CM2 96-97 Italia - Career of Gianluca Peroni - Season 2

After comfortably achieving promotion and scraping the Serie B title on goal difference, Cesena joined Bari, Genoa and Castel di Sangro in moving up to Serie A. However still £1.6 million in debt and with no offers incoming for any of the players I had transfer listed, there was no money to spend on new signings! So for better, or for worse, we were kicking off football in the higher tier with practically the same team that got us promoted! I did bring in a couple of new signings, and by a couple I mean two... Right sided midfielder Roberto Donadoni and Striker Lorenzo Scarafoni both on free transfers and both 30+ years old with my aim being to add a bit of experience in midfield for games against the likes of AC Milan, Fiorentina, Inter and Parma and to have a back up option on the bench upfront in Scarafoni who scored 22 goals for Ravenna last season.

Over the course of the season I did end up bringing in a handful of new faces; Centre Back Predrag Stankovic, Centre Midfielder Mauro Salvagno, Right Wing Back; Ciro Ferrara (no not the famous one from Juventus apparently? But somebody else), Central Midfielder Leonardo Palmieri and Left Winger; Fabio Di Sole, but aside from Stankovic, most of the other signings were just squad players and cover to replace departing players that had been transfer listed.

My aim this season is purely to just adapt and compete in Serie A. So long as we avoid the drop and stay competitive, I'll be happy. I stuck with the 5-3-2 balanced formation and a passing style since it served us fairly well in Serie B and we kicked off the season with a 2-2 draw against recently relegated Udinese in the 2nd Round of the Coppa Italia, followed by a 2-2 draw against fellow recent promotees Genoa and a 0-0 draw against Inter. Fortunes picked up when we smashed Udinese 3-0 in the Coppa Italia 2nd Round replay, scored an incredible set of wins away at Roma and at home to Lazio, and then proceeded to lose 3 games on the bounce against Piacenza, Atalanta and Parma. We promptly dispatched Serie C side Avellino from the Coppa Italia 3rd Round, and then made mincemeat of Bologna - pun fully intended - with an 8-0 win at home!

Results continued to be a bit mixed but a nice mix of good and not so good... we drew 1-1 with Bari, who are something of a dark horse team in a league of Internationally recognized names... we edged AC Milan 5-3 with the scoreline see-sawing back and forth between us both right up to the 76th minute! We lost 2-0 at home to Juventus, last year Serie A champions so I expected it would be tough. We then lost 1-0 at home to Chievo in the Coppa Italia Quarter Final first leg which was disappointing, but owing to fitness I was missing a few first team starters. We bounced back with great wins over Vicenza, Fiorentina 4-1 which was bonkers, Cagliari and Verona, before narrowly edging passed Chievo in the second leg of the Coppa Italia Quarter on penalties 4-3! After it finished 1-0 after extra time. 8 wins, 3 draws and only 4 defeats in the league though; a really good start I felt, meant that we sat 3rd behind Bari on top and Inter in second.

However results continued to see-saw as we lost 2-0 to Castel di Sangro, beat Sampdoria 2-1, lost 3-0 to Genoa in a very poor showing, drew 1-1 with Inter and lost 2-1 to AC Milan. We were competing, for the most part, but scoring goals was definitely more of a problem this season and Florian Prunea's form was a bit unpredictable, being an absolute Colossus against teams like Inter and Fiorentina and then a total wet blanket against teams like Castel di Sangro and Genoa! We lost to both Roma and Lazio in the league but in between those fixtures picked up a 3-1 win and a 4-2 win against Empoli in both legs of the Coppa Italia Semi to set up a Coppa Italia Final against Serie B side; Venezia!

I'd accidentally sleepwalked into a cup final... and it was potentially our best ever chance of winning it! Venezia wouldn't be pushovers, they were currently competing just outside of automatic promotion to Serie A in 6th, but they were a division below us and we had to be going into the games as favourites! However there was still a handful of league fixtures first to focus on. And we suddenly hit a nice, rich, vein of form! We dispatched Piacenza 3-1 at home, and then beat Atalanta, Parma, Bari, Juventus and Vicenza! Only picking up losses against Bologna (a revenge 2-1 win... fair enough lads...) and Fiorentina 4-0 in a game we didn't even really turn up for. But either side of the Fiorentina loss, there was a Cup Final to contend with! And we lost the first leg at home 2-1 in a very poor showing but without Florian Prunea in nets, Stefano Braga just not being at the right calibre, and Venezia's goalkeeper taking home Man of the Match when after 17 attempts on goal an 7 on target, we weren't able to put any more than a single goal passed him! Things were a whole lot different on the return leg though, and Venezia just didn't even turn up! We comfortably beat them 3-1 at their place to pick up our first major trophy in Italian football!

I'm pretty happy with that! Cross the Coppa Italia off the list! Although I'm slightly worried about peaking too early and there is now the expectation of defending the crown next season! But for now, a world class achievement to have won the Coppa Italia in only my second season in charge and with a team newly promoted to Serie A in the same season! The Board were also delighted which is always nice. Best to keep them happy whenever possible!

We had 4 more games to play in Serie A and the good form had helped us hold down a position in the upper tier with the threat of relegation now totally off the table, but with the margins between 3rd and 11th being incredibly close. Unfortunately though mentally I think the team either checked out or we ran out of steam! We beat Cagliari 3-1 at home but then lost 3-2 against Verona in match we really should have comfortably won with Verona sat in the relegation zone (ironically Verona just narrowly avoided relegation by a single point at the end of the season). We then lost 1-0 against Castel di Sangro after Bizzari and Virilie went totally missing and neither side could find the goal in a 0-0 draw with Sampdoria. The end of season dip in form meant we slipped from 3rd to 8th which, anti-climactic given that we hovered around 3rd - 6th for the middle period of the season, but absolutely not to be sniffed at for a newly promoted team!

For the most part, I was happy. My aim was to just survive and compete and we had done that and added a Coppa Italia cup to the trophy cabinet in the same season! Thanks to some player sales the bank account was a little bit more healthy now with £4 Million in the bank! And things feel a little bit more comfortable now as we go into Season number 3.

Omar Melizza was our player of the season and again sat in the middle of our 3 man Centre Midfield. He bagged 16 goals and 7 assists in 35 games and was often the spark that won games or at least swung them back in our favour. Hands down the best player we have and one we almost lost last season had he not inked a new deal!

Girolamo Bizzarri was again top scorer with 22 goals and 12 assists in 41 games. An improvement on 18 goals 11 assists last season. I was initially worried he'd struggle with the step up this season, and at times his form was mixed but he occasionally came through when we needed it and finished joint 2nd top scorer in Serie A alongside some bloke at Fiorentina called Gabriel Batistuta?

Alessando Bianchi was joint top provider with 13 assists in 30 games but his form was poor and a handful of his assists came from set pieces. He will likely be leaving the club at the end of the season as he wants a bumper new contract and I don't feel he's worth the money! And new signing Roberto Donadoni was just behind him with 13 assists in 32 games but at 32 and 34 respectively, I do plan to recruit new midfielders for the beginning of next season.

On the subject of recruitment... Empoli finished bottom of Serie B this season and as a result of being relegated out the game; lost their entire squad on free transfers! I took the opportunity to snap up 21 year old Central Midfielder; Cristian Amoroso and 23 year old Centre Back Cristano Petiziol on free transfers, Empoli's two best players and also took the opportunity to snap up their now unemployed Player Manager and a... minor... Italian football legend on an initial 2 year deal for £7,000 a week... 33 year old Centre Forward GIANLUCA VIALLI!!

He bagged 15 goals in 43 games in Serie B which is not bad, and I don't know if he'll actually start much next season but for £7k a week and with Diego Virille having a poor first season in Serie A, I certainly fancied having the option available to me and he brings depth and experience to the club that might be useful!

At the End of Year Awards Omar Melizza was awarded Young Player of the Year and as probably our best player, he will certainly figure in next seasons plans! And this has accidentally been a bit of a long one but I feel confident going into season 3 that the squad is in a good place, is developing well and is capable of competing. We have the Suppacoppa Italia fixture against Fiorentina to look forward to, as well has attempting to retain the Coppa Italia and maybe, just maybe, push to finish in the upper top half the league next season...