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My manager story started here in Sweden, more closely in Uppsala - my hometown. I was here given the opportunity to coach my first club on a professional basis. On the 10th of March 2002 I took control of Idrottsklubben Sirius Fotbollsklubb or simply Sirius for short.
Sirius is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major and also the brightest star we can see in the northern hemisphere. The ancient Egyptians called Sirius the 'dog star', after their god Osirus - whose head in pictograms resembled that of a dog.
The club Sirius is the largest and best established in the town of Uppsala, but despite this fact the team has been dwelling for a long time in the Swedish Division 2 Regional series. Way back in 1917 and in 1924 the club finished runners-up in the Swedish Championship, feats that stand out in the clubs history.
The town of Uppsala is the fourth largest in Sweden (population of about 180´000) and has a rich and colourful past dating back in to the unwritten history. Ever since the town was founded, it has through the ages always been a cultural and religious centre of the country. It was especially important during the Iron age (capital of the Svea kings) and during Viking times (religious capital). The town of Uppsala itself is a very beautiful town, with Sweden´s largest church dome as it’s most noticeable caracteristic (believed to have been placed ontop of, or at least close by, the old heathen worship place - where human sacrifice is believed to have taken place). The dome is together with the city castle, which is situated close by, overlooking the town upon a ridge - at the center of attraction. The country’s oldest (15th century), and most respected University is also situated in Uppsala, which gives the town a youthful apperance – always bustling with activity during the semesters. Uppsala is also closely situated to the capital of Sweden; Stockholm (80km/45min).
Despite being one of Sweden´s major cities Uppsala is not known as a sporting town. The town does not have a team of top quality in any of the mayor sports (exept for a basketball team playing in the top division - without too much success though). In football neither Sirius nor any other of the local teams has been particularly successful domestically in recent history.
Wonderful! I'm looking forward to this very much, always had a soft spot for Sweden ever since I met Borje Salming (though he's from so far north, he may as well be Lapp!). Good luck!
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Raptor:
Local tale by local lad, sounds like a solid basis for a story to me <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yeah, I might just as well give it a try, as I probably can't do worse than in reality...
Thanks for the encouragement Spurzgrrl and Raptor! Hang on and I'll soon get this story on the way properly... :cool:
I had since a couple of years back been at the club working for free as a youth coach. During daytime I worked as a high school teacher. As I always had had a good touch with youngsters I was eventually employed part time as a youth set-up headcoach at the club. We had a good youth program and several talented players, so I very much enjoyed working there. Apart from the negative financial situation at the club, which many clubs are feeling the pinch of at the moment, the future situation looked quite positive for Sirius. There was a positive vibe at the club and we were many that thought it would only be a matter of time before we finally could take the step out from the dreaded Swedish Second Division.
Then Stellan Carlsson, the manager since four years back, surprisingly stepped down. In his statement it could be read that he felt the team needed a new voice and some new ideas in the club, in order to take it to the next level. The club had no money to recruite any of the more well distinguished managers around and did instead what many other small time clubs do - they looked in to their own organisation for a replacement. I had started to make a name for myself within the club due to my dedicated work with the youngsters, but it still came as a total surprise to me when they offered me the job. To be honest I wasn’t sure myself if I had what it takes, but on the other hand I wasn’t stupid enough to turn down the opportunity. I happily took up the challenge and immediately went about my new found duties at the club… :cool:
At present the club is a semi-professional team struggling with it’s finances. The club has a £ 154,397 negative balance in the books and as a consequence there are no money available for purchasing new players. I will have to resort to signing free transfers if I am to bring in any new blood to the squad. The facilities are good and the football ground, Studenternas IP, has a 5000 capacity - which should be enough for the immediate future.
Currently there are 22 players contracted to the club, ranging from the ages 15 to 36. The squad is slim and therefore vulnerable to injuries and suspensions. A priority would therefore be to try and lure a couple of free transfers to the club, before the start of the season. I have my eye on several such players who I believe would excel at the club. The difficult part will be to try and lure them to the club under fierce competition on the lucrative Bosman marketplace. Unless I manage to sign new players I will have to make do with the current squad and perhaps look at any possible loan options.
These are some of the many pre-season duties I now had to dig in to...
Pre-season: The team squad and getting it ready for the upcoming season of 2002
Apart from the playing squad I also have one coach, Mattias Wallin (40), at my disposal. To be honest Mattias has not given a very professional impression and I will be looking at getting some other coaches to the club as soon as possible. There are also two scouts, Emil Norling (60) and Joachim Lind (51), and a physio, Joakim Larsson (56), contracted to the club. I immediately assigned my scouts to search for players here in Sweden and let my physio make appointments with the playing staff to make assessments on their physical well-being. It turned out that central defender Antouman Jallow (20) needed surgery (out for about six months) due to damaged cruciate ligaments. Another central defender Magnus Svanfeldt (27) needed a couple of weeks physiotherapy for his strained knee ligaments. Apart from these setbacks the squad seems fit for fight.
With the club’s directors expecting us to reach the playoffs this season my No.1 priority is to see some new names signing for the club. According to my initial impression of the players available at the club we would currently struggle to accomplish the objectives set up by the club directors. My most important task from day one was therefore to get started looking for some good Bosman players to sign. With two of my central defenders currently out, I immediately looked to particularly strengthen this area of the squad. I targeted Johan Karlsson (26) of Elfsborg, a central/right wing/defensive midfielder, as a good loan signing. Although a defensive midfielder, I felt Johan would do well as a central defender. It turned out that his club, Premier Division side Elfsborg, was happy to loan him out to us for the remainder of the season and still pay his salary themselves(!). Johan decided that he wanted the offered regular first team football and therefore joined us a couple of days later, on March the 12th.
12/3 –02 Meanwhile in the world of football Real Madrid suffered a heavy defeat away against French side Lille in the Champions League Second Group Phase. Lille won after goalkeeper Iker Casillas was sent off just before half time. Lille scored on the subsequent penalty which meant 1-0. In the second half Lille made the most of their numerical advantage and ran out easy winners 3-0 [goals by Tapia (45 pen), Fahmi (47), Schmitz (57)]. The win meant that Lille (together with Man U, who beat Lokomotiv Moscow 2-0, and finished 1st) went past Real in the final group table – Lille finishing 2nd and Real Madrid 3rd. The greatest upset of the tournament so far was a fact - Real failed to make it through to the elimination rounds! The Real fans was understandably upset and vented their feelings publicly, this despite the fact that Real currently sits on top of the Spanish First Division and pundits expect them to stay there for the remainder of the season - as they have shown very good league form lately (and of course everyone knows of their true potential).
13/3 –02 The teams playing in the Champions League Quarter Finals were decided today. Notable here was Arsenals failure to qualify, after losing away to Torino giants Juventus (who already were through before the final round) with 3-1. This meant that Bayer Leverkusen could swoop past, beating Norwegian side Brann away with the same score line, 3-1.
The up-coming quarter finals will be played as follows: Barcelona vs. Lille, Juventus vs. Deportivo, Leverkusen vs. Liverpool and Roma vs. Man U.
My first week as new manager of Sirius ended in a drinking binge. It started on Friday evening as some friends turned up with plenty of booze to celebrate my appointment. Around 1 am I crashed. Around 4 am I awoke - naked on the floor, with only a rug thrown over me. My friend Per was sleeping on the couch, with a bottle of Tequila in one hand. I knew not what had happened - Per knew as much as me. Saturday was no better. Once again I awoke naked. This time however, it wasn’t Per sleeping close by. It was a woman. Her name was Christine. She didn’t look as nice as she had done yesterday. The darkness, her make-up and my general drunkenness had enhanced her features, to the point that I had invited her over here. Unfortunately my memory was not gone. I remember all to well! Her make-up was now firmly imprinted on the cushion and I felt nauseous. It’s been a while since I had such a weekend - fortunately(!). As a part-time high school teacher/football manager I’m supposed to be a role model. Not this weekend...
The following week was spent in contract negotiations with a couple of out of contract players. However, both right sided defender Mikael Hansson and central defender Fredrick Bryngelsson decided that the wages I could offer were too low. Instead Hansson joined Wycombe in England and Bryngelsson fellow Division 2 side Forward. Good news however, was that 19-year old Jesper Ahlström decided to join us. Jesper is a player that one of my scouts picked up as a promising youth player. He is a right winger that can play in both defence and in midfield. Being a very tall young lad I wonder though, if he perhaps could play in my problematic central defence instead - if he was given the right training. There he could also make use of his natural aggression on the pitch. All in all he seems quite promising.
20/3 –02 Elsewhere in Europe the UEFA cup Quarter Finals second leg was played today. Most noteworthy was that Ajax failed to hold on to their 2-0 advantage from their home game. Instead they crashed out against Scottish side Rangers after losing 3-0 in Glasgow [3-2 aggregate]. Feyenoord beat Russian side Anzhi; 2-1 aggregate [2-0, 0-1], Leeds beat Lyon 3-0 [2-0, 1-0] and Milan beat PSV 2-1 [0-1,2-0].
Remembering all too well last weekend mishaps, I decided to avoid my friends this time around. Instead we would play our first friendly game of the season. I felt a bit nervous as we met up before the game.
I would coach my team on the field for the first time...
23/3 –02 Not knowing my squad that well yet I decide to test around a bit. I used a 5-3-2 Attacking tactic as I hoped this tactic would help me control the centre of the field. I felt I might need the numerical advantage in the centre of the pitch, as I suspect it will be there that my team is the weakest. The game was played against our perhaps greatest rivals here in Uppsala – lower league team Vindhemspojkarna. The game was played at their home field and although it wasn’t well played, it gave the crowd a thrilling five goal shoot-out derby game. We won 3-2 with striker Henrik Ericksson scoring two of our goals and new signing Jesper Ahlström, playing as a central midfielder for the day, the third. The crowd of 554 (actually not bad in this area) who turned up for the game was probably pleased, but I realised there was a lot of work to be done before this team would be playing for honours…
24/3 – 02 Yet another disappointment today as Bosman target Jesper Svensson (29) opted to join Eskilstuna City instead of us. However, on the bright side our excellent youth set up program yielded two promising youngsters who have now been promoted into the squad. Left sided defender Rikard Olofsson (17) and right winger Per Hansson (16) are the players in question. Particularly 16 year old Per Hansson is a wonderful prospect, a real speedball, who I already have high hopes for. Fact is, I believe he might just be good enough to go straight into the starting XI! Good news indeed.
27/3 –02 The second pre-season game was played today against local team Gamla Upsala at their old ground Gamlis IP. Surprisingly a crowd of 636 turned out to watch the friendly derby game. Although the game saw plenty of scoring opportunities it ended in a 0-0 stalemate. For me this was a disappointing performance as I had tuned my 5-3-2 tactics further to this game - and now only one friendly game remains before the start of the new season...
28/3 –02 Today another youth player was promoted from the youth team set-up for my assessment. I knew the central/right wing defender/defensive midfielder since my time as head coach of the youth program at the club, and my first impressions of the player was always very positive. Staffan Wiklund (17) is a player that with his sheer length can dominate the aerial space. I think he could probably take a place in the central defence quite soon actually. Apart from being tall, he is also a quick defender and those aren’t too common – certainly not at this level.
30/3 –02 Originally I had a friendly game against Division 1 side Brage scheduled for today, but they where forced to cancel in the last minute. Instead I used my connections as a former Kvarnsveden player and set up a game against that side on short notice. Both teams are from the town of Borlänge, so it didn’t mean any greater change of plans. The game was a step forward for us as we beat the Division 3 side 3-2 (goals courtesy of Johan Claesson, Thomas Arnesson and Henrik Eriksson). Our defensive performances is still a cause of some concern, but today I would rather focus on our good offensive play during the game. Playing a 3-4-3 tactic we created several chances without giving away too much defensively to the opponents. I think this tactic will be the one I'll focus on implementing this season - if all carries on well.
31/3 –02 A thrilling League Cup Final was played today at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff between Division 1 side Derby County and Premiership giants Manchester United. I watched the game on my TV and couldn’t help feeling for Derby. It was a David vs. Goliath type of situation. In the dying minutes of the first half Juan Sebastian Verón scored a header, when Mart Poom went walkabout in the Derby goal. Like everybody else I gave Derby little chance of recovering from this blow. Man United continued to dominate the second half and Ruud van Nistlerooy had a great opportunity to kill the game just before full time. Instead a handball from the same van Nistlerooy, only moments later, resulted in a dubious Derby free kick. Pedersen’s resulting free kick found the head of Malcolm Christie who in turn found an unmarked Paul Boertien, who dramatically equalised with just one minute left on the clock. The subsequent extra time ended without any goals scored - so the game was to be decided on penalties. Here Derby kept their nerves and won the penalty shoot out 3-2 (Derby scoring 3 of 4 penalties and Man U only 2 of 5). This really was one of the most thrilling games I’ve seen in a long time. Who would have thought that Derby would beat Man U? That only goes to show that anything is possible in this lovely game!
Other news this day was the exposé that a national newspaper in Italy ran on Lazio´s shocking financial state. The team is virtually bankrupt and it is thought that they will have to sell players to appease it’s investors. As the horrible financial state weren’t enough, Lazio is currently only 6th in the Italian Serie A. It would take a miracle to get them through to next years Champions League - which they so badly would need in order to aid them economically back on track.
1/4 –02 It is not only Lazio that is in deep economic trouble at the moment. Throughout Europe several teams are feeling the economic pinch. On a much smaller scale our economic situation here in Sirius is also very alarming. We now have a £ 300,361 negative balance in the books after losing £ 121,190 just during last month. As I've now strengthened the squad with some promising youth players, I must immediately look at my squad and see which players are a surplus to requirements and therefore could be sold off - in order to ease our financial plight. I noted in my “to-do” book that I’d look over this issue at the end of the week and then inform the players involved of the situation.
One player I want to keep is influential central defender Martin Åberg (21) who, after prolonged contract negotiations, finally decided on signing a new contract until the end of the 2004 season. I see him as an important first team player who’s leadership and talent will be immensely important for us the coming years.
Internationally the big news of the day was the sacking of Celta manager Lotina and Mallorca`s Gregorio Manzano. The sackings came as no surprise however, as both teams has had a disappointing season so far and are both in the midst of the relegation dogfight - a situation I don’t think either of the clubs had imagined before the start of the season.
Elsewhere Arsenal suffered a heavy injury blow in their strive to take one of the Champions League places. It was influential centre back Sol Campbell who suffered damaged cruciate ligaments in the defeat against Birmingham (1-2). The English international is now feared to be out of action for a shocking 9 months! As a consequence Campbell will also miss the World Cup for sure. A terrible loss for Arsenal and England.
4/4 –02 In the UEFA Cup Semi Final First Leg it seems like Leeds and Milan will go through to the Final. Leeds brushed their economic troubles aside (virtually bankrupt) and beat Rangers comfortably 4-1 at Elland Road. At De Kuip in Rotterdam Feyenoord suffered a heavy home defeat against Italian giants Milan. After Shinji Ono was sent off, as early as in the 6th minute of the game - after a shove on Shevschenko, Milan owned the game and won with the highly impressive score line of 5-0!
5/4 –02 Robert Pires was honoured today by receiving the English Players Player of the Year Award. Thierry Henry and David Beckham were the closest pretenders, finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Sirius - Rising Star 
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