Mandy42 Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 Be aware. I have been known to ramble. Think it was the movie Last King of Scotland. Where the doctor spins the globe at random to see where he wanted to go work. If memory serves his first spin saw him in Canada. He thought this was too mundane and so spun again. Who could blame him. Who wants to go to Canada anyway. Especially now your more likely to find Ryan Reynolds at Wrexham these days. Mmmmm Mr Reynolds, you can fondle my smooth criminals any day. Ahem... speaking of Wrexham. Is it just a joke on Ryan's part taking a team whose name means royal excessively theatrical actor. From the Latin Rex meaning king, and ham, originally American slang for an amateur actor. Or does it simply mean King ham? As in giant pig? Mmmmm pork, the other white meat. ANYWAY! Going back to Kings of Scotland. In my quest for a managerial challenge I took my first spin. Landing in Romania. From there I was offered a job with Farul Constanta in the second tier. They are predicted to finish 17th of 19 teams. A forecast which places us firmly in the relegation places. A future I have been hired to prevent. At first glance, no easy task. The squad is about as balanced as dog with no hind legs. Dutifully provided with one of those wheeled platforms by its owner in order for it to navigate life. The dog is perfectly happy. As it knows no different. Plus it can use its mechanical rear end to injure people who **** it off. But that was not what nature intended. The dog could be so much more. And this analogy has quite quickly run (no pun intended) its course. We don't even have a right back! One of the center backs might have once suggested he can kick the ball with his right foot. So he's the right back. There's no money in the transfer pot. There's 40 quid per week in the wage budget. I've no clue what the Romanian currency is. So until anyone tells me any different I'm classing it as quid. Most if not all of the squad is on loan from teams from the first division. My backroom staff think we should be playing a 4-1-4-1 wing play formation to get the ball into the box. However we have one striker whose the Romanian version of Peter Dinklage. No money, no clue, maybe why we bent over and clasped our ankles in our opening pre season friendly against Shakhtar Donetsk. A team I'd actually heard of. Who our home fans came to see. But were disgruntled and left early after seeing them pump us 4-0. For those who stayed late. We managed our first shot at goal in the 79th minute! Least I'm not in Canada. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon1982 Posted November 26, 2021 Share Posted November 26, 2021 (edited) Sounds interesting. Might have a challenge on here.. Edited November 26, 2021 by Jon1982 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted November 29, 2021 Author Share Posted November 29, 2021 On 26/11/2021 at 08:46, Jon1982 said: Sounds interesting. Might have a challenge on here.. We will see. Thanks for reading. But I reckon I'll be sacked before I can mount any form of challenge to anyone! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted November 29, 2021 Author Share Posted November 29, 2021 Defeat has the habit of making everything very short term focused. What went wrong today. Why didn't the plan work. So you make changes. Then if the defeats continue. Then the changes continue. Not long after your trying something new every week. Sometimes even two new things. Like the fat man at the Chinese restaurant working his way through the whole menu one dish and day at a time. Gone is any semblance of building on last weeks result or performance. Because every week your trying to get a win from your players. Desperate to stop the slide. Your players don't know if they are coming or going. You however have no doubt that your going if you don't get this fixed. That was how I felt through pre season. After the pointless game against Shakhtar in June. We had six friendlies scheduled in July. Well technically seven. But I cancelled the game against Lokomotiv Moscow. As I saw that as another pointless morale sapping fixture. Unfortunately that might be the most successful thing I managed all month. A 0-0 draw against Luceafarul Oradea felt like a decent step forward after the Shakhtar game. Until I realized they were a third tier team and we'd been the ones expected to pump them. A 3-0 defeat to another third tier side ACS Foresta Suceava made my skin crawl. And for the first time the board were on my back regarding the drop in morale in the changing room. I didn't want to tell them that the lads had taken me out for some local food. It hadn't agreed with me. 12 days into my tenure and the lingering smell in the changing room was just beginning to dissipate. That probably had more impact on the team morale than the poor showing on the pitch. ACSM Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt were our next opponents. And if I hadn't of laughed I would have cried. We won 1-0. Without managing a shot on target. A mix up between defender and goalie led to an embarrassing own goal which is probably on Youtube by now. We've now played 360 minutes of football and haven't scored a goal of our own yet. In that time I've been looking for a reaction. I've scrapped the 4-1-4-1 Dinklage model. Just trying to get something going I've flung two other forwards on and gone for a 4-3-3. No good. In or next two games against Arsenal (not that Arsenal). But Arsenal Tula we lost 3-0. And then 1-0 to Vorskla. Which brings me to another problem. I don't know enough about my own team or league. So when we are playing against Russian and Ukrainian teams I've no point of reference for how good they are. Or what is a good or bad result. I also feel at this rate. That if I don't get a win. I won't be here long enough to learn much of anything. So in the last friendly of pre season. I figured go back to basics and roll with a 4-4-2. Yet even that isn't possible. As the only wide players we have are attacking midfielders. It is beneath them to play that deep in midfield. So its more of a 4-2-4. Oh well, at this point I feel like I'm pulling tactical tweaks out of a hat. Husana Husi are our opponents. Another third tier Romanian side. 26 minutes in and we score a goal. All of our own! And what a goal. If its the only goal we score during my time here. I might still die happy. Just as I was about to berate the team for playing the ball through the center. When I've instructed them to build up down the flanks. Daniel Toma unleashes an absolute beast from 35 yards. Another Daniel, my assistant manager Mr Florea spends the next few minutes picking my jaw off the floor. And repeatedly reminding me that he doesn't think I've soiled myself in the excitement. Shortly after the floodgates opened. On the pitch, not in my pants. We ended up scoring seven unanswered. Which by my calculations makes that near enough a double pumping. My orders to Mr Florea were clear. If they had been on the Colombian marching powder before the game then they could stay on it. If they hadn't then they weren't starting now in celebration. The real work starts now. As the season opener is in a week. Oh and book me a new hotel room. I was that certain I was going to be gone before the season started. That I'd not renewed the one I was in. Some other swine had booked it on Trivago and I was expected to be checking out in the morning! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 This story needs more O-Zone music jingles 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted November 29, 2021 Author Share Posted November 29, 2021 11 minutes ago, Carambau said: This story needs more O-Zone music jingles (Mai-ai) ha ha! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted November 30, 2021 Author Share Posted November 30, 2021 (edited) August. My birth month. And the start of the Romanian league season. If the pre season form continued into the competitive fixtures. I could see myself being out of a job before my birthday. With the start of the season looming. A swathe of bookmaker predictions had been published. Perhaps unsurprisingly we didn't feature in the golden boot, young player or player of the year predictions. Though surprisingly we had moved from 17th to 11th place in the predicted final league standings. Now I'm by no means a humble man. But even I didn't feel like I could consider myself the reason for a six place bump in the virtual table. Yet nothing else had happened. Actually that is a lie. We offered one of our players a new contract. Which smashed us over the wage budget. Seem as that was basically the first thing on the list the chairman had given me as requirements for my job. I was fuming. I would have to take Mr Florea aside and give him a good thrashing until he learnt the appropriate contract negotiation technique. Mainly that the offer is written on a folded piece of paper and slid, silently across the table. No eye contact is made. Due to the fact both parties are equally as embarrassed by the amount written on the paper. The paper is passed back and forth until an unspoken bargain is struck. Confirmed with a handshake. That was for later. Right now in this instant I had to get the wage bill back under the allotted amount. I could hear Ciprian Marica the chairman shouting. "YOU HAD ONE JOB!" We had a loanee goalie who had pulled some lower limb ligaments and was due to be injured for the majority if not all of his loan contract. He came by the club every couple of days in a wheelchair. I cleaned out his locker, had all his stuff packed. Next time he came in. I packed the chair full of his belongings. Turned him round and pushed him back out the door. Back off to his parent club he went and the wages were back where they should be. I don't however see that bit of business causing the bookies to think we are going to do better in the table than before pre season. Speaking of pre season. I've heard of clubs absolutely smashing it, and then the wheels falling off in competitive fixtures. But not the other way around. I wasn't confident enough in the clubs chances that I considered myself in the market for green bananas. First game Concordia Chiajna. Playing the 4-2-4 that had seen us pump 7 past Husana in our last friendly. My mood was soured before kickoff when loanee star striker Alexandru Stoica was ruled out with a twisted knee. I got Mr Florea to get him a wheelchair. A clear message if ever one was required. Pre game injuries aside. We started brightly. So brightly that I began to feel it was only a matter of time before we were made to pay for not putting away our chances. Bodo Kanda, our right winger. A player actually under contract at the club. Was pulling all kinds of strings. He had the entire left side of their team on toast whenever he had the ball. It was his strike, parried by the keeper into the path of Dimclu Halep. That saw us take the lead on the 26th minute. Concordia grew into the half and just before halftime they drew level. I was buoyed by the fact we had actually scored in a competitive fixture. But felt that the tide had turned. We had wasted our brief time in the sun. The second half would surely belong to them. I was wrong. We were even more dominant in the second half. Goals from box to box midfielder Antonio Cruceru and the man himself Kanda. Sealed a win on my managerial debut. We wouldn't play again for eight days. In one regard it meant that I could field the same team in game after game. The problem however would be injuries. If a regular starter was injured. Then inadequate rotation could leave their replacement woefully lacking in match practice. I made one change to the lineup. Viitorul Targu Jiu were our first home fixture. We have begun the necessary discussions to get the stadium renamed to the "O-ZONE". We were apparent favourites. A tag that always makes me uneasy. However on this occasion we didn't disappoint. Running out 5-1 winners in a completely one sided affair. Where had this team come from? Alexandru Stoica. (Not the one in a wheelchair) another one. Playing on our left wing (confusing having two players with exactly the same name I know.) Scored a brace. Halep scored again. Speaking of players with the same name. Alexa the google companion wench person has been banned from the club. Not only were people making her play that dam O-Zone song over and over again. But whenever someone called out her name. Half the squad would respond thinking you were talking to them! Never in my wildest dreams would I think that our third match of the season would see us involved in a second vs third place clash to see which team could maintain a perfect start to the season. We were up against newly promoted CSM Resita. A game we lined up in as underdogs. Which I considered mildly insulting. To be fair we weren't anywhere near as dominant as we had been. But we still came out 2-0 winners. Keeping a clean sheet was a wonderful bonus. As was Alexandru Stoica (having gotten out of his wheelchair.) Scoring on his return from injury. He had however earned the nickname "wheelchair" as a way of identifying him from his namesake on the wing. Halep scored yet again. Making it three in three. Wheelchair struck again six days later. Scoring the only goal in our win against ASU Politehnica. Unfortunately Bodo Kanda was injured in a crunching tackle. With Daniel Toma also being injured. The former was wrapped in cotton wool. The later had his loan contract terminated and was sent home. The wheelchair might be considered slightly excessive. Seen as he'd only sprained his wrist. Final game of the month saw us against CS Mioveni. A 0-0 draw which was high on work rate and enthusiasm but low on quality. Was likely a fair result. It unbelievably saw us top the table with 13 points from five games. One point ahead of pre season title favourites FC Rapid. I also scooped the manager of the month award. I'm not quite leaving the hotel to look for an apartment. But things are definitely looking up. Edited November 30, 2021 by Mandy42 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted November 30, 2021 Author Share Posted November 30, 2021 September. We are first name out of the hat in the fourth round of the Romanian Cup. We play the greatest club ever named fellow league two side Metaloglobus. At home at the not quite named O-ZONE. Apparently if we kill off all three members of the group. We wont have to pay them anything for using the name. And we remove the chance of them reforming and producing any more crap music. We have Pandurii Targu Jiu away in the league before we play the cup game. But before that. Alexandru Stoica. (The winger who isn't nicknamed wheelchair) pulls his groin and gets put in a wheelchair. Perhaps as a protest that his namesake was given a nickname and he wasn't? Meanwhile Wheelchair is on the pitch for the Pandurii game and scores four goals! As we give them a double pumping 8-0! Bodo Kanda is injured again. He seems to take more knocks than a homeless person in a bus station! Next is the cup game. And coming three days after the last league game. Its the shortest turn around we have had between competitive fixtures. It shows in the tiredness of the players and the selection I am forced in to making. Of course I could have prioritized the cup game and rested more players for it. But the chairman only wants us to get to the fifth round (we start in the fourth) so I figured I'd chance my arm. Though I wanted to try maximize the number of points we could accrue in the league. Before the inevitable slump the pundits keep saying week in and week out, is just around the corner. Metaloglobus go ahead mid way through the first half. Its nothing more than a punt by the keeper that we let bounce. Their striker gets on the ball and finishes the 1v1 against our keeper. Poor any way you look at it. Wheelchair gets us back into the game just before the half. And when a Dimciu Halep tap in gives us the lead about 10 minutes into the second half. It feels like momentum is rolling our way. However we start making silly mistakes. Pressed out of possession too easily from a throw in. In our own third. The globus pull level. Cezar Gherghiceanu (Keanu for short) puts us back ahead with only three minutes left to play in the 90. We look like we are going through. Seven minutes later we are going to extra time. 30 minutes after that we are exhausted and out having shipped two goals in added on periods. Hopefully our outstanding league form will cushion the blow of us not meeting the boards expectations in the cup! Five days later we are back in the league against the other pre season promotion favourite UTA Arad. Its a nail biting first period. Even if we are doing better than the predictions suggest. They are certainly intent to give us a game. Wheelchair rises imperiously at the back stick just before the half time whistle to send us in 1-0 up. Hobo Kanda hobbles off once more in the second period. And we begin to lead some what of a charmed life. They hit the woodwork twice. Then in the final 10 minutes. We save a penalty. The commentators suggested it was a rather harsh decision. However just as the whistle blows for the soft penalty. Tudor Moldovan. On for the hobbling Hobo. Scythes down an Arad player in the box. Our keeper Vlad Mutiu saves it either way. And we hang on for the win. There is no hanging on in our next game. A 6-1 demolition of Dunarea Calarasi. Moldovan gets us on our way after just 10 minutes. Halep scores a brace. And Wheelchair chips in with his now almost customary appearance on the scoresheet. He's at it again eight days later. This time at home against Csikszereda. Which the lads were trying to get me to say after a few tipples. Heck I couldn't even say it sober. He arrived at the back stick just before the half hour mark to head us into the lead. Hobo Kanda scored a second for us before the half ended. I took him off at halftime. Before he could put his hand up in the second half and ask to be taken off. Our opponent, I'm not spelling out their name again. Kept us honest with a belting direct free kick goal late in the second period. But we once again held on for the win. Which sees us still sitting top of the league. Very surreal. Five points clear of UTA Arad. Although they have a game in hand. And a whopping 19 points above our projected 17th place. I think I want an apartment with a pool. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted December 2, 2021 Author Share Posted December 2, 2021 Into October and Wheelchair is gone. He ended up in an actual wheelchair yet again. This time with a sports hernia. He was due to be out of action for eight weeks. So I sent him packing back to his parent club. I wasn't paying him 160 quid a week to just lounge around doing sod all. So I now have nearly 300 quid in the wage pot. But still can't find anyone who actually wants to come and play for us for that a kind of money. Gloria Buzau is our first opponent of the month. A team that along with CSM Resita apparently aren't eligible to be promoted to the first division. Not sure why. Either way we struggle to turn our chances into goals. And we end up with a 0-0 draw. I tell myself that getting rid of Wheelchair hasn't been a bad omen. As we wouldn't have had him available for the game anyway. Ripensia are up next. And we are awful. We lose 2-0. 180 minutes of football since I kicked Wheelchair out and we haven't looked like we could hit the broadside of a barn door. We did manage a new second tier Romanian league record with 10 games unbeaten. But that has come to an end. With FC Rapid up next just after our first league defeat. The vultures are circling saying this is the beginning of our slump down the table to our "rightful position" But goals from Razvan "Despicable Me" Greu and Laurentiu Ardelean saw us mount a second half comeback to win 2-1. Last game of the month was against our cup nemesis Metaloglobus. Chesney Hawkes (Alexandru Stoica) so now named as he has taken to singing the one hit wonders song at every opportunity. Put us on our way after just nine minutes. But a well worked set piece saw them draw level in the second half and we scrapped it out to a fair result of a 1-1 draw. We sit second. One point behind FC Rapid but with a game in hand. UTA Arad sit one point behind us having played the same number of games. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted December 2, 2021 Author Share Posted December 2, 2021 November and its by far our busiest month yet. Six league games! I'm going to be spending a lot of my time in my apartments pool to relax this month! FC Arges are first. They take the lead early on and I wonder if we are going to be able to get back into the game. We haven't had to come from behind very often. And when we have, its been a mixed bag. Alexandru Nicola (hope you are beginning to understand the Alexa ban now) pulls us level with a stroke of luck. A shot through an Arges defender which takes enough of a deflection that it causes their keeper to fumble it on the line and let it roll into the net. Halep scores our second to put us ahead. But they draw level with an absolute rocket in the second half. In the 84th minute our only international Ion Cararus (Moldovan) manages to miss a penalty wide of the right post. We should have taken all three points. And he would have gotten a cool nickname. U Cluj are next. Which Mr Florea assures me is not a Romanian swear word. Hobo gets us off to a flyer with a goal in the second minute. But the Cluj are level after only four minutes. Hobo then manages to get himself sent off for a professional foul before the half hour. I'm adding in "a night sleeping rough in the bus station" to the code of conduct for automatic red cards as we speak. Playing two thirds of the game with only 10 men I consider it lucky that we managed to hold on for a draw. We entertain Sportul Snagov at home next. Tudor Moldovan. Vying for Hobo's spot in the team. Manages to score with only 26 seconds played. It is a long and at times nail biting wait after that. But Denis Hordouan makes it 2-0 with only 15 minutes left to play. Back to back 2-1 defeats. First to Turris Turnu Magurele and then Petrolul Ploiesti see me quite mad. Our goals in both games were penalties. Which at least I suppose we scored. But especially the Ploiesti game. Where they both equalized and scored the winner in the last five minutes of normal time. Well that stings the ring like a vindaloo. The final game of the month saw us play Viitorul Targu Jiu. Halep put us on our way early with a goal after two minutes. But we found ourselves once again 2-1 down in the closing seconds. Hobo arrived at the back stick deep into injury time in the second period to salvage a point. Into December and we played only the single game. Concordia Chiajna at home. A five goal thriller which we edged 3-2. Cezar Keanu ended his almost 10 hours of football without a goal in the 24th minute. Chesney Hawkes leveled for us in the second half after they had scored two quick fire goals either side of the intermission. Antonio Cruceru secured the points with a little over 10 minutes to play. Now for some reason we have 76 days before our next game in February? I don't really understand why. We also only play the one game in February before returning to a packed program in March. I'm going to be pretty wrinkly from spending so much time in my swimming pool. But oh well. One bit of griping however. Ciprian is getting on my ass about being concerned regarding our recent spate of losses. SERIOUSLY! You told me to avoid relegation. Over halfway through the season and we are top of the league on 39 points. And your busting my balls over the three games we have lost? You can suck on my chlorine smelling wrinkly ball sack! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted December 2, 2021 Author Share Posted December 2, 2021 I checked, and then double checked. That we definitely didn't have any games to play for 76 days. Mid season break apparently. One quick google later and I was on a flight to the Maldives. Safe in the knowledge that the average winter temperature was 28 degrees. I had scheduled to return five days before our next competitive fixture in February. My whole wardrobe for the 71 day holiday was various Farul Constanta team shirts. Matching budgie smugglers. Matching Socks. And sandals. My mission, to work on my farmers tan. Lounge around the infinity pools and beaches. Photo bombing as many honeymoon snaps as I could. To change the pace a little I would offer to take said honeymoon pictures. Only to zoom completely in on the bride and ensure the groom was out of the picture. Or zoom in even further for a crystal clear close up of the assets her bikini was blatantly not hiding. Feeling refreshed and ready to go for the second half of the season. My only worry was that in my absence there had been no decision on players who were coming to the end of their contracts. As I went about individually searching out players who I wanted to keep. I quickly realized that our financial situation wasn't the best. We were closing in on 150k in the red. The new contracts were quickly swallowing up what little wage budget I had been able to free up. I began culling loan players. Except where they were far and away the stand out performer in their position. I'd been informed that our upcoming youth intact was a possible golden generation. Plus I managed to scoop up three youth players released by other clubs for 100 quid a week each. Hopefully this new direction will make us more financially viable. Unfortunately our new direction wasn't doing so well for our results on the pitch. Chesney Hawkes. One of the few remaining loanees scored the only goal of the game in our only game in February. But then in March we slipped up 1-0 to ASU Politehinica. We did beat relegation bound Pandurii Targu Jiu 3-1. Even though Antonio Cruceru got himself sent off for a second bookable offence late on. No overnight in the bus station for him. This time. Main problem, the remaining loanees were still responsible for the majority of our goals. A first vs second clash at home to UTA Arad was next. It ended in a very tight 2-2 draw which could have gone either way. A goal from Halep in the first half and Martin in the second helped secure a point. No such luck a week later. Away to CS Mioveni we got thumped 3-0. A week after that we rounded out a very inconsistent month with a 1-1 draw against Csikszereda. Martin once again on the score sheet. One thing! having spent over two months in the Maldives. Its flaming cold now I'm back in Romania! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted December 2, 2021 Author Share Posted December 2, 2021 The tempo of the last three months of the season is simple. Three months. 15 games. Five games a month. After two losses, two draws and a solitary win in March. I wasn't overly looking forward to April. Especially when on April fools day. Gloria Buzau put us to the sword 3-1. My choice to abandon our loan players might be coming back to bite me in my nicely tanned ass. Though in our next game against Dunarea Calarasi. Two of our remaining loan players I hadn't lost faith in. Halep and Chesney Hawkes both scored to see us to a 2-0 victory. Even so. By the 12th of April we were sitting seventh. Our lowest league position of the campaign so far. Though in one regard it wasn't as bad as it seemed. Only seven points separated second and eighth. What was worrying was the fact most of the other teams in that tight mini league had games in hand over us. Three days later we played Ripensia and a brace from Hobo saw us once again the victors at 2-0. Back up to third, and a nice article indicating we had secured our best ever league position with still seven games to play. Crunch games against title chasing FC Rapid and FC Arges came back to back in the final two games of April. Both were away. Which is one reason I am not overly angry at them both finishing 0-0. Could those dropped points be the ones which seal our fate of missing out on promotion or the single playoff birth in third spot? Possibly. Could we have gotten better results if I had stuck with some more of the loan players for longer? Possibly. Am I annoyed that Ciprian sees our drop in league position and dropping of points as a reason to downgrade my performance as manager? DEFINITELY! We are 32 points above our predicted position. Heck we are eight points above our mid table aims of next season. There's just no respect! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted December 2, 2021 Author Share Posted December 2, 2021 Into May and our final five games of the season. Up first. Metaloglobus. The team we hadn't been able to be in two attempts already this season. Perhaps trying to infuriate me into getting a win. Ciprian had down graded my managerial performance yet again on the dressing room notice board. I was down at a C+ the lowest I had been all season. However Moldovan international Ion (BA) Cararus (I ain't taking no penalties fool) scored the only goal of the game to see us beat the bus at the third time of asking. A result that catapulted us from fifth to third. And my manager rating from that C+ to an A. UTA Arad were running away with the league and they secured the minimum of a playoff finish third spot with a 3-1 against Turris Turnu Magurele. Petrolui Ploiesti were making a late charge and seemed almost as uncatchable in second place. A 1-1 draw at home for us against U Cluj didn't do us any favours at all. We did come from behind to secure the point though which is one consolation. Another being that FC Arges and FC Rapid in the chasing pack also dropped points. The former losing away to Ripensia. Three days later and another result goes our way Petrolul going down 2-0 at home to Dunarea Calarasi. Opening the door just a crack making it still mathematically possible that we can overhaul them. The day after we take a nerve shredding visit to bottom club Sportul Snagov. We are behind after just five minutes. Level through Halep after 10. Ahead through Hordouan just before the half hour. But all is level again just three minutes later. A Chesney Hawkes penalty in the 89th minute finally sees us go home with all three points. FC Arges lose again. This time to Metaloglobus. Basically ruling them out of the promotion race. FC Rapid are close on our heels and Petrolul are still tantalizingly in reach. In the penultamate game of the season we do our part by beating Turris Turnu Magurele 2-0. Both goals from Halep which secures him the divisional young player of the year award. Shame I can't sign him! FC Rapid go down to 10 men in the 20th minute against U Cluj. But still manage to dig out a 1-0 win to take their chances of stealing third spot from us to the final day. The day after Gloria Buzau beat Petrolul 1-0 at home. That result means that a win for us on the final day and we would go above them by a single point into the second automatic promotion spot. Seen as Petrolul are our final opponent of the season the maths are basically pretty simple. FC Rapid lose their game in hand to us 3-1 to FC Arges. Basically meaning they have to win, we have to lose in order for them to pass us. Final day. In a fitting tale of redemption BA Cararus scores from the penalty spot to give us the lead away at Petrolul. However we only stay in second spot for 19 minutes before they equalize. The game ends 1-1 as in truth neither team wants to do too much to risk the point in favour of the whole three. In the only other game of the day I care about. Bottom and relegated side Sportul Snagov do the dirty on FC Rapid. Ensuring they stay relevant in the final drama of the last game. By holding the playoff chasers to a 2-2 draw at home. We were predicted to finish 17th. We have finished third. We will play FC Hermannstadt in the league 1 / 2 playoff. Two legs. We go away in the first game. Hobo and Despicable Greu score to give us a solid advantage in the tie. However Vlad Mutiu our standout first choice keeper is injured and has to be stretchered off with a damaged Achilles. We share a silent communion in the dressing room at the end of the game. Before I personally administer his pain relieving injection so he can play in the second leg. We lose the game. But only 1-0 meaning we get promoted to the first division via the playoff spot! the sounds of: MA-I-A HI MA-I-A HU MA-I-A HO MA-I-A HA HA Sound long into the night as the party kicks off. If there isn't an A++ on the notice board in the dressing room when I come back next season I'll be kicking off! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted December 9, 2021 Author Share Posted December 9, 2021 What a difference a year makes! This time last year I was looking at flights home and expecting the axe during a woeful pre season. Most days I was hungover, getting my kicks by weeing in the hotel pool. Fast forward to the present and there isn't even going to be a pre season this year. And no that's not because I've been sacked! We got promoted. Via the playoff spot. Last season we had most of the first team filled with loan players from our parent club FC Viitorul. This season there isn't a loan player in sight and we will be playing Viitorul home and away in the Romanian first division. Whether we survive longer than a season is yet to be seen. I've signed no fewer than eight new players. Without spending a single penny in transfer fees. Most were out of contract or youth players released from other teams. Swerving away from the loan players means that I will have to blood the youth a lot sooner than might possibly be wise. But as the chairman only wants us to battle bravely against relegation this season. It will be character building for all of us. Oh... and he only gave me a B+ I might have to go round and wee in his swimming pool... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted December 9, 2021 Author Share Posted December 9, 2021 We go into the new league 1 season cold turkey. No friendlies or any kind of build up. This might be mutiny from the backroom staff for me cancelling some of the friendlies last year. Or it might just be the schedule for a newly promoted team. I dunno. With the plethora of new signings. I mean we have at least one if not one and a half right backs now! I've tried to construct a squad which will allow us to play a slightly more uniform 4-2-3-1 formation. As all the cool Romanian kids seem to be using it. So I'll jump on that band wagon. Preseason bookmaker predictions (dunno why I still look at these with how far out they were last year.) But they are rather sobering this year. With us favourites to finish rock bottom 14th out of 14. Though on the eve of the new season. At least off the pitch. We look in good shape. We've gone from being almost 200k in the red at the end of last season. To being 650k in the black at this moment in time. There's 3,500 quid in the wage bill. Season ticket sales are up as almost 700 glory supporters decide to come watch us play every week. I feel almost sorry for them. At the O-ZONE Arena where we play the groups only greatest hit before kick off. Maybe that is where the money is coming from. The "band" paying us money to use their name to drum up support for their "music". The fans seem to take it in good enough spirits though. Linking arms and turning their backs on the pitch Poznan style while they jump up and down. Singing the chorus loudly and out of tune. Perhaps they are just trying to make the best of what they see as a holiday in the top division. More likely they are turning their backs so they can't get photographed singing their hearts out and blackmailed by their relations at a later date. 3,811 of them come out to see our first opponent of the season. Astra Glurgiu. The O-ZONE can hold 15,000 so there is scope for me to bring yet more success to the club without people having to climb on top of each other. Much like the new name for the stadium. There are new names aplenty in the starting line up. Seven of the 11 on the pitch weren't at the club last year. New heroes for the new fans to cheer on in our new era. And plenty of room to give them all daft nicknames along the way. Though the fans gave it a good go and cheered the players on with gusto. We were poor in the first half and were deservedly 1-0 down at the break. It could have been more. A rasping drive hit the angle of post and bar and bounced harmlessly away. And another goal was correctly chalked off for offside. Which resulted in much commotion as it involved the referee consulting with VAR. We didn't have such luxuries in the second tier. Despite the seven new faces. There was a familiar look to our play in that first period. We were sloppy on the ball, tired and slow. Exactly as we had been this time last year as we laboured to fitness during preseason. I introduced Hobo Kanda. Who had eventually signed a new contract with us. Shortly after we had secured promotion no less. Just like in the opening exchanges of last seasons league campaign he looked our best player on the ball. He delivered two dangerous free kicks. Both of which we could be considered unlucky to not draw level from. Especially the second, which their keeper fumbled and we just couldn't hack it into the goal in the scrum that followed. Unfortunately Astra reasserted themselves and went another goal up midway through the second half. Most of the players looked exhausted and I feared the flood gates would open in the final 10 or so minutes. Instead we surged back into the game. Hobo again at the fore. Charging down the right wing. He pulled the ball back into the right channel just outside their area. New Signing Armando (Armani) Gheorghe unleashed an absolute cannon of a right foot. The ball dipping and spinning through the air into the top left corner. 2-1. Unfortunately there was only a minute of stoppage time remaining and much like the majority of the game. When we tried force the ball we ended up going astray with our passing and wasted one final opportunity to create a chance to level. As we put the ball out of play trying to get it to Hobo on the right wing. Armani is only 19. Came to us on a free at the end of last season when he was let go by relegated Academica Clinceni. Way back when he had joined FC Steaua Bucuresti at the tender age of 10. A week later we would play UTA Arad away. All three promoted clubs were predicted to go straight back down. Rather simply in the order we had secured promotion. So while Arad were supposedly the best of the three new teams in the league. They had never beaten us to this point. Plus in my survival mentality (Ciprian had torn the "+" from the notice board and made me a B due to our opening day loss. Which made me feel this was going to be a long season.) I already saw this as a relegation battle. I needn't have been worried we cruised to a 3-0 win. Antonio Cruceru and Denis Hordouan, survivors from last years squad both scored. While new signing Alexandru (what else would he be called) Popescu got off the mark. Popescu I consider to be one of the best pieces of business I managed in the transfer window. Snatched from current Liga 1 champions Universitatea Craiova on a free. The 22 year old striker scored 12 goals in last seasons campaign and averages a goal every three games with 44 in 129 appearances. Final game of the month was also against a newly promoted team. Petrolul Ploiesti. A team we hadn't beaten to date. Back at the O-ZONE and once again of the opinion that at least on paper this was another game at the "easier" end of the spectrum. I sent the lads out with a positive mentality. Another clean sheet and another win. 2-0. With new winger Octavian Ursu (Ursus means Bear, so The Bear) scoring both. Including a very confident chipped penalty. At the end of the month we sit a very respectable fifth. Six points out of a possible nine. If only we could play these teams every week! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted December 10, 2021 Author Share Posted December 10, 2021 August was likely to be a very sobering month. Not just because I was getting closer to 40 than to 35. Or that three days after my birthday we were going to be playing Dinamo Bucuresti at the O-ZONE Arena. Pretty sure I don't want to be hungover for that game. We play five league games in the same month for the first time in the top flight. And if the Dinamo game right after my birthday wasn't enough. We then finish the month with a trip to Steaua just eight days later. I think by the end of August the honeymoon period is very much likely to be over. It certainly didn't start well FC Botosani coming to the O-ZONE on the first of the month and leaving 2-0 victors. A sign of how well we have been doing though that the result frustrated me. The first goal we conceded from a simple corner. Which we have to do better in order to give ourselves a fighting chance. We hit the bar, and the post, and Alex Popescu had a glancing header clawed round the post. All at 0-0. With the aforementioned end to this month. It felt we could have gotten something out of the game. And we probably needed to. Next up in August. An away trip to defending champions and Romanian super cup winners Universitate Craiova. Although they were struggling below us in the table which gave me some hope. That hope flashed brilliantly after just two minutes. When Antonio Cruceru curled a peach of a free kick over the wall and into the top corner after only two minutes played. Though eventually we capitulated under the ensuing Craiova enslaught. Conceding the equalizing goal in the 85th minute. Bit of a gut punch. But if you'd have offered me a point at the beginning of the month I'd of snatched your hand off and slapped you with it. Our next opponents Politehnica Iasi, another team struggling below us but expected to beat us. They went ahead in the first half from yet another corner. I was on the verge of giving Mr Florea the sharp edge of my tongue in the second half about these soft goals costing us. When The Bear, and Alex Popescu both converted with tidy finishes inside the area. We stole out of there with all three points. Which provided me with an early birthday present. I was slightly disappointed with the O-ZONE faithful. Only just shy of 3,300 home fans turned out for our game against Dinamo. Perhaps they didn't want to see us get completely destroyed. I certainly didn't! But it wasn't like we played them every year. This was a properly established Romanian team. And yet more fans had turned out for the FC Botsani game at the beginning of the month. I perhaps sympathized a little more with their perspective when we were behind after just five minutes. Another header, this time from a free kick not a corner. Mr Florea would most likely be getting it in the second half. If I had the energy left. It felt like a long afternoon was ahead of us. We were the home team. And I know I've spoken before about taking charge and dictating tempo at home. But to be honest I was just happy when we had the ball. I was even happier when Despicable Greu decided to run with it. On a hopeful foray into the Dinamo half. I was over the flaming moon when he unleashed an absolute screamer from 25m which almost ripped a hole in the net and drew us level at 1-1. It felt like we had poked a very angry very sore bear. As Dinamo thrashed at us for the rest of the first half. They looked to pick up where they had left off when the second period began. But Alex Popescu pinched the ball from one of their center halves and after laying the ball to The Bear out wide. He got it back in the form of a cross. A deft glancing header, which he seems to enjoy deploying. Dribbled in at the bottom left corner and out of nowhere we were 2-1 up. Now Dinamo seemed more stunned than anything. Yes they still had most of the ball and they still pressed forward. But they seemed to with almost a dejected mentality that today just simply wasn't their day. Mr Florea was beaming in the technical area. At least until the officials decided to conjure up eight! minutes of injury time from absolutely nowhere. Probably not for the last time I felt the pangs of small club syndrome. Expected to accept the seemingly blatant attempt to give the bigger club a chance to rescue themselves from the upset. Accepting the opportunity Dinamo came forward with renewed vigor. But their attack broke down. Despicable Greu found himself once more with the ball at his feet running into the opposition half. Most of the crowd were busy whistling for the end of the game, the rest were making rather disparaging remarks about the referee's mother. Only a handful were ironically screaming "shooooooooot" But shoot he did. Almost an exact replica of his first attempt. 93 minutes played 3-1. Dinamo once more looked lost. They still had five minutes of "rescue" time left to play. But looked like they wanted the ground to swallow them up and it all to be over. Which is probably why once again Alex Popescu stole the ball from one of their defenders. Nobody to pass it to this time. Instead he surged into the box and finished beneath the floundering Dinamo keeper. 95 minutes played. 4-1. I almost hugged Mr Florea. Almost. And I almost wanted us to get relegated after that performance. So the fans who came that day could say to those that didn't "we were there". If and when we were languishing back in the second tier. I think as a club. From Ciprian all the way down to Bogdan the bootroom dog. We partied a bit too hard after that result. Not that I thought lightning was going to strike twice or anything. But eight days later. Steaua reinstated some reality as they dispatched us with ease 3-0. That saw August end with us sitting sixth. With 13 points. Which sounds excellent, until you look closer and see we are but four points away from the relegation playoff spot. Time will tell. But for the moment we are treading water Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted December 10, 2021 Author Share Posted December 10, 2021 There was a two week break after we lost to Steaua. I think for international games. But as not many of our players get called up. I could be wrong. When we did return to domestic action. It was against Chindia Targoviste. Which ended up being a fifth (them) against sixth (us) clash. We got off to a flyer with a Hobo goal after only five minutes. Kanda can be so frustrating. While he consistently is a thorn in an oppositions side. Through his pace and direct running. When he actually decides to shoot. He's as likely to hit the corner flag as he is get it on target. I've attempted to dissuade him from pulling the trigger. I've even contemplated putting an assist bonus in his contract rather than a goal bonus. But he still just wants to let fly and roll those dice. This time they came up with a winner. Slamming across the goal into the bottom corner. We were even further ahead when BA Cararus netted from the penalty spot to double our advantage. Their manager must have put it up em in the dressing room at half time. As they came out fired up and looking to get back in the game. They had a goal back around the hour mark. But we continued to hold firm, even if we'd stopped being much of a threat ourselves going forward. Unfortunately, in the dying minutes BA turned the ball into his own net to level the tie. It finished 2-2. Which in fairness to the overall state of play was probably a fair result. And to BA's credit. He didn't have much choice with the own goal. If he'd not attempted to make contact with the ball it would have been a tap in for their striker anyway. A relative short turn around of only five days and we were playing FC Voluntari at the O-ZONE Arena. I say play. But the Voluntari team hadn't turned up to play football. But seemed they wanted to come and wrestle. More fouls than a farm yard. Which really disrupted the game. Which seemed to be their game plan. The Bear managed to fend off a rugby tackle from one of their defenders. Just long enough to claw the ball into the net to give us a 1-0 win late on. It wasn't pretty and its a wonder nobody was injured. But three points is three points. Fifth round of the Romanian cup next. We get drawn against second tier ASU Politehnica Timisoara. The boards expectations for the cup this season is a rather cryptic "be competitive." Which I completely disregard by making 10 changes and fielding a full youth team. But then its the first time in my tenure we've played three games in nine days. ASU have 27 shots at goal. But unfortunately for them only three of them are on target. The game drags on and as we are facing extra time I introduce Alex Popescu with one eye on penalties. One minute into the second period of extra time and Popescu finds the net. His one moment of quality is enough to see us through into the sixth round. I might have misjudged this cup lark. We get 4.2k for getting this far. We only won 8k for finishing third in the second tier last season! Our last opponent of the month is Sepsi OSK. Who are also are sixth round Romanian cup opponents. Hobo got himself injured mid way through the second half and that is about the only thing that really happened the whole game. Of all the teams to have to play three times in a season! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted December 10, 2021 Author Share Posted December 10, 2021 October last year saw me sending Wheelchair home after he was sidelined with a sports hernia. This year our only long term injury is Viorel Lica one of our center backs with a groin strain. This year our October games are spread out due to some of the fixtures being rearranged. This is down to the continental commitments of other Liga 1 clubs. On the one hand it means I can more regularly field my strongest XI. On the other hand it means most of the squad outside of that XI is woefully below full match fitness. Our first game is on the fourth of the month. There is a 13 day gap to our next fixture. But the results are the same. Two uninspiring 1-0 defeats. Firstly against CFR Cluj. Who the media tell us its impossible for us to beat. We come very close to a draw though. An 89th minute BA Cararus penalty miss the only thing standing between us and a share of the spoils. The second game against current league leaders and ex parent club FC Viitorul is a different story. It takes everything to keep the game at 1-0. We weren't ever really in it as an attacking force. But the lads can take a lot of pride that we weren't blown out. A week later and its the first of the repeat fixtures. We start the second half of the season in the top half of the table. Something that has caused Ciprian to offer me a two year contract extension. Though he's also taken full advantage by demanding a 90% compensation clause to try and ward off any clubs coming in and trying to steal me away. Astra Giurgiu. The team who consummately outplayed us on opening day. Are put to the sword in the first half by an Alex Popescu hat trick. We go in at the break 3-0 up. And I finally decide to give our top goalscorer a nickname. Popescu is such a strong Romanian name, and reminds me of the golden generation of Romanian internationals who I watched as a lad. But after scoring a hat trick away from home in the first half. Your getting named. He goes out into the second half known as the Pope. Though either we thought the job was done. Or the nickname has angered someone on high. As we ship two goals in the space of 10 minutes in the second period. And fight for our lives for the remaining 35 minutes. We do escape with all three points. But more through luck than talent in our second half display. Which just leaves our sixth round cup game against Sepsi OSK. Hobo has brought his shooting boots back with him from injury. Another cross goal screamer sees us take the lead after just four minutes. Once again we batten down the hatches and frustratingly charge down and block pretty much anything that looks like it might be a cross or an attempt at goal. I'm going to take part in my first final as a manager. Ok it's a quarter final. But it still contains the word FINAL! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted December 10, 2021 Author Share Posted December 10, 2021 (edited) Turns out there is a lot of football to play before we play our first "final". As the cup doesn't resume again until March. Back in the league and November sees us playing four games. We currently sit fourth. Which again is fantastic. But the reality is that the majority of the league is ridiculously tight. There is space between the top and bottom two. However from third to 11th the teams are separated by a measly three points. First up is UTA Arad at the O-ZONE. I once again find myself hoping to take maximum points against teams we were promoted with. The Pope sets us on our way a half hour into the game with a tidy half volley after a nice knock down by The Bear. But Arad rally in the second period to hold us to a 1-1 draw. On the day probably a fair result. But feels like a missed opportunity. Universitatea Craiova draws a home crowd of over 3,600 supporters to the O-ZONE. Plus more than 500 of their own fans. Almost bringing the stadium to a third of its maximum capacity. Unfortunately we ship two early goals and never find a way back into the game. Losing 2-0. 11 days later we go away to Petrolul Ploiesti. Twice The Bear smashes us ahead with almost carbon copy low drives from the edge of the area. And twice they level. We go in at the half all square 2-2. Much like the final game of last season where once a score draw was reached neither team could forge a decisive opening. The second half is played out to a dead rubber. Its only Petrolul's seventh point of the season. Definitely not good enough if we want to keep ourselves away from relegation. However we don't seem to be able to shake ourselves out of the funk. FC Botsani do the double over us with a boring 1-0 win to end the month. Two points from a possible 12 sees us slide from fourth to 11th. One consolation is we are still six points above the relegation playoff spot. However for a season that seemed to promise so much. It seems to be slipping through our fingers rather quickly. Edited December 10, 2021 by Mandy42 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted December 10, 2021 Author Share Posted December 10, 2021 Mr Florea asked me the other day: "So what are your plans for the playoffs boss?" My reply was less than subtle. "Ehm is that a joke? We are rock bottom of the AFC West. We haven't had a sniff of the post season since the 2015-16 season!" My voice was rising. Even as Mr Florea tried to speak I went again. "Have you heard me running round the club lately screaming ORANGE CRUSH!!! with a white horses head piece on and my orange glittery thong? WELL HAVE YOU?!" Mr Florea realized that non verbal communication was probably his best bet. And he slowly shook his head in the negative. "Then don't talk to me about PLAYOFFS!" This time there was a nod. Then a few ominous seconds past before Mr Florea finally spoke again. "I mean't the Romanian Liga 1 playoffs boss." Well crap... Turns out that the 26 game regular season is just the appetizer in the Romanian top tier. After that the league gets split in half. Or as close to half as a 14 team competition can be. The top six battle it out for the title and who gets to go into what continental competition next year. While the bottom eight maul each other to death in an attempt to be one of the five teams guaranteed to stay in the league in the following season. Armed with these facts. I honestly didn't have an answer for him. The league situation was so tight that we could realistically finish anywhere from third to 12th. The brutal truth was that any finish about 12th would be fine by me. Staying in the league was the priority. Even if by some tragedy we did get relegated. We would still have earned almost 10 times the prize money for finishing bottom of Liga 1 than we did for finishing third in Liga 2. But I was getting ahead of myself. There were still eight games to go in the regular season and the lottery of the mid season break. Plus most importantly my holiday destination to pick. Politehnica Iasi were our first opponents in December at the O-ZONE. Perhaps galvanized by the thought of playoff football. I sent the lads out to rip them a new one. And we did. The Pope, Armani, Hobo and The Bear all on the score sheet. Plus as an exclamation point Cosmin Achim our "star player" center back who I signed from FC Voluntari on deadline day. Scored his first goal for the club with a bullet header from a corner. We shipped two late goals. But I almost didn't notice. Nine days later we faced Dinamo away. Which was scary. Our fans made it clear that they hadn't forgotten what we'd accomplished in the previous iteration of this fixture. Not that the Dinamo fans needed a reminder. I was standing in a howling cauldron of hate. It was unclear whether the home fans were directing their angst as us or their own team. Their manager had been sacked only a couple of weeks ago. When it came to playoff football for Dinamo, it was looking like they would be in the relegation section not the championship one. While I could understand the passion and the frustration of the fans. It was clear that the atmosphere was as if not more detrimental to the home team as it was to us. Every Dinamo player was scared of making a mistake. Of giving the fans any reason to focus their ire on one individual. They kept it ridiculously safe. There was simply no spark. It only got worse when Hobo arrived at the back post with 20 minutes gone and prodded home a searching cross from the right wing. There was now no question. The howling was most certainly directed at the home team. The fans wanted blood. The Bear and the Pope added goals in the second half. And we ran out of there with the final whistle still ringing in our ears. Just before the home fans started tearing seats up and flinging them on the pitch. That experience certainly had a hangover effect. Maybe the atmosphere imprinted on the players. Some kind of PTSD. Maybe I was too nonchalant in the short turn around we had to prepare. Heck we had done the double over Dinamo. Scored seven over the two games and only conceded one. Whatever the reason. We collapsed 3-0 to FC Voluntari in our last game before the mid season break. Only 45 days this year until our next game. The only game we have in January. Though its against Steaua. So I don't hold out much home of shaking off the rust from the break in time to put up much of a fight. I changed my tactics when it came to my holiday this year. While the Maldives had been warm. It had been dull and boring. Plus returning to negative temperatures and snow in Romania had nearly killed me from man flu. So I went on a conservation volunteers holiday. Helping GPS tag wildlife in the Arctic. Might not be as many honeymoon photos to ruin or cleavage to stare at. But come January when I return to Romania. I'll probably be too warm in just my speedos. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted December 11, 2021 Author Share Posted December 11, 2021 January, and its flaming warm back in Romania! Or at least it is to me. Other predictions that ring true. When it comes to playing Steaua on the 30th we are as rusty as the bed springs in my volunteer holiday cabin. Cezar Gherghiceanu who has been warming the bench all season as the Pope's understudy. Bags two goals as he tries take the opportunity to stake a claim to a place in the starting XI with both feet. However his goals are the only high points in a contest that sees Steaua score five. Three days later we play Chinda Targoviste. They are one slot below us in the table. Which is currently tighter than my cheeks were when going to the toilet in the Arctic. The game is just as close. With Cosmin Achim scoring his second goal for the club. He only seems to know how to score one kind of goal. A downward driving header from a powerful thrust of that bull neck of his. Slamming into the net like a belly flopping penguin off an ice floe. You might have noticed my recent holiday has left its mark on me. Also leaving a mark on me is the fact that with three games left. We still could finish anywhere. Our win over Chinda lifted us to sixth. But then other results saw us drop to eighth by a matter of goal difference. Four days after the Chinda game we play Sepsi OSK away. Someone tell me what is the point in having a 45 day break. To then play three games in a week? Answers on a postcard please. The Pope gets us off to a flyer after only four minutes. But we concede before halftime. Armani puts us ahead with about 20 minutes to play. But again we can't hold onto the lead and the game finishes 2-2. I flaming hate this mid season break. We were on fire before the enforced hiatus. Now we are playing like we did at the start of the season. Disjointed and lethargic. At least Sepsi are around us in the table. So the point doesn't really change much. Other results go our way and we can still pinch the last championship playoff spot with a win. Unfortunately our last two fixtures of the season are against second and first in the table respectively. So I don't hold out much hope. CFR Cluj beat us 1-0 in a right slugfest. Mainly due to -8 degree temperature and driving snow. I've not seen fluorescent orange balls used at a football game for a long time. Though yet again. Results go our way and keep everything as it was before the start of the game. A win on the final day of the regular season could still lift us from relegation to championship. It isn't to be however. FC Viitorul dominate the final game. The Pope's 82nd minute tap in, due to a defensive mistake at a corner. Is at best a consolation. Furthermore results don't go our way and we end up finishing ninth overall. Which places us third out of eight in the relegation playoff table. Teams retain 50% of the points they accumulated over the regular season which sees the table look like this: Dinamo Bucuresti 18 Sepsi OSK 18 Farul Constanta 17 FC Voluntari 17 UTA Arad 16 Chinda Targoviste 14 Politehnica Iasi 10 Petrolul Ploiesti 9 Everyone plays each other twice. Bottom two are relegated automatically. Third from bottom enters the same playoff game that we won last year to get us into the top tier. While on a positive note we have fared rather well against the other teams in this relegation mini league. I can't help shape the negative that. If we hadn't drawn so many of those games. We wouldn't be in this situation at all. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted December 21, 2021 Author Share Posted December 21, 2021 (edited) So it comes down to this. 14 more games to decide whether we can stay in Liga 1 or we go back where we came from. We have a measly three point cushion over the playoff spot. Seen as 50% of the points is the only thing that has been carried over. We don't even have the cushion of goal difference to make me feel any better. Daylight robbery if you ask me! Just as concerning. The Bear has torn his groin. Basically ruling him out for pretty much the rest of the season. Joy. Up first. Bottom club Petrolul Ploiesti. In back to back fixtures no less. Seen as we play them in the league. And then the cup straight after. With the league game being first, and it pains me to say it. The priority. We field the stronger team in that game. We come away with a 2-0 win. Denis Horduouan and Despicable Greu settling the game before halftime. My first "final" in a cup competition as Farul manager. Is a bit of a washout. As I basically field our U18 team. While they might be a golden generation in years to come. They ain't much cop at the moment. Petrolul bundle us out 3-1. Mario Pipos getting our consolation in first half injury time. Mind you. A cup semi final while they are trying to claw themselves out of bottom spot in the relegation playoff. Might be the worst thing they could have wished for! A week after our first league game. Four days after the cup game. We play Chinda Targoviste. Who still occupy that dreaded playoff spot. Its an absolute slog of a game. With limited quality on both sides. The Pope slots home for us in the 79th minute. In about the fifth penalty box scrum of the game. We hang on to our narrow advantage and escape with a much needed maximum points! A week later and its FC Voluntari. We go behind early and are sluggish to say the least. The Pope bags his second in two games just before the hour. And Denis Hordouan arrives with perfect timing at the back post to nod home on 72 minutes. Thus completing the comeback. He's doing well covering for The Bear while he's injured. Though unless he returns with only one leg. There is little chance of Denis keeping the regular starting spot. I don't like this relegation league. Not only would I have preferred to have been in the championship section. Though I'm a bit like Goldilocks. I don't want continental football. See my point above about Petrolul's plight due to extra fixtures. But we seem to have been cruising along in the first phase of the competition. Playing a game a week and its a nice gentle stroll through. Now we are at the painful end. And we are playing six games in 20 days. Four league games in the space of 12 days. Seems the relegation league is as much a test of squad depth and fitness as it is results on the pitch. Which might be why. Three scant days after the FC Voluntari game. We run out of steam against UTA Arad and stagger to a 0-0 draw. Having barely had time to catch our breath. I have to fully rotate the team to play Politehnica Iasi just two days later. Much like the cup game coming so soon after the league game. We don't do well. 3-1 again the score. Raul Hreniuc on 66 minutes doing little more than giving the fans something to applaud. End of March and not quite halfway through the relegation group table looks like this: Sepsi OSK 31 Dinamo Bucuresti 27 Farul Constanta 27 Politehnica Iasi 23 UTA Arad 20 FC Voluntari 20 Chinda Targoviste 15 Petrolul Ploiesti 13 A much more respectable seven point cushion to the playoff position now. Just have to hope we can keep the players fit enough to churn out a few more results! Edited December 21, 2021 by Mandy42 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted December 21, 2021 Author Share Posted December 21, 2021 Five games in April since we have been dumped out of the cup. Three in 10 days to start before it slackens off a bit. Though the congested nature of the fixtures isn't the only difficult bit in the opening stages of the new month. We play first place Sepsi, followed by second placed Dinamo. On paper the hardest two games in the mini league. Also, oh joy of joys. As they are our last fixtures of the opening seven games. We have them both to play back to back at the end of the league. Meaning we best get enough points before that juncture! Sepsi continue their push to be best of the worst with a convincing 2-0 over us. While Dinamo continue to play us like their official bogey team. Carol Taub our left back scores an own goal on the 11th minute from a corner. Before Hobo draws us level with a deft finish after a direct darting run with just under 20 minutes left to play. Having not played well. But been closing in on getting the monkey off their back by finally beating us. It seemed Dinamo couldn't summon the energy to push on for anything more. And the game just fizzled out to a 1-1 draw. Having been softened up by the two teams above us. It was time to play Petrolul in a game where I really wanted to take all three points. Hobo found the net. I'd say he had to score when the ball came across the six yard box to him completely unmarked. But I've seen him miss those before. Alexandru Neagrean a 20 year old midfielder who is one of a few players on the cusp of demanding a regular place in the team. Scored a cushioned header from a Hobo cross just before halftime. In what looked like being a repeat of our first meeting in the relegation league. However in the second half Petrolul found multiple additional gears. I saw a kitchen sink, cuddly toy, full set of steak knives and even a speed boat flung at our goal in the second period. We looked to have stood firm until two goals in the space of six minutes saw the game all square with just seven minutes left in normal time. Despicable Greu only needed one though. What is becoming a trademark 25 metre screamer into the top corner of the net. Left the Petrolul fans silenced and their manager spitting up half a pigeon. Pretty much straight from the restart. The game had stayed 2-2 for less than a minute. A much needed three points to keep inching us towards safety. The second half of April was much more ponderous. A full week after the Petrolul game we played FC Voluntari. Yes we got some rest and a few players recovered from niggling injuries. But we lost any momentum we might have gained from the dramatic late win. We didn't start great. Hobo slotted home his third in three games after 22 minutes. He looked as surprised as anyone! However we couldn't hold our singular advantage and the game ended 1-1. The story was the same nine days later against Chindia Targoviste. The Pope scored his first goal in over a month on the stroke of halftime. But Chindia scored late on in the second half to mean the honours were split evenly. With just May and the final four games of the season to go (as long as we don't have the relegation playoff game to play) the table looks like this: Sepsi OSK 38 Politehnica Iasi 33 Farul Constanta 33 Dinamo Bucuresti 32 FC Voluntari 30 UTA Arad 25 Chinda Targoviste 21 Petrolul Ploiesti 19 As I type this I am procrastinating before attending a team meeting. The topic. To talk about us being one game and one win away from survival. Technically we only need a draw to not be able to be automatically relegated. However we need five more points to not be able to be caught by UTA Arad and forced into the playoff game. So while yes, having the luxury of our fate being firmly in our hands is brilliant. I think I'm going to the meeting primarily to tell the staff and players they can't count. Oh and to stuff Arad in our first game in May to more or less secure us top flight football next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted December 21, 2021 Author Share Posted December 21, 2021 Well! That meeting didn't go as planned. While yes with 12 points available to them UTA Arad could secure 37 points. Thus meaning we needed four points to tie their maximum total. Or five to make sure they couldn't catch us. However. If we beat them in our next game. Then we would have 36 points. They would only have nine available to them and we would be safe. Hench only one win away from completely and utterly avoiding any form of relegation. So the players agreed with me stuffing Arad. But not with my math's skills. Though they didn't exactly carry that sentiment into the game with them. It was a hard game to watch. And while I feel proud that almost 3,700 home fans turned up to see us try and achieve our season long ambition. I do sympathize with them over the quality of football on display. It was a game between two just completely burnt out tired sides. Into the last month of the season and literally nothing of interest happened in the first 89 minutes of the game. Until Arad went ahead with a lucky deflection from a speculative long range effort. Now. When your picking the ball out of your own net at 1-0 down in the 90th minute. You don't expect to win the game. But there is nothing like a slap round the face to wake you up. Our first real piece of quality came in the shape of a Denis Hordouan cross from the left. The Pope looked destined to get on the end of it. But Cristian Melinte their right back turned it into his own net while trying to keep it from our top scorer. 1-1 the score. Still the 90th minute. Having rolled the dice and gotten lucky once. Arad decide to try again. Playing the ball back to the keeper they flooded our half hoping to profit from a knock down. While a draw would keep them in touching distance with FC Voluntari. It seemed they wanted the win. Less than a minute later. When their keepers punt up field had been cleared. And Hobo had found himself alone in the Arad half with both the ball and just the keeper to beat. They paid in full for not being happy with the point. Hobo rounded the keeper. And as i watched through parted fingers. Stroked the ball into the empty net. 2-1. 91 minutes played. We were officially a Liga 1 side next season! And that's the end of that. Well of us picking up any more point from the last three games of the season. I am however waiting to see if I get fined. You see there are plenty of reasons for selecting a starting XI. Rotation, tactics, A video of some animal on the internet predicting the score. Sentiment is not likely to make it onto the list. Not if it jeopardizes being competitive. But that is what happened. I looked at the squad. Knowing we were safe, and knowing some of the moves I likely wanted to make before the start of next season. Some names wouldn't play another game for us. Which likely meant they wouldn't play another Liga 1 game. So they got the nod. The Bear came back from injury. So I let him get so fitness in the starting line up. I blooded the youngsters. Let them get a taste of league action, and some experience from the older players who I would be shipping out come the end of the season. Long story short. We lost 5-1 to Politehnica Iasi. 3-1 to Dinamo and 3-2 to Sepsi. I don't really think those three results going any differently could have saved anyone at the sharp end below us. But I understand how it looks. And why some people might be aggrieved. Oh well. They should make sure they are safe with three games to go! Final Table looks like this: Sepsi OSK 47 Dinamo Bucuresti 44 Politehnica Iasi 39 Farul Constanta 36 FC Voluntari 34 UTA Arad 28 Chinda Targoviste 24 Petrolul Ploiesti 23 Ciprian wants us to yet again battle bravely against relegation next season. Which is fine by me. If every year I can slowly improve the squad then its a realistic target. We make 60k in prize money from our league position. Compared to 8k last year. Though as of yet I don't actually see any money in the transfer kitty. We also finished the season in the black. Which could mean we are even better off next season! For completion here is the final standings of the championship section: FCSB 41 Universitatea Craiova 41 CFR Cluj 41 Astra Glurgiu 37 FC Viitorul 37 FC Botosani 26 The top two ended up being separated by head to head record. As they both had equal goal difference of plus three. Hopefully we can steadily build to one day challenge. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted December 22, 2021 Author Share Posted December 22, 2021 (edited) It appears I've done Ciprian a disservice. There is 135k in the transfer pot come the opening of the window. Plus an extra K a week in the wage budget. Though with the end of season profits / increase in season ticket sales. Plus a new deal on TV money. There is nearly two million in the bank. So maybe 135k isn't that special after all. Though when it comes down too it. I sign three players for free and two on loan. So I haven't spent a penny of the transfer money anyway. Preseason is once again overwhelming from an opponent perspective and thus underwhelming from a results point of view. We got a 0-0 draw against Vorskia, and only a 1-0 defeat to Legia. But the likes of Dynamo Kiev, Sparta Prague and Krasnodar are all far too lofty for us to even lay a glove on them. The 3-1 scoreline against FC Rapid flattered them. Probably due to them flogging their starting XI for the majority of the game. Where as we rotated all XI players at halftime. On paper our opening month is difficult. We play four of last seasons six championship playoff teams. Starting with FC Viitorul away. We have signed two Viitorul players on loan. Dimciu Halep, whose goals helped us gain promotion from Liga 2. and Marco Dulca some much needed grit in the middle of the pitch. Obviously for this first game neither player is allowed to play against their parent club. We lineup in a hideous 5-1-3-1 formation. Mainly as five at the back will hopefully stifle and frustrate a lot of the teams we come up against. But also because I signed three center backs in the transfer window. Two of them are considered star players and the other a regular starter! It works. As the first half goes by with little to no threat to our goal. There are plenty of off target attempts but nothing to worry about. In the second half and a wonderful free kick deliver from new central attacking midfield player Paul Paturca. Sees The Bear tap in to give us the lead. After the keeper half came for the dangerously angled free kick. Then thought better of it. We continued to keep Viitorul at bay. Surrendering the wide areas and keeping our five defenders within the width of the penalty area. The chances they created were low quality to say the least. Which makes it even more frustrating when one of them dribbled in. Vlad Mutju bobbled a looping header through his hands and it dropped on the goal line and rolled into the net. Two points most certainly dropped along with it! That said. The single point is our only positive return against FC Viitorul since I've been manager. Small steps. Astra Giurgiu were the first visitors of the season to The O-ZONE Arena. The Bear once more swept us ahead. This time as early as the seventh minute. Then only difference. We didn't capitulate. Three points at home! Away to Steaua next. This game is always an indication of how far we have to go if we want to be consistently competitive. While the five at the back frustrated our opponents and helped to keep the score respectable. The result was never really in any doubt. They ran out comfortable 2-1 winners. Hobo's 80th minute goal was simply a consolation. Just realized I made an error further back up this entry. I said our opening four games were all against championship playoff teams. That is in fact a lie. Our final game of the month. Yet another away game. Was against Politehnica Iasi. Who despite climbing from seventh to third over the course of last seasons relegation playoff. Were in fact in that basement league with us. A fact that it took Hobo 89 minutes to remember. Before he drilled a finish high and handsome at the keepers near post. Sending us home with the three points. While it remains to be seen if the five at the back and keeping it tight will win the fans over. (They aren't quite chanting "1-0 TO THE CONSTANTA!" just yet). We've scored in all four games. And been within one goal of our opponent in every game so far. Edited December 22, 2021 by Mandy42 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted December 22, 2021 Author Share Posted December 22, 2021 August and its the return of the Rapid to the O-ZONE Arena. Lets see how they get on when I field a full strength team for the full 90 minutes. For the first half at least. The answer is very well. They score a screamer from the edge of the area in the opening ten minutes. And continue to look good for their lead all the way to the break. Second half and we are able to exhort a modicum of control on the game but not enough to look like we are going to turn it around. In the end. It takes two set pieces to overturn the fixture. Cosmin Achim scores with a decisive header just after the hour. And the Pope volleys us into the lead inside the last 10 minutes. After FC Rapid failed to clear from a corner. Up next is CFR Cluj another team who always seem to have another gear to go too in order to ensure they beat us. That said, both of last seasons meetings were both only 1-0. So when the Pope heads us in front from yet another corner after just 10 minutes played. I am happy to have finally scored against them at the third time of asking. However I keep control of my optimism that there is still a lot of football to be played. They equalize in the second period and it turns into a bombardment in the last 10 minutes as we try and hold out. Proud of the lads for clinging on to the point. There might be something to this five at the back lark. AFC Hermannstadt are back in the top tier. This is our first meeting since we beat them 2-1 over two legs in the 2019-20 playoff game. Hermannstadt find themselves struggling to adapt to life back in Liga 1. As they sit in 12th place. I'm struggling to decide how to play them. The bigger, in form teams in the league definitely get the five at the back. However in games where I feel we have more of a chance I want to be playing two up top. I didn't bring Halep on loan to partner the Pope to just have him sat on the bench. In theory I could play a 5-3-2. However the Bear and Hobo only play wide. Thus leaving a gaping hole in the middle of the formation between the midfield and attack. I've been playing the 4-2-4 wing play that helped us to promotion in my first season as a more positive option. And after much consulting of my magic eight ball. Is the approach I take here. A brace either side of halftime from the Pope. His fourth in three games sees us looking comfortable. Hermannstadt get a goal back in the dying moments but other than scupper our goal difference it does nothing to affect the outcome. Final game of the month is Dinamo. With it being away, despite our recent successes over them. I elect to play the frustrating formation. Denis Hordouan puts us ahead after a wickedly sharp counter attack. But we fade in the second half. Conceding two to drop points for the first time this month. That makes August a carbon copy of July. Two wins, a draw and a defeat. It sees us fifth with 14 points. I'm wise to the game though this season. I'm not looking at the 10 point gap to the relegation zone. I'm focused on the single point difference between us and Universitatea Craiova in seventh. Which would be the difference between the championship or relegation group. Ciprian still wants us to bravely battle relegation. So anywhere in the tight mid table scrum will suit him fine. For me, I'm comparing our position to last season. As I know the squad this year is better. That we have more scope to get results against some of the teams we struggled against last year. Not by going toe to toe with them. But by defending in numbers and frustrating them. Along with securing my chairman's ambition. I am personally keeping an eye on our points total compared with last season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted December 22, 2021 Author Share Posted December 22, 2021 September, one of those months you look back on when your bleeding out of the eyes in the end of season mini leagues. Why oh why is there only three league games in September? Up first is FC Voluntari. A team who we bested in the relegation playoff group last season. At home, I feel good about this one and decide to let the chains off and see what the players can do. Paul Paturca must have been listening as he set us on our way with a beautiful curling finish from the edge of the area. That was after only two minutes played. Still inside the first 10 minutes and Paturca's direct running draws in the defenders. Allowing him to play through the Pope for an easy tap in. When Paturca scored his second on the half hour. My mind was made up he had earned his new Postman Pat title. Denis Hordouan scored in the final minutes before halftime to make it 4-0 at the break. The O-ZONE Arena was rocking. I think the players settled into a comfortable rhythm and just enjoyed the jubilant atmosphere. Dimciu Halep scored in the dying stages to make it 5-0. Great result! and a much needed goal difference bump. As while the result pushed us up to third. There is only a single point between us and eighth place. Its tighter than an Eskimo's ring-piece. Like us Sepsi OSK were in the relegation group last season. They finished strong and topped the group. Also like us, in this new season they are doing better than they did last year. Playing back to back home games for the first time this season. The supporters were looking to keep the party going after the previous weeks result. A record league attendance for us of just over 4,000. Our all time record attendance was the home leg of the relegation playoff game we had against AFC Hermannstadt where 7,350 fans watched our 2-0 win. But even that game hadn't had an atmosphere like this. There the excitement was tempered by the hope of things to come. Now they were just enjoying the moment. Bouncing up and down in the stands, usually reserved for when we scored. Was going on even before kick off. When Hobo, this seasons captain by the way! Opened the scoring just after the half hour. I though the fans were going to jump straight through the stand. Just five minutes before halftime the Pope profited from a great through ball from Postman Pat. And he finished low under the keeper. Good job he got that assist mind. As deep into injury time at the end of the first half. Postman Pat missed a penalty. That almost got his new nickname rescinded. It seemed to weigh on his mind though, and filtered through the rest of the team. Strange how a single negative moment does that. In an otherwise overwhelming ocean of positive. We didn't seem the same at all in the second half. And the problem with throwing a party at home. Is that there is always someone who wants to gatecrash and spoil it. Sepsi scored two goals in the last 10 minutes to level the game. Going a long way to silencing our home supporters and giving their 100 or so travelling fans something to gloat about. That is until the Pope's 89th minute glancing header gave us a 3-2 lead. On the balance of play it was probably the right result. But man did it feel good when that final whistle went! Romanian cup action and yet we are following the same pattern as last season. Instructed to "be competitive" I am doing just that. By fielding a weaker team and giving every opportunity for the Liga 2 side we've been drawn against to progress in the competition. FC U Craiova took us to penalties after a 2-2 draw in normal time. We went through 4-5 after they missed their final spot kick. Like last year, while the initial XI was a full rotation. First team players came into the game as it wore on. Meaning we would be tired for our final league game of the month. Which was once again at home! Bottom side FC Botosani who haven't looked like their championship playoff group selves this season. They sit rock bottom without a win so far this campaign. You wouldn't know it the way we played them. Slow, disjointed and lethargic. If I didn't know better it seemed like some kind of protest to not being played in the cup! Dimciu Halep scored the only goal of the game just before the hour. In a grim and grimy display that would have left a bad taste in the mouth if it hadn't come with a massive cherry on top. Three wins from three in September saw us finish the month top of the table! Steaua had two games in hand over us. But lost their first one 1-0 to CFR Cluj. They can overhaul us if they win their other game in hand. But even so. We are six points clear of the dreaded seventh place. Lets see how high we can go! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted December 30, 2021 Author Share Posted December 30, 2021 Top of the table lasted a week. As we lost 3-2 at home to Universitatea Craiova. We came from behind twice. With goals from Hobo and The Bear keeping us in the tie. But we just couldn't stop them from getting their noses in front at the death. A gap for the international break and then we made bottom of the table U Cluj pay. A 4-0 pumping at their place. A hat trick for Halep. The third coming from the penalty spot. With a cherry on top from the Pope near the end of the game. Another great shot in the arm when it came to our goal difference. And it kept us in the top four. We had 8,500 fans for our next game. The O-ZONE Arena over half full. Perhaps the players were overawed by the display. As we capitulated 2-0 to FC Viitorul with little more than a whimper. The final game of the month saw us bow out of the cup as well. Foresta Suceava beating our second team and kids 1-0. At least going into November we only had the league to focus our inconsistencies on. Think the players tuned in to my mood. Not that I'm sure why I was in such a mood. Even touching top of the table should have had me over the moon. When we were predicted and expected to fight against relegation. Very much pot calling the kettle and all that. After I'd been in a huff about Ciprian being less than pleased at our losses last season. I think I just didn't want it to fall apart like last season. Not sure I could cope with it coming down to the final day like it had the two years previous. Especially as when we were playing well, we were flying. Perhaps I just had to get used to the tight nature of the league. As we were still only six points above the relegation group. I so dearly want to have absolutely nothing to do with that part of the competition this year. Sixth place would be as good as winning the league in my eyes! First game of November and a double from Halep, one each for the Pope and The Bear see us win 4-2 away at Astra Giurgiu. Which takes some of the pressure off. As our next game is against Steaua at the O-ZONE. And I didn't expect it to go well. First half we frustrated and annoyed them. And we went in at halftime still at 0-0. But they came out angry and blitzed two goals past us in the opening five minutes of the second half. They must have been really angry, as they kept pushing. Perhaps wanting to teach us a lesson that we shouldn't be hanging around the top of the table. Sticking our noses in where we don't belong. But all that pushing left them exposed at the back. Only a minute after they went 2-0 up. It was 2-1. The Bear latching onto a long clearance and rounding their keeper to slot home. To say they were angry before they were infuriated now. We just dug in. With the crowd getting behind us. Jeering and ironically cheering every wayward pass and wild shot. They had all of the ball that second period. Camped in our half. But on 76 minutes we were level. An exact replica of our first goal. Except it was Halep rounding the keeper to score now. 2-2. The unthinkable happened just five minutes later. A third long ball forward and Denis Hordouan finished under the keeper. They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over. Expecting different results. We had four long balls forward. Four attempts on target and four goals. We won 4-2. Steaua never stopped trying to brute force their way through. Two weeks later after the international break. We beat Politehnica Iasi 6-3 to go top of the table. With a plus 17 goal difference. Four days later we limped past FC Rapid 2-1. We've won four on the bounce for the first time I can remember in my career. But still, CFR Cluj have a game in hand and can go above us if they win. Steaua can close within a point if they win theirs. More importantly we are currently 11 points ahead of seventh place. But they too have a game in hand. There are eight games left of this stage of the season. We already have four more points than we managed in the whole opening stage last term. I knew we had improved the squad. But I didn't think by this much! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted January 10, 2022 Author Share Posted January 10, 2022 Going into December we sit second. CFR Cluj won their game in hand and ousted us from the top spot. Perhaps decisively we would play them away for our first game of the month. I say play them. They demolished us in a very one sided 4-0 pumping. I could tell by the looks on the players faces when they came into the dressing room at the end of the game. That they were disappointed with their performance. And probably by what the result meant going forward in the league. If we had been in this position last season, before I knew about the league splitting into two groups. I might have been more annoyed. But just as likely I wouldn't have been. Being second in the league in only our second season in the top flight was a momentous achievement. If we had been in this position last season. I would have been dancing on the ceiling. The fact that I now know the final league placings are only for qualification to the next stage. Not being top of the league is not a concern I have any right to have at this point in our journey. "Our day wasn't today. But if we keep working, our day will come. Don't let it get the better of you." I hope those words helped settle the lads down. Or it was simply that nine days later we faced a completely different challenge in FC Hermannstadt. The Bear, the Pope and Denis Hordouan all stepped up to seal a 3-0 win. Against the team in 13th place in the league, with only two wins to their name to this point. That kept us in the hunt. Steaua were keeping pace with us. But they weren't showing overly convincing signs of overhauling us. Beyond them and the gap further down the table was beginning to grow for the first time since I joined the club. Four days after the Hermannstadt game. We played FC Voluntari away in our final game before the winter break. So caught up was I in our performance and league position. That I hadn't even gotten round to planning a holiday this year! We didn't have a game for six whole weeks. Which meant I'd have plenty of time to look for something to do. A goal either side of halftime from first Denis Hordouan and then Cezar Keanu. Saw us take a 2-0 lead. However the players must have thought we were on break early. As we shipped two sloppy late goals which forced us to have to settle for a point. Again, at some point, probably when the chairman's desires for the club change. These are going to be the kind of results I will have to guard against. Dropped points. But when the goal is avoid relegation and we sit second on goal difference. Equal with Steaua, only one point behind CFR Cluj with five games to play. It yet again isn't my biggest concern. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted January 10, 2022 Author Share Posted January 10, 2022 i'm rather conflicted. For the first time in my managerial career. I didn't go away on holiday over the winter break. I turned my office into a return of the jedi style command bunker. As I put my big girl pants on and decided it might be the time to actual spend some transfer money. This is a huge deal! If managers in general are judged by their results and their signings. Then so far some of my results were outstanding. However I always felt that my signings weren't fabulous. But at least they were free. Now if I was willing to spend money on any player, they better perform. Add the pressure of being the first player EVER that I was willing to spend money on and well. I had many sleepless nights this January. I'd narrowed it down to a handful of names. Eventually after much back and forth, not only pacing in the command bunker. But also in my mind between the candidates. I settled on Octavian Valceanu. A 25 year old goalkeeper plying his trade in the second tier. Truth be told my confidence in our current keeper had been damaged earlier in the season when his fumbled attempt at a routine save cost us points. None of the academy lads were up to taking his place. So I had to look elsewhere. The scouts reckoned a price of 26K would be sufficient. Which out of a budget of 132k didn't seem to be too outlandish. So I put an offer in. He accepted and we worked out a contract. So far so good. Next name on the list was Bautista Pavlovsky a 24 year old Argentine striker who looked like he could do a job for us. He took a lot of mulling over. His reports were glowing, however his bottom line was only eight goals in 51 games. Wheelchair when he had been on loan with us had scored eight goals in seven games. Ironically Wheelchair had also popped up in the scouts recommended list. However his prolific scoring record was very much rooted in the second tier. He hadn't scored a goal in any of the 20 or so games he had played in the top flight. Pavlovsky was valued at 72k which was a huge chunk of change. And was another reason I was having second thoughts about trying to sign him. Actually it was the only reason at the current moment. As initially I had only read the scout reports, and not looked at his production. On the other side of the equation was the fact that Halep would end his loan at the end of the season. And the Pope was holding out for a contract upgrade that I in no way could afford. Meaning in six months we could be without a striker of note. I tried a Jasprit Bumrah style yorker of a bid. Going in at 40k. Third on the list was Elijah Seymour. A 23 year old Cayman attacking midfielder. That looked like he might just be the love child of The Bear and Hobo Kanda put together. He was valued at 43k but my scouts must have had some dirt on the UTA Arad manager as they swore I could get him for 21k. Bid made. A day after we penned the Valceanu contract and were waiting on the reply. I got emails saying that Pavlovsky could be a done deal if we went to 60k and Seymour was of interest at 21k. I picked up the phone in the command bunker. "Ehm... why haven't we had an acceptance for Seymour? They are interested at 21 and we have offered 21. I know I've not spent any money at this club yet? But what is going on." There was silence on the line for longer than I would like. and I swear I heard someone in the background mumble no YOU tell him. "Sorry to be the one to have to tell you this boss. But those takeover rumours. Well Livlu Mocanu has finally made a bid for the club, we are under transfer embargo until the deal either goes or falls through." I put the phone gingerly back on the stand. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I'm sure the person I just called likely heard that without the need for the phone. They definitely heard me flip my desk over and do my best to slam it into the far wall. Because they came running. One terse shake of my head without making eye contact sent them packing again. I was in full hulking out mode. What kind of idiot decides to tie a clubs hands on the eve of a transfer window! Didn't he know how much time I'd spent agonizing over these transfers? I STAYED HERE AND DIDN'T GO ON HOLIDAY FOR THIS!!! I gave my desk a rather solid MDF splitting kick, and walked out to go to the bar. The fact it was 9am in the morning didn't bother me one iota. Two days later and Pavlovsky went on loan to All Boys in his native Argentina. Which allowed me to spend more time looking at his numbers, in a more hungover, less giddy manner. A week after that and I get an email saying that Elijah Seymour on my shortlist was due to be out of contract in six months and I should contemplate trying to sign him not buy him. A week after that and the takeover fell through. Apparently Mr Mocanu didn't agree with Ciprian's valuation of the club. Too bad. I went straight out and didn't bother bidding on Seymour, just offered him a contract. While I repeated my bid for our new keeper. I half expected him to refuse to talk contracts with us due to the mess about last time. But he got a laugh out of me repeating the same interview exactly. Him wanting 300 a week and bonuses. Me offering him no bonuses and 275. Him wanting 325 without the bonuses. Us settling on 300 without bonuses. Just like we had the first time around. So the failed takeover saved the club 80k in transfer fees. Time will tell if that's the right way to go. That left time to squeeze in the only league fixture of the month. Against Dinamo. The players were their usual knackered post break selves. Which was another annoyance. The last two years while on holiday the back room staff had zealously organized friendlies for the players. I know because I got e-mails while on holiday. Yet I stay in the command bunker and they decide to sit on their ass and do nothing! Which is why we were utter grade A dog do when it came to the game. We didn't even register a shot on target. We scraped a 0-0 draw. Which saw us slip to third. Nine points above the relegation playoff group with four games to go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted January 10, 2022 Author Share Posted January 10, 2022 February, four games. Championship playoff group looks likely. But isn't confirmed yet. Four days after our last game we play Sepsi. Who were brilliant in the relegation playoff group last season and carried that form into the start of this season. But have since slipped back to the lower half of the table and we should be looking to pick up points here. We don't we go down 2-1. Having battled back from a goal behind. It was very frustrating to concede the losing goal three minutes from time. Good news however, other results mean we are a confirmed championship playoff team this season. As we cannot be caught by any team below sixth place! I don't announce this to the players. But I think they know this. As we ship three goals against 12th placed FC Botsani in our next game. Despite us taking the lead in the opening 10 minutes. The game ended 3-1. Which is even more disappointing as I turned down a job interview with Botsani. As I didn't think them wanting to challenge for the Liga 1 title this season from 12th place was realistic. Nor did I feel my journey at the O-ZONE was over. However the next job offer did give me cause for thought. FC Viitorul, or previous parent club. And home to my current two loan signings Dimciu Halep and Marco Dulca. Offered me a two year deal where they only wanted to finish in the top half. They also had the financial muscle to offer me a transfer budget of 850k. As much as I still felt my work here at the O-ZONE wasn't finished. I did wonder how long it would be until such finances would be at my disposal if I stayed. Loyalty, but at what price. Our bad form and lacklustre performance continued in our penultimate fixture against Universitatea Craiova. Who pumped us 4-1. Worrying as they too would be confirmed as a championship playoff team and we would have to play them twice. Final league game was against bottom places U Cluj. Thankfully a goal from Halep and the Pope in the first and second period respectively saw us stop the rot with a 2-0 win. Meaning we finish our second season in the Romanian top flight in fourth place. With 46 points, a 12 point increase on last seasons haul. Meaning the championship playoff group looks like this. FCSB 27 Universitatea Craiova 25 CFR Cluj 25 Farul Constanta 23 FC Viitorul 23 Sepsi OSK 22 Meaning I was wrong and Sepsi kicked on from beating us and snuck in to the championship playoff group in the last game of the season. Meaning I've previously played the other teams in our group a total of 15 times between them. We've won two of those games, drawing a further three. Just need to remember. However humbling the next 10 games could be. We have already achieved our goal this season. Anything we get now would be a bonus. Though I'm not looking for too much of a bonus. Fourth place and above is continental qualification football. I'm not sure our squad depth is ready for that. We finished 10th out of 14 after the end of the relegation group last season. The lowest we can finish this year is sixth! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy42 Posted January 10, 2022 Author Share Posted January 10, 2022 (edited) Into March and the opening salvos of the championship playoff. Where I quickly try and gloss over the fact that my first ever transfer paid player. That I spent all of the winter break locked in the command bunker looking for. Has conceded nine goals in four league games. I didn't feel overly confident going in to the first playoff game. Universitatea Craiova had pumped us 4-1 and we looked like we enjoyed letting them. I just hoped that if the lads were happy enough with just making it into the championship group. That if they lost the majority of these games. It wouldn't damage their morale going forward. Come game day and we were still playing like we were on holiday. We went one better than the previous fixture only losing 3-1 this time. Maybe I shouldn't be too hard. Craiova are in the championship group for the third year in a row. Runners up last year, league and cup double winners the year before that. With four less games to play over the same period as the relegation group. Our fixtures were much more spaced out than last season. Steaua came a good eight days after the Craiova game. The atmosphere at the O-ZONE was immense. The fans savouring their first home game in the champions group in the history of the club. The players fed off that energy. Dimciu Halep especially. Who has said many times in interviews that he loves the club, the supporters and feels more at home here than his parent club. Probably as he's been here two years out of the last three. He helped himself to two goals in the first half hour. The Bear added a tap in at the back post right at the death of the first half. 3-0 at half time. Against the defending Romanian champions. Dreamland! The crowd were at their most subdued in the opening stages of the second half. Almost holding their breath waiting for the inevitable Steaua reaction. It came, but we seemed equal to the task. The clubs record signing (bit of a cheat being the only player they had ever paid money for) new keeper Octavian Valceanu. Showed the first glimpses of his quality by denying two almost certain goals. As the Steaua onslaught subsided. The fans became more and more jubilant. The Pope rubbed salt into the travelling fans wounds. By heading home a hopeful long ball free kick in the dying minutes of added time. Another eight days and the scene was almost exactly the same. Away to CFR Cluj in the dying seconds of the half. A long free kick forward and the Pope once again gets his head onto it and glances it into the net. The whistle went and we left the pitch winning. Unfortunately this was the first half. In the second half CFR came roaring back, managing to overhaul our advantage and go ahead themselves. Though we dug in. Didn't go under when we went behind. And Halep scrambled in a late equaliser from a corner to give us a share of the spoils. A week later and we played FC Viitorul at the O-ZONE Arena. While they aren't the biggest club in the league. They are our local rivals and what used to be our parent affiliate club. A record crowd ofover 9,500 people packed in. It was a tight, even contest. Although we didn't have our full strength side out. Due to two of our best players being ineligible due to them being on loan from Viitorul. The Pope was setting a trend as he scored the only goal of the game in the first minute of stoppage time after the 90. This time with his foot from the edge of the area. I don't think I've heard noise like it. That many fans with their backs to the field jumping up and down singing. Damn that song! That just left Sepsi OSK 10 days later at the end of March. Unfortunately, whatever secret we had been using to this point had run its course. We rolled over to a 2-0 defeat and didn't really muster much of any opposition. Which at the halfway stage leaves the table looking like this: Universitatea Craiova 34 FCSB 31 Farul Constanta 30 FC Viitorul 30 CFR Cluj 30 Sepsi OSK 29 The top two have only played four games and have a top of the table clash for their fifth. Only a single goal separates the three teams on 30 points. With us above Viitorul curtesy of us beating them in the head to head fixture. Tight! and I'm over the moon with how we have held up so far. I am beginning to be torn by my aversion to continental competition next season. Mainly because the Pope still has ridiculous contract expectations. Talks have broken down for the second time now. Europa League 2 football might be a sweetener to get him to stay for less money. Whether that is a worthwhile trade with all the extra games we might play. Guess we will find out. Edited January 10, 2022 by Mandy42 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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