Chapter One
The plane had just touched down at Athens Airport. The wheels scratched the surface of the tarmac surface as the plane began to slow from 300 kilometres an hour. Once the plane had parked at the terminal and once the refuelling rig was attached to the aircraft. The plane's doors opened as passengers began to filter out of the aircraft. Once I stepped out, the heat of the Athens sun was roasting. Once my shoes touched the tarmac, I could smell the burning of the leather on my shoes.
Welcome to Greece. My name is Dylan Campbell and I was beginning my career as a football coach. This was a new start for me from coaching in my homeland in Northern Ireland. I had completed a distinguished career for my country. Collecting 77 caps between 1994 and 1999 and playing for clubs such as Coventry, Peterborough and Linfield. Once my playing career ended in the British Isles, I moved to Greece to play for Olympiakos.
The experience was incredible. I had joined during the prime of one of the biggest rivalries in European football. Olympiakos vs. Panathinaikos. It made your heart pump faster, and the adrenaline build up in your body. It is a feeling that any footballer in the world will describe as simply heart-stopping.
After I retired, I visited countries such as Serbia, Russia and Romania to learn the trade of Eastern European football. It was a great experience and I then went back to Britain to study at the University of Ulster and learnt all I could about Eastern European football. I then began to coach for the IFA, the Northern Irish national football association and eventually got my coaching badge.
I contemplated going into football management. It was a great opportunity to travel and to earn money. Back in Northern Ireland, I was unemployed and was not getting paid as much as I wanted to by the IFA. So I decided to apply for five jobs. Three were from teams in Serbia, Shrewsbury Town in England and an unknown team in Greece.
A week later, all five teams replied responding to say that I was the right man for the job. The three teams in Serbia were mid-table and were not really in any chance of winning any cups or competition. Shrewsbury was a good opportunity to prove myself as they had a good young developing squad but I didn't see Shrewsbury progressing to the Premier League under my leadership.
So I decided to go for the unknown Greek team. It was called Asteras Tripoli F.C and was a top half team in the Greek SuperLeague. It had continental qualification in the Europa League, and had an influx of young and developing stars, many of which were foreign. Some of which came from Argentina and Spain.
I researched into the history of this club and I was intrigued. When Tripoli was formed in 1931, its future didn't look bright. Within a year, all football clubs in Tripoli had dissolved. Another club called Keramikos transferred all of his players to Tripoli and began the revival of the club. However, within a year, the Nazis had invaded Greece and the club had dissolved once again.
After a long 40-year spell, in 1978, Tripoli was formed and in 2001 began an unbeaten streak at home that lasted for five years. In its first ever appearance in the SuperLeague, it defeated PAOK, AEK Athens, Olympiakos and Panathinaikos all in the same year rewriting the record books.
Its rapid growth in the Greek football leagues led to Asteras Tripoli having its best ever season in the club's history in the 2012-13 season. It finished third in the SuperLeague and qualified for the Europa League and reached the final of the Greek Cup, which they lost 3-1 to Panathinaikos.
However, their manager quit for undisclosed reasons and I was now given the task to help continue the success of this ambitious club. The club was managed by an ambitious chairman too called Giorgios Borovilos. When we met inside his office in Tripoli, we spoke for three hours and the enthuastic response that he gave to each of my queries was simply incredible. He had high hopes for his club and so did I.
Once I had met with the players and the staff, I decided to focus on the tasks of the pre-season friendlies and the transfers for the upcoming season. My top player was Mauricio Carrasco, who was on loan from Estudiantes in Argentina. Also the former Rangers centre-back from Romania, Doran Goian was my top centre-back.
I was ready to show everyone who was boss. I was ready to conquer the world.