Road to Nowhere (EHC)

[Terk]

Ernie Habbel wasn't a very good footballer. In fact, he was pretty awful. Somehow he'd conned teams into taking him on, some even played him occasionally, but he never earned more than fifty quid a week and neither did he ever make a meaningful contribution to a game. He had one advantage in life, however. He was a good friend of billionaire Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz. Mateschitz had lost many of SV Austria Salzburg's fans when he bought and re-branded the club as Red Bull Salzburg, so there were few left to alienate when he appointed Ernie as the club's manager.

There had been rumours that Giovanni Trapattoni would get the job, a name such has his would have placated many of the fans irate at the claim that they were now a 'new club with no history'. Ernie's apointment, however, did the exact opposite. He spoke well of his admiration for one of Austria's greats, Ernst Happel, and his desire to live up to one of football management's great names. No one was fooled though, there could have been no-one less able to live up to Happel's greatness; in one fell swoop, Salzburg had steered themselves onto a road to nowhere.

[Terk]

Ernie Habbel wasn't a very good footballer. In fact, he was pretty awful. Somehow he'd conned teams into taking him on, some even played him occasionally, but he never earned more than fifty quid a week and neither did he ever make a meaningful contribution to a game. He had one advantage in life, however. He was a good friend of billionaire Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz. Mateschitz had lost many of SV Austria Salzburg's fans when he bought and re-branded the club as Red Bull Salzburg, so there were few left to alienate when he appointed Ernie as the club's manager.

There had been rumours that Giovanni Trapattoni would get the job, a name such has his would have placated many of the fans irate at the claim that they were now a 'new club with no history'. Ernie's apointment, however, did the exact opposite. He spoke well of his admiration for one of Austria's greats, Ernst Happel, and his desire to live up to one of football management's great names. No one was fooled though, there could have been no-one less able to live up to Happel's greatness; in one fell swoop, Salzburg had steered themselves onto a road to nowhere.

[Terk]

Seeing as I won the challenge, decided I should really give it a go. Starting off in Austria, then my aim is to go on to the Netherlands before taking on a British club and then ending in my favourite league, Spain. Of course, things could go completely differently depending on which jobs come up.

Game being played on FM07, 7.0.2 patch. Using the FMWeegie update with a few further changes made myself.

[Peacemaker7]

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

Seeing as I won the challenge, decided I should really give it a go. Starting off in Austria, then my aim is to go on to the Netherlands before taking on a British club and then ending in my favourite league, Spain. Of course, things could go completely differently depending on which jobs come up.

Game being played on FM07, 7.0.2 patch. Using the FMWeegie update with a few further changes made myself. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Probably a decent start, but you mail me that weegie update at all, as I accidently deleted mine and they don't keep old versions. (Apparantly theres some crap called FM08 around now)

[Peacemaker7]

could you mail me. I swear I wrote that!

[Terk]

Uploaded the update to Megaupload and sent you the link

[Peacemaker7]

Thanks Simon

[Terk]

Nae problem

----------------------------------

By the time Ernie had been appointed to the Salzburg hotseat, the league season was almost upon them and he had time only for a cursory glance at the squad before deciding who would take to the field in the opening match.

Red Bull Salzburg Squad - 2006/07

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pkd | Inf | Name | Position | Nat | Height | Weight | Age | Value |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Heinz Arzberger | GK | AUT | 185 cm | 85 kg | 33 | £85K |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Timo Ochs | GK | GER | 189 cm | 81 kg | 24 | £475K |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | Fgn | Jorge Vargas | SW, D C | CHI | 180 cm | 80 kg | 30 | £1M |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | Fgn | Milan Dudic | D RC | SRB | 183 cm | 77 kg | 26 | £650K |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | Fgn | Ousman Sonko Pa | D RL | GAM | 176 cm | 78 kg | 21 | - |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | Inj | Ibrahim Sekagya | D RC, WB R | UGA | 186 cm | 78 kg | 25 | £75K |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Aleksander Knavs | D C | SVN | 191 cm | 88 kg | 30 | £700K |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | László Bodnár | D/WB R | *** | 173 cm | 78 kg | 27 | £275K |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | Fgn | Alex | D/WB L | JPN | 182 cm | 81 kg | 28 | £30K |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Remo Meyer | D/WB L, DM | SUI | 183 cm | 80 kg | 25 | £700K |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | René Aufhauser | DM | AUT | 185 cm | 80 kg | 30 | £1.7M |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Ezequiel Carboni | DM | ARG | 179 cm | 78 kg | 27 | £1.6M |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | Inj | Niko Kovac | M C | CRO | 178 cm | 75 kg | 34 | £600K |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Karel Pitak | AM R | CZE | 181 cm | 75 kg | 26 | £625K |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Alexander Zickler | AM R, ST | GER | 188 cm | 86 kg | 32 | £325K |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Andreas Ivanschitz | AM LC | AUT | 183 cm | 79 kg | 22 | £2.6M |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Christoph Leitgeb | AM LC | AUT | 171 cm | 64 kg | 21 | £500K |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | Fgn | Sasa Ilic | AM C | SRB | 178 cm | 71 kg | 28 | £2.7M |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | Fgn | Djordje Rakic | AM/F C | SRB | 188 cm | 81 kg | 20 | £1.7M |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Johan Vonlanthen | AM/F C | SUI | 175 cm | 69 kg | 20 | £2.7M |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Marc Janko | ST | AUT | 193 cm | 85 kg | 23 | £160K |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Vratislav Lokvenc | ST | CZE | 196 cm | 94 kg | 32 | £725K |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

[Terk]

Austria Wien vs. Salzburg

Franz-Horr-Stadion, Tuesday 18th July 2006

With a transfer budget just shy of £7M waiting for him if his squad did turn out to be pish, Ernie wasn't too bothered about which names he picked for the trip to face Wien. He was convinced they were going to lose anyway, alongside Sturm Graz their opening day opponents would be the hardest they would play in the division.

What happened in the first twenty minutes of the match shocked everyone, and Ernie most of all. A Vratislav Lokvenc penalty had put his side in front after just seven minutes, and two minutes later they were two goals up thanks to Johan Vonlanthen. A third was added in the twentieth minute, Lokvenc again with the strike and this management game was proving to be much easier than Ernie had thought.

They width of the smile on his face was only increased when René Aufhauser made it four to Salzburg just after the half hour, and even the home side pulling one back through Milenko Acimovic couldn't damped his spirits. The second half was a largely dull affair with both sides knowing nothing could be done about the result, but two late goals from pbDjordje Rakic and Ezequiel Carboni completed a quite wonderful rout for Ernie's boys.

Austria Wien 1 - 6 Salzburg

[Terk]

Mattersburg vs. Salzburg

Pappelstadion, Saturday 22nd July 2006

The first weekend of the new season saw Salzburg on the road again, this time to face a club that even Ernie had never heard of before. Expecting at least double the goal fest they had experienced in their first game, Ernie was somewhat disappointed when the sides came in at half time without the deadlock having been broken. He told them that he expected goals in the second half, and plenty of them.

It took eleven minutes for the first to come, but once it did their was little doubt about the end result. Milan Dudic came up for a corner and headed firmly past Robert Almer in the Mattersburg goal to put Salzburg in front, and just after the hour mark their lead was doubled thanks to ageing Czech marksman Lokvenc. Jorge Vargas picked up a second yellow card with ten minutes left to leave Salzburg a man light, and when Markus Hanikel thundered the resultant free kick into the back of the net, it was definitely squeaky-bum time. There was no need to worry though, Lokvenc made sure of another double to ease Ernie's pain through the last five minutes of the game.

Mattersburg 1 - 3 Salzburg

[Spav]

"They called him Ernie - and he drove the fastest milkcart in Salzburg".

God luck, Terk (with apologies to Benny Hill).

[Terk]

cheers for the support, Spav

-----------------------------------------

Salzburg vs. Zaglebie Champions League, 2nd Qualifying Round, 1st leg

Bullen-Arena, Wednesday 26th July 2006

The Champions League wasn't the most important thing on Ernie's mind for the season, he had come to Salzburg to lead them to the league title. However, making a bit of cash from it would keep him in well with Mateschitz, so he at lest wanted to get to the 3rd qualifying round and be guaranteed entry into the UEFA Cup.

A crowd of over 17,000 turned up to see Ernie's first home game in charge, quite surprising given the revolt there had been at his appointment, and the vast majority of them went home happy having seen the Austrian hosts grab a deserved victory. It was a tight affair, much more so than either of the league games had been, and was settled but just a single goal, a crushing strike from Lokvenc in the thirty-seventh minute that left Zaglebie goalkeeper Damian Mielec with not a hope in hell.

Salzburg 1 - 0 Zaglebie

[BobBev]

Congrats on winning the vote Simon and good luck with your quest for immortality

[Terk]

Cheers, Bob

--------------------------------

Zaglebie vs. Salzburg Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round, 2nd leg

Gorniczy Osrodek Sportu, Wednesday 2nd August 2006

Having kept a clean sheet at home, even Ernie knew that a goal in Poland would all but see them through to the third qualifying round and a meeting with Belgian side Anderlecht. It took only six minutes for that all important goal to arrive, young Austrian winger Andreas Ivanschitz curling in a free kick from twenty-five yards.

Ivanschitz hadn't been Salzburg's best performer in the first few games of the season, indeed Ernie had been on the verge of dropping the former Austria Wien player and bringing Christoph Leitgeb into the starting line-up. By half time he was glad he hadn't, however, as Ivanschitz smashed in a pile-driver shot from the edge of the area to double Salzburg's lead.

Their Polish opponents didn't have much spirit about them in the second half, perhaps sensing that four goals in the remaining forty-five minutes of the tie would be a little too much for them. The only goal of the second period fell again to Salzburg, Djordje Rakic coming off the bench for Lokvenc and heading home in injury time.

Zaglebie 0 - 3 Salzburg

(Salzburg win 4-0 on aggregate)

[Terk]

Salzburg vs. Sturm Graz

Bullen-Arena, Sunday 6th August 2006

Ernie had got the distinct impression that this management lark was easy. Four wins in his first four games, and really never having been in any danger of losing any of them, had given him the hope that his mission to better the achievements of Ernst Happel would cause no bother. How wrong he was.

Despite Salzburg being the media favourites for the title, Graz were the team fancied to come out on top in this encounter. And they were right to be so. From the first whistle they were in control of the match and the only surprise was that it took them quite so long as thirty-seven minutes to open the scoring. It was a fantastic goal when they did, Cédric Tsimba finishing off a wonderful, flowing move with a calm finish past Timo Ochs.

If anything Graz were even better in the second half, and the two goals they managed were the minimum they deserved. Klaus Salmutter headed home from a corner, catching Salzburg's defence completely asleep and then Sander van Huijksloot finished off the match with a neat strike from just six yards out.

Salzburg 0 - 3 Sturm Graz