Alpha Romeo Metaphor II

Follower on the first story from the off! I literally completely love this. It is ideal reading at any time during the day but try and save as much as i can for when I am chomping on my breakfast!

Keep up just the amazing work!
 
brooksey84 said:
Follower on the first story from the off! I literally completely love this. It is ideal reading at any time during the day but try and save as much as i can for when I am chomping on my breakfast!

Keep up just the amazing work!
Click to expand...

Thank you very much!
 
View attachment 295486Thursday, 25 June 2015

I'd just gotten off a conference call with my scouts when my phone jangled. It was Luca.

"Good morning, Luca," I answered.

"Except it's afternoon over here," he reminded me. "I have news."

"Good news?"

"Yes, I would characterize this as a good development," Luca replied. "Several board members, who shall go unnamed but you probably know of whom I speak, ambushed President Guaraldi with a meeting about your contract, Casarini's contract and how he'll be running the club going forward..."

"No joking?"

"No, and what's remarkable about this meeting is they brought along three of the leading Ultras. This group emphasized in no uncertain terms what was at stake and what would happen if the two of you weren't signed."

"Wow. Interesting."

"Yes, no doubt," Luca continued. "According to my source, Guaraldi didn't have much to say but he didn't storm out. He only thanked them for their comments and left after they were done saying their piece."

"Huh."

"So I think you'll have a contract offered pretty soon after you land on Saturday."

"So he's going to offer me a contract," I said more to myself. "What are the chances it's going to be an acceptable offer?"

"Your priority is to stay, right?" Luca asked.

"Yes."

"Okay then if the offer is unsatisfactory, we'll just make it a one year deal and negotiate a new one mid-year," Luca concluded.

"Huh. Wow, I'm still just stunned that he'd allow himself to go into a meeting like this," I said. "What ever happened to the offer from the Joeys?"

"You'd have to ask them," Luca replied. "I haven't heard anything..."

"And if you haven't heard anything," I interjected.

"Exactly," Luca concluded. "Talk to you Saturday when you're back."

"Ok, Ciao."
 
View attachment 295415Saturday, 27 June 2015 11AM-ish

We flew from Jackson Hole, Wyoming in the US of A to Salt Lake City and switched planes. Then we flew to Paris on the overnight flight and arrived at the crack of dawn in Paris where we switched to a Bologna-bound plane. I don't know about Gwen, but I didn't sleep that well. It might have been because I knew I was going straight to Casteldelbole to sort out my contract.

Or not.

So the taxi dropped me off, Gwen gave me a good luck kiss and I walked into the board room.

"Albano, Roberto, Luca," I said in greeting. And we all sat down in the exact same chairs we'd last occupied in May. "So, let's talk."

"We can only offer the same terms we offered before," Guaraldi said. "I really want you to stay but I hope you realize that the rules of Serie B won't allow us to offer anyone, and that includes managers, more than EU 5.75K per week."

"I didn't know that," I said. I looked at Luca.

"Me either," he said. "When did they implement this rule?"

"I don't know," Guaraldi replied. "Not since I've been involved with the club, but I can't be entirely sure."

"Well, that simplifies what the problem is," I said. "Why didn't you say that earlier."

Guaraldi shrugged.

"So no bonuses no nothing except the weekly wage?" I asked.

Guaraldi nodded.

"Okay, but I'll only sign a one year contract," I said.

"Great," Guaraldi replied and looked far more relieved than I felt.

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View attachment 295330Gwen and I celebrated by strolling the arcades and window shopping. There's no better was to beat jet lag than by eating gelato with your honey while strolling through Bologna. Only a couple supporters recognized us and asked for autographs mainly because of our excellent disguises. Gwen was wearing a huge, shapeless dress and a hat with ginormous brim. I was in my standard disguise: ballcap, shades, tshirt, shorts and flip flops.

This was the last gasp of my vacation. Tomorrow would start the grueling preseason. Maybe other managers enjoy preseason, but there just so many things I need to take care of that the start of the season is very nearly a relief. So here's my laundry list by level of importance but these will occur in a different order than listed:

1. Sign Casarini.
2. Sign Pazienza.
3. Coordinate where all my scouts are so we can make a personalized contact with all the players we potentially want to sign.
4. Call all of the signing targets one last time to gauge where they are at one last time.
5. Contact Andreas Cornelius and his agent.
6. Check on the all of the friendly cup competitions to make sure every last detail is arranged (each one in and of itself has it's own sub lists).
7. Welcome back employees.
8. Welcome back the coaching staff.
9. Welcome back the players.
10. Make sure all the details are lined up for the Welcome Back Dinner which will also be a team meeting (another sub-list as well).
11. Get the last details arranged for the opening day fitness measurements.

Here's the preseason schedule we'd arranged:

The Belgian Cup involves Anderlecht, Club Brugge and Standard Liege.
Coppa Bologna involves Estudientes of Argentina, Hoffenheim of Germany and Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia).
Bologan Invitational involves Fiorentina, Lazio and Napoli.
The Summer Challenge involves AC Milan, Inter and Juventus.
The Friendly Cup is in Bordeaux and also involves Atletico Madrid and Sheffield Wednesday.

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Belgian Challenge

View attachment 295115We played Standard Liege in the semi-final. Teenager Modibo Tounkara used his speed to get to the rebound of a Federico Casarini hammer blow from 20 meters and tap in. They evened it up and we won on penalties.

Modibo is an interesting prospect. He's Malian but also holds French citizenship. He's on trial after Nottingham Forest in England released him. He's fast and determined. My initial impression is that he might be a Serie A winger. I'll keep an eye on him.

View attachment 295116

In the final we played Club Brugge who beat Anderlecht 1-0. Since more of the first team players played the day before, teenagers, some second stringers and some of the unneeded players Director of Football Savoia hasn't sold off yet got minutes. We won 3-1 on penalties after a scoreless draw.

View attachment 295114
 
View attachment 295110Friday, 3 July 2015

Oh My were there a lot of bodies in the treatment room this morning. From past experience I knew to hire a couple of massage therapists to help out Gianni Nanni and the three other physios. The players from last season at least were used to two training sessions per day, but they were suffering. The new players looked as if they were more concerned about not dying on their first full day of training.

And I kept reminding them that I was taking it easy on them.

Afterwards a nearly comatose Gaël Kakuta's agent liked my offer and I think my wingers are set. Kakuta on the left, Russotto on the right. Matthias Lepiller doesn't have the foot speed I like on the wings, but he's hard working, highly-skilled and I need to find a spot for him in the line-up because of his dead ball abilities. Matthias will play on the wing and in the hole behind the striker.

Additionally, I've signed Modibo Tounkara. I'm not certain, yet, but I might send my next top prospect Antonio Calabrese out on loan. But first I'm going to make sure he gets some preseason minutes.

View attachment 295112

View attachment 295111
 
Friendly: Bologna v. Pisa

View attachment 295109The starting XI scored twice in the first half and the mix of teens, second stringers and extras conceded three in the second half. Russotto and Kakuta looked good and Captain Morleo interchanged really well with Kakuta.

My player's conditioning is simply atrocious. So today was an ideal day; it was freaking broiling. They played at pedestrian, Sunday league pace. I can't blame them.

Maybe next year they'll know not to come back so out of shape.
 
View attachment 295106Saturday, 4 July 2015

Happy Independence Day for all you 'Murkins out there.

I celebrated by welcoming Manchester City's Dedryck Boyata. City accepted my offer of EU 600,000 and I already knew that Dedryck was interested in joining us. All compliments to my scouting team for their very thorough scouting job.

This is absolutely a robbery. No question. I plead guilty.

He's big, fast and is the perfect partner for Bernardo.

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I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention, The Boyata signing occurred before the Pisa friendly. The Pisa friendly was on Monday the 6th.
 
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Coppa Bologna

View attachment 294849Friday, 10 July and Saturday, 11 July 2015

The Coppa Bologna involved Estudiantes from Argentina, Hoffenheim from Germany and Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia).

Zenit St. Petersburg spanked us 2-0. The scoreline actually flattered us as the game was played in our half. On the other hand, we got some good practice parking the bus. There's loads of video we'll review and use as teaching points.

Carlos Pinsoglio did a good job, making several good saves to keep the scoreline down. Teenager Davide Monteleone didn't look bad, either. Same with Andrea Russotto.

Estudiantes beat Hoffenheim in the later semi-final.

For the Hoffenheim match I was short of players. Everybody is looking really knackered, as the English would say, so teenagers and second stringers started. They did a commendable job.

On the 10th round of penalties after a scoreless 90, Pinsoglio scored then stopped stopped the next PK to win it for us.

Teenager Leonardo Guerra stood out. His passing was nice, he worked hard and was the lone creative force for us. I was considering loaning him out again, but I think I might keep him around as a back-up for Federico Casarini! The kid is impressing me.

Zenit beat Estudiantes 1-0 to win the trophy.

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View attachment 294842Sunday, 12 July 2015 10:04AM

"Georges, good morning," I said to my France, Belgium and Netherlands scout Georges Grun as I answered my mobile.

"It is a beautiful morning, Enrico, but I think you'll be cursing when you hear what I have to tell you," he said.

"Hrngh. Alright. Out with it."

"It's about Andreas Cornelius..."

"****."

"I just read in the French papers that he's signed with Lille..."

"Mother****ing ********** sonufabitch!" I said in English on cue. Then returning to Italian which Georges speaks better. "Let me guess, Lille are in ... what ... fkn Europa League?"

"Yes."

"****! ****!" I swore some more in English. Then back to Italian. "And let me guess that they fkn paid fkn Copenhagen less than we would have but his salary is larger. ****!"

"Once again, you have it correct, boss," Georges replied.

"Well, we're going to need to find someone else," I said calmly even though I was still steamed.

"I took the liberty of pulling together a list of players we already know about," Georges said. "First, there's Chievo's Alberto Paloschi. Your Italian scouts know him best. He'll be expensive, but you know what you'll be getting with him. There's also this young German, um, he's also American. I believe his Dad is American. Augsburg have him listed for loan. He is very quick and is a good finisher. These two are our best options without doing more scouting."

"Thanks, Georges," I said.

"You've got training starting soon, yes?"

"Not for a while, noon."

"Well, I'll send out an email to everyone anyway and start the process of finding more potential strikers."

"Thanks Georges. Much appreciated."

"Au revoir."

"Ciao."
 
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Monday, 13 July 2015

We quickly ruled out signing Paloschi. He wanted EU 60K per week and a fairly low release clause and his agent wanted EU 1.5 million for the opportunity to negotiate with him. **** him. He wasn't able to score enough goals for Chievo last term, who's to know he wouldn't stink for us, too. Honestly, it's just sour grapes and I'm bitter that I didn't get Cornelius and that signing an Italian is not really in the picture.

So we turn to Shawn Parker. The German-American. Like I said before, he's fast and a good finisher. Otherwise, he's an unfinished product. At 22, he's still got time to develop. Only the Gods of Football and fate know if he will fulfill his potential ... but ... if he does, he could be awesome.

He hasn't played all that much over the last couple seasons so I have no idea where his game is at, but I like what I've seen of him. Augsburg want EU 8 million for him, so I'll loan him. The bad part of the loan deal is the future purchase fee is 10M. But what the ****, if he pans out and scores enough to keep us up, he would be worth 10M.

Meet my newest striker:

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what you need in that team is a brazilian. Every top team has a brazilian. AMC's and wingbacks grow there like weeds. The larger the fro the better.
 
Nomad Ekaria said:
what you need in that team is a brazilian. Every top team has a brazilian. AMC's and wingbacks grow there like weeds. The larger the fro the better.
Click to expand...

LOL. I had a rather ancient one last season, Metuzalem. He could only play for 60 minutes, got hurt easily, kept complaining about this, that and that other thing so I released him in January.

The one's I've found are mostly in Spain and they're a bit overpriced.

My only problem is I just hired a scout for South America and he hasn't reported in, yet. I have only been able to scout outside of Europe since 1 July.
 
View attachment 294739Friday, 17 July 2015

We had a good week training. The players' fitness is more or less game shape now. Parker has had a week to get acclimated.

Matthias Lepiller has taken all three of the new foreigners under his wing. Bernardo, Gaël Kakuta and Shawn Parker have moved into his villa and between them all the speak enough overlapping languages that they can communicate.

Here's how the team depth chart looks:

View attachment 294740
 
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