Corsican Dreams, French Revolution: Part 2
We’ve all been there. Scanning through the local papers, looking for potential jobs. The longer you go, the more wacky and unrelated to your education the roles you apply for become. As a football manager, how long would you have waited before putting your name forward for the position at FC Bastia-Borgo?
A club which is only two years old, with only 700 seats in a 2000 capacity stadium. No money to spend on players and a wage budget of just €10,000 per week. Failure is almost guaranteed.
The stark reality for Marcu Padovani is there for everyone to see. Predicted to finish bottom on the National league, even an optimist, although remaining positive, wouldn’t fancy your chances.
When I first spoke to the newly installed boss, it is fair to call him a glass half full character. He sees this as an opportunity. The club is new, they have no history and a completely blank slate that he can mould and shape.
He inherited a small squad, the type of personnel which almost predetermines how his system might look come the straight of the season. Lacking wingers or attacking midfielders, he has just three centre forwards — one of which is on loan — more centre-backs than full-backs and and array of central midfielders. Yet, the 39-year-old is still trying to keep his cards close to his chest.
Reinforcements desperately needed, Issaga Diallo was the first to join, arriving on a free — a theme of the summer — clearly a centre-back brought in to add depth. The 33-year-old was quickly joined by Ivorian wing-back Sitionan Konate, another solid back-up option for the defence.
Heads turned when former RC Lens and Manchester City youth product David Faupala arrived in Corsica. Feeling like something Billy Beane at the Oakland A’s would try in true moneyball fashion. Although spells on loan at NAC Breda and Chesterfield didn’t convince Pep Guardiola to take a closer look. Spells at Freya, Apol. Limassol, Jerv and Valletta followed, with the striker failing to score more than once at any of the aforementioned clubs.
However, in training you can see a physically impressive runner, someone who plays with a smile on his face and looks determined to success. Technically sound, perhaps he just needs to find the right home.
During pre-season, a defeat against Frejus Saint-Raphael was followed up by a 1–0 win over local rivals Gazelec Ajaccio. Both sides play in the National 2, making it hard to judge the current level of Padovani’s side.
If Faupala felt like a reach, the local press were perplexed when former Bundesliga veteran Aristide Bance turned up to aid the FCBB attack. What he lacks in pace, he certainly makes up for in aggression and sheer character. For this club to survive, perhaps this is what the squad needs both on and off the pitch.
Bastia-Borgo’s last warm up game came against top flight Dutch side AZ Alkmaar. No one could quite believe what they were seeing when in the 34th minute, Alexandre Cropanese smashed the ball beyond Hobie Verhulst to give the semi-professional outfit a 3–0 lead.
AZ would pull it back to 3–2 before 90 minutes were up, but the seeds were sewn. This team has something about them, perhaps relegation might not be as nailed on as what was originally thought.
Anchored by three centre-backs, the wing-backs have the licence to push forward and make a midfield four, with Padovani’s three forwards looking for long balls on the break, led by the pacy youngster, Wilson Isidor.
Before the season kicked off, league previews now showed Bastia-Borgo as predicted around 14th, with odds of 50/1 to win the division. This is the same longshot numbers given to Stade Briochin and FC Annecy who are 16th and 17th respectively.
Hope is they are good enough to match those expectations, but the 3–2 victory has made people sit up and take notice. Perhaps this squad is greater than the sum of its parts.
