Roberto Carlos - Player Manager

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Harriers09

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I'd only joined Anzhi Makhachkala in February. Suleyman Kerimov, the Russian billionaire, had just purchased the a month earlier and set about creating a club capable of competing at a top European level.

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The first part of Kerimov's long-term plan was to raise the profile of the club by a number of high pofile players. As one of these players, I can say I was here at the start of something special.


I was 38 and I knew my long and successful career was coming to an end, so the offer of £87,000 per week from Anzhi and the chance of making a real change in Russian and European football before I retired peacefully seemed an ideal way to end my successful career.

When I arrived to meet the manager, Gadji Gadjiev, his vision for the club was extradinary. With a billionaires cash would fund a massive overhall of facilities, youth programmes, playing staff and backroom staff. He saw how enthusiastic and motivated I was for the development programme, looked me dead in the eye and offered me the captain's armband. I was in.

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My family were just about settled into our new home in Kratovo, a village near Moscow . For security reasons after some cival unrest the squad trains here and then fly around 1,250 miles 15 times a season for the home games. It's a strange arrangement and it takes a little time to get used to so much traveling. In the future it would be great if the team could be permenently based back in Makhachkala, but only time will tell.

Unfortunatly Anzhi don't own their own stadium. We have to rent from a team well below our status in Russia, our local rival Dinamo Makhachkala. The owner has promised us a stadium of our own, only then can we push forward in the future.

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Dinamo (Anzhi's rented stadium)


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The initial design of 'Anzhi-City' with it's centre piece, Anzhi Arena

No thanks to some old man injury concerns, I had only made 7 appearances since i joined and it's now the end of June. I'd hoped for better. Even at 38 I'm working as hard as ever to stay fit and I should be ready to play again any day now.

We have been doing well in the league. 3rd place after 13 games leaves us with the chance of claiming our highest league position ever, beating Anzhi's previous record of 4th in 2000.

Things seemed to be going well, but things never seem to work out just how you'd like.....
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Gadjiev Sacked!!!

My wife woke me up. If the sound of the newspaper hitting me on the head was'nt enough to wake me up, the discomfort of a second more forceful hit definatly was. I look at my watch, 8am, I havent got to be at training till 10, why the early wake up?

"Read it", she barked.

Still half asleep i grabed the newspaper and looked at the headline. My Russian still was'nt up to scratch nearly 5 months of living here but i could make out one word. Sacked.

I immediately called my agent to make sure the article refered to me, but when i found out it was the gaffer who had lost his job i felt even worse. He had given me the captaincy and I had forged a good relationship with him. I couldn't beleive what I was reading.

The next thing I knew my Nokia 4210 was ringing. I stared at it and nearly crapped myself. It was Mr. Kerimov.

"Hello", I answered.

"Roberto!! How are you my friend? Let me cut right to the chase, Gadji Gadjiev was a cancer on this club. He didnt share the same vision as me and was slowly dragging his heels. He had to go." Mr. Kerimov replied in a very assertive yet jovial fashion that was just typical of his character.

I felt I had to say something, "Mr. Kerimov I understand your position, but we are doing very well in the league at the moment. The gaffer was doing a good job from that point of view. As captain he was great to work with. I respect your decision but with all due respect this could be a backwards step. Finding a new manager and letting him gel with the team will take time." I felt a little intimidated but I respected Mr. Kerimov and I hoped he would see I was just doing my duty as Anzhi's's captain.

"Roberto, come on now, you worry too much! I have already picked his successor! Congratulations you are Anzhi's new manager!" The phone then went dead. I paused for a minute to grasp what had just happened. It didn't sound like I even had a choice! Was this the right step for me?

I got out of bed and paced the room. I didnt know what to do. I needed time to think. **** it I cant think! I know, I'll put the TV on, that'll relax me.

I flicked onto Russia Today, the national news channel......OH MY! The headline read "Roberto Carlos new Anzhi manager".....

I guess I didnt have a choice afterall....F**k it! Lets do it!!
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any feedback so far? i think the main question i'm asking is....is it interesting?
 
My First Week as a Manager


It only really hit me the next day that I was Anzhi's manager. I walked into the club training complex and saw my name was already on the manager's office door. I walked in, sat down at the desk and set about my mammouth task.

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My first task had to be to remove myself from the captaincy and pick a replacement. This job was going to be hard enough without having to be Captain on top of it.

Shamil Lakhiyalov was the ideal candidate. He had seen it all in Russian football and since I arrived at the club I always saw him as an inspirational figure. His experience will undoubtedly be needed. I had myself a new captain.

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Lakhiyalov seem here joking with teammates Angbwa Tagirbekov, and Eto’o


I looked at the calander, only 4 days till my first game, and what a game to start with. We are playing at home against the league's early run-away leaders Lokomotiv Moscow.

Tactically I had some ideas. I wanted to play a 4-2-3-1 formation filled with my ideas of classic Brazilian football merged with the stealy determination of modern Russian football. I already knew my first choice 11, it had come to me in my dream last night. The problem was getting them all fit....

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I had really taken myself out of the equation. I didn't want my first managerial experience to be hampered in any way. In fact I would leave myself out of the squad completely, I wasn't match fit anyway.

We flew out to Makhachkala on Friday and trained on the pitch the night before the game. I was excited, time to test myself against the league leaders.....they won't know whats hit them!

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Decent start mate, how much money do they get btw?

Also, could you take a look at my story? My big break through - A Stade Rennais adventure :)
 
I3east said:
Decent start mate, how much money do they get btw? Also, could you take a look at my story? My big break through - A Stade Rennais adventure :)
Click to expand...
got a £23.5M transfer kitty but i think that'll go up when i adjust the wages etc..
 
Anzhi vs Lokomotiv Moscow - Russian Premier League

From the moment i stepped off the plane after our four hour flight from Moscow to Makhachkala I could feel the atmosphere in the city. Supporters were everywhere to great me as their new manager and local news reporters were barging their way to the front to get a comment from me at the airport. As I pushed through the crowd I could only manage a few words of how happy I was to take the job before I found myself in our coach and on the way to the ground.

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Before I knew it it was an hour before kickoff and we were sat in the home dressing room. The lads seemed to be in a great mood and I still felt one of them. But I knew I would have to show some restraint and distamce myself from them. They needed to know I was now boss and not just up for a laugh and a joke.

"Listen boys", I said assertively, "No one asked for this situation. Gandji has gone, we can't help that. Mr.Kerimov has given me this opportunity and I will be giving my all for this cause. And so should you. Today we're playing the top of the league. Lets not forget our jobs. Lokomotiv will make it awkward for us. They know this is a big game for us but I know we can beat these today. We havent had much time to prepare for today but I want to thank all of you for the workrate you have put into this week. Lets play as we know we can today. Good luck boys."

With my final word a roar went up from every player. They were ready.

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Anzhi Makhachkala 3 - 3 Lokomotiv Moscow
Eto'o (3) Ignatjev, da Costa, Sychev

It was definatly a game for the neutrals. But some of our attacking play was out of this world and we can be a little disappointed to only take a draw from the game. We had outplayed the league leaders in my first game in charge and were only let down by a couple of moments of sloppy defending.

We now need to kick on from this good start and make a really good impression over the next few weeks
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Excellent story mate, love the concept of it. Eto'o is already showing how much of a beast he is.
 
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