Yes!! You did come to finland!! If you need hints I think I can help cause Im finnish :)
 
Yes!! You did come to finland!! If you need hints I think I can help cause Im finnish :)

well it was the only job I was offered after the interviews haha.

Cheers mate. Have never managed in the Finnish league before so will be interesting!
 
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The season had just finished when i took over as manager, with RoPS finishing 7th (out of 12 teams).

It was then a 3 month wait until the start of the Finnish League Cup, in January. The transfer window didn't open until February so there wasn't alot to do apart from sort backroom staff and begin training my tactics. i had decided to go for a 4-2-3-1 tactic, as this suited the key members of the team.


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The key members of squad that i had evaluated in training were as follows:

(Unfortunately the profile pic format size has gone a bit weird)


Bernardo Ribeiro
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Ribeiro is a Brazillian AMC with 4 U20 caps to his name. Although he never made it at senior level, it is an incredible achievement have even made it into the U20's. He will be the teams playmaker, and will be counting on him to have a good season going forward.



Mika Makitalo
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A Finnish CM, with decent ability. I will be looking for him to control the midfield, both going forward and defending. He is however suited to more of a playmaker role, so will be looking at utilising him as a DLP.



Tomer Chencinski
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A Canadian GK with 14 international caps. At the age of 31 he is entering the peak of his career as a goalkeeper and will be hoping for some big performances from him this season. He has raised concerns of being homesick, but will be doing my best to keep hold of him.



Jarkko Vartto
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A fullback that can play comfortably on both sides. He has 3 U21 caps for Finland and looks to have balanced ability in both his attacking and defensive duties.



Juha Pirinen
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Another Finnish fullback, although is more comfortable playing down the left. He can play in numerous other positions upfield, but will be down as my No1 LB going into the start of the season. A very useful squad member.



Finnish League Cup Draw

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Our first tournament is the League Cup before the League season begins in April (I believe). We will therefore be going all out in the cup with the ultimate aim of winning it, although the board told me there expectation is...."We dont care"

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Well now I'm very interested! Welcome to Finland! :D

To be honest though, SJK would have been a better club imo, but RoPS isn't a bad choice. One thing which you should be aware of, is the possible fixture congestion if you get European football. It is possible to have 5 games on 5 days in this year's FM when managing in Finland. It's a bug, and a nasty one.

Good luck!
 
Well now I'm very interested! Welcome to Finland! :D

To be honest though, SJK would have been a better club imo, but RoPS isn't a bad choice. One thing which you should be aware of, is the possible fixture congestion if you get European football. It is possible to have 5 games on 5 days in this year's FM when managing in Finland. It's a bug, and a nasty one.

Good luck!

Yeah I was hoping to get appointed at SJK, but they gave the job to Sami Hyypia!

Oh wow! That would be brutal on the squad, hopefully that bug doesn't pop up this season :S
 

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Finnish League Cup Group Stage


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View attachment 234654Our first game of the group was against FC Inter, a team we were expected to beat. Unfortunately we had a number of injuries at the back before kick off, which could cause us problems.

We raced into a 3-0 lead much to my delight on the touchline, but we let our intensity down which gave them a route back into the game. It was back to the walls stuff in the last 10 minutes but a swift counter attack saw us seal the victory.

Nice to get off to a winning start!









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The away fixture against IFK Mariehamn, was set to be tougher. I went for a counter attacking tactic which proved to be very effective. A stoppage time goal at the end of the game made for a nervy finish but we managed to see the game off.










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The return fixture against IFK Mariehamn was slightly less entertaining. We managed to dominate possession in the match but both teams appeared to cancel each other out in the final third. Finally we made our breakthrough in the 49th minute and were able to see the game out.

9 points from 9 meant that we had now qualified for the Quarter Finals with 1 game to spare.





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We had already secured top spot going into our final game of the group, but i was still eager to get the victory.

Unfortunately a poor start saw us trailing inside 4 minutes. A spectacular solo goal from Kokko saw us draw level in the 59th minute. We were on top at this point and told the team to push on. Despite being on top in the final stages of the match, a poor tackle in the area gave them a penalty and the victory.





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After comfortably winning Group D, we were drawn against AC Oulu 2 days later! Had i known of the short turn around i would have rested a number of key players in the last game. Hopefully the lads wont be too jaded and can give a good performance come Monday!

 
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A quick turn around of 2 days since our last match saw us face AC Oulu in the Quarter Final of the League Cup. This meant that I had to rotate a number of players due to fatigue.

The combination of changes and fatigue was evident in our play throughout the match. We didn't look as sharp as previous matches. Fortunately Nueves managed to head in a goal from a corner to give us the lead at half time. Despite being seemingly in control of the game, we gifted them an equaliser through a sloppy backpass. We dug deep and got 2 goals in 3 minutes to secure our place in the semi-finals!
 
Cortes screamer puts RoPS in Finnish Cup Final.

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It was always going to be a tough game as HJK were the Finnish Premier League Champions last season and there quality was evident through large parts of the match. They looked that extra bit sharper in most areas of the pitch but couldn't find the back of the net. The deciding factor came in the 35th minute when Fran Cortes caught a cleared header on the half volley, rifling it in off the underside of the crossbar. Next up the final.


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Starting Line-Ups
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10th​ minute – A chipped through ball from Winchester puts the Bohlin in behind the RoPS defensive line….he hits it first time….GOAL!!!! Oh wait flags up, he was offside. Big call, but the right call.

35th​ minute – RoPS play the ball out to lest to the overlapping fullback Pirinen… he ***** it in towards the top of the area… Kokko with a bicycle kick! HITS THE POST! What an effort from the striker. That would have been an outrageous goal. Still 0-0.

Half Time -RoPS look to be on top but it is all square at 0-0. Hopefully we will see a better second half!

49th​ minute – The Jaro goalkeeper has the ball and plays a short pass forward to one of his defenders… but he’s not looking.. the ball goes straight to Riberio, who plays a quick one-two with Kokko… He is bearing down on the keeper with not a defender in sight… GOAL!!! Riberio hits it with the outside of his foot and bends it round the keeper and into the bottom left corner. What a costly mistake from the Jaro goalkeeper. 1-0

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55th​ minute – Jaro whip a free kick into the 6 yard box… RoPS fail to clear the ball and it goes straight through to Ibrahim who cracks it from 4 yards out…. GOAL!! Poor defending from RoPS there and we are all square at 1-1. Game on.

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80th​ minute – The ball is pumped into the RoPS area from the halfway line towards Winchester but he misses the ball…..the ref has points to the spot Penalty! Confusion all around the stadium on that call, it looked like he miss timed his jump but the ref is saying Das Neves pushed him… A very soft call.

Bernhardt steps up to take it…. GOAL!! Beats the keeper into the top left corner of the net. 2-1 to Jaro, can RoPS respond with 10 minutes to go?



Full Time - What a second half! RoPS looked comfortable at 1-0 but fair play to Jaro, who fought there way back into the game! I am sure questions will be raised over that penalty decision.


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Pre-Season

The off season in the Indonesian Premier League was long and it was nearly 2 months before our first friendly came about. This gave me plenty of time to thoroughly evaluate the squad and familiarize them with my tactics and playing style.

Although it appeared i had a lot of free time having completed my transfers early on, and the team only training part time, there was still a lot to do. I had started a studying for my "National C" license, was attempting to learn the language and also had to find some more permanent accommodation and replace my stolen belongings, now that i had a steady income.

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The first friendly was fast approaching and I decided to call Dayat into my office to have a chat about the upcoming games.

"Take a seat Asep"

"Sure boss what's up?"

"I was going to ask if you would be alright taking charge of the friendly matches? Having never managed a game before I feel it would be best for me to take a back seat in these games and observe how its done. I also feel it will be beneficial to watch the game from the stands, so i can make adjustments to our tactics where i see fit for future matches."

"I would be delighted to manage the team in the friendlies boss! But do you not think it would be wise to get some experience for yourself in these friendlies?"

"Great! I did think that myself, but for now i would prefer to observe from the stands and make adjustments ready for the start of the season. I told you before, you can call me Sean you know?"

"Ok. Good plan. Thanks for the opportunity.....Sean"



It was a fantastic preseason for us, going unbeaten in all 5 games; winning 4 an drawing 1. In all honesty i didn't really know the standard of teams that we were playing, but i couldnt fault the lads or Dayat! We looked very impressive, and not too many adjustments were required and i felt that i had a starting line up already picked out for my opening game of the season.

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"Maybe you should become the full time manager" I said jokingly to Dayat after the final match.

We both grinned, but knew there was still alot of work to do come the start of the season despite our pre-season successs
Good read so far, looking forward to where it goes.
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Oh God why hath you forsaken me???? I thought I had broke my addiction to stories such as this... But this, this is gold. I cannot resist it.

On a more serious note, keep it up, this is interesting!
 
Oh God why hath you forsaken me???? I thought I had broke my addiction to stories such as this... But this, this is gold. I cannot resist it.

On a more serious note, keep it up, this is interesting!


Haha cheers mate - Great to know people are enjoying it! :)
 
I wasn't given a huge budget to work with, but managed to make a few decent signings. The window is still open, but these are the signings made before the start of the season.

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Mika Aaritalo is an experienced winger with 6 international caps for Finland. I was pleased to acquire him for the relatively small fee of 35k. He will be pushing for 1st team football this season and gives me some options on the left wing.






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Jake Buxton is a massive signing for us! He is an experienced CB, having played for Derby in the Championship for 7 season and after being deemed surplus to requirements I managed to pick him up on a free transfer. On paper he is our number 1 CB and I will be hoping he can settle quickly and be our rock at the back this season.






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Busic is another experienced player, with a good goalscoring record across Europe. I have signed him on a 2 month loan deal and will possibly be looking to make this permanent should he impress in the upcoming matches.





 
Winning start for RoPS

A solid start to the Finnish Premier League saw us comfortably defeat IFK Mariehamn. We controlled the game from start to finish and were perhaps unlucky not to win by a bigger margin. It was also good to see an instant impact from new signing Busic, who scored 5 minutes after coming on as a substitute.

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Tempers flare as RoPS edge out TPS

A fiery encounter which saw 7 yellows and 1 red card brandished by the referee. Despite the poor discipline of both sides, we were able to ****** the victory from the penalty spot. It was a nervy end to the game as we had to defend our lead with 10 men after Luokkala was sent off a minute after we took the lead.

Not the best spectacle in the world but we come away with the all important 3 points.


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