retired_hern1001

Midfielders:

23. Alcino, 34 years, MC, Portugal
Old warrior. Rotational player in midfield

15. Bino, 21 years, AML, Portugal
Not the quickest of players, but he works hard and can dribble rather well.

7. Filipe, 27 years, AMLC/FC, Portugal, Star Player
An excellent player, with the versatility to play in multiple positions. A definite starter.

6. Bruno Mendes, 28 years, MC, Portugal
Good midfielder, very good physically. Good passer as well.

9. Rui Sá, 30 years, AM/FC, Portugal
Nimble little player with lots of technical baggage. Not as strong physically though. Might also feature as striker.

8. Tiago, 22 years, AMR, Portugal
Arguably our worst midfielder, but the only one who can play on the right.

11. Éder, 29 years, AMLC, Brazil, Star Player
An excellent player, with well rounded attributes. Should be a starting regular.

Overall Verdict:
We have a pretty strong midfield with lots of creativity. We could do with another right winger, but for now, these players will do.

Attackers:

10. Jefferson, 26 years, ST, Brazil
Player with a huge influence in the dressing room and on the pitch. Decent striker of the ball, should play most games.

16. Jonas, 19 years, ST, Portugal
Best of the rest.

26. Marquitos, 17 years, ST, Portugal
Young and not very good. Will have to improve to stay.

17. Miki, 17 years, ST, Portugal
Has the jump on Marquitos due to his excellent finishing. Looks like he has some potential.

Overall Verdict:
Jefferson will be the obvious starter, but his partner will be the difficult position to fill. Possibly one of the attacking midfielders (Filipe or Rui Sá) might fill in here.

retired_hern1001

“I was thinking about employing a 4-4-2 formation, with attacking wingers. One defensive minded central midfielder and one attacking minded. We have lots of creativity in midfield, so we should play an attacking, passing game. It’s no use to play the long ball forward and neglect the midfielders” I was discussing with Nick.

“Yeah, good shout. We need some good tight marking at the back as well. And none of this zonal marking crap. Everyone has a man and has to mark that person. It prevents communication errors when people take over each others zone’s and such” Nick agreed.

“Okay, we’re in agreement then. We’ll figure out the actual players that’ll play there once we get to know them better. See if you can arrange some friendly matches before the season starts, they’ll give us a useful indication.”

That was more easily said than done, but in the end, Nick managed to come up with three friendlies, although one of them was against our own U19 squad.

Before any of these would take place though, we would need to strengthen the squad. Bids were put in for Luis Lopes, a central defender from Beira-Mar MG, Rui Lage, a defensive midfielder from Nelas and Chalana, an attacking midfielder from the same club. After some thorough negotiations, hampered by language barriers, they all joined the club for a combined total fee of 14k. And the English contingent at Esmoriz was further strengthened by the arrival of scout Rob Campkin. Luis Campos announced that he disagreed with the new management policy and left the club, whilst complaining about how all these foreigners spoiled the beautiful game.

My assessment of Filipe’s talent was confirmed by the fact that clubs from all over the country started pouring in offers for the key midfielder, but under no circumstances was I going to allow him to leave.

retired_rcroy1

this is really good stuff, keep it up :thup:

retired_hern1001

Cheers Britstud10

The first friendly, against the U19’s was really more than a kick about on a fine summer evening, but even so, 71 people bothered to come to the ground. The match itself was a fairly one-sided contests and although the 4-0 result flattered the first XI, coached by yours truly, Nick’s U19’s were second best through out. Chalana made his mark by getting two of the goals, while Filipe and Miki got the others.

In next friendly, against what you might call a proper opponent, the result wasn’t much different. Atletico da Malveira were played off the park in the first half, with goals to Jefferson and a brace for Rui Sá. It could’ve been even more, if it weren’t for the fact that last week’s hero Chalana missed from the penalty spot. The second half was a drab affair, mainly due to a host of personnel changes. Still, it was another win. It was no different in the final friendly, against Atletico do Cacém. Although the final margin was only 2-0, it could’ve been a lot more, but I wasn’t complaining. We had looked the part against lower league opposition. Now it was time to put these guys to the test in the league.

After the game, the chairman came over to have a word with me.

“Ah my friend, there you are. You do very well in these matches. I am, how do you say, couraged by the results” the dwarf said, while brandishing his cigarette about.

“It’s encouraged. And thanks, I guess. But these opponents haven’t made things difficult for us, it’ll be a different ball game in the league” I replied.

“Nonsense, you are going to bring many glory to this team. I can feel it already” the chairman said, before heading off again to speak with some of the locals. They too, seemed encouraged by the preparations we had gone through.

Meanwhile, Martin had flown back to England to gather some of our belongings, since we were going to stay in Portugal for a while now. He had decided that it would be best for him to go alone, just in case anyone was still hovering about with a grudge against me. He returned a few days later with the report that everything looked fine back home and that there was no need to worry about whoever had been after me. The news came as a definitive relief and although the incident at the cemetery had slowly disappeared from my mind, I could really forget about it now.

retired_hern1001

Slight correction to make more sense

retired_nadiya

liking this story keep it up!

retired_hern1001

The days passed quickly as we neared the first league game of the season. A few days before our first game, against Pontassolense, scout Rob Campkin phoned me about a possible transfer prospect. It was 30-year old right winger Ricardo, who was currently without a club. Since right midfield was one of the positions that could still use some strengthening, I decided to offer Ricardo a contract. He accepted quickly and the deal was done and dusted just before the first league game. The same night, I sat down with Nick and Martin to finalise our starting XI.

“Miki’s not ready to start yet, I don’t think” Nick said.

“He’s got talent though. And he’s the person I would back to put his chances away” Martin objected.

“I’m with Nick here, we should start with Rui Sá and Jefferson up front. If either of them fails, we can always bring Miki on. Next point, right midfield” I said.

“Ricardo’s only had one training. We should go with Rui Lage. He would be my first choice as captain as well. He’s a natural leader” Martin said.

“Nick?” I asked.

“No complaints here, it’s the right decision”

“Right then. Ricardo in goal, Marquitos, Rui Jorge, Luis Lopes and Ruca to form the back four, Rui Lage, Mendes, Filipe and Chalana in midfield and finally, Rui Sá and Jefferson up front.” I summarised.

“Yeah, that should do the trick” Nick agreed.

“All right then. Thank you gentlemen. Have a good night’s sleep and I will see you tomorrow. Shame our first game is on Madeira straight away. I would have preferred to play at home, but I guess we can’t have it all.” With that, the meeting came to a close.

retired_hern1001

The first time that I saw you
You were dancin’ on the beach
Poetry in motion
But you seemed so out of reach
© Bad English – Time Stood Still

I didn’t sleep much that night. I kept thinking of Jenny for some strange reason. At least the happy memories prevailed this time. I thought of the first time I met her mostly.

It happened on a late night beach party in some godforsaken shithole in France. She was dancing to the music being played by some locals. She seemed too perfect to be true. I had been admiring her from afar when suddenly she turned and looked me straight in the eyes. She smiled and from that moment on, she had captured my heart. Later that evening she came over to me and we sat on the beach talking until the sun rose. What was even more amazing to me, was the fact that she was from England and in fact lived in the same town I lived in. And yet I’d never seen her before. It must have been destiny, if you believe in that rubbish anyway. We spent the next few weeks together and never looked back.

Why that particular memory haunted me throughout that night, I still don’t know, but the next morning I felt ridiculously alone. I don’t remember going to the airport, or even landing on the airport of Funchal. According to Nick, I had been in another dimension for the entire flight.

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On the day of the match, things had cleared a bit. At least I had gotten a good night’s sleep and Jenny had been pushed to the back of my mind. There were other important things at stake right now. At four in the afternoon, referee Nuno Filipe blew his whistle and Rui Sá and Jefferson got the game under way for us.

From the early onset, it was clear that we were the only side going for the win. Pontassolense kept ten man back on the edge of their own box and left it to us to do the footballing. It took us a while to get going and we were unable to break down their massive numbers in front of goal early on. But after a good half hour, we started to settle down and began creating chances. Mendes and Rui Sá both sent shots wide of the mark, but the best chance fell to Jefferson. The Brazilian though, blasted his effort well over the crossbar from close range. His woeful miss prompted me to bring on Miki to replace him at half time. The first thing the youngster did was getting caught in an offside position after Rui Sá had done the hard work of getting past the defence. He then proceeded to blast an excellent opportunity well wide of Bruno Festas’ goal and it started to seem like we wouldn’t score at all. In those situations, it’s usually the underlying side who scores a goal, but thankfully, Pontassolense were unable to threaten Ricardo’s goal. We entered injury time with the scores still deadlocked at 0-0, but a foul on Filipe gave us an injury time penalty. It was leftback Ruca who had the much needed nerves of steel to step up and he delicately placed the ball to the left of the goalkeeper sealing the game for us. A hard fought win and a valuable three points in the bag, I returned to the airport a happy man and despite the obvious signs of fatigue, the players were cheery on the way back to the mainland.

retired_srobertson

Glad to see you're still writing this story :cool:

retired_hern1001

No worries mate. Progress might be slow and painful, but i will NOT abandon this story without a proper ending this time around.