Chieti Story: Season 2016-2017 Ends. Europe or Not?
The entire season 2016-2017 has been a constant struggle for us. Being for the second season in Serie A, our goal was to qualify for European competition at the end of the season, but it proved to be a really difficult task since other stronger teams had a similar objective. So… did we manage to get two spots higher and qualify for Europe? Read on to find out!
Our remaining fixtures were pretty difficult and we even went through a very annoying lack of form against top flying teams Inter, Sampdoria and Juventus, but managed to eventually end the season with 7 games without defeat:
Had we won our last game against Genoa (and we should’ve, the 0-0 score line makes no justice to Chieti), we would’ve gotten over then and secured the 5th spot in the league. But we didn’t and remained at 6, which is fortunately enough for us to go to Europa League qualifications next season!
The performance of the lads this season was outstanding. I was extremely pleased with Viorel Achim who I am sure would’ve scored even more goals had he been given the chance. But the competition for the starting striker is so high that he simply couldn’t play more. Also, Menendez proved in the few games he played that he’s a solid addition to the team despite his low pace, while on the other end remains Castellani, one of the biggest duds in Chieti’s history:
With 13 players with ratings above 7 this season, and three more over 6.90, I can declare myself extremely happy! And the fans were certainly happy too, but one caught their attention: Viorel Achim:
Even though I begged them the entire season, the board did not want to grant my requests to expand the stadium. However, when they realized that we’ll be playing in Europe next season, they decided to go for the expansion and pretty soon we’ll break the 10,000 seats mark by almost 1,000. I really hope that pretty soon we’ll get a brand new stadium though, we’re becoming one of the big boys now.
We’re also going to have better training facilities, but not improved youth system since the board doesn’t want to spend more money.
Which is rather strange, because I’ve been saving up like crazy recently and we even surprisingly made it in the top richest 100 clubs in the world:
In Serie A, we managed to become once again the overachievers of the season and I am extremely pleased to see that the bookies also considered Achim one of the best two signings in Italy this season:
And finally, the board appears to be extremely happy with my handling of the club. I don’t think I ever received such praise from the board:
Now let’s hope that next season when we try our luck in Europe, we’ll be able to put more smiles on the fans’ faces!
Well done on finishing 6th and claiming a Europa League spot. I can imagine that run of 3 losses in a row must have been very worrying, but in the end it was a fairly comfortable gap to the 7th placed team.
The ratings look good, with Achim looking to be an excellent player who should do well for you over the next few seasons. Nice to see you move into the rich list, which is something I forgot about, as Torquay have also achieved that in my game, being 85th right now.
Well done Calin, I think that was one place better than last season which is good and also you achieved your main goal and that was to get into Europe and its always good to see the board investing in new improvement.:)
Good finish Calin, and a great season overall, you and your lads did very well this season, so congrats
Nice to see the board backing you up financially, and hopefully you can do well in Europe next season 
Thanks, guys! Now that we managed to get past this little problem – getting to Europe, which will hopefully allow us to attract better players, I have to seriously start working on my next two objectives: winning the Serie A and the Champions League. I hope I will be able to do that in 4 seasons
Excellent, congratulations mate! I’m also glad to see a Romanian player making such an impact in Italy
Thanks, Johnny! I am also really pleased to see Achim doing so well!
Hey Calin,
Fantastic news first and foremost! think you’ve done an amazing job getting this team into Europe. We’ll see what the off-season does for your and what new players you can lure with the prospect of european football. Hopefully you can get some more quality and make it a decent go and qualify once more for Europe.
I tried the new patch incidently. Wanted to see how realiztic it had become to the real season. Went as Chelsea again – 5th in the league, couldn’t buy a decent run in the league. 2nd round of Europe having beaten Real Madrid in first leg. knocked out of carling cup, but still in the FA cup, however the board decided to sack me none the less. Just like they did to AVB in real life.
managed to get offered to job as Team GB coach and won that competition which led me to taking over at Arsenal after Wenger quit (no european football). Anyway, doing well thus far, hope it will end with the team back in europe and me still in a job there lol.
Thanks,Nick! I too hope that we’ll get some good players and have a good run in Europe. Unfortunately this week I am not at home and therefore my play time with FM is extremely limited.
Regarding your career, it’s strange to see you fired from Chelsea, especially after beating Real Madrid. But at least you managed to get back on tracks and now you have an amazing team to manange and I am sure you will bring them all the glory they deserve!