Alpha Romeo Metaphor II

Bologna Invitational

View attachment 294736Monday, 20 July & Tuesday, 21 July 2015

Teams: Fiorentina, Lazio and Napoli

Napoli dominated but not as badly as you might think. Possession was 54-46% in their favor. They never threatened us that much and their shots (18 taken, 6 on target) were mostly from outside the box.

Now, I get it that it's easier to get the defense playing well but we held our own against a top side playing their top players and lost on penalties after a scoreless 90 minutes.

Lazio beat Fiorentina 1-0 in the later semi-final.

In the 3rd place match, Michele Pazienza got hauled down in the box and Matthias Lepiller converted the PK. Guiseppe Rossi scored just before half time and I expected the floodgates to open in the second half, but held our own. Once again, we lost on penalties after a scoreless second half, but we played well.

We had better possession (53-47%), 12 shots with 4 on target while Fiorentina only took 5 with 2 on target.

With everyone fit, I'm playing the 22 players that will be the main 22 I rely on for the season. This includes teenagers Luca Callegari, Leonardo Guerra and Modibo Tounkara. I'm trying to find a loan arrangement for my other teenage winger Antonio Calabrese.

Napoli beat Lazio 2-1 in front of a sold out Renato Dall'Arra to with the competition.

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View attachment 294685Thursday, 23 July 2015 2:30pm-ish

"Come in," I said to the knocking at my door.

Franco Zuculini and his agent Juan Manuel Alvarez walked into my office. This couldn't be good.

"Hmmm, you brought your agent," I remarked in Spanish.

"I've been thinking about this for a while," Franco began while glancing quickly at Alvarez. "I want to join a bigger club. I've heard Atalanta want to sign me and I'd like to ask for your permission to talk to them if they make a bid for me."

"I don't want to lose you," I said to Franco. Then turning to Alvarez said: "What will it take to keep you here?"

"I appreciate that you want to keep me here..." Franco began.

"But there's nothing you can offer that would tempt my client to stay," Alvarez interjected.

"Is that correct, Franco?"

He nodded.

"I'm willing to lose you for nothing next spring," I said. "Are you willing to play for me this final season of your contract? Let's see how you feel next spring about leaving. You could leave then although your agent would make less money. Would you be okay with that?"

"No he wouldn't," Alvarez answered.

"Is this true, Franco?" I asked.

Franco nodded.

"I hope you understand, Franco, that I value you and had built my plans for the season around you, Casa and Paz," I said. "Your speed, determination, bravery and work rate are first class and I really liked working with you last season. However, I really dislike it when agents unsettle clients ..."

"I did no such thing," Alvarez interjected.

"Please, I'm no fool," I replied. "I'm not one to play along with this charade. You, Franco, have a contract which I expect you to honor. You, Mr. Alvarez, make your living unsettling your clients. If you two are really determined, I am perfectly willing to cut off my own nose to deny you your agent fee."

"My client is very clear he wants to leave," Alvarez said. "If you make this difficult, we will contact the media."

"If this is the case, your client can clean out his locker and train with the U18s," I retorted. "I will not be held hostage by an agent who unsettles his clients to make his income."

"This is slanderous," Alvarez interjected.

"So, Mr. Alvarez, let's be clear," I continued. "You are willing to have your client train with the U18s to force through a theoretical move to another club? If this offer does come in, they'll have to meet my valuation. If no offer comes in or the offer doesn't meet my valuation, he will not play any competitive matches this season. Clear?"

"Franco, think this over," I said. "You've seen me for one season. You've seen how I deal with problems. Are you sure you want to be a problem for me?"

"Your behavior is completely out of line, unacceptable," Alvarez spluttered.

I just stared at Alvarez until the two of them left the office.
 
Bologna Summer Challenge

View attachment 294670Fri, 25 July and Sat, 26 July 2015

Teams involved: AC Milan, Inter, Juventus

Inter beat us 1-0 but we were in the game. We had better possession (53-47%) but couldn't get our shots on target (17 taken, 5 on target). I could have used Zuculini today, dammit.

Over 30K watched Juventus v. AC Milan. It looked like Fernando Llorente's early goal would be enough, but Jeremy Menez scored in the 91st minute to send the match to penalties. Juve prevailed in penalties.

Almost 30K turned out to watch us take on Milan. We parked the bus and Carlos Pinsoglio bailed us out several times to keep the scoreline 2-0 at halftime. We broke on the counter a few times, but didn't threaten the Milan goal often.

The second half was better and Leonardo Guerra pulled back a goal in the 83rd minute. We then piled on the pressure, but couldn't create a second. 2-1 to AC Milan.

A sell-out crowd watched Juventus hammer Inter 4-0.

The TV coverage, the gate receipts and the concessions are going to make July a very profitable month.

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Friday, 31 July 2015

My mobile jangled at 9:33AM just about as I was going to drive in to Casteldelbole.

"Tommaso, what's up?" I said to my Chief Scout Tommaso Fini.

"I think Inter are in the process of losing their minds," he said.

"Do tell."

View attachment 294584"They just put Simone Pasa on the transfer list," he said. "The timing couldn't be better as you've put Zuculini on the list."

Wow. Pasa was on our radar. He's a talented defensive midfielder who has languished in U20s with only rare loans to get him some playing time. Our scouts uncovered that he'd be willing to join us.

The deal is that we have too many players who can play in the defensive midfielder role. On the other hand, I don't want another club to get a potential national team player when I could nab him for cheap now.

"Tommaso, how much should I offer?" I asked.

"You should offer between 400K to 600K," he replied.

"Thank you so much for your call, I'm going to call Piero Ausilio over at Inter right now. Again, thank you for the call."

And after a brief phone call, I had permission to talk to Simone. Within a half hour, I was talking on the phone with Simone and his agent. They liked my terms.

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View attachment 294577Saturday, 1 August 2015

I sat in my kitchen chortling to myself over the financials from July while I sipped my morning espresso. Kick-*** would be an understatement. The players can whine all they want about starting too early and playing too many matches so early. Whatever. Here's the bottom line: I put over EU10 million into our bank accounts in the month of July.

We might have cleared a million in gate receipts playing friendlies against a mix of teams. But these cup competitions against the toughest competition really draws the crowds. Our gates from last season in it's entirety was less than double what I just pulled in July we wouldn't have otherwise had.

Nearly four million in TV revenue is awesome for the preseason.

Then nearly a million for putting on the four cup competitions (EU 951,541 to be exact) isn't shabby.

So in the end, our accounts have nearly 16M in cash and we expect to have nearly 39M by the end of the season.

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Friendly Cup in Bordeaux

View attachment 294446Mon 3 Aug - Tue 4 Aug 2015

We traveled to Bordeaux to participate in a little cup competition. We dominated Sheffield Wednesday but couldn't get our shots on target (21 taken, 9 on target). I was pleased how we moved the ball around (54-46% possession), but we weren't able to cut through Wednesday's midfield like I thought we should have.

Andrea Russotto scored early in the second half, but they nearly immediately answered. Then we lost on penalties.

In the 3rd place match, it was a completely different kind of game. Atletico Madrid are a strong side and took a deserved 1-0 lead after 22 minutes. I was waiting for the floodgates to open, but we went into the break only a goal down. We held them after the break and then it was Shawn Parker Show. Two poacher goals on 74 and 84 followed in the 86 with the hat trick PK score. Leonardo Guerra won the PK.

Well done, boys! Atleti are a great team.

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Hey

Just registered to tell you how awesome this story is. I started reading a month ago, and had to go back to read the fm14 story as well. You are a great storyteller!

I really do hope this story will continue forever.

Worth mentioning that the Athletic you won over isn't Athletico Madrid, its Athletic Bilbao ;)

Keep up the good work!
 
Same as above, I've recently read all of both stories and this is amazing man, keep up the good work
 
alehje said:
Just registered to tell you how awesome this story is. I started reading a month ago, and had to go back to read the fm14 story as well. You are a great storyteller!

I really do hope this story will continue forever.

Worth mentioning that the Athletic you won over isn't Athletico Madrid, its Athletic Bilbao ;)

Keep up the good work!
Click to expand...

Duh!?! OMG, Can't believe I got that wrong. Regardless, thanks for reading it all.
 
Friendly: Bologna v. Pistoiese

View attachment 294300Friday, 7 August 2015

Several things occurred since I last updated you. First, I had my monthly review with President Guaraldi. I tried hard not to gloat. After his financial mismanagement, I built a team within our budget and I've done so again. We've had two preseasons filled with big-money cup competitions. Furthermore, I'm bringing in the players I want as opposed to getting players I don't want and asking for more.

The FIGC (Italian FA) now rates Bologna FC 1909 as financially secure. This is significant considering where the club has been recently.

Simone Pasa signed and has Zuculini's locker.

I picked the highest squad bonuses. That's a no brainer; players love any extra bonuses.

View attachment 294301Now, to the match...

Pistoiese is a small club that play in Serie D and are located just outside of Florence. We beat them 2-0.

I was not happy.

We dominated and took 29 shots. A mere 7 of them forced their keeper to make a save. Granted, Pistoiese parked the bus, but seriously? 7 shots on target?

Andrea Russotto and Shawn Parker scored. Daniel Cacia looked particularly bad. My back-up striker might be Russotto or a teenager if Cacia's form continues to smell like milk left out in the sun.

I told them I was disappointed at that we should be thrashing Serie D sides.
 
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View attachment 294299Monday, 10 August 2015 2:50pm

I'm sitting in my office reviewing video of some teenage strikers. We're always on the look out for young talent. Plus, I'm worried that Cacia might not be up for a season in Serie A. There was a knock at my door.

"Come in," I said.

My Assistant Manager Graziano Vinti, Captain Archimede Morleo and Federico Casarini walk into my office.

"Gentleman, what can I do for you," I say as they all sit down. They all looked very serious.

"We've come to talk to you about Zuculini," Graziano said.

"We know you two had a bit of a falling out over his transfer request," Morleo said.

"We're here to calm the situation, to put away the short knives," Casarini said.

"So you three know he's demanded to be sold," I said. "I think it's his fkn agent that put him up to it. He mentioned he had heard that Atalanta were interested. In other words, his agent has been shopping him around. He and his agent characterized Atalanta as a bigger club than us. That is both insulting and ignorant. I'll admit that I've acted poorly, but I'm not about to have my beloved club insulting by a fkn clueless South American agent who's flown into town to stir up some cash for himself."

"We figured you were still angry," Casa said.

"Seriously, boss, this is Franco we're talking about. Zuca," Morleo said. "This doesn't sound like him."

"And is sending him to train with the youths entirely appropriate?" Graziano asked.

"I am shocked, I tell you, shocked that you three would be siding with him," I countered. "He doesn't want to play with you lot." And then adding in a Argentinian accent to my Italian. "He wants to play for a big club like Atalanta." Then I dropped the accent and continued. "And I would have you note that nobody has called since I've listed him."

"Calm down, Enrico, calm down," Morleo said. "His agent has left town now. Zuca is fine."

"What so his agent is like a rash that goes away after a few days?" I sniped. "Now he's back to his old self?"

"Well, yeah," Casa replied.

"Alright, fine," I said. "What do you three want me to do?"

"Let him train with the first team," Casa said. "Let me talk to him."

"You think you can get through to him after the mind**** his agent put on him?" I asked.

"Well, maybe me, Morleo and Matthias," Casa added. Matthias Lepiller was popular with everyone.

"That or I know someone who knows someone who could take him into an alley and ..." I grumbled.

"Seriously, boss," Morleo said. "Let us work this one out."

"I relent," I said. "You guys talk with Zukes; see if you can talk any sense into him. I'll consider letting him train with the first team after you guys report back to me on how your conversation went."

"Thanks, boss," both Casa and Morleo said.

Graziano smirked as they all rose. Only I saw the smirk. We'd been through this bull**** more than enough times in our careers. Everyone knows that if you walk into your manager's office and demand to be sold, you'll likely end up training with the kids.

This smirk also let me know that he was monitoring the effect of my decision on the rest of the squad. The last thing either he or I wanted was an unsettled player in the squad. Morale was going to be a tough enough thing to manage this season, and one rotten apple was a big risk. Zuculini had been an integral part of the squad up until a few days ago so I'd made a rather strong statement by banishing him.
 
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^ That was a very good read. I'll keep an eye on your story, moving forward.
 
View attachment 294115Wednesday, 12 August 2015 a wee bit after 11AM

I was working with the U18 and U20 midfielders on exploiting ball-watching defenders when there was a sudden lull somewhere. Some of the background noise had stopped. I looked around. Alessandro Zauli coaches technique and ball control. Everyone was standing around someone who was laying on the ground.

I saw our Chief Physio Gianni Nanni sprinting over.

"**** and ****!" I grumbled under my breathe.

"I've got to go and check on that," I said to Christian Brocolo and Francesco Pellegrini. They coached tactics for the kids.

I jogged over.

View attachment 294114"Aw, ****, Andrea," I said as I approached Andrea Russotto's crumpled form. He was clutching his left ankle. "What the **** did you do?"

"That God damned *****, Fate," Andrea cursed. "It's my fkn ankle. I heard it pop when I rolled it."

"We all heard it pop, boss," Matthias Lepiller added.

"Hold still, dammit," Gianni said. "Okay ... does this hurt."

"YES!"

"How about this?"

"SWEET MARY MOTHER OF GOD!!"

"Okay, it's a pretty severe twisted ankle," Gianni concluded. "You probably stretched the ligaments a bit. Enrico, give me a hand. Let's get him up and into the treatment room."

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Wednesday, 12 August 2015 9pm

I walked up to the Ristoranti with Noam, our former Massad agent, current Chief of Security.

"This will be a lot different than last year, eh?" I said in English. "You're not even worried are you?"

Noam grunted.

"You worry all the time, don't you," I said. "You'd make a marvelous old, Italian grandmother."

Noam chuckled and opened the door for me.

"Hey everybody, I'm here," I announced as I walked into the back of the restaurant and greeted all the leaders and muckety mucks of the Ultra groups.

"Thank you all for gathering here, I'm hear to chat but first I want to talk about something that's really important to me," I said. "Racism."

The room went silent. I had their attention.

"As you know, I've signed several players of African descent," I began. "This is a difficult subject, so I want to address it directly. I know you guys don't hate Africans. I know you don't hate anyone because of their race. So I wanted to come and talk to all of you about chanting and racism."

"First of all, I know all you guys love slandering the other team's willingness to have *** with animals, how ugly their women are, how backward they are or how their a bunch of stuck up rich boys," I said. "I have no problems with the usual **** I hear from Curva Bulgarelli or the away section. Often, I think it's funny. I know you guys love to give our opponents **** and I have no problems with that."

"But we're back in Serie A now and we'll be on television a lot more now, and if I hear any racist chanting, there will be consequences," I said. "We've installed more video cameras around the outside of Renato Dall'Arra and pointing at Curva Sud. We're going to try something new, we're going to be paying for extra stewards at away grounds and giving them camcorders to film the away supporters. So we'll catch the bad behavior if it happens."

"Now, there weren't any problems last season," I said. "So that's good. This is just preemptive measure. Any questions?"

"What are the consequences?" Christian Ventura of Forever Ultras.

"Since we'll probably easily identify the guys who did it, they'll be banned for life," I said. "The Ultra groups whose members participate will lose their privileges and access for a calendar year."

"But we haven't done any racist chanting, this seems a little harsh," said Filippo of the Old Guard.

"I want to emphasize that this is a preemptive measure," I said. "Rossoblus are not known for our violence or racism or anything bad. Our intention is to keep it this way. Clear?"

Filippo nodded.

Then the questions turned back to the usual questions about our chances, the new players, tactics changes and etc.
 
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agieluma said:
I absolutely love how you make the game come to life with your stories. Bestest story ever. Excellent work mate. That's some real talent. You should write some novels you know.
Click to expand...

Now I'm blushing again. Thank you very much.

I have written one with three others in the works. Nothing published, but that's another story in and of itself.
 
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