Hypotheses non fingo.

One week again and Georginho will celebrate his birthday, but it doesn’t seem that he will make a party or go to have lunch with his colleagues. His mind is surely full with ongoing problems in San Marino.

The second transfer window has just passed and he has worked hard in January to improve the squad in Serravalle. Somehow. He has known since the season began that it wouldn’t be an easy job for him. The club was relegated in the end of the last season and has to rebuild itself in order not to sink deeper to the amateur leagues. The board under chairman Daniele di Luigi expects his team to be promoted within two seasons and to go to the First Round of Italian Serie C Cup, but he said that he would have been satisfied if San Marino stayed in Serie C2/B this season while the general consensus of the media is that the club from one of the smallest countries in the known universe finishes well to do the play-off.

Georginho, whose real name is George Graham, took long time to think how to improve the team and he began a revolution a la Jürgen Klinsmann. Not a peace revolution, but a somewhat bloody one. The new manager had to release some prospectful San Marinese players and some players who he thought as the "worst" in the squad. He did all, of course, with a heavy heart as he wished all of these players brighter future. When asked why he did all of this, he replied sadly that he wanted to bring better players, but had to keep the small wage budget under control. He also said that because San Marino didn’t have so many fans, he expected that the financial condition would get worse and worse.

So, who were the better players? Georginho, who has both English and Brazilian decent, brought some veterans who had good past in their career back: 34-year-old defender Pablo Paz was brought to 1998 FIFA World Cup in France by coach Daniel Passarella; 35-year-old winger Reynald Pedros was selected in the France squad in 1996 UEFA Euro by coach Aimé Jacquet; and 39-year-old midfielder Giovanni Stroppa won 1989 European Cup and 1990 Intercontinental Cup with Milan under manager Arrigo Sacchi. All of these players were free and the still unexperienced manager hoped that they could bring back their glorious years. Besides, he did use his tiny transfer budget by buying and borrowing some decent players.

Results? The already cash-strapped club has played some steady, but not great performances. The small team looked good in the first two months of the competition before beginning to fight stormy weather. Finishing 13th of 18 teams just before Christmas wasn’t a great achievement to do. And things were getting worse since the bank balance was €525K under nil. The man in charge knew that he had to add some cheap players while releasing the ones who ate big portions of the wage-budget cake. Thus, he accepted the offer of Lazio for 44-year-old experienced goalkeeper Marco Ballotta and of Empoli for 36-year-old defender Richard Vanigli - best known for breaking the fibula of legendary Francesco Totti. Both came for free. Georginho also brought talented defender Luca del Prete to the first team, loaned hot-prospected midfielder Daniele Pedrelli from Internazionale Milano and buying striker Nicola Bisso from Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor 1907. A controversial step had to be taken of course: releasing loyal goalkeeper Emiliano Dei and vice-captain Eupremio Carruezzo. Three of the best players of Titani, Simone Berardi, Roberto di Maio and Alessandro Turchetta, were sold to the other clubs and excited the fans of each of these clubs.

There’s still much to be done, but San Marino are simply labile. Everything is unsure, but Georginho knows one thing exactly: with the club has already been €725K in red , his days in the mountaineous region is being counted, well, down.

Squad

Goalkeeper: Tommaso Merola, Aldo Junior Simoncini

Defender: Federico Tafani, Roberto Corradi, Alessandro Evangelisti, Michele Florindo, Mirko Taccola, Pasquale d’Aniello

Midfielder: Tiziano Mottola, Lorenzo Paoli, Matteo Nevicati, Federico Capece

Forward: Giordano Meloni, Christian Longobardi, Aragao, Luigi Grassi

Transfer in: Marco Ballotta (Lazio, January 2008), Luca del Prete (San Marino U20, January 2008), Davide Salvatori (Sangiovannese 1927, loan), Richard Vanigli (Empoli, January 2008), Pablo Paz (free), Dario Bova (Cesena, loan), Federico Peluso (AlbinoLeffe, loan), Massimo dalle Nogare (Bassano Virtus), Lorenzo del Sole (Sansovino), Daniele Pedrelli (Internazionale Milano, January 2008, loan), Reynald Pedros (free), Felice Prevete (Empoli, loan), Francesco Severi (Cesena, loan), Sid-Ahmed Bouziane (Sampdoria, loan), Giovanni Stroppa (free), Raffaele Baido (Mezzocorona, loan), Nicola Bisso (Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor 1907, January 2008)

Transfer out: Emiliano Dei (January 2008, free), Matteo Gaudino (free), Simone Berardi (Pro Patria, January 2008), Francesco Indirli (free), Roberto di Maio (Carpenedolo, January 2008), Alessandro Turchetta (Real Marcianise Calcio, January 2008), Andrea Gori (free), Eupremio Carruezzo (January 2008, free), Alberto Villa (Gubbio 1910, loan), Filippo Chiappa (free)