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

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

January 2026

An important point was taken in the first match of the new year, a 0-0 draw with Agia Napa, but this was then followed by an important 3 points dropped in a 4-3 collapse against ASIL, who had climbed up the table over the month. The 6 points that were targeted by Clive were achieved though, a 3-0 win against Omonoia Psevda and a 1-0 win against PAEEK moving Geroskipou 16 points from relegation with 9 games left, effectively ensuring survival.

February Fixtures

Only 2 league games for Geroskipou coming up, and Clive sensed this was a good opportunity to try and play catch up to achieve an unrealistic promotion with 2 games against 'weaker' opposition.  

Other News

The league's top scorer Zalikas was ruled out for the best part of 2 months, fortunately, Geroskipou had hit the point in the season where there are only 2 games a month, so he would only be missing around 4 games.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

February 2026

A very disappointing February for Clive, and in his eyes, it was 4 points dropped rather than 2 points collected. Ypsonas went 2-0 up in the first game, only for the point to be salvaged in the second half, with the game ending 2-2. The following league game got off to a better start against APEA, but Geroskipou were pegged back just before HT and could not find a second breakthrough, with that game finishing 1-1. Both teams were below Geroskipou by a long way, and if they had managed to get the full 6 points on offer, they would be sitting in 4th place, just 3 points behind the 3 way tie for 1st and 2nd.

March Fixtures

This would be make or break time for Geroskipou, 6 points were expected against teams in and around them to hopefully build some momentum going into more challenging games.

Transfers

After Zailkas' injury ruling him out for 2 months, Adamou was bought by Aris, meaning his loan was cancelled, leaving Clive with 2 fit strikers. He went out into the free agent market looking for a new striker, even if this new player would just be coming in as a stopgap.

But what he found was almost a gift sent from heaven. Andreas Katsantonis, with a good record in internationals (3 goals in 7 caps) instantly being able to move into the first team and lead the line.

Bernardo also came in at the back end of the window, but only for injury cover in the middle of the park.

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

March 2026

And just like that, Clive's ambitions of promotion were gone. Another 4 points dropped against teams in and around them in the table effectively shut the door on promotion. Now Geroskipou were 8 points from 2nd place with 5 games to go. Clive thought about the maths, and if his side had not dropped 8 points in the last 4 games, they would be sitting in 2nd, admittedly by the slimmest of margins, but the top 5 were dropping points like they were going out of fashion. The one bright spot for the month was Katsantonis scoring 2 goals in 2 games to continue his hot streak for his new side.

April Fixtures

Pafos was obviously the harder fixture of the 2, with Xylotybou basically already relegated. But like Xylotybou, Geroskipou had almost no hope of getting what they wanted from the season either.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

April 2026

What a topsy turvy month. First thing that came through Clive's inbox after the new month began was an article from the Cypriot Football Messenger about the title race, Clive skimmed over it until he realised that ,according to the media, Geroskipou were still in the hunt, something that he had come to terms with them not being able to do. Although looking at the fact that 10 out of 16 teams in the league were on the list, he assumed that the media didn't know what they were talking about as per usual. 

The first game was against Pafos, were a Zalikas brace helped Geroskipou to another win against Pafos and actually putting them back into the title race, was this a mystical prediction from the media or just sheer dumb luck??

Obviously dumb luck, as the next game against Xylotybou was lost 2-0 despite the fact that the opposition were already relegated from the Second Division and Geroskipou dominated the game. Title race over.

In Clive's frustration, he took to the touchline against Doxa without taking his usual snippings so would have to include it in this update They lost 2-0.

May 2026

Two tough games to finish off the season, Othellos and Olymp. Nicosia, who were the only two sides still in with a shot of promotion. Clive expected nothing to come from these games apart from heavy losses.

Youth Intake

Nothing to see here.

Spoiler

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

May 2026

With nothing else on the line apart from pride to play for, Geroskipou suddenly turned on the style. A 4-2 win and 2-1 win against the teams previously in 3rd and 4th, mainly with the help of Christou's head (4 goals including a hattrick for a DC isn't anything to sniff at) resulted in a 6th place finish.

Final Table

Another season done, this time, Clive was resentful of the dropped points in February and March, as these 8 points left on the table would have seen Geroskipou promoted in 2nd place.

Other News

0

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2025/26 Season Review

After such a massive swing compared to the season before, Clive hoped that now Geroskipou had managed to not only survive, but thrive in the Second Division, that they could really kick on and start realistically thinking about promotion in the coming seasons. Looking over his final squad list for the season, he knew that he would have to try and sign a lot of his current loans, namely Bastos, Christou, Panagiotou and Andreou, who were instrumental to the 6th place finish.

A decrease in the wage budget was not expected, but Clive had faced worse challenges than £250p/w taken away from him.

Clive's Cuttings

Zalikas continuing his goalscoring form into the 25/26 season and becoming the top assist getter validated a new contract.

Finances were at an all time low, and Clive was unsure how to fix it with the little money coming in from ticket sales only coming to around £40k per year, less than the yearly wage budget.

Finances 

 

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

   

Nigeria U20s 2025/26

Clive came into the Nigeria U-20 job with a baptism of fire against Brazil, but his new side fought valiantly, scoring a consolation goal in the 90th min to at least have something to show for the friendly.

The U20 AFCON qualifiers flew by for Nigeria, with only 4 games being played due to the seeding for the 2 legged qualification matches. Their campaign started with the embarrassment of Mauritania 10-0, with Omeje grabbing 6 of those goals. Obviously a fully rotated squad was selected by Clive for the return leg a week later, with Nigeria only winning 2-0.

Togo were to be the team to stand between Nigeria and the U20 AFCON. A solid 4-0 win in the first leg helped calm the nerves before another 3-1 win the following week. 

And that was that for international management for the season for Clive. He had managed to win all the matches that mattered and tick 4 countries off the travel globe in Brazil, Mauritania, Togo, and Nigeria. 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2023 by ChaosClive

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2026/27 Pre-Season (International)

Another hectic summer 'off' for Clive. After the successful U20 AFCON Qualifiers, Clive was looking in the international job market once again to see if anything peaked his interest. As it just so happened there were 3 jobs that he applied for, Cameroon, Liechtenstein, and Nigeria so he applied in hope more than anything. A few days went by with no responses, something he was used to back in England, until in one day, all 3 FA's came back to offer the job without an interview. Clive was flattered but in his mind, there was only one international job that he wanted.

He had been promoted from within to take charge of the Nigerian senior side. They were ranked 14th in the world at that point and the top African team. The AFCON was also coming up and the boys in green were heavy favourites to win. Could Clive win his first major silverware outside of Cyprus?

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2026/27 Pre-Season

Back in Geroskipou, Clive had yet another tough summer transfer window of adding quality without any real kind of wage budget. The players that he had shortlisted were not interested in playing for such a small club, despite only being a few places from the First Division, as reputation-wise, Geroskipou were still mixing it with the teams in the Third Division and a long way off even the worst teams in the Second Division.

Spoiler

With the looming threat of financial difficulty, Clive hoped for a miracle, and was downtrodden when rumours of a takeover bid started to be disputed in the media.

On the 'plus' side of this dire situation, a new batch of TV money was coming in. At this point though it was a drop in the ocean of what Geroskipou needed.

So with very little money coming in, the only way that the wage bill would be slashed was to release a lot of the players and have a mini rebuild. Clive got to work handing out the P45s to players that did not fit into his new system of being good footballers.

This mass exodus allowed at least some players to come in, and for the first time in his career, and probably against his better judgement, Clive handed cold hard cash over for a player! Panagi hopefully could bring some sort of crossing ability into the team, and along with Manhas, Clive had almost completed the right hand side of his new look midfield.

Spoiler

A lot more business was done in a short space of time, some important players looked to be Bousekas to fill in the BWM role, and Augusto to play alongside him as a CM(A). Christou came back on loan for another year from Achna, and Bernardo was also bought in on a free to partner him at DC. Karatassos was hopefully going to be a replacement for last season's hero Igor Bastos in goal, who did not want to come back for another spell on loan. Lastly, Sambu also came in to compete at DL.

Spoiler

Results

Some easy tune up games swung heavily in Geroskipou's favour and set them up well for another hard slog of a season.

Pre-Season Odds

After all that squad building, the media still thought that a 15th place finish and relegation was destined.

September Fixtures

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

September 2026

Geroskipou started the season the way they finished the previous one, with an impressive showing in the first 3 games of the season, with the first 2 seeing them easily into the Cypriot Cup Second Round. A 5-0 win against Omonoia Psevda followed before the first blip of the season against APEA, a team that Clive knew that they should be beating. Then the big shock of September was a 4-2 win against promotion hopefuls Aris Limassol, with Zalikas and Katsantonis both bagging a brace before finishing the month off with a tighter 1-0 win against Othellos.

The most important thing was that at the end of the first month, Geroskipou were clinging to dear life on 1st place.

October Fixtures

Looking at the month ahead, Clive saw a few stumbling blocks, namely ASIL in the league and Pafos in the cup, but an easier October to ease their way into the season with.

Edited July 24, 2023 by ChaosClive

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

October 2026

Another solid month for Geroskipou, despite the early wasted opportunity against Ypsonas, which was completely undeserved in Clive's eyes. His side quickly made up for this by winning the next 3 games though, before a defeat in the first leg of the cup against Pafos. The effects were still showing in the last game of the month against a newly promoted Pegeia side, where tired bodies could only draw 1-1.

Spoiler

A big blow came in the game against ASIL, where star striker Katsantonis, who was averaging a goal a game, tore his thigh and would be out for the majority of the season.

Geroskipou were still in the drivers seat for promotion, but only just, with a big pack forming just behind them.

November Fixtures

A massive month loomed in November starting with the return leg of the cup against Pafos, with Karmiotissa, bogey side Deryneia, Doxa and Omonoia Aradippou all following.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

November 2026

The month started off so promising for Geroksipou, overturning the deficit in the cup with a convincing 6-0 win against Pafos with Zalikas getting 5. Then, the wheels came off. It started with a predictable loss against Karmiotissa, followed by a good draw against Deryneia. Then Doxa enjoyed the 3 points after a good fightback in the second half. Lastly, a disgraceful attacking performance which included 0 shots on target condemned Geroskipou to a single point from 4 games.

A string of terrible performances see Geroskipou drop to 8th.

December Fixtures

Clive thought that the 6-0 against Pafos could hopefully boost confidence for the next game in the league. Apart from the Agia Napa game, Geroskipou could also get wins for the rest of the league games.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

December 2026

Clive was overjoyed at the club's New Year's Eve party, as Geroskipou were unbeaten in December, which included a 5-1 win over Agia Napa and a 6-0 win over APEA. Draws against Pafos and Omonoia Psevda were small blemishes on the celebrations, as both were winnable games. The cherry on the cake was a 1-1 draw with Ermis Aradippou in the cup.

The improvement saw Geroskipou end the year at 9th in the league, with a win in the next match seeing them possibly move into 5th, and right back into the promotion race.

Other News

Finances are doomed.

January Fixtures

Some more big games, first against Aris Limassol in their game in hand, then the return leg of the cup. The month ends with games against 8th, 11th, and 1st.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

January 2027

Obviously things just 'got out of hand' at the NYE party, as Geroskipou would go winless for the whole of January, including a loss in the cup, again getting to the QFs but no further. 

The string of poor performances saw Clive's men drop into 10th, with 9 games left, promotion was pretty much out of the picture, but so was relegation.

Finance News

February Fixtures

February looked promising for Clive, with Akritas and Onisilos both being just outside the relegation zone and having poor seasons.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

February 2027 - AFCON Special

Qualifiers

Spoiler

After taking over the helm halfway through the qualifiers, all Clive had to do was keep up the current form to qualify for the main tournament. And this is what happened. Winning the remaining 4 games without conceding a goal, qualifying easily out of the group.

Main Tournament

Nigeria eased through to the Second Round, with the draw coming in the last match of the group stage, with a completely changed starting 11. One thing that worried Clive was that his side had conceded in every game of the group stage so far. But so long as his team scored more, he did not have much to worry about.

The Second Round pitted Nigeria against Uganda, which a fully rested side won with ease 4-0, including a hattrick from Okereke.

The QF pitted Nigeria against Senegal, which was a tight and tense game. The only goal came from the spot to send Nigeria through to the Semi's.

Before the Semi Final, Clive told his players that whoever won this next game would more than likely go on to win the rest of the tournament, so with fire in their bellies, Nigeria raced out to a 1-0 lead within the first minute of the game. They doubled it on the 38th minute and then it was just a case of keeping Mali at bay. Despite Mali pulling a goal back, Nigeria held on to reach the final.

The final was played in front of 52,000 people. Nigeria dominated the whole game, and Clive's prediction came true at the final whistle, with Nigeria winning the AFCON with a 2-0 win against DR Congo.

In the tunnel after the game, Clive found the president of the Nigerian FA and formerly handed in his resignation. The president did try and convince him otherwise, saying about the World Cup and how well Nigeria could do under his leadership. Clive had Geroskipou to think about though.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

February/March 2027

Being the committed man that he was, Clive was jetting back and forth from Cyprus to the AFCON to watch both his sides play, leaving him little time to rest, which is why February and March seemed like one big month for him.

On the club front, there was a single win against Onisilos, where they turned on the style to win 5-0. This was a great response to the 2-0 loss against Akritas a few weeks before. Going into March, it became apparent that his players were demotivated with nothing to play for in the league, as they lost 3-1 to table toppers Karmiotissa and to round out the month, another failure to beat Deryneia cemented the fact that they had a new arch rival.

Sitting comfortably in mid-table, although it is a far cry from when Clive had hopes of promotion after 9 games.

April Fixtures

Both league games in April were targeted as wins, with Pegeia sitting bottom and Doxa being a chance to show some resemblance of the team that Geroskipou were early in the season.

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

April 2027

It was always an annoyance for Clive that his side always chose the last few games of the season to show what they were capable of. This season, it was a 3-0 win against Pegeia, followed by a 4-1 win over Doxa, who now only sat 5 points ahead of them in the table.

May Fixtures

Clive wondered if the form could continue into May, although he had his doubts as only 1 game was a certainty in Omonoia Aradippou. The other 2 games were too dicey to predict, with Pafos and Agia Napa both well above them in the table. If they could win all 3 though, a top half finish was more than possible.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

May 2027

A great month results wise, but still frustrating personally for Clive. A month with 3 wins from 3, making it 5 wins from the last 5 games was topped off with a 6-0 mauling of Pafos.

The form table looked great for Geroskipou, Clive was wondering why they could not replicate this 5 more times and then promotion would be almost guaranteed.

Final Table

The final table saw Geroskipou jump to 8th, finishing only 12 points away from the promotion places, and 24 points from relegation, so in Clive's eyes they were now an established Second Division side.

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2026/27 Season Review

Karatassos came in with a lot of pressure on him, but performed well in the circumstances, picking up 12 clean sheets and would have been player of the season if it wasn't for Zalikas having another standout season up front. There was a good spread of assists throughout the team, but Clive was worried that it was mainly Zalikas getting on the end of the crosses/passes, and that if he got injured, Geroskipou would be in a pickle.

The board decided to cut wages by about £1k p/w, not ideal for a team that is already the lowest spenders in the league looking to get out.

Clive's Cuttings

 

 

Edited July 28, 2023 by ChaosClive

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2027/28 Pre-Season

Right before Clive went on his post season break back to England, the long standing chairman Andros Efthymiou announced his expected retirement. Clive was a bag of emotions, mainly hatred and nerves, the hatred coming from the lack of funds coming in on his end, the nerves being the possibility of him losing his job depending on who takes over from Andros.

Soon after though, the feelings of nerves went away, only to be filled with feelings of dread, as a fans trust took over. Even with Clive's limited knowledge of the inside workings of a football club, he knew that managing finances would now be soley on the teams perfomance, with the new board very unlikely to help out with any debts.

The first chunk of money coming in was the regular tv money, again though, this would not help much in the long run, as the total was still tiny.

Somehow though, a new sponsorship deal was announced, only £4k more per year though.

Just to complile the misery, midway through Clive's holiday, the bank got in contact about the loan that the club took out at the end of last season.

Clive came back from his holiday and got straight back into the nitty gritty of trying to get his side promoted on a limited budget, with future investments from the board not looking good. The first order of business was to resign Zalikas onto a new contract, as teams had started to sniff around. This contract took around 7% of the annual playing budget, but if he could continue his goalscoring form, he was Geroskipou's best chance for promotion.

Spoiler

 

The next order of business was to bolster the squad, with Augusto coming back to the club on a free transfer to play in the CM(A) role in the middle of the park. In Clive's mind, this was £250p/w well spent though.

Spoiler

Christou also came back to the club. This time on a free!

Spoiler

With Kyriakou not wanting to come back to the club for another loan spell, Clive went to the foreign market for a backup striker, his scouts managed to find a Romanian called Moldovan to cover this position on a £0p/w loan. The pace shown in training made Clive think that the PF role may be very well suited to him.

Spoiler

Two other players came in of note, Sofokleous to bolster the defense, and Theofanous as a backup on the left wing.

Spoiler

 

Just before the first pre-season matches were played, another heavy blow to the finances came through in the mail, this time about the heavily anticipated stadium move.

Results

Another good looking set of results, again though, all just as tune up games to get the players all more comfortable with each other.

Pre-Season Odds

Although only a 1 place improvement compared to last season, Clive was half tempted to put on a tenner on his side as they had improved from 151.00 (150/1) to 51.00 (50/1)

September Fixtures

An interesting draw in the cup followed by a tough run of opening games. Clive knew this would be a real test on how his new look side would measure up for the season.

 

Edited August 3, 2023 by ChaosClive

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

September 2027

A tight aggregate win against Olymp. Nicosia in the cup saw Geroskipou through to the Second Round once again, with Clive happy enough with the first leg perfomance to quickly forget about the battering they took in the second with a slightly rotated squad.

In the league, Clive could have taken it as either 4 points dropped in the draws against Aris Limassol and Olymp. Nicosia, or 5 points gained in addition to a sneaky win against ASIL, who he knew would be there or thereabouts come the end of the season.

With the previous year's form continuing on into the new season, Geroskipou saw themselves finish the opening month of in 6th, but still running close to everyone in the promotion race, and even forming a 5 point gap between them and the relegtation zone.

October Fixtures

Clive was looking to target at least 4 wins from October to solidify early dominance in the league, with Achna being the game most likely to trip his side up. The cup was again not important to him though as it seemed obvious that it did not help with Geroskipou gaining noteriety within Cypriot football.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

October 2027

A long but successful month for Geroskipou, with big wins against Achna and Agia Napa, which was the first game in the new stadium, hence 426 in attendance instead of the usual 250. The three games against Onisilos did leave a bitter taste in the mouth, especially as at least two of the games were winnable.

Not the end of the world though, as Geroskipou's unbeaten start to the season saw them sit in 1st with just under a third of the season completed.

Other News

November Fixtures

Clive sat his sqaud down and let them know the next few games would be key, THOI and PAEEK were struggling and had to be beaten. Doxa and Deryneia were doing okay, but were beatable.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

November 2027

To call a spade a spade, this was a poor month for Geroskipou in Clive's opinion. Although a good display started the month off well against THOI, a 2-2 draw with Doxa followed, in a game that was filled with errors leading to goals. Despite the game against PAEEK being a win, Geroskipou left it late, with a 89th minute winner. Finally, bogey team Deryneia easily downed a sluggish looking set of bodies to round the month off with the first loss of the league season, but only on top of the league due to a better head to head record against both Achna and APEA.

December Fixtures

Pafos and Aris Limassol looked difficult, both teams only 1 point behind Geroskipou, luckily, APEA were close to relegation, so a 3 point game should be easily managed.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

December 2027

A big attendance for the Pafos game did not equal a big performance from Geroskipou, as they went down 3-1 with new signing Magi scoring the only goal of the game. The APEA game was disheartening, and dropped Geroskipou well out of the promotion hunt. Aris came next, and Zalikas went from hero to zero back to hero, as he scored in the 6th minute, was then given a straight red in the 34th minute. Luckily for him, his teammates were able to hold off the Aris waves of attacks and see the game out 1-0.

Spoiler

Just after the halfway point, Geroskipou were sitting on 31 points, based on previous seasons, Clive knew that the magic number was around about 60 points for promotion.

Other News

Some more interest from top First Division teams, this time Nea Salamina came in for Clive.

This is Magi, the new DC, who can also fill in at MR. An athletic jack of all traits type of player, signed on suprisingly little money.

January Fixtures

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

January 2028

This month really was a Jekyll and Hyde sort of situation for Geroskipou, firstly, an unlucky defeat to Olymp. Nicosia, then they demolished ASIL, but on paper the score should not have been 6-0. Another tight loss against Achna followed by another big win, this time against Omonoia Psevda. The last game was the most frustrating though, with a chance to go within 5 points of promotion with 9 games left, Clive could only watch in dispear as Othellos' goalkeeper decided this was the game to turn into prime Buffon, making 11 saves and seeing Zalikas hit the post twice as they held out for a 1-1 draw.

Spoiler

      

Now Geroskipou were 7 points from promotion, luckily their head to head records were better than most teams above them in the league after the first set of matches. 9 games left now, and promotion was starting to look like a tough ask despite being in such a good position only a few games earlier.

February Fixtures

A good oppertunity to right the ship, 2 winnable games were coming up for Geroskipou and hopefully this was the chance that they needed to steer themselves toward promotion.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

February 2028

The 3-0 win against Omonoia Aradippou gave Clive some hope at promotion, now only being 5 points from 2nd with 8 matches to go. This hope came crashing down however as Geroskipou looked dreadful in the other league match of the month against Agia Napa, losing 2-0. As a result of this, he banned his players from a night out on the strip, something that he thought would have been motivating to push them on in the promotion hunt.

March Fixtures

THOI and Onisilos were both winnable matches, and coupled with the typical mid season friendlies, Clive hoped that this could create some good form going into the final stretch of the season.

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

March 2028

Spoiler

As Clive's 300th game in management came, he thought about the good and bad memories that have come, from winning cups and the great escape to the bottling of the STOK Winners Cup back in the first season of his career.

Both the THOI and Onisilos games went by without major issue, with loanee Viegas scoring all 3 goals in a 2-0 and 1-0 win respectively, and also picking up 5 in the 2 friendlies. Viegas and Zalikas now were the on form pair up front, both being near or near enough of the goalscoring charts for the season.

The gap was now 4 points at the top, although despite the growth of the club in recent years, Clive knew that promotion to the First Division, however good, would only harm the club in the long run, as they were not yet fully ready to go up.

April Fixtures

Doxa and Deryneia were sandwiched inbetween PAEEK. PAEEK was a must win, and the Doxa game would be a good chance for Clive to change his mind about promotion to the top division. Deryneia was a write off, considering the long standing history of results.

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

April 2028

Another poor month for Geroskipou, starting with a 1-1 draw with Doxa, after being 1-0 up, and despite the ego-boosting friendly win, a 2-0 loss against lowly PAEEK pretty much sealed another season in the Second Division for Geroskipou. The final game of the month, Geroskipou managed to beat their bogey side Deryneia 3-1 to at least secure a 5th place finish, the highest that this small town club had ever finished.

May Fixtures

As a 5th place finish was almost secured, Clive planned to play a mixed side of departing and fringe players for the final 2 matches of the season to appease playing time.

Youth Intake

Clive was over the moon to see that there was actually a decent prospect coming from the youth system for the first time in his tenure of the club. Ioannou Y28 was sent straight into the first team for their match against Deryneia at just 15 years old.

He played well, for the first 35 minutes, before the moment got the better of him, and he tried to break the leg of his opposite man, getting a straight red and leaving his teammates in the lurch for the remaining 55 odd minutes.

Other News

Long time coach Markou was snatched up to be the manager of AEN Ayiou Gerogiou in the lower divisions. This pained Clive as the two were close given the fact they had worked together for 7 years now, and the club had sent him on all his coaching badges together.

Spoiler

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

May 2028

Clive quickly scrapped the plan of playing his youth prospects as he wanted to round off the season in fashion. A respectable 2-2 draw with Pafos away from home and a 4-0 win against APEA was good enough for him to go on holiday a happy manager.

Final league table

Geroskipou finished the season 7 points from promotion, and only 2 points away from finishing in 3rd place. The win against APEA on the final day of the season also saw them relegated to the 3rd Division and cement their place as a yoyo club.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2027/28 Season Review

A good season all in all, culminating in a 5th place finish and Geroskipou's highest ever league finish. The loan of Viegas helped with the distribution of goals, with him getting 11 and Zalikas getting 22.

The board decided to cut the wage bill even further, with only £5,250 p/w for Clive to work with to try and improve his squad.

Clive's Cuttings

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2028/29 Pre-Season

Going into Clive's 9th season in Cyprus, he was hoping to improve the team to push onto promotion, hopefully for the final time. Some players were bought in on loan, but one player, Bonde, was bought in who Clive hoped would be important for the side for the next 5 to 6 years.

Spoiler

Results

Another strong pre-season, following on from the strong finish in the previous season.

Pre-Season Odds

Despite last season's 5th place finish, the bookmakers only jumped this seasons predictions up by 2 places. Could Geroskipou upset the apple cart once again?

September Fixtures

A tough draw in the cup against AEK Larnakas, but then the league started up with an easy game on paper against ENAD, perfect for a strong start to the campaign.

Edited August 13, 2023 by ChaosClive

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

September 2028

A very successful month for Geroskipou, 2 wins in the cup against First Division opposition to send them through to the 2nd round. This was then followed up by 4 wins from the first 5 games. Sending Geroskipou close to the top of the table.

October Fixtures

Some big games were coming up for Geroskipou, including 3 games against current league leaders Ypsonas, twice in the cup and once in the league.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

October 2028

Off the back of such a strong starting month, Clive was hoping for another good month. This did not come though. Only 1 win from 4 in the league, with all 3 losses coming with a margin of 2 goals saw Geroskipou slip down the league. The one bright spot was an aggregate win against Ypsonas in the cup to see them get through to the Quarter Finals once more.

The most annoying thing for Clive, was that if they had won all 3 games, they would be sitting at the top of the table by a point, with a 6 point gap between 1st and 3rd. As it stood though, they were now 7 points from the promotion spots.

November Fixtures

Achna was going to be the toughest game in November, with Onisilos and Akritas both hovering around the relegation zone. Clive hoped that this woud be the month that restarted his sides season.

Edited August 13, 2023 by ChaosClive

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

November 2028

On the eve of the game against Achna, Clive was just leaving the training ground, when he was handed a newspaper from the day. Time had gone by so quickly since he started at Geroskipou, that he had no idea that the upcoming match would be his 300th in charge. Luckily, Blanuta was on hand to make it a win in the 91st minute. Another win against Onisilos had set Geroskipou up for a perfect month. Then Akritas ruined the party, taking their chances when Geroskipou could not to end the run of wins. Othellos was a game Clive would not have wanted to think about again, losing 4-1.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Transfers

Clive got a call from a young Dutch player called Devin van Looy saying he would be interested in playing for him. When he arrived for his trial, Clive offered him a contract before he could leave at the end of the session. He would be touted by Clive as if he were the best thing since sliced bread, and could help Geroskipou achieve that promotion.

December Fixtures

A tough month, but Clive was hoping for revenge on Pafos as an early Christmas present.

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

December 2028

The horrible run of form continued for Geroskipou, including an unfair 0-0 draw with bottom of the table ENAD. The run of results did not stop in the cup either, with Ermis Aradippou taking advantage full advantage and beating the boys in red 4-2. There was restbite in the final game of the calendar year, with a 5-0 win against Omonoia Aradippou though.

Spoiler

The collapse saw Geroskipou seated back into mid-table obscurity.

January Fixtures

Clive did not care how the results would suddenly turn into a seas of green, just that it happened somewhere in January.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

January 2029

A perfect month in the league was spoilt by what the fans in the stand behind Clive called an 'FMing', although Clive had no idea what that meant, he was just annoyed by the outcome of the game. Van Looy and Veigas combined for all of Geroskipou's 10 goals over the 4 game span and looked like they had a good partnership to close the season, although this did mean that club record goalscorer Zalikas was stuck on the bench.

Spoiler

Clive now had to make up 7 points in 9 games, a feat that was achieved during the great escape season, but this time, the teams above were all in good form.

February Fixtures

9 cup finals awaited Geroskipou from here on in, so 9 wins were wished for by Clive.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

February 2029

2 massive wins in the league for Geroskipou in February, and along with other results, see Geroskipou within touching distance of promotion. The gap was now only 2 points with 7 games to go. Clive was hoping that this form would continue into March.

March Fixtures

If February's matches were important, than March's were even more so, top of the table Achna and Deryneia were going to be the toughest games of the remaining run in Clive's opinion, but wins in these games could see Geroskipou take the lead for the race for 2nd place.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

March 2029

A tough, tough defeat away against Achna pretty much sealed them the title, meaning that there was now only one spot available for promotion. A 4-2 win against Onisilos lifted spirits amongst the squad, but next was the bogey team Deryneia. Geroskipou could only muster a 2-2 draw, probably karma's cruel way of getting back to them after scoring the 2 winning goals in the previous match both in the 90th minute.

March's results saw Gerokipou remain in 6th, but now the gap was 5 points with 4 games remaining.

April Fixtures

Promotion hopefuls, and current 2nd place team Othellos were next to come to Geroskipou. Hopefully Clive could inspire his side to rock the apple cart once again.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

April 2029

Another disapointing game against a promtion challenger effectivley ended Geroskipou's chances of gaining promotion. Clive was at least happy that the team bounced back with a 3-2 win against Akritas, this result almost secured a 3rd-6th place finish in the league.

May Fixtures

With nothing else to play for apart from pride at this point against 3rd and 4th, Clive obviously was hoping for 2 wins to try and secure that 3rd place spot for Geroskipou.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

May 2029

The promtion chase was officially over when Geroskipou fell 1-0 to Olymp. Nicosia. For some reason in recent years, Clive's players seem to turn on the style for the last game of the season. This season it was a 6-2 win against Karmiotissa.

Final Table

The final push saw Geroskipou overtake Ypsonas and Karmiotissa to finish in 5th place once again.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2028/29 Season Review

Another 5th place finish for Geroskipou showed some sort of consistency for Clive, and the transfer of van Looy now meant that there were 3 goalscoring options up front for the first time since he took over the club way back when. Next season, Clive wanted to be at least the best of the rest, by finishing 3rd at a minimum.

This was until he saw that the board had cut wages again! £5,500p/w surely was not enough to make good additions to his squad, he thought that the saying was that you need to spend money to make money.

Clive's Cuttings

Edited August 18, 2023 by ChaosClive

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2029/2030 Pre-Season

Some interesting transfers for the upcoming season, but definately ones that improved the side. Some of Clive's best prospects were Polykarpou, joining on loan from APOEL at DR, Embola and Markou to compete with each other at ML, Jose and Benard to compete for the MR spot. Amonone also came in to take over the GK duties (Forgot to take a screenshot)

Spoiler

 

One scary thing happened on the outgoing section though, with Doxa Dramas offering a measley £5,250 for the promising van Looy. Luckily for Clive though, he had just signed a massive 2 year contract, which included a £15,000 release clause. So despite van Looy's agent trying to scare him into accepting the offer, Clive rejected it and told the media it would take a significant offer to consider selling the dutchman.

Pre-Season Results

Another typical summer of tune up games to try and increase revenue but not get spanked by larger opposition.

Pre-Season Odds

The bookmakers clearly did not rate Clive's side despite decent additions during the off-season. Clive did consider putting a tenner on his side, as he did not think the betting rules would be enforced in the Second Division in Cyprus quite as stringently as in the Premier League, but in the end thought against it, despite the temptation of 20 to 1 odds.

September Fixtures

A difficult cup tie against another top division side would probably mean that Geroskipou would be out of the cup early doors in order to focus on the league, which started against one of the front runners Olymp. Nicosia. The other 3 games looked promising though, all rated lower by the media, but Clive would have to wait and find out.

For the first time in his management career, Clive actually had the option to postpone a game due to international call ups! If you would have told him that before he came to Cyprus, he would have laughed you out of the building.

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by ChaosClive

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

September 2029

Two polarising games in the cup saw Geroskipou advance to the 2nd Round. The first leg had a combined total of 38 shots on goal, the second by contract only had 14. The first 3 league games resulted in 7 points and gave the oppertunity to go top of the table with a win in their game in hand against top of the table Olymp. Nicosia in the re-arranged fixture.

Spoiler

October Fixtures

A busy month, with a certain level of fixture congestion. The cup draw had been kind in ways, at least Geroskipou had managed to avoid any First Division sides, with a very winnable tie against Onisilos, who they had just drawn 2-2 gainst in the league.

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

October 2029

Despite only winning 2 games in October, the van Looy show was on, with him picking up 5 in the 8-0 win against Akritas, and 3 more in the other October games. October's results saw Geroskipou finish the month off in 6th position.

Spoiler

November Fixtures

Clive stared wide-eyed when he saw that the final 2 games of November would be against the two newly promoted sides THOI and Assia, eyeing up 2 wins from those games. Pafos and Doxa would be more dificult, but Clive was growing frustrated by his side's failure to play consistency, but this was a chance for them to prove him wrong.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

November 2029

As Clive predicted, November was yet another frustrating month for Clive, although wins at Assia and THOI kept them in the hunt, disapointing results against Pafos and Doxa meant they were still an arms length away. Onisilos also knocked Geroskipou out of the cup, so no massive prize money was coming in to help Clive with his clubs now crippling debt.

December Fixtures

The end of a decade approached, and with this, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd all awaited Geroskipou in what could make or break this, their 7th season in the Second Division. Deryneia were also up in the fixture list. The worst case scenario for Clive would be 4 losses from the first 4 games of the month that would end any hopes for promotion.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

December 2029

A really solid looking month for Clive, especially defensively in the last 3 games of the decade. Both losses were close, 0-1 against Agia Napa and 1-2 against bogey side Deryneia. The big suprises were the wins against Karmiotissa (1-0) and Olymp. Nicosia (3-0) to kick the second half of the season with 2 wins from 2 games.

January Fixtures

Clive was looking for his side to take advantage of the new good run of form, especially as Geroskipou were playing 4 sides all sitting below them in the table and Akritas and Omonoia Psevda sitting in 14th and 15th respectively.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

January 2030

Geroskipou's form continued into the new decade, winning the first 3 games of the new year, only narrowly losing to Paralimni in the last game of the month. Clive had mixed opinions, obviously over the moon at the turn in form, but slightly angered about the final result, as it would have been enough to see his side move into 2nd place, even if it was temporary.

February Fixtures

Moving into the 2 game a month, which for Clive meant near the end of the season, and constant stress. Wins in both games in February would see a buffer between them and 6th place going into the final 7 games of the season.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

February 2030

Despite beating ASIL 4-0 in the first game of the season, the usual inconsistency reared its ugly head in the second game, losing 3-1 to promotion hopefuls Ypsonas. Other results saw Geroskipou remain in 3rd place, and solidify their position somewhat.

March/April Fixtures

Assia and THOI both coming up in the next few months for Geroskipou, which should be 6 points. The tougher matches were going to be Pafos and Doxa, who in the previous round of games, only garnered 1 point for Clive's side.

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

March/April 2030

The friendly wins do make the run of results look better on Clive's wall, but 3 wins from 4 is still a nice return, especially as the 3 wins were all clean sheet wins. The run resulted in Geroskipou just 3 points away from 2nd and a promotion during their 10th season as a club.

May Fixtures

The final 3 games of the season on the fixture list terrified Clive, why could they not play Assia, THOI and Akritas again? But no, it was 3rd place Agia Napa, 2nd place Karmiotissa and Geroskipou's bogey side Deryneia.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

May 2030

Going into this title race, Clive took a clipping of the remaining fixtures for all the teams still in the race. Ypsonas had the easiest run, and were only 4 points off promotion. Doxa had the hardest run though, still needing to play 1st, 2nd and 10th. But hopefully, they could help Geroskipou out without knowing it, as long as Geroskipou kept their end of the bargain up.

Agia Napa - Game 28

A very nervy game for Geroskipou, as they were under the kosh for the whole of the first half. It took until the 81st minute for the deadlock to be broken by van Looy. He then pounced again in the 83rd while Agia Napa looked weak.

With Olymp. Nicosia losing against Pafos, Geroskipou were now only 1 point away from 2nd place, with 2 games still remaining.

Deryneia - Game 29

Going into the Deryneia game, Clive decided that he wanted to do some research into previous results, something he had barely done in the last 10 years, and found some worrying patterns, especially given that this was a must win game. You would think that looking over the past matches played with each other, Geroskipou would be a division below. Geroskipou had not beaten Deryneia in 2 years, and before that, there was a 4 year gap in wins.

Clive knew that his players would have to pull an ace from their sleeves to win this one, and despite Deryneia being near the relegation zone, this would potentially be the toughest game of the season.

After going 3-0 up in the space of 23 minutes, Geroskipou looked to be cruising to another heavy win. But this was Deryneia after all. After pulling a goal back, Clive sat in the dugout and just hoped and prayed. Viegas responded to the prayer, scoring another to make it 4-1, before things started to collapse. 2 quick goals made it 4-3, and in the 93rd minute, the final kick of the game, they had scored again.

Only for it to be ruled of by a tight offside call. Geroskipou had survived by the skin of their teeth.

In the other fixtures, Doxa scored in the 93rd minute of their game to beat Olymp. Nicosia 3-2, meaning that they had dropped down to 5th place, but more importantly, Geroskipou were now in 2nd place with 1 game remaining against top of the table Karmiotissa. There were now 4 teams that could finish 2nd and only 2 that could top the table come the final whistle of the final game of the season.

Edited August 23, 2023 by ChaosClive