Filippo Selva
Hello, I am Filippo Selva. I was born in Fiorentino in San Marino on 7.3.1979. I come from a working class family. My father works as a repairman and my mother is a waitress. They both work in San Marino city which is a bit away from Fiorentino so they were never around when I was young meaning there was no one to make sure I was trying in school so basically I spent my whole childhood and teenage years playing football. Any time I wasn't playing football I was at Federico Crescentini watching Tre Fiori play. I was a massive fan of the club since my father brought me to that first game when I was four years old. I played kick about stuff as a child but at the age of 11 I was offered a place in the Fiorentino FC academy. I nearly accepted but felt it was wrong as they were Tre Fiori's biggest rivals so I went to Tre Fiori and asked to see the youth coach. I informed him that I had been offered a place a Fiorentino but I wanted to play for Tre Fiori so he agreed to give me a trial. I delayed my decision with Fiorentino and went to the trial and I got it. I was playing for my dream club. At the age of 17 the Tre Fiori boss came to see me and told me he'd seen me play for the youths. He said he liked what he saw and told me I was being moved up to the first squad. I was delighted. At the age of 26 I had played 155 games. In those games I had got 74 goals from my right wing position. Just after I turned 27 I agreed to sign for San Marino FC in Serie C2/B in the Italian league. I scored 65 goals in 93 games for San Marino fc and got 3 call ups for the San Marino national squad but two months ago I broke my leg. The club physio informed me that I could never play football again which broke my heart.
I could never play football again but I was determined to stay in the game. I went to the San Marino FC boss and he agreed to give me the job as manager of the under 20s squad.The lads on the under 20s squad are great and it's been a joy to manage them. A lot of skillful lads on the squad who I would love to work with again after this job. I was getting to like the job and wasn't really thinking about the future until I got a call from the San Marino national manager, Giampaolo Mazza. He said he was sorry to hear I was retired through injury as he'd planned to pick me for his next squad but he had something else to offer me. He said one of his friends, Roberto Zanon was chairman at Sporting Lucchese in Serie C2/B in Italy. Lucchese were looking for a new manager and Mazza had seen me train the San Marino fc under 20s and had reccomended me to Zanon. I was chuffed that the San Marino national manager had gone out of his way to get me a job as a manager even though I had only been on his squad three times, never winning a cap. He said he would give Mr. Zanon my number and ask him to give me a call. Sure enough 3 days later I received a called from a Mr. Roberto Zanon.
Roberto Zanon went into detail explaining the history and set up at Sporting Lucchese as if trying to convince me that it was the club for me, he needn't have bothered. I was barely listening because I had made my mind up the second I received the call. I packed my bags and said my goodbyes to my friends and family, promising to visit as much as I could. I got the first available train from San Marino City and I was off. Off to Lucca, location : somewhere in Italy....
Sporting Lucchese
I've arrived in Lucca which seems to be quite a nice town and arranged my temporary accomodation in a small hotel on the outskirts of the town. I arrived for my first day of work today, the 14th of July 2009 and have just met with the board and my staff. The board informed me that their minimum expectation was that I reach the play-offs in Serie C2/B. I have been given a 50k transfer budget and a 23k p/w wage budget. My own salary is also fairly nice at 1,300 p/w. The staff informed me that the youth facilities are very poor so I should definately focus on the transfer market and my first impression of the current youth team is not great. I like the club so far as it's a club that has never been a massive power house but does have a fairly rich history with winning Serie B in 1936 being their biggest achievement. The club have a beautiful 7,400 all-seater stadium called Stadio Porta Elisa. I was shocked by how many rivals the club has. Sporting Lucchese retain fierce rivalries with Spezia, Viareggio, Padova, Pisa, Carrarese and Siena. The club also retains rivalries with Fiorentina, Pistoeise, Spal, Triestina, Livorno, Empoli and Reggiana. I really like the club so far and look forward to working here. The team seems to have enough quality to reach our expectations but I believe a few good signings could mean a title challenge so I will be working closely with my scouts over the next month or two. I aim to gain promotion to Serie C1 this season.
I have bought a new camera since arriving in Lucca and here are the pictures I have so far taken :
Stadio Porta Elisa :
Lucca :
Note : I am using the same lay-out as Ben with his story http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/f81/luis-tiaguinho-sao-paulos-finest-t32650.html as we have started a challenge to see who's manager does best. 
Hope u enjoy the story of Filippo Selva's career!
Hope u enjoy the story of Filippo Selva's career!