ChaosClive

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou February 2034 The end of the month was just as shambolic as the start. First, a 0-0 draw against Nea Salamina, where they had a man sent off in the 38th minute, but they still managed 2 offside goals and created more than Geroskipou, even with the disadvantage. Next came Alki, where Geroskipou were winning 3-2 in until the 90th minute, when Ochoa popped in the equaliser, and then the winner 2 minutes later to leave Geroskipou winless for the month for the first time in a while. Table The solitary point from February saw Geroskipou slip down into 4th place, now out of touch with APOEL, but still in the hunt for european places. The gap was now only 9 points though. Fixtures It would look like the winless streak would continue, as a trip to APOEL opened up the month. Clive took note of the fact that the month finished with yet another league and cup double header, this time against Nea Salamina. A win against Anorthosi would also be crucial if the european dream was on the cards.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou February 2034 A total collapse occured, van Looy tried his best, knocking in another hattrick, but the defensive side of the team was still causing issues, as they shipped 5 goals against Omonoia. Table There was now a 5 point gap at the top of the table, but still a 12 point gap between Geroskipou and Anorthosi Fixtures With a top 6 place confirmed, this would be the difficult part of the season. The remaining fixtures in February were Nea Salamina and Alki, 2 sides right up Geroskipou's backside. Wins against both these sides would be vital in the early stages of the split.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou January 2034 A massive turnaround in the cup in the first half of the Alki double header, which saw Geroskipou advance to the Semi Finals, was overshadowed by the league fixture, which saw Alki pump them 4-0. 2 wins from the next 3 saw confirmation of a top 6 finish, even if it should have been 3 from 3. Transfer Business One player joined during the winter window, Monchu. This was a signing Clive was keen to make to counter his previous youth signing policy, to see if an old head could help with the european push, given his fantastic mental and technical ability. Table APOEL returned to what the experts were calling their rightful place at the top of the table, and other results meant that Nea Salamina and Alki were both hot on the tail of Geroskipou. There was however a big gap opening up between 4th and 5th, meaning Geroskipou were 12 points safe in the european places. Fixtures The final game before the league split was away against Omonoia, who were guarenteed to finish in the bottom 6 of the league, so Clive was optimistic for a good result.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou December 2033 Despite a scoring a combined 8 goals and conceding 0 from the first 3 league games, Geroskipou managed to slip up against Othellos, who were bottom of the league, and a side that had only managed 4 points in the league previously in a disaster-class in defending. Table Despite the hiccup, Geroskipou were still top of the table, with an 11 point gap from the european qualification places. Fixtures Another double header for Geroskipou, this time against Alki. If they could pick up a win in the league against Alki, then the gap between 1st and 3rd would be 6 points, and give Geroskipou some breathing room.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou November 2033 500 up for Clive, who was in the middle of his best managerial campaign (barring the 2027 afcon triumph). In the league, it was another sheet of green to welcome the team at the end of the month. A tight win against Omonoia was backed up with a 4-1 win against AEK Larnakas. In the second leg of the cup against Omonoia, the teamsheet was leaked early and Omonoia were going to play their strongest side, so Clive made a few tweaks to his rotated side, and Devin van Looy scored 5 goals to take Geroskipou into the Quarter Final of the cup almost single handedly. The big result of the month though, and probably of the season, was the final game, where after a tight, open game, Mariano cooly slotted away a 90th minute penalty to beat reigning champions APOEL in front of a sold out crowd. Table After inflicting APOEL's 2nd loss all season, Geroskipou sat top of the table by 2 points. Fixtures Geroskipou would need to continue their form going into the festive month.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou October 2033 The dream start was halted by a Desmond away at Anorthosi, and the blip in form continued into the next game away at Alki, with Geroskipou falling to a 3-2 defeat. Luckily enough though, Clive's side finally decided to win again, beating their next 3 league opponents, and earning a credible draw in the first leg of the cup against Omonoia. Table All of a sudden, relegation scares were long forgotten about, but the new dream of European football was fully alive. If only they had not lost against Alki or won against Anorthosi, they would have been sitting top of the league. Fixtures A double header against Omonoia kicked off November, with an easier game against AEK Larnakas before welcoming APOEL to Geroskipou.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou September 2033 A sea of green for Clive's calendar to brighten up his office. The Nea Salamina win was especially important, as at the time, they were 3 from 3. The one blip was the expected loss to APOEL. Table The winning run saw Geroskipou race out to an early 2nd place in the league, a massive 11 points away from the relegation zone, but only 1 point from top spot. October Fixtures A hard run of fixtures came in straight away, with games against 4th, 5th, and 6th to start up the season, with a slight break at the end of the month, where relegation favourites Paralimni and early strugglers AEL were games to round out the month.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2033/34 Pre-Season After looking through the leagues in Cyprus, Clive noticed that Xylotybou had slid down the leagues in recent years, and were now playing in the 6th tier. The board were still pumping money into the club, this time, another £150,000 coming in. Transfers 2 players were poached from the club, Vasileiou moving to Chania in Greece, and Christou moving to Accrington Stanley. Clive had only bought in 4 players on loan, this season would be the season to start building a more permanant squad. Schatzle being bought in from Achna in the Second Division to take over goalkeeping duties from Bozicic. Leiva and Jerbic were both bought in to play in the centre of the park, and help protect Geroskipou's leaky backline. Vukasinovic was bought in on loan to start at DR, with Polykarpou impressing enough to play as a backup DR on a permanant basis. Results Another pre-season of heavy wins in tune-up games. In just Geroskipou's 2nd season back in the First Division, the media predicted a finish as high as 6th, but Clive hoped they could go one better than the previous season. Fixtures The league season would kick off away against APOEL, but then there were 3 winnable games in September. The cup would be taking a backseat to the league once again.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2032/33 Season Review After just missing out on european football, Clive took some time out of the country to get over the idea of the clubs bank account filled with millions of pounds/euros. When he got back, he was reminded of the new massive wage budget though, which excited both him and the fans. Despite a record breaking season for Mariano, Clive knew that his side could not continue to be a one man side. So much green. Clive's Cuttings Hopefully the first upgrade of many. This season's figures threw off all of Clive's forecasts for the future though.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou May 2033 - Match Day 32 Geroskipou were never in this game. Clive knew that this game was going to be a tough slog, but thought that his side would have at least put up a bit of a bigger fight considering what was on the line. Now the only thing that would keep them in 4th spot would be a Anorthosi loss. Another late, late goal for Anorthosi was enough to sneak them into the final european place. Final Table

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou May 2033 - Match Day 31 On paper, a 3-3 draw seemed a fair result. Clive knew that the penalty (probably bogus), inflated Omonoia's xG by .7, and the 90th min equaliser was a tap in from close range, so by rough guestimations, the xG was around 2.19 - 1.2. But nevermind that, the point was that Geroskipou could not put away their chances when it mattered. In Clive's eyes, this was 2 points dropped instead of 1 point gained. Other Results/Table Nea Salamina beat Anorthosi! Geroskipou clambered into 4th spot kicking and screaming. All hopes were now on Omonoia, who had to beat Anorthosi, due to APOEL being overwhelming favourites for their game with Geroskipou.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou April 2033 A massive win in a european 6 pointer against Anorthosi was won 3-1, thanks to a Mariano hattrick. After Clive organised his now usual tune up games between fixtures, it was off to Nea Salamina, who just a few months before, Geroskipou had dismantled. It was not to be the case this match, as a 2-0 loss was compounded by the fact that Anorthosi had beaten Alki with a 93rd minute goal to leapfrog them into 4th spot. Mariano, Eiriksson and Iosifidis all took the previous result to heart, and all scored, to put Alki to the sword, beating them 4-0. Anorthosi lost their final game in April, but due to league sorting rules, they stayed ahead of Geroskipou. Table Due to the sorting rules, it was now a test of who would blink first. Anorthosi just had to get the same results as Geroskipou in their final 2 games to clinch 4th, whereas Geroskipou had to hope for Anorthosi to slip up. May Fixtures In the final 2 games, Geroskipou had Omonoia at home, and APOEL away on the final day. Anorthosi had Nea Salamina away, then Omonoia at home.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou March 2033 A great 5-3 win against Alki put Geroskipou in prime position to continue their push. Then in the following game, Geroskipou bottled it, losing 2-1 against Omonoia, but this still left them sitting in 4th place. Finally, the write off game against APOEL was up. Somehow, with Geroskipou's first 3 shots, they had scored 3 goals to put them up 3-0 at half time. But then APOEL came out with a point to prove, scoring in the 46th minute. Moiseev stupidly got a straight red card and conceeded a penalty, and from then on, it was all APOEL. They scored 4 goals in the final half hour of the game to finish 5-3 winners. Annoyingly, this won them the league and they celebrated with a trophy presentation. Clive knew that it would be his sole intention to get back at them at some point in the future by returning the favour. Table With the APOEL loss and an Anorthosi victory, Geroskipou were now 3 points behind with 5 matches left to play. April Fixtures If Geroskipou could snatch 3 wins from 3 in April, they could possibly sneak into at least 4th spot, possibly 2nd depending on results elsewhere.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou February 2033 After the split, it was a tale of two halves, losing 5-3 against Anorthosi in a poor showing. In the next game, Geroskipou decided they knew how to put their chances away, beating Nea Salamina 5-1. The next 3 games would be difficult given that star goalkeeper Bozicic ruled out with a knee injury. Table The loss against Anorthosi may become crucial in the european chase, as they picked up 2 wins from 2 to leapfrog Geroskipou into those places. Nea Salamina couldn't buy a point at the minute, so suddenly the race for 2nd place opened up once again. March Fixtures If Geroskipou could pick up wins against Alki and Omonoia, it could potentially see them jump up to 3rd, depending on other results. The APOEL game was an early write off, unless a biblical miracle occurs.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou February 2033 mini-update A good win against Alki saw confirmation of 4th place for the league split. Table at split Now that survival was achieved, everything else was a bonus. Clive sat in his office and questioned if it was possible to get European football next season. Realistically, APOEL had already wrapped the league up, Nea Salamina and Omonoia were still tussling for 2nd, but more than likely it was too far for Geroskipou to reach, but 3rd-6th were the only positions achievable.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou January 2033 "We are staying up" was the song being sung by the Geroskipou faithful in the 8-4 win against ASIL. This result capped another great month. Despite losing to Anorthosi, Geroskipou bounced back, and a last gasp header from Iosifidis to win 3-2 took points away from AEL and put them in the driving seat for a top half finish. A predictable 2-0 win against Aris followed before all hell broke loose at the Pegia stadium, where a league record for most goals in a game was shattered, Geroskipou coming out 8-4 winners, with both van Looy and Mariano scoring hattricks. The last game of the month was an expected loss to APOEL. But as previously mentioned, it did not matter. More money was needed despite Clive sticking to a tight wage budget. Transfers Only 2 players were bought into the side in January, Popovic to provide an option at DL, who came in for £0p/w on loan. And Eiriksson, an Icelandic striker, who would mainly be providing backup to van Looy and Mariano as Clive felt like he was lacking in depth up front. Table February Fixtures Just the one match before the league split, a win would see Geroskipou stay in 4th place with the final 10 games still to play.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou December 2032 A big dip in form for Geroskipou going into the new year. Clive was hoping that their form would not revert back to what it was on their first attempt at staying up a few years ago. Although, with such a gap between them and the relegation spots, it was not panic stations yet. Having turned down the APOEL job previously, Clive found rejecting the Aris job a lot easier, especially as they were sitting near the bottom of the relegation zone. January Fixtures There were now only 6 games left before the league split into 2, and Clive thought that wins vs Aris Limassol and ASIL should be enough to see them through into the top 6. After that, it wouldn't matter what happens.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou November 2032 League-wise, Geroskipou were almost perfect, but could only salvage a draw at home against Alki. The big game of the month was the first game, where a late van Looy winner deservedly bought home the bacon for Clive's men in a 5-4 thriller against Nea Salamina. After exiting the cup, they stole a 1-0 victory from Ermis, who deserved more on the day. Table By avoiding defeat against Alki, Geroskipou finished the month in 4th place, a whopping 16 points outside of the relegation zone with only 8 games to go before the league split. Other news Despite the high attendances, the board needed to add another £65k into the bank account, this was probably due to the new training facilities. This piece of news would not have affected Geroskipou, but in their match against APOEL, AEK Larnakas recieved 4 red cards. Admittedly 2 of them were in the dying embers of the game, but Clive already saw the headlines read "APOEL beat 7 man Larnakas." For once, it was Clive on the recieving end of a grilling. This time it was from Inter Milan manager Pep Guardiola. Clive stood his ground, as Beltrame was not in form, but Pep stood his, and told him that he would be recalling the player during the next transfer window. Very Clough vs Revie. December Fixtures Wins vs Apol. Limassol and AEK Larnakas would almost guarantee survival in the First Division.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou October 2032 Clive was in a state of shock for most of October. He thought he had gone into the month with an overly optimistic view, given that there had only been 5 games played in the season up to that point. The biggest 2-1 win of his career against Anorthosi so far kick started the month, before a game with 9 goals scored, but only 6 equally left Geroskipou with a draw against AEL. Aris Limassol and ASIL were put away with relative ease before the big dogs of Cypriot football helped sell out the Pegia stadium before beating Clive's side 3-1. Table Nearly a third of the way through the season, Geroskipou were sitting just below the european qualification spots. Surely this could not be some sort of cinderella story for Clive? 11 points clear of relegation was the main thing though. November Fixtures A triple header against Nea Salamina was looming. At this point the cup REALLY didn't matter, and trying to pull away from the bottom half of the table was all Clive was focused on.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou September 2032 Despite the cup not meaning anything to Clive, it was always nice when he could get through another first division team to get into the 2nd round. The league run was started and ended against predictable losses against Nea Salamina and Omonoia, but 2 big wins against Ermis Aradippou and Apol. Limassol kick started the campaign for Geroskipou. Also some massive home attendances were very optimistic for the future. Table The 2 wins pushed Geroskipou out to an early 6th place, and 5 points out of the relegation zone. October Fixtures Clive saw 3 winnable games in October. AEL, Aris and ASIL. Anorthosi and APOEL were expected to be losses, with Clive only hoping that the APOEL game would not end up in a cricket score.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2032/33 Pre-Season On the first day of pre-season, after having a look through his emails, Clive was over the moon after recieving the morning memos. A massive increase in TV money, with the increase, this would be close to the most money that they club had ever had in the bank account. All Clive hoped was that the board wouldn't be sticking their paws into the honeypot and give him some much needed upgrades to some facilities. Also helping the bank account was a MASSIVE increase in the season tickets. Even this early on in the pre-season, the club had sold more season tickets than ever before, if the 1300 number was to be believed, this would be just under a x4 increase on the previous season. The one glaringly obvious thing that needed managing properly was the newly aquired bank loan, this one was smaller, only needing a £6,250 monthly repayment, but 2042 could not come soon enough. Despite this, the club was still in a healthy position, and even allowed for upgrades to the youth facilities to go ahead! This was the first upgrade of many in Clive's long term ambitions for the club. But the main thing was that the youth teams would have a changing room! As Clive was bringing a close to a session a few weeks later, he was told that another memo had come through into his pidgeon hole. It was his Continental A Licence. One more exam to go, as long as the board would allow. Transfers The first item on the transfer agenda was to try and sign Viegas on a free transfer after his contract with Varzim expired. But he wanted over £2,200p/w. At the point in time, it could have been prime Messi, and Clive would have still turned those wage requests down. But not a bad return on a free player for 5 seasons. Only 2 players coming in permantly and 1 leaving on a free. O'Toole rubbed Clive up the wrong way in a training session so was sold, and Prata and Kyprianou were bought in to strengthen and provide some depth. The free loan army made a return for the survival aim. Moiseev from Shakhtar Donesk was the biggest coup that the club had managed for a few seasons in Clive's opinion, and he would slot in at centre half from day 1. Dalgaard would provide an option either starting or off the bench on the left, and Mariano would take charge of the Viegas shaped hole in the team, and hopefully link up well with van Looy up top. Results A good pre-season ruined by a 3-3 draw with Foinikas. Odds It was a minor miracle in itself that Geroskipou were not predicted to come straight back down, but clearly some people thought that Clive's transfer dealings would be able to do the job. Either that or all the new fans they had acquired. Late August/September Fixtures The cup was of little importance, but the first 5 games looked tough for Geroskipou. Clive knew a good start was crucial.

SI have done a great job at replicating councils into the game. Shame that its a stadium instead of a smaller structure that the council wouldn't find out about.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2031/32 Season Review As everyone already knew, the board were not prepared to upgrade the stadium to an all seater, so despite only moving to the APOP Geroskipou Stadium in 2027, it would now lie dormant for the second season in 5 years, and possibly forever if Clive could keep his team up in the future. Big news from the boardroom too, as current chairman Marios Andreou would be stepping down after 'overseeing' a successful period in the club's history. Only to be replaced by another prawn sandwich eating toff, instead of opening the club up to an oil rich billionaire, like Clive had suggested in his brief meetings with the board. Another load of cash needed to keep the club afloat. At least this would not add to the loan repayments. After the season, former assman Andreas Konstantinou realised that the grass was not greener on the other side, and came back to Clive to beg for another oppertunity to work with the great man himself. Clive was gracious with his, mainly due to his fantastic ability and low wage demands. Hopefully this would be the last season with red plastered everywhere in the revenue statements put out by the club's accountants at seasons end. But Clive had thought this before. Clive's Cuttings van Looy continued his goal scoring at over a goal a game, with 12 assists to boot, mainly to his strike partner Viegas. The wingers Embalo and Carvalho also chipped in with 11 and 13 assists respectively, but Clive knew that he needed someone who could also provide goals and assists down the middle of midfield. van Looy's final goal of the season saw him overtake club legend Zalikas as all time top scorer.

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

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou May 2032 Clive's team only needed 3 points, and yet came away with 7. But it would not have mattered either way, as ASIL slipped at the first hurdle, allowing Geroskipou to win the league with a draw against lowly THOI. The other games were a formality, but Clive had to settle one final demon, with this the last time he was hoping to ever play Deryneia, he sent his strongest side out, and put them to the sword in a 4-0 win. Final Table In the end, Geroskipou romped to a 2nd Second Division title, winning by 11 points. In some bad news for football in Pafos, Pafos were relegated into the Third Division, how the mighty have fallen.