Chasing Redemption

[Clince121188]

Prologue

I am Paul O'Reilly, a former , Nottingham Forrest, Newcastle and Birmingham City footballer. I won 20 caps for the Republic of Ireland during my career.I was known as the most naturally gifted footballer my country had produced since Liam Brady. And was the youngest debutant and goalscorer ever for the national side at 17 years and 54 days old .

So you may be asking yourself why then did I only go on to gain 19 more International caps for Ireland and why I do not list a really top side as one of my past employers. The answer is a combination of things.

In 1984, at the age of 15 , I was whisked from Waterford United across the pond to Division 2 club Birmingham City, or as it's known these days the Championship. At first, it was very nerve wracking being away from home on a near permanent basis. Indeed I ended up trying to fit in more so than having fun during my mid to late teens, when I should have been growing with the friends I already had back home. However, because I didn't have the distractions that I would have had at home in Waterford, I believe it allowed me to develop my football skills better than most other youngsters at the club.

Little did I know it then, but just over a year later, when the club had been promoted to Division 1,(The Premier League) I would be making my debut for the first team. Once I made my breakthrough into the first team, I was determined to do all I could to ensure I didn't drop back down into the reserves. Football was all I had to live for. Throughout the season I was afforded a few games here and there, generally playing on the left wing and always did my best to show what I could do. I scored 3 goals that season, in a side stuggling with the step up to the top division. Apparently I had made a good impression on division 1 that season though.

A few days after Birmingham were relegated back down to division 2, Brian Clough and Nottingham Forrest had a bid accepted for me and I was back in division 1. Clough was an extraordinary man, always a character even when saying nothing. He commanded immense respect from his players.

Forrest at the time were a harder team to break into than Birminghan were and it wasn't untill 3 months into the season that i got my first chance to prove myself in an established Division 1 team. Fearing it could even be my last, I grasped the opportunity and scored a cracker of a first goal against Watford. From then on in I was rotated in and out of the team and I even won my first Ireland cap a month later, again scoring on my debut.

The next season, I was in from the start against Norwich in August and only left the starting 11 when injured for a couple of weeks in November. Then at the turn of the year things started to go wrong, terribly wrong. At this point in time I was well into the rock scene and I started drinking heavily in the company of my heroes. It got to the point where in January I didn't show up for training twice in one week, which Mr. Clough was not a fan of.
This cost me my place in the first team and I was sent to the Reserves.

Then having been forgiven after a month or so, I was back into the team. We were doing okay in the league and looked like finishing in a mid table position. I still hadn't changed my lifestyle though, I was just hiding it better.My performances on the pitch despite this were exceptional and I was being praised by every manager in the country. However this was about to change. On the 5th of may that year the press had somehow gotten hold of a picture of Steve Tyler from Aerosmith and myself taking cocaine together.

The next day I had my contract terminated by Nottingham Forrest F.C. I had no idea what to do, I was a footballer, that was my trade and nobody was going to employ me now surely. I went through a very dark patch in my life. My drinking and drug abuse became so bad that i often had no recollection of sometimes week long periods. I was gaining weight and loosing fitness faster than I was downing pints of Guinness.

Then, out of nowhere Newcastle United came calling, offering me a two year contract if I would yield to them getting me clean. Something in my head snapped and I accepted without hesitation. Sadly the rehabilitaion took longer than I had thought it would and on top of that I was served with a year long ban by the F.A for my drug use. Despite this Newcastle continued to employ me and wait until I was ready to perform again. I never really did perform again though and the next season I blended into an underprforming Magpies side. I was released at the end of my contract and spent the rest of my career scraping by in division 2 and towards the end of it, Division 3. I sometimes wonder what I might have gone on to achieve in my playing career, had it not been interupted by substance abuse.

Having put my drug and alcohol issues behind me, I asked myself possitively, what was I now going to do after my playing career. And then it hit me. I always had a great footballing brain, having had little else to concentrate on in my teens. So I took my coaching badges and got my first real managing job at the age of 36. I managed colchester for two seasons, earning a promotion in the first season to the Championship and then finishing 10th the next season.

The season after that I joined Bristol City and steered them to 4th place in the championship and to the playoff final where we faced hull, loosing out to a 1-0 scoreline. Before the start of the next season, when the owner of the club became too involved in the transfer side of things for my liking, I resigned and remained unemployed for the rest of the 2008/2009 season despite a few job offers .

Chasing Redemption

"Look at the **** on that," I think to myself, as a beautfiul brunette frollicking by the sea catches my eye. It's June 20th, I'm on holiday in turkey and right now football is about the furthest thing from my mind. I've been out of the sport since I left Bristol, as no other job had really grabbed my attention since. Right now though, I'm more foccused on the eye candy scattered along the beach. I've tried my hardest to maintain my footballers physique since my playing career ended and tonight I hope to reap the rewards for doing so.

My wishfull thinking is swiftly brought to an end though, as I'm interrupted by the ever familiar sound of Welcome to the Jungle blaring from my pocket. For a second, I contemplate allowing my phone to ring out. However when I see my agent Luigi Rossi's name flashing on my screen I have to answer. "Hello Luigi, how are things," " Well Paul, that depends on what you think of the news I have for you," he replies in his thick Italian accent." Today, Alex Mcleish, was fired from his post at your old club Birmingham City. He did not appear ready to commit to the club and the board decided that they would need someone more intent on staying in the job, to spend the considerable available transfer budget."

"So you think I could stand a chance of getting the job," I enquired, for once intrigued by the prospect of managing again."Why not, you have certainly proven yourself in your time at Colchester and Bristol. And being a product of the club, you may already be favoured by some of the board if you put your name in early." I informed Luigi to go ahead and give it a shot, as I had a great feeling about this. Now, no matter how hard I tried, I was never going to be able to concentrate on anything else but football and the conversation I'd just had with Luigi.

So I flew to Enland the next day to keep tabs on everything surrounding the vacant managers position at Birmingham. Strangely enough, the bookies actually had me down as 3rd favoutite for the job behind Martin O'Neill and Alan Curbishley. News travels extremely fast in the world of football and the papers even had details about contact between myself and the club via Luigi already.

Apart from presumptions on the part of the press, it was very quiet on the information front for the next while. Then on the 3rd of July I got some great news. Luigi phoned to say he would meet me at St. Andrews the next day at 1pm for an interview with the chairman at Birmingham.

The next day after an hour of talks, the chairman at Birmingham, Peter Pannu gave me the biggest news of my managerial career to date. Having been through several other candidates already, Pannu declared that he had never been so impressed in an interview before, never mind the others that he'd sat through over the last few days. That for him was enough he said, to show how much I wanted the job and he offered me the job there and then.

He was right. I really was desperate for this job and now that I had it, I really wanted to redeem myself for the faults of my playing career, starting at where it all began. Apart from being over the moon at my appointment as Birmingham manager, I was stunned to be taking charge at a club in the Premier League with pleanty of potential
to improve. Now the question is, can I fulfill my potential and take the club where the owners expect it to be by the end of the season, safely resting in the top half of the table.

​

 

[Clince121188]

The next day with my face on all the back pages, I met with the chairman again. This time to discuss all aspects of the club.
"Hello Paul, nice to see you again. I'd just like to say once more that we are delighted to have you here at the club.", "Thanks Peter, I am thrilled to be here and look forward to many great times at Birmingham.".

" As I said yesterday in our interview, the board would really like to see the club finish at the top end of the table again this year. You will have as much support as u need to accomplish this challenge, as we are desperate to keep the the club going in the right direction. We want to be able to give the fans a certain level of consitency with our performances and we want to change the way the club is viewed here and all over europe. Do you have any questions at all?".

" Actually I do Peter. In order to achieve what is expected of me, what will be afforded to me in terms of finances to bring in new faces?". " Well Paul, we know we are asking a lot of you to come in and succeed straight away. So in order to make it easier on you, we are prepared to offer you up to 22 million pounds to spend on new playing and coaching staff and you will be given a wage budget of 600 thousand pounds.". In my head at this point, I was leaping around the place but in the chairmans office I was quite reserved. I was in fact so calm that I even got a little greedy. I imagined saying to the chairman, something along the lines of," Well, that is awfully generous, but I feel if I was offered a bit more, I could even have us contending for european competition places." After all, every board around the world likes to hear talk of the big time. And with that in mind, I actually said those exact words to the chairman, half dreading doing so as the egotistical statement was coming out of my mouth. I was in fact so nervous having said it, that the first time around I didn't even hear his response. I had to relax and concentrate, after all I was only showing a will to do well for the club. " Well Paul, if thats what you think you can do for us then I will see what we can do.".

I could hardly believe it, he was actually considering the daft nonsense that I'd just suggested. He excused himself, leaving the room for a few minutes. "Sorry about that", he said upon re-entering. He had just contacted some key board members for their views on the matter. Amazingly the club were now offering me 29.5 million for transfer fees, and 700,000 for wages."You do realize, if you fail to achieve continental qualification this year, we will then have to review your position at the club Paul?" the chairman reminded me. However I felt confident, I felt as though this job was my calling. " Yes Peter, I fully understand what I'm getting myself into. I am confident in my ability to do this and have faith I will prove a lot of people wrong.

I left that meeting delighted. I felt a power that I'd never felt before. Heading out of St. Andrews I smiled for the cameras and continued on home with that smile intact. I couldn't wait to draw up a list of potential aquisitions and that is exactly what I did as soon as I arrived home. I was on the phone to my scouting team none stop and thoroughly enjoying being a manager again.
4 o'clock the next morning, I was finally satisfied with the list and drifted off to sleep.

I rose from the bed again at 10 o'clock though, for yet another meeting. At this meeting I presented my shortlist of players to the board. I made sure to have pleanty of players on there, so that if any player for whatever reason did not come to Birmingham over the summer, there was a player of the same type on the list to then chase after.

This is the shortlist which was ok'd by the board.


Goalkeepers

Alex Smithies

Full Backs

Tim De Cler
Frederik Stenman
Yassin Mikari
Antonio Lopez

Centre Backs

Matthew Upson
Andrea Barzagli
Phil Jagielka
Madjid Bougherra

Defensive Midfielders

Ruben De la Red
Giampiero Pinzi
Gerardo Torrado
Anthony Annan

Central Midfielders

Coutinho
Jonathan Dos Santos
Jamie O'Hara
Moussa Sissoko
Esteban Granero

Wingers

Eden Hazard
Juan Angel Albin
Carmelo
Urby Emanuelson


Forwards

Carlos Vela
Jo
Milevskyi
Landon Donovan
Luis Suarez
Carlton Cole

July 8th

I met my squad of players for the first time at training today. " Hi lads, I'm Paul O'Reilly your new manager. I am extremely happy to be working with you and I'm looking forward to making some fantastic memories with this group.". "I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say we're just as happy to be working with you boss." a familiar voice offered. It was Barry Ferguson, a player I had long admired. However he is also a player I feel has never quite risen to the heights expected of him.

Throughout training that day, Ferguson impresses with his ability and leadership skills, something which will be vital to keep some of the younger players focussed on the job at hand for this season.
Indeed having seen a lot of his performances last season, he seems to finally be at a level where he can play with the big boys of the Premier League without becoming too eratic.
He is a player that I will be keeping a close eye on, with the view to making him captain.

However some of the other players failed to impress with their footballing skills in training today. Last season Birmingham performed above par, but without too much impressive football. This season I aim to bring success through playing with style. This may mean that I will have to consider mass changes in the group and I will be assessing over the coming days and weeks, what players on my shortlist or otherwise will need to be added to the group.

I think it is essential for me to make my own mark on Birmingham as a football club and express my attacking football personality through my players on the pitch. After all, the board wanted to change peoples views of the club and i believe playing more attractive football is the only way to do that.

​

 

[Sam Leeds United]

really interesting mate. can't wait to see your signings!

 

[fuelledbypassion]

great start mate, Im following

 

[Clince121188]

July 9th

Today I met with the media for the first time at a press conference. The chairman introduced me to the attendees and sat by my side for the duration of the conference. The first reporter to question me was from The Sun.

Sun Reporter: Paul, could you please describe for our readers your feelings at this time, having taken the managers job at the club where your playing career kicked off.

Myself: I have to say that so far in my career, I have never felt as positive about a job. I am extremely determined to bring success to this club.

Daily Mail Reporter: Allan Rodgers of the Daily Mail, Paul some of the fans may have fears about your appointment after the way your playing carrer panned out. What would you say to them to re-assure them.

Myself: Well Allan, I am not too stuck up to admit that I've made mistakes in the past. I believe that being a manager requires a lot more of your attention than playing and I have proven that I can handle it in my time at Colchester and Bristol. I banished my demons a long time ago and no-one needs to have fears over any kind of a relapse.

Brimingham Post: What do you hope to achieve here in your first season? And to do so, will you be making many moves in the market?

Myself: I have made promises to the man beside me and to the board that I will attempt to keep as best I can. However I don't wish to put pressure on myself, by revealing exactly what I am going to try to do with the team this season. As for my plans for the transfer market, all I can say is that the coming days and weeks will shape those.

Daily Mirror: John Fogarty of the Daily Mirror, What style of play do you intend on instilling in your team?

Myself: To get a proper answer to your question John, you will have to wait and see at the start of the new season. But for now I can tell you the same as I have told the chairman. The board want to change how the club is viewed, here initially and then throughout Europe. To do this, I think the best way for us to play is to bring a bit more flair to the spectacle of watching the team.

Press officer: That will be all for now ladies and gentlemen, thank you.

"That went well." I thought to myself leaving the press room.

The same day at training, I came to realise that while Roger and Scott had formed a good partnership at centre back last year, there was no real pace there. In my teams I like to keep things simple at the back, by having one of the players, with a bit of zip about him, cover the other at times when the opposition break through the defensive line.

This is an issue I will be looking to address as my primary objective in the transfer window. Out of the centre backs on my shortlist, I thought it would be great if I could somehow add England international, Phil Jagielka to the squad. He is a powerful player with enough pace about him to keep a more aggressive centre back's mind at ease, when moving out of defence to intercept the opposition.Another reason I like the idea of bringing Phil to the club,is that as an English player, he can come in and communicate straight away with the rest of the defence.

However, there have been rumours that Chelsea are interested and we would stand no chance in a bidding war against them.

I have a feeling that as long as I remain in charge of Birmingham, I will be bringing the job home with me every day.
Today at home, I am glued to sky sports seeing if anyone is attempting to move in on any players I am interested in. That night I decide not to wait around to see if that will be the case with Phil Jagielka. Tomorrow I will make my first move in the market.

July 10th

Having consulted the board on a move for Jagielka, I phoned up David Moyes this morning, to ask if there had been any confirmed interest in him. He denied that there had been but said that if we were interested in taking him from Everton, he wouldn't be going cheap if at all.

Undeterred, I decide to press on with my pursuit of Jagielka. That evening I ask the board to put in a bid of 7 million pounds to test Everton's resolve. They respond later, knocking our offer back. For now I decide to hold off on bidding again, untill I have weighed up exactly how much the player is worth for the club.


Tomorrow I plan on setting the players up on Individually tailored training programmes.
They will be training from now on, in a way that I think suits them and their present abilities. Most of their training willl still be done as a team, with some players asked to improve on their physical or technical skills more so than others.I trust my coaching staff and have full confidence that they will succeed in all their attempts to improve the playing staff

I still have not hired an assistant manager, but this is something I have been dwelling on since I got the job and is something else I intend to deal with tomorrow.

July 11th

Today I brought with me to training, my great friend and new assistant, Jon Andoni Goikoetxea whom I have known for some time. He has a glowing reputation in Spain having been an assistant for 10 years at Ossasuna, but this is the first time we will have worked together. I hope we can do well together for the team.

At the end of training Jon gives me his opinion of the level of skill in the squad and he seems to be on the same page as me. We both feel with the money available to us that we can really make a go of it with this team.


July 15th

I woke up this morning with one thing on my mind. I sped to the office and 15 minutes later the board had organised a 10 million bid for Jagielka. I had now decided that we must get our man if my tactics for the team are to be as efficient as possible.

At 6pm I was contacted by Peter,"We've done it Paul, the bid has been accepted. Now we need you to work your magic in contract negotiations.", "Superb Peter, has a meeting been organised?". " Yes Paul, we are bringing him in tomorrow, so lets try and get this deal tied up!", " Great, I'll do everything in my power to convince him to sign."

I was delighted. The club now had a chance to make a statement, bagging a player with a great reputation for a high level of performances.

July 16th

This morning my feelings are those of anticipation and nervousness. A very big part of my plans could come together today. I meet with Phil Jagielka at 11:15 today and I will have to be at my wittiest to tempt him to join my revelolution at Birmingham City F.C over resting on his lorals at everton, where competing for a european place is the norm.

" Good morning Phil, I'm delighted you could meet with us today.", "Good morning Paul, nice to meet you." The time is now, Phil Jagielka is in my office and it's time to do as best I can to earn my salary.

Over the course of the interview Phil genuinely seems interested. He does say however that there has been contact from Chelsea as regards to his situation. They have been in contact with his agent offering him a contract worth 80,000 a week. He does say however that he would like guarenteed first team football for the forthcoming season, to continue with his break into the English squad and he feels that he would be in and out of the chelsea team without consistency.

I had to weigh up what Phil had just said and come to a conclusion on how we could put a deal together for him. 80,000 would be a lot of money for us to shell out for a weeks work by one player, but we would not be looking to spend anything like that on any other player that we might bring in over the summer.

I decided to go for it. I offered him 75,000 a week and the first team football that he was looking for. Phil decided that he could do without the extra 5 grand that he would get from Chelsea and said he would sign with us on the 20th of the month once he had everything sorted on his side of things.

"Fantastic Phil, it has been great meeting you and I look forward to working with you soon. See you on the 19th."

I was ecstatic, although I had to keep my wits about me, Jagielka had not signed yet.




July 17th

Today is the day before our first friendly of the season. I announced the team that would start against Cardiff at training and went home, confident that the players would take the game seriously with the likes of Craig Bellamy set to test them.



July 18th


View attachment 110352


Before the game today, I told the players," It may seem very early for me to be demanding a performance from you, but we are playing against a team who will be looking at playing in the Premier League next season. I expect you to be solid out there today, don't make us look anything less than we are."

I suppose at the end of the day, I was satisfied with the result but I didn't let the players know that ," We need to improve lads, we can't achieve what's expected of us with performances like that. There were some very silly mistakes today and a more match fit team would have torn us apart at times. Don't get me wrong, we played some lovely stuff but we must now get back to full fitness and iron out all mistakes."
After the game, I went home happy that our first game together as a group had ended without embarassment.

20th July

I awoke today and leapt out of bed. I would finally sign Jagielka today. I am not used to signing players of such quality.
When I got down to St. Andrews there were hoards of press outside, all of whom were inquisitively asking how I'd managed to sign such a talent.
The truth was that I had revealed my plans for Europe to Phill, but this was not something I was going to reveal to the blood thirsty reporters.
When Phil Jagielka put his signature on the dotted line today, I got a real sense that this club was going somewhere.

Europe???​

 

[Clince121188]

If anybody at any time feels like saying anything related to this story, dont even hesitate just say it. I want this story to be as active as possible. Thats half the fun of writing it.

 

[Parker_Rangers_1873]

just for the lenth of your op im going to follow good luck mate , dont worry if no one comments to start with if you keep it up you will soon get more followers

 

[dannyfiveo]

Looks good, will definately keep an eye on it.. keep it up

 

[Sam Leeds United]

great work signing Jagielka, he'll be brilliant for you. i can see you pushing for that european place!

 

[Clince121188]

just for the lenth of your op im going to follow good luck mate , dont worry if no one comments to start with if you keep it up you will soon get more followers

Thanks mate, I wanted to do a more in depth story than just match updates and screenshots so hopefully it'll work.

Looks good, will definately keep an eye on it.. keep it up

Thanks man, I hope to be updating regularly enough anyway.

great work signing Jagielka, he'll be brilliant for you. i can see you pushing for that european place!

Thanks lad, hopefully Jagielka will do the job I've bought him for. Europe might require another couple of signings though. Stay tuned for more transfer market updates soon

 

[fuelledbypassion]

nice update mate, Jags should be a fantastic signing. I hope you manage to sign some more flair players too, good luck

 

[Clince121188]

21st July

After signing Jagielka yesterday I think I need a match to keep me focussed. Todays pre-season opponents are St. Johnstone. This is a game where I really want to see how much football the lads can actually play. Thankfully the sun is out in Scotland today and the pitch shouldn't provide too many excuses for us not to move the ball about.



View attachment 110390


A good showing today. The players did nothing more than what was expected of them. I was never going to be judging exactly where we were on this game, but a couple of players impressed more than I thought they would do. It was nice to see James O'Shea get on the score sheet as I had my doubts about him. He is by no means the finished article but there is potential there I think, he has great speed, maybe if he concentrates on his touch over the next while he can be a good impact player for us.
Phil Jagielka started today having arrived in excellent condition at the club. He was very assured at the back and allowed Roger Johnson to break up opposition attacks confidently.


I made up my mind on three Birmingham players' futures after this game.
With Zigic looking like a proper target man in training and in todays game and Matt Derbyshire having been brought in on loan before my arrival at the club, I saw no need in keeping Cameron Jerome. There was reported interest in him around Europe and I wanted to bring in a striker with a it more skill anyway. None of the strikers at the club currently are great with the ball at their feet.

Stuart Parnaby will also be transfer listed. Stephen Carr has been looking consistent in training and from what I saw of him last season, he still has the legs to play at Premier League level. Martin Jiranek and Phil Jagielka can also play at right back if neccesary so I thought we should maybe cash in on Stuart while we can.

The third player listed is Colin Doyle, he just isn't a keeper I feel I could back to cover for Foster. My scouts are currently looking at young, Huddersfield keeper, Alex Smithies. I think he could turn out to be a top keeper if given the right training. So I will probably buy him out of whatever cash we can get for Doyle.

Another young player my scouts have brought to my attention is Milan Badelj. He can play at centre mid or attacking mid and is in the same mould as Luka Modric his fellow country man. Interestingly Modric also came to the Premier League from the club Badelj currently plays for, Dinamo.

I have noticed from the last couple of games, that we don't really have a defensiven midfielder which my tactics require, to allow the other players get forward. Anthony Annan is a young player who I think can be the next big anchor man in the mould of Claude Makelele. He's currently playing for Rosenborg, so hopefully we might be able to aquire him on the cheap.



22nd July


Today, Jerome, Parnaby and Doyle are training with the reserves. I see no sense in allowing them continue on in the first team waiting to be transfered.

Something else that came to my attention today, is that we are currently using a centre back at left full back, leaving us limited in our attacking down that side. Ridgewell has done a good job defending the left flank, but I need a more dynamic attacking left back.
Mikari of F.C Sochaux-Montbelieard, has been on my shortlist since taking over at the club and is exactly the kind of player I think we need.

I launched my bid for Mikari at around lunch time and by 3 o'clock I had negotiated a 5 million deal for him. Aston Villa had been rumoured to be interested in him, but I saw no sense in that. Stephen Warnock is a top full back and surely would not be replaced after a great season last year.

We arranged for Mikari to fly over on the 26th and negotiate a contract.

Later on in the day, with a fee already agreed for a full back, I decide to push on and sort out the defensive midfielder situation. I am very excited at the prospect of putting Anthony Annan in a Birmingham shirt but he is a lesser known player, so we start out with a cheeky bid of 1.5 million. This is turned down at around 9 o'clock.

My days are certainly fully occupied here at Birmingham. Not that I am complaining. This is exactly why I wanted this job in the first place. Any manager who would complain about having to sort out what to do with a 29 million transfer budget, needs his head examined.



23rd July

Hibernian are todays opponents, sadly the weather today has not held up and its a typical wet Scottish day. No excuses though, if we have a greater squad than our opponents we should always show that.



View attachment 110385

A 2-0 win today, nothing too exciting. I think we should be looking to have more possession than we had in this game. I know we were away from home but it's pre-season and it's not like Hibernian have been playing on their pitch for the guts of a season. Today, I tested a Dann - Jagielka centre back pairing. It worked well, but I would still rather have Roger in their with Phil for his Aerial ability. Scott is young and has plenty of time to work his way into the first 11.

Having had a bid turned down for Annan yesterday, I put in a bid of 3 million today. Another phone call from Peter arrived later that day," You meet with Anthony on the 27th Paul, Rosenborg wanted 3.2m and 10% of whatever profit we make in the future on a sale." ,"Thats great Peter, thanks for sorting everything, at least they weren't too demanding.".

Things could really come together in the next few days for us. Having already signed a strong centre back in Jagielka, signing Annan and Mikari would really bring things to life.

That night, I went to see Scottish rock band Nazareth at a show in glasgow, as we were playing Rangers in a couple of days. They were a band I had always enjoyed listening to and had met before. They were nothing like their former selves at the show that night but still put on a great performance.
A couple of the players came with me that night and in a way I guess it was a great lesson for them. These old rockers had gone through years of touring and god knows what had gone through their bodies in that time. But they gave as much effort as any footballer I've ever seen, to entertain their fans, young and old.

When that much attention is directed towards your every move, it is up to you and only to impress. The players might be part of a team, but if they don't put in a proper shift, it will be noticed and fans will be disappointed. I will not stand for this at any point during my time at the club. I will not take excuses for not giving 110% for this club.


25th July



View attachment 110389


Today was not a happy day for me. We did not hold onto the ball against the Scottish champions at all well and passes were misplaced time and time again. However, the result was not down to a lack of effort in any way. We chased and hassled opponents at all times when we didn't have the ball. I am now thinking, maybe I have a bigger job ahead of me than I had thought before. The players don't seem used to holding onto the ball and trying to dominate the game. I will be considering bringing in more players after this showing.​

 

[Clince121188]

26th July

Today I had to be back in Birmingham for 1 o'clock, for my meeting with Yassin Mikari. It was nice to have something other than our defeat to rangers to think about on the flight. I was sure Mikari wouldn't pose any problems with his wage demands and I was fairly relaxed about this deal.

Before the meeting that day, I was given news that Artem Milevskyi may be available for a knock down price. Our scouts believed that we may have a chance of getting him if we bid just 4.5 m for him, as he had recently fallen down the pecking order at Dinamo Kiev. I phoned Peter Pannu to tell him the news and asked him to organise a bid. I admire Milevskyi's abilities hugely and believe him to be very under-rated.



When he arrived at the office that day, Mikari seemed excited to have the opportunity to play in the Premier League. He praised the quality of the league several times in the interview and was impressed with my plans for Birmingham City F.C. It didn't take much negotiating to get him on board and in the end he signed a four year deal for 20k a week.
It was nice to have the piece of mind that we now had someone to play left full back, who had played there throughout his career. Mikari is a very athletic player and he will be expected to attack and defend in equal measure.

An hour after I'd left St. Andrews I received a phone call with news that Kiev would accept a 5m deal for Milevskyi. There was really no need to contact me on the matter, I would gladly have accepted paying up to 8 million for him. I told our man to go ahead and accept the demands. With Kievs proposal accepted, I got in contact with Milevskyi's agent. We scheduled an appointment for the 30th of July to thrash out contract talks.

Today also saw bids accepted of 2.5m and 5m for Stuart Parnaby and Cameron Jerome respectively. Wigan were in for Stuart and P.S.G and Atletico Madrid would do battle over Cameron.


Possitive events at the club were very welcome today and I went home, happy in the knowledge that we were bringing in the right players who could do a great job for the club.
Next up tomorrow is my meeting with Anthony Annan, hopefully that will run as smoothly as todays negotiations have gone with Mikari.

27th July

Having completed the signing of mikari yesterday for 5m, the press were reporting on more rumours associating us with players than ever before. The Sun even called us " Man City's little brother". A bit overboard I thought, but we were definitely not looking to halt our progress in the market.

Another bout of contract negotiations was on the menu today. Anthony Annan is a player who could really prove to play a vital role for the club, should he agree to join us. The Ghanaian's attitude today seemed very similar to that of Yassin Mikari's the day before. Every point we made to him about where we saw the club going, seemed to bring a smile from him. I couldn't help but think we were on to a winner. Sure enough half an hour after he had arrived at St. Andrews he was officially a Birmingham City player and our 3rd signing of the season.

With all the positivity in the air at the club right now, I decided that there was no use giving too much attention to the defeat to Rangers. Even Man United lose pre-season games and I banished it from my memory.

I went out to the pub that evening and spotted a lovely girl across the bar. She saw me eyeing her up and approached me. I had no time for a relationship at the moment with the hectic working day of a Premier League manager.

Thankfully she seemed to understand and was actually up for a bit of fun. That was a huge relief, I hadn't had any "fun" in ages. When we got back to my appartment though, she demanded money for her "services". It seemed I had been roped in by one of these high class escorts.

There was no way i could agree to this. If any of my players were to do so, there would be serious consequences. I was not about to turn a blind eye to my responsabilities on this occassion. I asked her to leave, it wasn't easy but it had to be done.

28th July

It actually felt strange waking up with no work for transfers on my agenda. However I'm fully sure I want to keep spending. I know it may take a while for the new squad members to gell with their team-mates but I also feel that the current team will not compete for a top finish with the attacking threat that we have at the moment.


With that in mind, I spoke to my scouting team about this youngster Badelj they had come across in croatia. I was given very good feedback on him. Just as in the videos I had seen of him, the scouting staff maintained that he was a player with excellent ball control skills and a good eye for a pass. With just Craig Gardner for back up really in the center mid position I decided there was nothing to loose in putting a low starting bid in for him.

I made a bid of 1m for Badelj just to break the ice on the deal. Stunningly we got a response from Dinamo negotiating the fee to 1.1m. Surely a mistake on their part I thought, so I responded offering 1.1m just to see what would happen. Apparently there had been no mistake, the bid was accepted.

I really could not comprehend what had just happened. Did they really not value the lad, to the point where they considered him a throw-away? Were they in some sort of huge, unknown financial difficulty. All I did know was that I was on cloud nine.

I had been considering a bid for Tottenham's unwanted playmaker, Jamie O'Hara, but Badelj was younger and more naturally gifted from what I had seen of him. All prospects for a deal taking O'Hara to St.Andrews were now gone, unless of course Badelj did not want to sign on the dotted line.

Another youngster I have my scouts keeping tabs on is Eden Hazzard, a Belgian wonderkid currently plying his trade at Lille. He is a versatile attacking player, capable of playing on the wing, at centre mid or in a more advanced central roll just off the Striker/s.
So far reports suggest that along with Steven Defour he is the Belgium's brightest talent. I will be keeping an eye on him, but I'm unsure if we could afford him after the amount of money spent on the Jagielka transfer

The club saw its first sale of the window today as Parnaby left for Wigan

29th July

Today the team travel to Ipswich to take on Roy Keane's men. I respected Keane hugely as a player and believe that he will sooner rather than later find his feet in management. Today I will test out annan and mikari for the first time.

Before kick off, news comes that Cameron Jerome has accepted a contract offer from P.S.G. Thats another 5m in the bag for the club.


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A win is a win in my book. We played reasonably well taking more possession than our opponents but the amount of misses in the game was slightly worrying, inspiring me to do all I can to sign Milevskyi tomorrow.

After the match Keane invited me for a drink in his office. Chatting to the man was an eye opening experience. He seemed very calm even in defeat, clearly he has mellowed out slightly since his days as Man United's robust midfield enforcer.

I asked him what he thought of annan at defensive mid for us today. He was full of praise for the young lad,"He certainly doesn't shrug out of a tackle anyway or give much ball away. Maybe he could do with getting a bit tighter to opponents though. In the Premier League he wont get the time to adjust his tracking, he needs to be precise."

As a player who was never too far from his man himself, I respect Keanes judgement. I will keep an eye on his marking in future games.

It's an early night tonight, and then in for 9 in the morning to prepare for contract talks.

30th July

Milevskyi is taller in person than I expected, not on the same level as Zigic but I still find it amazing that such a tall lad can keep such good controll of a football and link up with players the way he does.

Milevskyi seems to be putting on a brave face today. I presume that a move away from Kiev is not one he would have chosen unless absolutely neccessary. It's good to see that kind of loyalty in a player though and hopefully he will develop a similar fondness for Birmingham City. Milevskyi's agent states that his client would like 45k a week. This is not quite within the range I was prepared to pay. He is a great player but not one who should get such a big jump up in wages. I manage to lower that figure to 37k by promising to reward him for his goalscoring.

With the figures agreed, hands are shook and upon signing the contract, Artem moves to Birmingham as an important fixture in our plans.

Transfer bussiness is not over with for the day though. The board have given me the go ahead to go after Eden Hazard with the option of monthly installments. I am ecstatic with this and determined to get the job done, I start off with a bid of 10 million without monthly installments.

There is no response on a possible deal for Hazard today, hopefully Lille are considering our offer and will get back to us as soon as possible.

31st July

I am awoken at 6 o'clock this morning. There has been a development in the Hazard saga.
Peter Panu's voice rings through my head," Lille are looking for 20 million for Eden Hazard, what do you want to do Paul? We can not afford that fee". " I'll be at the ground in half an hour Peter."

I find it easier to do my work thinking in work and I arrive at St. Andrews at 6.25 to mull over the Eden Hazard situation. As great a prospect as he is, I don't think he's quite worth a 20m transfer fee. I dont quite know what we can do if they are not budging on that figure though.

A further call on that potential transfer comes through at 9 o'clock. It's good news. It emerges that Juventus had been interested in securing the players' services and had agreed to Lille's demands of 20m but juventus it turns out have not got the funds and are looking elsewhere. The call from Lille is to offer Hazard to us at 15 million. This is still money we don't have in the transfer kitty but I negotiate the deal so that 5 of the 15 million, can be paid over the next 24 months. Lille begrudgingly accept our offer, obviously disappointed that Juventus have exited the picture and no other clubs have declared an interest.

Milan Badelj arrived at St. Andrews today looking to complete his move from Croatian club, Dinamo. He seems to be a nice young lad and there were no problems with the negotiaions. He signed on a 15k a week contract. I still can't understand how we got him so cheap

Although I am going through these deals with immense speed, I know that I must be patient with the team for the signings to have the desired effect. Hopefully my tactics will bring the best out of the team as a whole.
​

 

[fuelledbypassion]

Great signings there mate. Hazard will be quality and milevskyi scores for fun. Keep this up its a very interesting story

 

[davewig1980]

amazing signings! all the best for the season and hope they gel quickly!

 

[Clince121188]

Great signings there mate. Hazard will be quality and milevskyi scores for fun. Keep this up its a very interesting story

amazing signings! all the best for the season and hope they gel quickly!

Thanks lads, Im fairly happy with the signings I've made alright. I'd imagine with the amount of signings that will be going straight into the team though, I will be hoping for a mid season surge rather than I great start to the league.

Surprisingly enough I've actually never had Hazard with any team untill now.