Che bello è Avellino

[joeys]

 

Che bello è Avellino

The Goal

Get hired by U.S Avellino (or get the promotion to Serie A with one of the Avellino clubs) and build a legacy. It's been an eternity since Lupi were playing on the highest level and it's time to get them back where they belong. However, there is a long way from watching how the ball is being kicked with both eyes closed to Serie B Calcio, so the journey would be probably the funniest part. I also don't mind switching clubs until reaching the goal (obviously), but I won't pick-up offers from Lupi's rivals and clubs based in Napoli or in wealthy North. On top of that, I want to keep it as realistic as possible, so I might turn down propositions which I will consider as out of the blue.
Additionally, it would be nice if I keep "The Crew" with me to the finish. I don't mind the attributes. It's all about the backstory.

Long story short: this is basically a journeyman save until a certain point. For now, my database contains only Italian leagues down to 6th tier. The reason for that is the fact that there are so many competitions down there, that simulating them takes a long time and for now I don't need any additional leagues. I will eventually add them by the time I get into semi-pro division. 

And inb4. Tony's Soprano family comes from Avellino. This is the only reason.

 

 

[joeys]

 

The Manager 

Enzo Di Maio

Works morning shifts in his parents' cafeteria in Old Town. No kids, no girlfriend, pretty much no education (dropped out of university), no nothing. Just football. His main concern is his beloved club US Avellino, which currently sits in Serie B with no hopes of promotion. An Ultras, regularly on Curva Sud. Sunday football player with coaching license in the making. Looks up to Zeman and Guardiola. Offensive maestro.

The Crew

 

Biagio Cappelluccio

Hired as a PR manager for one of the local companies. Brought up in the same neighborhood as Enzo, accompanied him for few years in Sunday league in midfield. Gattuso-like defensive pit bull. Very driven. Serves as an assistant manager only due to the fact that he holds the coaching license*, so technically he's the manager until Di Maio's passes his tests.

 

Tommaso Pettinato
Numnut. Pettinato was born in 1984 and played football since he was five. He spent two years in US Avellino academy as a goalkeeper but wasn't the best in his age group, so he got dropped. However, having Lupi in his bio earned him spots in few Serie D clubs, before he retired from professional football at the age of 25 and joined... the army, which he eventually left in 2016 and stayed unemployed until the day Di Maio was hired as a head coach for FC Avellino. He probably would catch the ball better than the players there are already on the squad, but is too lazy to roll over along the baseline for 90 minutes. Prefers vodka to wine.

 

Gerardo Di Rocco

29-years old personal trainer who splits his time between the club and his job at the gym. He graduated as the PE teacher and could easily find work in one of the local schools, but he's more into being an Instagram model and Calcio is more entertaining for followers than forward rolls and stuff. His spouse is the sister of Pettinato. No need to say more.

 

Gianfranco Petricciuolo

Franco was that only kid in the neighborhood, who preferred basketball over football (lucky him). He wasn't the most popular on the block, but due to the fact that his parents were from upper-mid class, he was the one to decide who plays the match. He left the city to study and graduated as physio a few years later.

 

Ciro Caricchia

This is the moment for the Gomorrah Enzo/Ciro jokes. The 22-years old is the youngest member of the pack. He lives next door to Di Maio and works in his parents' cafeteria as well since dropping out of Universita di Avellino, where he was studying sports psychology, as he was more interested in maths and analysis. Even though he barely can run the InStat Software, he is running the data department in the club.

 

*in fact, he doesn't at the moment, but who cares?

 

[joeys]

 

The First Stop

Football Club Avellino is the newest club in the city which participates in competitions under the Italian federation. Founded in 2016, already established a strong presence in lower leagues and got stuck in Promozione. President Patrick Clementi decided to step down from his managerial role and hired Di Maio's crew, to keep the team intact.

Promozione is the sixth level of Italian football since the reform which occurred before 14/15 season. It associates nearly 900 teams and divides them regionally into over 50 divisions. The region of Campania has four gironi in Promozione and F.C. Avellino plays in Girone C. The champion wins promotion to the higher division and teams placed from 2nd to 5th are playing in the playoffs for another spot in Eccellenza. Teams placed 11th-14th go to playouts, where the losing team gets relegated to lower division along with teams placed 15th and 16th.

The media (that's a good one!) prediction for us is to finish around 10th place, which would basically save us from fighting in playouts. However, although our team seems to be very unbalanced, we hope to fight for promotion.

Clearly, the key holder for our team is Daniele Napolitano, 22-years old goalkeeper who appears to be too good for this level, as he gets interests from the various club from Eccellenza. The one to watch is also 19-years old Gambian midfielder Suwa Manneh and 21-years old striker Pietro Ragnoli. However, on this level players come and go, so building a relationship doesn't make a sense and everyone's about to backstab you as soon as possible.

[joeys]

August 2017

Mixed feelings. We actually achieved pretty damn good results, but we of course lost few players not only to injuries but also to transfers. Napolitano packed his suitcase and went a division higher to Omnia Bitonto, a Serie D candidate, which was obviously the biggest blow to our team, as we lost the best player. Thank God we have Ciro. Obviously finding a good goalie who would play for some small club in Promozione is a hard task and it's perfectly fine that he couldn't find anybody decent but... I'm afraid we weren't looking at the skill-set while signing our new portiere. He wasn't the only one to join in August though. The biggest name is definitely Marco Ciambotta (, 25, 5/0 U21), who got some playing time in Sanmarinese youth national team, but my favs are actually a left-footed right-winger Nicola Maietta (, 19, 0/0) and a striker Domenico Marra (, 19, 0/0), who came as a back-up after Ragnoli got injured minutes into his second professional game against Puteolana in Coppa Italia. This left Manneh as the last O.G. on the battlefield from the keyholding three. The good thing is that we started off strong and we are on a highway to the next phase of Coppa Italia. Also, 300 supporters on the inauguration made me smile even though it was a Fan's day. You have to start somewhere, right?

[Nobby_McDonald]

Big crowds in the Coppa Italia.

[joeys]

17 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Big crowds in the Coppa Italia.

And probably most of them were groundhoppers. This is only the Regionali stage though, which is an amateur competition for one slot in Coppa Italia Serie D next season. Nobody cares.

[joeys]

 

September 2017

And... we finally lost. It was about time we got some cold water after being undefeated since the beginning of the campaign. With the win against Real Sarno we managed to advance through the group stage of Coppa Italia before the last game. The cool thing is that even though we play bad as a team (for real, these results mean absolutely nothing), every time one of the players show up in monstrous form and carries us to the victory. Guess that's what football looks like in these lower divisions. Hopefully, the tactics start clicking before the end of the season. It's also nice that home games bring attention to the supporters (thanks to Enzo and his activity on the Curva Sud) and they keep coming back to watch us (trying to) play football. We lead the pack in attendance early into the season and hopefully, it will stay that way until the last whistle. Meanwhile, U.S Avellino started off pretty good and currently sits in 11th place. An away win against Parma gave Lupi the 3rd position, but the dream didn't last long. 

[joeys]

October 2017

For a moment it looked like we could be in a lot of trouble. We started off with two consecutive league losses and even though they were split by a very important win in Coppa Italia, we were looking a possible crisis right in the eye. Although we bounced back with a win quickly, it looked like things went from bad to worse. After the game against Abellinum, players led by youngster Gennaro Aielllo  ( , 17, 0/0) held a meeting about... my speeches. Indeed, I went harsh on them, trying to get them fired up before the next match and it turned out they are sensitive and stuff. God damn sixth level football stars. The argument got heated and it looked like the fists are about to get thrown, but eventually, they understood that for me winning doesn't matter if the style is poor and assured that they are going to hell for me. It would be easier though if we had some leaders because since Napolitano's departure no-one seems to stand-up, not even the captain - Giuseppe Cappellini ( , 28, 0/0), who prefers taking charge on the field then in the locker room. However, the team got their s-word back together and since the heated exchange, we went unbeaten in Promozione. We also advanced to the next round of Coppa Italia where we are about to play Battipagliese 1929 from Eccellenza.

 

[joeys]

November 2017

I'm speechless. Lil Wayne would say that "we are on Di Marzio swag cause we immortali". We control pretty much every game and even when we don't, we manage to miraculously put the ball in the net to win the game. Everything is clicking. Our winning streak sits on 11 (9 league victories) currently. The big part of the run is the fact that our youngsters have more freedom in the offence. Gennaro Valoroso ( , 16, 0/0) had has his moments before, but his goals against Battipagliese were super important. Giuseppe Paniziutti ( , 17, 0/0) was strong already in October, but now he is in his SSJ mode. The trio is completed by right back Domenico Vorzillo ( , 20, 0/0) who became our penalty-kick taker and also assisted on few goals. As you could figure it out by yourself, we took down Battipagliese and we will face our old friends from ACD Baiano Calcio in the quarter-finals. Also, Pietro Ragnoli is back from his injury, but for now I don't see him making the squad.

[joeys]

December 2017

And we stopped on 12. Grotta took it away from us at the last minute and maybe it was for good because it prepared us for what was inevitable. We didn't expect Baiano to be the first one though and the loss in front of our very own crowd was very painful. After all, what doesn't kill you, can only make you stronger, right? A sweet revenge win over Forza e Coraggio tasted nicely indeed, but the second leg of Coppa Italia's quarter-finals was something else. This time Maietta was furious as-you-know-what and singlehandedly took down our opponents in the first half, not only scoring two goals but also assisting Paniziutti on the third one. He was also the guy who nailed the coffin and led us to the semis. Good lord, what a game. We finished the year with a disappointing loss against Ponte 98 a day before Christmas Eve but once again - getting cold water isn't that bad after such an important victory and hopefully, we will learn from it. In the meantime, I've finally passed my National C test and Santa brought me a course for National B license for Christmas.

For the next month, F.C. Avellino will sit in the driving sit to the Eccellenza with a nice little bank account, but the margin is pretty small and we can easily fall down. Here's a bunch of statistics just before the short winter break.

[Slipky]

Loving the concept! Good luck, will follow.

[joeys]

On 27.01.2018 at 14:52, Slipky said:

Loving the concept! Good luck, will follow.

Thank you, good sir, feel at home.

[joeys]

January 2018

NCAA have March Madness and here in Campania we have January Madness. Big stadiums, press conferences and a lot of fans. Just a taste of what football is about. We were clearly the underdogs in the semi-final against Agroppoli. Led by Salerno's very own Ciro Di Cesare, they were holding the 1st place in Eccellenza and went unbeaten this season and conceded only 10 goals. Additionally, the second leg was away for us, so the hopes of a miraculous comeback in front of our crowd weren't there. Football is a strange thing though. After 20 minutes of first leg we were up 2:0 and we never looked back until the final whistle. What's more interesting, they put up only two shots. The rematch was harder. Stadio Rafaelle Guariglia has capacity of 5000 people and for many of us it was a first time on such a big stadium. However, there was only 60 fan more than on our lovely Annino Rocca, so at the end of the day it wasn't much of a factor. We conceded the first goal in the second half and it looked like a comeback, but 13 minutes later it was all set and done, after Maietta scored a wonderful one freekick from nearly 30 yards. Finals, baby! We were facing Rinascita R.U.S. Vico, 2nd in Girone A of Promozione, on Stadio Armando Allegretto* in Montesarchio - able to guest 7500 people. Of course we eventually filled only about 1500 sits, but what's important - a few over 1000 were our supporters. We opened the score pretty quickly and shortly after the break we made it two. However, this time we weren't focused enough and in a span of ten minutes we conceded two goals, bringing the game into penalties. Eventually, we won after the first five series and it was Panizutti who sealed the deal. We got ourselves a ticket to Coppa Italia Diletanti next year. Oh, and of course, we played one league game, but we were so packed that we forgot about it the minute it finished. 

*A little plot twist: Let's just say I'm a weirdo and I actually find the lower Italian leagues interesting. So, I was curious, how the Stadio Armando Allegretto looks in real life. My imagination got off after I saw Stadio Rafaella Guariglia (and I've found an error; looks like the author of the database built additional 2000 seats by himself there). But let's get back to the story. It's important to say that Montesarchio has population of about 14k people. And up to this point this is nothing unusual that a small city has a big stadium. Here in Poland, we have Nieciecza - a village under 1000 people and the stadium of local Termalica (the highest division) has a capacity of about 4500. The thing is though that Stadio Allegretto looks like this at the moment. However, the capacity isn't taken out of the blue. The stadium is about to host the Universiade in 2019 and the local government gave the Comune di Montesarchio 500k euro to modernize the local stadium to bring up the standards. And yet, this is not the end of a fairytale. Guess what. Montesarchio has it local football club. AC Montesarchio plays in our Girone of Promozione and we managed to beat them this season, but this is not the point; the point is that they DO NOT play on Stadio Allegretto. From my understanding, this is a constant battle between the local government and owners of the club. So where do Bianco-Azzurri play? 9 kilometers away from Montesarchio in the comune of San Martino Valle Caudina, on a stadium named Melina Pignatelli which has pretty sick views .

[joeys]

February 2018

After exciting January, we get to the league routine. Due to the fact that we've already played 20 matches*, we had only two competitive games and we signed up for one friendly to keep the match sharpness. This time it was Genny Valoroso who carried us to the victories. I'm extremely happy with the win against San Tommaso. We took our revenge and on top of that, we increased our lead to seven points. With seven games to go, we are clearly the favorites to take the championship home.

*FM18 Editor bug. The same case was with polish lower league database. Nothing to be mad about.

[joeys]

March 2018

Three games this time. Good guy Valoroso carried us through the first two adding to his numbers and helping us to clinch the playoff spot. Away loss against Vis Ariano was a disappointment, but there's nothing you can do if you concede three penalties. Hopefully, we will not let it happen again and we'll manage to cruise to the Eccellenza. 

We also held the first youth intake under the name of F.C. Avellino and after all, it wasn't that bad. Goalkeeper Stefano Bennici (, 15, 0/0) will actually practice with the first team, as he is the second best goalkeeper at the moment and has a big chance of getting his minutes this season. I like his eccentricity the most. He has to be aware of competition though. Davide Damiano ( , 16, 0/0) looks pretty exciting as well. Midfielder Sebastiano Falcone ( , 15, 0/0) is also the one to watch. His flair and free kick combo might actually bring some goals straight from the set pieces in upcoming seasons.

 

 

[joeys]

April&May 2018

We are the champions, boys! This actually happened! Even the season-ending injury of Ass Guèye couldn't stop us. Thank God we drafted Bonnici. He did pretty good and even stopped a penalty. He could be the next big thing in Campanian football.  We clinched the title after a home game against Sanseverinese and even though it didn't matter anymore, San Tommaso lost their match, making the point differential to 7 points. Sadly we dropped points in San Martino (remember the story about stadiums?), but after a big party like we threw after clinching the 1st place, who is going to remember this match? The most important thing is that we didn't choke and that we were focused until the last whistle when it mattered the most. The double-crown is a big thing. The double-crown in a first season is so much more. Time to rest a little bit and think; important decisions ahead.

[joeys]

Season 2017/2018 Summary

STANDINGS - LEAGUE RESULTS - CUP RESULTS - INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS - TEAM STATISTICS - FINANCES

PLAYER OF THE SEASON

1. Domenico Vorzillo - pacey fullback brought a lot of offensive game to the table. He became our penalty-kick taker and assisted on a few goals as well while helping on offense. Pretty decent in the back too. He also snatched the Signing of The Season and the Young Player of The Season, however, I don't think he deserved especially the second one.
2. Giuseppe Panizutti - exceptional. Very entertaining to watch, somehow he kept the good form throughout the season and finished it with great numbers. In my opinion, the best player this year. Hopefully, he will carry it on next campaign. 
3. Nicola Maietta - Panizutti's vis-a-vis. He wasn't as regular as Panizutti maybe, but when he decided to bring it on, he was unstoppable. He was not only a part of the front trio, but he also worked wonderfully with Vorzillo and they both capitalized on such a cooperation.

U.S Avellino 1912

Led by Walter Novellino, U.S. Avellino finished 14th , but just six points short of playoff spots. The bad thing is that we lost twice to Salernitana and they ended a place above us on goals difference. As I predicted, it was Leonardo Morosini (, 22, 1/0 U21) who led the charge along with Luigi Castaldo (, 36, 0/0) and Matteo Ardemagni (, 31, 0/0) . Looks like we are in front of a wicked offseason. Many players' contracts are expiring and the club budget is pretty low as always. Once again we will be trying to strengthen our team through the loans and free agency, which is never good. On the other hand, Novellino looks like he knows what he is doing, so I'm not especially worried about staying in Serie B, but this is what our season is about to be. No hopes of promotion, short campaign in Coppa Italia and pretty much no players to identify with. Being a Lupi fan is a weird hobby.

 

 

 

[joeys]

[joeys]

 

 

[DefenseLover]

hace 7 minutos, joeys dijo:

 

 

[joeys]

The Next Step

 

San Marino Calcio is a Sanmarinese semi-professional football club playing in Serravalle in San Marino. Titani is the only club from San Marino which is allowed to play in Italian football league system. Currently, they sit in Serie D, where they were placed 6th last season.

The club was founded in 1959 as Società Sportiva Serenissima and 13 years later merged with Società Sportiva Juvenes, creating Associazione Calcio San Marino, which later became San Marino Calcio. It passed through all the playing levels up to Serie C1 in season 2004/2005. Since then, they fight for establishing their position, floating around the third and fourth level.

San Marino Calcio plays on Stadio Olimpico in Serravalle which is a home to San Marino national team as well. It has a capacity of about 7000 and it looks pretty decent, comparing to the fields that we've been visiting with F.C. Avellino.

THE TEAM

After finishing the league on 6th spot, the board decided to give me the chance, although Michele Marcolini did pretty good with the team after he took over in December. It is understandable though, that after sitting for few years on the fourth level, owner Luca Mancini wants at least a good fight for promotion, not only safe mid-table finish.

The team is pretty old. In Avellino, I had only one player in his thirties and he wasn't even playing regularly. In San Marino, elder players are leading the charge, so implementing the same explosive, pacey style might be difficult. On the other hand, there is so much more talent, so much more quality then in Promozione, that finding solution can't be that hard. Luca Ceccarelli (, 35, 0/0) looks like a starting right back, Roberto Di Maio ( , 35, 0/0) will bring a lot of in the central defense (he isn't related to Enzo, don't you worry) and captain Manolo Pestrin (, 39, 0/0) is the first one on the team sheet. We will use the products of our academy as well, as the chairman wants me to bring some youth to the team. Looks like Angelo Marinelli ( , 17, 0/0) worked hard along of Pestrin last season and he is his natural successor on "6". Federico Giorgetti ( , 17, 0/0) lacks on height, but will definitely get some minutes. Gabriele Dolcini (, 17, 2/0) is already playing for the NT and appears to be my first choice in the attacking third. The last one is Nicola Bindi ( , 17, 0/0), a soon-to-be decent central midfielder with offensive inclinations.

The situation isn't that bad though. San Marino Calcio capitalized greatly on the deal with Cesena, loaning in talented players. This season they had three of them and hopefully, they will stay with us for an upcoming campaign. I already managed to renew the contract of Pablo Negri (, 18, 0/0), a loanee from Bologna, who is exactly the type of winger that I need. More to come tho, we'll be relying on these deals heavily.

THE STAFF

Well... For a moment it looks like... I can't offer enough money to my people. I managed to snatch Pettinato (true to the end, dog), but the rest is soooo greedy. For a moment I need to stick with the guys who decided to stay after Marcolini departure, but I will keep on coming back with offers, so eventually, they The Crew will end up in wealthy North. 

My assistant, for now, is Christian Jydayi ( , 31, 0/0). This name probably won't ring a bell for you, but it did for me. Christian is a younger brother of William Jidayi who was playing for U.S. Avellino in season 15/16 and 16/17 as a central defender. Chris was also playing football, but actually never made it to the Serie B (he was on the few teams, but didn't make his debut; he made about 150 appearances for Serie C and D clubs), unlike Will, who was pretty decent on the second level. 

PERSONAL THOUGHTS

I have to admit, it wasn't an easy decision. I really think that the roster we put together in F.C. Avellino could even fight for promotion in Eccellenza. Applying for the offer, I was at least 80% sure that I'll get denied, as other co-candidates looked better than me and had experience on this level. It was a no-brainer though. Instead of spending a season on the wicked fields of Campania, I'm about to take charge of a semi-professional club, two divisions higher, which actually wants to fight for promotion. Adding to that, it's not some usual Serie-D club - this is the most elite football organization in freaking San Marino. Great ride ahead.

 

 

 

[Nobby_McDonald]

Well done with Avellino there Joeys.

[joeys]

OFFSEASON 2018

 

We spent these two months pretty much on scouting only. Like I said before, we had a few weak spots and having them fixed was the main goal. Good thing that we had money so we could actually offer something for playing in San Marino, not only glory and fans' respect. We managed to put something up in the end, but Radosław Janukiewicz would say that we are "a last-minute-rigged-up-in-a-rush-team (YT: Radosław Janukiewicz - Wkurwienie po meczu z Olimpią Elbląg) (YT: Radosław Janukiewicz - Wkurwienie po meczu z Olimpią Elbląg)

". The player I like the most is a goalkeeper, Tommaso Del Bino (, 25, 0/0). He's short as hell and typical woman would say that he isn't a man (cause a man starts from 6'0), but he's a well-rounded one and hopefully, he won't let us down. Fillippo Ghizzardi ( , 21, 0/0) is a product of Parma academy and looks like he could take Ceccarelli out of the starting lineup. The only problem is that he hadn't played any game last season due to the fact that he wasn't contracted anywhere, but this is a risk that we are able to take. Braian Crivaro's (, 22, 0/0) career was such a rollercoaster. He quickly switched Eccellenza to Serie C (and even got some minutes there), but then he made it way back to Serie D. Like Ghizzardi, he hasn't played in a single game last campaign, but he looks like a pretty decent winger to me and he is about to start. Marco Boscolo Zemelo ( , 23, 0/0) is a friend of Filippo Ghizzardi. They've met in Parma academy, where Zemelo was loaned from Venezia. During his career, he played only 8 games and scored only 1 goal, but he has all qualities to be a 10-goals-a-season striker in Serie-D. Besides, we played a few friendlies of course and part of them against Serie A teams (3-4 against Napoli was super cool to watch, sadly we didn't manage to equalize), so we earned a little bit of money. The other good thing is that our gameplan seems to be working.

 

Meanwhile, Germany defended the World Cup after a great win against Belgium in the final and a hattrick from Kevin Gameiro gave France the bronze medal. Italy actually managed to qualify for Russian tournament and came on top of the group and made it to the quarter-finals, where they took a heartbreaking blow from the future runner-up.

 

 

 

[Sambacutilamba]

I will follow

[Sheriff7]

Excellent!!

[joeys]

@Sambacutilamba, @Sheriff7 pleasure to host you, dear sirs, enjoy the sunny Italia.

 

More updates to come, had a busy weekend due to Super Bowl.

[joeys]

September 2018

I will start off with coaching Licence update. You knew that I've started my B course on Christmas and it looks like you missed the graduation day. It had to be somewhere in April, which would actually explain why I forgot about it. At the moment, my profile looks like this. The current course will end somewhere near January. And now, back to the football.

Coming into the season, I was cautious. It turned out that the players weren't so good with my tactics, so I had to make a few tweaks. Although we looked better at the end of the offseason, we were still in the woods and I wasn't expecting this kind of start. For a moment, we were looking like the next level of Serie D football. We weren't as pacey as F.C. Avellino was, but we played very tricky and we used pretty much every advantage we had. Even injuries didn't slow us down. Angelo Marinelli deserves a personal shout-out. He stepped up big time when Pestrin went down and didn't let us down while doing probably the most depressing job in our tactic. I'm also extremely happy for Boscolo Zemelo and Crivaro - we gave them a chance to restore their careers and it looks like they are both on a good way to make a name for themselves. Sooooo excited.

[joeys]

October 2018

Just the moment I was about to name myself a new Pep Guardiola or Bill Belichick, we lost. I have to say that the game against Unione Sanremo was entirely my fault. We had everything under control and the pep-talk just ruined everything.  This wasn't the end of losing points this month though. We came into the Virtus Castelfranco clash as one of two favorites to take it all at the end of the season and they outplayed us. Draw in a game against Grosseto was pretty much the same - our rivals are still predicted to finish 3rd in Serie D and they really took over. We lost the battle in the midfield and the last minute penalty saved us from the fire. The good thing is that Dolcini still scores and starts to look like a dominant striker. It's really fun to coach him.

[Deisler26]

Great work on getting the San Marino job. Let's hope you don't do too much damage to Santarcangelo Calcio!

[joeys]

November 2018

And we are back on the winning track. As of now, I am really scared of losing streak and internal crisis. I'm not 100% sure if I could manage in such conditions. At the moment we are doing great. Dolcini scores more and more, and when he isn't eligible to play, Boscolo Zemelo puts on his jersey and keeps doing the same thing. Looks like the chances that we gave to players who looked like wasted talents are paying off. Crivaro does a lot on right flank alongside Ghizzardi and Alessandro Conti is rolling the central part. Also, Frabotta keeps drilling the left side of the field and he really seems to be uncatchable for slower defenders.

 

[joeys]

@Deisler26: unfortunately, they were relegated last season from Serie C, but they play in Girone D, so they are safe for now. Although they are doing pretty well at the moment and there is a probability that we meet on the professional level next season.

[joeys]

December 2018

Dolce's on fire, your defense... Well, we all know how it goes. He's the perfect combo - fast, strong and definitely can finish. I'm pretty sure that it's gonna be hard to keep him in Serravalle in summer. At the moment though there is no interest in his services and he will keep scoring for us for next couple of months. Meanwhile, we lost on penalties in Coppa Italia Serie D and it was some kind of an upset, as we were clearly the favorites. Even the home turf didn't help and we got eliminated after we missed two. The good thing is that we keep winning in league games and we go head to head with Virtus Castelfranco, and the rest of the league just watches us from behind. Hopefully, we will eventually jump into the driver seat, because after that shoot-out against Clodiense I would like to not go to penalties once against with these lads.

[joeys]

 January 2019

Boring month. We contracted only one player and it was an emergency transfer. Ivan Rondanini (, 23, 0/0) is a right wingback, a product of AC Milan with a pretty neat career in Serie C (26 games, 1 goal) and could be a good addition to the squad next season after Ceccarelli retires. This time lack of friendlies didn't help with hunger and we lost the first game. We bounced back next week after a wonderful comeback. Boscolo Zemelo appears to be especially good when he actually starts the match. He capitalized on Dolcini's injury and it would be nice if he kept on scoring.

[joeys]

February 2019

Overall a good month, but there was a little bit of dissatisfaction. A great f-word victory in a match against Virtus Castelfranco gave us the first place, but we got back to the second in the most compromising way, pretty much throwing the game against Lavagnese after the first half. We need to stabilize because whoever will take the championship, will be also the one who keeps the same level through the last few months. The terms will be exactly the same since Virtus got eliminated from the Coppa Italia, so it's going to be tough. 

[joeys]

 March 2019

And we got ahead. After we started with an awful draw, we managed to stay focused and we didn't concede any goal until the end of the month. There are 3 points which divide us and Virtus Castelfranco after they somehow managed to lose two games and one of them was pretty devastating. At this moment there is no way I would accept losing more points and moving back to the second place. We have the perfect schedule* (Virtus has pretty much the same, but whatever) and all goes exactly as planned. Even the youth recruitment went pretty sick. Yari Fiori (, 15, 0/0) looks pretty decent and is about to have a good career in lower divisions and Matteo Giacobbi (, 15, 0/0) seems to be our next good striker after Dolcini. He certainly won't be as good as him - physically he's much worse and his technique could be better here and there, but I can see him taking the number nine in few years. On the other hand, Dolce gets better and each game, so I wouldn't be surprised if Giacobbi actually bypassed him, as he is younger and has a chance to debut much earlier then Gabriel. I also started negotiating the new deal.

 

* once again the same thing with the editor, Serie C and higher looks perfectly normal, so I'm looking forward to that.

[Sambacutilamba]

Seems that We don't know how to lose

[joeys]

April 2019

I signed the new contract and immediately I started the Continental C license course . Media prepared the official summary for the last few legs of Serie D. We also decided to play two friendlies in between the league matches to keep the match sharpness. Competetive games went according to plan - we won them in a pretty convincing way. Virtus Castelfranco kept the pace though, so the final settlements are coming in May.

[Sambacutilamba]

Dolcini on fire in last two matches

[joeys]

@Sambacutilamba: well, I wasn't that impressed with this hattrick because Ozzanese plays on the seventh level, however, I have to say that Dolcini easily becomes one of my favorite players in FM18. It's kind of unlucky that he doesn't score in NT, but I'm sure that he is on his way to beat Andy Selva's scoring record.

[joeys]

May&June 2019

Well, we tried to throw it away but we kept our cool and here we are - your Serie D Girone E champions. Theoretically, we clinched it after the Albissola draw, because Virtus decided to drop some points as well and to get in front of us they had to win their last game by at least 16 goals and hope that we lose our game against Real Forte Querceta. However, we didn't let them regret scoring less and we just won our home closer. Winning the title got us a seeding in Serie D Poule Scudetto with decides the ultimate champion of all Serie D gironi, but we lost in semis on penalties against S.S Matera Calcio - a club which was randomly selected from three teams in their group as all three possessed the same record. It was a good finish to a good season and I'm pretty sure that upcoming one is going to be a great one as well.

[mark1985]

Nice promotion there!

[joeys]

Season 2018/2019 Summary

STANDINGS - RESULTS (SEP-DEC) - RESULTS (JAN-JUN) - INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS - TEAM LEADERS - FINANCES

PLAYER OF THE SEASON

1. Gianluca Frabotta - another fullback who excelled under me. His combination of speed and technique is pretty much the full package for my dream wingback. Defenders had a hard time when he was coming into attacking third.

2. Gabriel Dolcini - the biggest hope of Sanmarinese calcio. He was playing great all season long and he didn't have any bad moment. It would be great to keep him in Serravalle, but I'm pretty sure that someone bigger will come and show him the brighter sight of football.

3. Filippo Ghizzardi - a bit more well rounded than his vis-a-vis, but could use some more speed though. Ghizzardi signed with us to rebuild his broken career and it looks like he is on a good way to stick with football. He quickly took out Ceccarelli out the starting line up and he hopes to keep his spot next season.

4. Alessandro Conti - exceptionally this season I will point out five players (instead of three) as our both central midfielders had a great season. Conti started his career in Juventus and after two failed loans to Cesena, he ended in San Marino. Alongside De Angelis, he rolled in the central part of the field in most of the games. He lacks experience though, but if he sticks with us for the next season, I can see him adding it.

5. Nicolò De Angelis - a Roma loanee looks like the next solid Serie A player. He has it all - head, heart and legs. His brilliant plays made some other players better. It would be great to keep him, but Roma probably will look for a club in a higher division than Serie C. It was a pleasure though to train such a good centrocampista.

U.S Avellino 1912

Someone mean would say that we defended our ground. Well, it's the third season in a row when Lupi finish 14th. After a good start though, when for a moment we were placed 7th, we immediately felt down to the lower places. At least our brothers from Frosinone made it to the Serie A, so this championship run of Benevento doesn't sound so bad. This time it was Francesco Forte (, 26, 0/0), a loaned from Inter striker, who was playing on the pretty decent level, scoring pretty much regularly, however it looks like we are currently stuck with the current board and the coaching staff. It looks like the president is okay with Avellino seating in a midway of the table and Novellino is perfectly safe, even though he just can't make this team progress. At least we finished strong and after beating Benevento (hilarious game, Gigi Castaldo with a hattrick only ten minutes after he checked into the game) and Salernitana in the second half of the season, we rule the lovely region of Campania. 

 

 

 

[joeys]

@mark1985 thank you. Now it's the time to show the world what we are made of.

[joeys]

Teaser trailer from offseason:

Guess it's a nice deal and we're getting him back for one more season, but still... 

[joeys]

 Offseason 2019

 

Mr. Janukiewicz, can we get a word from you? A lot of hard work this time. We became a professional organization once again so we had not only to contract the players who were already on the squad but also find new ones, who will increase the quality. Eventually, we finished the team after bringing 15 new players (!!!), while losing only two. Sadly, we had to accept the offer for GabiDol.  We will, of course, have him back for one more season, but the fact he just accepted the offer from BENEVENTO is a disgrace. It was also my first cash transfer in the whole career and it already was pretty high. The money we earned won't only let us calmly stay alive in Serie C this season, but also bring some players in. The only player we bought though is Rafał Wolsztyński (, 24, 0/0). He will be playing not only as a back-up to Dolcini, but he also can fill in in midfield in De Angelis' role from last season. The biggest loanees are definitely Francesco Bucchi (, 17, 0/0), Alberto Capellini (, 17, 0/0) and Christian Capone (, 20, 0/0). Alongside Pablo Negri (, 20, 0/0) and Pierluigi Pinto (, 20, 0/0) they will create a good core to fight for the predicted 9th place. Although, my personal fav is a free agent Marian Galdean (, 30, 0/0) who will bring a lot of much-needed experience to our young midfield. We won the bidding battle for him against a few bigger Serie C names than us, so this makes me especially happy. We could also capitalize on Salvatore Minotti (, 19, 0/0), a youngster who scored 10 goals on Serie D level and somehow managed to become a free agent after A.S.D Mezzolara decided to not renew his deal.

 

Yes, we played a few friendlies and Coppa Italia Serie C. Meh.

 

[Sambacutilamba]

Paulaner main sponsor ahahahah  Good friendly matches 

[joeys]

September 2019

Expected. The reason is simple - we didn't play as a team. It kind of reminds me the beginning of the season with F.C Avellino, where our results depended on the form of certain players. Here in Serie C - stuff looks familiar. There were a few positives though - we didn't make any mistake while loaning new players and all of them were useful and are about to be useful in near future as well. Besides, the guys who were already on the team are really leading the charge, giving it all for the team. This actually lets me think that there is no way we are getting relegated this season. Also, Wolsztyński, who appears to be my first cash transfer got along pretty good and he was really killing it, even though he didn't know any Italian word when he came to Serravalle. On the other hand, we had big time troubles with injuries - pretty much every game someone had to be subbed off, which didn't help us in getting the team in shape. Hopefully, next months will be better.

[joeys]

October 2019

In this kind of situations, I always tell myself that I don't need to understand everything, so there is nothing wrong if I don't understand this for example. Suddenly we are the hottest team in the Serie C and we take out opponents left and right. It seems like giving a chance to younger guys on the team actually pays off. Mansueto is on his Glik-swag because he scores after pretty much every corner and Crivaro looks even better than last year. Due to Dolcini's injury, Boscolo Zemelo starts every game and he is nuts, even though he got only one goal this month. Hilarious. 

[Sambacutilamba]

Not so good our September but in October we have done very well!