jim65

August 2006

The month started with the bookmakers having us at 40-1 for promotion which seemed short odds from my point of view. Schalke beat Leverkusen 2-1 in a very close and hard fought German League Cup Final.

Keita departed in a GBP 5,000 move to Neunkirchen whilst Grenier completed a GBP 10,000 switch to Uerdingen in the first week of the month.

The night before the first game, Rudi and I shared a bottle of Cinsault Pinotage from South Africa on my balcony and chatted away an hour or so before he left to go back to the cafeteria, leaving me to mull over the squad, team selection and general tactics for the following day.

I had at my disposal a squad of 26 players, made up of 5 strikers, 10 midfielders, 8 defenders and 3 goalkeepers. Four of these I had assigned to the under 23 squad, and with the long-term injury to Michael Stahl that left me in effect a first team squad of 21 from which to select. Unlike in the Regional Divisions, there were no restrictions on the number of German born players in the matchday squad, the only relevant regulation being that no more than five non-European players could be included. Seven substitutes could be named, though only three used.

At the end of the season, the top three teams would be promoted to the promised land of the first division, what the rest of the world simply referred to (incorrectly) as ‘The Bundesliga’, and the bottom four teams would be relegated to the Regional Divisions. The usual ruling of second teams, the one that had caused me some confusion at the end of last season, still applied.

I was feeling more apprehensive than I had felt on the eve of my first league game last year, and I reasoned this was because the weight of expectation was now that much greater. I did not go in to bed until the stars splashed themselves across a clear, black night and the moonlight twinkled on the Rhine’s continually undulating surface.

A handful less than 4000 had gathered at Munster’s Preussen Stadion for our visit, and would have been, in all fairness, largely disappointed with the fare on offer that produced a 0-0 draw with very little incident. The press reported afterwards that Munster had been fortunate to get a point, and that was perhaps fair. Kolinger started the campaign with a man of the match performance, but Rainer Hobel started with an injury that would rule him out for 3 months.

Back home, Man Utd triumphed in a close fought game with Newcastle to take the Community Shield home after a 1-0 win.A fine summer evening at the Oberwerth saw the visit of Erfurt just a few days after the Munster game, and I was disappointed that less than 500 attended Koblenz’s first home match in the Second Division. Erfurt took the lead inside 20 minutes with a cruelly deflected shot from distance Despite having the upper hand for much of the game, it took until the 90th minute for substitute Cozza to even the scores. Had we equalised earlier I was confident that we would have gone on to win, but we ran out of time and the contest ended in a 1-1 draw.

A fine summer evening at the Oberwerth saw the visit of Erfurt just a few days after the Munster game, and I was disappointed that less than 500 attended Koblenz’s first home match in the Second Division. Erfurt took the lead inside 20 minutes with a cruelly deflected shot from distance Despite having the upper hand for much of the game, it took until the 90th minute for substitute Cozza to even the scores. Had we equalised earlier I was confident that we would have gone on to win, but we ran out of time and the contest ended in a 1-1 draw.

Prior to our visit to Mainz’s Bruchwegstadion, manager Jurgen Klopp made some comments to the media which I declined to respond to. Despite sitting in second place in this infant season, Mainz were predicted to be relegation battlers and I felt I had nothing to gain by entering into a game of words with their manager. Instead, I worked our players on the training ground into a new look 4-4-2 with a diamond shape for this game.

Over 6500 came to see this and would have been well entertained if neutral. A very dodgy penalty (foul questionable, inside area, NO) was awarded to our hosts and they were 1-0 up on 20 minutes. This unsettled our defence, and whilst trying to regain their composure they left goalkeeper hopelessly exposed and within four minutes were 2-0 down. Credit to the lads though, they got a grip of themselves and set about Mainz, getting a well worked goal back through Yildiz just after the half hour. After words of encouragement at half time, we continued tp ress and shortly before the hour Melnikov finshed a well worked move for the equaliser. Ten minutes later Melnikov again struck to give us the lead, but with just 10 minutes remaining Mainz were awarded another fairly harsh penalty and levelled it off at 3-3, and that’s how it finished. If ever a referee had influenced a game more (outside of Italy) I hadn’t seen it and was disappointed that such a committed performance had only yielded the one point.

Melnikov rightly collected the man of the match award after the game, whilst goalkeeper Gurski collected 8 weeks in the physio room for his troubles. Still, three games played and whilst we had yet to secure a victory in the second division, we had also to taste defeat.

I was impressed by Jonatan Lindevall. At 21 years he has a mature head on young shoulders, an ideal trait for an aspiring defender. The Swede, newly signed from Brage for GBP 2,000, would go into the under 23 squad initially but had the ability to push for a first team place this season. He could also play anywhere along the back four which was a real bonus. I shook his hand warmly and wished him luck before Klaus took him away to meet his new team mates.

Bruno was very supportive of these signings. Adding quality young talent to the squad for negligible cost was the way forward for a club like Koblenz, in the knowledge that even if they didn’t all work out for the long term, which was likely, they could be sold on for a profit. It was also pleasing that my scouts continued to unearth these gems.

Our next match was an away tie at Halberg in the first round of the German Cup, and we were hotly fancied by the bookies to give them a trouncing. Despite that, I was not going to field any weakened teams in this competition and decided to stick with the diamond formation for a second game.

Over 2500 came to see us play at the Stadion an der Turnhalle in a game that turned out to be like an exhibition match rather than a cup tie. Melnikov opened the scoring within the first five minutes from the penalty spot, then Rahn with a neat turn and volley from 18 yards made it 2-0 after 10 minutes. Melnikov added his second on the half hour with a delightful free kick from 30 yards. Before half time Kujala headed in at the back post from a superb Langen cross and Guscinas headed one in at the near post from a Kujala cross for a 5-0 interval lead. Rahn added the 6th on the hour with a solo effort and completed his hatrick with ten minutes left. The 7-0 result was a new record win for Koblenz and delighted the fans and Bruno alike.

We would now be at home to Unterhaching in round two in mid-September.

Argentinian goalkeeper Nick Gindre joined from Walton & Hersham for GBP 9,000 and was assigned to the under 23 squad. With Muller and Auer due to leave at the end of the season, Gindre would have a chance to stake his claim for a senior squad shirt fairly soon.

Roma beat Real Madrid in the Super Cup after a penalty shoot out following their 1-1 draw in normal time.

Hansa Rostock were the first ‘big’ club to visit the Oberwerth, but another disappointing attendance of only just over 1100 came to see them, expecting no doubt to enjoy some free flowing football. They would have been disappointed by Rostock’s bully boy tactics that saw a flurry of first half yellow cards for both sides before they went down to 10 men after the inevitable second yellow. We gave as good as we got though and took the lead on 70 minutes through the outstanding Melnikov and switched to a more defensive formation to see out the game, but a mix up in defence let them in on 88 and a disappointing 1-1 result ensued.

Klaus came into my office the following morning brandishing the local papers and clearly unhappy. The press had reported on the Rostock game and stated that we had been very fortunate to get a draw. Klaus was livid, and I’d not seen the normally calm man so agitated before. ‘It wasn’t us who needed a last minute equaliser to get a point was it?’. After he’d calmed down we discussed our first month in the second division.

We’d finished with P4 W0 D4 L0 GF5 GA5 GD0 and 4PTS and were 10th in the league but just 1 point off 15th place and the relegation zone. Still it was early days and we had shown a lot of fight to come out of our first league month unbeaten, and I took encouragement from that.

Klaus picked up the newspaper and tossed it in the bin, and for a second I could have sworn he said ‘b*ll*cks!’ as he did so, then he went on his way leaving me smiling.

Guscinas and Kujala went off for International duty and we now faced a fortnight of inactivity when we would much rather have pressed on with things.

jim65

September 2006

The month started with the players in good spirits after a solid if unspectacular start to league life. The Euro 2008 Qualifiers got underway, and back home Villa had made a poor start under the seemingly unsackable O’Leary with two defeats and two draws from their first four games.

We travelled to the Wildparkstadion where over 10,000 turned out to see us take on an unbeaten Karlsruhe. Melnikov got us off to a great start by sweeping the ball into the net from 20 yards after a huge goalmouth scramble, but they pegged us back before half time. We tried hard to get in front again second half but their solid midfield and experienced defence held until they caught us on the break to go 2-1 up after 70 minutes. We didn’t stop battling and didn’t deserve to lose the third goal on 95, especially as the officials had only indicated 3 minutes of stoppage time. A 3-1 defeat then, and our first of the season, but a good performance against stronger opposition had to be a positive.

Unterhaching of the same division as ourselves visited the Oberwerth for the second round of the German Cup on a warm and pleasant evening where I was hugely disappointed by the poorest attendance of my time as manager, with not even 200 in the stadium. The game proved to be a cup tie well described as epic. Guscinas got our noses in front just before half time following a well worked move and some excellent wing work by Kujala, but right after the restart they were level. Just five minutes later a pile driver from Johannes Rahn had us back in front and in control, moving the ball about beautifully, but once again they pegged us back and normal time finished at 2-2. Neither side looked like winning it in extra time to be truthful, though we had the better of it and so to penalties, and elimination for us! Their spot kicks were clinical and practised, ours were clumsy.

To add to the huge disappointment of this cruel defeat, Kujala’s late knock would sideline him for three weeks just as he was getting into his stride and putting in the sort of performances you would expect from your top earner.

My 41st Birthday came and went without fuss. I had long since given up celebrating the occasion and barely gave it a thought at all on the day, except to recall that I had totally forgotten my 40th a year ago. C’est la vie!

Braunschweig’s Stadion Hamburger Strasse was a neat ground and over 10,000 piled in for the match. I couldn’t understand why our home attendances were so low! Gurski was returned to the starting line up after injury and gifted them the lead after just 6 minutes trying to dribble with the ball just outside his area, and just four minutes later they were 2-0 up as our defence just couldn’t settle.

Eventually we found a rhythm and started to get hold of the game. Rahn pulled one back for us before half time and I urged the boys at the break to go for it. Melnikov cracked a superb equaliser on 64 and a diving header from Guscinas put us ahead just two minutes later. I made some changes to set us up a little more defensively but urged the lads to keep looking for a break on the counter. Disaster struck in injury time. Gurski had hardly made a mistake under my management before this game, and it was his second error of the night that gifted them their equaliser on 93 minutes, failing to clear the ball from inside his own six yard box and presenting them with the easiest of all goals. I was still reeling from this when they scored the winner on 94, sending us down to an undeserved and unbelievable 4-3 defeat, and shattering my morale in the process.

I looked out at the moonlit Rhine and took another sip of the Shiraz. I still could not believe how callously and cold-bloodedly Lady Luck had slammed the door on us. It was still early in the season, but I was simply at a loss to know what else to do to get that all-important first league win to set us on our way. The hard graft of August should have set us up for progress in September, and yet only bad luck, or so it seemed to me, had prevented us from pressing on. I simply couldn’t buy a win at present!

We finished the month with P6 W0 D4 L2 GF9 GA12 GD-3 and 4PTS, and were firmly in the relegation places at 16th.

I leaned back in the chair on the balcony and drew the bitter smoke into my lungs, watching the tip of the cigarette glowing brightly in the cool night air. I exhaled slowly, savouring my first smoke in nearly five years, and sipped some more of the excellent wine.

As I sat and smoked in quiet contemplation, I was aware that the only pressure upon me at that time was being put there by myself. Bruno and the fans were still hoping that we could avoid relegation and it was still relatively early in the season, but I needed desperately to understand what was going so wrong to be losing games from positions of strength, even after coming back from behind. Was it just horrendous luck?

I ground out the cigarette, then topped up my glass from the slowly but surely emptying bottle before lighting a fresh smoke without even thinking about it. My mind wrestled on with the problem well into the night.

jim65

October 2006

October started in the same manner as had gone before. Only 800 came to see us play Saarbrucken at the Oberwerth, and just as well! They scored after twenty minutes and didn’t have to do anything else to take the points from a 1-0 win. It was a lacklustre and quite frankly pathetic performance from the lads and I let them know that after the game.

Kujala resumed training, but would not be available for the next match, though how we needed him! Drews got a knock that will see him in the physio room for the next fortnight.

Kaiserslautern came to town after that and brought most of 4000 crowd with them. We took the lead early through Guscinas then once again threw it away, allowing them into their stride. They equalised on 16 and took the lead on 29, and the game was over. A 2-1 defeat!

We had now gone eight games without a win, and had lost the last four on the bounce, five if you included the cup game.

My contact with Rudi was getting less and less with each sorry result. What meals I could be bothered to eat I snatched at the club. I spent hours at night trying to come up with the solution to our woes, but it seemed that whatever formation or tactic, even whoever I selected to play, nothing was working for me or Koblenz.

I was questioning my own ability too, something that I had never had cause to do as a player, and slipping slowly into the bad habits of drinking and smoking into the early hours. Afraid of failure, and what it would surely do to me, I took the opportunity to take a few days away during the International break and headed for the coast, where I hoped the sea air and a change of scenery would give me fresh impetus for the job of keeping Koblenz in league two.

I had returned from my seaside sojourn refreshed and with some new ideas and a new formation. I curtailed my smoking to private moments in the evenings, but really needed it for the sake of sanity. It also helped me think better! The drinking I had again got under control too, at least for now.

Klaus and I spent a few days working with the lads on the new 4-5-1, or more accurately, 4-2-3-1, with two defensive midfielders and three attacking ones. Of course that meant playing with only one out and out striker, but so be it. Needs be as needs must. The rot had to be stopped.

Kujala had returned from injury and made the starting line up for the trip to Frankfurt. Klingmann came in to supplement Kolinger in the midfield defensive duties, and Guscinas got the vote for the loan role up front.

Nearly 27,000 fans packed the Commerzbank Arena on a wet afternoon and were in for a surprise as 17th placed Koblenz took the game to table topping Frankfurt in the early stages. Guscinas had four clear cut chances in the first twenty minutes but only a goalkeeping performance of superhuman proportions kept the scoreline blank. Our solid midfield kept theirs in tight control and always looked a threat on the counter, especially with the surging central runs of the inspirational Melnikov.

As the game wore on we grew in confidence and their chances were restricted to the odd long range effort, except for one point blank attempt that Gurski stopped with a breathtaking save. Substitutes Rahn and Sobolewski with fresh legs started to cause their tiring defenders problems. I would happily have taken a point from this game, but on 82 minutes Kujala played a slide rule cross into the far post and Rahn, unmarked, nodded in from within the six yard box. A great 1-0 victory away from home at the league leaders! Captain Krys took the man of the match award, deservedly so.

Hobel returned to training after injury in the days after the game, but it would be a while before he was fit enough to take part, and morale rose immeasurably, including my own!

Rudi welcomed me when I went to the cafeteria a couple of days after the Frankfurt game in his usual jovial manner, and we talked over coffee. There was no ‘where have you been?’ with him, realising as he did the demands that were being made upon me by my work, and I left after an amenable hour or so feeling much better.

There were still three games to go before the end of the month, and significant ones at that. We had to play two teams, Cottbus and Aachen, who were mid-table and 1860 Munchen who were actually below us. It was important now to press on and rattle up some points.

1860 Munchen came to the Oberwerth along with a 1000 or so fans. We were up against it from the 19th minute when Ziehl was shown the red card for a cynical foul. Still, we stuck to our game plan albeit with a makeshift formation and could have gone in front on 25 when Kujala cracked a blistering volley onto the bar. We continued to press, stopping Munchen from making their extra man count, and kept at it until the 93rd minute when substitute Rahn broke clear of the back line and swept the ball passed their advancing goalkeeper to secure a consecutive 1-0 win. Brenny Evers collected the man of the match award for as committed a display of defending as you were likely to see anywhere.

We travelled to the Stadion der Freundschaft, home of Cottbus, with Sven Drews stepping in for the suspended Ziehl but with an otherwise unchanged starting line up. Cottbus hadn’t won in seven attempts and our tails were up after two wins on the bounce, so when they took the lead on 27 our fragile confidence wavered. We changed back to the diamond second half to really have a go at it but got caught out on 64 when they countered brilliantly to add a their second and effectively kill the game. Over 8200 fans, like me, must have been wondering just how they had failed to win any of their previous 7 games, being an organised and tidy side. Captain Krys picked up an injury that would rule him out for four weeks.

The final game of the month saw the visit of Aachen to the Oberwerth in front of a handful or so over 2000 fans. Zeihl returned from suspension pushing Drews back to the bench, and Goretskyi came in for the injured Captain Krys. Melnikov took the armband.

It was Ziehl who conceded a penalty on 21 minutes and Gurski who pulled off a brilliant save to deny them the lead. Six minutes later Melnikov swept into the box from deep and passed the ball into the net from about 17 yards to edge us in front, and we remained the better team until the break. They came out fighting afterwards and equalised on 48 but we dug in and caused them more problems than they caused us, until on 67 Melnikov again broke free of his man and scored with a brilliant drive from 20 yards. We could, and perhaps should, have killed the game ten minutes later but Klingmann’s fierce drive came back off the bar and on 83 they pulled level again from an excellent free kick just outside the box.

Melnikov took the man of the match award and most of the papers the following day said how lucky Aachen had been to get the point. We, on the other hand, were getting used to that kind of luck by now and just shrugged it off. All points were welcomed at this stage, now matter how they were come by.

We closed October with figures of P12 W2 D5 L5 GF14 GA19 GD-5 and 11PTS putting us in 15th place, 4 points above bottom placed Erfurt but only 4 points behind mid-table Aachen.

jim65

November 2006

Back home, Villa weren’t faring much better than Koblenz with 11 points from their first 11 games and a lowly 16th place in the Premiership. One place behind Birmingham, and the inept O’Leary still somehow had a job!

We had three games in November split by yet another International lay off, then three more in December before the winter break. In my mind, these six games were going to be crucial in our bid for second division survival and we had to get ourselves clear of the relegation places by the end of them. If we could do that, a few new faces in January could give us the impetus to press on and avoid the drop.

At my flat the night before the game, sitting quietly in thought with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and a cigarette, I was remarkably calm and all things considered, in mentally good shape for the next six games.

It was a chilly Friday evening that travelled to Dresden, and a crowd nearly 12500 strong filled the Rudolf Hardig Stadion noisily. We didn’t get a sniff in the first half as they laid siege to our goal, but Gurski put in a commanding performance and centre back Tieku marshalled the defence brilliantly to send us in for half time with a clean sheet. The second half started much the same as the first had ended. We just couldn’t get out of our own half. I withdrew Melnikov and threw Guscinas on to try and hold the ball up at the opposition end, if only to give our beleagured defence some respite, but the move backfired and Dresden walked through the hole in midfield created by the absence of Melnikov to take the lead on 78. I pushed defensive midfielders Kolinger and Klingmann forward a little and urged the team on. To their credit, they never stopped trying and were rewarded deep into injury time with a penalty which Brenny Evers converted to give us a 1-1 draw.

We’d been second best, in fact rather outplayed, for most of the game but had refused to give up and whilst some considered it a lucky or fortunate point, I thought it was the least that we’d deserved. Tieku picked up the man of the match award, and we had escaped without any injuries.

Another frustrating break for Internationals followed, during which time Nessos picked up an injury in training that would rule him out for four weeks. Apart from that it was a very quiet time.

I’d enjoyed a highly relaxing and entertaining evening with Rudi and Maria, learning how the young German as a newly qualified chef had gone to Spain to make his fortune, and instead found that the only thing he liked about the country was waitress Maria. He’d brought her back to Koblenz with him, they had married and after several years of working in a range of establishments from the reputable to the downright seedy, an inheritance combined with their meagre savings had seen the birth of their own cafeteria. It had been nice just to take my mind off football in truth, and away from the struggles of TuS Koblenz.

But it was a short lived reprise as all too soon Koblenz hosted the old Regional Division South rivals Stuttgarter K, amidst a wave of pathetic attempted one-upmanship through the media by their manager. Another small crowd, barely 600, came to see an arrogant Stuttgarter K. take the lead on ten minutes and look as if they were going to wipe the floor with us. We held them until the break, changed to the diamond and came out fighting, with the ever inspirational Melnikov providing the equaliser with a neat turn and volley from 16 yards on 55 minutes. Then we reverted to type and let them back in, and succumbed to a 2-1 defeat. The overall performance had been disappointing and I’d told the players so afterwards. The one bright point was the return to action of winger Michael Stahl after his long lay off with injury.

Captain Krys returned to training after his injury, but didn’t figure in the trip to Unterhaching’s Stadion am Sportpark where over 6000, in wind and driving rain, saw an evenly fought contest where the winner was decided by a spectacular 80th minute free kick from 30 yards out. Melnikov the scorer. 1-0 win to Koblenz. Brenny Evers took home the man of the match award again.

I sat in my office following the meeting with Bruno. We had finished the month with figures of P15 W3 D6 L6 GF17 GA22 GD-5 and 15PTS. We were out of the bottom four, albeit on goal difference, and whilst only 5 points short of mid-table heaven remained perilously close to the drop zone. I was also concerned about the reserve team ruling, because as things stood even finishing outside the bottom four could see us relegated on the same ruling that had got us up in the first place, so it was vital to get a few places at least away from 15th.

Bruno had agreed to increase the wage budget so that I could bring some decent new players in in January, and as we approached the half way mark in the season I was already aware that a number of players needed to be moved out if we were seriously going to compete at this level.

The board and fans remained in full support of my endeavours, but as ever I was leaning on myself to deliver more than was expected.

Villa were going into the Christmas month with 14pts from 15 games and in 17th place, out of the drop zone on goal difference. Small world indeed!

jim65

December 2006

I left the training ground and headed home. It was always unpleasant to tell players that they were not wanted, or maybe it was harder for me because when I had been told this it had destroyed my life. I wasn’t sure. In any event, I had told strikers Goschik and Hobel, goalkeeper Muller and right winger Kurpiel, that they were surplus and transfer listed, and had taken a sheaf of scout reports home to peruse over a glass of wine.

Early in the month Everton sacked manager Moyes, and Nessos returned to training after injury.

Paderborn came to town in a game that saw Captain Krys restored to the starting line up after injury, and a return to playing with two front men. 1400 fans saw Rahn open the scoring on 41 minutes with a rasping shot from just outside the box. I warned them not to get careless after the break, and they didn’t. Guscinas added a second on 53, Rahn had one disallowed (wrongly once again) for offside before making sure with a fine solo effort on 77. Substitute Yildiz cracked the fourth on 85 and it was all over. 4-0. The following day’s newspapers made a pleasant change!

Tieku had picked up a knock more serious than at first thought, and it would put paid to his participation in events for about three weeks.

For the trip to Aue I decided to stick with two up front when I had previously been planning on using the 4-5-1 for caution, but the competence of the Paderborn result had swayed me. We went to the Erzgebirgsstadion full of confidence and in front of over 13,000 simply disintegrated. Langen scored an own goal on 10, a Drews error gave them a second on 12, and a Melnikov error gave them another for a 3-0 lead on 38. I couldn’t even force myself to smile at their outrageous lilac strip! Guscinas pulled one back for us on 66 but they well and truly killed in with a fourth three minutes later. A 4-1 defeat, bitterly disappointing, bitterly cold!

Even Klaus bemoaned the fact that the good work done in terms of the goal difference in the previous game had been reversed without effort at all!

It was raining for our final pre-break game at home to Munster. Just under 2000 braved the elements and were immediately warmed by a fine Langen strike after some wonderful wing play from Kujala in the opening minute. Munster went down to ten men inside half an hour after a card happy referee showed a red for a cynical foul some 35 yards away from goal. Somewhat harsh in my eyes. Langen wasn’t so bothered though and swept in our second on 41 from just outside the box. As a contest it was over then. We effectively toyed with them until the referee decided to even things out by showing the placid Kolinger a red card for a seemingly innocuous challenge just after the hour. Rahn responded by scoring the goal of the game on 71 and they pinched a cheeky consolation five minutes later. 3-1.

Langen picked up the man of the match award, Kolinger picked up a one game ban. I appealed the ban, lost, and the powers that be made it a three game ban just to spite us! No explanation, other perhaps that we were Koblenz and most everyone had a downer on us!

Tieku resumed training after injury.

We finished the Christmas month without snow, but with figures of P18 W5 D6 L7 GF25 GA27 GD-2 and 21PTS. We were in 12th place, three points above the drop zone and only three points off 8th place, so there was cause for cautious optimism.

Christmas itself came and went without much fuss on my part, and I returned to work straight after to see what could be achieved in the transfer market.

My first deal was scuppered by the player asking for ridiculous wages, the second was hijacked by a number clubs with the player in the end joining Cottbus and the third never got started at all as the selling club messed about so much trying to screw money out of us that I withdrew from negotiations.

New Year’s Eve found me alone at my flat with an excellent Cabernet Sauvignon. I lit a cigarette and leaned back in the armchair to watch the smoke ring rising up to the ceiling, slowly losing shape until it flattened out on the white artex. Villa were now 19th in the league back home with 2 points from 21 games and well in the relegation mire. I toyed with the fantasy of managing my old club for a brief while, yet even I knew that my chances of getting the job were miniscule, even if Ellis regrew his balls and sacked Dreary O’Leary!

Turning my mind back to more realistsic things, we had finished for the break in good shape and had put a little distance between ourselves and the relegation places, but a bad result or two would soon have us back there. We very much needed to bring in a few fresh faces to spur us on, but there was no point in bringing bodies in for the sake of it, they had to better than what we already had. And therein appeared to lie my problem, getting better players to the club! I refilled my glass and resolved to get back to it as soon as all this new year crap was out of the way, meantime I lit another cigarette and turned on the stereo.

jim65

January 2007

With the trip to Erfurt rapidly approaching, I sat in my office at the Oberwerth and considered what had been a fairly busy time in the transfer market.

Goalkeeper Muller departed for Waldgirmes, but before there was too much time to consider this 22 year old Norwegian midfielder Christian Gauseth joined for GBP 2,000 from Groruddalen and was assigned to the under 23 squad, though I didn’t think he would be there for too long. The youngster has class! On the same day, 30 year old Polish defensive midfielder Radoslaw Becalik arrived on a free transfer from Sandvikens. Playing both my defensive midfielders regularly now I needed cover, especially taking into account Kolinger’s impending ban.

Nessos requested a transfer due to lack of first team football, and I accepted this request. Summer signing Lundevall was showing good form in the under 23’s and was able to provide more than adequate cover in the right back berth. Oliver Goschik departed with our best wished for BGP 3,000 to Engers.

I]A few players had niggling colds and were sent home, and all were expected to be back in training before the season resumed. 1860 Munchen finally lost patience with manager Toppmoller and dispensed with his services, replacing him with eduard Geyer.[/I]

24 year old Swedish striker Olof Guterstam was captured for GBP 20,000 from Brommapojkarna, and was rapidly followed through the door by 20 year old Brazilian centre back Rodrigo Defendi, a record GBP 525,000 buy from Tottenham. 22 year old Italian goalkeeper Andrea Guatelli soon followed, having taken a significant pay cut to join us from Groningen for GBP 65,000. Kurpiel, a summer free signing that hadn’t worked out, joined Lechia Gdansk for GBP 3,000.

Elsewhere, Werder Bremen and Saarbruchen parted company with their managers with the Stuttgart boss favoured to be next for the boot by the media. Werder Bremen swiftly appointed Van Gaal as their new supremo.

Transfer listed Rainer Hobel’s hamstring went in training putting him out contention for a month or so, and quite possibly ending any chance of moving on during the current window.

Portugese left winger Guti joined us from Abrantes for GBP 5,000 and has the ability to push himself into the first team very quickly, but first needs to get a grip of the language and regain his match fitness, with Polish winger Sobolewski the obvious casualty.

We boarded the bus for the trip to Erfurt’s Steigerwaldstadion, without the suspended Kolinger and Evers, in high spirits to take on the team currently in 17th place, just a few places and points below us. On the way, I decided to go for it and go with two strikers.

Over 11000 saw us gift two early goals and never recover. We changed back to the more cautious 4-5-1 and whilst not conceding any more failed to create a single clear chance for ourselves which was both disappointing and frustrating. 2-0 defeat. Becalik and Defendi had good debuts for us, and Guterstam made a brief appearance towards the end. Langen picked up an injury to sideline him for three weeks.

Elsewhere, Offenbach hired Mohlman as their new manager, Stutgart boss Trappatoni was coming under renewed pressure, and back home Manchester City sacked Stuart Pearce.

jim65

February 2007

Manchester City proved that they were not going to be managerless for as long as Everton had been by acting swiftly to put Claudio Ranieri in charge. Meanwhile the physio told me that new signing Guti was ‘jaded and in need of a rest’, and with him not being in my immediate first team plans I authorised a two week leave of absence for him.

If March last year had been a bad month, then February this year could well prove to be worse with a tough set of fixtures ahead. I would need the players to be focused and on top of their game to stay out of the bottom four, and a little overdue favour from Lady Luck was not going to hurt either if she was willing.

1852 fans braved a cold and wet afternoon for the visit of surprise league leaders Mainz, the first game of 2007 at the Oberwerth. They started like the hare on a greyhound track and were ahead in just 3 minutes, but we doggedly kept at it and were rewarded with a peach of a goal from Melnikov before the half hour, cracking the ball full on the volley into the top corner from fully 30 yards. We couldn’t build on it though, and after much huffing and puffing by both sides the game came to a close at 1-1 with both managers ruing missed chances and the loss of points.

Stuttgart finally lost patience with manager Trappatoni and parted company with him, and Ziehl was sent home with a virus expected to keep him away from football for at least a fortnight.

It was a cold, dry afternoon that we visited new league leaders Rostock at the Ostseestadion where over 17500 fans gathered to watch. Tieku came in for the missing Ziehl, but once again we were behind early and were two down before the half hour. Guscinas squandered chance after chance, and despite switching to a more attacking formation second half they defended resolutely, we continued to miss the chances we did create and went down to a 2-0 defeat. Stahl got a knock that would keep him out for two weeks.

Phillip Langen resumed training alongside newly refreshed Guti, and both were in the squad for the visit of 5th placed Karlsruhe to the Oberwerth in front of 1580 very cold supporters. We were two down inside twenty minutes as they really came after us, and in truth started very poorly indeed. Guti came on at half time, got booked within a minute and scored an own goal ten minutes later to make possibly the worst debut in history. Rahn scored a consolation goal for us just after the hour, but once again a series of missed chances had been our ultimate undoing. 3-1 defeat.

Bayern sacked Ruud Gullit, who they felt had lost the plot, and Saarbrucken appointed Kopke to be their new boss.

The final fixture saw us travel to second placed Kaiserslautern and there were nearly 30000 inside the Fritz Walter stadion to cheer them on. Andrea Guatelli started in goal for us in one of many changes I made to try and force a change of fortune. They scored a superbly worked goal just before the half hour but we were competing for everything and deservedly equalised through a neat Melnikov strike on the stroke of half time. Following a positive team talk at the break, we started the second half well only to be caught on the counter on 65 and thereafter our heads went down and the further missed chances we created serve to lower confidence more. 2-1 defeat.

Melnikov’s goal against Mainz was amongst the top three in the league for the month, and Ziehl returned to training having recovered from his virus. Thoams Schaaf replaced Ruud Gullit at Bayern.

With five games without a win we finished right back firmly in the drop zone in 15th place with figures of P23 W5 D7 L11 GF28 GA37 GD-9 and 22PTS.

I sat in my flat dejected. Once again it seemed that no matter what formation, tactic or personnel employed, Lady Luck was simply having at a laugh at our expense. We had, in my opinion, done enough to get more points from the month’s fixtures than achieved and it was seriously disappointing to have secured only a single one.

Added to that, there had been an incident with the press at the end of the month which had left me fuming. A local reporter had been casually chatting to me about the English Premier League, and following on the news that O’Leary had finally received the dreaded ‘vote of confidence’ from the Villa board, had asked if managing Villa was of interest to me. Of course I had told him that it was, with my life long support and playing connections at the club. The headlines ‘Sichstefeiff wants Villa job’ were splattered across the back of his paper the following day, and provoked a huge reaction from Koblenz fans who bombarded the local radio station with calls pleading with me to stay. Needless to say that reporter won’t be getting any quotes any more! If that hadn’t been enough, the English papers the very next day carried the headline ‘Aston Villa laugh off interest from Sichstefeiff’.

As for Villa, they were 16th with 29 points from 28 games.

Rudi had been hysterical about the whole thing, laughing so hard he lost the power of speech and physical movement for a full ten minutes. I had felt humiliated for myself, and disappointed for Bruno and the fans. I had also wondered where all these phone in fans got to on match days as home attendances were well down on the previous year despite being in a higher division.

I uncorked a Shiraz and lit a cigarette. There were ten games left of the season and three of them were in March before another International break. We needed some good luck to kick in, or we would be down and out very soon!

jim65

March 2007

Having promised myself not to get drawn into the media’s seedy games again, I proceeded to do just that. Braunschweig manager Michal Kruger had at a pop at us in the press and so, being in a bad mood, I had a pop right back. He came back for more and so did I, until by the afternoon of the game there was tension aplenty. His side were one place below us but level on points and it really was a must win match for both of us.

There had been mixed reaction amongst the players too. Some of them were digging their heels in not to be outdone by them, whilst a couple of others started to believe, it seemed, that we were already down. I may have privately agreed with the latter, knowing that my relationship with Lady Luck was at best strained, but really tried to fire them up before the match and sent out an attacking formation with instructions to go for the throats!

After all the pre-match hype in the press, not even 750 came to see the game. As it turned it out, it was something of a non-event anyway. Rahn fired us in front after only 12 minutes, but our chins had barely gone up when their equaliser on 14 sent them firmly back down. Both teams then played out a stale and boring game to take a point each with in truth benefited neither team that much. 1-1. Guatelli picked up a facial injury that will keep him out for a fortnight.

The trip to 7th placed Saarbrucken, themselves on the back of six straight wins, saw them take the lead on 5 minutes. Most of the 10000 fans at the Ludwigsparkstadion and all of the players knew that the scorer had been at least two yards offside, but sadly the officials thought otherwise. We battled bravely but conceded a second 5 minutes into the second half. With twenty minutes to go, Melnikov had a penalty saved and we knew it wasn’t going to be our night. 2-0 was the final score.

Paderborn sacked their manager Jos Luhukay the following morning, and by the afternoon employed Jorg Berger in his place.

It was a dry Friday night that 3rd placed Frankfurt came to the Oberwerth, bringing most of the 2600 crowd with them. They went ahead inside twenty minutes, and we went down to ten men inside thirty. Johannes Rahn foolishly kicked out, more in frustration than anything else, at a defender and was rightly red carded. Gurski then tried to dribble past two of their strikers, presenting them with an open goal in the process and a 2-0 half time lead. We never looked like getting back into it, and finished the game with nine men as Melnikov hobbled off injured seconds after I’d used my last substitute! A 3-0 defeat, and eight games without a win.

Melnikov would be out for a week or so, Rahn got a three match suspension!

I awoke with the mother of all hangovers, and guzzled a whole pint of milk whilst waiting for the kettle to boil for coffee. I then took my coffee into the lounge and lit a cigarette.

We had finished March with figures of P26 W5 D8 L13 GF29 GA43 GD-14 and 23PTS. We were 17th in the league, just one place off the bottom, and 3 points adrift of the safety of 14th. We had eight games left, 5 in April and 3 in May, and could mathematically still finish 4th, but I’d happily trade my soul to the devil right now for 14th! Despite this, Bruno and the board remained ‘delighted with’ and the fans ‘in full support of’ me. God knows why? I drew in deeply on the cigarette. Anywhere else, certainly in England, I’d have been sacked long since! The really desperate thing about it was no matter what I did, nothing paid dividends. The last two games alone had shown up our utter lack of fortune. I just didn’t know what to do. The word ‘resign’ came into mind, but I rejected it. Not while there was still a chance, no matter how slim and even if only mathematical!

Villa were only just about doing better, having 35 points from their 31 games and were 3 points above the drop zone. I couldn’t believe old Deadly was being as charitable as Bruno!

I looked at the clock. Nearly eleven in the morning. There was no training today, so I twisted the cap off a bottle of lager and lit another cigarette.

jim65

April 2007

April Fool’s day took us to the Allianz Arena where nearly 17000 had paid to watch 1860 Munchen give us a clinical lesson in pass and move football. Goals on 23, 51 and 65 minutes had given them complete control before Guscinas nicked one for us on 71. In truth, they were simply too good for us, and we were the fools.

Cottbus visited the Oberwerth but less than 300 bothered to turn out on a fine afternoon. Kujala returned to the side after injury. Melnikov opened the scoring inside the first minute with a wonderful strike from just inside the box, but we surrendered the lead inside 10 minutes and went behind on the stroke of half time. Despite matching them for endeavour for most of the game, a defensive error between Defendi and Ziehl presented them with their third on 64 and they rounded off an easy win with their 4th from a brilliant free kick on 78.

The newspaper headlines the following day simply read ‘Lady Luck shines on Cottbus’. There was certainly irony in that for me, but it was then I think that I accepted the painful truth that Koblenz were going back to the Regional Division, and even if I hadn’t, I would have done after our next game on Friday 13th.

We travelled to the Tivoli Stadion, home of Aachen, in poor spirits and it was clear where the luck wasn’t right away. Nearly 19000 saw Yildiz miss an open goal and have a legitimate one disallowed all in the space of the first five minutes. It seemed that the officials didn’t understand that when the ball comes from or off a defender, the player cannot be offside, but once again Lady Luck was having a laugh at our expense. To make matters worse, they finally got their first attempt at goal in on the quarter hour and scored, but we didn’t give up and Melnikov finished a brilliant move by cracking the ball into the net from 20 or so yards to equalise on 25.

1-1 at halftime, I was all positive and encouraging at the break and we really pushed on in the second half. It was in the 66th minute when Aachen went ahead that we seemed to give up. Gurski saved a 78th minute penalty, and that was the most positive thing of the evening. We ended defeated at 2-1, but lost Kujala, Melnikov, Langen and Guscinas to injury during the game, finishing with 10 men tired and deflated.

Kujala would be out for 4 weeks and Langen for 3 weeks but we could expect Guscinas and Melnikov to be available for the next match.

In the news the following day, Striker Yildiz complained bitterly about my half time team talk, stating that a different approach was necessary. Apparently, being positive and encouraging upset him. I couldn’t take this lack of professionalism and warned the player for his behaviour, which went and upset some of the other players, and left me wondering if I could ever do anything right.

It was a breezy afternoon at the Oberwerth, and over 350 souls had turned up for the match. An even and hard fought first half ended goalless, but the game was to turn in the space of 60 seconds early in the second. Dresden scored with a well worked header on 50, and we scored straight from the restart only for the officials to once again incorrectly rule it out for offside! Our heads dropped big time and they ran in three more goals to take a 4-0 win, but how different it could have been.

Schalke retained the first division title, and Paderborn’s relegation from the second division was confirmed. Langen and Nessos resumed training, but neither would be fir enough to make the trip to old enemy Stuttgarter K.

The rain drove down across the Gazi Stadion auf der Waldau and over 2200 fans huddled together in an attempt to keep dry. The game was played at a good pace and two evenly matched teams cancelled each other out for a 0-0 at the interval. I felt we’d had the better of the chances and told the lads to keep going into the second half. They did and were rewarded with two goals from Guterstam on 67 and 77, and saw out the win with some solid defending and great teamwork.

Klingmann picked up a knock that would keep him out for a week, but there was still a great sense of relief that we had finally picked up some points, albeit quite probably too late.

Back home, Man Utd retained the Premier League title, but with one game to play Villa were still not assured of their top flight status being only 3 points above the drop with 40 points from their 37 games.

The win gave us all a boost, but looking at the figures at the end of the month made dismal reading indeed. Stuck in 17th place we were still 7 points from the safety of 14th and had only three games remaining. We had P31 W6 D8 L17 GF34 GA56 GD-22 and 26PTS.

At a full squad and staff meeting at the end of the month, I told everyone that as far as I was concerned survival was now out of the question, and to concentrate on going down with pride, and to maybe give the loyal fans something more to cheer before the inevitable happened. I hoped that the pressure on the players especially would be eased by this.

jim65

May 2007

Hot on the heels of that meeting, Captain Krys did an interview with the local papers that appeared on the morning of the match under the banner headline ‘Kazimierczak rallies the troops’ and went on to urge the players to give everything to win our next match.

Meanwhile, Ahlen had secured promotion to the second division and Kujala had returned to training after his latest injury. He wasn’t going into the squad for the match though as I had already decided to name an unchanged line up for the visit of Unterhaching.

250 people came to see the visit of Unterhaching on a cold and breezy Sunday afternoon. They went ahead after 17 minutes and remained in front until just after half time when Guterstam equalised for us with a header from an impossible angle. We pressed and pressed but couldn’t get through for the winner. Edholm was red carded on 92 even though two other defenders were between him and the goalkeeper. Another worryingly poor decision from the officials, and one that would now cost us the player’s services for the next match.

The 1-1 draw signalled the end of the second division road for Koblenz as it finally became mathematically impossible to survive. I gave a journalist an interview when leaving the ground to the effect that I was disappointed to be relegated, that with a bit of luck we could have easily survived and that I was confident we would bounce straight back.

The next morning, slightly hung over after spending the evening with Rudi, Klaus advised me that the players were all upset by what I’d said and that morale had never been lower. When I showed him the paper, which had accurately reproduced my comments, we were both baffled as to why the entire squad had reacted so badly.

Elsewhere, Villa survived the drop on goal difference, finishing with 40 points from 38 games and only three teams below them. Those three, Everton, Cardiff and Fulham were duly relegated.

Also relegated, but from the German first division were our near neighbours Koln, whilst Frankfurt were promoted to take their place. Bayern beat Arsenal in a close fought Euro Cup Final 1-0, and Tottenham triumphed over relegated Everton in the FA Cup back home on penalties after finishing 2-2 in normal time. Pfullendorf were promoted to take our place in division two.

The final two games seemed utterly pointless to me now, and my thinking was already turning towards rebuilding and planning for another promotion. However, they had to be played so we went through the motions.

Paderborn’s Hermann Lons Stadion welcomed just under 1400 to see the league’s bottom two teams scrap it out on a dry and surprisingly cool Sunday afternoon. They would all have been pleased with a very entertaining match. The home team went in front after 17 minutes and added a penalty to double the lead just before half time, but despite that it had been a close fought half and I’d told the lads to stick with it. Rahn had yet another goal chalked off incorrectly for offside on the hour, leaving me to wonder just how different our season might have been if all the goals we’d scored had been allowed to stand. The players seemed to dig in even more though, and on 72 Guterstam scored before substitute Cozza cracked an equaliser in from 25 yards on 81. 2-2 the end result. Cozza would miss the rest of the season through injury.

Rostock were second division champions and therefore promoted, whilst Braunschweig and Erfurt joined us in relegation. Union Berlin and Aalen won promotion to the second division, and Duisburg and Freiburg would join them after relegation from the first.

Elsewhere, Everton finally appointed a new manager with Sam Allardyce taking the job, and Juventus beat Inter in a penalty shoot out to lift the European Champions Cup.

In planning for the new season in the Regional Division, I realised that the ruling of having seven German players under the age of 24 in match day squads would mean the breaking up of a team that I’d thought would do very well in that division. However with the younger players I’d signed being mostly non-German, this team would have to be well and truly broken up, and that depressed me deeply, and made me rethink things very hard.

Aue came to the Oberwerth for the final game of the season on a warm, breezy Sunday afternoon in front of nearly 900 fans. Kujala returned to the starting line up after injury, and Edholm was recalled after suspension.

They scored on the break almost as soon as the game started, but once again we dug in and refused to be bullied. Guterstam got the equaliser after 17 minutes and we went in level at the break. Immediately after the restart, Gurski misjudged a cross and it dropped agonisingly slowly over the line for their second goal. We never gave up though, and kept pressing. We were then awarded another badly ruled out goal in our season of rubbish offside decisions, and a minute later on 92 hit the post. The game ended in a very unfair result of 2-1 to Aue, but summed up our entire season!

Karlsruhe secured promotion to the first division, and Aalen poached coach Nenenko off us for which we got compensation of GBP 2,000. I’d rather have kept him personally, but he declined a good contract offer from us and chose to leave. Cozza resumed training, and Schalke beat Mainz 2-0 to win the German Cup and complete the double.

We had finished with only one team below us, Paderborn, and were 8 points ahead of them but sadly 9 points away from safety, or three wins to put it another way. Despite all the horrendous bad luck and idiotic decisions against, just three wins would have saved us!

We ended our one season in division two with figures of P34 W6 D10 L18 GF38 GA61 GD-23 and 28PTS.

Bruno came to see me after the match and told me that the board were pleased with the spirited performances that the team had put in during the season, and that it was a testimony to my managerial ability that I had kept them motivated. He was pleased also that the fans, despite not turning up in their thousands, were still behind me.

Whilst pleased with this, there was no escaping the fact that we had been relegated and therefore I had failed, and driving home later that day, really started to consider my position and thought about maybe moving on elsewhere for the first time. I shared a beer with Rudi before going home, and he picked up on my mood and asked me if I was leaving. I gave him the only honest answer that I could, which was that I didn’t know. He gave me his personal support in whatever I decided but really wanted me to stay.

At home, very much later that evening, I sat on the balcony with a truly excellent Shiraz and a cigarette, still undecided, and very much torn.