Group G of Serie D ended fifteen days ago, but at COS they are already looking ahead to 2024-2025. The Sarrabesi-Ogliastrini finished in ninth place with 46 points, better than the Sardinians, and aim to grow further. «Like every year we start again immediately», anticipates coach Francesco Loi during "L'Informatore Sportivo" on Radiolina, hosted by Lorenzo Piras.
«The category doesn't allow you to sit back and watch, you already have to plan for next season. There will be an improvement of the youth sector, which started this year, to pursue the first team's objective of bringing in more and more young people and having a Sardinian identity. By integrating with important figures, who allow the kids to grow." The project of the club, expected in the third season after the transfer from Muravera, is clear : «The objective is to build a base and consolidate the club, starting from the youth sector up to the first team, to ensure that a possible Serie C is sustainable."
With many Sardinians and young people in the squad. «Between Muravera and COS we sent a boy to the professionals every year, like Kujabi who is under contract with Frosinone and Marcello Piras who has just signed with Catanzaro. We have the possibility and the serenity to continue this project, others have logistical needs to draw heavily from outside."
Difficulties. In the centre-south of the island there are few clubs that, in 2024-2025, will play from the Excellence level upwards. «There is a huge problem: Cagliari is in Cagliari», Loi's assessment. «Before the numbers were different, the passion for football was different. I'm surprised by the numbers of Iglesias and Carbonia, which are a little further away, then there would be Oristano which could be able to combine an entire territory. Football is made up of cycles: now the teams from the Centre-North are going, perhaps in seven-eight years it will be diametrically opposite."
Loi follows the COS at 360°, effectively as a coach-manager. And he is not the only one in Sardinia : «There are two young coaches who have done very well this year, Marcello Angheleddu at Monastir and Nicola Manunza at Villasimius. In addition to being technicians on the pitch, they have had a say in the management of the team, obtaining results. The figure of the coach who goes onto the pitch to make four plays is outdated: today you have to deal with the psychology of the kids, their physical situation, their particular moments and their integration with the older players."