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Wednesday 3rd December 2003

Despite it being winter, today the sun is out in force and the weather is bright, much brighter than my mood as I sit outside the Caffè Trieste with a drink and the sports pages. I am lifted out of my reverie by the throbbing sound of a sleek white sports car, with the registration plate 'G4B1 P', that pulls to the side of the road and parks on the edge of the piazza.

My fading attention is quickly snatched back by the only things sleeker and prettier than the car; a pair of perfect bronzed legs that appear from the opened driver's door to grace the cobbled piazza. Like something out of a tv commercial, the legs are followed by a stunning raven-haired beauty, whose adorning jewellry is put to shame by an even more dazzling smile. A smile aimed in my direction.

As I splutter into my drink, she veritably purrs "Good luck for this season" in heavily accented Italian-English and turns to cross the street. Two youths in a rusty old Fiat brake to let her cross and give her a beep of their horn, which she returns with another gorgeous smile and a wave before disappearing into a shop on the opposite side of the street.


I discovered later that the woman in question was in fact Gabriella Pitino, the much younger wife of Marcello, our so called Director of Football. I suddenly understood why Marcello had been spending so little time at the club.

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Sunday 7th December 2003

Marco Cirillo returns to fitness for the battle at the bottom of the table. Our loss to Frosinone sent us back down to 17th, only above Montichiari, our visitors today.

Serie C2/C
Ragusa v Montichiari

Ragusa lineup - Cinalli; Tamburro(c), Attewell, Alderuccio, Sabellini; Cirillo, Pellegrino, Chiavarini; Caramel; Fonseca, Gallicchio.

In the 19th minute Vladimiro Caramel drifts out to the left wing and recieves the ball, dribbles forward and crosses into the box. Unusually for him the cross fails to find anyone and drifts past the far post, but Gallicchio is able to retrive it and stick it back into the danger area where Franco Chiavarini runs in to volley it goalwards. The ball takes a deflection off Corrado and finds the net, 1-0.

With half an hour gone Marco Cirillo is left in a crumpled heap on the edge of our area following a collision, but Montichiari don't give a thought to kicking the ball into touch and instead play on. Galli held the ball up on the halfway and swept it wide right to Dossi, and his whipped ball across the 6 yard box provided Sarli with an easy chance to tuck away. Our bench is up in anger at the manner of the equaliser after Sarli had literally had to step around the striken Cirillo on his way into the box, but there is nothing we can do and the score stands at 1-1. Manoni comes on to replace Cirillo in midfield.

Claudio Gallicchio puts a shot wide 10 minutes later after some tricky work by Franco Chiavarini, but the striker is given another chance just before half-time. From Cinalli's goal kick, Vladimiro Caramel rises to flick the ball on and Gallicchio gets in behind the Montichiari defence to finish over the keeper, 2-1 at the break.

Three minutes into the second half Caramel clips the ball forward to Daniel Fonseca's feet. The Uruguayan turns to pass to his strike partner Gallicchio and goes for the return, completing a smooth one-two and finishing accurately past the keeper to the far post to put us 3-1 up. Montichiari aren't done yet though, and in the 67th minute Cosimo Sarli showed good pace to sprint away from Alderuccio and Sabellini to fire an excellent shot across Cinalli.

Fortunately we manage to subdue the away side after that and protect our lead, with Chiavarini, Fonseca and Gallicchio all going close with half-chances before Vladimiro Caramel almost caps off a lovely move with a wonder goal in injury time. Pellegrino knocked the ball to Vladi at halfway, who flicked the ball first time to Manoni. Manoni's return pass is sloppy but Caramel gets there before Montichiari defender Andrea Ferrante and pokes it to Fonseca, skipping around the defender and receiving Fonseca's nonchalant pass slid back into his path. The 35 year old took the ball to just outside the box and blasted a powerful drive on goal, only to watch it cannon back off the crossbar.

Final score: Ragusa 3 - 2 Montichiari


It was a bit closer than I would have liked but we took the win. We actually played well, displaying some nice football and creating far more shots on goal than Montichiari did, but we still conceded two at home. The good news is that we bounce back up to 15th position in the table, although the repeat of Marco Cirillo's injury will put him back on the sidelines for another 3 weeks.

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Thursday 11th December

I received my first bit of bad press as Ragusa manager this week, as it was mentioned in the local paper that a growing number of Ragusa fans are not seeing eye to eye with me recently. Earlier in the week I had made the mistake of singling out unhappy goalkeeper Nicolas Cinalli for praise, with the intention that it might cheer him up and raise his spirits for the run of first-team appearances that he will surely get following Lenea's broken leg. Unfortunately the general concensus seems to be that my dogged persistence in praising under-performing players like Cinalli is one of the reasons for the club's dismal run of recent form.

The article finished by stating that fans are hoping many of the out of form players will be dropped to allow other players a chance to take their place. I don't disagree, but there is of course the slight problem that there are no replacements at the moment, with injuries in such a tiny squad meaning that the team often picks itself.

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Sunday 14th December 2003

With Franco Chiavarini picking up another lengthy injury this week and Simone Tamburro suspended for reaching four yellow cards, we are missing four first-team regulars for our trip to high-flying Foggia. Last season we were only capable of taking one point from our two meetings with them, a 0-0 draw following a 3-2 defeat.

Experimenting with a slightly different formation for this one, Pellegrino will sit in front of the back four while Fonseca will be the link between a midfield trio and Gallicchio up front.

Serie C2/C
Foggia v Ragusa

Ragusa lineup - Cinalli; Guastella, Attewell, Alderuccio, Sabellini; Pellegrino(c); Manoni, Bonaffini, Caramel; Fonseca; Gallicchio.

In the 16th minute a cross from the left wing found Foggia striker Del Coro all alone at the near post for an easy header, but to our relief the goal was disallowed for offside. At the other end Gallicchio's left foot struck a shot wide of the post, and then later a second successive corner saw Gallicchio nodding into the net only for our effort to be disallowed too, this time for a push by the scorer.

On the hour Carmelo Bonarrigo came on to replace the disappointing Manoni, but 10 minutes later Foggia finally broke the deadlock when Da Silva got to a near post corner and turned to divert it home. That goal knocked us back and in the 82nd minute we conspired to allow the home side a second far too easily, when Vantaggiato was left in absolutely acres of space with the simple task of nodding in Bonatti's long ball.

Final score: Foggia 2 - 0 Ragusa

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Thursday 18th December 2003

The injury list is getting ever longer and nastier looking. Adding to the names of Giuseppe Lenea, Marco Cirillo and Franco Chiavarini already on the list, Nicolas Cinalli will be out for 4 weeks with a groin strain and Stuart Attewell will need 2 weeks off with strained knee ligaments.

I have cancelled some training sessions and will be looking at revising the entire schedule to a less strenuous one, because these injuries are really starting to cause a big problem.


Monday 22nd December 2003

I noticed in the paper that our former striker Giancarlo Ferrara has spoken out against his new club, revealing his concerns about their financial situation. Giancarlo has netted 8 goals in 19 appearances for Monza, who currently stand 4th in Serie C2/A.

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Tuesday 23rd December 2003

Varese are a club who were relegated from Serie C1/A last season. Their quest to make a swift return has been going well thus far and they hold down second place heading into the Christmas break, but they have some injury problems of their own and have started to falter a bit recently.

On top of our list of injuries Alessandro Bonaffini picked up his fourth booking and is suspended, although captain Simone Tamburro returns from his own ban. With the new formation proving to be unsuccessful last time, I have a new one in store for today that is a variation on the 4-5-1 we have used in the past. Pellegrino will stay as the anchor man with two central midfielders in front of him, and two attacking wingers will hover high up on the flanks to hopefully provide the lone striker with ammunition.

20 year old third-choice goalkeeper Antonio Di Giovanni will make his first ever start for the club with both Lenea and Cinalli out injured.

Serie C2/C
Ragusa v Varese

Ragusa lineup - Di Giovanni; Tamburro(c), Italia, Alderuccio, Sabellini; Pellegrino; Manoni, Caramel; Fonseca, Bonarrigo; Gallicchio.

35 minutes into the first half Pellegrino searched out Bonarrigo on the right, who took it forward to the corner of the penalty area and dinked it into the middle. Claudio Gallicchio controlled the ball in the centre and fired a shot into the net off the goalkeeper's arm, but his celebrations were cut short by the linesman's flag.

Right on the stroke of half-time we had another chance to take the lead during a scramble from a corner. Daniel Fonseca's dangerously inswinging corner sailed over Gallicchio's head and found Bonarrigo running in from the penalty spot, but his header from 6 yards was blocked brilliantly by goalkeeper Emiliano Dei. Varese defender Brognoli attemped to clear it, only for Pellegrino to get his head in the way from 12 yards and Dei was forced to spring up and make an even better save low to his right. This time Brandirali hacked it into touch and the referee blew for half-time.

At the break I make no changes, we had been doing okay. We had made the better chances, and while Varese's sole effort had sailed over the bar we had hit the target with all three of ours. 10 minutes into the second half Danilo Sabellini rose to head clear but only sent it as far as Gentilini, who worked it back into the box to Lorieri via substitute Zirafa, and as Lorieri tried to turn on Sabellini in the area he was bundled to the ground. The referee deemed it was an infringement and awarded the penalty, so Lorieri dusted himself off to take the spot kick only to hook it wide of Di Giovanni's left post.

With two minutes remaining on the clock Simone Tamburro floated a long ball from the edge of our area across to Daniel Fonseca out on the left touchline. Behind the Varese right back there was space to run into, and as Nanu and Brandiralli closed in on him he whipped a cross towards the penalty spot. Vladimiro Caramel, who had sprinted from the halfway line in a great effort to join in, left his midfield opponent trailing and roared onto the end of the cross. Dei was wrong footed by the downward header to the near post and we'd found a winner, 1-0.

Final score: Ragusa 1 - 0 Varese


A great result to go into the Christmas break with. Varese had a better second half and looked like they might get the goal, but once they had missed the penalty we were able to take advantage. Vladimiro Caramel rounded off a man of the match performance with a determined goal, not bad for a 35 year old.

From 15th we move one place to 14th, while Varese drop to 3rd. Surprisingly we also got through 90 minutes without an injury!

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Saturday 27th December 2003

As with last year I am back home in England to meet up with friends and family for the Christmas period. There isn't a great deal unusual going on in the Premiership, with Newcastle United, Manchester United and Arsenal vying for the top just like last season.

Gerard Houllier's Christmas gift is his appointment as Southampton boss; The 56 year old had been out of management for over 7 months since Liverpool sacked him at the end of last season. Gordon Strachan had resigned shortly before Christmas, with Southampton sat in 16th position on the brink of the relegation zone at the halfway point in the campaign.


Thursday 1st January 2004

Unsurprisingly AC Milan and Real Betis, winners of their domestic leagues and both major European trophies between them, feature prominently in the annual FIFA awards:

World Player of the Year - Alessandro Nesta (AC Milan)
World Footballer of the Year - Marchena (Valencia)
European Footballer of the Year - Shay Given (Newcastle)
European Goalkeeper of the Year - Dida (AC Milan)
European Defender of the Year - Fernando Varela (Real Betis)
European Midfielder of the Year - Clarence Seedorf (AC Milan)
European Striker of the Year - Henrik Larsson (Real Betis)


Saturday 10th January 2004

With our first action of the newly opened transfer window, Vicenza gave us permission to talk to young defensive midfielder Paolo Zanetti. Unfortunately Napoli have also bid for the player and are able tempt Paolo away with wages in excess of £5,000 per week, only a mere 10 times what we were offering!

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Sunday 11th January 2004

Nocerina arrive in Ragusa feeling rightly pleased with themselves, their current 5th place a vast improvement over their depressing season in the relegation mire last year. Marco Cirillo and Stuart Attewell benefited from the Christmas rest and return to the bench, and I decided to stick with the new formation that saw us beat Varese.

Serie C2/C
Ragusa v Nocerina

Ragusa lineup - Di Giovanni; Tamburro(c), Italia, Alderuccio, Sabellini; Pellegrino; Manoni, Caramel; Fonseca, Bonarrigo; Gallicchio.

32 minutes into the half we put together the swiftest and smoothest passing move you're likely to see. Caramel picked it up on the halfway line and drove forward with the ball, then slipped a pass inside to Gallicchio who had checked inside his marker. He knocked it wide first time to Bonarrigo who had managed to get in behind Nocerina left back Pagano, and he took a touch to control and fired it across towards the penalty area. Claudio Gallicchio had continued his movement into the area, and he got across centre back Eddy Mengo to turn a powerful header down into the near corner. 1-0.

A few minutes later Fonseca grazed the top of the crossbar with a viciously curling free kick but the half ended with no further additions to the scoreline. Just after the hour mark, a free-kick from the right by Nocerina number 8 Giordano was chipped straight into the mixer, and somewhere in the penalty area melee the referee spotted a push on Belmonte by Dario Italia. Despite our protestations the penalty was awarded, but Belmonte attempted to smash the ball straight down the middle and Di Giovanni stood up strong to save.

I made some changes shortly afterwards - Attewell and Cirillo on for Italia and Caramel - and the game swung back in our favour. In the 80th minute, Fonseca pressured Toscano into a loose pass on the left wing and Gallicchio showed determination to win a fifty-fifty tackle with centre back D'Angelo, and leaving D'Angelo in a heap on the turf he sprung up to chase the loose ball. Another defender and the keeper narrowed the angle and forced Galliccio wide, but he held on to the ball and turned to cut it back into the area. Manoni had made a great run up from midfield, and as the keeper tried to scramble back into position he was able to finish easily with a cushioned volley from 14 yards for 2-0. Not his usual 35 yard spectacular, but just as vital.

5 minutes later the game was sewn up, when Gallicchio intercepted another loose pass and raced in on goal. With D'Angelo trailing, Gallicchio curled the ball into the corner from 15 yards to make it 3-0 and bag his 6th in the league.

Final score: Ragusa 3 - 0 Nocerina


At the halfway point in the season the table looks like THIS.

Another win delighted the chairman and raised us up to 13th in the division, with Nocerina dropping to 7th. Our next fixture is away to 15th placed Tivoli, although Vladimiro Caramel will miss that game through suspension due to picking up his fourth yellow card yesterday.

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Wednesday 14th January 2004

22 year old midfielder Alessandro Bonaffini has put pen to paper on a new contract at the club, keeping him here as a full-time professional until 2007. He is far from being our most important player, but the squad is already small and it saves us having to search for a replacement if we let his contract expire. Although I don't expect him to be earning a first team spot, I like the professional attitude that he has taken to being very much a squad player, and he has also become quite a favourite with the fans.

In training today, Claudio Gallicchio twisted his knee and will be out of action for a week.


Over in the Premiership there are rumours circling of Blackburn Rovers midfielder David Dunn being involved in a feud with new manager David O'Leary, just like he had done with previous manager Graeme Souness. The stories suggest that with Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Deportivo and Real Betis keeping tabs on him, if the right offer was to come in then it could well see David moving abroad.


Friday 16th January 2004

Antonio Di Giovanni becomes the second player to extend his contract until 2007. The 20 year old goalkeeper has only made two appearances but he has plenty of time on his side and looks like a capable backup for Lenea when he returns.

Serie D side Fanfulla Lodi have offered us a whopping £20,000 for Carmelo Bonarrigo. They approached earlier in the week asking for our valuation, and I told them that we can only consider reducing our squad further if the money made it worthwhile. I didn't expect £20,000 and I have to accept that sort of cash for a backup player, even though Carmelo has done far better in his last two starts than he had shown in the previous 18 months.

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Saturday 17th January 2004

After I told him that I cannot promise him an extended run in the first team and that the club could really do with the money, Carmelo spoke to Fanfulla and settled on personal terms with the club quite quickly.

With £20,000 about to seep into our coffers at any second, I immediately get on the phone to Gela with the ambition in mind to enquire about a certain Francesco Erbini. Our first offer is deemed not good enough, but to my surprise Gela inform us that they would be willing to accept £3,000 up front with a further £11,000 arriving over the next 12 months. We accept, but I'm trying not to get overly excited about it - personal terms are often the biggest sticking point.