The Journal of Arnold Van Battenburg

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Gavinmitch11

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Yes, Lets do it said my wife with a huge grin on her beautiful face showing every tooth as if she is participating in a Colgate advert.

I know what you are thinking, the famous words from your better half, Lets do it. But your understanding may be misinterpreted in this instance, my wife has just agreed to uproot our life and move to Portugal, allowing me to follow my dream and take one step closer to my life ambition.

Its been a rough few years for myself and my wife, therefore I see this opportunity as the perfect chance for us to start fresh.

Thursday 5th July 2013 I received the most defining moment in my short coaching career. Antonio Albino The Chairman from Ac. Viseu (who I asked myself in my head) all the way from Portugal phoned me. He had a strong Portuguese accent which naturally not knowing Portuguese I mistook for Spanish. Luckily I kept my mouth shut long enough to be offered the head coach role at this marvelous football club. When I say marvelous club I say that very loosely as I, probably like every person outside of Viseu have never heard of this club. But as they are giving me a fantastic opportunity to coach and get on the football ladder this tiny club is now the best and most important club in the entire world, even more so than my beloved Antwerp.

It took me the whole weekend to convince my wife that this was a great move and opportunity for us. Being from Belgium and not knowing Portuguese as you can imagine my wife was very skeptical and rightly so. Luck for me she loves me and agrees to give it a chance if it means I get to follow my dream.

Monday 8th July I phone Mr Albino back and agree to take the job.

Tuesday 9th July I am on the first plane from Belgium (Antwerp) all the to Sunny Portugal. Flying economy class into Porto. Agreed I know I am not Jose Mourinho going to coach Porto on first class, but I am still as excited for this amazing adventure. It takes me roughly 3 hours to fly to Porto and an hour and 20 minutes to get from Porto to Viseu district. The closer I got the sweatier and smellier I became. Over the weekend I prepared and over prepared knowing full well my wife would back me eventually. I was Smartly dressed (suit and tie), trimmed beard. hair cut which was molded into near perfection. I had everything planned and ready but as always i forgot something. I never Planned for the heat that Portugal had to offer. Any other day and I would be lapping it up like a Pig in S**t but today of all days.

Luckily My wife was even more organized than I was and had packed me a spare Ralph Lauren Shirt and some B.O Spray as I call it.

As I drove through Porto I passed the Beautiful Dragao Stadium. what a beautiful piece of architecture (something I don't usually care about) but that stadium made me hold my breath for a moment making me even more focused and determined for the task in hand.

Next stop Viseu.....
 
Nice start to your story here, I look forwards to reading more of your tales with Viseu and beyond!
 
After Arriving safe we got straight down to business I quickly signed my 800 Euros a week contract and was introduced to the fans by My new boss and the club Chairman Mr Albino.

Once meeting the fans I decided I wanted 2 meet my players ASAP as for me they are my bread and butter if I want to be a success at this club.

I Greet the group very humbly knowing they haven't heard of me I was expecting a tough ride from some of the more experienced members of the group. Then I thought to myself I haven't exactly heard of these guys. so maybe I may shock them and they may shock me.
After outlining my intentions of a solid mid table finish everyone reacted positively which for me being in the job 5mins was a great start. My intentions were modest but I hope with this squad to be pushing a good solid top half finish. But I will be patient I haven't assessed them yet.

As I walking round the club I get a good feeling around the place everyone seems friendly and helpful. Already I feel comfortable which I find strange considering I am in new surrounding with new people, language, culture and food.

There is just one this Niggling away at me. My gut is trying to tell me something (my gut never lets me down)......
 
Hopefully your guts don't spill! Good post again, enjoying it very much!
 
At Around 8pm I decided to take myself around the Training facilities and stadium one last time before I tuned in for the night at the local 2star hotel. The training facilities for both the first team and youth teams are surprisingly very good. the pitch condition on the other hand is just ok, but good enough for now.

By the time I check the gym the training pitches, the equipment store, the analysis room and my office. I took one big breath puffed my chest and told myself that this was it. My BIG SHOT and becoming a European manager. My short term goals were simple, Develop this team and club. My long term goals were less simple, but I have no place to worry about that now. Tomorrow is going to be another big day.

I walked 2 the car park with a small bag in hand with my new tracksuit in it. I new I had made it to a reasonable leave as my tracksuit now has my initials on the top and shorts. This is great I thought. Back when I was a player I never received this Honor as I only played as high as semi-pro. More on that in the future this is about the here and now and I had worked dam hard to get here.

As I drop out of may day dream as to how my day will go tomorrow I see my rented Car has been trashed. Beans, butter, eggs, flour, you name it it had been thrown at it.
I believe in team bonding and me being the new guy, I was willing to take it on the chin. I laughed it off and scraped the beans off my window enough to get me to my hotel.

After along sleep and a good shower I was up bright and early. I had a good breakfast... well as good a breakfast a 2star hotel can offer. I headed for my car just remembering in that instant about the mess it was in. I took my car to the car wash before heading into training/office.

I pulled into the car park and as I expected I was the first person there, well apart from Pamela the clubs front of house. She greeted me with such warmth I felt I had known her all my life. I may not speak Portuguese yet but I know a little English and luckily enough so did Pam. We talked for a while about bits and bobs, Pam soon came across the topic of my car. I laughed it off and blamed the players. This is where my gut had not let me down. Pam informed me it wasn't the players that had played this trick it was my coaching staff.

I was raging at this point steam blowing out my ears, red mist had come down over me. On my first day and already I had hit a level of anger I had not felt throughout my entire life. I was willing to laugh it off if it was the players way of welcoming me to the club, but for my staff to do this to me shows a lack of respect for me. it shows weakness if i do not deal with this, If i cant show my staff i mean business My players will not respect me.

I waited for over an hour for the chairman Mr Albino. My first word were "I want new staff" to my surprise the chairman agreed. Mr Albino Said "i hoped you would shake things up, these members of staff have got stale and to comfortable around here. I will relieve them of their duties immediately.

9AM and I new my first job now was to recruit my staff......
 
Cracking edition to this story, really enjoyed reading it and a nice little twist having to get new staff, interesting to see who you can lure to Portugal! Best of luck!
 
The staff search Begins

9.15am and already I had a few candidates in mind (whether they would come or not is another matter) I do plan to keep all my staff Portuguese so not all my candidates I had in mind initially will be interviewed. Through my time at University and though coaching I had met many exciting coaches along the way. I made a few phone calls and great I most people I spoje 2 seem interested.

My first appointment Was 'Vinny' as my head of youth development. He is perfect for the role. He is great with youth as he is a former teacher. He is a real peoples person and will integrate new signing perfectly. He also has a keen eye for raw talent in young players and that a rare talent in itself.

My next appointment was LLoydo as I call him. He is my new goalkeeping coach. He is loud and brash like all good goalkeepers fearless. He inst great with young player but will add a good level of discipline to my coaching staff. He is a real character and should add alot to the dressing room.

I then added the best coach I could think of. He is organized and always well researched on the new fitness regimes. I full confidence that my team will be the fittest in the league thanks to Georgio. He is a very individual character but that's what I like about him. he has his own way and no matter who you are you cant help but follow his lead.

I only have two more positions to fill and to be honest I could use more...

I made a request to Mr Albino but as the club had to pay off the last lots of coaches I am restricted in what I can bring in. Fair enough I will work with what I have.

My final two additions where my chief scout Scouse, as he is a Liverpool Fan from Portugal i found this particularly amusing and got his nickname from there. I Hired Scouse as he has a close friendship with Vinny and will work well together identifying great young talent. Scouse is a quit person keeps himself to himself which is great when he is on a scouting mission when you dont want anyone (especially the press) knowing your plans.

and my last Appointment who will work with me on all aspects of the game, Technical, tactical and mental is my arch rival almost Nixy. Nixy Has the complete opposite views to football as myself. Even tho this can be frustrating at times he will always question my methods therefore I will never be stuck seeing problems that may arise within the team from a different angle or point of view. Even though I want to throw him through a brick wall sometimes, I also thank him most of the time for challenging me.

So this is my team Vinny, Scouse, LLoydo and Nixy Welcome to Viseu Portugal.
 
Sky Sports News

Breaking News

A.c Viseu have signed Micheal Ballack the ex Chelsea and Bayern Midfielder has joined their youth team as their new under 19 Manger.

New Managers Van Battenburg has said this evening "this is a great addition to my coaching staff, he will add great experience to my team and pass on great knowledge to my young players. Maybe only for the day, but it has put A.c Viseu on the map and in the public eye even if it is only for a short period of time. Welcome Micheal"
 
Sounds like some good incoming staff there and Ballack is a **** of a coup for your staff! Top job! Keep it up!
 
Now I have my staff on board its time to get to work.

Assessing a squad is never easy. Me not knowing Portuguese makes live even tougher luckily I have Vinny and Nixy to help me create a good bond with some of the players and help get to know there personalities.
After a quick glance this squad looks pritty poor. I am slightly disapointed at the level of quality I have at my disposal. It seems I have alot of players and none that are quiet good enough to push this team to a new level. But with no budget available I will have to develop them to get the best out of them.
I see I have 5 centre backs which I find alot. So that leads me 2 thinking playing 3 centre backs. I have a look at my right and left backs again I am over manned in the right back slot with 3. But under manned in left back with 1 player who is naturally a left back. This.confirmed it 3 centre backs it is. I consulted nixy on this topic. Nixy I am thinking about playing 3 centre backs whats your thoughts on this. He said thats makes good sence seen as me have good quality and plenty of cover in there he said. He paused for a moment, gaffer this is one slighy problem with this tactic. Whats that I asked rolling my eyes, thinking typjcal nixy just disagreeing with me because he always has to disagree with me even if he actually agree with what I say.

Gaffer I have noticed all our centre backs all lack pace. Which playing a back 3 wont help.cover that weakness if they are dragged out wide.

I thought for a.moment and I actually agreed with him. Great work nixy I said I new there was a good reason for me to hire you. Nixy had a broad smirk on his face at the point.

So I changed to a back 4 meaning I needed to spend time on my full backs and possibly ofload a centre back

Defence sorted I said now just need 2 pick my prefered personal

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
 
Sorry my laptop got.an error and had 2 delete thia game there for killing my story

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
 
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