retired_tinkfaeree

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
Well then, after lots of fun in Croatia I'm leaving this country and will look for a different challenge in some other country. Cya soon <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm back
The temptation was too strong for me and after I tried games in Denmark, Scotland and Turkey but it just wasn't the same. I always thought of Croatia and how the teams would do there.

So I loaded my Croatian savegame again, waited some months and was applied as manager of NK Zagreb. They were placed 15th when I took over the helm, 5 points behind and 13 games left.

I decided to play a formation with a sweeper, mainly because there were sweepers available in the squad, but no wingers and only 2 forwards

The first three games were lost, being outscored 0-7 but then things started to improve. Before the last game we were only 2 points behind Uljanik, the 14th placed team, and the last game was at home versus - Uljanik - so a win in this game would secure Div1 football for the next season.

Unfortunately, after 91 minutes the score was still 0-0 but all of a sudden my star ( :p) striker was clear in front of the goal - he took a shoot and only hit the crossbar. Relegation.

But I think I like it here in Zagreb - Local rivals Dinamo Zagreb clinched the title so there will be lots of work to do until I can compete with them.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * Croatian First Division - Thursday 14th June 2012********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2011/2 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st C Dinamo 30 11 3 1 24 8 8 3 4 22 14 63 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Hr. Dragovoljac 30 11 2 2 27 13 8 2 5 29 26 61 3rd Osijek 30 9 2 4 29 19 8 3 4 23 16 56 4th Hajduk 30 7 5 3 33 20 9 1 5 26 14 54 5th Slaven Belupo 30 11 1 3 25 9 5 4 6 19 19 53 6th Mosor 30 8 3 4 23 17 6 3 6 23 27 48 7th Cibalia 30 6 3 6 19 18 6 3 6 24 25 42 8th Junak 30 7 3 5 24 20 5 2 8 14 23 41 9th Rijeka 30 7 5 3 25 16 3 3 9 13 22 38 10th Varteks 30 6 3 6 15 16 3 5 7 16 25 35 11th Marsonia 30 7 2 6 24 25 2 4 9 14 25 33 12th Vukovar '91 30 4 4 7 19 22 4 5 6 15 20 33 13th Graficar Vodovod 30 4 4 7 12 20 4 4 7 15 24 32 14th Uljanik 30 3 5 7 12 20 3 7 5 13 17 30 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------15th R Zagreb *** 30 5 7 3 13 9 1 3 11 5 22 28 16th R GOSK 30 4 2 9 17 24 1 2 12 5 22 19 </pre>

retired_tinkfaeree

Back to the top flight!

Making a new record in points in the Second Division South (78 points) we steamrolled through the season, securing promotion after 25 of the 30 games. An impressive 16-game winning streak, including a 9-game streak without conceding a single goal were also nice records and also show the domination of Zagreb this year.

Only drawbacks this year were the loss of my two best players, both averaging far more than 7.50 a game because their contracts were unprotected.

Oh, before I forget - some Canadian DC annoyed me most this season. He played every international game for Canada (18 games!!!!) this season and thus wasn't either available to play or not fit. The only time when he was fit was short after the winter break but he decided to kick some player right in the face in his first appearance in the reserve team and got banned for 8 games.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * Croatian Second Division South - Saturday 4th May 2013********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2012/3 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st C Zagreb *** 30 14 1 0 33 9 11 2 2 23 9 78 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Segesta 30 10 2 3 23 13 8 2 5 27 24 58 3rd TSK 30 11 1 3 31 14 6 3 6 17 16 55 4th Trnje 30 8 5 2 30 22 8 0 7 35 31 53 5th Podravac 30 11 1 3 30 20 5 4 6 23 23 53 6th Cakovec 30 9 4 2 23 14 5 6 4 22 19 52 7th Bjelovar 30 6 7 2 24 13 4 5 6 13 17 42 8th Orijent 30 7 1 7 28 29 6 1 8 28 31 41 9th Ðakovo 30 7 4 4 26 22 4 4 7 20 23 41 10th Koprivnica 30 7 3 5 25 19 4 4 7 21 25 40 11th Sloboda (V) 30 8 3 4 31 20 3 2 10 19 29 38 12th Vrbovec 30 7 3 5 30 24 3 4 8 16 26 37 13th Jadran 30 5 2 8 23 27 3 3 9 17 27 29 14th Pazinka 30 4 5 6 21 25 2 2 11 18 30 25 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------15th R Olimpija (O) 30 4 1 10 17 21 1 2 12 10 29 18 16th R Opatija 30 3 2 10 13 26 1 1 13 9 49 15 </pre>

KingsbayYHPE

Loved the Canadian DC story, Oliver. One reason why it's best signing players from the Nation you're playing in, games are postponed for Internationals.

I found it worst with Mexicans, in fact North Americans - or CONCACAF - in general.

KUTGW!!, btw.

retired_tinkfaeree

I didn't sign this bloke and also can't explain how the previous manager was able to sign them - maybe he fled in the Croatian independence war?

Since the moment the SWYCT guideline was introduced to me I use it in every savegame. In the beginning I was only able to scout Croatia and Youth players, later Eastern Europe and Russia were added to the list of scouted regions.

I don't want to sound like a racist, but I hate these foreign players who leave my club just to play in an international friendly against these Brazilian WC-Topscoring blokes.

retired_blondielovespink

iajafer,

CONCACAF players may be annoying, but not nearly as much as African Internationals. They're gone for a month every other season, guaranteed.

KingsbayYHPE

Tell me about it I had a Togolese player who barely featured in the squad, never mind the Team.

retired_4Him

My last game was in Croatia too... with Vitez'92 (years 2007-2009).
BTW, were Vitez'92 promoted to league in your savegame?

retired_tinkfaeree

Loaded off this stupid Canadian guy for 200 000 Kuna (he was worth more than a million) and I'm really happy about it. During the summer break he managed to play another 5 international matches, pushing him to 23 caps in one season. If he's continuing his international career at this pace he will reach over 270 caps until his career is over (he's only 22 right now). Btw, his average rating is 6.36 in the internationals

Oh, and about Vitez'92:
They had a short spell in the Second Division North in the 2009/0 season but got immediately relegated again, after achieving only 13 points in the 30 games.
The season after they didn't get promotion again although their top striker scored 34 times in 32 games, also assisting 22 times and getting 14 MoM awards with an average rating of 8.06 - he was sold to Hajduk afterwards.

retired_tinkfaeree

Short update:

the season after the promotion was quite uneventful. After 17 games things looked good and we were 8th in the table. Then, all of a sudden, the team went into a huge slump and lost 5 in a row, dropping down to 14th where we stayed for the rest of the season - so no relegation this year, but the board weren't so pleased about the recent run of defeats.

I guess the main reason for this was that the squad lacks depth. Honestly, I think even the first team is not as strong as I'd like it to be. No alternatives in sight.

retired_blondielovespink

Have a good season.

KUTGW!