retired_swmchick2006

Sometimes, the sun rises too early

Jan Anderson stumbled into the club quarters next to the training pitch, and as he opened the door to his office found Stroh already there, reading a paper.

Stroh said, "Have you read this yet?"

Anderson winced, and quickly said, "Not so loud. I've got a headache."

Stroh looked up and saw the other coach, disheveled, weary, and clearly a little worse for wear. "You look terrible."

"Thanks. I was up at Hemming's office last night. He wanted to double check all the recent scouting reports, and then go over past reports, and then double-check everything in the finances. After it got past midnight, he said we might as well keep ourselves loose, and started pouring out the booze," Anderson said. He added, "There's a hidden button on the bottom of his 2nd drawer on the right side of his desk that opens the place he stores the good stuff... just so you know."

"So... you got all toasted with our fearless leader eh? What's he like drunk?" said Stroh.

"Eh, pretty much like he is when he isn't. Greedy, stuck-up, pompous, looking for the almighty dollar... Just more horizontal. The first indication I saw that the drinks had affected him was when he walked over to his daybed, told me to go home, then fell flat on his face and passed out. I mean, if there was ever a need to show proof that that man has a stick up his..."

Stroh asked, "So what time did you leave?"

"About 15 minutes ago. A taxi just brought me over. Once I got outside and saw the sun was up, I realized that morning practice was probably about to start." Anderson continued, "So what we were you saying?"

"Oh," said Stroh, "Just today's paper has a story about the 2nd division. We're in it... well, not you and me... but the club. Here, I'll read it to you:

Stroh snorted. " 'Enigmatic', what will you reckon he thinks of that?", and then continued:

"For a profile of Schmidt, see page 3. Also see 'Abuse of the loan system? page 4. What do you think about that?" Stroh asked, looking up from his paper. Across the room Anderson sat in his chair, chin slumped forward onto his chest snoring quietly.

retired_swmchick2006

Slides 103 to 109

"... and so gentleman, that takes us to the 25th game of the season. Our finances were just managing to stay in the black, and we had actually shown some signs of making a monthly profit. This despite still carrying the unnecessary wages of 10 players, the $400 a week to Karsten Petersen being the most annoying.

Our scouting pipeline had gone quiet since Hermansen's departure, and the loan system was working against us as we continued to find players we had brought in on loan contracts sold out from underneath us. The most frustrating of these was Rasmus Hopfner sale to B 93.

In addition both Skjold-Hansen and Benny Thomsen were turning 25 in the last weeks of the season. I really did not see promotion as likely.

Well... you know what happened in the next 5 games. Against Glostrup, Sverrison scored early and we were able to kill off the game with a Schmidt goal before half time.

Then came Fremad Amager at home, and we were soundly beaten 2-0, and never looked capable of winning it. Against Birkerod, the same 2-0 result. Against FC Nordjylland, Sverrison scored first again, but this time we couldn't shut down the attack of the visitors. They scored twice and clinched themselves promotion.

That left us in 4th place, one point behind Birkerod and our final game against relegated Svendborg. Birekerod was facing Norresunby, and they got 3 early goals, and with opportunity for promotion, our side wilted in the final moments to draw 2-2.

So a season gone and we will re-attempt our approach next year. We still need to find some useful prospects, and other than those already listed, we generally have a few years left for those we have on the books.

To wrap up, financials promising, tactics should be acceptable... Stig Rasmussen was given the award for Division 2 Young Player of the Year, Rasmus Schmidt given the award for Division 2 Player of the year and finished top scorer... we will need to improve our coaching and reputation, something that would have been easier at a higher competition level, but ultimately, we weren't ready.

I thank you for your attention during this presentation, and I shall be available at my New York offices for the rest of the summer."

retired_swmchick2006

Apologies for all those reading on small screens. Wish there was a better way to do this code.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************** ********************************************** Boldklubben Skjold - Sunday 2nd June 2002********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== Squad============================================= ================================================== =No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Balslev, Benny D RL DEN 12.8.77 24 - - $130 13.6.06 Free - Bøje, Christian D LC DEN 17.11.80 21 - - $275 20.6.04 $20K - Borup, Anders M RLC DEN 20.8.77 24 - - $0 2.6.02 $26K - Checa, Luis AM C ESP 11.1.80 22 - - $75 19.6.05 $16K - Djioev, Vyacheslav M C RUS 5.8.82 19 - - $75 4.6.05 $14K - Fischer, Florian SW/D/DM C GER 31.12.82 19 - - $75 26.6.04 $10K - Frandsen, Bo D/DM C DEN 14.2.80 22 - - $0 6.6.02 $35K - Frandsen, Jeppe GK DEN 6.2.65 37 - - $120 8.6.03 Free - GarcÃ*a, Oswaldo F C VEN 4.9.82 19 - - $70 23.6.04 $14K - Henriksen, Jacob SW/D C DEN 19.8.85 16 - - $180 9.6.04 $9K - Hughes, Andy S C WAL 12.8.85 16 - - $75 13.6.04 $26K - Ipsen, Thomas F C DEN 28.7.74 27 - - $200 15.6.02 Free - Knudsen, Bo GK DEN 25.7.80 21 - - $275 28.6.04 $240K - Knudsen, Michael F RC DEN 27.12.73 28 - - $220 1.6.07 Free - Knudsen, Peter S C DEN 14.5.77 25 - - $0 8.6.02 $0 - Kristensen, Claus M C DEN 26.10.84 17 - - $120 Rolling $9K - Kristiansen, Thomas M R DEN 22.10.81 20 - - $120 12.6.04 Free - McGregor, Simon D L ENG 27.12.81 20 - - $120 2.6.04 $24K - Mølby, Tommy M R DEN 2.2.74 28 - - $300 16.6.06 Free - Mortensen, Jonas F R DEN 28.1.81 21 - - $120 1.6.07 $12K - Olesen, Benny M R DEN 23.8.81 20 - - $120 9.6.03 $16K - Olesen, Daniel M C DEN 30.3.80 22 - - $0 8.6.02 $12K - Pesce, Davide GK ITA 23.11.82 19 - - $110 20.6.05 $12K - Petersen, Karsten M R DEN 7.3.76 26 - - $400 24.6.05 Free - Rasmussen, Stig F RLC DEN 24.6.80 21 - - $475 27.6.04 $120K - Rocha, Telmo S C POR 12.4.82 20 - - $75 26.6.04 $45K - Schmidt, Dennis M RLC DEN 15.9.83 18 - - $70 5.6.04 $14K - Schmidt, Rasmus S C DEN 23.7.81 20 - - $425 25.6.03 $55K - Skjold-Hansen, Jimmy AM/F RL DEN 24.4.77 25 - - $475 30.6.04 $170K - Sverrison, Arnar SW/D/DM C ISL 12.12.82 19 - - $120 28.6.04 $22K - Theil, Kenneth SW/D C DEN 23.9.80 21 - - $375 22.6.05 $30K - Thomsen, Benny D C DEN 9.5.77 25 - - $0 8.6.02 $9K - Thomsen, Mogens D R DEN 5.5.78 24 - - $35 18.6.02 $12K - Toft, Mogens D/DM R DEN 12.3.80 22 - - $475 25.6.05 $40K - Valero, Jordi D C ESP 10.6.80 21 - - $75 15.6.04 $16K - Vestergaard, Heine M C DEN 12.10.80 21 - - $190 19.6.03 Free ================================================== ============================================== 2001/2 Senior Club Stats============================================= ================================================== =No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Balslev, Benny 2 (2) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 7.00 - Bøje, Christian 18 (2) 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.80 - Borup, Anders 16 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.44 - Checa, Luis - - - - - - - - ---- - Djioev, Vyacheslav 3 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.20 - Fischer, Florian 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 - Frandsen, Bo 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6.67 - Frandsen, Jeppe - - - - - - - - ---- - GarcÃ*a, Oswaldo 3 (10) 5 0 0 2 1 0 1 7.15 - Henriksen, Jacob 3 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7.00 - Hughes, Andy 0 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 - Ipsen, Thomas - - - - - - - - ---- - Knudsen, Bo 31 0 35 0 0 0 0 1 7.13 - Knudsen, Michael - - - - - - - - ---- - Knudsen, Peter 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 - Kristensen, Claus - - - - - - - - ---- - Kristiansen, Thomas - - - - - - - - ---- - McGregor, Simon 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 - Mølby, Tommy - - - - - - - - ---- - Mortensen, Jonas 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.33 - Olesen, Benny 18 1 0 0 6 1 0 0 6.89 - Olesen, Daniel 8 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.38 - Pesce, Davide 0 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 - Petersen, Karsten - - - - - - - - ---- - Rasmussen, Stig 30 11 0 0 10 1 0 1 7.40 - Rocha, Telmo 0 (5) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.40 - Schmidt, Dennis 4 (15) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.58 - Schmidt, Rasmus 29 24 0 0 7 0 0 10 7.79 - Skjold-Hansen, Jimmy 28 4 0 0 3 1 0 0 7.04 - Sverrison, Arnar 23 (2) 7 0 3 (3) 2 2 0 1 6.64 - Theil, Kenneth 27 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7.18 - Thomsen, Benny 22 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 7.23 - Thomsen, Mogens 19 0 0 0 3 2 0 0 6.95 - Toft, Mogens 1 (3) 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 6.25 - Valero, Jordi 4 (4) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.88 - Vestergaard, Heine - - - - - - - - ---- ================================================== ============================================== 2001/2 Transfers========================================= ================================================== =====Date Player In From Fee-----------------------------------------------------------------------8.7.01 Klaus Strøh Næsby Loan 9.7.01 Peter Knudsen B 1909 Loan 9.7.01 Daniel Olesen Holstebro Loan 11.7.01 Benny Thomsen B 1909 Loan 13.7.01 Ove Strøh Free Transfer Free 13.7.01 Dennis Kastrup Free Transfer Free 14.7.01 Lars Hermansen Free Transfer Free 22.7.01 Christian Petersen Randers Freja Loan 3.8.01 Arnar Sverrison Free Transfer Free 10.8.01 Vyacheslav Djioev Free Transfer Free 10.8.01 Dennis Schmidt Free Transfer Free 27.8.01 Oswaldo GarcÃ*a Free Transfer Free 3.9.01 Anders Borup Holstebro Loan 24.9.01 Christian Bøje Glostrup FK Exch 24.9.01 Davide Pesce Free Transfer Free 1.10.01 Florian Fischer Free Transfer Free 1.10.01 Telmo Rocha Free Transfer Free 10.10.01 Jacob Henriksen Dalum Exch 19.10.01 Andy Hughes Free Transfer Free 20.10.01 Mogens Thomsen B 1913 Loan 7.11.01 Simon McGregor Free Transfer Free 7.12.01 Bo Frandsen HFK Sønderjylland Loan 8.12.01 Allan Pallesen Nørresundby Loan 19.12.01 Jordi Valero Free Transfer Free 24.12.01 Luis Checa Free Transfer Free 14.2.02 Rasmus Høpfner Fremad Amager Loan 14.2.02 Finn Lund Randers Freja Loan Date Player Out To Fee-----------------------------------------------------------------------13.7.01 Jesper Alkhag Shrewsbury $50K 14.7.01 Didier Bradaïa Boulogne $80K 14.7.01 Dennis Christensen Kidderminster $10K 15.7.01 Martin Skovbjerg B 1913 $20K 17.8.01 Kasper Sand Hvidovre $65K 17.9.01 Brian Lund Hvidovre $18K 24.9.01 Rasmus Mikkelsen Glostrup FK Exch 2.10.01 Anders Andersen Birkerød Free 10.10.01 Per Bengtsson Dalum $2K p/x 21.10.01 Henrik Olesen B 36 Free 4.11.01 Jacob Christiansen Silkeborg IF Free 27.11.01 Per Jørgensen Fredericia Free 5.1.02 Carsten Steffensen Nørresundby $40K 11.1.02 Lars Hermansen AB $70K 14.5.02 Allan Skovbjerg TÃ¥rnby Free ================================================== ============================================== 2001/2 Fixtures========================================== ================================================== ====Date Opposition Ven Competition Res Attend Scorers-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------12.7.01 Lundby SWE A Friendly 1:1 77 R.Schmidt14.7.01 Norrby SWE A Friendly 1:2 157 L.Madsen16.7.01 Friska Viljor SWE A Friendly 2:0 247 Rasmussen, H.Olesen5.8.01 Hjørring A Second Division 2:2 1497 R.Schmidt 211.8.01 Næsby H Second Division 3:0 2535 R.Schmidt 315.8.01 Ølstykke FC A Danish Cup 1st Rnd 1:2 743 Rasmussen19.8.01 Holstebro A Second Division 4:1 1515 S.Rasmussen, B.Olesen, Skjold-Hansen, R.Schmidt25.8.01 Næstved H Second Division 2:1 1601 Sverrison 21.9.01 HIK A Second Division 1:2 1477 Rasmussen8.9.01 Ølstykke FC H Second Division 1:1 2512 Skjold-Hansen16.9.01 Korup A Second Division 2:2 1500 S.Rasmussen, GarcÃ*a22.9.01 Dalum H Second Division 2:0 2523 R.Schmidt, Sverrison pen30.9.01 Nørresundby H Second Division 3:0 1468 R.Schmidt 37.10.01 Kalundborg GB A Second Division 4:1 1496 Rasmussen, Skjold-Hansen 2, GarcÃ*a14.10.01 Glostrup FK H Second Division 2:1 1504 Rasmussen, GarcÃ*a21.10.01 Fremad Amager A Second Division 1:1 1497 GarcÃ*a28.10.01 Svendborg H Second Division 3:0 1521 GarcÃ*a, Sverrison 2 pens3.11.01 FC Nordjylland A Second Division 0:1 1473 11.11.01 Birkerød H Second Division 0:2 2508 8.2.02 Bonlanden GER H Friendly 1:0 219 Steffen og15.2.02 SC Victoria GER H Friendly 2:0 155 R.Schmidt, Checa1.3.02 Aschaffenburg GER H Friendly 0:1 203 16.3.02 Holstebro H Second Division 3:1 1535 R.Schmidt 2, S.Rasmussen24.3.02 Næsby A Second Division 3:0 1867 S.Rasmussen, R.Schmidt, R.Høpfner31.3.02 Korup H Second Division 1:1 1513 R.Schmidt3.4.02 Næstved A Second Division 1:3 1503 R.Schmidt6.4.02 Hjørring H Second Division 1:0 1552 A.Borup14.4.02 Ølstykke FC A Second Division 3:0 2089 Rasmussen 2, R.Schmidt17.4.02 HIK H Second Division 1:1 1504 R.Schmidt20.4.02 Dalum A Second Division 2:2 2082 R.Schmidt 228.4.02 Nørresundby A Second Division 1:2 1482 R.Schmidt5.5.02 Kalundborg GB H Second Division 2:0 1556 R.Schmidt, Rasmussen11.5.02 Glostrup FK A Second Division 2:0 1511 Sverrison, R.Schmidt15.5.02 Fremad Amager H Second Division 0:2 1590 19.5.02 Birkerød A Second Division 0:2 2130 25.5.02 FC Nordjylland H Second Division 1:2 1543 Sverrison2.6.02 Svendborg A Second Division 2:2 1482 R.Schmidt 2 </pre>

retired_swmchick2006

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************** ********************************************** Danish Second Division - Sunday 2nd June 2002********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2001/2 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st C FC Nordjylland 30 9 5 1 28 15 8 3 4 24 21 59 2nd P Fremad Amager 30 8 4 3 26 16 7 5 3 25 18 54 3rd P Birkerød 30 8 5 2 20 10 7 3 5 21 17 53 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4th Skjold 30 9 3 3 25 12 5 5 5 28 21 50 5th Ølstykke FC 30 8 1 6 28 19 6 6 3 22 17 49 6th Dalum 30 9 2 4 27 16 5 3 7 21 27 47 7th Holstebro 30 8 5 2 26 19 4 4 7 17 25 45 8th Nørresundby 30 8 5 2 21 12 3 6 6 18 26 44 9th Næstved 30 6 3 6 28 26 5 4 6 26 29 40 10th Korup 30 7 3 5 24 19 4 2 9 15 26 38 11th Næsby 30 5 7 3 22 21 4 1 10 13 30 35 12th Hjørring 30 4 8 3 22 22 1 8 6 13 19 31 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------13th R Kalundborg GB 30 6 3 6 22 22 1 5 9 16 29 29 14th R Glostrup FK 30 5 2 8 17 24 3 2 10 16 24 28 15th R HIK 30 5 3 7 22 24 1 6 8 12 18 27 16th R Svendborg 30 4 7 4 21 21 1 3 11 11 32 25 ================================================== ============================================== 2001/2 Goals============================================= ================================================== =Pos Player Club Apps Gls-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Rasmus Schmidt Skjold 28 24 2nd Torben Lorentzen Ølstykke FC 30 17 3rd Søren Gade Birkerød 27 16 4th Claus Holm Fremad Amager 30 15 5th Mikkel Jørgensen Næstved 28 15 6th Tommy Gade Dalum 30 14 7th Jan Nicolaisen Fremad Amager 17 (4) 14 8th Henrik Tuncer FC Nordjylland 25 12 9th Glenn Villadsen Ølstykke FC 29 12 10th Jimmy Kjær Glostrup FK 27 11 11th Per Lauritsen Birkerød 27 (1) 11 12th Stig Rasmussen Skjold 29 10 13th Jens Lindgren Korup 21 (1) 9 14th Kristian Gregersen Næstved 30 9 15th Steen Jensen FC Nordjylland 24 (2) 9 16th Thomas Krogh Hjørring 30 9 17th Otis Plummer Næsby 15 8 18th Morten Lauridsen Korup 15 (4) 8 19th Brian Andreasen Fremad Amager 30 8 20th Brian Frederiksen Holstebro 15 8 21st Jens Jørgensen Svendborg 12 (5) 7 22nd Johnny Hansen Kalundborg GB 23 (1) 7 23rd Brian Østergaard FC Nordjylland 27 (2) 7 24th Morten Kristiansen Hjørring 30 7 25th Arnar Sverrison Skjold 23 (2) 7 26th Ante Perkovic Brøndby 13 6 27th René Fig FC Nordjylland 25 (3) 6 28th Karsten Michaelsen Dalum 9 (14) 6 29th Bjørn Christiansen HIK 14 (5) 6 30th Per Holm Korup 19 6 ================================================== ============================================== 2001/2 Assists=========================================== ================================================== ===Pos Player Club Apps Asts-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st René Fig FC Nordjylland 25 (3) 12 2nd Christian Bjerregaard Birkerød 30 12 3rd Claus Holm Fremad Amager 30 10 4th Stig Rasmussen Skjold 29 10 5th Erik Christiansen FC Nordjylland 29 9 6th Henrik Nordstrøm Ølstykke FC 25 (4) 7 7th Thomas Olsen B 93 17 7 8th Michael Jørgensen Dalum 19 7 9th Jens Lindgren Korup 21 (1) 6 10th Benny Olesen Skjold 18 6 11th René Poulsen Næstved 19 (3) 6 12th Michael Nørregaard Næstved 19 (3) 6 13th Per Holm Korup 19 6 14th Rasmus Schmidt Skjold 28 6 15th Lars Clausen Nørresundby 25 6 16th Jeppe Krogh Ølstykke FC 19 (6) 5 17th Peter Petersen Næstved 11 (9) 5 18th Morten Hansen Kalundborg GB 30 5 19th Torben Lorentzen Ølstykke FC 30 5 20th Ole Schrøder Korup 19 5 21st Lars Dreyer Nørresundby 30 5 22nd Glenn Villadsen Ølstykke FC 29 5 23rd Mikkel Jørgensen Næstved 28 5 24th Brian Andreasen Fremad Amager 30 5 25th Michael Hermansen Hjørring 30 5 26th Jimmy Frandsen Nørresundby 30 5 27th Michael Vestergaard Dalum 28 5 28th Christian Kjærbye Nørresundby 26 5 29th Ståle Andersen Kalundborg GB 15 5 30th José Carlos Gomes Holstebro 24 5 ================================================== ============================================== 2001/2 Average Rating============================================ ================================================== ==Pos Player Club Apps Av R-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Rasmus Schmidt Skjold 28 7.79 2nd Dennis Schmidt Korup 28 7.68 3rd Torben Lorentzen Ølstykke FC 30 7.67 4th Mikkel Jørgensen Næstved 28 7.61 5th Glenn Villadsen Ølstykke FC 29 7.59 6th Søren Gade Birkerød 27 7.56 7th Anders Müller AB 15 7.53 8th Jannick Kjærsgaard Kalundborg GB 15 7.53 9th Per Holm Korup 19 7.47 10th Claus Winther Næstved 15 7.47 11th Jens Lindgren Korup 21 (1) 7.41 12th Christian Bjerregaard Birkerød 30 7.40 13th Brian Andreasen Fremad Amager 30 7.40 14th René Frederiksen Silkeborg IF 18 7.39 15th Stig Rasmussen Skjold 29 7.38 16th Otis Plummer Næsby 15 7.33 17th Brian Frederiksen Holstebro 15 7.33 18th Thomas Olsen B 93 17 7.29 19th René Fig FC Nordjylland 25 (3) 7.29 20th Per Lauritsen Birkerød 27 (1) 7.29 21st Michael Møller Næsby 20 (2) 7.27 22nd Dennis Gade Ølstykke FC 22 7.27 23rd Torben Andersen Glostrup FK 26 7.27 24th Claus Holm Fremad Amager 30 7.27 25th Kristian Gregersen Næstved 30 7.27 26th Nicolai Carlsen Brønshøj 15 7.27 27th Morten Lauridsen Korup 15 (4) 7.26 28th Michael Lind Nørresundby 19 (4) 7.26 29th Jacob Laursen Fremad Amager 24 7.25 30th Søren Thomsen Næstved 18 (2) 7.25 ================================================== ============================================== 2001/2 Man of Match============================================= ================================================== =Pos Player Club Apps MoM-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Rasmus Schmidt Skjold 28 10 2nd Torben Lorentzen Ølstykke FC 30 8 3rd Jens Lindgren Korup 21 (1) 5 4th Christian Bjerregaard Birkerød 30 5 5th Glenn Villadsen Ølstykke FC 29 5 6th René Fig FC Nordjylland 25 (3) 4 7th Bjørn Christiansen HIK 14 (5) 4 8th Jimmy Kjær Glostrup FK 27 4 9th Dennis Schmidt Korup 28 4 10th Søren Gade Birkerød 27 4 11th Steen Jensen FC Nordjylland 24 (2) 4 12th Per Lauritsen Birkerød 27 (1) 4 13th Michael Nørregaard Næstved 19 (3) 4 14th Lars Dreyer Nørresundby 30 4 15th Brian Andreasen Fremad Amager 30 4 16th Torben Andersen Glostrup FK 26 4 17th Peter Kjær Birkerød 25 (1) 3 18th Mikkel Christiansen Næsby 27 3 19th Claus Holm Fremad Amager 30 3 20th Michael Lind Nørresundby 19 (4) 3 21st Henrik Tuncer FC Nordjylland 25 3 22nd Mikkel Jørgensen Næstved 28 3 23rd Jannick Kjærsgaard Kalundborg GB 15 3 24th Thomas Krogh Hjørring 30 3 25th Kim Møller Svendborg 28 3 26th Michael Vestergaard Dalum 28 3 27th Otis Plummer Næsby 15 2 28th Nicolai Sommer Fremad Amager 28 (1) 2 29th Tommy Gade Dalum 30 2 30th Per Skov Holstebro 22 (1) 2 </pre>

retired_swmchick2006

Three's company, but two's a crowd?

Anderson came into the clubhouse in late June, ready for the morning practice session, after having taken a few weeks off for vacation. "Stroh?" he said, but there was no reply. For most of past year, Stroh had been the first to arrive, pouring over the previous day's notes and reports, he had stayed at the club and was going to vacation in August.

Anderson looked around the office, and realized something was distinctly wrong. Stroh's desk was empty.

"He's gone," said a voice behind him that he recognized as Hemming's, "left last night after finalizing a deal with Koge in a scouting role. Guess the man felt this wasn't going to work out for him."

"So then, it's just back to you and me?"

"No. I've signed another coach now. He just hasn't arrived yet. His name is Mark Nielson."

"Nielson, Nielson... sounds familiar. Didn't he get capped for Denmark once? Defensive midfielder right?"

"Yes. In fact he wanted a player/coach position, and he probably could have kept playing for a while, but he accepted a purely coach position once I told him our approach."

"I see. Well... wait, weren't you supposed to be in New York right now?"

"I came back to Copenhagen to take care of a few things. In particular transfers. I sent Skold-Hansen to FC Aarhus for 100k and a right-back named Kim Michelson. He's a decent player, and I think we can get a good year out of him. Ipsen and Kristensen have both gone for frees, and Mogens Toft left for 40k. We have some players targeted for the new season as well, and I've decided to stick around through the summer to handle negotiations."

Over the rest of the summer, Anderson introduced 31-year old Nielson to the schedule and practice routines, the newly appointed coach showing promise, but little experience.

Hemming was true to his word, and made his presence felt at the club over the summer, making several transfers that Anderson felt might really change the club for the better. Those coming in through the first few games of the season:

Ariel Carranza 24-yeard old Argentina forward who signed for a 1-year contract. Should be a strong second option for both Rasmus Schmidt or Stig Rasmussen. 14k.

Morten Vestergard The single most important signing. 22-year old defensive midfielder who immediately becomes Skjold's best player in a vital position. Transferred for 110k.

Mikkel Wieghorst 23-year old Utility midfielder who provides cover at every side, and will probably start in the 2nd defensive midfielder position. Free.

Mikkel Skov 19-year Left wing-back brought in to provide cover at defense and midfield. Suprisingly good, though not recommended by a scout. free.

Outgoing:

Telmo Rocha The Portugues striker turned a tidy profit for the club as Fremad Amager signed him for 150k, freeing up the money that brought in several of the above.

Heine Vestergaard Gone on a free.

Another player retired and another had his contract expire to leave Skjold with only 6 wasters in the reserves waiting to leave.

Three 1st division sides requested friendly's with Skjold and were accepted. Skjold performed well against the higher sides winning one game 3-0, drawing another, and losing one.

Anderson was pleased with how things were going, but the season still looked daunting. The club hadn't been able to find the sort of defensive cover from loaned players as the previous season, and the attack still relied too much on Schmidt

Through 5 league games, he did see some cause for concern, but on the whole things could have been much worse. Skjold sat 6th in the league.

Skjold had opened the season with a 2-2 draw with Naesby at home. Rasmus Schmidt scoring both goals and getting the point in the 89th minute with his 2nd on the day.

Against Norresunby on the road, Schmidt got another, and the club held off the home side to steal a win.

Then came the problematic stretch. A cup loss to Dalum (where Hemming insisted on not playing the first squad, saying the game was financially unneeded), and then two consecutive 3-2 losses to Olstykke and Hjorring, where Skjold gave up the lead in both games. (David Pesce, given the starts at keeper due to a Bo Knudsen injury, was obviously not up to the task.)

However, the 5th game of the season was very promising to Anderson, on the road against Holstebro, Wieghorst got his first start, and Schmidt scored an easy hattrick. Rasmussen got his first goal of the season, and despite the defense not performing well, Skold cruised to a 4-2 win.

"Just a couple more players, Nielson, and we might just be there... might just..."

retired_swmchick2006

It was a dark and gloomy November night...

Anderson sat slumped in his chair, hand wrapped around a half-empty bottle. Nielson was passed out face down on his desk. Hemming had gone back to his apartment, and even he had looked miserable after today's game.

'What was going on at the club?' Anderson thought. 'Everything had seemed to be on the way forward...'

It was true, after getting the good 4-2 win over Holstebro, Skjold had gone on a 7 game unbeaten streak. First up was a 2-1 win over Skive, as loaned-in winger Kim Jensen had a phenomenal day, setting up a goal and scoring the winner.

Then a 1-0 road win over Vejen, Ariel Carranza showing his worth by coming off the bench in the 2nd half to get the winner.

A 2-2 draw with Korup followed. It should have been a win, but Rasmus Schmidt's second goal of the day only saved a point.

Against Vedbaek, Skjold had gone down a goal in the first half and for the first time Hemming had abandoned the 4-5-1 and brought on a 2nd striker. Vedbaek was stunned, and saw Rasmussen, Carranza, and Wieghorst score in the 2nd half as Skjold ran out 3-2 winners.

B 1909 fell victim to a 1-0 home win, thanks to a Rasmussen goal that the club was able to make stand up.

Then the luck started to fall apart. A fortunate 1-1 draw against division leaders AC Horsens could have gone either way as Skjold scored after being reduced to 10 men and nearly held on for a win, but AC Horsens scored just before the whistle.

The morale of the club seemed to suffer after that. Another 1-1 draw against Brande was saved as again Carranza scored after his team had been reduced to 10 men.

Then came the hardest blow. 13th placed NFA shellacked Skjold 3-0 on a day where the club seemed like they hadn't even learned how to tie the shoestrings on their boots.

A 1-0 loss to Naestved, when the 2 clubs sat 3rd and 4th in the table really should have been Skjold's three points. Skjold hit both the crossbar and the post in the match as Naestved keeper Christian Bay was on stellar form.

Dalum scored twice early in the next game winning 2-0, and the first half the season was gone sour.

So Skjold had dropped from 3rd to 7th in the league table, 7 points out of the promotion area. Hemming had been stunned. Anderson had been baffled. Nielson had just been furious. They all agreed, this team was much better than last year's, and yet they couldn't find any consistency.

The three loaned-in players, Jensen, Lars From, and defender Henrik Lohse were all pretty good for the division.
The three new free signings of the season, Marco Vaz a Portuguese defender, Italian keeper Domenico Politi, and Dutch winger Pascal Lourens, were all looking to be fine players, and would easily crack the first team this year. Lourens in particular was seen with high hopes.

'What can be done?' Anderson brooded. 'We're pulling better prospects, we're unloaded those we think were a waste like Luis Checa after agreeing they wouldn't help us, our finances are very stable. Are we still not ready to go up?'

'Maybe it's time to cut Bo Knudsen loose... He's gone from being one of our most solid players to a liability. Politi is probably better already.... and Schmidt has disappeared, maybe we should just let Carranza get the rest of the games in the spring.'

'We just don't have the players to handle the pressure. If only we had some veteran leaders....'

retired_swmchick2006

And now, for something not really all that different

Just before the new year (2003) Hemming, Anderson, and Nielson sat down to have a long and detailed discussion on what to do with the 2nd half of the season. After much deliberation, arguing, shouting, but thankfully no crying (unless you count the moment when Anderson stubbed his toe on one Hemming’s heavy chairs), they had come to a conclusion. The club needed to make a few key changes to try and push for promotion. Although Hemming still felt the club wasn’t ready to compete at a higher level, the club’s low reputation was definitely affecting their ability to sign top prospects.

The first thing resolved was that first choice keeper Bo Knudsen would allowed to transfer away from the club. Often the target of higher division clubs, Akademisk Boldklub had made an offer and Hemming negotiated them up to 220k. Although the money probably wouldn’t translate directly into available transfer funds, it was certainly a welcome addition to the club’s finances.

The second item that was resolved was that the club’s tactics would be switched from a 4-5-1 of Hemming’s design to a 4-4-2 Diamond formation that all three finally agreed would better suit the available players.

Anderson summed it up as follows: “The lone striker formation certainly has its advantages, but we simply to not have the correct players to cover the holding midfielder positions. Weighorst is a fine player, but he has been awful at defensive midfielder.. Sverrison has done well enough, and our new signing Alexandre Silva dos Santos may fit in there eventually, but neither is really up for fulltime starts there.�

With the club in extra intensive training over the winter break (the board having provided a indoor space for workouts, an empty warehouse near the training fields), Skjold was looking at a line-up like the following:

GK: Domenico Politi
DL: Christian Boje
DR: Kim Michaelsen
DC: Lohse (loaner)
DC: Theil
DMC: Morten Vestergaard
AMC: Stig Rasmussen
ML:Kim Jensen (loaner)
MR: Pascal Lourens
FC: Arrial Carranza
FC: Rasmus Schmidt

With key back-ups being Dennis Schmidt and Mikkel Weighorst in the midfield and young Welsh striker Andy Hughes up front.

Potential signings or loaners were looking pretty scarce, so the three knew that the club would probably have to make do with the players already there.

In the first game of the spring, Skjold looked a bit better in the 4-4-2 formation, and Carranza scored the opener against Naesby in the 45th. The home side bounce back in the 2nd half and put 2 past Politi who struggled a bit in his first start. The winner was a particularly tough blow as Sorensen scored on a freekick in the 90th minute.

In the following game, Skjold found themselves getting outplayed by the visiting side (Norresundby) until Carranza found the net again, and then the defense for Skjold was called on to make the score hold up. They did enough, because Rasmus Schmidt found room in the 2nd half to get his 10th and 11th goals of the season for a 3-0 win.

Away at bogey team Olstykke FC, Skjold got a bit of fortunate refereeing as Carranza was held back with a shirt pull early in the 2nd half and the offending player was given a straight red. It took Skjold a while to find the goal, but it finally came in the 82nd as Carranza got past the home side’s defense and headed home a Theil lob. Politi showed why Anderson had faith in the player by making two spectacular saves as 10-man Olstykke nearly stole a draw.

Back home against visiting Hjorring, the side suddenly looked like real contenders for promotion, a one-sided 2-0 win could have been much larger had it not been for wasted opportunites. Carranza continued to shine, scoring in the 17th, and then Stig Rasmussen got to a rebound to seal the win in the 71st. Morten Vestergaard again made his case as one of the best players in the division with a strong game.

In the midweek game that followed against ‘sure-to-be-relegated’ Vejen, Skjold continued their winning ways with a 3-1 win. Defender Theil scored his first ever goal for the club, and Carranza scored twice after that in what turned into an easy game.

In this same period of time scout Dennis Korup (still in Brazil) had gotten permission to sign defender Charles Rosa da Silva and the club begin negotiations with another Brazilian center-back and was attempting to sign 19-year old French striker Francois Guillou.

retired_swmchick2006

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************** ********************************************** Danish Second Division - Thursday 17th April 2003********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2002/3 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Næsby 20 7 1 2 23 13 6 2 2 16 8 42 2nd Næstved 20 8 2 0 25 9 4 2 4 16 17 40 3rd Korup 20 5 3 2 27 20 5 3 2 17 16 36 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4th Skjold 20 5 3 2 18 11 5 1 4 14 15 34 5th Dalum 20 7 2 2 17 8 2 4 3 13 18 33 6th Ølstykke FC 20 5 4 2 18 13 4 2 3 16 19 33 7th AC Horsens 20 8 1 1 22 6 2 1 7 10 19 32 8th B 1909 20 5 3 2 18 10 4 1 5 9 12 31 9th Skive 20 6 1 2 16 12 3 0 8 17 21 28 10th Holstebro 20 3 3 3 14 10 4 3 4 22 26 27 11th Brande 20 6 2 3 23 20 1 3 5 6 14 26 12th Hjørring 20 6 1 3 14 11 1 3 6 9 16 25 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------13th NFA 20 4 1 5 17 13 2 2 6 12 22 21 14th Nørresundby 20 3 3 5 11 14 1 2 6 12 21 17 15th Vejen 20 3 1 5 10 13 1 1 9 6 19 14 16th Vedbæk 20 2 0 7 8 16 1 1 9 4 18 10 </pre>

retired_swmchick2006

You said something about not being able to handle the pressure?

On Wednesday, 14th May, Anderson and Nielson were riding back to Copenhagen from Odense on the team bus having just witnessed Skjold’s demolition by B 1909. (Hemming having left the stadium early to ‘beat the traffic’.)

“Well, we knew Politi would have days like this,� said Nielson.

“Yeah,� said Anderson.

“And frankly, their keeper Lars Jensen was pretty stellar today, right?�

“Yeah.�

“Still, 3-0 is a bit extreme.�

“Yeah.�

Despite controlling the game for long stretches, Skjold had been destroyed by the home side. It couldn’t have come at an odder time. Through the past 4 games, Skjold had looked like the best team in the league, but this midweek fixture seemed to take the wind right out our their sails.

Against Korup, then still near the top of the table after leading the division for most of the season, Skjold had been ridiculously good. 4 different players for Skjold had scored including man-of-the-match Vestergaard hitting a penalty in the 71st for the 4th. Korup had been in shock, and their fans had left the game wondering what had been in Skjold’s lunch that day.

Against Holstebro, the club had maintained their impressive form scoring 3 in the 2nd half to run out 4-1. Jensen and Rasmussen had the visitor’s seeing ghosts, and ran riot in the match, having a goal and an assist a piece.

Now edging into the promotion zone, Skjold saw themselves go behind by 3 goals in the first 30 minutes to Skive, as Politi started the game in horrible form. Pesce came on the 2nd half as Skjold went to full out attack for the rest of the game, and building on Rasmus Schmidt’s first half goal, Skjold forced their way back into the game with 2 goals from Rasmussen and then just before the whistle Schmidt got his second on the day with a last gasp header that beat the Skive keeper for a 4-3 win.

A 2-0 win at home over Vedbaek was a dreary affair after that excitement, Carranza and Rasmus Schmidt scoring one each.

And then came B 1909. Everything seemed okay, chances coming for Carranza throughout the first half. And then B1909 scored. And then again. And just before the whistle, again.

“Still it could be worse, I suppose,� said Nielson. “Instead of being in 2nd place with 4 teams within 4 points… we could be, well, further down the table.�

“Yeah,� said Anderson. “Yeah, that would be a waste, not at all similar to how we'd feel if we failed to get promotion after an 8 game win streak. That would have been totally different.�

Nielson sighed. “Yeah.�

retired_amyslack

Really enjoying this one attjen - like the idea and the writing style :thup: