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Yes, absolutely. Such depth in the league, with a lot of former Juventus, Milan, Inter, Napoli, Roma etc youth who maybe never realised their full potential as well as the most promising youngsters in the country.  Of course it is a large league so some teams won't stack up vs A-league teams, but the top ones would certainly do a job.

I don't think people realise how ruthless and tactical the game can be in Italy.  

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90 minutes in a 3-2 home win (they're 3 for 3 at home so far) against Rieti.

Niko scoring a respectable and above average 6/10 on his pagella (journo's assessment of his game).

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Another 90 minutes in a 1-2 win away at Sicula Leonzio for Niko.  He's definitely establishing himself in the league and has been one of the most used players in the team, if not the most used.

Reggina are currently 9th and are not too distant from a playoff spot.

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Dragged off after 54min in a 0-3 loss to Cavese. Supposedly at fault for one of the goals but questions of a possible foul on Niko remain.

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Bad news for Niko who rides the pine for the first time this season as Reggina beat Casertana 1-0 and sits in 10th place (last of the playoff spots). Still only half way there so plenty of time to do better or miss out altogether...
Niko's replacement gets a rating of 6.5 and his subbed off for the last 15 minutes, but he's replaced by someone other than Niko. Hopefully this is because he wasn't 100% or the coach decided to give him a rest.

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Back to the starting XI and full game in a 2-0 win over Vibonese.

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Comes off the bench after 66' in a 6-0 win over Matera. Score was 3-0 when he came on.

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More on the above - apparently Matera players haven't been paid for a while so they're not playing and the team currently being fielded is the U21.

Full game for Niko in a 1-1 home heartbreak draw vs Teramo who got the equalizer from a penalty kick in injury time

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Back from the long Christmas breaks and full game for Niko in a 1-1 with Viterbese. Reggina still 8th on the table and therefore still in the playoff zone.
Niko got a rating of 6/10 according to the main Reggina fan site. He is said to be lacking quality in his delivery but to be hard working, very fast and to be "a youngster of great promise".

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Late drama with Reggina scoring the winner in the 96th minute in what was by all accounts a pretty dull match up to that time. Niko gets another full game as Reggina skyrocket up to 5th place.

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Reggina continue their winning form with a 3-1 victory over Viterbese. 90 minutes for Niko who keeps his place despite the four new signings who recently bolstered the ranks.

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Starts and gets subbed off after one hour in a 1-1 draw against Monopoli (yes you read it right!). Score was 0-0 when he was taken off and interestingly both goals came within one minute of each other (65, 66).

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Full game in a 3-4 home loss which breaks Reggina's unbeaten streak after 8 games. Niko given a lower than usual score (but better than most of his peers today) 5 out of 10 by the Reggina fans.
According to their fan site the owner and managers are assessing the coach's future. That's Italian football for you. As soon as you lose a game, the shark hits the fan. Hope it's just rumours. Coach Cevoli clearly rates Niko...

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So get this, Roberto Cevoli, the Sammarinese coach of Reggina has been sacked after losing a game (previously had an 8-game unbeaten streak) and with his team firmly in the play off zone.

Welcome to Italy, folks.

The new coach, Mr Drago, was quote as saying he wants to change things up, especially at the back - going from a 3-5-2 with wing backs to a standard 4-4-2.

Hope Niko can keep his spot - he did play RB at Mestre the whole of last year and has been praised for his adaptability, but you never know when a new coach comes in what he'll do to change things up.

At least we'll know soon enough, the next game is scheduled for 08:45 tomorrow morning.

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Change in gaffer doesn't affect Niko who keeps his starting spot and pplays a full game at RB in a 2-0 win over Ragusa.
Reggina now 5th on the table (36 points from 25 games).

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Starts again a gets a full game in a 0-0 home draw vs Potenza

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0-0, not good enough #sackdrago.

Good to see Niko still getting good game time though.

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Full game at RB as Reggina fall to a late (85min) penalty at Francavilla.

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Bit hard to take Italian lower tier football seriously at times.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/world-game/...

Pro Piacenza have a 22,000 seater stadium and are celebrating their centenary this year!

Play in a different region to Kirwan's Reggina. 3 regions in Serie C.

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Thing is, there are 3 large groups in Serie C, and some of the teams do go bust from time to time. Piacenza were in serie A and B until fairly recently but like many other clubs (including Reggina), they've had financial woes leading to the club having to start back from the amateur ranks or dropping down a few divisions. The financial model in Italy is unsustainable. Only Serie A clubs are making any money, the rest are left to fend for themselves.

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Thing is, there are 3 large groups in Serie C, and some of the teams do go bust from time to time. Piacenza were in serie A and B until fairly recently but like many other clubs (including Reggina), they've had financial woes leading to the club having to start back from the amateur ranks or dropping down a few divisions. The financial model in Italy is unsustainable. Only Serie A clubs are making any money, the rest are left to fend for themselves.

A quick glance at Wiki (not always factual of course) says they were always amateur until 2014 when they got promoted to Serie C where they've stayed ?

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Thing is, there are 3 large groups in Serie C, and some of the teams do go bust from time to time. Piacenza were in serie A and B until fairly recently but like many other clubs (including Reggina), they've had financial woes leading to the club having to start back from the amateur ranks or dropping down a few divisions. The financial model in Italy is unsustainable. Only Serie A clubs are making any money, the rest are left to fend for themselves.

A quick glance at Wiki (not always factual of course) says they were always amateur until 2014 when they got promoted to Serie C where they've stayed ?

Coochie referred to the amateur club who play in the stadium of the bigger Piacenza club that NZP referred to, both of whom are in Serie C now but obviously arrived there from different directions. 

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el grapadura wrote:

Thing is, there are 3 large groups in Serie C, and some of the teams do go bust from time to time. Piacenza were in serie A and B until fairly recently but like many other clubs (including Reggina), they've had financial woes leading to the club having to start back from the amateur ranks or dropping down a few divisions. The financial model in Italy is unsustainable. Only Serie A clubs are making any money, the rest are left to fend for themselves.

A quick glance at Wiki (not always factual of course) says they were always amateur until 2014 when they got promoted to Serie C where they've stayed ?

Coochie referred to the amateur club who play in the stadium of the bigger Piacenza club that NZP referred to, both of whom are in Serie C now but obviously arrived there from different directions. 

Ah right ..so 2 different entities: Pro Piacenza (got beat 20-0) & Piacenza (who were in Serie A/B at some point)..Thanks 

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My bad, I hadn't realized Pro Piacenza was its own team. The former Serie A team was re-founded in 2012 so I assumed they'd made their way back to Serie C in the meantime.
Anyway, very sad what's been happening. Matera (in Niko's group) are in a similar boat and have been fielding a team mainly made up of kids as the professionals aren't being paid.
The owner of Niko's old team, Mestre, chose to let the team drop out for the football league and return to amateur status because of costs...

The authorities need to work out a more equitable model so that clubs can be sustainable... But this is a long way off. In the meantime clubs will continue to go bust at all levels of the pyramid... Since Fiorentina went bust in 2002, about 150 clubs have been re-founded. This tells you that Italian football is a shambles as a whole, not just Serie C.
Despite this, the league is a solid one as far a competition is concerned, Niko is in a really good environment to continue his development.

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Just to wrap it up the story- Pro Piacenza have now been kicked out of Serie C

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Another full game as Reggina concede late and lose 1-0 in Castellammare against leaders (unbeaten so far) Juve Stabia.

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More late heartbreak for Reggina who concede an equalizer in the 94th minute and draw 1-1 with Rende. They slip to 12th.
90 minutes for Niko and yet another 6/10 score in the match report. He seems to always do OK, never terribly but ever too well either.

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76 minutes as right wingback in a disappointing 0-0 draw vs last placed Paganese. Reggina down to 10 men for half the game but that's no excuse. No wins and only one goal scored in the last 5 games, why the hell they sacked their old coach I'll never know!

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Bye week for Niko

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Bye week works a treat for Reggina who get their first win under the new coach, an emphatic 3-0 thumping of Catania.
Full game for Niko and a rating of 6.5 in the match report

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90 minutes in a 0-1 loss in my mum's backyard (Rieti).
Kirwan apparently was on the receiving end of a very reckless tackle but managed to play on and push for an equaliser in the last few minutes. Scored a 6 out of 10 in the match ratings (upper end of this team today).

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Another 1-0 loss at the hands of Sicula Leonzio and the coach gets sacked. Reggina with 9 points in 9 games since he took charge so Mr Cevoli has been called back for the last 3 games of the season. Real shame as I thought he should never have been sacked in the first place..

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Another 1-0 loss at the hands of Sicula Leonzio and the coach gets sacked. Reggina with 9 points in 9 games since he took charge so Mr Cevoli has been called back for the last 3 games of the season. Real shame as I thought he should never have been sacked in the first place..

Would have thought he might be a bit bitter about being sacked in the first place and turned down the chance to be manager again. Mind you I'm not too sure how easy it would be to pick up gigs in lower level Italy. It seems to be a revolving door that leads straight into a dog fight.

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Happens quite a lot to be honest even at Serie A level. If a coach finds a new gig, he will rescind his contract and start working again. Otherwise he'll sit at home getting paid to do nothing until his contract expires. Plenty of jobs going around even mid season but not sure why Cevoli didn't go elsewhere. I for one was very gutted when he was sacked as he did fairly well during his tenure.

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Palermo sticks out for me, even in Serie A. Bloody mental

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Zamparini (Palermo president) is on the higher end of the coaches fired per season spectrum but that's certainly a trend back home

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Recalling the old coach worked well for Reggina who beat Cavese 1-0 overnight. The goal was scored in the 90th minute by a chap who'd only come on four minutes earlier.. Talk about a super sub!
Full 90 for Niko.
Highlights: https://elevensports.it/play?titolo=Cavese---Reggina-0-1%2C-35%5EGiornata-Girone-C&id=37324&ct=9&cat=106

Niko with number 26 and a shout for a penalty in the 66th which wasn't given.

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Scores the only goal in a 1-0 win over Casertana

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Highlights here:
https://elevensports.it/play?titolo=Reggina---Casertana-1-0%2C-36%5EGiornata-Girone-C&id=37455&ct=9&cat=106

That's his first goal since turning pro, well deserved. Gets a very good 6.5 out of 10 in the match report.

A couple more goals and who knows, a Serie B team might come knocking on his door!

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