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A few months back I began a story revolving around the Maldini family, Paolo is obviously a well known ex-pro who has won all there is to win with his beloved AC Milan where he spent his entire playing career, son Christian, a upcoming 17 year old in the youth ranks at Milan was set to become the third generation of Maldini to pull on the famous red and black stripes after his grandfather Cesere in the fifties and sixties.
My career began well enough, going through two seasons with Serie B outfit Brescia, however I lost almost two months worth of games due to a runtime error, just after having secured Paolo's dream job as Milan manager. at the time I gave up as I no longer had the motivation to re-play all those matches, however after a while away from FM I had the urge to revive this career and have been making steady progress with both Maldini Senior and junior.
Paolo Maldini
Paolo Cesare Maldini (born 26 June 1968) is a former Italian footballer who played as a left or central defender, being adept with either foot although naturally right-footed. He spent all 24 seasons of his career at Serie A club Milan, before retiring at the age of 41 in 2009, becoming a symbol and a legend of the club. During that period, he won the Champions League five times, as well as seven Serie A titles, one Coppa Italia, five Supercoppa Italiana, five European Super Cups, two Intercontinental Cups. He played for 14 years for the Italian national team, making his debut in 1988 before retiring in 2002 with 126 caps, three European Championship participations and four World Cup participations. Although he did not win a tournament with the Italian National team, he reached the finals of the 1994 World Cup and Euro 2000, and the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup and Euro 1988.
Since hanging up his boots in 2009 Maldini studied for his coaching licences and on 2nd July 2013 was appointed to his first managerial post with Brescia Calcio where he earned praise for building a youthful, attacking side comprised mostly of domestic talent. Maldini twice guided Brescia to the Serie B play-off's after finishing sixth and fourth in 2014 and 2015, however both times they were unsuccessful.
Maldini decided to allow his contract with Brescia to expire following his sides play-off capitulation to Siena where the blues threw away a 3-1 away goals advantage to crash out 4-3 on aggregate. Maldini stated that with the club's stars being sold off to ease a worsening financial situation becoming more and more unstable he had little hope of reaching Serie A, a theory that was ultimately proved wrong as Brescia achieved promotion the following year under the guidance of Gianluca Atzori.
Following the expiry of his contract Maldini was quickly offered new work by clubs around Europe, despite these travel opportunities Maldini chose to stay in Italy and signed a two year deal with AS Roma who had barley escaped relegation to Serie B for the first time since 1951. Maldini quickly set about revitalising an aging and expensive squad, using much the same system he had at Brescia, however it was not instantly successful as Roma endured a tough start to the 2015/16 season, finding themselves once again hovering precariously above the relegation zone at the end of November 2015, things did however gradually turn around as the Giallarossi climbed the Serie A table to achieve a respectable seventh place finish, narrowly missing out on a Europa League spot.
In 2016/17 Roma surprised many as Maldini's youngsters achieved a stunning second place finish, twelve points behind champions Juventus but still well beyond any pre-season predictions and securing Champions League football for the first time is seven years in 2017/18.
Maldini lead his youngster to the last sixteen of the Champions League where they were eliminated by eventual winners Monaco, Roma also featured in the Copa Italia final that season where they were beaten on penalties my Milan but only managed a disappointing sixth place finish following a dramatic collapse in form.
2018/19 started badly for Roma, losing the Italian Super cup in their first game before managing only two wins from their opening eight Serie A games, causing the club to languish in the relegation zone and costing Maldini his job, the sack coming on the 21st of October 2018.
The 50 year old's growing reputation took a sharp hit during a disastrous four month spell at English side Everton where he managed just four wins from twelve league games, leading to the Toffees relegation from the English top flight for the first time in 64 years. Maldini left the Merseyside club following a 3-1 defeat to bottom side QPR, eventually opting to return to Italy with Fiorentina where he finished fourth in his first season, qualifying for the Champions League.
In May 2020 Maldini was selected to coach the Italian team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games.
Christian Maldini
21 year old Italian Christian Maldini has speant his entire professional career playing under the management of his father Paolo, intitally taken as a loan signing from parent club AC Milan to Brescia where he made 48 appearances, scoring one goal. Christian struggled early on due to his lack of exprience, however his father persisted with him and gradually the 17 year old becan to win some acclaim.
Christian would follow his father to AS Roma where his signing was met with ridicule by some who claimed he would never be good enough, Christian however after working closely with the likes of Maicon and Daniele DeRossi has proven himself a capable fullback, making 75 appeances for Roma, collecting three runners up medals in his four years with the club as well as being inducted into the seasonal best eleven in each season.
In January 2019 Christian again followed father Palolo, this time to England as he pulled on the blue shirt of Everton.
His stay in England proved brief as he returned to his fathers side in Italy as Paolo took over the reigns at Fiorentina where he spent three years with La Viola before being brought by Paolo again, this time at Ajax in Holland which proved a brief stop on the way to a return to AC Milan where Paolo took over in May 2021. Christian has made eighty appeances for the Rossonari this far, lifting Serie A twice as well as The Italian cup in 2023 and also being called up to the Italy squad for the first time where he has so far collected eight caps for his country.
Full Name: Christian Maldini
Date of Birth: 14/6/1996
Height: 6'1"
Position: Full Back
Place of Birth: Milan, Italy
Clubs Played For:
2013-15 Brescia 48 games (1 goal)
2015-19 Roma 75 (1)
2019 Everton 6 (0)
2019-20 Fiorentina 44 (0)
2020-21 Ajax 10 (0)
2021- A.C. Milan 61 (0)
International Career
Italy U23's 6 (1)
Italy 8 (0)
Honours
Serie A Winner 2022, 2023
Runner-up 2017
Copa Italia Winner 2023
Runner-up 2018, 2022
Italian Supercup Winner 2022
Johno
Goalkeepers
I have just sold Keylor Navas to Shaktar Donetsk for £2.6M, so I drafted in Marc Garcia on loan from Tottenham for the season to provide back up to number one shot stopper Jeronimo Rulli, the Argentine who signed last summer was a little shaky to start with due to his inability to communicate in Italian with his defence, however he is now bilingual and much improved for it. very much what you would call as sweeper keeper.
Bartolo Arcardio is only really in the squad in order to provide emergency cover, he was forced to make an unlikely start against AC Milan last season when both Rulli and Navas were away on International duty, he did well on his senior début and was only beaten once as we went down 1-0 at the San Siro.
Defenders
Pretty happy with my defence, Mehdi Benatia has been Serie A defender of the year for two years running now, Fernandes has been his usual partner, however young stars Tin Jedvaj and Ellio Capradossi are both knocking on the door for a starting place, I have shipped Capradossi off to Feyenoord for the season in order to get some top level experience, Alessio Romagnoli will have to make the most of his absence by staking his own claim for a place in my plans this season after having being out on loan for the last three years with Ajax, Anderlecht and Peresca.
Endrit Kurja is a new boy, some will question me spending £14M on the Chelsea youngster as his only senior appearances thus far have come on loan at Ipswich Town in the English Championship, however he was extensively scouted and I fully believe he will live up to the price tag.
Midfielders
I have an absolute galaxy stars to select from, I normally have two central midfielders and three advanced ones so I do need plenty of options in this department, Danielle DeRossi is being phased out now in favour of Radja Nainggolan who is warrior when it comes to getting stuck in and winning the ball back, he is more often than not alongside Fabio Bertoli who came with me from Brescia and has proved himself a bargain at just £800k.
Further up we have an ever changing trio of attack minded players, Bryan Christante cost a princely £34M from Milan two years ago, the 22 year old is a genius when he wants to be, some excellent playmaking performances saw him justify that fee.
Humam Tariq, Roman Bezus, Danielle DeSilva and Matteo Adamo are all talented youngsters who are each capable of picking apart any defence on their day.
Strikers
Tony Sanabria scored 19 in 30 apperances last term, giving him slight preference over German Max Kruse who netted 11. The arrival of Benjamin Schmidt from FC Basel last January has given me a headache after bagging 7 in 11, he looks a future world class star having just made his Germany debut at just 18 years old. Jelle Vossen's free transfer from Club Brugge further extends my fire power should I require to switch system.
George14brfc
Cymro
My Giallorossi currently sit third in Serie A with a game in hand, the title looks as if it is already disapeering over the horizon as Milan are running away with it, threatening to break Juve's streak of six consecutive championships, however we are on course for our pre-season objective of ensuring we take part in the Champions League again next season.
We got off to a bit of a false start, going four games without a win and taking a heavy beating from Real Madrid, before going on an eleven game unbeaten run with wins over several major rivals such as Napoli, Inter, Sampdoria and stadium sharing Lazio.
We've scraped through to the last sixteen in the Champions League, Madrid were simply unstoppable and in truth they could have been in double figures when they hammered us 6-2 at the Bernabau, poor Red Bull Salzberg were the group whipping boys, failing to pick up a single point. In the end a draw at the Emirates was enough to see us through in second place, that 0-0 was the first time we have failed to find the net this season which is testament to my four strikers Max Kruse, Tony Sanabria, Jelle Vossen and especially wonderkid Benjamin Schmitt who has been immense since I splashed £10M on him last summer.
Speaking of youngsters, my son Christian continues to develop as right-back, he is firmly first choice now with Serb Petr Goloubovic having made quite a few mistakes this year and nears his 100th career appearance, all of which have been under my guidance.
Admittedly his attributes arn't awe inspiting, however his consistant ratings do not lie.
As I mentioned earlier, I have now reached 101 Roma games, here's a quick overview of my career as a whole thus far.
I'm really enjoying Roma, so much so I have turned down the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Valencia and Lyon in order to stay and try to guide the club to their first Serie A crown since 2001.
Here's to the next 101!
Some really poor results there; We did reasonably well against the side we might have been expected to struggle against, however we were much too complacent against sides who were in the lower half of the table and were too often found lacking in those games.
In the Champions league we were knocked out in the last sixteen by the eventual champions Monaco, something of a suprise winner I must admit!
The highlight of what in the end was a anti-climatic season following our runners up medals in 2016/17 was undoubtedly the Italian cup final against Milan, beating the likes of Juventus over two legs in the semi's. Unfortunately we came up short in the big match despite being the better team throughout the game, we were unable to finish off the Champions and wound up losing 5-4 on penalties.
Christian had a good season, making 29 appearances and scoring one goal for an average rating of 6.96.
xeraphine
Plenty of news since my last update!
I am no longer manager of A.S. Roma, a disastrous start to the 2018/19 season brought about my dismissal from Stadio Olimpico, just two wins from eight Serie A games is no form for a side hoping to compete for a Champions League berth, that coupled with our disappointing collapse in the second half of last season were more than the board were willing to tolerate.
Defeat in the Italian cup was a downer right from the beginning, unlike the Copa Italia final in May we could not bemoan our luck against Milan this time, they were by far the better team and fully deserved the trophy. Europe was a bit more fruitful as we qualified comfortably for the group stage of the Europa League, however that wasn't enough to save my job.
I was out of work for two months before being offered a new job, it could of been a shorter length of time had a move to Sassuolo in Serie B intrested me more, Sassuolo were relegated last season but I don't have much interest in dropping down a division and eventually decided to go abroad for a while before eventually returning to have another crack at the Serie A title.
So where did I eventually end up?....
Yes, my career has spread to Merseyside, my aim is to take an flailing Everton side from the EPL relegation zone to something resemebeling the side they had in the early 2010's when they were pushing for Champions League football.
As with my previous jobs at Brescia and Roma I am going to have to overhaul a bloated and ageing side if I am to establish my own ideals at Goodison Park. As luck would have it I was appointed on the 2nd of January so the transfer window has just opened to allow me to start making changes immediatly, as you can see I have already begun by raiding my old club for Radja Nainggolan and obviously Christian will be joining me in England. young centre backs Niklaus Nielson and Mario Jurina also rejoin me on loan, they will add pace to the back line which Phil Jagielka and Dawson are severley lacking in.
The arrivals of Brazilian playmaker Nathan, French ball winner Maxime Gonalons and Ajax frontman Richairo Zivkovic also add some continental quality to our squad.
I have started reasonably well, of course it is not easy to completely revamp a team's playing style whilst bringing in a whole host of new players and to top it all not speak the same language as most of the players, so this is defiantly a long term project.
Dan
Luck didn't materialise I'm afraid mate;
I have left Everton by mutual consent after I was unable to bring about a revival in the Toffee's fortunes, they still languish in the Premier League relegation zone with things looking very bleak on Merseyside.
The 3-1 defeat to QPR sparked an angry reaction from the board who demanded an explanation, me blaming the players was not what they wanted to hear apparently! they told me to resign or be sacked. I honestly can't say I was too upset to leave Goodison after just four months in charge, it has been a horrible spell and I won't be staying in England, most likely I'll wait for the summer and return to Italy where both the Juventus and Inter jobs are rumoured to be available with Antonio Conte and Walter Materazzi both out of contract and perhaps ready for new challenges.
After my highly forgettable spell with Everton, who for those of you wondering were eventually relegated (although the returning Roberto Martinez is the one who takes the blot on his managerial CV) it was important for me to choose the right job, least my career stall any more.
I think Fiorentina will be a good choice, a big club with a proud history, Champions League football next season by the grace of their fourth place finish in Serie A this term and an already capable squad.
I'm looking forward to facing Roma and Brescia again next season (who finished 8th and 16th respectively) I just hope things go better than at Everton!
I have spent the summer revamping my Viola team with no fewer than twelve new faces who I hope will be able to better last seasons fourth place finish in Serie A as well as being competitive in the Champions League and the Copa Italia.
Transfers In
Signed on loan from Ajax with the option to buy, Branco is a good deep lying playmaker sort who will keep things ticking over in the middle of the park.
Another exciting central midfielder, although Pedro is more attack minded than Van Den Boomen, a top quality distributor who should be able to slice defences in two with his passing abilities.
Rated five stars by my chief scout, Franco looks a real prospect, already an Italian youth international, I think another season in Serie B with Ternana will do him good before he rejoins us next season in order to test his nerve in Serie A.
The left winger has shone in the last couple of years whilst at Verona, his reward was an £8.25M move to us, can he handle the pressure?
Shouldn't be a stranger to anyone who has followed this story over the past few months. My boy once again links up with me, although Everton were reluctant to sell just six months after he joined the Toffee's, he cost me £3M this time around, still he's a reliable enough full back who has improved each season so he should vindicate that fee.
Another Everton recruit, pretty much the one shining light of my god awful spell at the club, a good hard working box-to-box midfielder who will proberly become an integral part of the team once he learns Italian, perhaps he can even push for a place in the England squad now he will be showcasing his talents in the Champions League.
Yet another central midfielder, Adrien joins from Monaco for just under £6M, a good reader of the game who likes to sit deep and dictate the play.
This deal was actually signed by by predecessor Alberto Malesani before his retirement, still he looks like a reasonable striker who should be a viable rotation option.
Ok, that's all the new boys, there is also quite an extensive outgoing list;
I have gotten of to a fantastic start with Fiorentina, four wins from four competitive games and unbeaten throughout pre-season;
Pre-season results
Two good solid dispay's against Russian outfit Krasnodar saw us ease into the group stages of the Champions League where we face a stern test;
The toughest game, the trip to Old Trafford is up first, although I fancy us to beat CSKA and Dinamo Zagreb to the second qualifying spot.
I was delighted that the first goal of the season came from Christian on his debut! It was a bit of a special goal too, coming from a throw in routine he picked up the ball thirty yards out and belted it in with just one touch, I have no idea why he was even in that sort of position as he is supposed to stay back at all set-plays but I'm glad he was in this case, he also has two assists already this season.
The league table doesn't mean anything at this stage, but it is of course nice to say we are top at the moment!
So far I have mostly utilised 4-5-1, which is a real departure from my normal narrow 4-2-3-1 which I have implemented in all my previous posts, I have to say that having widemen has really given my normal tactics an extra dimension which has made me wonder if I have been too rigid in my tactical mentality previously, when I joined Roma I immediately sold off all the wingers in order to implement the aforementioned 4-2-3-1 which had proved successful for me at Brescia, perhaps I was hasty.
We seem to be becoming draw specialists at the moment with four of this months five games culminating in us having to share a point. Whilst some may see this a failure to win, we can at least say we are as yet unbeaten in all competitions this season which is a decent achievement as we enter October.
Being held by the likes of Bolonga and Novara was somewhat frustrating, Novara have become somewhat of a bogey side for me personally, I've only won once against them in nine attempts now with Brescia, Roma and now Fiorentina...Next time it's personal.
Talking of my former employers, beating Roma at Stadio Olimpico was a bitter-sweet feeling, I harbour no ill feelings towards the club, but it's always nice to show your ex's what their missing! Unfortunately that defeat cost Cesare Prandelli his job, Roberto Di Matteo has now succeeded him.
In the Champions League got off to a very reasonable start, holding Manchester United at Old Trafford, Urby gave us the lead after eighteen minutes, however two quick-fire goals from Domenico Berrnardi and Juan Mata just after the hour mark saw us promptly put on the back foot and looking as if we were heading for defeat, however up-stepped American substitute Brad Herrick who broke away from the United defence to rescue a point in the 88th minute, the 21 year old Illinois man was making his first appearance after retuning from an injury picked up at the tail end of last season so it was great he got back to scoring form immediately.
We're still hanging around the upper echelons of the table, although we do need to start turnign our attractive brand of football into victories rather than draws, October sees us face the likes of Juventus, Napoli and Sampdoria so this would be the ideal time in which to do so!
CSKA won in Zagreb whilst we drew in Manchester, so they top the group after the first round of games, next we welcome Dinamo to Florence in a game we will be expected to win, you can never afford any complacency at this level though.
Christian
Is currently on the treatment table after hobbling off with an ankle injury late in the Roma game, he started all three previous games this month, making some solid performances.
George14brfc
October proved a fine month for my Viola, we're currently riding the wave of a four game winning streak in Serie A as well as being on course for qualification in the Champions league.
We really should have of beaten Dinamo Zagreb, we had been expected to win, however we just couldn't get the damn ball in the back of the net, a point isn't the end of the world of course but it does reduce our margin for error in the remaining games if we are serious about reaching the last sixteen. Another blow followed as we allowed Juventus to come back from a goal down to win 2-1, our first defeat of the campaign, however three consecutive Serie A victories over Napoli, Sampdoria and Palermo have ensured we stay within the throng of title chasers, it wouldn't do to get cut adrift even at this early stage considering the distance between Milan and everybody else in the last couple of years.
Beating CSKA has improved our claim to a place in the knockout stages of the Champions League, next up we welcome Manchester United to Stadio Arteimo Franchi, a point will be a decent result for us, provided we can defeat CSKA and Dinamo of course.
In other news; I have concluded deals for two potential future stars who will be joining us this winter;
Swedish under-21 captain Gustav comes highly recommended by my scouting staff, He will have to prove himself of course but he can expect a chance in the first team before the end of the season, he could become a real talent.
Ramazani has already made 90 appearances for Sepahan in his native Iran, scoring 55 times, as well as having earned 24 caps and three for his country. My plan is to immediately loan him to a Serie B side to help acclimatise to Italian life and hopefully pick up the language before he returns next season.
Christian
Was injured for much of the month, he returned against Sampdoria from the bench before staring against Palermo, earning a 7.4 rating.
A tough month for us threw up some bumps in the road, especially for our Champions League hopes despite a credible draw with Manchester United;
Drawing with Parma was a poor result, we should be putting the likes of them to the sword if we are truly looking to break into the elite group of teams in the division, a win over Atalanta was ok, however the big game this month was the visit of Udinese, which up until the 82nd minute was a drab affair, unfortunately Nadir Minnotti ruined that what would have been a decent point.
In the Champions League the loss to CSKA ruined our chances of qualification, at least in my mind, I hadn't expected such a strong performance against Man Utd, to our detriment it was again a late goal that cost us dearly, Adnan Januzaj bending in a free kick to cancel out Brad Herrick's opener. we now need United to lose at home to already qualified CSKA to stand a chance, not something I consider particularly likely but you never know.
Christian
Started each game this month, picking up average ratings in each, although he did make the mistake that cost us CSKA.
We finished 2019 with some good results, sandwiched between two crap ones;
Losing to Lazio is perhaps forgiveable, however going down to Catania is just not acceptable for what I expect from my team, Catania's second came late on as we threw everything at them, however we had been wasteful throughout.
Beating Milan was a great moment, as was getting one over on a former employer in the shape of Brescia, I bear no ill will to Brescia, I enjoyed managing them, however it's always good to win against your old club.
We've slid down a place in the table, I'm not too concerned though, we're still very much in the hunt for the top four places, a couple of wins and we'll be right back up there.
Unfortunatly we're out of the Champions League, we needed United to lose to CSKA which didn't happen, but it proved irrelivent as we failed to bear Dinamo anyway. We now transfer to the Europa League instead where we face French outfit Lorient;
Christian
Is it a coincidence that the two games Christian missed were both lost? perhaps but my lad once again proved what a solid full back he is, still not much getting forward but a really difficult defender to get round.
Johno
We began adjusting to life in the 20's in good form on the field as well as off it with our accountant a very busy man this month;
Players Out
Almost £80M in the January window is not bad! Herrick is a great player on his day, unfortunately he has too few days, at least since I have been manager here, I recall him scoring a few against me when I was at Roma, however I have just not managed to get him firing consistently since taking over here, so I was happy to take Chelsea's £30M. Kondogbia is another story however, he was an important part of my team, though £35M was too much to say no to.
I have reinvested a portion of that money to fill the gaps left by these departures and streghen the squad;
The sixteen year old was given a five star rating by three of my scouts (all of whom have 18+ for judging potential) so I'm very excited to see his progress over the coming years, not exactly a steal at £12M but he may prove well worth that outlay.
A proven Serie A goalscorer with Atalanta, was runner up in the golden boot race last year and third place the previous season, should serve as a replacement for Herrick in the next couple of years.
My marquee signing this winter, It took £23M to prise him away from Inter, can he fulfil his potential with us? I certainlly can see him going on to big things, ambitions of being selected for Italy.
Loan signing from Marseille to cover the right back position following the departure of Serge Aurier to Liverpool.
As I said we have got the new year off to a flying start, unbeaten in Serie A this month and back into the top four;
The Novara result was very pleasing, all the goalscorers were my new signings, even 16 year old Castel managed to get in there late on for a scoring debut.
Going out the Copa Italia was gutting though as it represented our best chance of lifting a trophy this season, the game went all the way to extra time before Palermo nicked it late on to dump us out.
Still, despite that cup exit there is still plenty of reasons to smile, February will be an exciting time with games against Juventus, Inter, Roma and Sampdoria in the league, as well as our Europa League tie with Lorient, it will be a crucial month for our season.
Christian
Played every game this month, once again he achieved solid ratings in each game for his defensive displays.
Thanks mate, yeah Christian's almost reached the 150 league games milestone now;
This leap year proved to be leap too far in terms of our European adventure as we were dumped out of the Europa League unceremoniously by Lorient at the first hurdle. Things are looking rosier back home however as we continue to look good in the league and are now six points clear in fourth as we look to ensure that Champions League football again graces the beautiful city of Florence next season.
Beating Roma is always sweet, especially when it comes in the 88th minute with one of your youth players! the brilliantly (and slightly racisitly) named Pablo Pasta finding himself with enough space to dispatch the ball into the top corner of Viviano's net to grab a deserved three points against my old bosses.
Things didn't go quite so well at Inter though as we succumbed to our first Serie A defeat since before Christmas, a mistake by goalkeeper Neto gave Inter the lead before the secured the result late on through Tomaz Martinez. We bounced back with a credible draw with Juventus, although it could of and perhaps should have been more as the Old Lady of Turin were down to ten men for most of the second half, still I'll take the point.
We were a real joke against Lorient, I was guilty of underestimating the French side, I fielded a heavily changed team with most of my key players rested, it proved a complete disaster as they tore my inexperienced team to pieces, all but eliminating us by half time.
We bounced back with a win over Napoli before restoring some pride against Lorient by going to France and winning, however we of course still went out 5-3.
I have one new signing;
Signed from Machester City on loan for the rest of the season, Stephane is a wonderkid with real potential, he's already bagged a couple for us. I felt I needed to freshen up the attack following Herrick's departure, Mario Gomez hasn't been on form and Zaza hasn't produced the kind of tally that he did at Atalanta so far.
Not long left of the campaign now, here's my remaining games;
The aim is just to finish as high as possible, It would take one hell of a run to get back into title contention, however just finishing in the top three to avoid the qualifying rounds of the Champions League would be great.
Christian
Missed just the one game this month, yes the 4-1 hammering by Lorient, which really speaks volumes for how important he is becoming to the defence doesn't it?
A concerning month for me as our form took a dramatic downward spiral, we suffered consecutive defeats for the first time under my management, in fact three straight defeats, a massive disappointment for me with my 300th game in management rapidly approaching.
Late drama in both the Atalanta and Udinese game kept us on course for our objective of Champions League football next season, although the race looks as if it will be much tighter than it should otherwise have been.
We have too tough game with Lazio and Milan before our run in concludes with Torino, Catania, Brescia and Livorno. The point with Udinese was quite pleasing as they look to be the Champions, the first team to win Serie A from outside Milan, Turin and Rome for 29 years when Sampdoria beat Milan to the crown. Nice to see somebody other than the traditional powers in Italy to upset the applecart.
In other news, I was tempted by the Milan job coming up this month, however I took too long deciding upon whether I should apply and the job was given to Pep Guardiola. There is another job that I'm most defiantly interested in, the Italian U23 coach will be selected soon as the Tokyo 2020 Olympics approach, I would love the chance to guide my country to a gold medal.
Christian
Played each game again, he along with the rest of the defence won little acclaim against Palermo and Parma.
Mission accomplished! Champions League footy will again be returning to Stadio Artimo Franchi next season as we pipped Inter to fourth on the final day following a pretty good final couple of months;
I'm absolutely gutted for Udinese, they had been top almost the entire season but utterly disintegrated under the pressure in the final straight, allowing Milan to nick it.
As for our own season, we finish fourth for the second season running, I'm fairly pleased with the end result, there was a few bumps in the road, I would of liked a better run in Europe and to have got past the first round in the Copa Italia, however this was my first season with the Viola and I'm looking forward to having a good clear out of players I don't think help our cause much this summer and hopefully bring in a few fresh faces who are prepared to take us a step further than merely qualifying for Europe to actually competing for silverware.
I have some exciting news regarding my application to lead Italy at the Olympics this summer;
Really looking forward to the tournament, it's nice that the job is only for the duration of the competition so it won't interfere with my day job at Fiorentina but provides a great chance to finally win something after having collected three runners up medals in my career so far.
Here's the groups;
I've arranged warm up games with Thailand, Costa Rica and Tunisia in order to prepare us, I'm confident of getting through the group stage though. I've appointed my former Roma captain Valario Di Cesare as my assistant, he's a coach in my Fiorentina back room currently so I saw him as the ideal man for the job, my former Brescia goalkeeper Michelle Arcari will also be my keeper coach for Italy as he is for the Viola.
Also, in more personal news, the 3-2 win over Catania was my 300th game in management;
Christian
Can be proud of his first season in the purple shirt, he made 31 appearances in Serie A for us with an average rating of 6.90, he also scored the very first goal of the season when he rifled home early on against Krasnador a Champions League qualifier. Can he expect a seat on the plane heading to Tokyo this summer?
willz121
My final 18 man squad;
As you can see Christian made my selection (as if there was any doubt he would)
We begin the Olympics against Mexico, a potentially tricky tie where Christian and the rest of the defence will need to be on their toes to deal the the North American's pace.
I also have lots of Fiorentina news but I will leave that until after the Olympics to save confusion.
Thanks mate, keep reading!
The Olympics were a unmitigated car-crash for Italy as my hapless team failed to win a single game, going out in the group stage with barely a whimper;
Disappointment doesn't begin to cover my feelings, I had hoped this would be my time to finally get some silverware as a manager, an Olympic medal is something I never realised even as a player so to see such limp performances throughout this competition was gut-wrenching. I immediately resigned my position and go back to Fiorentina with my tail between my legs. My hopes of some day managing the full national team may have taken a serious blow this summer.
Christian played well enough at right back without winning any particular acclaim, more than can be said about several of his team mates.
George14brfc
Thanks bud.
Summer 2020
I'm glad to be back in Italy and endeavouring to forget all about my doomed adventure in the far East. (It may take some time!)
I'll admit with the Olympic sideshow this summer I have not dedicated as much time as I ought to La Viola, my assistant manager Alesandro Del Piero has handled most of the pre-season games whilst I managed our transfer wheeling and dealing from the Italy camp.
Our bank manager probably has a blood vendetta against me now as my spending over the course of my year in charge is now almost £160M, although I have recouped £105M of that in player sales.
So without further delay lets meet the new lads;
It took £22M in order to convince my former club Roma to part with this wonderkid, Gio accompanied me to Tokyo where he scored twice against South Korea in our final game. Looks a absolute demon up front and once he finds his feet he should be scoring for fun.
Now officially the most expensive Serie A transfer in history, at £50M (£20M up front and £30M over 36 months) nobody can say that Prestia was a steal, however he was voted Serie A defender of the year last season and was runner up the year previously with Udinese, we beat off the likes of Manchester United, PSG and Dortmund to land the 26 year old who will be the rock upon which I build my castle in the coming years.
Not a new face but a welcome return, the Dutchman spent last season on loan with us, he was a little bit shaky to begin with whilst he bridged the language gap, however once he could effectively communicate with his team mates he became a important part of the team, I was only too happy to pay his £6.5M release clause to bring him from Ajax permanently.
We can also welcome back French youngster Stephane Fournier for another season on loan at the club, he joined on deadline day from Manchester City last January as cover for Simone Zaza, however Stephane can now expect to be first choice after some very impressive displays in pre-season.
Outgoing are some big names, Mario Gomez's release I think was the right call, he just didn't cut it in front of goal last term, he decided to retire following leaving the club.
So, here's my squad as a whole;
So here's our results from our friendly schedule, all credit goes to ADP for these though.
Aside from a bit of a drubbing from Man City it was a pleasing summer, I'm looking forward to the new season with optimism, I'm targeting 3rd or above to avoid the qualifying round of the Champions League next season. I would like to do better in Copa Italia this year, we fell at the first hurdle last time and it really is about time I got my hands on some bloody silverware!
Our European campaign will begin in Ukraine as we take on Dynamo Kiev in the play-off round for a place in the Champions League Group stage, I'm aiming to reach the knockouts this time around after failing to make it out of our group in 2019/20.
Christian
More of the same from Christian will be good enough, he's come a long way in the last few years, steadily improving season by season with good solid defending, he'll never be much of a force to be reckoned with in terms of his attacking qualities but he does everything I require from a full back and does it well. If you compare his stats from when he first joined me at Brescia seven years ago you can see just how much he's improved;
2013
2020