As spring bloomed in Vercelli during the 2015-16 season, we found ourselves in fifth place, locked in a three-team competition with Genoa and Palermo for the final Champions League spot. Fittingly, our last four games of the season were against Genoa and Palermo…and A.C. Milan and Juventus. Here’s what happened.
Read More: Football Manager 2009, Pixel Dramas, Pro Vercelli
by Brian Phillips · April 28, 2009
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congratulations!
Music! Lovely cuing as well!
Congratulations, Lad
Sorry! Nothing I do seems to make me capable of remembering to add the music info. That’s Mr. Edvard Grieg, from the “Lyric Pieces,” as performed by Mr. Emil Gilels. I think the first one is “Album-Leaf” and the second one is “Puck.”
I am more impressed by the videos you put together. That was awesome! Wish I could do that … 🙂
The Juventus cleaning staff must have had to break out the wet-dry vac to get the champagne out of the visiting dressing room.
Actually, I think the cleaning staff got swept up in the party and wound up back at the Silvio Piola with us. We’re keeping them. Spoils of war, Juventus. Sorry.
Something tells me that an Inter-Vercelli Champions League showdown is on the horizon…
Whew… For a second there I thought that Juve were on their way to the CL final and that you might get bumped via the Liverpool rule. Good thing I can’t read. What a scenario (slash heartbreak) THAT would have been!
Congrats Brian
Fantastic story you’ve been able to tell. I refresh your site daily looking for my Vercelli fix…
Nice one Brian! Can’t wait to see the new big-money signings, you could possibly have a pop at the league next season!
Congrats!
This is all very well and good Brian, but what about the structure of the club?
Are you building a giant with clay feet?
Any talk of a new stadium, youth academy or training grounds?
Good questions. The stadium was expanded to 10,622 seats after the new consortium took over, but they can’t expand it further because the local council won’t give them planning permission. (Have I mentioned that I love this game?) I think we’re just waiting till we can put a deal together to build a new stadium, which I’m hoping will happen after this season.
The new board also upgraded the youth academy to the point that it’s now “one of the best in the world” and can’t be improved any further. (Have I mentioned that the new board and I are getting along a lot better than I originally feared?) Our training facilities are still just “good,” but there are plans afoot to improve them during the coming offseason.
Lastly, anyone who’s been following Pro Vercelli for a while now will know exactly what this means to me:
We’re not Milan when it comes to facilities, and we probably never will be, but we’re getting closer.
Where will all the muskrats go then?
I’m glad that the board is playing ball now. Are you still rated as ‘Untouchable’?
That is the real success story, Brian.
I’m trying to make my Fulham side the best in the world and i need the added income that the stadium they promised me will bring.
There comes a time when you can’t do without a 40-60k seater.
Brandon — I am for now. I doubt it will last beyond this season, though; expectations will rise, and it’s almost impossible to be “untouchable” unless you’re either dramatically outperforming expectations or you’re winning a great deal of silverware.
Joao — I’m worried that I’ll have to do without it, though, as I’d be surprised if a club in a town of 30,000 people could reliably fill a 60,000-seat arena. I’d guess we have a ceiling of 20-30k. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m operating on the assumption that I’ll have to make up the difference on the transfer market every season.
Lovely work Brian, I am sure the celebrations were wild.
There is a great story from when Arsenal won the league at Old Trafford in 2002. Like the best stories it is alsmost certainly apocryphal, but don’t let that stop you.
Anyway, as the Arsenal team were celebrating away in the dressing room, a curmudgeonly home security steward standing by the door was overheard saying “Well, at least they aren’t celebrating on our pitch”.
At which point one of the players, having overheard this, led the team out on a victory lap in a now empty stadium.
“At which point one of the players, having overheard this, led the team out on a victory lap in a now empty stadium”
Eat your heart out, Messi of wherever-you-are-now.
Soon the ghosts of 1910 will have their vengeance.