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“No doubt, but until the French admit that their wine is actually US vintage; I won’t be drinking the stuff.”
“How do you figure?”
Very simple, the French countryside was swept by a grapevine disease way back in the early 1900’s. California growers shipped grape stock to France to keep their wine industrygoing.” The French should be grateful, instead,..”
“Freedom Fries.”
“Exactly.”
“Why’s France on your mind anyhow, we’re in Italy.”
“Guess I’m just irritated at our scouting mission. We failed to find any decent French basketball players when we were there.”
“To be fair, that Parker kid wasn’t too bad.”
“Yeah, but he’s what, 15 or something…besides, he can’t play college basketball; he’s earning a paycheck.”
“True, but can you tell me why we’re in Ragusa then?”
“Sure, there’s a hotshot young rebounder, whose only 17, good size at 6’8 and 210. More importantly, he’s on a developmental contract, so if he wants to play college ball, he can. Our job is to scout the kid, tell him about our school and start the recruiting process. “
“Ok, so lets not talk shop any more. You still writing on that website, haven’t seen you on there in a while.”
“You mean CMS? Nah, I haven’t gotten the new 01/02 version yet. I’ve read some “interesting stuff.”
“Like what?”
“Well, you’ve seen the story that the Dutchman put up- Belfast Celts something.”
“Yeah, saw that, Belfast Crap more like and instead of singing, they should be screaming, cause it’s bad. Of course, everyone’s riding Mark about it, so why shouldn’t I?”
“True, Raptor’s just too damn easy of a target, like shooting fish in a barrel.”
“Yeah, not a fair contest. Did you see that our fellow Yank Brydog posted something new?”
“Yeah, you mean that Croatian drivel, with the ugly-ass title?”
“That’s the one, with the far-fetched lost tourist gets a job intro not to mention the ugly writing and that godawful title, ‘How the hell did I wind up in the Croatian Second division?’ or somesuch.”
“It’ll win a Mao award, and that ain’t a compliment.”
By the end of this, Derek and I had polished off the excellent food at a hole in the wall bistro near the gym in Ragusa. It was about time for the basketball game to start. As Derek and I headed up the street towards the gym, we passed a small oval that we presumed to be the soccer pitch. Almost causally Derek spoke again:
“Hey Gus, you remember that Larisa story?”
I replied, “Yeah, by David T. wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, remember how it opened with a man running down the street screaming that the local side needed a manager?”
“Uh, yeah, your point?”
“Take a look to your left, man. I’m outa here, good luck.”
As Derek broke into a brisk pace, I stopped and looked to my left. There was a short Italian man running towards me, babbling in broken English. I couldn’t escape. “Ah sh*t.”
And, that’s how I became manager of Ragusa, a team in the bottom reaches of C2C football.
02-22-2006, 03:57 AM
The Rag(usa) Tale. (Challenge of the Ages) Post #2
I soon found out about the little man who had ran after me. He was the club chairman, and to put it gently, he was about two cards short of a full draw. That was why he had commandeered me, a guy with very little soccer knowledge. It transpired that the chairman had a crazy vision of a club with no players above the age of 24. Furthermore, he was limiting me to three transfers a year, though I could sign any free agents I chose and I could loan in as many players as I wanted. I nodded absently during this spiel, wondering if Derek was sitting in the stands laughing his ass off at my predicament. I wondered if this was a very unfunny practical joke. After finishing, the chairman slid a sheaf of papers towards me. I scanned the type and was prepared to hand back the papers and head over to the gym when I noticed three things on the last page. One was the yearly salary of the job, which was about five times my current salary. Second was the fact that the club would pay my apartment rent, utilities, and related expenses, plus a car lease, and three, the club would pay both my US and Italian taxes while I was an employee of Ragusa. I stared at the chairman, who gave me a wide-toothed grin. I looked at the paper again, thought about the deal, calculated how much I could save in the bank, and signed without really knowing what I was getting myself into.
I was already a sports coach, so the mental parts of coaching, like planning and motivation were second nature. I quickly came to speed with drills and tactics, I had to as I had no coaching staff whatsoever. Thankfully, most tactics and drills are the same throughout all sports. Only the methods change. What I lacked was experience and context, not knowledge. Adding to the sense of panic was the fact that Ragusa started play and mere two weeks after I arrived. Fortunately, the club had an impressive number of under 24 players on the roster, so numbers for the first games wouldn’t be terrible. The problem was that most of the younger players were wingers and my system didn’t use them. Undaunted, I began drilling the players on my own. They could tell I was just as new to the pro game as many of them were. But, they weren’t about to contradict “Crazy Al,” who might fire them. While I put the youngsters through practice, I began cleaning house, selling, releasing, and in one case giving away outright, the over 24 players. We raised a fair amount of dough and I managed to convince a second scout to join the club. I sent both scouts out, and told them to canvass the countryside for young players, and to start signing them in a hurry. They tried their best, but by the time the first game rolled around, I still had to field a lineup that was woefully out of position. I suppose we were lucky to draw the game 0-0. After the game though, youth prospects from all over Central Europe. Enough quickly poured in, so I was able to release the players that didn’t fit my system. But, they weren’t learning anything either, as I remained the only coach on staff. I suppose we were lucky that we didn’t do worse in the Cup competition, finishing the four game group stage with a no wins, three draws and one loss record. I could only hope that things improved in September, once the league season started.
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 12.8.01 Tivoli H Serie C Cup Grp A 0:0 2905 22.8.01 Paternò A Serie C Cup Grp A 1:1 2032 D'Apice26.8.01 Pordenone H Serie C Cup Grp A 1:2 1629 Cointe29.8.01 Gladiator A Serie C Cup Grp A 0:0 1719 </pre>
02-22-2006, 06:54 PM
The Rag(usa) Tale. (Challenge of the Ages) Post #3
“Mad Al” told me in a private meeting that he hoped my reign as Ragusa manager would be long and successful. Of course, he was nuttier than the proverbial fruitcake. He had kept flying off the handle when I released the over 24 players whom no one was interested in buying. I kept reminding him of his goal of an under 24 utopia. That would calm down the chairman, but not always. He flatly refused to let me release a 27-yr old midfielder who had been signed the year before at great expense. Al told me bluntly that the man was a club icon and would not be released. However, the man’s contract was so excessive that no other team was willing to buy him. I wound up giving him away for no fee at all. I didn’t care, I was rid of him. Meanwhile, no coaches were willing to deal with “Crazy Al” so I remained without staff. This rapidly became a problem as the trickle of youth prospects quickly became a tidal wave. I couldn’t coach everyone by myself and it quickly became apparent by our league results that something needed to be done. Two draws, a win and a loss are a fairly mediocre record. By the middle of the month, coaches were finally becoming interested in working with me and I finally began to assemble a backroom staff. I lucked out when I interviewed a perfect candidate for the assistant manager’s job. The man could coach youngsters and tactics with unbelievable skill. I would not be surprised if a Serie A team hired him on in a couple of years. Once he was on board, the rest came easily and not a moment too soon. The coaches would have kept the team from sinking any lower. Not that “Mad Al” cared much; he kept telling me that I was doing a wonderful job. But then, Al was just about the poorest and least astute sports owner I’d ever met, so I knew to take his words with more than one grain of salt.
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 2.9.01 Catanzaro A Serie C2/C 1:1 6500 Cointe9.9.01 Giugliano H Serie C2/C 1:1 2604 Bru16.9.01 Latina A Serie C2/C 3:2 3458 Barrero, Ferreri pen, Picchi23.9.01 Gladiator H Serie C2/C 0:1 2505 30.9.01 Tivoli A Serie C2/C </pre> 1:1 2182 Picchi
02-23-2006, 02:17 AM
The Rag(usa) Tale. (Challenge of the Ages) Post #4
We continued to prove that we could do one thing well this season; stalemating our opponents. The month saw two draws and two losses in the four games played. However, we finally did round out the coaching staff completely, as “Mad Al” suddenly became almost normal. We added two more scouts as well, who began to mine the center of Europe for rough emeralds. I seriously doubted that we could find diamond players, but I figured at this level topaz could do just as well. There was no room for cubic zirconium however, as a couple of players who had the misfortune to break team rules, found them released. We also had to release a couple of the lesser talented lads who were supplanted by better talent. As the transfer deadline loomed at the end of October, we scored a public relations coup. A 19 yr Old Italian striker with bags of talent, but no work ethic, chose us over an offer from Scottish side St. Mirren. Gentile was promptly tossed into the first team forward mix. As the transfer deadline passed, I had reasonable hope that this team, with an average age of 18.75 and a payroll of 600,000 pounds for 50 players, could be coached to win some games. Mad Al reverted to insanity towards the end of the month when he declared himself proud of Ragusa’s place in the table. This would have been commendable were it not for the fact we were in 15th place and in the relegation playoff zone. As the month closed, I urged Al to spend more time on the finances of the club. We were running in the red with no real prospect of getting out. In sum, it was a rather bleak month. But, hey, November couldn’t make things much worse.
Once I realized that the transfer deadline only prevented us from making money transfers and not free agent signings, I sent all my scouts back out to look for players. This time the scouts fanned out all across Europe. As they recommended players, I had to determine whether the player was better than our existing 50. In many cases they were and I remained busy drawing up release papers. All this activity irritated Mad Al who kept bitching at me to keep the players we had under contract. Over and over I patiently explained that the players we brought in were, in theory, better than the outgoing lot. But, I’m not sure Al believed me. He might have had good reason to be skeptical. Our league performance continued to be abysmal. All we could do it seemed was to draw or lose. Our apogee was when we took a commanding 2-0 lead at home in the first half of a game, only to watch as the opposition scored two goals late to force us into yet another draw. This team was on the verge of collapse. Finally, at the end of the month, I felt that three reserve team players were worthy of first team minutes. The shakeup helped us secure a 1-0 victory in the last game of the month. For once, this allowed us to end a moth on a positive note and cause Mad Al to praise my managerial skills to the sky. I did tell you that the poor bastard isn’t mentally there.
Since the Christmas vacation began halfway through the month, only two games were played. We opened the month with a 1-0 win and then drew the next game 2-2. So far, it was our best stretch of the season in terms of form. Naturally Mad Al was impressed out of his mind. Shortly before the break began, we signed a 21 yr old French defender on a free transfer. This would be unremarkable save for the fact that the guy ha all the attributes to be, by far, the best forward at the club. So, I set him to practicing to become a forward. Instead of having sense and realizing that his future lay as a forward, Sasser began to whine about how he hated his training program. I ignored his pleas and resolved grimly to make him a forward. We are desperately thin up front and about to get thinner as both our starting forwards turn 25 in the next couple of months. We lack quality finishers and Sasser is an extremely good finisher. You’d think that he would want to be a forward getting his name in the papers for scoring goals, rather than be a backline grunt who might get a mention if they do a great job shutting down the opposition. At any rate, once the three week break started, I put all coaching concerns aside and headed back to the States. At home, I had to convince everyone that I myself hadn’t gone insane by taking an uncertain job in a strange land. I pointed out that my job security was better than most in these times and that I was making more money than I had been. It didn’t convince anyone as my family knows next to nothing about soccer. Still, I came back to Ragusa in the New Year feeling somewhat more optimistic about our chances for the new year.
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 2.12.01 Igea Virtus H Serie C2/C 1:0 2245 Cointe9.12.01 Olbia </pre>
02-25-2006, 05:44 PM
The Rag(usa) Tale. (Challenge of the Ages) Post #7
It was a busy month for the Ragusa front office. Both of our starting forwards left as they were about to turn 25, in addition a reserve midfielder, whose contract was up at the end of the year was sold. None of these transfer netted any momey, but each transfer contained a quarter of next sale clause, so, we do have the chance to make some cash off the deals. Naturally, I filled the roster slots with more youth signings. After the flurry of moves, we became even more of a peach fuzz team as our oldest player was 23 yrs old. Paradoxically, the roster upheaval sparked a dramatic rise in form. Although we lost the first game of the New Year, we ripped off two straight wins and a draw to make some nosie in the league. Predictably, Mad Al was beside himself with glee, but dark clouds loomed ahead. The club was simply not financially viable. We weren’t drowning in red ink, but we were being slowly strangled by it. The bean-counters at the club kept informing me that we needed to do something about the debt; however, I decided to ignore them. After all, I had been hired by Mad Al, not the accountants.
I forgot save the month by month stats and tables and I’m in the next season, so it’s all lost. I also lost the update I just typed up for this period, so I’m going to keep this retyped version brief. We were not able to build on our January success. As the season wound down we contined to be woefully inconsistent. We did just enough to keep ourselves safely clear of the relegation playoffs, which made Mad Al happy. The club finances continued to sink into the morass. To illustrate this point consider that in the month of May, we made 645 pounds while spending 96,000 pounds. The only way we’ll get out of the hole is if we move up the divisions. This is a bit of a dicey proposition, but kids are able to go on long winning streaks, so it could be done. Roster wise, players continued to come and go. I gave up trying to convert two defenders into forwards, as both refused to make the switch. They were summarily released and more fresh faces took their place. As the summer holiday began, I resolved to work the boys so hard that the next season would seem like a vacation to them. If they relaxed and had fun during the seaon, good things might happen.
July held three things in store. The first was that new youngsters began arriving by the truckload and replacing the youth on the team that just weren’t going to make the cut. None of these players figured to make an immediate impact on the first team squad, but many of them would vie for spots, especially on defense, where turnover was expected soon. Indeed, two central defenders who played on the first team were jettisoned, one was getting close to 25 and was sold for a 25% later sale clause. The other began whining about his contract and was released. One thing about a young team, you don’t have to put up with much guff, because there’s always a replacement in the wings. The second bit of July news was that training camp officially opened. I had been working the lads hard all summer to be sure, but now it came with a real purpose in mind. When I gathered the 47 players together for a meeting on the first day of camp, I looked each directly in the eye as I gave a speech. I told them that now I would expect more from them. The players had now had a year to get used to my 4-3-1-2 system and now they should start to play with more confidence. I empathized the fact that we had enough talent to win the division and move up, which would mean better paychecks. The players seemed to be listening intently, but one can never be too sure of that. The third thing to happen in July was that Japan stunned the international scene by winning the World Cup. Of course, by the semifinal, all the big powers were gone. In the biggest surprise of all, Argentina failed to make it out of the group stage. Brazil lost in the quarters as did France. In short, it was an upset-laden tournament that would keep the pundits busy for four years until the 2006 Cup rolled around.
In August the season commenced with the Serie C Cup. To be honest, I regard this event as nothing more than preseason. Perhaps it’s my American bias at work, but I regard cups as a waste of time. At least the Serie FC Cup can be used as a warm up to the league season, which is the most important thing on the schedule. With a four game group stage, I was able to give my 22 man first team squad two games apiece, which gave each gave each man much needed match time. It also served the purpose of helping me figure out which 11 would be the starting lineup. All the players on the first team squad rotation, meaning that they’ll get games and that a fist team will take shape as the season progresses. Two of the central defenders I had signed over the summer, Mertens and Bonn, established themselves as first team material in the four games. To the wonderment of all, we actually won the group stage with two 1-0 wins and a pair of draws. Everyone was excited that Ragusa had finally won something, but I had other worries on my mind. Palermo had signed one of our goalkeeper coaches as a scout and there was no easy way to fill the vacancy. I wound up telling my asst. manager to coach the keepers in addition to tactics. Still, I would be on the lookout for an unemployed coavh to take over the position if one could be found. I also filled out the entire scouting roster, so that our hunt for talent could proceed more effectively. Despite staff concerns, we headed into the league season with a nice head of steam. The players were confident about their play and I could only see good things ahead for us.
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 11.8.02 Brindisi A Serie C Cup Grp B 1:1 2482 D'Apice18.8.02 Martina H Serie C Cup Grp B 1:0 1805 Feudi25.8.02 Pro Vercelli A Serie C Cup Grp B 1:0 2189 Abate28.8.02 Savona H Serie C Cup Grp B 1:1 2161 Mantioni pen*********************************************** ************************************************* Ragusa - Sunday 1st September 2002********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== Squad============================================= ================================================== =No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Abate, Francesco M LC ITA 28.4.81 21 - - £5K 11.6.05 £10K - Alessandro Indricchi, Pao GK ITA 29.3.83 19 - - £5K 14.6.04 £18K - Andrès, Julien D R FRA 12.11.82 19 - - £5K 7.6.05 £10K - Antenucci, Mattia D/DM L ITA 27.10.84 17 - - £3K 16.6.04 £7K - Arnolis, Xavier D/DM R BEL 17.12.84 17 - - £30K 18.6.04 £22K - Born, Edgar D RC GER 29.6.83 19 - - £12K 15.6.05 £24K - Bourget, Mathieu SW/D C FRA 24.9.83 18 - - £12K 11.6.05 £30K - Brachet, Jimmy D/DM RC FRA 30.8.80 22 - - £5K 14.6.04 £22K - Brambilla, Ivan D C ITA 28.5.86 16 - - £8K 25.6.05 £16K - Brescia, Gianluca D C ITA 24.11.86 15 - - £8K 15.6.05 £14K - Briglia, Massimiliano S C ITA 27.2.83 19 - - £5K 5.6.04 £24K - Calleja, Albert DM C ESP 7.10.82 19 - - £3K 15.6.05 £10K - Cointe, Benoît AM RC FRA 25.8.81 21 - - £12K 18.6.04 £14K - D'Apice, Nicola S C ITA 11.7.82 20 - - £22K 7.6.04 £18K - De Simone, Matteo M LC ITA 5.1.82 20 - - £30K 18.6.06 £40K - Doria, Vittorio F RC ITA 29.6.86 16 - - £9K 3.6.05 £35K - Dubois, Nicolas M C FRA 27.7.83 19 - - £3K 11.6.05 £16K - Feudi, Simone M RC ITA 5.2.82 20 - - £3K 8.6.04 £20K - Fierens, Gert M C BEL 19.5.84 18 - - £10K 7.6.05 £18K - Förster, Steffen S C GER 2.10.84 17 - - £7K 22.6.05 £28K - Galetti, Giacomo M C ITA 19.6.84 18 - - £8K 28.6.05 £18K - Gargiulo, Guido Ramon GK ITA 28.10.82 19 - - £5K 11.6.04 £8K - Gentile, Giorgio S C ITA 23.6.82 20 - - £24K 13.6.04 £120K - Grassi, Denis M C ITA 29.9.82 19 - - £12K 15.6.05 £26K - Guida, Davide D R ITA 29.3.83 19 - - £3K 3.6.05 £14K - Hartig, Jörg S C GER 6.12.84 17 - - £9K 8.6.05 £20K - Lestani, Michele D C ITA 3.5.86 16 - - £3K 8.6.04 £8K - Mantioni, Adriano M RLC ITA 1.3.84 18 - - £3K 23.6.05 £12K - Marco, Gonzalo GK ESP 27.6.82 20 - - £20K 23.6.05 £10K - Mertens, Marc SW/D C BEL 24.6.82 20 - - £8K 19.6.05 £22K - Michel, Cédric AM RC FRA 21.3.83 19 - - £14K 21.6.05 £24K - Moreira S C POR 12.4.82 20 - - £16K 14.6.04 £18K - Moulin, Gérard DM LC FRA 10.3.85 17 - - £9K 8.6.05 £10K - Novello, Lucas S C ITA 31.10.83 18 - - £3K 15.6.05 £35K - Picchi, Christian D/DM L ITA 15.4.82 20 - - £26K 14.6.04 £30K - Romano, Giacomo D L ITA 3.2.83 19 - - £6K 10.6.06 £12K - Salami, Mattia D R ITA 21.9.81 20 - - £30K 7.6.04 £35K - Sammarco, Alessio F LC ITA 12.2.85 17 - - £8K 26.6.05 £28K - Sanders, Carlos D/DM RL BEL 29.5.83 19 - - £3K 28.6.06 £12K - Schiavone, Paolo D C ITA 6.8.88 14 - - £3K 28.6.04 £7K - Schröder, Markus GK GER 31.8.81 21 - - £5K 6.6.05 £14K - Secondini, Enrico D LC ITA 21.3.83 19 - - £3K 28.6.05 £12K - Sette, Francesco S C ITA 5.6.82 20 - - £3K 16.6.04 £16K - Sorrentino, Tonino M RC ITA 12.3.85 17 - - £3K 15.6.04 £9K - Tirelli, Paolo D L ITA 1.2.84 18 - - £7K 12.6.05 £10K - Vaugeois, Sébastien F C FRA 30.7.81 21 - - £5K 18.6.04 £18K - Verdú, Eduardo D RC ESP 28.7.82 20 - - £16K 13.6.04 £35K - Vico, Oscar S C ITA 12.3.84 18 - - £3K 8.6.04 £12K - Zanetti, Valentino M C ITA 22.3.84 18 - - £3K 18.6.04 £7K - Ziegler, Markus AM/F C GER 6.8.82 20 - - £8K 15.6.05 £35K </pre>
02-28-2006, 10:27 PM
The Rag(usa) Tale. (Challenge of the Ages) Post #10
This was the most glorious month in Ragusa’s history. Never before had the franchise ranked so high atop a professional table. Never had the fans seen so dominant a team. They couldn’t believe it, hell I couldn’t believe it. Our Cup success had hinted that we were a good team, superior to last year’s squad, but I didn’t expect us to win three of four league games. The wins were capped by a spectacular defense and an emerging Gentile, both of whom found ways to hide a suspect midfield and a still anemic attack. But, why quibble over small details like that when the team is winning? To complete this wonderful picture of Ragusa, my seven man scouting crew was finally beginning to earn their keep. They were beginning to find some diamond-quality players, who would either play large roles in the future or make us a lot of money, preferably both. The only downside to this influx of talent was the fact that I was continually releasing players and draining the non-existent club treasury. But you do what you have to do to build a better team. As we polished off the month with a win, I hoed we could keep the momentum going. Certainly the first team squad was facing stiff competition to keep their jobs away from the red-hot reservists. The reserve squad had yet to lose a game and several players on that team would get first-team callups by the end of October, when I would do the first real squad assessment of the year.
The Rag(usa) Tale. (Challenge of the Ages) 
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