Danny Jones: Proving A Point

[OhhhRickieLambert]

This story, like most stories starts off because of a girl. Like most people who think they're in love they will do almost anything to make that person happy. Including moving to a country with no knowledge of the people or the language....
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[OhhhRickieLambert]

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go back before that to a young lad growing up in the suburbs of Adelaide, Australia. I am the son of a fairly promising footballer who had his dreams cut short at 15 due to an ACL injury,scuppering his chances of trials in England the following summer. I wasn't so fortunate. Now before you cry out in disgust at that claim let me explain myself.

I grew up playing for the locally renowned Adelaide City academies starting at the age of 5, when their first team was prominent in the NSL (National Soccer League) winning league times and appearing in finals. I played for them until the age of 15 having made my first team debut in the NSL the season before but I now had a big decision to make. I had received a letter in the post from the Australian Institute of Sport(now known as the FFA Centre of Excellence) offering me a 12 month place in their program in Canberra. They had seen me play against their team in the National Youth League finals the previous few seasons and were impressed despite them beating us 4-1 and 8-1 two seasons running. I had scored the goals in both finals and now had to decide whether to leave my family and my comfy position as a promising youth at Adelaide City and join the likes of Josip Simunic,Brett Emerton, Lucas Neill, Mark Bresciano, Craig Moore and Mark Viduka in uprooting and taking a once in a lifetime chance.



This decision may have seemed like a no-brainer to anybody on the outside but it took a lot of talking with my Dad to convince me it was the right move. We were a close family and the thought of spending that much time 1,200Km away from my family was tough. He told me that if I didn't I would always regret it, much the same way he regretted missing out on his shot due to the knee injury.

I accepted and made the most of the opportunity, shining in both the footballing and academic sides of the curriculum. In fact I made such an impression I was invited to stay for a second year and jumped at the opportunity to continue my footballing education. I think during this period is when the first seeds of management were planted but I wouldn't realise this for more than ten years.
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[OhhhRickieLambert]

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The year was 2003, I was 17 and I had the footballing world at my feet. I had received offers from reputable clubs all over Europe including Leeds Utd, Hertha Berlin, Anderlecht and Middelsborough. After seeing the success of Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Paul Okon, Jacob Burns, Danny Milosevic, Shane Cansdell-Sheriff and Jamie McMaster at Leeds it felt like a home away from home so I accepted that offer with the hope that with so many of my countrymen at the club the transition would be seamless. The opportunity to work under Terry Venables was a huge plus but I wasn't to see the troubles that would lay ahead for the club. Although I was a massive Manchester United fan I grew to love the club surrounded by my ex-pats and even made my first team debut at the end of the 2012/2013 season under Peter Reid who replaced El Tel after a disagreement with the board over player sales. We managed to avoid relegation but the problems were already starting to show.

That summer all of my fellow Aussies were sold with the exception of myself, Mark Viduka and Jamie McMaster who was loaned out the following January. The club felt completely different to the one I joined but I pulled up my socks and got on with my job and managed to make more than ten appearances for the first team and despite our poor season resulting in us getting relegated I felt that a season in the Championship was an opportunity to springboard myself into a permanent fixture in the first team. With any luck we would win promotion and I would be a regular in the Premier League.

I didn't even get a chance to realise those dreams as new manager Kevin Blackwell was forced to sell most of his squad. Viduka went to Middlesbrough for£4M and I left for £750K to Hertha Berlin, one of the clubs that was interested in me 18 months previously. I spent five up and down years at the Olympiastadion as a squad player before my last season where I was frozen out of the first team by manager Lucien Favre and didn't play a game all season. My love for football had been seriously tested that season and I had began to hate the game I had loved all my life.

It was now the summer of 2009 and after being picked up by Royal Antwerp on a free transfer I slowly lost all motivation for football and retired at the end of the following season at the age of 24.




I got my visa and moved to Manchester to be close to my beloved United, allowing me to become a fan and begin the rest of my life as a normal person. I played Sunday league football and worked a 9 to 5 and was finally happy in life without all the pressures and criticisms of professional football. In the ensuing years I decided to start my coaching badges,not as a profession but to give back to the game that had given me so much. I thought if I could help kids prepare and realise their dreams it would help me bury some of the demons that haunted my short career. It turned out that so much of the knowledge I had learnt at the AIS, Leeds and in Germany and Belgium had stuck and I was pretty good at it. By 2014 I was coaching part time at FC United of Manchester, living comfortably and had fell madly in love with a girl I had met named Julia. Julia was Ukrainian/Portuguese an interesting combination which is what drew me to her.




It was love at first sight and all that. Life was good. I should have known it would all go wrong. In December of that year Julia's grandmother had passed away in Amadora, just outside of Lisbon and it was decided we would move there so she would be closer to her mother. I was bummed out because I had a good thing going in Manchester and was moving to a place where I didn't know the language, the country and only knew one person. The first couple of months were tough, the mood was low at her mother's place and I was struggling to learn Portuguese and find employment.

In early March I decided to cheer myself up and attend a local football game; at least the language of football was universal. Just down the road was Real Sport Clube, plying their trade in the Campeonato de Portugal. I went along on a mild Saturday afternoon and all my worries went away.Watching these guys playing Joga Bonito was amazing. I had not felt this way for a long time and knew I had to be involved anyway I could. After the game I approached the chairman of the club Adelino Ramos and in my very broken Portuguese asked if I could help out in any way. I explained to him my past experience in the game and he agreed to introduce me to the first team manager Rui Sousa to see if there was something we could work out.




After Rui was finished with the first team he came over and we talked about the possibility of me joining the club in a coaching capacity (thank god he could speak English!). Later that afternoon over a couple of Sagres it was decided that I would come on as a member of his coaching staff while also looking after the clubs U19's. The pay would be abysmal but it would keep me busy and help me adapt to my new life.




And that brings me to today 01/07/2015. The day everything changed in my life. Again. A month earlier my girlfriend Julia had left me and I was all alone in Portugal. Except for my football club. The easy option would have been to pack up and go back to Manchester or even Adelaide and live out my days as an almost was. But I decided to stay in Portugal and finish what I had started at Real. The U19's had improved drastically since I had took over and I was looking forward to the start of the new season. A couple of weeks later Rui had decided to leave the club and take up an opportunity with a Segunda League club and I was as far as I could see the only candidate for the job. Adelino Ramos agreed and I was installed as the new first team manager on the 01/07/2015.



I had a point to prove. My career started now.

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[OhhhRickieLambert]

Real Sport Clube Massama

First Day of School

I had a point to prove. Not to anyone else. In their eyes I was still a successful former professional football living it up near the coast of Portugal. I had to prove to myself that I could handle the pressures and disappointments that would ultimately come being back in the spotlight. Maybe it would be on a less intense stage than I had experienced during my short playing career but if I took this all the way I would hopefully make it to the top. That was my plan. Everything I've ever done in life was to take it as far as I could and this would be no different.



I arrived on my first day as manager keen to make an impression. Although I had known the players for the last few months as a coach it felt completely different walking into the club for the first time as the man in charge. I already knew about our famed youth and training facilities, we were the club that Sporting Lisbon bought Nani off so I would be continuing to promote the legacy I had started to create while coaching the U19's by encouraging youth.



It would be a difficult task as I had no staff when I took over so that would be my first port of call. After that would be my tactics. What would be my philosophy as a manager? I had played under some great managers in my time and my goal would be to incorporate the best of all of them.

My aims as a manager would be to play a fluid 4-2-3-1. I want my team to play high up the park, closing the opposition while they were in possession trying to win the ball back quickly. Once in possession we could look to play it wide and pass it short. I may not have the cattle to be able to pull this off straight away and there might be some bumps along the way but I'm confident that if I put my faith in these kids we can get somewhere. This isn't a quick fix situation. I'm in it for the long haul. I'll take this as far as I can. It was time to get started.

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[OhhhRickieLambert]

Real Sport Clube Massama

Learning The Ropes

Even though I'd played the game and coached it felt completely different being the go to guy. I would have to learn that the buck stopped with me and that the decisions I made directly affected not only the players and the club, but the fans who paid their hard earned money to watch us play every week. Who's whole working week would be changed depending on our result at the weekend. I would be completely at their mercy. It was an intimidating thought.

Never the less I would have to push that thought to the back of my head and get on with business. Today was my first press conference.



This was far removed from the days of press conferences when I was playing. On occasion there would be dozens of journalists there; especially in the days of Leeds' decline. There was only one journalist at the stadium from The Queluz Football Messenger. His name was Nelson Lopes and he was the local football writer. It would be in my best interests to get along with him as I knew in an area as small as ours it could be his words that would sink or save my job if it came to it.



Lopes: Do you feel the expectations asked of you this season have been fair and realistic?

Jones: If the club is to really progress towards the higher reaches of the game, everybody has to be ambitious and aim high. That's what we're doing at the moment. Mr Ramos and I believe that we should be aiming to avoid a relegation scrap and that's what we're going to push towards. I'm confident.

Lopes: You have taken the job with very little grasp of the Portuguese language. Won't it be tough to manage the side until you get to grips with the language?

Jones: It may be a little difficult to begin with but football is a universal language. I had no issue with my time playing in Germany and Belgium. I picked up both of pretty quickly so I'm confident of doing the same here.

Lopes: You've taken the step into management despite being only 29 years old. Critics have suggested that you will struggle to command respect in a dressing room with players older than you. What's your take on it?

Jones: There are plenty of managers that have had success at my age. Look at Brendan Rodgers and Jose Mourinho. Both of those were coaches at much more reputable clubs than I am at now at a similar age.



Short and Sweet. That bought an end to my first press conference as manager. Later that afternoon I got to see the squad in action for the first time. I was fairly happy for a first hit out and a few players caught my eye early on. ​

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

Real Sport Clube Massama

Meeting The Squad


Goalkeepers

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Defenders

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Midfielders

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Attacking Midfielders

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Strikers

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[Bitcho]

Really interesting story which makes a question pop up in my head...is it your real life story?
I'm Portuguese and recently moved from São Marcos - Cacém to Cardiff and I can relate with being in a strange place where, unlike you, the only thing I know is the language.
Keep it going, mate. I will definitely follow it.

Here's to your success!!

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

Real Sport Clube Massama

Key Players

Tiago Morgado (MC)

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Erico Castro (AMR STC)

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Altair Junior (AMRL)

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So these are the three guys I will be looking at to get us results on a frequent basis. If I can keep these guys injury free then it will go a long way to us meeting our target of avoiding a relegation scrap.

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[OhhhRickieLambert]

Really interesting story which makes a question pop up in my head...is it your real life story?
I'm Portuguese and recently moved from São Marcos - Cacém to Cardiff and I can relate with being in a strange place where, unlike you, the only thing I know is the language.
Keep it going, mate. I will definitely follow it.

Here's to your success!!

Cheers mate. It's loosely based on things that have happened to me and a few other friends. Thanks for following.

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

Real Sport Clube Massama

Pre-Season

Very happy with our pre-season. Although we played lesser opposition than we would during the season I was happy with how quickly we are gelling and the amount of goals we are scoring. Key players Castro (7 goals) and Altair (4 goals) were pivotal in pre-season. Hopefully they can continue their good mood into the season proper.

 

[OhhhRickieLambert]

Real Sport Clube Massama

August 2015

A positive start to the season after going behind very early on. For a split second I feared the worst but as the game went on we flexed our muscle and were the more deserving side. On a side note this was the first time I played on a red non-grass pitch...

A point here when our possession and general play suggested we deserved more. One shot on target isn't enough to win games at any level.

Injury News

Key player will miss the next few weeks including the Taca de Portugal clash. We have a few handy options on the left wing so we shouldn't miss him too much hopefully.

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[OhhhRickieLambert]

Real Sport Clube Massama

September 2015

Another good win away from home to continue our unbeaten run to start the season. We dominated possession and although the shot count was similar our defence didn't give them any easy chances.

Today we scraped through against a much inferior side. I did manage to give a few of the squad players a run though.

The concerning signs from the cup game manifested here as well. That's two draws from our two home games, this time against the bottom side. We look so comfortable away from home I'm curious as to why we're not repeating that form in front of our own fans.

Another away victory and two goals to striker Erico Castro.

Two more goals from Castro and we're through to the third round of the cup after beating fellow Campeonato side Anadia setting up a home tie with....

So the table was looking good to me after five games. We've hit the ground running and are looking a lot better than I had first thought we would.
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[Bitcho]

Maritímo is going to be a tough game. Well done on away games....did you figure out what´s going on at home games? Are they feeling the pressure from supporters

 

[Bitcho]

Did you quit your story?