HighTory
Member
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2020
- Messages
- 8
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 3
"And tonight's last story, probably also least, is that second division side, Panachaiki, have hired Daryl ter Stege as Manager. Greek football supporters will remember ter Stege from his time at Panathanaikos in the mid-2000s, even reaching the semi-finals of the Champions' League. The Canadian midfielder finished his career with the Achaean side he now manages in 2018, finishing just shy of promotion with a third place result. The appointment of the Canadian International and Panathanaikos cult hero is said to be part of the new administration's ambitious plan to gain promotion and, well, become financially solvent.
Now for something you actually care about: the top ten plays of yesterday's action..."
Daryl closed the television.
Well, at least they reported it, he thought to himself. Cult hero. He chuckled to himself. It was true; his time with Panathanaikos was the main reason he came back to close out his twenty-year career in Greece. He could have gone back to Holland, his father's home country, the land of total football and technical precision. He enjoyed playing for Eindhoven, and in many ways it was the Dutch club who launched his career; but there was something special about the sun-soaked olive groves of Greece that the cold winters of Holland couldn't compete with.
Daryl hadn't been out of the game long: he retired from professional football only two years prior and almost immediately launched himself into securing his coaching licenses. His professional experience helped him bypass the local badges, letting him start his licensing journey with UEFA badges. He had achieved his UEFA B license without much difficulty; but now he stood for a much more challenging test. All of the theory and mental exercising of licensing would, maybe, help him but he was taking charge of a real club, with real players, real finances, and, scariest of all, a real board of directors.
And this board of directors were particularly ambitious. Having only just taken over the club, the board had ideas of grandeur; or, at least, of sorting out the club's financial woes. The key to that plan was to secure promotion this season and to challenge for European football next season. A tough ask for a rookie manager. But ter Stege was hopeful: he knew most of the players from when they were teammates, and he knew the club could gain promotion based on their performance the season before. Still, having the club's entire financial future on his shoulders was a big burden.
It begins tomorrow, he thought as he drifted off to sleep.
Now for something you actually care about: the top ten plays of yesterday's action..."
Daryl closed the television.
Well, at least they reported it, he thought to himself. Cult hero. He chuckled to himself. It was true; his time with Panathanaikos was the main reason he came back to close out his twenty-year career in Greece. He could have gone back to Holland, his father's home country, the land of total football and technical precision. He enjoyed playing for Eindhoven, and in many ways it was the Dutch club who launched his career; but there was something special about the sun-soaked olive groves of Greece that the cold winters of Holland couldn't compete with.
Daryl hadn't been out of the game long: he retired from professional football only two years prior and almost immediately launched himself into securing his coaching licenses. His professional experience helped him bypass the local badges, letting him start his licensing journey with UEFA badges. He had achieved his UEFA B license without much difficulty; but now he stood for a much more challenging test. All of the theory and mental exercising of licensing would, maybe, help him but he was taking charge of a real club, with real players, real finances, and, scariest of all, a real board of directors.
And this board of directors were particularly ambitious. Having only just taken over the club, the board had ideas of grandeur; or, at least, of sorting out the club's financial woes. The key to that plan was to secure promotion this season and to challenge for European football next season. A tough ask for a rookie manager. But ter Stege was hopeful: he knew most of the players from when they were teammates, and he knew the club could gain promotion based on their performance the season before. Still, having the club's entire financial future on his shoulders was a big burden.
It begins tomorrow, he thought as he drifted off to sleep.