Puedlfor

Somewhere deep in the recesses of the Amazon, there is doubtless a tribe of Indians that only exists as rumors and innuendo to other inhabitants of the area. Untouched by modern society, they live and die without ever knowing the outside world. And in the home of at least one of those aboriginal Brazilians - there’s a autographed picture of Ole Gunnar Solkjær from “That Night in Barçelona� and an Eric Cantona jersey hung reverently from the mantle.

Manchester United’s impressive record in the Premiership and aggressive world-wide marketing campaign have turned a solid English side into an omnivoracious empire with a revenue stream that most other clubs openly lust for. That revenue stream, and the success it breeds – have led United to even greater success. While their original successes came from a stellar youth class and shrewd transfer dealings – lately the rapier of Ferguson’s early buys, has been replaced by the sledgehammer of pure financial clout.

After a conversation with the chairman, it was decided to go for a press blackout – if for no reason than to avoid the horrid pun-obsessed British headlines that so often can cause violent illness and explosive, projectile vomiting. With a quiet days training, and an evening film session out of the way we got on the bus to the stadium – hoping for the best.

Old Trafford packed to brim is an imposing sight even to those teams who regularly play in front of crowds this size. Full of nervous energy we make a surprising start when Andrey Arshavin runs down Mikael Silvestre and blows by him to stun the Old Trafford crowd into silence with his second minute strike. With everyone in red rattled by the early goal, if we could hold off the equalizer for half an hour – we had a shot at stealing the points. But United weren’t about to repeat the fiasco from Poland, where Maciej Zurawski had scored twice to send home 2-0 losers – and the Red Devils stormed forward and it took only minutes to equalize the deficit – and to reduce our side to shambles. When we could finally catch our breath at half-time Manchester United had blitzed four goals past poor Malafeev and finished the tie off. Van Nistelrooy lead the way tapping home two sitters sandwhiched around Darren Flectcher’s free kick. Wayne Rooney grabbed the humiliating 4th after a pounding run through the heart of our defense. Arshavin managed to find the net for the second time in the game, again beating Silvestre – but it was only consolation.
Final: Manchester United 4, Zenith St. Petersburg 2

Puedlfor

A sullen flight back to St. Petersburg was not the ideal place for self-exploration – but there are some decent things to come from even a beatdown of this magnitude. First, Kerzhakov had a solid game after an anonymous first leg against Inter. Secondly, Arshavin just destroys Silvestre. Third, return leg would be our last game of the group – which means that United would have to visit Petrovsky in the dead of winter. You’ve got 60k fans in your stadium, I’ve got frostbite.

We still had business to take care of back home though, and relegation threatened Terek put up a tough fight. Aided by our wastefulness in front of goal, and the natural exhaustion from the Old Trafford match – Terek’s defense marshaled our attack with confident aplomb. The newly promoted side looked likely to leave with a point, when Kerzhakov sprung up to power a shot into the net and seal three points for us.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 1, Terek 0

October – a new month and two crucial Champion’s League matches against Wisla beckon. We had a road encounter with Saturn to kick off the month – and would have to get through it without Kerzhakov, who’s out for a week with a twisted ankle. In another ugly affair we managed to take all the points from the match – though not after conceding early to Saturn’s star striker Freddy Jose Barreiro. Barreiro’s strike rate this season is even more impressive than Kerzhakov’s – as the Paraguayan was hitting at more than a goal a match. Kléber was impressive in attack though, notching a pair of second half goals, and then winning a penalty that Spivak converted late to seal the win.
Final: Saturn 1, Zenith St. Petersburg 3

Puedlfor

After an international break that saw Russia lose games to Finland and Georgia – we faced a critical match against Wisla. In their first group match, they had claimed a famous 2-0 victory over Man United, before losing 3-1 in game fashion at the San Siro. The results so far leave Inter atop the group with 4 points, while Zenith bring up the rear with only a solitary point. I couldn’t stress the importance of these two games against our Polish rivals. We might play Inter and Man Utd for show, but we needed to beat Wisla for dough – specifically the third spot in the group that’s the UEFA safety net.

In Krakow, the Poles are a formidable opponent – and in familiar freezing, wet weather conditions we felt just like we we’re playing in the Russian league. The game itself was hotly contested and the two sides traded goals mid-way through the first half. Kerzhakov skipping by his man to thunder home the opener, before Wisla’s Nigerian winger Ekwueme slipped past Bustos to head home at the far post. Knotted up at the break, we were looking at taking home a solid point – when things went crazy in the second half. I don’t know what Arshavin talked to Kerzhakov about at half-time – but the Russian striker was a holy terror in the Wisla backline – turning an even tie into a complete rout. Within fifteen minutes of the kick-off, he’d scored another two goals and won a penalty that Karyaka converted with ease – giving him a hat-trick and a deserved Man of the Match award.
Final: Wisla 1, Zenith St. Petersburg 4

Puedlfor

We would play five games in the two weeks until the rematch with Wisla in St. Petersburg – which would stress our squad depth to the limit. A home game against FC Moscow right on the tail of our return from Poland saw Karyaka and Kerzhakov on target to pace us to a solid win over the resurgent FC Moscow.
[b]Final: Zenith St Petersburg 2, FC Moscow 0[b/]

A Russian cup fixture saw us in Novorossiysk against Chernomets. Needing to concentrate on more important matters – I let my assistant handle this one, with only a few restrictions. Even without Arshavin and Kerzhakov, we were Chernomets superior and Spivak and Kleber scored on either side of the break and another 2-0 win was in the books. The second leg would be played in about a month – which puts it right after our game in the San Siro.
Final: Chernomets 0, Zenith St. Petersburg 2

A road match against Anzhi saw a break from the wet and freezing temperatures we’d been playing in for the past two months. The overmatched home side was swept aside by a mediocre Zenith side without Arshavin or Kerzhakov. Goals from Denisov and Kléber in the first fifteen minutes settled the affair before Jan Flachbart’s own goal and dismissal a few minutes later. Flachbart, as you know, used to be at Zenith. This was the 27th match of the season and the result all but clinches the title.
Final: Anzhi 0, Zenith St. Petersburg 3

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Zenith Peterburg | | 27 | 17 | 8 | 2 | 56 | 19 | +37 | 59 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | CSKA Moscow | | 27 | 15 | 5 | 7 | 53 | 37 | +16 | 50 | </pre>

As you can see, one point is all we need to take, or see dropped to claim our second Russian Premier Division title in a row.

Hosting Rostov for the title deciding game was a stroke of luck for us. They aren’t that good a team, despite their win over us earlier this year – and while they’re down on the table, they aren’t in the relegation battle – and have really nothing to play for. With that in mind, both teams played a casual game with neither making any concerted effort to win the game. Scoreboard watchers noted CSKA go down 2-0 early, and then 3-0; and the game against Rostov lost any remaining urgency it had. Fittingly, Arshavin sealed the title with a goal in the 90th minute as the 3-1 defeat from Moscow was made final on the board. Unfortunately the celebrations were more subdued than the occasion deserved. Crowned Russian Premier Division Championsfor the second year – three vital CL games still awaited us and we still had work to do before the winter break.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 1, Rostov 0

My assistant would get control of the two remaining domestic league games, as well as the second leg of the Russian Cup tie, though he would not be allowed to use some of the higher profile players at Zenith. I needed to scout our Champion’s League opponents some more, including taking in some games in person.

Match 29: Lokomotiv Moscow 2, Zenith St. Petersburg 0
Match 30: Dinamo Moscow 3, Zenith St. Petersburg 1
[b]Russian Cup, 6th Round, Leg 2: Zenith St. Peteresburg 1, Chernomets 3; Chernomets advance on away goals rule[b/]

Well done then.

Puedlfor

Champion’s League

After our second half fireworks display in Krakow – Wisla had to get something from this match if they had any hope of taking the third spot in the group. We clearly had the mental advantage – we’d just been crowned champions, we’d thrashed them in their own house, and our best players were well rested and fresh for the match. We pressed our advantages for all they were worth, and struck first when Kléber’s streaking run was rewarded by Karyaka and we’d taken the early lead. Wisla’s confidence was cratered, and it got no better when Arshavin drove home from fifteen yards out to double the advantage. Kléber added a second from midfield after the break before Mauro Cantoro restored some pride to Wisla with a cracking shot that rebounded in off the post. There would be no redeeming aspects for the Polish side in this game though – as Wellington scored literally at the death to finish off the rout.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 4, Wisla 1

In the other matches in the group, Inter and Man Utd each held serve at home to leave little ole Zenith St. Petersburg at the top of the Group table. Of course, we were the only team to play Wisla twice so far – which is why we find ourselves occupying the pole position – even if it is solely on Goal Differential.

A visit to the San Siro was next on our calendar, and we would do well to get even a point. Within thirteen minutes, a point seemed beyond our grasp, as Adriano had volleyed home seventy seconds in and Alvaro Recoba converted a penalty the Brazilian had won with another loping run. Two-nil down and we held on barely to keep it at that going into halftime. Inter are clearly the best team we’ve played so far and they slashed through us with disturbing ease – even the few measly attacks we could muster were swarmed over and broken apart. Inter are so fast, so strong, so disciplined. And the disturbing thing is that though we’ve been there before with Besiktas – the level of athleticism of the Turkish side was at least obtainable - Few teams in history will ever attain the kind of strength and skill that take the field for Inter each weekend. The second half offered some consolation as we kept the scoreline at 2-0, and even mustered up a few determined attacks of our own, and created some decent chances, up to having a pretty solid penalty turned down by Anders Frisk. In the end, Inter won and moved to the to the top of the group – guaranteeing their presence in the Knockout rounds.
Final: Internazionale 2, Zenith St. Petersburg 0

In Manchester, Wisla’s visit to Old Trafford ended up eerily similar to our own visit. A shock early goal from Zurawski spurred Manchester United into action and the match ended 5-2 in favor of the home team. With that win, Manchester United move into second place in the group – but only two points ahead of Zenith.

United’s defeat in Poland is truly coming back to haunt them now. Had they won in Poland they would be free and clear into the Knockout Stages – but as they did not, it sets up a winner take all showdown against us for the second spot in the group. For Zenith, it’s a no-lose situation- with Wisla’s defeat, we officially clinched at least third in the group. As third was the best that could be expected of us when the groups were announced, we’ve done pretty well for ourselves. Secondly, Man United have to come visit us – so while we’ve won the title and can relax in our homes – United have to travel to Russia in the middle of a busy season – in December and face the freezing cold and sleet of a Russian winter. United have a slight advantage in that they only have to draw the game to progress. Also, they have at least five players paid more than my entire starting lineup – slight advantage there too.

Puedlfor

December 6th, 2006
Zenith St. Petersburg vs Manchester United
Champion’s League Group F, Matchday 6

Man United(4-4-1-1): Howard; Neville, Silvestre, Ferdinand, Brown; Pennant, Giggs(A.Johnson), Fletcher, Keane(Scholes); Santa Cruz(Rooney); van Nistelrooy.

Zenith(4-1-4-1): Malafeev; Bustos, Kolodin, Hagen, Vjestica; Wellington; Araujo, Karyaka, Kléber, Arshavin; Kerzhakov(Ivana).

United will lineup in a conservative 4-4-1-1 formation, clearly hoping for the draw and to poach a goal on a counter-attack with van Nistelrooy’s professional finishing and Santa Cruz’s scary speed. It’s a more veteran lineup than we’re used to seeing from United - clearly Ferguson is counting that the backbone of a side that’s won so many trophies will keep their nerve rather than rely on the young talent.

I was slightly surprised by the conservative formation and team selection Sir Alex came up with - the last two games I'd seen them play had featured a 4-3-3 with Rooney lined up in the midfield; and Johnson, van Nistelrooy and Santa Cruz at the top - and both games had been walkovers for United.

Zenith come out in their favored 4-1-4-1. The Blue-White-Light-Blues are missing starting fullback Rahmutallo Fuzailov through suspension. Though it seems a defensive formation – the lineup belies that belief. With two nominal attackers up the middle, the normal clogging of the middle that this formation can lead to won’t be an issue. Zenith are clearly more comfortable in the weather, though that’s a relative issue. Gale force winds are bringing freezing rain, with a possibility of snow – and despite the under-soil heating - the pitch has a frosting of ice.

As the most compelling game on the final day of group play in the Champion’s League, this game is receiving a disproportionate amount of attention. Sure, it’s a big game for both teams – but since the other three groups have been mostly decided – and the one that hasn’t doesn’t feature a head-to-head match-up; Zenith hosting Manchester United is under the spotlight.

It’s times like these that I wish I were a better public speaker. I suppose if I were, I’d have something truly memorable to say – something that people would remember for ages – something that can inspire a group of good players to go out, and for ninety minutes achieve immortality on the pitch. But I can’t – a few last minute tactical issues with the 4-4-1-1, and a reminder that no matter what happened, I was proud of this team, were all my fevered mind could come up with. With 21,000 Zenith supporters in attendance – the roar went up when their local heroes took the field before them, and under the bright lights of Petrovsky, history beckoned. . .

Puedlfor

Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing at Emirates, and Gunner hearts are light;
And at the Bridge men are laughing, and children in blue shout,
But there is no joy in Manchester — mighty United have gone out.

I can’t talk rationally about this match. I just can’t.

In Micky Silvestre’s Personal Hell, Andriy Arshavin will be playing the role of Satan. Barely five minutes had passed when Arshavin embarrassed the French International once again, before slotting a pass to the far post that mean Kléber only had to tap it into an empty net. It was so early in the game, it really didn’t register at first, but when Wes Brown headed into the post from a corner – it started to sink in that Manchester United were now chasing the game and we’ve got the advantage. The cold claimed it’s first victim when Roy Keane hobbled off with a pulled hamstring – and Paul Scholes came on to replace him – but the introduction of Scholes couldn’t jumpstart their offense. Erik Hagen has had a mediocre year for us – but in this game he was immense. Leading the defense, he was impregnable through the air – and his marking meant the Dutch Assassin never even got a shot off on goal the entire match. Kerzhakov struck wide after find some space twice late in the half – but as the clock wound down on the half we held the lead until the whistle blew for the break.

There was nothing to say at halftime – except to warn the defenders that ManU were liable to switch to the 4-3-3 under which they’d had so much success – and it might happen at anytime. The introduction of Rooney for the disappointing Santa Cruz seemed to herald a much more offensive United team.

All thoughts of tactics withered away after the break because of The Incident. We were attacking from the kick-off, and Rooney had tracked back well to put the ball out for a throw. The throw in was taken back to Wellington – who played a nice ball for Arshavin who made himself free at the edge of the box. Closing down rapidly on Arshavin was Silvestre – and if United fans **** a brick when they saw the match-up, they can be forgiven. Arshavin pivoted with the ball and drove towards the baseline – Silvestre closed to tackle the ball. There was contact. Arshavin went down. The whistle blew . . . and Jörg Keßler stood calmly pointing to the spot while United went berserk.

After the game, English papers launched scathing attacks against the ref, Zenith, and Arshavin in particular. The poor ref, and the creative midfielder were bombarded with hate mail for weeks – and the same press that had blasted Mourinho for making inflammatory remarks about a referee’s decision – turned around and made The Special One look genteel and refined by comparison. Giant pictures of The Incident were blazed across the front page of every newspaper in England – and in Russia as well, to be fair. As for myself – it was a 50/50 call, and Silvestre made a lot of contact with his right leg, and his right forearm was extended into Arshavin’s back. . . Those calls get made.

The pandemonium extended to the United bench, and it took a yellow for Scholes on the field and a red for Quieroz off it to finally calm things down. And all the while Karyaka stood patiently waiting, with the ball placed carefully on the spot – and when the ref had everyone lined up, and signaled the go-ahead the Russian winger smashed the ball into the back of the net – and the crowd, and United again, erupted.

After The Incident, United just fell to pieces, except for a few members. Gary Neville maintained his head at the back, and on a few occasions snuffed out dangerous attacks that others had let slide. Darren Fletcher played solidly in midfield, if he didn’t quite grab the game by the scruff of the neck, he had a few incisive passes. But by and large, the Red Devils were shaken by the deficit and began to make silly mistakes – none more costly than Rio Ferdinand in the 63rd minute. With a United attack stalling as the “Lump it to Ruud, FFS!� plan ran into a burly Norwegian defender – Scholes played it back to Gary Neville to reset the offense. Neville calmly collected the pass, and played it back to Ferdinand to switch fields. Later he tried to blame the penalty kick call, or the weather – but Rio took his eye off the ball and it hit his shin and bounced five yards clear – right into the path of a hard charging Kléber. The Brazilian scooped up the loose ball, and with Neville in hot-pursuit and Ferdinand half-assing it back as well – he easily skipped to the side of Howard and slid it home for the third Zenith goal.

That was it for United. Andy Johnson came on for Giggs as United finally switched to the 4-3-3; but the Red Devils were tired, and cold, and just plain beaten – and only a few hard tackles from the hard-working Neville and some acrobatic saves kept the scoreline at merely Shocking and not Utter And Complete Humilation. As the ref signaled for time – and Ferguson sulked off to the lockerroom to go not give press conferences – the Zenith players and fans had a raucous celebration long into the night that carried over from the field to the club house, to a hastily rented ball-room at a local hotel.

FINAL
Zenith St. Petersburg - 3 Kléber(7, 63), Karyaka(pen 47)
Manchester United – 0

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Inter | | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 13 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Zenith Peterburg | | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 9 | +5 | 10 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Man Utd | | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 11 | +1 | 9 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Wisla | | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 19 | -12 | 3 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

Puedlfor

Hardly recovered from the celebration – I went to represent Zenith at the draw for the First Knockout Round of the Champion’s League. Gathered around Europe’s elite, I felt out of place – in one hand I had the list of teams we’d rather not face – and in the other the now lucky pencil I’d used to scrawl tactical notes during the game.

The fifteen remaining opponents could be roughly classified into three categories in relation to Zenith: A) No Hopers – teams against which we could expect a heavy defeat; B) Anything’s Possible - Teams against which a decent result might get us through; C) A Good Shot – Teams against which I felt we could defeat and progress even further. Obviously the United win has gone to my head, but I know which category United would’ve gone in before the win.

No Hopers
Inter
Real Madrid
Chelsea
FC Bayern
Milan
Arsenal

Anything’s Possible
Liverpool
Sporting
Ajax
Athletic Club de Bilbao
Roma
Werder Bremen

A Good Shot
Galatasaray
Benfica
Shakhtar

The Draw

Benfica were chosen first, and the anticipation of who would play what many considered one of the weaker teams here was palpable. It was with a smug sense of satisfaction then, that the Liverpool contingent awaited the tie with the Portugese Runners-Up.

Chosen next were Arsenal, and while the Gunners might be having a so-so domestic year for their standards – none wanted to face the lethal English side. Indeed though, this would be a thrilling match-up for the neutrals – as Milan were drawn to face Arsenal.

Tradition surrounds everything Athletic Bilbao do – and they were somewhat of an enigma. They only sign Basque players, of course, but there are some damn good Basque players. It’s a match-up about half the teams left in the mix would rather avoid – and Werder Bremen was probably one of them.

Galatasaray came next – and while no one relished the prospect of an away game in the cauldron of Ali Sami Yen – it was infinitely preferable to some of the other choices. Dutch Champion’s Ajax will have to tackle the Turk’s formidable homefield advantage, but it could be worse.

Roman Abramovich’s drive for trophies has already cost two manager’s their jobs, and if Chelsea don’t make some noise in the Champion’s League it might be a third. It’s an uneasy prospect to face a team that can literally transform in one transfer window from good to awe-inspring. And unfortunately that uneasy prospect falls to Zenith St. Petersburg. Matching up the only Russian team left, with the most prominent Russian in football – clearly these draws aren’t rigged. Let’s hope for a quiet January.

Current Serie A leaders Roma will be the favorites to advance past a game Sporting team.

Ukranian club Shakhtar and their filthy rich owner are the next victims to be placed at the sacrificial altar of Roberto Mancini’s Inter team.

Which leaves the clear draw of the round, the £350M Real Madrid team against German champions FC Bayern.

Rafalution

Great read! Keep up the good work.

Nice reading about Erik Hagen, you know his nickname is 'Panzer'?

Puedlfor

I was not aware Hagen was known as Panzer - but that's a great nickname, and has been duly entered. Thanks for reading, and the compliment

The Silly Season

“. . .well, I’m glad to have you aboard. We’d like to schedule a press conference for noon tomorrow – will you be available then? Good, drop by a few hours earlier and we’ll see about getting you a uniform for the media.

It took but a few moments to reach Chairman Tratovenko’s office, and I was going to tell the chairman our primary winter target had agreed terms - when I realized that David was not alone. The head of the Football Union of Russia, Vitali Mutko, was standing to the side – which took me aback.

I’d often written to the FUR about their curious scheduling decisions in less than flattering language, and if the boss himself had come to step on me – I wasn’t going to have any of it. I’d barely gotten three words into my ensuing tirade when Mutko broke out in great guffaws – which, as it turns out, is a good way to stop a tirade in progress.

“Ah, Mr. Novgorod, “ the President began, still flushed, “you have mistaken my purpose here. You have been quite the bother to us – but you have been also a winner – and I am here to request that you become the manager of the Russian National Team�

“You’ve got a manager. �

“Yes, Mr. Yartsev has informed us of his intention to retire at the end of the year and – “

“You mean you were going to sack him, but are letting him retire to save face.�

“Of course it seems that way – we are after all disappointed with the results in qualifying – but we are hardly so callous that we’d abandon the man who produced such a famous World Cup�

“Perhaps. But even if he is retiring – I’m already employed. I’ve got responsibilities at Zenith I won’t walk away from.�

“We have discussed that on the board – and have decided that there is no reason for you to leave your position as Zenith manager. After all, over two-thirds of the Russian team is domestically based – and a large group here at Zenith, a group that got even larger today I might add. We feel that your responsibilities to Zenith will not interfere with your responsibilities as national team manager, and vice-versa.�

“As long as you understand my club responsibilities come first – and how the hell did you know that Sergey had agreed to the deal?�

“This is Russia! You were probably the last man to know.�

The next day, at the press conference ostensibly schedule to announce our new signing, the FUR officially announced Yartsev’s upcoming retirement – and my appointment as national team coach. My national team reign would begin with a friendly in Berlin - which is a nice way to ease into the job.

We also announced a pretty big signing.

Sergey Ignashevich, Russian(28/5), 27, SW/D C: Rarely does the chance come along to scoop up a classy player, and wound your rivals at the same time – but the transfer of Ignashevich from CSKA for only 750k does that. Ignashevich is a game changing talent in the back-line – who is more adept in the air than even Hagen. He’s even got the ability to come forward and strikes a wicked looking free-kick now and again. The second major loss for CSKA, Aldonin agreeing a move to Lokomotiv, it leaves FC Abramovich(Moscow)clearly looking up at their title rivals in the Premier League.

The signing also means we now have seven current members of the Russian Senior Team at Zenith – second only to Lokomotiv’s nine(counting Aldonin). Of course – our seven include the best attacker, midfielder, defender, and goalkeeper. So . .. edge - Zenith.

Of course – Russia’s appointment barely caused a ripple compared to Portugal. With a host of talented Portuguese, and Brazilian managers clamoring for National team post – the Iberians went with a rookie mananger: Luis Filipe Madeira Figo. Yes, he looks like a promising young manager – but to throw him right into the deep end of managing a National Team? And of such notorious chokers? I am not sure about that.

Three days after Figo’s shock appointment – the football world got another blow – even if this one was expected. Zinedine Zidane, for whom there exist no adjectives sufficient to describe his abilities, announced that at the end of the year he was hanging up the boots for good. Already working more with the coaching staff than playing staff at Madrid – he plans on going full-time into a career in management – though he aims to start a little lower than his former teammate.

The usual spate of awards was announced upon New Years Day – with the usual suspects getting the trophies: Casillas, Chivu, Joaquin, Henry named as Europe’s Best – while Henry swept every other major award.

Russia has their own annual awards – and just like last year Zenith were shut-out. Russian Player of the Year went to Anatoly Guerk of Anderlecht – who will deserve this award many times in his career – but not now. Russian Manager of the year went to FC Rostov’s boss Gennady Stepushkin, and Young Player went to somebody I’ve never seen play. Kozhanov was runner up in the Young Player voting - but was the only Zenith player or manager to even place in the awards.

Back to the Good Guys and this winter was made a lot easier with some contract holdouts coming to terms. As their contracts ticked toward expiry and interest started to dry up – Olexandr Spivak and Kamil Contofalsky got very reasonable, very quickly. Both accepted significant pay-cuts as they signed contracts that effectively tied them to Zenith for the rest of their careers.

Others couldn't be reconciled with and were shipped out in pre-arranged, cut-rate deals. We didn’t get full value for them – but it was better than the nothing we might've received. Velice Sumilkoski went to Rostock for only £250,000, and Vjestica was sold to F.C. Koln for even less - bringing only £100,000 in exchange.

Even a little bit helps in the transfer market – and we had bids accepted for two Russians, a Ukrainian, a Bulgarian, a Columbian and my favorite, a Frenchman, accepted – only to see them opt for other clubs either because of familiarity, money, or first team opportunities – and we were looking at Ignashevich as the only major acquisition before the start of a new season.

But we had one signing left in us.

We had been hot after Columbian prospect goalkeeper LibÃ*s Andrés Arenas, who was plying his trade at Envigado at the time. Quite why we were after Arenas was a subject of contention among the coaching staff – we’d just re-upped Contofalsky for four more years, and Malafeev didn’t seem like he was going anywhere anytime soon. But in a perfect world, I would prefer to have THREE players capable of playing goal for extended periods of time – because in my esteemed opinion – if Player of the Year awards were given based on who was actually the most important player rather than who scored the most goals, or was the best story – Goalkeepers would win every single one – forever and ever and ever. So after much haggling and scouting, we’d agreed a fee with Envigado for Arenas, and at the same time for veteran holding midfielder Mugur Christian Bolohan – a mediocre Romanian who would've filled a needed backup role, but will only feature once in this tale.

Arenas was happy to negotiate a contract with us, though he warned us Medillin had come in for his services as well. Bolohan wanted a contract that was slightly inflated – but I knocked it down to a mere doubling of his salary and figured he’d accept within days. We got neither of our targets - Arenas opted for familiar environs and a move to the capital – and Bolohan opted to remain on the sunny beaches of Cyprus.

So where does this leave us? Back to Envigado of course. With Sumulikoski’s departure, we only had one player I was confident of playing in that midfield slot right in front of the defenders – and Wellington was much more comfortable going box-to-box. But in our exhaustive scouting of Arenas – it couldn’t escape our notice that Envigado had another enticing Columbian youngster. Who could play in that defensive midfield role. And who was really good. Envigado were reasonable in negotiations, and the player agreed to the move in mere days.

On January 27th, we announced Freddy GuarÃ*n as the newest Blue-White-Light-Blue. The superb midfielder might be our third best player, and will vie with Araujo as the best Columbian prospect on the team. We are lucky to have snatched him before some bigger club came along, and for a pretty reasonable fee. The £1M purchase was tied for the 97th highest transfer in the January along with Ivan Leko’s move to France and Andre Marquis' intra-Superleague move. Of course, those players are both also really good – so I don’t know what my point is.

Oh, now I remembered it – it’s a mention of the disparity of financial clout between us and our Champion’s League opponents – for on the same day we announced the deal bringing the excellent midfielder to Petrovsky . . . Chelsea had some news too.

Chelsea in Bayern double swoop

Chelsea today unveiled the two newest Blues at Stamford Bridge. Javier Saviola and Bastian Schweinsteiger, moving in a joint transfer estimated to be around £37M, were introduced to supporters and the press alike. Saviola and Schweinsteiger will immediately slot into the potent Chelsea attack, Saviola expected to partner Michael Owen upfront, while the German prodigy will probably replace Deco on the right; Chelsea manager Kevin ****ing Keegan preferring to play midfield hitmen David Pizarro and Xabi Alonso in the middle of the park to protect his beleaguered, Glen Johnson-featuring, defense. The Bayern pair join Monaco left-back Patrice Evra in moving to Chelsea this month, bringing Chelsea's transfer spending to £51M in January and £74M on the year.