Ahead of the away match against fourth-placed Valmontone, Olbia has launched its weekly training schedule between Loiri and Nespoli until their departure for Rome, scheduled for Saturday afternoon, after the morning's final training session.
Antonio Carafa will lead the training sessions, but due to his red card in the match against Albalonga, he will not be able to sit on the bench on Sunday. Given his suspension, the goalkeeping coach—who was entrusted with the team after the mutual termination of his contract with Giancarlo Favarin—will be replaced by either Riccardo Pecchi, the club manager of the Whites, or Federico Russu, the secretary of Olbia Calcio.
As the latter noted after the match against Albalonga, which ended in a 4-1 defeat at the Nespoli stadium, the club has until the end of the month to replace Favarin, but beyond speculation, nothing has emerged about the choice, especially since the new coach will have to be appointed by the owners, who are currently negotiating the transfer and will leave the replacement to the new board of directors.
There's no news on this front either (on which, it should be noted, discussions with Romi Fuke continue). Meanwhile, however, to paraphrase Carafa, points and players are needed. And salaries, which if not paid by January 31st—all of them, including December—will result in a ranking penalty that Olbia simply can't afford.
After the first day of the Serie D season, which resulted in a third consecutive defeat, the Bianconeri—who haven't won since October 26th—have slipped to fourth-last place with 19 points, losing a spot in the play-offs and moving away from the safety zone, now three points away. As for the players, Carafa had 17 available against Albalonga. With Buschiazzo and Islam returning from Christmas break, their number for Valmontone will rise to 19, but the emergency situation persists.
