jim65

June 2007

During the first few days of June I had told no fewer than ten players to get their agents to work finding them a new club. These included six players that I had inherited from the previous manager and four of my own signings who had not worked out.

I knew already the starting eleven that I would favour in the new season, together with no fewer than seven of the squaddies, and had clearly identified the need for five replacements, the majority of which would need to be Germans under the age of 24. I had sent scouts Timo and Daniel off to see what talent they could unearth.

Meanwhile, I busied myself with looking to see what gems I could find myself, and kept a wary eye on the job market at the same time. I had decided that if something realistically good came up then I would apply, otherwise I would stay and try and get Koblenz back into the second division.

The job market was very quiet with very little movement. I did chance my arm with a cheeky application for the Stuttgart job, but got my rejection on the day they announced Ruud Gullit as their new boss. Well, fair enough!

The Koblenz under 19’s won their league which was great news, and Semion Melnikov was confirmed as the fans player of the year. It was hard to see who else could have won it really.

I had had some success in the transfer market, securing the services of three young Germans on Bosman free transfers. Both the strikers came from Mainz. 22 year old Jeton Arifi and 23 year old Tobias Damm, both with excellent goalscoring pedigrees, would arrive in July, as would Goalkeeper Sebastian Bach, a 21 year old joining from Erfurt.

Only two players agreed moves away from the Oberwerth during June. Guti would be joining Plauen in July for a fee of GBP 10,000 (+20% of next sale) and defender Nessos would join FSV Frankfurt for GBP 12,000. Peter Auer’s contract had expired and he had moved on as a free agent. Whilst there had been interest in, and acceptable offers for, some of the others I’d listed, they had rejected moves due to the higher standard of training facilities at Koblenz.

Bruno and I had shared dinner to discuss the forthcoming season. He was content with a respectable league position this season, but my eyes were firmly set on bouncing straight back up. He confirmed that the transfer budget would be GBP 80,000 plus whatever I made from the sale of players, and I had a generous wage budget of GBP 21,500 per week to work with. He was still very happy with me as manager.

Klaus had been busy arranging five pre-season friendlies, the first of which would be on Friday 13th July. Did the man not know my troubled relationship with Lady Luck? The first league game of the new season would be on August 4th at the Oberwerth, when Mannheim would be the visitors.

We were still looking for a coach to replace the recently departed Nenenko, and also still needed two more players to complete the squad. We still had seven to move out too!

So there had been no time for rest or holiday for me, however I had stopped smoking which was a real positive, and the alcohol consumption was down too, so progress had been made in all respects during the month.

jim65

July 2007

Sven-Goran Eriksson resigned his job as England manager, and the FA moved quickly to appoint Stuart Pearce to the role. As my interest in leaving Koblenz was diminishing with each day of pre-season I barely registered it as a news item, and certainly didn’t consider even the cheekiest of applications.

Two 31 year old Russian coaches arrived to supplement the training. Andrey Vershinin and Ivan Yarkin joined an ever growing Eastern European coaching staff at Koblenz, and between us all we created a new training regime to really try and push the players on. German right back Johannes Meier joined on a free transfer from Ulm. The 22 year old could also play at left back, which may prove useful in the long term.

Sven Drews reported back out of condition due to an injury picked up on holiday so I gave him an extra fortnight off to get over this, and scout Daniel Reimann departed to take up a contract offer from Aalen, much to my disappointment. Better news was that scout Timo Simon elected to stay, agreeing a new three year deal. I decided not to replace Daniel immediately with most of our summer transfer work already done.

It had been good to get back into the dug out again, especially with the ‘no pressure’ atmosphere of friendlies. These games were about fitness first and foremost, and tactical fine tuning secondly. I always enjoyed the pre-season games.

On a warm, dry evening over 600 had come to see our visit, and would no doubt have been shocked at the racing start we made. Melnikov converted a penalty inside the first minute and we continued to pile on the pressure, so much so that one of their young defenders lost their head and got a silly red card before the half hour. I practically changed the whole line up for the second half, but there was no dip in performance. Tobias Damm fired the second and though we could have scored more, the 2-0 result was very satisfactory in what had been a dominant and solid performance.

After the trip to Trier, Kietu left for GBP 1,000 to join Sandhausen and Yildiz left to sign up with Osterfeld in a deal that brought us no cash in immediately but was heavily laden with clauses that could net us in excess of GBP 40,000 for the player.

We drew Duisburg in the first round of the German Cup, to be played at the Oberwerth on August 18th, and Brenny Evers injured a hip that would keep him out for up to three months and quite probably scupper a summertime move for him. Next we travelled to Emden.

Very few had come out on a beautiful summer evening for our visit to the Dr. Helmut Riedl Stadion. Rahn scored twice in the first ten minutes and we simply outclassed our hosts from then on, changing almost the whole line up again at half time before Melnikov hit a trademark strike from 25 yards to round off an easy 3-0 victory.

Goretskyi joined Union Berlin the following day for GBP 1,000.

Dusseldorf came to the Oberwerth for the only pre-season home fixture and on a steaming hot afternoon, temperatures in the high nineties, played a full part in a competitive match in front of but a handful of fans. Guterstam opened the scoring early and they hit back with an equaliser five minutes later and a real battle ensued with the ball moving from end to end. Guterstam got his and our second before the half hour. Changing nearly all the squad again at half time, fresh legs for both teams kept the contest going apace, until substitute Ziehl made a mistake and let them in for a late equaliser. No qualms about the 2-2 result though, and a very entertaining match all round.

The following morning Guscinas joined Pribram on a free transfer.

Our trip to the Auestadion to play Kassel on a warm dry evening saw a simply brilliant display of pass and move football from ourselves that totally destroyed the much weaker non-league opposition. Gutersham rattled in a hatrick inside the first five minutes, to which Kujala, Arifi and Meier added further goals for a 6-0 rout. Shame only 200 or so had seen it, it had been a joy to watch.

Hobel left to join FSV Frankfurt on a free transfer after that game, leaving only the injured Evers still at the club of the ten players listed at the start of the summer break. I’d also started a number of negotiations to renew current players’ contracts.Hobel left to join FSV Frankfurt on a free transfer after that game, leaving only the injured Evers still at the club of the ten players listed at the start of the summer break. I’d also started a number of negotiations to renew current players’ contracts.

Our final pre-season game took us to Reutlingen’s Stadion Kreuzeiche on a refreshingly cool afternoon. Again the opposition was much weaker, and once again the 150 or so spectators were treated to an almost exhibition like display of football in which we destroyed, possibly even humiliated, the opposition. Rahn finished with four goals, Guterstam and Damm with the one apiece and an own goal rounded it off. 7-1 the result and we went home to prepare for the season proper in buoyant mood.

Schalke, also in destructive mood, beat Hamburg 3-0 to win the German League Cup, and young goalkeeper Bach was hurt in training and would miss a month as a result.

Before the end of the month, Stahl, Langen, Gurski, Rahn, Kazimierczak, Lundevall and Melnikov had all agreed new deals which was very satisfying indeed, and 24 year old German left back Christian Eichner completed the squad by joining from Karlsruhe II for GBP 2,000. All this left me with GBP 95,000 left in the transfer kitty, and still under the wage budget by GBP 6,250.

I was extremely pleased with the whole of our pre-season preparations, and shared the squad’s confidence and optimism for the new season. Bruno had told them that a respectable league position was expected, I had not told them that promotion was certainly possible in my view. I decided quite deliberately to keep that pressure off their shoulders.

Wimb The Barman

unlucky with the relegation, still finances should still be good :thup: here's hoping you can bounceback!

jim65

Thanks Wimb :thup: will certainly try!

jim65

August 2007

The last few days before our opening fixture were quiet and relatively uneventful. I had been able to enjoy a day out with Rudi and Maria, and treated them to lunch in a fine restaurant in the centre of Koln. It was a rare privilidge for them to get time off together from their busy business and we’d all made the most of the day, though I had a feeling that Maria had gone into match-making mode, with the names of several of her single female friends being touted as possibles to accompany us if were to go out again! I wasn’t sure that I had room in my life for that distraction and had remained neutral on the subject. Rudi just found it all very amusing, as usual.

Scout Szalak reported that Mannheim were a first rate side and would be a good early test for us, and the bookies had us as slight favourites for the game, based more on home advantage than anything else.

Bruno was excited about the new season. We had shared a bottle of Shiraz at my place when he made an unexpected visit on the eve of the game. I had voiced my concerns about the attendances at the Oberwerth but he had brushed them off telling me not to worry about it. For a born worrier like me, that is very much easier said than done however. Also, I was more or less convinced that the lack of support had played its part in the previous season’s outcome.

The Saturday morning arrived, cool and dry, and I took my coffee on the balcony with the scent of the Rhine strong in the air and the feeling of hope in my heart, much as it had been two years previously when I had anticipated my first league game as a manager. A few passers by waved at me and gave a cheer for Koblenz, which I happily responded to. It was nice to have been accepted like this, and once again I translated that into ‘don’t let them down Jim’. With that, I left for the stadium and a new season.

There was a mood of confidence in the dressing room before the game, founded no doubt on a good pre-season that had left morale high. I’d reminded them that football, like life, was not a ‘turn-up-and-take’ affair, and that what you got out was very much dependant on what you put in. Having cautioned them against complacency, I told them that they had nothing to fear, that they were to a man and as a team capable of great things, and sent them out for the win.

A disappointing 500 or so turned up to watch the game, and an even first half ended goalless, but we’d had the better of the latter stages and I’d told them to go out and build on that. It was therefore very disappointing to have conceded within a minute of the restart, and the subsequent injuries to both my strikers, Rahn and Guterstam, left us playing with two attacking midfielders and a lone striker. As we pushed for the equaliser, they’d caught us on the break and went away with a 2-0 win and left me telling the players that they hadn’t been good enough.

Sunday morning’s ‘Lady Luck shines on Mannheim’ headlines did little to make me feel better, neither did the physio report that Guterstam would be out for a fortnight. Still it was early days yet.

Man Utd were too strong for Tottenham in the Community Shield, winning by a comfortable 3-1 margin.

We hadn’t dwelt on the opening day’s result, but it had hammered home my point on complacency. We took a few days to work on set pieces before the trip to 1860 Munchen II. Tobias Damm replaced the injured Guterstam in the starting eleven, and Jeton Arifi took his place on the bench. Damm wasted no time at all to reinforce his case for a regular start, hitting us in front inside five minutes in front of no more than 400 fans, and then doubling the score just after the quarter hour. With Melnikov’s penalty comfortably converted on the half hour we were cruising at 3-0 at half time. Reminding them about complacency at the break, we continued to dominate and Damm completed his hat-trick before the hour. Substitute Arifi took his chance too with the fifth, and should have made it six but blazed over. The 5-0 away win was a deserved victory, and the margin could have been even more embarrassing for Munchen than it was.

I had been looking forward to the following day’s headlines, imagining such as ‘Too Damm Good’ and ‘Damm Fine Finishing’, so was not impressed by the offered ‘Damm in top form’ that actually appeared, but he’d got Man of the Match, even if the German banner writers were less imaginative than their English counterparts.

With barely time to rest, Regensburg came to the Oberwerth, along with 300 or so fans, for our third game in the week and were fancied to beat us. I sent out an unchanged team, and once again was rewarded with an early Damm goal. We dominated nearly all the first half but it took until just before the break for Rahn to add our second. After the break, the confidence in our side was clear as we stroked the ball around creating chance after chance. Melnikov hit the third just after the hour, Arifi, again off the bench, made it 4 with ten minutes to go and Rahn added his second to wrap it all up at 5-0. With two goals and two great assists Rahn took the plaudits and the Man of the Match award, and got a headline of his own the following day with the imaginative and original ‘Rahn in top form’ instead of the dull ‘Rahn Ragged’ that I had foreseen. However, two great wins, both with clean sheets, and we were up and running.

In the week leading up to our German Cup 1st Round tie with second division Duisburg, both Melnikov and Gurski became the subject of transfer speculation resulting in me refusing good bids for both players. To their credit, neither reacted adversely and we went into the potentially difficult cup tie in good spirits.

Not even the visit of Second Division Duisburg for a cup tie could lift the supporter apathy at Koblenz, and only 300 or so turned up for the match. Maybe they just knew something I didn’t. Their very defensive line up took us to task early on and we went behind in the 10th minute. Both teams battled to half time without further scoring. I replaced the tired looking Damm with fit again Guterstam for the second half, but injuries to Edholm and Defendi (both our centre backs) made it an uphill struggle. Despite this, we saw an equaliser ruled out in stoppage time for offside and the referee let Duisburg get away with some criminal time wasting before calling a halt to proceedings after some 94 minutes. Out of the cup 1-0, and the headlines, for me, said it all the next morning ‘Koblenz fans left cursing their team’s bad luck’.

Defendi will miss a fortnight, and Edholm will miss a month. A high price to pay indeed. Menawhile Juventus beat Bayern in the Super Cup by 2-1 after extra time, and back home a poor start had put David O’Leary’s position open to speculation. Offers for Melnikov, Captain Krys and Phillip Langen were all rejected before the trip to Offenbach.

Nearly 9500 turned up for this one at the Stadion Bieberer Berg. Meier took over at right back so that Lundevall could fill in in the centre, and Ziehl was called into the starting eleven. The home team went a goal up on the half hour from a harsh penalty. Rahn equalised on the break on 49 but then our makeshift defence conceded again on 53 and so it stayed until full time for a 2-1 defeat.

With no more games, due to an International break, until September, we finished our month with P4 W2 D0 L2 GF11 GA4 GD+7 and 6PTS, good enough for 7th place and only 4 points off the top. We were, of course, out of the Cup.

On transfer deadline day we secured the services of 21 year old German Markus Steinwarth from Kiel for GBP 16,000. Signed to replace the soon to be out of contract Kolinger, Steinwarth was a defensive midfielder who could also play as a centre back.

Captain Krys won the league Player of the Month award, which was most satisfying.

At home, Villa were in 13th place with 4 points from 4 games, and the bafflingly inept O’Leary was still employed somehow!

I spent the last few days of the month trying to avoid a night out with Rudi and Maria and a female friend of theirs, and as soon as the transfer deadline deal had been done I escaped for a few days to the coast leaving Rudi in fits of laughter to explain my sudden departure to a bemused Maria.

jim65

September 2007

Only our flying Finn Jussi Kujala had been the only one of our squad away for the Internationals, and he returned in good shape for the visit to the gloriously named Stadion am Bornheiner Hang. Only 500 or so souls had braved the cold, wet weather for our match against FSV Frankfurt. We were never in trouble in this match. Rahn scored after fifteen minutes with a far post header from a Langen cross, and Damm doubled the lead within ten minutes. Melnikov’s neatly converted penalty just after the half hour killed the game off. New signing Steinwarth made his debut, coming on for Becalik at half time, and had a solid second half. Damm scored the fourth just before the hour. The 4-0 away win was richly deserved.

Kujala took the Man of the Match award for a fine old fashioned display on the wing. Oskar Edholm returned to training the following day. The day before our next game, at home to Furth, my 42nd birthday passed without fuss.

Pleasingly, over 1200 turned out on a cool, dry afternoon for the match that saw me name an unchanged side, and as it happened a very similar game. Furth were simply no match for us at all. Centre back Rodrigo Defendi showed his Brazilian roots with a spectacular thirty yarder to open the scoring inside twenty minutes, and then Rahn’s fifth of the season just before the break pretty much killed any chance of a recovery for them. If that didn’t, his second of the game just after half time certainly did, and substitute Guterstam cracked in the fourth on 74. Another 4-0 win!

Langen took the Man of the Match this time, but also took a knock late on that could keep him out for three weeks.

Sobolewski came back into the side for the injured Langen, and I restored Guterstam to the starting line up in place of the tired Damm for the visit to Eschborn’s Heinrich Graf Stadion. Once again we were the dominant force, Melnikov getting a six yard tap in after great work from Sobolewski just after the half hour. We really could have scored more but for the rusty performance from Guterstam and a misfiring Rahn. As it was, we completely controlled the game but had to wait for substitute Damm to confirm it just before the end. A 2-0 win, our third victory on the bounce. Our inspirational Russian midfielder, Melnikov, took the Man of the Match award.

Kadir Mumumi of our under 23 squad, who had been pushing for first team football, failed to turn up for training and was given an official warning, which he accepted, but was also transfer listed for his trouble, which was a shame as he had the ability to become a very good player indeed. As it was, I really didn’t want anyone disruptive in the camp.

Home attendances seemed to be back on the up with over 1800 inside the Oberwerth for the visit of managerless Karlsruhe II. Damm went back into the starting eleven, but it was Rahn who caught their defender napping on 38 and blasted the ball into the net leaving their goalkeeper without a chance in the world of stopping it. We settled down, played some neat football and continued to press, but a lapse of concentration let them equalise just after the hour. Heads didn’t drop though, and after laying siege to their goal, we finally broke through for the winner five minutes from time which was headed in by Kujala from a pinpoint cross by Man of the Match Sobolewski. The only thing disappointing about the game, in fact about the month as a whole, was conceding the goal which was the only one against all month while twelve had gone in at the other end.

Kujala came runner up in the Player of the Month awards, and Rahn’s effort against FSV Frankfurt was deemed Goal of the Month for September.Kujala came runner up in the Player of the Month awards, and Rahn’s effort against FSV Frankfurt was deemed Goal of the Month for September.

We had finished the month in 2nd place, just one point behind leaders Bayern II with figures of P8 W6 D0 L2 GF23 GA5 GD+18 and 18PTS. And now had another two week International break where Kujala jetted off to join his Finnish team mates for Euro 2008 qualifying.

At home, Villa had 9 points from 8 games and were 14th, and there were reports that their hopeless manager was under pressure. Also feeling the heat back home, according to the press, were Man City boss Ranieri and Newcastle’s Graeme Souness. In the Championship, Chris Coleman appeared to be under fire at Fulham, and here in Germany second division Aachen were said to be leaning on their manager, Werner Lorant, quite heavily.

Spav

Excellent story, jim65. You can be proud of your first contribution to this forum. :thup:

jim65

That's kind of you Spav, thank you!

jim65

October 2007

I’d gone to Rudi’s for dinner with him and Maria one evening, and had arrived to Rudi’s usual bear hug. He’d whispered in my ear something like ‘she’s got you this time’ before ushering me into the living room, where a beaming Maria introduced me to her friend Anni, who looked just as bemused as me, another unwitting participant in Maria’s personal version of Blind Date.

Anni was 38, with long red hair and emerald green eyes and the sort of figure that would make any man turn their head to watch her walk down the street. She wasn’t all about looks though, the recently divorced Anni was a qualified lawyer and ran her own thriving practise in the city.

After we’d established a hesitant friendship, the evening went well and was a very relaxed and enjoyable affair. It had been nice to be amongst friends again, to feel that sense of belonging. It had been a long time.

I’d walked Anni home, at Maria’s suggestion, on a cool but dry night. The sky was clear and the roads were lit in silver by the stars and moon. There’d been a clumsy moment at her front door, neither of us really knowing what to do, but we laughed it off and settled on a kiss of the cheek. She gave me her card, and invited me to call her.

I did get to see her again before the restart of the football. We went to lunch together at a very plush restaurant out of town. She told me that her main objective now that her divorce was finalised was to get the business up to speed and expand into Koln where there was a growing market for legal services. My priorities were clearly TuS Koblenz, but a firm and warm friendship was made.

n other circumstances I’m sure that Anni and I could perhaps be more than friends. There was certainly a mutual attraction there but our priorities were diverse and there would be little time for the niceties of forming a relationship. So we took the adult approach, and I had at least to thank Maria for bringing me a new friend. Lord knows I had too few of those.

After my brief sojourn into ‘normal’ life, I returned to the world of football, my world, one I understood and was at home in.

Aachen used the International break to sack manager Lorant, but this wasn’t a position that had any interest for me and I continued to prepare the team for the trip to Elversberg’s Walstadion an der Kaiserlinde, the first of three fixtures in a month that would finish with a visit to current league leaders Bayern II. It was important that we continued our good form going into that big game.

A small crowd of under 400 saw us dominate the first half, and were treated to a spectacular overhead kick from Melnikov to open the scoring inside ten minutes. Rahn continued to misfire, his dip in form a growing concern to me, though we had restricted them to a few long range pot shots and were very much in control at the interval. I told them at half time not to get careless, but that’s exactly what they did. In fact, capitulate would be a better word. They ran in three second half goals on 47, 57 and 76 to take the points. I was bitterly disappointed at the 3-1 defeat and told the players afterwards just that.

Aachen installed Toppmoller as their new boss a few days before Siegen came to the Oberwerth. Over 2300 came to the match as our attendances continued to grow, but they witnessed an abject performance from us ending in a 1-0 defeat that could have been more. The visitors had had one ruled off incorrectly for offside and we’d had precious few chances of our own, Rahn squandering the best of them! I had left the post match chat to Klaus, there was no way I could trust myself to speak to them after that!

So from a slick and confident footballing machine in September we had become a hopeless mess in October, for no apparent reason at all! Morale in the camp had gone from superb to low in the space of two defeats, and we went to Bayern II’s Stadion an der Grunwalde Strasse hoping to avoid defeat instead of up there putting pressure on them. Just one point behind them at the end of September, we were now seven points adrift and quite frankly looked beaten before we started.

I had agonised over the formation for days before the match, and had considered many changes to team selection too, but the truth was there was no obvious reason for the dip other than Lady Luck taking the p*ss again! I also had scouts looking at no less than six of my first choice players too.

I rang the changes for the line up for the Bayern II match. Out went Gurski, Edholm and Rahn, replaced by Guatelli, Ziehl and Guterstam. I didn’t change the formation though, maybe I should have.

We held our own for twenty five minutes and should have taken the lead on two occasions, both wasted by poor finishing. Then we conceded a silly penalty and were a goal down against the run of play, but all the hard work went out of the window as heads dropped and two more goals went in against us in the next ten minutes. 3-0 down at half time, I could but encourage them to give more and showed my faith in them by making no changes. We competed evenly with them for most of the second half, but they ran in their 4th just before the end to inflict a devastating 4-0 defeat on us. Boy did I lose it with them afterwards, probably another mistake but I just couldn’t figure how a team winning everything in one month could lose everything the next! Player laziness, apathy, complacency all came to mind. It couldn’t all be plain bad luck!

We finished the month with morale on the floor and having slipped down to 4th in the league. Bayern II had a 10 point lead on us and there was a 4 point gap between us and 2nd placed Offenbach. I wasn’t sure if our season could recover from a simply horrendous month, which we finished with figures of P11 W6 D0 L5 GF24 GA13 GD+11 and 18PTS.

At home, Villa were 12th with 15 points from their 11 games. Still not good enough for a club like Villa, but seemingly good enough for O’Leary’s employment prospects as he was no longer under pressure. Souness and Ranieri were still feeling the heat though, as was Coleman at Fulham.

On Halloween I took Anni out for a meal and a show in Koln, and her lively company was a welcome change from my own growing moroseness. She had found offices in Koln and was in the process of completing the lease which would expand her empire. We had a great time and I enjoyed myself, but after dropping her off at home my mood changed back and by the early hours I was into my second bottle of Shiraz.

jim65

November 2007

With one game very early in the month before yet another International break it was important to try and get some sort of a result, but Stuttgart II even at home were a tough opponent.

A couple of things had surprised me before the match. The attendance was awful, later to be confirmed at around 150, confirming to me that Koblenz fans were very much of the fair-weather variety, there in the good times but absent when they were most needed. That was a shame, but at last I finally realised that there was little I could do about it except concentrate on trying to get a winning side and let the attendances take care of themselves. The second surprise was the appearance of Ruud Gullit in the Stuttgart II dug-out, obviously in charge for this game and not with their first team.

It was a cold dry afternoon at the Oberwerth, and those that had bothered to turn up would have no doubt been surprised at the absence of Kujala, Melnikov and Guterstam from the starting eleven. Indeed, only Guterstam of the three had even made the bench! Youngster Gauseth took Melnikov’s place in the centre of midfield and Stahl was recalled for the right wing slot. Guatelli kept his place in goal.

We started strongly, creating havoc in their penalty box and would have had an early lead several times over but for the amazing work of their ‘keeper. The slight change to our formation, from a regular 4-4-2 to a Diamond shape, had apparently caught them out. We kept pressing and got our reward. Five minutes before half time Becalik stole the ball in the midfield and played a slide rule pass to Captain Krys advancing down the left. Unusually for him, he cut inside and fired a bullet at goal which even their extraordinary goalkeeper didn’t have a chance with. A superb strike, his first for us.

I made no changes at the interval but told them to keep focussed and not get careless, and the second half was pretty much a straightforward continuation of the first. We continued to terrorise their defence and dominate midfield until with only twenty minutes to go Rahn broke their offside trap and chipped their advancing goalkeeper delightfully to secure the win. 2-0 and relief all round, and no substitutes used. Phillip Langen took the Man of the Match award.

The two week interval was quiet. Borussia Monchengladbach gave their manager, Horst Koppel, the vote of confidence, but apart from that there was little happening in the world of football, unless you were interested in the Euro Qualifiers, which I wasn’t particularly. Only Kujala had been called up to the Finland squad, my other players were on light training to maintain their fitness and I even allowed them all a few days off, hoping to improve morale.

I took a week off and headed to a Koln Hotel and spent a few days with Anni, helping her put the final touches to her new offices before she opened for business at the end of the month. She had, by this time, appointed one of her closest friends to run the Koblenz operation so that she could concentrate on getting things up to speed in Koln. Her empire was growing, as was my affection for her, but she was looking for a home in Koln now that she was more or less based there.

All too soon the break was over and I returned to Koblenz, with two more games in November and another three next month before the dreaded winter break it was all hands on deck once again!

A chilly but dry afternoon took us to the Stadion am Halberg to take on Wehen. The early exchanges were tense by both sides, but after fiftenn minutes a harsh penalty, neatly converted, gave them the lead. Just a few minutes later they were two up and our fragile confidence started to fail us. Despite this we battled hard, substitutes Guterstam and Melnikov really getting involved, but it seemed a day destined to be theirs. Their first attack of the second half after 70 minutes produced their third, and to rub salt into our wounds Damm had a consolation ruled out for offside late on, despite being clearly in an on-side postion when the ball was played. The 3-0 defeat didn’t really reflect the even nature of the game I felt.

Nearly 900 came to the Oberwerth for the visit of Hoffenheim, which saw me reinstate Edholm, Melnikov and Kujala to the starting line up. Just after ten minutes, Kujala teed up Damm whose cracking shot was excellently saved by their ‘keeper but Melnikov was on hand to coolly turn in the rebound. It was Kujala again, too hot for their left back to handle, that crossed for Rahn to power a bullet header in at the near post for the second just five minutes later. Guterstam replaced Damm at half time, and it was he who rattled in a volley from an awkward angle inside the box to complete a comfortable 3-0 win. Oskar Edholm took the Man of the Match award. Job done.

November had been an ‘up and down’ month. Our two wins and a defeat left us in 4th place in the league at the end of it, with figures of P14 W8 D0 L6 GF29 GA16 GD+13 and 24PTS. We were a whopping 13 points now behind leaders Bayern II but only 3 points behind 2nd place Offenbach, though three other teams also shared 24 points and were beneath us on goal difference.

Phillip Langen took the Player of the Month award and not many in the press could object to that.

Meanwhile, Villa had risen to 10th place in the Premiership but with only 19 points from 13 games and it appeared that O’Leary was once again under pressure from board and fans alike.

I had also been monitoring the situations of two German clubs whose managers were feeling the heat as my restlessness returned. Maybe it was knowing that Anni was moving away, maybe it was just that I felt that Koblenz were the perennial yoyo club with the majority of their fans happy enough about that, I didn’t know. However, both the managers of Borussia Monchengladbach and Koln were under pressure.