 2 0 0 5 1 0 1 1 2 3 7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6th Tivoli 4 1 0 1 2 2 1 1 0 4 3 7 7th Nocerina 4 0 2 0 7 7 1 1 0 5 4 6 8th Martina 4 1 0 1 2 2 1 0 1 4 4 6 9th Paternò 4 1 0 1 1 3 1 0 1 3 1 6 10th Acireale 4 1 0 1 4 3 0 1 1 5 6 4 11th Potenza 4 1 1 0 6 4 0 0 2 0 3 4 12th Matera 4 1 0 1 4 5 0 1 1 3 4 4 13th Brindisi 4 1 1 0 5 4 0 0 2 1 5 4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14th Giugliano 4 1 0 1 3 3 0 1 1 3 6 4 15th Taranto 4 0 2 0 6 6 0 1 1 4 5 3 16th Olbia 4 1 0 1 3 3 0 0 2 2 6 3 17th Gela 4 1 0 1 2 2 0 0 2 0 4 3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Pavullese 4 0 0 2 1 5 0 1 1 1 2 1 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
haze.13 Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 Good response after staring relegation in the face last season EH! I agree with the main benefit of taking up the youth challenge being that there are always huge numbers of youngsters that will move for nothing. Keep up the high turnover and you'll uncover a few more Gentiles i'm sure Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 1, 2006 Author Share Posted March 1, 2006 Cheers Haze I'll all the Gentiles I can accquire; I just hope they're all kosher! October 2002: This was a month where we returned to the fine art of drawing. Our last three matches of the month were draws- mostly in the Serie C Cup, where the games had no direct impact on our league form. We did win one, draw two and lose one league game to keep us anchored in a respectable fifth place, which is the cutoff for the promotion playoffs. Gentile Michel and Verdu continued to demonstrate that they were headed toward bigger things. I expect each to draw the attention of scouts any day now. I’m resigned to losing each at some point, mainly because each has a comparably low minimum release clause. Towards the end of the month, I did a squad assessment. Several players on the first team were sent down to the reserves and several farmhands who been performing well were called up. Lengent, Giaitti and Forester each provided instant goal scoring in the last three games of the month. I’ll do another assessment in January. The players sent down will be released (if they no longer get playing time in the reserves) or brought back up (if they regained their form in the reserves). But the current first team squad looks to be a tough nut to crack now. Once the second half squad is chosen in January, the scouts will resume their searches to fill holes left by released players. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 6.10.02 Gela A Serie C2/C 0:0 2625 9.10.02 Prato A Serie C Cup 2nd Rnd Leg 1 2:1 4782 Cointe, Verdú 13.10.02 Taranto H Serie C2/C 1:0 3467 Gentile 20.10.02 Thiene A Serie C2/C 0:1 2473 23.10.02 Prato H Serie C Cup 2nd Rnd Leg 2 3:3 3472 Gentile, Lenglet 2 27.10.02 Tivoli H Serie C2/C 1:1 3499 Galetti 30.10.02 Giulianova H Serie C Cup 3rd Rnd Leg 1 2:2 3487 Förster, Michel </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 2, 2006 Author Share Posted March 2, 2006 November and December 2002: We contined to post a solid mark in the league during these two months. Unlike last year, our draws were punctuated bby wins and not losses. As we hit the halfway mark of the season we had a good 7 win, 7 draws and 2 losses season. As for the Serie C Cup, we contined to defeat opponents more on aggregates than actual wins. This formula worked until we rn into former Serie B side Bari in the quarter-finals. Bari swatted us like the proverbial fly and showed us just how far we had to go. For the most part, the reservists brought up in the first squad assessment performed competently. Forester staked a claim as a permanent first team member, while Thilalli showed some good defensive skill. Other callups did not fare as well. Galetti and Sorrentino were sent back down in the second squad assessment along with Bonn. But their fate was better than that of Panichi, last year’s hero, D’Alpice or Salani- all of whom were released outright. Up came Spinelli, Kupiers, Bohmer and the simply sensational Doria, who was ripping apart opposing reserve sides. In addition, Dubois, was the only member sent down to the farm in October who managed to play his way back onto the first team. The rest of the October group were released as they got no playing time in the reserves. In addition, a couple of foreign reservists were released when they admitted they were having a hard time coping with the Italian lifestyle. In short, the reserves were going to look very different in 2003. The second half of the season looked promising. A bid at promotion seemed likely, and a first team was really starting to take shape. All I had to do was sit back and enjoy the ride. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 3.11.02 Acireale H Serie C2/C 2:2 3486 Galetti, Förster 6.11.02 Giulianova A Serie C Cup 3rd Rnd Leg 2 1:0 3691 D'Apice 10.11.02 Pavullese A Serie C2/C 1:0 1994 Michel 17.11.02 Matera H Serie C2/C 1:1 3486 Michel 20.11.02 Bari H Serie C Cup Qtr Final Leg 1 0:2 3460 24.11.02 Potenza A Serie C2/C 2:1 3318 Feudi pen, Moreira 27.11.02 Bari A Serie C Cup Qtr Final Leg 2 0:0 38737 1.12.02 Catanzaro H Serie C2/C 0:0 3457 8.12.02 Palmese A Serie C2/C 2:2 5983 D'Apice, Verdú 15.12.02 Olbia H Serie C2/C 0:0 3062 22.12.02 Fidelis Andria A Serie C2/C 2:1 4057 Tirelli, Sorrentino First half roundup: ************************************************************************************************ Italian Serie C2/C - Wednesday 1st January 2003 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2002/3 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Paternò 16 5 1 2 13 12 5 2 1 17 10 33 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Thiene 16 7 0 1 18 4 3 1 4 11 11 31 3rd Catanzaro 16 5 2 1 14 10 3 3 2 13 14 29 4th Ragusa 16 3 5 0 9 4 4 2 2 10 8 28 5th Palmese 16 3 4 1 16 10 4 2 2 14 10 27 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6th Tivoli 16 5 1 2 16 10 2 4 2 9 10 26 7th Matera 16 5 1 2 12 9 2 3 3 12 12 25 8th Fidelis Andria 16 2 4 2 11 10 4 1 3 12 11 23 9th Taranto 16 3 5 0 22 17 2 2 4 10 13 22 10th Nocerina 16 3 3 2 20 18 2 4 2 17 19 22 11th Acireale 16 4 1 3 9 7 2 2 4 17 17 21 12th Martina 16 3 1 4 9 9 2 4 2 11 10 20 13th Pavullese 16 2 2 4 7 10 3 2 3 11 13 19 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14th Olbia 16 4 1 3 13 12 1 2 5 12 20 18 15th Gela 16 3 2 3 8 8 1 0 7 6 16 14 16th Brindisi 16 3 2 3 14 13 0 2 6 9 18 13 17th Potenza 16 2 2 4 19 19 1 0 7 3 13 11 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Giugliano 16 2 2 4 15 19 0 3 5 7 20 11 ************************************************************************************************ Ragusa - Thursday 9th January 2003 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2002/3 Senior Club Stats ================================================================================================ No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Abate, Francesco 16 (1) 2 0 0 3 0 0 1 6.71 - Abiven, Philippe - - - - - - - - ---- - Alessandro Indricchi, Pao 10 0 12 0 0 0 0 1 6.90 - Andrès, Julien 12 (1) 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.69 - Antenucci, Mattia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Böhme, Dennis - - - - - - - - ---- - Born, Edgar 11 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.36 - Bourget, Mathieu - - - - - - - - ---- - Brachet, Jimmy 15 (2) 0 0 0 0 4 0 1 7.18 - Brambilla, Ivan - - - - - - - - ---- - Brescia, Gianluca - - - - - - - - ---- - Brunel, Anthony - - - - - - - - ---- - Calleja, Albert 3 (1) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.50 - Doria, Vittorio - - - - - - - - ---- - Dubois, Nicolas 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.20 - Feudi, Simone 16 2 0 1 (1) 2 1 0 0 6.75 - Fierens, Gert - - - - - - - - ---- - Förster, Steffen 8 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 7.13 - Galetti, Giacomo 10 (1) 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.45 - Gentile, Giorgio 17 (1) 5 0 1 (1) 1 0 0 1 7.39 - Heylen, Kris 7 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 7.00 - Kuipers, Paul - - - - - - - - ---- - Lenglet, Julien 6 (1) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 - López, Alberto - - - - - - - - ---- - Malouda, Cédric 7 (2) 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.56 - Mantioni, Adriano 12 (2) 1 0 1 (1) 1 1 0 0 6.79 - Marco, Gonzalo - - - - - - - - ---- - Michel, Cédric 15 (1) 5 0 0 6 0 0 1 7.25 - Moreira 13 (1) 2 0 0 2 1 0 0 7.07 - Novello, Lucas 4 (2) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.67 - Oddo, Lorenzo - - - - - - - - ---- - Sammarco, Alessio - - - - - - - - ---- - Sanders, Carlos - - - - - - - - ---- - Schiavone, Paolo - - - - - - - - ---- - Scholz, Ronny - - - - - - - - ---- - Schröder, Markus 16 0 10 0 0 0 0 2 7.00 - Secondini, Enrico 6 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 6.83 - Sette, Francesco 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Sorrentino, Tonino 6 (2) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.38 - Spinelli, Tiziano - - - - - - - - ---- - Tedeschi, Vito - - - - - - - - ---- - Tirelli, Paolo 4 (1) 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.60 - Verdú, Eduardo 17 2 0 0 0 1 0 2 7.29 - Vico, Oscar - - - - - - - - ---- - van Wijk, Ruud - - - - - - - - ---- - van den Berg, Paul - - - - - - - - ---- </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 3, 2006 Author Share Posted March 3, 2006 January and February 2003: The results were a mixed bag. We came off the Christmas break at a blistering pace, winning three games in a row that weren’t hard-fought contests. The new blood in the first team seemed to propel the team, for a while at any rate. Then, we hit a brick wall, dropping two straight to fall to 5th place, after a stint flirting with first. The new first team players ran out of gas and began to play at a more ordinary level. A couple would be in danger of being sent back down when we did the third squad assessment sometime in March. Bohme revealed that he couldn’t hack the Italian life, so he was released and Wilk brought up to replace him. We also added more youth players in a January gold rush that saw some pretty good talent arrive. As long as they don’t get homesick, many could play significant roles next season. Mad Al was actually leaving me alone because of our success. I felt that we could make it to Serie C1 and stick there. The new youth prospects could compete at that level and win. As you can tell, I was already thinking about next year. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 9.1.03 Nocerina H Serie C2/C 2:0 3471 Michel, Brachet 19.1.03 Martina H Serie C2/C 4:2 3469 Mantioni, Brachet, Gentile, Michel 26.1.03 Paternò A Serie C2/C 2:0 5709 Kuipers, Abate 2.2.03 Brindisi H Serie C2/C 1:3 3394 Doria 16.2.03 Giugliano A Serie C2/C 1:2 2709 Lenglet 23.2.03 Gela H Serie C2/C 2:1 3490 Böhme, Feudi ************************************************************************************************ Italian Serie C2/C - Sunday 2nd March 2003 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2002/3 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Catanzaro 22 8 2 1 22 14 5 4 2 16 15 45 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Paternò 22 6 1 3 14 14 8 2 2 24 15 45 3rd Thiene 22 8 0 4 22 9 5 1 4 19 14 40 4th Palmese 22 5 5 1 20 11 6 2 3 21 13 40 5th Ragusa 22 6 5 1 18 10 5 2 3 13 10 40 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6th Acireale 22 7 1 4 20 10 3 3 4 22 21 34 7th Taranto 22 4 5 2 26 22 5 2 4 14 13 34 8th Matera 22 6 2 4 16 16 3 4 3 17 16 33 9th Pavullese 22 5 3 4 12 12 4 2 4 12 14 32 10th Tivoli 22 6 1 3 18 11 2 5 5 11 15 30 11th Fidelis Andria 22 2 5 3 15 15 5 2 5 16 17 28 12th Olbia 22 6 1 4 18 18 1 3 7 17 28 25 13th Martina 22 3 1 6 12 14 3 4 5 15 19 23 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14th Nocerina 22 3 4 3 23 22 2 4 6 21 30 23 15th Gela 22 5 2 4 13 13 2 0 9 8 20 23 16th Potenza 22 5 2 5 27 22 1 1 8 7 18 21 17th Brindisi 22 3 3 4 17 19 1 2 9 13 23 17 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Giugliano 22 3 3 5 18 23 0 3 8 9 30 15 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 4, 2006 Author Share Posted March 4, 2006 March 2003: The month saw us drawing a pair of games. The one thing I can say about this year’s team is that they can scrape those single points that can make all the difference. During the middle of the month I performed the last squad assessment of the year, bringing up a defender, a midfielder and a forward who were doing well in the reserves. We sent down players in turn, who had not performed well lately, like Dubois, Forester and Lengent. The players called up to the first team squad would get roughly eight games to prove that they deserved spot on the squad next season. There would be more spots open on the first team than usual this offseason. I had reached the painful decision to sell Gentile, Brachet and Verdu during the summer. The reason was simple. Their contracts would run out over the next couple of seasons and they would be too old to resign. So, the best thing to do would be to sell while we could get a reasonable price for them. Nobody knew I was going to do this, so it would be a nasty shock to everyone and alienate the fans, but prudent financial management dictated that we do it. Besides, our young players in the reserves needed something to play for and the best motivator is the grail of a roster spot, which can’t be achieved if first-teamers are blocking the door. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 2.3.03 Taranto A Serie C2/C 2:2 9275 Gentile, Abate 5.3.03 Thiene H Serie C2/C 1:1 2493 Feudi pen 9.3.03 Tivoli A Serie C2/C 2:0 3980 Heylen, Verdú 16.3.03 Acireale A Serie C2/C 2:1 3619 van Wijk, Danotti og 23.3.03 Pavullese H Serie C2/C 2:0 3329 Abate, Sammarco 30.3.03 Matera A Serie C2/C 2:2 4988 Doria, Mantioni </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 5, 2006 Author Share Posted March 5, 2006 April and May 2003: Three straight wins brought us to the pinnacle of success in C2C. We took possession of first place and clung to it. We lost against Olbia in the first match after we ascended to the top, but fortunately, the team behind us lost as well. However, they kept pace with us and the battle for C2C supremacy came down the final day. Fittingly enough, we clinched the C2C title with a 0-0 draw. At least we could go straight to C1 without worrying about the playoffs. The catalysts for the late season run were Gentile and late season callup Anthony Brunel, who cemented a spot in next years first team squad. Of the late season caluos, Brunel was the only one who could make this claim. His fellows were busted back down to the reserves as players like Forster and Lengent reclaimed spots in next season’s first team. In addition in the shuffling, several players were released outright, mainly because I deemed them too old to play reserve ball. There would be great competition over the dummer to fill these first team spots vacated by Andrens, Abate, and Moriea. Last, but not least, Brachet, Gentile and Verdu were placed on the transfer list. I didn’t want to resign them and the club needed money. Only Brachet drew any interest as the summer opened. Although we couldn’t sign players and have them join the team until July 1, I sent my scouts back out across Europe and they began reporting back young players. We made deals wioth a couple of these players and they would be primed to join Ragusa on July 1. Until then, all we could was train hard in preparation for a new division. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 2.4.03 Potenza H Serie C2/C 3:1 3464 Gentile, Abate, van Wijk 6.4.03 Catanzaro A Serie C2/C 2:1 7661 Michel, Brunel 13.4.03 Palmese H Serie C2/C 2:1 3492 Doria, Brunel 20.4.03 Olbia A Serie C2/C 1:2 4996 Malouda 27.4.03 Fidelis Andria H Serie C2/C 1:0 3460 Gentile pen 4.5.03 Nocerina A Serie C2/C 0:0 5963 2002-03 Year End Roundup: ************************************************************************************************ Italian Serie C2/C - Wednesday 7th May 2003 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2002/3 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Ragusa 34 10 6 1 27 13 8 5 4 24 18 65 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Pl Catanzaro 34 12 3 2 32 21 6 6 5 20 22 63 3rd Pl Paternò 34 8 5 4 26 25 10 3 4 36 28 62 4th Pl Palmese 34 8 7 2 29 18 7 4 6 28 23 56 5th Pl Thiene 34 10 0 7 30 16 7 4 6 28 22 55 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6th Pavullese 34 8 4 5 21 17 6 5 6 18 20 51 7th Tivoli 34 10 2 5 29 20 3 8 6 17 22 49 8th Fidelis Andria 34 6 7 4 25 21 7 3 7 22 23 49 9th Matera 34 8 5 4 27 24 5 4 8 24 29 48 10th Taranto 34 4 10 3 33 32 7 4 6 25 24 47 11th Olbia 34 9 3 5 30 27 4 5 8 30 37 47 12th Martina 34 7 3 7 23 19 5 6 6 24 28 45 13th Acireale 34 7 2 8 24 19 5 5 7 30 31 43 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14th Pl Nocerina 34 6 7 4 35 29 2 6 9 26 42 37 15th Pl Brindisi 34 8 4 5 35 30 2 2 13 22 35 36 16th Pl Gela 34 7 5 5 23 20 2 2 13 12 30 34 17th Pl Potenza 34 7 2 8 34 31 2 3 12 14 29 32 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th R Giugliano 34 4 4 9 24 34 0 4 13 16 44 20 ************************************************************************************************ Ragusa - Wednesday 7th May 2003 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2002/3 Senior Club Stats ================================================================================================ No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Abate, Francesco 28 (3) 6 0 0 3 0 0 1 6.68 - Abiven, Philippe - - - - - - - - ---- - Alberts, Henk - - - - - - - - ---- - Alessandro Indricchi, Pao 18 0 18 0 0 0 0 2 7.17 - Andrès, Julien 16 (1) 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 6.65 - Antenucci, Mattia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Antonioli, Alessandro - - - - - - - - ---- - Born, Edgar 11 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.36 - Brachet, Jimmy 27 (3) 2 0 0 0 6 0 1 7.20 - Brambilla, Ivan - - - - - - - - ---- - Brescia, Gianluca - - - - - - - - ---- - Brunel, Anthony 7 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.71 - Dal Santo, Angelo - - - - - - - - ---- - Doria, Vittorio 11 3 0 0 4 0 0 2 7.09 - Dröge, Torsten 5 (1) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.67 - Dubois, Nicolas 9 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.20 - Feudi, Simone 27 (1) 4 0 2 (2) 6 3 0 0 6.71 - Fierens, Gert - - - - - - - - ---- - Förster, Steffen 12 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 6.92 - Galetti, Giacomo 10 (1) 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.45 - Galli, Federico - - - - - - - - ---- - Gentile, Giorgio 30 (2) 9 0 2 (2) 1 1 0 2 7.41 - Heylen, Kris 21 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 7.14 - Kuipers, Paul 11 (1) 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 6.75 - Lenglet, Julien 9 (2) 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.91 - López, Alberto - - - - - - - - ---- - Malouda, Cédric 10 (4) 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.64 - Mantioni, Adriano 22 (4) 3 0 1 (1) 3 1 0 1 6.81 - Marco, Gonzalo - - - - - - - - ---- - Michel, Cédric 27 (3) 8 0 0 9 1 0 2 7.10 - Moreira 16 (3) 2 0 0 3 1 0 0 7.11 - Novello, Lucas 4 (2) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.67 - Oddo, Lorenzo - - - - - - - - ---- - Rizzo, Guido - - - - - - - - ---- - Sammarco, Alessio 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.33 - Sanders, Carlos - - - - - - - - ---- - Sartini, Luca - - - - - - - - ---- - Schiavone, Paolo - - - - - - - - ---- - Scholz, Ronny - - - - - - - - ---- - Schröder, Markus 26 0 23 0 0 0 0 2 7.00 - Schulte, Stefan - - - - - - - - ---- - Sorrentino, Tonino 6 (2) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.38 - Spinelli, Tiziano 14 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 6.71 - Tirelli, Paolo 6 (1) 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.43 - Vastola, Danilo - - - - - - - - ---- - Verdú, Eduardo 27 3 0 0 0 2 0 4 7.30 - Vink, Hans - - - - - - - - ---- - de Boer, Dick - - - - - - - - ---- - van Wijk, Ruud 4 (1) 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 6.40 - van den Berg, Paul 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.75 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donald_Duck Posted March 5, 2006 Share Posted March 5, 2006 Wow nobody has ever commented on your story, do you find it hard to keep going? Congrats on promotion after so nearly getting relegated the previous season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 5, 2006 Author Share Posted March 5, 2006 Duck- I can tell from the page views that people are reading this, so the lack of comments foesn't really bother me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donald_Duck Posted March 5, 2006 Share Posted March 5, 2006 True, KUTGW anyway mate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
haze.13 Posted March 5, 2006 Share Posted March 5, 2006 Congrats EH! Has Gentile hit the age barrier or do you really need the cash? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nerf Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 Ah, sweet Ragusa. How I miss thee. Best of luck, EH, great start . I think there's something in the water down in southern Sicily, I had a good crop of youngsters come through there. I wish you every success, make sure you avoid those dratted playoffs Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 6, 2006 Author Share Posted March 6, 2006 Cheers all. Haze- see below to find out why we sold Gentile-btw, he turned 21 in the offseason. Nerf- I'm actually finding that Belguim, Holland and Germany provide me with my best players, but about three-quarters of those guys never make the first team because of homesickness. I'll do my best to aviod the playoffs...but I have the feeling that Ragusa will stall out in Serie B because of revenue issues. June through August 2003: The off season went about as expected. Brachet left for a fee of 35,000 pounds to a French National side. Then the day after the fans voted him Player of the Year, Gentile left for mid-table English Division One side Coventry for 230,000 poinds, which cut the club debt by half. After that, I sold off two goalkeepers for a total of 80,000 pounds. All this allowed Ragusa to post a profit during the month of July, which was the first time the club had posted an earned profit for the past 24 months. The usual releases and youth signings followed the record-setting month as the roster took shape for the 03-04 season. The payroll became laughably low, hovering around 350,000 pounds for 50 players. That comes out to an average salary of 7,000 pounds per year- and they call this a “professional†outfit. Ain’t no rich prima donnas here. The closest thing we had to a superstar, Gentile has been duly replaced. Coventry will find soon enogh that he’s a lazy SOB who relies more on natural talent than hard work. He never missed training or showed up hung-over or anything, but he didn’t apply himself either. The roster changes made themselves felt as we finished bottom of the table in the pre-season Serie C Cup group stage. What didn’t help was that our starting goalkeeper had a mental meltdown. As he was the only goalie left on the roster with any talent whatsoever, I hoped he could pull himself together for the league season, which began in September. All in all, it was not an auspicious start to the year for the Ragusa boys. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 10.8.03 Thiene H Serie C Cup Grp A 2:2 852 Michel 2 17.8.03 Tivoli A Serie C Cup Grp A 1:1 3952 Brunel 20.8.03 Faenza H Serie C Cup Grp A 1:4 1563 Doria 27.8.03 Brindisi A Serie C Cup Grp A 0:1 2475 ************************************************************************************************ Ragusa - Sunday 7th September 2003 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ Squad ================================================================================================ No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Abiven, Philippe D RC FRA 3.2.84 19 - - £3K 28.6.05 £12K - Alberts, Henk M RC HOL 6.7.84 19 - - £12K 8.6.06 £24K - Alessandro Indricchi, Pao GK ITA 29.3.83 20 - - £5K 14.6.04 £14K - Antenucci, Mattia D/DM L ITA 27.10.84 18 - - £3K 16.6.04 £8K - Antonioli, Alessandro M RLC ITA 30.6.83 20 - - £3K 26.6.07 £20K - Antonioli, Filippo S C ITA 31.7.86 17 - - £3K 12.6.06 £18K - Benachour, Frédéric S C FRA 22.7.83 20 - - £9K 1.6.06 £18K - Brambilla, Ivan D C ITA 28.5.86 17 - - £8K 25.6.05 £12K - Brescia, Gianluca D C ITA 24.11.86 16 - - £8K 15.6.05 £12K - Brunel, Anthony M C FRA 28.10.83 19 - - £7K 20.6.05 £18K - Catherine, William GK FRA 14.8.86 17 - - £14K 1.6.07 £20K - Dal Santo, Angelo GK ITA 4.9.86 17 - - £3K 17.6.06 £18K - Doria, Vittorio F RC ITA 29.6.86 17 - - £9K 3.6.05 £28K - Dröge, Torsten S C GER 29.10.84 18 - - £5K 22.6.06 £35K - Dubois, Nicolas M C FRA 27.7.83 20 - - £3K 11.6.05 £12K - Feudi, Simone M RC ITA 5.2.82 21 - - £3K 8.6.04 £18K - Förster, Steffen S C GER 2.10.84 18 - - £7K 22.6.05 £24K - Galetti, Giacomo M C ITA 19.6.84 19 - - £8K 28.6.05 £12K - Galli, Federico S C ITA 18.12.84 18 - - £3K 11.6.06 £18K - Heylen, Kris D/DM LC BEL 25.1.83 20 - - £18K 8.6.05 £20K - Hoefkens, Stijn M C BEL 29.7.84 19 - - £20K 23.6.06 £26K - Kuipers, Paul D/DM C HOL 25.5.86 17 - - £10K 12.6.05 £12K - Lenglet, Julien F RC FRA 19.11.82 20 - - £14K 17.6.05 £28K - López, Alberto M C ESP 19.10.83 19 - - £9K 6.6.05 £12K - Mantioni, Adriano M RLC ITA 1.3.84 19 - - £3K 23.6.05 £20K - Michel, Cédric AM RC FRA 21.3.83 20 - - £14K 21.6.05 £30K - Möller, Marco AM C GER 20.12.86 16 - - £14K 27.6.06 £20K - Napolitano, Pietro S C ITA 31.10.86 16 - - £9K 27.6.06 £28K - Novello, Lucas S C ITA 31.10.83 19 - - £3K 15.6.05 £22K - Oddo, Lorenzo S C ITA 1.3.83 20 - - £3K 28.6.05 £22K - Olivier, Louis SW/D/DM RC BEL 11.5.85 18 - - £12K 24.6.06 £28K - Pisano, Emiliano GK ITA 4.1.84 19 - - £8K 19.6.07 £20K - Sammarco, Alessio F LC ITA 12.2.85 18 - - £8K 26.6.05 £22K - Sanders, Carlos D/DM RL BEL 29.5.83 20 - - £3K 28.6.06 £20K - Sartini, Luca D C ITA 25.2.84 19 - - £5K 5.6.06 £20K - Schettino, Emiliano D R ITA 5.12.83 19 - - £5K 1.6.07 £20K - Schiavone, Paolo D C ITA 6.8.88 15 - - £3K 28.6.04 £8K - Scholz, Ronny D C GER 11.8.83 20 - - £3K 28.6.05 £12K - Schulte, Stefan D L GER 29.11.83 19 - - £5K 9.6.06 £18K - Spinelli, Tiziano D RLC ITA 31.7.86 17 - - £6K 15.6.05 £20K - Tirelli, Paolo D L ITA 1.2.84 19 - - £7K 12.6.05 £12K - Van Hoyweghen, Frederick S C BEL 4.2.86 17 - - £3K 1.6.07 £24K - Vastola, Danilo D L ITA 1.2.85 18 - - £5K 8.6.06 £18K - Verdú, Eduardo D RC ESP 28.7.82 21 - - £16K 13.6.04 £35K - Vink, Hans SW/D C HOL 2.3.83 20 - - £3K 5.6.06 £18K - Wuillot, Cédric D/DM RC BEL 9.7.84 19 - - £20K 1.6.06 £20K - de Boer, Dick S C HOL 22.11.85 17 - - £3K 21.6.06 £20K - de Bruine, Patrick M C HOL 5.1.84 19 - - £6K 1.6.06 £24K - van Wijk, Ruud M C HOL 23.4.85 18 - - £7K 20.6.05 £12K - van den Berg, Paul D L HOL 15.7.86 17 - - £12K 20.6.05 £12K </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 6, 2006 Author Share Posted March 6, 2006 September 2003: We rebounded nicely from our atrocious showing in the Cup by winning two and drawing two in the opening month of the league season. The team seemed to be firing on most cylinders the new starting lineup began to gel. The forwards were beginning to pick up the slack for Gentile, who is currently injured at Coventry and as yet to appear in either a senior squad game or a reserve game. The main concern of the preseason, shoddy goalkeeping seems to have settled down in these opening weeks. So far though, the only surprise of the first eighth of the season is the stellar play of Lorenzo Oddo a forward whom no one expected of. Oddo is a targetman specialist. He can head and jump and that’s about it. He has managed to light up the opposition in the early going however, and only time will tell is this will be a breakout season for him. Oddo was originally signed to fill out the reserve forwards last season and made the first team cut this season only because of age(he’s 20), so there is little pressure on him or for the team as a whole to succeed. Michel is also showing signs that he could be the next Gentile at the club. He’s the rare player that actually fits my system to a T and has enough of a work ethic to continue improving. I can say this much. Right now is a good time to the manager of Ragusa. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 7.9.03 Crotone A Serie C1/B 3:3 4000 Doria pen, Förster, Oddo 14.9.03 Sora H Serie C1/B 1:1 3309 Michel 21.9.03 Sambenedettese H Serie C1/B 2:0 3453 Oddo, Michel 28.9.03 Gualdo A Serie C1/B 1:0 4052 Michel </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 7, 2006 Author Share Posted March 7, 2006 October 2003: We had a god month winning two and drawing two managing to avoid losing in the league through eight games. During the month, my youth scouts started turning up some real gems, including a pair of forwards, Boever and Gonzalez, that could put Gentile to shame in a couple of years. In addition, some reservists made strong showings during the first quarter of the season and were called up to the first team at the end of October. Galetti earned his second callup as did German forward Diaoge. Those who failed to prove that they could hack first team ball were Van der Berg, Doria, who were serve back to the reserves, and Novello, who was released along with a couple of others. Their vacated spots dilled quickly as there were always good prospects willing to sign cheap. On the plus side, Dubois finally managed to stake a foothold on the first team after spending last year bouncing up and down between the senior club and the farm team. On the debit side of the ledger, AMC Michel was having an off- year and I couldn’t figure out what to do with him. He seemed to be undermining the tegam with his play, yet he was the best at his position. We couldn’t purchase anyone, there being no money and the backup wasn’t playing well either. As long as the team contined to play well in the league, Michel’s poor play didn’t really matter, but things could force a dilemma if things went pear-shaped. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 5.10.03 Foggia H Serie C1/B 2:2 3467 Novello, Oddo 12.10.03 Torres A Serie C1/B 0:0 11971 19.10.03 Giulianova H Serie C1/B 1:0 3478 Alberts 26.10.03 Cosenza A Serie C1/B 1:1 9757 Tirelli </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 8, 2006 Author Share Posted March 8, 2006 November 2003: We continued our streak of not losing in the league as we won 2 and drew 3 games. Oddo still shone brightly as the team star, pouring in goals on route to what seemed likely to be a magical season for him. Meanwhile only a couple of the callups like Mollar and Sammarco were showing they had the stuff to stick with the first team. The rest, along with a couple of veterans like Galetti, Forster and Freudi were visibly slumping and were in danger of being sent down or released. The reservists, smelling blood and playing well, which was putting considerable pressure on the first team. Competition is good in sports, it keeps everyone sharp. In addition, some of the lesser lights of the reserve side were getting more playing time as five players, including Kuipers and Brunel left the team because they couldn’t hack the Italian lifestyle. That is the hazard of signing foreign players for the reserves; most of them get homesick and bored. But, our grist mill keeps running as we sift for good talent. We must be doing something right, as we’re doing well in the league. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 2.11.03 Lodigiani H Serie C1/B 2:2 3477 Alberts, L.Oddo 9.11.03 Alzano A Serie C1/B 2:0 2981 Sammarco, Möller 16.11.03 Paternò H Serie C1/B 1:1 3470 Oddo 23.11.03 Igea Virtus A Serie C1/B 1:1 4973 Lenglet 30.11.03 Viterbese H Serie C1/B 2:1 3471 Wuillot pen, Oddo ************************************************************************************************ Italian Serie C1/B - Tuesday 2nd December 2003 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2003/4 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Cosenza 13 5 1 1 11 6 3 3 0 11 7 28 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Torres 13 3 3 1 12 9 5 0 1 11 7 27 3rd Foggia 13 6 0 1 15 5 2 1 3 9 11 25 4th Avellino 13 4 1 2 16 11 4 0 2 11 9 25 5th Messina 13 4 1 1 12 9 4 0 3 15 11 25 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6th Lanciano 13 2 3 1 10 8 4 2 1 19 13 23 7th Ragusa 13 3 4 0 11 7 2 4 0 8 5 23 8th Igea Virtus 13 3 2 1 10 10 2 2 3 12 16 19 9th Paternò 13 3 1 2 11 10 2 2 3 10 10 18 10th Alzano 13 5 0 1 12 5 0 2 5 6 12 17 11th Gualdo 13 1 3 3 7 10 3 1 2 10 8 16 12th Sora 13 2 1 4 11 16 2 3 1 6 5 16 13th Chieti 13 4 0 2 13 5 0 2 5 7 15 14 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14th Crotone 13 3 3 1 16 8 0 1 5 2 10 13 15th Sambenedettese 13 2 1 3 9 11 1 1 5 7 12 11 16th Giulianova 13 2 3 2 8 8 0 1 5 2 10 10 17th Lodigiani 13 1 2 3 9 8 0 3 4 7 16 8 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Viterbese 13 1 0 5 5 13 0 1 6 6 21 4 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
axeman Posted March 8, 2006 Share Posted March 8, 2006 Good going there EH Hope you manage to sneak into the promotion play-offs come end of season KUTGW Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 9, 2006 Author Share Posted March 9, 2006 Axeman- Cheers I think we're good enough to get to Serie B, but I've no idea how good we would be there. We have stadium, practice facility, and revenue issues to deal with before we can even think of the lofty heights of Serie A. December 2003- January 2004 We had a good stretch of play during the winter months, winning two, drawing three and losing one to remain in the promotion playoff hunt. More players departed as the halfway point of the season approached. Freudi and Verdu’s contracts were due to expire at the end of the season. I didn’t really want to resign either, so I went ahead and released both of them so that they could join new teams straight away. I don’t like the Bosman system in one respect. I don’t think players should be allowed to sign with another team until his contract actually expires. Allowing a player to sign with another team in the last six months of his contract is just asking for trouble. After all, what’s to keep a guy from becoming unmotivated and a liability to his team as he plays out the old contract before joining his new team. It would be better if the player couldn’t negotiate with any other team until his contract actually expires. That way, the player keeps his focus until the bitter end. In addition, this whole “protection†thing is nonsense. A player should be bound to his team until his contract runs out, not have the ability to opt out after two or three years- unless there is a clause in his contract agreeing to such a thing. I did attempt to resign one player during this time. The youngest member of the team, 16 yr old Paulo Schivone’s contract was due to run out in June, so I offered him another contract. He rejected our offer in favor of a deal from Serie B side Lecce, who were knocking on the door to Serie A. Out of pure spite, I ordered Schivone to do goalkeeper training for the rest of his time at Ragusa. Ungrateful little whelp- I give the guy his start in football, and he spurns his team. If we were mediocre doormats, I could understand, but Ragusa is clearly on the rise. At the halfway point of the season, I called yup a few players who were smoking their reserve opponents. Vincente, Hoeficker, Doria, Bevers and a couple of others would get a chance to prove themselves in the first team. Forester, Galetti, Sammarco and a couple of others were sent down to resurrect their seasons amid easier competition. A few more players were released, but the spots were quickly filled. Towards the end of January, a spate of injuries hit the first team, meaning that their was some creativity in my substitution patterns for a couple of games. All in all, it was a good few games and we headed into a blustery February brimming with confidence. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 7.12.03 Chieti A Serie C1/B 1:0 8994 Michel 14.12.03 Lanciano H Serie C1/B 1:2 3488 Oddo 21.12.03 Messina A Serie C1/B 2:0 6741 Mantioni, Schulte 8.1.04 Avellino H Serie C1/B 1:1 3460 Alberts 18.1.04 Crotone H Serie C1/B 1:1 3461 Michel 25.1.04 Sora A Serie C1/B 1:1 7481 Bevers ************************************************************************************************ Ragusa - Wednesday 14th January 2004 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2003/4 Senior Club Stats ================================================================================================ No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Abiven, Philippe - - - - - - - - ---- - Alberts, Henk 15 3 0 0 4 3 0 3 7.27 - Bergen, Christian - - - - - - - - ---- - Bernal, Pablo - - - - - - - - ---- - Bevers, Tom - - - - - - - - ---- - Brambilla, Ivan - - - - - - - - ---- - Brescia, Gianluca - - - - - - - - ---- - Catherine, William 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 - Doria, Vittorio 5 (2) 2 0 1 (1) 0 0 0 0 6.57 - Dröge, Torsten 4 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 7.00 - Dubois, Nicolas 14 (1) 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 7.13 - Falcone, Stefano 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Förster, Steffen 10 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.90 - Galetti, Giacomo 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.40 - Garcia, Philippe - - - - - - - - ---- - Garrido, Marcos 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 - González González, Robert - - - - - - - - ---- - Guillemet, Julien - - - - - - - - ---- - Heylen, Kris 12 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 7.17 - Hoefkens, Stijn - - - - - - - - ---- - Lenglet, Julien 8 (3) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.64 - Mantioni, Adriano 9 (1) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.80 - Marchisio, Alberto - - - - - - - - ---- - Michel, Cédric 13 6 0 0 4 1 0 0 7.00 - Möller, Marco 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 - Moreau, Olivier - - - - - - - - ---- - Morini, Paolo - - - - - - - - ---- - Napolitano, Pietro - - - - - - - - ---- - Negro, Francesco - - - - - - - - ---- - Oddo, Lorenzo 11 (2) 7 0 0 1 1 0 1 7.23 - Petrelli, Umberto - - - - - - - - ---- - Pisano, Emiliano 8 0 8 0 0 0 0 1 7.13 - Rath, Horst - - - - - - - - ---- - Sammarco, Alessio 6 (1) 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 6.86 - Santoro, Carmine - - - - - - - - ---- - Sartini, Luca 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.67 - Schiavone, Paolo - - - - - - - - ---- - Scholz, Ronny 12 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.83 - Spinelli, Tiziano 4 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 - Tirelli, Paolo 4 (1) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 - Vastola, Danilo - - - - - - - - ---- - Verheyen, Philippe - - - - - - - - ---- - Vicente, Ãngel - - - - - - - - ---- - Vink, Hans 7 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.86 - Wuillot, Cédric 12 1 0 1 (1) 0 1 0 1 6.83 - van den Berg, Paul 5 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.20 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 10, 2006 Author Share Posted March 10, 2006 February 2004: It was a typical month for us. We won one, drew two and lost one to hold steady in the league. Oddo continued to shine brilliantly, but had fallen off his goalscoring pace a bit. The real concerns of the month were twofold. First, the injuries hit especially on defense. I wound up starting midfielders at fullback in a couple of games. The second concern was goalkeeping. Our goalkeeping had never really recovered from the preseason shock it had suffered early on. I was concerned now that it might desert us again in March and April, crunch-time in the league. Only time would tell as we went into March. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 1.2.04 Sambenedettese A Serie C1/B 0:1 14929 15.2.04 Gualdo H Serie C1/B 1:1 3458 Michel 22.2.04 Foggia A Serie C1/B 1:0 10142 Bevers 29.2.04 Torres H Serie C1/B 2:2 3384 Doria, Oddo ************************************************************************************************ Italian Serie C1/B - Thursday 4th March 2004 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2003/4 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Cosenza 23 8 2 2 21 11 5 4 2 19 15 45 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Foggia 23 9 0 3 27 10 5 2 4 17 16 44 3rd Torres 23 5 5 2 22 18 7 2 2 21 16 43 4th Lanciano 23 4 5 2 20 15 7 2 3 25 20 40 5th Ragusa 23 3 8 1 17 14 5 5 1 13 7 37 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6th Messina 23 6 2 3 20 15 5 2 5 23 23 37 7th Avellino 23 6 1 4 24 22 5 2 5 18 20 36 8th Crotone 23 7 3 1 31 14 3 2 7 9 17 35 9th Paternò 23 6 1 4 21 18 4 2 6 15 17 33 10th Sora 23 2 4 6 14 21 5 5 1 21 13 30 11th Alzano 23 7 2 2 18 10 1 3 8 10 25 29 12th Chieti 23 7 0 4 20 9 1 4 7 14 24 28 13th Igea Virtus 23 6 2 3 18 15 2 2 8 19 28 28 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14th Giulianova 23 5 5 2 18 13 1 3 7 7 15 26 15th Sambenedettese 23 5 2 5 14 16 2 1 8 9 19 24 16th Gualdo 23 1 5 6 13 19 4 3 4 16 14 23 17th Lodigiani 23 5 4 3 22 14 0 4 7 11 28 23 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Viterbese 23 2 0 9 10 21 0 3 9 8 33 9 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 10, 2006 Author Share Posted March 10, 2006 March 2004: March can certainly feel like one of the coldest months of the year and Italian football is no exception to that rule. We lost our first game in March and that defeat knocked us out fof 5th place. Draws in the next two games left us in 7th and wondering where our season was going. At that moment we were three quarters of the way through the season and it was time for reservists to be called up to the first team. Forester regained his first team spot, while Droge and Lenglet were released; the former because he couldn’t stand Italy and the latter because he was too old for the reserves. I only allow 20 and under players in my reserves. If you can’t play first team by the time you’re 21 on this club, you have no business being here as the average age of the squad remains at 18.5. I expect my “elder statesmen†to play first team football and if they can’t, well they’re gone. So a prospect-studded lineup helped us win a shootout 3-2 at the end of March. All three goals were scored by the defense, which is unusual. The win lifted us to 6th and we remained at the door to the promotional playoffs. At this point, barring a miraculous string of wins on our part, it would seem we will have to be content with crashing the party at the end of the season. April was a critical month, our team had to get its act together if they wanted glory. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 7.3.04 Giulianova A Serie C1/B 0:2 6428 14.3.04 Cosenza H Serie C1/B 1:1 3462 Bevers 20.3.04 Lodigiani A Serie C1/B 1:1 4960 Bevers 28.3.04 Alzano H Serie C1/B 3:2 3468 Wuillot 2 pens, Rath ************************************************************************************************ Italian Serie C1/B - Sunday 28th March 2004 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2003/4 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Foggia 27 11 0 3 31 11 5 2 6 18 19 50 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Torres 27 6 6 2 27 21 8 2 3 24 20 50 3rd Lanciano 27 6 5 2 24 16 8 2 4 29 25 49 4th Cosenza 27 8 3 3 21 12 5 5 3 20 17 47 5th Avellino 27 7 2 4 32 24 6 3 5 22 22 44 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6th Ragusa 27 4 9 1 21 17 5 6 2 14 10 42 7th Crotone 27 8 3 2 33 16 4 2 8 13 21 41 8th Messina 27 7 2 4 25 18 5 3 6 27 28 41 9th Paternò 27 6 2 5 25 23 5 3 6 19 19 38 10th Chieti 27 7 1 5 24 14 3 4 7 19 27 35 11th Alzano 27 8 2 3 21 13 2 3 9 14 29 35 12th Sora 27 2 5 7 15 24 6 5 2 22 15 34 13th Giulianova 27 7 5 2 21 13 1 4 8 9 18 33 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14th Igea Virtus 27 7 3 3 23 18 2 2 10 20 33 32 15th Gualdo 27 3 5 6 16 20 4 4 5 17 17 30 16th Lodigiani 27 6 5 3 25 16 0 5 8 13 31 28 17th Sambenedettese 27 6 2 6 17 19 2 2 9 13 24 28 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Viterbese 27 3 0 10 15 26 0 3 11 8 41 12 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 10, 2006 Author Share Posted March 10, 2006 April and May 2004: We won 5 of our last 8 games and a couple of the wins were of the convincing fashion. However, it was our one loss in the stretch that undid our bid fro the promotion playoffs. The problem was that 5th place Crotone kept pace with us and nullified all our wins. So it was that on the second to last day of the season, Crotone secured the 5th spot, shutting us out of the playoffs. It’s a painful lesson to learn in sports and in life as well. Sometimes your best is simply not good enough. The last eight games had been by far our best form of the season, and in the end, it wasn’t good enough. We closed out the year with a draw that gave us 17 draws in league play or put in another way, half the league games. The day after the season ended I reshuffled the first team so that the squad for next season could begin to develop cohesiveness over the summer training. Six players were released so that fresh faces could be brought in once the summer signing period opened on July 1. At the very least, I knew that we would have a good team next year and one I hoped would be able to sneak into the playoffs this time. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 28.3.04 Alzano H Serie C1/B 3:2 3468 Wuillot 2 pens, Rath 4.4.04 Paternò A Serie C1/B 2:0 5985 Oddo, Förster 7.4.04 Igea Virtus H Serie C1/B 1:1 3467 Bevers 11.4.04 Viterbese A Serie C1/B 4:1 4216 Förster 2, Bevers, Vink 18.4.04 Chieti H Serie C1/B 2:1 3463 Bevers 2 25.4.04 Lanciano A Serie C1/B 1:2 7993 Bevers 2.5.04 Messina H Serie C1/B 2:0 3489 Michel, Bevers 9.5.04 Avellino A Serie C1/B 1:1 8863 Vink ************************************************************************************************ Italian Serie C1/B - Sunday 9th May 2004 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2003/4 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Torres 34 9 6 2 34 23 10 2 5 31 27 65 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Pl Lanciano 34 9 5 3 32 21 10 2 5 34 29 64 3rd Pl Cosenza 34 10 3 4 26 16 8 6 3 27 19 63 4th Pl Foggia 34 12 0 5 34 14 8 2 7 24 22 62 5th Pl Crotone 34 11 3 3 39 19 7 2 8 20 24 59 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6th Ragusa 34 6 10 1 26 19 7 7 3 22 14 56 7th Avellino 34 9 3 5 41 28 7 4 6 27 27 55 8th Messina 34 9 3 5 34 23 5 3 9 29 35 48 9th Gualdo 34 5 5 7 20 22 7 4 6 24 20 45 10th Giulianova 34 8 7 2 23 14 3 5 9 13 20 45 11th Sora 34 3 5 9 19 28 8 6 3 27 22 44 12th Paternò 34 8 2 7 31 31 5 3 9 21 26 44 13th Igea Virtus 34 9 4 4 31 25 3 4 10 23 35 44 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14th Pl Alzano 34 8 3 6 23 19 3 4 10 16 31 40 15th Pl Chieti 34 8 1 8 29 22 3 4 10 20 33 38 16th Pl Lodigiani 34 6 7 4 26 18 2 5 10 21 40 36 17th Pl Sambenedettese 34 6 2 9 20 27 2 3 12 16 34 29 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th R Viterbese 34 3 0 14 17 35 0 3 14 9 47 12 ************************************************************************************************ Ragusa - Sunday 9th May 2004 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2003/4 Senior Club Stats ================================================================================================ No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Abiven, Philippe - - - - - - - - ---- - Alberts, Henk 26 (1) 3 0 0 4 4 1 3 7.00 - Barbier, Philippe - - - - - - - - ---- - Bergen, Christian 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.50 - Bernal, Pablo 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 7.25 - Bevers, Tom 14 10 0 0 2 1 0 2 7.36 - Bosio, Enrico - - - - - - - - ---- - Brambilla, Ivan - - - - - - - - ---- - Brescia, Gianluca - - - - - - - - ---- - Buscher, Dirk 2 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.25 - Carrai, Giacomo - - - - - - - - ---- - Catherine, William 10 0 9 0 0 0 0 1 7.10 - Doria, Vittorio 8 (2) 3 0 1 (1) 2 1 0 0 6.70 - Dubois, Nicolas 24 (1) 0 0 0 6 1 0 0 6.88 - Falcone, Stefano 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Ferri, Sergio - - - - - - - - ---- - Förster, Steffen 13 4 0 0 1 1 0 1 7.08 - Galetti, Giacomo 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.40 - Garcia, Philippe - - - - - - - - ---- - Garrido, Marcos 10 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.90 - González González, Robert - - - - - - - - ---- - Guillemet, Julien 7 (1) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.50 - Heylen, Kris 23 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 7.00 - Hoefkens, Stijn 4 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 - Mantioni, Adriano 17 (2) 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.63 - Marchisio, Alberto - - - - - - - - ---- - Michel, Cédric 27 (1) 9 0 0 10 2 0 0 6.96 - Möller, Marco 12 (2) 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 7.07 - Moreau, Olivier - - - - - - - - ---- - Morini, Paolo - - - - - - - - ---- - Napolitano, Pietro - - - - - - - - ---- - Negro, Francesco - - - - - - - - ---- - Oddo, Lorenzo 23 (3) 9 0 0 1 1 0 1 7.15 - Opitz, Tobias - - - - - - - - ---- - Petrelli, Umberto 2 (1) 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 6.33 - Pisano, Emiliano 18 0 19 0 0 0 0 2 7.17 - Rath, Horst 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.60 - Sammarco, Alessio 6 (1) 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 6.86 - Santoro, Carmine - - - - - - - - ---- - Sartini, Luca 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.63 - Schiavone, Paolo - - - - - - - - ---- - Scholz, Ronny 19 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 6.95 - Spinelli, Tiziano 4 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 - Tirelli, Paolo 4 (1) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 - Vastola, Danilo - - - - - - - - ---- - Verheyen, Philippe - - - - - - - - ---- - Vicente, Ãngel 3 (1) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.25 - Vink, Hans 21 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 7.05 - Wuillot, Cédric 22 3 0 3 (3) 1 2 0 4 7.18 - van den Berg, Paul 5 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.20 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 13, 2006 Author Share Posted March 13, 2006 June-August 2004: The offseason was notable mainly for political events. An addition 10 countries joined the EU, bringing the membership total to 25. In addition, I was forced to begin reckoning prices and wages in Euros like the rest of Italy. This didn’t bother me too much. Currency may fluctuate, but the base price is always the same economically. Economically, Ragusa continues to struggle against a small stadium and small fanbase. But, I wasn’t worried about that too much; I was more concerned with getting my players to believe that we could win the Serie C1 division. Our confidence had taken a hit when we fell just short of the playoffs. Accordingly, I trained the lads hard over the break and they began Cup play in August with high hopes. We fulfilled those hopes by racing through the Cup group stage with a perfect 4-0 record. We also made more money in August than we usually did. We brought in all time highs in season ticket revenue and sold one of our French reservists to Troyes for E210, 000, which helped the club’s bottom line considerably as we headed into the league season. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 15.8.04 Novara A Serie C Cup Grp D 1:0 9874 Bernal 22.8.04 Centese H Serie C Cup Grp D 1:0 1268 Förster 29.8.04 Valenzana A Serie C Cup Grp D 2:1 2496 Möller, Förster 1.9.04 Brindisi H Serie C Cup Grp D 2:1 906 Bernal, Bevers ************************************************************************************************ Ragusa - Sunday 5th September 2004 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ Squad ================================================================================================ No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Abiven, Philippe D RC FRA 3.2.84 20 - - ¤5K 28.6.05 ¤14K - Alberts, Henk M RC HOL 5.7.84 20 - - ¤18K 8.6.06 ¤60K - Asensio, Mateo S C ESP 26.12.87 16 - - ¤10K 18.6.07 ¤40K - Barbier, Philippe SW/D C FRA 9.11.85 18 - - ¤8K 25.6.07 ¤35K - Bergen, Christian D LC GER 11.6.84 20 - - ¤12K 16.6.07 ¤30K - Bernal, Pablo D LC ESP 4.4.86 18 - - ¤14K 28.6.06 ¤26K - Bevers, Tom S C BEL 2.2.85 19 - - ¤16K 24.6.07 ¤65K - Bosio, Enrico M C ITA 17.7.85 19 - - ¤7K 12.6.07 ¤30K - Brambilla, Ivan D C ITA 28.5.86 18 - - ¤12K 25.6.05 ¤14K - Brescia, Gianluca D C ITA 24.11.86 17 - - ¤12K 15.6.05 ¤14K - Bresciani, Davide AM LC ITA 16.3.87 17 - - ¤8K 19.6.07 ¤30K - Doria, Vittorio F RC ITA 29.6.86 18 - - ¤14K 3.6.05 ¤35K - Dubois, Nicolas M C FRA 27.7.83 21 - - ¤5K 11.6.05 ¤35K - Ferri, Sergio M RLC ITA 9.9.86 17 - - ¤5K 16.6.07 ¤30K - Förster, Steffen S C GER 2.10.84 19 - - ¤10K 22.6.05 ¤30K - Galetti, Giacomo M C ITA 19.6.84 20 - - ¤12K 28.6.05 ¤14K - Garcia, Philippe S C FRA 6.12.83 20 - - ¤9K 12.6.06 ¤80K - Garrido, Marcos D R ESP 16.2.85 19 - - ¤18K 25.6.06 ¤30K - Granzotto, Stefano S C ITA 20.5.85 19 - - ¤10K 19.6.08 ¤35K - Heylen, Kris D/DM LC BEL 25.1.83 21 - - ¤28K 8.6.05 ¤30K - Hoefkens, Stijn M C BEL 29.7.84 20 - - ¤30K 23.6.06 ¤55K - Mantioni, Adriano M RLC ITA 1.3.84 20 - - ¤5K 23.6.05 ¤26K - Marchisio, Alberto D C ITA 9.9.87 16 - - ¤7K 17.6.06 ¤22K - Marconi, Vittorio D L ITA 7.6.87 17 - - ¤40K Rolling ¤18K - Michel, Cédric AM RC FRA 21.3.83 21 - - ¤24K 21.6.05 ¤55K - Michels, Werner GK GER 30.3.86 18 - - ¤14K 19.6.08 ¤35K - Möller, Marco AM C GER 20.12.86 17 - - ¤22K 27.6.06 ¤55K - Moreau, Olivier M LC FRA 15.4.86 18 - - ¤18K 21.6.06 ¤160K - Morini, Paolo GK ITA 24.9.87 16 - - ¤9K 26.6.06 ¤22K - Moya, Rubén M C ESP 2.11.87 16 - - ¤8K 4.6.08 ¤40K - Napolitano, Pietro S C ITA 31.10.86 17 - - ¤14K 27.6.06 ¤30K - Negro, Francesco D R ITA 31.10.85 18 - - ¤5K 16.6.06 ¤22K - Petrelli, Umberto M C ITA 2.6.84 20 - - ¤12K 4.6.06 ¤26K - Pisano, Emiliano GK ITA 4.1.84 20 - - ¤12K 19.6.07 ¤35K - Rath, Horst D C GER 16.12.86 17 - - ¤14K 18.6.07 ¤30K - Santoro, Carmine GK ITA 20.4.84 20 - - ¤12K 18.6.07 ¤30K - Sartini, Luca D C ITA 25.2.84 20 - - ¤7K 5.6.06 ¤24K - Scholz, Ronny D C GER 11.8.83 21 - - ¤5K 28.6.05 ¤24K - Scibilia, Domenico AM/F RC ITA 23.8.84 20 - - ¤5K 19.6.08 ¤35K - Spinelli, Tiziano D RLC ITA 31.7.86 18 - - ¤10K 15.6.05 ¤14K - Vastola, Danilo D L ITA 1.2.85 19 - - ¤7K 8.6.06 ¤22K - Vecchi, Giuseppe F LC ITA 26.7.85 19 - - ¤5K 19.6.08 ¤35K - Verheyen, Philippe DM C BEL 1.7.87 17 - - ¤10K 10.6.07 ¤30K - Vicente, Ãngel D/DM L ESP 26.1.87 17 - - ¤12K 25.6.06 ¤22K - Vink, Hans SW/D C HOL 2.3.83 21 - - ¤5K 5.6.06 ¤35K - Wuillot, Cédric D/DM RC BEL 9.7.84 20 - - ¤30K 1.6.06 ¤45K - van den Berg, Paul D L HOL 15.7.86 18 - - ¤18K 20.6.05 ¤14K </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 13, 2006 Author Share Posted March 13, 2006 September 2004: As the league season opened, we built on our first round Cup success. Almost predictably, our first league contest ended in a 1-1 draw, but we made up for it by peeling off three straight wins to put us high up in the league standings. However, the month, while good on the competition front, was historical in the roster front. For starters there was a complete overhaul of the goalkeepers at Ragusa. In the span of three weeks, three German goalkeepers, each a pretty fair keeper, showed up to play for us. The result was that both first team keepers, who had been so shaky last year, were jettisoned and replaced by a German import and last year’s Reserve starter. Both have served well thus far. The real history-maker came near the end of the month. Reggiana agreed to pay E460,000 for our reserve midfielder Oliver Moreau. The transfer fee was the largest we had ever received in club history. Because of that fee, we had money in the bank for the first time ever in modern history. Not only that, but the board informed me that I could spend up to E500,000 on players if I wanted to. Although I did not intend to spend that much on players, I did plan on spending some of the capital. Accordingly, I sent my scouts to Northern Europe and Britain to see what the could find. Both scouting territories were outside of our normal bailiwick, but since we had money in the bank, no one was complaining. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 5.9.04 Benevento H Serie C1/B 1:1 3327 Alberts 12.9.04 Giulianova A Serie C1/B 1:0 6786 Möller 19.9.04 Fidelis Andria H Serie C1/B 1:0 3452 Bevers pen 26.9.04 Sora A Serie C1/B 3:1 6739 Garcia, Möller, Bevers ************************************************************************************************ Italian Serie C1/B - Sunday 3rd October 2004 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2004/5 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Alzano 4 1 1 0 2 0 2 0 0 5 2 10 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Ascoli 4 2 0 0 5 2 1 1 0 3 2 10 3rd Ragusa 4 1 1 0 2 1 2 0 0 4 1 10 4th Foggia 4 2 0 0 6 1 1 0 1 3 3 9 5th Igea Virtus 4 1 0 1 3 2 1 1 0 4 1 7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6th Fidelis Andria 4 1 1 0 4 3 1 0 1 2 1 7 7th Cosenza 4 1 1 0 3 2 1 0 1 4 4 7 8th Avellino 4 1 0 1 2 2 1 0 1 5 4 6 9th Crotone 4 1 1 0 2 1 0 1 1 2 3 5 10th Gualdo 4 1 0 1 3 3 0 2 0 0 0 5 11th Benevento 4 1 0 1 4 3 0 1 1 2 4 4 12th Catania 4 1 0 1 4 3 0 0 2 2 4 3 13th Giulianova 4 0 1 1 2 3 0 2 0 4 4 3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14th Chieti 4 0 2 0 5 5 0 1 1 3 7 3 15th Paternò 4 1 0 1 4 5 0 0 2 2 6 3 16th Messina 4 0 1 1 2 4 0 1 1 2 4 2 17th Sora 4 0 1 1 4 6 0 1 1 2 6 2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Thiene 4 0 1 1 2 4 0 0 2 1 3 1 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 14, 2006 Author Share Posted March 14, 2006 October 2004: October was another record-breaker for Ragusa. We continued to play well in the league and held on to our second place perch. We also played well in our Second Round Cup games, which allowed us to move on to the Third Round. The change in goalkeepers didn’t seem to affect us any as we set a new club record for most games without losing-15 and counting. While we were doing well in our competitions, once again, the big news was roster-related. The quarter-mark of the season arrived in late October and with it came the first team shuffle. Forward Philippe Garcia was released because he broke his ankle. Veterans Heylen and Mantioni, and Galetti were released because of poor performance. Their spots were taken by eager reservists. A couple of first-players like Barberler were deemed young enough to redeem themselves in the reserves and so, were sent down rather than released. But roster-shuffling wasn’t the only thing that happened in late October. For the first team in three seasons, I actually purchased a player from another team. My scout in France spied a little-used 23 yr old at Le Havre and sent back a tape and write-up of the player. David Marlot was a central midfielder with talent and could be just the thing our midfield needed. He had more talent than anyone else on the team. So, we offered Le Havre E160,000 for him. They accepted and we made Marlot the highest paid player in Ragusa history at E100,000 per year. The 23 yr old accepted and joined Ragusa in time for the last game of the month. Marlot showed he was a good investment by scoring a brace of goals in that game. We’ll get about a season out of him before the age barrier forces us to sell him, but it is nice to have a player with a work ethic and talent. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 3.10.04 Ascoli H Serie C1/B 0:0 3459 10.10.04 Messina A Serie C1/B 2:1 8163 Michel, Garcia 13.10.04 Varese H Serie C Cup 2nd Rnd Leg 1 2:1 2169 Bevers 2 17.10.04 Paternò H Serie C1/B 3:3 3485 Dubois, Michel, Petrelli 24.10.04 Catania A Serie C1/B 2:1 13147 Mantioni, Michel 27.10.04 Varese A Serie C Cup 2nd Rnd Leg 2 1:1 5716 Doria 31.10.04 Thiene H Serie C1/B 4:1 3478 Wuillot pen, Martot 2, Bevers ************************************************************************************************ Italian Serie C1/B - Wednesday 3rd November 2004 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2004/5 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Ascoli 9 3 1 0 13 5 3 2 0 8 3 21 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Ragusa 9 2 3 0 9 5 4 0 0 8 3 21 3rd Cosenza 9 3 1 0 5 2 3 0 2 8 6 19 4th Crotone 9 3 1 0 6 1 2 1 2 8 7 17 5th Alzano 9 2 1 1 4 1 3 0 2 6 6 16 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6th Avellino 9 2 0 2 5 5 3 0 2 13 10 15 7th Igea Virtus 9 3 0 2 9 9 1 2 1 6 4 14 8th Fidelis Andria 9 2 2 0 7 5 2 0 3 6 6 14 9th Paternò 9 3 0 1 10 7 1 2 2 9 12 14 10th Chieti 9 2 2 1 11 8 1 1 2 5 9 12 11th Gualdo 9 3 0 2 9 7 0 2 2 2 9 11 12th Catania 9 2 0 3 8 8 1 1 2 4 4 10 13th Benevento 9 3 0 1 8 4 0 1 4 5 13 10 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14th Foggia 9 2 0 3 10 8 1 0 3 3 5 9 15th Messina 9 0 1 4 3 10 2 1 1 5 4 8 16th Giulianova 9 1 2 2 3 6 0 2 2 4 9 7 17th Sora 9 1 1 3 7 10 0 1 3 4 10 5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Thiene 9 1 1 2 5 6 0 0 5 3 12 4 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian of Nazareth Posted March 16, 2006 Share Posted March 16, 2006 excellent start to the new season, EH. I've not had much time to see how other people are doing in the challenges, but the Italian Serie C is such a fun league to try this from I think. Unlucky last year, but seems you should be up there by the end of the season this time though Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 17, 2006 Author Share Posted March 17, 2006 BoN- It is a fun league to try the challenge in. I'm really enjoying playing the game. Hell, I'm addicted to it. Thanks for the praise. November 2004: We continued to win in the league this month despite the fact that I managed the team in an alcoholic haze all through the month. We did, however, lose in the Serie C Cup third round. The cup did provide us with one thing though. Our gate receipts for the home leg were the highest in Ragusa history, totaling close to E45,000. This seemed to be a year for setting records. In other news, we resigned Spanish forward Gonzalez about two months after we released him. He is a good enough talent to merit a second chance with the lifestyle in Italy. New signing Marlot continued to impress and show he was worth the money we splashed out for him. Forward Bevers spent the month scoring goals for fun,- he will set the season record for league goals in a hurry and could well set the career mark as well. In short, as the month drew to a close, we continued battling Ascoli for the division lead. They were in first place by virtue of goal difference, but we were nipping at their heels. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 3.11.04 Empoli A Serie C Cup 3rd Rnd Leg 1 1:2 5954 Alberts 7.11.04 Alzano A Serie C1/B 0:0 2997 10.11.04 Empoli H Serie C Cup 3rd Rnd Leg 2 0:1 3283 14.11.04 Gualdo H Serie C1/B 3:1 3493 Bevers 2, Dubois 21.11.04 Cosenza A Serie C1/B 2:1 10734 Bevers 2 28.11.04 Igea Virtus H Serie C1/B 1:0 3483 Förster </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 19, 2006 Author Share Posted March 19, 2006 Gah- I just realized I posted the wrong table in my last post. Prehaps I need to cut down on my late-night posting. December 2004: The last month of the year saw us win, lose and draw in that precise order. While we fulfilled the cliché admirably, it cost us our lofty place in the league as we dropped to 4th place. The drop in our league fortunes warned that we could very well find ourselves in yet another dogfight for a promotional playoff spot. We were only a few points up and the second half of the season stretched before us. But we had a two week holiday for Christmas and we used the time to train and get our new midfield aquainted. At the midpoint of December, we had signed a left-footed German midfielder who would step right in at LMC. It was hoped that he, Marlot and Alberts would form a potent combination. For once, it seemed as though the fullbacks were playing well; Wullots and the two LB’s were performing well and Bevers was also doing well. In fact, Bevers set two new records during the month. He set a new season record for league goals with 11 and a new career league goals record with 18. In short, we were finally putting a good cohesive team on the field. All we could do now was just hang on and hope that we continued to get a break or two in the next part of the season. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 28.11.04 Igea Virtus H Serie C1/B 1:0 3483 Förster 5.12.04 Crotone A Serie C1/B 1:2 3953 Marsiglia 12.12.04 Foggia H Serie C1/B 1:1 3493 Bevers 19.12.04 Avellino A Serie C1/B 1:1 8958 Marsiglia ************************************************************************************************ Italian Serie C1/B - Wednesday 22nd December 2004 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2004/5 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Ascoli 16 5 2 1 21 8 5 3 0 16 6 35 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Cosenza 16 6 1 1 12 5 5 1 2 16 9 35 3rd Crotone 16 7 1 0 14 2 4 1 3 11 10 35 4th Ragusa 16 4 4 0 14 7 5 2 1 12 7 33 5th Igea Virtus 16 6 0 2 16 10 2 3 3 11 10 27 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6th Avellino 16 3 3 2 14 13 4 0 4 16 14 24 7th Paternò 16 5 1 2 17 15 2 2 4 12 16 24 8th Alzano 16 3 2 3 7 8 4 0 4 8 10 23 9th Messina 16 3 1 4 11 12 3 2 3 9 11 21 10th Gualdo 16 5 0 3 13 9 1 3 4 6 16 21 11th Foggia 16 4 1 3 15 9 1 3 4 6 10 19 12th Fidelis Andria 16 3 3 2 9 9 2 1 5 9 13 19 13th Benevento 16 4 1 3 13 10 0 3 5 10 19 16 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14th Sora 16 2 2 4 12 15 2 2 4 11 15 16 15th Catania 16 2 2 4 12 13 2 1 5 10 11 15 16th Chieti 16 2 3 3 13 15 1 3 4 7 13 15 17th Thiene 16 2 4 2 9 9 0 1 7 3 16 11 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Giulianova 16 1 3 4 4 10 0 3 5 6 20 9 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 20, 2006 Author Share Posted March 20, 2006 January 2005: We continued our string of draws throughout the month. As the teams surrounding us in the table either drew or lost, we weren’t really affected by our inability to secure a win. On the last day of the month, we turned in a positive result, demolishing our opposition 3-0. Predictably enough, the brace of goals was scored by a forward Vincent whom we had brought up at the halfway point of the season. The halfway mark of the season had come at the beginning of January. We hadn’t shuffled the roster too much. Only one member of the reserves was having a great year and he was brought up to replace Doria, who was sent back down. Doria is a frustrating case- he destroys reserve opponents and is easily bored, but he simply cannot play well at the first-team level. We have just resigned the 18 yr old to a three year extension, so we can work with him more. One other player was resigned to a contract, LB Paul Van der Berg. The other players with expiring contracts, Dubois and Martel won’t be resigned. In fact, we went ahead and released Dubois to make room on the first team for another left-footed midfielder to be brought up from the reserves. In addition to Dubois, we released two members of the reserves who were failing to adapt to their new country. That meant we had three slots open and the scouts were sent to look for replacements. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 6.1.05 Chieti A Serie C1/B 1:1 8093 Möller 16.1.05 Benevento A Serie C1/B 1:1 8736 Bevers 23.1.05 Giulianova H Serie C1/B 0:0 3470 30.1.05 Fidelis Andria A Serie C1/B 3:0 6058 Verhelst 2, Möller ************************************************************************************************ Ragusa - Thursday 6th January 2005 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2004/5 Senior Club Stats ================================================================================================ No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Abiven, Philippe - - - - - - - - ---- - Alberts, Henk 13 (1) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.07 - Arregi, Francisco Javier - - - - - - - - ---- - Asensio, Mateo - - - - - - - - ---- - Baldini, Fabrizio - - - - - - - - ---- - Barbier, Philippe 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 - Belabbar, Damien - - - - - - - - ---- - Bergen, Christian 6 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 6.83 - Bernal, Pablo 18 2 0 0 1 2 0 1 7.06 - Bevers, Tom 14 (2) 11 0 1 (1) 1 1 0 3 7.25 - Bosio, Enrico - - - - - - - - ---- - Bresciani, Davide - - - - - - - - ---- - Deschamps, Sylvain 3 (1) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.50 - Di Maio, Bruno - - - - - - - - ---- - Doria, Vittorio 10 (3) 1 0 1 (0) 0 3 0 0 6.46 - Dubois, Nicolas 12 (1) 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 6.85 - Engel, Florian - - - - - - - - ---- - Ferri, Sergio - - - - - - - - ---- - Förster, Steffen 13 (4) 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 6.94 - Garrido, Marcos 13 (1) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.93 - Göbel, Timo 11 0 13 0 0 0 0 1 7.36 - González González, Robert - - - - - - - - ---- - Hoefkens, Stijn 10 (2) 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 6.83 - Hunter, Neil - - - - - - - - ---- - Malchow, Jürgen - - - - - - - - ---- - Marchisio, Alberto - - - - - - - - ---- - Marsiglia, Nicolas 5 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.60 - Martot, David 10 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 7.10 - Michel, Cédric 9 (1) 3 0 0 5 0 0 2 6.90 - Michels, Werner - - - - - - - - ---- - Möller, Marco 16 (2) 4 0 0 2 2 0 2 6.89 - Morini, Paolo 8 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 7.25 - Moya, Rubén - - - - - - - - ---- - Negro, Francesco - - - - - - - - ---- - Pastore, Rosario - - - - - - - - ---- - Petrelli, Umberto 7 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 6.71 - Rath, Horst 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Russo, Angelo - - - - - - - - ---- - Sartini, Luca 9 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.67 - Schuster, Timo 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.67 - Scibilia, Domenico - - - - - - - - ---- - Spinelli, Tiziano 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Van de Perre, Guy - - - - - - - - ---- - Verhelst, Tim - - - - - - - - ---- - Verheyen, Philippe - - - - - - - - ---- - Vicente, Ãngel 6 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 7.17 - Vink, Hans 11 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 7.09 - Wuillot, Cédric 12 (1) 1 0 1 (1) 1 1 0 2 7.15 - de Graaf, Joop - - - - - - - - ---- - van den Berg, Paul 7 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 7.14 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 22, 2006 Author Share Posted March 22, 2006 February 2005: For some reason we had a two week vacation in February. As a result, we didn’t play a game until the middle of the month and only played three times the entire month. We spoent most of the month preparing for the crunch-time games that we would be playing in March and April. Looking ahead, it appeared that April was clearly going to be a crowded month. There were two midweek fixtures scheduled. To English fans, this may not seem like a big deal, but in the Italian league there is usually only one game a week in league games. At the wnd of the month, Bevers set a new club record with 11 league goals in a single season. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 13.2.05 Sora H Serie C1/B 1:1 3478 Hoefkens 20.2.05 Ascoli A Serie C1/B 3:3 10386 Verhelst 2, Bevers 27.2.05 Messina H Serie C1/B 1:0 3483 Bevers </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 March 2005: The month saw Ragusa continuing to consolidate our league position. With Bevers’ in the lead we blew through the schedule and ended the month in second place, ten points behind the leader. The month also saw us reach the ¾ mark in the season and we shuffled the first team a bit. A Spanish RB and SC were called up along with a French midfielder and Vicente, Schuster and Maslinga were sent back down. Doria was placed on the transfer list as he performs brilliantly in the reserves but seems cowed by first team ball. So far, there are no takers on a 45K pounds value. A couple of reserve malcontents were released and late in the month we achieved another first in a year full of them. We mde our first Bosman deal, signing 20 year old midfielder Simone Ono away from Tirelli. He’ll join us on July 1st. All signs are pointing towards a good April and May. We’re about as prepared as we can be for the home stretch that will hopefully end with promotion to Serie B. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 6.3.05 Paternò A Serie C1/B 1:1 5994 Bernal 13.3.05 Catania H Serie C1/B 1:0 3478 Bevers 20.3.05 Thiene A Serie C1/B 2:1 2462 Petrelli, Vink 27.3.05 Alzano H Serie C1/B 2:0 3486 Möller, González González ************************************************************************************************ Italian Serie C1/B - Sunday 3rd April 2005 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2004/5 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Pl Cosenza 27 11 2 1 25 10 9 1 3 26 16 63 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Ragusa 27 7 6 0 19 8 7 6 1 23 14 54 3rd Crotone 27 8 5 1 22 10 7 3 3 24 17 53 4th Ascoli 27 7 5 1 28 13 6 5 3 22 13 49 5th Avellino 27 6 3 5 31 24 8 0 5 33 22 45 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6th Fidelis Andria 27 6 3 4 19 16 5 4 5 19 19 40 7th Alzano 27 6 4 4 15 13 6 0 7 14 19 40 8th Gualdo 27 6 1 6 18 19 5 3 6 17 29 37 9th Igea Virtus 27 7 2 4 22 17 2 6 6 15 19 35 10th Catania 27 6 2 6 25 22 4 2 7 16 15 34 11th Paternò 27 7 3 3 24 21 2 4 8 18 30 34 12th Benevento 27 8 2 3 23 14 1 4 9 19 32 33 13th Messina 27 6 1 7 22 24 3 3 7 13 20 31 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14th Foggia 27 5 3 5 20 16 3 3 8 13 24 30 15th Sora 27 4 3 7 20 27 3 4 6 17 22 28 16th Chieti 27 5 4 5 24 24 1 4 8 14 25 26 17th Giulianova 27 4 4 6 17 22 0 5 8 8 28 21 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Thiene 27 2 6 5 15 20 1 2 11 9 25 17 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 29, 2006 Author Share Posted March 29, 2006 April and May 2005: The last few weeks of the season were anti-climatic and the players knew it. Beginning on April 3, they began to take their foot off the alcelerator. We stumbled a bit, drawing 4 out of 7 games in the home stretch. We won 2 and lost 1 in that string of games as well. None of this prevented us from qualifying for the promotion playoffs in the middle of April. Only one player played consistently during this stretch was Roberto Gonzalez, who earned a spot on next year’s first team with a bunch of goals. Guys like Bevers fell off their pace, meaning that games were a bit tighter than normal as opposing teams tried to take advantage of our complacency. Finally, however, the season came to a close and we found out who our playoff opponent would be. In a nice twist, it was Crotone, the team who had shut us out of the playoffs last year. The first leg of the series would be played at Crotone’s park. We had two weeks to get everyone healthy and primed for action. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 3.4.05 Gualdo A Serie C1/B 1:1 4067 Möller 6.4.05 Cosenza H Serie C1/B 1:1 3455 Michel 10.4.05 Igea Virtus A Serie C1/B 1:1 4995 González González 17.4.05 Crotone H Serie C1/B 1:0 3480 Michel 24.4.05 Foggia A Serie C1/B 1:2 10390 González González 1.5.05 Avellino H Serie C1/B 1:1 3472 Hoefkens 8.5.05 Chieti H Serie C1/B 4:2 3463 Bevers, Hoefkens 2, Möller </pre> Final Regular Season Stats and Table <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************************************************************ Italian Serie C1/B - Sunday 8th May 2005 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2004/5 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Cosenza 34 12 4 1 28 11 12 2 3 33 19 78 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Pl Ascoli 34 10 5 2 36 18 9 5 3 29 15 67 3rd Pl Ragusa 34 9 8 0 26 12 7 8 2 26 18 64 4th Pl Crotone 34 10 5 2 25 12 8 3 6 27 22 62 5th Pl Avellino 34 7 4 6 34 29 8 1 8 36 29 50 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6th Alzano 34 7 5 5 19 17 7 2 8 19 24 49 7th Gualdo 34 7 4 6 23 23 7 3 7 21 33 49 8th Paternò 34 9 4 4 32 27 4 5 8 24 34 48 9th Foggia 34 8 3 6 26 19 5 4 8 17 26 46 10th Igea Virtus 34 8 3 6 25 21 4 6 7 19 21 45 11th Fidelis Andria 34 7 3 7 21 21 5 6 6 19 20 45 12th Messina 34 8 1 8 28 29 5 4 8 24 27 44 13th Benevento 34 11 2 4 32 19 1 5 11 22 37 43 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14th Pl Catania 34 7 4 6 30 26 5 2 10 22 23 42 15th Pl Chieti 34 6 4 7 28 28 2 5 10 20 34 33 16th Pl Sora 34 5 3 9 24 32 3 4 10 19 30 31 17th Pl Giulianova 34 5 4 8 21 27 0 6 11 8 33 25 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th R Thiene 34 4 7 6 19 24 1 2 14 10 32 24 ************************************************************************************************ Ragusa - Sunday 8th May 2005 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2004/5 Senior Club Stats ================================================================================================ No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Alberts, Henk 25 (1) 2 0 0 0 5 1 0 7.04 - Aragón, Miguel Ãngel - - - - - - - - ---- - Arregi, Francisco Javier 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.50 - Baldini, Fabrizio - - - - - - - - ---- - Barbier, Philippe 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 - Belabbar, Damien 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.75 - Bergen, Christian 16 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 7.13 - Bernal, Pablo 26 3 0 0 1 4 0 1 7.04 - Bevers, Tom 26 (3) 16 0 1 (1) 2 1 0 4 7.10 - Bosio, Enrico - - - - - - - - ---- - Bresciani, Davide - - - - - - - - ---- - Demarteau, Steven - - - - - - - - ---- - Deschamps, Sylvain 3 (1) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.50 - Di Maio, Bruno 9 (1) 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 6.80 - Doria, Vittorio 10 (3) 1 0 1 (0) 0 3 0 0 6.46 - Engel, Florian - - - - - - - - ---- - Ferri, Sergio - - - - - - - - ---- - Förster, Steffen 19 (4) 3 0 0 2 0 1 1 6.78 - Garrido, Marcos 18 (1) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 7.00 - Göbel, Timo 22 0 22 0 0 0 0 2 7.18 - González González, Robert 8 3 0 0 2 0 0 1 7.38 - Hoefkens, Stijn 16 (2) 4 0 0 3 1 0 1 7.06 - Hunter, Neil - - - - - - - - ---- - Kurz, Manuel - - - - - - - - ---- - Malchow, Jürgen - - - - - - - - ---- - Marchisio, Alberto - - - - - - - - ---- - Marsiglia, Nicolas 7 (1) 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.63 - Martot, David 25 2 0 0 1 1 0 1 6.92 - Michel, Cédric 18 (2) 5 0 0 5 0 0 3 6.90 - Michels, Werner - - - - - - - - ---- - Möller, Marco 24 (4) 8 0 0 4 3 0 2 7.07 - Morini, Paolo 14 0 12 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 - Moya, Rubén - - - - - - - - ---- - Negro, Francesco - - - - - - - - ---- - Pastore, Rosario - - - - - - - - ---- - Petrelli, Umberto 9 (3) 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 6.75 - Rath, Horst 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Russo, Angelo - - - - - - - - ---- - Sartini, Luca 13 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.85 - Schuster, Andreas - - - - - - - - ---- - Schuster, Timo 6 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.17 - Snelders, Wilfried 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Spinelli, Tiziano 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Van de Perre, Guy - - - - - - - - ---- - Verhelst, Tim 6 (1) 4 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.86 - Verheyen, Philippe - - - - - - - - ---- - Vicente, Ãngel 9 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 6.78 - Vink, Hans 23 1 0 0 0 1 1 2 7.00 - Wuillot, Cédric 24 (1) 1 0 1 (1) 3 2 0 2 7.16 - van den Berg, Paul 17 (2) 0 0 0 1 3 0 1 7.05 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 30, 2006 Author Share Posted March 30, 2006 May and June 2005: The postseason We had two weeks off in May before facing Crotone because our opposition was involved in the finals of the Serie C Cup. When we did face them(unfortunately I don’t have the info on the playoff fixtures because I saved the game after the updating was done) we beat them easily in the two legs to earn a finals spot against Avellio. We beat them 2-0 in the first game, which was at their place. The second game, which was at home, was a nightmare as we went down to nine men due to bookings. Nevertheless, Gonzalez’s goal saw us through to Serie B by giving us the agreggete edge 3-2. Nothing like losing the last game of the sea Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 31, 2006 Author Share Posted March 31, 2006 June-August 2005: Our jump to Serie B did not elicit much comment outside Sicily. The Italian sports media had no idea we existed. All their attention was focused on what Serie A teams were doing. As might be expected, Juve, Inter, Roma and Lazio garnered the most attention as each tried to outdo the others in signings. The only Serie B team to get noticed was former giant Bari, who, as usual, was picked for Serie A promotion. Nevertheless, Ragusa did gain one benefit from our higher status, namely we were able to hire a much better goalkeepers coach. That move and the arrival of Simone Omri on a Bosman were the highlight of the summer. Other than that, it was just the usual flow of players in and out as my scouts continued to search for diamonds no one else had found. Shortly before the Italian Cup groups were to begin, we sold goalkeeper Florian Engel to a German side for 250,000 pounds. That transfer fee, plus season ticket revenue, managed to put us in slightly better financial shape. Prior to that money, we had been over 1 M pound in debt. Mind you, Mad Al didn’t see much point in spending money on the club. He thought we would be heading straight back down to Serie C. However, he did grudging provide money for new uniforms. Our players would at least look professional, even if in reality, they were a bush league outfit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted March 31, 2006 Author Share Posted March 31, 2006 August 2005: The Italian Cup kicked off the season and we were welcomed to the higher standard of competition by losing 2-1. Undeterred, we used grit to pull out 1-0 wins in our next two games, including our Serie B opener at Bari. We then drew our last cup group game 1-1 and failed to advance. However, it did seem like a good start to the season. At least we could score consistently, which allowed us to stay in games until time ran out. The roster underwent a slight makeover as David Marlot pulled a hamstring and was out for a month. Since we would have to get rid of him by February anyway, we went ahead and released him. We also brought in an Italian goalkeeper from French side Troyes for 85K pounds. Diego would split time with the other first team keeper, thus allowing our 17 yr old backup from last year to spend time in the reserves this year. In addition to the roster moves, we set a couple of revenue records in August. Both of our home Cup games brought in record receipts of roughly 34,500 pounds. Unfortunately, our expenses had skyrocketed as well and we were, once again, drowning in red ink: 800K worth. I had a feeling that Mad Al wouldn’t be the chairman for much longer. Hopefully we’d get a rich playboy owner next. I didn’t really care as long as whoever it was wouldn’t interfere with player transactions. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 14.8.05 Modena A Italian Cup Grp 7 1:2 5081 González González 21.8.05 Como H Italian Cup Grp 7 1:0 3459 Alberts 28.8.05 Bari A Serie B 1:0 28713 Möller 31.8.05 Triestina H Italian Cup Grp 7 1:1 3488 Doria ************************************************************************************************ Ragusa - Friday 2nd September 2005 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ Squad ================================================================================================ No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Ahrens, Thorsten AM C GER 20.10.86 18 - - £3K 11.6.09 £65K 7 Alberts, Henk M RC HOL 5.7.84 21 - - £12K 8.6.06 £140K - Aragón, Miguel Ãngel M C ESP 15.4.88 17 - - £3K 20.6.09 £35K - Arias, Francisco Javier S C ESP 4.11.88 16 - - £7K 9.6.09 £110K - Barbier, Philippe SW/D C FRA 9.11.85 19 - - £5K 25.6.07 £50K - Bauer, Peter D R GER 31.12.88 16 - - £9K 28.6.09 £50K 14 Belabbar, Damien DM RC FRA 7.8.86 19 - - £12K 24.6.07 £65K 5 Bergen, Christian D LC GER 11.6.84 21 - - £8K 16.6.07 £85K 2 Bernal, Pablo D LC ESP 4.4.86 19 - - £9K 28.6.06 £70K 10 Bevers, Tom S C BEL 2.2.85 20 - - £10K 24.6.07 £200K - Bosio, Enrico M C ITA 17.7.85 20 - - £5K 12.6.07 £30K - Bresciani, Davide AM LC ITA 16.3.87 18 - - £5K 19.6.07 £22K - D'Amico, Dino M RLC ITA 15.1.86 19 - - £22K 21.6.09 £150K - Demarteau, Steven D/M C BEL 24.3.86 19 - - £5K 26.6.09 £95K 25 Di Maio, Bruno AM RC ITA 25.3.85 20 - - £10K 1.6.08 £120K 9 Doria, Vittorio F RC ITA 29.6.86 19 - - £20K 5.6.07 £130K - Ferri, Sergio M RLC ITA 9.9.86 18 - - £3K 16.6.07 £22K 3 Garrido, Marcos D R ESP 16.2.85 20 - - £12K 25.6.06 £55K 1 Göbel, Timo GK GER 5.7.85 20 - - £10K 15.6.08 £100K 24 González González, Robert S C ESP 16.8.84 21 - - £12K 3.6.07 £190K - Herzog, Thomas D RC GER 6.3.87 18 - - £8K 9.6.09 £60K 23 Hoefkens, Stijn M C BEL 29.7.84 21 - - £20K 23.6.06 £130K 19 Kurz, Manuel AM C GER 29.5.85 20 - - £7K 8.6.08 £110K - Malchow, Jürgen D L GER 2.11.87 17 - - £12K 5.6.08 £45K - Marchisio, Alberto D C ITA 9.9.87 17 - - £5K 17.6.06 £20K 16 Marsiglia, Nicolas S C FRA 27.5.86 19 - - £5K 1.6.08 £90K - Michelin, Francesco GK ITA 13.9.84 20 - - £7K 17.6.09 £35K 36 Möller, Marco AM C GER 20.12.86 18 - - £14K 27.6.06 £140K 13 Morini, Paolo GK ITA 24.9.87 17 - - £6K 26.6.06 £26K - Moya, Rubén M C ESP 2.11.87 17 - - £5K 4.6.08 £80K - Negro, Francesco D R ITA 31.10.85 19 - - £3K 16.6.06 £30K 12 Orrù, Simone M LC ITA 15.12.84 20 - - £20K 24.6.08 £180K - Passi, Johann D/DM R FRA 10.11.86 18 - - £20K 7.6.08 £160K - Pastore, Rosario S C ITA 16.4.85 20 - - £8K 8.6.08 £120K - Piccinini, Giuseppe F RC ITA 3.5.86 19 - - £5K 6.6.09 £65K 26 Pratelli, Diego GK ITA 19.11.83 21 - - £95K 27.6.08 £100K - Rath, Horst D C GER 16.12.86 18 - - £9K 18.6.07 £40K - Russo, Angelo S C ITA 21.2.86 19 - - £6K 6.6.07 £55K 22 Sartini, Luca D C ITA 25.2.84 21 - - £5K 5.6.06 £45K - Schade, Carsten S C GER 1.7.87 18 - - £12K 28.6.09 £90K - Schuster, Timo D/DM LC GER 15.1.87 18 - - £35K 7.6.08 £50K - Snelders, Wilfried M LC BEL 10.1.86 19 - - £3K 13.6.09 £55K - Van de Perre, Guy DM C BEL 13.5.85 20 - - £14K 5.6.08 £70K 43 Verhelst, Tim S C BEL 20.2.88 17 - - £10K 25.6.07 £50K - Verheyen, Philippe DM C BEL 1.7.87 18 - - £6K 10.6.07 £45K 6 Vicente, Ãngel D/DM L ESP 26.1.87 18 - - £7K 25.6.06 £28K 21 Vink, Hans SW/D C HOL 2.3.83 22 - - £3K 5.6.06 £75K 8 Wuillot, Cédric D/DM RC BEL 9.7.84 21 - - £20K 1.6.06 £100K 32 van den Berg, Paul D L HOL 15.7.86 19 - - £22K 22.6.07 £85K </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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