(FM'14) - The Fixer

neilhoskins77 · May 14, 2017

**The following posts may contain long ball football that some may find offensive.....the language might be a bit tasteless too**

Newport, Wales, UK.
Early July 2013.

I've got a mate called Dan. He's a bit of a dreamer, always coming up with ideas that are pretty far fetched, and mostly well beyond his capabilities. He's harmless enough, but he won't get off his arse unless it gets him a step closer to world domination. While Dan has been living his dream like existence inside the parallel universe of his own mind for the last few years, I've been keeping myself busy by earning some very real and valid football qualifications. With limited ability in my own two feet, I threw myself into coaching in the local junior scene, and didn't do to badly if I do say so myself.

With the 2012/13 season now at an end, and summer on the way, Dan called to let me know he had run into a guy who was 'well connected in the world of football'. Doubting Dan's story, but continuing to listen, while also wondering what documentary delights would be on BBC4 to entertain me that evening, my opportunity seeking pal went on to explain to me how he was about to haul me into his own world of unlikely fame and fortune.

'Yeah, I told him all about you, and how well you've been doing in the local football scene. See, this guy, he's what they call 'A Fixer'. He opens doors for people, gets them into positions and opportunities that they wouldn't necessarily get without his help. He was really interested to hear about you mate!'

'Ok Dan, but what's in it for you?' It was a harsh question, especially in the face of a mate doing me a potentially life changing favour. But if you knew Dan like I knew Dan, you'd realise the question was absolutely a fair one.

'Yeah, I told him that I'm your agent.'

'You p***k!'

Like I said, it had been a very fair question. Dan did nothing without there being something in it for himself. I immediately began to wonder what kind of hapless idiot that Dan had got himself involved with. I wasn't so worried about Dan himself, I already knew he was a hapless idiot. If this guy was such a big shot, how would he ever be in the unfortunate position as to meet with my mate. And what kind of muppet did he believe I would be as someone who associated themselves with a guy like Dan?

But what if, just for a change, and maybe the first time ever, Dan had been in the right place at the right time? What if this mystery 'fixer' was someone who could change the course of my 35 year old life that was going nowhere in a hurry?

I let out an audible sigh, the kind of sigh that suggested I knew that that nothing good would come of this, but that I couldn't afford to take the chance of missing out.

'Alright Dan, what happens next?'

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'The Fixer' is a story generated by the going's-on of a FM'14 save that starts with me unemployed, experience set at Sunday League footballer, and has Leagues loaded from far and wide across the world, some pre-existing in the game, some enabled by the use of League add ons from the Steam Workshop. The reliability of these add ons is unknown. Therefore, the credibility of such add on's may prove to be as shady as some of the characters you may meet in this story. Any similarity to any person alive or dead is purely coincidence, and all views expressed are my own. In this effort, I'll attempt to move away from the usual stats based updates and match reporting. The posts will vary in length depending on how the save goes. Thanks for reading.
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tenthreeleader · May 15, 2017

Looks like a fun project. Write on

neilhoskins77 · May 15, 2017

Cardiff, Wales, UK
Mid-July 2013.

The bar that had been chosen for the meet was nearly as damp and miserable as the weather was outside. So much for summer. The car journey into Cardiff had been made almost unbearable by Dan's cheerful musing's about which club the fixer would hook us up with. Tenerife was his preferred destination, his mood dulled somewhat by my insistence that clubs of that type didn't generally employ inexperienced Welshmen who they've never heard of, and an agent who drove a Ford Fiesta that was visibly losing colour and gaining rust by the minute. The rest of the journey was spent with me trying to push Dan into remembering the name of the gentleman we were heading to meet. No such luck. 'Can't remember, foreign sounding' was the best my dimwit 'agent' could manage.

Twenty minutes we were sat waiting in the bar, when a tanned bloke with sunglasses on walked through the door, and headed our way. It takes a special kind of tosser to wear sunglasses when it's pissing down with rain, but to keep them on when you get indoors is another level entirely I thought to myself. Dan rose to greet him with a handshake, and I followed suit. 'Pleasure to meet you Neil, my name is Jaime (pronounced Hi-me).' I nodded a greeting, and the newcomer sat down opposite me. I explained that I had been given very little information at what was actually going on here, extending an invite for him to fill in the blanks.

'I understand, I'm sure you have a lot of questions for me. My name is Jaime Velazquez, my family are from South America, but I was born and raised in Spain.....'

'Outstanding! Have you been to Tenerife?' The intruption from Dan was met with a swift sweep of my right foot, that had it been performed on a football park, would have produced a 25 yard volley into the top corner, a shot that I didn't have the talent to execute.

Jaime smiled. 'As I was saying, I have lived in Spain my whole life, managing bars and restaraunts, and now I manage people so to speak. Your friend tells me that you are a talented football manager. Tell me, what achievements do you have on your CV.'

I tried not to look uncomfortable or embarassed. 'It's all very minor, just junior football really, though I do have some UEFA coaching qualifications.'

Unable to stop himself, Dan inserted himself into the conversation once more. 'Tell him about the regional Cup you just won!'

More uncomfortable shifting. 'That's a really good start of course' offered Jaime.

'Well, we kind of won it by default' I was forced to admit. 'The opposition side was wiped out by a bout of food poisoning at a club event a couple of days before the Cup Final. The League refused to re-schedule the match due to the venue being unavailable, and we were awarded the Cup by default. It's not the way I'd like to have won it.'

'Wow, that is seriously unlucky for a whole side to get food poisoning that close to a Cup Final.' Jaime responded. Dan sat silently for once, trying to stop the guilty look from creeping across his face. I'd have aimed another right footer if he hadn't had already moved his legs.

Mercifully, Jaime decided to continue telling me what his plan was. 'Neil, like you, I am also fairly new to the business of football. As you already have an agent, then I would be your manager so to speak. In my short time in the game, I have amassed contacts from all around the globe, and there is always a need for football managers. What I require from you is to be open minded into the places that you may be asked to go to. We need to build your reputation in the game to improve your standing. I suspect we'll likely be looking at clubs aiming to bring in a manager on a short term deal to avoid relegation to start with, and hopefully with a bonus to be made should you achieve your goals. Should you manage to enhance your reputation, we can then look at bigger clubs who have fallen down the pecking order so to speak, where the rewards would be more lucrative of course.'

'Well, that sounds that a well thought out plan. But are we really talking about anywhere in the world?'

'Anywhere!' responded Jaime emphatically. 'When you are in a job that I find you, I would take 20% of your total earnings, including bonus money. As a show of good faith, I will pay you 30% of your last salary on a weekly basis while you're not in work, starting at £100, this way you know that I am always trying to find you work and not wasting your time, or my own. Obviously you will need to come to your own arrangement with your agent.' he finished, gesturing towards Dan.

'I'll start with a pint.' grinned my 'agent'.

'You're driving' I reminded him.

Jaime smiled once more, and rose to leave, still wearing the sunglasses he had continued to wear throughout our entire meeting. 'I will leave you guys to talk it through, and let me know what you decide. Here is my card, give me a call when you have made your decision Neil.'

neilhoskins77 · May 15, 2017

4 hours ago, tenthreeleader said:

Looks like a fun project. Write on

Cheers TenThree.

neilhoskins77 · May 16, 2017

Newport, Wales, UK.
Late July 2013.

It wasn't as if there was any real decision to be made, was there? For someone like me, this was the only open door I was likely to get through to become a football manager, and I would be nuts to turn it down. I wasn't likely to be able to get a job anywhere without the help of someone like Jaime.

There were some issues of course, mostly that I didn't know Jaime at all. It all seemed legit and above board, and when I called to let him know that I would accept his offer, he sounded genuinely pleased, and said he was in a meeting, but would text me a number to call right away, where his own secretary would start getting things organised. Melissa was cheerful enough, but clearly very busy in her role, and struck me as someone who gets things done right away and with the minimum of fuss. She took some details, including my bank account info, which I found un-nerving. But within two minutes, my first £100 payment as agreed, was sitting right there. I wasn't being given any reason why I shouldn't trust Jaime and his company. I did make a mental note to spend some time in front of a mirror practicing my shocked face though, just in case this all blew up around me.

The downside of accepting the offer, was most certainly going to be spending more time with the clueless cock womble that I now officially called my agent. Dan had taken to calling me at 3am in the morning. When I asked why, he replied that his agent wouldn't always live right around the corner, and that I should get used to receiving calls from people in different time zones. We had agreed that my agent would get 10%, he wanted 15%, but settled for 10% when quizzed about what he thought his agent role entailed, and he wasn't able to come up with an answer more sensible than 'drive me to matches and stuff'.

The following day, Jaime called, and offered an apology that he hadn't been able to talk the previous day, and enquired about whether I had a valid passport, and how quickly I could be available should something come up for me. I told him that the job I did on a day to day basis was one that I was very much looking forward to quitting, and that while I would continue my Junior coaching for the time being, they were aware that I may be leaving at any given moment, although they didn't necessarily believe it to be true.

He told me that I may have to be patient for a chance to come up, and that right now, our most likely avenues would be the less traditional calendar year season Leagues, which would mean Scandinavia, Asia, maybe North America. That in itself sounded rather exciting, though quite far fetched I thought. He elaborated that if it got as far down the line as October, November or even Christmas, then the chances of an opening coming up in the UK or mainland Europe would be increased. Regardless, I would continue to receive my weekly £100 until he found me a post, and the money would certainly come in handy, even if I did have to hand a tenner of it straight to Dan, who would then predictably waste it on a Chinese takeaway or a scratchcard. I had questioned Jaime as to what would happen if the job he found me were Amateur, and didn't pay me any wages. He said he hadn't thought of that, but agreed right away that if that were the case, the club would have to agree to pay expenses, and he would continue the same arrangement as if I were without a job, which currently would be £100 a week.

I was really ready to get going now, if only to get started and stop wondering about which glamourous, or not so glamorous destination, might be my first port of call on the climbing frame of football management. I was now spending my spare time devising tactics for all kinds of situations, which let me tell you, is no easy task when you have no players to fit into the roles, no opponents to take into consideration when doing the set up work, and no clue as to what level of football or football intelligence we would be dealing with. I just hoped they were brighter than Dan, who was currently online spending his latest tenner having business cards made up to let everyone know he was now a football agent!

neilhoskins77 · May 17, 2017

Newport, Wales, UK.
August 2013.

With the football season getting underway in the more traditional Leagues, I was being kept busy enough with my full time job and the Junior coaching being back into full swing. Jaime and his team were keeping me in touch, letting me know where vacancies were creeping up, and which ones they had put me into the running for. Opportunities came and went, in Thailand first of all, and then Estonia the following week.

When the next chance came up as we headed towards mid-August, I was really hoping that this one would work out. A club in the lower Leagues of Switzerland who had just lost their manager to a higher division club. They had a very good squad for the level they play at, the only issue was the club had a large loan out that they were struggling to keep up the payments on. I fell into the trap of setting my heart on the job, and when I didn't even land an interview, my spirits hit the floor, even at this early stage.

Sensing that I was in need of a pep talk, Jaime arranged a lunch meeting for a few days time. As it would turn out, he would have some news for me when I got there too. He sent me a text that morning, telling me where lunch was, and also not to make any plans for the afternoon, plus to bring a smart shirt with me as well. Needless to say, I was intrigued as to what Jaime had up his sleeve.

There's not many people who have to hand in a shirt to the cloakroom when they go out for lunch, which was a bit weird. But Jamie had done a good job picking the restaraunt, I just hoped I was wasn't picking up the bill. He asked me where Dan was, and I felt a pang of guilt. Here we were at a lunch meeting regarding my future as a football manager, and I'd actually forgotten that I had an agent! I really needed to try and take Dan more seriously if this was something we were actually going to do.

On to business, and Jaime had news. 'I know you were disappointed not to get the job in Switzerland, but this afternoon, you'll have your first interview for a Manager's job. I waited until now to tell you to reduce the risk of you getting nervous. It'll take place in a conference room in a hotel across town, another manager is being interviewed for another job at another club at the same time. His will be a face to face interview, yours will be by video link though as it has been a pretty fast moving situation, and there simply hasn't been time to get both parties in the same location at such short notice.'

It was a bit of a shock, but I was much more relaxed than I expected myself to be, and actually quite glad that I hadn't brought Dan along now. We made our way to the hotel, where Jaime introduced me to the other Manager that he looked after, and I wished him luck for his interview, which was going to be for a job with one of the Welsh League clubs who were looking for someone to lead them into the season that was now a week or so old. I took a moment or so to freshen up, change into my smart shirt, and compose myself, before being led into a room by Jaime. On the wall was a projector screen, and on the large desk in front of it, a laptop hooked up to a projector. We sat down in front of the device, and Jaime made the call.

He introduced me to the three men who appeared on the projector screen, the club's Chairman, and two men who he described as associates. Jaime explained that he had actually given me no details at all, so the Chairman went on to explain the situation at his club, before posing some questions at me. Clearly already briefed as to my limited experience, he went along the route of asking how I would cope working under certain conditions. The wage budget was very limited, the Transfer Window was now closed. I would be there for a particular purpose, and I would be working with what was already there.

I wanted the job, I wanted to get started right this minute. That doesn't mean I was going to agree to work under conditions that I thought were interfering or restrictive. But I didn't necessarily feel that was the case here, more that I was being warned and prepared that this was what they had. It didn't feel uncomfortable, and it didn't put me off. The chat felt more informal than an interview usually would. I had a good feeling about it, and so did Jaime. Now all I wanted to do was get to that club and start working. All I could do though, was sit and wait. That was more anxious than the interview itself for me!

I went back to my local for my usual Saturday evening routine that mostly included beer. Dan was there, I had text him and told him that there was news. With the din of bad karaoke in the background, early season Premier League highlights on the plasma screens dotted around the bar, and rugby players discussing their own early season exploits, I told my agent that all had gone well as far as I was concerned, and that I was hoping to hear news soon. It had never actually been discussed what would happen when I should get a job. If a move away from South East Wales was needed, would Dan be coming with me? I resolved to push that kind of worry out of my mind for the moment. Let's see if I could land the job first of all.

As quickly as things had been started to move for me on Saturday afternoon, they would move just as quickly late Tuesday morning and into the lunchtime. I was actually at work, acutely aware that my phone was buzzing away in my pocket, but unable to do anything about it mid task. It was nearly ten minutes before I was able to take out the device and see the missed calls, one from Jaime, two from Melissa. I decided to go right to the top, and called Jaime back.

'Lets go Neil, you got the job, and I need you to be packed and ready quicker than you've ever packed in your life. The first game is tomorrow evening. I'm sending a car for you right now. Get the driver to help you do whatever you need to do.'

That was a lot of detail to process in a very short space of time, and gave me very little time to enjoy the satisfaction of quitting my job, and announcing that I would not be working any notice, or even seeing out the shift. With a quick couple of farewells to some colleagues that I actually had the time of day for, I decided to save some time by getting a taxi to the house, to start hastily packing, while also calling relatives that needed to know. The driver arrived and helped out where he could, and everything was in the car in record time. I was excited! I was about to start out on a adventure that could literally take me anywhere.....

neilhoskins77 · May 18, 2017

Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Mid-August 2013.

When 45 year old Irish manager Colm Muldoon was sacked last Thursday, the Chairman of the club only created two and a bit years ago, contacted as many people as he knew in the game to try and get a new manager into Kingston FC as quickly as possible in an attempt to save the clubs season. Jaime was one of those people who he contacted, and the rest is now history. Kingston FC play in the Canadian Soccer League, the top tier of football in the North American nation, along with eleven other clubs, all based in the Ontario area. Eight of the twelve clubs would move into the end of season Playoffs, a staple of any end of season in North American sports of course. Those Playoffs were the aim for me now after being handed the job by Roman Pros, the club's Chairman. Outgoing manager Muldoon managed just three wins from fourteen matches, and lost each of the last five, the final nail coming when his side were beaten by Niagara United last Wednesday. I now have eight games to move this club from tenth place into the top eight to extend our season. Five of those games will be at home, and will begin tomorrow with a home match against the side currently occupying the 8th placed spot, Burlington.

Negotiations over my contract had been very brief, and to the point. Jaime knew how desperate Pros needed to get someone in, and indicated that I had been his choice since Saturday's interview. I asked Jaime to conduct the negotiations on my behalf, and he copied messages to me waiting for my approval. The club offered a deal until the end of next season, with a wage of £475 per week. He suggested that I try and push that number up a bit based on the clubs desperation, while I also suggested that right now, I would be happy on a short term deal until the end of the current season, preferring to then review the situation. Within two minutes, the next message came through, with an offer of £550 a week until the end of this season. I replied to tell them I was on the way. The driver was whisking me straight to Heathrow, where I was booked to get a flight into Toronto. A flight of nearly eight hours, but a time difference of five hours meant that on the 4pm flight, I would be in Toronto at 7pm local time. I would still have a three hour car journey at the other end too.

There's generally not a whole lot you can do on a flight, but thanks to Air Canada's complimentary wi-fi, I was able to learn a bit about the League that my new side were playing in, and the opponents I would be looking to get the better of over the coming weeks and months. I tried to balance out my studies with a bit of sleep, not wanting too much, as I didn't want to be wide awake well into the night, but just a couple of hours that I would be able to go to sleep at a reasonably decent hour and be ready for what tomorrow was going to bring.

In theory, that was a good plan. But after taking nearly an hour to get through the airport, and then sit in the car for three hours in still fairly warm temperatures after being collected by a member of the clubs staff, I was pretty much wide awake by the time I got checked into the hotel in Kingston right in the centre of town. I continued to look at the overall aspect of the League, trying to gauge some idea of the quality levels by researching the best players, then scaling that down to try and work out where my players fitted into the quality barometer, and also the players of tomorrow's opponents, Burlington. By the time I eventually drifted into a proper sleep at around 4am, I had convinced myself that we had a shot. Pros wanted the club to reach the Playoffs, which we were six points away from with 24 left to play for. The defeat against Niagara United had hurt us, as they leaped above us, ultimately costing Muldoon his job. With five of the eight at home, including the opening two when I arrived, there was a cause for optimism, and I felt I had landed on my feet in this role, as we were fighting for something, rather than the expected gig of trying to avoid a relegation. Tomorrow was going to be a really hectic day.

Job#1. Kingston FC (Canadian Soccer League).
The Challenge :- Move the club into the top 8 places and Qualify for the CSL Championship Playoff's.

2013 Canadian Soccer League Standings, Up To & Including Tuesday 20th August 2013.

| Pos   | Team                 |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
 
| 1st   | Serbian White Eagles |       | 14    | 10    | 3     | 1     | 27    | 8     | +19   | 33    | 
| 2nd   | Brampton United      |       | 14    | 10    | 2     | 2     | 28    | 11    | +17   | 32    | 
| 3rd   | London City          |       | 14    | 10    | 2     | 2     | 29    | 14    | +15   | 32    | 
| 4th   | Toronto Croatia      |       | 14    | 9     | 0     | 5     | 28    | 15    | +13   | 27    | 
| 5th   | SC Waterloo          |       | 14    | 6     | 2     | 6     | 17    | 21    | -4    | 20    | 
| 6th   | York Region Shooters |       | 14    | 5     | 4     | 5     | 19    | 16    | +3    | 19    | 
| 7th   | Astros Vasas         |       | 14    | 5     | 4     | 5     | 19    | 17    | +2    | 19    | 
| 8th   | Burlington           |       | 14    | 4     | 4     | 6     | 13    | 20    | -7    | 16    | 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
| 9th   | Niagara Utd          |       | 14    | 5     | 1     | 8     | 14    | 25    | -11   | 16    | 
| 10th  | Kingston FC          |       | 14    | 3     | 1     | 10    | 11    | 23    | -12   | 10    | 
| 11th  | Windsor Stars        |       | 14    | 2     | 2     | 10    | 10    | 26    | -16   | 8     | 
| 12th  | St. Catherine's      |       | 14    | 2     | 1     | 11    | 8     | 27    | -19   | 7     |

neilhoskins77 · May 19, 2017

Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Mid-August 2013.

You know when you have so much to do, that no matter how good your memory is, a list is required, partly so you don't forget something, and partly just so you can see something tangible to show that you are actually getting through it. There felt like that there might not be enough paper in the world to make my list for today. After a shower and breakfast, I was ready to get picked up and head to the Queen's University, where the club played at a 1,000 capacity stadium with a state of the art new soft synthetic playing surface. This semi-professional club was founded in 2011, and that they are competitive at all is thanks to the hard work of Roman Pros. The man from the Czech Republic who loves football enough that he created his own club in the city he had made his home, now wanted to take the next step of taking them into the post season.

In the space of a whirlwind few hours that Wednesday morning, I met Roman Pros, and then met Patrick Gordon, my Assistant Manager. Then I met the press, or one journalist to be more accurate. Needless to say, that even when the hockey season hasn't started, there isn't much attention of soccer in this city. At the press conference to announce my arrival as the new boss, I told the one hack in attendance that it was now time to shake off the tag of new boys, and make this the season that the club reached the Playoffs. If we could get there with a bit of form, then literally anything could happen. Then it was time to go and meet the players, or those that had been able to get into the ground this morning. The Reserve and Youth sides (both comprising of Greys) were both training, and some were selected to supplement the First Team squad for the remainder of this season on Youth contracts. That in itself would play havoc with the budget figures, but right now, I was not going to concern myself with that.

The club has just one Senior goalkeeper on it's books, eccentric Japanese 27 year old, Yasuto Hoshiko. This is the first time he has been the number one at a club, and he has conceded an average of just over 1.5 goals a match. He's a little shorter than I would like, but he is the best we have by a long way. When I arrive, he is the Club Captain. I decide he would be much better served concentrating on his goalkeeping. Local eighteen year old Nicolas Mude is enlisted on a Youth contract to be his understudy. It is no exageration to say that if the youngster ends up playing, we're in big trouble.

In front of the keeper, the club has no Senior full backs, so two more teenagers are pushed to the forefront. Jesse Magnotta is two footed, and can play on either side of the back four, which could be a god send in a squad that lacks versatility as we do. Oscar Haber is all left foot, and is the best left footer in the squad. Actually, he is the only left footer in the squad! Both youngsters could come on leaps and bounds with regular football at this level. We're considerably more blessed at centre back, where we have five Senior players of varying levels. One of them however, will miss the rest of the season, Jean-Michael Paulin broke a foot six weeks ago, and wont be back fit until November at the earliest. He was the clubs Vice-Captain, but as he can't play, I see no reason not to change that around. Enter the new Club Captain, and clearly one of our best player, once capped Guyana International and Toronto born, Taylor Benjamin. The 23 year old is an easy choice to pass the armband to. He has had a range of defensive partners this season, with the most often used being French 22 year old, Hugo Delmaire. He's being paid £5 a week, and frankly, he looks like he might be ripping the club off, yet still might be the best of a bad bunch. The other options are between Canadian duo Joseph Zupo, who can certainly tackle, but would struggle to mark a bag of sand, and Austin White, who looks the best physically, but lacks any real concentration or football intelligence, plus is suspended for tonight's match.

Into the midfield, and I have just one wide player, 24 year old right footer Jordan Brooks, who is out for a month after twisting his knee against Niagara United last week. That leaves me with three available, so we'll start with the Canadian centre pairing of Nathan Klemencic and Toni El-Asmar. Aged 22 and 23 respectively, neither are going to score hatfuls of goals for you, but both would happily run through a brick wall if you told them it was for the sake of the team, and right now, we'll need plenty of that kind of spirit. If forced to choose, El-Asmar is the better footballer of the two. Further up the park, we have Kenyan 25 year old Kihara Wainganjo. He likes to play behind the striker, but judging by his attributes and stats, he would be better used runnning around collecting tickets in the stands. I have given five teenage midfielders a Youth contract, and all are likely to figure during the remainder of the season. With Brooks injured, speedster Casey Arcaro is likely to see some game time on the right wing, but he really needs to enhance his crossing quickly. On the other side of the park, James Sauve has versatility, and is a bit of an all rounder, which would see him used in multiple positions if he wasn't the only left winger we had. Seventeen year old Junior Antsey and eighteen year old Tam Young are both just as capable footballers as Klemencic and El-Asmar, and both will likely be rotated in and out of the side between now and the season end. The pick of the Youth crop has to be seventeen year old Jake Henry. I can't tell you why Muldoon didn't use this kid, but the lad would be absolute gold if it weren't for his lack of any kind of pace or acceleration. I'll solve that problem by playing him behind the striker, where he is still light years ahead of Wainganjo.

Finally, the strikers, and we reach the undoubted star of the show when it comes to soccer in Kingston. Meet 25 year old French striker, Guillaume Surot. He has scored a third of the clubs League goals so far this season, which is almost as much as his wage budget ratio, where he takes up a whopping 39.9% of the allowance on his own. Quite frankly, this club would be stuffed without him, he's quick, agile, lethal in the box, and not too shabby in the air considering he's only 5'10. This is first season in Canada after signing from non-League side Stade Olympique Choletais in his homeland, and it's likely to be his last season here too. Currently in talks with Italian third tier club San Marino, the striker is absolutely refusing to engage in talks about extending his stay here, and quite frankly, we couldn't afford to keep him if he was willing to sit down and discuss it. His understudy is quite a major step down, 24 year old Senegalese striker Mademba Ba, who has been at the club for almost two years, and has yet to find the net.

As you can see, it's a motley crue that we have, but when I look around at the other squad's in the CSL, I don't see anything that we should be too frightened off. Most clubs have a couple of marquee players at most, and then have a squad made up of foreign players and Canadian youngsters. If we can get off to a good start tonight, we could be competitive here. Lets get this started!

neilhoskins77 · May 20, 2017

Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Wednesday 21st August 2013.
Senior Management Debut.

After a day as busy and hectic as the one I've had, and combined with the lack of sleep last night and the jet lag, I should have been thinking about getting an early night. Instead, I was preparing for my first game as a football manager. I would be relying on adrenaline and nervous energy getting me through this one. I'd fielded a few phone calls during the afternoon, Jaime had called to wish me luck, Dan had called to ask if he would be able to find a stream of the match.

Burlington's form had only been marginally better than ours this season, and they would be without their best player as well. 30 year old Player/Manager from Cameroon, midfielder Tabi, is being paid £600 a week by the club, but has a twisted ankle, and won't be back until well into September at the earliest. That doesn't do our chances any harm at all.

Five of my newly signed up youngsters would make their Senior debuts tonight, with all of our wide players in a 4-4-1-1 formation being teenagers, and we were still one short on the substitutes bench. Fortunately, we had some experience through the middle of the park to help them through the game. Hugo Delmaire had been selected at centre back to partner Taylor Benjamin, our new Club Captain. Another more experienced pair would line up in the centre of the midfield, where Nathan Klemencic and Toni El-Asmar would team up. Bright new youngster Jake Henry would sit ahead of the pair, and up top, we had our biggest hope, French striker Guillaume Surot.

'This is a big day.' I told my players as the moments ticked down to kick off time. 'The slate is clean guys, and today we start from fresh. This is now an eight game season for us, and I want you to give it your all. If you do that, we can make it into the Playoffs, and then anything can happen.' I didn't want things to be too complicated, so the players were asked to keep the pace fairly slow, pass the ball short, and keep possession. The wide players would be the ones asked to inject any pace we required into proceedings, with the wide midfielders asked to run at their markers, and the full backs told to overlap when it was safe to do so. Up top, Surot and Henry were told not to be afraid to pull the trigger.

We were the more aggresive side when it came to going forward, and in the opening ten minutes, James Sauve's free kick from almost on halfway just carried on floating goalwards, eventually cannoning back off the angle of the goal frame, before being bundled away by Yan Ilic. The perfect playing surface was aiding our passing beautifully and Guillaume Surot latched onto Toni El-Asmar's through ball. The striker took too long to take his shot, and a defender made the block, but the respite was only temporary for Burlington. Debut making teenage full back Jesse Magnotta, not only cut out Ilic's dangerous cross field pass, but he then sent a through ball between the defence, and Surot was through, attempting to lift the ball over Michael Norsworthy, the keeper getting fingertips to the ball, but only able to deviate it's course against the inside of the post, the ball finding the net via the upright to hand us the lead.

When Ilic didn't reappear for the second half due to an injury, our chances improved still further. The reality was that I was very nervous on the touchline, and reluctant to make any changes, concerned that I might upset the rythym that the team had built. When it got to the 77 minute mark, I could wait no longer, and Surot came off as he had emptied the tank. That the substitution coincided with Burlington's best spell of the game helped even less, and we were lucky that Jelani Colistro had failed to hold his run long enough to stay onside as he squared the ball for Waleed Ionadi to slot into the unguarded net. El-Asmar came off with minutes remaining to be replaced by the fresh legs of Junior Antsey for his debut. I was merely running down the clock when I introduced our seventh debutant of the evening, Tam Young coming on deep into injury time. We held on, and I allowed myself a fist pump when the final whistle blew. It had been a draining experience, but I enjoyed every moment of it.

The feel of getting off to a winning start in my first job in the game was exhilarating, and even the news that other results had not gone our way couldn't ruin this for me. Niagara United had won away against Astros Vasas, which meant that we were still six points away from the Playoff places with seven games remaining, though admittedly there were now several clubs within striking distance. And we had a very winable looking match scheduled up next on the weekend, at home to Windsor Stars.

2013 Canadian Soccer League Standings, Up To & Including Saturday 24th August 2013.

| Pos   | Inf   | Team                 |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
 
| 5th   |       | SC Waterloo          |       | 15    | 6     | 2     | 7     | 18    | 25    | -7    | 20    | 
| 6th   |       | York Region Shooters |       | 15    | 5     | 4     | 6     | 20    | 19    | +1    | 19    | 
| 7th   |       | Astros Vasas         |       | 15    | 5     | 4     | 6     | 19    | 18    | +1    | 19    | 
| 8th   |       | Niagara Utd          |       | 15    | 6     | 1     | 8     | 15    | 25    | -10   | 19    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   |       | Burlington           |       | 15    | 4     | 4     | 7     | 13    | 21    | -8    | 16    | 
| 10th  |       | Kingston FC          |       | 15    | 4     | 1     | 10    | 12    | 23    | -11   | 13    | 
| 11th  |       | Windsor Stars        |       | 15    | 2     | 2     | 11    | 10    | 28    | -18   | 8     | 
| 12th  |       | St. Catherine's      |       | 15    | 2     | 1     | 12    | 8     | 28    | -20   | 7     |

neilhoskins77 · May 21, 2017

Clearly that performance alone was not enough to influence the decison of Guillaume Surot on his decision. The very next day after the win over Burlington, our French star striker has signed a deal to move to San Marino on January 1st. I can't say I blame him, he's going to earn an extra £800 a week on his basic wage, and thats before we even get into the level of football he'll be playing in one of the world's biggest football loving nations. From a Kingston FC point of view, it's criminal that Surot has been allowed to leave the club for free, but what are they supposed to do if the player has not interest in discussing a contract to stay? And exactly who am I to point fingers, I'm the guy who got my own contract offer from the club reduced down to a couple of months just in case things didn't go the way I hoped. All I can hope now is that Surot is focussed on helping the club reaching it's goals for the remainder of the year. Believe me, I didn't need yesterday's game to learn how vital Surot is to our season. We would be absolutely f****d without him!

Our squad is threadbare enough, so we can do without having players unavailable. Especially when it's of our own doing. Junior Antsey ate the fish at the training ground cafeteria, and now he will be out with food poisoning for about a week. I suppose we should count ourselves lucky he was the only one who got it! He misses out on the home match against Windsor, though we do have one player back in the squad, centre back Austin White's suspension has finished.

It turns out I need not have worried about Guillaume Surot losing concentration for the task at hand. We settled quickly against Windsor, and in the 11th minute, Casey Arcaro and Toni El-Asmar played some beautiful passing football on our carpet like surface. They got the ball to Jake Henry, and he slipped a pass to Surot. He hit his shot first time giving Anthony Santilli no time to react as the striker slotted the ball low into the bottom corner. We could have done without losing Nathan Klemencic to injury midway through the half, Tam Young coming on to replace him. It didn't impact on our attacking threat though, James Sauve lashed a shot into the side netting, but made amends with a cross field ball that picked out Acaro. The winger picked out Surot's run between the centre backs, and the Frenchman did the rest, taking the ball down and smashing it inside the near post. He nearly completed his hatrick before the break, as he intercepted a throw in and bore down on goal, Santilli pushing that one aside. The French striker wouldn't be denied today though, and within minutes of the restart, he ran onto another through ball from Henry, and curled his shot past the keeper to secure a superb treble. Ten minutes later, Sauve made a rookie mistake, collecting a short throw near his own corner flag, and trying a suicidal pass into his own penalty box. Stephen Ademolu took the ball and found the far corner easily. Concerned about our flagging energy levels, Henry and Surot had to be sacrificed. I was confident enough that we would be able to see the game out. I lost some of that confidence with just over ten minutes left, as El-Asmar was left in a heap and his game was over. We managed to see the game out with ten men, and the club has back to back victories for the first time this season, but at what cost?

Considerable as it turns out. We lost both of our centre midfielders during that match. Toni El-Asmar has fractured his arm, and he will be out for the next six weeks. Nathan Klemencic has strained his thigh, and if left to the physio, he would be out for around a month. However, we have a very tough fixture in midweek, and Antsey could miss out with food poisoning. That would leave me down to just one centre midfielder, so I have no option but to instruct the physio to schedule Klemencic in for a pain killing injection before that match to get through the game. This threadbare squad thing is already becoming a real problem for us, and I'm only two games in.

On the bright side, we're now sitting with six points from the two matches since I arrived, and we've played some nice football along the way too. We've scored four goals, or to be more precise, Guillaume Surot has scored four goals, the striker is now leading the League's scoring chart after doubling his season tally over the last pair of fixtures. Astros Vasas and Burlington drew, which is great for us, Niagara United lose, which is even better. Things are about to get tougher for us though. Our next two fixtures are away matches against sides from the top four, before a home match against the League leaders, and then a trip to the bottom side. We're about to find out exactly what this side is made of I suspect.

2013 Canadian Soccer League Standings. Up To & Including Sunday 25th August 2013.

| Pos   | Inf   | Team                 |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 

| 5th   |       | SC Waterloo          |       | 16    | 7     | 2     | 7     | 21    | 25    | -4    | 23    | 
| 6th   |       | York Region Shooters |       | 16    | 6     | 4     | 6     | 22    | 20    | +2    | 22    | 
| 7th   |       | Astros Vasas         |       | 16    | 5     | 5     | 6     | 19    | 18    | +1    | 20    | 
| 8th   |       | Niagara Utd          |       | 16    | 6     | 1     | 9     | 15    | 28    | -13   | 19    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   |       | Burlington           |       | 16    | 4     | 5     | 7     | 13    | 21    | -8    | 17    | 
| 10th  |       | Kingston FC          |       | 16    | 5     | 1     | 10    | 15    | 24    | -9    | 16    | 
| 11th  |       | Windsor Stars        |       | 16    | 2     | 2     | 12    | 11    | 31    | -20   | 8     | 
| 12th  |       | St. Catherine's      |       | 16    | 2     | 2     | 12    | 9     | 29    | -20   | 8     |

neilhoskins77 · May 22, 2017

We were now preparing for my first away match in charge, and by far the hardest match of the schedule to date, as we faced London City, one of the higher budget sides, and a club with some serious talent at their disposal in comparative terms for this League. They would be looking to secure their Playoff berth in the match, one point was all they required to sew that up. We were likely to be travelling to the match with an even shorter squad than normal. Right now, I have five players on the injury list, though Nathan Klemencic would receive a pain killing injection to allow him to play in this match, before being forced into a prolonged period out. Junior Antsey and winger Jordan Brooks were the only ones due back anytime soon.

I had to go with what I had, and believe me, that wasn't a lot. Despite hobbling off the bus, Nathan Klemencic was required to start at centre midfield, with Tam Young alongside him as a replacement for Toni El-Asmar. We were now two short on the bench, and of the five subs we did have, one was a rookie keeper, and two others were centre backs. I couldn't shake the feeling that today was going to be a very long day.

Yet, when the match got underway, it didn't pan out that way at all. We were competitive. Actually, more than that. There were spells where we were playing keep ball, and London City, and their supporters were getting frustrated with our tactics. On one such ocassion, Nathan Klemencic was flattened with a tackle that left our already injured midfielder face down in the centre circle. He got back up eventually, but by then, Jasmin Halkic and Tonci Pirija had combined to play in Younan Samra, and Japanese keeper Yasuto Hashiko had been forced into action, turning the well struck shot around his post. Rade Novkovic headed the corner against the bar at the far post, but we were holding firm, until two minutes before the break, when Novkovic's pass to Halkic was swept high into the net by the forward.

That was a disappointment, but I'd seen enough in that first half to believe we could still pinch something in the second half. Halkic was certainly the player we needed to keep an eye on though, he made good ground down the right wing, and then squared it to Vladimir Markotic, who smashed a shot from distance right off the bar. They would pay for their missed chances midway through the half, as James Sauve showed some quick feet on the left wing to get past his marker, and swing in a cross. It should have been an easy catch for Sa Brahima Traore, but Novkovic went for the ball as well, the pair collided and Guillaume Surot gleefully sidefooted the ball home, his fifth goal in a week, and his ninth for the season.

Now we just needed to hold on. With 15 minutes to go I had the subs warming up when Jake Henry was almost cut in half with a tackle that would have been too indecent to show before the watershed. The young forward wouldn't be able to continue, and I made all three of my changes. One minute later, Surot was hacked to the floor in the box, nothing was given. Kihara Wainganjo lost the ball, and Chris Simon tried to send Halkic into space down the London left. Hashiko could have easily let it go behind for a goal kick, but instead the eccentric keeper came charging from his goalmouth, and kept the ball win with a truly awful first touch. Halkic's eyes lit up, and he easily dispossessed the keeper, and then curled the ball into the unguarded net from the touchline, while our Japanese shot stopper could only watch helplessly from the floor. It was a real howler, and to top it off, any chances of a second comeback were snuffed out when recently introduced centre back sub Joseph Zupo picked up an injury that ended his evening within five minutes of coming on. When it's not your day.......

At least Burlington and Niagara United both lost again, but that didn't make me feel too much better. We missed a real opportunity to pinch a point from that game. It was hard to have a harsh word with Yasuto Hashiko, mostly as his grasp of English wasn't exactly top notch. But also as he had made a couple of good saves that kept us in the match when London City started turning the screws in the latter part of the first half. Nonetheless, I have never, and will never, be a fan of eccentric keepers who come charging from their line, especially when there is nothing to be gained. I told him that in those circumstances that I would rather he just let the ball go out, or let a defender deal with it. Charging out to the touchline, losing the ball, and costing us a goal is not something I'll put up with. He indicated that he had understood, and I left it at that. I can't risk upsetting him too much, he is my only Senior keeper in the squad.

I've been in Canada a week now, and in three matches, our situation has improved considerably despite that loss in London. Dan was going to stay in Wales, Jaime was sending him on a course, I suspect as much as anything to see how serious Dan really was about being my agent. I didn't have time to feel lonely, the games were coming thick and fast as the season approached it's finale.

2013 Canadian Soccer League Standings, Up To & Including Wednesday 28th August 2013.

| Pos   | Inf   | Team                 |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
 
| 5th   |       | SC Waterloo          |       | 17    | 8     | 2     | 7     | 23    | 26    | -3    | 26    | 
| 6th   |       | York Region Shooters |       | 17    | 7     | 4     | 6     | 25    | 21    | +4    | 25    | 
| 7th   |       | Astros Vasas         |       | 17    | 5     | 5     | 7     | 20    | 20    | 0     | 20    | 
| 8th   |       | Niagara Utd          |       | 17    | 6     | 1     | 10    | 16    | 31    | -15   | 19    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   |       | Burlington           |       | 17    | 4     | 5     | 8     | 13    | 23    | -10   | 17    | 
| 10th  |       | Kingston FC          |       | 17    | 5     | 1     | 11    | 16    | 26    | -10   | 16    | 
| 11th  |       | Windsor Stars        |       | 17    | 2     | 3     | 12    | 11    | 31    | -20   | 9     | 
| 12th  |       | St. Catherine's      |       | 17    | 2     | 3     | 12    | 9     | 29    | -20   | 9     |

neilhoskins77 · May 23, 2017

London City and Toronto Croatia have secured their Playoff spots following that round of matches, joining Serbian White Eagles and the Brampton United side that we visit next. Mercifully, that game will be the last before a two week break in the schedule. That break is very much needed, as while Jake Henry avoided any real damage when he was taken off in the defeat in London, it was a different story for Joseph Zupo, who twisted a knee, and will miss the next month of action. As we know, Nathan Klemencic is also now unavailable, with it being closer to two months out being suggested for the midfielder.

There was at least one foot note of good news for the club, and it was regarding Taylor Benjamin. His recent form has earned him a call up to the Guyana squad for their upcoming International Friendly, an away fixture against Dominican Republic. It's an opportunity for him to add to the one cap he currently has, and is of course a source of pride that one of our players is being recognised by his country. That source of pride would, however, quickly turn to anger if our stand out defender were to come back with an injury. That would be an absolute nightmare as far as I'm concerned.

Our next opponents from Brampton could be accused of attempting to gain favour on both sides of the Manchester divide with their peculiar choice of team moniker, Brampton City United FC. They certainly don't have the money of the Manchester clubs, as they have managed to clinch their Playoff spot on a shoestring budget compared to the clubs around them. They have two major earners, one of whom, Mirko Medic, has missed a significant portion of the campaign with strained ankle ligaments, and will be unavailable for their fixture with us. They then have two lower tier earners, both of whom are currently sidelined with injury. The remainder of their squad is made up of Canadians of varying levels of skill, the best of the bunch probably being top scorer Daniel Nascimento, the striker is a couple of goals behind our own League leading Guillaume Surot for the season so far. Despite their money and injury concerns, Brampton are odds on favourites to beat us at the Victoria Park Stadium on Saturday afternoon. After doing a good job for the most part in midweek against London, I'm hoping my players can muster another performance away from home to complete the month of August before we get a well earned few weeks off.

It was raining for the first time since I had arrived in the country just over a week ago. A Sunday afternoon in Brampton presented us with an opportunity to close in a little on a Playoff place. We were now three short on the bench, showing once more the glaring weakness at this club, depth of playing staff. Yet, it didn't stop us going ahead with just under a quarter of an hour played, James Sauve swung a corner kick in towards the near post, Hugo Delmaire arrived with a downward header that Camilo Benzi managed to stop on the line, but Taylor Benjamin was on hand to stab the loose ball home from almost right under the bar, and celebrate his International call up with a vital goal for us. We had been working hard on the set pieces in training, and it paid off again with under ten minutes left till the break. This time it was Oscar Haber who sent in the corner from the other side, Benjamin rising highest to connect with a powerful header, Benzi made a grab at it, but the ball crept away from him and creeped over the line, the unfortunate keeper being credited with an own goal.

We thought we had increased our lead still further shortly after the break, maybe Guillaume Surot was guilty of holding the ball up just a second too long, as Sauve was flagged for offside before he squared the ball for Jake Henry to tuck home. The youngster was disappointed to see the effort chalked off. It was just after the hour mark when our work started to get a little bit sloppy, allowing David Guzman and Daniel Nascimento to create a chance down the left, the latter fired his shot into the side netting though. I quickly made two changes, taking off Delmaire, who had also been booked by this point, Austin White coming on in his place. Further up the park, Henry was on an empty tank, and was replaced by Kihara Wainganjo. It was just as well I kept a substitution back, as Casey Arcara took a knock with just over ten minutes left, and he wouldn't be able to continue. I only had one outfield player left to bring on, and Mademba Ba would have to play out of position on the right wing. Our misfortune gave Brampton some encouragement to come forward, and with the clock into injury time, Tarik Robertson sent in a cross from the left, and sub Milos Scepanovic connected with a volley that he hit right into the ground, and it bounced up and inside the far post. We were starting to unravel a little bit now, and the final whistle was a relief. Another five minutes and I think we would have been struggling to hold on for a point, never mind all three.

It was a man of the match display from Taylor Benjamin at the back, spoilt slightly by him picking up a yellow card late in the game. He will now miss the home match with Serbian White Eagles, which most would look at as a free hit when trying to get some points, though with games running out, we certainly can't afford to look at it that way. Niagara United and Burlington play out a 2-2 draw, which is perfect for us, and we leapfrog up into 9th spot. Astros Vasas pick up a win in London, keeping them out of touching distance of ourselves with four left to play. Thankfully, Casey Arcara will not miss any games with the knock that forced him off he park.

2013 Canadian Soccer League Standings, Up To & Including Sunday 1st September.

| Pos   | Inf   | Team                 |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 

| 1st   | Pl    | Serbian White Eagles |       | 18    | 13    | 3     | 2     | 37    | 11    | +26   | 42    | 
| 2nd   | Pl    | Toronto Croatia      |       | 18    | 13    | 0     | 5     | 38    | 18    | +20   | 39    | 
| 3rd   | Pl    | London City          |       | 18    | 12    | 2     | 4     | 34    | 20    | +14   | 38    | 
| 4th   | Pl    | Brampton United      |       | 18    | 11    | 3     | 4     | 33    | 18    | +15   | 36    | 
| 5th   |       | York Region Shooters |       | 18    | 8     | 4     | 6     | 27    | 21    | +6    | 28    | 
| 6th   |       | SC Waterloo          |       | 18    | 8     | 2     | 8     | 23    | 28    | -5    | 26    | 
| 7th   |       | Astros Vasas         |       | 18    | 6     | 5     | 7     | 23    | 21    | +2    | 23    | 
| 8th   |       | Niagara Utd          |       | 18    | 6     | 2     | 10    | 18    | 33    | -15   | 20    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   |       | Kingston FC          |       | 18    | 6     | 1     | 11    | 18    | 27    | -9    | 19    | 
| 10th  |       | Burlington           |       | 18    | 4     | 6     | 8     | 15    | 25    | -10   | 18    | 
| 11th  |       | Windsor Stars        |       | 18    | 2     | 3     | 13    | 12    | 33    | -21   | 9     | 
| 12th  |       | St. Catherine's      |       | 18    | 2     | 3     | 13    | 10    | 33    | -23   | 9     |

neilhoskins77 · May 24, 2017

The Transfer Window may be closed, but we can still sign Free Agent players. There is an absolute lack of quality in the available players, but we do find one or two who could help us out, if only with nothing more than depth. 18 year old Bob Smith has never been signed up with a club, so the left winger was delighted to sign with us on a contract until the end of next season. Technically, he is quite promising, showing good skills for both crossing and dribbling, and also has some flair to go with it. Unfortunately, he isn't yet quick enough to make the most of those attributes, and his finishing is well below average for a forward minded player too. I'm asked if Smith is considered to be a signing for the future, 'Not necessarily, he might be capable of making an impact right away, if only because we need him too' I replied. Smith is now one of only two left footers in our squad. The squad would receive a further boost when right winger Jordan Brooks resumed training after recovering from the knee injury he sustained a week before my arrival.

The International break takes over the attention, Taylor Benjamin was an unused sub as Guyana drew 0-0 in a Friendly in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. It's a shame that he didn't manage to earn a second International cap, but I'm just relieved that he didn't get injured, and that we'll only be without him for the one match. Canada draw 0-0 against Mexico in front of 24,000 in Ottawa. That point is enough to secure Canada a place at the FIFA World Cup for the first time in their history, and they will be in Brazil next summer. It's a fantastic day for all football fans across this vast nation, and hopefully it starts a boom in the sport. Maybe it would be a good time to stay in the country?

Speaking of staying in the country, that's exactly what Diego Bonilla would now be doing. A 23 year old Colombian midfielder, who had been in Canada for one year, Bonilla had been cut loose by Astros Vasas. With bodies at a premium in the squad, I convinced Bonilla to join us on non-contract terms. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement, we get another left footer in the squad who brings something a little bit different to our midfield, while he gets paid to play and put himself in the shop window to hopefully earn a permanent contract, if not with us, but with someone else. It's a decent bit of business for us I think.

Both new signings will be in the squad for the match against all conquering League leaders, Serbian White Eagles. Despite home advantage, and the potential of some wet weather conditions to go into the mix, the bookies are giving us little chance of taking anything from this match. We were short on options when selecting the side once again, Austin White the only defender fit and available to replace the suspended skipper, Taylor Benjamin. Both new signings are on the bench, as is Jordan Brooks for the first time since I arrived. The White Eagles have only two players in their starting lineup that are not Serbian, or at least, players with Serbian heritage or connections. 6'5 striker Peter Juric is well known in this League for his ability in the air and hold up play. Without ball playing centre back Benjamin to distribute the ball from the back, we were losing possession too easily. Hugo Delmaire was too ambitious with his 10th minute pass, and Dragan Dragutinovic picked it off, and two passes later, Curic fired home at the near post. Only a fine stop from Yasuto Hoshiko prevented Ivan Stankovic prevented our visitors from quickly making it two. Respite was brief however, and before the half hour, Jake Henry was dispossessed on halfway, and the Eagles easily passed their way through our defence, Curic stinging us again by racing onto the through ball, and lifting it over Hoshiko's dive to double their lead. Too rub salt into the wounds, Delmaire would pick up an injury in first half stoppage time, and with no defender on the bench, I would be forced to move Junior Antsey into an emergency centre back role, with Diego Bonilla coming on for his Kingston debut in the midfield.

The second half showed no sign of bringing any improved fortunes for us, and Ramon Bailey was quick to pick out the weak link in our already weak back four. From midfield, he slid a ball down the side of Antsey, and Curic ran off his shoulder, placing the ball beyond Hoshiko's reach, low into the bottom corner to complete his hatrick. There would be no coming back from that, though we did go close near the hour mark, Tam Young getting on the end of a weak clearance from a cross, and heading it into the path of James Sauve, who showed great technique to send a volley goalwards, but was unlucky to see it bounce back off the inside of the upright. Jake Henry was brought off with twenty five minutes to go, he had been pretty poor today, and Kihara Wainganjo replaced him. I left my final change till fairly late on, Sauve coming off, Bob Smith going on for his debut. And to sum up the way it had gone for us, Smith twisted his ankle just five minutes later. He tried to carry on and run it off, and actually got involved when we forced a late consolation goal, sending in the initial cross that was cleared, before Wainganjo's blocked effort at goal fell to Casey Arcaro, and the young winger netted his first Senior goal with a hard and high shot across goal and into the far top corner. It was the very most we deserved, we had been entirely outclassed today.

Burlington drew at Waterloo, meaning that they jumped back ahead of us by virtue of their now slightly better goal difference. Niagara United lost at home to London City, meaning we didn't lose any ground in the battle for a Playoff place, and we have a game against bottom side St Catherines up next, the match that is generally expected to be a three pointer that would heap the pressure on Niagara and Burlington.

As for the injuries, well, it doesn't just rain, it continues to pour for us. Hugo Delmaire has a fractured wrist, so he will be out for two months, effectively ending his season unless we have an improbable deep Playoff run. New signing Bob Smith took a matter of minutes to get bitten by the Kingston injury curse, his twisted ankle means he will be out for a minimum of six weeks.

2013 Canadian Soccer League Standings, Up To & Including Sunday 15th September 2013.

| Pos   | Inf   | Team                 |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 

| 1st   | Pl    | Serbian White Eagles |       | 19    | 14    | 3     | 2     | 40    | 12    | +28   | 45    | 
| 2nd   | Pl    | Toronto Croatia      |       | 19    | 14    | 0     | 5     | 39    | 18    | +21   | 42    | 
| 3rd   | Pl    | London City          |       | 19    | 13    | 2     | 4     | 36    | 20    | +16   | 41    | 
| 4th   | Pl    | Brampton United      |       | 19    | 11    | 3     | 5     | 33    | 19    | +14   | 36    | 
| 5th   | Pl    | York Region Shooters |       | 19    | 9     | 4     | 6     | 29    | 21    | +8    | 31    | 
| 6th   |       | SC Waterloo          |       | 19    | 8     | 3     | 8     | 23    | 28    | -5    | 27    | 
| 7th   |       | Astros Vasas         |       | 19    | 7     | 5     | 7     | 26    | 21    | +5    | 26    | 
| 8th   |       | Niagara Utd          |       | 19    | 6     | 2     | 11    | 18    | 35    | -17   | 20    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   |       | Burlington           |       | 19    | 4     | 7     | 8     | 15    | 25    | -10   | 19    | 
| 10th  |       | Kingston FC          |       | 19    | 6     | 1     | 12    | 19    | 30    | -11   | 19    | 
| 11th  |       | Windsor Stars        |       | 19    | 2     | 3     | 14    | 12    | 36    | -24   | 9     | 
| 12th  |       | St. Catherine's      |       | 19    | 2     | 3     | 14    | 10    | 35    | -25   | 9     |

neilhoskins77 · May 25, 2017

Midweek brought one of the more pointless meeting's I have ever been involved with, in football or otherwise. In a meeting with my backroom staff, I was told that most of my players are s**t, and that quite a few of them would be willing to accept mutual termination of their contracts should we decide we wanted to get rid of them. Considering we haven't been able to fill out the substitutes bench in recent weeks, I didn't necessarily see that as a viable option right now, and left the meeting thinking that I'd just wasted an hour of my life, as nothing constructive was done at all.

The build up was underway for a match that might make or break our season, a trip to bottom of the League side St Catherine's Wolves, and the knowledge that a win might just take us above the dotted line for the first time since I had got here. But there was a distraction, and it came from back home. Jaime had been in touch. After the formalities of asking how things were going, and if I was confident ahead of the next match, he told me that an English club had pulled the trigger and sacked their manager just five matches into the season after losing all of them, and a Cup game to go with it. He said he believed the job would be one that would suit me well, and that Dan had been sent along to try and stir up some interest in considering me for the job.

The news that Dan was actually doing some worthwhile work shocked me more than anything else in the conversation. Jaime assured me that Dan was actually starting to take life pretty seriously now, and had actually realised that he had a genuine opportunity to pull himself out of the rut of a 9-5 life. It didn't take too long for the news that I was potentially in the frame for the job back in England to reach the media outlets that covered the CSL however, and at a time when we could have done without the distractions, the media started to ask questions about my future and my committment to Kingston FC.

I did my best to push that all to the side, and concentrate on the task at hand, Mark Palmer arriving at the club to help out the Scouting team, while there was better injury news, as both Jospeh Zubo and Toni El-Asmar resumed training ahead of the big match. But a poorly timed press conference question from Paul Hudson brought it all back to the forefront once more. I answered assertively, 'I'm here today to discuss the match against St Catherine's. Questions on any other subjects will be ignored. I can't make it any clearer than that!'

If Hudson's timing wasn't very good, the Boards was even worse. They waited until the morning of the match before making an announcement on the clubs website. The announcement said that they're 100% behind me as Manager, and hope that I will stay at Queen's University, where the club declared it had a lot to offer a young and learning manager such as myself.

At Club Roma Park in St Catherine's, our season was almost entirely on the line. Despite being the only away game we had left to play, this was still the easiest fixture we had remaining. Taylor Benjamin is back in the side, and Austin White partners him at centre back. Neither Diego Bonilla or Toni El-Asmar have the fitness levels to start, so both remain on the bench, while Tam Young and Junior Antsey continue in the middle of the park. At least we have a full bench today.

With just five minutes on the clock, Guillaume Surot closed down a defender as he received a short goal kick, and took it right from him. He angled his run to open up more of the goal, and let fly, his shot crashed back off the near upright and was cleared. We were so close to a morale boosting early lead, and I encouraged my players to keep up the pressure. Keep up the pressure we did, and Surot held up the ball, and then sent it wide to Casey Arcaro. The winger turned on the burners, skipping past a tackle, and sending in a cross to the near post, Surot connected with a firm header that Chris Kurdziel got nowhere near, the ball hitting the underside of the bar, and then hooked clear by Ben Donaldson. We turned it up another notch, and won a corner. Oscar Haber delivered it, Taylor Benjamin was beaten to the header, but the clearance fell to Surot. He sent it back to Haber, who crossed first time. Matthew Di Maria headed it clear from right under the bar, and this time he found a team mate, Antonio Stranges. With nothing but open field in front of him, he strode forward to halfway, and then placed a diagonal pass through our desperately chasing back defence, and Calvin Rosario ran onto it, moving into the box, and then tucking a low shot past Yasuto Hoshiko into the bottom corner. We'd been sucker punched, and it hurt.

Now St Caths were looking to attack, and Ivan Grubisic floated in a cross from the right that Stranges got his head to, the ball hit the upright and bounced right back into the arms of Hoshiko. We regrouped, and started going forward again, playing out from the back, and Surot took the ball with his back to goal. He slid a ball through to Jake Henry, and the young forward got to the edge of the box, and let his shot go, it flew just the wrong side of the near post as far as we were concerned. Things were not going our way, and Benjamin picked up a cheap booking that will keep him out of our next match with another suspension. Surot took another shot at getting us level, Kurdziel made a spectacular save, tipping that one over the bar. A series of corners couldn't deliver an equaliser either. We would create one more chance before the break, Junior Antsey stepped away from a tackle, and then sent in a low curling shot that beat Kurdziel's dive and hit the post, bouncing back into the path of Surot, who was denied a tap in by a sliding tackle from Di Maria.

Three shots against the frame of the goal, and a fairly dominant performance, yet we find ourselves a goal down at the break. I tell my players that if they repeat that performance in the second half, we will get something from this match. Surot had a chance to put us level early after the restart, Henry played him in with a perfect pass, but Surot hit a tame shot right at the keeper, who caught it easily. That was Henry's final significant contribution of the match, the injury jinx struck again, and he was replaced by Kihara Wainganjo. And then it happened again, Grubisic sent a free kick from inside his own half, it floated over Benjamin's head, and Roasario took it down, repeating his exploits from the first half, and finding the bottom corner once more.

Benjamin would make amends to a degree, Haber sent a corner in, and the big centre back glanced home from close range. Back to within a goal, and over twenty minutes to play, but once more, the injury card was played. Tam Young would need to come off, but we can deal with this one, and I remove Antsey at the same time, bringing in Diego Bonilla and Toni El-Asmar. It's all or nothing. And we get the latter. Jon-Michael Vieira whips in a free kick from the left touchline, and Kevin Vantol gets in front of our defenders and gets enough of a touch on the ball to divert it past a stranded Hoshiko, and bury us.

60% possession, and 19 shots on goal. Our hosts managed three shots, all of which found the net. In the dressing room, I tore into the players for missing so many chances. In public, when the press conference was being conducted, I gave a different version of events. 'We didn't take out chances, and St Catherines did. I think I would be more annoyed if we didn't create the chances to start with.' I was then asked if we were unfortunate. 'Sure, there was an element of that, we hit the post or bar three times, but we created enough chances to win three matches.' And then they decided to put the boot in, asking if the players off day could have been attributed to the speculation surrounding my future in the last 48 hours. 'Absolutely not, and that's all the questions that I'm taking right now!'

When the reports of the game were published, we were described at 'impotent' in at least one. Burlington and Niagara United both lost again, we still have a shot, despite wasting our best opportunity to move into the Playoff places.

2013 Canadian Soccer League Standings, Up To & Including Sunday 22nd September 2013.

| Pos   | Inf   | Team                 |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 

| 1st   | Pl    | Serbian White Eagles |       | 20    | 15    | 3     | 2     | 41    | 12    | +29   | 48    | 
| 2nd   | Pl    | Toronto Croatia      |       | 20    | 14    | 0     | 6     | 39    | 19    | +20   | 42    | 
| 3rd   | Pl    | London City          |       | 20    | 13    | 3     | 4     | 37    | 21    | +16   | 42    | 
| 4th   | Pl    | Brampton United      |       | 20    | 12    | 3     | 5     | 36    | 20    | +16   | 39    | 
| 5th   | Pl    | York Region Shooters |       | 20    | 10    | 4     | 6     | 33    | 22    | +11   | 34    | 
| 6th   | Pl    | SC Waterloo          |       | 20    | 8     | 4     | 8     | 24    | 29    | -5    | 28    | 
| 7th   | Pl    | Astros Vasas         |       | 20    | 7     | 5     | 8     | 27    | 24    | +3    | 26    | 
| 8th   |       | Niagara Utd          |       | 20    | 6     | 2     | 12    | 19    | 37    | -18   | 20    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   |       | Kingston FC          |       | 20    | 6     | 1     | 13    | 20    | 33    | -13   | 19    | 
| 10th  |       | Burlington           |       | 20    | 4     | 7     | 9     | 16    | 29    | -13   | 19    | 
| 11th  |       | Windsor Stars        |       | 20    | 3     | 3     | 14    | 14    | 37    | -23   | 12    | 
| 12th  |       | St. Catherine's      |       | 20    | 3     | 3     | 14    | 13    | 36    | -23   | 12    |

neilhoskins77 · May 27, 2017

On Tuesday, a Board member of AFC Rushden & Diamonds tells the press that they would be foolish not to consider a manager of my talents. The club is the reincarnation of the former Football League side that was dissolved and excluded from the Conference National League due to their financial situation. They are playing in tier nine, the United Counties Premier Division, and they are rock bottom, with five defeats from their opening five matches. I was now the odds on favourite for the job at The Dog & Duck Ground.

By Thursday, the opportunity had gone. The club announced that they were in no position to make a move to take me to the club as they could not afford the compensation that would be required. Kingston FC were not prepared to release me from the contract without the compensation being paid, so therefore, the decision would now rest on my shoulders. If I wanted to make the move, I would need to resign from my job. But we could still make the Playoffs, and that's what I came here to try and achieve. It's the right job, but the wrong time.

With the immediate future sorted out, attention could now be turned to our two final matches of the campaign, and our last chances to secure a place in the Playoffs. That is not going to be easy though, especially this weekend, as we host Toronto Croatia. At the moment, the last available spot in the Playoffs is occupied by Niagara United, who have an even tougher match than us, as they are away to Serbian White Eagles. There is certainly an opportunity for Burlington to jump past both of us this weekend, they will travel to face Windsor Stars.

In front of our biggesr home crowd of the season so far at Queen's University, there was a centre back partnership of Joseph Zupo and Austin White with Taylor Benjamin once more suspended, while Toni El-Asmar and Diego Bonilla both started in the centre of the park for us. Not that it made much of a difference. Tohomir Maletic had just missed Toronto's best chance of the match after James Sauve gave the ball away, and Guillaume Surot was forced to try and take on a defender through sheer lack of support. He lost the ball on the edge of the opponents box, and Kresimir Prgomet found Adrian Johnson. Our Colombian midfielder Diego Bonilla made a tackle, but the ball ran kindly for Maletic, and he lifted it over Yasuto Hoshiko and into the far corner of the net. Their striker was causing us real problems, and we were not helping ourselves by constantly giving the ball away. Maletic missed a much easier chance than the one he had already scored from, while Surot sent our best chance across the face of goal from a fairly tight angle. We were second best right across the park, and Maletic played provider five minutes before the break, snapping open the offside trap, and then squaring it to Jarek Whiteman, who sidefooted home from near the penalty spot. I was forced into a double change before we even made it half time, Jake Henry was injured, while Bonilla was carrying a knock. I brought on Mademba Ba to switch us to a 4-4-2 and try and get some help up front for Surot, while Junior Antsey came on in midfield.

Did that make any difference? Did it heck. We were being bullied, pure and simple. Joseph Zupo made a mess of a simple backpass, and Whiteman thumped a shot against the bar, and Hoshiko had to make a save with his legs to stop Vince Petrasso making our predicament even worse. It was tough to tell if we started to improve after that, or if my opposite number had taken pity and called the dogs off, but Surot managed to get on the end of Ba's cross, and only a fine save from Jon Paul Piques prevented us from reducing the arrears. Petrasso missed another chance after a Hoshiko goal kick missed it's target and found the centre midfielder, and then Zupo got injured, meaning Jesse Magnotta going to centre back, Casey Arcaro dropping to right back, and Jordan Brooks coming on to play right wing. With our defence all over the place, Prgomet sent in a cross that Petrasso headed towards the target, Hoshiko pushed it onto the bar, but got no help from his defenders and Maletic raced in to complete our misery by tapping in Toronto Croatia's third of the afternoon.

We had got exactly what we deserved from that miserable outing, and frankly, the players looked and played as if they had given up and packed it in ready for the winter. Niagara had a worse day than us, losing 4-0 away to Serbian White Eagles, while Burlington were only able to manage a draw at Windsor. We could still make the Playoffs on the last day, but it was not in our own hands. Plus, we would be without Jake Henry, who suffered a whiplash injury and would be highly unlikely to feature on the final day of the regular season.

Taylor Benjamin would at least be back for our final shot at getting into the post season, and he had once more been called up by Guyana, this time for Friendly fixtures in October against Antigua & Barbuda and the British Virgin Islands.

On the morning of the season finale, the Board injected £65k into the club to help with running costs. Meanwhile, I just wanted to run away. When I looked at the players I had available, I saw no way of creating anything that would find us the result we needed from the final match against York Region Shooters. It was almost a feeling of helplessness. We needed a miracle I suspected, and I didn't see one coming our way. Taylor Benjamin returned to the lineup, replacing Austin White in the main selection decision that needed to be made. Kihara Wainganjo would take the place of Jake Henry as we opted to remain in the 4-4-1-1 that I had adopted since I arrived.

We started positively, which was more than I had dared to expect. We were less than two minutes into the match when Diego Bonilla took an inswinging corner, and it bypassed everyone in the penalty box and hit the inside of the far post before being cleared away. It gave the crowd of just over 200 a little hope that we could maybe pull this off today. That hope that it might be our day grew a little when Tristan Jackman made a real hash of York's best early chance, slicing his shot wide when clear through on goal. The hope took a backwards step when James Sauve was forced off with an injury, and Bonilla was moved to the left, with Junior Antsey coming on in the centre. We got to the 38th minute, at which point Kihara Wainganjo tried a pass that was frankly, well above the skill level he had. Desi Humprhrey tore down the right, beating Oscar Haber, his cross came into the box, and Yasuto Hoshiko thought he was fouled as he tried to punch it away. The ref didn't though, and the ball spun into the air, Jackman beating Zupo to it and heading home from almost right under the cross bar. Guillaume Surot tried to pull us level before the break, using his pace to reach Toni El-Asmar's pass, but his attempt to score at the near post was pushed aside by Adrian Ibanez, and we looked deflated as we headed in at the break one behind.

With little in the way of options on the bench, there wasn't a great deal I could do from here apart from attempt to gee the boys up. Spirits rose somewhat we we held our own for the opening 25 minutes of the second half, and I decided to roll the dice, after all, we had nothing to lose. I switched us to 4-4-2, bringing off the virtually useless Wainganjo, and bringing on Mademba Ba to partner Surot. On the right wing, Jordan Brooks replaced the quiet Casey Arcaro. As we pushed a bit more, we inevitably left spaces at the back, and Humphrey headed a deep cross down to the feet of Nicholas Martinez. His feet were taken out from beneath him by Jesse Magnotta, and the ref awarded a penalty. Dragan Olujic drilled a right footed spot kick low and hard past Hoshiko's dive, and put the final nail in the coffin of our season. After a promising start with three wins from the opening four matches, a run of four defeats in a row to finish the fixture list had ruined our hopes of making the Playoffs.

It probably should have made me feel a little bit better that both Niagara United and Burlington had scored final day wins, and even if we had earned a result, it would have still counted for nothing. It didn't though, it just made the final standings make us look like we had made very little ground up from when I arrived. While the last day result wasn't a good one, it was a couple of weeks before when our season was derailed. Burlington's goal difference superiority meant it was they who claimed the final Playoff spot. James Sauve had sprained his ankle in that match, the injury attrition we had dealt with in the latter part of the season was bordering on insane, though I couldn't swear that a fully fit squad would have made a great deal of difference.

2013 Canadian Soccer League, Final Standings.

| Pos   | Inf   | Team                 |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
 
| 1st   | Pl    | Serbian White Eagles |       | 22    | 16    | 4     | 2     | 48    | 15    | +33   | 52    | 
| 2nd   | Pl    | Toronto Croatia      |       | 22    | 15    | 1     | 6     | 42    | 19    | +23   | 46    | 
| 3rd   | Pl    | London City          |       | 22    | 13    | 4     | 5     | 38    | 24    | +14   | 43    | 
| 4th   | Pl    | Brampton United      |       | 22    | 13    | 3     | 6     | 39    | 21    | +18   | 42    | 
| 5th   | Pl    | York Region Shooters |       | 22    | 11    | 5     | 6     | 35    | 22    | +13   | 38    | 
| 6th   | Pl    | SC Waterloo          |       | 22    | 9     | 4     | 9     | 29    | 32    | -3    | 31    | 
| 7th   | Pl    | Astros Vasas         |       | 22    | 7     | 7     | 8     | 33    | 30    | +3    | 28    | 
| 8th   | Pl    | Burlington           |       | 22    | 5     | 8     | 9     | 20    | 31    | -11   | 23    | 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
| 9th   |       | Niagara Utd          |       | 22    | 7     | 2     | 13    | 20    | 41    | -21   | 23    | 
| 10th  |       | Kingston FC          |       | 22    | 6     | 1     | 15    | 20    | 38    | -18   | 19    | 
| 11th  |       | St. Catherine's      |       | 22    | 3     | 5     | 14    | 16    | 39    | -23   | 14    | 
| 12th  |       | Windsor Stars        |       | 22    | 3     | 4     | 15    | 15    | 43    | -28   | 13    |

neilhoskins77 · May 28, 2017

Now the question would be, do I stay, or do I go? Would I even have the option to stay, as we're now into October, I hadn't achieved the target of reaching the Playoffs, and my contract was due to expire at the end of December. To be honest, I didn't think that there would ever be enough of a wage budget to make this club capable of competing with the Serbian White Eagles and Toronto Croatia's of this League, they were light years in front of us. The only two saving graces were Guillaume Surot and Taylor Benjamin, and the striker was off to Italy after Christmas.

Jobs were now starting to come up on an almost daily basis, primarily in the lower reaches of the English pyramid as Chairmen started to make the changes to try and get their seasons fortunes turned around before it was too late. Asia and Scandinavia were also seeing management changes as their seasons came to an end an managers started to move on, get sacked, or in some instances, retire.

While our season was over, Taylor Benjamin could continue to play, and in mid October, he added to his sole cap for Guyana. He came on as a substitute midway through the second half of the 1-0 home defeat in Georgetown against Antigua & Barbuda. A few days later, he was a starter when the squad travelled to Tortola to face the British Virgin Islands. When he was taken off at the break, his country were three goals up, and ended up winning 3-1. Benjamin now had three caps, and looks like he is in the future plans for Guyana.

On a Friday evening near the middle of the month of October, the CSL's Playoffs got underway. A draw is made to decide home advantage, and only one of the top four would play at home. The top two of the Serbian White Eagles and Toronto Croatia both eased through reasonably comfortably, with away wins against Burlington and Astros Vasas respectively. In what was billed as the closest tie of the Quarter Final round, Brampton United blew past York Region Shooters, winning 4-1 away from home. There was one shock produced, as London City threw away their home advantage, and lost 1-0 to SC Waterloo.

The Semi Final draw was made later on Friday evening, with the seedings now dispensed with. In the meantime, I had thrown my hat into the ring for available jobs in England, Croatia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands and Japan. If Kingston FC were planning on offering me a new deal, and trying to convince me to stay in Canada, my actions were hardly likely to improve the chance of that happening. Both Jaime and Dan were working hard back in the UK to create opportunities for me, but it was soon very clear that the clubs who had the money to pay the compensation to get me out of my contract, did not believe I was experienced or talented enough to be considered for the roles at their clubs. Those who were interested in my services could not afford to buy me out of my contract. So, I would either need to wait until the end of the year when my contract runs down, or, if I had a club that I really wanted to go to, and I was sure enough that they would want me, I could resign from my current job.

There was one club who managed to fall somewhere between the two, and that was Cypriot second tier club, APEP, or APE Pitsilias to give them their full title. With ten matches played of their 28 date fixture list, they are still winless at the foot of the 'B' Division table, and effectively seven points from safety with their poor goal difference. It looks like an interesting challenge, and is certainly closer to home, and a much more reputable football market than Canada. The team at home manage to land me an interview. I keep everything fairly straightforward, agreeing that I would be able to help the club avoid relegation, and accepting both transfer and wage budgets. I requested no philosphies or changes, and would now wait to hear from the Mediterranean club.

On Monday evening, the Semi Final matches for the CSL Playoffs would take place, and the Serbian White Eagles would need extra time to get past Brampton United and take their place in the Final. It was 0-0 after ninety minutes, and Brampton scored a minute into the second half of the extra time session, and a shock looked on the cards, before the Eagles netted twice in a two minute spell within the final five minutes of the match to avoid the shock, and move into the Championship match. In the other match, there was another 0-0 draw between Toronto Croatia and SC Waterloo. This time there were no goals in the extra period, and the match headed to penalty kicks, where one of the League's leading strikers would make the difference. Tihomir Maletic took Toronto's first penalty, and Zoran Pusica turned it away. Eight successful spot kicks followed, allowing Gerson Smith to be the hero for Waterloo, as he scored to put them forward for a Final appearance that had looked highly unlikely. The reigning back to back Champions, are out!

On a cold and wet Thursday evening, the White Eagles and Waterloo met for the Canadian Soccer League Playoff Championship Match, and once more, Waterloo frustrated their opponents. Another ninety minutes without a goal, and once more, extra time could not establish a winner, and a penalty shoot out would be required. Both sides missed their fourth penalty, and sudden death would be required. That would be where Waterloo's luck would run out, as Adam Magier's spot kick was saved by Stefan Avramovic, and Dragan Dragutinovic smashed home the penalty that would win Serbian White Eagles their first Championship since 2008.

The following Tuesday, I received word back from Cyprus, and they had decided that I was not the man to try and lead APE Pitsilias away from the relegation zone. They had instead chosen to hire 54 year old German, and FIFA Pro Licence holder, Hagen Reeck. This would be his first management position, though he had experience of working in Cypriot football having previously been assistant manager for around 18 months at Apollon Limassol, a position he has also held with clubs in both Germany and the United Arab Emirates. As we head into November, I'm still none the wiser on what the future holds for myself.

neilhoskins77 · May 29, 2017

November 2013
Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Days came and went, jobs did the same. There was no doubt that I would be able to get another job in the game. It was simply a case of finding one that I wanted, and they wanted me. I had reached the decision that I would not be staying in Canada for the 2014 CSL campaign. Truth be told, if it wasn't for the pay I was still picking up weekly, I would have left already. I would spend nearly the next two weeks applying for the jobs that came up that I was interested in, failing to get any interviews with the same two reasons coming back time and time again. Either they simply weren't interested in me, or they couldn't afford to pay up the bulk of the two months remaining on my contract to Kingston to release me from the club.

After discussing the situation with Jaime and Dan, I did what needed to be done. On November 13th, I spoke to the Board of the club, and told them that I had no intention of staying, and it would be better for all concerned if I left now, so they could prepare for the new season with a new manager. I thanked them for giving me the opportunity, and tendered my resignation, which they accepted. I packed up my belongings, and made arrangements to return to Wales.

Job#1 - Kingston FC (Canada).
20/8/13 - 13/11/13. Resigned before contract expired.
Challenge :- To reach the CSL Playoffs. Result :- Failed.
PLD :- 8. W :- 3. D :- 0. L :- 5. GF :- 9. GA :- 15. GD :- -5. Win Percentage :- 37%.

By the time I got back to the UK, it was pretty clear that I had made the right choice to leave now if I wanted to get something new sorted sooner rather than later. Within days of returning, I was attending my first interview for a new job, United Counties Premier Champions from last season, Holbeach United, the same League where AFC Rushden & Diamonds were now flying up the League since their change of managers.

The following week would become a very hectic one. Every day brought new jobs to consider, new interest or rejections, and new links with clubs, or interview offers. Holbeach weren't the only English club interested, and Deal Town of the Southern Counties East had me in for an interview on Monday morning. Hearing that news, Holbeach offered me the job on Tuesday morning. I elected to delay my decision, and in the meantime, interest came from further afield.

Within days, I had four offers on the table, two from the English clubs, and then two from abroad. One was pretty much written off right away, as the offer from Olympique 13 of Gibraltar was on an amateur basis. The offer from Eastern Europe was under much more serious consideration, as Chkherimela Kharagauli, the bottom placed club in Georgia's second tier had offered me their job. With a fairly decent budget for player wages, and a good wage for myself too, and a higher level of football than I would be overlooking in England, it started to look like the best option.

The problem was, that every time I settled on what I thought would be the best option, another appeared. By the time we got towards the end of the month, and my birthday, there were three more options in the running in Southern Europe. Currently bottom of Malta's First Division sat Gzira United. I had managed in Malta before, and thoroughly enjoyed my time there, but after being interviewed, they offered the job to experienced 50 year old manager, Marco Gerada.

The other two options both appeared in Cyprus, another country where I had managed before in another Football Manager life. In fact, one of the clubs that were interested were the side that I had spent a bit over half a season with, Akritas Chlorakas. Playing in the third tier, where they were during my spell on the island before, I headed over there on my birthday to speak to them. Hearing I was in the country, another club from the same Division registered their interest as well, ENAD Polis Chrysochous. I ended up interviewing for the jobs on consecutive days at the end of the week that would bring November to a close. I decided to stick around for a few days as well, and by the early part of the next week, there was news.

I had job offers from both. Akritas were the better placed, offering some transfer spends and a better wage budget, plus the contract they offered me was a little more attractive as well. Both clubs had the same ambition, to be promoted when the season ended in May. I had by now, rejected the contract offers from England and Georgia, and had made the decision that my next club would be in Cyprus. I had managed to buy myself a bit of time to make a decision, but everything was pushing me towards Akritas, and joining their bid to be promoted to the Cypriot B Division.

I'd been on the Mediterranean island for a week now, and was preparing to give the Akritas Board the answer they wanted to hear, subject to agreeing on contract terms of course. I was in my hotel room mid-morning and the phone rang. It was both Jaime and Dan together on speakerphone. They seemed panicked. They wanted to know if I had signed yet. 'No, not yet, I've decided to take Akritas' offer, but I've not spoken to the Board or begun negotiations as yet.' They sounded relieved, and the conversation calmed slightly. 'There is a new option that has just presented itself, and they are interested, actually, they are very interested' explained Jaime. 'Stay in the hotel where you have reliable wi-fi, and they are going to Skype you very soon. If that goes well, they will want to meet with you, and you'll want to meet with them, of that I am sure.'

It all sounded very exciting, or as exciting as it could without me knowing exactly what was going on. It was a fairly anxious forty minute wait, but Jaime and Dan were spot on, these were most certainly people that I wanted to speak to. The chat went well, and they invited me to their stadium for a tour of the ground, facilities etc. They would be paying as well. At most of the places I'd been for interviews so far, I'd struggled to get a cup of tea. If this went well, we were looking at a game changer for me and my career here.

After the time spent in Cyprus, it was now well into December, I had been out of work for nearly one month, and was itching to get back involved. The club now wanted to sit down as discuss the possibility of me taking over, and Jaime would be on hand to deal with the negotiations. It wasn't as smooth as the discussions had been when I moved out to Canada. They wanted me to sign up until the end of the season, but I wanted an eighteen month deal. They were quite happy to pay me more wages and just do the deal to the end of the season, where I was more inclined to take less money, and sign up until the end of the 2014/15 campaign. It took a lot longer than I was expecting, and I was glad Jaime was there to get involved, as if I had done it myself, I would have not got the best deal I could have. But eventually, it was done, and I was back in football employment, with a second chance to show that I could do this.

neilhoskins77 · May 30, 2017

Tuesday 10th December 2013.
Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.

Apart from my recent time spent in Canada, my travelling experiences summed up to two weeks in Tenerife and a stag weekend in Benidorm. So Japan was pretty much another planet to me. Nothing much made sense, but it fascinated me rather than scaring me, and that was a large part of why I decided to accept the offer to stay here.

Sony Sendai FC, created in 1968 by the worldwide known electronics company as a staff football team that played very successfully in the Miyagi Prefecture Football League. The company built Sendai Stadium, a ground with a capacity of nearly 20,000 at the same time. In the 1990's, they decided to try and push the club onwards, and in 1997, achieved a place in the Japanese Football League. They could have joined the J-League just two years later, but declined the opportunity to turn professional, electing instead to remain in the new and revamped JFL. They have been there ever since, apart from missing half a season in 2011 as a result of the earthquake and following tsunami that impacted on this area.

Now Chairman of the club, Tonokazu Suzuki has ambitions to get this club into the J-League setup, starting with promotion from the JFL and into J-League 3. I have been appointed on an eighteen month long contract that pays me £525 per week, with the stated aim of achieving promotion out of the JFL, and into the third tier of football in this country of over 125 million people, where the game gets more and more popular every year, and now faces increased competition for their status as one of Asian football's heaveyweight nations. The country has once more qualified for the FIFA World Cup, with 2014's edition taking place in Brazil, and Japan are placed in Group F with Algeria, Portugal and Uruguay. They will need to be at their best to get out of that Group.

But back to club matters, where I have been given a transfer budget of £142k, and a weekly wage budget of £6,230 to try and achieve the promotion that the Chairman craves. The club is semi-professional, and would almost certainly go professional should promotion be achieved. I join with just one match left in the first half of the twenty six match League season, and the club placed in 7th place, eleven points out of the promotion places of the top two. This Division is the 33rd ranked League in Asia. The club has fifteen Senior players in the First Team squad, four of which are on loan. The Transfer Window opens between Christmas and the New Year. Matches are played on Monday afternoons, there were no games yesterday.

High on the list of priorities is to find an Assistant Manager, the one the club had left with the last manager when he was sacked. Once that is done, I can then start looking at the playing staff, who stays, who goes, and what options we have to bring players in when the Window opens in a couple of weeks. We don't have any affiliated clubs, but clearly there is strong relationship with the other club in the city. Vegalta Sendai will be taking part in the Asian Champions League when it gets underway in the new year, and we have three of their young players on loan from the J-League 1 side, with another player from Albirex Niigata.

On my first morning in the job, I spot three young players from our Under-19 squad, and offer them non contract playing terms. One is a right winger, a position I'm assured is the clubs problem area at the moment. Another is a centre back from neighbouring South Korea, who becomes the first non Japanese player in the squad. He is signed by the only non Japanese person currently involved at the club. Wales to Japan, via a brief stay in Canada. My air miles should be good......

2013/14 Japanese Football League Standings, Up To & Including Tuesday 10th December 2013.

| Pos   | Inf   | Team               |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
 
| 1st   |       | Honda FC           |       | 12    | 9     | 3     | 0     | 21    | 4     | +17   | 30    | 
| 2nd   |       | Sagawa Printing    |       | 12    | 9     | 2     | 1     | 21    | 6     | +15   | 29    | 
| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Yokogawa Musashino |       | 12    | 8     | 2     | 2     | 21    | 8     | +13   | 26    | 
| 4th   |       | Fagiano Next       |       | 12    | 7     | 3     | 2     | 16    | 10    | +6    | 24    | 
| 5th   |       | MIO Biwako         |       | 12    | 5     | 5     | 2     | 8     | 7     | +1    | 20    | 
| 6th   |       | Azul Claro         |       | 12    | 5     | 3     | 4     | 9     | 8     | +1    | 18    | 
| 7th   |       | Sony               |       | 12    | 5     | 3     | 4     | 13    | 10    | +3    | 18    | 
| 8th   |       | Honda Lock         |       | 12    | 4     | 3     | 5     | 12    | 12    | 0     | 15    | 
| 9th   |       | Uva                |       | 12    | 3     | 5     | 4     | 12    | 12    | 0     | 14    | 
| 10th  |       | Kagoshima Utd      |       | 12    | 2     | 4     | 6     | 11    | 18    | -7    | 10    | 
| 11th  |       | Verspah            |       | 12    | 2     | 3     | 7     | 6     | 15    | -9    | 9     | 
| 12th  |       | Renofa             |       | 12    | 1     | 3     | 8     | 5     | 17    | -12   | 6     | 
| 13th  |       | Vanraure           |       | 12    | 1     | 3     | 8     | 5     | 17    | -12   | 6     | 
| 14th  |       | Maruyasu           |       | 12    | 1     | 2     | 9     | 3     | 19    | -16   | 5     |

neilhoskins77 · June 4, 2017

It took me all of five minutes to make an enemy in Japan. In our Division are a club called Renofa Yamaguchi, who are managed by 34 year old, Naoshi Aoki. It is clear that Aoki is not a fan of mine. 'I don't understand why clubs as this level feel the need to bring in manager's from overseas, especially when there are Japanese managers who could clearly do a much better job than Hoskins. He failed to meet expectations at his old club, and he'll fail again here!' That was Aoki's response at a press conference when asked about Sony Sendai's new manager. Clearly, this guy doesn't sit on the fence. So there's no reason why I should either. When given the right to reply in my press conference, I admit that I have no idea who Aoki is, which means it's very easy for me to ignore his opinion entirely, and worry about him when our clubs meet later in the season. Judging by the look of that League table, he should have other things occupying his mind right now.

It doesn't take me long to find an assistant manager willing to join the club. 33 year old Hiroki Sasaki joins within forty eight hours of my arrival. He signs a deal through to the end of the season, so he is effectively here on a trial basis. I organise a staff meeting with the new arrival, the only member of the Scouting team we have, and the Head of Youth Development, who looks much more qualified to give an opinion. He confirms that we've already had the best three players from the Youth setup, and that the cupboard is bare as far as that avenue is concerned. The scouting team have plenty of options for us to look at, but are currently only permitted to scout in Japan, so many of the options are rejects from elsewhere. The new assistant has got himself up to speed, and looked at the areas where we can improve.....all of them. S**t, this is starting to look difficult already.

One of our goalkeepers is Kei Ishikawa, and he is on loan from Vegalta Sendai. That loan is going to expire on New Years Day, and it's going to cost us £60k to bring him here permanently. As far as I can see from my lofty position of never having paid a transfer fee for a player ever, that's an awful lot of money to spend to find out if a 21 year old is up to the job, and I instruct my Director of Football to try and get the loan extended instead. In the meantime, there is a large goalkeeper upgrade lurking on the Transfer Market, and I advise the team to let it be known we're interested in him. Massaging the ego is only the start of what it's going to take to bring Kunihiro Shibasaki to the club, as he would need to drop down two playing levels to sign for us from J-League 2 club, Tochigi SC.

Before I know it, another day has passed by, and it's Friday the 13th, with my first game in Japan scheduled for Monday afternoon, there is still a lot of work to get done. I have offers accepted for two centre backs, both of which would bring some much needed quality, and height, to our defence. Transfer fees would be required to bring both here. Our loan offer to keep the young keeper we already have, plus transfer offer to bring in the upgrade, have both been accepted, and things look to be moving on at a good pace. I'm not expecting miracles before our League match after this weekend, but if we could get a signing or two in through the door, it would be a good start, as well as a signal of our intentions for the remainder of the season.

Saturday appears to bring the breakthrough, with three players who are currently free agents all agreeing to join us. A Brazilian striker, and a centre back and defensive midfielder from South Korea are preparing to join us, when we fall foul of the rules at this level of football in Japan. It turns out that all three will require new work permits to play for us, despite already being in the country, and we'll have to wait until the day of the match to find out if they will be granted.

On Sunday the previews came out for Monday afternoon's match, and home advantage made us Even money favourites for our match against MIO Biwako. Also out on Sunday, is the latest rant from Naoshi Aoki, with Renofa's manager stating that he would be keeping a close eye on our game, and hoped we failed miserably. What a charming fella. Sunday brings mixed transfer news, with young on loan goalkeeper Kei Ishikawa rejecting our offer to extend his loan stay with us, while our first signing had been confirmed. 25 year old centre back Ryota Okada would arrive from Fukushima United of J-League 3 for a fee of £15k. The only downside would be that we would have to wait until the Transfer Window opened on the 28th December to have him join our squad.

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