retired_karamelkel

May and June 2005: The postseason

We had two weeks off in May before facing Crotone because our opposition was involved in the finals of the Serie C Cup. When we did face them(unfortunately I don’t have the info on the playoff fixtures because I saved the game after the updating was done) we beat them easily in the two legs to earn a finals spot against Avellio. We beat them 2-0 in the first game, which was at their place. The second game, which was at home, was a nightmare as we went down to nine men due to bookings. Nevertheless, Gonzalez’s goal saw us through to Serie B by giving us the agreggete edge 3-2. Nothing like losing the last game of the sea

retired_karamelkel

June-August 2005:

Our jump to Serie B did not elicit much comment outside Sicily. The Italian sports media had no idea we existed. All their attention was focused on what Serie A teams were doing. As might be expected, Juve, Inter, Roma and Lazio garnered the most attention as each tried to outdo the others in signings. The only Serie B team to get noticed was former giant Bari, who, as usual, was picked for Serie A promotion. Nevertheless, Ragusa did gain one benefit from our higher status, namely we were able to hire a much better goalkeepers coach. That move and the arrival of Simone Omri on a Bosman were the highlight of the summer. Other than that, it was just the usual flow of players in and out as my scouts continued to search for diamonds no one else had found. Shortly before the Italian Cup groups were to begin, we sold goalkeeper Florian Engel to a German side for 250,000 pounds. That transfer fee, plus season ticket revenue, managed to put us in slightly better financial shape. Prior to that money, we had been over 1 M pound in debt. Mind you, Mad Al didn’t see much point in spending money on the club. He thought we would be heading straight back down to Serie C. However, he did grudging provide money for new uniforms. Our players would at least look professional, even if in reality, they were a bush league outfit.

retired_karamelkel

August 2005:

The Italian Cup kicked off the season and we were welcomed to the higher standard of competition by losing 2-1. Undeterred, we used grit to pull out 1-0 wins in our next two games, including our Serie B opener at Bari. We then drew our last cup group game 1-1 and failed to advance. However, it did seem like a good start to the season. At least we could score consistently, which allowed us to stay in games until time ran out. The roster underwent a slight makeover as David Marlot pulled a hamstring and was out for a month. Since we would have to get rid of him by February anyway, we went ahead and released him. We also brought in an Italian goalkeeper from French side Troyes for 85K pounds. Diego would split time with the other first team keeper, thus allowing our 17 yr old backup from last year to spend time in the reserves this year. In addition to the roster moves, we set a couple of revenue records in August. Both of our home Cup games brought in record receipts of roughly 34,500 pounds. Unfortunately, our expenses had skyrocketed as well and we were, once again, drowning in red ink: 800K worth. I had a feeling that Mad Al wouldn’t be the chairman for much longer. Hopefully we’d get a rich playboy owner next. I didn’t really care as long as whoever it was wouldn’t interfere with player transactions.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">14.8.05 Modena A Italian Cup Grp 7 1:2 5081 González González21.8.05 Como H Italian Cup Grp 7 1:0 3459 Alberts28.8.05 Bari A Serie B 1:0 28713 Möller31.8.05 Triestina H Italian Cup Grp 7 1:1 3488 Doria********************************************* ************************************************** * Ragusa - Friday 2nd September 2005********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== Squad============================================= ================================================== =No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ahrens, Thorsten AM C GER 20.10.86 18 - - £3K 11.6.09 £65K 7 Alberts, Henk M RC HOL 5.7.84 21 - - £12K 8.6.06 £140K - Aragón, Miguel Ángel M C ESP 15.4.88 17 - - £3K 20.6.09 £35K - Arias, Francisco Javier S C ESP 4.11.88 16 - - £7K 9.6.09 £110K - Barbier, Philippe SW/D C FRA 9.11.85 19 - - £5K 25.6.07 £50K - Bauer, Peter D R GER 31.12.88 16 - - £9K 28.6.09 £50K 14 Belabbar, Damien DM RC FRA 7.8.86 19 - - £12K 24.6.07 £65K 5 Bergen, Christian D LC GER 11.6.84 21 - - £8K 16.6.07 £85K 2 Bernal, Pablo D LC ESP 4.4.86 19 - - £9K 28.6.06 £70K 10 Bevers, Tom S C BEL 2.2.85 20 - - £10K 24.6.07 £200K - Bosio, Enrico M C ITA 17.7.85 20 - - £5K 12.6.07 £30K - Bresciani, Davide AM LC ITA 16.3.87 18 - - £5K 19.6.07 £22K - D'Amico, Dino M RLC ITA 15.1.86 19 - - £22K 21.6.09 £150K - Demarteau, Steven D/M C BEL 24.3.86 19 - - £5K 26.6.09 £95K 25 Di Maio, Bruno AM RC ITA 25.3.85 20 - - £10K 1.6.08 £120K 9 Doria, Vittorio F RC ITA 29.6.86 19 - - £20K 5.6.07 £130K - Ferri, Sergio M RLC ITA 9.9.86 18 - - £3K 16.6.07 £22K 3 Garrido, Marcos D R ESP 16.2.85 20 - - £12K 25.6.06 £55K 1 Göbel, Timo GK GER 5.7.85 20 - - £10K 15.6.08 £100K 24 González González, Robert S C ESP 16.8.84 21 - - £12K 3.6.07 £190K - Herzog, Thomas D RC GER 6.3.87 18 - - £8K 9.6.09 £60K 23 Hoefkens, Stijn M C BEL 29.7.84 21 - - £20K 23.6.06 £130K 19 Kurz, Manuel AM C GER 29.5.85 20 - - £7K 8.6.08 £110K - Malchow, Jürgen D L GER 2.11.87 17 - - £12K 5.6.08 £45K - Marchisio, Alberto D C ITA 9.9.87 17 - - £5K 17.6.06 £20K 16 Marsiglia, Nicolas S C FRA 27.5.86 19 - - £5K 1.6.08 £90K - Michelin, Francesco GK ITA 13.9.84 20 - - £7K 17.6.09 £35K 36 Möller, Marco AM C GER 20.12.86 18 - - £14K 27.6.06 £140K 13 Morini, Paolo GK ITA 24.9.87 17 - - £6K 26.6.06 £26K - Moya, Rubén M C ESP 2.11.87 17 - - £5K 4.6.08 £80K - Negro, Francesco D R ITA 31.10.85 19 - - £3K 16.6.06 £30K 12 Orrù, Simone M LC ITA 15.12.84 20 - - £20K 24.6.08 £180K - Passi, Johann D/DM R FRA 10.11.86 18 - - £20K 7.6.08 £160K - Pastore, Rosario S C ITA 16.4.85 20 - - £8K 8.6.08 £120K - Piccinini, Giuseppe F RC ITA 3.5.86 19 - - £5K 6.6.09 £65K 26 Pratelli, Diego GK ITA 19.11.83 21 - - £95K 27.6.08 £100K - Rath, Horst D C GER 16.12.86 18 - - £9K 18.6.07 £40K - Russo, Angelo S C ITA 21.2.86 19 - - £6K 6.6.07 £55K 22 Sartini, Luca D C ITA 25.2.84 21 - - £5K 5.6.06 £45K - Schade, Carsten S C GER 1.7.87 18 - - £12K 28.6.09 £90K - Schuster, Timo D/DM LC GER 15.1.87 18 - - £35K 7.6.08 £50K - Snelders, Wilfried M LC BEL 10.1.86 19 - - £3K 13.6.09 £55K - Van de Perre, Guy DM C BEL 13.5.85 20 - - £14K 5.6.08 £70K 43 Verhelst, Tim S C BEL 20.2.88 17 - - £10K 25.6.07 £50K - Verheyen, Philippe DM C BEL 1.7.87 18 - - £6K 10.6.07 £45K 6 Vicente, Ángel D/DM L ESP 26.1.87 18 - - £7K 25.6.06 £28K 21 Vink, Hans SW/D C HOL 2.3.83 22 - - £3K 5.6.06 £75K 8 Wuillot, Cédric D/DM RC BEL 9.7.84 21 - - £20K 1.6.06 £100K 32 van den Berg, Paul D L HOL 15.7.86 19 - - £22K 22.6.07 £85K </pre>