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

[Muttley84]

Oh, nail-biting end of the season. Maybe Karmiotissa will celebrate they promotion so much you could win the last game and join them. I don't think a draw would do for you as both teams with 56 seem to have way easier games in the last stage. Good luck, fingers crossed!

[ChaosClive]

2 hours ago, Muttley84 said:

Oh, nail-biting end of the season. Maybe Karmiotissa will celebrate they promotion so much you could win the last game and join them. I don't think a draw would do for you as both teams with 56 seem to have way easier games in the last stage. Good luck, fingers crossed!

Hopefully! But you are right, a win and only a win would be good enough considering everyone elses oppositions in the last round of games.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

May 2030

Final day of the season vs Karmiotissa

Going into the final game of the season, Clive knew that anything other than a win would not be enough to be promoted, especially knowing that there were other sides hot on their tail. He was lucky that nobody got injured in training the week leading up to the biggest game in the clubs history, at the end of their 10th season as a club no less.

Also adding to the positivity toward the game was that in the home leg, Geroskipou had won and was the result that started the great run of form that they had been on.

All of this positivity was shortlived however, with Karmiotissa opening the scoring after just 3 minutes. On 13 mins, Markou had to be stretched off and replaced on the left wing. Geroskipou now needed 2 goals without reply and without their main creative threat.

Other scores were coming in via the radios in the stands, Agia Napa were ahead in their game, now sitting on 59 points, and ahead of Geroskipou.

Just before the half hour mark, a long ball forward reached the onrushing Viegas, who then slipped it past the Karmiotissa goalkeeper to level the scores up at 1-1. It seemed like the tide had turned in the game. Karmiotissa were committing fouls left and right to try and keep the midfielders from launching any kind of play, and just after picking up their 4th yellow card of the match on 35 mins, Viegas struck again to make the score 2-1 Geroskipou.

Half Time: Karmiotissa 1 - 2 APOP Geroskipou

Confidence was sky high at half time, maybe too high though, as not long after the break, ex Pafos striker Labbe tucked a slow shot, that probably should have been easily saved, to make it 2-2. Geroskipou now needed a goal in the next 40 mins or it would all be over.

Geroskipou were knocking on the door, just after the hour mark, they had a corner a brilliant save from the Karmiotissa goalkeeper. Both centre halfs lumbered up in the 6 yard box, and Bonde came in with a header that no keeper would save! 3-2! They were now top of the table. Would Geroskipou manage to hold on?

Clive did not change anything majorly tactically, if they had hold of the game and scored a goal every 20 mins on average, why change and conceed a late heartbreaker? Duly though, despite some minor scares, which all turned out to be massively offside, the referee blew his whistle for the final time.

Full Time: Karmiotissa 2 - 3 APOP Geroskipou

Geroskipou had manage to win the Second Division!

Final League Table

Despite having a worse goal difference, the head to head record was 4-2 in Geroskipou's favour. Clive offered his commiserations to Agia Napa, losing out on promotion by a single point, and Pafos, their cross town rivals, who for the first time they would be playing in a higher division. Both of these were rejected.

A great end to the season, 3 wins from 3.

First half of the season

Second half of the season

3x the current wage budget! Surely this wouldn't be enough for a survival season? Time would tell.

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2029/30 Season Review

Finally, a final promtion for Clive. After 7 years in the Second Division, and with little to no budget, he had managed to build a side that was capable of not only getting promoted, but winning the league in dramatic fashion. It was clear however that a lot of work would need to be done in order to keep them up in the First Division.

Another issue with the promotion was that Geroskipou's stadium was not an all seater, which did not comply with the First Division rules, which requires all seater stadiums. Geroskipou's home games were now 30 minutes away from their acutal stadium, and Clive wondered why they could not reach a groundshare agreement with Pafos to move into a bigger and closer stadium instead.

van Looy topped the scoring charts with 37 in all competitions. Scarily though, there were only 8 seperate scorers throughout the whole season.

Clive's Cuttings

Edited August 24, 2023 by ChaosClive

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2030/31 Pre-Season

Going into the club's first season in the First Division, Clive thought that this would elevate the clubs reputation to at least around about the same size as other First Division sides. He could not be more wrong. According to reports, Geroskipou were still roughly a mid-table Second Division club.

Spoiler

That meant the following message pretty much redundant, as players in Cyprus did not want to join the club, let alone other countries in Europe.

With the enhanced budget and scouting region, Clive wanted to experiment with a new, improved HoYD, just to see if some good players could come through the youth system. He splashed out massively, offering £750 p/w for his chosen candidate, but only time would tell if this was a good move.

Transfers

A lot of new players came in during the off-season, a lot of these players would not play, but Clive was desperate to try anything to try and pull off the impossible.

Going into the season, it was obvious that Geroskipou were up against it, with them only spending £285,000 p/a on wages, where on the other end of the spectrum, APOEL were spending £12,180,000 p/a.

It was then suprising, that in the middle of pre-season, Clive got an email from a P.Petridis, the chairman of APOEL offering him an interview for their manager's position. This was tempting for Clive, but he still had work to do at Geroskipou.

Pre-Season Fixtures

A good pre-season, only conceeding 1 goal over the 7 games.

September Fixtures

Clive was not concerned too much about the cup, just wanting to focus on the league and survival.

Edited September 1, 2023 by ChaosClive

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

September 2030

A 5-5 thriller in the cup set up a winner takes all game in the second leg, which Geroskipou duly took the oppertunity to do to make it through to the 2nd round. In the league however, a single draw with Karmiotissa sandwiched inbetween some tight losses saw Clive's side sit 11th after the first 5 games. There were some good performances, namely against 2nd place AEL, where the score was only 2-1.

October Fixtures

All months would be tough, but playing 3rd, then 4th, then 7th would be a challenging month. This would be followed up with another away trip to Limassol in the cup.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

October 2030

Geroskipou picked up their 1st win of the season in against Limassol. Sadly for Clive, it was then followed up by 2 massacres against Nea Salamina and Anorthosi. Another goalfest in the first leg of the cup ended the month, again against Limassol, where it finished 3-3.

Results elsewhere had not been kind, with Geroskipou still stuck in the relegation zone, but level on points with Achna.

November Fixtures

Potentially two early season 6 pointers lay ahead in November against Achna and Aris Limassol, along with the second leg of the cup tie. Clive was hoping to get at least 6 points in the coming month to at least ease expectations going into the second half of the pre-split and get some points on the board.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

November 2030

Another great month for Geroskipou, it was unfortunate that only 2 games were won, although at the minute to Clive, that didn't matter. A good win against Ermis Aradippou and a massive win in the 6 pointer against Aris Limassol topped and tailed the month off. The Achna game was frustrating, with Geroskipou hitting the post twice in the 1-0 loss.

The cup journey also continued, with an emphatic 4-0 win over Apol. Limassol.

Spoiler

Again, other teams around the relegation zone picked up points, leaving Geroskipou in 11th after 12 games played. A win against Achna would have seen them shoot into 8th.

December Fixtures

Wins against Alki and Karmiotissa would be massive wins if Geroskipou could play well enough to earn the points. APOEL and AEL would be tougher opponents.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

December 2030

Not a good month for Geroskipou, first losing 3-1 against Alki. Next was a must win against Karmiotissa, where Viegas was out the blocks quick-ish, but after the scores were levelled, Geroskipou did not look like scoring again. This changed in the AEL game, where Geroskipou scored 3. It was just a shame that AEL got 5 of their own. The APOEL game was always a write off, but going away from home only losing by 2 goals is something that Clive urged his players to hold their heads up at.

No league table unfortunately, the CFA must have forgotten to update the tables at the end of the month, Clive could only guess that Geroskipou were still stuck in 11th.

January Fixtures

Another set up cup games, in which the Geroskipou faithful were hopeful of at least a competitive tie. In the league, there were 2 winnable games in Clive's eyes, Limassol and Ermis Aradippou. 6 points would be very handy going into the second stage of the season.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

January 2031

Another shock win in the cup, which was decided in the first leg by a very late Viegas goal. Geroskipou pushed their luck at times, and then in the very next game, karma came back to bite them, with a late collapse against Apol. Limassol. Predictable losses against Nea Salamina and Ermis Aradippou were sandwiched inbetween a good draw against Anorthosi, with Magi popping up with a 90th minute equaliser.

Spoiler

 

The solitary point was a factor in seeing Geroskipou ending the month in dead last, now 6 points from safety.

Toward the end of the month, disater struck. van Looy went down with a 6 week injury, seeing him miss some crucial matches for the start of the second phase of the league season.

February Fixtures

With 2 games left before the split, 2 wins were crucial in February.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

February 2031 - Pre split

The team was filled with hope after bouncing back to finish the first stage of the league really well, with a 2-1 win against Achna and a convincing 3-0 against Aris Limassol. The two wins still see Geroskipou in the relegation zone, but now they were level on points with Achna with 10 games left to go.

February Fixtures - Post split

Only 1 more game in February post split for Geroskipou, and it would be a big one. A loss against Alki would put them 8 points ahead of the relegation zone, potentially making the relegation race a 3 horse one.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

February 2031 - Post split

After a morale boosting friendly win against Kedros, Geroskipou marched into their next game against Alki and pulled off a 4-2 win. This would also be the last game that Geroskipou would be missing van Looy.

For the first time in the season, Geroskipou had finished the month outside of the relegation zone. Clive knew that it would be a 50/50 on relegation, as their early season form may come back to haunt them.

van Looy was injured again, this time he would be out for 7 weeks, but luckily because the fixtures were moving into the 2 a month period, he would not miss as many games as first feared.

March Fixtures

With van Looy out for the first half of the second phase of the season, Clive was pinning hopes on the team to be able to rally around Viegas, who was becoming an important cog in the machine this season. He asked his God if it would be too much to ask for 4 wins in the league to trade getting hammered in the cup against APOEL.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

March 2031

A real hit and miss month for Geroskipou. A thumping victory over Apol. Limassol was then followed by a disapointing 2-1 loss against the other Limassol team (Aris). A win against Karmiotissa and a heavy loss against Achna saw Geroskipou finish the month in the relegation zone with the 5 games to go.

A heavy blow for Clive, as Petrovic was an ever present either at DL or BWM.

April Fixtures

A win against Alki would be critical in Geroskipou's survival chances, with them both sitting on the same number of points. Over the course of the season, the team had done well against Apol. Limassol, so Clive was hopeful on picking up 3 points in that game.

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

April 2031

A massive win against Alki after a strong start in the first half lifted Geroskipou out of the relegation zone for the second time all season. This performance was followed up with a disapointing draw against Apol. Limassol, where they could only come away with a 2-2 draw, leaving them 3 points above the relegation zone with only 3 games remaining.

May Fixtures

The biggest 3 games in the clubs history approached in May, with Clive asking his side to treat all games as cup finals. A win against Achna and a draw against either Aris Limassol or Karmiotissa would ensure survival without needing to worry about other results, but a loss against Achna would see Geroskipou right back in the middle of the dogfight

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

Matchday 30 - vs Achna

The first cup final of the run in did not go to plan for Geroskipou. Despite having more shots and more on target, Clive's strike partnership couldn't conjure up chances of note, whereas Achna did show up on the day, and finished the game 3-1 victors.

Geroskipou were back in the familiar red spots in the table. There were now 2 games left for Clive to try and survive in his first season in the First Division.

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

Matchday 31 - vs Aris Limassol

Another frustrating game for Clive, with his team being the better on paper, but as everyone knows, football is not played on paper. Sloppy defending lead to both Limassol goals and despite having some good chances, nobody on the team decided to show up in the second to last game.

Sitrep - Geroskipou were now 3 points adrift from safety, the final game against Karmiotissa was a must win but ultimatley, lady luck also had to look favourably with them.

Alki and Achna were due to play each other in their final game of the season. Clive did some long and drawn out maths to figure out what Geroskipou would need to survive.

As the league sorting rules were aggregate scores between teams - away goals scored between teams - goal difference:

Agg. score vs Achna - 3-8 Achna

Agg. score vs Alki - 9-9

Away goal agg vs Alki - 4-4

This meant the following had to happen:

1. Geroskipou win over an already relegated Karmiotissa

2. Achna to beat Alki

3. A 10 goal swing to occur somehow

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

Matchday 32 - vs Karmiotissa

Another game where Geroskipou should have come away with at least a point. The season was now over with a 1-0 loss, but more sadly, relegation. Even if they had won, due to the Achna-Alki game ending in a draw, they still would not have been safe.

Looking over the goals scored, his side were average for the league, but on the opposite side in defence, it was a shambles, with the most conceded in the league.

Edited March 12 by ChaosClive

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2030/31 Season Review

Finances

Compounding the bitter taste of relegation, having battled for 7 years to get into the First Division, Clive received even more bad news from the board. A BIG debt.

This news is sure to decimate the finances of the club, which were already nearly at breaking point. This would culminate with the board dropping the wage budget down to the usual £5,750 p/w.

Clive was worried, and rightfully so. His gamble of signing key players with relegation release clauses was now leaving the squad open to gutting from first division clubs.

Also not helping the situation was the Cypriot tax man, who took no mercy on the club.

The club was now needing to pay £22.5k p/m to the bank, but with only £77.5k for the entire 31/32 season, it looked like they would need a miracle cup run to even think about keeping up with the payments.

Some positive news to come from the relegation was a move back to Geroskipou Stadium though, meaning that fans would no longer be required to make the long drive to Pegia.

Squad

It was obvious that retaining the loans would be key for an instant return to the First Division, especially players like Viegas, who linked up with van Looy to score a combined 43 goals and assist 14 more, not bad for a strike partnership of a relegated side. Clive thought that if these loans go through along with players like van Looy and Iosidifis staying at the club, they would have a good shot at promotion.

Clive's cuttings

[Vakama2619]

Welcome back!

[Sizeman21]

Welcome back Clive!

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2031/32 Pre-Season

Before the preseason had even got underway, APOEL came in once more with their tounges wagging for Clive. He didn't think about leaving Geroskipou for one second and turned it down, stating in the local paper that he was at home.

With the goalscoring exploits of van Looy sure to attract big attention from other clubs, Clive had a sit down with him to discuss a new contract, and to his knowledge, it was the most ridiculous contract he would ever make to keep his star man at the club.

Another reason for this contract was the board had announced cutbacks the previous season due to a bank loan being taken out. Now the day that they had to start paying it back had finally come.

Mid way through getting ready for the first training session of the season, Clive checked his emails one last time, and saw that there was still room in the budget for him to start taking his exams for his Cont.A licence.

Carvalho had been bought in on a free transfer after his successful loan period, which checked off the need to find a new starting MR. But then came the loan army that Clive had commissioned for the upcoming season.

Spoiler

Pre-Season results

It was the usual tune up games for the pre-season.

Bookmakers odds

Perhaps it was the 3-3 draw against Pafos in the pre-season that bookies were paying attention to, or maybe the tight wage budget, but despite being relegated last season, Geroskipou were not even favourites for promotion straight back up.

September Fixtures

A mixed bag of fixtures were to come, with First Division opponents in the cup, before both top and bottom table teams to start the new season.

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

September 2031

400 up for Clive. By now he thought that he would be sipping at a strawberry daiquiri on a beach after a Champions League match, but instead, he was having a pre match tea in a temporary building in Geroskipou.

Results

Despite turning around a 3-1 deficit away from home against a First Division side, Geroskipou crashed out of the cup on penalties.

The league was a mixed bag, drawing with ASIL but then battering Akritas 7-1. The next week it was Geroskipou's turn to get battered, this time 5-1 by Olymp. Nicosia. The month was rounded off by a 2-0 win away to Olympos.

League Table

October Fixtures

Clive saw 3 winnable games and a possible win against Othellos to try and get Geroskipou in a best a position as possible early on in the season.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

October 2031

A real statement was shown by Geroskipou in October, winning all 4 games by an aggregate margin of 16-2, with van Looy grabbing 9 of the goals.

Table

It came as no shock to anybody that the recent run of results saw Geroskipou sitting top of the league.

November Fixtures

Geroskipou's November fixtures would be a true test of how good they thought they were, with difficult games such as Deryneia and Paralimni coming up.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

November 2031

A positive month for Geroskipou, with the only slight hiccup coming in a 0-0 draw with Deryneia, who Clive still feared slightly when their name comes up in conversation. But apart from that, a wall of green littered the month.

Table

With the unbeaten streak sitting at 9, it was no suprise that Geroskipou still sat top going into the festive month of December.

December Fixtures

With the Paralimni game re-arranged, December was made ever so tougher. One positive for the month was the relative poor form of Karmiotissa, who were sitting in 11th.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

December 2031

"An unbeaten streak can't last forever" was all Clive could muster after the final game of the calendar year, a tight 1-0 loss against ASIL. Despite the 13 game unbeaten streak coming to an end, the players and staff did not let the result ruin the end of year party, especially van Looy, who had scored 7 over the month. After all, they had just come off the back of a streak that saw them finish the year off in a commanding position in the league.

Table

Geroskipou were almost nailed on to gain promotion back to the First Division at the first time of asking.

January/February Fixtures

January in particular would be a great test for Geroskipou, playing a lot of sides in and around the promotion push, some wins here would be imperative in their realising their own ambitions and put a 'catch us if you can' message out to the rest of the league.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

January/February 2032

Transfers

Clive was already thinking about another season in the First Division when signing Bozicic, who would be an upgrade in goal. He did demand a massive wage of £550p/w, so it would be a waiting game to see if the gamble would pay off, but if anyone came in to match the release clause of £150,000, it would smash the club record fee.

Spoiler

The second signing was more of a power move. The ability to even speak to someone at Inter, even if it was in their U19 side, would have only been a pipedream a few years ago. But that along with the media calling Beltrame a promising midfielder was enough for Clive to bring him in until the end of the season for £0p/w.

Results

van Looy scoring in all 6 league games went further to justify the massive contract that he was given. But as a team, every player in the matchday 18 had played their part in starting what would hopefully be an unbeaten run in and another league title.

Table

With the likes of ASIL, Paralimni, and Olymp. Nicosia not being able to keep up with Geroskipou, a league title was looking ever more likely, the gap was now 8 points with 7 to play.

Fixtures

A win against Ypsonas would be enough to remove them from the title race, and a win against cross-town rivals Pafos could see them head into the relegation zone if other results do not go their way.

 

 

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

March 2032

A short, yet perfect month. A laboured win against Ypsonas, followed by a 2-0 win against Pafos in from of a bumper crowd of 1,564 rounded out the month...

The 2-0 win against Pafos along with Paralimni slipping up means that Geroskipou won promotion straight back into the First Division.

A massive increase in wages to boot. £20.5k a week is a 4 fold increase on the current season, which should be more than enough to help keep Geroskipou up.

Table

With promotion guaranteed, the only goal left for the season in Clive's mind was to win the league outright. With his side 8 points clear with 5 games to go, it was looking more and more like a foregone conclusion.

April Fixtures

The final charge towards the league title would start with Doxa away and then 3rd place Paralimni at home.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

April 2032

As Clive had expected, the board had to step in to prevent a small disaster, injecting £85k into the coffers.

Results

A slip up against Doxa meant that the league could not be secured in April but due to the rules of nature it seemed, the 3-2 loss was followed up by a 5-1 spanking of Paralimni, who were sitting ahead of Doxa in the table before the match.

Table

With Clive's C at GCSE in maths behind him, he worked out that Geroskipou only needed 2 points from the final 3 games to win the title.

May Fixtures

Which as they were playing THOI in the first game of May, made them everyones favourites to win the league.

Edited March 21 by ChaosClive

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

May 2032

Clive's team only needed 3 points, and yet came away with 7. But it would not have mattered either way, as ASIL slipped at the first hurdle, allowing Geroskipou to win the league with a draw against lowly THOI. The other games were a formality, but Clive had to settle one final demon, with this the last time he was hoping to ever play Deryneia, he sent his strongest side out, and put them to the sword in a 4-0 win.

Final Table

In the end, Geroskipou romped to a 2nd Second Division title, winning by 11 points. In some bad news for football in Pafos, Pafos were relegated into the Third Division, how the mighty have fallen.

 

[Sizeman21]

Easy promotion in the end really. Good work! Let's see how you fare in the top league. 

[ChaosClive]

9 hours ago, Sizeman21 said:

Easy promotion in the end really. Good work! Let's see how you fare in the top league. 

I think the fact that most players didnt have any interest from other clubs massively helped, especially van Looy and Viegas. Fingers crossed second time round!

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2031/32 Season Review

As everyone already knew, the board were not prepared to upgrade the stadium to an all seater, so despite only moving to the APOP Geroskipou Stadium in 2027, it would now lie dormant for the second season in 5 years, and possibly forever if Clive could keep his team up in the future.

Big news from the boardroom too, as current chairman Marios Andreou would be stepping down after 'overseeing' a successful period in the club's history.

Only to be replaced by another prawn sandwich eating toff, instead of opening the club up to an oil rich billionaire, like Clive had suggested in his brief meetings with the board.

Another load of cash needed to keep the club afloat. At least this would not add to the loan repayments.

After the season, former assman Andreas Konstantinou realised that the grass was not greener on the other side, and came back to Clive to beg for another oppertunity to work with the great man himself. Clive was gracious with his, mainly due to his fantastic ability and low wage demands.

Hopefully this would be the last season with red plastered everywhere in the revenue statements put out by the club's accountants at seasons end. But Clive had thought this before.

Clive's Cuttings

van Looy continued his goal scoring at over a goal a game, with 12 assists to boot, mainly to his strike partner Viegas. The wingers Embalo and Carvalho also chipped in with 11 and 13 assists respectively, but Clive knew that he needed someone who could also provide goals and assists down the middle of midfield.

van Looy's final goal of the season saw him overtake club legend Zalikas as all time top scorer.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2032/33 Pre-Season

On the first day of pre-season, after having a look through his emails, Clive was over the moon after recieving the morning memos.

A massive increase in TV money, with the increase, this would be close to the most money that they club had ever had in the bank account. All Clive hoped was that the board wouldn't be sticking their paws into the honeypot and give him some much needed upgrades to some facilities.

Also helping the bank account was a MASSIVE increase in the season tickets. Even this early on in the pre-season, the club had sold more season tickets than ever before, if the 1300 number was to be believed, this would be just under a x4 increase on the previous season.

The one glaringly obvious thing that needed managing properly was the newly aquired bank loan, this one was smaller, only needing a £6,250 monthly repayment, but 2042 could not come soon enough.

Despite this, the club was still in a healthy position, and even allowed for upgrades to the youth facilities to go ahead! This was the first upgrade of many in Clive's long term ambitions for the club. But the main thing was that the youth teams would have a changing room!

As Clive was bringing a close to a session a few weeks later, he was told that another memo had come through into his pidgeon hole. It was his Continental A Licence. One more exam to go, as long as the board would allow.

Transfers

The first item on the transfer agenda was to try and sign Viegas on a free transfer after his contract with Varzim expired. But he wanted over £2,200p/w. At the point in time, it could have been prime Messi, and Clive would have still turned those wage requests down. But not a bad return on a free player for 5 seasons.

Only 2 players coming in permantly and 1 leaving on a free. O'Toole rubbed Clive up the wrong way in a training session so was sold, and Prata and Kyprianou were bought in to strengthen and provide some depth.

The free loan army made a return for the survival aim. Moiseev from Shakhtar Donesk was the biggest coup that the club had managed for a few seasons in Clive's opinion, and he would slot in at centre half from day 1. Dalgaard would provide an option either starting or off the bench on the left, and Mariano would take charge of the Viegas shaped hole in the team, and hopefully link up well with van Looy up top.

Spoiler

Results

A good pre-season ruined by a 3-3 draw with Foinikas.

Odds

It was a minor miracle in itself that Geroskipou were not predicted to come straight back down, but clearly some people thought that Clive's transfer dealings would be able to do the job. Either that or all the new fans they had acquired.

Late August/September Fixtures

The cup was of little importance, but the first 5 games looked tough for Geroskipou. Clive knew a good start was crucial.

Edited March 27 by ChaosClive

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

September 2032

Despite the cup not meaning anything to Clive, it was always nice when he could get through another first division team to get into the 2nd round. The league run was started and ended against predictable losses against Nea Salamina and Omonoia, but 2 big wins against Ermis Aradippou and Apol. Limassol kick started the campaign for Geroskipou. Also some massive home attendances were very optimistic for the future.

Table

The 2 wins pushed Geroskipou out to an early 6th place, and 5 points out of the relegation zone.

October Fixtures

Clive saw 3 winnable games in October. AEL, Aris and ASIL. Anorthosi and APOEL were expected to be losses, with Clive only hoping that the APOEL game would not end up in a cricket score.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

October 2032

Clive was in a state of shock for most of October. He thought he had gone into the month with an overly optimistic view, given that there had only been 5 games played in the season up to that point. The biggest 2-1 win of his career against Anorthosi so far kick started the month, before a game with 9 goals scored, but only 6 equally left Geroskipou with a draw against AEL. Aris Limassol and ASIL were put away with relative ease before the big dogs of Cypriot football helped sell out the Pegia stadium before beating Clive's side 3-1.

Spoiler

Table

Nearly a third of the way through the season, Geroskipou were sitting just below the european qualification spots. Surely this could not be some sort of cinderella story for Clive? 11 points clear of relegation was the main thing though.

November Fixtures

A triple header against Nea Salamina was looming. At this point the cup REALLY didn't matter, and trying to pull away from the bottom half of the table was all Clive was focused on.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

November 2032

League-wise, Geroskipou were almost perfect, but could only salvage a draw at home against Alki. The big game of the month was the first game, where a late van Looy winner deservedly bought home the bacon for Clive's men in a 5-4 thriller against Nea Salamina. After exiting the cup, they stole a 1-0 victory from Ermis, who deserved more on the day.

Spoiler

Table

By avoiding defeat against Alki, Geroskipou finished the month in 4th place, a whopping 16 points outside of the relegation zone with only 8 games to go before the league split.

Other news

Despite the high attendances, the board needed to add another £65k into the bank account, this was probably due to the new training facilities.

This piece of news would not have affected Geroskipou, but in their match against APOEL, AEK Larnakas recieved 4 red cards. Admittedly 2 of them were in the dying embers of the game, but Clive already saw the headlines read "APOEL beat 7 man Larnakas."

For once, it was Clive on the recieving end of a grilling. This time it was from Inter Milan manager Pep Guardiola. Clive stood his ground, as Beltrame was not in form, but Pep stood his, and told him that he would be recalling the player during the next transfer window. Very Clough vs Revie.

December Fixtures

Wins vs Apol. Limassol and AEK Larnakas would almost guarantee survival in the First Division.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

December 2032

A big dip in form for Geroskipou going into the new year. Clive was hoping that their form would not revert back to what it was on their first attempt at staying up a few years ago. Although, with such a gap between them and the relegation spots, it was not panic stations yet.

Having turned down the APOEL job previously, Clive found rejecting the Aris job a lot easier, especially as they were sitting near the bottom of the relegation zone.

January Fixtures

There were now only 6 games left before the league split into 2, and Clive thought that wins vs Aris Limassol and ASIL should be enough to see them through into the top 6. After that, it wouldn't matter what happens.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

January 2033

"We are staying up" was the song being sung by the Geroskipou faithful in the 8-4 win against ASIL. This result capped another great month. Despite losing to Anorthosi, Geroskipou bounced back, and a last gasp header from Iosifidis to win 3-2 took points away from AEL and put them in the driving seat for a top half finish. A predictable 2-0 win against Aris followed before all hell broke loose at the Pegia stadium, where a league record for most goals in a game was shattered, Geroskipou coming out 8-4 winners, with both van Looy and Mariano scoring hattricks. The last game of the month was an expected loss to APOEL. But as previously mentioned, it did not matter.

More money was needed despite Clive sticking to a tight wage budget.

Transfers

Only 2 players were bought into the side in January, Popovic to provide an option at DL, who came in for £0p/w on loan.

And Eiriksson, an Icelandic striker, who would mainly be providing backup to van Looy and Mariano as Clive felt like he was lacking in depth up front.

Table

February Fixtures

Just the one match before the league split, a win would see Geroskipou stay in 4th place with the final 10 games still to play.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

February 2033 mini-update

A good win against Alki saw confirmation of 4th place for the league split.

Table at split

Now that survival was achieved, everything else was a bonus. Clive sat in his office and questioned if it was possible to get European football next season. Realistically, APOEL had already wrapped the league up, Nea Salamina and Omonoia were still tussling for 2nd, but more than likely it was too far for Geroskipou to reach, but 3rd-6th were the only positions achievable.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

February 2033

After the split, it was a tale of two halves, losing 5-3 against Anorthosi in a poor showing. In the next game, Geroskipou decided they knew how to put their chances away, beating Nea Salamina 5-1.

Spoiler

The next 3 games would be difficult given that star goalkeeper Bozicic ruled out with a knee injury.

Table

The loss against Anorthosi may become crucial in the european chase, as they picked up 2 wins from 2 to leapfrog Geroskipou into those places. Nea Salamina couldn't buy a point at the minute, so suddenly the race for 2nd place opened up once again.

March Fixtures

If Geroskipou could pick up wins against Alki and Omonoia, it could potentially see them jump up to 3rd, depending on other results. The APOEL game was an early write off, unless a biblical miracle occurs.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

March 2033

A great 5-3 win against Alki put Geroskipou in prime position to continue their push. Then in the following game, Geroskipou bottled it, losing 2-1 against Omonoia, but this still left them sitting in 4th place.

Finally, the write off game against APOEL was up. Somehow, with Geroskipou's first 3 shots, they had scored 3 goals to put them up 3-0 at half time. But then APOEL came out with a point to prove, scoring in the 46th minute. Moiseev stupidly got a straight red card and conceeded a penalty, and from then on, it was all APOEL. They scored 4 goals in the final half hour of the game to finish 5-3 winners. Annoyingly, this won them the league and they celebrated with a trophy presentation. Clive knew that it would be his sole intention to get back at them at some point in the future by returning the favour.

Table

With the APOEL loss and an Anorthosi victory, Geroskipou were now 3 points behind with 5 matches left to play.

April Fixtures

If Geroskipou could snatch 3 wins from 3 in April, they could possibly sneak into at least 4th spot, possibly 2nd depending on results elsewhere.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

April 2033

A massive win in a european 6 pointer against Anorthosi was won 3-1, thanks to a Mariano hattrick. After Clive organised his now usual tune up games between fixtures, it was off to Nea Salamina, who just a few months before, Geroskipou had dismantled. It was not to be the case this match, as a 2-0 loss was compounded by the fact that Anorthosi had beaten Alki with a 93rd minute goal to leapfrog them into 4th spot. Mariano, Eiriksson and Iosifidis all took the previous result to heart, and all scored, to put Alki to the sword, beating them 4-0. Anorthosi lost their final game in April, but due to league sorting rules, they stayed ahead of Geroskipou.

Table

Due to the sorting rules, it was now a test of who would blink first. Anorthosi just had to get the same results as Geroskipou in their final 2 games to clinch 4th, whereas Geroskipou had to hope for Anorthosi to slip up.

May Fixtures

In the final 2 games, Geroskipou had Omonoia at home, and APOEL away on the final day.

Anorthosi had Nea Salamina away, then Omonoia at home.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

May 2033 - Match Day 31

On paper, a 3-3 draw seemed a fair result. Clive knew that the penalty (probably bogus), inflated Omonoia's xG by .7, and the 90th min equaliser was a tap in from close range, so by rough guestimations, the xG was around 2.19 - 1.2. But nevermind that, the point was that Geroskipou could not put away their chances when it mattered. In Clive's eyes, this was 2 points dropped instead of 1 point gained.

Other Results/Table

Nea Salamina beat Anorthosi! Geroskipou clambered into 4th spot kicking and screaming. All hopes were now on Omonoia, who had to beat Anorthosi, due to APOEL being overwhelming favourites for their game with Geroskipou.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

May 2033 - Match Day 32

Geroskipou were never in this game. Clive knew that this game was going to be a tough slog, but thought that his side would have at least put up a bit of a bigger fight considering what was on the line. Now the only thing that would keep them in 4th spot would be a Anorthosi loss.

Another late, late goal for Anorthosi was enough to sneak them into the final european place.

Final Table

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2032/33 Season Review

After just missing out on european football, Clive took some time out of the country to get over the idea of the clubs bank account filled with millions of pounds/euros.

When he got back, he was reminded of the new massive wage budget though, which excited both him and the fans.

Despite a record breaking season for Mariano, Clive knew that his side could not continue to be a one man side.

So much green.

Clive's Cuttings

Hopefully the first upgrade of many. This season's figures threw off all of Clive's forecasts for the future though.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

2033/34 Pre-Season

After looking through the leagues in Cyprus, Clive noticed that Xylotybou had slid down the leagues in recent years, and were now playing in the 6th tier.

The board were still pumping money into the club, this time, another £150,000 coming in.

Transfers

2 players were poached from the club, Vasileiou moving to Chania in Greece, and Christou moving to Accrington Stanley.

Clive had only bought in 4 players on loan, this season would be the season to start building a more permanant squad. Schatzle being bought in from Achna in the Second Division to take over goalkeeping duties from Bozicic. Leiva and Jerbic were both bought in to play in the centre of the park, and help protect Geroskipou's leaky backline. Vukasinovic was bought in on loan to start at DR, with Polykarpou impressing enough to play as a backup DR on a permanant basis.

Spoiler

 

Results

Another pre-season of heavy wins in tune-up games.

In just Geroskipou's 2nd season back in the First Division, the media predicted a finish as high as 6th, but Clive hoped they could go one better than the previous season.

Fixtures

The league season would kick off away against APOEL, but then there were 3 winnable games in September. The cup would be taking a backseat to the league once again.

Edited April 8 by ChaosClive

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

September 2033

A sea of green for Clive's calendar to brighten up his office. The Nea Salamina win was especially important, as at the time, they were 3 from 3. The one blip was the expected loss to APOEL.

Table

The winning run saw Geroskipou race out to an early 2nd place in the league, a massive 11 points away from the relegation zone, but only 1 point from top spot.

October Fixtures

A hard run of fixtures came in straight away, with games against 4th, 5th, and 6th to start up the season, with a slight break at the end of the month, where relegation favourites Paralimni and early strugglers AEL were games to round out the month.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

October 2033

The dream start was halted by a Desmond away at Anorthosi, and the blip in form continued into the next game away at Alki, with Geroskipou falling to a 3-2 defeat. Luckily enough though, Clive's side finally decided to win again, beating their next 3 league opponents, and earning a credible draw in the first leg of the cup against Omonoia. 

Table

All of a sudden, relegation scares were long forgotten about, but the new dream of European football was fully alive. If only they had not lost against Alki or won against Anorthosi, they would have been sitting top of the league. 

Fixtures

A double header against Omonoia kicked off November, with an easier game against AEK Larnakas before welcoming APOEL to Geroskipou.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

November 2033

500 up for Clive, who was in the middle of his best managerial campaign (barring the 2027 afcon triumph).

In the league, it was another sheet of green to welcome the team at the end of the month. A tight win against Omonoia was backed up with a 4-1 win against AEK Larnakas. In the second leg of the cup against Omonoia, the teamsheet was leaked early and Omonoia were going to play their strongest side, so Clive made a few tweaks to his rotated side, and Devin van Looy scored 5 goals to take Geroskipou into the Quarter Final of the cup almost single handedly.

The big result of the month though, and probably of the season, was the final game, where after a tight, open game, Mariano cooly slotted away a 90th minute penalty to beat reigning champions APOEL in front of a sold out crowd.

Table

After inflicting APOEL's 2nd loss all season, Geroskipou sat top of the table by 2 points.

Fixtures

Geroskipou would need to continue their form going into the festive month.

[ChaosClive]

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou

December 2033

Despite a scoring a combined 8 goals and conceding 0 from the first 3 league games, Geroskipou managed to slip up against Othellos, who were bottom of the league, and a side that had only managed 4 points in the league previously in a disaster-class in defending.

Table

Despite the hiccup, Geroskipou were still top of the table, with an 11 point gap from the european qualification places.

Fixtures

Another double header for Geroskipou, this time against Alki. If they could pick up a win in the league against Alki, then the gap between 1st and 3rd would be 6 points, and give Geroskipou some breathing room.