retired_-pearl-

The Offseason Begins

December 16th was a bittersweet day in St. Petersburg. This morning, the Russian FUR officially confirmed that our perfect season was the first in Russian/Soviet top flight football. Spartak had gone undefeated in 1992 – but in only 14 games - therefore the truncated record is not counted. There will be others who will go undefeated – but we got to the mountaintop first. In more emphatic fashion that even a trio of titles will do, we’ve stamped ourselves into the Russian history books forever. While this was a tremendous accomplishment, it was made possible by the efforts of some who will no longer be here.

Kerzhakov’s transfer has been public knowledge for some time – but today, it was officially conducted, and an arbiter decided on £2.4M in compensation for us. Hardly worth 20-30 goals a season, but it’s better than nothing.

On the same day, Andrey Arshavin announced that he had agreed a contract with VfB Stuttgart. Stuttgart – having missed out on Kerzhakov, turned their attention to Arshavin. With Arshavin’s contract demands becoming more and more unreasonable, I let him walk with great reluctance. The fee is around £2.3M, and he will officially leave on January 1st.

Erik Hagen's contract also ran out, and the burly Norwegian left the club. A rough, hard-bitten central defender - he'd worn the captain's armband during his time here, and was at the center of some very stingy defenses. His skills were declining with age, and his contract demands were not.

Alexandr the Freaking Awesome

Alexandr Kerzhakov was first introduced to professional football by lower league side Svetogorets at only 17 years of age. The youngster showed an uncommon touch around the goalmouth, and in his nineteenth year, he made his way to St. Petersburg – where he was to spend the next seven years of his career.

Kerzhakov’s transition to top-flight football was a tad rocky, as he only netted six times in his first full year at Zenith. But the talent was clearly there, and the next year he scored 18 goals, and followed it with 16 the year after. In 2004, Alexandr made The Leap, leading the Russian Premier League in scoring – and leading Zenith into the UEFA Cup. The next year saw Alexandr build upon his prolific 2004, as under the guidance of rookie manager Piotr Novgorod, he scored 40 goals in all competitions – and lead Zenith to a Domestic Treble – including their first league title in two decades. The next year, he kept on scoring. Splitting his attention between Domestic and World Cup duty - he only scored 31 goals, but it was enough to again lead the Russian League, and again pace Zenith to the league title – and this time – a fabulous run to the knockout rounds in the Champion’s League.

His final year at Zenith was marred by transfer rumors – and the youngster’s form suffered, including an ignominious stretch of games that saw him benched. With his future finally decided in August, Kerzhakov returned to form, and if he didn’t lead the Russian league in goals for the first time in years – he was the leading goal scorer on the first perfect team in Russian top-flight history. In his final home game, in the Champion’s League against Sporting, he was in vintage form – troubling the defense, and nicking a goal in true assassin's fashion.

Making a £2,400,000 move to Sevilla and a bigger stage for his talents at the age of 25 – Alexandr made 256 first team appearances for Zenith, scoring a record 158 goals in his illustrious career.

retired_-pearl-

The Replacements

Danko Lazovic made the move to the Feyenoord from Partizan in 2003, lured by the bright lights of major European football. Struggling to adapt to a new environment, and a much higher level of play, the striker was shunted to the reserves, and rotted there for two years. But that time in the reserves didn’t rob him of his pace, nor did it dull his work ethic, and the way he meshed with his teammates. If his finishing suffered a tad, that’s something that comes only with game experience. With the lure of European football, and a shot at a first team slot – the Serbian makes the £475k move from Feyenoord to Zenith St. Petersburg.

It wasn’t only Lazovic that had trouble adapting to a different league. After years of being a standard pick for Dinamo Kiev, Florin Cernat grew restless and hungry for bigger things – leaving Dinamo Kiev at the end of his contract. His dreams of signing for a big European club never came to fruition – and he was forced to sign for Getafe. He never made an impact at the Spanish club – and makes a return to Eastern Europe for merely £150k, and a shot at a European adventure. He became Zenith’s second signing of the off-season.

But those two signings were merely the prelude. Russian International Dmitry Sychev makes a sensational inter-Russian move to Zenith from Lokomotiv in a deal roughly £3.5M - though most is to be paid out over a year or so. Fast and creative, though he doesn’t always work well with others, he’s a very persistent player – and already a fan favorite at Zenith with young kids seen walking around with Sychev jerseys. A record signing for Zenith, he is also one of the highest paid players at the club – and will be expected to build upon a scorching end to the season and carry it on to next year.

Denis Kovba has long been a figure of mixed feelings at Krylja Sovetov. A bit of a hard-man, he’s prone to crash people to the dirt from time to time and pick up cards for some rough play – and towards the end of his stay he was very vocal criticizing the Sovetov board’s lack of ambition. But there is no denying that his aerial mastery, and his stifling marking were keys to Krylja’s mid-table finish this year. The Belarusian defensive midfielder makes a £1.6M move to Zenith, and he will slot into the middle of the defense as a semi-Bustos replacement. Kovba will slide Kolodin over to left back – freeing the way for the sale of the want-away Columbian.

Obviously, some of the replacements will have to come from within the squad. Igor Denisov was named Fan’s Player of the Year, shortly after signing a contract that made him the highest paid player at the club - and keep him at Zenith until 2012. Denisov made The Leap from pretty good to dominating - and he’ll be expected to capitalize on a starting opportunity aside Jádson in the heart of the midfield. If he fails to perform, both Wellington and Cernat are breathing right down his neck for a starting spot.

At striker, Sychev and Lazovic will battle it out for the slot, but Julio Cesar’s excellent play down the stretch not only attracted the interest of FC Utrecht - it also put him back in the mix to replace Kerzhakov. Our first competitive games will be the Champion's League matches with Barcelona - which is a really poor team to throw new signings into the fire to face right from the start.

retired_loubou

magnificent story, keep it up

retired_-pearl-

Thank you both very much for reading along, and the compliments. Onward and upward with Zenith

You know, there are some unforeseen consequences to having your seasons run from March to November, with a winter break where most nations have a summer break. If you have to completely rebuild your team over said break - and are in a European competition - you’re pretty much screwed. Javier Araujo’s contract expired, and he promptly left the club. The past six weeks or so, he’d essentially worked for free - as he’d been repeatedly fined for missing training.

The decision to continue training over the break between seasons was a controversial one - but with such squad turnover, and the talent difference between Barcelona and us, we’d need to be operating as a well-tuned machine - not a team coming off a three-month lay-off. That decision proved unpopular with Araujo, and he refused to show. And I refused to pay him. Last I heard, he was in negotiations with some Segunda Division club.

HSV came in with a £2.2M offer for Bustos - though half of it was to be paid out over twelve installments. Accepting the offer was a no-brainer, and Ruben Dario Bustos was on his way to Germany.

The departure of Bustos and Araujo opened up a Foreigner Slot in the team. There is no actual rule limiting the number of foreigners in a Russian Premier League side - but with only eight allowed in the match squad, there is a practical limit involved. We had pretty much reached the practical limit last season, so incoming foreigners would have to replace outgoing ones. Of the four incoming players, only one might be a foreigner - Lazovic. With Bustos and Araujo gone, I decided to bring in one last foreign player.

A talented attacking midfielder, Carlos Alberto had signed his departure papers at Corinthians with a lengthy tirade after the manager had left. Alberto was fond of the manager - and livid at his departure. feeling alone and betrayed, be said things he later regretted - and his bags had been packed for weeks. Placed on the transfer-list, he was allowed to move for a third of his nominal value. The craft Brazilian joins Zenith for only £1.3M - half of which is paid in twelve installments.

As he moved slightly too late - Alberto would join Florin Cernat and Jádson(cup-tied?) as ineligible for the match against Barcelona. That’s not fun.

Anyways, enough of that - Russia has an international friendly against Bosnia. I asked the FUR to schedule one close to home, and Bosnia sufficed. The match was unremarkable, save three things. First off, Eugeny Aldonin got himself sent off - I don’t know if red cards from a friendly carry over to competitive fixtures - but let us hope they don’t. Secondly, Dmitry Sychev was recalled to the Russian side. Obviously, there was some consternation about his inclusion as he hadn’t apologized for his outburst earlier.

Finally, there was some news in direct relation to Zenith - as Zenith youngster Vladimir Danilov earned his first Russian cap at only sixteen years old. Danilov is the first true gem produced from the Zenith youth set-up since I took over. He’s got the ability to play at the top level in Russia right from the start - and not only got his first cap - he got the assist on the only goal, and the Man of the Match award.

Some bad news came in concerning our upcoming matches against Barcelona as Rahmutallo Fuzailov was called up by Tajikistan in their Asian World Cup Qualifiers. I’m sure the poor guy will be lonely, alone with all those “shady� characters on the Tajik national team.

Transfer News of the World

Chelsea rectified their biggest transfer mistake by purchasing back Petr Cech from Valencia for £40.5M. Easily a record transfer for a goalie, Valencia made a £26M profit in only three years on Cech. Chelsea also reinforced their midfield buy purchasing Thomas Hitzlesperger for around £15,000,000 and Wayne Bridge. Hitzlesperger is nicknamed “Der Hammer� for his thundering left foot - which camouflages his mediocrity elsewhere.

In an interesting bit of business, Milan paid £11M to co-own Valeri Bojinov - and made a £2M profit when Roma purchased the Bulgarian striker for a total of £26M only two weeks later, paying £13M for Milan's share. Monaco probably doomed their CL hopes by selling Chevanton to Schalke 04, while Juventus added depth to the midfield by bringing back Matteo Brighi to the Stade Delle Alpi for a sum rumored to be upwards of £26M.

retired_-pearl-

February 20th, 2008
Champion’s League, Knockout Round, Leg 1
Zenith St. Petersburg vs Barcelona

Zenith(4-1-4-1): Malafeev; Guarin, Kolodin, Kovba, Ignashevich; Densiov; Spivak, Karyaka, Lazovic, Wellington; Sychev

Barcelona(4-2-3-1): Westerveld; Puyol, Fabio Aurelio, Heitenga, Marquez; Motta, van der Vaart; Maxi Rodriguez, Guily, van Bronckhorst; Eto’o.

Barcelona are missing Ronaldinho with a minor ligament tear that spells the end of his season. Frederico Insua, an Argentinian playmaker for Barça, is also injured. I don’t think we can take advantage of these injuries - but Barça are at least a bit weaker than they could be. Our massive changes in squad make-up see us unable to name three first team members in the squad - and means that Vlad Danilov and MartÃ*n Caballero are named to the bench.

With half the team playing out of position, this should be an interesting experience. A cagey opening spell was broken as Motta nearly found the scoresheet with a crushing header. The shot was punched away by Malafeev and the quick counter was broken up when Heitenga swept the ball from Sychev’s feet.

We produced a swell series of moves in the seventeenth minute- as Kovba got above Eto’o to head wide to Guarin. Guarin centered for Wellington and the Brazilian picked out Sychev - who’s blistering shot was only inches wide. Barça struck back from the goal kick as a series of long headers was finally ended when van der Vaart scooped up the ball and lobbed over our defense for Eto’o to control. Sucking the defense in, he selflessly tapped it wide for Guily, but the Frenchman’s shot was poorly controlled and blazed into the stands.

Another quick counter saw Karyaka’s fantastic through ball thwarted, as Puyol and Heitenga swarmed over Sychev. The Russian striker squeezed off a shot, but it was well of target. We aren’t the only team that can counter though - as Barcelona showed us minutes later. A poor free kick was headed clear - and Guily played a long-ball over the top to Eto’o(offside!). Eto’o was too fast for the defense, and burned into the clear with only Malafeev to beat. Eto’o tried rounding the Russian in goal, and hit a blistering shot - but Malafeev was there! The big man showed cat-like reflexes to punch the shot away - and Guarin tracked down the rebound and whomped it up the field and out of danger.

Malafeev produced another sterling save to deny Eto’o, after the central defense pairing of Kovba and Ignashevich eschewed marking the World Footballer of the Year - while at the other end Westerveld was equal to Karyaka’s dangerous free kick.

Forty-two minutes in, and Eto’o came wide right to take the ball at Guarin. Obviously identifying the two defensive midfielders as the weak link in the defense - Barça had attacked them like a pack of lions after a lamed antelope. Eto’o created just enough space to whip in a bullet cross, and Maxi Rodriguez was open at the far post to head home the opener. 0-1 Barça.

Things got worse. An injury-time corner fell to van der Vaart, and the Dutchman’s shot ricocheted off a few players - meaning Malafeev could only parry it away. Eto’o - the World Footballer of the Year, and two time defending European Striker of the Year - standing WIDE OPEN two feet from the goal tapped it in for Barça’s second.

Vlad Danilov got his CL debut at halftime for Wellington and Krizanac came on for a disappointing Spivak. Krizanac will allow Kovba to move to defensive midfielder, where he’ll be tasked with man marking Eto’o. Sychev will play on the unfamiliar right wing, leaving Lazovic alone at the top.

We produced some determined play in the 63rd minute to fight through a few Barca tackles and Denisov skimmed the post. But with Barça sitting back on a 2-0 lead, it wasn’t until injury-time that we troubled Westerveld - and the goalie easily swallowed up Lazovic’s header.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 0, Barcelona 2
MoM: Maxi Rodriguez, Barcelona.

retired_-pearl-

In all the excitement surrounding the Champion’s League game and the squad makeover - I’d forgotten we had a pre-arranged deal completing only two days after the first leg. Cléber is signed from Figuerense for merely £9k. An attacking fullback - though with a tendency to slack off - he’s only fifteen years old and should be dominating in the reserves. He might get some time in a few meaningless games this year.

The Russian Super Cup’s sole redeeming aspect is the £300,000 check you receive for winning it. I don’t know what’s more worthless, this or the Premier League Cup - but both are pretty much just fixture congesting worthless wastes of time. The squad I named is littered with under-18s and some of the new signings. Even so, Shinnik were unable to beat the weakened side - as Julio Cesar picked up a pair of passes from Vlad Danilov and Carlos Alberto to score twice in the first half. A couple other youngsters had some impressive games - Albert Gavrilov looking a likely candidate to challenge Cléber for the left back spot in a few years time - and Alejandro Portillo was tireless in the midfield, working well with Danilov. A decent win, but hardly anyone cares but the accountants.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 2, Shinnik 0

retired_-pearl-

March 5th, 2008
Champion’s League, Knockout Round, Leg 2
Barcelona (2) vs Zenith St. Petersburg (0)

Zenith(4-1-4-1): Malafeev; Fuzailov, Kolodin, Kovba, Ignashevich; Guarin; Spivak, Karyaka, Denisov, Lasovic; Sychev.

Good things and bad things from this match. Bad - we lost, eliminating us from the Champion’s League. Good - Kolodin bossed the left side of the field, and Denisov and Guarin made things tough going up the middle. Unfortunately, not as tough as Barcelona made things for us, swallowing up both Spivak and Karyaka on the wings. Our attack was toothless without the flair from the wings - and Barcelona dominated possession.

We were fortunate to make it into halftime scoreless. Sander Westerveld was having himself a lovely picnic at his end of the field, and no one wanted to interrupt him. Malafeev, on the other hand, was terrible busy parrying shot after shot. If Barcelona really wanted to get a result in this match, we would’ve been down three or four at halftime.

As it was, Barça got the goal they deserved when Alexander Mladenov headed home from a corner only six minutes after the break. After that they simply played out the remaining forty minutes, and that was that.
Final: Barcelona 1, Zenith St. Petersburg 0; Barcelona advances 3-0 on aggregate

We join Porto, Galatasary, Inter, Monaco, Ajax, Maritimo and Real Madrid on the scrap heap. We also join CSKA Moscow - who lost to Marseille at the same stage in the UEFA Cup.

retired_-pearl-

Choices, Choices

It was like any other training session. I like training the youths in the same groups as the veterans - not only does it allow some more freedom in the kinds of drills you can run - the prospects have a definite goal to shoot for - and hopefully the enthusiasm that only the young and dumb have would filter over onto the veterans.

Over at one end of the pitch, twenty defenders were being run into the ground as Gorshkov took them through some calisthenics. Most of the young ones would either quit, or get released - but some wouldn’t. Like those sea turtles you always see on nature shows - most of the dumb ones get eaten by water fowl and stuff - but some survive to be adult sea turtles. Ah ... sea turtles.

“Excuse me sir.� Dammit all, one of the pages has interrupted a pleasant, and educational reverie. This is why I have large coaching staffs, so I can sit back and think upon more pleasant things during practice.

“There is a, uhm, a, phone call for you sir, waiting at your office.�

“Who is calling?�

“A club from Germany. They didn't say any more�

“Bastards are after Kolodin. Damn his agent.�

It was an unhappy walk back to my office. First off, it’s a long way away - and that gave me plenty of time to stew on the issues at hand. Kolodin . . . I had taken him out of mid-table obscurity at Krylja and given him three Premier Division Championships and some memorable runs in Europe. And he had indicated his desire to go elsewhere through his agent - and did not wish to resign with Zenith. And doubtlessly, clubs from the West were coming to poach him for cheap. This is starting to get tiresome. . . oh so tiresome.

No one said a word to me, as I stalked back to answer the call. That was good, it could only have made my mood worse.

“This is Piotr Novgorod, what do you want?�

“Hello Mr. Novgorod, my name is Jürgen Born - I am the chairman of SV Werder Bremen. I have been authorized to offer you the position of manager at Werder Bremen.�
“Excuse me?�

“We would like you to take the reins at Werder Bremen - and lead us back to the top of the league, and the Champion’s League�

“Could you perhaps email a financial précis over that describes the financial situation? And the scouting videos from your last five games�

“Certainly.�

Well that was a shock. And not the only one, because not ten minutes later -

“Good afternoon, Mr. Novgorod - I am Pape Diouf - I’m afraid that salaud at Bremen beat me to the punch - “

“Save it, I’ve had enough shocks for one day. Email a financial round-up and the scouting videos from your last five games - I’ll get back to you in two days.�

“Ah, very well.�

===========================================

Well then. What the am I supposed to do now?

Werder have the most money - but that’s mostly due to a recent sale-off of some of their better players. They have a great strike force with Vaedez and Kuranyi, with a decent midfield - but nothing in the back. Still in the UEFA Cup - and only six points back of the leaders - despite sitting seventh in the table. It's an ok offer - but not that tempting.

Marseille have a decent team, but they’re thirteen points adrift despite their UEFA successes. They have less money currently than Bremen - but with a more secure financial backing and a better stadium. They have a decent midfield, but only above average elsewhere. They do have some fantastic young players that could be the backbone of a championship team in the near future. I'm afraid the Marseille offer is a very tempting one. They need rebuilding, they have good financial backing, and some great youngsters I can bring through.

Zenith - we are familiar with. Despite the overhaul - we're still easily the best team in the division, and loaded with talent. Kerzhakov was important - but we'll smash the rest of this division to shreds. As long as I’m at Zenith, we’ll always be the best team in Russia - and our repeated Champion’s League visits will guarantee a steady flow of income. Unfortunately - we can’t hold on to our best players for very long despite offering salaries equal to many other European teams, which is starting to get very annoying. All the young players we develop will end up leaving - and we’ll need some fantastic luck to ever strike truly deep in Europe. The fact we can't hold on to our best players makes me wonder what kind of future I'll have at Zenith. And yes - I appreciate the irony of that statement.

retired_-pearl-

Drop the Curtains

“. . . yes Mr. Born, I’m calling to turn down your offer of the managing position at Werder Bremen. While it’s a great compliment - I don’t think the move is right for me. . . no sir, I cannot comment on Marseille . . .that’s really not relevant to the discussion. Good luck in the final games of the season sir.�

It had not been an easy two days - the decision to be made was the toughest of my career - and always I will carry with me regret that I did not choose otherwise, and wonder - what might have been?

Marseille Name New Manager

Marseille unveiled Tottenham Manager Martin Jol as the new boss at the Stade Velodrome. Jol - who has steered Tottenham into the Champion’s League despite loseing some of his top players, will sign a four year deal - and the compensation is expected to be roughly £1.3M and Brazilian fullback Leo. . .

Back to the grindstone, and back to work at Petrovsky. If the team was expecting anything to change - they were wrong. And if the other teams in Russia were expecting some reprieve - they were wrong too. Dmitry Sychev was in transcendent form, hitting over a goal a game as we ran out to an undefeated start - including a 4-0 demolition of Lokomotiv in their house. Florin Cernat had rediscovered the form that once made him an internet legend, and a change to a three man backline saw a even more dominant run, with four to five goals the norm - rather than the exception.

A Russian Cup win was icing on the torrid start, and a nice way to kick off the European Championships. Drawn in a group with France, Romania and Croatia - we figured on a good chance to progress - even if the bookies disagreed. A humiliating 3-0 spanking by Croatia was followed by a 1-0 loss to France and we were looking at the business end of an early elimination. Romania managed to squeak by Croatia though - meaning we weren’t mathematically eliminated, though we need to win and have Croatia lose - and make up three goals difference. And did we ever - Sychev, making his first start in the tourney over the more heralded Guerk and Kerzhakov, ravaged the Romanian defense for two goals and an assist in the first fifteen minutes - and as France had thumped Croatia - we’d snuck into the Quarterfinals.

A draw with the Danes in the Quarterfinals, but an unchanged team from the Romanian massacre controlled the Danes with ease, and Sychev again was the hero - scoring a pair of goals to bring his tally to four so far. A two-nil win set us up against a formidable German side, and our run had to end somewhere. An idiotic red-card from Ignashevich left us a man down most of the match - and though we held out till extra time - Ballack finished us off with a powerful header in the 117th minute. Germany would go on to lose the Finals on a stolen Italian goal in the 89th minute. My heart bled for them. After the conclusion of the Euro Championships, I confirmed my expected resignation from the national team - and turned things over to the Sovetov manager to lead Russia to European Qualification.

Back to the league - and back to the whooping. We actually lost a pair of games this year - but no one was within fifteen points at the finish line, and we claimed out fourth title in four years. In the Champion’s League, we again snuck into the group stages, though this time we drew Bodo/Glimt in the final Qualifying round - and a relatively easy group that had Red Star, Monaco and Juventus. Monaco’s toothless attack couldn’t put a goal by us - so even though we got stomped good and proper by Juventus - losing our first Champion’s League game ever at home to them - we cruised to second in the group - while Red Star snuck in behind us to finish 3rd.

But again heartbreak awaited us in the Knockout Rounds. A draw against French Champion’s Lille was not the most pleasant of experiences - but a 3-1 win in France had us practically into the Quarterfinals - before disaster struck. At Petrovsky - Jádson had us up 4-1 only five minutes in, and not ten minutes later - Vlad Danilov had us at 5-1. Lille grabbed a goal back through their Brazilian striker Claudio - who’d led the French league in goals by some margin - but at halftime it was 5-2 Zenith overall.

No changes were made at halftime - but you couldn’t tell it by the turn in the game. A goal for Lille in the 50th, another three minutes later - and another at the 65th minute had us reeling. Our desperate attack was picked apart for two more French goals before the merciful end - and we’d surrendered five goals in the second half in a meltdown of historic proportions to go out of Europe 7-5 on aggregate.

The next day I turned in my resignation as manager of Zenith and rode off into the sunset.

====================

Thanks to everyone who read along, and commented. I appreciated it a lot - but this game reached it's useful end. Zenith was no longer fun - running into the same roadblock again and again - and the Lille loss was just surreal. I gave a shot at Marseille - but that came to an end - I couldn't go more than four months after seeing Zenith wrecked in my absence. So - start anew somewhere else.

Once again, thanks for reading and commenting. I enjoyed writing the story, and I hope you got some enjoyment reading it.

retired_gabriel1993

Thanks for your story.
I've read it with great enthusiasm every morning I came to work.

Hope to see you at the helm of another club in the near future.