Jump to content

Notes From The Underground


Tikka Mezzala
 Share

Recommended Posts

Preface

I'd like to say a few things before I embark on another FM Story. 

First of all, the story titled 'L'Etranger' will have a continuation. I am simply bringing the save to the end of the season, and from that I will have a lot of content to use for the story. But it may be a while before it gets going again.

The second thing I'd like to say is that the other story 'Las Venas Abiertas de America Latina' is a non-starter really. I don't feel right with it, so I won't be adding anything to it. If there are moderators that can delete the story, then please feel free to do so. 

 

The main point of this preface is to explain the world in which this latest story, Notes From the Underground, takes place. I have manipulated the in-game world using the editor to create a different looking Europe in terms of the continental competitions. I will firstly explain these changes and then say a bit about the story behind them. The political and social world of the story will be quite different from our present one. More on that later.

 

The UEFA Champions League has finally become the competition that the creme de la creme want it to be: a tournament for the elite clubs. England, France, Germany, Spain and Italy enter five teams to form a twenty-team league that runs throughout the entire domestic season. This will result in the domestic leagues and the Champions League running parallel with one another. Teams play each other twice. This is the first change.

The UEFA Europa League has become the competition for mid-ranking nations. Like the Champions League, the format is an international league that runs throughout the entire domestic league seasons. The likes of Ajax, PSV, Anderlecht, Olympiacos, Celtic, Rangers, Benfica, Porto and so on will contest the Europa League on a regular basis. 

The last of our new UEFA competitions sees the minnows of Europe compete in their own league: the UEFA Trophy. The same format, only the teams come from the lowest ranked countries such as Andorra, Luxembourg, San Marino and so on. 

The story behind the split is easy to imagine: the usual formats lacked the competitiveness of old, and the elite clubs were licking their lips at the money to be made from an exclusive league. Being able to watch the big hitters play most weeks seemed like a good way to bring in major audiences and the money to be made from advertising and ticketing etc seemed better than having these games mainly in the latter stages of the old format. The clubs threatened to break away from UEFA and form their own competition, but the governing body decided to appease them and proposed the league. This angered the rest of Europe of course, but the proposal to bring in more European games for every club, and the prospect of greater income, quieted the discontent.

In Eastern Europe there are several new competitions in place: 

Summer Tournaments: 

The Yugoslavian Summer Tournament; 32 teams from all Yugoslavian Nations - group stage; last 16; quarter final; semi-final; final.

U.S.S.R Cup; same format at Yugoslavian tournament with clubs from former USSR countries.

Karl Marx Cup; 16 team tournament using clubs from Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia; group stage; quarter final; semi final; final. 

International Competition:

The International Cup of Socialist States; 128 teams - 2 qualifying rounds; group stage; last 16; quarter final; semi final; final.

 

So we have an Eastern European Champions League that runs throughout the entire domestic season, much like the current Champions League does. We also have regional summer tournaments. Important note: all domestic divisions remain the same.

 

So on to the interesting part: the world this story inhabits has an alternative history; one in which the U.S.S.R and Yugoslavia never truly dissolved. In an attempt to save themselves, the leaderships of the respective states agreed to transform the nature of the political entities they led. The U.S.S.R and Yugoslavia became unions of independent states, much like the E.U. Allowing each ethnic/cultural/national group a greater degree of autonomy helped stifle the desire for independence felt among some elements of each society. Furthermore, the Soviet leadership changed the economic priorities and moved away from the arms race and developed the economies of its member-states to a level consistent with Western States. In this world, Yugoslav and Soviet Republics are quite advanced. Although there are still concerns over human-rights, economic inequality, democracy and other social/economic issues, the unions have managed to survive right up until June 2018, where we begin our story. 

As was mentioned above, the domestic leagues are independent. There is no Yugoslavian league and Soviet Top League. The likes of Hungary, Czech Republic etc have aligned themselves with the Eastern Bloc. When the turmoil at UEFA was in full swing, and uncertainty reigned, the Eastern European football associations did not delay; they broke away and formed their own competition. With many powerful industries existing in the East, and a large population, the money from playing in the International Cup of Socialist States rivals anything UEFA were willing to offer. 

 

Our story will be centred around a Slovenian ex-international centre back who spent his entire career at Olimpija Ljubljana: Adrijan Brkic. Adrijan retired at the end of the 2017/18 season; a year in which he captained the team to a league and cup double. Heralded in the Slovenian and wider Yugoslavian press as one of the most gifted centre backs in the region, he has built a good reputation in his playing career. He is now aiming for success as a manager, and it is on this journey that we will follow him, as well as observing some of the wider events in the U.S.S.R and Yugoslavia as cracks start to appear in the social and political structures. Expect some breaks from Adrijan's story, as we learn about the going ons all over the reformed socialist states. 

 

 

I hope you choose to follow the story, and I will see you in Ashgabat for our first instalment. 

 

 

Pechorin.

 

Edited by Tikka Mezzala
Link to post
Share on other sites

Ashgabat, Turkmenistan; May 31st, 2018. 

The directors' box at the Ashgabat stadium was full of military uniforms and expensive suits. Turkmenistan's political elite had chosen to attend the Yokary Liga match between Altyn Asyr and Merw Mary, and had invited representatives from the Soviet Parliament to join them. The match itself was of little interest to the dignitaries, but Turkmenistan was due to host the final of the U.S.S.R Cup, and it was considered customary to show off the facilities to foreign guests before the big event.

Yuri Smirokov, the Chair of the U.S.S.R Cup's organising committee, had just taken his seat behind the head of the Soviet Intelligence Ministry, when a series of loud bangs forced him and the rest of the dignitaries to duck for cover. The smell of smoke and the threat of further explosions delayed even the most seasoned military personnel's ascent from underneath their seat. Yuri was the first to chance a peek at what was going on down below, and what he saw would stay with him for the rest of his life: the military police were running down the stairs at either side of the director's box. They were trying to form a protective layer between the dignitaries and the baying mob that were making their way up from the standard seating below. As the angered fans reached the line of police, fists were exchanged with batons, and the crashing together of bodies created a scene of terror. Some of the officers could not keep their footing on the steps and fell forward into droves of people hungry for violence. More fireworks were hurled in the direction of the director's box, and the rows of dignitaries started to empty, as politicians and military personnel alike climbed towards safety at their nearest exits. 

Down on the pitch, the players had escaped up the tunnel and the local police were doing their best to keep the fans from chasing them into the dressing rooms. A group of supporters with Turkmenistan flags draped around their shoulders started to destroy the advertising boards one by one. It would later be discovered that the adverts were the source of the problem. Turkmenistan's majority Muslim population were unhappy with the advertising of alcohol and gambling at continental cup games. The adverts had been put up for the present match because the chief executives of the U.S.S.R Cup's biggest sponsors were present. But as far as the dignitaries, who were by now locked in a secure room in the bowels of the stadium, were concerned, this was political rebellion. 

The head of Soviet Intelligence, Dmitri Rodchenko, made some calls to his contacts in Ashgabat. Within the hour the stadium was surrounded by the Soviet military's Turkmen regiment. Tanks stationed themselves at the mouths of streets feeding into the stadium, and troops secured all of the exits. The renegades and innocents alike were trapped in the stands and on the pitch. A stadium announcement was made warning the agitators to stand down or face certain death. The message had the unfortunate effect of neutralising the agitators but stoking the flames of panic in everyone else, and so those who were innocent of any wrong doing were suddenly battering against the officers who were blocking the exits. This latest burst of violence was met with rubber bullets and tear gas canisters. The stands began to empty as the blinding gas forced the rest of the supporters onto the pitch. The soldiers emerged from various corners of the ground and kettled the fans. The pointing of rifles extinguished the last scuffles of resistance, and the crowd was successfully pacified. 

For the next few days the stadium became a holding pen for the fans. Dmitri Rodchenko had decided to process each supporter at the ground, and transport them in groups to different "facilities" around the country. The media was forbidden from reporting the event. Those who knew someone that had attended the match would never learn the fate of their family or peers. Twelve thousand people were about to learn the ugly truth about the supposedly reformed U.S.S.R.

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Pechorin said:

second thing I'd like to say is that the other story 'Las Venas Abiertas de America Latina' is a non-starter really. I don't feel right with it, so I won't be adding anything to it. If there are moderators that can delete the story, then please feel free to do so. 

 

Hi Pechorin, Good to see another story from yourself.

I have hidden the Las Venas Abiertas de America Latina story as we cant delete them anymore. If you ever want to reopen it let me know and I can do that for you

Link to post
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, mark wilson27 said:

Hi Pechorin, Good to see another story from yourself.

I have hidden the Las Venas Abiertas de America Latina story as we cant delete them anymore. If you ever want to reopen it let me know and I can do that for you

Much appreciated! 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Podgorica

The Slovenian media had been full on with its praise for the retiring Adrijan Brkic. The thirty-eight year old central defender had loyally served his club, Olimpija Ljubljana, for twenty-seven years, and had amassed one-hundred and forty caps for the national team. Both the Yugoslavian and Slovenian parliaments had chosen to recognise his achievements in his final match for the club. Before kick-off, the minister for Slovenian affairs at the Yugoslavian parliament awarded Adrijan an honorary role as an ambassador for Yugoslavian sport. A key to the city of Ljubljana was to follow. Even though Adrijan was a fine defender and undoubtedly one of the better Slovenian players of his generation, the honours and praise that fell upon him that day were more to do with his apolitical stance throughout his career than anything he performed on a football pitch. Indeed, during a brief period of tension between Slovenian nationalists and Yugoslavian internationalists, Adrijan was one of the few national team players that saw it as his duty not to weigh in on the politics of the day. This was a trait he had inherited from his father, Josip. "True strength comes from restraint and silent reflection" his father would tell him. It was unclear whether Josip Brkic truly believed his own words or felt that it was a survival technique that he had best pass on to his only son. 

Despite all of the lavish praise and honours bestowed upon Adrijan, he found no consolation in them as he contemplated his new life off of the football pitch. Retirement was something he had always dreaded. Growing up in the youth ranks of Ljubljana's primary club, his secondary socialisation took place on the training pitches and old school buses that used to transport the young players around the country for away matches. The talk of which football players they wanted to emulate evolved into talk of which girls they'd like to ****, as boys moved up the age ranks together. They would attend each others' birthday parties, family funerals, festival gatherings and so on. Many of them attended the same high school and would form cliques together. As they reached their mid-teens some of the young players would be let go, failing to make the grade. But for Adrijan turning fifteen was a watershed moment. It was in his fifteenth year that he was given the opportunity to train with the senior players. He would always refer to this period as the most daunting, but happiest of his life. He impressed the coaches so much that as he approached his sixteenth birthday, he made his debut for the first-team off the bench in a home game against Domzale. By the age of seventeen he was a regular in the midfield of Olimpija. Playing as a holding player in a midfield-three, he earned a reputation as a tactically intelligent destroyer. The manager at the time, Jedinko Perica, respected Adrijan so much, that despite bringing in a holding midfielder from Croatia to play in his position, he found another place for Adrijan in the team at centre back. This would prove to be a masterstroke; Adrijan went on to become a stalwart at the heart of Olimpija's and Slovenia's defence for the next decade. Despite fears that his abilities would be noticed by one of the regional giants, or worse, one of Western Europe's rich clubs, Adrijan never entertained the notion of leaving his hometown club.

Retirement meant a life away from Olimpija after twenty-seven years. Football was all that he had known in life, so naturally he gravitated towards remaining in the game. The Ministry of Employment for Sports Professionals (MESP) was a body set-up to find employment for out of work footballers and managers. A list of vacancies from all over Yugoslavia could be obtained from the ministry, and if you knew the right people you could guarantee an interview or two. The Ljubljana branch was situated near Adrijan's apartment and he knew some of the staff. Even though it would seem beneath a decorated national hero to go asking for work at an employment agency, it was par for the course in Yugoslavia. Within a couple of weeks Adrijan had two interviews; one in Bosnia with Zrinjski Mostar; the other in Montenegro with Buducnost Podgorica. The interviews were largely ceremonial as both clubs were keen on appointing a man with such international experience. In order to make his mind up on what job he would be taking, Adrijan felt it was necessary to consult his father. 

Josip Brkic was a psychology professor at the University of Ljubljana. He earned a reputation from writing many groundbreaking papers on the evolutionary origins of psychoanalytic primary defence mechanisms. He was a stern looking figure with a disciplinarian glare. He would often wear a chestnut-brown tweed jacket over a beige cardigan; both smelling of his one addiction in life: cigars. His glasses always sat at the end of his nose, causing him to give people the impression he was looking down on them disapprovingly. By now, Adrijan was used to his father's unsettling mannerisms. In fact, they had become a source of comfort for him. Sitting in the small office Josip had at the university, Adrijan told his father what his options were. Being a university professor provided Josip with a stream of information that would regularly circulate around the campus. If ever a recession was on the way, or a serious act of political protest, Josip would be among the first to know. In fact, he often could sense it before word of mouth had started to ricochet off the campus walls. He was a world-class reader of people, and given his background in psychoanalytic theory, he could sense when those in the economics and political science departments were in denial or were trying to repress something that troubled them. One of his colleagues, and long term friends, was a Bosnian professor from Sarajevo. Recently he began to notice that his colleague became uneasy when the issue of nationalism had been brought up after the anniversary of the Skopje rebellion. From this, he inferred that something must be afoot in Bosnia and so when asked to give his son advice on which job he should take, he unequivocally told him "Montenegro". 

A few days later it was confirmed: Adrijan Brkic was going to be leading Buducnost Podgorica into the 2018/19 season. The news of his appointment was met with enthusiastic approval in the Montenegrin press. Adrijan was unfazed by the prospect of making the transition into management, but he was trying to adjust to a new culture. He could communicate quite well with most people, but the feeling of the place was different from Ljubljana and Slovenia in general. Settling in would take time, but he didn't have much time to prepare for his first match in charge. The opening game of the season was a Yugoslavian Summer Tournament fixture; Buducnost were in Group A and would face Sarajevo (H), Osijek (A), and Milano Kumanovo (H). The tournament offered the prospect of financial rewards, with the winner of each match receiving £1,000,000. Buducnost's President had made it clear to Adrijan that he should do everything in his power to win the two home matches. His future transfer and wage budgets would depend upon it. 

The Yugoslavian Summer Tournament was one of the highlights of the season. It was fiercely contested and offered teams the opportunity to improve their finances before the climax of the transfer window. Teams would face each other once in the group stage, with two sides progressing to the last sixteen. Knockout round fixtures were one-leg affairs, with the final due to be held in Tirana, Albania. Adrijan's first game was against Bosnian side Fudbalski Klub Sarajevo at home. With only a few days to prepare he opted to keep things simple and asked the players to adopt a 4-4-1-1 shape in the training matches. Sarajevo were known to play a very compact game, with their manager Husref Musemic preferring to play 4-1-3-2. The key would be to take advantage of the wide areas, while remaining competitive in the middle of the park. Naturally defensive minded, Adrijan spent a lot of his training sessions carrying out drills that aimed to improve defensive-organisation. Unaware of the physical qualities at his disposal, he instructed his players to simply regroup once possession had been squandered. The pressing game that had usually been employed at Olimpija required good physical conditioning and tactical intelligence; dropping back was the safer bet at this stage. The training sessions had been hard work, but Adrijan was pleased with the preparation. The backroom team was a little bit short, but the club had contacted MESP and advertised vacancies. All that was left to do before the game was address the Yugoslavian press.

Given the stature of the competition, no expenses were spared in the build up to the Summer Tournament. Journalists from Belgrade, Zagreb, Tirana, Skopje, and elsewhere in the Yugoslavia would show up in Podgorica for a game that didn't seem to hold much significance for those in other parts of the region. The competition was seen as a showing of solidarity among all Yugoslav nations and most people were given the day off work for the semi-finals and the final. The furthest Adrijan had ever been in the tournament as a player was the Quarter Finals in 2004. Olimpija were beaten 4-2 on that occasion by Rijeka. He didn't hold out much hope for bettering that performance in his first season with Buducnost. He explained to the press that the group was very competitive in its initial appearance, but that he expected Osijek to progress as the top team. The luck of the draw had given Buducnost two home matches against their Bosnian and Kosovan opponents, and so there was an expectation that they would be second-favourites to qualify. The match against Sarajevo was going to be a litmus test for his side. Building a reputation as a manager was a tough job and beating a similarly ranked side in the Yugoslavian Summer Cup would do no harm to his standing in the business. 

Everything was set; a sizeable away support had made its way over from Bosnia. The atmosphere in the Montenegrin capital was building up. It was time to stand up and be counted. 

 

  

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...