Unemployed a year to find work

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ninjaskill

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I had just graduated from university with a business degree and a strong loathing for business. Football was my passion however, my ability as a player always let me down. Having realized that I would never make it as a player I considered coaching and earned a national C license then got a national B. My new dream was to become a manager. However, football was not my only love I had a long term girlfriend who felt I should find a job in business and forget about managing. Despite her reluctance I had negotiated a deal I had one year to find work as a manger and I had to either have a job or have earned at least twenty thousand pounds or I would give up on management and wonder about what might have been. She was also willing to move wherever I got a job so long as the foreign office said it was a safe place. This meant that I would be able to search far and wide for jobs.

I typed up a C.V. that was rather pathetic a national B license some amateur coaching and a claim that I had been semi professional which was a white lie the manager of one team had occasionally bought us chips and to me that counted and I doubted boards would look to deeply into my playing career.

With it ready I sent it off to every team that had a vacancy unfortunately there were very few of them as it was just after most teams had sacked and then appointed a manager for the new season so if I wanted a job it may have to be in a March to November style league.

I had to have a job or the money on June 7 2015 or else my time trying to be a manger would go down as a gap year on my C.V.

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I have loaded up almost every league to boost job chances but will get rid of many of them if I find a job
 
Rejected

Whenever I heard my phone or laptop make any noise my nerves rose and I checked my email as quickly as I could usually it was from Facebook asking if I knew people and updating me on statuses that I didn't care about. However occasionally and email would come from a football team the first job I heard back from was Chivas USA and having braced my self for disappointment

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I was elated when I they offered me an interview I knew that they were going bust at the end of the year so it would be a short term contract but it would pay and my girlfriend would love a move to Los Angeles. However I was brought down to earth when I saw why they needed a new managerView attachment 243471 View attachment 243470

No wins this year and just two goals scored with 57 let in I wasn't sure if I wanted the job as I felt that losing every game as a manger wouldn't entice other teams to hire me. The interview went alright but I was still unsure of if I would accept the job as I wasn't quite desperate enough to jump onto a sinking ship. However in the end I didn't have to decide as three days laterView attachment 243466 I wasn't to disappointed as it would have only been a six month deal and I could have easily seen me losing every match. More rejections soon followed.
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I'm still in the running for a job in Bosnia and Herzegovina, one in the United Arab Emirates one in Singapore and two in the South African second division
 
I have got a job offer but it is in a league that I added to the game should I take it or try and find s job that is in a league that isn't added to FM?
 
A Job!!

At 9:03 I heard the familiar bing of my laptop I went right to it to check an email it was from Masafi sports club in the United Arab Emirates they were interested and they flew me out for an interview it went well the only problem being my lack of Arabic and the directors lack of English meant an interpreter was required he spoke English very poorly and I felt that he could mistranslate something and cost me a chance of the job.

I had been back in England and was on my laptop when a new email came in I instantly jumped out my chair and did a celebration dance I had been given a contract offer from Masadi sports clubView attachment 909938 It had the odd added part that they would upgrade the youth facilities I was confused by that I assumed that the translator had misunderstood my wanting to promote young players into the first team. In the end I negotiated with them to get a slightly better deal and with all of the money coming in tax free by my calculations I had to keep the job for only six months to get enough money to be able to manage for another year.View attachment 909952
I would have 14.25k a week and 62,000 pounds a week as my budget. My girlfriend was delighted by the prospect of moving to the United Arab Emirates imaging spending her days in luxury shops in Abu Dhabi or Dubai. What I may not have mentioned is that Masafi is not based in Abu Dhabi or Dubai but a place called MasafiView attachment 909980View attachment 909982













So instead of View attachment 909985and all of the luxury stores that come with such a wealthy area I would be living in Mastafi a place so small I struggled to find pictures of it and it isn't the first thing that comes up when you google it however the town is in the foothills of the Hajar mountains in the Fujairah Emirate. Instead of Abu Dhabi
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Instead of Gucci and Louis Vuitton this was the local market
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Fair to say that I am not in the good books right now but it seems to be a nice town and I have the day to explore it before I have to meet the board.
 
Problems

Before leaving the hotel to look around masafi I looked at the temperature online it was 41 or 105 Fahrenheit with the temperature only going as low as 26 or 78 for August. Despite my shock this is cooler than most of the U.A.E. as Masafi is at a altitude making it slightly cooler. However as it also is always sunny priority number one had to be to find the strongest sun block in town and then buy all of it or I would have skin cancer within the week. I put on what sunblock we had and we left I noticed that the hotel didn't have a bar then realization dawned on me there probably only a few non muslims in the town me my girlfriend and maybe one or two of the foreign players this meant that there would be no bars and probably no alcohol in the town. That low thought lead me to another there would also be no bacon or pork of any kind as it is also forbidden. I of course instantly began having cravings of beer and bacon sandwiches that probably wouldn't be satisfied for quite a while.

Due to the heat there was very little exploring before a return to the hotel but it seemed like a nice small town that had a rather well paid football team. One player is on four thousand pounds a week which is about 1/4th of our weekly wage budget.

Today would be my first meeting with the chairman as the interview had only been with the directors I had expected him to have earned his money in oil and have some title I was wrong on both counts he was title less and he made his money through a bottled water company so pretty much the opposite of oil. He spoke some english so a translator wasn't needed he welcomed me before saying that work on the youth facilities that I had demanded had already started. When I told him that I had never asked for one he spoke in angry Arabic before explaining that the translators brother owned the company that was being used to improve the youth facilities. With that out the way he talked about the history of the club.View attachment 243228 There was none and I was to make some for the club, I was also secretly glad that the translator had added that the youth facilities as they looked terrible from first site. A press conference was set up for tomorrow and the chairman then said that my assistant was waiting to meet me and fortunately he added that my assistant and most of my staff spoke English but that he had also hired an Arabic tutor to help me learn the language. With that he left and I was off to meet my assistant manager
 
I walked down the hall to meet with my assistant a friendly was set up with the U-21s. We then arranged to meet up with the staff to see what they had to say and to go over the assistants report of the squad. View attachment 243181We have a couple of great players notably Junior and Abdul Wahed Abdul Aziz (which is quite a good tongue twister) However, they are both foreign players who are expected to be the best and I can add two more. Most of our players from the UAE aren't great in comparison with the exceptions of with Mahmoud Awdah (CM) Rashid Abdullah (RB) and Abdullah Essa (ST). We have no left back and very little depth in most positions however, I have very little wage budget left over and almost no transfer fees so will have to sell or release players to make room. The staff were way ahead of me on that suggesting that I release two players and adjust the wage bill to give me some more room they also had suggestions on captain but I decided to wait until the end of Pre season to see who I felt should be captain. I was also brought up to date with the transfers that had been made before I arrived. View attachment 243175They would all be key players except Al hammadi as he played wing back and I didn't plan on using one. The transfers were all the best U.A.E. players in the squad and without them everything would have been far more challenging. I decided to wait on picking a tactic to see who we could bring in and who we would sell.

After the meetings the players began to arrive for training which began at 7:30pm to try and have it so that the players could run without getting heat exhaustion I talked to them and said that a mid table finish was expected and they felt it was reasonable and no one felt that it was over or under ambitious. I would like to say I think we can do better but seeing the squad I'm not sure if we can.
 
Before I arrived a friendly had been played against Ajman a team in the division above us. We lost 3-1View attachment 243157
The friendly that I agreed to play against the reserves didn't go well we played poorly and got lucky to win. The left side of the defense played alright however, the rest of the team played poorly and while the win was deserved it came through a penalty that was deserved but, I would have expected us to score more and be able at least score through open play. Also worryingly the reserves had more shots, shots on target and possession. However, a win is a win and as it is pre season I would rather we played well than win ugly.

View attachment 243156

We played our next friendly against Al wahda who also play in the league above us I played my backup goalkeeper and he was a bomb scare their first goal came through a Robert Greenesque goal keeper error a ball straight at the keeper was palmed into the bottom corner, and we were a goal down after five minutes. I could have forgiven as a one off error that does rarely happen to every keeper. In the forty fourth minute a free kick from twenty yards to put us two goals down. At that point I wondered how bad the third choice keeper was and told my assistant to place Ahmed on the transfer list. I have no room for a keeper who surprises me when he makes a save or block. I told the team that I expected better from them and then they went right out and let another goal in. Some play down the wing led to my right back being left for dust the cross was knocked back to the edge of the box and a half decent volley was palmed right to the winger who just tapped it into the open net. A couple of minutes later a deep free kick was headed straight at the keeper and he held it and his long ball was knocked on and after a few changes of possession led to them playing a great through ball but their striker missed the ball and Ahmed claimed it played it up to Omar Ahmed who played a great pass that let Ali the right mid cut inside his man he played a pass to Saleem who lost the ball but blocked the clearance that gave Hasan a open goal that he tapped it into to make it 3-1. Very little happened after that and I feel that only Omar Ahmed played well with Ahmed playing such a bad game that I will sell him. View attachment 243155
The goalkeeping coach swayed me to keep Ahmed as young that he can still turn into a decent goalkeeper so I will keep him. However, I have released a large number of players and am working on bringing in replacements I also offered a contract to Marko Ramkilde but he chose to stay at Aalborg for about 10% of the money that we are offering which was disappointing. View attachment 243154All of the releases were done by me to free up some wage budget and they all had very little chance of playing for me I have contracts offered to players and hope they accept as pre season performances have shown that we need some new players and we also have a lack of depth that has to be addressed.

Pre season is quite long so I may blitz through the matches in the next update then do transfers in the one after.
 
Unfortunately my god awful laptop shut down before I had saved so pre season results and players released may not be the same as shown above
 
Injuries

They say that you learn something new everyday. Today I learned that if you touch the metal part of a seat belt in a car that has been lying in the sun all day in the UAE you get a painful burn. Burnt hand aside my trip to the staff meeting was uneventful. We would be reviewing pre season before the start of training before our federation cup opener against Dibba Al-Furajah. Our first point was thepoor results a win against our reserves and a draw against Al nadha we had lost every other match. More concerning performances had been poor very few players had distinguished themselves while I had lost faith in some of the players. View attachment 243034
The transfers we brought in were a mixed bag two good foreign players Sullivan Capresse will be our starting goal keeper and Martin Furtado will add some quality up top. Jabir Mohammed will be our starting left back and Jasim Akbar will start at left back but the rest of the players brought in will add depth to the squad. Those released were not great players and I wanted the extra wage budget. I did try to see if their was any interest in Junior our best player as he decided he wanted to go back to Brazil I didn't mind as I feel he is on far to much money for his ability. I have also arranged for the transfer of a young Bolivian central midfielder who will join us in two years.View attachment 243032
I am satisfied with the transfers. After going over it with the staff we went outside to set up drills for practice. After the players came out I was showing them one of the drills when I felt my something in my hamstring I went down like a ton of bricks and was carried into the Physios room he instantly diagnosed it as a pulled hamstring. I wouldn't be running for the next four weeks at least if not more. I dont think I will live this down.View attachment 243029
 
Interesting read so far. Looking forward to a new take on a career mode way out east!
 
My first competitive match in charge of Masafi was against Dibba Al-Fujairah in the Federation Cup. A competition that the board only expects me to be competitive in. It has two groups of six teams we play each once and then the top two teams go through to the semi finals. We were slight favorites as we were at home despite our first eleven only containing two players who had ever played for Masafi before. Despite constant practice on team cohesion I wasn't sure how well the team has gelled and how that would affect our performances. I told the team to do this for he fans and it seemed to pump them up a bit. The first half went by with very little of note just a few long range shots that went well wide from either side. During the half time break I told the players to pick it up and try to create more. We made a great chance when Abdullah Saqar played a long ball up to Essa who closed his own angle down before firing a shot straight at the goalkeeper. Their star striker pulled and had to go off injured I hoped that we would be able to keep them out as a result. Dibba then got a throw up in our half the throw went into the box Mahmoud Awadh pulled down their winger and the referee pointed to the spot. I would have jumped up to protest but A) I had a very sore hamstring and B) The fourth official spoke no English so it would have been pointless. Sullivan Capresse stayed in the middle and was able to parry the shot away. A large cheer went up from the crowd and the coaching bench. Very little happened after that and I was pleased with the result in my first competitive match. I told the players as much and they responded well and seemed pleased.View attachment 242917I walked (ok more hobbled) into the meeting with the staff about the match we felt that we had been wasteful with our shooting and we had committed far to many needless fouls some in dangerous areas and the penalty.

Our next match was against Al-Arabi a lower league team that we were expected to beat easily. We only had a one hour long drive to get to their stadium and we arrived to some of the worst news possible. The air conditioning in the away dressing room was broken. From the heat in their I don't know if it had ever worked it was far too hot though so we had to use our bus as the dressing room instead. After all of that the team started the match slowly our first chance came in the 16th minute. Darwish intercepted a pass and played to the right back Abdullah he launched a deep cross that Essa headed well from around 8 yards out it went over the goalie and smashed into the bar fortunately the rebound fell to Martin Furtado and he half volleyed it in for a debut goal. On the stroke of half time a long shot was deflected to give us a corner Darwish hit it in and the ball came back to him he hit a ball to the edge of the 18 yard box and Mahmoud Awdah smacked it passed the goalie to put us two up. I just told the team to keep it up at half time. Ten minutes into the half a long ball almost let their striker in on goal but a poor touch and cleared the danger. They won the ball back and a nice move saw their winger in on goal but it was a tight angle and Capresse was always the favorite to save it which he did. A needless foul saw them pick up a free kick just in our half on the hour mark they got the ball out to their right back but a low cross was bundled away but they picked it up and started a new move a long ball by their right back had their winger with the ball on the by line and he hit it to their striker who easily tapped home at the back post to pull a goal back. I wasn't pleased with the team as I wanted a clean sheet against lower league teams. We just kept the ball after that and neither team really created much. It was my first win but I expected better against lower league opposition. However, the win put us third and gave us a chance of getting to the semi finals.View attachment 242894
 
My second home game would be key as to if we would advance in the federation cup or not as they are only 1 point behind us but are a better team than us. Training was good in the lead up to the match and I was confident that we would play well. The first half was once again quiet and I am concerned about the lack of chances that we created in the first half the only chance of the half was them on the counter down the wing he had a wide open man in the box that he missed as he hit his cross and it went out almost straight down the line. We had already committed far to many fouls around 13 I would prefer that that number was our total fouls not one half. Around the hour mark Furtado had a chance to play in Essa but he hit the pass straight at the centre back. From that they played in N'dri but Capresse came up big to make a good save. Eight minutes later they subbed on a new striker and he tuned the game on its head. He scored his first goal in the 74th minute he then grabbed two more as we pressed for an equalizer. They won 3-0 but we didn't deserve it we did commit far two many fouls 28 for the match far to many for me. Only the right back Rashid Abdullah preformed well which is a concern. View attachment 242800We had three weeks off before the next match away to Dubai I worked us heavily on defending without fouling as I planned on playing a back five to counter there impressive goal scoring. I thought that we would have another half of no chances but after a half cleared cross they launched another cross that their striker headed onto the post and in. A long shot straight from a throw in hit the bar before it was hacked away. With twenty minutes I pushed us forward but we didn't create any great chances. Happily we only committed five fouls twenty three less than the last game despite a more defensive formation. I am very concerned that we are creating very few chances and will be working on attacking for quite a few days in practice. Also my Hamstring has recovered and the squad have almost forgot about it. The result eliminates us for the tournament we are only three pints behind the two teams ahead of us but they are playing each other. View attachment 242792We have one match left against Hatta who in theory are better then us but they haven't picked up any points so far so I hope to pick up three more points. Early on a blocked shot lead to them launching a counter attack and a cross was volleyed home by N'Dione to put them one up and I was concerned as we have struggled to score in the first half of games our even create chances. One the half our mark a wide free kick was hit in and went through about five of my players leaving N'Dione free to volley home at the back post. I was livid half my team could have cleared the cross but didn't. At this point I felt that we were finished as we had only scored twice so far. Rashid Abdullah's cross was deflected into the path of Furtado and he slammed a low shot into the corner to pull one back. I told the team that I expected better from them and boy did they respond. A cross went in from Mohammed and Furtado volleyed home at the back post to equalize. I had hoped that we would move into the lead but we didn't create a chance the only incident of note was Rashid Abdullah getting sent off for a second yellow. Which was annoying as he had been the best player so far by a long way.
View attachment 242788I was disappointed with our goal scoring but felt we defended well we finished fifth out of six teams finishing below the team a division below us is also disappointing.
 
We were playing away to Dubai in my first league game of the season and it was important as I would be staying a couple of days and going to Wild Wadi Water park.View attachment 242783
Oh it was also our first game of the season against a team predicted to win promotion speaking of that these are the pre season odds as you can see very little is expected of us and I agree with them. View attachment 242782I went with a 5-4-1 narrow to try and counter their goal scoring ability. In the twelfth minute Dubai had a free kick from 20 yards out and it went in but I felt that Caprisse could have done better to save it. Dubai got another free kick from the same range on the other side and this one was smacked into the top corner leaving Caprisse no chance. Omran Hussain Al-Hammadi (who will be known as OHAH from now on) hit a bouncing cross and it hit the bottom of the bar and bounced just over the line to make it 2-1 on the half hour. Another cross was volleyed home by Furtado to equalize the the match at 2-2. Just after half time a corner was half cleared and we passed it around a bit before giving back to Awdah who crossed it in and Furtado headed it onto the underside of the bar and starting a massive celebration in our dugout. We were thrilled to be leading after being two goals down. In the 86th minute after the right back cleared a ball down the middle not down the line or out lead to a great volley by the Dubai defensive midfielder to make it a three all draw. View attachment 242779Sorry for the lack of details but the only highlights in the game were goals.

We would be hosting Al-Khaleej for our second league game and I would take a draw before kick off if I was offered it. I decided to stick with the 5-4-1 as it had done well against Dubai. The first half are players weren't there but Al-Khaleej didn't create any chances. I told the players to keep working and they could get a goal. A good tackle by our right back led to a game of kickball between centre backs until our right back played in Furtado but he blazed the ball over the top of the bar. A corner from us in the 77th minute Mahmoud Awdah volleyed it into the post and then Hamdan was pulled down before he could tap home the rebound I expected a red card and penalty but got a throw in from the clearance I made my thoughts clear to the fourth official with some Arabic curses I had learned. Hamdan played a long ball after a tackle up to Furtado to play him in but a great tackle stopped him from shooting as his leg was pulled back in the 85th minute. That was the last highlight of the match and I got the point I wanted but I feel our late push deserves more. View attachment 242776
 
Well that wasn't expected

Abdul Wahed Abdul Aziz came to me wanting more game time as he was our best striker I decided to start him over Martin Furtado despite Furtado's goals. Despite being predicted to finish third Al Sha'ab lost and then drew with the second worst team in the league so I talked it over with the coaches and we decided to play a 4-4-2 narrow and try and win the game.

In the fifth minute they played a free kick in their half short a long run down the wing led to a cross that was volleyed from six yards out but somehow Capresse got across to save it and stop us going a goal down early. The rebound was cleared over the stands and out of the stadium none of this Barcelona play it out from the back stuff. Al Sha'ab had a goal kick and did play it out from the back but their long ball out was volleyed to Essa up the line probably accidentally his cross was cleared but we retained possession and got the ball over to the left wing Mohammed cut it back inside and Ahmed played in Essa at a tightish angle but the shot was straight at the keeper. At 15 minutes we had a goal kick played short to Mohammed who decided not to try and be Barcelona and played a long ball up Abdul Wahed Abdul Aziz (AWAA) flicked the ball on with a header and Essa got their just before their keeper and knocked the ball around him to give us the lead. Capresse launched the ball long we won the header the ball went to Ahmed who played it to Essa who played in AWAA who hit a low shot past the keeper that went just inside the post for two nil just before the half hour mark. Four passes Old Stoke style football at its best. We had a throw in deep in our half Abudullah got the ball back and oddly played it long. Their centre back mis timed his jump and AWAA was in on goal and his shot went into the exact same spot as the first. 3-0. Possession is over rated. it stayed that way until half time.

I told the players how pleased I was and that if they let the lead go there would be no Air con for the hour long drive back to Masafi I also took off our two players on a booking as I didn't want players getting banned. They had a throw in our half and a 1-2 gave them room for a cross that was beautiful but their striker volleyed wide from six yard right in front of the goal his second missed chance. We had a throw in and Abdullah hit yet another long ball their centre back mis judged and Essa was in on goal but hit the goalie in the chest their defense couldn't deal with long balls. We had a corner in the 70th minute and Hamad Mohammed Al-Mazam rugby tackled Saqar and the referee gave us a penalty and Hamad etc a booking AWAA hit it low to the left to complete his hat trick and put us up by four. Saeed hit the bar for us after nice work from a throw in. We had a throw in deep in their half but for the first time played to many passes and they intercepted and counter and their striker finally scored a volley from all of three yards out if he could finish it would have been a close game. It was just a late consolation for them as we won 4-1. I told the players how pleased I was and that they could have air conditioning for the bus ride. I was pleased that the long balls had worked but I had told the players to try and retain possession but I will take three goals from long ball and a few other chances.View attachment 242608I kept the 4-4-2 for the next game after the last performance. We would be hosting Al Dhaid who are supposed to finish just ahead of us. However within twelve minutes we were three goals to the good. AWAZ volleyed home from a cross from 8 yards after four minutes. Mohammed Rashed Al-Mesmari scored from 16 yards out after Essa squared it to him to put us two up in the tenth minute. AWAA scored again after Awdah squared it to him when put in on goal by Essa. I pinched myself but I wasn't dreaming we were destroying them. Essa missed a good chance around the half hour mark when their keeper made a great save. They played it long but Hamran intercepted and smacked it back where it came from their Cb intercepted it but his touch was terrible and AWAA hit a shot first time that went into the top corner for four nil and his second hat trick in as many games. Just before half time we had a corner that their keeper came to collect Obaid headed it for us before he got to the keeper his flick on hit him in the chest and the ball rolled into the net for three nil before half time. Not a lot happened in the second half as both players knew the result and couldn't be bothered running for anything. View attachment 242605I have had a ton of players complaining about playing time that is ridiculous after only four league games.View attachment 242604 We also moved into second place a promotion spot but it may be temporary as the team behind us is two points behind with two games in hand.

The results for the last two games have been great and will be a confidence boost and boost to goal difference
 
We played a half decent Dibba Al-Hisn and I felt that we should win and AWAA headed home after a cross from Abdullah. Junior scored a great header after a corner was knocked back out. They pulled a goal back after a fluked cross went in for them in the 85th minute but they had no chance after.View attachment 242549However, training in the week had some awful consequences we lost are starting goalkeeper and best player. We have no back up of quality and cannot get a new one before Capresse will be back.View attachment 242547View attachment 242548 Despite Ras Al-Khaimah only having two points the lack of a goalkeeper gives me some nerves as I feel any shot on target has a good chance of going in. Fortunately they had two shots and neither on target while we scored from a nice passing move for the first time under me as we worked the ball out to Abdullah who's cross was turned in by Furtado who I had recalled as without Capresse we could use both our foreign strikers. We played a nice passing move before reverting to type and hitting it long we lost the ball but got it back and Saleed hit a shot that went in at the near post that the keeper should have dealt with to kill of the game late on.View attachment 242545 That win put us second and just to show how bad the media predictions are the top three were supposed to finish 9th 8th and 7th respectively. This is the table after six matches and a total of twenty will be played with the top two going up. View attachment 242544 Also despite playing AWAA in every game since he asked for more first team football he is still not happy and so may soon ask to leave.

Also I have decided that unless we get promoted I have decided that I will be leaving Masafi at the end of the season and I will easily get the 20k I need to keep managing another year.
 
January Update

View attachment 242483January was a good month as we picked up 8 points from a possible twelve and title rivals dropped points. Essa scored a good header to equalize against Hatta before that we had hit the bar three times and I was wondering if it would be one of those days. We were rather handicapped for the game as our back up keeper was out with food poisoning so I had to use a grayed out player.

We then faced league leaders Al-Urooba. Saqar scored a near post header from a corner early on to give us the lead. Furtado doubled our advantage before half time knocking home a great AWAA cross. Saqar needlessly pulled down their striker to stop him winning a header 18 yards out and gave away a penalty I was livid. Mahmoud Awdah played a great one two with Furtado to get behind the defence and seal the game in the eightieth minute.

Against Dibba Al-Furjah two AWAA goals off of Mohammed crosses in two minutes was enough for the points.

Against Al-Tawoon my fears about not having Capresse cam true as they scored with both their shots on target. We took the lead when after their keeper made a great save after a counter attack it hit his centre back and went in. They then equalized through a penalty after Saqar gave away his second penalty in as many games the keeper got enough to it that I felt he should have saved it. Mohammed scored from a corner to give us back the lead. Around the hour they hit a long ball over the defence and Ahmed raced out his goal to get it but got well beaten to it and was over 5 yards out his box the striker rounded him and equalized and I had to try and avoid yelling death threats to my own goalkeeper.

The end of January is the half way point for the season with ten games played and we are top to my surprise.View attachment 242478Also I was called into the chairman's office he said that finances were bad and expected to get worse so I may have low budgets next season but that he had faith in me to do well.View attachment 242477View attachment 242476View attachment 242475What do you guys think of the new style of update should I stick with it or go back to the normal one.
 
As we only had two games in March I will be doing a February March update.

We had to get good results if we wanted to keep up our title run and promotion chances up.View attachment 242226We lost our first game to Dubai where due to two injuries and a red card meant that I had to make all my substitutions before half time and they grabbed a goal in the second half when we had been down to ten men for a while and were tiring. The loss was offset as the other title rivals all lost so no one gained points on us. We then came back to win three nil against Al-Khaleej Essa scored early on and Furtado scored late in the first half and early in the second half. This extended our lead at the top. Against Al-Sha'ab AWAA scored early on and then we grab goals either side of half time before they pulled two goals back but we held on for the win. We scored two goals late on to seal a win against Al-Dhaid. We then lost to Al-Dhaid where Furtado could have scored a hat trick but he just could not get the ball to go in. This was disappointing but we had bottom of the table Ras Al-Khaimah next and we again scored late in the first half and early in the second half before a late goal wrapped it up. Another win against Hatta really puts us in pole position for the title. View attachment 242218We also play second place Dibba next month and a win will get us the title or 5 points will see us as champions while 3 points will see us promoted.

We also had our youth intake with 1 potentially great player for us and 2 decent ones.View attachment 242217 This is our best player from it and he is already 1.5 stars so could be a great player for us. View attachment 242215
Also in wider news Iran won the Asian Cup against Jordan in the final who were the big surprises knocking Australia out in the semi finals.

And the UAE under 19's lost to the Andorra under 19's showing the lack of UAE talent.

I was also offered a contract extension but turned it down however, I may still sign an extension.
 
Title Run in

We would have a chance to win the title against Al-Urooba but we had to hope that Dibba would lose to last place Ras Al-Khailmah. We had an early chance but Jasim Mohammed volleyed over from a tight angle. In the 14th minute Al-Urooba had a free kick that we cleared and then countered from getting the ball wide to Jasim Mohammed who cross was headed home by AWAA at the far post into the top corner. We had the early lead to calm any nerves of a potential title decider. Two minutes later some great passing after a long clearance saw AWAA play in Essa who slammed it low and across the keeper to double our lead. We then held on until half time and we checked the score Dibba were being held at nil nil. Just after half time Capresse made a worldie of a save after their striker was played in but he was offside so it was unneeded. Around the hour mark the twenty Masafi away fans started wildly cheering and all of the staff raced to check their phones Ras had a penalty frantic refreshing occurred as no one on the bench was watching the match then a shout they had scored it we were winning the title as it stood. Just as we looked up an Al-Urooba header smacked the under side of the bar and bounced clear before being smacked out for a throw in. On seventy minutes a long ball was played over the top and got passed our defense Obaid pulled down their striker in the box and they had a penalty that they converted into the bottom corner. At that point I was dividing my attention between my phone and the match. Full time came up on my phone from their game and I yelled at all the players of they held on for another minute we had the title. They smacked a long shot wide and Capresse took his time over the goal kick then when it was mid flight the referee blew his whistle three times we were champions. the staff and players all sprinted to the centre circle as we celebrated the most unlikely of titles we went to a restaurant after that the chairman had rented out after and the celebrations went on all night I gave the players the next few days off of training to recover although in hindsight I don't know why as few of them drunk any alcohol but I'm sure they appreciated it.View attachment 241945 View attachment 241944Is anyone reading this put of interest as their hasn't been any comments for a bit and I keep forgetting to check the number of views?
 
Just caught up with this mate - interesting starting in the UAE. I've never had anything to do with their league in FM. Great job on getting the league win though! Hopefully you can parlay that into some jobs elsewhere!
 
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