Thursday 28 August 2014

The 'Team X' Files


The Italian football season restarts this weekend amid turmoil and a lot of confusion.  For once this isn’t a Serie A problem.  This year it is the turn of Serie B.

The season begins with only 21 teams after Siena’s liquidation earlier in the summer.  

The season’s fixture list was finally unveiled on Wednesday and organisers were forced to refer to the missing club as ‘Team X’.

'Team X’ were due to stage the opening game of the competition at home to Latina on Saturday evening, although that will now be postponed.
The league was initially cut to 21 teams as part of a long-term plan to eventually reduce it to 20 teams.

However, Novara, the highest placed of the four teams relegated last season, protested and an Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) tribunal ruled that Serie B must continue with 22 teams this season.

The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) was asked to find the 22nd team and declined to automatically include Novara as they are among the clubs who have had points deducted in the last two years over the Calcioscommesse match-fixing scandal.

Instead, the FIGC chose to use a complex ranking system to choose a team from among those who were either relegated from Serie B last season or finished in the top half of the third-tier Lega Pro.

The FIGC will award points based on each team’s position in the league last term, their city’s “sporting tradition” and the team’s average attendances over the past five seasons.
It appears that Pisa and Juve Stabia are the best placed teams, although Novara, who would have finished top of the rankings, have appealed against their exclusion.

At least 12 teams are in the running for the vacant spot which means with the season days away none of them know which division they will play in.
The FIGC is expected to announce its decision on Thursday, although that could be postponed by further appeals against clubs who think they have been hard done by.

At the time of writing the 21 teams due to compete are –
Avellino, Bari, Bologna, Brescia, Carpi, Catania, Cittadella, Crotone, Frosinone, Latina, Livorno, Modena, Perugia, Pescara, Pro Vercelli, Spezia, Ternana, Trapani, Varese, Virtus Entella and Virtus Lanciano…and Team X!!

Unsurprisingly, ahead of the new campaign, the bookmakers have Catania, relegated last season from Serie A, as slight favourites to win the title ahead of the two other relegated sides Bologna and Livorno.  It is hard to see past these three sides for promotion, but they will face stiff competition from sides like Bari, beaten in the Promotion Play Offs last season, and Pescara.

It could be a long season for Virtus Entella and Pro Vercelli.  Entella, last season’s Lega Pro Prima Divisione champions ,will compete in Serie B for the first time.  Pro Vercelli are also back after promotion.  This famous club has 7 Scudettos to their name, sadly the last title was won in 1922. 

As the season unfolds, there are bound to be many twists and turns. Who knows, Team X could be the team to gain promotion to Serie A.
Ciao

Follow me on Twitter @insearchofluca

Thursday 17 July 2014

AC Siena.....no longer with us.

After surviving for 110 years in the Italian football league system, it was announced yesterday (15/7/14) that AC Siena would be no more.  Declared bankrupt, they had reached the end of the road.




A statement from the club read ' Despite multiple, frequent attempts carried out in order to procure the registration of the team to the new football season, it was not possible to achieve this objective.'

It is a sad end for the club from the Stadio Artemio Franchi, although the writing has been on the wall for the last few seasons after yearly financial struggles.  Their main backer, Banca Montepaschi di Siena, had to be bailed out by the Bank of Italy after a financial scandal in 2013.  Former president Massimo Mezzaroma served a 20 day suspension last season as he was found guilty of 'not informing the relevant federal agencies of the withholding of income tax and wages owed to players.'

The Bianconeri competed in Serie A as recently as 2013, relegated in that season.  They narrowly missed out on the play offs in Serie B in 2014, a points deduction from the start of the season was too much to make up in the end.  This prompted Mezzaroma to resign in order to 'help the sale of the club as bankruptcy loomed'.  




After having spent 55 years playing in the lower divisions, Siena were promoted to Serie B for the start of the 2000/2001 season.  They were promoted to Serie A for the first time in the club's history in 2003/2004 and finished in a respectable 13th place.

Over the years Siena have had some famous managers.  Ferruccio Mazzola, son of legendary Torino captain Valentino Mazzola, managed the club in 1988/89.  Antonio Conte, until recently Juventus manager, was appointed in 2010 and led the side to promotion in 2012.  Other ex managers include Marcello Lippi, Ottavio Bianchi, Luigi De Canio and Serse Cosmi.

Notable ex players include Rodrigo Taddei, Tore Andre Flo and Enrico Chiesa.

I have decided to write this post from a personal viewpoint as well.  In 2004 I went to Tuscany on honeymoon, and visited Siena a few times.  The ground is just outside the town centre and I paid a visit.  Purchasing various memorabilia, I decided that I would 'adopt' them as one of my teams and have followed their results from afar ever since.

I hope a new buyer can be found soon and the rebuilding of the club can begin.  It's the supporters and the town that will suffer in times like these.  A long road lies ahead.

Grazie

Follow me on Twitter @insearchofluca 

Saturday 7 June 2014

My best Italy 11 ever... from 1990 onwards.



The World Cup is upon us once more and it seems anyone and everyone is picking their World Cup 'Greatest Ever XI’…so I thought I may as well jump on this particular bandwagon.


But I have decided to pick mine slightly differently.  Since this blog is about all things Italian, mainly calcio, and the reason I started it in the first place was by reminicising about Italia 90 , my ‘Greatest Ever Italy XI’ will consist of players who have represented the Azzuri from 1990 onwards.  

Italia 90 logo

That obviously means that some of THE greatest players ever to represent the famed Azzuri will not appear here – players like Gianni Rivera, Guiseppe Meazza or Valentino Mazzola (Captain of Il Grande Torino)


Nor will previous World Cup heroes likes Marco Tardelli or Paolo Rossi.  This XI is picked solely on my memories and experiences of following these players since 1990.


Marco Tardelli scoring in 1982 World Cup final


I have picked a 3-4-3 formation and these first four will probably feature in the majority of ‘Greatest XI’ teams.  All four are born leaders and instantly command the respect of team mates and opposition alike.  -


1 Gianluigi Buffon (139 Caps)


2 Paolo Maldini (126 caps, 7 goals)

3 Fabio Cannavaro (136 caps, 2 goals)

4 Franco Baresi (captain) (82 caps, 2 goals)



My midfield four has a mixture of grit, determination and flair….oh and a wizard (Pirlo) when it comes to taking free kicks -


5 Gennaro Gattuso (73 caps, 1 goal)

6 Roberto Donadoni  (63 caps, 5 goals)

7 Andrea Pirlo (108 caps, 13 goals)

8 Gianfranco Zola (35 caps, 10 goals)


The front three have been the main stay of the Azzuri frontline for the majority of the past 20 years, maybe not as profilic for the national team as they were for their club sides, but I have picked them on reputation and influence alone -

Alessandro Del Piero (91 caps, 27 goals)

10 Roberto Baggio (56 caps, 27 goals)

11 Francesco Totti (58 caps, 9 goals)

Roberto Baggio (L) and Alessandro Del Piero

Manager - Marcello Lippi.  Italy have had some great managers over the past 24 years such as Arrigo Sacchi and Giovanni Trappatoni, but Lippi winning the 2006 World Cup for the Azzuri, especially in the wake of the Calciopoli scandal of 2006, assures him of the job.

Over the last 20 odd years I have only watched these players via television and appreciated their skillpassion and leadership from afar.   I was lucky enough to be in Rotterdam for the Euro 2000 final, sat amongst the Italian fans.  Playing for the Azzuri that day were Fabio CannavaroPaolo MaldiniFrancesco Totti and Alessandro Del Piero.


Some obvious choices, some not so obvious as well. No room for Marco Materazzi, Daniele De Rossi, Alessandro Costacurta or Pippo Inzaghi.  No room either for older heads like Roberto ManciniGianluca Vialli or Guiseppe Bergomi.


Whatever your thoughts on my selection, it would have been one hell of a starting 11!!


Over to you….what would your XI be?

Grazie mille


Follow me on Twitter @insearchofluca

Saturday 4 January 2014

Championship Manager Italia

A few months ago I read a book called ' Football Manager Stole My Life - 20 years of the beautiful obsession'.  A trip down memory lane ensued as I began to recall all the different versions of the game I have played over the years.  I started off, like most, with the original series on the Commodore Amiga back in 1992 and came back year after year to buy the latest version of the game.

In therapy terms, I had been doing really well in recent times.  I had not touched the game in a number of years and I was leading a 'normal' life.  But, after reading the book, my willpower finally broke.  I reloaded an old version to my laptop, whilst at the same time vowing never to get sucked into playing into the wee hours like I did in my youth.  Then I remembered playing a version of the game which co-incided with the start of my passion for calcio in the mid 90's....Championship Manager Italia.


Based on the 93/94 series of the game, this version was purely for the Italian leagues Serie A and Serie B.  The format was exactly the same, you chose a team to manage in either league and were responsible for the buying and selling of players and winning as many games as possible to avoid the dreaded sack.  A nice little twist on the potential buying of players meant you could try to buy 'foreign' star names like Eric Cantona, Alan Shearer or a youthful Ryan Giggs.

Whilst researching this game I found an example of the Roma squad of that time which includes a 17 year old Francesco Totti and other big names stars from that era like Abel Balbo (age 27) and Aldair (age 28).  Italian football was enjoying a golden age in the mid 90's and most of the teams had superstar names in their ranks who were at the peak of their in-game playing powers.

The beauty of this game was in it's simplicity.  The main screen was a series of boxes (eg Continue Season, Find Player or View Tables).  Each box did exactly what it said on the tin, and as a result the experience of playing the game was very enjoyable.  It all looks very basic graphically now, but this was like nothing I had experienced before in the Football Management gaming world.



If memory serves, you also received a handbook which listed the teams and gave a brief history of each club for those gamers not familiar with Italian football.

The most recent versions of the series (now called Football Manager) are packed full of information which has led to criticism that the game is no longer about the simple playability of the old versions like Championship Manager Italia.

Technology has moved on but with the introduction of Amiga Emulators and websites dedicated to older games it is possible to download this (and other) games and enjoy the simple things once more.





I hope you have enjoyed this trip down memory lane and it has rekindled your love of the Championship Manager series.  Will you be tempted to dust that old copy off and have 'just one more game'.....for old times sake?

Grazie....

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