Love Blossoms
The Morning that Changed Everything!
Have you ever woken up in the morning, and wandered to yourself What's today going to bring? Well today I had that exact thought. I woke up, and as usual I have my phone on the side for when i wake up, so I can have a quike butchers at the football news. Normally I just check the English football news, but I decided to have a scan of the Italian news aswell to see if their were any transfer update on Alberto Aquilani. So there I was having a normal morning, and I come across some news that former Sampdoria boss Guiseppe Iachini had been sacked following the club president Riccardo Garrone claiming his clubs manager was 'too gready and always thought of himself' and was going to look for a manager who had aspirations for the club; and whom would want to have Sampdoria back in the Serie A. The Morning that Changed Everything!
So anyway, here i was reading through this article and I come across the section which says 'Riccardo Garrone is looking to replace Iachini with someone who appretiates the club, and works for the team not himself. Applicants can come in from anyone with ambition and committment, and will give more than 100% to the club.' I had a moment of thought, 'could i really be in with a chance?', 'could this be my big break?'. We I would never know untill i send in my applicant. So I got up as fast as I could, and as I was getting dressed, I was already imagining things as manager of Italian club Sampdoria, and winning the league, and becoming a world-wide face. So i sent my application to Sampdoria, and it must have been a good 7 or 8 days before I got a phone call, which by then I had just thought they hadn't taken my application into consideration, so this phone call came as quite a suprise. I answer the phone, 'hello'...'yes, okay, really?'...'thank you soo much!'...'I'll see you Tuesday'. My dream was just about to begin.
The Beginning of A New Relationship
Tuesday had come, I was on my way down to Stadio Luigi Ferraris for a meeting with Riccardo Garrone. I had never been so exited in all my life, but here I was, about to step foot into, what could well be my new home. The meeting was just about to start, as I was walking down to the Players Lounge were I would meet with Garrone, and I was trying to think of what I would be asked. So here I was the moment was upon me. These next minutes will be about to change my life forever.
Were sitting in the interview office, and I'm sitting opposite to Garrone, he askes me the first question, 'Why are you here?' This was something I never thought of being asked, so my instant reply was 'To help you, to secure Italian top flight football again for Sampdoria', he replies saying, 'Thats all I need to know.' This was becoming all abit strange for me as I thought that it would be alot different, with more questions, and me being more nervous. But it wasn't to be like that. He went of, 5 minutes later came back with some paper work, and said to me, get us back into Serie A, and we'll be best of friends. And told me to sign the paperwork, and there and then, it was to be the beginning of a new relationship between me and Sampdoria, me and Riccardo Garrone, and me and the fans.
Straight to work
It was a hard first day, my best player and fans favourate Nicola Pozzi had come to me to tell me about his desire to leave. I thought to myself, this is going to be harder than i thought. I spoke to him, and we finally came to the conclusion that if someone meets my valuation of €7,500,000 then I would agree to sell him. I went about my buisness asif I was still going to have Nicola in my team, so there i went and within my first day i had signed my first 4 players, Guti, Roberto Baronio, Wagner and Cristiano Zanetti on free transfers. So all was going well, I had started to improve my squad, and I was getting along with the team fine, AS Monaco FC had came in with a offer of £8,000,000 for Nicola Pozzi, I made him aware of the interest, and the offer, and he was quite sure that he wanted the move. So there I was trying to get the fans on my side, but having to sell the fan's favourate player in the mean time. Still, I was still optamistic about my ambitions, and i had only just gotten started.
So within day, Nicola had agreed terms, and I was £8mil in pocket, so it wasn't really that bad. But I still felt that a new player would have to come in, in replace of Pozzi, so i went on a little search, and i had heard that Juventus has a little youngester, who goes by the name, Alberto Libertazzi. Valued around €3.5M, 19 years old, and would fit in perfectly for Nicola Pozzi. So i submit a bid just short of €5M. I recieve news back a day later saying, Juventus regard Libertazzi as an important player for the future, however they would be willing to negotiate with a fee around €8,750,000. I hadn't got that money, so I have to continue my search else were. Nurmburg, not a team I would genuinly search for a player, but I recall remembering someone called Tomas Pekhart who was supost to be quite the talant. And I found him. Valued at €5,000,000, the 22 year old was my next target. But the same outcome to a €6M bid. I knew I was looking at players too expensive for my budget, so instead I send out my scout, and him and my assistant manager both come back expressing there admiration for the same player. Nelson Oliveira of SL Benfica, and Marcelo Larrondo of Siena. So I continue my mission of another forward in trying to sign Nelson Oliveira for €4,200,000. I finally agree a fee for Oliveira after €4.8M was also rejected, but whilst this was all happening, a €4.3M transfer for Marcelo Larrando had all been sorted out, which cancelled the Nelson Oliveira deal. Something else which was also cancelled was my friendly matches, against L'Aquila andPro Patria. This left me to go straight into the season with no preperations. The season was just a month away, and opening matches against Verona at home and Liverno away were going to be no easy task.
New Season Upon Us
Before the season started I had a quike meeting with the clubs board. And alot was said in this meeting. They asked about the sale of Nikola Pozzi, and I stated he was unhappy here, he wanted a new challenge, and we got a good price which covered a replacement. They did however say that the signing of Christano Zanetti was pleasing, and they feel a bright season is ahead of us. So the season was getting closer and closer, and transfers were happening all over the place, but noone was buying, Empoli sold Vinci to Lyon for €1.6M, and this just made me more confident about my job. First game came, before the league season starts, I had Gubbio away in the Italian Cup Qual.2.