[FM08] American Calcio

Thanks, gentlemen! Great to have you reading!
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Saturday, March 1
For a change, I got in a little sightseeing after we got to Pagani this afternoon.

The city, which is a suburb of Salerno and about twenty miles from Naples, is also just five miles east of the legendary town of Pompeii on the Via Nazionale.

So after we arrived early this afternoon and the squad was tucked into its hotel, I decided to go take a few pictures.

There is a coach service that makes a tour around Mount Vesuvius which I would have taken had I had a bit more time, but one of my purposes today was to spend some time alone and clear my head.

As the season starts to get painfully long for the mid-table clubs, for those at the top and bottom it becomes more and more pressure-filled. Today I didn’t want to think about midfielders, substitution patterns or any such thing. I wanted to go for a walk. And I did.

I wished Patty could have come with us. For some time, I have been considering the idea of a team family day or even a family trip, but in the heat of a promotion race I’ve thought better of it. Still, I’d love to remove pressure and I do think one of the best ways to do that is to ease the grind of travel.

That goes for the manager as well. And deep down, that’s why I toured one of the world’s most famous archaeological sites today even though I have no professional interest in the subject.

Never having been there before, I was of course curious to see Pompeii and the ancient ruins, but as they say, a change is as good as a holiday and today I was lucky enough to have both.

As the sun set, I headed back to the team hotel where Masolini had things well under control. We’re ready to play tomorrow and Patty is doing well at home. Maybe now we can turn the corner.


Yet tonight, I couldn’t help but think ahead to tomorrow’s match and how the pressure is on against a club that has seen considerable success over the last two seasons.

Paganese has been double-promoted over the last two years. In 2005-06, the club won the non-professional Serie D/H to earn its first promotion, and also won the Scudetto Dilettanti. That trophy is contested by the winners of the nine Serie D leagues to determine what is loosely translated as the nation’s ‘amateur champions’ title’.

This year, Paganese entered play as the playoff champions from Serie C2. Last spring, they finished fourth in the table and then knocked off SPAL and Reggiana to advance to Serie C1 for the first time since 1979. There’s a lot of pride in the club at the moment.

From the looks of things the Azzurrostellati are here to stay. They have seven wins and five draws in 24 starts so far, which may well be enough to keep them out of the playdown places.

Good for them – but I’m out to hang a defeat on them tomorrow and I have a job to do.

Hopefully the pressure doesn't get to the players, the run-in is going to be an intense one!

Some good clubs at the top. No room for error.
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Sunday, March 2
Paganese v Padova – Serie C1A

This was just a great match today – entertaining, exciting, exasperating and at the end, filled with high drama.

Thankfully, that high drama didn’t result in us splitting the points, as all the exasperation in the match in the final twenty minutes of the match was mine.

Given the circumstances, my goal before the match was to get my players settled down. We were again heavily favored – this time, the odds were 1-3 for an away win – and with all the pressure we’ve been under I wasn’t about to add any more through an inflammatory team talk.

“Let the result come,” I said. “Just take it easy and play within yourselves. The other results will be what they’ll be. So all I want you to do today is concentrate on your own games and let your ability carry you.”

That seemed to ease up a few of the players, particularly Rabito. I saw shoulders coming back up from sagging positions, chins coming up off the floor, and other signs that pressure wasn’t being so sorely felt.

You have to want to play this game. I have a determined squad that enjoys playing when the crunch is on, but you can’t hope for 100 percent intensity and concentration every week. Paganese is a lower to mid-table side and it’s just this sort of match that’s a real banana skin for a top club in the table.

I was happy with the squad’s reaction to my words and even more pleased with how they proved it. Baú continues to amaze, and provided Rabito with the game’s first gilt-edged chance on twelve minutes, threading a cross in from the left.

Rabito brought the ball to control with a slick first touch and then fired home from twelve yards to put us into the lead. His reaction interested me – he looked like a player who did that sort of thing every day despite still being able to count his season goal total on the fingers of one hand.

At least he was relaxed, and getting the early lead on the road that I crave accomplished much the same result for me.

Sacchetti looked at me for instruction. Instead of pulling the line back and waiting for a counter, I decided to trust the players. I rolled my hands in a ‘keep it going’ gesture and my central defender nodded.

Masolini noticed the gesture and as I turned back to the bench he rose.

“Rob, don’t you want to pull back a bit?” he asked.

“No, I don’t think so,” I said. “I’m going to trust these players.” We sat and watched the result of that trust.

It turned out to be well placed. Paganese came back strongly but we sliced them wide open again before the half-hour with Baú once again at the heart of it all. This time his left-sided cross found Paponi unmarked in front. My loan striker pounded the ball home to get us two to the good on 25 minutes.

Baú has provided excellent service from both sides of the pitch in recent weeks and the troubles of his recent past now seem far away. With Paponi on a hot streak, my troubles may soon follow.

We had a happy, relaxed group at halftime – nearly too much so, in fact, so I had to gently remind them of their obligations over the second 45 minutes. When the home team returned to the pitch at Marcello Torre, the partisan crowd of 2,432 reminded their beloved Azzurrostellati of theirs.

The result was a wildly entertaining, up-and-down second half in which we defended fairly well, counterattacked fairly well, and relied on Orlandoni more than once to bail us out of difficult spots.

Also more than once, I counted us lucky that we led by two goals, and could afford one slip. Then, I made what might well have been considered an error in judgment.

Twenty minutes from time, and with us still ahead 2-0, I looked down the bench and saw Grujic intently watching the match. I thought it over for a moment and finally motioned to my 18-year old midfielder while the other substitutes ran up and down the touchline to warm up.

“Strip off and warm up,” I told him, and gleefully he did as instructed, thinking he had been nailed to the end of the bench.

Five minutes later he was ready and I brought him on for the tiring Rabito. Before he took the pitch I motioned him to me and spoke to him, holding his head in both my hands to make sure I had his attention.

“Milan, hold down the central role and play easy,” I said. “No unnecessary chances. Remember, you have Paz with you. Don’t be afraid to lean on him and don’t be afraid to take the safe option when you’re on the ball. Enjoy this.”

The boy nodded, and as he took the pitch fifteen minutes from time, I whistled for Paz’s attention. When my holding midfielder looked in, I pointed to the youngster. Paz nodded, knowing what I wanted done. We soon moved to a flat four-man midfield to get Pablo’s experience working with Grujic’s youthful energy.

The kid wasn’t half bad. He made a few good touches early on and had decent possession, showing quicker decision-making skills than some of my senior players. Then, everything went wrong.

We got beat over the top, and Andrea Cossu beat Orlandoni from right near the penalty spot ten minutes from time. The right arms of all four of my defenders shot up at the same time and I could clearly see it as well – Cossu was offside and it wasn’t close.

However, the assistant’s flag stayed down and while Paganese celebrated its goal I approached the fourth official. “There is just no way!” I exclaimed, holding my arm up for added effect. “There is no way that man was onside!”

The Paganese bench was quiet. They knew it too. But the fourth official could do nothing. Referee Giuseppe Livadotti trailed the play by a substantial margin and could not overturn the call, and the goal stood.

Paganese now had added momentum and surged forward looking for an equalizer. As normal time expired, the second exasperating moment occurred.

Cossu again got behind our defense – this time from what looked to be an onside position – and substitute Donadoni stopped him from behind.

Livadotti, who again trailed the play, had no hesitation. He called Donadoni to him and showed him a straight red card for a professional foul. He awarded a free kick to Paganese just outside the top of our penalty area as well, and I had visions of surrendering a two-goal lead in the last ten minutes of play.

Sacchetti was near the challenge so I surely didn’t see it as a professional foul, but the official did and at the moment his was the only opinion that mattered.

Frantically, I cobbled together a new formation that couldn’t include either the substituted Faísca or the red-carded and red-faced Donadoni, who now passed me on his way to the changing room with steam coming out of his ears.

Paz had to go to central defense as he and Sacchetti were the only players on the pitch who could play the position with me being out of substitutions. Muzzi, who can play the right side of midfield, now did so while I moved Baú to the middle, again because I was out of other options. Again, though, I signaled for Paz while Orlandoni set up the wall for the free kick.

Pablo nodded without me having to say a word. He knew Grujic might well need support, now playing in the center of a ten-man team.

Thankfully, Cossu’s free kick sped over the bar and we were able to hang on until Livadotti’s final whistle five minutes into truly nerve-wracking added time. It was a wild finish and I felt quite fortunate to come out on the winning end of it.

Grujic had performed well, and as he left the pitch I extended my hand.

“Well done,” I told him. “You did a great job under circumstances I never intended to put you through. Enjoy the ride home – you’ll be with the senior squad next week as well.”

Paganese 1-2 Padova

“I have faith in all my players.”

I was responding to a question from a Pagani news reporter as to why I would risk Grujic in a match by no means won. Emiliani looked on with interest, perhaps glad he hadn’t asked the question himself.

“What would you have done if Paganese had equalized?”

I smiled. “Guess you’ll never know, will you?” I answered, tweaking my interrogator – because today, I could get away with it.


On the way home I checked out some of the football websites on my BlackBerry and couldn’t help but smile after reading the Serie C1 roundup.

Our referee, Livadotti, hadn’t been very good in my eyes, but he did better than Carmine Russo did at Cremonese in their vital match against Sassuolo.

After the home team did us a huge favor by picking up a first-minute goal from midfielder Lorenzo Carotti, the referee embarked on a second half that made Livadotti’s pale by comparison.

Russo sent off three of the home team’s players in the last twenty-three minutes and awarded eight cards out of nine to the home team. Eventually playing against eight men, Sassuolo threw everyone forward to find an equalizer – and never got it.

The fifth-place Grigiorossi beat them 1-0, doing their own playoff chances a world of good thanks to eight very tired men on the pitch at the end of the game. Amid what I suspect was a loudly cheering crowd, referee Russo presumably heard a few choice words from angry supporters.

Venezia also couldn’t keep its players on the pitch but unlike Cremonese, they paid for it. They had two players sent off and Pro Patria took advantage to win 2-1 at home.

Novara was the only contending team to start and finish the day with eleven players on the pitch and took full advantage, beating Monza 2-0 to stay three points behind us.

	        Pl	W	D	L	Pts
Padova	        25	15	9	1	54
Novara	        25	15	6	4	51
Sassuolo	25	14	7	4	49
Venezia	        25	13	6	6	45
Cremonese	25	11	11	3	44

Venezia’s trouble is now acute. They are winless in their last five matches and now trail us by nine points with nine matches to play – a rather remarkable run of bad form considering where they had been just six weeks ago.

“Favoretto is the one who ought to be worrying about his media coverage,” I mused as I shut down my phone to get a little sleep on the way home. “Instead, it’s me. That’s just not fair.”


Monday, March 3
Or, maybe it is fair. The morning papers in Venezia are caling for Favoretto’s ouster after his side’s recent tumble down the table.

His problems may be just beginning – Novara comes to Pierluigi Penzo on Sunday for the first of three matches the clubs will play over the next month. The other two will come in the Serie C Cup quarterfinals. For the first match, anyhow, Favoretto had better win for the sake of his job security.

From my point of view, though, while I don’t like to see a rival win, I wouldn’t mind seeing him draw. From a purely mercenary standpoint, though, if I had to choose a winner, it would be Venezia since they’re farther down the table.

I had time to read the Venice papers this morning because we took today off after a very long afternoon and evening of travel. The players earned the day off on the backs of a good performance. I also had the chance to review video of Donadoni’s sending off.

I’m going to appeal it. Even the Padua papers are mentioning that the referee was horrible, and I think we might have a chance at getting a little joy out of the governing body for the player, who is now suspended for Sunday.

After stopping for a team dinner on the way home last night, we arrived at about 9:00 p.m. I headed home from Euganeo for a reunion with Patty, and found her in the same place I had left her.

That wasn’t a bad thing – I found her in bed, and she was watching television when I arrived.

This time, she slowly rose to greet me, and while that was a wonderful sign, I didn’t want her to overextend herself.

“Honey, don’t,” I said, but she walked to me and came straight to my arms.

“Shhh, it’s okay,” she said, greeting me with a soft kiss. “Welcome home.”

“I can’t think of a better way to arrive,” I said.

“And you’re a winning manager,” she teased.

“Nothing to do with that,” I said. “Coming home to you appeals to me.”

“Good,” she answered. “How about you come to bed and hold your girlfriend for awhile?”

Tuesday, March 4
Back to work for us today as we prepare for the visit of tenth-placed Ternana on Sunday.

We beat them 2-0 back on October 21 and I see no reason we can’t play well again in the return match on our home ground.

We carried over the weekend’s relaxed mood into our training session today and we looked at video of our first match with them.

Romano Tozzi Borsoi remains a potent threat for them and even though we bottled him up well last time I’m sure he’ll be geared up to face us again.

We watched video of Borsoi’s eight-yard miss against Orlandoni in the first match, followed by his rather unforgettable reaction and look of utter disgust, and figured he might have it on his mind to make amends in the rematch.

All well and good. We know teams are gunning for us, especially as we head into the last ten matches of the season. All I know is I’d rather be where we are than where they are, so bring it on.

Today’s Internet missive from Emiliani dealt with the dangers of overconfidence, and for once I agreed with most of what he had to say. It will be easy to see where I disagree:

"Despite issues that could be resolved with the spending of about €200,000, it’s hard not to smile at the recent fortunes of the Biancoscudati.

Say what you like about Rob Ridgway – and believe me, I have – you have to admit that somehow the American has gotten most of what he can get out of this group of players.

However, his biggest challenge clearly lies ahead. With a lead that his club has maintained over the last several weeks, it’s reasonable to assume that Calcio Padova will at least find a playoff place this season.

Much of the remaining worry from this point forward will be mental. Padova’s annoying tendency to place itself in awkward situations, particularly through red cards, may yet prove to be its downfall.

Mario Donadoni’s sending off during Sunday’s injury time was the fifth red card of the season for Biancoscudati and sooner or later that kind of statistic will reach out and bite a team when and where it hurts the most.

On the positive side, this group of players, technically competent and occasionally gifted, has earned a reputation as a hard-working side. But how will they react when opposing teams try to make or save their seasons against the league leaders?

Now is the time of year when teams play with urgency, and some play with a sense of desperation. Players are playing not only for their teams but in many cases for jobs and teams next season. A good performance, especially against a higher-rated club, can make money for a team or even prolong a player’s fading career.

The challenge for Padova will lie in regaining the consistency that has led to 15 wins in 25 starts. The nine draws are maddening – in some cases, quite unacceptable – but naturally it is difficult to argue with only one loss.

One wonders how this has happened. There have certainly been more talented Padova teams. It is fair to say, however, that this one appears to be more resilient than some that have worn the colors in recent years.

Tactically, this year’s version appears annoyingly naïve at times, and manager Ridgway seems powerless to prevent it. Perhaps this is due to his shortcomings – or perhaps the players are doing too well at listening to him. Sunday’s bewildering insertion of 18-year old Milan Grujic into a winning side nearly cost Padova three points and the manager is yet to explain his actions.

This kind of naïvete is dangerous. The league, and the coveted automatic promotion that comes with winning it, is still very much in doubt. Ridgway must show he has the brains to get the job done and finally justify Marcello Sestaro’s faith in the first-year manager.

In this case, it has nothing to do with Ridgway’s nationality. It has everything to do with his common sense, which sometimes defies description. For Padova to succeed, everyone must improve, from the manager on down."

Lovely. We take 54 out of 75 points on offer, and I have to improve. Like Emiliani could do better.

Wednesday, March 5
No joy from the FA for Donadoni.

Despite another case of pretty good video evidence, Donadoni’s ban will stand. However, they didn’t say what they usually say when they deny an appeal, which tells me something.

Often when an aggrieved manager complains about a sending off, the FA will deny the appeal based on its ‘frivolity’. That wasn’t the case this time. It was simply denied. Reading between the lines, this was a decision to support their official.

I don’t have a problem with that. I just want the cases of my players considered fairly and since I still feel it was an unjust sending off I will give Donadoni the standard sanction of reserve training for a week. I still don’t want my players sent off and I do expect them to show some discretion in the challenge.

Donadoni unquestionably committed a foul on the sequence that got him sent off. My argument was with the decision that it was a professional foul. In any event, you can’t fight City Hall and my latest attempt to do so has failed again.


One of my bench players will miss this week’s match thanks to a training knock picked up today, limiting my options for Sunday.

DiNardo, who has probably been my best scoring threat off the bench this season and a real terror in the cup competition, twisted an ankle and will miss 7-10 days. It wasn’t a serious injury, but enough for the physios to urge caution. He is frantic to play and with the team having trouble scoring goals he was thinking he might get his long-awaited callup.

Right now, the partnership of Muzzi and Paponi is going reasonably well so they will get the call again Sunday. Varricchio doesn’t care for that, and it’s a bit odd to have my leading goalscorer unable to get off the bench over the last few weeks, but Daniele is hot and Muzzi provides benefits I’ve mentioned many times before.

So Massimiliano is where Paponi has been for much of the season. All credit to the kid – he has waited for his chance and grabbed it with both hands. While I have at times argued with his consistency and highlighted his need to bring his ‘A-game’ with him every day, when he’s on he’s the best player on the club.

Over the last few games, he’s been our only consistent, regular scoring threat. Baú is drawing extra attention of late due to his unerring tendency to drop crosses onto the heads of strikers from stupendously long distances. So he’s being kept away from the goal by opposing teams, if possible by holding him at the ankles.

Caputo has cooled a bit after his red-hot start but there’s no doubt at all that the €24,000 we gave to Juve Stabia has been the best business I’ve done all year. We’re a wing-oriented club. We can’t change it now.


Thursday, March 6
While musing to myself this morning about the state of the club’s finances, I remarked that things could be worse. We could be Ternana.

Ternana is a club trying to rebuild after an up and down history. They’ve spent two seasons in the top flight, but perhaps their real moment of glory came during the 1979-80 season when they reached the semifinals of the Coppa Italia. There, AS Roma knocked them out on aggregate.

Ternana did this as a Serie B club and were relegated the same season. Financially, it’s been difficult for the club ever since. They declared bankruptcy in 1987 and dropped all the way to Serie D after recovering from insolvency to win Serie C1 in 1992.

That said, they recovered smartly and played most of this decade in Serie B before being again relegated in 2006.

They were once managed by former AC Milan captain Cesare Maldini, father of the legendary Paolo, and have a rich history. But in the cyclical world of the lower leagues, right now they are in a tepid period.

They’ve been average this year – nine wins, eleven losses and five draws puts them at an average position of tenth in the table – and I’d love to lull them to sleep on Sunday before getting a result.

We’re receiving some fairly significant press now for the size of our unbeaten string, which has reached 23 matches in the league. The fact that we’re only ahead by three points doesn’t seem to faze some people, who are declaring us promotion-ready.

That scares me. Not promotion, mind you – that’s what I’m here to try to achieve – but rather having such expectation placed on us. You can’t avoid the pressure, of course, even at this level, but now that we’ve reached the stage of the season where the lower leagues show up on media radar, it’s going to come.

I sat in my easy chair this evening after coming home from training and was having a hard time settling down. Pressure is starting to weigh on me as well, and I have to learn to deal with that.

It’s different as a player, where you can go out and run off excess adrenalin. As a manager, I pace the technical area like a caged animal on some days and that’s about the best I can do. Stress management is important for me and right now I’m not handling it all that well.

There’s only so much video you can watch, and finally I shut off the television to lean back in my chair. Patty emerged from the bath wearing a pink silk robe, and saw the state I was in.

“Honey,” she said, taking pity on me as she approached from behind. “Let me help you.”

She stood behind me and squeezed my shoulders. They were like rocks. She began to rub and slowly, she eased my tension away.

“You poor man,” she said. “Is this what it’s like for you every day?”

“Lately, yes,” I said. “You don’t have to manage a big club to have big expectations. Right now I’m wondering if I can meet them.”

That was a bit of a startling thing for her to hear, and she told me so. “You’ve always been so confident around me,” she said. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I will be,” I promised. “But until I do something in this game, until I accomplish something, I’ll always wonder if I’m up to the task.”

She leaned over and softly kissed my neck. “Nonsense,” she finally said. “You are a leader of men. And sometimes, a leader of carefully selected women as well!”

“It’s a very short list,” I said, reaching behind me to touch her cheek.

“Believe in yourself like I do,” she said. “I’m so glad that you’re coming home to me at night now, even though it took the accident to make it happen.”

“I suppose you’re anxious to get back to your apartment now,” I mused, as she resumed her work of mercy on my sore shoulders.

“Not especially,” she replied, squeezing just right. I sighed and leaned back in my chair.

“Good.”

Friday, March 7
There’s an interesting rematch coming up Sunday, and media attention is being drawn to it.

Novara is traveling east for their rematch with Venezia, and everyone’s wondering if we’ll see another 5-4 thriller like I saw last fall. I wouldn’t mind seeing that – Venezia, as I’ve mentioned earlier, needs a win badly but I’d just like to see two good sides wear each other down.

That’s cynical, I realize, but I’m sure the spirit of Cori Contro will mean plenty of fans in both of those cities will be pulling for Ternana on Sunday.

My last pre-match media session of this week focused in part on the drama about to unfold at Pierluigi Penzo.

“Who do you fancy in that match?” I was asked.

“I saw the teams play the first time and it was very hard to see anything between them,” I said. “It was one of the most exciting matches I’ve ever seen. As for a favorite, I don’t have one.”

“Would you like to see Venezia win?”

I laughed. “You’re expecting an answer with a straight face?” I asked. “Cut me a little slack here.” The American euphemism made them smile a bit.

“How about the pressure Paolo Favoretto is feeling?”

I opted to take the high road regarding a man who had publicly criticized me earlier in the season.

“One of the sad things about this business is that people enjoying a degree of success feel pressure,” I said. “I have had that happen to me more than once this season thanks to you fine people and I understand what he must be going through. He needs to win and his board has expectations.”

“He’s also made comments about you in the local press.”

“I’m aware of that,” I said. “I have nothing personally against Paolo. I wish he wouldn’t do that, obviously, but I’m not prepared to say I’d like to see him sacked for it.”

Someday those vultures may well circle for me. When they do, I’ll need every friend I can get.


Saturday, March 8
Ever interested in creating controversy, the Venice media has picked up my comments of yesterday regarding Favoretto.

Under the headline “Ridgway: Paolo should leave me alone!” my comments created heat in both our cities just before tomorrow’s matches.

The article made it sound like I fear Favoretto (I don’t), and don’t need the extra scrutiny (bingo) because I’m American (which has nothing to do with it) and can’t handle pressure (which is yet to be seen).

It seems like sometimes the xenophobia I see has to be renewed whenever we face someone new. I’ve even seen people carrying protest signs over the Iraq conflict, which obviously has nothing to do with me. However, some people will take any chance they can to make a statement regardless of whether its context makes any sense.

This article was instructive for a couple of reasons. First, I need to be doubly careful who I talk to and how I say it, and second, it’s going to be a long run toward the end of the season.

Patty smiled as we ate breakfast this morning, while I looked at a copy of the paper containing the article in question. “I should quit going to newsstands,” I said. “It only makes my head hurt.”

“Don’t tell me you have a headache,” she teased, getting up from her chair to cuddle with me for a moment.

She nuzzled me softly and sat in my lap. She slowly ran her fingers through my hair and gave me a loving kiss.

“If you had a headache, that would be a tragedy,” she said. “I’m feeling a lot better.”

I smiled at her and held her close. “You’ve always felt wonderful,” I replied. “That’s never changed.”

Sunday, March 9
Padova v Ternana – Serie C1A

Entering today’s contest, we have played since September without losing a match in Serie C1A, a span of 23 matches. Yet tonight, we head home second in the table.

That’s because we played a simply horrible match today against Ternana and got what we deserved. Meanwhile, Novara went to Venezia and carved out a 2-0 win that has them on top of the table on goal difference.

My players had no urgency at all today and it really showed. We were due for a bad game after all the success we’ve had this season, but to have it come at home – and especially right now – is absolutely galling.

The nice weather we saw last weekend came north for this afternoon’s match and 5,707 supporters took advantage to get out and enjoy the sun. They didn’t enjoy the football, that was for sure.

I told the players before the match that I wanted them to play with the same relaxed bent they had taken last weekend. However, a few of them evidently confused the word “relaxed” with “anaesthetized”.

We started slowly. That was as good as it got. From the beginning we had no rhythm and even less flow, due in part to the excellent scout report they had on us.

From the beginning they got defenders to help their midfielders on both Baú and Caputo to take away our wide game. They were daring us to come at them through the middle and Gentile showed fairly early that he was not up to the challenge.

Things got worse before the first quarter of the match was finished. While we keyed on Borsoi to keep him quiet, we lost track of Stefano Scappini, who took an innocent-looking lead ball right onto Paz about forty yards out from goal.

Pablo stepped up and Scappini went past him like he wasn’t there. Unfortunately, Faísca wasn’t there either – Lord knows where he went – and Scappini had only Orlandoni between himself and goal, with Sacchetti frantically trying to close the angle.

He never had a chance to reach the shooter, though, and Scappini overwhelmed Orlandoni with a rising shot to the keeper’s left. Ternana was on the board just sixteen minutes into the match.

The crowd reacted with a huge groan of disappointment and we set to work finding an equalizer. We were notably unsuccessful in the first half and I spent a few minutes chewing on Masolini as we tried to figure out what was wrong with the side.

For a change, I wasn’t pacing the touchline in my usual manner – I was engaged in active conversation with my deputy and to do that I had to sit on the bench.

It hardly mattered in the first half. The whistle blew and we headed to the changing room with a few other whistles in our ears, from disappointed fans.

I couldn’t blame them a scrap and the players knew they were in for a roasting. This time, they got it, as I finally vented a little bit of the pressure I’ve been feeling.

“What are you playing at?” I asked them. “With what is riding on this match, how can you come out and look like this for 45 minutes? You can get this goal back but for crying out loud, look like you have some idea what you’re doing out there! Wings, when you’re trapped against the touchline, you know where the ball goes! Midfielders, you need to help each other and fullbacks, get up and help!”

I took a breath. “We knew they would try to take away the wings and we had a plan for it. So far I haven’t seen the plan and I’ve seen our wings get taken completely out of this game. Let’s get back to basics and get back in this match. You can do it. But you have to apply yourselves.”

We went out for the second half and I was curious to see what effect my teamtalk would have. Unfortunately for me, it had no effect at all.

Baú was trying to do everything by himself and as a result he made no impact. After a period of sustained excellence of late, he was worse than ordinary today. He was actually my first substitution of the match, coming off on the hour in favor of DiVenanzio. While not happy to substitute Baú, DiVenanzio’s introduction made me smile – it was Roberto’s first match with the senior squad since his gruesome injury in the first match of the season.

However, nothing else we did gave me the same pleasure. The other thing I did just after the hour was move to 4-3-3, taking off the nearly invisible Muzzi and placing Paponi in the finishing role flanked by DiVenanzio and Caputo.

With a renewed desire for urgency unmatched by accompanying play, we flailed away at a densely packed Ternana defense. Paponi did come close ten minutes from time, latching onto a decent entry ball from Caputo in the penalty area but shooting harmlessly just over the bar.

That was it. We seemed to have no idea how to break them down and when the final whistle went it was almost a relief. The coaches exchanged handshakes and I headed back to the changing room to figure out what I was going to say to my players.

They were dejected and dispirited. There was complete quiet as I walked to the center of the room. I stepped to a wipeboard on one wall and wrote:

September 2, 2007

Then I faced my players.

“Fellows, this is the date you last lost a match,” I said. “Now, according to my calendar, today is the ninth of March 2008. It has been six months and one week since you last lost. I know you don’t like how it feels. None of us like how this match went today but we need to face some facts here.”

“You’ve played quite well to get to this point and it’s far from over,” I said. “Learn from this and let’s make sure it’s a long time before we play like this again. We play next Monday so we’re going to have a solid week of preparation before we go to Cremonese. Hit the showers and I’ll see you Tuesday morning.”

I then headed off for my ritual beating from media while the players left Euganeo in a hurry.
Padova 0-1 Ternana


I got the news from Venice as I reached the interview area – Novara had won 2-0 and I knew they were now top on goal difference.

So I wasn’t in a very good mood as I endured the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Emiliani began his questioning and I knew what I had to do.

“Second place players are not as good as first place players, are they?” he began, and I couldn’t argue with that. Yet I knew where he was headed.

“We didn’t play well at all,” I said. “There’s no sense in hiding that, but let’s be completely honest about this. We hadn’t lost a league match for two-thirds of the entire fixture list and you’re going to come in here and roast these players? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Why would you suggest that?” he asked.

“Because you were going to do it, and we both know it,” I said. “Stefano, don’t pi** on my leg and tell me it’s raining, all right? We’ve all read what you’ve written this winter and what you write tomorrow will make good copy too. So will what I’m saying to you right now – lay off. We had a bad match today and we deserved to get beat. Let’s give Ternana a little credit for that because they deserve it. And before you throw us under the bus, remember that we’ve got eight matches to play and we’re in a dead heat at the top. We’ll be there at the end.”

“That’s a prediction?”

I was angry enough to go out on a limb.

“That’s a promise.”


“Why on earth did you say that?” Patty asked.

“Because I felt it at the time, and I believe it now,” I answered. “If I don’t get there the board won’t keep me around anyhow. If I do get there with these players, I’ll have the last word. So if I go out, I may as well go out my way. What do you think about that?”

“I think it’s cocksure, arrogant, over the top and amazingly sexy,” she smiled. “That’s the attitude you seem to have been missing these last few days.”

“I’ve been doing some thinking,” I admitted, as I poured her a drink. She sat on the couch, legs curled underneath her, her hair back in a beret. I handed her the concoction and she smiled over her shoulder.

“And?”

“And it’s good. I’ve got a much better handle on things than I did last week. Losing was good for this team and it was good for me. It let me vent and I needed to do that.”

“Losing’s all right provided it doesn’t happen often enough to get you sacked,” she observed.

“Right,” I said. “My job lately has been to convince these players to give extra and to improve themselves. While I did that, we didn’t lose a match. Now that we have, the message is going to be easier to get across – if I do it right.”

With that, I put in a DVD of the day’s match to indulge that morbid sense of masochism I had after leaving the ground today. Patty finished her drink and trailed softly behind me, heading toward the master bedroom.

She looked back over her shoulder. “Well, darling, when you’re done, I have a message I need to give you,” she smiled. “You’ve come a long way. And it’s time for your reward.”

Reward time

Well, this is a PG-13 website. LOL
___

Monday, March 10
Venezia has sacked its manager, as the pressure continues to build.

Favoretto is gone after going winless in six matches, with the final straw being yesterday’s home loss to Novara. I thought I had it bad.

Yet, when I woke up this morning, the top of the table looked different. That was bad enough:

	        Pl       W	D	L	Pts
Novara 	        26	16	6	4	54
Padova	        26	15	9	2	54
Sassuolo	26	14	7	5	49
Cremonese	26	12	11	3	47
Venezia	        26	13	6	7	45

We’re actually even on goal difference with Novara, but they’ve scored 49 goals to generate their goal difference of plus-23 while we’ve done it scoring 37 goals. Still, if the season ended today, Novara would be promoted while we would have to go through two rounds of playoffs to reach Serie B.

That’s a steep price to pay for not being able to finish. Hell, converting any of half a dozen missed penalties would still have us top of the table. That’s gutting to have to think about.

But Venezia has now paid the steepest price, with Favoretto’s job being forfeit. Our local headlines this morning were naturally regarding my promise of the playoffs but also about the end of our fine run of form. Emiliani was unsparing as always:


“Manager Rob Ridgway made a brave attempt to protect his players after yesterday’s 1-0 defeat to Ternana at Euganeo. However, the defeat exposed flaws in the Biancoscudati which have long been known to him. His over-reliance on the usually proficient Eder Baú and Massimiliano Caputo was exposed yesterday by a side that knows how to defend. Ridgway must hope that remaining clubs on the fixture list are not able to duplicate Ternana’s rearguard action of yesterday.”

“The manager went so far as to resort to bluster in yesterday’s post-match media event. He ‘promised’ results from his club at the end of the season and has very publicly placed himself in the crosshairs. Supporters will be the final judge.”

Well, that may not be completely true. The board will be the final judge and Sestaro is the only person who can officially take my job. But with two losses out of twenty-six matches, somehow I don’t see it as terribly likely right at the moment.

Yet, to attract visitors to his site and to his companion column in the morning paper, Emiliani did what I expected he would do. He went negative.


Tuesday, March 11
Venezia has a new manager this morning. He had his first day on the job while I returned to training this morning.

Gianfranco Bellotto has already had a poke at me in the media – in fact, he did it at his introductory news conference – and frankly I think he has other things to worry about.

As for me, I know I definitely have more important items on my plate. For starters, I have to get the players ready for a crunch match at resurgent Cremonese next Monday night.

The Grigiorossi were relegated from Serie B last season and are playing well at the right time to return at the first time of asking. They have the second-fewest losses in the table now, with three to our two – and they didn’t lose to us the first time we played, getting a 1-1 draw at Euganeo back on October 28. They will have momentum from their emotional win over Sassuolo last week and will be looking for another high-profile scalp to take.

We have a lot of respect for them, and for Gabriele Graziani, the forward I had praised to the media before our last match. I do think we should have beaten them in October and had Graziani not scored, we would have. We have a big task ahead of us and we need to show we can bounce back.


I will make changes to the XI as well, though at this point I haven’t communicated anything regarding my intentions, not even to Masolini.

Varricchio is ready to return. He’s agitated, he’s performing in training, and after the way Muzzi performed Sunday, it seems pretty apparent to me that I need to make a change up front.

Roberto has done a fine job this season, scoring a few goals (though not as many as I had hoped) and doing a surprisingly good job playing off Varricchio. When the season started I had thought it might be the other way around.

Yet he has also played a lot of football this season and he needs a rest. He just looked out of ideas on Sunday and when I substituted him I was already thinking of leaving him out of the starting side for the coming match.

The other move I am thinking of making is sitting down Eder Baú.

As surprising as that may sound, he was dreadful Sunday, especially in the second half. This truth was rammed home to me when I watched the match video on Sunday night. Anyone can have a bad match and Eder has been one of my top players all season long, but when you play like he played Sunday there needs to be some sort of consequence.

In fact, today I talked with him about it since I know he can handle honest conversation. As the morning session ended, I motioned him over to me and together we walked to the changing room to prepare for lunch and video work in the afternoon.

“What in the hell happened to you Sunday, Eder?” I asked.

“I tried too hard,” he explained. “I was tight, and nervous, especially after we fell behind.”

I shook my head. “You of all people know you can’t win like that. My issue wasn’t with your play, it was in not getting your teammates involved. Everyone knows you can cross the ball – you’re the best player in the league at that. When you’d go off on your solo runs, your teammates had nothing to do but run back up and down the pitch.”

He nodded, having a few unpleasant recollections.

“Players look to get the ball to you because they know you’ll do something with it,” I said. “But Eder, when it comes to you, right now I have to remind you that you need to stick with our plan. We knew they’d double you and Massimiliano and pressure you off the ball.”

“I know,” he repeated. “I lost my head and I made bad decisions.”

“The run of form you’ve had this season has been excellent,” I said. “So this week while you train, I want your focus where it should be, which is on the positive. You’ve come a long way and you’ve done a marvelous job for this club. We need you. Don’t forget that.”

He nodded and jogged into the training room. I think he got the message but if he didn’t, I have the ultimate message-sending weapon in the form of Monday’s team sheet.

Wednesday, March 12
I had to fire back at Bellotto today, which I would rather not have done. But after his comments came out in the Venice paper this morning, I really had no choice.

He was asked about his immediate goals for his team, and he mentioned one of them was catching Padova.

“The way they’re being managed, I think they’ll meet us in the middle,” he said. “They’ve shown no imagination over their last several matches and I think they are running on an empty tank.”

Naturally, the regional press trotted dutifully off to Euganeo looking for their morning dose of controversy. Today, I decided to give it to them.

We had quite a sprightly training session this morning and think the mood of the squad is still fairly decent. In that spirit, I found the reporters waiting for me, practically waving Bellotto’s quote in my face.

“Venezia has had a difficult stretch,” I said. “I know that part of their plight is caused by their league loss to us on their ground in January. We play them in the last match of the regular schedule at Euganeo. I hope the match still means something from Venezia’s standpoint. I know it will mean something from ours.”

“And your thoughts on Bellotto?”

“Manager of Venezia, as of this morning,” I said coolly. “If he wants to catch us, he’s got 24 points still to play for and they’ve spotted us nine. If they can make it, more power to them.”

I don’t want open war with a rival. He’s playing a mind game, without doubt. But I don’t have time for that sort of thing. I need to concentrate on the task at hand to keep the wolves away from my own door. There’s a lot of work to do yet, 24 points still to play for, and right now all I want to do is get more of them than anyone else.


Thursday, March 13
Things cooled off with our rivals to the east today and I am glad for this. My mind is fully focused on Cremonese.

It isn’t lost on me that the clubs meeting Monday have lost only five out of 52 matches on offer between them. They are very resilient and, like ourselves, have found that consistency in earning points – even if they aren’t all with victories – puts you in with a shout at the end of the year.

That said, Bellotto is noticeably quieter today – perhaps because he’s realizing the size of the task he faces. His club hasn’t won a match since the end of January and his top scorer, Marco Veronese, is not very happy. He really does have better things to do than slag off the manager of his closest league rival.

We’re going to travel on Sunday this week, with Cremona about as far away in mileage from Padua as Milan is, only with a turn to the southwest about halfway along the route.

The board knows what’s now at stake and wants me to have every advantage I can get – including a good night’s rest for my players on the road without the worries of matchday travel.

I’ve been quietly surprised that in all our travels this season – including to Sicily earlier this year for a Cup tie at Igea Virtus – that I haven’t had a whisper of trouble in terms of breaking curfew or any of the other silly things footballers are famous for doing.

They do seem to understand what’s at stake here – and for everyone under contract for next year, what’s at stake is first and foremost a 25 percent raise.

That’s the club policy – get promoted, get a salary bump. So now, when I ask for commitment the players have perhaps the ultimate personal reason to give me their all.

I’d rather they give all for the shirt, of course, but what motivates the modern player isn’t always what motivated the players of past years. I want results and I’m willing to accept much of what happens to get them, within reason.

I have my own reasons for winning, of course, and some of them have nothing to do with my job security. I have my own ambition and part of that ambition is about ready to return to her apartment across Padua’s downtown.

Friday, March 14
Today was media day, as the weekly cycle of the season drags on.

We are of course in a good part of our fixture list at the moment, where we’re playing weekly and those players who are playing well can count on full time between matches for recovery and fitness training. However, we are back in the Serie C Cup next month so it won’t last much longer.

I wouldn’t mind a few more matches, to be honest, even as the players like getting out on the park once a week. The media scrutiny – after last week, I might call it dissection – is getting pretty sharp every week and with the buildup to Monday’s match taking an extra day, I am already looking forward to getting out of town.

The paper in Cremona sent a reporter today to do an advance story on the co-league leaders, and I am rather embarrassed to say I got treated better by the opposing media than I did by my own.

I can’t for the life of me figure out why I have so much trouble. If it’s being American, that’s one thing – I haven’t heard it from the supporters, probably because we’ve been winning.

My difficulties can’t be due to results – there must be something else. I try not to spend too much time thinking about it, but Patty seems to have ideas, and I need to listen to her.

“There are people here who didn’t like you when you came here, don’t like you now and will never like you no matter what you do,” she said in response to my query over dinner.

“Got any more good news for me, babe?” I said, smiling as I tucked a forkful of gnocchi into my mouth.

“You can’t change it, so you may as well adjust to it,” she said. “I’ve seen what it’s doing to you, and it’s really time I said something about it. You come home at night and you obsess about how you’re being treated. Really, darling, you have to understand – you won’t win them all over, even though I know that’s what you want to do.”

I sighed. “I must be completely transparent,” I said, and she smiled softly.

“Hardly,” she said. “You’re a very complex man. You’ve tried very hard to be good to Emiliani, for example, and he’s spurned you because he wants people to read his column. You can’t control that and you ought to stop trying. Eventually, though, you’ll have to decide whether you want to keep fighting.”

Now I put down my fork. “Honey, you told me just the other day that you found my aggressiveness appealing.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I do,” she said. “But you also have to decide whether you want that attitude to carry you for the time you’re here. I love what you’re becoming – even more than I loved you before, which was a lot – but I need to know what I’m hitching my wagon to.”

I smiled at the euphemism and I knew she was right.

“Okay, that’s fair,” I said. “If you think I have a star you want to hitch that wagon to, that’s a fair question. What you’re seeing now is the kind of man I am when I’m approaching my best. Things are going well on the pitch right now but I’m good because I’ve got ammunition to fight my battle. There will be days when I don’t – and you remember the last time that happened.”

“I do,” she said. “I walked out on you.”

“You did,” I said, taken momentarily off guard by her candor. “I was empty.”

“Now you’re filling, and the time you’re spending with me agrees with you. I think we’re coming up on a time when we’ll need to make some decisions. What do you think?”

I nodded. “I’ve had those same thoughts,” I said. “We need to think this through. And the first thing I think is that it’s about time that I get you back to your place, in the interests of propriety.”

“People will talk,” she smiled.

“That doesn’t bother me,” I said. “What bothers me is making sure I do the right thing by you. Believe me, I won’t be caught out again.”

It can become difficult for managers to not take notice of the media's perception of them, but if you can take everything with a pinch of salt then progress can be made

Rob Ridgway is a lot of things. One of those things is a bit of an egotist. He's going to watch what the press says, and he isn't always going to react well.
___

Saturday, March 15
With the squad taking a half-day before traveling to Cremona tomorrow, I moved Patty back to her apartment this afternoon.

It’s been nearly a month since her accident, and with people watching our every move, I figured it was a good idea to get her back to her own place now that she is recovered enough to get out on her own.

She is also trying to find a job in Padua, which will be interesting. The supporters seem to tolerate me, but they also seem to genuinely like her. That’s not surprising to me – a beautiful, 5’9” redhead with a figure to die for is naturally going to be more popular than the local football manager.

So it was quite difficult to let her go today. As up and down as Patty and I have been since meeting, I do know this: I’m a lot better with her than I am without her. Somewhat ironically, I’m grateful to Kate for saving my relationship with Patty, but still at a bit of a loss as to why she did what she did.

For me it’s come down to this: I think Kate actually meant what she said when she told me she wants me to be happy. I could call Kate a lot of things, but not too many of them are negative and ‘liar’ is definitely not one of them.

So as I carried Patty’s suitcases back into her apartment, it was with a definite measure of sadness. I kept thinking that I’m going back to being alone yet again, and the harder I worked for Patty, the more it hurt my heart.

She noticed, and as I pulled her last suitcase onto her bed so she wouldn’t have to bend to lift it, she motioned me to her.

“You’re hurt,” she said. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“If you haven’t figured it out by now, you never will,” I said, trying to smile.

“I don’t want to go either,” she said. “But we need to do this. You know it as well as I do.”

“Yes, we do,” I said. “We have to be absolutely correct.”

“Look at the bright side. I’m not living in Venice anymore.”

“Thank goodness for small favors,” I replied. “I’m leaving tomorrow, I’m going to be a long way away from you, and I hope that distance accomplishes something.”

She slipped gracefully into my arms. “It will accomplish the next step on your road to where you want to go,” she said. “You’ve grown a lot since November, Rob. So have I. Now I can see what you need to grow and I’m going to do my best to give it to you. The better job I do of it, the more I’ll see of you – and that is what I want more than anything.”

I looked down at Patty and saw her through different eyes. As much as I love her, since November I haven’t really been able to fully trust either my own feelings for her or what she says are her feelings for me. But now as she looked at me, fighting to find the right words for her, she said them for me.

“I don’t want this separation to be a long one,” she said. “I want you to come back for me – as soon as you can. How does that sound?”

“It sounds like I have work to do,” I said. We kissed goodbye in her living room and I left for Cremona – with a renewed sense of purpose.

Hopefully that separation is a beginning of something good rather than the ending of another!