Serie C, for all the “RossoNeri” sportsmen who still remember the days of Serie A, can only be an intermediate stage, a stepping stone.
With one promotion per group every year, only, the script is the same: the summer illusion clashes with the reality that sees the “RossoNeri” always in the top positions, but unable to take a flight. 

The Serie B is now the fixed idea. In the summer of the 1976-77 Championship, an indefatigable and unforgettable character of Italian football arrives in Lucca: it’s Romeo Anconetani, who goes to work alongside president Vannucchi. 

He chooses Meregalli as a coach and then built, together with his son, a team of men. In the first year a fourth place comes. Enthusiasm grew, clubs of “RossoNeri” fans, sprouts up like mushrooms throughout the province and beyond.

The clocks are set on the 1977-78 championship. The opponent to beat is the Spal (Ferrara football team) that is beaten in Lucca.
The “RossoNeri” keep in the wake of the leaders and bring in thousands of fans every Sunday; the Porta Elisa Stadium is bubbling with enthusiasm.  
Pierotti, Cisco, Nobile, Gaiardi, Morgia, Platto, Savian, Gaiardi, Ciardelli, Vescovi, D'Urso: this is the formation that makes them dream.

The match is set for 12 March '78, in Ferrara. The Estensi has a slight lead in the standings, Lucchese is flying on the enthusiasm of its people: 6000 people, on three special trains, reach the city of Emilia to live out a dream personified by a young boy who, before the match, climbed over the net and planted a “RossoNeri” flag on the field.

The “RossoNeri” goes into double advantage, dominating the Emilians in the second half, thanks to a decidedly home refereeing, shorten with a non-existent penalty and then find the equaliser. The championship will still be long, but the “RossoNeri” accuse the blow and give up. It was a bitter disappointment that is also followed by Anconetani's farewell. The following year there another relegation to Serie C2 (a newly created category).