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(FM'11) The Battle of Belgrade - A Youth Challenge


neilhoskins77
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THE SETUP

One of the most participated in ways of playing Football Manager, a method that has led to some epic tales and saves across the various corners of these forums over the years. But a method that I have never had a go at. Until now that is.

As always, I've tried to put my own twist and stamp on my effort of course. I'm using the FM'11 version to bring the editor into play. My intention is to take charge of a minnow or less fancied club in a city that is heavy with football clubs, and use the editor to gift them top level Training, Youth Facilities, and Youth Recruitment. The chosen club will be taken over by myself and edited after the first full season, and around the time of the time of the Youth Intake, and that is where the story will begin.

There will be no player purchases, and no player editing. Bringing in staff is permitted. Using the players already at the club is also permitted. This slow burner story will hopefully see the chosen minnow team progress to the point where they can challenge their heavyweight city rivals for young players off the park using their facilities, and eventually on the park with a team full of home grown talent that take the club to new levels.

The next question, was where? There were plenty of candidates as I looked for somewhere further from the track well trodden. Istanbul, Sofia, Stockholm, Budapest and Vienna were all considered as candidates. But Belgrade stood out with the opportunity to try and bring forward a team that would challenge the domestic domination of Red Star and Partizan, clubs who for decades have developed young Serbian players and then sold them on to big clubs abroad and seen them to develop into stars at both club and international level.

The club will be chosen and named near the end of the first season, it will be the lowest ranked Belgrade based club after the opening season has been played through, regardless of their stature, stadium size etc. Should be fun, right? Enjoy.

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June 2011

The 2010/11 season has just been simulated through in Serbia. As is often the way in this country, Belgrade clubs dominated, as Red Star win their 8th Serbian SuperLeague Title, which is added to their eighteen Yugoslav Titles. As the Champions, they will also collect Serbia's only place in the UEFA Champions League. Their omnipresent fierce cross city rivals Partizan are Runner's-Up, seven points behind, which in the eyes of their fans will be classed as disaster.

I'm not the only person hoping to extend that huge Belgrade rivalry across further clubs. OFK Belgrade have finished third, only a win behind Partizan, and they will be hoping to push on in coming seasons. FK Rad Belgrade make it a sweep of the top four places for Belgrade clubs, despite their small stature and stadium, and compared to the others, a lack of support too.

There is further Belgrade representation further down the SuperLeague table, with FK BSK Borca Belgrade in seventh place. Another is relegated from the SuperLeague, as FK Cukaricki Stankom Belgrade finish 15th in the top tier division, and will be demoted down to the First League. As they are more commonly known, Cukaricki will become my main rivals, as they will be my primary Belgrade competitors in the 2011/12 season.

That's because they will be replaced in the top tier by the First League Champions, yet another Belgrade club, this time FK BASK 1903 Belgrade, a newcomer to the scene who were promoted from the third tier a year ago, which is regionalised and is actually a Belgrade Division, and they have marched right through the second tier and into the SuperLeague.

So that leads us to the club where I will be attempting to develop a culture of playing and developing young players into future stars of the game, all while pushing my club into the fight for bragging rights in Belgrade.........

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16 hours ago, mark wilson27 said:

Definitely looking forward to this story Neil. Remember a few of these sort of challenges from years ago

 

Thanks Mark. Always a concept I've fancied a crack at, so looking forward to it. Appreciate the post mate.

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1 hour ago, DrIgz said:

Really looking forward to this one!! Did I misunderstand the opening post, or do we not yet know which club you are taking over...?

You don't yet know, unless you've done a little bit of detective work ;-) I'm all about the suspense and keeping people on the edge of their seats....... ha

Appreciate the comment. Hope you enjoy the story.

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20 minutes ago, Carambau said:

This looks like a good story :) 

Stop. I don't deal well with pressure situations ha.....

Good to have you along, thanks for commenting. Hope you enjoy the story.

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3 hours ago, EvilDave said:

I don't know where you find the time to run so many different versions of the game, Neil, but I'm glad that you do! I'll be following this with interest, youth only in Serbia sounds like quite the challenge.

Time is not something I'm short of at the moment ED, so running multiple saves is keeping me occupied right now to be honest.

Yeah, I fancied trying somewhere off the track a bit. Should be interesting if nothing else. Cheers mate.

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FK Bezanija Novi Belgrade. My new employers. Fate has handed me the absolute poor relations of all the Belgrade options. Winners of the Second League Belgrade Region Title in both 2000 and 2003, and the second tier First League Title once in 2006, they shocked everyone with a finish high enough during the inaugural season of the SuperLeague to earn a place in the then UEFA Cup, but did the nations co-efficient no favours at all by being bounced straight out by a club from Albania.

That would be the start of a poor season for the club known as Bezanija, which would see them relegated back down to the First League, where they still reside now in June 2011. They almost disappeared from the save altogether though, changing managers for the final ten games of the season as they were perilously close to the relegation zone under Aleksandar Janjic, his sacking leading to the hiring of Slavenko Kuzeljevic until the end of the season, and he guided them safely up into eleventh spot.

As explained in the opening post, I now inherit a club that scores top marks for its Youth Academy, Recruitment and Training. And it's just as well too, as the club has very little else going for it facility wise, it's five year old all seater Stadion Kraj Bezanijske Crkve holds only 2,000 fans, half the number of seats available compared to the lowest from the other Belgrade based teams in the top two divisions. Our average attendance for the 2010/11 season was less than 400! The first Youth Intake is due a couple of weeks after my appointment. hopefully that will give the fans of the club and people of Bezanija and surrounding areas something to get excited about.

The Bezanija district lies in the west of Belgrade, and has a population of around 35,000 residents. However it's hoped that the clubs new world class facilities will help it to draw the best young players from across the city, surrounding areas, Serbia as a whole, and maybe even neighbouring former Yugolsav nations. This club does have form for attracting youngsters from across one of it's borders in Bosnia-Herzegovina in particular.

We'll take a look at the Squad in the coming weeks, once we have taken a look at the newcomers to the club. However, there is currently a primarily Serbian nucleus of players, though you can throw in a handful of Bosnian's, plus a Brazilian and a Ghanaian as well. There is also currently a Slovenian, however he has already agreed a summer transfer away from the club as he is heading to Armenia to play his club football.

My first act of any real note is to sit down with about to be out of contract full back Aleksandar Gojkovic, and offer him a new deal that the Director of Football couldn't or wouldn't get done. The 24 year old has just played his first season for the club after joining last summer for £40,000. He featured in less than half the First League games, but had a strong average rating, and while he is a right back naturally, he can cover at left back as well. A small pay rise seems worthwhile to keep that kind of versatility, and while I've never seen him play, I used the queue of mid to lower end SuperLeague clubs keen to secure his signature as a guide to it being prudent to keep him around for now.

Of course, I've never seen any of our players play actually. And the opening few games of our pre-season will be taken by the staff, as I arrange to sit and watch the opening couple of fixtures until our Youth Intake arrives, using a raised position in the stands to take a good look at what I have at our disposal ahead of the new campaign. Our pre-season schedule starts to take shape, and will include a trip to Bulgaria for a game, where we are being paid expenses plus a fee. We will also host a good team from the Czech Republic. Links are being formed, and they include a new link with Hungarian top tier runner's-up Debrecen. We are paid £20,000 per year for this link, and allows them first option on any of our players that we accept an offer on. It would also allow us to take players from them on loan at no cost, and they plan the first part of that side of the deal with an offer to loan us 22 year old Brazilian attacking midfielder Lucas for the next season. It's an offer I immediately decline, this is a Youth Challenge after all. No loans are permitted!

It's clear I have some talented players at the club, as the vultures from the SuperLeague hover and start to make low ball offers for some of the talent at the club. Some of them use that development to try and back the club into a corner and see if they can shake us down for improved contract terms. Some are after the money they believed they would get if they had earned promotion here instead of floundering near the relegation zone for most of the campaign. With a bank balance at the club of around £700,000 currently, we are not in a position where we need to sell players on a financial basis right now.

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Thought it would either be Bežanija or Zemun! Good luck, I hope you can break the duopoly up there.

I have previously tried to do so with other Serbian teams and always exclusively choose clubs from Belgrade where I was born, but never Bežanija and certainly never youth only 😄

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9 hours ago, DrIgz said:

Thought it would either be Bežanija or Zemun! Good luck, I hope you can break the duopoly up there.

I have previously tried to do so with other Serbian teams and always exclusively choose clubs from Belgrade where I was born, but never Bežanija and certainly never youth only 😄

Why has that knowledge only managed to fill me with dread now? Haha

Good to have a Belgrade native following along and apologies in advance for any incorrect facts etc that crop up. 

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Early July, and I wouldn't call it an elevated position, but it's the back row of the stand in our fairly tiny stadium to take in our opening pre-season friendly. The opposition have travelled into Serbia for this game, and come in the form of Czech second tier outfit Viktoria Zizkov. I gave my staff carte blanche to decide the formation, lineup and all aspects of the game. They matched up against the vistors 4-4-2, placing probably our best player up front rather than the area behind the strikers that he prefers. That player is 21, shortly to be 22 year old Ivan Pesic, a player about to enter his fourth season at the club and with almost 60 league appearances under his belt, but with a very poor return of just seven goals and an assist. He opened the scoring early on today though. That lead held until the break, but the guests came out blazing after the break, and the chief tormentor was actually a Serb. Two goals from Miroslav Markoviv, with Jan Novotny also netting in between. We got one back late on through substitute striker Milan Petosevic, a 19 year old who scored in his only league outing for the club last season. They say his poor attitude has limited his opportunities to progress.

Pesic is causing me an early headache. He shows up with his agent and wants a new contract. That is fine, I've plenty of wage budget to give him a better deal, but his people are insisting on a release clause should a top tier club come in for him, and also a non-promotion release clause. He has neither in his current deal that has two seasons to run, so I won't be signing off on a deal that could enable him to walk out with no course of action to prevent it. Talks break down.

I wasn't joking about the wage budget having plenty of space to move either. The club today announce an operating profit from the last financial year of £425,000. This was largely down to the club selling players to the tune of £1.3 million income from sales. That included a 21 year old who was snapped up by Red Star Belgrade for £425,000 and a pair of 21 year old defenders who were sold to Russian first and second tier teams for a combined total of almost £600,000.

We travel for our second pre-season friendly, crossing over into Bulgaria to take on second tier side Chavdar. They missed out on the promotion playoffs by a single win, so are a decent side. Accompanying me for this one is our newest staff member, 40 year old scout Goran Djokic who has signed a two year deal and has extensive knowlege of Bosnia/Herzeogvina as well as Serbia, plus some very good knowledge also of Montenegro and the FYR Macedonia. He is the second scout at the club, but does have higher level ratings than his already in place colleague. My staff go with the same setup though some different personnel for this one, a game that was keenly contested but ultimately goalless, as we were choked to a large degree by our hosts five man midfield.

July 10th marks the day that the season ticks over from 2010/11 to the 2011/12 campaign. 14 goal striker, and 24 year old first year with the club player Dejan Vukojevic was voted the Fans' Player of the Year. This is also the day that we sit down with the Board and discuss our expectations for the new season. I agree on a top half finish, which gives me a £150,000 transfer budget and a £15,250 per week wage budget. The current wage spend is less than £5,000 per week, and the transfer pot is immediately pushed into the wage budget. Should we have to break the bank to keep hold of someone important to us, I now have £18,250 per week to spend on squad wages. There is no danger of me skinting this club in any way.

However the big event of the day, hey actually the season as far as this save is concerned is the hugely anticipated Youth Intake for the new season. Nine players strong, seven from the inner areas of Belgrade, and two are pinched from outer lying areas though still classed as Belgrade. one is from Zemun who's team were relegated from the second tier last season, the other comes from Mladenovac.

Of the nine, three are thought to be of fairly high level, potentially better than any other players we already have at the club should their development be managed correctly. 16 year old striker Igor Goranovic lacks a little size, but the backroom staff rate him as the best prospect amongst the group. Fellow striker Nikola Pekez isn't far behind him, and while he doesn't have the size either, he has a very high baseline level of pace and acceleration that will take him far in his career. 15 year old right winger Dejan Milutinovic unfortunately doesn't have Pekez's pace, but he does have the ability to send in a killer cross.

Perhaps the most ready of this crop for football right away is 16 year old Mladenovac youngster Marjan Vidojevic. He is a  6'1 midfielder who is already a dead ball expert of note from both corners and free kicks. Lacking a little of the toughness that would stand him out as a superb prospect, he has plenty of flair about him and is my pick as one to keep an eye on. He is closely followed by left back Vladimir Vojinovic. He looks very steady at just 15 years old, and has all the attributes for a good defensive full back. He could have an issue at set pieces though, as he stands at just 5'3 tall, and would struggle with marking assignments against your typical big Serbian striker.

Of the remaining four, Janko Jankovic is the best placed to make the breakthrough, a 6'0 centre back, the 16 year old has the raw talent to be a useful squad centre back, but is unlikely to reach the higher levels of the game. Nemanja Djukic is also a centre back and has the versatility to cover at right back as well, but most of his strengths lie in the non-technique based attributes, and he would have to progress quickly and hugely to make much progress I suspect. Zemun native 16 year old Vladan Dragovic can play anywhere down the right side of the park, but unfortunately that versatility is probably the best attribute he has. He still has a better shot than the only goalkeeper in the intake however, 16 year old Branko Bogicevic has an outstanding score on his sheet, but unfortunately it is for eccentricity, the one quality I least want in my goalkeepers.

For top level facilities, those players in that Intake might seem a little underwhelming. But as a comparison, I took a look at both Red Star and Partizan's new arrivals as well, and frankly, there was no one that they have brought into the club that stands out as a better prospect than what we brought in. The hard work starts now to help this first crop of players help fulfil their potential as footballers.

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On 04/06/2023 at 22:55, DrIgz said:

Sounds like a reasonably promising start. I grew up in Mladenovac specifically, so I'm keen to see how your young midfielder develops!

 

Midfield is probably one of the strongest areas of the Squad I’ve inherited. Not necessarily a bad thing of Vidojevic, as if I play to our strengths and pack the middle of the park, his status as a dead ball specialist could still see him earn some game time.

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On 06/06/2023 at 15:01, oche balboa said:

Nice start mate, Good luck with this. Are you running all the leagues with this as well? 

Cheers mate, always good to have you along.

Yep, all of the European nations included in the game, plus a few of the larger other worldwide leagues as well.

Obviously I won't be signing any Brazilian wonderkids, but it's not fair to stop the other teams doing so to keep up with my Serbian superstars.....hopefully ha ;-)

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  • 1 month later...

My first game in charge would be a home pre-season friendly game against the visiting Hajduk Kula side from the SuperLeague. They finished 10th last season, very much in mid table no man's land just as far from the European spots as they were from relegation trouble. They brought a strong squad south into Belgrade for our third game in a week, which at this point of the season was far too optimistic and my staff handling the opening few games had left the First Team Squad pretty much knackered ahead of this one. What that did though was allow an opportunity for the Youth Intake to make their mark, and all of them with the exception of goalkeeper Branko Bogicevic are moved up and into the matchday squad for this one. They are split evenly between the starting lineup and the bench, and we open very nicely. With just ten minutes on the clock in the baking heat our new young winger Dejan Milutinovic swung over a beautiful corner delivery that 23 year old centre back Marko Milic glanced home with a header. Moments later young striker Igor Goranovic had the ball in the net himself, but he hadn't timed his run and was denied a dream introduction to the small group of fans who had come to the game. Instead Hajduk found an equaliser themselves, and the game wandered to a conclusion with it's endless changes. Apart from one youngster who was later than the others coming off the bench, all of the kids had at least a half of football, and very encouraging the outing was too!

That draw with a mid table SuperLeague side has done nothing to impress the bookmakers and have them believe in us as credible promotion challengers. Sloboda have been made favourites by the bookies, though at 6/1 there is plenty of value if you agree with them. Our cross city rivals Cukaricki and joint second favourites with Banat and Novi Pazar at 10/1, with Novi Sad at 14/1 and Sindjelic at 16/1. At 25/1 the bookies believe we have got things about right with a target of a mid table finish.

I really want these youngsters to grab this chance that is about to come their way. Not least because if other young players see them getting their chance, it will push us up the pecking order of clubs they want to join when they make their choice of where to spend their formative Youth years. I want them to be eager, but not cross the line. A few days ago young winger Dejan Milutinovic was sending in a corner for Marko Milic to head home. Now he's put the centre back in the treatment room for up to three months with a dislocated shoulder after a tackle that was described as a bit of a shocker. Maybe one of his young colleagues paid him to do it and remove the competition?

SuperLeague side Smederevo have enquired about signing 28 year old left sided wing back and midfielder Milan Todorovic from us. The club paid £90,000 for him this time last year, and quite honestly I'd be happy to move him on if we could get most of that back. I have younger players that can do his job, but they are injured and I haven't seen what they can do yet. No rush here, I'll get back to them when I've a better idea what we have to work with. An offer of £7,500 for our 22 year old goalkeeper Dusan Puletic from top tier club and city rivals BSK Borca Belgrade has been rejected though. With interest in the player from Hungary and Romania as well, I tell them I want ten times that amount, plus a healthy sell on percentage too.

A number of the First Team Squad, around half a dozen in the last week or so, have sacked their agents. I'm not sure how to read this, are they after moves to bigger clubs and have sacked their agents who weren't opening doors for them, or with our new top class facilities at the club have they decided their future is very much with Bezanija and saved themselves some money by moving their agents of the pay roll? I guess time will tell right.

Our final pre-season game is played on July 23rd, a full three weeks before we kick off our domestic season. Not only that, but this final game is against one of our Divisional rivals, not something I'm a fan of to be honest. We're visiting Srem Jakovo, predicted to be one of the teams that will battle against relegation in the coming season. They also have a pair of their Youth Intake players promoted up into the First Team Squad. That likely gives you an idea about the lack of quality and depth in their squad....or they're doing a Youth Challenge too maybe? They'll be pinning their hopes this season on 19 year old Stefan Nesic, who they have on loan from BSK Borca.

Nesic wasn't fit for this one, but I had almost everyone well rested and only two of my own Youth Intake players keep their places today as Dejan Milutinovic and Marjan Vidojevic keep their places, with my three defensive players all included amongst the substitutes. Unfortunately for one of those, left back Vladimir Vojinovic, his participation would be limited to just 12 minutes as he hobbled off shortly after coming on at half time. The game didn't offer much as a spectacle, a goalless draw not really providing many clues to either clubs prospects ahead of the new season. Vidojevic came closest to providing the small crowd with a goal, his long range curling shot fielded fairly easily by Uros Radonjic.

It was interesting to note Srem Jakovo manager Mihajlo Bosnjak's comments after the game. He stated that he didn't feel we had performed under our level today, as he believed that was our level! That's one that time will give us an answer too, but even if we are only a mid table team as we start this new project, I'd certainly like to think we will finish well clear of a club such as that one.

One of my last tasks of July and before the season begins is to select our Club Captain for the 2011/12 season. One of the favourites for the job would be 23 year old 6'3 centre back Marko Milic. Currently out with an injury, he's the perfect age and position to have as a captain, but there is a bid in for him now. It has come from German Third Division outfit Red Bull Leipzig, a club very much on the up under the umbrella of the energy drinks company. The Belgrade born player is contracted for the next two seasons, and also has clubs from Greece and Austria interested in him as well. Leipzig's opening offer is over double the players value, and while cash has no real significant relevance to me as Manager with this project, I have pushed the button for high bonuses on both League and Cup.

The month ends with more bids from other clubs, and with the news coming at the same time as the season ticket news, maybe bolstering our bank balance is needed. We have sold only 260 season tickets for the coming season, a drop of more than 5% on last seasons figure. The subject of the bids this time is our goalkeeper Srdjan Ostojic. The 28 year old 6'4 custodian was our number one last season, and is contracted for two more seasons and valued currently at £40,000. There are two bidders, both with offers that would break their current Transfer Record. The first bidder is SuperLeague outfit FK Indjija, sixth placed finishers last season and in need of a new goalkeeper with their current first choice man turning 41 years old last week. They have never spent more than £22,000 on a player, but have bid £60,000 here. They are immediately outbid by French club Nimes Olympique. Now a third tier side having been relegated from Ligue 2 last season, they are looking to smash their current biggest spend of £20,000 by making an offer worth around £72,000 in total. Should they have a bid accepted and the player end up there, he would be joining a very talented squad. But with Greek heavyweights Olympiakos rumoured to be monitoring the situation as well, we could be some way from a deal being struck should we take up the option to sell.

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  • 4 months later...

Early August, and yesterday I rejected an offer for our 23 year old centre back Marko Milic from Red Bull Leipzig. Today the rumour is that the German third tier club will return with an offer worth twice as much to try and get the man they want to help lead their defence.

Are these kids trying to injure Senior players on purpose now? Right winger Dejan Milutinovic has now injured right back Nenad Djukanovic in training. Either one of them was well out of position, or someone has gone out of their way to leave one on someone in a tackle. The 29 year old defender will miss a week with a concussion.

I could do without any more injuries, especially if interest in my players from foreign clubs continues at this pace. Russian First Division outfit Fakel Voronzeh are rumoured to be lining up a bid for my Bosnian Youth International centre back Nemnaja Matovic.

Matovic is one of four players summoned for International duty in the next window, joining Momcilo Mrkaic in the Bosnia-Herzergovina Under-21's, who also call up Adnan Brkovic for their Under-19's side. We also have representation in the Serbia Under-19's with Boris Bozovic.

The draw has been made for the Second Qualifying Phase of the Serbian Cup. We face an away day to Zemun against Divisional rivals FK Teleoptik less than a week after the draw in what would become our first competitive game of the season. That game would see Senior Football debuts in the careers of Marjan Vidojevic and Dejan Milutinovic, but it wouldn't go particularly well for either. The former pulled a hamstring in the second half and is now out for a month, while the latter never really got into the game thanks to an outstanding performance from the home sides Brazilian left back Platini, as we were bounced out of the Cup early in a 2-0 defeat. The debut of Milutinovic at 15 years and 344 days old makes him the youngest player in Bezanija's club history, as well as the youngest player ever to take part in a Serbian Cup match.

We would open our League campaign just days later in Krusevac against a Napredak side that have earned a reputation as boring. They were too largely, but we matched them in the boring stakes, beat them in that regard even, as they took the spoils with a 25 yard thunderbolt from Vladimir Miljkovic shortly after half time. Not an ideal start and with none of the young stars featuring as we search for the way we want to play, making us competitive while enabling the blooding of the new crop of youngsters that we have coming through the ranks. Their days will soon come.

For Dejan Milutinovic, the wait would be only a week long. He came on as a substitute in our opening home game of the season against Mladost Lucani to also become the youngest ever player in the Serbian First League. Less than 400 were in attendance as we continued to try and find the balance between causing problems for the opposition and not being caught cold at the other end. With a striker like Dejan Vukojevic however, we should never be struggling for goals. He put us ahead with a real strikers finish, before getting us ahead for a second time with the winner after finishing off a real route one goal. He could have had a hatrick, Milutinovic playing him in late on but he was unable to find the finish this time. Nice to be off the mark though.

We would finish August off with a 'big' Belgrade derby game. Frankly, there was nothing 'big' about it. Cukaricki go into the game bottom of the table having been thrashed away to the same Teleoptik side that dumped us out of the Cup. A crowd of only just over 800 greeted us with a hostile welcome, though it's still double the attendance we get. A 3-3-1-1-2 setup with wing backs makes it difficult for Dejan Milutinovic to find a spot, while Marjan Vidojevic is still sidelined with injury. But on a beautiful sunny evening in central Belgrade, my first derby experience ends well, substitute Milos Markovic sending over an 86th minute corner that picked out fellow sub and Bosnian Youth International striker Momcilo Mrkaic at the far post to head home and move us up into a slightly unexpected top six position with a trio of games on the board.

September will see us play two of our three games at home, though two of the three are also against early top three clubs. Will be be able to continue our decent start to the campaign, and will any of our potential new stars be able to force their foot into the door to the First Team?

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