retired_swmchick2006

Details: 01/02. Background leagues are Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain (but with no feeder leagues). Active league is Denmark. Database is normal, players are not real, and attribute masking is on.

This is an alternate fantasy universe where footballing clubs are occasionally run by those only interested in making money. Any similarities to the real world are just coincidental.

The chosen club is Boldklubben Skjold, of Copenhagen. Stadium of 7000, with adequate facilities. They begin in Denmark's 2nd Division.

retired_swmchick2006

The Meeting

Anders Hemming arrived at the office dressed in an expensive Italian suit and shoes, and his sunglasses shining in the late afternoon sun of the Danish summer. The limo pulled away behind him as he stepped, into the glass foyer of the building. He strode through the hallway to the elevator, and pressed the call button.

Besides for Hemming, the building seemed fairly deserted, except for a lonely security guard watching the transmission of security camera images. The elevator arrived, and he stepped smartly into the lift, turned pressed the topmost floor, and calmly straightened his jacket and tie.

When the doors opened, he stepped into a well-lit and airy office, in the modern style with sleek steel furniture with plush leather seats.

The secretary raised her eyes from her screen: "Mr. Hemming, I trust your flight from the New York was acceptable? It is so nice of you to come here today, the board is already arrived, and are expecting you."

Hemming followed the secretary easily down a spotless gleaming corridor, into a boardroom of the same shiny steel furniture, but where the leather was black, instead of brown. At the table were a handful of sharply dressed, middle-aged men of distinction.

The one who seemed the eldest, or at least the most confident, stood smoothly and motioned Hemming to sit opposite him.

The man sat, as Hemming did the same.

The man continued: "Mr. Hemming, I appreciate you coming today, and I as I know you are a very busy man, I won't waste any of your time.

You are here today, because we have recently acquired a football club. It's name is Boldklubben Skjold, and it is based near here, within Copenhagen.

I don't ask if you have heard of this club before, as it is likely that you haven't, they play in Division 2. They are a semi-professional club, and over the last several years have racked up considerable debt. To make a long story short, the debt is directly the cause of why a firm such as ours suddently has such a thing in our portfolio.

To make matters simple, Mr. Hemming, we have no interest in having a money-losing business, and make no mistake, we consider this club to be a business."

Here the man paused, and turned to a slightly younger man to his left, who began to talk.

"Mr. Hemming, what we, as a group, have decided is that we are going to expand upon, what we like to call, the "Ajax Model".

Simply put, we intend to find the hottest footballing prospects that we can, nurture them as cheaply as we can, and then sell them to the highest bidder...."

Here the elder broke in: "Ah, I see a glint in your eye, Mr. Hemming. I sense that you have already understood why you are here. It is very simple really... In your past you have shown a remarkable accumen for purchasing investments cheaply and then selling them for great riches. Because of this, you are exactly the sort of person we want here."

A new face took up the conversation here, a dark-haired clever-looking gentleman with gold spectacles: "Mr. Hemming, we have our sources, and we are aware that currently you have no particularly need for additional funds, however, our sources also tell us that you are a very prideful and ambitious man. We also know that as a youth you had more than a passing interest in the beautiful game.

Our research department has shown that the ideal age for a player to be on the transfer market is 25 years of age, no naturally, it will take some time before we are turning out players who can fetch a good price at that age, but we have time Mr. Hemming, as you must be well aware, it is the long-term gain which matter."

Silence resettled in the room. The elder began again: "As you see Mr. Hemming, I think this is all fairly clear and concise, the only matter to discuss is your own salary.... or perhaps, should I say 'percentage' in this venture?"

To this, Mr Hemming smiled, stood, tapped his fingers on the table briefly, and stretching his arm across the table, palm outwards:

"I think we can begin discussions at approximately '75%'. Of net, naturally."

A small chuckle drifted around the room, as the assembled board members nodded their heads.

The elder stood, walked around the table and took Mr. Hemming's hand in his own:

"Naturally."

retired_swmchick2006

The current marketplace 8.7.01

Hemming sat in his newly finished office, looking over a recent report.

Serhiy Morozov - Milan - Value: 25 Million Pounds - Age 24
Claudio Andres Reyes - Inter - Value: 22 Million Pounds - Age 25
Emanuele Terzi - Inter - Value 22 Million Pounds - Age 27
Giuseppe Fabbri - Juventus - Value: 19.75 Million pounds - Age 26
Wayne Wright - Manchester United - Value 18.75 Million Pounds - Age 26
Jose Maria Crespo - Real Madird - Value 18.5 Million Pounds - Age 24
...

"All around 25 years of age, and most of them forwards. Exactly as we suspected."

His assistant manager, sitting nervously on the other side of the desk, mumbled: "Yes. Sir."

"Mr. Anderson, I know you don't like me much, nor do you know much about me. So, I will lay this out simple, our focus will be youth. And our tactics will be built to create a forward who will draw attention from the biggest of clubs, for the biggest of sums.

Yes, contrary to your own preferences, we will be playing a 4-5-1, with the intention of our lone striker leading the goalscoring charts."

Here Mr. Anderson, choked down a dubious laugh.

"Oh yes, Mr Anderson, I know it will be a while before we get to that point. We have much work to do in the next few years. It is a simple science of cyclical investment....

1) We prove to the public that we are interested in developing youth stars
2) This in turn brings in better and better youth
3) Our reputation increases, as our club succeeds in competition
4) thus proving point #1

I hope this is clear to you?"

Mr. Anderson nodded.

"Very well. As you know, I have kept you on because you have proved that you are adept at handling youth players. I will be bringing in new staff with the same skills. Be warned, if I feel that you are not the best person to be my Assistant Manager, you too will be shown the door."

A suppressed angry grunt.

"Our Physio Mr. Jorgensen is also skilled we fixing up our merchand... er, players, however we must find some additional support for Mr. Johansen, one scout is simply not going to be enough.

Very well, that's enough for today Mr. Anderson, tomorrow, we begin to try and loosen our load. The dead-weight must go!"

retired_swmchick2006

The Culling

Fresh-faced

Rasmus Schmidt - Age 19, Striker. A pacey striker. Good in the air, with an eye for goal. Unlikely to amount to much, but may be useful in the short-term. He stays.

Benny Oleson - Age 19, right midfielder. A winger is supposed to be quick, pass well, and be able to beat players with the ball at his feet. Too bad Benny can do very little of this. He stays for now, but not expected to last more than a season.

Thomas Kristiansen Age 19, right midfielder. Could be a copy of Benny. Stays for now.

Heine Vestergaard Age 20, central midfielder. Fairly poor, but a young body. Stays for the time being.

Kenneth Teheil Age 20, Sweeper/Central defender. Okay for now, but very unimpressive.

Martin Skovbjerg Age 20. Forward. Although young, fairly useless. Listed.

Kasper Sand Age 20. Useless player. Listed

Jonas Mortenson Age 20. Right winger. Middling ability, but stays for his little bit of skill.

Bo Knudsen Age 20. Goalkeeper. Fairly good. Stays, at least for back-up.

Per Bengtsson Age 20. Useless midfielder. Listed

retired_amyslack

An interesting angle attjen and an excellent start.

retired_swmchick2006

Tweeners

Mogens Toft Age 21. right-sided midfielder defenders, stays for good positioning sense.

Stig RasmussenAge 21. Versatile forward. Stays for that alone.

Carsten Steffensen Age 23. determined, but fairly poor right-sided midfielder. Stays for the time being.

Benny Balslev Age 23. Strong & brave fullback (right and left), with little to none skillwise. Stays so we can make up the numbers.

Almost ripe

Allan Skovbjerg Age 24. Goalkeeper, but very poor. stays for depth only.

Jimmy Skjold-Hansen Age 24. winger, but generally poor. stays for depth.

Henrik Oleson Age 24. central midfielder. quite poor, but stays for depth.

Per Jorgensen Age 24. left-back. best option by far there, so stays until birthday, which is in october.

Time to unload

Brian Lund Age 26. Former first choice striker. Should be able to get something for him with any luck. Listed

Dennis Christensen Age 28. Good defender. Hard-worker, likely captain. Too old. Listed

Didier Bradaia Age 31. French fullback might fetch a
good price. Listed

Jeppe Frandsen Age 36. Oldtimer has done me a favor and announced his retirement after his season. Do we have to wait that long? Listed

Wasted space: Karsten Peterson Age 25 (MR), Rasmus Mikkelsen Age 25 (AM/F L), Jesper Alkhag Age 25 (AM/F L), Thomas Ipsen Age 26 (FC), Tommy Molby Age 27 (MR), Michael Knudsen Age 27 (FRC), Anders Anderson Age 28 (ML), Jacob Christiansen Age 30 (AMF R/L) Listed

retired_swmchick2006

Thanks Bob.

retired_swmchick2006

Something for nothing

Anders Hemming sat in his office looking over his recent loan list.

Klaus Stroh 24 year old defender from Naesby. Decent enough. A free and relatively good player.

Daniel Oleson 21 year old midfielder from Holstebro. Okay, needed for our 4-5-1 tactic.

Pter Knudsen 24 year old striker from B1909. Worth loaning to give better depth at striker. May be first team quality this year.

Benny thomsen 24 year old central defender. Likely first teamer this season.

"Not bad, Mr. Anderson." (His quiet assistant sitting across the desk, slumped low in his chair.) "I like getting something for nothing. None of these players have that much potential, but they required no investment either."

He strummed his fingers on top of the latest copy of the Wall Street Journal. "So, tell me how are we looking heading into our littel road trip?"

Mr. Anderson sat up slightly: "Well, sir, we still lack any quality defensive or holding midfielders. We have the bodies but not the skills for the tactic you are consider.... um, have your mind set on using."

"Any word yet from Mr. Johansen?"

"No, he has not sent in a report yet."

"And our outgoing players?"

"Still in contract negotiations. We are expecting an income of roughly... um, sorry, I forgot you preferred US dollars after your time in New York... let me convert that.... er... roughly 150 thousand dollars."

"Not bad. It may even allow us to try and purchase some useful talent.... Thank you, Mr. Anderson. I will see you tommorrow at the game. I will be travelling separately from the squad."

retired_swmchick2006

So Sweden, eh?

Anders Hemming sat in his comfortable first class seat, waiting for the plane to fill up and carry him back to Copenhagen. He sipped his brandy, as he dialed the number for his assistant manager's mobile phone.

"This is Anderson."

"Ah, I caught you before you got on the ferry. Good..."

"Actually, sir, we are still on the bus to the ferry..."

"Never mind that now. Mr. Anderson, it was a very interesting tour of Sweden I must say. Although the second game was frankly a waste, since none of our regular players were fit..."

"...."

"At any rate, we've seen our talent... or rather, extreme lack thereof. Any comments on particular players Anderson?"

"Um... well sir, I was pleased that young Schmidt scored against Lundby. A rather good game from both him and Theil I though.

As you say the Norrby game was fairly unhelpful... why we had that game scheduled in between the others is anyone's guess...

And against Friska Viljor, I was pleased to see both Rasmussen and our loaner Knudsen play well. Theil was good as well.

Otherwise, I'm afraid I have to agree with you assessment. 2 wins and a loss against fairly poor and amateur teams isn't really much to go on."

"Yes. Well Mr. Anderson, I wanted to let you know more of the details at home before you got back. The first major news is that Ove Stroh has agreed to join us in a coaching position. He is reputed to be a disciplinarian, so hopefully that will allow you to take more of a nurturing role. Also, Dennis Kastrup and Lars Hermansen have joined as scouts, despite their apparent uninterest in joining us at Skjold. You probably won't see either of them, as I've already sent Kastrup to Buenos Aires and Hermansen to Prague. Or was it the other way round? No matter... I've told them to send us reports as soon as they can, and we'll discuss any players they find...

by the way, Anderson?"

"Yes sir?"

"I should let you know that I may not see you back in Copenhagen for a few days, I have to take care of some investments in New York. I imagine you'll be able to take care of things for a while on your own?"

"...."

"Good. Must run now, plane is about to taxi. I highly recommend the brandy on this airline, you simply must try it."

"Yes Sir. I must... do that one day."

retired_swmchick2006

Men of the World

Anders Hemming sat in his New York apartment, dailing the number for his assistant manager Mr. Anderson.

"Yes?"

"Ah, Mr. Anderson. I have received a fax telling me of some of the prospects our scouts have found. Care to discuss them?"

"Um, sir... it's 3 o'clock in the morning."

"Good, so you aren't busy."

"...."

"So, let's discuss Mr. Johansen first, he is searching locally for youth players."

"Yes sir.... <audible yawn>... Bo was particularly keen on a Rickard Hedstrom, but unfortanately Ove and I agree that he's not an improvement over any players we already have on contract at right midfielder."

"Good. Not worth any investment. Go on."

"There was one player who we are attempting to negotiate with. One Arnar Sverrison, and Icelandic defensive player, but... he seems reluctant to take a youth player contract, and wants some guarantee of his status as a true prospect..."

"And your thoughts on him..."

"Well frankly, he's not that good... but he seems to have the skills we need at defensive midfielder... or at least better skills than we currently have..."

"Well... continue to negotiate... if you must offer him a better club status... but not at any additional cost."

"Um... yes sir."

"Anything else form Johansen?"

"No Sir. Kastrup has been around a few places in South America sir, but unfortanately the only players he's discovered who we could get for free are a Brazilian striker who isn't any better than who we have and another useless right-sided midfielder."

"And Hermansen?"

"Well sir, he's actually found that Dalibor Bogdan is available."

"Bogdan?"

"Yes, sir... he's a rather good striker, I'm surprised he'd be interested in coming here frankly."

"Hmmm... sounds promising... how old is he?"

"26."

"Too old. Next?"

"um... right."

"Anything next?"

"No not really sir, Hermansen's other finds are fairly useles."

"Well, we mustn't expect to find useful merchandise without some time can we Anderson.... anything else you'd like to discuss?"

"Um... well now that you mention it sir, I believe that you've been referring to me as your 'assistant manager'... um, actually my contract status is only coach."

"I see."

"So, sir I was wondering if maybe...."

"Anderson!"

"Yes?"

"I'm demoting you to coach status."

"...."

"Anything else?"

"No... I guess not sir. Can we expect you in Copenhagen anytime soon?"

"I think so Anderson, things are quite busy here at the moment, but I should return before our first game. Goodbye Anderson."

"Goodbye sir."