retired_blondie_524

"You are Borussians, anti-social Borussians. You sleep under bridges or in hostels for the homeless".

Saturday 9th July 2005

Borussia Dortmund chairman Reinhard Rauball today announced at a midday press conference the appointment of Dortmund's new manager. There were gasps all round from the assembled media as unknown Scot Hamish von Wurst was introduced.
Rauball explained that Dortmund and success had not been seen together recently, since the glory of the 90's all Dortmund had to show for the new century was a Bundesliga title four seasons ago and a losing UEFA Cup final the same season. That was not good enough for a team of Dortmund's stature.
Hamish was a German teacher at the University of Dortmund; he was responsible for setting up the University's successful football program which has seen them win 10 consecutive titles. He was born in Scotland of a German banker and Scottish mother. He played for several Scottish teams before taking up teaching and moving to Germany to be near his father who had moved back to Dortmund after his divorce.
Out of 20 people we interviewed for this prestigious job Hamish gave a committed and positive response to all our questions. We are convinced von Wurst is the man to lead our Bundesliga challenge.

That is how I was appointed at underachieving Dortmund. I sat in my plush office looking at the club paperwork and a £10m transfer kitty.
The first thing that jumped out at me was we only had one quality striker at the club, Jan Koller and we looked a bit short in defensive prowess - those would have to be addressed quickly.
We only had a few friendlies fixed, including one on Tuesday at Swiss semi-pro club Biaschesi as we were about to meet Sturm Graz in the Intertoto Cup 3rd round over two legs.

zipman

This sounds VERY promising Even if we here sing like You are Swabians, anti-social Swabians... (Stuttgart is loathed here).

A Scot in Dortmund. Well, Paul Lambert is still a hero there

Wonder how you will deal with the huge debt Borussia has. But you should have loads of young talent (for German dimensions) in your squad.

Good luck!

retired_blondie_524

Thanks Loeffle, there's not much talent or players in the U19's or reserves actually, leastways not that are close to first team level. Although the club have a 52M loan outstanding they're shown as 16M in the bank at the moment so as long as I can cover the repayments (500K a month til 2024!) I should be alright.

Technical details:
FM2006 v. 6.03 with China (Jia A league), USA (MLS only), England (League 2 and above), France (Ligue 2 and above), Germany (2.Bundesliga and above), Italy (Serie B and above), Holland (Gouden Gids divisie and above), Scotland (Division 3 and above), Spain (segunda division A and above) and Australia (A league only) running

Plenty of scope if it turns out to be one of my globetrotting stories!

retired_blondie_524

Tuesday 12th July 2005

Biaschesi v B. Dortmund
Pre-Season friendly

The Swiss part-timers were rolled over without Dortmund breaking sweat. An early goal for David Odonkor who impressed at left wing was only added to in the last quarter of an hour by a stunning strike by left back Dédé but we were in no danger. The home side were held to just two off target shots all game.
Biaschesi 0-2 Dortmund
(Odonkor 3, Dédé 78)

Friday 15th July 2005

I finally manage to sign a player, arriving for £2m is 24 year old Paraguayan striker Salvador Cabañas who has scored 36 goals in two seasons for his Mexican club Jaguares.
Also arriving on a seasons loan is Arsenal's French midfielder Mathieu Flamini

Saturday 16th July 2005

Dortmund v Sturm Graz
UEFA Intertoto 3rd Round 1st Leg

The first team I pick for a competitive match is in 4-4-2 diamond formation: Meier - Dédé, Wörns, Metzelde, Degen - Kehl - Odonkor, Ricken - Rosicky - Koller, Smolarek. Subs: Gentenaar, Brzenska, Buckley, Flamini, Kringe, Gambino, van de Gun
BVB (The common abbreviation for Borussia Dortmund, it means Ballspiel-Verein Borussia, the full name of Dortmund being BV Borussia 09 e.V. Dortmund) had no trouble with the Austrian visitors. After sustained pressure BVB opened the scoring on 17 minutes, Kehl passed across the face of the area to Philipp Degen who fired in a powerful drive. Although the Graz keeper managed to parry that Ricken was on hand to tuck in the rebound. Graz had a few chances but for the most part the BVB defense kept them at arms length.
Minutes into the second half the Black & Yellows doubled their lead, a delicious 50-yard ball by Dédé over the top of the Austrian defense put Tomas Rosicky clean through and he ran on to slide the ball wide of the advancing keeper. The icing on the cake came with six minutes left as two substitutes combined to add the third goal. Dédé dispossessed the Graz full back, Delron Buckley picked up the ball and fizzed a cross into the six-yard box. Cedric van der Gun arrived just right to stoop to force his diving header into the net.
Dortmund 3-0 Sturm Graz
Dortmund scorers: Ricken 17, Rosicky 48, van der Gun 84
Graz scorers: none
Att: 60,039

zipman

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mavericktango:
Thanks Loeffle, there's not much talent or players in the U19's or reserves actually, leastways not that are close to first team level. Although the club have a 52M loan outstanding they're shown as 16M in the bank at the moment so as long as I can cover the repayments (500K a month til 2024!) I should be alright.

Naja, German research Dortmund has a very young and exciting team on pitch this season. Also strange that Meier is good enough to start for you, he is in real life lousy

Love your stories, and will read it now, as my own game is dead

retired_blondie_524

Loeffle, I bow to your better knowledge, I will have to research more, I don't know that much about German football because we rarely see it in the UK. Meier is starting because whoever submited the inital euro squad before I took over didn't include No.1 starter Roman Weidenfeller

Thanks for the encouragement and feel free to point out any faults :thup:

Raptor

\o/ story about my fav German side

:thup:

zipman

No fault - you hammered the Ösis anyway

Just was smiling when I saw Meier's name. He scored a fabulous owngoal last season when playing in Div 1

Here we also see more Scottish than English football. But this weekend they showed the FA Cup ...

retired_blondie_524

help! I'm beginning to feel nervous :eek: with both Rator and Loeffle knowing more than me, I think I'm going to have to spend Monday at work researching BVB!

Monday 18th July 2005

Italian / Argentinean 23 year old striker Roberto Colautti has agreed personal terms with BVB after we fixed an initial fee of £1m rising to £3m on performance with his club, Maccabi Haifa. Last season he scored 19 goals in 30 appearances.
Also signing is Utrecht's 34-year old defensive midfielder Jean-Paul de Jong for an initial £600,000. Jean-Paul has been at Utrecht for 12 seasons making 321 appearances scoring 11 times; he will provide back-up for Kehl.

Wednesday 20th July 2005

FC Bulle v Dortmund
Pre-Season friendly

We continued with a gentle set of friendlies in-between our Intertoto cup fixtures. Facing another Swiss part-time outfit we give debuts to Cabañas, Colautti and de Jong while Dennis Gentenaar gets a start in goal
BVB strolled through this, Salvador Cabañas announced himself with two goals in the first half hour and Rosicky almost added a third with an audacious 45-yard lob which just sailed over the bar with the Swiss keeper way out of his ground.
I made six substitutes at half time and BVB coasted through the second half as well, Colautti scoring the only goal of the half. The home side managed four shots to BVB's 17 and we also had seven corners to their one. Just what we wanted - a comfortable workout without any injuries before Saturday's second leg.
Bulle 0-3 Dortmund
(Cabañas 19, 29, Colautti 53)

retired_blondie_524

Saturday 23rd July 2005

Sturm Graz v BVB Dortmund
UEFA Intertoto Cup 3rd Round, 2nd leg

I had to start with the same squad as the first leg as my new signings are not eligible to play yet. With the tie fairly much over as BVB hold a 3-0 lead there was never going to be much urgency and when BVB added an away goal after just 10 minutes it was hard to stop them sitting back. David Odonkor was the scorer; he came with a late run into the box as Rosicky took the corner and got across his marker to power it into the roof of the net. Graz had 57% of the possession throughout this game but only managed two shots on target all game.
BVB finally paid the price with two minutes left they were sat back watching the Austrians move the ball across the face of the area when Jürgen Säumel unleashed a 25-yard thunderbolt that scorched past two defenders and the dumbstruck Meier into the top corner of the net. I think Ricken must have been chuntering on about the overall score to his marker because as we kicked off, Ronald Gercaliu kicked Ricken off the ball and picked up a straight red.
Sturm Graz 1-1 Dortmund
Graz scorers: Säumel 88
Dortmund scorers: Odonkor 10
Att: 3,225
(Dortmund win 4-1 on aggregate)

The reward for getting past Graz is a semi-final tie against AS St Etienne, the first leg is to be played in France on Wednesday.

Monday 25th July 2005

25-year old Italian midfielder Francesco Ciullo has turned down offers from Bologna, Brescia and Vicenza to sign as a free agent with Dortmund. So far he has made 152 appearances for seven different Italian clubs scoring 40 times, last season he scored 18 times for Serie C club Pavia.