The Only Thing Worse Than A Has Been, Is A Never Was

[Leaf_Fan_85]

Welcome one and all...

After rummaging throughout the site thanks to knee surgery, I came across three tales that got me into writer mode. American Calcio and Rob Ridgeway's Rat Pack which I have read over the last three days by tenthreeleader and Copper Horse's An American Pilgrimage has lead me to attempt once again to liven up my Football Manager experience.

So, I decided to jump in with both feet, except for one minor issue.... So, while I whittle down the day at physio, I decided to begin with a little prologue while I continue my first season, and will post results once I get home.

I will begin with the 9.0.1 patch, with leagues loaded from Italy, Spain, England, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, France, Greece, USA, Brazil, Argentina, China, with a large DB and all players retained from Canada and Japan.

The transfer fees have been checked and rechecked via the demo and the 9.1 database, and I found other youngsters there, which caused me to re-think my squad setup, therefore, the physical game will begin with the USA start time of January/February, but for the purposes of this story, the start date will begin approximately mid-June.

I hope you enjoy, and maybe I can create an epic piece that will be as detail oriented and as captivating as Rat Pack, Calcio and Pilgrimage has in the past.

Enjoy, and of course all feedback/criticism/random quotes and responses are most welcome.

One last note, I realize this first post may be quite long (it’s 4 pages via Word) but I wasn’t able to find a good end spot until then, so apologies if this looks a little “big.” Lastly, I may be throwing out some odd references and nods to certain people, so if you get them, all the power to you, if not, then maybe someone will explain them to you.

Once again, enjoy!

I thought we’d get to see forever, but forever has gone away. It’s so hard to say goodbye to yesterday…

It was arguably the most difficult funeral I have ever had to deal with. Of course, death, accidental or not, in my family is all too common. I have lost some real close friends and family members, either to accidents, illness or suicide, and each of those hurt me dearly. Losing my grandmother, who was a second mother to me, and all that I really had growing up since both of my parents worked long hours in order to let me do the one thing I love, had hit me very hard. Losing one of my best friends, Jose to leukemia at age 11 was equally devastating. The worst of them all, up to this particular point in time, was losing my father to cancer. But this funeral that I am attending at this particular moment in time is probably the toughest one to understand. With those no longer with us, I was to an extent able to justify their deaths. In respect to my grandmother, my father and my best friend who were sick for a long time, slowly but surely, my mind began to fathom that they won’t be around much longer, so in a sense I was prepared for them to die. Of course, when they did pass on, I denied it to the very core of my being, but I had accepted the fact that they are now gone, I got to say goodbye, and to watch each of them move on to the next life. But when you have someone just taken away from you, for no reason, and you don’t even get the chance to say goodbye, it hurts a lot more. When that person, was someone you looked up to, and is the reason you are where you are today, then it is the most difficult thing in the world to witness.

My uncle Joe and I have always had a special relationship, especially when it came to football. He had played the beautiful game as a professional in Italy, with his Serie D team Roseto Valfatore, and in Serie B and C1 with U.S. Foggia, His biggest regret was turning down a move to Italian giants A.C. Milan, his favourite team, to come to Canada to be with his family who emigrated over in the late 60’s. It didn’t take him too long to make an impact in North America, as he was signed to play for Toronto Italia of the Canadian Soccer League. When that team was merged with the Toronto Metro’s they became the Toronto Blizzard and competed in the North American Soccer League, the precursor to Major League Soccer, also known as the MLS. My uncle played against some of the greatest footballers ever, although well past their prime, including Johann Cryuff, Roberto Bettega, Franz Beckenbauer, George Best and the legendary Pele, even upstaging the greatest of all time in the 1976 NASL Cup Final, by scoring the winning goal clinching the cup for the Toronto team.

But, my uncle was making next to nothing, and decided that although he loved the game more than anything else on this planet, that is until he had a family of his own, he had to support his current family; my mother, and my grandmother. At the age of 28, he gave up the game he loved, in order to survive. He never stopped loving the game; he just stopped loving to play. But, my uncle had always been told he would make a better coach than a player, and so, my uncle went for his North American badges. He soon moved up the ladder, thanks in part to him playing alongside some of the greatest of all time. My uncle learned a lot from watching and playing against Pele and Beckenbauer, and proved it once he received his National “A” license, allowing him to coach virtually anywhere in North America. But, as things often turn out in football, everything can change at the drop of a hat. This time, my uncle gave up his professional football dreams for good, and he wouldn’t trade any of it for the world.

My uncle and my mother were very close. My uncle was 6 years younger than my mom, and would always be playing or doing chores together, so it was only natural that they’d each be wed a mere 3 months apart. In keeping with tradition of doing everything together, my uncle and mom each had a son born within 47 days of each other. Those two sons turned out to be my cousin Antonio and yours truly.

My uncle has told us both on numerous occasions he’s never been happier the day we were born. Naturally his son meant more to him than I did, but he has told me I was always his favourite nephew, because of the 5 brothers and sisters in the family, my mom and uncle were the closest. She was his favourite sibling, and my mom has always said the same about him. When Antonio and I were born, he gave us a little soccer ball, to ensure that football was our first love, our first memory, our first encounter on Earth. Legend has it that my uncle said, just by the way we reached for it with our feet as opposed to our hands, my cousin and I would both be footballers of the highest quality. Personally, I wouldn’t know, I was merely a few minutes old, and it could have been a complete accident, considering my eyes were barely open, and I had no idea what I was being shown. My uncle was convinced football was our destiny, and I never argued with it.

My uncle decided that although his dreams of coaching professionally were now gone, since he had a family of his own to support, he felt that coaching his son and nephew to glory would suffice. Beginning at age 3, my uncle would take my cousin and me to the park, and teach us the beautiful game. During each session, my cousin and I learned the fundamentals of football, and my uncle in turn increased our knowledge and love for the game. By the age of 6, my cousin and I were in a league of our own….literally. He had registered us in the recreational league of our local soccer club, but by the second game, my cousin and I had already scored a whopping 28 goals combined. The league knew that blowouts at this age would just ruin the fun for the other teams, coaches, parents and kids, so they decided to introduce a youth competitive league, and after 2 full seasons, my cousin and I were ready to move on.

My uncle had always had this talent of knowing who to bring in, in order to make someone look better. Our club team had a very high turnover of player personnel each season, because he wanted the best players available to protect the core of his team, the constant core of the group included my cousin and I, as well as our long time friend and teammate, Mike Pagliaro whose parents were friends with my mom and uncle for many years, dating back to their childhood in Italy. He stressed the team concept, and urged us all to play off one another rather than play by ourselves. He brought in several players to compliment his “boys” and was setting up to build the greatest youth team in the history of Canadian “soccer.” But he wasn’t satisfied with how things were going. What my uncle had really wanted was for us to get noticed by one of the Italian team’s youth academies, and get us to live out his dream; to one day play in the Serie A, and represent our country on the world stage. That was why, during the mandatory month break during our “domestic” season, my uncle would take us to Italy to train with his former clubs. By this time, Foggia had reached the Serie A, under the guidance of Zdenek Zemen, and Foggia had shocked many of the giants of Serie A by putting up a fight in their games, as opposed to sitting back and trying not to get blown out. It made for some exciting times in Italy, as Foggia pulled off the “hat-trick” giant slayings by beating Juventus, A.C. Milan and Napoli at their own ground. Sadly, only a season later, they would begin their fall from grace as most low budget clubs do. It was football economics 101; the bigger squads started poaching the best players of the smaller clubs for little or no compensation, and they’re left with mediocre players that are unable to compete with the big boys. Regardless, this was a promising time for Foggia, and my uncle was hoping that maybe we could one day wear the red and black of the Satanelli. Unfortunately, Foggia did not have a youth academy at the time, and could not under law sign us to any sort of contract. Zemen did however promise that regardless of who is in charge, once we reach the age of 16, we would be signed and play in the reserves, and eventually break into the first team. My uncle was not pleased about his two stars being given the sub par treatment, and went to speak with the chairman, who turns out to be a distant relative, something along the lines of a 4th or 5th cousin, I can’t remember which, and pleaded his case for us to come over. The chairman Tulio Capobianco reiterated that there was no money to fund an academy, even though he would love nothing more than to snap us up, and watch us blossom into superstars before his very eyes. My uncle, now determined more than ever to get the best out of us, to prove our abilities to the world, returned us home to continue our league play.

We progressed up the ranks as a squad, and finally reached the “top flight” of amateur football in Canada, playing in the Ontario Youth Soccer League during the 1995/96 season. It came with its own “Domestic Cup” The Ontario Cup, as well as a “Champion’s League” The Canadian National Championship, which unlike Europe’s elite club competition, was played at the end of the domestic season by all the winner’s as opposed to being played out the following year. Playing against teams as much as 3 years older than us, we were expected to go back down a division in our first year. What happened instead was we dominated. We walked through our league like a hot knife through butter, beating teams usually by 3 or 4 goals, and in one instance, shattering the league record for goals in a game with 16. I was no surprise that by the end of the season, my cousin and I finished 1-2 in the scoring race, with my cousin winning by a final tally of 42-39, thanks to not just our natural and developed talent, but to my uncle’s 4-1-3-2 Diamond formation, and the introduction of a tactical commodity, unknown in North America, the Little Striker/Big Striker combination. My cousin was naturally the smaller striker. He was very fast, very agile, and could turn a defender inside out as he wished. I was also very technically gifted, I may not have had the blinding pace, but I was equally as good with my feet and beat defenders when I see fit. However, the one advantage I had over my cousin, as well as the majority of players in the league was that I was unbeatable in the air. When you hit 5’10 at age 11, you’re pretty much set. Add to that I was powerful, and a vertical leap that could probably land me a basketball scholarship, if I had any interest at all in that sport, and teams had a tough time in shutting down both strikers. It was play deep and avoid being burnt on a long ball over the top, and leave yourself vulnerable to a penetrating cross with a giant, or play the offside trap, be aggressive to not allow the cross and get beat with a killer ball to send my cousin all alone with the keeper. Teams would have to; in a sense pick their poison. It was no surprise we walked away with the treble that season, going undefeated all season and winning The OYSL League Title, Ontario Cup and Canadian Nationals. We were on top of the Canadian football world.

Afterwards, my uncle wanted to give us some time to rest, considering we were still kids, our bodies weren’t used to the stress put on us by playing 60 games a year. So, my parents decided we would go to Italy for 3 months in the winter, to get away from school, work and playing football. My uncle decided to stay home, so there was no chance of me playing any football anyway.

When I came home with a Juventus jersey, my uncle jokingly called me a traitor. He got me to support Milan, but my favourite players were at Juventus, Roberto Baggio and Alessandro Del Piero. My uncle in Italy had converted me, although I do hold a soft spot for Milan in my heart, I’m a Bianconero.

Despite my support to Juventus, my uncle knew that although talented individually, my cousin and I were the perfect foil for each other, and that together, we could potentially be the greatest striker combo in history, which is why he wanted us to play for the Azzurri.

My cousin and I were both born in Toronto, Ontario Canada, but, thanks to a loophole in the immigration process, my parents, and my aunt and uncle had never become Canadian citizens. Therefore, we were entitled to Italian citizenship as well. My uncle took full advantage of this, and decided it would be best to take the Italian citizenship, and receive a Canadian passport, as opposed to the other way around, thus enabling us to easily bypass any “complications” that may arise in us trying to sign with an Italian team. So when my cousin and I reached the age of 14, we had a choice to make. We could either wait for our chance to maybe get called up to play for the Azzurri, or we could play for the Canadian U20 now and be fully capped with the Canadian national team by the time we reach 18. My uncle wanted us to play for the Azzurri; I wanted to play with whoever called me up. It was a choice we had to make as a family, and we decided to wait.

We didn’t get a chance to make either squad.

[SCIAG]

This is a good start, make sure you keep it up!

[Leaf_Fan_85]

Many thanks SCIAG, I shall do my best.

After I got back from Italy, the players, namely myself and my cousin desperately wanted to get back onto the field. My uncle, knowing we were dead tired, initially refused, until the club got involved and entered us into a winter league in the States. To prepare, we went right back to 6 practices a week, and a friendly against the local clubs U18’s.

Our first practice went terribly. My cousin was jogging alongside me, when my uncle blew his whistle for the player at the end of the line to sprint to become first. What happened next would set the stage for our season.

One of our defenders came charging on the outside left of the line, when he should have come on the outside right, since we were going into a turn. His legs got tangled with my cousin’s, and both players went down. My cousin was grabbing his leg, and rolling around on the floor. My uncle came to investigate, and I saw that his foot was bent the wrong way. He was immediately sent to the hospital, and was diagnosed with a severely broken ankle, torn ankle ligaments and a torn Achilles tendon. He went into surgery and we were told he’d be lucky to be walking again in six months.

So now the team’s focus was all on me. Without my cousin, my uncle, already in a bad state mentally adjusted the tactics to create a 4-5-1, with nothing but wide play for the Azzurrini. A dramatic change of style, considering we were a team that liked to mix it up, short passes and constantly moving, we now became too one dimensional, and to make matters worse, I was now a target.

Without another striker, especially one of the caliber of my cousin, teams knew I was to be man marked aggressively. My uncle warned me about this, and always told me to keep standing, unless I’m hacked down, because there is nothing worse than a diver. So, I played the big man style of play; back to goal, look for the shot, and if I didn’t have it, pass it back and reset. But every now and then, my primadonna side took over, the side of me that was the showoff, the player who dazzled the crowd with his magical touches and tricks. That side of me eventually cost me everything.

I was only 14 years old playing for the U16 setup, and some of the U18 players weren’t too thrilled that they were being shown how to play by “kids” so, they started the rough stuff. Hard tackles, rough shoulders, and all the grabbing and pushing they wanted to get in the friendly. My uncle was screaming at the other coach to tell his boys to lay off, since this was an exhibition match.

I was playing with my back to goal, and felt an elbow in my lower back. The defender was nudging my back, and I was discretely pushing back with my free hand. The ball came into my feet as it had hundreds of times before, and I immediately sent it back the way it came. Once we reset, I figured the defender knew I’d try to send it back, so I had an idea. As the ball came in, I quickly flicked it to my right, Bergkamp style, and turned my defender. He wasn’t expecting it, and I thought I was free. I made the turn and planted my right leg into the turf and wanted to half volley the ball to goal, when I felt a pop, and collapsed to the ground. I let out a blood curdling scream, and didn’t move. I couldn’t move. All I could do was scream in agony.

What had happened was the defender came in two footed on my plant leg, and with his studs up, came in hard on my right knee. I was turning one way, my knee went another and my foot stayed on the turf, and that was it. My uncle came running, and I heard him cursing in Italian, he was barely restrained from killing the coach and his player, while I was carried off the field and rushed to the hospital for surgery. I had completely blown out my knee. Both of my cruciate ligaments were torn, the LCL and MCL, as well as the Patella tendon as well as my cartilage were all torn, and I would never play again. The doctors even told me it’d be a miracle if I could ever jog or run again. I cried. My uncle gave up coaching, because in his eyes, he felt that he was the one responsible for our injuries, and didn’t let his team rest after playing such a grueling year of football. He blamed himself, not our clumsy teammate whose leg was accidentally tangled with my cousins. Not the older defender who took my legs out from under me for making him look foolish, but he held himself accountable, and would never forgive himself for it. To make matters worse he felt he was responsible for the fact that his son and nephew may never walk properly again for the rest of their lives. His dreams, just like my cousin’s and my own, were gone.

[tomv]

Nice start!

[SCIAG]

Um, where have the asterisks (*) come from?

[tenthreeleader]

You're off to a terrific start here. I appreciate the development time for your characters you have obviously invested and I will be happy to follow along. On another note, I'm glad you have enjoyed my stories on the forum. Welcome to FMS!

[Kewell08]

Aye, asterisks are a little offputting...

Really enjoyed the start of your previous story. Keep it up, nice start.

[Leaf_Fan_85]

Thanks all for the kind words.

I think the asterisks came from uploading this via my cell phone, so I will get rid of them. Quite odd indeed.

Anyways, back to the tale

Needless to say that our squad struggled without the two players who were considered the core to their success; they were relegated the following season, relegated again the following year, and folded, having fallen completely off the Canadian amateur soccer map.

It was the longest 2 years of my life. By the time I had supposedly recovered enough to walk without any form of support, I had lost everything. To make matters worse, I turned 16 only a week before, and that was when I got the phone call from Italy.

Foggia as promised was looking for their saviours to come over and bring them back to the top flight. I told them I would never play again, that my knee was done, and that my cousin and uncle both lost their drive. Foggia knew already about my predicament, and wanted me to come over for another reason, to coach. Evidently, the coaching staff held me in the regard that, like my uncle as good as I was as a player, I would make an even better coach. So I talked it over with my uncle, he agreed I should go, and that he would mentor me through the whole process.

Foggia had me well prepared to enter the UEFA Coaching program. Since I was still only 16, I wasn’t eligible for my professional badges, but they had a general understanding beforehand what I may see, so they put me through the motions so to speak, teaching me what I would need to know. It didn’t take long for me to get my introductory accreditation, and I was on my way to becoming a manager in the football world.

Then I flew home for my father’s funeral.

He had a rare form of cancer in his lungs that slowly drained him to the point where he was not the man I remembered. My father and I were never close, and I’ve always regretted it, but at the same time, he was never close to his father, and father and sons never really built the relationship over time that all the TV shows had you believe. The only comfort I had was twofold. First, I had mentally prepared for this event to happen since I was about 10 years old. That’s when my father was first diagnosed with the disease, and we treated every day as if it were his last, so when his final day did come, we were ready for it. Second, my uncle was there to console me. I had arrived back from Italy and my uncle took me to the hospital. My father lasted another 7 days, and at the age of 63, passed away. His now 18 year old son and nephew were the ones to break the news to immediate family members not at the hospital. My uncle consoled us both, and assured us everything would be alright.

I stayed home for two months after the funeral, and went back to Italy to complete the rest of my courses.

We flash forward to last week. I received my UEFA Pro License at the tender age of 23 and was ready to begin work at some lower level clubs to build my reputation. All the while during my training, Foggia allowed me to run their youth and reserve setup, winning many of the youth tournaments we had entered in. Foggia knew I wouldn’t be with them much longer, and they didn’t want to ruin my chances at stardom, so they insisted on helping me getting a job. A few days passed and my Blackberry rang. I didn’t see the number and thought maybe this was my first interview.

The phone call nearly ended my dreams.

[Leaf_Fan_85]

I picked up the phone, and all I heard was a crying voice on the other end, telling me Joe’s gone. I repeatedly asked whoever it was on the other end what happened, who’s Joe, and where did he go. All I got was the repeated crying, Joe’s gone. Joe’s gone. Finally someone else got on the phone. It was Antonio.

“Carlo, our coach is dead.”

“WHAT!?”

“Our coach…” He paused, fighting back the tears “My dad is dead. He collapsed this morning, and the doctor’s did everything they could to bring him back, but they couldn’t. They opened him up, and his heart just exploded in his chest. There was nothing they could do to save him. We need you home. We need you. I need you.”

I fought back the tears myself. “I’ll be on the next flight. Take care of everybody for now, until I get back.”

With that, I hung up the phone, dropped to the floor, and cried.

After I was able to find the strength to pick myself up, I went to Tulio, the chairman of Foggia Calcio to tell him what happened. He was dumbfounded, and I just saw his face drop. He asked me what I was going to do. I told him I was going home. He then told me he meant in terms of my football future. I told him I didn’t know. Football was what brought my uncle and I together in the first place. Everything I ever knew, know, and will know will be because of him. I don’t know how I could ever expect myself to go on with this if I am to be reminded of him every time I get anywhere near a ball, a field or a stadium. All I know is my uncle is gone, and I never got a chance to say goodbye. Tulio, being a distant relative, felt it was his duty to call up the rest of our family that are still here in Foggia, and chartered a plane to take us all to the funeral.

So now here we are. I am at the cemetery, preparing to bury my second father, with my father resting two lots to his left. As the priest gave the final blessings, his former squad, the 1995/96 Canadian National Champions, my cousin and I, the team co-captains as his pall bearers slowly lowered the casket containing our beloved coach to the earth for his eternal rest. Inside with him was his rosary, his A.C. Milan scarf, and several team photos over the years, including my uncle’s favourite one, my cousin was holding the left handle of the Canadian National Trophy, I was holding the right handle, and my uncle had both hands on the bottom of the cup. But, we knew something was missing, and just before we said our final goodbyes at the funeral home, my cousin and I slipped the championship medal in there too, as a keepsake. Then, each player, beginning with my cousin and me, each took a handful of dirt and a red rose. We each whispered Forza Azzurrini in unison, and sprinkled the handful of dirt onto his coffin, and placed the rose at the foot of his grave, and laid him to rest

I was inconsolable for about a month after the funeral. I had visited my uncle’s grave everyday, and talked to him, asking him what I should do. I begged for him to come back, to guide me, to help me decide whether I should even give football another chance, to help me get through all the tears that are bound to come everytime I even think about the game. As I said my goodbye, and walked back to my car, my phone rang. I looked at the call display and noticed it was long distance.

011? I thought to myself, that’s Turin. Why would I be getting a call from Turin?

I answered, and before I could finish saying hello, a voice at the other end jumped in.

“Please hold for Mr. Giovanni Cobolli Gigli.”

Cobolli Gigli? Juventus Chairman? What is he doing calling me?

I waited as the phone rang to put me through to his office.

“Mr. Cardelli. Giovanni Cobolli Gigli here. How are you my boy?”

“About as well as I can be, sir.” I responded, in near perfect Italian, which seemed to impress him.

“I know of these rough times. My condolences to the loss of your uncle. He was a good man.”

“Indeed he was. May I ask how you know about that?”

“Your uncle Tulio told me about it.” He responded.

“Uncle Tulio?” I said, with a very puzzled look on my face. “I don’t have an Uncle Tulio.”

“Yes you do. Tulio Capobianco? Chairman of Foggia?”

“Well to be honest sir, he’s not really my uncle. We’re related, something like 5th cousins, but he’s not my uncle.”

“I know, but I also know you call anyone who is older and isn’t directly related but is somehow part of your genetic pool and uncle, so I figured I would use that.” He said matter of factly. “Anyways, we were talking about you a lot the last few weeks. I would have contacted you sooner, but with the funeral and all, I figured you would have wanted some space before you went back to work.”

“Work? I don’t understand.”

“You will, in time. Listen, the reason why I called is because I wanted to meet with you, face to face. There’s a ticket waiting for you at the airport for Turin. It leaves tonight at 6 PM. Be sure to be on that plane, and have a suit with you. I will speak with you tomorrow, Arrivaderci.”

With that, he hung up the phone, and I stood in the middle of a cemetery, as if I had just seen a ghost.

[SCIAG]

This is incredibly good, Leaf. Keep it up!

[Leaf_Fan_85]

Thanks SCIAG, I shall do my best.

A few hours later, Mr. Cobolli Gigli’s secretary, who said her name was Luisa, gave me all the specific details about my arrangements tomorrow. She told me that a driver would be there to greet me at the airport, and will drive me to the club’s headquarters just outside of Turin to meet with the Chairman, and who knows else. I shaved, and found my best suit and sent it in for dry cleaning and pressing, packed an overnight bag, and went to the airport.

I arrived in Turin this morning like any other person landing at Caselle International Airport, except for the fact everyone knew exactly what they were doing here. I myself didn’t know what to expect at all, and a part of me just wanted to go home and forget this potentially embarrassing event ever came to pass. But, then I was reminded of my uncle, who wanted this so badly for himself, and then his two boys, my cousin and I, and decided that for him, I would do this.

As I exited the terminal, overnight bag in hand, I saw a man in his 50’s in a suit and cap, holding up a sign with my name on it. I walked over, and introduced myself, and he immediately took my bag, placed it in the back of the car, and let me in the backseat. We then proceeded to drive towards the Juventus complex, and I was awestruck.

The HQ of Juventus Football Club was located approximately 14 kilometers from downtown Turin. The facilities are fairly new, having only been constructed in 2006. There were 9 training fields, and one covered ground away from the main buildings, so the media can’t spy on the big boys when they’re not invited to spy on them.

The driver pulled up to the main building of Juve HQ, and led me to the door. As I entered the building, the receptionist at the desk greeted me and said I would be seen shortly. I wasn’t sure how I was recognized, but thanked her anyway, and went to sit on the leather sofa. But before I could, I had to take a quick look around. There was Juventus memorabilia everywhere. The walls were covered with team and player photos, legendary player jerseys such as Baggio, Zidane, Platini, Sivori and Rossi, and a host of others and on the far right was the legendary trophy case. Juventus are the first and only team to win every single sanctioned trophy in existence, including the Champion’s League, UEFA Cup and Super Cup, plus the 27 scudetto trophies, Cup Winner’s Cup, the predecessor to the Club World Championship, the Intercontinental Cup, and the list goes on and on. As I wandered throughout the lobby, a familiar voice summoned me.

The voice belonged to Luisa, a stereotypical older Italian lady, with the dyed red hair, a bit on the heavy side, and the look of a mother who loved her children with all her heart constantly on her face. She led me to the board room, and knocked on the door.

“Please enter.” A voice boomed. Definitely Cobolli Gigli.

Luisa opened the large mahogany door, and I was in complete awe. The room was made of glass, with the left side facing the training ground, and the right side facing Turin. Inside the boardroom was a table, and 20 chairs, all black leather with the Juventus logo at the top of the chair, facing one another. The 21st seat belonged to the man currently sitting at the head of the table. The chairman of the board himself, Mr. Giovanni Cobolli Gigli. Flanked to his left was club legend Gianluca Pessotto and Mr. Cobolli Gigli’s right was current gaffer Claudio Ranieri. I shook each man’s hands, and told them it was an honour to meet some of the most influential people in football. They responded in kind, and invited me to sit.

“What do you think my boy?” Cobolli Gigli asked, knowing I was enamored with the board room.

“It’s spectacular. You have really outdone yourselves.”

“Money well spent.” Was his reply.

“Carlo, we want to thank you for coming out. The reason why you’re here is we want you to talk to us about yourself. We know you’re a big fan of ours, and to be honest some of us are big fans of you. Especially Claudio.

“My son-in-law’s father seems to think very highly of you. Tulio thinks you’re a brilliant tactician, and from what I’ve seen from your time at Foggia, I’d have to agree.”

“My uncle Tulio?” I can’t believe him.

“Ah yes. Foggia were very reluctant to let you go, but Mr. Capobianco deemed it umm how you say “fair play” that he cost you your only real chance of starting out in Italian football, that he really wants to make it up to you. Normally I don’t hire someone from the recommendation of his current chairman, but after Claudio, Gianluca and I made some enquiries about you, as well as watching how you handle yourself as the man in charge, we all agree, you’re a special talent.”

“Hire me? I don’t understand.” I was generally confused.

“Well, here’s something the media have yet to find out about, so you must keep this between us. Claudio here was hired, as you know to bring the team back to challenge for the scudetto. He signed a contract, but there was a clause that he could fore go his final year and become Director of Football, should a suitable, younger replacement become available. Naturally, he was set to continue the final year of the deal, until your name popped up. I tell you, that son-in-law of his raves about what a genius you are. Naturally, we all agree you have what it takes in the top flight, but we’re not going to offer you the job just yet. We have one question for you, to determine if you are fit to take control.”

Mr. Cobolli Gigli leaned in, and looked me straight in the eyes. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to intimidate me, or rather just wanted to grab my attention.

“As you see this team right now, what do you think are our chances of winning in the next two years?”

I took a moment to ponder how I would respond to this. I wanted to speak from the heart, but for a moment I thought about playing politics to secure my job. I decided that the heart felt truth was my best bet.

“To be honest, sir, this club has, in part lost its way. When Juventus last won the Champion’s League in 1996, there were a total of 3 non-Italian players on the final roster. You currently have 3, at most 4 key players that are of Italian descent. Gianluca, you know better than anybody, you were a member of that Champion’s League win. Of course it could have been luck, sure. It could have been a coincidence, but I have always felt that teams where the majority of the players are of one nationality always seem to play better as a unit.”

Mr. Cobolli Gigli nodded his head, taking in what I have said. “Anything else?”

“Actually yes. I have a bit of an ambitious plan for this club. What I plan is to build a squad that can both win right now, and be secure for years to come, with a delicate balance of youth and experience. If you hire me on, I will need the full backing of the board to completely revamp the club in my image. That will mean that I will need some financial flexibility, at least in the short term, until some of the dead weight is offloaded. I know Claudio had secured some of these players, but I feel to make my own mark, I will need a clean slate.”

Mr. Cobolli Gigli turned to Gianluca Pessotto and Ranieri, and simply shrugged his shoulders. Claudio spoke.

“Carlo, are you sure this will work?”

“With the right tactics in place, anyone can win. I think if we get the right combination in place, you won’t be hearing the likes of Manchester United or Chelsea squaring off in the Champion’s League final. And, with every fiber of my being, Inter Milan will NEVER be crowned Serie A champion’s again.”

That seemed to catch Mr. Cobolli Gigli’s interest. He whispered something into Claudio’s ear, and Claudio nodded.

“I’ve heard enough. I like the youth strategy you have in place. I had an inclination you would want to go with a younger team, which, I and Claudio would agree would be beneficial in the long run. I can assure you that you would have the full backing of the board in any decisions you decide to make. We would like to offer you a two year contract. We will supply you with living arrangements on the short term, until you can find suitable arrangements for yourself. We have a large bonus that will hopefully take care of those arrangements, and of course, some other provisions that you will be pleasantly surprised with.

Mr. Cobolli Gigli got out of his chair, and extended his hand. I nearly feinted. My mind was running through a million different scenarios. What if I’m not ready? What if I’m not cut out for this? What if I horrendously screw this up? As my mind ran through all this, my mouth blurted the most ridiculous thing I could have ever said.

“Can I have a Ferrari?”

[Kinnell]

Great wee story so far

[Leaf_Fan_85]

Thank you Kinnell, if I had a hat on, I'd tip it for the kind words.

-------------------------------------------

If there is one thing in life that is certain, it is that bad luck has its way of following some people around for what seems like their entire lifetime. Michael Owen is a prime example. One of the youngest goal scorers in World Cup history, he was all set to become a major star, and then injuries took over. Such a bright future cruelly taken away from him, although he does seem like he’s on the road to recovery. Alessandro Del Piero is another example, but in a not so obvious way. Sure he was Serie A top scorer last year, and has been one of the more consistent Serie A players, but in terms on international play, and that brief period in the mid to late 90’s when everyone wrote him off as being finished seemed to linger over his head for a while. But now, at 33 years of age, he seems to finally reaching his full potential. So sad though he may only have another year or two of this “football high” until he begins his rapid decline.

I myself have never been known as a good luck charm by any means. Sure I’ve won almost everything there was to win at the amateur level in Canada, but I would have traded it all for just one year in the Serie A. Needless to say my crippling injury was the footballing god’s pound of flesh for my early success; but it looks that fate may once again be swinging towards my favour. Of course, this could be the calm before the storm, and I could get sacked three games into my career, be deemed a flop, and not even get an interview with the local youth sides. It doesn’t matter, because as of right now, I am the man in charge of Juventus Football Club. Of course nothing is official until I sign on the dotted line, but Mr. Cobolli Gigli preferred me to sign my contract at the press conference he has called for next weekend. Until then, he suggested I get a new suit, and a trim. Naturally I agreed, since I never liked my hair growing too long, which is a far cry from my playing days, as I routinely had the shaggy hairstyle a la Andrea Pirlo. Of course, what I always wanted was a “Divino Codinino” a miniature Divine Ponytail worn by Baggio, but my mother and uncle wouldn’t allow it, and for two different reasons. My mother wouldn’t allow her son to look like a complete schemu and my uncle didn’t want me looking like the man who had cost Italy the World Cup of 1994. That tournament still brings back painful memories anywhere Italians gather, and everyone remembers Baggio’s miss, but what they always seem to forget was how he carried that team on his back and brought them to the finals in the first place, as well as the misses by captain Franco Baresi and Daniele Massaro in the shootout, and that Brazil still had another shooter to go.

But that was then, and this is now. As much as I firmly believed there was something the football gods have up their sleeve to rain on my parade, this moment was mine. Mr. Cobolli Gigli has graciously given me an advance on my bonus so I can start getting settled in. Thankfully, he will be covering my hotel costs and has hired a driving service for the interim until I’m set. I decided with my mini fortune, I would go and purchase several new suits from the “middle-high end” shops in town. Surely three of those or four of those would do just fine.

I was all set to exit the facility, until Luisa called for me from her desk.

“Signore Cardelli, Mr. Aurellio is on his way to the facility to meet with you about the fitting this afternoon.”

“Fitting? What fitting? I was on my way to some shops in town to get a new suit.”

“Oh no no no no no no Signore Cardelli.” She came running, although I wouldn’t really call it running per say. She more or less walked at a gingerly pace shuffling her feet as she came down the hall, almost as if she was leisurely trying to stop me from leaving. “Signore Aurellio is the number 2 man at Armani. Surely you’d want to look good for the press, and for the young ladies in the audience.”

“Armani? Giorgio Armani?”

“Yes Signore Cardelli. Giorgio Armani. Is there a problem with that? We could always call Donatella and, well knowing her, she’d probably come to fit you personally and…”

“Donatella Versace?” My mind was racing.

“Why? You no like either?”

“It’s not that, Luisa. It’s just this is so overwhelming that’s all. But how am I going to afford these clothes? I mean Mr. Cobolli Gigli only gave me a small advance, and I still have…”

Luisa cut me off, giving me the typical Italian mother silencer. She repeatedly shook her head in mock disappointment, and clicked her tongue behind her teeth, and pinched my cheek. She pinched a little too hard; I think she may have broken some skin. She then looked at me.

“Carlo, how long have you been a fan of Juventus?”

“Over 10 years. Why?”

“Have you ever noticed how good the team looks when away from the pitch?”

“Yes, but I just assumed they bought all those clothes.”

“When do athletes pay for anything? Look. Mr. Cobolli Gigli has a deal worked out with a lot of companies. Every club team does, to an extent. The deal is, the clothing companies, like Armani, Versace, Guess, they all give a certain amount of clothing to the players, staff and members of the club. In return for wearing them when they’re seen in public, the clothing companies get to advertise and you keep the clothes. Obviously, different levels of hierarchy exist. Alex or Pavel or Gigi can get a new Armani suit every day if they wish. The youth players get a yearly allowance, and anything else must be paid out of their own pocket.”

“What about me?” I was intrigued; I could use a new wardrobe, considering I brought nothing from home. Of course, all my house was really filled with were track suits, jerseys, and polo’s.

“Let’s just put it this way. You start winning and Giorgio will give you a store.”

“And what about Donatella?”

“She’d probably want to marry you.” She smiled at me.

“I’ll pass. Tell Mr. Aurellio that I will be expecting him downstairs in the change rooms for our fitting.”

“About that, Mr. Cobolli Gigli insists you use the board room. By the way, what is your favourite colour Signore Cardelli?”

“Azzurri Blue.” I responded “Why?”

“Just curious.” Luisa said. With that, she smiled at me again, pinched my other cheek and happily walked back to her desk. I rubbed my cheek, and smiled.

[tenthreeleader]

This is a really nice post, LF. That '94 WC was a beaner, wasn't it?

[Leaf_Fan_85]

Thanks 10/3, that final will forever be burned into my memory, although '06 almost made me forget about it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After two VERY long days of measurements, fittings, choosing what styles, patters and materials I wanted to wear (more like choosing what I don’t like) getting them to fit perfectly, and lastly getting the Juventus logo on the jacket and tie, I was finally ready for the media. I had begun my house hunting search as well, that is, my assistant Giacomo started my house hunting. He’s a young “kid” who has just graduated form the University of Turin, and wanted to learn the ins and out of football. Unfortunately, when he was assigned to work at Juventus, Ranieri was in charge. Now, he was working with someone his own age, and didn’t have a clue yet as to how to run a football team. I was a fast learner, so I’d get there in due time, but this kid’s future is at stake, so this may not work out too well. On the other hand, he may get the benefit of the doubt, and I surely would reveal to him more than someone who’s managed the post long enough to know all the secrets of the trade.

I had explained to Giacomo that I would need a place to live that was no more then a half hour away from the training ground, and that the neighbors wouldn’t mind some late night partying every now and then. I was not a very active social butterfly. But every now and then, it would be nice to gather some people, serve some drinks and party, of course should we win any titles this year, then we may be partying for a few days. Giacomo nodded as he took down my two instructions, and set off on his mission. Afterwards, Mr. Cobolli Gigli called me to warn me ahead of time I should “follow the Juventus dress code” from hereon in. Anyone who’s familiar with Juventus knows they’re very strict in terms of appearance. You must be clean shaven, hair usually kept short (special circumstances and exemptions usually are given, although you are then hit with a hefty fine) and as Mr. Cobolli Gigli gently reminded me, always look sharp. I had decided for my presentation press conference, I would be wearing the Juventus colours in a specific suit I picked out for myself. The suit was made of Italian silk, black with white pinstripes with the Juventus logo embroidered onto the left pocket. Accompanied with an Italian Silk black shirt and Italian Silk white tie, I honestly looked more like a Mafioso than a manager. But, the colours matched the team, and it’s a suit I have always wanted, so Giorgio personally fitted and embroidered the logo for me, and now, I was just staring at it in the mirror, wondering if this would possibly be the highlight of my life as a football manager. I could only smile as I finished the half Windsor knot, and walked out the door.

My new driver, Pino is a tall, very skinny man in his 60’s or so, and only starting to turn grey. He has short hair that he constantly kept flattening under his cap, and wore a dark suit with a Juventus logo embroidered on the jacket. He had a rolled cigarette in his mouth, and waited patiently by the door to the Fiat the company issued to take me around town. They wanted to give me a limo, but I figured that would bring up a lot of unwanted attention. I exited the hotel and got into the car, and Pino began the short trip to the Juventus Media Centre.

When I arrived, I noticed that there were plenty of reporters from around the world here to take in my appointment. There were photographers from Japan who were jostling with the American media, and the English press just sat back, maybe a tad disinterested in the news of a new manager at the helm of Juventus. The club does have a large world wide fan base, third highest if I wasn’t mistaken. Ironically, despite being the most supported club in Italy, they are despised in Turin. Torino is the team of choice in the city, while the majority of Juve’s fans come from the south. Juventus have always had a great away following, but their home support was appalling. Some of it is due to their perceptions as a “money club” that Juve fans are there because of the glorious history, and that Torino was the city club, the club for the fans, very similar to the way Manchester City is the city club and Manchester United are the “money club” although City may be changing that soon. Another example is the “Catalan” derby in Spain, where Barcelona is the club for the bandwagon jumpers, and their “poorer” rivals Espanyol are the club for the people. However, in my own opinion, the real factor is the Stadio Delle Alpi. The seating there is atrocious, and that god-awful track just ruins the viewpoints for all the fans in the stadium. Juventus are currently remodeling the Delle Alpi, taking away several thousand seats and removing the track, hoping this will bring the fans back. However, winning games and playing exciting football would also help in bringing the fans in to see Juventus.

I seemed to make a good decision in choosing my vehicle, because every limo that pulled up to the facility was bombarded by the media, camera’s flashing incessantly when the door opened, hoping to get that first photo of the new boss. Luckily, Pino had no trouble getting past the tabloids and paparazzi and he pulled up to the rear entrance and I stepped out and hurriedly entered the building, awaiting the eventual storm of media who would love more than anything to knock me off my pedestal.

Anyone who’s been in the public eye would know just as well as I do, that the media love to build you up, hype you as the savior of something, and then burn you to the ground in the blink of an eye. I’ve witnessed many media crucifixions in my lifetime, and I was hoping against hope I would not succumb to that in my career. I have been dealing with reporters since I was 5 years old, when news broke out in my hometown of Toronto that there were two “Soccer Dynamos” that would put Canada on the football map. I’ve been through media training, and probably avoided more questions about my injury than most people are asked the time. I wasn’t spectacular with the media, but I held my own. The difference that I perceive between the North American media and European media is that when it comes to young athletes, North Americans seem to want to build them up, almost to god-like status, and then report as to why they become such a terrible influence when they become confident in themselves, or do something that seemed innocent at the time, only to be blown out of proportion in the papers, blogs and news reports. Here in Europe, they don’t seem to give you that chance to be built up to the god-like status before they try to ruin your life.

I desperately wanted to win them over, that way they may take it easier on me while I get used to this steep learning curve. Sure, my Canadian lifestyle and upbringing will come into question, but I’ve always been an Italian at heart. Italy hasn’t been too kind to these straniero managers. The foreign bosses in the league never seem to last long. Zemen was probably the most successful, lasting almost a decade before being blackballed for trying to cause an uproar to the “alleged doping” of athletes in football. Sven-Goran Eriksson could probably jostle with Zemen’s claims of top foreign boss, considering his title’s with Lazio. Even foreign players are subject to minimal careers in the Serie A, with of course some notable and successful exceptions. The Serie A style of play isn’t suited for many. It’s more of a tactic based league where the impetus is on the coaches to come up with a game plan and the players execute, where as in Spain it’s all about the ball movement and free flowing attacks. The English Premiership is all about raw pace, and long balls to the target men who take it down and go for goal. Italy is about slowly building up your attack, and going into a defensive shell once you’re comfortable. I wanted to change all of that, but that was for another day.

The Juventus Centre is located in a little town called Pinovo, approximately 14 kilometers from downtown Turin, and would be my new “home” for the next little while. As I begin to set the mould of the club in my own image, I would probably be spending long hours here day after day, at least until the players return from holiday in July. Hopefully then I will have a better idea of how the squad will look, and where my transfer budget will be spent on.

“Carlo! Mamma Mia! You look-a nice eh?” It was Luisa, in full mother mode. “Oh cuore di mamma, if my daughters weren’t married, I’d bring you home to meet them, and you’d be married, and have little bambinis running around the house, and ohh it would be so nice.” She pinched my cheek again. I couldn’t help but wince, but I knew she enjoyed me here. Ever since I came to Turin about two weeks ago, she’s been my surrogate mother. My mom, still home in Toronto refuses to come back to Italy, but would rather wallow with my aunt in mourning of the loss of her favourite sibling. I don’t blame her, as I would love nothing more than to be with my family during this time of sadness, but we all must move on. Bringing her here would only serve to make her feel worse, so for the moment, she was staying home.

After Luisa was done her sappy mom routine, she led me to my office, which was located on the other side of the building. The door already has my name on it, and I couldn’t be happier. That is, until Luisa opened the door.

Inside was spectacular. The office was at least 30’ x 30’, if not more. There was a large mahogany desk parallel to the back wall, with a large black leather chair with the Juventus logo on it, the exact same chair from the Juventus board room. To the left was a 50” Plasma TV and a DVD system, which I assumed would only be used for “video sessions”. Next to the DVD player were DVD cases, with labels on them, ranging from titles such as 2007 Season Review to “The Best of Juventus.” Surely I could sneak in some classics from my personal collection into the office, should I ever get bored sometime. Opposite the TV was a leather couch, also with the Juventus logo on it. These guys loved the club. Two more leather seats were opposite the desk, assuming they were for any “guests” in the office here for the hair dryer treatment. Lastly, I noticed the Azzurri Blue walls. This must have been why Luisa asked me for my favourite colour. I was fantasizing about what would go in here, when Mr. Cobolli Gigli knocked on my door.

“How do you like it?”

“It’s fantastic.”

“You ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

[Leaf_Fan_85]

There were maybe a hundred media members in attendance for the unveiling. The stage area was set with a table with a black tablecloth with, as you would imagine the club logo all over it. The backdrop had our various sponsors and the club crest once again, and there were 3 chairs, three glasses and a pitcher of water. Mr. Cobolli Gigli, Claudio Ranieri and I then made our way to the podium as the bulbs went off. Ranieri and I sat down on opposite ends, leaving the middle seat for Mr. Cobolli Gigli. He went up to the podium, and began his little introduction.

“I would like to thank all of you for appearing here this morning. As you may know, Claudio Ranieri has stepped down from his position as Manager of Juventus Football Club, and will be taking on a greater role within the club, as Director of Football. We have searched for a suitable replacement for Claudio, and we feel that a new approach, someone from outside the club, and even the league in a sense would field better results for us on the pitch. We interviewed numerous candidates, but only one has the courage to speak his mind. Only one had the tactical awareness to see what was wrong with this club. This is by no means a reflection on Claudio’s decision making; he did an excellent job with what he had. But now, with a return to the Champion’s League, Claudio felt that new blood would be needed to overcome this obstacle. This young man will hopefully bring us back among Europe’s elite. He is battle tested. He has faced numerous obstacles in his life, and has shown he is more than able to bear with it, and still get results. He is the youngest person to ever obtain the UEFA Pro License, and will hopefully be a part of the Juventus family for a long time. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished members of the press, and our loyal tifoisi I present to you, Mr. Carlo Cardelli.

I stepped up to the podium, and shook Mr. Cobolli Gigli’s hand. The cameras blinded me for a moment, but I maintained my grin. Claudio then handed me a Juventus team scarf, and I held it with one hand, as Cobolli Gigli held the other end for the classic photo op. After a few more bulbs went off, I held the scarf over my head for some solo photos of the scarf and myself, and finally draped it over my shoulders.

“I would very much like to thank Mr. Cobolli Gigli for giving me this opportunity. It is an honour and privilege to be in charge at Juventus. To be mentioned alongside some of the greatest players to ever play the game and to be a part of the history that comes with La Vecchia Signora is more than I ever could have imagined. I will do my best to bring Juventus back to being the top team in Serie A, Europe, and The World.”

The media then began to jockey for position, in order to test my merits, a baptism by fire if you will. The first man to step up was a short, stocky man with a thick black mustache, who looked like Super Mario except without the red and blue overalls.

“Mario Ruoppolo, Gazetta Dello Sport. You’re 26 years old, never played at the top flight, and have no track record in terms of coaching at the top flight either. What are your plans on surviving with a club that has such high expectations?”

I looked at Mario and smiled. “Well for starters, Mario, you may want to fire that fact checker of yours. I’m 23 years old, not 26. I am the youngest UEFA Pro Licensed manager for a reason. I’m good at what I do. If you don’t believe me, look at the Foggia youth team. I have done extremely well, at least in my opinion with players who won’t make the grade in Serie A, because they followed a plan. In terms of no top flight experience, I will have you know that although I never played at that level, I was approached by several clubs, and was set to join Foggia until I was forced to retire nearly a decade ago.”

Mario laughed. “You do realize Foggia is in Serie C1 don’t you? Surely you don’t consider that top flight experience?”

I smiled again. “Again, Mario fire your fact checker. 10 years ago, Foggia was in the Serie A. In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, they finished in the top half their first two years back. It wasn’t until the big clubs came and poached their best players that they went back down to Serie B, but they had success, and who knows, if Giuseppe Signori was picked for the national team and by Lazio with his above average attacking prowess, I may have been at Juventus years ago as a player, and probably a very good one at that.”

Again Mario popped up “So, you’re saying that you’d have been the best footballer alive?”

My smile disappeared for a moment, and I looked at Mario “Listen, all I said was I may have been. Football is a game of luck. I wasn’t lucky. I got hurt before I could ever shine, and my mind I would like to think I may have been the greatest footballer alive. That doesn’t mean I would have, but in my own mind, I dreamed of it. Satisfied?”

Mario nodded his head sheepishly, and sat down.

“Signore Cardelli! Michele Ferro, La Stampa. Do you think your lack of experience may hinder your ability to bring in players of high quality to the club?”

“Not at all. It’s not like I never coached before. I wasn’t just picked up off the street like some of you dream you would be. I would like to compare myself to a man whom I hold in the highest respect. Arrigo Sacchi was a shoe salesman, who never made it beyond amateur playing status. He got a chance, and impressed and was a win away from a World Cup. He won the Serie A titles and Champion’s League with arguably the best club team ever assembled with the powerhouse Milan side. I hope to emulate that with a powerhouse side of my own.”

“You mentioned Sacchi. Do you feel that he best represents what you aspire to become?”

“I have many idols in the coaching world. Sacchi is one, Lippi is another, and who can forget the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson. What I hope to become is a bit of a combination of every manager I have ever seen in my lifetime, and take what has worked for them, and to learn from their mistakes. I don’t think I will ever be perfect, but I surely can’t go wrong by following their mould.”

“Gianmarco Staduro, Tuttosport. Any plans for the transfer window?”

“Yes.”

“That’s it?”

“I can’t very well tell you who I’m planning to buy now can I? Not only would that just alert our rivals, but would also be considered tampering. I will give you all a hint. A bit of language class, if you will. Juventus is Latin. Juventus, loosely translated means youth. Juventus is an Italian team. I think you can put the rest together.”

“How many signings do you plan on making?”

“As many as it takes to get the team to play as I want it to.”

“Won’t that upset the squad harmony?”

“It will, for those who are deemed fit to stay.”

The media began an uproar. Here was a young, brash manager stating that, in essence, the squad wasn’t fit to compete. Juventus have never been known as big spenders in the transfer market. Some fans were overjoyed to hear this, others were afraid their heroes were going to leave, and would hold me responsible for any slip ups.”

Mario was the first to jump down my throat. “Mr. Chairman, surely you can’t agree to these tactics?”

“I do agree with Mr. Cardelli to a point, and don’t call me Shirley.”

Author’s Note: I know this joke wouldn’t work in Italian, but I had to do it 

“Mr. Cardelli has the full backing of the board in whatever he decides is needed to win; we will do whatever we can to help him.”

Not satisfied, Mario got Claudio’s first reaction to the press conference. “Mr. Cardelli has basically undermined your management at Juventus. Any opinions?”

“Carlo feels this is what we need to win. I know we placed a respectable third in the Serie A last year, but we struggled at times. Alex and David carried this team on their backs for the majority of the season, and we were very lucky not to lose them for any long stretch of time. I support the new boss 100% so don’t try to cause any dissention in the ranks, or I will have your head.”

Mario seemed intimidated, and sat down.

“Mr. Cardelli. Lisa Rombello La Fashionista. I love that suit. Who made it?”

“Armani, at the request of Mr. Cobolli Gigli. I must also thank him, and Giorgio for making me look so good.”

Mr. Cobolli Gigli took the microphone. “That will be all for today. We will allow Mr. Cardelli more media access once he’s settled in. But I would like to take this opportunity to officially sign the contract.”

With that, Mr. Cobolli Gigli presented the contract to me. I signed on the dotted line, and shook his hand. He then reached in his pocket and pulled out a key.

“And as a final signing bonus, here is a key to your new Ferrari Enzo. Azzurri Blue is your favourite colour is it not?”

[Leaf_Fan_85]

I was tempted to hop into my new Ferrari and just go for a joyride. My dream car was now a reality, and it’s all because of my uncle. I could never repay him for everything he had done for me my entire life, and I knew full well that if it wasn’t for his influence, I’d probably be at home in Canada, in school trying to be a doctor or something my parents would want for me. It wouldn’t have been a bad life, don’t get me wrong, but how many 23 year olds can say that they got a multi million dollar contract, 7 figure signing bonus, custom made Armani suit and a Ferrari as a hiring package?

I decided that before I go on any drives, I needed to get to work. As much as I wanted to start looking over my squad profiles, and send my scouts to give me the info needed on my transfer targets, the first thing that I needed to do was set up my office. I called my assistant Giacomo to stop the house hunting for a bit, and to get me a new PC, and a couple of picture frames. After I got off the phone, I was all set to pop in the Juventus History DVD when there was a knock at my door. I turned around, and my jaw nearly dropped to the floor. There standing before me was Juventus recorder holder and Captain Alessandro Del Piero. The player I had molded myself after ever since I first saw him play when I was 6 years old. I began mumbling and babbling as I was in disbelief, when Alex finally smiled, and offered his hand. I immediately apologized for acting like a kid.

“Don’t worry about it, boss. I was the exact same way when I came to Juventus and met Baggio. Is this a bad time? I wanted to talk to you about something.”

I invited him to the leather chair in front of my desk and I sat in the Boss’ chair.

“I heard the press conference this morning. I must say, I’m a tad hesitant in the sweeping changes you’re planning on. How much change are you looking for?”

“Ale, in all seriousness, I’ve been watching this team since I was a kid. In order to bring us back to the Champion’s League consistently, and to run the Serie A table, as well as go deep in the Coppa Italia, we will need fresh faces in the lineup.”

“Skipper…” I knew exactly what he wanted to know.

“Alex, you’re the leader of this team. You’re a club legend, and probably the greatest player to ever wear the black and white. Your invaluable experience is beyond what I could ever buy in the transfer market. I could never sell you. In fact, my first order of business is to sign you to a new 5 year contract, so you see out your remaining playing days at Juventus, and if you’re interested, once you retire, there’s a spot waiting for you as the number 2 man in charge at Juventus. What do you say?”

Alex seemed shocked that I had such a detailed, long term plan for him. He always felt that it was a matter of time he would get sold, and much as he didn’t want to, especially after the Capello and Deschamps era, where he was confined to the bench. He thought his marriage to La Vecchia Signora would unfortunately come to an end. He seemed excited and motivated to play. With that, he shook my hand, and got up to leave.

“Alex, hold on. As you can see, my office is a little plain at the moment, and I was wondering if I could get some signed stuff of yours to put on my wall, seeing as you’re my favourite player and all.”

“Anything you want chief.”

[Leaf_Fan_85]

After Alex had graciously signed some things for me, I started to get to work. I knew that I had to get a much younger squad in place, and thanks to Claudio’s summer moves, two of our young starlets were shipped out. I knew I had to bring them back. Talent like this was too hard to pass up, especially since they were club trained from the youth academy, they were invaluable to our Champion’s League registration. I had to convince them to come back to the Delle Alpi set up.

But, the youth movement was one I wanted, there was one dream I had that I wanted to pursue. An “old man” who left Turin under circumstances beyond his control lost the one trophy to elude him his entire career, and another one he has yet to win. I desperately wanted him to win them in a black and white kit, and knew if I had him in the lineup, our half would be near impossible to penetrate.

“Luisa, could you please get me the number to the offices of Real Madrid?”

I called in my scouting staff for our first briefing of the year. I handed each of them a shortlist of my transfer targets.

“I want to know everything there is to know about these men before I place a bid on them. I want to know their strengths, their weaknesses, their injury history, when they had their first kiss, how they take their coffee. I don’t want any details looked over as irrelevant. I want these in as soon as humanly possible. I would like your initial feeling towards these players and what their expected roles would be both now and in the future. Tomorrow we will discuss these names, along with Claudio, Gianluca and Alex, and go from there.”

The scouts nodded and got to work. I then called in the coaching staff and met with each coach individually, laying out what I had planned in terms of training, and what they felt they wanted out of the club. Some members of the staff weren’t too pleased at having someone who was considerably younger than they were instructing them on the game of football, so their contracts were terminated immediately and we free to seek employment with someone they felt could do a better job at managing a club. Those who felt that my hiring was a step in the right direction, and liked my new ideas that I wanted to put in place were rewarded with a new contract.

I am a firm believer in rewarding hard work and loyalty. A happy, loyal employee is worth more than his wages. They will work harder and ensure the club will succeed, which is why I not only extended the contract of Alessandro Del Piero, Pavel Nedved and Gianluigi Buffon, but the reason why I wanted to bring Fabio Cannavaro back to Juventus.

[Leaf_Fan_85]

Much has been said about the crippling Calciopoli scandal that broke out in 2006. It cost Juve two scudetto titles and their spot in Serie A. The traitors like Ibrahamovic and Vieira moved to hated rivals Internazionale, who were suspiciously never investigated in the scandal; while other players were forced out of the club because their wages would cripple the club and send them into the red, which is never good.

But Juventus has seemed to find their footing, and only two years after relegation, were back among Europe’s elite club competition, and Cannavaro would be perfect to mentor the young centre backs I plan to nurture into a future first team place.

Luisa sent me the number to Bernd Schuster’s offices so we can talk deal.

“Hello Mr. Schuster. This is Carlo Cardelli of Juventus. How are you?”

“Ramos is not for sale. You’re wasting your time.”

”I am very well, thank you for asking.” Arrogant *****. “I was actually looking at another defender of yours.”

“Yeah? Who?”

“Cannavaro.”

“Give me 20 million and you have a deal.”

“Desperate for funds to purchase Ronaldo eh Schuster? Need to keep that job of yours, seeing as you’ve been crashing out of Europe so easily.” I smiled, knowing I was getting under his skin. “We both know Cannavaro, although still one of the top defenders playing the game is not a 20 million investment. I am willing to buy him for $5 million.”

“5 million? Get serious kid.”

”Cannavaro has maybe two or three years left in him. Once he hangs up his boots, he will want to move into coaching, and I know for a fact he won’t be staying with you, since your Galaticos aren’t fans of older foreign players, and stay loyal to your Spanish squad, which is what I wish to do at Juventus with the Italian players. Cannavaro won’t renew his contract and will freely return to coach here at Juventus, so you may as well cut your losses now.”

“15 million.” I had him right where I wanted him.

“11 million and you have a deal.”

“Fine. But you won’t get Ramos that easily.”

”I don’t care for Sergio Ramos much. He’s extremely overrated, and I wouldn’t take him if you offered him for free. Good luck with your campaign, and I hope you’re able to bring Ronaldo over. I wouldn’t mind seeing him flop like Beckham did.”

Schuster grumbled something in German and hung up the phone. I leaned back in my chair and smiled.

Hmm... I thought to myself Maybe Ramos would look good in a Juventus jersey.

[MR ALEX SMITH]

This is a great story so far one of the best I have read

[MR ALEX SMITH]

bump until leaf fan writes again

[Leaf_Fan_85]

Sorry for the lack of updates, I wanted to finish out my first season, and of course watch the Juventus-Milan match yesterday, which is an early contender of Match of The Year, and I must say, I wish my game(s) against Milan were as entertaining as yesterday's encounter.

Thank you for bumping Mr Alex Smith, I hope this post, although not very long, provides your fix.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today’s Gazzetta headline brought a smile to my face.

Juventus Interested In Ramos.

I sent word to La Gazzetta Dello Sport that I was an admirer of Ramos’ talent and would think about bringing him to Turin. Of course I had no intention to do this; I just wanted to stick it to Schuster for his arrogance over the phone. I received word that Ramos’ would not mind a move to Italy, and I knew I planted the seeds of doubt for Ramos to leave The Santiago Bernebau.

Cannavaro’s contract talks are moving better than I expected. It only took a few hours to sign and seal his career ending contract to return to Turin. The fans will love my first move as gaffer.

Later in the afternoon, I began the first of what would hopefully become many youth scouting meetings. With all the scouts present, as well as Ranieri, Pessotto and Del Piero in attendance, we began our discussion.

The scouts almost unanimously agreed my initial targets are talented enough to crack the starting eleven. However, they were concerned that 4 of them would cost an astronomical amount to come here, and even then maybe won’t. They also agreed that my 10 young guns would need time in the lower leagues to develop their talent as well as confidence before debuting in the Serie A.

Alex offered his two cents into the conversation, expressing concern over a young man’s name on the list.

“Skip, we got 3 guys to play that big striker role. Trez, Iaquinta and Amauri all play that spot. How will he get his time in?”

“I’m not putting him in that role Alex. He’s going to eventually move into your spot, and Giovinco will stay in the midfield. I will sacrifice some aerial ability until my nephew is ready to make the step up to the big time.

“Nephew? Why weren’t we told to scout him?”

”Because I know of his talents already. He’s good. Really good, hell probably as good if not better than me. He and his two teammates are on their ay to Turin as we speak. We will be unveiling them July 1.”

“Positions?”

“My nephew, Carlito Cardelli, named after me of course is a 6’4 striker who can score on command. Blinding pace, great technical skill, great first touch, he’ll be near impossible to shut down. His only real weakness is his temper, but I can control him. He’ll smash all the records in place in terms of scoring goals.”

“Who else?”

“Giuseppe Carbonara, Goalkeeper. 6’3 and got the potential to be better than Buffon.”

Some of my scouts found that amusing.

“Gaffer, Buffon is the best in the world. How can anyone be better than him?”

“Buffon surpassed Zoff as the best goalkeeper to ever play. Zoff surpassed Yashin, so there’s precedent. The kid has excellent hands, great reflexes, and surprisingly can read the field of play better than some playmakers.”

“And the last kid?”

“Michele Pagliaro Jr. He’s a utility player in the midfield. He can play anywhere, he gets it from his old man. We have played together since we were kids, and this kid is better than his father. He’s got Ronaldo’s pace and footwork, but is a better crosser and has a better attitude. His set pieces are atrocious though, but my nephew will be taking all the free kicks and spot kicks anyway.”

Ranieri spoke up. “Any other surprises for us?”

“Yes, Fabio Cannavaro will be joining us on July 2nd.”

Alex’s eyes lit up. “Great move skip! Fabio will definitely shore up our defensive third.”

“Not only that, but his experience will aid in the development of our younger backs. With his guidance, we could be seeing the newest starlets at centre half in the coming decade.”

We chatted for a few more minutes about our targets, and finally the scouts had submitted their reports, with all the facts and figures on my initial targets, and I began to work on trying to figure out how I will be bringing them in to Turin.

[Leaf_Fan_85]

I woke up this morning with some reluctance. It was still early by Italian standards, it was only 9:30 on a Saturday, and nothing would be set in motion until noon at the earliest. As I rolled out of my still temporary hotel room/flat, I groggily wandered to the door to retrieve my copy of this morning’s La Gazzetta Dello Sport. Luisa had warned me there would be an article in there about me, although she was unable to determine what would be written. I didn’t think it would be such a big deal, considering Jose Mourinho was hired by Massimo Moratti, president of Internazionale, and figured that would be headline news. Instead, I was shocked to see my story on the front page.

The headline read

Juventus Squad Transferred.

Of course, the tabloid journalist reporting this news is my new best friend, Mario Ruoppolo.

And he writes…

Juventus boss Carlo Cardelli has decided that Juventus aren’t good enough.

Only moments after his hiring, it was reported by a source within The Old Lady that Cardelli, 23 is unhappy with what he perceives as a “lackluster” squad, and plans to tear it down and bring in players of his own.

That would be all well and good, but how will an inexperienced manager be able to lure the “best of the best” as he puts it, whoever they are, and why they would want to come to Juventus during a rebuilding phase?

This team did well last year in Serie A. They came within a few points of winning, and now, this manager wants to strip everything away and start again? Has he lost his mind?

Rumored on the transfer list are long serving members Jonathan Zebina, Alessandro Birindelli, and Mauro Camoranesi, while new blood like Jorge Andrade, Alex Manninger, Olaf Mellbourg, Christen Poulsen, Hasan Salidminovic, Zdenyk Grygera, Tiago, Marcho Marchionni, Vincenzo Iaquinta and Mohammed Sissoko are all looking to be shipped, and the best part? Cardelli will accept next to nothing for them.

He’s wasted all the money Juventus has spent, and will probably be asking for a bundle to bring in his own talent. This is what happens when you hire an inexperienced manager at a club like Juventus. Maybe he would be able to get away with these shenanigans at some Mickey Mouse clubs in lower levels of football, and maybe in countries where football isn’t a religion, but here in Italy, especially in Turin, Cardelli has many questions he has to answer, and I say, if he can’t answer one, then we as the faithful fans must bombard the board with demands of his resignation.

I urge all the Juve faithful to join me in this fight. I urge all of you who care about The Old Lady to fight for her, to get rid of this womanizing cheat, this floozy, this no good man that ha somehow wooed her and is now destroying her beauty. I beg of you my fellow tifosi, to fight for her honour!

What an a**h***!

I decided that Mr. Ruoppolo will not get anywhere near this team in the near future, and that my scheduled press conference would not be held on July 1st to announce my new signings. Instead, I decided to keep it club specific, and I called our webmaster to schedule an exclusive video.

July 1 has finally arrived. The video would be posted sometime around noon today with the three young signings introducing themselves to the Juventus nation, and to state their ambitions. As I arrived at the airport with my young future, I knew that things would turn out well in the future.

I arrived at the Juventus Media Centre bright and early. I hated being late, it was a sign of laziness, in my perspective, and I certainly hoped my new players were taught well by their club coaches in Canada that lateness seemed to lead to trouble in the future.

Thankfully, the boys arrived just after I had, so it seems they are on the right path. As we prepared for our mini press conference with Juventus.com, I wondered how the media would take to this backhanded slap to the face. I do know that with Cannavaro’s transfer tomorrow I would have to hold an actual press conference in order to re-introduce him to the Turin faithful, just based on his reputation as being a big name player. But that was tomorrow, and this was a Juventus.com exclusive, and quite frankly I didn’t expect any fans to really care about these signings, not yet anyway.

[Leaf_Fan_85]

“Welcome Juventus fans. This is Calogero Agnello, with a Juventus.com exclusive. I’m here today with 4 of the newest members of the Juventus family. To my left are current manager Carlo Cardelli and his first three official signings under this new look Juventus, Carlito Cardelli, Giuseppe Carbonara and Michele Pagliaro. Gentlemen, thank you for being here.”

Thank you, Calogero. My youngsters and I are truly honoured and privileged to be at La Vecchia Signotra.”

“Skip, we shall naturally start with you. Many fans within the Juventus Nation are a bit hesitant to dub you our new saviour, mainly because of your lack of experience. My question to you is how did you come about being named the boss here at Delle Alpi?”

“Well, Calogero, if memory serves me correctly, we currently play out of Olimpico. I know what you mean, and I’m sorry to begin with such a moot point. Back to your question. I was honestly as surprised as you fans were when I got a call from the board to come in for an interview, never mind the announcement of my signing. I guess nobody wanted to deal with that Mr. Ruoppolo character at The Gazzetta. But all jokes aside, I am here today at Juventus because of the great staff at Foggia. They took me in after a terrible injury that ended my playing days, and molded me into the coach that I am. I would also like to thank my beloved uncle Joe, may he rest in peace, for everything he has ever taught me. Without him, I’d probably be in medical school right now.”

“I hope you didn’t take the initial wave of criticism too personally, Mr. Cardelli. I would like to let you know though that our message boards have been flooded with praise for you after your hiring, by making what many fans felt were changes that needed to be implemented years ago. Your youth plan, mixed in with Italian talent, has captivated the fans, who now overwhelmingly support your appointment as team gaffer. What do you think are Juve’s chances with your new plan of attack?”

“My expectations are very high. I expect this team, once the new faces come in of course, to challenge for all the major accolades. Anything less than serious challenges to the scudetto, Coppa Italia and Champion’s League will be deemed as a failure.”

“Rumors have been flying that with all the new faces coming in, many established players will soon be finding their way out of Olimpico. Do you care to reply to these rumors?”

“First, I would like to say that every single player on this roster deserves to be here, minus three or four, but those are for personal reasons. Each man on this team is a true professional, and I have nothing but the utmost respect for them. They understand this is a business, and some are happy to leave, and others aren’t, but that’s football. I want to make my own mark with this team, and in order to do that, some good players have to go, as well as Zebina, Tiago, Andrade and Iaquinta, they are all sub standard in my opinion.”

”Quite candid, Mr. Cardelli. You remind me of one of the other new manager’s in Serie A. In fact, your hiring and rumored transfer dealings have upstaged Jose Mourinho, who from what I hear isn’t too happy not being the centre of attention. What are your thoughts on Inter’s new boss?”

“To be honest, I had a lot of respect for Mourinho after his impressive run at Porto, guiding a team that without any superstars won the UEFA Cup and Champions League back to back. However, I must admit his lack of trophies at Chelsea has made me unsure of him. Besides, we all know Ranieri built that team, he brought in the players that Mourinho had, and because teams have a tendency to take some time to gel together, Mourinho simply picked up the pieces, and got credit for two EPL titles and early knockouts in the Champions League. Personally, I don’t see him being very special, and I hope him and Inter crash and burn.”

“Seems we have started a war of words here on Juventus.com. Let us move onto the young stars present shall we? Carlito, your uncle has brought you overseas along with two of your friends to ply your trade in the game of Italian football. Is this a dream come true for you?”

”Absolutely. My dad is a Parma fan, and my mom is a Nesta fan, so it’s nice to know there’s someone in the family who knows football. I’m only kidding. But I want to thank my uncle for taking me under his wing when I was younger, helping me learn the game, and molding me in his image. It’s been said that I am nearing my uncle’s ability at my age, and my dad think I may be even better than my uncle.”

”I wasn’t too shabby as a kid, I must admit that. But I got unlucky, and to be honest, my nephew may actually potentially be better than I could have ever imagined. He’s got a bright future this one. Canada, you better snap him up before Italy decides to take him. He is a dual citizen after all.”

“And you, young Giuseppe?”

“My name is Giuseppe, I play goal. I hope to be like Buffon one day.”

“Giuseppe and Michele’s Italian isn’t up to standard yet. They’re working with an instructor and will learn the language soon enough. I can say this though, Giuseppe is probably the best goalkeeper I have ever seen, and GiGi, be careful, this kid may be ready to start in a few years so you’d better work hard in training if you want to keep your place.”

“So, Carlo, any final words for our devoted fans out there who are watching?”

“Yes Calogero. I ask all of your support week in and week out during the season. I want your voices heard in the stands singing praise, in the parking lot to get our blood pumping, to cheer every goal, to boo every bad decision made against us, to praise the players after a win and a good performance. Just give me time to mould this team in my image, and I promise you, you will not be disappointed.”

“Well, Carlo, and to our future, I thank you for joining us on Juventus.com this afternoon and best of luck to you all. If you’d like to have a meet and greet with the Juventus manager, along with club captain Alessandro Del Piero, then you may want to listen up. This month’s fan contest includes dinner and box seat for you and 3 guests, plus full team access and dinner after the match with the captain and boss. All you have to do is send in a 100 word response as to why you love the club.”

“That’s it? No other restrictions?”

“What did you have in mind Mr. Cardelli?”

“How about female contestants, who are eligible to compete for Miss Italia?”

“Sorry Carlo, but I’m not sure how many Miss Italia contestants are hardcore enough fans to enter this contest.”

“It was worth a shot. I did get a Ferrari that way, plus this great position.”

“Anyways, please submit these responses by the end of July fans. Contest closes July 30th. This is Calogero Agnello, signing off from Juventus.com.”

[Kewell08]

Now the stick for signing your own nephew comes.

Good stuff as always.

[tenthreeleader]

This remains a very nice read ... keep going! Will be interested in the reaction to your signings

[viperk1]

Would love to see how Carlito Cardelli does....

This is a fantastic story, leaf fan - KUTGW!

[Leaf_Fan_85]

Thank you all for continuing on with the story, I've been running around like a mad man doing too many things at once, but once the Christmas holidays settle in, the season story will begin, and well there are a few interesting things that occurred during my season, but that's for another day. For now, here's my first signing.........

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“I Would Have Walked Back To Turin”

Fabio Cannavaro Ecstatic To Return To Juventus

By: Gianmarco Staduro

It was revealed today that former Juventus player Fabio Cannavaro would have gladly walked all the way back to Delle Alpi and Juventus, after he was unveiled for the second time to the Juventus fans at Vinovo. Cannavaro, 36, was sold to Real Madrid due to a loss of finances incurred by Juventus during the Calciopoli scandal of 2006.

The Italy captain and World Cup winner didn’t enjoy his time in Spain, and is more than happy to be back in the peninsula, and his manager expressed the very same.

“When Cannavaro left, many Juventus fans, including me were very upset. He wanted to stay; some people at Juventus didn’t feel the same.” Says Juventus manager Carlo Cardelli. “So as my first official act that doesn’t involve my nephew’s move to Juventus, I wanted to bring Cannavaro back to get him his rightfully deserved scudetto and Champion’s League trophy with Juve.”

Despite his advancing years, Cannavaro is still arguably the best defender on the planet. Although small in stature, his positioning and jumping skills make him a renowned shut down centre half, who can in an instant mark out even the best players in the world, as he did during the entire 2006 World Cup.

Cannavaro, for his efforts in Germany, was named Player of The Year.”

[Leaf_Fan_85]

I haven’t made many friends in the media since I arrived in Turin. With Mourinho already calling me out, and my scathing remarks back to him igniting this war of words, not to mention me calling out the players I don’t feel up to par within my own club, won’t necessarily win me many friends. Then there’s of course that moron Mario Ruoppolo trying to ruin my career before I even had a chance to start it, and you’ve got all you need to keep you busy away from the pitch.

I enjoy stirring the pot. I don’t pull many punches on issues in my life, good or bad. I don’t hide my emotions, between the Juventus.com interview and my public praise of Del Piero; my emotions are worn on my sleeve. It may get me into trouble sometimes, namely with the media and FA breathing down my neck all the time, but that makes it more fun. I credit my Italian upbringing in expressing my emotions, it’s a great release, and is much better that bottling it all up inside and letting it out in one huge tirade, which seemed to happen to a lower league manager in England recently. Get well soon!

But, back on topic, it does seem as if I have an ally in the media after all…

Tuttosport is a daily Turin newspaper which is, surprise surprise, about sports. Although not as far reach as the “pink powered” La Gazzetta Dello Sport, Tuttosport is more focused on the news and results, a supposed to the Milan paper’s “tabloid journalism mixed in with the occasional results. The Turin daily has its own section for the two major team sin the city, Juventus and Torino, as well as a Serie A section, and two other sections, one covering the other big leagues, such as the Premiership in England, La Liga of Spain, and Die Bundes Liga of Germany. The other section contains all the club competitions, such as The Champion’s League, EURO Cup and also occasionally includes news from the other European and world leagues. It also covers in depth the leagues from Serie A to the former Serie C2, as well as all the latest news, rumors, and internationals.

The best part was having our own reporter.

Gianmarco Stadurro is a man in his late 40’s. Very slim with light brown hair and light brown eyes. During my press conference, he was just trying to lure me into giving away my transfer targets, and I know that he was just doing his job, unlike that Mario Ruoppolo, who just wants to feed his own ego. Stadurro commented in his blog on Tuttosport.com that he has praised my approach to Juventus, and had hoped for the best. Add to that he’s been a lifelong fan, as well as a local, having been born and raised in Turin, if I can keep him on my side, I should be just fine.

My assistant Giacomo, in between his house hunting duties, has been busy setting up interviews for me. I requested that all interviews are conducted at Juventus HQ in Vinovo, so I could still run training. We are expecting to begin running our first session tomorrow, while I finalize our friendly fixtures to populate. Gianmarco contacted Giacomo about a one on one interview today, and since I had nothing better to do, I decided to grant one.

[EvilDave]

Cannavaro is certainly an interesting signing, and I love the detail that is going into this story. This is a superb read, and IMO you're well on your way to the 'epic piece' you're looking for!

[Leaf_Fan_85]

Thank you EvilDave, I can only hope that I can find time to finish the writing for the season I have just ended before I jump into season two, and find some twists and turns to keep all of you readers entertained.

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“An Old Lady Romance”

By: Gianmarco Stadurro

In typical Italian fashion, a young man falls in love. The script is so cliché that it’s become nothing more than kitsch, yet it retains a bit of authenticity to its claim. This is the story of a love affair between a young man and an old lady from Turin.

The Old Lady is of course Juventus Football Club, and the young man is new Juve skipper Carlo Cardelli. He’s a man who knows what he wants, in football anyways. An unknown to the football world until his appointment as the boss at Juve, Cardelli, 23 is the youngest person to ever gain the UEFAPro License. From what I’ve seen from his rumored dealing on the transfer market, and how he’s conducted the youth training, he, at least from a coaching perspective has that same drive and skill the big boys have.

He has identified his squad’s “main weaknesses” left over from the former regime headed by Claudio Ranieri and Didier Deschamps; their age and their midfield/defense linking. Although experienced to an extent, the midfield isn’t going to win many games, and the defense is, without Chiellini, sub par. With the addition of Fabio Cannavaro, the defense is much improved, but will still need some shoring up.

I had the chance to speak with Cardelli, and I must admit he does seem to have a great mind to football.

As we sat down for this interview, he is handed a manila envelope from one of his staff members. He glances inside, and nods his head. He tucks it under his arm, and is seated before me.

“Carlo thanks for taking the time to sit with me.”

”My pleasure.”

“Care to reveal what’s in the envelope?”

”I will only say this Gianmarco; this folder contains Juventus’ future.”

“The legendary manager shortlist eh? How many names are on it?

“Honestly? 22.”

“Care to share any names?”

”And run the risk of not only get filed with a tampering charge by the Italian FA, but drive up the asking price as well? Nice try.”

“I had to try. Can’t blame me for it, can you?”

“Not at all. You’re just doing your job.”

“Fair enough. My first official question is, has the reality of this job sunk in yet?”

“Not really. There’s still a big part of me that thinks this is all a dream, or some computer simulation game provided to me by some developer from London. The fact that I am the man in charge here at Juventus [puts a lot of pressure on me, and when the pressure is on, that is when I am at my best.”

“The expectations here by the fans are high. Can you match them?”

“The expectations set forth by the board and the fans are very high, but to be perfectly honest, my own personal goals are even higher. The board expects to challenge for the Serie A, to progress to the knockout stages in Champion’s League, and to reach the Italian Cup final. My goal is to win the treble.”

“The treble hasn’t been accomplished since the 1998/99 Man United squad. Can you honestly place the team you have right now at that same level?”

“The team right now is full of holes. With my transfer moves being put into motion, I could probably produced the greatest squad of all time, and yes, could challenge that Man U treble team, and give them a good run for their money. But the players are only about half the battle. I will need to get my tactics right as well, but I’ve been tinkering with a new formation I had played in all my life, and know very well. A variation of the 4-4-2 with a wide diamond midfield, utilizing the wide players, defenders included. In theory, we should be attacking with 8 and defending with 8, which will cause teams to either over attack and be prone on the counter, or bring their entire squad back to defend, eliminating their counter attack. I say it’s a pretty solid formation.”

We spoke some more about life, love and football. The young man has a good head on his shoulders, and being a devoted Juventino, I couldn’t be happier with out choice as manager.

However, only time and the results will tell if this affair will lead to a happy ending.