Pro Vercelli - restoring former glories (mkII)

[Redhawk]

​

Unione Sportiva Pro Vercelli Calcio were formed in 1903 from the Società Ginnastica Pro Vercelli (Gymnastics Society). Success very quickly followed, with the 'White Shirts' winning the National title in both 1908 and 1909. 1910 saw them lose the title to Internazionale, after a dispute over arranged fixtures. Nevertheless, the Leoni (Lions, because of their notoriously hard tackles) went on to capture a hat-trick of title is 1911, 1912 and 1913. Such was the little rice town's dominance of football in the country that fully nine of the national first eleven played for Vercelli. Pro were leaders in youth development and fitness during this period, with ten of the first eleven hailing from Vercelli itself.

After the First World War, Vercelli captured another title in 1921, and again in 1922. Thereafter they remained one of the top teams until just before the Second World War but failed in any attempts to capture the top step.

A decline was beginning even before their relegation in 1934. As a small town, they could not afford to keep players in an increasingly professional time. During their decline they managed to produce one last golden egg - Silvio Piola, the player Vercelli's stadium is named after. One of the Italian greats, he scored 290 goals both before and after the Second World War.

The year of Piola's sale to Lazio (1934) saw them relegated and they have struggled in the lower divisions since, facing bankruptcy on a number of occasions, with only a couple of Serie D wins to their name.

Coming soon....

Meanwhile you might want to peruse the first episode...

 

[Montanaro]

I went to a pro Vercelli game when I was in Italy. They were playing some Rival, can't remember who. The game ended in a draw, but it was still a very cool experience for an American country boy.

 

[Redhawk]

Updated first post with some background

---------- Post added at 05:19 AM ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 02:06 AM ----------

Manager Luca Pellone, the man who gave you Marco Bandieri, Fabio Pintus and Eder Bau, is perusing his new squad ahead of his fresh challenge.

---------- Post added at 08:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:19 AM ----------

I've wasted no time in gathering around a nucleus of good backroom staff, instead of the dross that was in place when I arrived.

Claudio Di Bernardo, Umberto Falcone, Francesco Marrazzo and Giovanni Incontri were signed as coaches with Riccardo Spurio my new assistant manager.

One stand-out in this rough-diamond of a team is a Brazilian striker by the name of Anderson Costa. I'm focusing my team around him, he is superb for this level of football, I tied him down to another two years as soon as I arrived, but I'm guessing I will struggle to keep hold of him if I don't get promoted.

---------- Post added at 08:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:51 AM ----------

Boardroom expectations: Top-half finish
Wage Budget: £14.7k
Transfer Budget: £56k

This is pleasing as it removes a bit of pressure from me and the team in my first season. Even though the bookies made ourselves and Spezia joint favourites for promotion.

All transfers brought in were on frees or loans. Bruno N'Gotty was my first signing, on a free transfer. Giordano Vanin was signed as a GK, not brilliant but better than those I had. Massimiliano Esposito was signed on reccommendation from my backroom staff, an MC, as was Vitagliano, another MC. Vettori, a roung right-back was signed on loan from Fiorentina.

But the three real coups in the transfer department were Carlos Marinelli, Patricio Graff and Salvatore Fresi! Mega chuffed to get all three of these, especially the unlikely signing of Marinelli. I beat off competition from Serie B clubs for Fresi and Graff is top quality for this level. Those with retentive memories may remember I had Fresi in my last Vercelli adventure.

Unfortunately I'm really under pressure to deliver this season as I am £5k over the wage budget after these signings :/

 

[Trotty]

ggod luck mate il will be reading

 

[daniel_kg]

Good luck mate i'll be following

 

[Redhawk]

Pro Vercelli tactics and first-choice team November 2009 (Vanin in goal):

August (LPC=Serie C Cup, C2A=Serie C2/A)

LPC 09th - 2-0a vs Pro Belvedere (Vitagliano, Anderson)
LPC 12th - 2-2a vs Monza (N'Gotty, Anderson)
LPC 16th - 4-0h vs Valenzana (Agostinone 2, Anderson, Vitagliano)
LPC 19th - 1-2h vs Canavese (Corallo)
C2A 23rd - 2-1a vs Villacridese (Esposito 2)
C2A 30th - 1-0h vs Pro Sesto (Marinelli)


A good start for the club, kicking off with the convoluted Serie C Cup. My first match was, appropiately enough, against the team we ground share with and new signings Vitagliano and Anderson scored in a comfortable win, shown below. Then a tricky away tie to Monza and we battlled well to scrape a draw. Then followed the demolition Valenzana which saw a sending off for each team, Vitagliano after a terrible tackle, also shown below. Then a hiccup at home to Canavese. I changed the whole back line to avoid suspensions and paid for it. Fortunately we still qualified from the group for the first round.

We almost got off to a terrible start in the league, but two quick late goals from 20 yr old midfielder Massimiliano Esposito gave us the three points against lowly opposition. Next we hosted one of the strongest teams in the league and came out with a good, fairly comfortable 1-0 win, new signing Carlos Marinelli putting away a penalty.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GjG7yZPaS8"]YouTube- First Pro Vercelli goals[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VhhgOABeks"]YouTube- Vitagliano tackle[/ame]

September (C2A=Serie C2/A)

C2A 06th - 2-0a vs Olbia (Esposito, Anderson)
C2A 13th - 2-1h vs Alghero (Anderson 2)
C2A 20th - 0-3a vs Spezia
C2A 27th - 1-0h vs Rodengo (Anderson)

A good win away at Olbia was followed up by a nervous game at home to Alghero, battling back from a goal early on. Then we got a spanking from Spezia, promotion rivals. At least the scoreline was, the match itself was very different, we were probably the better team. Spezia scored a dodgy penalty, we had a perfectly good goal ruled out immediately after, hit the woodwork twice and then were finally undone on the counter twice in the late stages as we pushed for an equaliser. Normally a 1-0 win at home to Rodengo would be a little poor, but I was just thankful we bounced back quickly with three points. We headed the table going into October.


October (LPC=Serie C Cup, C2A=Serie C2/A)

C2A 04th - 0-2a vs Alto Adige
LPC 07th - 2-0a vs Manfredonia (Marinelli 2)
C2A 11th - 2-0h vs Noceto (Marinelli, Anderson)
C2A 18th - 3-1h vs Legnano (Tokple 2, Marinelli)
C2A 25th - 2-0a vs Pro Belvedere (Marinelli, Anderson)
LPC 28th - 2-1h vs Olbia (Rolandone, Cristini)


We came up against another promotion rival in Alto Adige (who have some excellent loanees) and this time were second best both in terms of performance and scoreline. Being down to my 4th choice centre half didn't help. But again we bounced back well, with a tricky win away at Manfredonia in the Cup, albeit via two Marinelli penalties. Now I've fulfilled expectations in that we can just enjoy it. We then dominated Noceto, before pulversing Legnano. How we didn't score 6 or 7 I don't know and after they pulled a goal back late on it gave me the jitters until a late, late penalty from Marinelli again. We played Pro Belvedere 'away' again and won easily with that man Marinelli on target from the spot for the 5th time in four games! I then rested a couple for the Cup game but still came through well against a stubborn Olbia side. I signed Jonathan Tokple for right-wing mid-way through the month and he has been a revelation since, with two goals on his debut against Legnano and laying on 3 of our next four goals. He brings what we were badly needing on the wings - pace.

At the start of November I sit level on points with Alto Adige and the team can only get better as it begins to gel more and more. So it's going well, with 17 year old loanee Vettori acquitting himself well at right-back. My two key players, Salvatore Fresi and Anderson have been absolute rocks. No injuries and consistent performances.

 

[Frank]

This looks a wicked story, I really like your format.

 

[Jack Fulham]

Great little story mate, like the youtube idea, try get it moved into FM Stories and you'll get more readers though

 

[rrrrrrrrrr]

good story m8

 

[martinbissett]

good story

that tackle was class ran about half the pitch to chopp him down

 

[Max]

Love the way you've used youtube Great story mate I'm definetly following. Also just noticed you've got Bruno N'Gotty in defence lol

 

[Redhawk]

Pro Vercelli tactics and first choice eleven as of February 2010 (Vanin in goal)

November (LPC=Serie C Cup, C2A=Serie C2/A)

C2A 01st - 5-1a vs Mezzocorona (Tonini og, Vitagliano 2, Fresi, Rolandone)
C2A 08th - 3-0h vs Feralpi Salo (Vitagliano 3)
C2A 15th - 0-0a vs Valenzana
LPC 18th - 1-1h vs Paganese (Anderson)
C2A 22nd - 0-1h vs Canavese
LPC 25th - 1-1a vs Como (Marinelli)
C2A 29th - 2-0h vs Sambonifacese (Anderson, N'Gotty)

We kicked off the month in style with 8 goals in 2 games (Vitagliano scoring five of them), but we must have used up all out goals in those games as we really struggled the rest of the month, going on a four-match winless streak, with Anderson struggling a little up front, the home defeat to Canavese makes them an early bogey team, two home games and two losses against them! The Serie C Group B was interesting. You play each other once and all three games in the group finished 1-1, which means theoretically nothing seperated the three teams. I presume it went by division placement, or maybe alphabetical order lol, anyway it placed us bottom and Como top. We sat second at this stage.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI6a3JkLbfs"]YouTube- Vitagliano hat-trick[/ame]


December (C2A=Serie C2/A)

C2A 06th - 1-1a vs Carpenedolo (Anderson)
C2A 13th - 3-1a vs Pavia (Anderson 2, Vitagliano)
C2A 20th - 2-0h vs Olbia (Tokple, Anderson)

Anderson was bang back in form for the quiet month of December, with 4 goals in 3. A disappointing result at Carpenedolo was tempered by both promotion rivals also drawing the same day and two good wins following. This meant we were back on top of the league.


January (C2A=Serie C2/A)

C2A 09th - 0-0a vs Pro Sesto
C2A 17th - 1-1h vs Olbia (Tokple)
C2A 24th - 3-1a vs Alghero (Cossu og, Tokple 2)
C2A 31st - ?-?h vs Spezia

Not too unhappy with my draw away at strong Pro Sesto, but very unhappy with the result against Olbia. At home to the bottom club without a win in 13 I expected a lot more and to be brutally honest we didn't even deserve a draw, pretty furious with the performance. A few changes for the next match and we performed much better in a 3-1 away win. Next game was the big clash with Spezia (well it's big for my league), I've left the score blank so that you can watch the match highlights below, a win would put me top again. (You can see if I won by the screenshot below, try not to spoil it for yourself)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R_pnz3iAbQ"]YouTube- Pro Vercelli vs Spezia[/ame]


January Transfers

A quick word on January transfers - having sold Labriola and Mariani in August for £20k each, I sold further players this month with Pisani, Ruffino and Parisi biting the dust for a total of £25.5k. I brought in young Moroccan Abdelaziz Barrada for free from PSG who will provide compettion in midfield and young left back Luca Marcellini on loan from Siena allowing me to sell Pisani and help finances.

 

[Deleted member 79730]

best of luck mate

 

[Redhawk]

Pro Vercelli first-choice eleven June 2010 (Vanin in goal)

February (C2A=Serie C2/A)

C2A 08th - 1-1h vs Alto Adige (Cristino)
C2A 14th - 1-1a vs Noceto (Corallo)
C2A 21st - 2-1a vs Rodengo (Anderson, Zentil og)
C2A 28th - 1-1h vs Pro Belvedere (Anderson)

A mixed month really. Unbeaten but three draws and two of those against eminently beatable opposition, our profligacy in front of goal is hurting us there. We sit second at this stage. A gutsy performance against Alto Adige after having Cristino sent off (after he had scored a 25-yard screamer, shown below) and an excellent turn-around away at promotion rivals Rodengo.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebg0M8ZSGTw"]YouTube- Marinelli and Cristino goals[/ame]

March (C2A=Serie C2/A)

C2A 07th - 0-0a vs Legnano
C2A 21st - 1-1h vs Mezzocorona (Rolandone)
C2A 28th - 1-1a vs Feralpi Salo (Marinelli)

Aaaargh, an immensely frustrating month against very weak opposition that we beat 3-1, 5-1 and 3-0 respectively earlier in the season. That's 6 draws in 7 matches and I really want to finish top and gain automatic promotion rather than go through the playoff system. Somehow we are only one point behind pacesetters Alto Adige with five games to go so as long we got back on track we had a shot. I wasn't too confident however, as now our fate was out of our hands. Marinelli's 89th minute equalising free-kick vs Feralpi is also shown above.


April and May (C2A=Serie C2/A)

C2A 03rd - 2-1h vs Valenzana (Anderson 2)
C2A 11th - 1-0a vs Canavese (Barrada)
C2A 18th - 2-0h vs Pavia (Chiaretti, Marinelli)
C2A 02nd - 7-0h vs Carpenedolo (Anderson 4, Barrada 2, Vitagliano)
C2A 09th - 1-1a vs Sambonifacese (Marinelli)

More frustration looked to be in store as we fell behind in the 3rd minute against Valenzana at the start of the month. Anderson almost single-handedly dragged us out of trouble in the second half though with two fist-pumping goals. This and the next result (against a team we had lost twice to) seemed to lift the entire team and we played excellently against a strong Pavia, despite missing Anderson, and then trounced bottom club Carpenedolo, shown below. However, Alto Adige had won all their matches too meaning we needed a win away at 8th placed Sambonifacese and hope that Alto Adige didn't win away at 7th placed Pro Belvedere, who we ground share with. Pro Belvedere held Adige but we couldn't force a winner against Sambonifacese having fallen behind early, meaning we dropped into the dreaded playoffs by one point. 'If onlys' ran through my head.....

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS4QYeCP9kQ"]YouTube- Pro Vercelli 7-0 Carpenedolo[/ame]


May and June (C2A=Serie C2/A Playoffs)

C2A 23rd - 2-1a vs Pavia (Anderson, Marinelli)
C2A 30th - 2-0h vs Pavia (Anderson, Marinelli)

My team certainly aren't flat-track bullies. That's four wins out of four against Pavia this season. Despite being disappointed to have to be in the playoffs I was feeling confident on the back of our final few matches' form. If we had drifted into the playoffs like we were threatening to do it might have been a different matter. As it was we carried our form and played excellently in both matches to set up the final with Rodengo, who I've found stubborn in our previous matches if lacking in flair.

C2A 06th - 2-0a vs Rodengo (Anderson 2)
C2A 13th - 1-0h vs Rodengo (Bettini)

It was almost anti-climactic. We looked in utter control as soon as Anderson put us ahead early on in the away fixture. A wave of assuredness seemed to flow over us and we finished off Rodengo almost easily to secure promotion to Serie C1/B.


Final League Table:

Season summary and reflection to come

 

[Jack Fulham]

awww so unlucky to miss out on automatic promotion, good luck in playoffs

 

[Redhawk]

Umm, I got through the playoffs....... ^^^^

 

[Jack Fulham]

Aww well in mate what division you in now? C1?

 

[Redhawk]

Yup

We looked in utter control as soon as Anderson put us ahead early on in the away fixture. A wave of assuredness seemed to flow over us and we finished off Rodengo almost easily to secure promotion to Serie C1/B.

---------- Post added at 12:38 AM ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 03:15 PM ----------

Season: 2009/10
League: Italian Serie C2/A
Transfer Budget: approx £50k
Wage Budget: approx 15k
Board Expectations: Top half
Bookies Expectation: Joint favourites for promotion
Media Expectation: 6th
Your Expectations: Promotion

League Record: Pos 2nd, W 20, D 11, L 3, F 57, A 23, Pts 71 (promoted via play-offs)
Serie C Cup: 3rd Round
First XI: (4-3-2-1 wingers) Vanin, Vettori, Graff, Fresi, Lescure, Cristino, Esposito, Vitagliano, Tokple, Marinelli, Anderson
Top Scorer: Anderson 27
Top Assister: Carlos Marinelli 21
Average Attendance: 2547
Fans Player Of The Year: Anderson
My Player Of The Year: Carlos Marinelli
Notable Results: 4-0 Valenzana, 0-3 Spezia, 5-1 Mezzocorona, 3-0 Feralpi, 0-2 Alto Adige, 3-1 Pavia, 7-0 Carpenedolo, 4-1agg Pavia, 3-0agg Rodengo

Transfers In: 11 in total, all on frees, aside from Vettori and Marcellini who came in on loans. Marinelli, Fresi and Graff the significant signings.
Best Buy: Marinelli - my creative force throughout the season.
Worst Buy: None really, all frees and all played well, but Bruno N'Gotty was a rock for the first few months, then lost what little pace he had left with a minor injury and having signed him on a two year contract, it cost me £50k to release at the end of the year.
Transfers Out: 32 players released cost the club a pretty penny in the short-term but they were absolute dross, and allowed my limited coaching resources to concentrates on those who would be some use to the club. 3 players were sold for free, while 5 others were sold for a combine d £66k
Best Sale: £20k for Matteo Mariani, a frankly useless defender.


Season Reflection

I was pleasantly surprised by the base the of the squad I inherited. It still needed big changes but not the wholesale, sweeping surgery that I expected. On that basis, and on the back of my good signings I expected to be on top of the league and gain promotion. However, as has been documented, a run of six draws in seven games almost cost us. Just one goal in any of those games would have won the league for us......

I struggled to get the best out of Anderson, despite his excellent stats. To be fair to him, this was his first season in Italy himself, so maybe I expected the world and was disappointed when he only delivered a continent.

Marinelli exceeded expectations a little, but again big things were expected and he delivered in the main. Fresi was excellent, along with Graff, although I struugled in the middle part of the season to find a partner for Fresi in the heart of defence. N'Gotty had gone past his prime suddenly and the other two I had were never going to set the world on fire. I signed Arnaud Lescure in April and he was excellent, better late than never I suppose.

The midfiled was good throughout the year, rather than spectacular, with Vitagliano scoring a number of important goals, Esposito and Barrada, once he had settled in, contribited plenty too. My right back, a 17 year old on loan from Fiorentina, peformed surprisingly well, while the right wing postion was a little more erratic. Tokple, Didu, Agostinone and Bettini all held the posistion for assorted periods of time, with none really making the position their own.

Overall, gaining promotion was my minimum priority, whatever the board said and I was satisified that we did that, though the inabilty to finish teams off/hold on to a lead is a nagging concern.


Future Plans

I singled out the goalkeeper, centre back, defensive midfielder and right-back positions as my priority for the next season. The striking options were good with Yoann Arquinn coming on a Bosman to provide competition for Anderson. The right-back and centre-back priority positions were also filled quickly with Mike Gomes and John Boye joining on Bosmans too. Screenshots of the players and any others signed to come in my 2010 pre-season update.

I'll be looking for a second promotion in as many years.


---------- Post added at 05:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:38 AM ----------

1.07.2010
As mentioned earlier, three Bosmans were brought in. Yoann Arquin, a young French striker to provide back-up to Anderson, John Boye, a Ghanaian centre-back to lead the back-line and Mike Gomes, a 21 year old Swiss, to take the right-back slot. Boye is not the leading light I would hope for at centre-back but he is certainly very good in the right places. Gomes, however, is an excellent player for this level, and young too. Didu, N’Gotty, Chiaretti and Rolandone were all released; none were good enough to make the step up.

20.7.2010
Luca Marrone was signed on loan from Juventus to fill the defensive midfield slot. After an extensive search, a player from my parent club turned out to be the best candidate, he is well rounded with only his natural fitness any real concern. La Marca (£10k) and Canino (free), both unneeded squad players, were sold earlier, as was young striker Lo Bosco for £70k.

1.8.2010
A big signing for us. My extensive and pain-staking search finally reaped dividends with Cor Varkevisser becoming available from Sparta. Very tall and a big step up from my goalkeeper of last season, Vanin.

5.8.2010
Another good signing, with Tomas Simkovic joining on a free. He has good speed, crossing and dribbling and will play on the left wing, either rotating with Marinelli or allowing Marinelli to drop into midfield.

13.8.2010
I finally spent a little money. I felt I needed a bit more quality in midfield and signed Wiljan Pluim from Vitesse. He is young and technically gifted, if a little slow, signed for £30k, structured over 12 months, so I was still being frugal . A few days later, both Vitagliano and Cristini were sold for £60k each. Despite them both having good seasons last year, I don’t feel they have the quality to step up or improve the team.

Italian Cup
One match was played before the full season started, with us losing 1-0 away at Crotone in the Italian Cup 1st Qualifying Round on 3rd August, which I was a little disappointed by. The worst part was the goal scored by Crotone. Two days after joining us, Varkevisser fumbled a simple cross, gifting them the winner. I don’t remember Vanin making a single mistake all last year, despite being an average player. Have I bought a clown?

 

[Max]

Good stuff mate, good luck this season coming

 

[Nick.]

great story m8. This is a brilliant way to do a story