ChaosClive

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2029/2030 Pre-Season Some interesting transfers for the upcoming season, but definately ones that improved the side. Some of Clive's best prospects were Polykarpou, joining on loan from APOEL at DR, Embola and Markou to compete with each other at ML, Jose and Benard to compete for the MR spot. Amonone also came in to take over the GK duties (Forgot to take a screenshot) One scary thing happened on the outgoing section though, with Doxa Dramas offering a measley £5,250 for the promising van Looy. Luckily for Clive though, he had just signed a massive 2 year contract, which included a £15,000 release clause. So despite van Looy's agent trying to scare him into accepting the offer, Clive rejected it and told the media it would take a significant offer to consider selling the dutchman. Pre-Season Results Another typical summer of tune up games to try and increase revenue but not get spanked by larger opposition. Pre-Season Odds The bookmakers clearly did not rate Clive's side despite decent additions during the off-season. Clive did consider putting a tenner on his side, as he did not think the betting rules would be enforced in the Second Division in Cyprus quite as stringently as in the Premier League, but in the end thought against it, despite the temptation of 20 to 1 odds. September Fixtures A difficult cup tie against another top division side would probably mean that Geroskipou would be out of the cup early doors in order to focus on the league, which started against one of the front runners Olymp. Nicosia. The other 3 games looked promising though, all rated lower by the media, but Clive would have to wait and find out. For the first time in his management career, Clive actually had the option to postpone a game due to international call ups! If you would have told him that before he came to Cyprus, he would have laughed you out of the building.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2028/29 Season Review Another 5th place finish for Geroskipou showed some sort of consistency for Clive, and the transfer of van Looy now meant that there were 3 goalscoring options up front for the first time since he took over the club way back when. Next season, Clive wanted to be at least the best of the rest, by finishing 3rd at a minimum. This was until he saw that the board had cut wages again! £5,500p/w surely was not enough to make good additions to his squad, he thought that the saying was that you need to spend money to make money. Clive's Cuttings

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou May 2029 The promtion chase was officially over when Geroskipou fell 1-0 to Olymp. Nicosia. For some reason in recent years, Clive's players seem to turn on the style for the last game of the season. This season it was a 6-2 win against Karmiotissa. Final Table The final push saw Geroskipou overtake Ypsonas and Karmiotissa to finish in 5th place once again.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou April 2029 Another disapointing game against a promtion challenger effectivley ended Geroskipou's chances of gaining promotion. Clive was at least happy that the team bounced back with a 3-2 win against Akritas, this result almost secured a 3rd-6th place finish in the league. May Fixtures With nothing else to play for apart from pride at this point against 3rd and 4th, Clive obviously was hoping for 2 wins to try and secure that 3rd place spot for Geroskipou.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou March 2029 A tough, tough defeat away against Achna pretty much sealed them the title, meaning that there was now only one spot available for promotion. A 4-2 win against Onisilos lifted spirits amongst the squad, but next was the bogey team Deryneia. Geroskipou could only muster a 2-2 draw, probably karma's cruel way of getting back to them after scoring the 2 winning goals in the previous match both in the 90th minute. March's results saw Gerokipou remain in 6th, but now the gap was 5 points with 4 games remaining. April Fixtures Promotion hopefuls, and current 2nd place team Othellos were next to come to Geroskipou. Hopefully Clive could inspire his side to rock the apple cart once again.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou February 2029 2 massive wins in the league for Geroskipou in February, and along with other results, see Geroskipou within touching distance of promotion. The gap was now only 2 points with 7 games to go. Clive was hoping that this form would continue into March. March Fixtures If February's matches were important, than March's were even more so, top of the table Achna and Deryneia were going to be the toughest games of the remaining run in Clive's opinion, but wins in these games could see Geroskipou take the lead for the race for 2nd place.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou January 2029 A perfect month in the league was spoilt by what the fans in the stand behind Clive called an 'FMing', although Clive had no idea what that meant, he was just annoyed by the outcome of the game. Van Looy and Veigas combined for all of Geroskipou's 10 goals over the 4 game span and looked like they had a good partnership to close the season, although this did mean that club record goalscorer Zalikas was stuck on the bench. Clive now had to make up 7 points in 9 games, a feat that was achieved during the great escape season, but this time, the teams above were all in good form. February Fixtures 9 cup finals awaited Geroskipou from here on in, so 9 wins were wished for by Clive.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou December 2028 The horrible run of form continued for Geroskipou, including an unfair 0-0 draw with bottom of the table ENAD. The run of results did not stop in the cup either, with Ermis Aradippou taking advantage full advantage and beating the boys in red 4-2. There was restbite in the final game of the calendar year, with a 5-0 win against Omonoia Aradippou though. The collapse saw Geroskipou seated back into mid-table obscurity. January Fixtures Clive did not care how the results would suddenly turn into a seas of green, just that it happened somewhere in January.

A great career mate. Looking forward to the new save.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou November 2028 On the eve of the game against Achna, Clive was just leaving the training ground, when he was handed a newspaper from the day. Time had gone by so quickly since he started at Geroskipou, that he had no idea that the upcoming match would be his 300th in charge. Luckily, Blanuta was on hand to make it a win in the 91st minute. Another win against Onisilos had set Geroskipou up for a perfect month. Then Akritas ruined the party, taking their chances when Geroskipou could not to end the run of wins. Othellos was a game Clive would not have wanted to think about again, losing 4-1. Transfers Clive got a call from a young Dutch player called Devin van Looy saying he would be interested in playing for him. When he arrived for his trial, Clive offered him a contract before he could leave at the end of the session. He would be touted by Clive as if he were the best thing since sliced bread, and could help Geroskipou achieve that promotion. December Fixtures A tough month, but Clive was hoping for revenge on Pafos as an early Christmas present.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou October 2028 Off the back of such a strong starting month, Clive was hoping for another good month. This did not come though. Only 1 win from 4 in the league, with all 3 losses coming with a margin of 2 goals saw Geroskipou slip down the league. The one bright spot was an aggregate win against Ypsonas in the cup to see them get through to the Quarter Finals once more. The most annoying thing for Clive, was that if they had won all 3 games, they would be sitting at the top of the table by a point, with a 6 point gap between 1st and 3rd. As it stood though, they were now 7 points from the promotion spots. November Fixtures Achna was going to be the toughest game in November, with Onisilos and Akritas both hovering around the relegation zone. Clive hoped that this woud be the month that restarted his sides season.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou September 2028 A very successful month for Geroskipou, 2 wins in the cup against First Division opposition to send them through to the 2nd round. This was then followed up by 4 wins from the first 5 games. Sending Geroskipou close to the top of the table. October Fixtures Some big games were coming up for Geroskipou, including 3 games against current league leaders Ypsonas, twice in the cup and once in the league.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2028/29 Pre-Season Going into Clive's 9th season in Cyprus, he was hoping to improve the team to push onto promotion, hopefully for the final time. Some players were bought in on loan, but one player, Bonde, was bought in who Clive hoped would be important for the side for the next 5 to 6 years. Results Another strong pre-season, following on from the strong finish in the previous season. Pre-Season Odds Despite last season's 5th place finish, the bookmakers only jumped this seasons predictions up by 2 places. Could Geroskipou upset the apple cart once again? September Fixtures A tough draw in the cup against AEK Larnakas, but then the league started up with an easy game on paper against ENAD, perfect for a strong start to the campaign.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2027/28 Season Review A good season all in all, culminating in a 5th place finish and Geroskipou's highest ever league finish. The loan of Viegas helped with the distribution of goals, with him getting 11 and Zalikas getting 22. The board decided to cut the wage bill even further, with only £5,250 p/w for Clive to work with to try and improve his squad. Clive's Cuttings

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou May 2028 Clive quickly scrapped the plan of playing his youth prospects as he wanted to round off the season in fashion. A respectable 2-2 draw with Pafos away from home and a 4-0 win against APEA was good enough for him to go on holiday a happy manager. Final league table Geroskipou finished the season 7 points from promotion, and only 2 points away from finishing in 3rd place. The win against APEA on the final day of the season also saw them relegated to the 3rd Division and cement their place as a yoyo club.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou April 2028 Another poor month for Geroskipou, starting with a 1-1 draw with Doxa, after being 1-0 up, and despite the ego-boosting friendly win, a 2-0 loss against lowly PAEEK pretty much sealed another season in the Second Division for Geroskipou. The final game of the month, Geroskipou managed to beat their bogey side Deryneia 3-1 to at least secure a 5th place finish, the highest that this small town club had ever finished. May Fixtures As a 5th place finish was almost secured, Clive planned to play a mixed side of departing and fringe players for the final 2 matches of the season to appease playing time. Youth Intake Clive was over the moon to see that there was actually a decent prospect coming from the youth system for the first time in his tenure of the club. Ioannou Y28 was sent straight into the first team for their match against Deryneia at just 15 years old. He played well, for the first 35 minutes, before the moment got the better of him, and he tried to break the leg of his opposite man, getting a straight red and leaving his teammates in the lurch for the remaining 55 odd minutes. Other News Long time coach Markou was snatched up to be the manager of AEN Ayiou Gerogiou in the lower divisions. This pained Clive as the two were close given the fact they had worked together for 7 years now, and the club had sent him on all his coaching badges together.

Complete dominance in Africa now. What are your facilities looking like at this point?

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou March 2028 As Clive's 300th game in management came, he thought about the good and bad memories that have come, from winning cups and the great escape to the bottling of the STOK Winners Cup back in the first season of his career. Both the THOI and Onisilos games went by without major issue, with loanee Viegas scoring all 3 goals in a 2-0 and 1-0 win respectively, and also picking up 5 in the 2 friendlies. Viegas and Zalikas now were the on form pair up front, both being near or near enough of the goalscoring charts for the season. The gap was now 4 points at the top, although despite the growth of the club in recent years, Clive knew that promotion to the First Division, however good, would only harm the club in the long run, as they were not yet fully ready to go up. April Fixtures Doxa and Deryneia were sandwiched inbetween PAEEK. PAEEK was a must win, and the Doxa game would be a good chance for Clive to change his mind about promotion to the top division. Deryneia was a write off, considering the long standing history of results.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou February 2028 The 3-0 win against Omonoia Aradippou gave Clive some hope at promotion, now only being 5 points from 2nd with 8 matches to go. This hope came crashing down however as Geroskipou looked dreadful in the other league match of the month against Agia Napa, losing 2-0. As a result of this, he banned his players from a night out on the strip, something that he thought would have been motivating to push them on in the promotion hunt. March Fixtures THOI and Onisilos were both winnable matches, and coupled with the typical mid season friendlies, Clive hoped that this could create some good form going into the final stretch of the season.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou January 2028 This month really was a Jekyll and Hyde sort of situation for Geroskipou, firstly, an unlucky defeat to Olymp. Nicosia, then they demolished ASIL, but on paper the score should not have been 6-0. Another tight loss against Achna followed by another big win, this time against Omonoia Psevda. The last game was the most frustrating though, with a chance to go within 5 points of promotion with 9 games left, Clive could only watch in dispear as Othellos' goalkeeper decided this was the game to turn into prime Buffon, making 11 saves and seeing Zalikas hit the post twice as they held out for a 1-1 draw. Now Geroskipou were 7 points from promotion, luckily their head to head records were better than most teams above them in the league after the first set of matches. 9 games left now, and promotion was starting to look like a tough ask despite being in such a good position only a few games earlier. February Fixtures A good oppertunity to right the ship, 2 winnable games were coming up for Geroskipou and hopefully this was the chance that they needed to steer themselves toward promotion.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou December 2027 A big attendance for the Pafos game did not equal a big performance from Geroskipou, as they went down 3-1 with new signing Magi scoring the only goal of the game. The APEA game was disheartening, and dropped Geroskipou well out of the promotion hunt. Aris came next, and Zalikas went from hero to zero back to hero, as he scored in the 6th minute, was then given a straight red in the 34th minute. Luckily for him, his teammates were able to hold off the Aris waves of attacks and see the game out 1-0. Just after the halfway point, Geroskipou were sitting on 31 points, based on previous seasons, Clive knew that the magic number was around about 60 points for promotion. Other News Some more interest from top First Division teams, this time Nea Salamina came in for Clive. This is Magi, the new DC, who can also fill in at MR. An athletic jack of all traits type of player, signed on suprisingly little money. January Fixtures

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou November 2027 To call a spade a spade, this was a poor month for Geroskipou in Clive's opinion. Although a good display started the month off well against THOI, a 2-2 draw with Doxa followed, in a game that was filled with errors leading to goals. Despite the game against PAEEK being a win, Geroskipou left it late, with a 89th minute winner. Finally, bogey team Deryneia easily downed a sluggish looking set of bodies to round the month off with the first loss of the league season, but only on top of the league due to a better head to head record against both Achna and APEA. December Fixtures Pafos and Aris Limassol looked difficult, both teams only 1 point behind Geroskipou, luckily, APEA were close to relegation, so a 3 point game should be easily managed.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou October 2027 A long but successful month for Geroskipou, with big wins against Achna and Agia Napa, which was the first game in the new stadium, hence 426 in attendance instead of the usual 250. The three games against Onisilos did leave a bitter taste in the mouth, especially as at least two of the games were winnable. Not the end of the world though, as Geroskipou's unbeaten start to the season saw them sit in 1st with just under a third of the season completed. Other News November Fixtures Clive sat his sqaud down and let them know the next few games would be key, THOI and PAEEK were struggling and had to be beaten. Doxa and Deryneia were doing okay, but were beatable.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou September 2027 A tight aggregate win against Olymp. Nicosia in the cup saw Geroskipou through to the Second Round once again, with Clive happy enough with the first leg perfomance to quickly forget about the battering they took in the second with a slightly rotated squad. In the league, Clive could have taken it as either 4 points dropped in the draws against Aris Limassol and Olymp. Nicosia, or 5 points gained in addition to a sneaky win against ASIL, who he knew would be there or thereabouts come the end of the season. With the previous year's form continuing on into the new season, Geroskipou saw themselves finish the opening month of in 6th, but still running close to everyone in the promotion race, and even forming a 5 point gap between them and the relegtation zone. October Fixtures Clive was looking to target at least 4 wins from October to solidify early dominance in the league, with Achna being the game most likely to trip his side up. The cup was again not important to him though as it seemed obvious that it did not help with Geroskipou gaining noteriety within Cypriot football.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2027/28 Pre-Season Right before Clive went on his post season break back to England, the long standing chairman Andros Efthymiou announced his expected retirement. Clive was a bag of emotions, mainly hatred and nerves, the hatred coming from the lack of funds coming in on his end, the nerves being the possibility of him losing his job depending on who takes over from Andros. Soon after though, the feelings of nerves went away, only to be filled with feelings of dread, as a fans trust took over. Even with Clive's limited knowledge of the inside workings of a football club, he knew that managing finances would now be soley on the teams perfomance, with the new board very unlikely to help out with any debts. The first chunk of money coming in was the regular tv money, again though, this would not help much in the long run, as the total was still tiny. Somehow though, a new sponsorship deal was announced, only £4k more per year though. Just to complile the misery, midway through Clive's holiday, the bank got in contact about the loan that the club took out at the end of last season. Clive came back from his holiday and got straight back into the nitty gritty of trying to get his side promoted on a limited budget, with future investments from the board not looking good. The first order of business was to resign Zalikas onto a new contract, as teams had started to sniff around. This contract took around 7% of the annual playing budget, but if he could continue his goalscoring form, he was Geroskipou's best chance for promotion. The next order of business was to bolster the squad, with Augusto coming back to the club on a free transfer to play in the CM(A) role in the middle of the park. In Clive's mind, this was £250p/w well spent though. Christou also came back to the club. This time on a free! With Kyriakou not wanting to come back to the club for another loan spell, Clive went to the foreign market for a backup striker, his scouts managed to find a Romanian called Moldovan to cover this position on a £0p/w loan. The pace shown in training made Clive think that the PF role may be very well suited to him. Two other players came in of note, Sofokleous to bolster the defense, and Theofanous as a backup on the left wing. Just before the first pre-season matches were played, another heavy blow to the finances came through in the mail, this time about the heavily anticipated stadium move. Results Another good looking set of results, again though, all just as tune up games to get the players all more comfortable with each other. Pre-Season Odds Although only a 1 place improvement compared to last season, Clive was half tempted to put on a tenner on his side as they had improved from 151.00 (150/1) to 51.00 (50/1) September Fixtures An interesting draw in the cup followed by a tough run of opening games. Clive knew this would be a real test on how his new look side would measure up for the season.