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| Coasterkoa's Very Eastern European/Central Asian A | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 19 2010, 03:26 PM (227 Views) | |
| Coasterkoa | Jul 19 2010, 03:26 PM Post #1 |
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Advanced Member
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I started with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan (using Zdravkovic's edit here) loaded down to their lowest levels. I started in February 2010, and started unemployed as a Sunday league footballer. I had a lot of Amateur teams offer me contracts, but I ended up signing with Semi-Pro FC Warrior Valga in the Estonian Esiliiga (Second Tier). FC Warrior Valga - Esiliiga 2010 Apparently we're a farm team to Estonia's second best club, Flora. No staff, so I brought in some crappy coaches, assistant manager, physio and scouts and set off to find players. Turns out the players I had weren't so crappy. They seemed decent enough for a Estonian Second Division club, but my assistant manager thinks we're going to struggle. I took around some of the other clubs and found that my group looked pretty good comparatively. We're predicted to end third, so I think we'll end up being pretty decent. That all being said, the squad had some deadwood that I let go, and we're extremely thin on defenders. Two center backs, and two wingbacks of any quality. We're completely stacked up top though. I think we have the best six strikers in the league on our team. We've got an attacking midfielder that the top clubs are sniffing around, who I've set up nicely in a trequartista role, and we've only got two central mids and three wingers. We're talented up top, but very thin. I'm training all my strikers to play at attacking winger positions to help shore up our lack of depth. There was no one to sign that would have helped at all. I'd rather have our crappy youth play and keep the money it would cost to sign these crap players who want to join us. I did make one signing, a decent enough right back who can also play left or center back, so that was purely a depth move. We went 4-3-1 in preseason, with our only loss being a rather card filled affair against a lower league outfit. We did beat first division Lootus quite easily as well, which was the highlight of our preseason. After our first game (and win) in the league, I decided to cancel our link with Flora since I didn't want them scalping any of our good young players. We played well throughout the year, but slipped up quite a bit against the top clubs and as a result, we fell to fourth in the league by the end of the year. We were only a few points back off of a playoff spot, but we still ended the season with a whimper. Our cup run ended in the second round after we were crushed at home by our former parent club Flora. Still, all in all a decent season with many of our youngsters looking very good. Still I have no depth in the roster, but no team really does so I'm looking to push for promotion next year. |
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| Coasterkoa | Jul 19 2010, 03:28 PM Post #2 |
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Advanced Member
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FC Warrior Valga - Esiliiga 2011 I made NO signings this year. Not because I wanted to, but because there was no one to sign. Most of my staff wouldn't resign so I reloaded my backroom staff and started the season fresh. Still, the team was very good first XI wise, but the second XI wouldn't strike fear into the hearts of a u15 girls team, so again, I'd have to hope my youth players would step up. We really didn't look back this season, and began a torrid pace of wins. Scoring left and right and doing well at the back. Injuries were few and far between, and we didn't have many suspensions, so our tired first team was able to play most of the games. With 3 games remaining we clinched a promotion playoff spot, and were tied for first place with Lasnamäe Ajax. They held a much more impressive goal differential than we did, so we needed to take this on points. We continued our torrid run and got a win an and a tie (giving up a goal at the death), but luckily Ajax lost one of their games, so going into the final round of fixtures, we were up by a point. We were playing already relegated Kalev II, and they were playing some midtable team, so things looked good. We were handed a penalty on 27 minutes and my midfielder had no trouble converting. We never looked like losing, but my defender decided to chop down an opposing player in the box on one of their only forays into our end, and they leveled via penalty kick in the 60th minute. A quick glance at the other game showed Ajax winning, but I kept my cool since my game plan was working well. My youth midfielder, who had been subbed on in the 17th due to injury, popped up to score the winner for us in the 77th, and we were promoted as champions by one point. It was his first senor goal in only his 5th senor game. He's now a legend, but he'll never be a first team regular. Don't feel bad for Ajax though, they were promoted through the playoffs, so we'll see them next year. We were hopeless in the cup, losing out to an amateur team in overtime, but that's pretty much because I was resting most of my first team. That we were able to get by one amateur team before that is a testament to how great my second team is. Finance wise, we're doing ok. We actually started making money in the second half of the season, and are now about $50k in the red, but hopefully a season in the top flight will help that out. We're still thin as a crepe, but we held up throughout the season with some youth player punching above their weight. We still have no foreigners in the squad, so some signings from abroad should be helpful. Onward and upward. |
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| Coasterkoa | Jul 19 2010, 03:32 PM Post #3 |
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Advanced Member
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Directly after our promotion, I put out adds for more scouts and coaches, and waited for offers to pour in. My scouts came back very quickly with some players whose contracts were expiring and I made sure to put in bids quickly. A couple of clubs also came in with offers for them, but almost all of them signed for me, so it's exciting to actually have new players for once. Both Tajikistan and Azerbaijan fired their managers, so I applied to both hoping I could raise my profile a bit. Tajikistan decided I was the best applicant, and thus I began my international management career. Realistically, I decided I wasn't going to stay at Valga long, so I resigned and went to international management full time. It's sad to leave them right after promotion, but I feel I can get my name out there better as an international manager then as a manager in an Estonian Mestriliiga relegation dogfight. Tajikistan 2011 I was hired right after they had been knocked out of the World Cup qualifiers in November of 2011, so I had nothing to look forward to in 2014, so I would have to focus on the Asian Cup in 2015. It's a long way away, so maybe I can nurture some players into fruition by the time that comes along. Qualifiers start March of next year, so I better get to work. |
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