DaneBramage

May 2046 - 1461 Trabzon FK Squad Stats Pointing out the obvious here, but Tayfun Gurleyen was far and away the best player with 30 goals. He had a lot of support around him though, as pretty much everyone in an attacking role impressed and three others all reached double figures. Our defence was among the best in the division, but did include a couple of loanees and will need upgrading for next season. -------------------------------------------------------------- History Promotion number 14. Haven't yet decided if I'm staying for a crack at the second tier or moving on. Which probably means I'll stick with it for now, but will keep an eye out for opportunities to leave. -------------------------------------------------------------- Languages New: Turkish (basic) Total: 20 --------------------------------------------------------------

May 2046 - 1461 Trabzon FK 2. Lig - Beyaz Grup One win would have been enough to wrap up the title, we finished up with all three to make it emphatic. The only time we nearly slipped up here was away at Zonguldak Komurspor, but we managed two late goals to clinch it. We ended the season with a 14 game unbeaten run. A ten point winning margin, very comfortable in the end. And a goal tally that blew everyone else away. --------------------------------------------------------------

April 2046 - 1461 Trabzon FK 2. Lig - Beyaz Grup 17 points from a possible 21, very happy with this. The win over Yeni Malatyaspor was an important one, 1st v 2nd at the time, and it allowed us to open up a six point gap at the top. Since then they've lost twice more and fallen away. Our strike partnership has been on fire since the turn of the year. In these 12 games there have been six occasions when Tayfun Gurleyen scored a brace, and his partner Serhat Kara also added one. Seven points clear with three games to go. A play-off spot is guaranteed, but automatic promotion and the title should be ours. --------------------------------------------------------------

February 2046 - 1461 Trabzon FK 2. Lig - Beyaz Grup Our first game of the year was a poor one. We dominated and held a two goal lead, then managed to throw it away even once Amed SK had been reduced to ten men. The next two games were against playoff rivals, and taking four points was a good outcome. We then took on two sides in the relegation area and picked up a couple of comfortable victories. 10 games left. We're looking good for a play-off spot, too close to call for the one automatic place though. --------------------------------------------------------------

December 2045 - 1461 Trabzon FK 2. Lig - Beyaz Grup We had 33 shots against Zonguldak Komurspor, but only for a combined total of 2.38 xG. Scoring twice from that is fine, but allowing them to score twice at the other end from just 0.48 xG was the problem. Other than that though, we had a perfect month. Three wins and three clean sheets. My attacking quartet have had a great time of it so far this season, all of them having at least 14 goal contributions. We're into the second half of the season, and we've now hit the top of the table. The two sides who were above me both lost twice this month. --------------------------------------------------------------

November 2045 - 1461 Trabzon FK 2. Lig - Beyaz Grup A lot of wins this period, but we lost possibly the most important game. We didn't put up much of a fight in the defeat to Yeni Malatyaspor, and this allowed them to increase their lead at the top of the table. The opening match of October, a big win over Van Spor FK, was my 600th game in management. A slight drop off to the leading teams, but we do have a game in hand. --------------------------------------------------------------

September 2045 - 1461 Trabzon FK 2. Lig - Beyaz Grup Six new faces joined our first-team squad over the summer, and they were joined by four loanees. And with all the expectation, we then lost on the opening day to a newly relegated side. But we got on to winning ways in game two, and continued to smash in a bunch of goals over the next few matches. Muhammed Acikgoz picked up where he left off with a hat-trick against Kocaelispor, and Ertugrul Guney copied him with three of his own at 52 Orduspor FK. Early days of course, but we've shown that we're going to be in contention this year. --------------------------------------------------------------

May 2045 - 1461 Trabzon FK Squad Stats With 25 goals Muhammed Acikgoz ended us as top scorer in the division. 14 of them came in my time at the club, and included four hat-tricks. There is a distract shortness at centre-back, we'll need our recruitment team to do some work there over the summer. -------------------------------------------------------------- History We pulled ourselves into the play-off mix, but there was no quick promotion. Our lack of central defenders cost us against stronger opposition. --------------------------------------------------------------

May 2045 - 1461 Trabzon FK 2. Lig - Play-Offs In the first round we're away at Yeni Malatyaspor. They finished 3rd, and they gave me my first loss here, a very poor 3-0 beating. And they smashed us again here. It was utterly terrible. We went 1-0 down very early on, but even so we kept it to just the one goal for the next hour. Then we missed a penalty in the 64th minute and capitulated afterwards. --------------------------------------------------------------

May 2045 - 1461 Trabzon FK 2. Lig - Beyaz Group Brilliant, then crap. Muhammed Acikgoz notched hat-tricks in back-to-back games (his third and fourth in just seven games under my stewardship), then the winner against Kirklarelispor. But we missed a penalty at Kocaelispor then fell apart in the final 15 minutes to gift them the win, were missing several players through suspension against Sivas Bld., and our strikers had an off day at Amed SK. The three successive wins saw us climb up into 4th place, but the three consecutive losses then saw us fall back to 6th. Luckily, that was just enough to clinch the final play-off spot. It was a close call though, if Zonguldak Komurspor had turned their draw on the final day into a win we'd have missed out. --------------------------------------------------------------

March 2045 - 1461 Trabzon FK 2. Lig - Beyaz Group Muhammed Acikgoz added another hat-trick, and his partner up front Dirbaz Avunc proved himself to be deadly from the spot. It's lucky he did this against Balikesirspor, we absolutely battered them with an xG of 3.91 compared to their 0.52, not winning was a travesty. We had our first dreadful performance against Yeni Malatyaspor. It was men versus boys and could have been much worse. I clearly did a poor job of looking over the squad before taking over, as there's only one centre-back in the squad (including the U19s). We've had to play a defensive midfielder at the back, and it showed here. Ouch. The dropped points have seen us drop away again, and the deficit is even bigger than when I took over. --------------------------------------------------------------

February 2045 - 1461 Trabzon FK 2. Lig - Beyaz Group An excellent start. Ertugrul Guney is the player with the highest average rating in the division, and he showed why with a brace in my first game in charge. 19 year old Muhammed Acikgoz is our top scorer, and the hat-trick to beat Batman brought him to 15 goals for the season. Nicely done, the gap's down to just one point. --------------------------------------------------------------

February 2045 Job Search Since I quit FC Anyang in November there hadn't been many vacancies available, other than clubs at the lower end of the Argentinian second tier. I should probably go back there at some point to try and rectify the previous disaster, but none of these jobs were the right option. A short while later two jobs popped-up in the Turkish third tier, and I decided to apply for one of them. 1461 Trabzon FK have turned into a yo-yo club, with three promotions and three relegations in the last 12 years. This season they've been in and around the fight for the play-offs. With 11 games remaining they're just outside these positions at the moment, but recent form has been decent so there's a chance to get back in the mix. --------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks! I normally have six-eight countries active at a time, mixing it up every few years. This is the current set-up that has been place since I left Portugal in 2042 (currently in February 2045). I've only been in South Korea and Argentina so far from this selection, and only achieved a promotion in one of them, so will probably leave these options in place another year or two before changing it up again.

November 2044 - FC Anyang Squad Stats Sang Hui was voted the fans' player of the season, but that's clearly nonsense. It was a legacy decision, a one club player with over 600 league games and more than 80 goals for the club, but he didn't deserve it this year. Kevin Valoi ended up as top scorer with 13 goals, but the main man during my time here was Tiago Lopes, who managed 18 goal contributions in 18 games. -------------------------------------------------------------- History When I took this job I fancied that I could get us into the play-off mix, but getting promoted so easily was a surprise. Kind of a shame in a way, I wouldn't have minded having another year with this team. That's my second promotion in Asia, and the first time I've gone up through the play-offs. -------------------------------------------------------------- Languages New: Korean (basic) Total: 19 -------------------------------------------------------------- Job Search Just like normal, promotion to the top flight means it's time to move on. --------------------------------------------------------------

November 2044 - FC Anyang K League 2 Play-Offs In the semi-final we faced Incheon United, who finished in 4th place. It was a tight game that could have gone either way, but we nabbed the only goal of the game to make it to the next round. Next up was 3rd placed Jeju United. A 19th minute red card was far from ideal and we struggled throughout the rest of the first-half. We made it to the interval with the game scoreless though, and re-grouped. We looked better after the break and took the lead, though they quickly equalised. In a worrying moment they had the ball in the net again in the 85th minute but it was ruled out for a blatant offside. We then stole it in stoppage-time, Tiago Lopes grabbing his second of the tie. After dispatching the K League 2 teams, we moved on to Suwon Bluewings, who had finished 10th in K League 1. The home leg was up first, and momentum and confidence carried us through this. They were probably better than us on the day, but we had our scoring boots on and they did not. The second leg was away at their place, and we looked doomed when Cemae Guehi was sent-off after less then 20 seconds for a terrible challenge. We managed to keep it tight at the back though, and in the 17th minute we made it 3-1 on aggregate when Lee Jae-Ki scored on a counter-attack, ending a drought that had lasted nine games. Ten minutes later he added a second, a tap-in after a defensive mistake, and the game was over. The expected fightback from Suwon never came, and the tie was ours. Promotion! --------------------------------------------------------------

October 2044 - FC Anyang K League 2 Our strong form from August carried over, and we made it five wins from six games. Tiago Lopes was in a scoring mood, with goals in five consecutive matches. Going forward into October he made it eight goals in nine games. But a red card for one of our centre-backs after 28 minutes against Ansan put us at a massive disadvantage, and we were lucky to lose by just the one goal. It could easily have been half a dozen. We didn't really recover from that, picking up only three points over our final three games. At least we showed some fighting spirit at home, coming back from being two goals down with a late rally to rescue a point against both FC Seoul and Bucheon FC 1995. We'd pushed up into 3rd place after September, but the weak ending to the season saw us fall back down to 5th. That's what we were aiming for as it gets us into the play-offs, but it is a little bittersweet. If just one of those last draws had been a win we'd have finished in 3rd, and entered the play-offs a game later. --------------------------------------------------------------

August 2044 - FC Anyang K League 2 Goals goals goal! This is what I like to see. Tiago Lopes and Lee Jae-Ki were both summer signings to bolster our strikeforce, so good to see them both getting in on the action. All my country-hopping gives us a lot of scouting knowledge for the recruitment team to pull from. Up into 5th, now to see if we can progress any further. If I've understood this correctly, the winner of 5th v 4th goes on to play 3rd. They then have a play-off against the side that finished 10th in K League 1. Independently of this, 2nd has a play-off against the side that finished 11th. --------------------------------------------------------------

July 2044 - FC Anyang K League 2 Only one loss from seven games is pretty good. Only one win from seven games is pretty bad. Drawing with league-leaders FC Seoul is pretty good. Drawing with the whipping boys Gimpo is pretty bad. Up one place despite all the dropped points, and only three points off the all-important 5th place. --------------------------------------------------------------

June 2044 - FC Anyang K League 2 Although we're down near the bottom of the table, the tide had been turning before I took over. The club had only earned 10 points from their first 12 games which was poor enough to get the manager the sack, but under the caretaker boss they won three, drew two, and only lost one. And winning my first three games in charge was the perfect way to begin and carry on that form. Annoyed by the next two results though. We battered Incheon United and Seoul E-Land, we should have won the full 15 points from this month. It also slightly worrying that all our goals came from just two players. And one of them, Bae Min-Keun, has now left for £140k when his release clause was met. We've climbed up three places into 7th. The fight for 5th is still on. --------------------------------------------------------------

May 2044 Job Search Not long after being fired I had a chance to fall upwards, as I was offered an interview with Platense in the Argentine top flight. Can't get promoted from the top flight though, so obviously this was rejected. The available jobs that I could apply for were generally from clubs in the division I'd just left, but languishing further down the table. So that was even less appealing. I ended up sitting out for more than six months waiting for the right opportunity. There were a whole bunch of jobs in the Turkish second and third tiers where the manager's status was insecure, but while I was waiting for one of these a different opening emerged in South Korea. 10th out of 11 teams doesn't look good, but the gap between us and the teams above is very small, so there's potential to rise up the table. Everyone plays each other four times, so there's still 22 games left to improve our placing. The team that finishes top is promoted automatically, then 2nd-5th go into a play-off system. If we get off to a good start then we may even make it into the mix. --------------------------------------------------------------

October 2043 - Lanus Primera Nacional We showed some spirit at least. We came back from a goal down twice to win a point against Gimnasia, and it is unbelievably unlucky to score five times and still lose. Or defensively incompetent depending how you look at it. We've only lost once in this month, but also only won once. That only makes for five points out of 12 though, I don't think it's going to be enough. We've maintained our position in the table, but we needed to do more and move upwards. Think I know what the content of the next e-mail is going to be. -------------------------------------------------------------- Job Search And there it is. -------------------------------------------------------------- History An unmitigated disaster. We started dreadfully, had a brief flurry though the end of May to the start of July, then went back to dreadful again. No complaints about getting the sack, it was fully deserved. After the previous 20 years of success failure had to come at some point, but two in a row sucks. -------------------------------------------------------------- Languages New: Spanish (fluent) Total: 18 --------------------------------------------------------------

September 2043 - Lanus Primera Nacional There's a lot of red on the board here. Too much in fact. Benitez is doing his part, but no one else is. Though Benitez himself is actually a large part of the issue. He wants a new contract of over £5k per week, but the maximum the board will allow is £2.5k. So he's being difficult, and the rest of the team asked for a meeting where they backed his claim. Obviously I told them to stop being unprofessional, and now everyone's miserable all over again. We've dropped back down the table again and it's not looking good. The board are deeply unsatisfied, I think we all know what's coming next. -------------------------------------------------------------- Trouble Uh oh. Can I get out of this? I can, for now. They've given me one month, four more games to improve the situation. --------------------------------------------------------------

July 2043 - Lanus Primera Nacional A disappointing month after the upturn in June. Correa continued to go strong (now at 19 goals in 19 games) and smashed in a four goal haul at Los Andes, but none of his teammates are performing at the same level. I could accept the loss to Mitre (SdE) as they're a good side and the win put them top of the table, but only ending up with one point from the games against Barracas Central and Chacaritas Jrs. was poor. We were leading both games at the 20 minute mark before throwing away the points. We've slipped out of the play-off places for now, and again the board are getting annoyed. --------------------------------------------------------------

June 2043 - Lanus Primera Nacional The ship has been righted for now, but I don't think I can take much of the credit. The glory instead has to go to my striker Correa, as he banged in six goals this month to earn us three wins. And probably single-handedly saved my job. He wants to leave but unlike others he's not being disruptive about it, so hopefully he'll changed his mind. We'd be screwed without him. The ten points won have seen us shoot up the table, and into the lower reaches of the play-off positions. --------------------------------------------------------------