Extract From ‘Callum Danks: The San Marino Story’
Chapter 6
After my dramatic resignation from Wilkinson Holdings I found myself at a loose end with no real direction in my career. The only thing I found myself doing was help coach the local Sunday League team and was pondering my next step whilst on holiday in San Marino in 2016, me and my wife visited the Stadio Olympico, as an avid football fan, I’d earmarked this as somewhere to visit for a laugh, and went round to the office to see if we could go inside. I saw on the noticeboard they were advertising for a coach, and it immediately piqued my interest, and by the end of the holiday I had applied. I got a phone call the Sunday after I got home and I couldn’t believe the news, they wanted me to go out there and do a training session, even better, they needed a coach for San Marino Calcio and the national team. I went out and I got the job, changing my life forever.
I had a great few years coaching the boys, with Franco Varella really helping me hone my skills, meaning it was a shock when Calcio dissolved and formed a new club before the 19/20 season, alongside Franco being sacked. It was a tough job, and Franco didn’t do that badly considering the expectations, nevertheless, there were two vacancies, and my name was being thrown in the mix. I was unsure at first, and merely wanted to consolidate my job as a coach but when Marussia Giannini, the chairman of the newly formed Cattolica Calcio San Marino approached me and said they wanted me as manager, my heart leapt. I instantly agreed, having fallen in love with the small country, and wanted to do the country proud at the high standard of football that Serie D was.
It was on the 7th June that Franco was sacked, just after our 5-0 defeat against Scotland, and the speculation was there about me getting the job just the day after, as on the same day Franco had got sacked I had signed my first contract as a manager. There were no obvious choices for the role, as with me being the only coach remotely interested in managing, and there being no manager form Calcio to sign, I suddenly became a front runner for the job. I won’t bore you with the negotiations but, on the 10th June, the day of our game against Kazakhstan, I got the job.
It was a hectic first day, having to tell the team my plan over video-link to their dressing room in Nursultan, with Google Translate reading out my tactical instructions (I hadn’t really tried to learn much Italian before then, generally working as a tactical coach for Franco who spoke English). I do remember it well however and, watching from my apartment back in San Marino, saw the boys battle to a valiant 1-0 defeat. However that would be one of the best results in that first season in charge, one that would be so different to the future World Cup glory that awaited me.
Authors Note: I have so far played one season of this save, and will not be finishing writing this (if I don’t get lazy) until I win the World Cup and complete the challenge. I will provide screenshots when I actually have a season’s worth of games to talk about, which I will in the next extract from ‘my autobiography’.
Chapter 6
After my dramatic resignation from Wilkinson Holdings I found myself at a loose end with no real direction in my career. The only thing I found myself doing was help coach the local Sunday League team and was pondering my next step whilst on holiday in San Marino in 2016, me and my wife visited the Stadio Olympico, as an avid football fan, I’d earmarked this as somewhere to visit for a laugh, and went round to the office to see if we could go inside. I saw on the noticeboard they were advertising for a coach, and it immediately piqued my interest, and by the end of the holiday I had applied. I got a phone call the Sunday after I got home and I couldn’t believe the news, they wanted me to go out there and do a training session, even better, they needed a coach for San Marino Calcio and the national team. I went out and I got the job, changing my life forever.
I had a great few years coaching the boys, with Franco Varella really helping me hone my skills, meaning it was a shock when Calcio dissolved and formed a new club before the 19/20 season, alongside Franco being sacked. It was a tough job, and Franco didn’t do that badly considering the expectations, nevertheless, there were two vacancies, and my name was being thrown in the mix. I was unsure at first, and merely wanted to consolidate my job as a coach but when Marussia Giannini, the chairman of the newly formed Cattolica Calcio San Marino approached me and said they wanted me as manager, my heart leapt. I instantly agreed, having fallen in love with the small country, and wanted to do the country proud at the high standard of football that Serie D was.
It was on the 7th June that Franco was sacked, just after our 5-0 defeat against Scotland, and the speculation was there about me getting the job just the day after, as on the same day Franco had got sacked I had signed my first contract as a manager. There were no obvious choices for the role, as with me being the only coach remotely interested in managing, and there being no manager form Calcio to sign, I suddenly became a front runner for the job. I won’t bore you with the negotiations but, on the 10th June, the day of our game against Kazakhstan, I got the job.
It was a hectic first day, having to tell the team my plan over video-link to their dressing room in Nursultan, with Google Translate reading out my tactical instructions (I hadn’t really tried to learn much Italian before then, generally working as a tactical coach for Franco who spoke English). I do remember it well however and, watching from my apartment back in San Marino, saw the boys battle to a valiant 1-0 defeat. However that would be one of the best results in that first season in charge, one that would be so different to the future World Cup glory that awaited me.
Authors Note: I have so far played one season of this save, and will not be finishing writing this (if I don’t get lazy) until I win the World Cup and complete the challenge. I will provide screenshots when I actually have a season’s worth of games to talk about, which I will in the next extract from ‘my autobiography’.
