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Gunnar Svensson thought, drawing his parka closer around his face.
The cold was unsurprising; its always cold in Iceland in February.
What the heck am I doing out here?
Oh, that's right. He'd won five Icelandic titles with a club nobody had heard of, and even taken that club within a single game of the Champions League group stages, but nobody had ever heard of him.
That single game was a 5-0 rout, at home, which needed to become at least a 3-0 win, but still!
He'd been determined to make a name for himself.
The mighty would tremble before the name of Iceland!
Now, looking across a snow-swept pitch as a bunch of players he could barely see struggled to move a frozen ball against a strong headwind, he wondered, not for the last time,
Peter Okaru glanced at the armed guards protecting an empty stadium, and asked himself, Why didn't I stay in England?
Because he'd been too stunned to say "No" when the president of the Nigerian F.A. asked him to take charge of Nigeria for their World Cup Qualifying campaign.
As far as he could tell, the only thing that qualified him was his skin color: his parents had been Nigerian, though they'd emigrated to Manchester during the Civil War before he was born.
Certainly two years as a coach at Nottingham Forest hadn't prepared him; he hadn't even worked with the first team.
Its not that he was a less creative man than the others, its that his problem dwarfed theirs by an order of magnitude at least.
How can they all quit like that? I thought the Japanese had more national pride than that!
He glanced at the soccernet website article again.
Quote:
Players Revolt
Nineteen of Japan's most-capped international players have announced their resignation from the team in protest of the Japanese Football Association's new managerial appointment.
The players were already on the verge of protest over the F.A.'s termination of previous manager Zico, who was exceptionally popular with the players, for his paticipation in a scheme to award additional transfer funds through unlikely international call-ups. Many had defended him in public, deriding the accusations as "trumped up charges" and "utter lies".
The F.A. compounded that with the shock appointment yesterday of little-known 41-year-old Alan Pardew.
The appointment was a complete surprise to Japanese fans, but it pushed the already angry players, most of whom had never to have heard of the 41-year-old, over the edge.
"I will not work for a gaijin!' declared forward Atsushi Yanigasawa, as almost to a man the side walked out without even meeting their new manager.
In a statement to the press, the F.A.'s chief executive admitted that although Pardew would not have been an automatic choice in most peoples' eyes, they would stand firm.
"We will not kowtow to the unreasonable demands of those players," he said. "They have brought dishonour on themselves through their actions. There are plenty of young men who are willing to work with the American, and whom I firmly believe is capable of guiding the team successfully into the World Cup."
With just seventeen days until his first competitive match, Pardew will have little time to organize tryouts, let alone familiarize himself with his side.
"You must understand, Monsieur duBois. It is not enough just to qualify. You must give strong performances throughout the qualification period, do you hear me?
"There is, shall we say, much financial interest in how you perform."
"I understand, Señor Mendoza."
"Your predecessor did not. That is why he is dead."
Feck,
Claude duBois thought, swallowing nervously.
I should have known better than to come to Colombia.
Tobias Möller thought, watching the spectacle on the television.
If only Americans cared as much about football as they did about this stupid sport of theirs with the same name.
On the big screen, Adam Vinatieri was lining up a 41-yard "field goal" with four seconds left in the Super Bowl.
Tobias didn't much understand the game, or the name - this Brady fellow used his hands, exclusively, and never his feet - but the commentators had done enough dramatic hysterics to make the German understand that this kick would win the game.
"The snap, its down, its up.... ITS GOOD!!!! The Patriots win!! The Patriots are Champions of the World!!"
Of the world? Bah, only Americans play that stupid sport.
If I thought there would be a 26-man-squad to call up, I might have!
Game details: FM 2005 v5.0.5
Database: Huge, plus all players from Nigeria and Japan.
Active: 37 leagues from 28 nations, mostly European but also MLS, Brazil, & Argentina.
Writing style: whimsical.
Originally posted by Amaroq: If I thought there would be a 26-man-squad to call up, I might have!
Game details: FM 2005 v5.0.5
Database: Huge, plus all players from Nigeria and Japan.
Active: 37 leagues from 28 nations, mostly European but also MLS, Brazil, & Argentina.
Writing style: whimsical.
Well I've done something similar to this, not sure if it was FM5 or 6 though. Using retain all players I think you can manage Cook Islands, Fiji possibly someone else.
How are you finding the speed for 37 leagues, I always felt FM5 was slow?
Five By Five 
If I thought there would be a 26-man-squad to call up, I might have!
Linear Mode
