(FM21) Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

October 2036

A predictable 5-2 defeat against Athletico Madrid opened the first game up, and this was followed by Geroskipou's first league loss of the season against Apol. Limassol. But then another turn in form saw them beat Omonoia 4-1, thanks to braces from Mariano and Eiriksson. Another win in the Europa League followed with a 4-0 thrashing of Maccabi Haifa and then a slightly rotated side beat AEL 2-0 in the final match in October.

Table

APOEL had won the rest of their games, meaning the gap was now down to H2H record. The gap between 1st and 3rd was 6 points though.

Fixtures

A massive November was on the cards, with 4 league games, 2 in Europe, and 2 in the Cup.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

November 2036

Almost another perfect month for Geroskipou, granted, that both legs of the cup tie were replaced with friendlies due to the international break.

The month started with the most frustrating game, a 1-1 draw against Nea Salamina. Geroskipou were the better side in all facets of the game, and were very unlucky not to come away with a win, but not even van Looy could inspire a win despite his goal putting the side ahead. The trend continued with a 4-2 win against Maccabi Haifa, as Clive believed that his side should have put more past the Israeli side, and should not have conceeded the only 2 shots on target that Geroskipou had against them.

A routine 2-0 win against Ypsonas with a nearly fully rotated side saw Geroskipou enter the international break in good form which was continued after. A 3-1 win against Doxa was followed by a massive 4-0 win away against Dynamo Kyiv, and then the month was rounded out with a 4-0 battering against Alki at home.

Spoiler

News

With the win bonuses from the Europa League, the club was able to make some more upgrades, this time to the youth recuitment and junior coaches.

Another Premier League club showed interest in Clive, this time it was Brighton, but this was an easy pass for Clive.

Table

After 12 games, Geroskipou were a massive 5 points clear of APOEL, and 9 clear of Omonoia in 5th place.

Fixtures

The re-arranged cup ties against Omonoia were pushed into December, sandwiched inbetween games against APOEL, Athletico Madrid, and Aris Limassol. League games against Anorthosi and AEK Larnakas rounded out the month.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

December 2036

After a slightly rotated side drew 1-1 against Omonoia in the first leg of the cup, a full strength side fell to a 3-0 loss against APOEL. 5 days later, it was the game against Athletico Madrid to see who would finish top of the Europa League group. In the biggest shock of the competition, and most certainly in Cypriot football, Geroskipou won the match 2-1 in a tense affair. Geroskipou had finished top of the EL group stage at the first attempt.

With spirits high, Clive's side beat Aris Limassol 6-1, and followed it up with a desmond 2-2 in the second leg of the cup against Omonoia, where it should have been won in regulation but it was a shootout that decided on the result. 2 more wins in the league followed; 3-1 against Anorthosi, and 2-0 against AEK Larnakas.

The month was rounded out with the first leg of the cup QF, where a heavily rotated side drew with AEL 3-3.

Spoiler

Cypriot Cup

Europa League

News

Some more important money coming into the club.

Which was immediately spent on traning ground improvements.

The one downside to the month was Mariano broke his wrist in the game against Athletico. Geroskipou would be without their key striker until at least February.

Transfers

Clive had been busy with his scouting team.

A replacement for Bilbao was bought in in the form of Bohorquez.

And DR Da Silva was also a transfer arranged from Urugauy.

Tables

Half way through the season, Geroskipou held onto a healthy lead at the top. Clive had it in the back of his mind that this could be the year.

Fixtures

The run in before the league split was looking semi-difficult, with games against Omonoia, Nea Salamina, Alki and 2 games against AEL. Apol.Limassol and Ypsonas were the easiest games they had.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

January 2037 (And final game pre-split)

This was the first month of the season that Clive saw form starting to drop consistently. It started with a gutless 1-1 draw at home against Apol. Limassol. In the next game, a rotated side beat AEL 2-1 in the cup, seeing them through to their second SF in as many seasons.

After this, Geroskipou's record was 3 wins and 2 losses. Omonoia got the better of the men in red 2-1. Then Geroskipou picked up their 2nd win of the month against AEL, dispite a lackluster performance going forward, and it was only a Leiva penalty that saved blushes.

A week later, Geroskipou were outclassed by Nea Salamina 5-3, with Andreou picking up a goal in added time to make the scoreline look a bit better. Form then picked up over the next 2 matches, with a 3-0 win against Ypsonas following onto a tight 2-1 win against Alki, where Mariano was back from injury with an 89th minute winner.

Table

With 10 games remaining, APOEL had crept up to Geroskipou and overtaken them on account of the H2H record (3-2 APOEL).

Fixtures

With just 2 games left in February post split, Clive hoped to take full advantage of their early fixtures, with Geroskipou beating AEL twice in the last month, and Alki once.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

February 2036

Before the post-split league got underway, Clive tried to instill some belief into his side by organising a friendly against St. Georges. They won the match 19-0, but did it work?

No. Clive had wondered had they used up all their goals in the friendly, as in neither the game against AEL or Alki his team looked close to scoring. Luckily though the AEL attack looked just as weak so that ended in a 0-0 stalemate. The same could not have been said of the Alki front 4, who slotted 2 past the Geroskipou defence in a 2-0 win.

Table

APOEL were now ahead of Geroskipou despite dropping points. Clive was not now worried about the teams chasing Geroskipou, but now who APOEL would drop points against to allow them back into the race.

Fixtures

For the R16 draw, Dortmund were not Clive's first choice. Then again, the Cypriot minnows would have the oppertunity to play against the famous yellow wall and try and cause another upset.

Only 2 league games were in March, Nea Salamina and a return trip to AEL. Also the cup semi finals against Aris Limassol, the worst side left in the competition.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

Europa League - Round of 16 Special

First Leg

The first leg, played in Germany was one to forget for Geroskipou. Despite a decent start from both sides, it was the Germans who struck first in the 28th minute. Things began to crumble after that as they scored again in the 30th and 35th minute to take a 3-0 lead going into half time. Clive was not happy and shouted at his players in a Mike Bassett esc way to try and see some change.

Early in the second half, Cedric Roux made a jinking run and slotted past the Dortmund keeper, but this was to be one of the last meaningful pieces of action in the game and it finished 3-1 to the German side.

Second Leg

There was hope going into the second leg thanks to the away goal in the first leg, although Geroskipou would have to be on top form for this to materialise.

The game started exactly the same as the first leg though, with Dortmund leading 3-0 at half time, and 6-1 on aggregate. The dream was now dead for another season, Clive said to his players at half time.

For some reason, this actually made a difference though, as Geroskipou dominated the second half of the night, scoring 2 through Eiriksson, but there was a Dortmund goal sandwiched between them. The final score on the night was 4-2 Dortmund, and 7-3 on aggregate.

The prize money for losing at this stage was still massive in the grand scheme of things though, and would ease fixture congestion moving into the run in for the league campaign.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

March 2037

A 3-1 win against Aris Limassol in the first leg of the cup semi final allowed Clive to play a rotated squad in the second leg, that ended in a draw to see Geroskipou to their first ever Cypriot Cup Final. In the league, a tight 3-2 win against Nea Salamina was soured by a 3-1 loss against AEL in a game that they really should have won on paper.

Table

The gap was now at 4 points, although Geroskipou had a match in hand thanks to fixture congestion. A win would see them go within a point of top spot.

Fixtures

Alki was a winnable match. And if Geroskipou were serious about the title, Omonoia and APOEL were also must win games.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

April 2037

Despite a good break in between the AEL game in March and the Alki game at the beginning of April, Geroskipou's morale did not seem to improve much, and Clive thought it had something to do with the eventual 3-1 defeat. The next 4 days of training was purely team building exercises, and it seemed to make the world of difference, as Omonoia were downed 7-3, with Eiriksson grabbing a hattrick in the rout.

The final game of the month was the most crucial win of the season against APOEL. With the game looking like it was headed toward a 1-1 draw to keep APOEL comfortable at the top, Danish striker Blichfeldt nodded home from a corner in the 4th minute of stoppage time to make the score 2-1. All that was left to do was to defend a kick off, which Clive's team did to cut the gap at the top down to 1 point.

Table

The gap was now 1 point at the top with 3 to play. Mathematically all of the top 4 were still in the race, but Clive was hoping it would only be his side and APOEL come the end of the season.

Fixtures

4 cup finals including an actual cup final closed off the season. Nea Salamina, who were only 1 point off Geroskipou themselves were first, then Omonoia, who were just about in the race sitting in 4th place came next.

Then the Cypriot Cup Final against APOEL. Geroskipou's first ever appearance.

The week after would see the top 2 teams do battle, possibly for an winner takes all match.

Edited May 6 by ChaosClive

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

May 2037

A 0-0 draw against Nea Salamina was a bitterly disapointing result, especially as APOEL drew in their game, meaning a win would have seen Geroskipou go to the top of the table with 2 games to play. The next game went much better, going 3-0 up by half time against Omonoia, and to survive a late comeback scare to win 3-2. Unfortunately, APOEL also won, meaning the gap at the top of the table was still only 1 point.

In the cup final, APOEL outplayed Geroskipou and despite Mariano bagging a late goal to try and mount a comeback, Clive and his teams first appearance in the cup final ended on a sour note in a 2-1 loss.

Table

With one game to play, it was a two horse race for the title.

Next game

APOEL. The biggest game of the season. If Geroskipou do anything other than win, they would finish 2nd for the 4th consecutive season. If they win, it will be the first time a side other than APOEL win the First Division since the 24/25 season.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

May 2037 - Title Decider vs APOEL

In a match this important, it was just Clive's luck that he would be without club captain Iosifidis, one half of his attacking combo Eiriksson due to injury, and starting ML Roux and dependable defensive midfielder Bohorquez after they were called up for international duty with France U20 and Columbia U20 respectively.

The bookies had APOEL to win, and who would blame them. After all, they were reigning champions and had a lot better luck when it came to finances, injuries, and quality and depth of their squad. But the bookies didn't have Geroskipou beating Athletico Madrid on their bingo cards this season either.

First Half

The first half was a cagey affair for both sides. APOEL only needing a draw to win the league were cautious to any counter attacks from Geroskipou. In the 9th minute, Taniguchi had his penalty saved by Schatzle to keep the scores at 0-0. In the 34th minute, the ball was in the back of the net for APOEL, only for the linesman to rule the goal offside. It was a tight call, but one that Clive was more than happy to roll with. His side had not managed to create anything apart from a pop shot at goal, despite numerous oppertunities.

Half Time

APOEL 0 - 0 APOP Geroskipou

Second Half

After Clive had tried to drill the importance of the match into his boys a little more, they came out firing. Unfortunately, so did APOEL. The game had opened up, and it seemed like whenever Geroskipou failed to put a chance away, APOEL were on the attack straight away. Clive pushed his men forward, trying desperately to get a goal and moved into a 4-2-4 formation, just to try and get a foothold on the game.

After this, Geroskipou carved out some real goalscoring oppertunities, but nothing came. When in the 91st minute, an APOEL counter attack led to Taniguchi slotting in a shot from close range to put both the game, and Geroskipou's title ambitions to bed.

Clive was furious at the referee at the end of the game. Despite APOEL committing 31 fouls, only 3 of their players were booked. He saw this as gamesmanship from the new league champions as a way of slowing the game down and taking away any momentum that Geroskipou were building on, and yet the officials did nothing to stem. After the outburst, he could have sworn that he saw one of the linesman give a wink to the APOEL manager as he came over for the post match handshake.

Full Time

APOEL 1 - 0 APOP Geroskipou

Final Table

Another 2nd place finish. It was still above the media prediction at the start of the season, but this season hurt in particular.

APOEL's Luck

As Clive came into his office the next day, still enraged by the officiating, he noticed the number of late goals that APOEL had scored that season. After doing a count up, he noticed that they had gained an extraordinary 10 points over the course of the season with goals scored in the 87th minute and later, points that would have made the difference in the title race.

There was nothing he could do about it now, but his new goal was not to win the First Division anymore. It was now just to finish above APOEL. If they finished 4th, Clive would be happy if his team finished 3rd.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2036/37 Season Review

After the dust had settled and the European season had finished, there was finally some good news that came across Clive's desk. His Geroskipou side were being touted as the overachievers of the Europa League, and rightly so.

Along with his side bursting onto the scene, they were also the most improved side in the coefficient tables. The moved up from 354th to 147th in Europe.

With the points that Geroskipou had earned, Cyprus were now given an extra place in the Champions League, 1 side would go into the qualification playoff, and another going into the 2nd qualifying round.

Additionally, the First Division was now the 12th highest reputable league in Europe.

Finances

Just as Geroskipou were about to run out of money, UEFA had dumped a total of £3.1m into the clubs bank account.

As Clive received the next email, he remembered what his dad had always told him "There are only two certainties in life, death and taxes"

There was still some money left in the bank though, so Clive went to the chairman and asked for some more improvements in the clubs youth setup. Without hesitation, the junior coaching and recruitment were improved.

New Stadium

For the second time in Geroskipou's history, the board announced plans for a new stadium. This time, forward planning was implemented, and it would be able to be used in First Division games, as well as European football! 

The only downside to this new stadium was a massive £14.25m debt (£19.5m with interest), which would take 10 years to pay off with monthly payments of £160,000. This would mean that failure to qualify for a European competition could cause massive financial instability.

Clive's Cuttings

As expected, all revenue streams were improving, or in the case of the sponsorship, staying at the same level.

For the first time since the 30/31 season, Geroskipou had a top scorer not named van Looy or Mariano. Although Mariano bagged 28, Eiriksson scored a massive 31 goals. Clive's two right wingers Andreou and Carvalho combined for an impressive 22 assists, and Leiva grabbed 13 for himself.

In some sadder news, it looked like van Looy was no longer a starting player for Geroskipou, with him only getting 9 games all season, and scoring in 2 of them.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2037/38 Pre-Season

Thanks to another second place finish and Geroskipou's first Cypriot Cup final the previous season, Geroskipou were now rated as the 2nd most well known club in Cyprus. A far cry from even a few seasons before where only people in Pafos would have known that the club existed.

Staff Updates

If this was to be the season that Geroskipou finished above APOEL and really put pressure on winning the league, Clive decided it was time to revamp the non-playing staff members. This started with a rejig of the coaching staff. Coaches were pulled in from across Europe, but the main 3 that stood out in Clive's eyes were:

Neil Critchley, former manager of Ipswich and Liverpool U23.

Jon Ellis, a serial caretaker manager at Sunderland.

And Alex Frei, one of Switzerland's top goalscorers, and an ex manager of Birmingham.

Also, another change in a HoYD was needed, so Clive bought in Bobby Laing from England.

Transfers

On the 30th June, all Clive could do was put on a brave face. Despite trying to tie club legend van Looy down to one final contract, the Dutchman wanted to be guaranteed star player status, something that Clive could not promise in good faith to the man. Hoping that as there was no interest from other clubs that he would stay on as a non-contract player before terms could be ironed out, even if it meant he got a testimonial turned out to be useless. So it was a tough moment when van Looy said goodbye to his team and put out a statement on the club website that he would be leaving on a free.

Another player that left without a proper goodbye in Clive's mind was Moiseev, an ever reliable centre half, who refused to budge on his wage demands after his contract at Shakhtar ran out. Over the previous 2 seasons he was used as a rotational option, but the pair had a good relationship despite never actually being contracted with the club.

Clive knew that finding a replacement for 209 goals in 259 games would be nearly impossible, but trusted the players in his side enough. He did look to bring in another centre half though, and splashed out a club record fee £600,000 for Gonzalez from Penarol.

Also bought in were:

Goalkeepers Lukic from Serbia, who would be the starter, with Mendana coming in as his understudy/3rd choice.

Djalovic who would return for another season on loan.

Sundstrom, a Danish winger, who would compete with Carvalho and Andreou for a starting spot.

Salgado, a cheap loan to provide cover on the left hand side.

Radojicic on a free loan, but who was only going to be used ICE.

After the signings were made and the reputation of the club boosted more, ticket sales had increased to over 2,000, big improvements were now showing for the club.

Also with the leftover money from the previous season, Clive asked for some more training ground improvements, which were accepted after some bartering with the chairman.

Results

Another clean sweep of wins before European fixtures.

Odds

A 4th place finish was being predicted, but 4 consecutive 2nd place finishes could not be a fluke.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

August 2037

A 5-0 home win in the first leg of the Conference League against Dimano Minsk allowed Clive to rest some players for the second leg, which was also won narrowly 4-3 to take Geroskipou through to the 4th Qualifying Round 9-3 on aggregate. The draw in the next round was Dynamo Kyiv, a team which they had beaten 4-0 and 4-1 in last years Europa League group stage.

But first it was the Super Cup, which for a 3rd time in a row featured Geroskipou and APOEL with the cup being won by both teams once. A slightly rotated side was put out due to European congestion, and APOEL dominated. It was only a 90th minute goal from Eiriksson that bought along extra time, and when Da Silva scored in the 2nd minute of extra time, Clive parked the bus. This only lasted for 11 minutes though, as APOEL got back on level terms before scoring the winning goal in the 116th minute to condemn Geroskipou to another cup loss to their new rivals.

The poor form continued into the next round of European games, going behind 2-0 against Kyiv, but it could have been 4 if not for the linesman flag going up. Mariano grabbed a goal back in the 53rd to at least make the second leg interesting.

The second leg started in the same fashion, Geroskipou were put under pressure early in the game, and conceeded in the 25th minute before Da Silva popped up from DR less than a minute later to slot home to make the score 3-2 on aggregate. Kyiv scored again and this time Clive pushed his men forward. Bohorquez scored in the 80th minute to make it 4-3 on aggregate, but in the 90th and 92nd minute, Kyiv scored to push the tie out of reach. There would be no more European football for the season for Geroskipou as they crashed out 6-3 on aggregate.

After the disapointment of Europe, Geroskipou snatched a 1-0 win against AEK Larnakas to at least start the league campaign with a win.

Fixtures

September held Othellos, Paralimni, APOEL and Nea Salamina, a good way to start taking points off both lower half teams, and to try and get some breathing room near the top of the table.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

September 2037

After a win in a friendly to try and instil some confidence into the team, Geroskipou beat Othellos 2-1 and then the gears started falling into place. They followed up with a 5-1 win over Paralimni before beating APOEL 1-0 in a tight game thanks to a Blichfeldt goal. He carried his scoring form into the next game, where a double from him saw Nea Salamina beaten 4-0.

Table

Unsuprisingly after 5 wins from 5, Geroskipou sat at the top of the table.

Fixtures

A big test against Omonoia was going to kick off October. Winnable games against Apol. Limassol and AEL followed before the first leg of the Cypriot Cup 2nd round against Nea Salamina. Big spenders Alki was the last game of the next month.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

October 2037

The game that Clive thought would be the tightest was actually the loosest. Mariano grabbed 4 goals in a 7-3 rout of Omonoia to start the month with a bang. Blichfeldt took over from Mariano in the next match, scoring a brace in a 3-1 win against Apol. Limassol to extend the winning run to 7.

The game against AEL put an end to this, although Geroskipou were still unbeaten, the 1-1 draw was a poor showing and dropped points allowed teams to start playing catch up. Blichfeldt was once again on the scoresheet with a hattrick against Nea Salamina in a 4-3 win in the first leg of the cup. But he could not continue his record of scoring in the game against Alki, as Geroskipou were unlucky to end the game at 0-0.

Table

The dropped points had allowed APOEL creep to just 1 point behind.

Fixtures

The 3 league games were all against teams in the bottom half of the table. These were must wins to start mounting another title challenge. Geroskipou would also have to try and negotiate themselves through to the quaters of the cup with at least a draw against Nea Salamina.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

November 2037

3 league wins is what Clive asked for, and what he got. A 2-1 win against Anorthosi was followed by back to back 3-0 wins against Nea Salamina in the cup and Doxa in the league. Blichfeldt scored his only goal of the month in the 1-0 win against AEK Larnakas to start the second round of matches before the league split.

Table

The cherry on top was APOEL dropping points. Geroskipou were now 6 points clear with a better head to head record after 12 games.

Fixtures

Paralimni and Othellos were the perfect games to get tuned into Nea Salamina and APOEL in the league before playing 2nd division Karmiotissa in the QF of the cup.

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

December 2037

Paralimni were easily defeated 4-1 in the first game of the month. This was followed up by a 2-0 win against Othellos, which should have been more, but Geroskipou were wasteful with their chances.

Geroskipou's unbeaten run ended at 14 games the next game against Nea Salamina though. Despite Mariano putting Geroskipou ahead after just 4 minutes and drawing level just before the hour, Clive's side could not hold onto the scoreline, losing 3-2.

The final league game of the month against APOEL was one for the goalkeeper lovers. There were a total of 3 penalties in the game, and Clive thought that at least 1 of the APOEL ones were dubious at best. Lukic stood tall in the Geroskipou goal, and delivered justice both times, once in the 94th minute. Blichfeldt also saw his penalty saved, which would have seen Geroskipou go up by 2 goals after Mariano powered a shot away earlier in the first half. The final score ended at 1-0, but at the expense of Roux's right leg, which was snapped like a twig making the tackle that killed the game off.

A rotated side beat Karmiotissa 4-2 in the first leg of the cup 4 days later, but this round always seemed like a walkover.

Table

At the halfway point of the season, Geroskipou had extended their lead over APOEL to 8 points (9 as Geroskipou had the better h2h record)

Fixtures

With the form that his side was in, Clive expected at least 5 wins from the next 6 games. The only question mark may be the Omonoia game.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

January 2038

It was the month of Blichfeldt, as he scored 11 goals in the 5 games he was part of. The month started with a 4-1 win against Apol. Limassol, with all 4 goals coming from Blichfeldt. A fully rotated side then drew 1-1 against Karmiotissa, which was enough to see them through to another cup semi final. Another draw followed this on in a bumper game against Omonoia that ended 3-3 despite Geroskipou dominating the game.

AEL were then dispatched 3-1 before a third Blichfeldt brace in 3 games helped see Alki off 4-1. Goals were more equally shared in the final game of January, with Salgado, Eiriksson and Blichfeldt all scoring in a 3-0 win against Anorthosi.

Clive also reached 700 games in management during the stretch of games.

Transfers

Despite trying to tie some players down to contracts, money talks, and Ambler was persuaded to leave the club at the end of his contract and move to Toulouse on a deal worth £8,250 p/w.

Maybe the worst news was still to come, with lynchpin Leiva confirming his departure to go back to Argentina. After details of his contract came out, Clive knew that he would have been able to offer anything near the £12,000 p/w that he would now be moving onto.

Table

With 11 games to go, Geroskipou now had a 10 point lead at the top of the league, with a 12 point gap between themselves and APOEL, who had slipped down to 3rd.

Fixtures

Just one game before the split, against mid table Doxa. This could be the last chance to grab some easier victories for the season, so Geroskipou had to take advantage.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

February 2038

The Doxa game was tense after they got a goal back, but Geroskipou held off to win 2-1 thanks to a brace from Sundstrom from the right wing.

After Kedros were beaten 4-0 during the season break, Alki came and handed Geroskipou only their second defeat all season in a day to forget for Clive's men. They bounced back well though against AEL. A two goal performance from Blichfeldt helping secure a 2-1 win.

Voigt was bought in to replace the ageing Boutsikos as DOF, as Clive hoped that his knowledge of Scandanavia would bring in some wonderkids like back in old school Championship Manager games all those years ago.

Table

With 8 games remaining, Geroskipou had a whopping 13 point lead at the top of the table. It was only theirs to lose now.

Fixtures

A massive run of fixtures lay ahead in March. The month opened up against Omonoia before the cup semi final between Alki sandwiched APOEL in the league in probably the biggest game in the club's history. After a short break, a trip to Nea Salamina would end the first half of matches of the post-split league.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

March 2038

A late turnaround saw Geroskipou beat Omonoia 3-2, with Mariano leveling the scores in the 81st and then Blichfeldt getting the winner 4 minutes later. The cracks were showing though, and in the next game against Alki, a poor performance resulted in a 3-1 loss at home, leaving it all to do in the second leg.

In the biggest game of the season, Geroskipou choked. Despite slightly outplaying APOEL, their superior finishing proved to be the deciding factor as Geroskipou lost narrowly 2-1.

With their back against the wall from the first leg, Clive threw everything he could think of in the second leg. At half time the score was still 0-0, but then Geroskipou remembered how to win again, with Blichfeldt scoring a brace in the first 5 minutes of the second half, and then Radojicic closing out a 3-0 win on the night, and progressing them to the final 4-3 on aggregate.

The joy was short lived though, as Nea Salamina outclassed them in the next game and won 2-1 to make March the worst month of the season so far.

Spoiler

There was only one player that came through the youth academy that signed a contract. Although he was not expected to play a lot, Clive did feel a need to add depth in case of emergency.

Table

5 games to go and an 8 point lead at the top.

Fixtures

The last round of fixtures started in April, with Alki visiting, who were looking for revenge for their demise in the cup. Then in MD29, a visit to AEL in Limassol would close out the shortened month.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

Match Day 28 - Alki (H)

With only 5 games to go, the title race was 'heading to the wire', despite Geroskipou being 8 points clear. With APOEL being 10 points adrift the media had placed them out of the running, leaving just Nea Salamina to try and win the league.

Clive whipped out his calculator and knew that 8 points would be enough to secure the title even if Nea Salamina could win their remaining games. So a win against Alki to start off the run in would be a massive pressure off the teams back.

Geroskipou raced out to a 4-0 lead at half time in front of a sold out crowd, with Blichfeldt grabbing a hattrick and an own goal from an Alki centre half. Early in the second half, Mariano scored to make it 5-0 to put the game beyond doubt. It was only then that Geroskipou switched off, but Clive was relieved, as it saved on clean sheet bonuses.

Table

After the game, Clive was overjoyed to see that Nea Salamina had lost against AEL at home, giving them a 10 point lead of 2nd place with 4 games to go.

He whipped out his calculator again, did some quick sums and realised that 1 win from the final 4 games was all that was standing in the way of a maiden First Division title.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

Match Day 29 - AEL (A)

The biggest game of Clive's career was upon him. After a team meeting easing expectations and some last minute talks with individuals, everyone was ready to go out and enjoy their football.

First Half

The first half started well, with Geroskipou putting massive pressure on the AEL back line. A few slices of cheese were handed out for some rash challenges that didn't really need to be made, but Clive chalked this down to nerves starting to creep in. He told his team to calm down and focus, and it seemed to work, with Blichfeldt rolling away in a premature celebration after slotting home from an offside position. This seemed to instil some needed confidence in the side, they had breached the sturdy defence once, so why could they not do it again. Then it all went bonkers.

Mariano smashed home a shot in the 40th minute, then straight from kick off, AEL gave away a free kick just inside their own half. The ball was whipped in and Bohorquez poked home at the back post to make it 2-0. Geroskipou switched off, and a long ball played from the ensuing kick off saw Serrador go one on one with Lukic, who slotted home to make it 2-1 in the 42nd minute. 3 goals in 3 minutes. Nobody in the stadium had ever had been in such a glass case of emotion. Luckily for Clive, the third goal had managed to calm his players down and the half whittled away.

Half Time:

AEL 1 - 2 Geroskipou

Second Half

Compared to the final 10 minutes of the first half, the start of the second was the polar opposite. Both teams played in a reserved manner, not wanting to give any cheap goals away. On the hour mark, a long cross from the left wing found Sundstrom at the back post, and the winger outjumped his marker to head in from an acute angle to score to make it 3-1.

In the 69th minute, Mariano was scythed down in midfield trying to start a counter attack and had to be replaced. This was Clive's last substitution, so 6 minutes later, when Blichfeldt also went down after picking up a knock, he had no other option but to move into a 4-4-1 formation, and try and kill the clock.

Things really came to a head though in the 87th minute, where Leiva got himself a straight red card after trying to exact revenge on Mariano by doing his best Cantona impression, leaving Geroskipou to try and defend a 2 goal lead with just 8 outfield players. Clive moved to a very defensive 4-4-0 with 2 wing backs, 2 holding midfielders and a normal back 4 to try and snuff out any AEL attacks. The final 3 minutes plus injury time went very slowly, but there were not more goals scored.

Full Time

AEL 1 - 3 Geroskipou

They had done it. Geroskipou exacted their demons from the previous seasons and finally won their first ever First Division title.

The board gave Clive a massive wage budget for the next season, £80,000 p/w was a far cry from a few seasons ago when it was just 10% of this.

Table

APOEL drew in their game, meaning the gap as of winning the title was 12 points.

Fixtures

4 games left in the season, 3 in the league and the cup final to put another nail in APOEL's coffin for this season.

Edited May 13 by ChaosClive

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

Cypriot Cup Final

With the league season wrapped up earlier than expected for Geroskipou, Clive was able to spend the best part of 3 weeks devising a plan for the Cypriot Cup Final against his old friends APOEL. The game was going to be hosted in the 22,859 capacity stadium in front of a sold out, mainly APOEL supporting crowd, which made the task even more unenviable. Geroskipou had played well against APOEL on previous meetings during the season, beating them twice and only losing once in the league. The plan was to just to win by any means necessary and secure the first double for the club since the 21/22 season.

Kick off

The game was inevitably tense, with neither team wanting to take the first risk. There were a few half chances here and there, but nothing highlight worthy for the Cypriot version of Match of the Day later in the evening. The first half went quickly, with the teams still deadlocked.

Half Time

APOEL 0 - 0 APOP Geroskipou

Second Half

The second half started in much the same way. It was only in the 74th minute, when Tobias bought down Blichfeldt in the box, earning himself a yellow card and his opposite number a chance to put Geroskipou 1-0 up with just 15 minutes left. Blichfeldt converted emphatically to put one of Geroskipou's feet into the winning shoes.

APOEL pushed hard for an equaliser, and took control of the game. The 4th official put 6 minutes up on his board, and Clive could taste victory. This was taken away with the final kick of the ball though, as Meca hit a close range volley inside the box to draw APOEL level. If Geroskipou were to win, it would have to be in extra time.

Full Time

APOEL 1 - 1 APOP Geroskipou

ET Kick Off

It had been a long season for both teams, and it showed in extra time. The pace of the game had been milked dry apart from the odd burst of pace from a fresher subsitute. Just before the half time of extra time, it was a corner that proved to be the difference. Leiva put an inswinger into the six yard box, where the biggest player on the pitch Blichfeldt managed to just about outjump his marker and guide into the net to make the score 2-1 to Geroskipou.

Half Time Extra Time

APOEL 1 - 2 APOP Geroskipou

Second Half Extra Time

There was now only 15 minutes between Geroskipou and their first Cypriot Cup. By now though, every player to a man was dead on their feet. The majority of the half consisted of Geroskipou playing short passes around their half and trying to get APOEL to press them into another mistake. There was a heartstopping moment near the end of the game where a ball was given away cheaply, but Lukic, who was arguably the unsung hero of the season produced another save to tip the ball over the bar. Shortly after, the referee blew his whistle for the final time.

Full Time

APOEL 1 - 2 APOP Geroskipou

Spoiler

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

May 2038

As the league was over before the month was even started, Clive used the oppertunity to finish the season off experimenting with different rotations of players. This started poorly, as the trip to Omonoia ended in a 1-1 stalemate. The next week, Clive rotated once again to save players from suspension for the upcoming final. This seemed to work, as Nea Salamina were beaten 2-0, with Eiriksson getting a brace for a now rare start.

The cup final was covered in the previous post, but just as a recap, Geroskipou managed a 2-1 extra time win against their new rivals APOEL to win the double.

For the final game of the season, a tired Geroskipou team travelled to face a tired APOEL side. The game finished 1-1, with Mariano grabbing the only goal for Geroskipou, who were unfortunate not to finish their season off with a win.

Final Table

When all was said and done, Geroskipou had won their maiden First Division title by a massive 10 points ahead of the chasing pack led by APOEL. It was a sweet moment for Clive being given a guard of honour for them in the final game.

The win had also broken APOEL's streak of 13 straight league wins.

News

Clive had also managed to squeeze his way into the Cyprus HOF for managers. The list contained mainly APOEL managers to no suprise. But now his sights were set on reaching the top.

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2037/38 Season Review

Despite winning the league, Clive still had his suspicions about the refereeing in Cyprus. Going back over the stats for penalties, he saw that Omonoia were given a massive 17 penalties over the season, and APOEL and Nea Salamina both picking up 15 over the season. The mystery in corruption was now a shut and closed case in Clive's eyes.

Because of APOEL's performances in Europe, there was now an automatic group stage position in the Champions League opened up. If Geroskipou could win the league next season, a much easier route into the millions would open up.

Harnwell's buyout clause was sold to increase the clubs bank account by £282,000.

Iosifidis was now the club's most capped player. In terms of goalscoring, Blichfeldt had a breakout year with 41, and Leiva left the club on a positive note, as he grabbed 26 assists over his final season before leaving on a free transfer.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2038/39 Champions League Qualification - Playoff Round

The draw had not been kind to Geroskipou. Celtic were one of if not the toughest side in the draw, so sods law that they would be drawn against the Scots.

Even tougher is that both legs would have to be played without Blichfeldt, who went down like he was shot after twisting his ankle in training. This would never have happened when Clive was playing when he was a kid. Game's gone.

First Leg

Clive was raging after the first leg. The score did not reflect the game due to a poor game from Lukic in goal and a great game from the Celtic keeper. As the score was only 1-0 at half time, Clive still thought that Geroskipou had a shot. But then goals in the 54th, 56th, 66th and 72nd minutes basically killed off the tie.

Second Leg

The second leg was again frustrating. Celtic threw out the same team as in the first leg, and were beaten in every aspect of the game apart from the scoreboard. A 0-0 draw was played out to leave the score over two legs as 5-0 Celtic.

Clive was certain that his side should have gone through over the two legs, as they made themselves the chances, but just could not convert.

Europa League Group Stage

Geroskipou were drawn in a group that Clive saw at least a few wins from. Rangers were the biggest stature-wise, but Basel were also no pushovers. Since the 20/21 season, the Portugese league was also improving, so Vit. Guimaraes would also not be pushovers.

Although just north of £2.5m was a great payday, the £12m for the Champions League would have tasted sweeter.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2038/39 Pre-Season

Before Clive's first official day back in the office, he had to go to the new stadium unveiling. He stood there with the Mayor of Pafos while he used the big scissors to cut the ribbon, and could not help but be full of pride at the journey of the club.

On his first day, Clive was inundated with interviews from big clubs, including Osasuna and Arsenal.

One of Geroskipou's best was approached by Alki to be their new manager. As they had a habit of ditching managers every few months, Clive did not want to see the same thing happen to his friend, so offered him a new contract.

Although with a wage bill like Alki's, he was not sure about if this would work.

But it did. Critchley was now a fully bled member of Geroskipou now.

Transfers

It was that time of the pre-season that big clubs coming sniffing for some of Clive's best players. This season it was West Ham in for Lawson. They put an offer of £3.3m plus add ons. The board went over Clive's head once again and accepted. He stormed into the boardroom to try and get this reversed, but to no avail.

Other players to leave in the pre-season included Wilkin, who was bought in for free, netting nearly a million profit.

In

Clive strengthened his sqaud in prep for another long season.

Savran could play on either wing with bundles of pace.

Vallejos was an Argentine DR, who would compete for a starting spot.

Bello was a young DL, to provide another body in the back 4.

Sundstrom was bought back in on loan for another season.

Markovic was a youth player from Montenegro, who would spend a season in the U-19s.

Bilbao was bought back from Athletic Bilbao for £190,000, meaning that they lost a massive £1.49m from their purchase a few seasons before.

Marchesi was bought in from Italy to provide backup up front.

Results

The usual tune up games were easily won, before a near post flick on from Bielan won Geroskipou the Super Cup against APOEL 1-0.

Then Celtic knocked them out of the Champions League before 2 final tune up games before the league fixtures start.

Odds

Despite winning the league, Geroskipou were still clearly not rated by the bookies.

Fixtures

September would kick off against Apol. Limassol. Then the start of the fixture congestion would start, with Basel away in the Europa League before 3 days later, Omonoia resumed league fixtures. 3 days after that, Nea Salamina would come to Pafos, before Ypsonas would round out the league month and Vit. Guimaraes finishing the EL month.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

September 2038

Things looked bleak after the Apol. Limassol game, despite dominating the game, nobody seemed to be able to get the ball in the back of the net, and Geroskipou lost 3-2 to open the season. The result then gave the players a kick up the backside that was needed given the quality of opposition for the rest of the month. Basel were dispatched 2-0 thanks to early goals from Eiriksson and Blichfeldt.

The Omonoia game was quiet until the first minute of added time before Blichfeldt thought he had scored the winner. Omonoia responded quickly in the 92nd minute, but a draw would be more than fair result. In the 93rd minute, Mariano scored on a counter attack and left Clive speechless. The final score was 2-1 but it felt like Omonoia were robbed.

The good form continued into the rest of the month, with Nea Salamina going down 3-0, and then Ypsonas were beaten by a 2nd string team 3-1. In the final game of the month, a rested Geroskipou side squeezed past Vit. Guimaraes 3-2 thanks to a late goal from Blichfeldt.

Spoiler

Tables

With a game in hand due to fixture congestion, Geroskipou were 6 points off APOEL, who had managed to go 5 from 5.

Two wins from two saw Geroskipou sit top of their Europa League group.

Fixtures

October would kick off in a top half clash with a visit to Alki. Clive saw Aris as an easier win before Geroskipou would host Rangers and try and hold on to top spot in the EL group. 3 days later they would have to entertain APOEL in a game that would be crucial to try and catch up on points lost. Then Paralimni and Anorthosi would also have to be beaten in a short turnaround.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

October 2038

October was a great month apart from a single draw.

Bielan's header from a corner was enough for Geroskipou to beat Alki 1-0. Aris Limassol were next to be beaten. Blichfeldt grabbed a brace and Marchesi also got involved in the action to win 3-0. Rangers were convincingly dismantled 4-0 in somewhat of a shock result to leave Geroskipou top of their EL group at the halfway stage.

3 days later, APOEL visited the APOP Geroskipou stadium and Geroskipou were on fire once again, beating their rivals 4-1 to leapfrog them in the table.

The run ended the next game against Paralimni, who were sitting level on points at the bottom of the table. After playing 2 games in 6 days, Clive opted to play a heavily rotated side, and this proved to be part of the undoing of the winning run. The match was a 0-0 draw, and despite subs being made in desperation of a goal, nothing came. In the last match of the month against Anorthosi, who were bottom of the league, it was only a Marchesi hattrick that saved further embarrassment, but Geroskipou ran out 3-2 winners.

Table

After the run, as well as APOEL losing 3 of their 4 games, Geroskipou were at the head of the table, a point clear of Omonoia and a game in hand.

Fixtures

Another hectic month lay in store, with games from 3 competitions. Rangers and Basel were both beatable once more in Europe, as were Othellos, Paralimni and Apol. Limassol in the league. The cup draw had been favourable, with Second Division Ermis Aradippou being the first round of Geroskipou's cup defense.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

November 2038

The trip to Ibrox culminated to another 3 points in Europe. Clive continued with a full strength side in the next game against Othellos with the aim to start a rotated side in the cup. This plan paid off in a big way as the final score was 8-0 to the hosts.

In the cup 3-0 and 2-0 wins were good to bring Geroskipou into the quarters once again before the 0-0 draw against Paralimni the previous month was avenged with a 3-0 battering in the return leg, this time with a full strength side.

Basel visited Pafos next, and Geroskipou continued their winning run in the Europa League before the Apol. Limassol game. The only team that managed to beat Geroskipou in the first round of fixtures managed to do it once again, although this time it was a poor showing from Clive's side, and not just bad luck.

With award season nearing, Clive was pleasantly suprised when he saw that Bohorquez was nominated for the European Golden Boy award and Blichfeldt was nominated for World U21 Footballer of the year.

Table

The loss against Apol. Limassol saw Omonoia overtake Geroskipou, but they still had their game in hand.

Fixtures

Clive was looking for 4 wins in the league, and a good start in the cup match before the new year.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

December 2038

December started off poorly, with a 1-1 draw away at AEL. The next game against Omonoia was the first time in the season that Geroskipou had to really dig deep to grab a result. They went 2-0 down within an hour and it looked like they were going to get blown out. After a few tweaks though, Blichfeldt fired in a goal before Marchesi finished off an unbelievable comeback, scoring in the 79th and 83rd minute. Bilbao was shown a red card in the 88th minute, but Geroskipou managed to hold off an onslaught for the final 8 minutes of the game and won 3-2.

A rotated side then fell to a 3-1 defeat in the Europa League against Vit. Guimaraes, with a result that saw them slip down to 2nd in the table, meaning that they would have to go through a R32 matchup if they had any chance of progressing. With a full strength side out, Nea Salamina snatched a 1-1 draw, despite only having an xG of 0.38 compared to Geroskipou's 2.39. Needing a big response, Clive fielded another full strength side against Ypsonas, and Geroskipou were 3-0 up within 8 minutes. Ypsonas scored a consolation goal late on, but the win never looked in doubt.

After the international break, Geroskipou defeated APOEL 2-1 in the first leg of the QF of the cup to take an aggregate lead to GSP in the second leg. 

Spoiler

During December, some big clubs from Italy came in to enquire about Clive's availability. Napoli and Atalanta were both turned down, as Clive had no interest of leaving Cyprus just yet.

In some poetic justice for Atalanta, the draw for the R32 of the EL saw the two clubs pitted up against each other.

On New Years Eve, Blichfeldt was announced as the winner of the World U21 Footballer of the Year award after getting 39 goals and 12 assists in 40 appearances in the calendar year.

Tables

At the halfway point of the league season, Geroskipou were sitting 3 points behind APOEL and level on points with Omonoia.

Fixtures

If Geroskipou were to kick on in the league before the split, it would be crucial that they won 5 from 5 in the league. This included Alki, AEL and APOEL all in the top 5. Games against Aris Limassol and Anorthosi would be easier, but they were still considered banana skins, especially as the second leg of the cup was 4 days before the Aris game.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

January 2039

Marchesi was the hero in the Alki game, as he scored the equaliser in what would end in a 1-1 draw. Due to international call ups, the APOEL match was re-arranged until February which gave the team some time to recover, and they beat Aris 4-1 away from home in the next game.

Revenge was served to AEL, with Blichfeldt and Marchesi both scoring, before an away trip to APOEL ended in another 1-1 draw thanks to a last minute winner from Bohorquez as he found space at the back post from a deep free kick. Anorthosi were put to the sword in the final game of the month a week later, as they were beaten 4-0 at Geroskipou Stadium.

Transfers

Clive made some additions to his squad in defense during the January window. Hauptman coming in for DL cover from Brazil on loan, Llagostera to provide a 3rd option at DR on loan from Wanderers in Uruguay, and Delgado being bought from Columbia for a fee of £11,250.

Spoiler

In the other direction, Da Silva was sold for an initial £300,000 after complaining that he was not getting enough playing time, and Benedini was sent to Serie B with Bari to develop to hopefully bring his market rate up, as Clive didn't think he would be able to make the grade at Geroskipou.

In the coaching department, Jon Ellis was hired by Barnsley as their manager in the Championship, and they paid a massive £200,000 for his services.

Table

With just 11 games to go in the league Geroskipou, along with APOEL and Omonoia were pulling away from the pack.

Fixtures

Othellos would be the last chance to grab some easy points before the league split, then a week later, the re-arranged second leg of the cup. There would be some league games shoved into February for good measure as well as both legs of the EL R32.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

February 2039

February was a worrying month for Clive. First of all, they had a 50% loss ratio over 6 games, which hadn't happened since March 2038. Secondly, Geroskipou failed to score until at least the 54th minute, which made for some nervy matches.

The Othellos game was ended in a 2-0 win thanks to a Marchesi brace, which gave Geroskipou top spot, but Clive was hoping for a larger score in this game. The second leg of the cup went better though, as his side beat APOEL 2-0 away from home and 4-1 on aggregate to knock out one of the better sides out and send them through to the Semis.

A smash and grab win against Atalanta came next, with Eiriksson scoring in the dying embers of the game and more importantly gave Geroskipou an away goal to take into the second leg. After the league split, Alki handed Geroskipou their first loss in the league since November, beating them 1-0.

The second leg of the EL ended in a total collapse. Atalanta took the lead on the night thanks to an own goal from Gonzalez. They had an oppertunity to double their lead from the spot, but Lukic guessed right and kept out the penalty. Despite pressure from both sides, the tie ended 1-1, with both teams having an away goal extra time was needed. In the 101st minute, Delgado made up for his defensive partners mistake by smashing a header in from a corner to put Geroskipou up 2-1 on aggregate. It would end up being heartache for the Cypriots though, as in the 115th minute, Atalanta would grab the winner both on the night and in the tie as they progressed 2-1 winners on the night, and 2-2 on away goals.

The bad form continued the next game, as Omonoia edged another close game between the two sides 1-0.

Spoiler

Table

With the losses against Omonoia and Alki, Geroskipou were leapfrogged at the top of the table and now sat 2 points behind both Omonoia and APOEL, with Alki closing in on them.

Fixtures

Another easy draw in the cup against Second Division Karmiotissa allowed Geroskipou to hopefully start to turn their form around. AEL, APOEL and Nea Salamina rounded out the first set of games in the league post split.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

March 2039

A nervy 3-2 against Karmiotissa started the month off, despite starting strong a rotated side showed why they were rotation players, as they conceeded 2 without replying. The first league match against AEL proved that Geroskipou were back in business though, taking them down 3-1, with Pikkuhookana opening the scoring within 45 seconds.

The second leg of the semi final ended in the same way as the first, as the underdogs scored first to level the tie. It wasn't until some first teamers were subbed in that a difference was seen, first with Marchesi in the 78th minute, and then Pikkuhookana scoring for the second game in a row to win the game 2-1 and the tie 5-4.

4 days later, Pikkuhookana opened the scoring against APOEL, only for Clive's most hated team to come back and snatch a goal in the second half to end the game 1-1. Pikkuhookana, who was in the best form of his career, was on the scoresheet yet again against Nea Salamina as Geroskipou beat them comfortably 3-0 to round out the month.

Table

With APOEL and Omonoia both dropping points, Geroskipou were sitting in 2nd place and just 1 point off top spot with the final 5 matches to come.

Fixtures

With 3 home matches in April, Clive was hoping for both good crowds and good results at the real business end of the season.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

April 2039

Clive was skimming through the newspaper and thought that Alki being included in the title race must have been some kind of April Fool's joke. The first game against Alki made this seem true, as Geroskipou turned it on beating them 4-1, with Blichfeldt scoring a hattrick, and Pikkuhookana also scoring for good measure, and made their chances of finishing in top spot nil.

Matchday 29

Matchday 29 pitted Geroskipou against top of the table Omonoia in a big 6 pointer. If Geroskipou lost, they would be 4 points behind with just 3 games to go.

Geroskipou started the better side, with the early dominance showing as Marchesi scored the opener in the 43rd minute. Sundstrom doubled the lead in the 67th minute, but Clive knew his team were not out the woods yet. Omonoia moved to a much more offensive formation, and started taking control of the game and really taking it to the home side. They got their breakthrough in the 78th minute, but Geroskipou held on to bring home 3 points and a 2-1 win.

Matchday 30

With Geroskipou now in top spot, it was theirs to lose. Nea Salamina rolled over for them, maybe it was a conspiracy, or maybe it was Blichfeldt scoring 4 goals and grabbing an assist for Bohorquez. The final score was 5-0, and with Omonoia needing a last minute equliaser in their game, the result put Geroskipou 4 points clear at the top with 2 games to play.

News

Somehow, a centre half won the NxGn award. Clive had to wipe his eyes like a cartoon when he saw it was his centre half. Bielan had won, probably as he had scored 10 goals in 32 games over the course of the season due to him being 6'4 and having the leap of a salmon.

Table

With 2 games to go, Geroskipou were one win away from retaining the First Division title.

Fixtures

And they could win it against APOEL at GSP! Failing that, it could be away at AEL, a far less scenic way to win it.

The Cup Final was sandwiched inbetween the excitment of the league, with the game being held away against Alki.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

Matchday 31 - APOEL (A)

It was do or die time for both sides. APOEL needed a win to give them a chance of the title going into the last day of the season, whereas Geroskipou knew that a win would see them lift the league at GSP.

First Half

The game started off very well for Geroskipou as they won a penalty in the 4th minute. The usually reliable Blichfeldt put his shot wide of the post. Geroskipou kept the pressure on and with a high line, won the ball back time and time again. Whereas Geroskipou had problems getting shots on target despite good positions, APOEL had problems getting shots off altogether. At the halfway point of the game, they had registered just 1 shot.

Half Time

APOEL 0 - 0 APOP Geroskipou

Second Half

The pressure from Geroskipou continued, with them grinding out more and more chances, and being able to take their shot on target % from 25% in the first half to 57% in the second half, but APOEL's keeper made some excellent saves to keep his side in the game. In the 54th minute, APOEL were awarded a dubious penalty of their own, but Lima also put his kick wide of the post. This would be APOEL's only shot of the second half, and as the final whistle blew, Clive had a mixture of emotions. Obviously he was delighted that he had masterminded a great defensive performance and the fact he had stopped APOEL winning the league in their own back yard, but also frustration that his side couldn't seem to find a way to score the one goal they so desperately needed.

Full Time

APOEL 0 - 0 APOP Geroskipou

With a top 2 finish in the league, Geroskipou had assured themselves of a Champions League spot for next season. The board told Clive that his new wage budget would be a massive £105,000 p/w, a massive increase from the £80,000 it currently was.

Table

With Omonoia winning their game, they had gained ground, making the final game of the season a real nail biter.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

Cypriot Cup Final - Alki (A)

With the ongoing excitement around the title race, the cup took a backseat. With Geroskipou already guaranteed Champions League football, Clive was not focused too much on this game, although it would add another trophy to the cabinet. Clive rotated some players who were 1 yellow away from suspension, so the likes of Bielan and Bohorquez were not going to be making an appearance.

First Half

The first half started equally, with both teams managing to get a few half chances, although neither team could put them away. In the 29th minute though, Alki hit a well worked counter from a Geroskipou corner, leaving Daniels to slot past Lukic in goal to put Alki 1-0 up. Geroskipou could not find an answer in the remaining 16 minutes of the first half.

Half Time

Alki 1 - 0 APOP Geroskipou

Second Half

From the off in the second half, Alki looked like the dominant side, managing to play some entertaining football and keeping the ball away from Geroskipou's players. In the 55th minute, a botched clearance from an Alki corner allowed Olguin to head home Alki's second, and from then on, the game looked lost and the Geroskipou players couldn't put a meaningful attack together to get back into the game.

Full Time

Alki 2 - 0 Geroskipou

Losing a cup final was never nice, but all Clive could think of is that he and his side would not be in the same position after the AEL game, watching Omonoia lift the First Division on the news instead of them.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

Matchday 32 - AEL (A)

Going into the final day of the season, Geroskipou only needed a draw away against AEL, as they had beaten Omonoia 3 times over the season so had the h2h edge. Omonoia were playing APOEL away, and if APOEL won, they would finish 2nd.

First Half

Geroskipou started slower that Clive would have liked, although his side were not giving AEL a look in. In the 18th minute, a small cheer came from the away section, so Clive sneakily looked on his phone, and an APOEL penalty had put them 1-0 in the other game. Now even a loss would be enough, but Clive didn't want to take any chances. In the 31st minute, Blichfeldt raced away from his marker and coolly slid his shot in to put Geroskipou 1-0 up. 2 minutes later, Sundstrom doubled Geroskipou's lead. Around the 41st min, another cheer came from the away end, which probably meant that APOEL were now 2-0 up.

Half Time

Second Half

Needing a 6 goal swing between both games, it looked like Geroskipou were going to win their second straight First Division title, so Clive told his players to express themselves and just enjoy the last 45 minutes of the season. The cheers from the away end once again did not come from an APOEL goal, but another Geroskipou one, this time it was Marchesi gliding through the AEL centre halves and scoring. Not even an AEL goal 2 minutes later could stop the celebrations, and they only got louder in the 81st minute when Marchesi completed his brace to make it 4-1. 

Full Time scores

With Geroskipou winning, it didn't matter that Omonoia lost 2-0 in their game.

They had done it! The APOEL dominance was now officially broken.

Final Table

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2038/39 Season Review

After winning their second First Division in a row, Clive was now looking to solidify and build for the future, so went to the board to ask for even more club improvements. Luckily this time, the board were in a good mood, so accepted his requests.

Soon after, UEFA released the competition rankings, thanks to Geroskipou, the First Division remained in 10th place in the list.

But Geroskipou jumped from 126th to 68th in the club coefficient rankings.

Some needed TV money also came in from the Europa League.

And £145,000 from the coefficient pool money, hopefully with the rise and rise of the club, this money will only be increasing.

Death and taxes were still at play though, with the government taking £1m away from the club.

Blichfeldt had a standout year with 30 goals and 13 assists, but new signing Marchesi also contributed his fair shair of goals with 22. Unfortunately, this meant a lack of playing time for Mariano, who like his old strike partner van Looy, looked like his days at the club were numbered.

Lukic was also a consistent performer, getting 15 clean sheets in 39 games.

There were still no changed to the all time lists, although if Blichfeldt could hang around the club for a few seasons, Clive was sure that his name would be on the goalscorers list.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2039/40 Pre-Season

After the continued success of Geroskipou, it was no wonder that more and more big clubs were interested in Clive's services. The big news in the pre-season was that Inter were desperately trying to aquire his signature.

Even the fans were excited to see English at the helm, although Clive turned down the interview to their dismay.

And the dominance that Inter had shown in Serie A, winning 6 of the last 8 league titles slightly tempted Clive, but he knew that the people of Geroskipou would never forgive him if he left.

Transfers

In

A lot of new faces made themselves known around the club in pre-season after a lot of hard work by Clive and his scouting team. In order of transfer date:

Rodriguez, a Uruguayan who was bought on a free to start at DL over Bello

Holub, a young Czech, who could be loaned out for the future

Diaz, another Uruguayan, who would useful for goals up front

Rosca, a young Moldovan, a youth prospect

Cuellar, a Columbian centre half

Coufal to provided a 3rd option at ML

Yakubu, a 6'6 German striker, to provide some sort of ariel threat in the box

Karagiannis, the club's first official 'wonderkid', who would be able to fill the void left by Leiva a few seasons ago

Pereyra, yet another Uruguayan, bought in on a 2 year loan deal to provide a backup for Yakubu

Konate, a French striker, who Clive wanted to grow into a superstar

Spoiler

As the U19 squad was also filling out a bit more, Clive needed some help with the coaching. A recently retired van Looy answered the call, and despite not being the best coach in the world, he knew that his old boss started the exact same way, so joined up as the first U19 coach at the club.

Out

Eiriksson was sold. Despite being able to score, his gametime was limited, and when Rijeka came in with an initial £1.7m offer for the 25 year old, Clive accepted the bid.

He may have done this prematurely though. As soon as that sale went through, AC Milan came in with a £4.8m offer for Blichfeldt, who had a clause in his contract that however much Clive tried to take out, his greedy agent would not. All Clive could pray for now is that Blichfeldt turned down any contract offers from the Italian giants.

But with the sort of money that they threw at him, Clive was not shocked when the paperwork came through, confirming that his star player was now no longer his. His new wage was £38,500 p/w.

Spoiler

Some other notable outs included Benedini, who was sold to Alki for £1.3m despite only making 1 or 2 appearances off the bench. But Alki had cash, and Geroskipou made a massive profit on the young Italian.

One sale that made Clive upset was Rui Carvalho. Over the previous 2 seasons, he had only made 12 league appearances, most of which off the bench, but his contributions early on in his time at the club helped propel them from the Second Division and gain a foothold in the First Division.

Champions League

As Cyprus was now high enough in the co-efficient table to merit a direct place into the Champions League, Clive was happy that he didn't have to go through qualifying, but less thrilled when he recieved news of the draw. Chelsea, Hertha Berlin, and Inter, the club that was looking at him over the summer were the teams that his side would have to try and beat if they stood any chance of even making it into the Europa League.

But the payout that had so desperately eluded the club was finally here. Nearly £14m into the club bank account dwarfed anything that they had ever seen before.

Although betting on his own team was illegal, with odds of 10,000-1, Clive was finding it hard to resist the temptation.

Other News

With the prospect of Champions League football, the ticket office was struggling to keep up with demand, selling 3,337 season tickets compared to 2,863 from the previous season.

With the CL money, Clive thought it was time for more improvements to the club. Both the training and youth facilities would be upgraded over the course of the season.

League Odds

Clearly 2 straight league titles means nothing to both punters and bookmakers alike, as Geroskipou were still predicted to finish 3rd, a position they had finished higher in for the previous 6 seasons. Yet Alki and APOEL were throwing money about like nobody's business, so they must have had an incling that something was up.

Results

The typical routing of lower oppositions to get tuned up for the season that lay ahead.

The Super Cup did not go the way Clive would have liked, losing 3-1 in extra time against Alki. But as nobody seemed to mind that they had lost, neither did he.

Fixtures

The season opened with a toughie, APOEL at home, before Anorthosi and the club's first ever Champions League game, away in Berlin. Alki away continued a pretty tough start, before an easier game against Othellos would give the chance for some rotation. Trips to Nea Salamina and Chelsea would round the month out.

Edited Friday at 22:35 by ChaosClive

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

September 2039

A massive 3-0 win against APOEL was followed by 3 disastrous performances. A 3-0 loss to Hertha Berlin in the Champions League was sandwiched between 1-1 draws against Anorthosi and Alki. Normal service was resumed against Othellos, as a Marchesi hattrick helped Geroskipou win 5-0, but some more rotten form ended the month. First a 0-0 draw against Nea Salamina, and then a 5-1 hammering at the hands of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. This left Geroskipou at the bottom of their group in the Champions League, and 6 points behind where Clive would have liked them in the league.

Table

It seemed everyone was beating everyone, as despite the slow start, Geroskipou were only 2 points off top spot.

Fixtures

5 wins would be expected from Clive in October, with all opposition typically seen as weaker sides in the league. The Champions League matchup against Inter was of little importance apart from the first ever home game in the competition.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

October 2039

October bought along one of if not the biggest shock in the club's history.

A routine 4-0 win against AEK Larnakas was followed by a 5-2 win against AEL with a rotated side playing before the only Champions League fixture of the month.

Going into the game, Brendan Rodgers claimed that Geroskipou were an easy scalp, even if the game was hosted in Cyprus. He could not have been more wrong though. On the night, the Geroskipou faithful were out in full force and voice, and on the pitch, the players took every chance that the created. Thanks to a Diaz hattrick, broken up by a goal from Sundstrom, the plucky underdogs beat Inter 4-2. After the match Rodgers doubled down on his arrogance, and claimed that his side would batter Geroskipou in the next meeting.

The squad was riding on a high, beating Apol. Limassol 5-0, Ermis Aradippou 4-1, but could not convert their chances in the final match of the month against Aris Limassol, with only a last minute equaliser from Pereyra getting Geroskipou a point in a 2-2 draw.

Spoiler

Table

The dropped points against Aris saw Geroskipou sit just 1 point behind Omonoia, but they were now the only undefeated side in the league.

Fixtures

Inter would be looking for revenge at the San Siro, before a shorter trip to GSP against APOEL in the league. The Cup second round would see Geroskipou pit up against Apol. Limassol, who were having a poor season, before another 6 pointer against Omonoia.

Hertha Berlin would visit Geroskipou, and Clive would hope that the home crowd would help with another win in the group stages. Finally, an away trip to Anorthosi would see Geroskipou into the festive period.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

November 2039

A sea of red on the calendar greeted Clive at the end of the month. A loss 3-0 loss to Inter in the Champions League had proved that Rodgers was at least about one thing. This was then followed up by a tight 1-0 loss to APOEL in the league, where neither side could create much go forward.

The biggest shock of the month was soon to come though, as a poor Apol. Limassol side beat a fully rotated Geroskipou side 2-1 in the cup. Clive was outraged, and played a full strength side in the return leg, he could not have his side fall at the first hurdle in the cup. The full first team was sent out, and goals from Diaz and Bielan turned the tie around, winning 2-0 on the night, and 3-2 on aggregate.

More heartache for Geroskipou was just around the corner though, as they lost 4-2 to Omonoia, with Iosifidis grabbing a hattrick for the visitors.

In the Champions League, Geroskipou were down by 1 in the 86th minute after another poor showing, but then a fire was ignited underneath them. Pereyra scored in the 87th minute, and then Karagiannis poked home in the 90th to win 2-1 and send Hertha back to Berlin pointless.

In the final game of the month, Geroskipou travelled to Anorthosi and dominated the game. With the luck that Geroskipou were currently experiencing, it was no shock that the professional players could not put away chances that Ray Charles would have scored, and in the 80th minute, Anorthosi's only shot on target in the game went in from 30 yards. The game finished 1-0, and it was the first time that Geroskipou had lost 3 games in a row in the league since 2034.

Tables

Geroskipou were now 10 points away from the top, although 2nd was still in touching distance.

The two wins had also given them an outside chance of getting through the Champions League group. They would need to beat Chelsea and hoped that Inter lost to Hertha Berlin in the final round of matches.

Fixtures

Alki and Chelsea opened up the month, before an easier game against Othellos gave the best chance of regaining some form. Nea Salamina in the league would also be a crucial game to qualify for the top half of the table, before the QF of the cup against (Probably) APOEL. Then a trip to Larnakas would round out the month on New Years Eve.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

December 2039

December bought some much needed improvements. Alki were beaten 2-0 at home, before Chelsea won 2-1 in the Champions League, partially down to Bilbao getting sent off in the 18th minute thanks to 2 yellow cards. Although Diaz levelled the scores with 10 men, Chelsea proved too strong over the 90 minutes.

Back in the league, Othellos were beaten 5-2, before the same fate was given to Nea Salamina, this time the score was 4-1. In the cup, Geroskipou came away from GSP with a respectable 0-0 draw against APOEL to take back home, and then Larnakas were thumbed 3-0 in the final match of the decade.

Spoiler

Thanks to the wins against Inter and Hertha Berlin, a second consecutive berth in the Europa League R32 was on the horizon.

And thanks to the prize money from the wins, the board announced that they were looking to expand the stadium to bring in extra revenue.

Also the transfer budget was increased, despite Clive's usual lack of activity in the January windows.

Tables

The gap was now 8 points with just over half the season gone. At least there was no doubt in if Geroskipou would even make it into the top 6.

Fixtures

The first match of the naughty 40s would start with APOEL at home in the second leg of the cup, before winnable games against AEL, Ermis Aradippou, Apol. Limassol and Aris Limassol were all penned in to the league calendar.