Journey through Ukraine

[chrisloaf]

Started a journey in Ukraine with the target of winning European honours with Dynamo Kyiv, so i've plumped to start with FC Obolon Kyiv, aka The Brewers in the Ukrainian 2nd tier. They've spent a handful of years in the top tier in their relatively short existence and play at the 5k capacity Obolon Arena. I've loaded up the leagues of neighbouring countries Romania, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary, and have also made Moldovan players available. Have relied on loans from Dynamo Kyiv for a few other players as the squad was severly lacking depth (and any wingers), the backroom staff numbers are very light also. Wage budget is 3k and we're already slightly above that having signed a Moldovan international winger on a free transfer. Mr Chairman told me where to shove it when I asked for a parent club on my first day and has done so ever since.

The league system here is fairly straight forward. 2nd tier holds 16 teams play each other twice home and away, the bottom four go down, the top 2 go up and 3rd/4th go into a play off with 13th/14th in the Premier League. Whoever wins that two legged tie secures their place in the top division next season. Went unbeaten in my five friendlies despite being unspectacular, and had a solid start to my league season, winning 10 and drawing 3 of my first 13. Won in two preliminary rounds of the Ukraine Cup before being unfortunate in defeat at home to top division side Dnipro-1 in the 1st round proper. The injuries started creeping in here, numberous long term too including my star RM breaking his leg. I had a 7pt lead over 3rd place Metalist, and 11pt lead over 5th place. At this point the top five were starting to break away from the rest, and my form started to dip dramatically. I head into the winter break (after 21 games) still in top spot but only 3pts ahead of 5th. My bad form continues after the winter break and with four games left, I am 6pts off 5th place having completely fell off the cliff. I sneak a 1-0 win away to a mid-table side which kickstarts my season, going on to win my next two, including a spectacular 4-1 victory at eventual champions Polissia. Head into the last match at home to a side already relegated, while 4th place Ahrobiznes (1pt ahead of me) are at home to Polissia. I win 4-2 and they lose 0-3, meaning I sneak back into the top 4 at the death.

The draw for the play offs puts me up against Rukh Lviv, who finished 13th in the top tier. The first leg is away and i'm able to come away with a 1-0 win in an even match, before beating them 2-1 in the home leg to secure promotion at the first time of asking. 3rd placed Metalist being 14th placed Mariupol in the other play-off meaning four new sides will be in the Premier League next season. A few of my star players have already agreed moves elsewhere, so a major rebuild is needed before I head into what should be an incredibly difficult 2nd season. Wage budget has shot up to 32k p/w and i've been given 50k to spend, first and foremost I need to invest in some backroom staff. I'm still open to moving on to another club, even staying in the 2nd tier if the right, decent sized club becomes available. I had my eye on Metalist not going up who I assume would have sacked their manager if they didn't win in their play off match. Ironically the only job that has came up in the off-season is Dynamo Kyiv, but i'm not ready for that. More than happy to try my hand at 2 or 3 Ukranian clubs before moving on to them

 

[chrisloaf]

June 4th was the day we won promotion to the Premier League. The fixtures for the new season were announced in the last week of June, by which point i'd secured the signatures of three new players to add to the 13 i'd already had on board for the new season. July 1st comes around and the new players join up, but i'm still in need of atleast another 8 or 9 players. I checked the start date of the previous PL season and found it was 25th July, so I go to pencil in a handful of friendlies to find that the new PL season will start on 9th July, giving me 8 days to put
the bulk of the squad together and build match fitness with just one friendly at home to recently relegated Inhulets. I end up having to sign players without any scouting and hoping they'd be good enough for me. For context, recruitment was a massive struggle and my attacking options this season (i've always played 4-4-2, occasionally swapping to a 4-3-1-2) are my 2nd and 4th choice from last season, as well as a youngster from Shakhtar whos primarily a winger, and a 16yo. First game of the season is away to top half side Chornomorets, we take an early lead but fall to a respectable 2-1 defeat. We follow that up with two impressive victories against Lviv and Metalist 1925 before two more defeats, including at home to rivals Dynamo Kyiv. We take one more victory at home to 9-man Oleksandriia before the rot really kicks, losing 5 and drawing 3 of our next 8, with a 1st round Ukrainian Cup defeat to 3rd tier Nyva Ternopol thrown in for good measure. Another victory over Lviv sees us go into the World Cup/Winter break with our heads just above water, in 12th, 2pts ahead of the relegation play offs. Again just one friendly is managed to regain match fitness after the winter break before two home games against Dnipro-1 and Metalist 1925. Absolutely battered in both but we steal a point in each with 94th minute equalisers.

I've had my eye on other jobs in the division all season. Zorya Luhansk, without applying for it, offered me an interview back in November which I declined. Interesting proposition which i'd be keen on later down the line, however I feel a job of that stature is too early for me to jump on. However just after the winter break, the job at FC Lviv becomes available which I go ahead and apply for, and a week or so later end up being offered and accepting the job. At this stage Obolon sit 12th, 1 pt ahead of Metalist in 13th, but Lviv are rock bottom with 10pts, 4pts off the
relegation play offs. Big risk to take but long term I think the prospects are better here. 12 games remain to attempt to stay in the division.

We get off to a solid start with a 1-1 draw at home to (best of the rest) Desna, and follow that up with a convincing 3-0 away win at newly bottom side Veres. From here we have this bizarre scenario where, except for the last two games of the season, all league fixtures are played every two weekends. The World Cup in Qatar meant our winter break was pushed forward maybe 2 or 3 weeks but the restart to the season was about 5 weeks ahead of normal. Despite a positive first few games, we can't build a run and end up losing 5 in a row towards the end of the season to be relegated with a game to spare. When the pressure is off we finish the season with a 2-0 victory against mid-table Kolos. I also inherited the old manager's Ukrainian Cup run, picking up from the Semi Final stage but losing away to Zorya.

The squad here is the stark opposite to what I had at Obolon. At Lviv i'm overrun with wingers and (on paper) quality up top, but very short on quality at the back. I've tried to sign a few of my old Obolon players, who also got relegated via the play offs, but they don't like the propect of Division 1 football again. A lot of players have came to me wanting to leave which leaves me in only a slightly better position to how I found myself last summer recruiting for Obolon. Have managed to ship quite a few out in a fire sale, bringing in 375k when it should probably be closer to 1m. My wage budget is suprisingly slightly less than it was at Obolon but I have a decent transfer budget (185k) to bring in some players. However recruitment is proving difficult.

So the risk is swapping Obolon for Lviv didn't pay off however our prospects long term should be a lot brighter if we manage to go back up at the first attempt.

21/22 - Obolon Kyiv - First League - 4th (play off winners)
22/23 - Obolon Kyiv (July-January) - Premier League / PFC Lviv (January >) - Premier League - 15th (relegation)

 

[chrisloaf]

Managed to put a squad together which I feel lacks quality in depth, but is certainly very versatile. Bought in a total of 9 players, 4 of which costing money totalling 73k, two of which I managed grab in the end from Obolon. We go into the season with a Brazilian RAM who is far too good for us and has already signed a contract with a club in his homeland who he'll be joining in January, but we'll cross the bridge of replacing him then. Pre-season was generally decent, unbeaten in 5 games with a draw and a win against Premier League opposition. Strangely started the season with three home games, winning 2 and drawing the other (thanks to shipping a 94th min equaliser) before going on an impressive 9 game winning streak with an embarrasing defeat to lower league opposition in the first round of the Ukrainian Cup slipped in the middle of it all. Also included in that run was a 3-0 victory at fierce rivals Karpaty. Then the classic FM switch gets pressed, going winless but staying unbeaten in my next three games before returning to winning ways with 3 more on the bounce. A first league defeat of the season away at struggling Podillya prompted a backlash on our next opponents Olimpik Donetsk, who we beat 7-1 (6-1 HT), following that up with a crucial 3-2 victory away at Obolon Kyiv who sat in 3rd at the time. A 4-0 win at home to Volyn meant we sat top of the table going into the winter break (P21 W16 D4 L1) on 52pts, 9 ahead of Metalist 1925 in 2nd, 10 ahead of Obolon Kyiv in 3rd and 12 ahead of 5th placed Krynik-Sport. Free signing from Shakhtar Stanislav Biblyk lit up the division with 18 goals in 21 games and midfield maestro Oleksandr Vasylev bagged two hat-tricks. Pernambuco (the Brazilian winger) leaves us with 8 goals and 7 assists and a fairly big hole to fill



Managed to replace him with the loan signing of a RM from Desna, who I had for my first season at Obolon. However I gave the starting role to current backup Volodymyr Yakimets who played a starring role at the season restart. My first two games were crucial, away at 2nd placed Metalist 1925 and then home to Veres in 4th. We came through these with flying colours which more or less guaranteed promotion. Two games and two wins later, with five left to play, we'd sealed promotion with a 3-0 home win against rivals Karpaty. The title was secured a game later with another win, before our players collectively decided they couldn't be ****** anymore and went on to draw the next two and lose the final two games in a very sombre endind to what was an extremely encouraging season. Ended with 21 wins, 6 draws and 3 defeats, 10pts clear of Obolon Kyiv who also return to the Premier League at the first time of asking and 14pts clear of Veres, who won one of the play off ties to ALSO return to the top flight. Metalist 1925 made sure the four relegated teams from 22/23 finished in the top four, but they lost their play off tie against Desna.

Eight of my players were named in the First League team of the season. Wage budget has nearly doubled to 39k, currently sitting on 19k so plenty of room bring in new players which I desperately need to do to add quality in depth. Also we've formed a B club, a week after the board denied my request to do so.


21/22 - Obolon Kyiv - First League - 4th (play off winners)
22/23 - Obolon Kyiv (July-January) - Premier League / PFC Lviv (January >) - Premier League - 15th (relegation)
23/24 - PFC Lviv - First League - 1st

 

[chrisloaf]

Managed to make a fairly decent signing in former Shakhtar winger Andriy Boriachuk, signing from for 180k from fellow Premier League side Polissia. Spent another 17k on making a loan signing permanent, and 16.5k on a young LB from Metalist. Other than that, again I relied on free transfers and a couple of loans. Still severly lacked quality in depth in CM, a problem when I play a mix of 4-2-3-1 and 4-5-1 (2 attacking wingers). A convincing pre-season for the first time in my career, winning all 5 games against a mix of opponents from last season, lower league and a Romanian top flight side. Season began in promising fashion performance-wise, with 1-1 draws against Oleksandriia and Dnipro-1, before a run of 5 straight defeats saw us bottom after 7 games. A 2-1 victory at local rivals Rukh Lviv in the Ukranian Cup 1st round saw an upturn in form in the league, winning 3 and drawing 2 of the next 5 games before my results started to yo-yo again, losing to Shakhtar and Kolos, winning at both Obolon and Oleksandriia, then going on to lose against Dnipro-1 and Zorya. We went into Christmas sitting in 12th, just outside the relegation play offs but with a 5 point cushion to Chornomorets. I'd also reached the Ukrainian Cup Quarter finals, but have the daunting task of hosting Dynamo Kyiv, who had just knocked out Shakhtar.

I decided this season i'll keep an eye on any jobs going at around the level of Vorskla, Zorya and Metalist, otherwise known as the best of the rest. The Zorya job became available just before my game against Dnipro, so I decided i'll wait a week and throw my name into the hat a few days before we travel to play Zorya in the final game before the winter break. On the morning of our game, they offer me a job interview. Job interview at 9, take charge against them at 5. Three days later I get the call and accept the job. Predicted 5th, we currently sit in 8th, comfortably away from any relegation fears and only 5pts off the top 5 and a European spot. My aim here is to spend hopefully atleast two or three full seasons here before moving onto the Dynamo Kyiv job, whenever it may become available.

The squad was lacking depth but I decided against bringing in new players in January/February, mainly as the transfer/wage budgets didn't give me much room to. Went on a tour of Slovakia to get ready for the season restart which could have been a lot kinder to me. First game was a 3-2 defeat at Dynamo Kyiv (which absolutely flattered us), before an extra time defeat at Dnipro-1 in the Ukrainian Cup. The first win came next at home to Metalist, winning 4-1 despite probably being 2nd best. From here we were able to get a bit of a run going, 4 of the next 5 with a defeat at 3rd place Vorskla in between. We were beginning to close on Metalist in 5th for the final European spot, but after they won the Ukrainian Cup, 5th place seemed to lose its European spot, so the end of the season was a bit of a damp squib, finishing level 1pt behind them in 6th. Much more interesting was the relegation battle. Former club Obolon Kyiv managed to win their first game of the season at the 27th time of asking, this kept their extremely slim hopes of reaching a relegation play off spot alive. We travelled to Obolon Kyiv next match and won 3-1 to put the final nail in their coffin. PFC Lviv went into the final game occupying the first relegation play off spot, but could still finish as high as 10th. Their remaining game being at home to Obolon also worked in their favour. They went ahead early on but relied on Obolon Kyiv missing an 88th minute penalty, having survived that they went on to win and finish 11th. Minaj dropped to the final play off spot, and went on to lose to Karpaty who return to the Premier League for the first time since being reformed.

A top five finish will be the target next season. Yet another summer of strong recruitment is needed which will be tricky given the lack of meaningful transfer funds. Striker Shahab Zahedi ended the season with 26 goals in 30 starts, including 3 hat-tricks and a couple of braces in the time i've been here. Enough to be optimistic about for the future but Shakhtar/Dynamo Kyiv still look on another level to the rest of the league.


21/22 - Obolon Kyiv - First League - 4th (play off winners)
22/23 - Obolon Kyiv (July-January) - Premier League / PFC Lviv (January >) - Premier League - 15th (relegation)
23/24 - PFC Lviv - First League - 1st
24/25 - PFC Lviv (July-December) - Premier League / Zorya Luhansk (December >) - Premier League - 6th

 

[chrisloaf]

Pre-season went well with a 2-2 draw at LKS Lodz in our tour of Poland the only blip. Ended up having to commit to having a fairly small squad but was happy with the signings I managed to make which were all free signings, namely Artem Bondarenko from Shakhtar. The fixture list wasn't kind to us to begin the season, taking only 5pts from the first 5 games before managing to break free and hit a bit of form, winning the next four games against lesser opposition (with the exception of Dnipro, where we won 2-1). Wanted to have a crack at the Ukrainian Cup but again, the draw did us no favours and matched us against Shakhtar, who beat us 2-1. Our form stuttered again just before the winter break which caused the board to want a meeting with me, despite sitting top half and only a few points off our target of 5th place.

Our squad was trimmed again in January with the departure of our backup RB on a free transfer, with our star CM becoming emergency back up as no decent RB's were available on loan. Two more attacking options were poached and will leave the club on a free in the summer, while we were able to agree terms with two new CBs to join at the end of the season. Another attacking option that we had on loan from Dnipro was recalled by his club leaving us just about able to put together a matchday squad without having to dip into the reserves. I was able to eek out enough from remaining transfer/wage budget to sign an 18yo Brazilian attacking midfielder on a free transfer who looks very highly rated and would go on to play an important part for the remainder of the season. Don't want to become a selling club however any money we can get from him would probably prove to be very handy, he has a 14m release clause and was wanted by Chelsea and Legia Warsaw before joining us.

A very tricky start after the winter break saw us lose 3 straight games against Dynamo Kyiv, Metalist and Dnipro, rounding off with a draw at bottom side (and winless) Karpaty. By now we'd slipped to 8th, about 7pts off 5th with 8 games to go. The board wanted talks with me after the latter of those 3 games but I was able to get off being set a target of x points from the next x games. A kinder run of games meant we won the next four without conceding, before a humdinger of a match with Shakhtar, where for the first time we were able to put up something of a fight against one of the big two. Pegged back from going 2-0 up, we restored our two goal lead midway into the 2nd half before collapsing to a 5-4 defeat. Shakhtar conceded a quarter of their goals in that match but utterly dominated the season, winning all but one match which was a draw at 3rd place Vorskla. By this stage we'd ourselves level in the fight for 5th, then going on to win the next two matches which was enough to seal 5th place and a Euro Conference League qualifying spot for next season with a game to spare. Depsite board pressure I was offered a new two year contract before the Shakhtar game which I wasn't sure I was going to receive.

We were a bit streaky at times over the course of the season and still feel that the teams I want us to be fighting with we still struggle to compete with on the pitch, and definitely on the financial side of things. Wage budget has gone from 100k to 125k with a 100k transfer budget which again won't help me too much add to the small squad we've already got, especially with European football to contend with next season.


21/22 - Obolon Kyiv - First League - 4th (play off winners)
22/23 - Obolon Kyiv (July-January) - Premier League / PFC Lviv (January >) - Premier League - 15th (relegation)
23/24 - PFC Lviv - First League - 1st
24/25 - PFC Lviv (July-December) - Premier League / Zorya Luhansk (December >) - Premier League - 6th
25/26 - Zorya Luhansk - Premier League - 5th (Euro Conference League qualification)

 

[chrisloaf]

Reinforcements for European football would have proved to be a waste of time as yet again a cup draw was fairly harsh for us. We entered the Euro Conference qualifiers at the second round, comfortably seeing off FC Voluntari of Romania before being drawn against Vitoria Guimaraes in the next round. We actually battered them in the first leg at home but were pegged back in the last minute as per. Then we seemed to play a different side in the away leg, got battered however snuck a lead in the second half and again conceding late on, going on to lost 5-2 in ET. That led the way to a disastrous start to the season taking one point from the first six games. Confidence shot, I arranged a friendly against what must be a sunday league side who we beat 14-0, which sparked a 5-0 thrashing of Dnipro, followed by two more wins and then a credible 1-1 draw at Dynamo Kyiv, our first against one of the leagues heavy hitters. The winning streak continued after this before a blip just before Christmas, drawing a couple against lesser sides and our annual thrashing at Shakhtar. We went into the winter break having recovered up to 7th, but the top five of Shakhtar, Metalist, Dynamo Kyiv, Vorskla and Dnipro-1 were already long gone, meaning our route to European football next season could only be achieved by winning the Ukrainian Cup which we'd navigated our way through to the Quarter Finals at this point. Somehow i'd avoided any ultimatums from the board.



Our promising form returned after the winter break, beating Veres, then Metalist away on penalties in the Cup QF, and three 1-1 draws against three of the top five (excl Shakhtar & Dynamo Kyv). One more win and then the switch was flicked, a 2-0 defeat at lowly Rukh Lviv triggering four more defeats in the next six. In between all that was a Cup SF win at home to Rukh Lviv, a cup draw for once being kind to us however the other semi final was contested between Shakhtar and Dynamo Kyiv. The final was played at the neutral venue of Shakhtar's home ground.............. we lost 3-0. A 1-1 draw away at Chornomorets meant we had all but mathematically sealed 6th place. A season of three parts, a rubbish start and ending with a run of 1 defeat in 17 in the middle.



Our squad is ageing and club finances remain poor. We did have two players take 1st and 2nd in the YPOTS awards, the first of which was Paolo Cesar, the Brazilian freebie from 18 months ago who is key to the next phase of the project. Arguably our best player but also a player we desperately need to cash in on, in the end having to go as low as 8m but with a nice 30% profit of the next sale coming our way. A few fee transfers were agreed back in January, namely Luxembourg international Olivier Thill from Vorskla. Only 2.5m was added to the transfer budget of Cesar's sale, so we've had to make some shrewd signings including a young Georgian international CM. The board were quick to tell me they were disappointed with the season after the final game and requested to know how I plan to change things. I have a year left on my contract, right now its hard to see me making it to the end of it but unless there was serious strides taken this season then it may be best to part ways in a years time.


21/22 - Obolon Kyiv - First League - 4th (play off winners)
22/23 - Obolon Kyiv (July-January) - Premier League / PFC Lviv (January >) - Premier League - 15th (relegation)
23/24 - PFC Lviv - First League - 1st
24/25 - PFC Lviv (July-December) - Premier League / Zorya Luhansk (December >) - Premier League - 6th
25/26 - Zorya Luhansk - Premier League - 5th (Euro Conference League qualification)
26/27 - Zorya Luhansk - Premier League - 6th