Educated Hick

June-August 2004:

The offseason was notable mainly for political events. An addition 10 countries joined the EU, bringing the membership total to 25. In addition, I was forced to begin reckoning prices and wages in Euros like the rest of Italy. This didn’t bother me too much. Currency may fluctuate, but the base price is always the same economically. Economically, Ragusa continues to struggle against a small stadium and small fanbase. But, I wasn’t worried about that too much; I was more concerned with getting my players to believe that we could win the Serie C1 division. Our confidence had taken a hit when we fell just short of the playoffs. Accordingly, I trained the lads hard over the break and they began Cup play in August with high hopes. We fulfilled those hopes by racing through the Cup group stage with a perfect 4-0 record. We also made more money in August than we usually did. We brought in all time highs in season ticket revenue and sold one of our French reservists to Troyes for E210, 000, which helped the club’s bottom line considerably as we headed into the league season.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 15.8.04 Novara A Serie C Cup Grp D 1:0 9874 Bernal22.8.04 Centese H Serie C Cup Grp D 1:0 1268 Förster29.8.04 Valenzana A Serie C Cup Grp D 2:1 2496 Möller, Förster1.9.04 Brindisi H Serie C Cup Grp D 2:1 906 Bernal, Bevers******************************************** ************************************************** ** Ragusa - Sunday 5th September 2004********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== Squad============================================= ================================================== =No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Abiven, Philippe D RC FRA 3.2.84 20 - - ¤5K 28.6.05 ¤14K - Alberts, Henk M RC HOL 5.7.84 20 - - ¤18K 8.6.06 ¤60K - Asensio, Mateo S C ESP 26.12.87 16 - - ¤10K 18.6.07 ¤40K - Barbier, Philippe SW/D C FRA 9.11.85 18 - - ¤8K 25.6.07 ¤35K - Bergen, Christian D LC GER 11.6.84 20 - - ¤12K 16.6.07 ¤30K - Bernal, Pablo D LC ESP 4.4.86 18 - - ¤14K 28.6.06 ¤26K - Bevers, Tom S C BEL 2.2.85 19 - - ¤16K 24.6.07 ¤65K - Bosio, Enrico M C ITA 17.7.85 19 - - ¤7K 12.6.07 ¤30K - Brambilla, Ivan D C ITA 28.5.86 18 - - ¤12K 25.6.05 ¤14K - Brescia, Gianluca D C ITA 24.11.86 17 - - ¤12K 15.6.05 ¤14K - Bresciani, Davide AM LC ITA 16.3.87 17 - - ¤8K 19.6.07 ¤30K - Doria, Vittorio F RC ITA 29.6.86 18 - - ¤14K 3.6.05 ¤35K - Dubois, Nicolas M C FRA 27.7.83 21 - - ¤5K 11.6.05 ¤35K - Ferri, Sergio M RLC ITA 9.9.86 17 - - ¤5K 16.6.07 ¤30K - Förster, Steffen S C GER 2.10.84 19 - - ¤10K 22.6.05 ¤30K - Galetti, Giacomo M C ITA 19.6.84 20 - - ¤12K 28.6.05 ¤14K - Garcia, Philippe S C FRA 6.12.83 20 - - ¤9K 12.6.06 ¤80K - Garrido, Marcos D R ESP 16.2.85 19 - - ¤18K 25.6.06 ¤30K - Granzotto, Stefano S C ITA 20.5.85 19 - - ¤10K 19.6.08 ¤35K - Heylen, Kris D/DM LC BEL 25.1.83 21 - - ¤28K 8.6.05 ¤30K - Hoefkens, Stijn M C BEL 29.7.84 20 - - ¤30K 23.6.06 ¤55K - Mantioni, Adriano M RLC ITA 1.3.84 20 - - ¤5K 23.6.05 ¤26K - Marchisio, Alberto D C ITA 9.9.87 16 - - ¤7K 17.6.06 ¤22K - Marconi, Vittorio D L ITA 7.6.87 17 - - ¤40K Rolling ¤18K - Michel, Cédric AM RC FRA 21.3.83 21 - - ¤24K 21.6.05 ¤55K - Michels, Werner GK GER 30.3.86 18 - - ¤14K 19.6.08 ¤35K - Möller, Marco AM C GER 20.12.86 17 - - ¤22K 27.6.06 ¤55K - Moreau, Olivier M LC FRA 15.4.86 18 - - ¤18K 21.6.06 ¤160K - Morini, Paolo GK ITA 24.9.87 16 - - ¤9K 26.6.06 ¤22K - Moya, Rubén M C ESP 2.11.87 16 - - ¤8K 4.6.08 ¤40K - Napolitano, Pietro S C ITA 31.10.86 17 - - ¤14K 27.6.06 ¤30K - Negro, Francesco D R ITA 31.10.85 18 - - ¤5K 16.6.06 ¤22K - Petrelli, Umberto M C ITA 2.6.84 20 - - ¤12K 4.6.06 ¤26K - Pisano, Emiliano GK ITA 4.1.84 20 - - ¤12K 19.6.07 ¤35K - Rath, Horst D C GER 16.12.86 17 - - ¤14K 18.6.07 ¤30K - Santoro, Carmine GK ITA 20.4.84 20 - - ¤12K 18.6.07 ¤30K - Sartini, Luca D C ITA 25.2.84 20 - - ¤7K 5.6.06 ¤24K - Scholz, Ronny D C GER 11.8.83 21 - - ¤5K 28.6.05 ¤24K - Scibilia, Domenico AM/F RC ITA 23.8.84 20 - - ¤5K 19.6.08 ¤35K - Spinelli, Tiziano D RLC ITA 31.7.86 18 - - ¤10K 15.6.05 ¤14K - Vastola, Danilo D L ITA 1.2.85 19 - - ¤7K 8.6.06 ¤22K - Vecchi, Giuseppe F LC ITA 26.7.85 19 - - ¤5K 19.6.08 ¤35K - Verheyen, Philippe DM C BEL 1.7.87 17 - - ¤10K 10.6.07 ¤30K - Vicente, Ángel D/DM L ESP 26.1.87 17 - - ¤12K 25.6.06 ¤22K - Vink, Hans SW/D C HOL 2.3.83 21 - - ¤5K 5.6.06 ¤35K - Wuillot, Cédric D/DM RC BEL 9.7.84 20 - - ¤30K 1.6.06 ¤45K - van den Berg, Paul D L HOL 15.7.86 18 - - ¤18K 20.6.05 ¤14K </pre>

Educated Hick

September 2004:

As the league season opened, we built on our first round Cup success. Almost predictably, our first league contest ended in a 1-1 draw, but we made up for it by peeling off three straight wins to put us high up in the league standings. However, the month, while good on the competition front, was historical in the roster front. For starters there was a complete overhaul of the goalkeepers at Ragusa. In the span of three weeks, three German goalkeepers, each a pretty fair keeper, showed up to play for us. The result was that both first team keepers, who had been so shaky last year, were jettisoned and replaced by a German import and last year’s Reserve starter. Both have served well thus far. The real history-maker came near the end of the month. Reggiana agreed to pay E460,000 for our reserve midfielder Oliver Moreau. The transfer fee was the largest we had ever received in club history. Because of that fee, we had money in the bank for the first time ever in modern history. Not only that, but the board informed me that I could spend up to E500,000 on players if I wanted to. Although I did not intend to spend that much on players, I did plan on spending some of the capital. Accordingly, I sent my scouts to Northern Europe and Britain to see what the could find. Both scouting territories were outside of our normal bailiwick, but since we had money in the bank, no one was complaining.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 5.9.04 Benevento H Serie C1/B 1:1 3327 Alberts12.9.04 Giulianova A Serie C1/B 1:0 6786 Möller19.9.04 Fidelis Andria H Serie C1/B 1:0 3452 Bevers pen26.9.04 Sora A Serie C1/B 3:1 6739 Garcia, Möller, Bevers******************************************** ************************************************** ** Italian Serie C1/B - Sunday 3rd October 2004********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2004/5 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Alzano 4 1 1 0 2 0 2 0 0 5 2 10 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Ascoli 4 2 0 0 5 2 1 1 0 3 2 10 3rd Ragusa 4 1 1 0 2 1 2 0 0 4 1 10 4th Foggia 4 2 0 0 6 1 1 0 1 3 3 9 5th Igea Virtus 4 1 0 1 3 2 1 1 0 4 1 7 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6th Fidelis Andria 4 1 1 0 4 3 1 0 1 2 1 7 7th Cosenza 4 1 1 0 3 2 1 0 1 4 4 7 8th Avellino 4 1 0 1 2 2 1 0 1 5 4 6 9th Crotone 4 1 1 0 2 1 0 1 1 2 3 5 10th Gualdo 4 1 0 1 3 3 0 2 0 0 0 5 11th Benevento 4 1 0 1 4 3 0 1 1 2 4 4 12th Catania 4 1 0 1 4 3 0 0 2 2 4 3 13th Giulianova 4 0 1 1 2 3 0 2 0 4 4 3 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14th Chieti 4 0 2 0 5 5 0 1 1 3 7 3 15th Paternò 4 1 0 1 4 5 0 0 2 2 6 3 16th Messina 4 0 1 1 2 4 0 1 1 2 4 2 17th Sora 4 0 1 1 4 6 0 1 1 2 6 2 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18th Thiene 4 0 1 1 2 4 0 0 2 1 3 1 </pre>

Educated Hick

October 2004:

October was another record-breaker for Ragusa. We continued to play well in the league and held on to our second place perch. We also played well in our Second Round Cup games, which allowed us to move on to the Third Round. The change in goalkeepers didn’t seem to affect us any as we set a new club record for most games without losing-15 and counting. While we were doing well in our competitions, once again, the big news was roster-related. The quarter-mark of the season arrived in late October and with it came the first team shuffle. Forward Philippe Garcia was released because he broke his ankle. Veterans Heylen and Mantioni, and Galetti were released because of poor performance. Their spots were taken by eager reservists. A couple of first-players like Barberler were deemed young enough to redeem themselves in the reserves and so, were sent down rather than released. But roster-shuffling wasn’t the only thing that happened in late October. For the first team in three seasons, I actually purchased a player from another team. My scout in France spied a little-used 23 yr old at Le Havre and sent back a tape and write-up of the player. David Marlot was a central midfielder with talent and could be just the thing our midfield needed. He had more talent than anyone else on the team. So, we offered Le Havre E160,000 for him. They accepted and we made Marlot the highest paid player in Ragusa history at E100,000 per year. The 23 yr old accepted and joined Ragusa in time for the last game of the month. Marlot showed he was a good investment by scoring a brace of goals in that game. We’ll get about a season out of him before the age barrier forces us to sell him, but it is nice to have a player with a work ethic and talent.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 3.10.04 Ascoli H Serie C1/B 0:0 3459 10.10.04 Messina A Serie C1/B 2:1 8163 Michel, Garcia13.10.04 Varese H Serie C Cup 2nd Rnd Leg 1 2:1 2169 Bevers 217.10.04 Paternò H Serie C1/B 3:3 3485 Dubois, Michel, Petrelli24.10.04 Catania A Serie C1/B 2:1 13147 Mantioni, Michel27.10.04 Varese A Serie C Cup 2nd Rnd Leg 2 1:1 5716 Doria31.10.04 Thiene H Serie C1/B 4:1 3478 Wuillot pen, Martot 2, Bevers******************************************** ************************************************** ** Italian Serie C1/B - Wednesday 3rd November 2004********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2004/5 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Ascoli 9 3 1 0 13 5 3 2 0 8 3 21 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Ragusa 9 2 3 0 9 5 4 0 0 8 3 21 3rd Cosenza 9 3 1 0 5 2 3 0 2 8 6 19 4th Crotone 9 3 1 0 6 1 2 1 2 8 7 17 5th Alzano 9 2 1 1 4 1 3 0 2 6 6 16 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6th Avellino 9 2 0 2 5 5 3 0 2 13 10 15 7th Igea Virtus 9 3 0 2 9 9 1 2 1 6 4 14 8th Fidelis Andria 9 2 2 0 7 5 2 0 3 6 6 14 9th Paternò 9 3 0 1 10 7 1 2 2 9 12 14 10th Chieti 9 2 2 1 11 8 1 1 2 5 9 12 11th Gualdo 9 3 0 2 9 7 0 2 2 2 9 11 12th Catania 9 2 0 3 8 8 1 1 2 4 4 10 13th Benevento 9 3 0 1 8 4 0 1 4 5 13 10 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14th Foggia 9 2 0 3 10 8 1 0 3 3 5 9 15th Messina 9 0 1 4 3 10 2 1 1 5 4 8 16th Giulianova 9 1 2 2 3 6 0 2 2 4 9 7 17th Sora 9 1 1 3 7 10 0 1 3 4 10 5 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18th Thiene 9 1 1 2 5 6 0 0 5 3 12 4 </pre>

Brian of Nazareth

excellent start to the new season, EH. I've not had much time to see how other people are doing in the challenges, but the Italian Serie C is such a fun league to try this from I think. Unlucky last year, but seems you should be up there by the end of the season this time though :Thup:

Educated Hick

BoN- It is a fun league to try the challenge in. I'm really enjoying playing the game. Hell, I'm addicted to it. Thanks for the praise.

November 2004:

We continued to win in the league this month despite the fact that I managed the team in an alcoholic haze all through the month. We did, however, lose in the Serie C Cup third round. The cup did provide us with one thing though. Our gate receipts for the home leg were the highest in Ragusa history, totaling close to E45,000. This seemed to be a year for setting records. In other news, we resigned Spanish forward Gonzalez about two months after we released him. He is a good enough talent to merit a second chance with the lifestyle in Italy. New signing Marlot continued to impress and show he was worth the money we splashed out for him. Forward Bevers spent the month scoring goals for fun,- he will set the season record for league goals in a hurry and could well set the career mark as well. In short, as the month drew to a close, we continued battling Ascoli for the division lead. They were in first place by virtue of goal difference, but we were nipping at their heels.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">3.11.04 Empoli A Serie C Cup 3rd Rnd Leg 1 1:2 5954 Alberts7.11.04 Alzano A Serie C1/B 0:0 2997 10.11.04 Empoli H Serie C Cup 3rd Rnd Leg 2 0:1 3283 14.11.04 Gualdo H Serie C1/B 3:1 3493 Bevers 2, Dubois21.11.04 Cosenza A Serie C1/B 2:1 10734 Bevers 228.11.04 Igea Virtus H Serie C1/B 1:0 3483 Förster</pre>

Educated Hick

Gah- I just realized I posted the wrong table in my last post. Prehaps I need to cut down on my late-night posting.

December 2004:

The last month of the year saw us win, lose and draw in that precise order. While we fulfilled the cliché admirably, it cost us our lofty place in the league as we dropped to 4th place. The drop in our league fortunes warned that we could very well find ourselves in yet another dogfight for a promotional playoff spot. We were only a few points up and the second half of the season stretched before us. But we had a two week holiday for Christmas and we used the time to train and get our new midfield aquainted. At the midpoint of December, we had signed a left-footed German midfielder who would step right in at LMC. It was hoped that he, Marlot and Alberts would form a potent combination. For once, it seemed as though the fullbacks were playing well; Wullots and the two LB’s were performing well and Bevers was also doing well. In fact, Bevers set two new records during the month. He set a new season record for league goals with 11 and a new career league goals record with 18. In short, we were finally putting a good cohesive team on the field. All we could do now was just hang on and hope that we continued to get a break or two in the next part of the season.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">28.11.04 Igea Virtus H Serie C1/B 1:0 3483 Förster5.12.04 Crotone A Serie C1/B 1:2 3953 Marsiglia12.12.04 Foggia H Serie C1/B 1:1 3493 Bevers19.12.04 Avellino A Serie C1/B 1:1 8958 Marsiglia***************************************** ************************************************** ***** Italian Serie C1/B - Wednesday 22nd December 2004********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2004/5 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Ascoli 16 5 2 1 21 8 5 3 0 16 6 35 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Cosenza 16 6 1 1 12 5 5 1 2 16 9 35 3rd Crotone 16 7 1 0 14 2 4 1 3 11 10 35 4th Ragusa 16 4 4 0 14 7 5 2 1 12 7 33 5th Igea Virtus 16 6 0 2 16 10 2 3 3 11 10 27 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6th Avellino 16 3 3 2 14 13 4 0 4 16 14 24 7th Paternò 16 5 1 2 17 15 2 2 4 12 16 24 8th Alzano 16 3 2 3 7 8 4 0 4 8 10 23 9th Messina 16 3 1 4 11 12 3 2 3 9 11 21 10th Gualdo 16 5 0 3 13 9 1 3 4 6 16 21 11th Foggia 16 4 1 3 15 9 1 3 4 6 10 19 12th Fidelis Andria 16 3 3 2 9 9 2 1 5 9 13 19 13th Benevento 16 4 1 3 13 10 0 3 5 10 19 16 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14th Sora 16 2 2 4 12 15 2 2 4 11 15 16 15th Catania 16 2 2 4 12 13 2 1 5 10 11 15 16th Chieti 16 2 3 3 13 15 1 3 4 7 13 15 17th Thiene 16 2 4 2 9 9 0 1 7 3 16 11 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18th Giulianova 16 1 3 4 4 10 0 3 5 6 20 9 </pre>

Educated Hick

January 2005:

We continued our string of draws throughout the month. As the teams surrounding us in the table either drew or lost, we weren’t really affected by our inability to secure a win. On the last day of the month, we turned in a positive result, demolishing our opposition 3-0. Predictably enough, the brace of goals was scored by a forward Vincent whom we had brought up at the halfway point of the season. The halfway mark of the season had come at the beginning of January. We hadn’t shuffled the roster too much. Only one member of the reserves was having a great year and he was brought up to replace Doria, who was sent back down. Doria is a frustrating case- he destroys reserve opponents and is easily bored, but he simply cannot play well at the first-team level. We have just resigned the 18 yr old to a three year extension, so we can work with him more. One other player was resigned to a contract, LB Paul Van der Berg. The other players with expiring contracts, Dubois and Martel won’t be resigned. In fact, we went ahead and released Dubois to make room on the first team for another left-footed midfielder to be brought up from the reserves. In addition to Dubois, we released two members of the reserves who were failing to adapt to their new country. That meant we had three slots open and the scouts were sent to look for replacements.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">6.1.05 Chieti A Serie C1/B 1:1 8093 Möller16.1.05 Benevento A Serie C1/B 1:1 8736 Bevers23.1.05 Giulianova H Serie C1/B 0:0 3470 30.1.05 Fidelis Andria A Serie C1/B 3:0 6058 Verhelst 2, Möller******************************************* ************************************************** *** Ragusa - Thursday 6th January 2005********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2004/5 Senior Club Stats============================================= ================================================== =No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Abiven, Philippe - - - - - - - - ---- - Alberts, Henk 13 (1) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.07 - Arregi, Francisco Javier - - - - - - - - ---- - Asensio, Mateo - - - - - - - - ---- - Baldini, Fabrizio - - - - - - - - ---- - Barbier, Philippe 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 - Belabbar, Damien - - - - - - - - ---- - Bergen, Christian 6 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 6.83 - Bernal, Pablo 18 2 0 0 1 2 0 1 7.06 - Bevers, Tom 14 (2) 11 0 1 (1) 1 1 0 3 7.25 - Bosio, Enrico - - - - - - - - ---- - Bresciani, Davide - - - - - - - - ---- - Deschamps, Sylvain 3 (1) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.50 - Di Maio, Bruno - - - - - - - - ---- - Doria, Vittorio 10 (3) 1 0 1 (0) 0 3 0 0 6.46 - Dubois, Nicolas 12 (1) 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 6.85 - Engel, Florian - - - - - - - - ---- - Ferri, Sergio - - - - - - - - ---- - Förster, Steffen 13 (4) 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 6.94 - Garrido, Marcos 13 (1) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.93 - Göbel, Timo 11 0 13 0 0 0 0 1 7.36 - González González, Robert - - - - - - - - ---- - Hoefkens, Stijn 10 (2) 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 6.83 - Hunter, Neil - - - - - - - - ---- - Malchow, Jürgen - - - - - - - - ---- - Marchisio, Alberto - - - - - - - - ---- - Marsiglia, Nicolas 5 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.60 - Martot, David 10 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 7.10 - Michel, Cédric 9 (1) 3 0 0 5 0 0 2 6.90 - Michels, Werner - - - - - - - - ---- - Möller, Marco 16 (2) 4 0 0 2 2 0 2 6.89 - Morini, Paolo 8 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 7.25 - Moya, Rubén - - - - - - - - ---- - Negro, Francesco - - - - - - - - ---- - Pastore, Rosario - - - - - - - - ---- - Petrelli, Umberto 7 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 6.71 - Rath, Horst 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Russo, Angelo - - - - - - - - ---- - Sartini, Luca 9 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.67 - Schuster, Timo 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.67 - Scibilia, Domenico - - - - - - - - ---- - Spinelli, Tiziano 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Van de Perre, Guy - - - - - - - - ---- - Verhelst, Tim - - - - - - - - ---- - Verheyen, Philippe - - - - - - - - ---- - Vicente, Ángel 6 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 7.17 - Vink, Hans 11 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 7.09 - Wuillot, Cédric 12 (1) 1 0 1 (1) 1 1 0 2 7.15 - de Graaf, Joop - - - - - - - - ---- - van den Berg, Paul 7 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 7.14 </pre>

Educated Hick

February 2005:

For some reason we had a two week vacation in February. As a result, we didn’t play a game until the middle of the month and only played three times the entire month. We spoent most of the month preparing for the crunch-time games that we would be playing in March and April. Looking ahead, it appeared that April was clearly going to be a crowded month. There were two midweek fixtures scheduled. To English fans, this may not seem like a big deal, but in the Italian league there is usually only one game a week in league games. At the wnd of the month, Bevers set a new club record with 11 league goals in a single season.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">13.2.05 Sora H Serie C1/B 1:1 3478 Hoefkens20.2.05 Ascoli A Serie C1/B 3:3 10386 Verhelst 2, Bevers27.2.05 Messina H Serie C1/B 1:0 3483 Bevers</pre>

Educated Hick

March 2005:

The month saw Ragusa continuing to consolidate our league position. With Bevers’ in the lead we blew through the schedule and ended the month in second place, ten points behind the leader. The month also saw us reach the ¾ mark in the season and we shuffled the first team a bit. A Spanish RB and SC were called up along with a French midfielder and Vicente, Schuster and Maslinga were sent back down. Doria was placed on the transfer list as he performs brilliantly in the reserves but seems cowed by first team ball. So far, there are no takers on a 45K pounds value. A couple of reserve malcontents were released and late in the month we achieved another first in a year full of them. We mde our first Bosman deal, signing 20 year old midfielder Simone Ono away from Tirelli. He’ll join us on July 1st. All signs are pointing towards a good April and May. We’re about as prepared as we can be for the home stretch that will hopefully end with promotion to Serie B.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">6.3.05 Paternò A Serie C1/B 1:1 5994 Bernal13.3.05 Catania H Serie C1/B 1:0 3478 Bevers20.3.05 Thiene A Serie C1/B 2:1 2462 Petrelli, Vink27.3.05 Alzano H Serie C1/B 2:0 3486 Möller, González González***************************************** ************************************************** ***** Italian Serie C1/B - Sunday 3rd April 2005********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2004/5 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Pl Cosenza 27 11 2 1 25 10 9 1 3 26 16 63 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Ragusa 27 7 6 0 19 8 7 6 1 23 14 54 3rd Crotone 27 8 5 1 22 10 7 3 3 24 17 53 4th Ascoli 27 7 5 1 28 13 6 5 3 22 13 49 5th Avellino 27 6 3 5 31 24 8 0 5 33 22 45 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6th Fidelis Andria 27 6 3 4 19 16 5 4 5 19 19 40 7th Alzano 27 6 4 4 15 13 6 0 7 14 19 40 8th Gualdo 27 6 1 6 18 19 5 3 6 17 29 37 9th Igea Virtus 27 7 2 4 22 17 2 6 6 15 19 35 10th Catania 27 6 2 6 25 22 4 2 7 16 15 34 11th Paternò 27 7 3 3 24 21 2 4 8 18 30 34 12th Benevento 27 8 2 3 23 14 1 4 9 19 32 33 13th Messina 27 6 1 7 22 24 3 3 7 13 20 31 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14th Foggia 27 5 3 5 20 16 3 3 8 13 24 30 15th Sora 27 4 3 7 20 27 3 4 6 17 22 28 16th Chieti 27 5 4 5 24 24 1 4 8 14 25 26 17th Giulianova 27 4 4 6 17 22 0 5 8 8 28 21 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18th Thiene 27 2 6 5 15 20 1 2 11 9 25 17 </pre>

Educated Hick

April and May 2005:

The last few weeks of the season were anti-climatic and the players knew it. Beginning on April 3, they began to take their foot off the alcelerator. We stumbled a bit, drawing 4 out of 7 games in the home stretch. We won 2 and lost 1 in that string of games as well. None of this prevented us from qualifying for the promotion playoffs in the middle of April. Only one player played consistently during this stretch was Roberto Gonzalez, who earned a spot on next year’s first team with a bunch of goals. Guys like Bevers fell off their pace, meaning that games were a bit tighter than normal as opposing teams tried to take advantage of our complacency. Finally, however, the season came to a close and we found out who our playoff opponent would be. In a nice twist, it was Crotone, the team who had shut us out of the playoffs last year. The first leg of the series would be played at Crotone’s park. We had two weeks to get everyone healthy and primed for action.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">3.4.05 Gualdo A Serie C1/B 1:1 4067 Möller6.4.05 Cosenza H Serie C1/B 1:1 3455 Michel10.4.05 Igea Virtus A Serie C1/B 1:1 4995 González González17.4.05 Crotone H Serie C1/B 1:0 3480 Michel24.4.05 Foggia A Serie C1/B 1:2 10390 González González1.5.05 Avellino H Serie C1/B 1:1 3472 Hoefkens8.5.05 Chieti H Serie C1/B 4:2 3463 Bevers, Hoefkens 2, Möller</pre>

Final Regular Season Stats and Table

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * Italian Serie C1/B - Sunday 8th May 2005********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2004/5 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st C Cosenza 34 12 4 1 28 11 12 2 3 33 19 78 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Pl Ascoli 34 10 5 2 36 18 9 5 3 29 15 67 3rd Pl Ragusa 34 9 8 0 26 12 7 8 2 26 18 64 4th Pl Crotone 34 10 5 2 25 12 8 3 6 27 22 62 5th Pl Avellino 34 7 4 6 34 29 8 1 8 36 29 50 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6th Alzano 34 7 5 5 19 17 7 2 8 19 24 49 7th Gualdo 34 7 4 6 23 23 7 3 7 21 33 49 8th Paternò 34 9 4 4 32 27 4 5 8 24 34 48 9th Foggia 34 8 3 6 26 19 5 4 8 17 26 46 10th Igea Virtus 34 8 3 6 25 21 4 6 7 19 21 45 11th Fidelis Andria 34 7 3 7 21 21 5 6 6 19 20 45 12th Messina 34 8 1 8 28 29 5 4 8 24 27 44 13th Benevento 34 11 2 4 32 19 1 5 11 22 37 43 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14th Pl Catania 34 7 4 6 30 26 5 2 10 22 23 42 15th Pl Chieti 34 6 4 7 28 28 2 5 10 20 34 33 16th Pl Sora 34 5 3 9 24 32 3 4 10 19 30 31 17th Pl Giulianova 34 5 4 8 21 27 0 6 11 8 33 25 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18th R Thiene 34 4 7 6 19 24 1 2 14 10 32 24 ************************************************** ********************************************** Ragusa - Sunday 8th May 2005********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2004/5 Senior Club Stats============================================= ================================================== =No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alberts, Henk 25 (1) 2 0 0 0 5 1 0 7.04 - Aragón, Miguel Ángel - - - - - - - - ---- - Arregi, Francisco Javier 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.50 - Baldini, Fabrizio - - - - - - - - ---- - Barbier, Philippe 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 - Belabbar, Damien 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.75 - Bergen, Christian 16 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 7.13 - Bernal, Pablo 26 3 0 0 1 4 0 1 7.04 - Bevers, Tom 26 (3) 16 0 1 (1) 2 1 0 4 7.10 - Bosio, Enrico - - - - - - - - ---- - Bresciani, Davide - - - - - - - - ---- - Demarteau, Steven - - - - - - - - ---- - Deschamps, Sylvain 3 (1) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.50 - Di Maio, Bruno 9 (1) 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 6.80 - Doria, Vittorio 10 (3) 1 0 1 (0) 0 3 0 0 6.46 - Engel, Florian - - - - - - - - ---- - Ferri, Sergio - - - - - - - - ---- - Förster, Steffen 19 (4) 3 0 0 2 0 1 1 6.78 - Garrido, Marcos 18 (1) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 7.00 - Göbel, Timo 22 0 22 0 0 0 0 2 7.18 - González González, Robert 8 3 0 0 2 0 0 1 7.38 - Hoefkens, Stijn 16 (2) 4 0 0 3 1 0 1 7.06 - Hunter, Neil - - - - - - - - ---- - Kurz, Manuel - - - - - - - - ---- - Malchow, Jürgen - - - - - - - - ---- - Marchisio, Alberto - - - - - - - - ---- - Marsiglia, Nicolas 7 (1) 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.63 - Martot, David 25 2 0 0 1 1 0 1 6.92 - Michel, Cédric 18 (2) 5 0 0 5 0 0 3 6.90 - Michels, Werner - - - - - - - - ---- - Möller, Marco 24 (4) 8 0 0 4 3 0 2 7.07 - Morini, Paolo 14 0 12 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 - Moya, Rubén - - - - - - - - ---- - Negro, Francesco - - - - - - - - ---- - Pastore, Rosario - - - - - - - - ---- - Petrelli, Umberto 9 (3) 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 6.75 - Rath, Horst 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Russo, Angelo - - - - - - - - ---- - Sartini, Luca 13 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.85 - Schuster, Andreas - - - - - - - - ---- - Schuster, Timo 6 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.17 - Snelders, Wilfried 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Spinelli, Tiziano 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Van de Perre, Guy - - - - - - - - ---- - Verhelst, Tim 6 (1) 4 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.86 - Verheyen, Philippe - - - - - - - - ---- - Vicente, Ángel 9 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 6.78 - Vink, Hans 23 1 0 0 0 1 1 2 7.00 - Wuillot, Cédric 24 (1) 1 0 1 (1) 3 2 0 2 7.16 - van den Berg, Paul 17 (2) 0 0 0 1 3 0 1 7.05 </pre>