Cosmo-poof

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!

Last season was nice, I had one scout in the beginning and hired another one in the course of the season. Well, scout #1 retired, and scout #2 was poached by allmighty Dinamo Zagreb. No scouts here now [IMG]/infopop/emoticons/icon_mad.gif" alt="mad[/IMG]

bell

Young and free maybe... talented is stretching it a bit [IMG]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif" alt="wink[/IMG]

bell

Dont talk to me about scouts, ive had the one i started with at Albion Rovers for 16 years now, his contract ran out after 3 but he is still hanging around (and wont sign a new one [IMG]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif" alt="wink[/IMG]

Cosmo-poof

Talking about scouts: At the end of the season some unlucky guy applied for the vacant job as scout (well, I asked him to but don't be so pedantic) and of course he got it. His stats are 6/6 in both judging skills, so I'm better off with buying all the players he says aren't good enough. [IMG]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="big grin[/IMG]

No tables for this season, btw - I forgot to print it to a file, and the next season already started. To summarize all: after a miserable start into the new season (11 points in the first 17 games) I found 11 players who would play well together. In the end, I came up 11th (again the 11!), sitting on top of the form-table for a long time. 62 scored, 67 conceded, and one point more than the year before.

Major problem in my squad is still the lack of a goalkeeper and defensemen. It's the third first-team goalie in the third year now - and again, he's only on a loan :/

Cosmo-poof

quick update:

I'm only letting my players mature a bit - average age is below 20 [IMG]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="big grin[/IMG] - If it wasn't for my 31-year old player/coach the average would be too low to allow beer in stadiums [IMG]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="big grin[/IMG]

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * Croatian Second Division North - Sunday 6th June 2004********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2003/4 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st C Sibenik 30 13 1 1 37 14 7 4 4 26 21 65 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Istra 30 9 3 3 30 19 7 3 5 28 22 54 3rd *** Imotska Krajina 30 9 2 4 38 23 6 5 4 34 32 52 4th Split 30 6 5 4 20 16 8 4 3 27 23 51 5th Junak 30 9 3 3 35 23 5 4 6 20 23 49 6th Pomorac 30 7 4 4 26 17 5 3 7 21 27 43 7th Omladinac (NSR) 30 5 6 4 21 17 5 6 4 20 20 42 8th Zminj 30 6 6 3 33 30 3 5 7 18 22 38 9th Mladost (M) 30 6 5 4 22 18 3 5 7 20 24 37 10th Trnje (T) 30 2 5 8 22 31 7 3 5 22 26 35 11th Dubrovnik 30 6 5 4 23 19 3 3 9 18 34 35 12th Solin Gradja 30 5 3 7 21 19 3 6 6 18 24 33 13th GOSK 30 4 6 5 19 21 3 6 6 20 25 33 14th Uskok 30 3 4 8 19 27 5 4 6 20 18 32 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------15th R Belisce 30 1 7 7 18 28 4 4 7 20 32 26 16th R Valpovka VS 30 4 4 7 17 22 2 4 9 12 28 26 </pre>

Cosmo-poof

Well, some time has passed after my last update. The reason is quite obvious: on the one side there were holidays and on the other side there isn't much that happens in the Croatian Div2.

After the 3rd place in 2003/2004 10 players had to leave, while only 4 players came in. Quality over quantity!
Certain cash problems were of course another reason I had to sell so many players - they wouldn't sign another contract for me and selling them would give me at least some cash to keep paying my expenses.

The following year went quite well again. The new players were able to fill the holes that were left because of the transfered players but also some youngsters were able to use the chances they were given. The end of 2004/2005 saw us in the 3rd place AGAIN. And again the best players were sold off and made place for others.

2005/2006 was a big surprise. None of the bosman signings was able to sustain a place in the first team squad, and the 6 new signings managed to get 20 games..cummulative. The reason for this was that the youngsters and the remaining players played like young gods in the friendlies so I just couldn't get rid of them. In the end Imotska Krajina got promotion, but again it wasn't possible to keep the best players. My star player who signed in the first season went off to Hajduk for 9,25 million (Kuna, that is the local currency), after playing 136 games for Imotska, scoring 40 goals, making 32 assists and getting 13 times Man of the Match, with an average rating of 7.22.

2006/2007 was nothing else than a huge relegation fight. Only 280k Kuna were spent on new players but those who came in were blessed with something all my players didn't have: experience. Imotska conceded 71 goals in the 30 games in Div1, and trashings like 2-6 and 1-5 were quite common. Nevertheless, the only thing that rescued us was that there were still teams that were worse, and relegation could be avoided

Currently, I'm playing my 7th season in Croatia, again fighting against relegation. Again my best players left, for example a goalie that was averaging 8.33 for a mere 160k release fee clause. It is just hard playing here...much talent but not the funds to pay their wages

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * Croatian First Division - Wednesday 31st October 2007********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2007/8 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Hajduk 12 6 0 0 13 2 3 1 2 10 6 28 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Hr. Dragovoljac 12 5 1 0 11 2 3 2 1 10 6 27 3rd Slaven Belupo 12 3 1 2 12 8 5 1 0 15 3 26 4th Dinamo 12 5 1 0 17 2 3 0 3 9 7 25 5th Zagreb 12 5 0 1 12 4 3 1 2 13 14 25 6th Rijeka 12 1 3 2 9 10 5 0 1 13 3 21 7th Osijek 12 3 0 3 12 10 3 0 3 9 10 18 8th Vukovar '91 12 2 3 1 12 10 2 1 3 9 10 16 9th Varteks 12 2 2 2 7 8 2 1 3 7 9 15 10th Imotska Krajina 12 2 2 2 5 7 1 3 2 8 12 14 11th GOSK 12 1 0 5 1 12 3 0 3 7 8 12 12th Segesta 12 3 0 3 8 10 0 2 4 7 11 11 13th Sibenik 12 1 2 3 8 17 1 3 2 10 11 11 14th Cibalia 12 2 1 3 9 10 0 3 3 6 12 10 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------15th Graficar Vodovod 12 2 2 2 10 11 0 1 5 6 14 9 16th Kamen Ingrad 12 0 1 5 8 20 0 0 6 4 18 1</pre>

LFCfan

I am almost tempted to go back to Croatia. Once I get sacked from Seixal, back to Croatia I go

Cosmo-poof

Another season has passed by, and again Imotska Krajina survived in the Croatian Div1. Again, we passed the finish line as 13th (of 16), but this time I was everything but happy about the outcome. After scoring 60 goals in the first season in the top flight, my team scored only a lousy 28 goals in this year - that's less than one goal per game (while conceding nearly 2 goals per game).

This season will bring some changes to my tactics. Some of the players who had their places secure will find themselves on the bench, and some who never got a chance in the team are allowed to prove that they can do better.

Since scoring was really awful in the last year I decided to play more defensively oriented this year - I don't think they can score even less, can they?

Positive side effect - there are way too many good central devensive midfielders in the team, so maybe our strength will be in destroying the opponent's game and countering with the 2 upfront.

P.S.

Imotska Krajina is soon getting into financial trouble - the larger teams didn't lure my best players this time (well, there were none), so I'm trying to list many of the fringe players to gain some money to pay the bills. Result: 10 players are unhappy :/

Cosmo-poof

The new tactics worked well - at least when the players the tactics were designed for were playing. As soon as replacements had to do the job we struggled hard. In the end Imotska Krajina finished 5th and qualified for an Inter-Toto-Place where we will play mighty Napoli in the first round.

Sure, Napoli isn't the same club as in the end of the 80s when this small Argentinian drug king was playing there - but they still are very impressive.

A quick comparison between Napoli and Imotska Krajina:

Finances:
Secure vs. Insecure

Stadium:
72810 all-seater, top facilities vs. 2500 no-seater with awful facilities

Avg. Wages:
182 500 Kuna per Week vs. 5 250 Kuna per Week

The Board are telling me to battle against relegation AGAIN...and it's going to be hard again - I signed only a couple of bosmans but none of them will make it into the first 11 since I signed them only because of the scouts recommendations. They will replace the substitution players which all get sold off to secure the financial situation

Here the final tables of season 2008/2009

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * Croatian First Division - Wednesday 20th May 2009********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2008/9 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st C Slaven Belupo 30 9 3 3 28 12 8 6 1 29 15 60 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Hr. Dragovoljac 30 11 2 2 28 9 5 6 4 18 16 56 3rd Hajduk 30 10 1 4 28 14 6 5 4 27 24 54 4th Rijeka 30 4 5 6 24 30 10 3 2 27 14 50 5th Imotska Krajina 30 8 4 3 23 15 5 5 5 22 22 48 6th Varteks 30 7 5 3 29 21 6 2 7 25 28 46 7th GOSK 30 4 8 3 21 21 8 2 5 27 22 46 8th Dinamo 30 6 5 4 21 15 6 3 6 21 22 44 9th Osijek 30 7 5 3 29 17 4 5 6 17 18 43 10th Marsonia 30 6 4 5 18 15 6 3 6 19 18 43 11th Segesta 30 6 2 7 30 36 3 4 8 18 37 33 12th Graficar Vodovod 30 7 1 7 22 25 1 7 7 13 23 32 13th Split 30 5 5 5 23 23 2 5 8 20 31 31 14th Zagreb 30 5 5 5 20 19 1 5 9 12 30 28 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------15th R Sibenik 30 5 1 9 16 22 2 2 11 15 33 24 16th R Vukovar '91 30 1 8 6 19 25 2 1 12 9 26 18 </pre>

Cosmo-poof

oh, let me continue the comparison to Napoli

Napoli:
0 goals

Imotska Krajina:
1 goal

check it out