My round the world adventure

[garthy1706]

It was nearly every boys dream to play top level football but mine was slightly different I wanted to manage a great manager. From a young age I was always playing football on the streets with the local kids. It was great every day after school I would go home get changed and go out and play football. I could see many of the other kids I played with wanted to be footballers when they were older but I doubted any of them would make it as they just didn’t have the talent and they never played for any of the local junior sides. I was different though I enjoyed playing football but I enjoyed it more telling the others what to do with the ball or where to stand on the street. I wanted to manage a football club.

From that moment on I started to watch football games on the telly to see the different management styles. I wanted to see what kind of tactics were used, when the best time to make a substitution was all the little things that made you a great manager. I also went to the library on a regular basis looking at books about football and the management side of things, and I also checked out autobiographies and biographies of the different managers so I could how they did things. My only problem was though since I was only young there was no way of me being able to practice my management skills and no one would take me seriously. I just had to bide my time and see what opportunities would arise while I was still at school. I did get a small break in Secondary School as one of the P.E. Teachers let me help out after school with football practice and he also let me help out with any matches we had. I did this from year 7 right through until I left in year 13. It did help me out a bit as it half helped me decided what kind of manager I wanted to be. I wanted to be the manager that played beautiful football and passed the ball extremely well. We tried to encourage that at school and it worked to an extent as we did manage to pass the ball well but our shooting skills were poor.

After I left school I didn’t know what to do as I didn’t get many exams as I spent most of my time playing the old championship manager games or reading about football management. I dossed around at home for a few years watching the tv and keeping up to date with all the football news and then when I turned 21 I decided that enough was enough and that I would have to do something with myself so I went down to my local pub and asked if I could help manage the pub team. The landlord told me that he was the manager of the team but he could always use some help. The team played in a Sunday League with other pub teams and a few teams that were made up of mates who just wanted a game of football. For the next 4 years I helped out there and we managed to win the league on a couple of occasions but it wasn’t enough for me. I would never get anywhere doing this so I decided I needed to write a CV.

I am going to leave England though for the forseeable future. I want to make a name for myself somewhere else first and then come back to england with a lot of experience under my belt. Hopefully I can start over in South America or North America and work my way around the world before finding myself back in Europe.

 

[Sumner_05]

good start mate

 

[garthy1706]

After hours of sitting there achieving nothing, I finally found what I was looking for. The website had everything I needed. It speculated which manager were under pressure, and also told me all the clubs that were managerless in South America. There were 8 in Brazil, 2 in Argentina and 1 in Uruguay. I went onto google and searched for each of the clubs. I went on each of the clubs wesbites and got their email addresses. I then proceeded to email each of the clubs and gave them my CV. It took me about an hour but when it was done I was very pleased myself. All I could do now was wait and hope that one of them would give me a chance to show my skills.


Nearly a week and gone by and I was very nervous. I decided to boot up my laptop and log onto my emails. To my surprise 4 out of the 11 clubs had already got back to me. In my mind thought I was thinking they were just being polite and saying thanks for the application. To my shock all 4 of them had offered my the opportunity to become the next manager. The next thing to do was look at what they were offering to determine who I would manage.


Santo Andre

Transfer Budget: £29k
Wage Budget: £34.5k per week
Current Player Wage Total: £23.35l per week

Guarany de Sobral

Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £14.75k per week
Current Player Wage Total: £14.89k per week

Gimnasia

Transfer Budget: £94k
Wage Budget: £5.75k per week
Current Player Wage Total: £5.58k per week

Luverdense

Transfer Budget: £0
Wage Budget: £9.75k per week
Current Player Wage Total: £10.01k per week


After looking at the 4 options I easily eliminated 2 straight away. I was going to manage in a country where I don't know the language or the customs. I didn't need the added pressure of trying to reduce the wage budget before being able to buy players. That left me with Santo Andre and Gimnasia. Santo Andre really excited me as they had a lot of space left on there wage bidget plus a transfer budget. Gimnasia on the other hand had a larger transfer budget but only a little of the wage budget left. I checked both squad and Santo Andre played prodominantly through the middle where Gimnasia had some wingers I could use. In the end I decided to accept Gimnasia's offer as they had the players I needed for the style of play I wanted to play. It would have taken a lot of hard work to get Santo Andre playing more on the wings so decided to take the slightlu easier option. With a big smile on my face I emailed them back to say I was delighted to accept.

 

[AldoKemp-1]

Good start, good idea, good luck. I would recommend you try do the Pentagon challenge whilst doing this story, Your choice obviouslyand would also say increase the size of your writing as it is quite hard to read being that small.

 

[garthy1706]

After I accepted the job I went straight down to Heathrow Airport to get on the next flight to Argentina. When I arrived I found out it wouldn't be until tomorrow. I decided to give the Chairman a call and tell him when I would be arriving. He said he would have someone waiting for me. I then checked into a hotel near by and stayed there for the night. I was up early the next morning so I could get to the airport and get checked in ready for my flight to Argentina. After a couple of hours wait finally boarded the plane and headed off to Argentina to begin my managerial career.

It was a bit of a bumpy flight but 11 hours later I arrived at Buenos Aries. It took a bit of a while to get my bags and get through customs, but as promised someone was waiting for me at the airport. He spoke a bit of English so we could have a basic conversation. He took me to the Stadium where I would meet the Chairman for our first meeting. It looked quiten impressive from the outside. I did my research and it can hold up to 25,000 people with 5,000 of that made up of seating. When we arrived at the stadium the Chairman was stood outisde waiting. He shook my hand and then led me to the board room. We had an hour meeting where we discussed a few things like season expectations in the league and cup and confirmed the transfer and wage budgets. He also told me I had been given a 3 year deal on £575 a week. The club were also renting a flat for me, so I decided after a long flight to call it a day. I would be in early tomorrow so I could meet the rest of the staff and have a look at my squad for the first time.

 

[Cole89]

great start mate

 

[garthy1706]

After a good nights sleep I was ready for my first full day in management. The first thing I wanted to do was sit down with my Assistant and my scouts. I wanted the assistant to give me a report on what the team looked like. Then any weak links we may have the scouts can then go and find me some suitable replacements. After the meeting was over I felt more confident with the squad I had. There were a couple of positions that needed strengthening. I needed a new left back preferably 2 wingers and a striker but the core of the team is very good and should do well this season.


Now it was time to take my first training session. It is currently the beginning of July but the season doesn't start until near the end of August so I have plenty of time to get my methods across in training and in the friendlies we have. The first traning session I had I did a fitness test to see how fit my players were. Overall they weren't too bad, they were a couple of players who need to a lot of work to get fit but time was on our side before the start of the season. Then for the rest of the training session I wanted to get the message across that we would be making a lot of short passes this season to win games. So the emphasis was on passing and moving, which they were doing very well. Whilst the traning session was going on I received a phone call from my scout about a potential signing. He had found a left winger who was marginally better than my current one. The winger in question was only 20 though so had plenty of time to improve which my scout thinks he will. At the end of the training session I gave the winger a call and offered him a contract which I hope he will accept. I then went back to my flat and sent my family a text to tell them how well the first couple of days are going.

 

[garthy1706]

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My first week in football management had passed and things are going very well. My spanish is getting better but I still using a translator at the moment. The passing was starting to improve and also I was starting to think who my first 11 could be at the start of the season. The friendlies were still to come so my mind could be changed througout each friendly. We have also welcomed 2 new arrivals to the club. The left winger who I offered a contract to decided to sign, and I got the striker I needed. I have offered a contract to 2 left backs just incase the one I want decided to decline my offer. Now it was time to prepare for all the friendlies ahead.

 

[garthy1706]

Pre-season is nearly over and nealry all my players are match fit. However my new Left Winger was injured and will be out for about another 5 weeks which is a blow. Some of the results in the friendlies weren't fantastic but at the end of the day it was all about my players getting match fit.

View attachment 209409

The first friendly match we played was a behind closed door affair against the reserves. I wanted to see who would be worthy of being in the first team and who I may need to get rid of. In the end the first team won 2-1 but the result didn't matter I had a better understanding of all my players. In the next friendly we hosted Belgrano, who are in the Premier Division. We took the lead just before half time, but in the 2nd hlaf we conceded 2 goals to lose 2-1. We then played host to another Premiership side in Velez. We were given a rude awakening to be 2 goals down inside 15 minutes but 2 goals inside 4 minutes later in the half brought us level. Unfortunately though Velez scored again just before half time to make it 3-2. Velez had quite a few opportunities to win the game but we scored in the 76th minute to make it 3-3 and that is how it stayed. We then lost 4-2 to Gimnasia y Tiro who are in the league below us. The dressing room wasn't a good place to be after the match as I told them exactly how I felt. We then played hosts to 3 Brazilian teams Atletico Paranaense, Botafogo and Santos. We were stuffed 4-0 by Atletico Paranaense and then 5-1 by Botafogo so I didn't harbour much hope for the Santos game. By some miracle though we managed to one 1-0 thanks to an own goal. This game the team some confidence heading into the first game of the season.

We also managed to sign the main Left Back I wanted. Both left backs accepted the contracts but I cancelled the confirmation of the 2nd choice. We have about £360 wage budget yet but I still haven't let anybody go so I have that option as well. I am now ready for the first game of the season.

 

[garthy1706]

It was the big day it was my first real match as manager, even though I had taken control of the friendly matches. I had a suit tailor made especially for today and couldn't wait to put it on. Surprisingly I slept well last night, I thought I would be tossing and turning with the nerves that I had. I wanted all the players there mid afternoon as it was the first game of the season and I wanted all the players to have a light training session before the game to prepare themselves. After chilling for most of the day and then having a big lunch I made my way to the ground. All the players were due at 3[m ready for the 9pm kick off. When I arrived at the ground it was 2pm, I had time to prepare the training pitches for the session ahead. Once I had done that I then went into my office and thought about the team for today's game. I was pretty sure of who was going to be playing today but the training session was also there for players to impress me before the game. Everyone arrived on time and were on the pitch and ready to start by 3. I was very impressed with the attitude they showed before the big game. Before they arrived I spoke to my Assistant and told him what I wanted the players to do. While training was going on I stood back from it all and watched from a far to see how they were all doing. A couple of players gave me something to think about before the game started. Once training was over the players then headed to the changing rooms to sit down and relax for a bit before heading out just before the match to do there stretches. I had decided my team and when everyone came back in I told them who was playing. There was a few disappointed faces which were understandable. There was only 15 minutes to go before kick off, so I decided to give a brief team talk. I told the players that I didn't want them just to impress me, I wanted them to impress the fans that had come to watch us today. With that the players headed out to the tunnel and I stood at the back ready for my big moment.

View attachment 209426


The match was over and we had won !!! It was a nervy affair with not many shots on target but in the end it was us that scored the winning goal. After the match I had a word with Pablo for getting sent off but I didn't want it to ruin the moment.

 

[garthy1706]

August


After winning the opening match I wanted to try and win our only other match in August. It was against Atlanta who are predicted to finish 15th so we have a good chance.

View attachment 209427

Well what a turnaround from the first game. We were very poor today. A couple of late goals made the scoreline look close but in fairness we didn't deserve them. I hope we can get back to winning ways shortly.