retired_swmchick2006

Two Words, Tele Vision

After the win against Birkerod, Hemming called Anderson, Nielson, and Cook to his office ("Is that a 'Magritte'?" said Cook upon entering, pointing at a framed picture on one wall) to discuss the remaining games of the season.

"You three know that we really haven't expected to win promotion this year, and as such, I'm very pleased with how we've done. However, I'd like to make the case for us trying our best to force our way into the Premier Division. It is simply a matter of money. The income available to us even if we were to immediately get relegated would be very helpful to recruiting, our reputation would increase significantly, and we'd be a more promising club for loanees," said Hemming. "The question is, do we have a chance?"

The three coaches exchanged looks, but couldn't find anything to say.

Their stunned silence continued through the weekend, as recent Skjold signing Kjaersgaard finally showed why they had spent so much effort getting him as he ghosted past his marker to head home 2 goals in the first half. Rasmus Schmidt got a third in the 2nd half. Cook read out the other results in the 1st Division in the clubhouse afterwards.

"HFK Sonderjylland lost yesterday, Fremad Amager beat Frem, and Farum lost to Hvidovre... That puts us in 2nd place, ahead of Frem on goal difference," he said.

Anderson cut in on the cheers and whistles, "Unfortunately boys, our next match is away at first place Koge. They've been pretty dominating all season, so if we are serious about trying to go up, this is when we have to show it."

Skjold did everything right -created more chances and dominated possession- but win. Koge's excellent striker Martic Christensen scored in the 40th on one of Koge's 2 shots on target.

B 93 was the next game, and the derby rivals got a 1st minute goal and controlled the game from then on tacking on a 2nd just before halftime. Skjold were pretty poor, especially in defense. The back-to-back losses dropped the club back to 5th place, 6 points out of promotion range.

Skjold's next game was against HFK Sonderjylland, and Anderson had been hoping that they could close the gap with Frem (who had drawn on Saturday). 4th place Sonderjylland must have thought the same thing, and an evenly-matched game saw two goals in the 2nd half. Pascal Lourens goal was the second and tied the game at 1-1. Anderon had to admit that the team's chances of promotion were pretty much gone after the game, Hvidovre jumping into 4th place pushing Skjold back to 6th.

Nielson and Cook were still a little hopeful (such cute naiveity), since of the 6 games remaining only a home game against Frem was versus a team anywhere near the top of the table.

The club did what they needed to against 14th placed Fremad Amager, Rasmus Schmidt scored on a header in the 27th and then Politi did very well to hold the visitor's off the scoresheet. Juan Torres set up Kjaersgaard just before the whistle to get a 2-0. Frem lost to Farum, which meant that Farum took over the 2nd spot in the table, and Skjold was 4 points back in 5th place.

The gap was back to 6 points after Skjold tied with B 1913. dos Santos Vieira was sent off in the first half with the game at 1-1, and although Skjold did well to take the lead, B 1913's excellent winger Johnny Lund scored his second of the game by going on a long run and scoring to end the game at 2-2. Even Hemming was now certain the season was gone, with only 4 games remaining the distance seemed too much.

retired_swmchick2006

Things to do in Denmark when you are bored senseless...

"So, Andersen, what's there to do around here during the summer?" Hemming asked a few days after the season had ended.

Andersen was sitting at his desk in the clubhouse office. "Are you staying around this summer? Not going to New York?"

"Well, my advisors in the US say that it may not be wise for me to come back this year. The usual stuff, weather, renovations, possible indictments... I haven't really ever stayed in Copenhagen during this months intentionally since... well ever."

"Well sir, there is always the regular training sessions."

"Yes, I suppose so. But how much do you really think I can help there?"

Andersen thought for a moment. The last four games of the season had been rather useless, 1-1 to Frem, 0-0 to Bronshoj, a 2-1 win over Fredericia, and a loss to Randers Freja 0-2. The youth at the club weren't really looking like they could amount to much, and potential improvements through signings were looking sparse. To make things look even worse, several of Skjold's scouts had pointed out how much Telmo Rocha had improved only after leaving the club. "Good point," he said.

"I guess I could just watch the European Championships. I think I might be able to swing some tickets... Portugal's pretty nice this time of year, right?"

Andersen muttered, "I think so sir. That will certainly take up some time this summer. Hardly hear anything else except news from the competition. It's a bit annoying to be honest."

"True. Well, I guess that's all. Give Nielson and Cook my regards. Not a bad season. It was probably wrong to get our hopes up," said Hemming, walking out the door.

Andersen sat back, and thought about what he should be doing to help the players improve. After about an hour of fruitless searching through practice schedules, training routines, scouting reports, he threw up his hands and said, "Forget it! The players we have just can't seem to improve no matter what we do. The only way we'll go up soon is if we get better loaners."

So while, Hemming headed to the European Championships (obstensibly accompanying Kastrup on a scouting trip) and enjoyed watching an impressive run by Denmark*, Andersen began calling up every club that had a player listed for loan, starting with last season's Danish double winners Brondby.

*Denmark employed a defensive counterattacking system for the competition, and defeated Finland 4-3 and Germany 2-1, tied Czech Republic 2-2, then beat Yugoslavia 2-1 and Holland 1-0 to reach the final. France won 1-0 despite being outshot during the game. Real Madrid's Brian Peterson was the key man for Denmark, scoring 6 in the tournament.

retired_swmchick2006

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************** ********************************************** Danish First Division - Sunday 23rd May 2004********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2003/4 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st C Køge 30 14 0 1 35 14 9 3 3 31 20 72 2nd P Farum 30 11 1 3 33 22 7 3 5 30 25 58 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3rd Hvidovre 30 7 6 2 29 22 8 2 5 21 15 53 4th Frem 30 7 5 3 20 14 8 2 5 23 18 52 5th Skjold 30 9 5 1 30 15 4 4 7 17 21 48 6th HFK Sønderjylland 30 6 4 5 27 20 7 1 7 26 20 44 7th Randers Freja 30 10 1 4 22 12 3 4 8 9 23 44 8th B 93 30 7 4 4 18 15 5 3 7 20 25 43 9th Næsby 30 10 2 3 33 20 2 3 10 17 33 41 10th B 1913 30 6 4 5 30 24 4 2 9 15 31 36 11th Birkerød 30 7 2 6 18 21 3 4 8 21 28 36 12th Brønshøj 30 7 3 5 18 14 1 8 6 10 16 35 13th Fredericia 30 4 5 6 19 25 3 3 9 11 22 29 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------14th R Fremad Amager 30 6 4 5 25 21 1 3 11 16 34 28 15th R Korup 30 5 1 9 20 21 2 5 8 20 32 27 16th R Vejle 30 4 4 7 20 25 2 1 12 18 34 23 ================================================== ============================================== 2003/4 Goals============================================= ================================================== =Pos Player Club Apps Gls-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Jørgen Johansen Farum 25 (1) 22 2nd Martin Christensen Køge 21 (3) 19 3rd Ulrik Rasmussen Køge 29 19 4th Brian Lund Hvidovre 30 16 5th Mads Kuhn HFK Sønderjylland 27 15 6th Michael Pedersen B 1913 24 (3) 14 7th Rasmus Schmidt Skjold 28 14 8th AÃ*lton de Matos Næsby 29 14 9th Mads Pedersen B 93 28 13 10th Jesper Jepsen Viborg FF 14 12 20th Stig Rasmussen Skjold 14 (7) 8 ================================================== ============================================== 2003/4 Assists=========================================== ================================================== ===Pos Player Club Apps Asts-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Jens Mogensen Hvidovre 30 13 2nd Martin Clausen Brønshøj 29 10 3rd Juan Torres Skjold 20 10 4th Thomas Petersen Farum 28 9 5th Finn Erik Christoffersen AGF 10 9 6th Kenneth Carlsen B 1913 18 (3) 8 7th Rasmus Høpfner Køge 18 (1) 8 8th Morten Vestergaard Skjold 29 7 9th Jacob Augustsen Farum 26 (2) 7 10th Christian Poulsen Frem 29 6 28th Pascal Lourens Skjold 30 5 ================================================== ============================================== 2003/4 Average Rating============================================ ================================================== ==Pos Player Club Apps Av R-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Martin Christensen Køge 21 (3) 8.04 2nd Jesper Lorentzen Fredericia 15 7.73 3rd Ulrik Rasmussen Køge 29 7.72 4th Anders Bundgaard Næsby 25 7.72 5th Rene van Delft Køge 20 7.70 6th Danny Lund Randers Freja 25 7.68 7th Mads Kuhn HFK Sønderjylland 27 7.67 8th Jørgen Johansen Farum 25 (1) 7.65 9th Rasmus Høpfner Køge 18 (1) 7.63 10th Johnny Lund B 1913 30 7.60 15th Péter Károlyi Skjold 17 7.47 17th Juan Torres Skjold 20 7.45 20th AÃ*rton dos Santos Vieira Skjold 24 (1) 7.44 26th Rasmus Schmidt Skjold 28 7.39 27th Marco Vaz Skjold 26 7.38 ================================================== ============================================== 2003/4 Man of Match============================================= ================================================== =Pos Player Club Apps MoM-------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Martin Christensen Køge 21 (3) 6 2nd Jesper Jepsen Viborg FF 14 5 3rd Mads Kuhn HFK Sønderjylland 27 5 4th Danny Lund Randers Freja 25 5 5th Johnny Lund B 1913 30 4 6th Jens Mogensen Hvidovre 30 4 7th Rasmus Høpfner Køge 18 (1) 4 8th Michael Jørgensen Fremad Amager 24 4 9th Klaus Jensen Birkerød 25 (4) 4 10th Ulrik Bengtsson Frem 25 4 12th Juan Torres Skjold 20 4 14th Morten Vestergaard Skjold 29 3 26th Rasmus Schmidt Skjold 28 3 </pre>

retired_swmchick2006

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************** ********************************************** Boldklubben Skjold - Sunday 23rd May 2004********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== Squad============================================= ================================================== =No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bøje, Christian D LC DEN 17.11.80 23 - - $375 16.6.06 $22K - Christensen, Jacob AM RC DEN 24.12.81 22 - - $500 28.6.08 $60K - Furlan, Giovanni M C ITA 5.4.86 18 - - $110 10.6.06 $18K - Guillou, François S C FRA 8.11.83 20 - - $140 12.6.06 $40K - Henriksen, Jacob SW/D C DEN 19.8.85 18 - - $180 9.6.04 $1K - Hughes, Andy S C WAL 12.8.85 18 - - $75 13.6.04 $24K - Károlyi, Péter DM C HUN 10.5.79 25 2 - $0 4.6.04 $80K - Kjærsgaard, Jannick AM C DEN 12.9.82 21 - - $500 26.6.05 $130K - Kuhn, Olaf F LC GER 3.1.84 20 - - $350 10.6.06 $35K - Kvist, Ulrik S C DEN 30.5.81 22 - - $0 28.6.04 $75K - Lourens, Pascal M R HOL 26.11.82 21 - - $425 12.6.05 $300K - Luna, Alejandro M C ESP 15.9.81 22 - - $200 21.6.06 $20K - Newman, Simon D LC ENG 27.1.84 20 - - $110 20.6.06 $30K - Pesce, Davide GK ITA 23.11.82 21 - - $110 20.6.05 $9K - Politi, Domenico GK ITA 16.9.83 20 - - $425 2.6.05 $20K - Quintana, Cristian AM/F L ARG 20.9.84 19 - - $350 11.6.06 $22K - Rasmussen, Stig F RLC DEN 24.6.80 23 - - $475 16.6.06 $160K - Rosa da Silva, Charles D C BRA 15.6.84 19 - - $80 1.6.06 $16K - Schmidt, Dennis M RLC DEN 15.9.83 20 - - $70 5.6.04 $1K - Schmidt, Rasmus S C DEN 23.7.81 22 - - $325 28.6.05 $130K - Silva dos Santos, Alexand DM C BRA 15.7.84 19 - - $70 15.6.06 $30K - Simpson, Tom DM C ENG 31.12.84 19 - - $180 12.6.07 $24K - Skov, Mikkel D/DM L DEN 28.9.82 21 - - $375 21.6.06 $35K - Skov, Rune D/DM R DEN 28.4.84 20 - - $0 9.6.04 $60K - Torres, Juan M L ESP 30.4.80 24 - - $400 10.6.06 $65K - Vaz, Marco SW/D C POR 21.10.83 20 - - $425 2.6.05 $30K - Vestergaard, Morten DM C DEN 11.8.80 23 - - $475 10.6.05 $240K - dos Santos Oliveira, Gera AM/F RC BRA 31.3.85 19 - - $110 25.6.06 $35K - dos Santos Vieira, AÃ*rton D C BRA 21.12.84 19 - - $85 12.6.06 $45K ================================================== ============================================== 2003/4 Senior Club Stats============================================= ================================================== =No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bøje, Christian 17 (1) 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 6.72 - Christensen, Jacob 0 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 - Furlan, Giovanni - - - - - - - - ---- - Guillou, François 0 (4) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.75 - Henriksen, Jacob 1 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.67 - Hughes, Andy 2 (4) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.83 - Károlyi, Péter 17 0 0 0 4 1 0 1 7.47 - Kjærsgaard, Jannick 14 6 0 0 0 0 0 2 7.29 - Kuhn, Olaf 2 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.75 - Kvist, Ulrik 9 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.78 - Lourens, Pascal 30 4 0 0 5 1 0 0 7.07 - Luna, Alejandro 1 (5) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.67 - Newman, Simon 7 (5) 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 6.92 - Pesce, Davide 3 (3) 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 7.17 - Politi, Domenico 28 (1) 0 36 0 0 0 1 2 6.90 - Quintana, Cristian 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 - Rasmussen, Stig 14 (7) 8 0 0 2 1 0 2 7.00 - Rosa da Silva, Charles 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.00 - Schmidt, Dennis 2 (5) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.57 - Schmidt, Rasmus 28 14 0 0 0 2 0 3 7.39 - Silva dos Santos, Alexand 5 (1) 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 7.50 - Simpson, Tom 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 - Skov, Mikkel 14 (5) 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 6.95 - Skov, Rune 13 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.92 - Torres, Juan 20 1 0 0 10 0 0 4 7.45 - Vaz, Marco 26 1 0 0 0 4 0 0 7.38 - Vestergaard, Morten 29 2 0 0 7 6 0 3 6.97 - dos Santos Oliveira, Gera 1 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.67 - dos Santos Vieira, AÃ*rton 24 (1) 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 7.44 ================================================== ============================================== 2003/4 Transfers========================================= ================================================== =====Date Player In From Fee-----------------------------------------------------------------------29.6.03 Ulrik Kvist FC Aarhus Loan 2.7.03 Mark Cook Free Transfer Free 4.7.03 Peter Andreasen Knudsker Free 10.7.03 Juan Torres Køge $70K 16.7.03 Christian Jochumsen Thisted Free 14.8.03 Olaf Kuhn Free Transfer Free 15.8.03 Giovanni Furlan Free Transfer Free 26.8.03 Alejandro Luna Free Transfer Free 29.9.03 Geraldo dos Santos Olivei Free Transfer Free 5.10.03 Péter Károlyi OB Loan 16.10.03 Cristian Quintana Free Transfer Free 16.12.03 Tom Simpson Free Transfer Free 24.12.03 Simon Newman Free Transfer Free 27.12.03 Jannick Kjærsgaard Vejle $70K 13.3.04 Rune Skov Dalum Loan 31.3.04 Jacob Christensen Korup Exch Date Player Out To Fee-----------------------------------------------------------------------5.6.03 Thomas Kristiansen Vedbæk Free 10.6.03 Benny Olesen Released Free 15.6.03 Benny Balslev Released Free 15.6.03 Ariel Carranza Released Free 15.6.03 Michael Knudsen Released Free 15.6.03 Tommy Mølby Released Free 15.6.03 Karsten Petersen Released Free 1.7.03 Vyacheslav Djioev Released Free 9.10.03 Oswaldo GarcÃ*a Christchurch City $9K 10.10.03 Kenneth Theil Kalmar FF $30K 12.10.03 Arnar Sverrison Dalum $70K 19.10.03 Jordi Valero Vorup FB Free 19.10.03 Florian Fischer Korup $85K 31.3.04 Kim Michaelsen Korup Exch 7.5.04 Mikkel Wieghorst Brande Free ================================================== ============================================== 2003/4 Fixtures========================================== ================================================== ====Date Opposition Ven Competition Res Attend Scorers-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------22.7.03 Assyriska SWE A Friendly 2:2 794 Rasmussen 225.7.03 Halmia SWE A Friendly 1:1 161 R.Schmidt3.8.03 Næsby H First Division 5:2 3511 Lourens, S.Rasmussen, R.Schmidt 2, Kvist10.8.03 Vejle A First Division 2:3 2613 Kvist, M.Skov17.8.03 Farum H First Division 1:1 2699 K.Møller og24.8.03 Hvidovre A First Division 2:1 2706 Kvist, Lourens26.8.03 HFK Sønderjylland H Danish Cup 3rd Rnd 0:0 272 31.8.03 Køge H First Division 3:3 2578 S.Rasmussen 2, Bøje7.9.03 Korup A First Division 0:3 2607 14.9.03 HFK Sønderjylland H First Division 1:0 2764 Rasmussen21.9.03 B 93 A First Division 0:1 3505 28.9.03 Birkerød H First Division 2:1 3533 Michaelsen, Hughes4.10.03 Frem A First Division 1:3 3452 R.Schmidt12.10.03 Brønshøj H First Division 0:0 2773 19.10.03 Fremad Amager A First Division 2:0 2735 Silva dos Santos, R.Schmidt26.10.03 B 1913 H First Division 1:1 2582 R.Schmidt2.11.03 Fredericia A First Division 2:0 2623 R.Schmidt, Lourens9.11.03 Randers Freja H First Division 4:1 2610 R.Schmidt, M.Vestergaard, Rasmussen, Michaelsen3.3.04 Farum A First Division 2:2 2702 Vaz, Rasmussen7.3.04 Vejle H First Division 3:1 2643 R.Schmidt 2, Rasmussen14.3.04 Næsby A First Division 0:2 2467 21.3.04 Hvidovre H First Division 2:1 2654 R.Schmidt, Torres24.3.04 Birkerød A First Division 3:0 3140 S.Rasmussen, Vestergaard, Silva dos Santos28.3.04 Korup H First Division 3:0 2593 Kjærsgaard 2, R.Schmidt4.4.04 Køge A First Division 0:1 2763 7.4.04 B 93 H First Division 0:2 3201 11.4.04 HFK Sønderjylland A First Division 1:1 2686 Lourens18.4.04 Fremad Amager H First Division 2:0 2661 R.Schmidt, Kjærsgaard25.4.04 B 1913 A First Division 2:2 2627 R.Schmidt, Kjærsgaard2.5.04 Frem H First Division 1:1 3406 Kjærsgaard8.5.04 Brønshøj A First Division 0:0 2666 16.5.04 Fredericia H First Division 2:1 2632 R.Schmidt, Kjærsgaard23.5.04 Randers Freja A First Division 0:2 2577 </pre>

retired_swmchick2006

Something For Nothing, As Per Usual Agreements

When Cook and Nielson, and for that matter Hemming, returned from their respective breaks they found a new batch of players at the club.

"Who the **** is that?" said Nielson, watching a player weave through the defense to score an amazing goal in one summer scrimmage. "He's incredible!"

"That," said Andersen practically gloating, "is Kasper Mikkelsen. A loaned-in striker from Silkeborg IF."

"How in the heck did he agree to come here?"

Andersen grinned. "No idea. I didn't think he would, but sometimes you just have to ask. And then ask again."

"****** ****," said Cook. "He's going to make us contenders just on his own."

"And that?" said Nielson, pointing at the player who had just scored a 30-yard screamer.

"That is Benny Jessen, 20-year old striker from AB."

Andersen had been busy. After a while, club's seemed just to get tired of him calling 3 times a day, and agreed to the loans. Besides the two strikers Andersen had gotten the following on loan contracts:

Chris Lind 23-year-old central defender, probable first-teamer.
Allan Pallesen 22-year-old right winger.
Kim Jensen 21-year-old left midfielder.
Ahmed Mohamed 20-year-old Egyptian striker. Pretty good, though Andersen had signed him mainly for his cool name
Tommy Gade 24-year-old striker. Just an extra option.
Brian Bechmann 22-year-old right back.
Lars Asmussen solid 22-year-old forward.
Christian Martinez 20-year-old Paraguayan defensive midfielder brought in for coverage
Thomas Bernhardt 22-year=old goalkeeper. (Andersen couldn't decide if he was better than Politi, but he was pretty good.)
Tom Tengstedt central defender.
Jacob Jeppesen central defender.
Lief Asmussen left winger.

Andersen had certainly made a name for himself over the last weeks. Hemming had called him up to say: "Nice work". Local newspapers had featured him in a short article in the football section: "Anderson: the man to see about a loan". ("Hey," said Nielson when he saw it, "they spelled your name wrong!") Local TV presenters called him an idiot for wasting all these players time by bringing them to Skjold. But.... all in all, quite an improved looking team for the next season in Division 1.

Signed to the club on regular contracts were three players:

Gaston Cejas an 24-year-old Argentine right-back brought in to the club for 30k (and some future clauses, unlikely to come into effect). Hemming and Andersen had brought him in on a year contract to start at that position. (Former starter Kim Michaelsen had been sent out in exchange for midfielder Jacob Christensen before the last season ended.)

Ariel Barrionuevo a promising 21-year-old right winger from Argentina.

Jose Raimundo Cunha 18-year-old Brazilian right-back, that the staff had high hopes for.

(All these taking place prior to Andersen's loaning spree.)

Only one player sat in Skjold's reserve team, also known as the 'trash heap,' by Cook and Nielson: Alejandro Luna who had managed to get himself listed at 22 years of age because he decided not to show up to practice one week.

The number of players at the club had jumped to around 40, but with little impact to wages. (Wieghorst and Guillou had exited, as had the three bosman's.)

Andersen had even gone so far as to convice 2 Premier teams to come to the Osterbro stadium for friendlies, along with B 1909, and local rivals B 93 (who shared the stadium anyway).

For the first time that anyone could remember, Andersen was positively in a good mood.

retired_swmchick2006

If you can't make good investments, steal them from somebody else

With the abundance of excellent strikers now at the club (on loans, just to re-iterate), the non-playing staff had no qualms about basing the season's tactics around the 4-4-2 diamond. Through the 4 friendly games, the team was borderline impressive, hammering Premier side Esbjerg 4-1, losing to AaB 2-0, and then beating B1909 5-1, and B 93 3-1.

Hemming had also signed 2 prospects, French Sweeper Alain Blondeau and 16-year-old Danish keeper Brian Larsen, who he told Andersen and Nielson were just, "hopeful money makers."

As such the starting line-up for the first week match away against Randers Freja was as follows:

GK: Thomas Bernhardt - loaner
DL: Christian Boje
DC: Airton dos Santos Vieira
DC: Chris Lind Captain, loaner
DR: Gaston Cejas
DMC: Christian Martinez loaner (Vestergaard injured)
ML: Juan Torres
MR: Pascal Lourens
AMC: Jannick Kjaersgaard
SC: Kasper Mikkelson loaner
SC: Benny Jessen loaner

Andersen, in point of fact, was a bit suprised that the team was as evenly split between full-time contract and loan players as it was.

The result of all this summer activity was... a dreary 0-0 draw. Andersen was back to his gloomy self within seconds. Cook wasn't too worried, of all the Division 1 games that first week, only 3 teams had managed to win.

At home the next week for a game against FC Nordylland, Andersen buried his face in the palms of his hands as the visitor's scored in the 12th minute thanks to Brian Ostergaard beating nearly the entire backline of Skjold. He was considering turning in his resignation, when Mikkelson scored. And then scored again, and again. Then Jessen knocked home two of his own. Now this was more like it.

And of course, a 1-1 draw away at Dalum followed that. Skjold had played very well, but Dalum's Klaus Christiansen scored with a freekick early and nearly won the game with it.

2-2 was the result when HFK Sonderjylland came to Skjold for the next game. Andersen was again left groaning, as the visitor's scored twice before 20 minutes. Skjold came back well, but were quickly losing groung to Viborg FF (undefeated) and Naesby (3 wins and a draw).

Andersen declaimed to Nielson and Cook, "We are better than this! Why aren't we showing it!"

retired_swmchick2006

Our friend, the pharmacist...

Andersen was taking headache medicine, heartburn medicine, stress medicine, and a variety of other doses by the time the winter break finally arrived. Nielson and Cook weren't much better, and Hemming was beginning to wonder if the club could ever break out of Division 1.

A 2-0 loss to 12th place Birkerod ended the first half of the season. The results previous went as follows:

Away at Esbjerg IF 92: 3-0 (Cup 3rd Round)
Away at Bronshoj: 2-1
Home to B 93: 1-0
Away to Hvidovre: 0-1 (Cup 4th Round)
Away to Hvidovre: 1-2
Home to Viborg FF: 1-0
Away to B 1913: 1-1
Home to Frederica: 5-1
Away to FC Aarhus: 3-1
Home to Naesby: 1-1
Away to Esbjerg fB: 0-1
Home to Dalum: 3-0

The club had done, well... just okay, and sat in 3rd place, but were drifting 7 points off of 2nd place Viborg, and 9 behind first place Esbjerg fB. More than anything, the club had showed a severe inability to score goals when required.

The loanees had been, well... just okay. Mikkelsen was outstanding, no doubt about that. But Benny Jessen had been terribly unpredicatable. As for the rest, Andersen was wondering why he had bothered so much. Leif Asmussen had proven a good pick-up for out of form Juan Torres, even to the point that the latter was shipped out for 40k. As for all of the others, only Chris Lind was performing as well as had been hoped.

More than the loanees, two things in particularly gave Andersen nightmares: goalkeeping and left-back. How many times had he seen a right midfielder break down the flank and whip in a cross, completely unmarked. How many times had seen a Skjold keeper flap like an albatross helplessly at the floating ball. How many times had an opposition player been on hand to head home the opening goal.

Still, Viborg and Esbjerg were both Premiership teams last season. They were definitely a bit classier, and had the depth. At least Skjold was finding some good prospects lately. Jacob Lohse, John Olsen, and Mads Sondergaard were all highly touted, and very young. It was promising.

But this had to be Skjold's season... Andersen's heart just couldn't take another season like last year. Maybe at 60, it was time to consider retirement. 15 more games would determine.

retired_swmchick2006

Rule Number One of Management: Never leave your secretary in charge when the rest of the staff goes away

During the winter break, Hemming and his coaches took a trip to view various youth set-ups around the continent. Ajax was a natural, as were Arsenal, Lyon, and AC Milan. To make matters more difficult for the 4 of them, none of those club's had given them permission to do so, so they all had to travel incognito and bluff their way past various security. As it turned out, none of them were successful at seeing all three, but at least one of them saw each. Anderson's attempt to convince the Arsenal bouncer that he was a "pitch chalk inspector" was particular amusing, but for legal reasons, we cannot relate the story here.

When they arrived back to the clubhouse, they found two notes on the table indicating that Rasmus Schmidt and Gaston Cejas had been given contract extensions, much to Hemming's chagrin.

The staff and players went back to their intensive winter training schedule, and for the first time since joining the club Nielson and Cook actually swore they saw some improvement in the youngest of the players, particularly the most recent signing: defender/winger Mads Sondergaard.

Andersen was finally able to convince a club to lend Skjold a left-back, getting Jan Nielson from Koge. The player was a slight improvement on those under contract.

The four (Hemming, Andersen, Nielson, and Cook) decided that in the last 15 games they would try something different. For home games, they would play a 4-5-1 formation, and for away games, a 4-4-2 Diamond. "And we'll try to keep our back 4 stable, so we can play the offside trap more," added Andersen.

Otherwise, it was a fairly dull winter break, with none of the scouts (including recent addition Carlos Augusto Izeppe Ribeiro, a Brazilian scout signed by Hemming that would be based out of South America) finding much to recommend.

In the first game after the break, Skjold came out well and played a very solid 2-0 win over Frem. The defense (4-5-1 in this game) held Frem to just two chances. Vestergaard pounced on his own rebound to get the opener, and then Skjold got the second just after halftime thanks to a nice Kjaersgaard run and finish.

Away at FC Nordjylland, Skjold got an early goal from a scramble after a freekick as Lourens set up Chris Lind in the 2nd. Jessen scored in the 14th, and then Thomas Bernhardt was brilliant for the rest of the game, keeping the home side scoreless and earning MOM.

Home against Randers Freja, Skjold made a 20th minute goal from Mikkelsen hold up despite having Jan Nielson sent off in the 35th, and Lind sent off in the 79th for being a petulant cry-baby, kicking the ball away after being penalized for a foul. Randers Freja looked well out of sorts for the lucky 1-0 win, managing only one shot on target despite the numerical advantage.

Againt HFK Sonderjylland, Skjold had Paraguayan U21 player Christian Martinez to thank for stealing a win. Martinez scored a penalty after Kjaersgaard tumbled in the box in the 13th, and after the homeside equalized, the player poked home after a loose ball fell his way in the 58th for the 2-1 win.

Skjold continued their excellent start to the spring with a dominating 4-0 win over Hvidovre at home. Mikkelsen scored a fine hattrick, as Skjold got good performances from nearly everyone. Martinez was brilliant at DM, and signing John Olsen had a very good game for one of his first appearances, setting up a goal.

Viborg FF had unfortunately also had a good re-start, winning 4 out of 5 to take the top position. They had passed Esbjerg fB who had faltered slightly (2 wins of the 5) letting Skjold narrow the gap to just 1 point. Nielson had been keeping an eye on transfer news over the break, and had told his fellow staff that Esbjerg should be Skjold's target as they had lost several key players to transfers over the winter break.

Coming up next for Skjold was league leaders Viborg. Andersen again told the players that this game was where they had to show they were serious contenders, and take a win away from the match.

retired_workingmom77

Just caught up with this, a very good read :thup:

retired_swmchick2006

Thanks Xenon. This is by far the most fun game of 01/02 I've had in ages. Challenging too.