Career The "Goal a Mile" challenge goes to Italy - 30 seasons done!

[Mr Tree]

Hello Vibe!

I've been in the trenches, working on my first career post of the season... And now, it is time...

I'm repeating last year's epic "Goal a Mile" challenge - credit to @Ashez for the original idea:

BUT this year there's a twist - we're going Italiano, by popular demand (*there was a poll, Italy won - "popular" might be stretching it though).

So we're going from the southernmost playable team in Italy (currently Secula Leonzio in Serie C) to the northernmost, Südtirol-Alto Adige...

Or vice-versa! Why not, let's switch it up, who cares. That's a good 808 miles stadium-to-stadium, according to my Maps app, the ultimate arbiter - yep, the definitive distance (as explained previously, Google maps seems to give different distances on different platforms) will be the walking distance between two stadia according to the Maps app.

And to move clubs, my designated striker has to score enough goals to earn me the miles to move. If Johnny Striker (sorry, Gianni Striker) scores 100 goals for me, I have a 100-mile range in which I can move.

 

So we start in beautiful Südtirol.

(Note: those are just Serie C/B clubs)

I've only ever been to Italy once myself, and after a few days at Lake Garda we drove from there to Innsbruck in Austria, through Südtirol. Truly stunning area. The Südtirol region has a defined border but a fluid concept, with the people of South Austria and North Italy living, working and loving together.

Here is the first place we are calling home:

 

And here is my first designated striker:

 

I need to introduce a companion for our trip (hopefully) too - my Italian colleague! He sits opposite me at work, and... to describe him would take far too long. I think I can just say he's SO Italian, yet probably not in a typical way.

That's not the point - the point is, I will try and throw my teams at him on this journey and see what bile he spews (he hates everyone).

Of Alto Adige, he says: "tiny team, insignificant" (er....). "The people up there aren't Italian, they speak German. Nice people though..." - at that point he gazed off into the distance so I assumed he was thinking of some girl he once met from there and I left him to it. This will probably be a theme.

 

Anyway, season 1 coming up later today, hopefully!

Edited March 15, 2020 by Mr Tree

[Kanegan]

Best of luck. 

[Ian]

Been looking to this one, striker looks good, let the journey begin!

[FuddledFox]

This is a great concept and I’m looking forward to following your journey.

[Mr Tree]

Season One

Straightforward start - had enough quality in the squad and budget to plug the gaps, so after a little wobble with getting knocked out of both cups...

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...we went on an 18-match unbeaten run to finish the season, winning the last 12:

That sort of form will generally lead to:

...although we couldn't quite claim to be the Serie C King of Kings, robbed by a late late goal:

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The board were happy though and they dropped a truth-bomb in their jubilation:

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The football world was taking notice of the Tree-man too:

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Did all this translate to success for our main man?

Well he nearly had his head turned by the bright lights of Ascoli:

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...but I managed to tie him down to a long-term deal:

And he went simply bananas in the run-in:

Prompting wild calls for international honours:

My decision to laugh at Zambrotta...... didn't go down well

But anyway, what was the final total?

A solid start for Simone, who looked like this at season's end:

 

And the obligatory-if-not-accidentally-forgotten manager profile at the end of the first year:

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NEXT TIME - can Mazzocchi and the boys handle the step up to Serie B?

Edited December 10, 2019 by Mr Tree

[Gunners Rishi]

Nice start

[samhardy]

Looking forward to this one

If it’s nearly as exciting as last year it’ll be a belter.

[Mr Tree]

12 minutes ago, samhardy said:

Looking forward to this one

If it’s nearly as exciting as last year it’ll be a belter.

No promises, but there is some "mild peril" around the corner...

[broodje kip]

👀👀Could see another best career of the year here

[Kanegan]

Great start to this. A nice 32 miles earned. 

[Mr Tree]

Thanks @Gunners Rishi @samhardy @Lord Danish and @Kanegan!

Season Two

The cup exit was swift...

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And Simone was attracting interest... from Croatia?!

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I remember I had a nice start before losing a couple, and thinking "well, it is a step up after all"... Then suddenly we went on a run, and this was the position at the halfway point:

Simone was instrumental, the ante was getting upped, and his head was getting turned...

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But fortunately, he was feeling chipper later in the week when the next match rolled around...

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My assistant manager, one of the obvious ones to pick up at the start if you can, was impressed by the kid:

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And there was just no stopping us...

(my reserves found life a bit tougher...)

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All this was achieved on a profit, with my only money signing being a young striker with potential... Got a couple of cracking loan signings though...

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...one of whom claimed some silverware...

...despite not really setting the division alight:

Meanwhile I of course was crowned King of the World:

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And Simone won the league Player of the Year, with one of my wingers getting the bronze medal too:

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So what did that mean overall?

A good year, although we missed out on a few games with no Serie C cup or super cup. More assists, better AvR, and up to 60 overall:

This is how he looked by the end of the season:

And as for me...

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And some more good news ahead of the new season, with Simone content to play in Serie A with me:

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However, we could have some problems ahead - maybe it would have been better to stay down and beat up on lower opposition for another year? And Alto Adige are not only the northernmost club but also bizarrely remote from the rest of Italy - I can't find a club within 90 miles of them. So I need another good season from the lad... Or, maybe more likely, two average ones...

 

NEXT TIME - how will the boys adapt to life in the top flight?

Thanks for reading, and all feedback is hugely appreciated!

Edited December 10, 2019 by Mr Tree

[Gunners Rishi]

Simone is a cracking player and Dennis Bergkamp is a great coach. I brought him in last year managing Aldershot and he passed every assesement without fail and he great relationships with players

Edited December 8, 2019 by Gunners Rishi

[Ian]

You've made a great start so far, just need to keep going to get the mileage you need. Doku was a fantastic player for me last year and it seems he done well for you as a youngster.

[broodje kip]

Great season there

[BatiGoal]

This journey has always a surprise around the corner. Love it. Going very nice so far indeed, but I hope your team's ready for the brutality in the Serie A. 

[Mr Tree]

Thanks @Gunners Rishi, @Ian, @Lord Danish and @BatiGoal!

Season Three

I tried to recruit but it gets tricky... I sold a faithful defender, Ierardi, to raise some cash, and Pierini turned out to be an excellent buy.

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However an early cup exit hardly got the juices flowing...

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...with the boys showing some nerves ahead of the first Serie A game - except for my boy Simone! 💪

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And what a match it was......

Followed by my first home match, against fellow northerners:

Alas, the nice start slowly fell apart, and by Christmas the media needed a scapegoat:

Makes sense to blame the players - it was hardly gonna be the fault of the award-winning manager:

We got a big scalp when the "zebras" came to visit for the first time:

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But in the end, this crucial late equaliser...

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...and a very timely goal by Mazzocchi...

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...brought another year of Serie A football to Südtirol:

My loanee backup striker for Simone impressed:

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...which is a good job because the main man had a rough season:

That puts us on 70 goal-miles overall and we're in a bit of trouble here, slowly plodding towards an escape from the North.

Manager profile after 3 seasons:

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NEXT TIME - will we see desperately needed improvement... Or will things take a turn for the worse?!

Edited December 16, 2019 by Mr Tree

[Gunners Rishi]

Oof mazocchi’s let you down but hopefully he’ll avenge himself next season.

[Mr Tree]

Cheers @Gunners Rishi- he did slightly better, but.....

Season Four

We needed to improve, and we had a bit of budget, so I searched hard and made some purchases - some short-term competence and long-term brilliance (Ewandro, Hristov, Everton and Maiorino):

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The game, as if reading my intentions suspiciously, set up a preseason friendly between the northernmost and southernmost teams in Italy. Hail the North!

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Simone started well, encouragingly...

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And he notched a couple of goals as we exited the cup with another entertaining game at Inter:

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Alas, that was part of a horrendous run where I didn't win for the first 2.5 months of 2023:

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...before a miraculous spurt of 4 wins from 5 gave me hope:

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...but a brutal run-in seemed to take that hope away again:

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We needed a win on the last day, plus SPAL needed to lose. We did our part thanks to the big fella, despite going one down early:

...but was it enough??

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Yes! Phew!

This was, however, disheartening - a step backwards even compared to last year. Although at least Simone seemed to have a slightly better season:

That puts us on 83 goal-miles overall, with the nearest club 90 miles from Alto Adige. So hopefully, next year options will start to open up...

The manager profile after four seasons:

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NEXT TIME - can we finally get over the line and move on? Can Alto Adige avoid another relegation battle?

Edited December 16, 2019 by Mr Tree

[BatiGoal]

Christ. Some relegation battle, TreeMan. Scary stuff and altho you probably notified the board in pre-season of the forthcoming relegation fight, I wonder how close to being sacked you were. Sometimes all it takes is a bad spell of 8-10 games regardless your position on the table. 

Hang in there! 

[FuddledFox]

Tough season 😬

Looks like you will soon be able to move a bit further south though so at least that’s some progress.

[Ian]

Looks like you came close suffering the dreaded sack. You overcame it though so should be very proud and hopefully you’ll be on the move soon.

[Gunners Rishi]

Great work winning the relegation dogfight

 

[Mr Tree]

Thanks for your support, @BatiGoal @Foxy @Ian and @Gunners Rishi!

Season Five

My 4-3-2-1 formation had got us up the divisions but it wasn't doing well in the top flight. In FMM19, I eventually settled upon a 4-2-2-2 that generated lots of goals, so I decided to give it a go again here. I trimmed a little fat in the squad and recruited a solid centre back and a quality young BWM:

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Early returns were... discouraging - smashed out of the cup by a Serie B team

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And we appeared to bring forward our traditional late-season funk, going on an early nine-match winless run:

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But honours came our way, bizarrely:

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Not really sure what he'd done to deserve that:

Mazzocchi finally got over the line... And then this happened!

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They were within striking distance:

But they weren't the most attractive proposition:

...just after the transfer deadline too, with no obvious quality striker. I gave it a miss.

No real reason to include this, apart from the glorious name of Udinese's striker:

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We found some form, with our young guns starting to dazzle the league.

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Zanchi was a striker for me, Colaninno a centre-back, and Maiorino a winger (inside forward):

A decent little spell, with only two totally justifiable defeats:

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And it continued through April too:

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I can't quite remember but this might be Simone's first hat trick for me!

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Part of a run of eight wins from the last nine games:

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...that even saw me beat the Juventus Zebras on the last day to rob them of the title:

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But where did that leave me....

In the Champions bloody League!! 

A clean sweep of the top young players:

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And Mazzocchi got the top prize:

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And surprisingly, the golden boot too:

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"Just" 23 overall, but that's good enough to put me on 106 goal-miles overall, with a range of clubs in my sights now:

 

NEXT TIME - how will Alto Adige fare in their first Champions League campaign? And we're finally on the move, I promise - and trust me, you'll never be able to guess the next club, so don't even try...

Edited December 20, 2019 by Mr Tree

[Kanegan]

Finally moving up to Champions League football. Well done though only if you stay but i think you will not ...... or you will.......certainly not.....well you never know.......too much pressure. 😂😆😁

[Mr Tree]

Cheers @Kanegan- it's time to reveal my 2nd club on this journey...

Season Six

After last year's incredible finish, optimism was running high - and an encouraging friendly result meant we weren't in too much fear about joining Europe's big boys...

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Italy's status means that even 4th place qualifies directly for the group stage, so we nervously awaited the draw...

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Not bad!

Simone was still feeling good, too!

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...maybe a little TOO good:

We lost at Celtic, which was annoying but bearable, but Slavia came and whooped us at home which was a big blow.

So it made this all the more surprising:

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And yet... That's where our story ends, my friends

Simone finished with 115 goals for me, with his last coming against Real Madrid

But it was time to get back to Serie C...

Yep, our next destination is beautiful Mantova, a city which (Wikipedia informs me) Romeo (of Romeo and Juliet fame) was banished to, where Verdi's "Rigoletto" was set, and which was ranked, in 2017 by Legambiente, as "the best Italian city for quality of life and the environment".

My sort of place.

The club itself (apparently) had seven seasons in Serie A in the 60's and 70's, but those were the glory years, and they've folded and reformed four times since the 80's. Legendary Italian keeper Dino Zoff played four seasons for the club in the 60's, making 131 appearances for the biancorossi overall.

They play at the Stadio Danilo Martello, which may or may not be in the picture below. Nearly 18,000 can fit into this bad boy, although only with temporary extensions when required for Serie B games (not a problem for me at the moment!):

A new start means a new hero, so step forward Christian Montaperto!

Yes that's a lot of yellow, but some nice stats in crucial areas - maybe one of those who looks rubbish but comes alive when the ball's in the box!

He was already on 4 goals when I arrived:

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And he almost doubled it in his first game! No joke, this is how we started:

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I'm afraid I am ever the idiot and forgot to screenshot the league table when I arrived - I believe we were lower mid-table. We pottered around as I tried to improve, finishing on a good run with Montaperto getting his fair share:

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So we managed to sneak into the top 10 and qualify for Italy's mental Serie C playoff system:

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However, our inability to defeat a higher seed meant we bowed out at the first hurdle:

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Montaperto got 25 for me at a goal a game:

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...showing some good improvement too:

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My manager profile after six seasons - my loyalty's taken a hit

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NEXT TIME - after moulding the squad to my needs, will we reap the rewards? Or will our stay in Mantova be short-lived.....

Edited December 24, 2019 by Mr Tree

[Titjes]

Doing some great work mate, KIU 😉

[broodje kip]

Nice work and that new guy looks good enough

[BatiGoal]

Great journey so far. One moment you're playing for big bucks in the CL and the next you're fighting for every inch of grass in the Serie C. 

[FuddledFox]

I love how you can go from the CL and a win against Real to Serie C just like that and it be a positive as you are moving on with your journey.

[smoggy90]

Great read Mr Tree, looking forward to the next step in the adventure!