Allow me to tell you a story, in a time where football was played by men with moustaches not exclusive to November. A time where the average wage would pay for a modest townhouse in Turin or a terraced house in Liverpool, this was the time where footballers served there country in the biggest possible way through military service...
Amidst this modesty there lied great ambition by clubs across Europe, the giants as we now call them were not revered nor feared by teams. The club that perhaps personifies this early 20th century ambition and success is Pro Vercelli, a modest province which sits along the river Po half way between Milan and Turin. Now we can without haste say they are hidden well by the shadows of the teams in those respective towns. But to compare them would be an oversight, Vercelli is a province which neighbours Turin in North Italy. It has little industry, little wealth and the province itself holds a mere 160,000 people with it's capital Vercelli holding a mere 45,000 inhabitants -to put that into perspective that is basically the capacity of the Juve Arena - and yet this small town managed to dominate Italian football in the early 20th Century ratching up 7 Italian championship (Serie A) titles in 13 years and they should have had 8. The club inspired the Italian National team, the team wore white for the first time simply because of Pro Vercelli's success and it's very Italian-core base (During the early part of the century 9 of Italy's starting 11 came from the Vercelli team of which 8 from the town of Vercelli itself). A legacy that is still visible today in the National Teams strips, yet not many football fans have heard of Pro Vercelli. They were a team of few individuals and a lot of heroes, a team with many decorated military personnel who had served in the military in 1910, but more on that later, which made Vercelli somewhat National heroes. That year, by all accounts, Pro Vercelli were the best team in Italy, maybe in the whole world. As the first Italian club to institute modern training methods, both in terms of tactics (they practiced set pieces) and conditioning (their superior fitness often made them unstoppable at the end of games).
The team fell away, rapidly, and sat in the murky depths of Italian football for decades festering, just waiting for that one coach with a vision for complete success. In reality, that has never came through for them but as in every other FM I do have a soft spot for Juve's favourite neighbours and thought I would share my up's and downs in this story this year. I'm certainly not going to be able to do daily updates because I'm not on FM all that much, I'm looking to post 2-3 updates per 7 days hopefully in detail and with the odd graphic knocked up. I hope you enjoy reading the story of Pro Vercelli half as much as I enjoy playing/telling it.
6/7/2011- Pro Vercelli Statement
Having assessed the current team position in Serie C, we have decided that the way forward for the club has to be a young coaching staff with a new vision and identity for the football club. Having almost went out of business last summer and having to rebrand this historic football club, we as a board feel the only way forward is with young and fresh technical ideas. We also appreciate the fans who have struggled to contemplate why we are playing with Semi Professional teams when we were once champions of Italy. We have made a decision in regards to a new coach, we hope he can convince the fans as he convinced us of his footballing philosophy. He understands the history, identity and situation the club finds itself in and turned down a move to Pecara in order to hold talks with us. We intend to build the club along a trend of success, we will not gamble the clubs future but we will back the managers ambition of Serie A within 4 seasons. Together, with your vocal support and willingness to push this club forward we will once again sit on top of Italy.
Thank you for your continued support,
Massimo Secondo
Interviewer - It's quite a surprise seeing such a young ambitious coaching arriving in Serie C1, is this not a bit of a step down?
Jamie Halden - No, no, no I don't think so. I saw Pro Vercelli were interested and immediately picked up the phone, on the surface you see a club that has never been in the 'Serie A' as we call it now. I see dormant champions waiting for the right vision and identity to lead them, I believe Vercelli's time amongst the elite will be once more under my guidance.
Interviewer - What sort of vision, identity if you will, do you envisage at Vercelli?
Jamie Halden - The vision is a simple, sustainable vision for success. Inevitably we do not have the greatest catchment area, but this province is very passionate and I believe we can fill up the Viola week in week out playing good football and winning games. The identity I want to build is one that was here long ago, I want a team with spirit - the spirit of Italia - and most of all I want to put in place long term securities at this football club to ensure the slide down divisions will never happen again. The ghosts of 1910 have haunted this club for far too long.
Interviewer - Do you believe the club almost ceasing to exist last year has made it more important than ever to secure the finances and consolidate the structure in place?
Jamie Halden - To an extent, I think the wakeup call was needed and the new ownership has assured me funds will be made available (120k) in the first season. It's fantastic to get anybody entrusting you with their money, but the burden weighs deep on my mind as a young coach. I have already made some calls to some young coaches and scouts I believe we can sign to the club. I do wish to thank the staff here for frankly saving this football club in the past couple of years but I do believe a change in philosophy and age is needed here. The structure is a good foundation, we have beautifully scenic training facilities and I believe enough quality in the squad to challenge for promotion this season.
Interviewer - That's a very bold objective, do you concede that you could fall short given the strength of other teams?
Jamie Halden - I concede that there are many teams in the division, but come September 1st mine will be the strongest.
Interviewer - Many fans are saying you are the man to take vengeance on Inter for the 1910 scandal, do you believe you are?
Jamie Halden - We will find out in 2 years. You need to fall to be able to rise again. The white shirts will once again sit atop the ladder and the name Pro Vercelli will be one of admiration and praise in European football.
Diary Entry - Transfer Report
View attachment 207045
Personal Diary Entry 16/7/11 - Very pleased with the dealings so far, got them all on very cheap wages and have a Uruguayan striker coming in with excellent pace and ability. I realise that signing U-21 players will be difficult but I did look high and wide on the free list, the Romanian striker Urs has great potential I believe he will have a lot of resale value in the future. I signed Bisconti who is always a solid midfielder, if I can get Counago in to play Trequarista that should free up a midfield role that I can convert to either wingback/CM or AM.
Really promising start, I have basically cut my transfer budget and just put it all in wage to allow me to bring in staff and personnel that will help the club better in the long term. I also secured a junior coaching investment guarantee from the board and a parent club is being found, despite close links with Juventus and Fiorentina I feel the more affiliates right now the better. I will try to secure as many quality loan signings (youth) from those 2 clubs as possible especially in defence, but right now the focus is on squad depth and getting the right players in.
Amidst this modesty there lied great ambition by clubs across Europe, the giants as we now call them were not revered nor feared by teams. The club that perhaps personifies this early 20th century ambition and success is Pro Vercelli, a modest province which sits along the river Po half way between Milan and Turin. Now we can without haste say they are hidden well by the shadows of the teams in those respective towns. But to compare them would be an oversight, Vercelli is a province which neighbours Turin in North Italy. It has little industry, little wealth and the province itself holds a mere 160,000 people with it's capital Vercelli holding a mere 45,000 inhabitants -to put that into perspective that is basically the capacity of the Juve Arena - and yet this small town managed to dominate Italian football in the early 20th Century ratching up 7 Italian championship (Serie A) titles in 13 years and they should have had 8. The club inspired the Italian National team, the team wore white for the first time simply because of Pro Vercelli's success and it's very Italian-core base (During the early part of the century 9 of Italy's starting 11 came from the Vercelli team of which 8 from the town of Vercelli itself). A legacy that is still visible today in the National Teams strips, yet not many football fans have heard of Pro Vercelli. They were a team of few individuals and a lot of heroes, a team with many decorated military personnel who had served in the military in 1910, but more on that later, which made Vercelli somewhat National heroes. That year, by all accounts, Pro Vercelli were the best team in Italy, maybe in the whole world. As the first Italian club to institute modern training methods, both in terms of tactics (they practiced set pieces) and conditioning (their superior fitness often made them unstoppable at the end of games).
The team fell away, rapidly, and sat in the murky depths of Italian football for decades festering, just waiting for that one coach with a vision for complete success. In reality, that has never came through for them but as in every other FM I do have a soft spot for Juve's favourite neighbours and thought I would share my up's and downs in this story this year. I'm certainly not going to be able to do daily updates because I'm not on FM all that much, I'm looking to post 2-3 updates per 7 days hopefully in detail and with the odd graphic knocked up. I hope you enjoy reading the story of Pro Vercelli half as much as I enjoy playing/telling it.
Vercelli is the of the most scenic provinces in Italy and despite lacking in inhabitants it certainly does have a passion for football. From the valleys of Po, Vercelli produced some of the most talented footballers of the first half of the 20th century. They never shied from signing players regardless of nationality, Silvio Piola is the iconic figure at the club and the season he left them is the season that Vercelli tumbled into the depths.
The scandal of 1910 arose because, as you can see in the mockup storyboard I threw together, Inter Milan controversially won the title. The game that they won the title was against Vercelli, I say Vercelli the club actually fielded a 4th string youth team in protest of Inter going ahead with the game despite the entire Vercelli first team serving military duty in that month. This is seen by many as the biggest injustice in Italian Football, although personally I think the 05/06 scudetto win by Inter was, and also seen as the catalyst for Inter Milan in that it was their first title. This was far from being the reason Vercelli slided into the depths though, poor decisions and management put them in the near-amateur abyss for years.
There's most of the background done, time to get down to the appointment and bringing a new dawn of success to this football club.
The scandal of 1910 arose because, as you can see in the mockup storyboard I threw together, Inter Milan controversially won the title. The game that they won the title was against Vercelli, I say Vercelli the club actually fielded a 4th string youth team in protest of Inter going ahead with the game despite the entire Vercelli first team serving military duty in that month. This is seen by many as the biggest injustice in Italian Football, although personally I think the 05/06 scudetto win by Inter was, and also seen as the catalyst for Inter Milan in that it was their first title. This was far from being the reason Vercelli slided into the depths though, poor decisions and management put them in the near-amateur abyss for years.
There's most of the background done, time to get down to the appointment and bringing a new dawn of success to this football club.
6/7/2011- Pro Vercelli Statement
Having assessed the current team position in Serie C, we have decided that the way forward for the club has to be a young coaching staff with a new vision and identity for the football club. Having almost went out of business last summer and having to rebrand this historic football club, we as a board feel the only way forward is with young and fresh technical ideas. We also appreciate the fans who have struggled to contemplate why we are playing with Semi Professional teams when we were once champions of Italy. We have made a decision in regards to a new coach, we hope he can convince the fans as he convinced us of his footballing philosophy. He understands the history, identity and situation the club finds itself in and turned down a move to Pecara in order to hold talks with us. We intend to build the club along a trend of success, we will not gamble the clubs future but we will back the managers ambition of Serie A within 4 seasons. Together, with your vocal support and willingness to push this club forward we will once again sit on top of Italy.
Thank you for your continued support,
Massimo Secondo
An intriguing statement, the speculation is that Juventus youth coach Jamie Halden is set to take over. Having had a serious leg injury with the Turin club when on trial there 6 years previous, the 24 year old coach certainly has the confidence as was shown in his TV bust up with Paulo Di Canio earlier this year when Di Canio accused Halden of lacking a certain asset required by any man. Despite the bust up, Halden is a popular figure in Turin despite being a native Englishman. One thing is for sure, if Vercelli do appoint Halden the style of football will certainly not be boring...
7/7/2011- Jamie Halden Unveiled As Coach Of Pro Vercelli
Interviewer - It's quite a surprise seeing such a young ambitious coaching arriving in Serie C1, is this not a bit of a step down?
Jamie Halden - No, no, no I don't think so. I saw Pro Vercelli were interested and immediately picked up the phone, on the surface you see a club that has never been in the 'Serie A' as we call it now. I see dormant champions waiting for the right vision and identity to lead them, I believe Vercelli's time amongst the elite will be once more under my guidance.
Interviewer - What sort of vision, identity if you will, do you envisage at Vercelli?
Jamie Halden - The vision is a simple, sustainable vision for success. Inevitably we do not have the greatest catchment area, but this province is very passionate and I believe we can fill up the Viola week in week out playing good football and winning games. The identity I want to build is one that was here long ago, I want a team with spirit - the spirit of Italia - and most of all I want to put in place long term securities at this football club to ensure the slide down divisions will never happen again. The ghosts of 1910 have haunted this club for far too long.
Interviewer - Do you believe the club almost ceasing to exist last year has made it more important than ever to secure the finances and consolidate the structure in place?
Jamie Halden - To an extent, I think the wakeup call was needed and the new ownership has assured me funds will be made available (120k) in the first season. It's fantastic to get anybody entrusting you with their money, but the burden weighs deep on my mind as a young coach. I have already made some calls to some young coaches and scouts I believe we can sign to the club. I do wish to thank the staff here for frankly saving this football club in the past couple of years but I do believe a change in philosophy and age is needed here. The structure is a good foundation, we have beautifully scenic training facilities and I believe enough quality in the squad to challenge for promotion this season.
Interviewer - That's a very bold objective, do you concede that you could fall short given the strength of other teams?
Jamie Halden - I concede that there are many teams in the division, but come September 1st mine will be the strongest.
Interviewer - Many fans are saying you are the man to take vengeance on Inter for the 1910 scandal, do you believe you are?
Jamie Halden - We will find out in 2 years. You need to fall to be able to rise again. The white shirts will once again sit atop the ladder and the name Pro Vercelli will be one of admiration and praise in European football.
Diary Entry - Transfer Report
View attachment 207045
Personal Diary Entry 16/7/11 - Very pleased with the dealings so far, got them all on very cheap wages and have a Uruguayan striker coming in with excellent pace and ability. I realise that signing U-21 players will be difficult but I did look high and wide on the free list, the Romanian striker Urs has great potential I believe he will have a lot of resale value in the future. I signed Bisconti who is always a solid midfielder, if I can get Counago in to play Trequarista that should free up a midfield role that I can convert to either wingback/CM or AM.
Really promising start, I have basically cut my transfer budget and just put it all in wage to allow me to bring in staff and personnel that will help the club better in the long term. I also secured a junior coaching investment guarantee from the board and a parent club is being found, despite close links with Juventus and Fiorentina I feel the more affiliates right now the better. I will try to secure as many quality loan signings (youth) from those 2 clubs as possible especially in defence, but right now the focus is on squad depth and getting the right players in.
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