I need to PP ! PP-70 that is.

[chesterfan2]

The voice of bitter experience perhaps, Loefle ?

What A Lovely Day for Training

Thursday 5th Jan 2006 turned into a nice day for the time of year. Cold, at -5 degrees C, with a light South Westerly wind but the day was quite bright thanks to the typically weak Winter sun. Snow was predicted for later on but in the meantime it was a great day for training. We still had the lads doing Phyiscal and Aerobic work only, the thinking being that if we hardened them up physically first we may get an edge from the start of the season.

So it was more cross country skiing on the menu for the lads. I sat in the warmth of the office at the club trying to get my head round what combination of players would create the best team.

Obviously we could try things out in friendlies, so my plan was to organise alot of them, possibly even starting before the 'normal' starting point for friendlies and my mind started thinking of an idea that would at least give me a starting point to work from in terms of ranking the players.

As the day wore on and the light got darker my thoughts turned towards Hanna, as they had been doing increasingly over the past few weeks. She had mentioned the prospect of a new experience for me at the weekend but this evening was more about good company, good food and good wine. A happy prospect indeed.

Author's note. I'm now kind of 'up to date' with where my game is at so updates will come a little more slowly and cover a little less time.

[chesterfan2]

It turned out that Hanna's great idea was going to watch some ski-jumping. It had been a while since the chairman had told me what a great day out it was and to be honest I'd never quite seen the attraction. But believe me even if you don't go with a beautiful woman it is a spectacular sight and one not to be missed.

But I was there with a beautiful woman, Hanna, who squealed like an excited schoolgirl when the third skier down landed, lost his balance and ended up sliding down the rest of the hill on his bum.

We had a wonderful day and finished off with a meal at Tammer, a gorumet restaurant that breathes the splendor and elegance of the 1920's, apparantly.

It was good to get away from the rigours of a cold pre-season with Hanna, but it was important not to take my eye off the target I'd set myself this year. Playoffs or better.

Hanna wasn't the only one round here with ambition.

[Loeffle]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by chesterfan2:

The voice of bitter experience perhaps, Loefle ?[/i] </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

No way They were "only" good friends

[chesterfan2]

It may be a fact you don't know, but there's no reserve league in Finland and my plans for the initial phase of pre-season training were spoiled by this fact. My plan would have been to open up teh friendlies campaign with a game against my own reserve team and then stock the reserves with half the first team, so I could see as many of my squad in action at once.

But that was not to be. But what I could do, and what I set up for a couple of days ahead was a game against the Under 20's sqaud. I moved all the players in the first team under 20 into the U20 side (about 4 players) and I'd have to make up the rest of the side from our youth set up.

On the plus side we'd have a look at some of these lads, and who knows, maybe we'd find a gem amongst them.

Apologies to my regular readership that the outpourings in this story have dried up a little recently. I'm always a bit slow through pre-season and I'm also preparing another story to run in parallel to this one. A completely different set of leagues, and hopefully a completely different story. Will do my best to keep this one going though as I'm getting quite fond of PP-70 !

[chesterfan2]

and I'm obviously no good at italicising my personal remarks either!

[axeman]

You can always ask for help with that via this thread

[chesterfan2]

Many thanks Axeman. Despite doing this for a while I still haven't got much of a grasp of how to get the best out of these forums, so once again many thanks for your assistance

BTW, I have now given the mods a call. But it seems a bit much to ask them to do all of my marginal spelling too !

[axeman]

Marginal spelling is something they tend to overlook, because there's a lot of text that people write. But they fix tagging mistakes and messed up tables and stuff like that.

I quite enjoy your exploits in Finland. I hope my personal (real life) fumble in Equador will prove as fruitful as your goings on with that lady

[Spav]

Just read all of this, chesterfan2. It's a decent little story so far and very well-written.

I played several seasons as the now-defunct FC Jazz in Finland in an earlier CM edition and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I'm also following your 'romance' with Hanna as well. I wrote a Polish story here about a year ago and introduced a 'girlfriend' called Katerina into that story. I remember that I quite enjoyed addding my interludes with her into the story.

[chesterfan2]

Thanks for your comments guys. I'm sure you know as fellow FMS'ers that a bit of positive feedback goes a long way. I'm really glad that you enjoy it.

I've found my favourite way of playing this is taking a league I don't know and taking a random team forward with it. It may be of interest to you, Spav, but I am currently working on another story based on the new A-League. Hopefully I can keep both going at a reasonable pace.

Also I'm increasingly finding it's nice to introduce a romantic interest, but where is the story going to go with it next ? Do Ian Rankin or Thomas Kenally have these problems when writing fiction ? who knows ?????

[chesterfan2]

The first preseason game.

The first game of the preseason was to be played against our own U20’s side. I saw it as an opportunity to look at some of the new players and check out some of the less used ones from last season. Also I hoped to spot some talent in the ranks of the U20 side. I took a lot of notes for this one. I hope you have time to read them all.

The U 20 side included first teamers Linus Blomster and Christoffer Carlsson and other contracted players in goalkeeper Jyri Neimenen, central defenders Matti Makinen and Jari Pietila. The rest of the side are untried youngsters. Let’s see what kind of a fist they can make of it.

The U20’s team in full (unsigned players in italics)

GK Jyri Niemenen

DR Mika Leskinen

DL Jari Lehtonen

DC Matti Makinen

DC Jari Pietila

MR Jarno Priha

MC Antti Karlsson

MC Christoffer Carlsson

ML Linus Blomster

FC Joni Hamalainen

FC Jukka Hautala

Subs

Jaakko Imanen (ST)

Mikko Jarvinen(MR)

Sami Korhonen(DC)

Ville Kosenen(GK)

The ‘full’ side would be an unfamiliar line up, a chance to shine for some new boys and some underused players from last season. The line up was

GK Michael Hoiby

DR Hannu Pernu

DL Nic Hagblomm

DC Hernan Zerbo

DC Per Arne Geralden

MR Andrejs Arjais

MC Tomi Lahtinen

MC Tero Karhu

ML Tomi Rajamaki

FC Kalle Hamalainen

FC Sergiy Panchenko

Subs

Ila Gronlund (DC), Matti Uoti (DC), Pasi Lahti (DM), Joni Lehtonen (MC), Mikka Nurmi (FC)

The U20’s could only manage 4 subs, as that was their whole squad used up.

The game began and the full side went on the offensive straight away. We had one early chance even before taking the lead in the second minute when Hamalainen raced onto a through ball from Karhu and lifted the ball over the onrushing keeper. Instead of being one way traffic from that point the U20’s got back into the game and were the better side for large portions Makinen being the player who stood out. Things were made worse for the full side on 17 minutes when Panchenko was red carded for a second bookable offence by the over officious ref. However the rest of the half was fairly error free. I made three changes at half time Zerbo,Geralden and Lahtinen making way for Gronlund,Uoti and Lahti. Laine replaced Blomster for the U20’s.

The second half began with the U20’s getting far more of the possession and the chances than the ‘full’ side. Hoiby had to be in tip-top form to deny Immonen, and the same U20 player made easy meat of turning Uoti only to fire wide. The U20’s used up their final three subs on the hour with Pietila, Lundberg, Hamalainen the men to make way. But it was the full side who extended their lead on 68 mins with a fine goal. Rajamaki on the left hit a cross field ball to Arjais on the right who beat a man a crossed to the far post where midfield substitute Lahti was arriving to sweep the ball home. But the U20 side wasn’t done, getting a goal back on 80 mins with Karlsson crossing from deep to Priha who beat Uoti to the ball to volley home. And the U20’s equalised on 85 mins, sub Hautala crossing from the right this time, Hoiby flapped at the cross and Immonen slammed the ball home. No more than the U20’s deserved. Both teams had little chances to win it near the end, but they all went a begging, and the draw proved a good result.

In the full side Hoiby and Uoti can be blamed for the goals we let in, though only Hagblom can claim to have had a good game in the defence. Karhu was the best player going forward , but Lahti, Arjais and Hamalainen can be pleased with their contributions.

On the U20 side Christoffer Carlsson was the best player, picking up the man of the match award. Matti Makinen and Karlsson were also excellent value. Also impressing were left back Lehtonen, midfielder Priha and forward Immonen. I’d certainly be pondering over the next couple of days if I wanted to offer any of them permanent deals. It seemed likely that I would.

Final Score PP-70 2-2 PP-70 U20

[chesterfan2]

The morning after the night before

I made good my promise to myself and made full contract offers to the four U20 players who had impressed me the night before. Bizzarly Karlsson informed me that he wanted to be known as Mikka Kokko in order not to be confused with Christoffer Carlsson. Author's note: Actually the game changed his name, couldn't even begin to think why.

More troubling were the performances of a couple of the new signings. Matti Uoti looked severly out of his depth, and could be on his way out already, and young Hoiby in nets made a couple of mistakes. In truth I was looking for better things from him as the first choice keeper Peltonen who had broken into the Finnish U-21 squad last season was attracting quite alot of interest from bigger clubs. Premier Divison champions FC Alliansi were the latest to come sniffing around and an offer was probably not far away. It's not my policy to stand in the way of youngsters on the way to better things but Peltonen is quite obviously the jewel in the crown at this club and it was going to give me a dilemma. What value did I place on Peltonen ? Was Hoiby up to the challenge of being a first choice keeper ? And if FC Allianssi met the first but I wasn't happy with the second, what would I do then ?

There were, as some not very great singer once said, more questions than answers. I sat down in the warmth of the office, and pondered my options.

[chesterfan2]

and onto the phones

The answer was, of course, to set up some more friendlies so I set about getting on the phone and started to arrange dates and venues. It looked like we'd be setting up more pre-season friendlies than PP-70 had ever had before, but was that a bad thing ?

Sweedish side Assyrika would be the first visitors in a couple of days. They had been relegated from the Sweedish top division last season and so would provide, hopefully, a worthwhile opposition. This is what I wanted, as the defence was currently the main worry so coming up against a bit of quality would hopefully give them a good test.

I also made myself a mental note to change the training regieme in the next couple of days as the cross country skiing programme had probably run it's course in terms of usefullness. To keep it going as the only form of training would probably begin to be counter productive, so the next thing on the list would be to talk to the coaches and work out how to change it.

[chesterfan2]

Woo Hoo, three pages ! I've never managed to keep a story going this long before !

[Loeffle]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by chesterfan2:

and onto the phones

I also made myself a mental note to change the training regieme in the next couple of days as the cross country skiing programme had probably run it's course in terms of usefullness. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Try INDOOR football training/games Its very popular and useful in those winter countries ...

[chesterfan2]

Thanks Loeffle. I'd actually written the last bit during my lunch hour at work, i.e. I wasn't actually playing the game at the time. Now I've got home I'm just straight into the game and I'd forgottten all about the revision to training. All that and a handy tip for an English weather amateur like me !

[chesterfan2]

Time for a football match

And so to the first of those friendlies, as I said against Sweedish side Assyriska. I went against my earlier thoughts in putting out an untested lineup and instead went, initially, at least with the tried and tested lineup from last year, as much as I could anyway given the couple of moves out over the winter months.

So I thought it'll be nice to see just how we stack up against this side that should walk the Sweedish First Division Elite this year. Nice, I thought, until about the 5th minute. It was one way traffic towards our goal and it was only the continued brilliance of Peltonen in our net that held the score down to 1-0 at the half. the goal that diod come was scored on 23 minutes, Hamzo latching onto a defence splitting pass and tucking it under the advancing keeper.

We got to half time, as I say, only one down. The Sweedes had had something like 12 shots on goal to our nil. We had been severely outplayed, only the defensive stalwart that is Jaakko Pasanen coming out of the half with any kind of credit. So I made eight changes at half time, leaving on Pasanen, left winger Olikainen and centre back Gerarlden.

And we came out in the second a much better side. A small adjustment to the tactic to make us a bit more defensive was made and that seemed to do the trick. The second half was much more evenly contested, and we got an equaliser on 63 mins as a Pasanen cross into the box was deflected unwittingly into the net by an Assyriska defender. And although we competed much better in the second half that was as good as it got. Hoiby in nets for teh second period looked much better than in the previous game though he could do nothing about two goals late on for Assyriska's Ghanian international winger Atiku, both strkes from distance that the Norwegain stopper could do little about.. And so the game finished in a 3-1 defeat but strangely enough I think we did enough good things in the second half for me to appreciate this performance much better than the last game.

Final Score PP-70 1-3 Assyriska

Next up: A home game against Finnish non League legends FC Espoo

[Loeffle]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by chesterfan2:

Thanks Loeffle. I'd actually written the last bit during my lunch hour at work, i.e. I wasn't actually playing the game at the time. Now I've got home I'm just straight into the game and I'd forgottten all about the revision to training. All that and a handy tip for an English weather amateur like me ! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

No problem - just thought you might need a new idea for winter training.

Those indoor halls are great, but can also give a lot pain. I pulled my hamstring there ending my "active" football career for good back in 2000

[chesterfan2]

And to think I was looking forward to this game !

The day of the game against FC Espoo came round and once again the morning of teh game saw me toying with team selection. this time I went with some of the underused and new players. Proabably as a way of spotting weaknessess in the depth of our squad. At least that's what I think the intention was as so mind numingly dull was this game that it could of been anything and my mind is now just making excuses for me having to have had to watch it.

Quite framkly if we are talking about areas where we are lacking depth then up front would seem to be a prime candidate. For the game I picked Nurmi and Hamalainen though Nurmi went off at the break to give Panchenko a turn. Fact is in the entire game we managed only 7 attempts (Fc Espoo could only manage 6 - though they did get two on target) of which we got precisely zero on target. Laine in nets did o.k., the defence did o.k., the midfield were tolerable but up front we sucked. Big time.

Final Score PP-70 0-0 FC Espoo

Next up another friendly away at Dreeverit. Let's hope this one provides us with a bit more entertainment.

[Flying_Fin]

Woo! I just had to read this story cause most of my family is from Tampere I was almost ******** my pants when I saw PP-70 in the header I just came back from there, actually - and it's as lovely as ever!

Lykkyä tykö!

And that's what we say in Finland to wish someone good luck

[chesterfan2]

Many thanks Flying_Fin.

I picked PP70 on the advice of the LLama random team generator website (you could probably find a link to an up to date site in the Lower league managers section). After a couple of years not really playing much CM/FM I've found a new way to enjoy it taking on teams in leagues I know nothing about. So I know (or at least I knew prior to starting playing) nothing about the relative strengths of the sides in the Finnish First Division and I may have picked a good team, or I may have picked a 'bad' one. For me that's the challenge.

And to be honest I was a little sceptical about Tampere itself having seen the description of it as 'the Manchester of Finland'. I live near the Manchester of England and whilst the people who live there are universally wonderful, physically it's not a place I'd have thought anyone would want to emulate ! But having seen the city's website, and a couple of the other Finland-related sites I can see that it is a very attractive place.

I haven't ever visited Finland, though one day soon I hope to. I get all my local information from the internet so I hope it's accepetabale and accurate in terms of local details. I do try and get it right.

All-in-all it's very gratifying indeed to get a positive response to a story about Tampere and Finland from a Finn from Tampere. Cheers.

[Flying_Fin]

Yup, yup I've always followed the way of the LLaMa ^_^

I have to say all the information you've gathered is very accurate, so far - so no worries!

Oh, and I've been in Manchester a couple of times, but Tampere does not look anything like it I'd say I was surprised when I read somewhere in this thread that Tampere was the 'Manchester of Finland'. Oh well, you learn something new every day

Keep up the good work!

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by chesterfan2:

Many thanks Flying_Fin.

I picked PP70 on the advice of the LLama random team generator website (you could probably find a link to an up to date site in the Lower league managers section). After a couple of years not really playing much CM/FM I've found a new way to enjoy it taking on teams in leagues I know nothing about. So I know (or at least I knew prior to starting playing) nothing about the relative strengths of the sides in the Finnish First Division and I may have picked a good team, or I may have picked a 'bad' one. For me that's the challenge.

And to be honest I was a little sceptical about Tampere itself having seen the description of it as 'the Manchester of Finland'. I live near the Manchester of England and whilst the people who live there are universally wonderful, physically it's not a place I'd have thought anyone would want to emulate ! But having seen the city's website, and a couple of the other Finland-related sites I can see that it is a very attractive place.

I haven't ever visited Finland, though one day soon I hope to. I get all my local information from the internet so I hope it's accepetabale and accurate in terms of local details. I do try and get it right.

All-in-all it's very gratifying indeed to get a positive response to a story about Tampere and Finland from a Finn from Tampere. Cheers. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

[chesterfan2]

The phrase 'Manchester of Finland' came from one of the Finnish websites I've looked at, possibly the national tourist boards site. i think what they were trying to convey was that Tampere has an industrial heritage similar to Manchester's. One which Mancunians are rightly proud of. I don't think they meant to imply any physical resemblence, even though that's exactly what I thought when I read it (and before I saw the pictures anyway).

[chesterfan2]

Shall we play some football ?

I hadn’t got a clue how to approach the game after the last display so I said to one of my coaches Jonas Klippvik, ‘You pick the team you think I should play’, so he did. To my surprise Uoti got another chance at the back, but otherwise it was pretty much what I thought was the first choice line up too.

But the gaem didn’t start too well Dreeverit broke straight from the kick off and scored within 18 seconds. Gjerdalen was at fault, if anyone could be picked out of a group that still looked asleep. We picked up after that and Kotilahti equalised with a header from 10 yards out after good work fromOllikainen on the left. We began to dominate after that and Eranen scored with a fine solo effort on 28. And that’s how it stayed until the half. 1-2. Lehtonen picked up a knock so I replaced him at half time with Lahtinen but otherwise we were unchanged. Three minutes into the second period and Gjerdalen capped a poor display with a red card after a professional foul on the edge of the box after the Dreeverit striker got past him too easily. Mikkola was sacrificed and Sihvonen came on to fill in at the back. 61 minutes gone and Timo Etelamaki also got his marching orders for another professional foul. We had to go three at the back after that.. On 67 we extended our lead, very much against the run of play. A Sihvonen through ball was tucked away with great aplomb by Kotilahti again. It was all Dreeverit after that but they could only manage a single, consolation, goal deep into injury time and the game finished with a 3-2 win to us. Only nine players though.

Final Score : Dreeverit 2-3 PP70

A much better performance and result. Discipline a worry though. Next up, away at City Stars FC

[chesterfan2]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Some troubling signs at PP70

The Dag Hammerfest column Aamulehti 01 Feb 2006

So, after a succesful season PP70 have begun their warm up to the next campaign and it's not all rosy in the garden at the Tammelan Stadion. Having decided to revamp the defence over the winter Tristan Langley's decision must be called into question. The players he has signed up have looked unequal to the standard of player that has left the club and the pre-season displays have so far been anaemic and one dimensional.

Yes we have just seen a victory but it was a victory without honour or class as the discipline broke down in the defence and we saw not one but two sendings off. Compared to those jokers the hapless Uoti looked positively Hyppia-esque. Having said that at least the play going forward was positive and skillful, the part of the PP70 game that still resembles last year's standard.

And fortunately I can end on another positve note, in at least in a couple of the games the team's fighting spirit that was so important to them last term was visible. They may have lost to Assyriska, but the performance showed fight and determination. Unfortunately that wasn''t evident against FC Espoo.

To summarise: there is alot of work that needs doing if PP70 are to make any sort of run at teh First Division this year. The problems in defence need addressing, and quickly, or things may start to go wrong very quickly.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

[sherm]

Original quote by chesterfan2

And to be honest I was a little sceptical about Tampere itself having seen the description of it as 'the Manchester of Finland'. I live near the Manchester of England and whilst the people who live there are universally wonderful, physically it's not a place I'd have thought anyone would want to emulate ! But having seen the city's website, and a couple of the other Finland-related sites I can see that it is a very attractive place.

steady on, whats wrong with manchester? i think its a nice place, no scallys or chavs or anything un-toward

i know what you mean chesterfan, its not the greatest looking place...its not overly bad though

[chesterfan2]

Sherm, I agree ! I've not said anything against the City of Manchester other than comment on it's general appearance. Nor would I. And here's my proof....

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">whilst the people who live there are universally wonderful </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

and I probably should have added it's a great city to go out in, but I will stick with my original view that it's not the prettiest city in the world.

[chesterfan2]

Pillow Talk

Hanna said to me that night, as we lay in bed together, me staring at the ceiling: "Does it bother you that much what that idiot Dag Hammerfest says ?

"No" I said, Let's try and get some sleep, we both have work in the morning

And then Hanna said: "And speaking of work I have a job interview tomorrow at a TV station in Helsinki."

And this was news to me. I knew Hanna was ambitious, but I didn't know she had applied for any other jobs. "Good luck for that, you'll do fine" I just about managed and I don't know if Hanna noticed in the dark but I spent a long time more looking at the ceiling after that.

[chesterfan2]

I don't know how much sleep I got that night, but it must have been some towards the end of the night as I awoke when the alarm went off at 7am to find myself alone. I got up, went through to the kitchen area for breakfast wehre I found a note from Hanna.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">"Hope my news didn't shock you too much. I wanted to tell you before but you were so caught up in the team's troubles that I din't find the right moment. Anyway the interview is all day and they are giving me a live trial reading the weather after the evening news. promise you'll watch and wish me luck ! Love Hanna. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I knew that once they gave her a chance on TV they wouldn't look back and that we were going to have to get used to being apart. This led me to think about other things, mainly my financial situation.

I had put all my effort into keeping the club up in the first season but now my savings were looking rather thin on the ground and I realised I would have to think of an alternative approach. The club had found me, and paid for, this apartment, and they did a bunch of other stuff for me that made the money go that much further. But I was only on £100 a week and that didn't go far. The fact was I was going to have to move from being a full-time manager to a part-time one.

The only questions were, what was I going to do ? and how was I going to actually get a job round here ?

[sherm]

alright then chesterfan i beleieve you

it isnt the prettiest city, you are right about that to be fair though

[chesterfan2]

And to the world of work, if you could call it that

After I got dressed I phoned the chairman and agreed to a meeting at the museum coffee. we discussed my problem and although he couldn't offer me any work at his own company he said he had some contacts at a little firm that originated from a small town just down the road from Tampere and that had some offices there, and here in Tampere, and many other places in Finland, and indeed, the world. He made a couple of calls, gave me some directions and I set off to find work.

Just down the road from Tampere is the industrial town of Nokia. It's small town, with a population of about 28,000 people and 140 years ago on Factory Island in the town a Mr Idestam founded the 'Nokia Corporation' at his paper mill.

At that historic site I was met by a Mr.Hilden, an employee of Nokia who offered me a job. The job would be based back in the city of Tampere and would be part-time, 5 mornings a week, which suited me fine. It was working on a group that tested and commented on proposed designs for new phones and other products and made recommendations for improvements and the like. I was assured it would be harder work than I imagined, and I was asked to start the following Monday.

Thus the financial issues were dealt with in the short term, and in a way that didn't look like interfeering with the job at PP70. We trained in the evenings and at weekends, as all of the players were part-time too, so it fitted in nicely. What it did do, and what I didn't like was that it tied me to Tampere a bit more, just at the time that it seemed Hanna would be breaking away from the city.

And with those thoughts on my mind I went to one of the bars back in Tampere for a drink, partly to celebrate my job and partly to console myself over Hanna's departure.

Author's note: I am taking a few editorial liberties here, in as much as Nokia have offices in Tampere but I don't know if any of the Design Group actually work there. I don't think they do. As with the rest of my story I try to keep the details as accurate as possible and I apologise should any innacuracies creep in. I certainly have no intention to make The Nokia Corporation, Finland's finest export, a major player in this story. I hope you don't mind it being in the background though.

[chesterfan2]

Back to the real world of football

That evening at training I had some good news. The physio Jani Helin reported that our young Swedish centre back Roger Nielsen was ready to resume full training after three weeks out with a damaged foot. Also on the positive front one of the least effective players last year Ari Kuusela was on his way to FC Hameenlinna for £1,000, which was about a grand more than he was worth. Meanwhile scout Juha Lund reported on the team we would play the following night, the FC City Stars, he says they are a competent side with a pacy attack. Something to watch out for there.

[Flying_Fin]

Nice play on realism there - that you actually were affected by your salary and had to look for a part time job

Keep up the Good Work mate

[chesterfan2]

Away to the City Stars

Away to the city of Lahti where the City Stars play. I decided to throw Roger Nielsen straight into a game and also played some of the other ‘lesser’ players as the usual starters were all just a touch tired.

A goal didn’t take long to arrive, Tero Karhu heading home a Nic Haggblom cross from deep at the far post in the third minute. A second came just three minutes later a sweeping move, began by Pernu at right back, continued down the wing by Karhu, who then laid a pinpoint cross onto the boot of Sergiy Panchenko who steered the ball in from 10 yards out. A picture goal. The City Stars tightened up a bit and held us out until the 27 minute when Mikkola headed home a well flighted corner by Karhu. On 36 Panchenko got his second as he robbed a bad backpass from the goalie and scored with a 25 yard shot into an empty net. 4-0 at half time but that wasn’t the real story, we’d only had 6 shots in total and all 4 of the ones on target had ended up in, so it was more about the poorness the Stars goalie than our attacking verve and dominating play.

No changes for the second half, as I thought I’d wait to see how City Stars tried to address being four goals down. It was a more even contest. At least until we got our fifth on 67 minutes. A replica of the first really, a Haggblom cross and Karhu at the far post converting it for a goal. Karhu turned provider again on 83 minutes with a 30 yard defence splitting pass that let Panchenko in behind the defence to beat the keeper from a sharp angle to claim his hatrick. By now six shots on target in the game, six goals. And that’s how it ended. Panchenko was officially man of the match though to my mind Karhu was even better. Anyway these two players, and a couple of others have forced their way into contention for a first team spot.

Final Score : City Stars 0-6 PP-70

A convincing win, but against a very poor defence

[Loeffle]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by chesterfan2:

Pillow Talk </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

did I miss sth?

how did it come to that "pillow talk"?

[chesterfan2]

Tristan must be a very smooth mover. I'm sure he doesn't tell me everything !

[chesterfan2]

And so to watch the news

It had been a couple of days since Hanna had gone down to Helsinki. She had phoned to say she’d got the job. I’d had to lie when I said I’d seen her first performance doing the national weather, I’d been at training. In fact I’d have been watching paint dry but I don’t think I could have watched it.

She’d phoned again yesterday saying she had found a place to live and she asked me to go down to the capital before the season started. Of course, now I had my job that wouldn’t be so easy. I did work in the mornings, trained in the evenings, leaving not enough time to do anything in between. I couldn’t just not do either of my commitments so I’m afraid Hanna would just have to wait. And so would our relationship. That wasn’t good. Nevertheless at the appointed time I sat down and watched the news. At the end Hanna presented the weather. She looked radiant, but then again she always did. I took one look at the ease with which she relayed the facts about the day’s weather to the camera and I knew she wouldn’t be back any time soon.

[chesterfan2]

Back to work, with a new purpose

I strode into my office at the club the following afternoon. I now had a determination to succeed at this club. Partly in order to move on, but more than that, to make my career a success too. I got on the phones and arranged a bunch more friendlies. The one thing we would be by the time the season came round was ready for it.

[Loeffle]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by chesterfan2:

Back to work, with a new purpose

I strode into my office at the club the following afternoon. I now had a determination to succeed at this club. Partly in order to move on, but more than that, to make my career a success too. I got on the phones and arranged a bunch more friendlies. The one thing we would be by the time the season came round was ready for it. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

What are your and PP-70 goals for the new season?

Sorry for not replying much, but Im in a very thrilling period with Hibs that cost me most of last night

[chesterfan2]

Loeffle. Happy to answer your query as best I can. Of course this is a work of fiction but I can imagine that Tristan Langley's overall ambition as a failed English manager is to get back to the English league and be a success. To do that he must get noticed 'abroad' and that will probably mean a bigger club than PP-70. But that's not what he's got on his plate right now. Tristan sees promotion with PP-70 as the goal for this season whilst I don't think the board will mind that what they are looking out for is probably less ambitious.

[Loeffle]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by chesterfan2:

Loeffle. Happy to answer your query as best I can. Of course this is a work of fiction but I can imagine that Tristan Langley's overall ambition as a failed English manager is to get back to the English league and be a success. To do that he must get noticed 'abroad' and that will probably mean a bigger club than PP-70. But that's not what he's got on his plate right now. Tristan sees promotion with PP-70 as the goal for this season whilst I don't think the board will mind that what they are looking out for is probably less ambitious.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Interesting background

So you jump "ship" as soon some English team approaches you? Will be interesting to see if you choose England or that lovely Suomi lady

[chesterfan2]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">So you jump "ship" as soon some English team approaches you? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

This is the question, Loeffle, old buddy. Does the fictional tale of Tristan Langley win out over the fact that, personally as a FM player, I am really enjoying playing the Finnish League. Maybe Mr. Langley will have undreamt of depths of loyalty. Who Knows ?

Who Knows indeed, because, unlike my other story on this board ('Escape To Victory' I'd highly recommend it (but then I would)) I write this one 'as it happens' ('EToV' I write a little behind as it gives me a bit more time to think about plot ideas and the like). And because I write it as I play it I don't actually have much of an idea where it is going next. I know where I'd like it to go, but whether the game itself fits in with that is another question !

[chesterfan2]

A visit to Iceland

The first of these friendlies was in Iceland at Afturelding a successful non-league outfit.. I mixed the team about a bit, giving some of the tired ones a rest and trying a couple of combinations I thought might be profitable, Lahti and Lahtinen in the middle of the park for one.

A very even first half developed with both sides getting a share of the few chances that were created but it was us who went in ahead as we scored in the 44th minute, with half time looming. Hamalainen was the scoring, slotting home from a tight angle after latching onto an intelligent through ball down the right hand channel by Karhu. 1-0 at half time. To us.

Afturelding came back strongly in the second period, forcing us to go more defensive. However it was no surprise when the Icelanders equalised just after the hour mark. We failed to clear a corner and as the ball came back in Hoiby was beaten to it in the air and hey presto it’s 1-1. And though Afturelding had the best of the game from there on, they didn’t create much of note and the game finished 1-1. A trivky game, and one which came out of quite well I think.

Final Score Afturelding 1-1 PP70

[Loeffle]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by chesterfan2:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">So you jump "ship" as soon some English team approaches you? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

This is the question, Loeffle, old buddy. Does the fictional tale of Tristan Langley win out over the fact that, personally as a FM player, I am really enjoying playing the Finnish League. Maybe Mr. Langley will have undreamt of depths of loyalty. Who Knows ?

Who Knows indeed, because, unlike my other story on this board ('Escape To Victory' I'd highly recommend it (but then I would)) I write this one 'as it happens' ('EToV' I write a little behind as it gives me a bit more time to think about plot ideas and the like). And because I write it as I play it I don't actually have much of an idea where it is going next. I know where I'd like it to go, but whether the game itself fits in with that is another question ! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I see - well, Im very curious how its going to continue. Just hope you won't take over a big and boring club like Arsenal, ManShit, Chelsea etc

I know what you mean with liking it in Finland. I'm expecting for many weekends that I get bored with my Hibs game (so I could start a LL one, and write my first ever story), but now I have a real chance of winning the league, so ...

[chesterfan2]

I look forward to reading a story from you, Loeffle. I'd seriously encourage you to give it a go. It's very nice indeed to write about your own little exploits on this gaming legend that is Football Manager and have someone like yourself or Flying_Fin or whoever make positive comments about it, or informative comments. Even polite comments are nice. It encourages you to keep on playing the game. And what's wrong with having a story about Hibs ?

If only it encouraged me to improve my marginal spelling !

And don't worry ManYoo and Chelsea are about two of the teams I won't let Tristan manage. Wrexham, Carlisle and Shrewsbury would be the others.

[chesterfan2]

A little tournament at the Tammelan

I had organised a little pre-season cup at our place with a team from Norway, on from Sweden and one from Iceland invited along. As luck would have it we got drawn against Tromsdalen of the Norwegian First Division. In the first half Tromsdalen probably had the best of the game but were very wayward with their shooting early on. Indeed it was us who got the break through, though we had to wait until the 35th minute for it. Pasanen’s through ball being taken on in familiar fashion by Eranen who scored from the angle. Tromsdalen managed an equaliser on the stroke of half time after Peltonen got caught in no-mans land after coming out for a cross he couldn’t reach only to see the ball dispatched past him from the edge of the box into the unguarded net. 1-1 at the half and I can’t see much in the way of hope for us in the second period. But you never know.

Not much to report in the second half other than Tromsdalen were quickly ahead with only their second on-target shot of the night and though we huffed and puffed we could not get level. A 1-2 defeat the final result.

Final Score PP-70 1-2 Tromsdalen

So much for the Friendly Cup

[chesterfan2]

But we still have third place to play for

A third place play off in our own tournament. It’s not meant to be like this surely. Anyway the game is against Swedish opposition in the form of Arameiska/Syrianska. I changed the side about as two games in two days probably wouldn’t be the best idea for most of the players in my squad. The first half was fairly uneventful other than for a moment of madness by Peltonen in goal. Receiving a back pass well outside the box he proceeded to try at take the ball forward, losing it on the half way line from where the ball was dispatched back into the empty net. A hideous error and we’re 1-0 down at the half. Not that that lasts long. We equalise 24 seconds into the second period a cross from Rajamaki, bundled home by Ruisniemi from close range. There were no more goals from the game so we went to the farce of a penalty shoot out to decide the winner. We came out on top 3-2.

Final Score PP-70 1-1 Arameiska/Syrianska (3-2 on penalties)

Third place in the tournament

In the evening Tromsdalen overcame Iceland’s Selfloss also in a penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw in regulation time to win the Friendly Cup.

[chesterfan2]

An ordinary pre-season warm up

Next up we had a friendly against Turku non-leaguers AIFK. Having gone with the ‘reserve’ players in the last match I switched back to the first teamers again. I paired Valkeapaa and Gjerdalen in the centre of defence and put Torvinen on the right wing. It started a very even match with very few in the way of chances. But as the half wore on we came into the game more, and as our fitness levels began to show we started to create chances. We took the lead on 35 minutes when Lehtonen fed the ball into the box where Mikkola held off a challenge and rounded the keeper to score. We picked up a second deep into injury time at the end of the first when Eranen was fouled on the edge of the D. Lehtonen stepped up and curled a delightful free kick home. 2-0 at half time and I was very pleased with the qualities shown in the first half. We had battled them on their own terms and then stepped up a gear through our superior fitness levels and, to a large extent, had taken the game way from them.

An open second period followed with both sides expressing themselves with gusto. AIFK scored on 66 via a penalty after Pasanen was harshly adjudged to have held back the AIFK centre forward.. Peltonen was sent the wrong way and the part timers were back in it. I introduced Nielsen for the by now booked Valkeapaa. Didn’t work of course as AIFK had the leveller inside another three minutes, sloppy defending to blame for this one. We tightened up, too late of course, but at least we didn’t concede any more. Nor did we create any more and the game fizzled out a 2-2 draw. It was a game we should have won, but we didn’t.

Final Score AIFK 2-2 PP-70

Worrying defensive frailties still very much in evidence

[Loeffle]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by chesterfan2:

I look forward to reading a story from you, Loeffle. I'd seriously encourage you to give it a go. It's very nice indeed to write about your own little exploits on this gaming legend that is Football Manager and have someone like yourself or Flying_Fin or whoever make positive comments about it, or informative comments. Even polite comments are nice. It encourages you to keep on playing the game. And what's wrong with having a story about Hibs ?

If only it encouraged me to improve my marginal spelling !

And don't worry ManYoo and Chelsea are about two of the teams I won't let Tristan manage. Wrexham, Carlisle and Shrewsbury would be the others. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well thanks But Im starting the 2009/10 season with Hibs now, and I guess its too late to start sth now.

For the first time I gave Celtic and Rangers a real battle, and just because my icelandic cheesehead defender was send off in 2nd minute during the last match I failed to finish 2nd In contrast to the rest of the league I focus on having mostly Scottish players in my team, while the Gers have only Ferguson left in the A-team as a Scot.

Btw - did you know Tromsdalen is my favorite Norwegian team or did i mention it somewhere? I was a regular guest there during my stay in Norway, even if they were only the 2nd team in town

You play quite a number of pre-season friendlies?

[Loeffle]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by chesterfan2:

In the evening Tromsdalen overcame Iceland’s Selfloss also in a penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw in regulation time to win the Friendly Cup. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

HEIA Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal