retired_lastdietever

pigeons pigeons pigeons,

Nope I've managed it three times there with no problems.

Oh, and at the risk of using obvious jokes, my name isn't...

retired_angelmuffin2000

Ok, so here is my latest update, aopologies for the delay, i have played a loads of seasons, just not got round to doing an update.

Players in 5, total value £0, players out 6, total income £2k. Season 4 with Bognor started badly, the team didnt take relegation well, and with only 3 wins in our first 10 games, we found ourselves at the wrong end of the table. The Board were getting impatient, they were expecting us to go straight back up, although with a threadbare squad, no money and no one to stick the ball in the net, i dont quite know how they expected this to be achieved.

And then it happened, following a run of 5 games without a win, although 4 of those were draws, i found myself on the managerial scrap heap. Sacked. I have to say i was slightly annoyed, my only crime it seemed, was raising expectations by getting promoted.

Despite the temptation to start again, I decided to go on holiday and wait for an offer, and I was to get an offer from a pretty unlikely place. I had forgotten at the start of the game that i had ticked Belgium as the place of my second nationality, and it was from this boring place that a rather exciting offer came my way.

Zulte Waregem had been relegated twice in the previous three seasons, and were now in the high class surroundings of Belgiums Division 3A. They were in 4th place when i took over with 7 games left, and rather bizarrely had already qualified for the playoffs. (I realised later that they split the league into 3 segements for playoff qualification). We were, however, only 5 points of the top, and had what was on paper the best squad in the division.

The downside was that we were in serious debt, and seemed to be leaking money at an alarming rate. The teams supporters were also up in arms about my appointment, complaining to the board that i was too inexperienced. To be fair to them, they had a point. In my first 7 games in charge, we won 6 and drawn 1, and won the divison, finishing with a total of

P30, W 15 D9 L 6 F57 A17 pts 54.

Promotion was achieved, and we were up into division 2, and my Belgium adventure was on its way, although never having managed in Belgium before i didnt quite know what to expect!

retired_boom87

Ahem. Boring?

retired_angelmuffin2000

Season 5, 2010/11

A very busy close season saw me try and build my own team. i had no money to spend, but did have 4 scouts, with the remit to scout in Holland and Luxembourg as well as Belgium, so all 4 were sent out to find me some players.

With serious debts and a huge wage bill, I had no real alternative but to cull the squad, and 13 players left, although I brought in about £175000 in transfer fees, I managed to slash the wage bill down to a level were hopefully we would be able to run the club, without running up the debts even further.

I got to keep about £40k of the transfer funds raised, and with a few quid i went bargain hunting. The scouts had found a heap of players, and with 9 bought in for a total of £32k, and with a few promotions from the youth squad, i now had the team i would start the league with, and my first full season in Belgium.

The season itself was nothing exciting, we held our own, and being expected to get a safe mid table position, we did exactly that, finishing 9th.

P34 W11, D12, L11 F44 A41 pts 45.

We had no consistancy at all, and never even looked like qualifying for the playoffs in either of the 3 stages. The cup sucked, losing in the 6th round to Sint-Truiden, who went on to win our division.

However, the one bright point was that i seemed to have found a gem in our youth team, a centre half who managed to pickup Man Of The Match awards in practically every game, and with attendances picking up, we made a small profit on the season.