"It's your turn to write history."

[united_forever]

Monday 6th June 2005

It had been a long, tiring and hot day out at Belmore Oval. Too hot for a day at the begining of the Winter Season. My Sydney Olympic squad had been training hard allafternoon, and now that it was 5:30 i told the lads to go in for a shower and rest and i'll see them back here on Wednesday.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

My name is Antonios Kinnas. I was born in Wollongong Australia, and am of a Greek background. I have lived in Sydney for the last 10 years of my life. Now at the age of 25, i was the head manager of Sydney Olympic in the NSW State League. I would have been playing for them still if it hadn't been for a career threatening knee injury i sustained two years ago. When i recovered from the injury, after 6 months of sitting on my couch at home, i decided to get my coaching badges, and when i got them, Olympic ask if i'd like the head managers position there, and how could i refuse.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

I walked into the office building next to the ground and made my way to my office. As i approached my office door, my secretary got up from her desk and informed me that Mr. Nick Politis, the Chairman was in my office waiting for me.

As i went in to my office, sure enough there he was, sitting in my chair on my side of the desk. I decided to sit on the other side of the desk and asked mr. Politis, to what i owed him this pleasure.

"Tony, about two hours ago i got off the phone with Mr. Walter Bugno."

"Sydney FC chairman Walter Bugno?"

"Unless there is another Walter Bugno who was pulling my leg then yes Sydney FC chairman Walter Bugno. He has asked me to terminate your contract here at Olymic."

"Why would he ask that? What's going on Nick?"

"Well...the Sydney FC board wold like to offer you the position of first team manager, as Pierre Littbarski resigned two days ago due to undisclosed reasons."

"But...the season hadn't even started yet."

"So do you want it or not?"

"You and Olympic have done so much for me, i would hate to..."

I was cut off but Nick Politis.

"Tony, let me say one thing." he paused and started again. "Its your turn to write history. Now go. Mr. Bugno is expecting to see you at 19:00 to discuss the terms of your contract and when you will start."

"But...I don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything. Just don't forget us when you create history."

"I won't. Thank you."

I shook his hand and made my way down to my car.

[united_forever]

Monday 6th June 2005

It had been a long, tiring and hot day out at Belmore Oval. Too hot for a day at the begining of the Winter Season. My Sydney Olympic squad had been training hard allafternoon, and now that it was 5:30 i told the lads to go in for a shower and rest and i'll see them back here on Wednesday.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

My name is Antonios Kinnas. I was born in Wollongong Australia, and am of a Greek background. I have lived in Sydney for the last 10 years of my life. Now at the age of 25, i was the head manager of Sydney Olympic in the NSW State League. I would have been playing for them still if it hadn't been for a career threatening knee injury i sustained two years ago. When i recovered from the injury, after 6 months of sitting on my couch at home, i decided to get my coaching badges, and when i got them, Olympic ask if i'd like the head managers position there, and how could i refuse.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

I walked into the office building next to the ground and made my way to my office. As i approached my office door, my secretary got up from her desk and informed me that Mr. Nick Politis, the Chairman was in my office waiting for me.

As i went in to my office, sure enough there he was, sitting in my chair on my side of the desk. I decided to sit on the other side of the desk and asked mr. Politis, to what i owed him this pleasure.

"Tony, about two hours ago i got off the phone with Mr. Walter Bugno."

"Sydney FC chairman Walter Bugno?"

"Unless there is another Walter Bugno who was pulling my leg then yes Sydney FC chairman Walter Bugno. He has asked me to terminate your contract here at Olymic."

"Why would he ask that? What's going on Nick?"

"Well...the Sydney FC board wold like to offer you the position of first team manager, as Pierre Littbarski resigned two days ago due to undisclosed reasons."

"But...the season hadn't even started yet."

"So do you want it or not?"

"You and Olympic have done so much for me, i would hate to..."

I was cut off but Nick Politis.

"Tony, let me say one thing." he paused and started again. "Its your turn to write history. Now go. Mr. Bugno is expecting to see you at 19:00 to discuss the terms of your contract and when you will start."

"But...I don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything. Just don't forget us when you create history."

"I won't. Thank you."

I shook his hand and made my way down to my car.

[united_forever]

The new contract

As i arrived at the Sydney Football Stadium i looked around, and was amazed by the sight. Although i had been to the stadium on many occasions, I had never really looked at it as i did then. It felt different to the times that I had been there as a spectator, but there was no time to stand around staring at the sights. I had a meeting with Mr Walter Bugno.

I made my way into the office buiding and found my way to Mr. Bugno's secretary's desk.

"Um...hello my name is Antonios Kinnas. I have an appointment with Mr Bugno."

"Yes. Antonios. He won't be long. By the way i'm Veronica. Mr Bugno's secretary."

"Well...nice to meet you."

I hadn't even put my backside on the seat, and Mr Bugno was out here greeting me and ushering me into his office. He offered me a seat and i sat as he did, in his chair.

"Antonios..."

"Please Mr Bugno call me Tony."

"And likewise, Tony please call me Walter."

"Ok...Thank you."

"Tony...you obviously know why you are here. So let me skip the formalities. We would like to hire you as the first team manager."

"I must say when Mr Politis told me, it came as quite a shock. But i have to accept. There is no way i can pass up an opportunity like this."

"Thats great. Oh and right on time."

There was a knock on Mr Bugno's door as he finished his sentence. A young woman looking about 23 years of age came in holding some papers.

"Here are the papers you requested Walter."

"Oh...thank you Jamie. Oh...Jamie, I would like ou to meet your new boss. Antonios Kinnas the first team manager. Tony this is Jamie Theodorakakos, your personal assisstant. You need anthing, she will deliver it to you."

"Wow...thank you. A personal assisstant. I never expected that."

"Jamie please stay. Now Tony I have here a contract that i had drawn up for you. Please look through it to see if you like it."

As anyone would do, i looked straight at my wage. $12,500 per week. That was awsome. I was only getting $1000 per week with Sydney Olympic. It was only for an initial one year, with the option by the club for extension. I was happy with it so i had no hesitation in signing. After i signed the contract, Walter said:

"I would now like to officially welcome you to the club, i hope your time with us is a fruitful and excting one."

"Thank you Walter."

"Oh...Antonios...before you go, please take these with you. They are copiess of coaches reports, physio reports and a copy of the financials."

"We will officially announce you on Saturday. Until then unless you need things done to the team consider yourself on a paid vacation. See you on Saturday"

"Good be Tony"

[chesterfan2]

Good luck with this one mate. A promisinmg start.

BTW I bet the super Melbourne Victory will give your lot a hard time !

[united_forever]

Thanks chesterfan2, but i don't think Melbourne will pose too much of a problem for me, i mean i am managing Sydney FC. Not New Zealand Knights.

Thanks anyway and by the way i have been really enjoing both your Melbourne Victory game and your pp-70 game. good luck with them can't wait to read more on them.

[united_forever]

Authors Note:Using FM2006 version 6.0.2 and running the following leagues:

* Argentina - Premier Division only

* Australia - A-League only

* Brazil - First Division only

* England - English Conference North/South and above

* France - First League only

* Germany - Second Division and above

* Greece - National B Division and above

* Holland - First Division and above

* Ireland - First Division and above

* Italy - Serie C2 and above

* Portugal - League only

* Scotland - Third Division and above

* Spain - Second Division B and above

* Sweden - First Division Elite and above

* Switzerland - Super League only

* Turkey - Superleague only

* USA - MLS only

Huge database was used and no extra countries were loaded

[united_forever]

Tuesday 7th June 2005

First things to do were to look over the financials and the coachs' and physios' reports and to fix up my squad.

First though were the finance reports. I needed to know where I stood financially. When I had read through the financial statements I was quite pleased. We had $1.65 million in the bank, $599,998 of which had been allocated to me for transfers. I had also been given a wage budget of $51.92k p/w, of which I was already using $34,846, and that was with 4 roster spots left to fill, which gave me plenty of room to manouver in. I was also pleased to see that we had a sponsorship deal in place until the end of the 2007/08 season, offering us $48.04k per season.

Next up on the agenda was to look at the coaches' and physios' reports on the players. After reading through these, I came up with my own reports incorporating my extensive knowledge on the players, to help in my decision making process.

Goalkeepers

Clint Bolton - 29yrs - 3 caps for Australia - a very consistent keeper, who holds good communication skills which will assist him greatly in the organisation of his backline during matches, along with his extensive experience. Rarely makes a mistake. Will satrt as No ! keeper, although due to his age, will have to work hard to hold his place as there are many great young keepers coming through the ranks.

Justin Pasfield - 20 yrs - good young keeper, will be looking to establish himself as a future no 1 keeper for the club. Currently in the running for a spot as keeper for the Australian Under 21's squad.

With two good keepers on the books, all that is needed in this department is a third keeper for back up.

Defenders

Matthew Bingley - D RC, DM, M R - 33 years - 14 caps for Australia with 5 international goals - Holds lots of experience in the Australian football scene. Will have to fight for a starting role on the right with Mark Milligan but will definitely give great strength at the back mentally off the field as well as on the field.

Iain Fyfe - D C - 23 yrs - Former Hamilton Academical defender. Is an average player who would not become more than just a fringe player at the club. Will ask to have him offloaded on a free transfer as he does not really have a place in my squad.

Wade Oostendorp - D C - 17yrs - currently playing for the Australian Joeys (under 19s). Has a bright future ahead of him. Will feature in a few matches off the bench but will not play a major role for this season at least.

Mark Rudan - D C - 29 yrs - Another of the more experienced players in the squad, who will provide great strength in the centre of defence.

Jacob Timpano - D C - 19 yrs - Another product of the Wollongong Wolves youth regime, as was Pasfield. Will look to establish himself in the centre of defence this season, helping his international selection along, as he is in the running of being chosen in the Australian young socceroos (under 21s).

Mark Milligan - D/WB R - 19 yrs - another player in the running for a young socceroos spot, and also in the running for the starting right back role for me. Will have to fight off the competition of the experienced Matthew Bingley though. Milligan holds youth and pace in his favour in that endevour.

Alvin Ceccoli - D/WB L - 30 yrs - 4 caps for Australia with 1 international goal - Our only experienced left defender and even if another is signed, Ceccoli, or Mr consistent as he is known will still hold into the left back position unless his competitor really brings it on.

Will look to bring in two central defenders and one left sided defender to strengthen up the back line.

Midfielders

Andrew Packer - M RL - 24 yrs - A talented young midfielder who can play on both flanks. Made a name for himself playing for Sydney Olympic for the season leading up to and including the one where Olympic won in the now defunked NSL. Will also be looking to establish himself as a first team regular, in order to push for a socceroos spot.

Terry McFlynn - M C - 24 yrs - 19 caps for N.Ireland under 21s with 2 goals - A talented young central midfielder who will feature greatly throughout the season.

Ufuk Talay - M C - 29 yrs - Heralded by socceroo Josip Skoko as the best Australian footballer never to represent Australia. He will be an unstoppable force this season and will hopefully help bring the inaugural A-League cup to Sydneys hands by the end of the season. Holds extensive experience, both in Australia and overseas.

David Carney - AM RL - 21 yrs - another player in the running for a young socceroos spot. Carney recently returned to Australia to play for Sydney in this inaugural A-League premiership and brings with him valuable overseas experience.

Robbie Middleby - AM L - 29 yrs - 5 caps for Australia - a very experienced player who plays on the left hand side of midfield. Will be very usefull especially when it comes to the business end of the season.

Steve Corica - AM C - 32 yrs - 31 caps for Australia with 5 international goals - Probably the most experrienced player in the squad after Dwight Yorke. Nearing the end of his playing days Corica will not feature as often as maybe McFlnn and Talay, but will come in handy come the business end of the season.

Alejandro Salazar - AM/F C - 21 yrs - The American youngster will look to establish himself as a future star for Sydney FC. This season however will feature only on rare occassions.

Will look to bring in one midfielder player, preferably one who plays in the centre of midfield.

Attackers

John Buonavoglia - ST - 29yrs - An average player who is no longer at his prime. Another player who i will request is released on a free transfer.

Sasho Petrovski - ST - 30 yrs - 1 cap for Australia - has been unfortunate not to represent his country on many more occassions. Will be a starting striker, along with Yorke and will look to hold that position when Zdrilic returns from injury.

Dwight Yorke - ST - 33 yrs - 55 caps for Trinidad and Tobago with 23 international goals - The former Manchester United and Birmingham City front man brings with him character, class and experience. Will lead my Sydney squad through the inaugural A-League premiership as captain.

David Zdrilic - ST - 31 yrs - 29 caps for Australia with 18 international goals - A very experienced player to say the least, but nearing the end of his time as injuries begin to take their toll. Will be starting off the season on the sidelines as he recovers from a back strain for 2 months.

With Buonavoglia being released, i will look to bring in one striker.

To my luck it didn't take long to find my midfield player. I picked up that weeks cop of Australian and British Soccer Week, that i had bought that morning and began to read through it, only to get as far as page three when i saw an article about Crystal Palace's young Australian midfielder Anthony Danze. The article read:

"Australian Anthony Danze's place at Crystal palace is in doubt after the player refused to sign a new contract on Friday. Danze's current contract runs out on Saturday 11th June 2005..."

I picked up the phone and quickly called the office.

"Good afternoon. Mr Bugno's office. Veronica speaking, how may i help you?"

"Veronica, its Antonios. I need to speak with Walter. Is he free?"

"Yes he is. Won't be a second Tony."

"..."

"Tony what can i do for you?"

"Walter i would like to ask for two players to be released on free transfers first of all because they just won't feature in my plans."

"You know best in that department, so who are they?"

"Iain Fyfe and John Buonavoglia."

"If that what you want then consider it done. Anything else?"

"Yeah two more things. Did you happen to read today's ccopy of Australian and British Soccer Week?"

"No. Why what's in there?"

"Well Anthony Danze isn't coming to terms with Palace for a new contract and his current one runs out on saturday. I was hoping that you could organise for someone to offer him a contract he would be a great addition for my squad."

"Anthony Danze. I don't know if he would move back to here from England, but i will try. I'll let you know when i have any progress. What else did you need? You said you had two more things you needed."

"Oh yes. Well last September i remember watching Zimbabwe play Nigeria, well there was a great young central defender playing for Nigeria, he is only 18 now, and holds 4 caps for the Nigerian first team. I was wondering if you could organise a contract for him too?"

"Well you have obviously seen him. You really think he would fit in well with your plans?"

"Walter he would be perfect."

"Ok who does he play for at the moment?"

"He is with Port-Harcourt Sharks FC in Nigeria."

"Ok I'll see what i can do. If there is anyone else you want me to offer for let me know. Ok. I want you to get your squad to where you want it no before the season starts, because I don't want any rush transfers later on."

"Ok Walter. I will have four more names tomorrow to fill the last of our roster spots i just want to do a little more research before i give anymore names."

"That's good to hear. I'll talk to you tomorrow then. Ok bye."

"See you Walter."

And i was now on my way.

[united_forever]

Sorry about the long post guys

[united_forever]

Wednesday 8th June 2005

It was 11:30 when the phone rang.

"Tony. It's Walter. How are you this morning?"

"Fine thanks Walter. To what do i owe this pleasure?"

"Tony, remember that player you asked me to look into? i found the one you were talking about. Oremi Oruambo."

"Yeah that's the one. So can we offer him a contract?"

"Well, normally i would say yes, but after i spoke to a friend of mine who is with the FFA, it was brought to my attention that we wouldn't be able to get a work permit for him. I'm really sorry."

"That's okay Walter. I have those other four names. Would you like them now?"

"Yes. That way i can get right onto them. Oh and before i forget we just released Fyfe and Buonavoglia as you requested. I hope you know what you are doing."

"I'm very sure of what i am doing Walter. The players i would like to put offers through for are Adam van Dommele from Adelaide United. For him i was thinking $70,000?"

"That's doable."

"Franco Parisi from Newcastle Jets. He is a fantastic striker. I played with him as a youth team member of Sydney Olympic. He has a lot of potential. Offer $120,000 for him. Also Brett Studman from Newcastle, a central defender. Offer $60,000 for him, and Diego Barcena from Uragyuan outfit CA Cerro. Offer $90,000 for him."

"I can do that. I'll have them in from sunday to sign contracts trust me, if they are the ones you want."

"They are. Thanks Walter."

"I'll call you if i have any problems. Bye."

With the transfer of Oremi not going through that still left one roster spot open. I decided i would leave it open for now to use in the case of an emergency.

[united_forever]

Thursday 9th June 2005

Again Walter rang at around 11:30 today.

"Tony. It's Walter here."

"Hi Walter. How are you?"

"Not too bad. I just got off the phone with the CA Cerro chairman, they won't let Barcena go for less than $130,000. If you think this a good investment then i'm willing to go along with it."

"Well...he is a really good keeper, actually he is better than our current number 2 Pasfield."

"Ok i'll call them back now and confirm."

"Walter, i have an outline of what i want for our pre season preperations."

"Oh good. What do you need? Do you need me to make any calls to other clubs?"

"Yes if you don't mind. Actually i want to start our pre season preparations next week if we could. I would like a home friendly organised with Adelaide City on Friday 17th, followed by a home game against Bonnyrigg White Eagles on Tuesday 21st June, followed by a hoe game against the Wollongong Wolves on Saturday 25th June. I don't want the boys travelling to play away friendlies, it would wear them out too much. After that i want to set up a friendly competition, a friendly cup, that i want to run every year. I would like to call it the Sydney FC Invitational. This year i would like o have former NSL heavyweights Heidleberg United, and Sydney Olympic in there and also current State league big boys Bankstown City. I'll call Sydney Olympic, but if you could organise the rest. I want the competition to run over the nights of Sunday the 3rd July and Monday the 4th July. Then i want to finish off with a friendly against Sydney United. Offer to play that one at their ground. Does that sound ok to you Walter?"

"It sounds great! 'The Sydney FC Invitational'. Ingenious. I love it. I'll get Jamie to organise it all for you. Consider it done. Oh and before i forget. Saturday's press conference is at 11:30. I'll see you there."

"Ok Walter. Bye."

[Terk]

Nice start, u_f Always been tempted to take a shot at managing in Australia but never got round to it. And I have fond memories of Steve Corica from a game I played with Wolves on CM01/02 so I'll be tracking his progress.

[united_forever]

Saturday 11th June 2005

"Thank you ladies and gentlemen, and members of the press. I Walter Bugno, chairman of Sydney FC, would like to thank you for coming here today, on behalf of the board and myself. As you all know, we are here to announce our new manager, and o without further adiou, here he is. Mr Antonios Kinnas."

"Thankyou Mr Bugno, ladies and gentlemen. As you have now been officially told i am the new Sydney FC manager. I aim to take Sydney straight to the top of Australian football, and to do that firstloy we need our fans to be behind us. So i say to all you Sydne FC fans out there, come see the games, come to the gatherings afterwards and the parties we organise, and meet the players, send your emails to the player fanmail, all will help build confidence among the players and the club, and that i feel is the start to a successful era. We are all very busy here as you know, and i must leave you to go and take the lads for training. I hope to see you all at our matches, whether they be friendlies, cup matches or league matches. I hope to see you there. Thank you."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, once again on behalf of the board i'd like to thank you. Have a nice day."

Walter and I walked off towards the office complex. I had a bit of paperwork to go through before i joined Ian Crook and the lads for training.

WB:Tony well done. I liked the way you kept that short and sweet.

AK: Thanks Walter. Oh and i almost forgot to tell you Olympic said they would gladly take part in the inaugural Sydney FC Invitational.

WB:So did Heidleberg United and Bansktown City. And all the other teams accepted our offers for friendlies. Adelaide City will be here on Friday night. Will you be ready?

AK:Of course we will.

[united_forever]

by the way thanks terk

Corica is a good player, i'm sure he will give me many great performances

[united_forever]

Monday 13th June 2005

It had been a long day training with the lads. We started at 11:00 doing stretches and sprints, then work on some ball skills for an hour, more sprints, a couple of small 5 a side matches and finished off with some more sprints. We finished off at 15:00, and the lads looked nackered. This i couldn't have i needed them fit for the new seaon. As I walked towards the office complex to go to my office, i saw Jamie coming towards me, and unless i was in lala land, i knew that was Anthony Danze with her and Walter Bugno.

JT:Antonios, this is Mr Anthony Danze. We were just upstairs discussing his contract. We thought that you and Ian might like to meet your latest signing.

AK: Anthony, nice to meet you in person finally. I hope you enjoy your time with us.

AD:i'm sure i will. We had a peak at your training session from upstairs, you are very focused on fitness at the moment i like that, getting us fit for the new season. Thank you for offering me a contract. I understand it was you who asked for me in the first place.

AK:Yes it was, I had watched many of your games with Crystal Palace on Fox Sports last season when you guys were in the Premier League, and i was very impressed. It might not look like it quite yet, but i'm looking towards the future, by bringing in more young talent, rather than old. The only veterens i have are those i have kept on the books. So that is why you were called upon. As one of my stars, for the future, although believe me, with the skills you posses don't be suprised if you are used more often than you think you will this season. I have big plans for you. Big plans. I hope you are happy with your contract.

AD:Extremely. The prospect of playing for such a great club really helped make my decision, more than the money being offered. I feel that to get places in soccer you need to be performing on the field rather than being payed big bucks just to sit on the bench. That was the problem at Palace. I was being payed nice money, but i wasn't playing enough.

AK:I hope you are not expecting to be thrown straight into the starting competition line up. You have to earn your positions here. Then once you earn them, you have to work hard to keep your place. understand that and work towards that and you will be fine.

AD:I'm fine with that. most definitley. It means i have to work and work hard, well if im not going to work hard there is no point to me being here, so you have no problems there i will try to be your hardest worker.

AK:right. Well welcome to the team, and like i say to all the players, my door is always open, whenever you need help with anything. Here we are much more than just a team, we are a family.

[chesterfan2]

Keep this up, mate, this is really good.

I trust that your reference to New Zealand Knights in your earlier post in my direction was a sly dig at my Melbourne Victory team's shocking defeat to them in my 'Escape To victory story. If so, yah boo sucks to you.

I only picked Melbourne for a story as my brother lives in Geelong and, of course, Melbourne is the nearest A-League city to that. I'm beginning to think I may have been able to pick better.

Anyway, like I said before, keep it up and good luck with the season (and How do you find any worthwhile friendlies to play in pre-season ?)

[united_forever]

Thursday 16th June 2005

WB:We at Sydney FC would like to announce that we have just completed the signing of another star of the future, in left sided defender Adam van Domelle, just signed for us from Adelaide United.

AvD:Thank you Mr Bugno. I am very proud to be signing for such a greatly supported club. I hope to help Sydney in its quest for the inaugural A-League premiership, and wish to express to my new manager Mr Antonios Kinnas, thank you for showing interest with me, i won't let you down.

I shook Adam's hand as we held up his new Sydney FC jersey showing off the number 22 for the press to take their photos, for the back page of the local papers.

[united_forever]

thanks chesterfan, and actually no the remark wasn't in reference to your loss actually

i totally forgot about that at the time

lol

[united_forever]

Friday 17th June 2005

Since our match wasn't due to start until 19:30 I had organised with the players, at our last training session, yesterday that we would meet at our ground at 17:00 to have a small training session before the match.

When it came time fir the match to start, i knew we were ready. Our extensive fitness training had paid off, as i could see the lads were looking really fit.

Our first pre season friendly was against Adelaide City, a former NSL team, who were not successful in their bid to be part of the new A-League. In the end we ran out easy 4-0 winners, with Jacob Timpano, and Sasho Petrovski grabbing a goal each and Dwight Yorke grabbing a double.

This win had topped off a great day for me that started with us signing a friend of mine who i played with in the youth team of Sydney Olympic, Franco Parisi, from Newcastle Jets for a fee of $120,000, in order to provide some extra cover upfront.

[united_forever]

Saturday 18th June 2005

As the week began to come to a close, more good news came my way.

AK:We at Sydney FC would like to announce that we have come to terms with both CA Cerro and young energetic goalkeeper Diego Barcena, offering Barcena a 4 year contract with us.

Diego Barcena stood there holding his new number 12 jersey, for the press to take their pictures.

[united_forever]

Tuesday 21st June 2005

Today we played host to the most recent winners of the Johnny Warren cup, Bonnyrigg White Eagles. They gave us some spots of trouble, but in the end, a goal from Parisi and a Yorke double was enough to secure a 3-2 win. For Bonnyrigg, 22 year old striker Tallan Martin, put 2 goals past our keeper, and his wonderful performance grabbed my attention, to note that i need to keep an eye on him for the future.

Wednesday 22nd June 2005

This day saw us make our final pre season transfer. Brett Studman signed for us on a three year deal, form Newcastle Jets, like Parisi. Studman is a hot young prospect, who can play in the centre of defence. He will however have to work hard for a place, fighing off Rudan, Bingley, and Timpano.

[united_forever]

Pre Season continues

Our pre season prepartions continued on 25th June 2005, when we hosted the Wollongong Wolves, and threw them back into the dog pound with an easy 2-0 win courtesy of two Franco Parisi goals.

On the 3rd July 2005, the first ever Sydney FC Invitational pre season tournament began, with us playing my old team Sydney Olympic, and Bamkstown City playing Heidleberg United. Bankstown made easy stuff out of Heidleberg, running out 3-1 winners and booking their place in the final of the pre season friendly tournament. We in the meantime, beat Olympic 6-0, with Timpano, Milligan (pen), Carney and Petrovski each grabbing one goal, and 2 goals to Dwight Yorke.

The final and third place playoff, were played the next night, with Olympic beating Heidleberg 2-1 to take out 3rd place, and me making mince meat of Bankstown City, with a 6-0 win with Talay grabbing one goal, Parisi 2 and Yorke 3.

To finish off our pre season preparations, we made the short trip to Sydney United's ground to play one last friendly, and in that one, we ran out convincing 3-0 winers, with Yorke (pen), Petrovski and Salazar each grabbing a goal.

[united_forever]

Thursday 21st July 2005

Sitting in my office after training that afternoon reading through some coache's reports, i herd a beep come from my cpu, then i saw the pop up saying that my boss Wlater Bgno had sent me an email. It was the A-League title odds, from the bookmakers.

I pick ed up the phone, and made a quick call over the intercom, to Walter.

"Hey Walter. Are you busy?"

"No i' not. Did you get my email?"

"That's why i called. I can't believe they have us evens co-favourites to win with Perth and Newcastle."

"Yes i know. I don't believe it either. We'll just have to work hard and prove to the bookies wrong in their decision to make us co-favourites instead of outright favourites."

"You are right. Anyway i'll see you later Walter."

[united_forever]

Friday 22nd July 2005

Our official competition games began today, with the our first match in the A-League Pre Season Cup. We had been drawn nto group A, along with Newcastle Jets, Perth Glory and Queensland Roar. As always, my expectations were that we would win this competition. Only time would tell whether my expectations were right. But for now we had the challenge of Perth Glory to overcome. Lucky for them they had home ground advantage at Perth Stadium. Still I didn't want to let that bother me.

I had come up with my line up the night before.

(GK)Clint Bolton

(DR)Mark Milligan

(DL)Alvin Ceccoli

(DC)Jacob Timpano

(DC)Brett Studman

(MR)David Carney

(ML)Andrew Packer

(MC)Steve Corica

(MC)Ufuk Talay

(ST)Dwight Yorke ©

(ST)Sasho Petrovski

(SUB1)Diego Barcena

(SUB2)Matthew Bingley

(SUB3)Anthony Danze

(SUB4)Franco Parisi

I decided that for now i would stick to a 4-4-2 atack formation, what the other teams didn't know was that I would change that for the league matches. Brett Studman was handed his official debut for the club, while Barcena, Danze, and Parisi, waited on the bench for their chance at an official debut. van Dommele though i felt wasn't ready yet to make his debut. I felt i needed to play him in the under 20's for a little while longer just to strengthen him up a bit.

The match didn't go too well for us in the first half. Despite spending 3/4 of the first half in their side of the pitch, it was Perth who struck first, in the 34th minute, through their English import Brian Deane. We responded in very quick fashion, with Sasho Petrovski drawing the keeper out and passing to Dwight Yorke who had nothing in front of him but an open goal. We wnet in at half time 1-1, but i couldn't say i was pleased. We needed a win. We wanted a win. I decided to try something a little different. I took off Ufuk Talay and brought on Franco Parisi, pushing Dwight Yorke into a central midfield role and pouting Franco Parisi up front where he is strongest. This was followed 20 minutes later by the replacement of Brett Studman by Matthew Bingley, to get some fresh legs on the field, in the 71st minute. Nothing seemed to work in the end, and the score remained at 1-1, which meant we needed to win our final two group matches, against Newcastle and Queensland, or risk being eliminated from the competition.

[united_forever]

Saturday 30th July 2005

The draw with Perth really dented myplans of going at it for two games and allowing myself to relax in the third. Now i had two more games i really needed to work at. For the next match, against Newcastle Jets, I made one change. I took out Ufuk Talay, and brought in Anthony Danze for his official debut.

(GK)Clint Bolton

(DR)Mark Milligan

(DL)Alvin Ceccoli

(DC)Jacob Timpano

(DC)Brett Studman

(MR)David Carney

(ML)Andrew Packer

(MC)Steve Corica

(MC)Anthony Danze

(ST)Dwight Yorke ©

(ST)Sasho Petrovski

(SUB1)Diego Barcena

(SUB2)Matthew Bingley

(SUB3)Ufuk Talay

(SUB4)Franco Parisi

This game started off even better than the last for us. Again we spent most of the first half in their side of the field, but this time it was us who broke the deadlock, with Dwight Yorke grabbing a goal off a Steve Corica through ball, in the 24th minute. Things continued to get better for us, as in the 27th minute, Sasho Petrovski crossed the ball in from the left to give Dwight Yorke his second goal as the striker headed the ball into the back of the net past an absolutely stunned Liam Reddy. In the 34th minute however, Richard Johnson scored for the Jets, bringing the score back to a one goal deficit, at 2-1. Dwight Yorke still had alot more petrol in the tank, as in the 38th minute, he stole the ball right from Reddy's feet and put it into the back of the net, to complete his hat trick. That still wasn't enough for captain Dwight Yorke, as he showed off his experience, by taking on 5 defenders and the keeper, puting the ball into the back of the net again in the 40th minute, to make it four for the night so far. 4-1 at half time and i was thrilled. In the 57th minute, i noticed Yorke limping around a little, so thinking about the coming games, i decided to rest my star striker and brought on Franco Parisi in his place. Parisi made an immediate impact, setting up Petrovski for the team's fifth goal, in the 62nd minute. By then we had the match well and truly won. In the end nothing much happened in the final 10 minutes, and the score ended up 5-1.

[united_forever]

Sunday 31st July 2005

I went for my usual morning run again this morning, with my mate Dean, who lived a couple of doors down from me. Like usual, we met outside my place, only this time we met a little later than usual, at 09:30 am, rather than 07:30 am. We went along as usual, turned the corner, made our way another 20 minutes down the road again, and the turned into a quiet street to our left, and continued on. Ahead of us were two gorgeous ladies, taking a walk up ahead. As we neared them for a joke as sort of a pick up line i turned to Dean and said:

"You know what they say about a woman's pace when she walks don't you?"

"No I don't, what do they say?"

"Well it determines what they are like in bed."

At that time the one who was standing right infront of me, turned yelling and screaming, and began chasing me back down the road.

"You pig how dare you say something like that i don't even know you and you are giving me a hard time about how fast i walk!!! Come back here you incensitive pig!!!"

As i pulled away from her i turned and noticed she had stopped chasing me, so i turned and went back towards her. The whole time neither of us noticed it, but we actually knew eachother. Infact, we worked with eachother. And only as I got closer to her did we both notice it. It was Jamie. My personal assistant. We stood there for a inute just looking at eachother.

"Why would you say something like that?"

I couldn't handle it any longer. So i leant over and kissed her on the lips.

After we had kissed for at least 10 seconds, she took a step back with a look of shock on her face. The next thing i knew, we were all over eachother.

[united_forever]

Sunday 31st July 2005

The rest of the day Jamie and I went back to my place, and spoke about everything from our past to now, what we like and what we don't like. I was so surprised at how much we had in common. Actually she too was of Greek backgrond, well i knew that already because of her last name, but her Greek name isn't Jamie. It was Dimitra.

Such a good day, was ruined though, when Ian Crook, my assistant manager called me with the worst news that i wanted to hear. It turns out I made the right decision taking off Yorke in yesterdays game. if i had kept him on, he would have been out for a month roughly, rather than 2 weeks. This meant that for our match against Queensland, i would bring Parisi into the starting line up to pair with Petrovski and promote Salazar to the bench.

It was around 21:30 before Jamie left, she stayed to help me pack a small bag for my trip tomorrow morning. I was going up to Queensland, to watch their match against Perth Glory. We were only able to manage a draw with Perth, and so i wanted to scout out the Queensland side to see what weaknesses they had and where their strengths were.

I walked Jamie, or Dimi as she now wanted me to call her, to her house, which to my surprise, was only two blocks away from mine, and said goodnight to her as we got to her front gate.

"Well...um...goodnight. I'll see you on Monday at the office."

"Yeah. Have a good trip. Call me when you get there."

"I will. Bye."

With that I made the short walk back to my place reminiscing about the day that had just been, but at the same time trying to think about how much the blow of yorke would affect the team.

[united_forever]

July 2005 Review

Friday 22nd July 2005 - Perth Glory 1 vs 1 Sydney FC

Brian Deane (PG), Dwight Yorke (SFC)

Saturday 30th July 2005 - Sydney FC 5 vs 1 Newcastle Jets

Dwight Yorke x4(SFC), Sasho Petrovski (SFC), Richard Johnson (NJ)

[united_forever]

Tuesday 2nd August 2005

The 2nd of August brought more bad news. As I walked through the club gym, watching the players during their weight training, i walked past Alvin Ceccoli and noticed a look of pain in his eyes, that he wa trying to hide.

"There is no use trying to hide it Alvin. Where does it hurt. I'd rather be sure you are right for Saturdays game, than risk even worse damage."

"Its my wrist coach."

"Lets have a look. I'll call one of the physios over to take a better look but i wouldn't think it is anything major. Alex can you come and take a look at Alvin for me?"

"Sure thing boss."

Alex Webb inspected Alvin Ceccoli's wrist for a few minutes, then said.

"It's just a sprained wrist. I would say 2 weeks out until he will be fully right to play. Sorry boss."

"That's ok Alex. I would rather he be fit and ready for the league anyway. Rest it well Alvin. I still expect to see you at training though. Ok."

"No worries boss."

This blow meant that I had to use my only other left sided defender. Young Adam van Dommele. I may not have thought him ready yet, but he would get his chance on Saturday to prove me wrong.

[united_forever]

Friday 5th August 2005

Perth Glory played host to Newcastle Jets today in the other A-League Cup Group A match. We were playing tomorrow, so this match was of great interest, because if Newcastle won, both us and Queensland Roar would go through. If Perth had won though, we would need to win tomorrow to ensure that we go through.

The match was being televised by Fox Sports, so I invited Dimi over to watch it with me. Lucky for me, the match ended with Newcastle winning 3-1. We were through no matter what happened tomorrow.

[chesterfan2]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">"You pig how dare you say something like that i don't even know you and you are giving me a hard time about how fast i walk!!! Come back here you incensitive pig!!!" </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

You smooth operarator, you !

[united_forever]

Saturday 6th August 2005

With Yorke and Ceccoili out injured, i brought in Parisi and van Dommele. Other than that i made no changes from my squad that beat Newcastle.

(GK)Clint Bolton

(DR)Mark Milligan

(DL)Adam van Dommele

(DC)Jacob Timpano

(DC)Brett Studman

(MR)David Carney

(ML)Andrew Packer

(MC)Steve Corica ©

(MC)Anthony Danze

(ST)Franco Parisi

(ST)Sasho Petrovski

(SUB1)Diego Barcena

(SUB2)Matthew Bingley

(SUB3)Ufuk Talay

(SUB4)Alejandro Salazar

The match started off really well, with Parisi grabbing his first official goal for the club in the 12th minute. In the 23rd minute however, Queensland pulled it back to 1-1 through Massimo Murdocca. It wasn't enough to hold us back though, as Petrovski put us up 2-1 in the 27th minute. Again Queensland equalized when Pierre put it past Bolton in the 45th minute. In the end it ended 2-2, as nothing i could do would spark anything. We settled for 2-2 as we were still in firt place in Group A.

[united_forever]

Thanks Chesterfan.

I actually used that line once on a girl 4 years ago.

I'm still with her now. And we love eachother more than anything

[chesterfan2]

Well if it works, I ain't going to knock it !

So how does you girlfriend appreciate you sitting up all night playing FM, cos assuming you're still in Oz, that's exactly what you must be doing !

My missus certainly doesn't appreciate me staying up all hours. Nevermind, eh.

[united_forever]

Saturday 6th August 2005

As the match came to an end, over the loud speaker, the news was heard.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it has been drawn, Sydney FC will be battling Melbourne Victory in the semi final of the A-League Cup on Tuesday 9th August here at the Sydney Football Stadium. We hope to see you all here."

It was settled. We would play Melbourne on Tuesday. and it would be a tough match.

[united_forever]

shes ok with it

she will get the ***** probably in about 15 minutes so i'll probably be off pretty soon.

But she knows how much i love playing fm so she's ok with it

[united_forever]

Tuesday 9th August 2005

For the match against Melbourne i only made one changed for the match suad, seeing as Ceccoli and Yorke were still out. I swapped Bingley for Brett Studman, who didn't have the best of games against Queensland. My line up was as follows:

(GK)Clint Bolton

(DR)Mark Milligan

(DL)Adam van Dommele

(DC)Jacob Timpano

(DC)Matthew Bingley

(MR)David Carney

(ML)Andrew Packer

(MC)Steve Corica ©

(MC)Anthony Danze

(ST)Franco Parisi

(ST)Sasho Petrovski

(SUB1)Diego Barcena

(SUB2)Brett Studman

(SUB3)Ufuk Talay

(SUB4)Alejandro Salazar

The match started off very even. boh sides were puting up a big fight. It was Petrovski who broke the deadline in the 24th minute, courtesy of a Eugene Gelakovic mistake. From there things continued to get better. In the 39th minute, Parisi put in a corner and found the head of Steve Corica, who put the ball past the Melbourne keeper to make it 2-0 and give him his first goal of the season, and a deserved goal it was. Each game, so far, Corica had played marvelously, unlucky to get a goal on several occassions. Now he had it, and at an important time too. Before the half time whistle blew though, Parisi had to put his two cents worth in, when he struck home from outside the 18 yard box, off a Corica through ball, in the 2 minute of injury time, to make it 3-0 at half time. The second half began strongly for us agian. Parisi got his 2nd goal in the 63rd minute, when Gelakovic made another silly mistake, and the game was well and trully won. The score stayed at 4-0 for the rest of the match, and we had a well deserved win, and a well deserved spot in the final.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Press conference after the match

"Well, the boys really deserved the win. They have been playing their hearts out every game. I am particulary pleased with Parisi, and Corica today, for their contributions to the goals, but particularly with Corica, who for the last two matches in Yorkes absence ha taken over the captains role, and done it so brilliantly. He is one of the most experienced players in the squad and all the youngsters look up to him. He really deserved that Man of the Match award he received. Well done to all the lads and thank you to the Melbourne Victory. They put up a great fight, and i'm sure we will have plenty of tough matches between us during the league competition. Thank you."

[united_forever]

Wednesday 10th August 2005

I picked up Dimi, and we went up to the Central Coast to watch the other semi final. On the way we spoke about who we would like to play and who we thought would win. I was hoping for Central Coast to win, while as much as Dimi said she wanted the same, she still thought we would be facing Queensland.

The match was a very tight contest with only 2 goals in it in the end, and Dimi was right, Queensland did win. 2-0. And we were facing queensland again. This time the match would mean something. Last time we met, we had both already progressed to the semi finals.

[united_forever]

Friday 12th August 2005

"Boss I have a problem"

Jacob Timpano came into my office holding his wrist, with Alex Webb by his side. This didn't look good. Jacob had been playing so well throughout the competition.

"What is it Jacob?"

"I strained my wrist during weight training coach. Alex here tells me I'll be out for 2 weeks."

"Ok..Look we could give you an injection to keep you for this game but i'd rather leave it to Alex to fix it for you from now."

"I want to play coach. Its the final."

"I know but if we let you play this final, we risk losing you for a month rather than 2 weeks. I'd rather have you for the league. That's more important."

I knew he was disappointed, but it was the best way.

[united_forever]

Tuesday 16th August 2005

The good news for today's match was that both Yorke and Ceccoli were fit again, but having had only a minimal amount of training this week, i kept them both on the bench, to play them later in the match. The only change to the starting line up from the previous match that i made was bringing on Studman for the injured Timpano.

(GK)Clint Bolton

(DR)Mark Milligan

(DL)Adam van Dommele

(DC)Brett Studman

(DC)Matthew Bingley

(MR)David Carney

(ML)Andrew Packer

(MC)Steve Corica ©

(MC)Anthony Danze

(ST)Franco Parisi

(ST)Sasho Petrovski

(SUB1)Diego Barcena

(SUB2)Alvin Ceccoli

(SUB3)Ufuk Talay

(SUB4)Dwight Yorke

In the first half, Queensland were all over us. In fact, we only had 2 shots on goal, the whole first half. We went in at half time and told the boys how dissapointed I was. We were falling appart out there. We were crumbling to pieces. I decided to make a change. I needed Yorke's presence, so i put him on and took off my former Olympic youth team team mate Franco Parisi. Immediately Yorkes presence was felt, as our game lifted, and we began to control most of the possession. The end of the 90 minutes of normal play time came, and we were still locked at 0-0. Extra time would be played. One advantage i had at this point, was that while Queensland had used all three of their substitutions, i had only used 2 and had one left n the bag. I had Barcena and Talay still on the bench, with more of a chance of playing Talay than Barcena, as Bolton was having a scorcher of a game. midfielder Anthony Danze, however, was beginning to limp around. I decided I would give him, 10 minutes to see how he was. If he didn't look any better after that i would replace him with Talay. In the 98th minute, the breakthrough came. Yorke played a wonderful ball through for petrovski who slotted it home. Danze was still limping around though so i decided to make the change. The change payed off as in the 104th minute, Talay forced a foul out of Dislevski in the Queensland penalty area, giving us the penalty, and Dislevski the red card. Milligan slotted it home this time, making it 2-0 in our favour. Half time in extra time came and it was still 2-0. In the second half of exra time, nothing special happened except for spectacular save after spectacular save from Bolton. The game stayed at 2-0 and we had won the A-League Cup.

[united_forever]

Tuesday 16th August 2005

After the match, for a celebration, I asked Jamie to organise a party for the lads. I felt that my place, being a nice 3 story house with a pool out back, leading into a part of the house, where there was a bar, room to dance and then a hallway leading into the tv room, where i had a playstation 2, a computer and an xbox set up, the playstation 2 and xbox on separate tvs ofcourse, would be perfect. So i told Jamie to let the guys know that they can bring their wives or girlfriends and bring their swimmers too.

The lads would have training off on tomorrow, but would be expected back on Thursday no excuses.

Every single one of the lads turned up with their partners, most deciding to spend their time around the pool area, or even in the pool. Taking a walk around the house, i noticed some of the younger players, on the playstation and xbox, playing the latest fifa game, Fifa 2006. Mark Milligan seemed to be beating anyone who challenged him on the playstation. The lads had figured out a system. Winner stays, while others challenge. (Later i would find out no one could beat Milligan, as two hours later i came back in and he was still there, and one of the other players mentioned to me that no one even came close to beating him). As I walked into the next room, the computer room, i found Steve Corica in there all alone on the computer.

"What are you doing Steve?"

"Just treating myself to a game on Football Manager 2006. Is that ok with you boss? I can get off if you want."

"No that's ok Steve. I love the game. You played it before?"

"Oh yeah. Love it too. I even got my sons hooked on it."

"Yeah. I noticed the wife and kids weren't here. They at home?"

"Yeah one of the young ones wasn't feeling too well after the match, but the wife told me to come."

"Since you love fm 2006 so much, are you looking at taking my job after you retire?"

"I don't know boss. If you do a bad enough job i guess, yeah. Nah...I think i may just become a coach. I don't know. I haven't really thought about it. I guess when i'm ready to retire i will think about it. But I will tell you, i'm not too far away from that."

"You think? I mean you are playing so well. Look, go home to your sick child. He needs you more than we do at this moment. Go and have a glass of wine with your wife as celebration for tonight. That is pobably the best celebration you could have. A night with the wife and kids. Not this. This is just an excuse to get drunk and pass out. You,...you are better than this. go."

"Thanks boss. I'll do that. Hey i hope everything goes well for you this season. You know i'll put i everything i got don't you?"

"I know. That's why you have been starting for me. Hey...i'll save your fm game. If you ever feel like visiting and you want to play it, feel welcome."

"Thanks boss. See you Thursday."

Things between Jamie and me got even better tonight also. As the night went on, we danced together and danced and drank, until everyone had gone and we were all alone.

(The rest of the night, i won't describe in detail, but everyone gets the idea.)

[united_forever]

Saturday 20th August 2005

(After training)

"Alejandro...come here for a minute please."

"What is it boss?"

"When you get changed and have a shower and whatever else, can you please come to my office? Thanks."

"Sure boss. I'll be there in about 30 minutes. Is that ok?"

"Yeah thats fine. See you then."

(30 minutes later, in my office)

'Knock knock.'

"Come in...ah Alejandro. Have a seat. This is going to be hard for me to say, but after extensive talks with bnoth my coaching staff and the board, we feel that you are not quite fitting in to my plans, and feel that in order to not hold you back from progressing into becoming a great player one day, we feel that it might be best to let you go, which would allow you to talk to other clubs. I'm very sorry."

"That's ok. I mean you have to do what you have to do. I understand...It was a pleasure working for you boss."

"I'm very sorry Alejandro."

[united_forever]

Sunday 21st August 2005

Ian crook came into my office wanting to talk.

"Tony, I made the call like you asked, and they accepted. He will be here on Wednesday to look at the contract."

"Ok. Thanks Ian."

[united_forever]

Monday 22nd August 2005

(During training)

"Tony. Shouldn't you be out there with them?"

"Oh...Walter. No. I like to watch from here sometimes. Sometimes its the best way to see what is going on exactly, you know, who is performing and who is not."

"Yeah i know what you mean. Listen i just wanted to say good luck. So...Adelaide this weekend. Shouldn't be too tough. You know what the board wants. Win, win, win. As many trophies as we can. I know you can do it."

"If the boys continue to play the way they have been, then i have no doubts Walter. None at all."

"Good. That's really good. Oh and i got your message about the offer for Tadrosse. That's good news. He's a rising star. He'll be a good addition to the squad. The board will be happy. I know that much."

"Thanks Walter."

"No worries Tony."

[united_forever]

Wednesday 24th August 2005

'Knock knock'

"Come in."

"Tony. Chris Tadrosse is here to see you."

"Thanks Jamie. Send him in...ah...Chris nice to finally meet you. Please sit down. Call me Tony."

"Um...ok. Well i understand you would like to offer me a contract."

"Yes thats right. See here at Sydney FC, while working towards the present time, we are also looking to ready ourselves for the future. Hence the reason we want you here. I have drawn up this contract, and i hope you are happy with the terms and conditions."

"I would love to be able to give you an answer right now, but i must ask for a week to respond, as i would like my agent to look over the contract before i sign it. Is that ok?"

"Sure thing. If that's what it will take to lure you here, then that's fine with me."

[united_forever]

Friday 26th August 2005

With all my players available, squad selection for the Adelaide match, became much more difficult. In the end i settled for the following formation:

(GK)Clint Bolton

(DR)Mark Milligan

(DL)Alvin Ceccoli

(DC)Brett Studman

(DC)Matthew Bingley

(MR)David Carney

(ML)Robbie Middleby

(MC)Steve Corica

(MC)Ufuk Talay

(ST)Dwight Yorke ©

(ST)Sasho Petrovski

(SUB1)Diego Barcena

(SUB2)Jacob Timpano

(SUB3)Andrew Packer

(SUB4)Franco Parisi

"Antonios."

"Carmen...How are you cousin?"

"Not bad. Hey...can you do me a favour?"

"What's that?"

"Let us win."

"Come on Carmen, I know you're my cousin, and you are married to Daniel Beltrame, but you know, if I let you guys win, it doesn't look too good for me when i have to explain myself to the Sydney FC board."

"I knew you would say that. Still thought i'f try."

"Nice try but i don't think so. So sorry if we beat you guys. Listen, if you guys want, after the match come by for a visit, i mean you guys still are my cousins."

"That would be great. I'll see you later then."

"Ok. See you later cuz."

I was very pleased with the fact that for the first league match we had home ground advantage. This was a major boost, knowing that most of the crowd, would be our supporters.

The first half was ours. We didn't even allow them a single shot on goal. In the 36th minute, we even managed to grab a goal. Dwight Yorke, opened our A-League goalscoring account with a 25 yard strike, which left Daniel Beltrame for dead. We controlled the first half, that is until the 45th miute, when Carl Veart turned the ball into the back of the net from close range. 1-1 at half time, there was still a lot of work to be done. One problem though was that Yorke had begun limping around towards the end of the first half. I decided i would wait for 10 minutes to see how he held up. 10 minutes past and it didn't look like Yorke was going to get any better tonight, infact he was looking like he was in more pain than before, i thought it was time for a change, and brought on Franco Parisi in Yorke's place. In the 65th minute, Petrovski put us in from, heading home Middleby's perfect corner, to make it 2-1. After that there was nothing special to the match. The score ended in a 2-1 win to my Sydney FC squad, and a night with my cousin where she and her husband Adelaide keeper Daniel Beltrame, wouldn't like me very much.

[chesterfan2]

This is excellent stuff, mate. Especially teh bit about Steve Corrica liking ot play FM2006. Nice touch.

KUTGW

[united_forever]

Thanks chester fan. Your support has been very inspiring and helpful. I know i have saqid it before many times, but, I have been really enjoying both your pp70 and melbourne victory stories. Keep it up. i hope you enjoy the rest of my story as i post it slowly. I hope to make this one one of my best, if not infact my best.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Tuesday 30th August 2005

During the week leading up to our next match, Dwight Yorke sustained a neck strain injury, that set him out of the squad for at least two weeks, this meant that i was able to bump Parisi into the staring lineup and bring Zdrilic onto the bench.

(GK)Clint Bolton

(DR)Mark Milligan

(DL)Alvin Ceccoli

(DC)Brett Studman

(DC)Matthew Bingley

(MR)David Carney

(ML)Robbie Middleby

(MC)Steve Corica ©

(MC)Ufuk Talay

(ST)Franco Parisi

(ST)Sasho Petrovski

(SUB1)Diego Barcena

(SUB2)Jacob Timpano

(SUB3)Andrew Packer

(SUB4)David Zdrilic

Perth Glory were our opponents, but didn't start out as much of a challenge. Parisi had the ball past Glory keeper Jason Petkovic, in the 2nd minute, to put us up 1-0. Socceroo Simon Colosimo, found the back of the net from a Despotovski corner in the 26th minute to equalise. The last time we had met Perth Glory was in the opening match of the A-League cup, a match we drew 1-1. This game would be a big test for my squad. In the 30th minute, we found the back of the net once again through the boot of recent Socceroo call up Sasho Petrovski, who had been in great form of late. 2-1 our way. Half time came and we were still at 2-1. The second half began, and we continued to bombard the Glory goal, but to no avail, until the 61st minute, when petrovski struck a free kick from 25 yards out that shot into the top left hand corner of the goal like a bullet, that left Petkovic standing for dead. 3-1. Studman and Middleby had both been playing extremely well in their respective positions, but if i wanted to defend my lead, i needed fresh legs both in midfield and at the back, which is why i took both Studman and Middleby off to bring on Timpano and Packer. Instead of helping todefend the lead we already had though, Timpano had other ideas, by setting up Parisi for his second goal of the game, just before he was replaced by Zdrilic, to extend the lead to 4-1 our way. 4-1 it stayed. An easy and deserved victory for us.

[united_forever]

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | | Sydney | | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 6 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | Queensland | | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 6 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | Melbourne | | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 4 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | Perth Glory | | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | -2 | 3 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | Newcastle Jets | | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 6th | | Central Coast | | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 1 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 7th | | Adelaide Utd | | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 0 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 8th | | New Zealand Knights | | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 0 |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| | | | | | | | | | | | |

| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

[united_forever]

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pkd | Inf | Name | Apps | Gls | Ast | MoM | Pas | Tck | Drb | Sh T | Av Rat|

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| GK | | Clint Bolton | 7 | - | - | - | 81% | - | - | - | 7.43 |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| S1 | | Diego Bárcena | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| DC | Int | Matthew Bingley | 4 (2) | - | - | - | 64% | 0.82 | 0.21 | - | 7.17 |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Adam Van Dommele | 3 | - | - | - | 70% | 1.08 | 0.36 | - | 6.67 |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Mark Rudan | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| DC | | Brett Studman | 6 (1) | - | - | - | 69% | 1.87 | - | - | 6.86 |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| S2 | | Jacob Timpano | 4 (2) | - | - | - | 68% | 3.32 | 0.51 | - | 6.83 |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| DR | | Mark Milligan | 7 | 1 | - | 1 | 64% | 1.77 | 1.09 | - | 7.29 |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| DL | Int | Alvin Ceccoli | 4 (1) | - | - | - | 70% | 1.54 | 0.88 | - | 6.60 |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| S3 | | Andrew Packer | 5 (2) | - | 1 | - | 64% | 1.40 | 2.80 | - | 7.29 |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Anthony Danze | 4 | - | - | - | 61% | 2.10 | 0.52 | - | 7.75 |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | | Terry McFlynn | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| MC | | Ufuk Talay | 3 (2) | - | - | - | 68% | 2.92 | - | - | 6.80 |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| MR | Int | David Carney | 7 | - | 4 | - | 72% | 2.20 | 1.93 | - | 7.14 |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| ML | | Robbie Middleby | 2 | - | 2 | - | 60% | 2.38 | 1.79 | - | 7.00 |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| MC | Int | Steve Corica | 7 | 1 | 1 | - | 73% | 1.23 | 0.55 | - | 7.57 |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| FC | Int | Franco Parisi | 4 (3) | 4 | 5 | 1 | 67% | 0.44 | 1.09 | 46% | 7.29 |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| FC | Int | Sasho Petrovski | 7 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 69% | 0.41 | 2.05 | 64% | 7.86 |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| - | Inj | Dwight Yorke | 3 (1) | 6 | 1 | 1 | 69% | 0.65 | 0.32 | 70% | 7.50 |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| S4 | | David Zdrilic | 0 (1) | - | - | - | - | 8.18 | - | - | 7.00 |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| | | | | | | | | | | | |

| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

[united_forever]

Friday 2nd September 2005

AK:With only 2 roster spots left to fill, i have looked to strengthen my squad, looking towards the future once again, by bringing in young Chris Tadrosse from Melbourne Victory, for a fee of $40,000. Tadrosse is a rising star, and will definitely be a force to look out for in the near future.