Welcome back to Naples – and to the fourth season of my Championship Manager 3 series!
Despite a shaky end to the 2000/2001 season, Napoli secured a top-six finish, which means we have some European football to look forward to this time around! Can we now emulate the 1989 team of Maradona, Careca and Ferrara by bringing the UEFA Cup to the San Paolo?
Of course, there’s a long way to go until we can even dream of reaching another Final. In today’s chapter, we’ll look at my summer transfer business, and then we’ll get the new season underway.
SUMMER TRANSFERS
After three years, my big Neapolitan project is in full swing. We have successfully established ourselves back in Serie A and will be playing in the UEFA Cup in the 2001/2002 season… but now the bar has been set even higher.
We’ve spent a fair bit of money since returning to the top flight, and the board now want to see a return on that investment. While I’m still giving myself another three years to try and win the scudetto, Napoli president Corrado Ferlaino has made his ambitions clear. He wants success and he wants it NOW.
I don’t think we can sustain a title challenge, especially not with Fabio Capello’s Roma looking imperious as ever as they chase a three-peat. But last season’s run to the Coppa Italia Semi Finals makes me believe we can go all the way in that competition this time. I also fancy our chances of going deep into the UEFA Cup, especially after all the transfer business we’ve done…
TRANSFERS OUT
| DATE | PLAYER | NEW CLUB | FEE |
| 11 June | Emanuele Pesaresi | Fiorentina | Bosman |
| 16 June | Giacomo Banchelli | Genoa | £350k |
| 16 June | Luca Mondini | Juventus | £300k |
| 18 June | Massimiliano Esposito | Padova | £150k |
| 1 July | Angelo Paradiso | Zwolle | Free |
| 1 July | De Paula Gerson | Rio de Janeiro | Free |
| 1 July | Luca Altomare | Perugia | Free |
| 1 July | Amadeo Carboni | Released | |
| 10 August | Claudio Bellucci | Torino | £8.75m |
| 16 August | Cosimo Sarli | Battipagliese | Loan (Season) |
Now there’s a surprise – we’ve actually recouped some transfer funds this summer!
Yes, we finally got rid of the last of our dead wood, either through selling them on the cheap or just cancelling their contracts. Giacomo Banchelli left after scoring ONE goal for Napoli in three seasons… though to be fair, that was the goal which sealed our promotion from Serie B.
I also said a more reluctant farewell to Claudio Bellucci. Yes, he got 12 goals last season, but he was in the final year of his contract, so I decided now was the time to cash in on a striker who had probably peaked. I’m just thankful Claudio decided to sign for Torino, rather than join up with Nicola Ventola at our bogey team Bologna.
TRANSFERS IN
| DATE | PLAYER | LAST CLUB | FEE |
| 24 June | Filippo Inzaghi | Juventus | £4.2m |
| 25 June | Aitor Larrazábal | Athletic Bilbao | £3.3m |
| 1 July | Pierre Laigle | Bordeaux | £5.25m |
| 16 July | Diego Placente | River | Bosman |
Even before Bellucci’s sale, I had been given £30million to spend on new players – and I spent £12.75million on it.
That would have been a lot more had I managed to snare my top transfer target. Patrick Kluivert had asked to leave Fiorentina, and as far as I was concerned, he was THE complete striker – very fast, very powerful, and incredibly lethal in front of goal.
Unfortunately, Kluivert wanted £30,000 per week, and our wage budget didn’t stretch that far. So imagine my utter delight when, just two weeks later, he agreed to join Rangers for £17,000 per week instead!
After missing out on Kluivert, my attempts to bring in another elite striker were rather more successful. Though Juventus had neglected him in recent years, Filippo Inzaghi was still an incredible goalgetter with exceptional off-the-ball movement and plenty of pace to burn. Best of all, Juve were happy to let us have him for just £4.2million!
Pippo wasn’t my most expensive signing of the summer – that was Pierre Laigle. The energetic defensive midfielder has been on my shortlist for a few years later, and after some intense negotiations, we finally agreed a £5.25million fee with Bordeaux. Just… er, try to ignore his pre-season match ratings.
Aitor Larrazábal is another experienced addition to the squad. The jet-heeled set-piece specialist wanted a new challenge after over a decade with Athletic Bilbao, and I hope he can be the quality attacking left-back this team has sorely lacked. Unfortunately, he would miss the early stages of the season due to an ankle injury.
Meanwhile, Diego Placente comes in on a free transfer from River Plate. The 24-year-old Argentine can play at left-back too, but I’m certain he will flourish at centre-half – his Jumping, Marking, Positioning and Tackling are all 16+.
While I was at it, I signed a bunch of teenage regens from across Europe, in the hope that I can develop them during my final few years at Napoli. The picks of the bunch were the Haupt brothers from Germany. 18-year-old Daniel already looks like a solid centre-back (if a little slow), while 17-year-old Marco has good potential as a target forward.
SQUAD REPORT
Now you’ve met the new boys, here’s how the Napoli squad is shaping up now. I now feel like we’ve got at least two quality players in each position – and we’re going to need that extra depth in Europe this season.
After an erratic first season at the San Paolo, I hope Sebastien Frey will come good soon. The French goalkeeper’s agility and positioning are top-notch, but his reflexes will need to improve if he is to keep Giuseppe Taglialatela on the bench.
Frey and Taglialatela both have very high Influence, and so are strong contenders to take the captaincy from Giovanni Lopez. G-Lo is unlikely to be a regular starter this season, with the powerful and consistent Gaetano De Rosa expected to partner new boy Placente in most games.
Francesco Coco hasn’t popped in too many high match ratings either, so the quick left-back can expect to come under pressure from Larrazábal. Daniel Daino has already played over 100 matches for Napoli at right-back and is steadily turning into a physical beast.
Midfield destroyer Fabio Rossitto is still clinging onto a first-team place, but the somewhat injury-prone Emiliano Bigica may struggle for games if Laigle hits the ground running. I certainly expect to see a lot more by way of creativity from Bulgarian youngster Stilian Petrov, whose magic moments have been few and far between.
I hope a change of numbers will bring a change of fortunes for our star widemen Boudewijn Zenden and Keith Gillespie – neither of whom have lived up to expectations. Mind you, Gillespie provided his team-mates with SEVEN assists in pre-season, so perhaps the Ulsterman has finally adapted to the Italian game?
If Bolo or Keith continue to struggle, we do at least have the rejuvenated duo Michel and Marco Carparelli waiting in the wings… so to speak. Roberto Goretti has now been dropped to the reserves, but I’m keeping the door open for him to return if he knuckles down.
Gabriel Bordi is now up to 55 goals in three seasons, and he has FINALLY broken into the Argentina team this summer. Though he has lost a little bit of his pace and power, ‘El Tanque’ can still destroy defences with his 20 Shooting. And perhaps teaming up with Inzaghi will take his came up to a new level?
Teenager Kabba Samura has taken great strides in his development and is now ready for more regular gametime. Target man Roberto Murgita is entering his final year at Napoli, while Swede Patrik Fredholm is struggling for confidence after a poor 2000/2001 campaign.
Like an English Claudio Ranieri, I’ve been tinkering a bit too regularly of late – so it’s time to pick a tactic and stick with it. I feel most confident when we’re using the 4-4-2, with the wingers bombing up and down the pitch to help out our attackers.
Of course, I still need a Plan B. The 3-4-1-2 that I trialled late last term got us some steady performances at the back, though it hasn’t created as many goals as I hoped it would.
AUGUST 2001
With major honours in our sights, I wanted to get our pre-season right – so we played SEVEN warm-up matches. The first of them was away to local Serie C2 side Benevento. Even with Bordi and Inzaghi on the bench, we were FAR too strong for the fourth-tier minnows, going 5-0 up by half-time.
And we were 5-0 up at full-time as well. Of course.
Next up was a much stiffer test against Tottenham. Even though Frey played like a sack of spuds and conceded two soft Spurs goals (both from CM icon Kevin Rapley, no less), Carparelli and Michel hit back to earn us a 2-2 draw.
Inzaghi’s first goal in a Napoli shirt was enough to earn us a narrow win over Battipagliese. 22-year-old Cosimo Sarli was our other scorer – and our Serie B opponents were so impressed that they took him on loan a few hours later!
After outclassing a talented Ajax team at the San Paolo, we finished off with a successful tour of Switzerland – three wins, and nine goals without reply. You could say we rolled over them. [Get out. -Ed]
By the end of pre-season, I was satisfied that the 4-4-2 was the way to go. We were creating chances by the bucketload, but most importantly, we were converting them with a bit more regularity. Bordi, Inzaghi and Samura were ready and waiting to tear up Serie A… and the UEFA Cup.
Speaking of the UEFA Cup, we were given a very nice draw in Round 1 against the Cypriot champions Apoel Nicosia. Surely we can’t screw that up, right?
SEPTEMBER 2001
Unfortunately, the Coppa Italia draw was not so kind. It was Udinese for us in Round 2… and yes, of course, we would also play the Bianconeri in a league match between both legs! I swear Championship Manager does this on purpose!
As if it couldn’t get even better, the first leg was impeccably timed to coincide with World Cup qualifiers! That meant we were without Frey, Gillespie, Petrov AND Bordi at the San Paolo!
At least we still had Inzaghi. A debut goal was enough to give us the edge at home, and we then battled to a 0-0 draw in Udine. Elbows were flying at the Friuli as both De Rosa and opposition midfielder Morten Bisgaard went all Hatzidakis on their opponents.
Thankfully, our 10 men held firm against theirs, and we walked on to a Round 3 tie with Internazionale. De Rosa wouldn’t play in that tie – or any more Coppa ties this season, for that matter.
Meanwhile, our league campaign got off to the worst possible start, when Frey conceded Bari‘s first shot on goal after just two minutes. Luckily, the Bari goalkeeper was even worse, allowing Carparelli to come to our rescue and grab an opening-day victory.
We were much more convincing on our return to the UEFA Cup – smashing Apoel Nicosia 4-0 at the San Paolo. Pippo Inzaghi scored twice, and there was also a brace of assists from the in-form Michel. The Spanish winger had set up at least one goal from our opening three matches…
…which of course meant he instantly pulled his calf and put himself out for a month. Just my luck, isn’t it?
Even without Michel, we still created plenty of chances in our league game with Udinese… but Inzaghi and Bordi couldn’t convert them, meaning we drew 0-0 at home to the Bianconeri for the THIRD season in a row!
Our superstar strikers were much better a week later as we finally got our revenge on Bologna. The Rossoblù fell apart after a Teddy Lucic red card – and with Ventola consigned to the hosts’ bench, we eased to a 2-0 away win.
We had picked up seven points from our first three games, leaving us in 3rd place. The only teams above us with 100% records were Parma… and Bellucci’s new club Torino. Interesting.
OCTOBER 2001
I decided to rest most of our key players for the midweek journey to Cyprus. Though we lost that match to a late Apoel Nicosia goal, we still had no problems booking our place in Round 2 of the UEFA Cup. Next up would be the Swedish side Malmö FF, who had some 18-year-old kid called Tonton Mokouko in their team. Does that name sound familiar?
Hold on. I’m managing an Italian team against Malmö in Europe’s second-tier competition. Does THAT sound familiar as well?
I… I think I hate Kurt Zouma. I’d better lock up my cat.
In terms of domestic matches, we would start and finish October at home to Internazionale. The first meeting was in the league, where we kept our unbeaten record intact with another goalless stalemate… followed by yet another at Juventus a fortnight later. I love Serie A, me.
We got back to scoring ways in Sweden, where we marmalised Malmö FF with FOUR second-half goals – including another brace from Carparelli. That should see us safely into UEFA Cup Round 3… just as long as I don’t find another way to lose 5-0 to these turnips next month!
After picking up two more goals (and five bookings) in a fiesty win over Sampdoria, we faced Internazionale again in the Coppa. The Nerazzurri were wasteful, but Samura was not, and so we will take a slim 1-0 advantage to the second leg at the San Siro – but that’s a story for another day.
Though we haven’t quite been at our very best in Serie A, a watertight Napoli defence means that we remain undefeated at the end of this chapter. We’re a mere four points adrift of leaders Parma, who are the only other unbeaten team.
Inzaghi has made an impressive start to his Napoli career, racking up 5 goals and 3 assists in his first 11 matches. Bordi has been a little slower off the mark, but once he can gel with Pippo, I reckon we’ll have a devastating strike partnership.
In the meantime, Torino have suddenly been banging in the goals since signing Bellucci. Oh Gawd, don’t tell me I’ve made a mistake in selling Claudio…
OH, FOR GAWD’S SAKE!
So far, so good… but can Napoli continue to compete for honours on three fronts? Come back on Friday to find out!
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