retired_sroch3032

Thanks Sebsy and good luck with Leigh RMI if you have taken it up! Well the small database thing i didnt notice in the options until later on when i had starting posting so i just kept with it!...I'm not the most skilled manager at this game so it might be impossible but ill keep trying. Enjoy



15th of June 2004

Another shock result today occurred in a Group C match. Ireland played the mighty French side looking to win a second consecutive European Championship. Birmingham’s Clinton Morrison scored the Irish’s first goal in the 25th minute when they caught the French defence cold. The French had a saviour by the name of Thierry Henry when he scored the only other goal of the game in the 52nd minute. Henry scored totally against the run of play and the Irish should feel aggrieved at dropping two points.

In group C a less fancied clash between Greece and Bulgaria produced four goals. Bulgaria struck in the first minute through Dimitar Berbatov to send the Bulgarian fans into ecstacy. The Greeks scored the equaliser ten minutes later through Udinese’s attacking midfielder, Giorgos Karagounis. In the second half the Greeks scored a deserved second through the player who scored their first goal of the match. Fifteen minutes from time the Greeks made sure of all three points when Dimitrios Grammozis found himself unmarked from a corner and headed his side 3-1 up.

16th of June 2004

Germany, who needs a victory to stay in contention to qualify out of group B, plays against Scotland today. Kenny Miller put the Scots in front after 25 minutes before the Germans finally awoke from their slumber and started peppering shots on goal. The German pressure payed off in the second half through Bayern Munchen’s Michael Ballack rocket shot beat Neil Alexander in the Scotland goal. The match ended 1-1 and the Germans need a win in their last match to have a slight chance of qualifying.

17th of June 2004

In Group B England sits in pole position after holding Spain to a 1-1 draw. Diego Tristan scored after the 25th minute mark before Jay Bothroyd struck in the second half to give his nation a great chance of progressing to the quarter finals.

retired_sroch3032

18th of June 2004

Portugal played Italy today with both sides aiming for a win and a place in the round of 16. The home nation shocked Italy when Rui Costa scored in the 15th minute to put his side in the lead. Pauleta struck five minutes before the first half ended. Italy couldn’t get back into the match in the second half and slumped to their second defeat in two matches. The Portuguese have a great chance to top their group after three matches while Italy may not even make second in the group.

Belgium was looking for their second win out of two matches and qualification to the quarter finals after the other result between Portugal and Italy went their way. Belgium scored their 1st goal through a penalty in the 10th minute dispatched successfully by Timmy Simons. Emile Lokonda Mpenza scored a brace in the second half to put Belgium 3-0 up before Johan Elmander scored a consolation goal for the Swedes two minutes before time.

19th of June 2004

Denmark versus Holland is a clash of two sleeping giants of world football. Holland came up trumps after Ruud Van Nistelrooy scored a brace in the first fifteen minutes and Patrick Kluivert put the Dutch 3-0 ahead with ten minutes left. The Dutch’s win put them top of the group with six points and in a excellent position to qualify for the quarter finals.

In the other match today Czech Republic played Switzerland for the right to take 2nd spot behind Holland in group A. In the end the Czech side was just too strong and scored two goals through Jan Koller and Tomas Ujfalusi to confirm victory and taking second spot in the group with one match to go.

Today the fans’ voted on their player of the year. This year Sean McAuley won that honour and proved that the fans favourite tag he had acquired over the season was genuine.

A new sponsorship deal was signed today with a local company. The deal is worth £30K over four years.

The board announced today that they are pleased with my performance as manager and the transfer budget for the up and coming season. The £12K given to me was a big shock to me after having to work with nothing all of last season. The one thing I feel we need to let me bring in better quality players is a larger wage budget but I unless our crowds pick up that won’t be possible.

20th of June 2004

Ireland played Greece today in a seven goal thriller. Damien Duff struck in the first five minutes to give his country the lead. The Greeks struck back through Zisis Vryzas twenty minutes later to bring the score level. Greece was only on level terms for a minute after a mistake in the defence let Lee Carsley in and he punished them scoring Ireland’s second goal of the game. Just before half time Zisis Vryzas scored his second of the game and brought Greece level at two all. In the second half Ioannis Amanatidis put Greece 3:2 in the lead straight from the start of the second half. Zisis Vryzas completed his hat trick and Greece further in the lead with only twenty five minutes to go. Just before the end of the match Zisis Vryzas scored his fourth and he had almost single hand idly won the game for his country.

The other match in group C today was France versus Bulgaria. The French ran the show from the word go and scored three times to seal all the three points. Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieria and Sylvian Wiltord all got their names on the scoresheet as France finished the match as comfortable 3-0 winners.

Ilian Kiryakov today announced he would retire before the start of the season instead of retiring at the end of our next season. Ilian moves to take on a full coaching role at the club.

Leeds United has now taken back control of their club from the receivers. The Yorkshire club is now in the position to refuse and negotiate transfers again.

retired_sroch3032

21st of June 2004

Group B came to a conclusion today with the 2nd last match of the group played between England and Scotland. Michael Owen struck on the 10th minute to give England a 1-0 lead before Barry Ferguson brought Scotland level nine minutes later. The England Captain, David Beckham, had the final say in the 68th minute with an excellent free kick which found the top corner of the net to make it 2-1. The English held on to qualify top of the group with seven points.

While in the other match in Group B saw a massive clash between Germany and Spain. Both nations could take 2nd spot in the group with a win today so this result was all important. Miroslav Klose scored his 1st goal in the 31st minute and had to wait another half an hour before scoring his 2nd in the 63rd minute. Germany was flying high and scored again through Jorg Bohme in the 90th minute to cap off a wonderful victory. Raul did score once in the second half but in the end it was only a consolation goal as the Spanish crashed out the tournament.

22nd of June 2004

In Group A the final two matches were being played. Switzerland and Denmark both had a chance to qualify for the quarter finals if the result in the other match went their way. Denmark got off to the perfect start with Jon Dahl Tomasson scoring with his first touch of the game in the 2nd minute. Bruno Berner equalised for the Swiss two minutes into the second half and that’s how it stayed. Both sides don’t make it to the next round as they both needed more than a point to overtake the Czech Republic.

While in the other match Holland played against the Czech Republic in a dead rubber. Holland knew they were already qualified after their 2nd match while the Czech Republic received the news from the other Group A match before the kick off against Holland. The Dutch showed their class scoring twice through Wilfred Bouma and Roy Makaay and taking the group with a maximum of nine out of nine points.

23rd of June 2004

In Group C Bulgaria and Ireland played out a five goal thriller to give all the fans their monies worth. Robbie Keane completed his hat trick in the 62nd minute to give Ireland a 3-0 lead. Valeri Emilov Bojinov scored in the 68th minute to give his side a glimmer of hope but that was extinguished with Robbie Keane’s 4th goal in the last five minutes to complete a 4-1 win to the Irish.

The Greeks knew they had already qualified before the match against France and that really showed with their play today. The French broke the deadlock when Thierry Henry scored on the stroke of half time. Patrick Vieria added a second in the 60th minute before Zinedine Zidane got his name on the scoresheet to give his side a 3-0 win.

While over in Group D Belgium played the tournament hosts Portugal. Manchester United’s wonderkid Cristiano Ronaldo proved the difference scoring in the 70th minute to give the hosts three wins out of three.

Italy and Sweden both came into the match winless and no chance of progressing any further in this European Championship. Italy just edged out their Swedish opponents with a goal from Francesco Totti in the 53rd minute.

Next the completed group tables and the quarter finals!

retired_sroch3032

Group Tables

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Holders - France / Hosts - PortugalGROUP A| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Holland | | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | +7 | 9 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Czech Republic | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Denmark | | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 2 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Switzerland | | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | -4 | 1 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|GROUP B| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | England | | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 7 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Germany | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Scotland | | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 2 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Spain | | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 2 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|GROUP C| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | France | | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 7 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Greece | | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 6 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Ireland | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 4 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Bulgaria | | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 10 | -8 | 0 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|GROUP D| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Portugal | | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +4 | 9 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Belgium | | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 6 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Italy | | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 3 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Sweden | | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | -4 | 0 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

The European Championship 2004 quarter finals have been drawn. They read
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Germany V HollandEngland V Czech RepublicBelgium V FrancePortugal V Greece</pre>
Just after the draw the Scottish FA surprisingly announced a new manager (I didn’t know they had sacked their previous manager). Derby manager,George Burley, takes over the Scottish national team and his first challenge is to qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

retired_sroch3032

24th of June 2004

In the first quarter final Germany played Holland. The game was tight all match but one moment of brilliance on the stroke of half time gave Holland a European Championship Semi Final match. Roy Makaay curled his shot around Olivier Kahn from just outside the box and that was that.

Another player joined East Stirling today from Elgin.

Tam McAllister (32 y/o, Scottish. MC)
Tam was at Elgin for two seasons and made only eleven appearances for the black and whites. The experienced central midfielder will hopefully strike up a good partnership with Sean McAuley blending youth and experience.

25th of June 2004

England and Czech Republic played today in the second quarter final. Both sides had over seven shots on target but just like the first quarter final the match was decided by one goal the 45th minute mark. Just after the second half started Ashley Cole was put through on goal by Steven Gerrard and the Arsenal left back finished it off. The English were put under pressure for most of the second half but kept the ball out of their net and went on to take a semi final spot.

26th of June 2004

The third semi finalist was finalised today from the quarter final match between Belgium and France. Thomas Buffel gave the Belgians a surprise lead on the 25th minute mark. Juventus’s David Trezeguet scored his 25th goal for France ten minutes before half time to bring the French back on level terms. The game was on a knifes edge until Thierry Henry had his say on the match. The phenomenal striker scored in the 77th and 90th minutes to give his side a 3-1 victory.

27th of June 2004

In the last quarter final the host nation Portugal took on Greece. Pauleta got Portugal off to a dream start in the 11th minute capping off a wonderful passing move. Figo capped off a stunning performance with two goals in the second half to give Portugal the last semi final spot and a 3-0 win on the night.

retired_sroch3032

29th of June 2004

John Allison today informed me he is now a qualified coach. He was awarded the Bronze Coaching Badge to show the ability he showed during his coaching training. John told me even though he could now coach he felt he would like to stay on the playing side of the game as well at the club until his contract runs out.

Newcastle United has appointed ex Manchester City manager Kevin Keegan as their new manager.

30th of June 2004

The first semi final of Euro 2004 was played between Holland and Portugal. Newcastle winger, Hugo Viana, put the host nation in the lead after one minute with a wonder goal which looked to be a cross but somehow went into the goal. The Dutch didn’t equalise until ten minutes into the second half through their top scored Roy Makaay. The match finished 1-1 at the final whistle and extra time was needed to separate the two sides. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be a fairy tale for the Portuguese in their own country as Roy Makaay scored his second of the game with five minutes to go and Holland was the first nation to make it to the final.

1st of July 2004

The start of a new month brings the 2nd semi final between great rivals England and France. The French struck the first blow through Arsenal’s sensational forward Thierry Henry in the 35th minute. Two minutes later England’s talisman up forward Michael Owen hit back to tie up the scores 1-1. Ten minutes before time another Arsenal player, Patrick Vieria, scored for France to give them a 2-1 lead. England threw all they could at the France goal but it wasn’t enough as the French defence and Fabien Barthez repelled all that came their way. The final whistle blew and the French celebrated a second consecutive final appearance in a European Championship and are on their way to back to back championships.

Its a Holland-France final what are your predictions??

retired_sroch3032

No takers, well my prediction to win Euro 2004 is France

3rd of July 2004

Another signing today and a higher profile one too. Eddie Annand joined from St Mirren to be guaranteed first team/rotation football at East Stirling.

Eddie Annand (31 y/o, Scottish, SC)
Eddie didn’t play for the St Mirren first team last year but the season before that he scored thirteen goals in thirty one appearances and this was in Division One too! He has great balance and strength on the ball while having the knack of being able to get into good scoring positions. I am hoping he will strike up a good partnership up forward with Brian Crawford and maybe being able to come off the bench as a super sub.

4th of July 2004

The biggest match in the European Championship has finally arrived. The final is between two big footballing nations. Holland has won all five of their matches of the road to the final scoring ten and conceding just one. While the other finalist France won four out of their five matches to get to the final scoring twelve and conceding three. The bookmakers are favouring the defending champions France giving them 5-4 odds of clinching back to back European Championships.

In front of 60,000 fans the match finally kicked off. Holland scored the first goal through Kevin Hofland on the 20th minute mark. Zinedane Zidane showed his class equalising for France ten minutes later. Just after half time the Dutch scored again through Wilfred Bouma to lead France 2-1. The French always had hope while Thierry Henry was on the pitch and he didn’t disappoint scoring his first of the match with twenty minutes left on the clock. Both sides played flowing attacking football but neither could score again and the final moved to extra time. At 2-2 the first half of extra time kicked off without incident and so the second half of extra time was needed. With fifteen minutes left of the match both sides starting playing safely and defensively just keeping chances for the opposition to a minimum. The referee blew the second half of extra time to a close and a penalty shootout was needed to decide the European Championship 2004 winners. The Dutch held their nerve scoring four goals out of five while France could only manage three with Thierry Henry missing his and condemning his side to defeat. Holland proved the bookmakers wrong by defeating France 4-3 on penalties and taking home the European Championship trophy.

After all the drama of the final it was back to business for all managers except Rudi Voller, Inaki Saez and Giovanni Trapattoni who were relieved of their posts by Germany, Spain and Italy respectively.

5th of July 2004

With the league campaign kicking off just over a month away I finalised one friendly against Huntly for the 13th of July. My East Stirling annual cup this season has also been finalised with defending champions Arbroath returning with Gala Fairydean and Threave Rovers.

Chris Baldwin stubbed his toe today in training and will be out for two weeks missing our first friendly against Huntly.

retired_sroch3032

8th of July 2004

Partick Thistle has shocked the Scottish public and their own fans announcing Arsenal great Martin Keown as their new player/manager. The defender recently gained his coaching badge and has told the media he is extremely proud to manage an SPL side in his first attempt of trying.

11th of July 2004

The Scottish League Cup 1st Round was drawn today and in attendance I sent my assistant Alec Cleland. The club was lucky enough to be drawn at home but that’s where the good news finished. We will play Ross County who was one of the clubs relegated from Division One last season. The match will be played at Firs Park on the 7th of September 2004

While I went to see the Scottish League Challenge Cup 1st Round draw. Again we were drawn at home to a second division club. Forfar was that club making the trip to Firs Park. The match will be played on the 7th of August 2004

12th of July 2004

The hotseat at Manchester City left by Kevin Keegan when he went to join Newcastle United has been filled by another high profile manager. After one season with Chelsea having an unlimited cheque book the Italian manager decided he would rather try his luck in Manchester.

The Spanish FA today announced their replacement manager by the name of Rafa Benitez while the Italian FA announced Luigi Cagni as their new national team manager.

13th of July 2004

Today we signed another St Mirren attacking player on a free transfer

Kevin Twaddle (32 y/o, Scottish, AM/FR)
Since St Mirren was relegated to Division Two they have needed to release a few high payed players. Kevin was unfortunately one of those players and he has agreed to join us with a reduced pay from £800 to £100. He has great crossing ability while his dribbling and pace makes him a menace on the wing.

retired_cre_1

Dark_Soccer, this is a great story, and it inspired my to start a game with East Stirling aswell. They are so crap, that I couldn't believe it, when I assesed the squad. I offered a contract to 20-30 freebies, they all said, they weren´t interested, but two signed anyway. A good right back and a decent left back.
After that I offered 0 pounds for 10-15 players that were transfer listed for 1.000-3.000 pounds. That way I brought 7-8 new players in. The team is still crap, but a bit better than the original team. Currently I´m first in the league with three wins and three draws. The last match was a 0-5 defeat by Aberdeen in the league cup. East Stirling is a great team to manage, and certainly a challenge. KUTGW!!

retired_sroch3032

Thanks xx2 , if you think this is a great story look around the board because this isnt the best one! It seems like you are doing well as East Stirling after six games well better than i did....if you look back i think i was rock bottom with six games! I hope you continue reading and drawing inspiration from my story

14th of July 2004

Today we play against lower league side Huntly in our first kick of a ball in anger since last season. I will be hoping for complete domination in this match but I am mainly looking to gel the players I have brought in during the preseason.

July 14th, 2004 Friendly (h)
East Stirling V Huntly

East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly- Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, Michael Stewart, Alex McColl- Ross Jackson, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Eddie Annand, Brian Crawford
Subs: Ross Flitney (gk), James White, John Allison, Tam McAllister, Kevin Twaddle, Jordan Leishman, Dougie Polwart, Gerry Boyle, Stuart Kelly, Paul Rodden, Derek Ure, Craig Reid

The line up today has only two of the new players taking a spot. Alex McColl gets his chance to shine in centre defence while I expect big things from Eddie Annand and his partnership with Brian Crawford.

Our first goal of the season, maybe not in a competitive match though, was scored after a nice run up the right wing by Maughan to put in a cross. Maughan picked out Mackay on the edge of the penalty area and the midfielder controlled the ball and lined up a shot at goal. The ball flew like an arrow from the midfielders foot into the top left hand corner of the net. Later on in the first half Annand and Crawford played a one two with the latter putting the ball into the back of the net only to see it cancelled out due to offside.

Ten minutes into the second half and the Annand-Crawford combination finally proved fruitful. Annand received the ball just outside of the Huntly penalty area and swivelled before passing to the feet of Crawford. The striker made no mistake clinically beating the advancing keeper. Eight minutes later an unorthodox Jackson corner found McLaren all on his own and he buried the ball with his head to make it 3-0. With only ten minutes left in the match Crawford had his second goal of the match. The other ex St Mirren player was sent free on the wing and Twaddle crossed a perfect ball onto the head of his strike partner. Crawford has two and we have four.

East Stirling 4:0 Huntly
East Stirling Goals: Crawford (2), Mackay (1), McLaren (1)
Huntly Goals: -
MoM: Graeme McLaren (East Stirling) Rating-9
Subs: Boyle on for Lappin (51’), Twaddle on for Annand (51`), Flitney on for Connolly (51`), Allison on for Maughan (51`), White on for Stewart (51`), McAllister on for Mackay (51`)
Booked: John Reilly (Huntly)
Sent Off: -
Stadium: Firs Park
Attendance: 186

An excellent win by the boys scoring four and never looking troubled at the back. Of course I would have expected no less but today was mainly to see how the players brought in during the off season would fit into the first team. McAllister had a solid game in centre midfield while the ex St Mirren double Annand and Twaddle both played well with each player making a goal for Crawford.

The German FA appointed the new national manager today. Matthias Sammer has taken the reigns of the Germany national team while staying involved managing his club side Borussia Dortmund.