Rise From The Ashes | Part 1 | Taking Charge Of FC Pompei

A regular autumnal afternoon in the hustle and bustle of Pompeii saw children playing in the streets, stall owners loudly selling fresh fish, meat, and vegetables, people milling around the public baths, and a crowd jostling for entry to the amphitheatre to see two feared Gladiators going face-to-face. But the warm sun was suddenly engulfed by a vast dark cloud that was honing in on the city at an alarming rate.

The games, stalls, baths and even the gladiatorial battle were swiftly forgotten as the city was overcome with fear. Children screamed and cried, parents ushered them inside, and many people hurriedly picked up their belongings and ran for their lives as the menacing cloud closed in at alarming pace. Out of nowhere, a huge blanket of ash rained down on the city then, in one deadly swoop, a combination of lave droplets, hot ash, pulverised rock and superheated gases descended on the city. And the world as the Pompeii public knew it went black.

In 79AD, roughly 2,040 years ago, one of the most catastrophic eruptions of all time saw stratovolcano Mount Vesuvius, located in the region of Campania, around 5.5 miles east of Naples, obliterate everything in its path. The eruption spewed smoke and toxic gas more than 20 miles into the air and engulfed townships like Boscoreale, Herculaneum, Pompeii and Stabiae under 180 mph surges of ash, rock and gas.

Pompeii was forgotten about for nearly two millennia until 1748, but later excavations revealed the true lavish lifestyles people enjoyed in this Roman stronghold. The devastating ash effectively froze the city in time and archaeologists discovered a wealthy town of around 11,000 inhabitants adorned with luxurious homes and public buildings, lavish decorations and vulgar Latin graffiti.

The city left behind has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site with around 2.5 million visitors per year. And, while Vesuvius remains technically active – there have been around 40 reported incidents since 79AD, but none since 1944 – the towns it wiped out have risen from the ashes, with more than one million people living in the area surrounding the volcano. That resurgence includes football as FC Pompei was founded on 1 August 2022 and plays in the Italian 5th tier.

With that in mind, it’s time for our latest explosive Football Manager challenge as, using the megapack database created by @Timo@, we’ll attempt to rise from the ashes in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius with FC Pompei. It’s also time to meet a new protagonist, Pompeii resident Roberto de Vesuvius Sulpicius, aka Robí Sulpicius – a direct descendant of the Sulpicius family, who dragged a strong box containing business and financial records with them as they fled Pompeii for Cumae.

Preparing To Rise From The Ashes

FC Pompei is a semi-professional Italian club playing in Italy’s epic 19-division regional 5th tier Eccellenza. Very little information about the Rossoblú is available online (you can follow them on Facebook and Instagram) but one key point of interest is it was managed by Diego Maradona Jr. until he was sacked in December. The club first competed in Promozione Campania C in 2008/09 and got promoted after three seasons then spent two seasons in Eccellenza Campania. But the club reformed in 2022 and finished 3rd in 2022/23.

Pompei play at the Vittorio Bellucci, which has a capacity of 470 and is around 18km south of Mount Vesuvius, and have basic infrastructure with 3 out of 20 for training and youth facilities, junior coaching and youth recruitment. It starts the save with £401 in the bank and is already spending over its £5,300 weekly wage budget, which sounds like a recipe for financial disaster that was proven as the club plunged into the red long before the season started and was losing upwards of £20k per month.

The support base is formed of 36% core fans, 22% family support and 18% casuals, who expect the club to gain promotion to Serie D. The board is a little more realistic, looking for a top-three finish in the first season then promotion the following campaign.

The best player at Pompei is 33-year-old winger Vincenzo Caso Naturale, who’s had a long career down in tiers 4 and 5. Other key players are midfielder Vincenzo Carrotta, winger Alfredo Varsi, striker Fabrizio Guarracino, centre back Andrea Avella and midfielder Vincenzo Marzano. Slightly worryingly, the squad has an average age of 30 and is seriously lacking in goal. But, having assessed the players available, Sulpicius opted for a pretty basic 4-3-3 to start with.

First Taste of Italy’s 5th Tier

Eccellenza Campania is split into two groups of 18 teams playing each other twice and only the winners gain promotion to Serie D. Pompei are in Group A and predicted to finish 7th with title odds of 11/1, well behind Afragolese (1/10), Savoia (13/5) and relegated Nola and Puteolana (7/2).

The Sulpicius era started very nicely as Caso Naturale found Carrotta to drill home inside six minutes at Puteolana then headed home the second after 25 minutes. Varsi and Guarracino both crashed big chances off the post before the hosts had a goal disallowed, all before half time. The hosts got one back but Varsi and Guarracino both made up for their misses before the sides traded late penalties for Pompei to win a crazy game, in which they had just 35% possession, 5-3. The first game at Vittorio Bellucci was a visit from title favourites Afragolese and Pompei should have won again. The visitors scored their first shot and only one on target but a Carrotta earned a point from a smart short corner routine.

That promising start was backed up by draws at Castel san Giorgio and Buccino, a Caso Naturale brace leading a 3-0 win at home to Apice before Guarracino and Varsi went wild as the former scored 5 and the latter assisted 5 in a 7-0 hammering of strugglers Solofra that sent their side top of the league on goal difference. And they stayed as Caso Naturale scored two more in a 3-0 victory at Real Aversa and the winner in a 3-2 victory over Albanova.

Pompei lost top spot as they eventually lost 2-1 at Costa d’Amalfi but an impressively dominant 2-0 win at home to Montecalcio, including backup striker Alessandro Malafronte’s first goal for the club, crowned a strong first 10 games in charge for Sulpicius.