retired_embartl

well for the sake of being able to claim I've got to the 4th page for the first time in about 8 months :p

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World Cup Round Up 2002

The finals, minus England, saw an exciting round of matches, and the odd rarity, like Scotland reaching the second round at the expense of South Korea before going out to Italy. Perhaps the shock of the group stages was Germany’s exit at the hands of Ireland and Columbia , whilst Australia in their first finals in ages were narrowly close to qualifying through but just missed out. Other co-hosts Japan also folded at the first. In the second round, Belgium’s 4-3 win over France was a wonderful match for the neutral, and any Americans, English, Germans, Spaniards, Algerians and Dutch watching. The USA were dumped out of the tournament by Yugoslavia and perennial underachievers Spain lost to Ireland on penalties, who in turn suffered the same fate in the quarters against Yugoslavia. The final was an unsurprising affair, contested between Italy and Argentina , with Brazil taking 3rd spot against Yugoslavia. The winners proved to be the Italians but narrowly, they took the crown merely on penalties.

retired_embartl

2002-2003 Player Trading

By the close of the World Cup, and the beginning of July, Owen and Sal had already begun hard work on the overhaul at Worcester City. Several players came and went, whilst, with Jeff’s permission, Owen sought a great influx of help in the coaching staff. By bringing in 4-5 more extra pair of hands, and qualified coaches looking for a foot in the door to higher places, he felt he now had a strong team of eager hard working and intelligent men to get the best out of the new group of players he had gradually acquired. He had also had to deal with the unwelcome spat with the radio journalist but the only action necessary was a quiet word in the lads’ ears to ignore him from now on, although it seemed Drew would be looking to take legal action against Kel who was currently suspended from his job pending an internal inquest at the BBC.

Reinvigorated by the break, optimism was swelling at the club ahead of the new season too, with a pre-season tour of Wales scheduled for mid July. Behind the scenes Owen was slightly sad to lose the services of Paul Davies as the old hand was moved on to allow space to bring in rather more qualified and able coaches, but the addition of Les Briley, Mike Flanagan, Colin Pascoe and Simon Davey more than made up for that. Upon the first few days of the players returning for duty their capabilities for coaxing talent was obvious to all watching and Owen was thanking Jeff aplenty for those moves.

Of course while in Thailand and at home during June, the two had been in constant contact to discuss the playing staff, and with the old useless buggers either retiring or released, there was space a plenty to bring in a few improved faces. Before those incoming players though, there were further sales, Ashley Vickers completed a move to Spennymoor for 9k, whilst Mark Heimgartner didn’t complain at all at his 10k transfer to Stevenage. The bigger exits initially seemed to be Georgos Siros , certainly surplus to duties, who was shipped off to Aldershot Town, and Kaba Diawara . However the Frenchmans’ move was, Owen hoped part of an excellent deal carefully crafted with Jeff. It was part of a cash plus player exchange deal with Wolves for their 31-year-old forward Robert Taylor . The former Gil and Brentford player, has bags of league experience but injuries had cut short massively his career at Wolves, and though it took some convincing, Owen finally managed to convince him to join over a pint of Piddle In The Snow.

With Siros out, there was room for another defender and it went to 26-year-old Welshman Christian Edwards arriving from Nottingham Forrest for a princely sum of 100k. The defender was again out of favour and also out of match practice, which helped lure him to the ambitious Conference outfit. It was certainly the kind of signing that had Worcester fans on their feet, as their team took on an experienced and quality signing. They were completed with three further bosman additions. Simon Haworth and Graeme Jones strikers from Wigan and St. Johnstone respectively, were added in to bulk up the firepower, whilst Greg Shields a low on confidence and low on match play former Charlton right back agreed to move on a short term deal. All three, were of course using Worcester as a means to an end, but it was the kind of deal which suited Owen just fine and dandy too. The hoped for final piece to the jigsaw, a left winger called Per Karlsson wasn’t sanctioned to Owen’s dismay as Jeff decided to reign in the finances somewhat, and the task thereafter was to search for either a cheaper alternative or a loan signing.

retired_jgirl87

This is still travelling along very well, BoN. :cool:

retired_embartl

cheers Spav, hoping for better luck this time around

The Tour Of Wales

“ So, Sal, ready to go?!”

“Yeah, just packing up the last of the essentials!”

“So the chocolate and shoes then?”

“ Such a stereotype! But er, yes!”

“I know you too well, anyway, come on we’ll be late for the bus in a minute!”

Sal came running down the stairs with her final bag packed, kissed Owen briefly and led him out the front door. The trip to Wales was to be a highly boring one, but Jeff kindly set up a coach with some tables in it, and the team were splitting off into little card playing groups from the boring canasta, gin playing types to the maverick poker stars, with Mark McCulloch taking home the total pot of 134 quid by the end of the trip.

Before setting out to the first leg of the four game tour Owen did have to deal with an interesting and sizeable offer for versatile defender, Dick Holder from Birmingham City. The 325k offer would fund the left sided winger needed to balance out the squad’s depth, but would see the loss of a talented young full back to a dirty manky side from Birmingham. In a selfish move, without consulting Dick, he rejected the deal and decided to move on. He could find a cheap left winger eventually.

“Look Owen, you can reject this offer now, fine, but a lot’s been spent this summer so far. I can’t bankroll much further, the business has to be looked after, so be careful next time an offer of this size comes in, next time we might not be able to say no.”

“ Sure, ok Jeff. Thanks. I just feel Dick’s too good a prospect to let go yet.”

“Understandable I can see, but I’d recommend if you want a new left winger looking in the loan market or amongst the untapped youths.”

“The scouts are on it as we speak!”

“Good, now let’s go and enjoy Wales…. As best we can!”

With spirits high, Owen was looking for the new players to really just blood in and gel with their team mates, whilst for some of the older players, it was another chance to re-assert a claim for a spot in the side.

First up then were Abercynon Athletic , a lower league side, and a chance to exercise the legs in fitness warm up, and a good performance saw well taken goals from Rob Taylor, Andrew Fotiadis, Greg Shields and Christian Edwards . With 3 debutants also scoring and one for the impressive Fotiadis, it proved a handy opening leg, and the confidence boost was given another lift when Owen received a call from The Huntsman.

“Yo Col, what have you got for me?”

“Nice win yesterday I see – hope it went well! Anyway, yes, Spanish kid, on a free – left sided player. Bit of a lazy bugger, but, he’s 18 and does have talent – I’ve had a word with him, could get him over to you on trial for the next match if you like?”

“Well if you can, that’ll be great might as well see what he’s got about him!”

retired_embartl

A few days later, Antonio Catala arrived at Cardiff airport and joined up with his new temporary team mates as they prepared to take on Abergavenny Thursdays at the Penypound Stadium. In terms on excitement the game wasn’t on the same level as Owen turned over the team selection to incorporate the other players, but despite switching formations at halftime, the deadlock couldn’t have been broken and it ended in a 0-0.

Catala had put in a solid performance and it was true, this kid had talent but Owen wasn’t too sure just yet, so another start was awarded in the tie against Flexsys Cefn Druid . He performed well enough down the left flank, but there was clear he had work to do. Nonetheless on consultation with Sal and the two coaches Colin Pascoe and Des Briley, he was awarded a short term contract. The rest of the game saw further positives – namely Andrew Fotiadis who scored another and made two in an exceptional performance – rediscovering the form of his loan spell the previous year. Mark Reilly and Rob Taylor scored the others in a 3-1 win.

The end of the tour came with a trip to face UWIC Cardiff and Owen saw his side grind out a 2-1 victory. The win was deserved, but it was certainly a laboured effort until second half subs saw Drew Bradman and Simon Haworth come on and turn the game, the former scoring the decisive winner and the latter allowing his class to shine through as his fitness developed. Mark Reilly had proved ever dependable earlier on with the opening goal.

On the face of it the trip was a success, the games were won and the players were certainly much the better for it fitness wise at least, but there were still question marks over the quality of the play. “ It’ll come with games, they need professional matches to really hit their stride!” Sal had said whilst musing over the tour back in Worcester. It was a fair point and Owen didn’t get too worked up over his concerns, but he just hoped his side would start the season with a bang.