ChaosClive

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

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.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou April 2032 As Clive had expected, the board had to step in to prevent a small disaster, injecting £85k into the coffers. Results A slip up against Doxa meant that the league could not be secured in April but due to the rules of nature it seemed, the 3-2 loss was followed up by a 5-1 spanking of Paralimni, who were sitting ahead of Doxa in the table before the match. Table With Clive's C at GCSE in maths behind him, he worked out that Geroskipou only needed 2 points from the final 3 games to win the title. May Fixtures Which as they were playing THOI in the first game of May, made them everyones favourites to win the league.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou March 2032 A short, yet perfect month. A laboured win against Ypsonas, followed by a 2-0 win against Pafos in from of a bumper crowd of 1,564 rounded out the month... The 2-0 win against Pafos along with Paralimni slipping up means that Geroskipou won promotion straight back into the First Division. A massive increase in wages to boot. £20.5k a week is a 4 fold increase on the current season, which should be more than enough to help keep Geroskipou up. Table With promotion guaranteed, the only goal left for the season in Clive's mind was to win the league outright. With his side 8 points clear with 5 games to go, it was looking more and more like a foregone conclusion. April Fixtures The final charge towards the league title would start with Doxa away and then 3rd place Paralimni at home.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou January/February 2032 Transfers Clive was already thinking about another season in the First Division when signing Bozicic, who would be an upgrade in goal. He did demand a massive wage of £550p/w, so it would be a waiting game to see if the gamble would pay off, but if anyone came in to match the release clause of £150,000, it would smash the club record fee. The second signing was more of a power move. The ability to even speak to someone at Inter, even if it was in their U19 side, would have only been a pipedream a few years ago. But that along with the media calling Beltrame a promising midfielder was enough for Clive to bring him in until the end of the season for £0p/w. Results van Looy scoring in all 6 league games went further to justify the massive contract that he was given. But as a team, every player in the matchday 18 had played their part in starting what would hopefully be an unbeaten run in and another league title. Table With the likes of ASIL, Paralimni, and Olymp. Nicosia not being able to keep up with Geroskipou, a league title was looking ever more likely, the gap was now 8 points with 7 to play. Fixtures A win against Ypsonas would be enough to remove them from the title race, and a win against cross-town rivals Pafos could see them head into the relegation zone if other results do not go their way.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou December 2031 "An unbeaten streak can't last forever" was all Clive could muster after the final game of the calendar year, a tight 1-0 loss against ASIL. Despite the 13 game unbeaten streak coming to an end, the players and staff did not let the result ruin the end of year party, especially van Looy, who had scored 7 over the month. After all, they had just come off the back of a streak that saw them finish the year off in a commanding position in the league. Table Geroskipou were almost nailed on to gain promotion back to the First Division at the first time of asking. January/February Fixtures January in particular would be a great test for Geroskipou, playing a lot of sides in and around the promotion push, some wins here would be imperative in their realising their own ambitions and put a 'catch us if you can' message out to the rest of the league.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou November 2031 A positive month for Geroskipou, with the only slight hiccup coming in a 0-0 draw with Deryneia, who Clive still feared slightly when their name comes up in conversation. But apart from that, a wall of green littered the month. Table With the unbeaten streak sitting at 9, it was no suprise that Geroskipou still sat top going into the festive month of December. December Fixtures With the Paralimni game re-arranged, December was made ever so tougher. One positive for the month was the relative poor form of Karmiotissa, who were sitting in 11th.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou October 2031 A real statement was shown by Geroskipou in October, winning all 4 games by an aggregate margin of 16-2, with van Looy grabbing 9 of the goals. Table It came as no shock to anybody that the recent run of results saw Geroskipou sitting top of the league. November Fixtures Geroskipou's November fixtures would be a true test of how good they thought they were, with difficult games such as Deryneia and Paralimni coming up.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou September 2031 400 up for Clive. By now he thought that he would be sipping at a strawberry daiquiri on a beach after a Champions League match, but instead, he was having a pre match tea in a temporary building in Geroskipou. Results Despite turning around a 3-1 deficit away from home against a First Division side, Geroskipou crashed out of the cup on penalties. The league was a mixed bag, drawing with ASIL but then battering Akritas 7-1. The next week it was Geroskipou's turn to get battered, this time 5-1 by Olymp. Nicosia. The month was rounded off by a 2-0 win away to Olympos. League Table October Fixtures Clive saw 3 winnable games and a possible win against Othellos to try and get Geroskipou in a best a position as possible early on in the season.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2031/32 Pre-Season Before the preseason had even got underway, APOEL came in once more with their tounges wagging for Clive. He didn't think about leaving Geroskipou for one second and turned it down, stating in the local paper that he was at home. With the goalscoring exploits of van Looy sure to attract big attention from other clubs, Clive had a sit down with him to discuss a new contract, and to his knowledge, it was the most ridiculous contract he would ever make to keep his star man at the club. Another reason for this contract was the board had announced cutbacks the previous season due to a bank loan being taken out. Now the day that they had to start paying it back had finally come. Mid way through getting ready for the first training session of the season, Clive checked his emails one last time, and saw that there was still room in the budget for him to start taking his exams for his Cont.A licence. Carvalho had been bought in on a free transfer after his successful loan period, which checked off the need to find a new starting MR. But then came the loan army that Clive had commissioned for the upcoming season. Pre-Season results It was the usual tune up games for the pre-season. Bookmakers odds Perhaps it was the 3-3 draw against Pafos in the pre-season that bookies were paying attention to, or maybe the tight wage budget, but despite being relegated last season, Geroskipou were not even favourites for promotion straight back up. September Fixtures A mixed bag of fixtures were to come, with First Division opponents in the cup, before both top and bottom table teams to start the new season.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2030/31 Season Review Finances Compounding the bitter taste of relegation, having battled for 7 years to get into the First Division, Clive received even more bad news from the board. A BIG debt. This news is sure to decimate the finances of the club, which were already nearly at breaking point. This would culminate with the board dropping the wage budget down to the usual £5,750 p/w. Clive was worried, and rightfully so. His gamble of signing key players with relegation release clauses was now leaving the squad open to gutting from first division clubs. Also not helping the situation was the Cypriot tax man, who took no mercy on the club. The club was now needing to pay £22.5k p/m to the bank, but with only £77.5k for the entire 31/32 season, it looked like they would need a miracle cup run to even think about keeping up with the payments. Some positive news to come from the relegation was a move back to Geroskipou Stadium though, meaning that fans would no longer be required to make the long drive to Pegia. Squad It was obvious that retaining the loans would be key for an instant return to the First Division, especially players like Viegas, who linked up with van Looy to score a combined 43 goals and assist 14 more, not bad for a strike partnership of a relegated side. Clive thought that if these loans go through along with players like van Looy and Iosidifis staying at the club, they would have a good shot at promotion. Clive's cuttings

Will this mean all 3 leagues will need to be completed to move on? If that is the case, how many leagues are there in total to complete the challenge?