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Parma Calcio 1913 - An Italian Journey

Started on 17 March 2020 by tedbro20
Latest Reply on 26 April 2020 by deadzpool
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In 1999 a young Parma squad won the UEFA Cup which boasted one of the most exciting and young teams Italian football has seen in a long time. Starting with a young Buffon in goal, Lilian Thuram and Fabio Cannavaro in defence alongside the experience of Roberto Sensini who was the captain. Infront of the defence you then had Dino Baddio and Alain Boghossian. Down the wings were Diefo Fuser down the right and Paolo Vanoli with Jaun Sebastian Veron through the middle. Up top there was Hernan Crespo and Enrico Chiesa to bang in the goals.

Stefano Fiore, Fautino Asprilla and Abel Balbo also came off the bench as well in the final 20 minutes. Whats impressive about this is that every member of the squad who got game time in this final all made international appearances before they finished their career. Also what was impressive was that this was manager Alberto Malesani's first season in charge after taking over from former player Carlo Ancelotti.

Over the next few years the team was picked apart though before being declared insolvent in 2004. The club was reborn before being declared bankrupt in 2015. In July 2015 the club was reborn in its current reincarnation of Parma Calcio 1913 where it had to start again by joining the Serie D and working its way back up through the leagues. They got successful promotions and worked back to Serie A with back to back promotions. The hard work all starts now though as we try and get the team back to where they were 20 years ago ad its going to involve rebuilding the team and trying to stop the current Italian method of loads of loan players coming in. We will want to build a young and exciting team that the fans will want to come and see and hopefully take the league from Juventus.

The club are still playing at Stadio Ennio Tardini which has a capacity of 22,352. With the plan that we have in mind then we will hopefully be able to expand on this as we go and hopefully even build a new stadium.

Best of luck with this and welcome!

The Beginning

As I was introduced to all the staff I knew there were going to be a lot of hard decisions to make around who was going to keep their job and who was going to be let go. It was made even harder that when I was getting to know them all they were telling me all about their families which made what happened next even harder to do.

With wanting the club to get back to where it use to be then we had to make the decision that was best for the club and that was to pretty much release every current member of the coaching, scouting and medical teams as they just weren't up to the standard that I wanted to be working with. There were a few sob stories and some tears as I had to have those tough conversations but I remained strong and cut the ties there and then. The hard work was now on to bring in my people that would be vital in taking this club back to the top again so we moved quickly to bring in a lot of people who were out of jobs beating off a lot of competition as we bring in 22 new staff members.



One of the most important people I managed to bring to the club is our new Head of Youth Development Filippo Galli who has won everything there is to win in League football during his time as a player at AC Milan but he also spent just shy of 10 years there as their Head of Youth Development bringing through a long list of players so I am very excited to have him.



Next I had to look at the playing squad and the first thing I noticed was the number of loan players we had at the club. We currently have 12 in total with 7 of them joining in future transfers over the next 2 years. This is something I want to stop at the club and look to have almost all of my players at the club on a permanent deal.

A lot of our permanent players were also older as well which is something we need to sort as we want a nice mix of youth and experience. I did let w players leave the club to free up some wages and were coming into the final year of their deals and let another leave on loan as I couldn't get anybody to buy him.



Alves may of been able to do a job for us but he wanted to leave for a final pay day so I was happy to oblige to free up his £25k wage bill.

For players coming in I looked to youth straight away at 2 positions I wanted to secure with talent for going forward and we bring in 3 players with 1 going straight into the first team



Rober is a young Spanish player who has bags of potential and with a £1,000,000 release clause it was a no brainier. Amad Traore is another young right winger who we bag from Atalanta for a compensation fee of £775,000. He was brought to my attention by my new scouting network so its good to see its already working. He ha dual nationality of Italian and Ivory Coast so it will be interesting to see who he chooses down the line. Finally we needed a new AMC and Almada was interested in joining so it was a no brainier for somebody who has bags of potential and could really succeed at the club.




Preseason was a successful one as we win every single one of our friendlies which should stand us in good stead going into the season. It also helped that we didn't try and overhaul the squad so they were able to bond well together and there wasn't new players coming in and team leaders leaving the club.

Being happy with how training has been going and with the squad at the moment the board have set some expectations which should be easy enough to meet for us.



We are certainly better than being in the relegation places come the end of the season and we should be mid table comfortably.

August/September




ScottT Thanks

The Opening Games



I was confident of us hitting the ground running after preseason as we played our first competitive game in the Coppa Italia 3rd Qual. Rnd and we delivered as we run out well deserved winners to see us one round away from meeting expectations and we'll now face Friosinone in December.

The League then rolled around and I rallied the troops to go out and give their best and prove all the doubters wrong over the course of the season. We will not be going down without a fight. A trip to Torino was our first match and it didn't get off to a great start as we fell 1-0 behind in the 36th minute but luckily we got the equaliser 4 minutes later. In the 76th minute VAR came to our rescue and awarded us a penalty which Inglese scored to get us off to a winning start.

Next up was A.C Milan where we rushed to a 2-0 lead after 8 minutes thanks to two goals from Caprari. Ibrahaimovic then got two quick fire goals later in the first half befre Gagliolo was rulled onside by VAR in the final minute of the first half to ensure we lead going in at half time. Things went our way further when Bonaventura was sent off in the 58th minute for a horrendous two footed tackle. Kucka got the final goal of the game 3 minutes later taking advantage of the extra man.

We then ting a good set of results together before the final game of the month where we ran out 6-0 winners against Brescia who were suffering from a number of injuries but I don't want to take that away from my players as they played out their skins and out of the 6 goals scored we had 5 different scorers which Darmian getting the final goal of the game after the 63rd minute. Felt they should take their foot of the gas after that as we didn't want to totally embarrass them.

One thing I have been grateful for this month is the amount VAR has been in our favour giving us late penalties or chopping off goals throughout the game for off sides for the opposition. Long may it continue.

League Table



We are well above expectations but I don't expect it to last as there is a long way to go and a lot of tough games to play.

October



What a start!

October



With us sitting at the top of the table I reminded the team that there is still a long way to go but to enjoy their moment being able to say their at the top. Sadly though it all went a bit to their heads as their performances didn't continue. Against Sassuolo we were robbed by a late VAR decision that ruled a goal with 5 minutes to go from Inglese offside to leave us with a draw. Napoli were up next and this was actually a very good result walking away with a point. Genoa VAR came back to haunt us again as through it Genoa were awarded a penalty in the 3rd minute which was scored so we were on the back foot now. After half time Iacoponi scored a glancing header from a set piece to get us the point. Lazio were the final game and going in I wasn't confident and I was right as they just dominated the game and VAR again awarded them the penalty for their second goal. We did get a consolation goal though thanks to Cornelius who was only on the pitch for a matter of minutes before he grabbed the goal.

League Table



We're still looking healthy in the League after a poor month but lets hope its not the start of a free fall. We will continure to take it one game at a time

November



The games against Inter and Juve are not games I'm looking forward to at all at the moment but we'll see what happens.

Transfers

So I've been busy this month and I called Gervinho and Kucka into my office as they are both important players for the club but both will be 33 by the time the season ends so I advised that we will be cashing in on them while we can to improve the playing squad going forward. Kucka will be leaving for Beijing Guoan for £5.25 million and Gervinho will be leaving for Club Brugge for £10 million.

We now have 2 months to find replacements for them so fingers crossed.


ScottT Yeah it was a pleasant surprise and it could come to save me further on.
A bit of a downturn in form but I don't think that sort of early-season form was ever sustainable. A couple of tough games ahead mean the game against Leece is massively important.

Excellent business in regard to Gervinho and Kucka. That money can definitely be invested sensibly into some younger talent when the opportunity arises.

November



With 2 massive games this month it was important to remind the team that they were just to go out and try and enjoy the moment of playing teams like Inter and Juve and not to be too concerned if they lose.

First up though was Juventus and Ronaldo just ran rings about us and scored and excellent hat-trick before Iacoponi over hit a pass back to Sepe who had no chance of getting it. After a heavy defeat to Juventus it was important to show what we could do and with a change of formation we made sure there were 11 players behind the ball at nearly all times and we get very lucky to get away with a draw as VAR comes to our rescue and chopped a goal from Lukaku for being offside in the 80th minute.

The game against Lecce was important to get the win against the team sitting bottom of the league. We got off to a good start by being awarded a penalty which Inglese slots home in the 10th minute. It took a lot to break Leece down but we got the important 2nd goal through Gervinho in the 77th minute to secure us the 3 points.

League Table



December



Transfers

So I have been busy again off loading more players to enable us to bring in quality rather than quantity. First out the door was Gaston Brugman to KRC Genk for £3.1 million. Genk also came in for Vincent Laurini for £2.2 million. Simone Iacoponi is also leaving to join Spal for £1.6 million.

Incoming to replace Gervinho I have the pleasure of announcing that Antionio Marin will be joining the club for £10 million. He will hopefully go on to achieve great things at the club.

We still have £13 million left for a CB and CM so hopefully we can fill both those positions.


ScottT I no, thankfully there is still a long way to go as well. Thats 1 replacement down and now got two more to go.
A very useful point against Inter and three massively important points against Leece. Not bad! Marin is an excellent replacement for Gervinho.

December



We are still flying high above expectations in the European spots in the league at the moment so its important that we remain grounded and take it one game at a time and make sure the players don't get carried away.

First up was for the month was Cagliari who just couldn't handle us at home at all. Whats good is that even though Gervinho is leaving the club in January he is still giving his all as he got an excellent brace. In the cup we took a chance and rotated the squad a bit to play Frosinone and it paid off as we got a comfortable win to meet our expectations where we will be play A.C Milan in the first round. O

The Udinese result was a tough one to take s they are struggling at the bottom of the table and we had 2 goals chopped off for offside but ah well VAR has given us a lot of good results so it was bound to turn on us. In the game against Bologna we got off lucky here as Sepe got injured and we had to play the final 20 minutes of the match with Herani in goal as we had already used all 3 of our subs and he was brilliant.

League Table



January



Transfers

So this month I have made 2 transfers for the summer as I never realised until after I had accepted them. We have to young defenders coming in from Atalanta. Marco Varnier will be joining for £3.8 million and then Davide Bettalla joins for £9.75 million. Bettalla I was impressed with as he picked join us over Inter Milan. Both will be finishing their loan deals before joining where they will team up to more than likely becoming our starting Centre Backs.

Youth



Not a fantastic intake but it will interesting to see how the young Ukrainian turns out to be.


ScottT Yeah the Inter result was a great point for us. Yeah hoping he should develop well and if need be sell him for a hell of a profit.
Still sitting rather pretty in the table. Some good signings there and what's more impressive is the fact you pipped Inter to the signature of Bettella.

January



It was always going to be a tough month with games against Roma and A.C Milan in the league and Juventus in the Coppa Italia Quarter Final. We didn't get the month of to the best of starts losing to Sampdoria who we are a parent club for but we just didn't turn up at all for the first game back after the winter break. The game against Roma was always going to be a big ask as well and it didn't help that Antonio Marin got injured for 4 weeks as well.

Thankfully in the cup A.C Milan put out a weaker team and we took full advantage of them and progressed to the Quarter finals. The game against Torino was a needed win on the league as they would of overtaken us if we'd lost. There was a great end to the game with Kulusevski scoring a scorcher of a goal from 25 yards out in the 89th minute to win the game.

League Table



Its ridiculously close at the top of the table with only 1 point between 1st and 5th.

February



Transfers



With our new Centre Backs not joining until the summer it was important to bring in people who could not only play there but double up elsewhere across the back 4 so we bring in 3 young players who will look to develop at the club and leave at the end of the season.

We also managed to sign a new central midfielder in the form of Romario Baro who was transfer listed by Porto for £7.5 million. who can hopefully develop into a top class player at the club.




ScottT Yeah expect top half finish come the end of the season now. Think he knows that he'll get more game time here than Inter at the moment and still get a move there in the future if he impresses and the price is right.
Tough run of fixtures there. It was a shame for you to navigate your way past Milan only to draw Juventus in the Coppa Italia too. At least next month looks to be a more manageable task.

February



The month gets off to a great start with picking up a very important win against SPAL who is certainly a team we need to be beating in order to stay up this high in the table. The biggest win of the month though has got to be against Atalanta. We fell 1-0 behind after 18 minutes where Gomez took it past 2 of my defenders before sloting home. Caprari thwn got us back to 1-1 in the 29th minutes before Inglese scored in the second minute of added time to take us into half time 2-1 up. We came back out but were caught out after only 2 minutes Gomez scores another great goal to get it back to 2-2. I start shouting from the touchlines and it pays off with Kulusevski showing why Juventus invested in him when he made a bursting run from the right wing to put us ahead. He then got a second in the 82nd minute before Ramario Baro scores his first goal from the middle of the park.

The game against Fiorentina was a tough ask and they were the much better team as they beat us comfortably. Brescia were next up for us and just like the last time they lay down to us as we had 4 separate players score. It means in our 2 games we put 10 goals past them. Against Sassuolo we just didn't get going at all and were 2-0 down after 56 minutes before Almada pulling 1 back in the 76th minute.

League Table



March




ScottT We beat our expectations in the cup so happy with that and we've pulled it back a bit now as well with a decent month.
Can't rule out European football next season at the moment. Three points against Genoa will be crucial given expected losses against Napoli - albeit with them below you currently - and Lazio. Every point matters.

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