HerefordMgr

Hi folks. I've never done one of these before. I'm running 6.0.2 with, I believe 14 or 15 leagues, all in Normal mode (Except, I believe, for England and Scotland, for which i have full mode selected). I'm going to give a fairly detailed overview of my first few years with Hereford United, and then perhaps progress to more of a diary-style which I believe a few of you favour which will cover more recent goings-on. We'll see where this goes. Thanks for reading. Enjoy.

IN THE BEGINNING

Flashback to July 1st of 2005. I was sitting at home in Regina, Canada doing virtually nothing. I was out of football, hadn't done much in the way of anything
athletic in a number of years, and was sitting in a dead-end customer service job. Shortly after the beginning of the month, I received a fateful phone call. One which, ultimately, would change my life.

A friend of mine who was living in England, apparently had remembered that I had *some* managerial ability from various local tournaments that I had been involved in. Evidently, he figured that I might be a good fit for a team who was struggling in the English National Football Conference. "Who are they?" I enquired. "Hereford United" he replied. "They're a team who has great speed and who can score like crazy, they just need some direction. I know the chairman of their board of directors, Graham Turner, and he's also been managing and coaching the club. He wants to step away from his on-field duties and just focus on the back room chairmanship of the board of directors. I recommended you". I sat at my desk absolutely stunned. "Oh great", I thought to myself. "I've done nothing beyond a few small tournaments and all of a sudden I'm being recommended to take over a club in one of the world's largest football hotbeds. No pressure on Ian at all, is there?"

My friend ended the conversation by offering me the club's phone and fax numbers and saying "They need an answer in a week. This is a good fit, I know it. And they're expecting you to at least get ahold of them."

I needed a drink. I couldn't think. I had to make a huge, life changing decision in a matter of A WEEK. "This is nuts. Absolutely nuts. I'm in a movie. This isn't real!", I kept repeating out loud over and over. Finally, I decided to give myself the chance to sleep on it and I'd make a decision by the following night. I didn't want to keep Hereford waiting.

The next morning, I woke up and it was almost as if I'd had an overnight epiphany. I wanted this. I knew somehow that I could make a go of it. I went into work and asked for the remaining ten days of holidays that I had saved for the year. I would use those ten days to fly to England, meet with the board of directors of the Herford United Bulls, and make as good an impression on them as I possibly could. I phoned Mr. Turner and introduced myself. The first question I asked was "Why would you be so interested in a completely unknown twentysomething guy from Canada coming over and managing your club? I'm flattered..but..." he stopped me in mid sentence. "Ian, you have a reputation for being a great tactician and motivator. We've known about you for awhile. Your friend speaks very highly of your abilities and he showed myself and the board of directors some game tape. You seem to get alot out of the players you work with, your teams are very pacey and you love to attack and score goals. We like that here. We'd like to meet with you in person. We'll pay for your flight over and back, but you'll have to find your own accomodations, as we are only a small club." The smile on my face must have been noticeable, even over the phone "How can I refuse that offer? I'll see you in a couple of days." I said.

I ended up signing an initial one year deal worth €28,000 per year. I was introduced officially on July 10th, 2005. Obviously, my hiring was greeted with a certain level of skepticism. "Who was this guy?", people were asking. "Couldn't they have found someone locally, or at least English?" I didn't care. I would prove them wrong, come hell or high water.

Suffice to say the first year was one of excitement and completely unprecedented successes. We ended up finishing first in the Nationwide Conference with a record of 25 wins and 8 losses with 9 draws. Shockingly, I was named manager of the year for the entire conference, as well as manager of the month for September 2005 and February of 2006. We started out with an eleven game unbeaten streak (5 wins, 6 draws, no losses) which set the tone for the entire season. Without question, the ultimate team high point, aside from winning the conference, was the fact that we won the team's first ever FA Trophy. There were, however, other things that weighed heavily on me during that year, at least temporarily.

Back in January of 2006, I had gone to the board to ask them for a contract extension. We were in first place in the conference, winning just about every game we were playing at that point, and I figured that I didn't want the issue of those negotiations hanging over our heads towards the end of the year. The board had repeatedly told me that they had been amazed and delighted by the way we were performing. I knew in my gut that it felt right, and I wanted to at least try to get it taken care of as soon as I could so that everybody could just move forward. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be quite that easy. At least, not then.

I went into Mr. Turner's office and said that I thought we were doing very well with the club, but that I was anxious to get going on negotiating a new long term deal, so that the club could be assured of stability moving forward. "Ian, I appreciate your honesty and your drive and motivation to carry the team forward." he said sternly, "But this is just the middle of the year. Shouldn't you be focusing on the issues ON the field instead of your own personal issues?" I sunk back into the leather chair I was seated in. He was right, but at the same time, I couldn't understand why it was such an issue. I was coming to him wanting to do this now so that he could be assured that his team had the stability it needed. It didn't matter.The conversation was over, for now. I would continue focusing on managing the club, and just hope the rest would take care of itself.

I ended up signing a new three year deal in April of 2006. The negotiation lasted literally about fifteen minutes. I didn't care about the money. I took a €2000 p/a pay-cut. I had the long term deal I wanted, the team had the stability it needed. We were marching forward.

HerefordMgr

let me just add one quick note here. The timeline is real. Conversations are obviously creatively constructed based on events that occurred during the course of the seasons.

HerefordMgr

LEAGUE TWO, A BRIEF STOP IN LEAGUE ONE, AND AN UNEXPECTED OPPORTUNITY

Our first year in league two was one of struggle, mixed with moments of success. I suppose, considering we were supposed to be "relegation battlers", we did quite well. We finished fourteenth in the league two, with the first losing record of our tenure. We finished with a record of 15 wins with 17 losses and 14 draws. We lost in the fourth round of the FA cup, and in the third round of the LDV Vans trophy. As a side note, I have to say that the bane of my managerial existence thus far has been the LDV Vans tournament. Even when we were at the height of our success at Hereford United, we never advanced beyond the third round of the tournament. I'll always be disappointed by that. No matter where I go, or what I do, and in spite of the fact that it's just a minor trophy, I've always felt that it was something we should have won. It's a trophy that we've always had the talent to win, but we just couldn't get it done.

My third year at the helm of Hereford was, without doubt, the biggest year-to-year improvement we made during my time with the club. We won 20 games in the league two for the first time, in just our second year. This was a goal I had set from the moment we gathered at our training facility for the first meeting of the season in July of 2007. We had added an incredibly potent striker by the name of Mattias Karlsson who scored at nearly every opportunity he was given. He worked perfectly in my system. Perhaps most surprisingly, given the fact that we were a relatively inexperienced league two team, was the fact that we made the playoffs. We finished in a tie for sixth, clinching a playoff spot with two games left in the season.. Unfortunately, our run of good fortune ended in the playoff semi final with a two game total point 3-0 loss to a superior Northampton side. In what might be the height of irony, it was one of my former players, reserve Striker Danny Carey-Bertram, who scored the first goal of the first match, which ultimately ended up being the only goal they would have needed.

During the off-season, my thoughts once again turned to my contract. The upcoming season would be the final year of my current deal, and, although I couldn't ask to open negotiations until January of 2009, I knew what I'd be asking for. Again, I didn't care about money. All I wanted was stability. I wouldn't even bother asking for a pay raise, in spite of the fact that at that point I'd won close to 75 games. I wanted a 3 or 4 year deal. I was very aware that, given that time frame to work with, I could most certainly lead us into League One, and more than likely the Championship League. In the back of my mind, I also wondered if 4 years might even be enough to get us into the Premiership.

The season itself was maybe the strangest season I've ever managed, on a number of levels. Take a look at our final league record, for example. We won 24 games, an amazing feat for just our third year in the League Two. But, we also put seventeen games into the loss column. Do the math - we only drew FIVE games all year. It was as if we'd get a lead, and then our opponent would draw even, and instead of holding onto a draw, we'd lose the game. Or, more often than not, luckily, we'd just get a lead and hold onto it. I had almost never seen a team draw only five games in a 46 game league schedule. Incredible. We ultimately finished in fourth, although we were in the top three for the vast majority of the year, until we fell apart over the last month and a half of the season, losing five games in a row at one point. We were, once again, playoff bound.

The playoffs were an astonishing cakewalk. We beat Walsall in the semi final 3-0 on aggrigate to reach the playoff final. I remember telling the squad before the game "Guys, we can't walk on the pitch being over-confident. This isn't a two game deal. If we win this, we're promoted into League One. If we lose, we're back here in League Two. We don't want that, do we?" In retrospect, I needn't have worried as much as I did. We put another clean sheet up, this time against Aldershot Town, by the same 3-0 score. We were promoted to League One.

That year also saw us pull in our largest transfer fee. I knew we weren't doing real well financially, and I also knew that we were deep enough to cover a loss should we have to sell someone for the transfer funds. We let Mattias Karlsson go to Crystal Palace. He, the consistent 25 goal scorer, fans player of the year, consistent scoring threat. Some might suggest my asking price might have been a bit exhorbitant, but I wasn't complaining. I negotiated a €3.6 million fee, easily the highest in the history of the club. On top of the initial fee, the transfer would also potentially include €100,000 in incentives, based on league apps and goals.

I also decided to put my contract out of my mind. I knew that if we played up to our potential, and if I kept the finances relatively healthy, there would be no question that I would get a new contract. In early April of 2009, I was offered, and almost immediately accepted, a four year contract. I negotiated a single clause into the deal. I wanted the training facilities upgraded, which the board agreed to. Not only would I be around for four more years, but I would be leaving a real legacy with the improved training facilities. I got paid the same amount, €26,000 p/a. I was fine with that. For some reason, the money just didn't matter when it came to this team. It was comfortable. It was home. What I didn't realize when I put pen to paper on that new contract, however, was that being home would be a concept which I would be exploring in a very real and unexpected way.

The first few weeks of the offseason were relatively un-eventful with the usual offers to free-agent young players and one or two veteran backups just for depth. Just before the players returned from holidays, I met with my assistants and the board at the same time, which was something I'd never done before. I just wanted to get an idea of where our heads were, collectively. The board, obviously, was delighted with our performance, but warned that we weren't expected to do much more than battle for relegation in our first league one campaign. I was expecting that from the board. I knew they were going at this with guarded expectations, but I also knew that if we got lucky a few times and stayed healthy, we could be competitive with anyone in the league. I had made a habit of scheduling pre-season Friendly matches with League One opponents as far back as our Conference National season, and while we would get beat more often than not, there were times when we'd pull out a draw or a win, so I was, in the back of my mind, pretty optimistic about where we were heading. My assistants were as optimistic as I was, and we ended the meeting hoping that we as a staff had impressed upon the board that the team would be more competitive than they expected.

GOING HOME

In the late part of June, 2009, I had started to hear rumblings about Canada being unhappy with their current management. I had heard that they may be looking to make a change. Kind of on the sly, I had decided to fax a resumee to the offices of The Canadian Soccer Association, headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta. "Surely they'd find someone better than me", I thought. But at least I wanted to put my name out there. As a Canadian, there would be no greater honour than managing your national team, especially during a World Cup cycle. The team was in the midst of their qualifying matches when the announcement was made: "Team Canada Sacks Manager". I was quite shocked. They were doing quite well, leading in their group in the qualifiers. "Why would they make a change?" I thought. It didn't make sense. You don't make a change a) during a World Cup qualifying round and b) when you're in FIRST PLACE in your group. I knew that Canadian Soccer hadn't exactly been a bright spark on the international stage. We had only made one World Cup, previously, in 1986, and didn't even gain a standings point, as far as I could remember. It had to be a disagreement between the current management and the Canadian Soccer Association.

Now, let me say that at this point I was FULLY committed to Hereford United. As great as managing Team Canada might be, I believed that the likelihood of me actually being hired was small, and I wanted to build on the success we were experiencing with Hereford. I couldn't have imagined what might happen next.

On the morning of July 4th, 2009, my personal assistant paged me and indicated I had an incoming phone call. I figured it was a player or an agent. It was The Canadian Soccer Association. They were offering me the job of Manager. "But, I just signed a new deal here. And, this is international soccer! I didn't think I'd have a chance when I applied, really". I was assured immediately that this was a serious offer. They wanted to bring in a Canadian who understood how to motivate and who knew how to generate goals, two of the hallmarks of my time at Hereford United thus far. "Give me one hour, please." I said. "I need to talk to the people here. I'll call you back". I hung up the phone and sat at my desk in stunned silence. What the hell was happening here? Was I really going to go back to Canada during the most important period in International Football? I went into Mr. Turner's office and explained the situation. He was amazingly supportive. "Ian, you've been so valuable here, we hate to lose you. You've taken this team to levels we couldn't have gotten to without your guidance. But at the same time, I also realize that the opportunity you're being given is one which you shouldn't pass up." I thanked him, and assured him that I would do my best to juggle the two jobs, at least temporarily, knowing that I'd have to devote more time to Canada than to Hereford. Next on my list was my long-time, hand-picked assistant manager John Trewick. He had been with me almost from day one. "Take the job, Ian." he said, almost before I could finish telling him that I was being offered the job. "You've assembled a great staff. I'd be lying if I said that we would be as good without you, but this is too good an opportunity. You've got the team in good shape. You have nothing to worry about." I again thanked him. "Well, it's time to make the call", I thought to myself as I sat at my desk. I took a moment or two to look around the office, knowing it would probably be one of the last times I saw it. I picked up the phone, called the Canadian Soccer Association, and accepted the job. I was instructed to immediately find a flight from England to Edmonton, as they wanted to make the announcement as soon as possible.

At Noon on July 5th, 2009, I was introduced as the new manager of Soccer Canada's senior men's program, and made the following statement:

"Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. And above all, thank you Soccer Canada for this opportunity. Leaving Hereford United was perhaps the most difficult thing I've had to do in my career, and I wish to express my gratitude to Chairman Mr. Graham Turner, my assistant manager John Trewick, my assistant coaches, trainers, scouts, and all my players. We achieved the heights of success, and I have no doubt that their successes will continue for many, many years to come.

Managing a National side, especially your Native country's national side, is an incredible honour. There is added pressure, of course, due to the fact that we are facing the added challenge of qualifying for a World Cup. I have had a look at the roster, and while I have yet to personally speak to the squad, I feel confident that we have as good an opportunity as anyone in our group to carry on into the Tournament itself. And, as anyone here knows, once you're in it, you have a chance to win it. For a Country like Canada, all we could ask for is an opportunity. I pledge to you today, ladies and gentlemen, that I will do the very best with the opportunity that I, and we, have been given. I have to meet with the squad, so I won't be taking questions but I will make myself available in the next few days. Thank you."

And that was that. I was now the Canadian national manager. I attempted to manage Hereford United in a long-distance way for nineteen days, between our qualifying matches, but the stress of taking care of two teams became too great. I submitted my resignation to the Hereford United board on July 24, 2009. I now had one job - to get Canada into just the second World Cup tournament in our history.

HerefordMgr

Just another note - the game, as it sits now, is in 2012. I'm obviously a few years behind - but those will be covered in the next few entries ...

HerefordMgr

HISTORY IS MADE

I left Hereford United with a record of 103 wins, 68 losses and 48 draws. I had been to League Cups, FA Cups, and FA Trophy tournaments. All of that experience couldn't possibly have prepared me for International soccer and the pressure that existed. I met with the head of the Canadian Soccer Association who assured me that they were looking forward to a successful era under my guidance. I was assured that I had been their top candidate for a reason, and that I was expected to uphold Canada's honour during the World Cup qualifying section.

The first thing I needed to do was to assess the staff. I knew that during a time of upheaval, some continuity would be important. I re-hired my predecessor, the recently fired Frank Yallop (who has since left the game altogether) as my first assistant manager. It raised a few eyebrows, both within the Canadian Soccer Association and in the media, to be sure. But if we were to make it into the World Cup, I felt that continuity would be imporant, and he would be at the helm of our Under-20 system as well as being on my own staff as my closest advisor. I found his experience invaluable. I was new at this, he had done it before, and he was able to offer suggestions which ultimately proved very useful.

The one thing that surprised me about managing at the International level was how easy it was to hire quality assistants, especially those from other countries. I figured I would be restricted to hiring Canadian assistant coaches and physiotherapists, but not so. Perhaps the most important staffing decision I made was to hire Tony Meola, a legendary American goalkeeper. He would serve as my goalkeepers coach. I knew that our keepers were probably our weakest link, and under his guidance, they improved immeasurably. I then proceeded to hire Ante Razoff and Chris Lopez, who both agreed to terms on the same day, and I rounded out my coaching staff with the hiring of Chris Agnello. All but myself and Yallop are American. There simply isn't enough coaching talent in this country, which is unfortunate. I would have liked to have added more Canadians, but at this point, it's about getting our team ready for the most important experience of their lives so far. A World Cup is perhaps a once in a lifetime opportunity, especially for a nation like Canada, and I'd be damned if we weren't going to give this our best shot, and that meant bringing in the best coaches. I had come to expect excellence from the squad and staff at Hereford United, and there would be absolutely no exception to that rule during my time with Team Canada.

Speaking of expectations, I'd like to talk about that for a minute, if you will allow a brief digression. When I began my career at Hereford, I was probably a bit of a lightweight when it came to dealing with my players. During my first season, I almost never yelled at them during my half time talks to them. I would express encouragement, and I would impress upon them that working hard for the full 90 minutes was what would bring success. Even in the media, if someone did an interview with a local paper complaining about playing time, I would almost always bring him into my office and gently remind him that he needed to apply himself better in training, but if he did so, he'd get his shot. This worked, for awhile. We were having success, especially during that first season. With success, however, comes added pressure and increased expectations. The board expected more from me as a manager, and I in turn placed added expectations on my players and staff. The pressure that I was feeling began to slowly creep into the way I dealt with my players, in my last years at Hereford. I would watch us make a stupid defensive error or two, or badly miss a wide open opportunity for a goal. We would we be down a couple goals at the half, and instead of showing encouragement, increasingly I began expressing anger. I called them clueless on several occasions. There were moments when I'd lock the door and tear a strip off of each and every player individually. There were even moments when I would be so frustrated and angry during halftime or at the end of games (or sometimes both) that I would walk into the clubhouse, take one look at the squad, shake my head and walk out of the room without saying a word, except for the F-bomb I'd drop, under my breath.

Luckily, more often than not, they responded favourably to the vitriol. We wouldn't have won as many games during that period if they hadn't, would we have? It did drive a few players away, and those players were sold to teams and into situations that were better for them, which made things better for us, financially and morally. Where is all of this leading, you ask?

When I was hired at team Canada, I drew a few parallels between that squad when I arrived, and Hereford. They were young-ish, with a few older players. They were fast, creative and could generally finish well. Traits which I regarded as very important. There was one difference. My ego was bigger. The situation we found ourselves in was bigger, and I felt that it was too important a time to play Mr. Nice Guy with a group of people who have so much potential. I found out very quickly that these guys were a very self-motivated group. I didn't have to do alot of yelling and screaming during those initial World Cup qualifying matches. We were placed in the North American section, along with the United States, Mexico, Jamaica, Panama and St. Lucia. I actually arrived in the middle of the third and final qualifying phase. As I said previously, we were in first place when I was hired. All I needed to do was to make sure we maintained our form.

To be honest, the game where we clinched first place in our group and qualified for the World Cup is a bit of a blur. I just remember looking up at the scoreboard, as the seconds ticked away, and reflecting on where I had been, and where I was now. So much had changed, and yet, so many things were similar. I was able to get the best out of a team that, previously, hadn't played up to its potential. I had assembled a great staff, I had installed a tactical system which worked (a diamond 4-4-2, played in a manner which emphasized finishing, especially amongst the six forward and midfield players. My strikers were interchangeable with all midfield positions and vice versa). And I had chosen the perfect players to suit what it needed. I was able to directly transfer what I had learned about squad management at Hereford to my situation at Team Canada, and have success. Obviously, it was extremely gratifying, personally. When the referee blew the game, a 3-2 win over the United States, to a close, I just stood back and let the players enjoy the moment. This was their moment. This was OUR moment. Canada...was in...THE 2010 WORLD CUP! We finished the ten game third qualifying phase at 8-2.

I have to admit, I had a moment of panic when I saw the grouping we were slotted into. We were in a group with Brazil, perhaps the finest football playing nation in the world, along with Germany, who had hosted the 2006 World Cup, and South Africa. South Africa, I felt, would be the only guaranteed win of the group stage. We'd have to work our tails off to achieve any success against the other two teams. We started poorly, perhaps expectedly, with a 1-0 loss to Germany in our first match. I was surprisingly calm, after the match. I was clearly disappointed, but I was determined that we were going to get over this one and get on with the next match. I told the guys that we did reasonably well, but that "doing well" wasn't going to be enough to beat a team like Brazil. We had enough chances that we could have probably won 3-1, had we not missed so damn many shots. We had to finish better, which was something I wanted to work on in training. Fortunately, our next game was our easiest of the group stage, and my emphasis on training paid off. We shut South Africa out 5-0 for Canada's first ever World Cup group stage victory.

I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a few glasses of beer enjoyed by the staff after that one. It's not every day that you get a chance to achieve a first-ever win in World Cup play, especially with a performance of that calibre. Striker Will Johnson had been a vital cog in our system, from the qualifying phase on through to this game. He had a hat trick against South Africa. He was a brilliant under-20 player before I had called him up to the main team after watching him in training. Fortunately, it paid off in a very big way. I just hoped that he would be able to repeat that same performance against what I, and everyone else, knew was a vastly superior Brazillian side. I always believed that there was a chance though. A missed tackle here or there, an intercepted pass here or there, a goal on a counter attack or two, and who knows what could happen?

Maybe I had gotten my hopes up too high. I walked onto the pitch pretty confident that we could at least be fairly competitive. In retrospect, I was a little too over-confident, although it could have been much worse. As the game, a 3-0 defeat drew to a close, all the disappointment of being eliminated in the World Cup sank in. Yes, it was only the second World Cup appearance in the nation's history. Yes, we achieved the first win in our nation's history at the World Cup, but I couldn't hide my disappointment. After the referee blew the game to a close, I literally couldn't move. I sat there and stared out into the pitch, blankly, for what seemed like an eternity, but it was probably only about two minutes. Our World Cup odyssey was over. I went back into the clubhouse and I couldn't look at the players. I went straight into the manager's office that was situated just off the dressing room. I felt like I had let them down somehow. I wondered out loud if I should have emphasized shooting and finishing more before the Group Stage started, so that we could have buried some of our chances against a team like Germany. What would have happened IF we would have beaten Germany? Would we have advanced to the second round? It didn't matter. I composed myself, went out into the main room where the team had gathered, and told them that we had done well, we had a good run, and that I was sorry that it had come to an end so quickly. The rough thing about international football is that now, we wouldn't have a chance to gather as a team for several months. Everyone would go back to their club teams, while I would go back and spend time running all the "What-ifs" around in my head.

HerefordMgr

THE AFTERMATH

Immediately upon returning to Edmonton, I set about scheduling friendly matches. I thought it would be a priority to schedule one against the United States, just as a baseline for where we stood in North America. I also, perhaps out of sheer arrogance, scheduled a friendly against England, as well as one against Mexico. All matches would be played in October and November of 2010.

The other thing that was occurring, much to my discomfort, was that I was being called by various media outlets in Mexico, who were enquiring about rumours that I was the leading candidate to become the manager at this club or that club in their country. It seemed at the time that a manager who takes a team to the World Cup but who gets eliminated in the group stage is a big deal down there. After about three or four months of this, it became extremely aggrivating, not only to me, but, I'm also quite certain, to my employers at the Canadian Soccer Association. It got to the point where I had two standard answers prepared, both meaning the same thing. These answers were either "No comment", or "I'm absolutely committed to Canada and won't be exploring a job elsewhere". Both of these meant "screw off, I could care less about Mexico. Why would I want to work in a country that I could never picture myself visiting, never mind living in?" The rumours never stopped, though. So I just kept denying any interest. I had a job to do, and I intended to do it as well and for as long as I was allowed to do it.

As our friendly match against England in October of 2010 approached, I found myself becoming excited, almost cocky. I even remarked at a family gathering "I guarantee, right here, right now, we are going to hold England to a draw!" Who the hell was I to be making statements like that? I barely knew the squad, to be really honest. They had been in the system less than eighteen months at that point, and during most of that time, the squad was playing club football in other places. But, as I said previously, my ego was growing.

I was quite alarmed at how we looked, in the early going of the match. Will Johnson put us up 1-0 in the 5th minute. From then on, we fell apart, losing 3-1. We ended up beating America, and losing to Mexico.

The following year, in 2011, we entered the North American Gold Cup, finishing 4th. "This is some progress!" I thought to myself.


THROWN TO THE WOLVES, LITERALLY

In spite of the fact that I had absolutely zero interest in the vast majority of jobs offers that other clubs were sending me, there were two which did kind of interest me. Early on in 2012, I was offered a managerial position at Hearts, in the Scottish Premier League. I even went so far as to enter into negotiations, and they made me a VERY good offer of €325,000 p/a over four years. I honestly didn't take the negotiation seriously. I replied with a counter offer which I knew they would never accept, and negotiations ended after three days. The other job which interested me came up in the early part of April, 2012. Wolverhampton Wanderers were interested in my services. They were in the English Championship at that point, near relegation into the League One, and wanted a new direction. I was told that if I was able to hold them in the Championship League, I would be offered a long term deal. I knew that I was itching for real, competitive football. All we were doing at that point with Canada was playing Friendly matches, we didn't have our first World Cup Qualifying match until September of that year, and I really didn't want to be bored for five months. My roster was set, my tactics were set, we were on Auto Pilot with Canada, I thought I'd at least give them a chance to discuss terms with me. Before I did that, of course, I had to clear it with The Canadian Soccer Association. They gave me the green light, provided that it was understood that my job at Canada would come first after the Wolves season finished.

That sealed my decision. I signed a contract on April 3rd, 2012, for the last month of the season with Wolverhampton, and we immediately won two of our first three games, drawing the other. This guaranteed that the team would stay in the Championship League for another year. After the third game, their Chairman, Rick Hayward, called me into his office and presented an offer worth more money than I'd ever seen in my life. Four years, €425,000 p/a. I looked at the offer, and immediately knew that I was getting into something I shouldn't have been getting into. "Mr. Hayward", I said "I appreciate the offer. It's more than I could have asked for and I appreciate the opportunity to manage your club. I need to think about this." He told me to take my time. It didn't take me long to realize, however, that it wasn't going to work. I once again made an exhorbitant, unreasonable counter offer, which required that the stadium be expanded if I agreed to terms. They didn't bite. I re-submitted that same offer, knowing it would be the last offer I would make. They came back with more money, but they wouldn't expand the stadium. Negotiations ended there, as did my time with Wolves. I resigned on April 16, less than two weeks after I was hired. Was I making an a**hole move? Maybe on one level. If I knew I couldn't have comitted to the job fully, I shouldn't have accepted it in the first place. But I knew where my heart was. I belonged in Edmonton. We had the World Cup 2014 qualifying matches to worry about, and I didn't want anything interfering with our preparation for those matches.

Brian of Nazareth

Good stuff this But that was one hell of a world cup group stage - Brazil and Germany :0 Looking forward to seeing how the Canucks get on :thup:

HerefordMgr

a few screen shots...

A Partial Career History

Final qualifying stage standings for our first world cup appearance in 2010

Final World Cup 2010 Group Stage Standings

HerefordMgr

Hi folks - thanks for reading so far - the "back story" of the postings are officially now over. I will pick up the story with a very brief recap, and thoughts on heading into the third World Cup Qualifying phase. Coaches have changed, Frank Yallop is no longer involved, Ante Razov was promoted to assistant manager. Thanks again for reading.

BACK AT IT - WORLD CUP QUALIFYING
Personal Thoughts - 17 November 2012

Well, here we go again. We're one step away from qualifying for our second consecutive World Cup, which would be a first in the nation's history. We stormed through our first phase second round match, a two game aggrigate affair versus Grenada. We were victorious 8-0, winning our first game 3-0, and then putting on a brilliant 5-0 performance to seal the win. Going into the second game, I would have been very pleased had we simply matched the 3-0 score of the first game, but once again, as this team has done time and time again, they exceeded my expecations for them. In the second game, Striker Andrea Lombardo put on a man of the match performance, scoring a hat-trick with goals in the 3rd, 43rd and 88th minutes. Attacking Midfielder Paul Corazzin tallied a mark of his own on the scoresheet in the 83rd minute, while Defender Michael Klukowski finished off the scoring with a goal in the 90th minute. This was probably the most well-rounded performance I've ever seen from the club. I love the fact that we not only got scoring from our front end, but that our midfield and even a defender chipped in with goals. I knew we would need to keep these sorts of performances up if we were going to get past the second phase of qualifying. By and large, we did just that.

We finished off the six game second qualifying phase undefeated with four wins and two draws. Most impressively, we only conceded four goals throughout those six games, while scoring sixteen. Granted, the opposition we were facing wasn't of top flight calibre. We were grouped with Guatemala, Haiti, and Trinidad and Tobago. Playing each team twice, we started with a 4-1 win over Trinidad and Tobago. Atiba Hutchinson and Andrea Lombardo each tallied two goals for us, with Hutchinson scoring in the 29th and 50th minutes, and missing an opportunity for a hat trick when he missed a penalty kick in the 83rd minute. Lombardo tallied goals in the 83rd and 90th minutes, and was rewarded for his efforts with another Man Of The Match award. Perhaps his most impressive statistic was that he only took three shots all game, and all three were on target. Any time you score twice on three shots, you deserve a man of the match. He wasn't real impressive defensively, but he made up for it with his shotmaking and creating, tallying an assist in addition to his two goals the process.

Following that, we were held to a scoreless draw with Guatemala. They were the only team in the entire group that we couldn't beat, drawing them twice during the second phase.
The rest of the way, we were simply brilliant, defeating Haiti 2-0, Trinidad and Tobago by that same 2-0 score, drawing even with Guatemala for the second time in the tournament with a score of 2-2, and rounding out the second phase with a brilliant 4-1 win over Haiti.

As I sit here now, we don't play again until the first game of the ten-match third qualifying stage, which is to be played versus The United States on February 2nd, 2013. It's strange for me to think that, at this moment, we are seventeen matches away from the World Cup Finals. That's kind of an intense, heady thought. Only ten of those matches are guaranteed, however, those being the ten upcoming third qualifying phase matches. The group that we are in is certainly nothing to sneeze at, although if we play well enough, we'll do fine. We're in a group with The United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba and Costa Rica. We play each team twice. Ten matches, three berths from North America in The World Cup at stake. We're ready for this.

Our starting eleven, barring injury, will be as follows:

GK - Asmir Begovic - 6'3" 196 lbs, 25 years of age, contracted to Vancouver

DR - Paul Stalteri - 5'11" 169 LBS, 35 years of age, contracted to Hannover

DL - Michael Klukowski - 6'0" 176 LBS, 31 years of age, contracted to Espanyol

DC - David de Rosario - 5'11" 165 LBS, 23 years of age, contracted to Toronto

DC - Jason DeTullio - 5'10" 169 LBS, 28 years of age, contracted to Genk

DM - Steve Gazzola - 5'10" 167 LBS, 22 years of age, contracted to Vancouver

AMR - Jonathan DeGuzman - 5'10", 163 LBS, 25 years of age, contracted to Juventus

AML - Jim Brennan - 6'0", 176 LBS, 35 years of age, contracted to Tampico Madero

AMC - Atiba Hutchinson - 6'2", 174 LBS, 29 years of age, contracted to Hull

ST - Andrea Lombardo - 5'9", 167 LBS, 25 years of age, contracted to Millwall

ST- Will Johnson - 5'10", 169 LBS, 27 years of age, contracted to Notts. Co.

vitamincmos

Looking good so far...hoping you can finally bring glory to Canada's national team :thup: