Alania Vladikavkaz-A Glaswegian In Russia

This is my first attempt at a career thread. With this career I hope to document Alanias toppling of the Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kazan giants, and then have a right good crack at the European big boys through time when i get the team more stable.I aim to do this by having a thourough look at the team as it has been decimated by past failures.

The reason I chose Alania is that they are a club that has made that big breakthrough before. In 1995 they broke the Spartak Moscow stranglehold on the Russian title and claimed the Russian Premier League title. Unfortunately they could not build on that success and slipped down the league(s), and eventually fell as far as the third tier after having some 'judicial irregularities' subsequently folding in February 2014.However they have been reborn again and hopefully a force to be reckoned with in Russian football.

I hope some of you guys will follow my story into the relative unknown surroundings of Vladikavkaz,and again this is my first shot at doing a "career story" so wish me luck guys!!!!

TACTICS Ive designed my own 4-2-3-1 formation consisting of a natural back four,Ball winning Midfielded,Box to Box Midfielder,a winger each side to get the crosses into the poacher up top on his own.I dont tend to dwell much on tactics as personally i am still in the process of learning a bit about tactics and things like that.

1ST TEAM SQUAD The squad is absolutely decimated and needs a complete overhaul,there is just about enough to field a team at the minute,and contract wise the majority of the players want to leave,and with a £0 release clause they would well do sooner rather than later.Its goin to be a challenge getting players similar to them if they do decide to do the off.


PRE-SEASON MATCHES I took the team pre season to the beautiful surroundings of Georgia to play what was supposed to be 3 friendlies but was cut short to 2 owing to the amount of injuries,no more can be played at the moment.2 good solid wins with my new tactic that i developed,good start i guess.The real work starts soon though in the League.


FINANCES Finances are literally non-existent.Its pretty evident this team has been in decline for a fair while spending way over its means in the process.For a team playing in the Russian First Division its quite staggering.There is no transfer budget or wage budget and the board arent willing to put yheir hand in their pocket to help out-tough times ahead.


After a complete analysis of the finances i have came to the conclusion that the biggest part of my restructuring of the club will be free transfers and loan signing's where and when possible.The 3 foreigner rule that apply's in the lower leagues of Russia makes it difficult to recruit decent players as i already have 3 foreigners in the squad,2 from Georgia and star player Semberas from Lithuania.

TRANSFERS IN-:





Oleg Makeev-center forward,got him in on a free transfer from Khimik Dzerzhinsk,decent back up at this level for Martsvaladze

Timur Kalizhanov-right winger,Bosman signing,dissapointing first few games for the club needs to step up to the plate a little if hes to be a first team player.

Gela Zaseev-playmaker,Bosman signing,not done too bad in the first few games for the club,reckon he'll be a good signing in due course

Gennady petrenko-left back,youth contract(free),decent looking stats for a fifteen year old definetely one for the future,he'll go out on loan in due course for game time

Anatoly Mironov-central veteran midfielder,Bosman signing,half decent player again at this level probably not get contract renewed once its done

Dmitry Davydov-Goalkeeper,Bosman signing,Back-up veteran keeper to Dmitry Khomich who's injured at present

Vitaly Migun-Forward,loan signing from Sever,offers a bit of squad depth and competition up front for Martsveladze and Makeev.


TRANSFERS OUT-:



Igor Khaimanov,free transfer to Alania-D

Albert Tskhovrebov,loaned to Spartak Nalchik(for first team games) decent looking young player

Soslan Djioev,loaned to Volga Tver,dont see a place for him in the team anywhere,poor looking player hopefully joins them permanently.



MATCHES SO FAR:-



ALANIA 2-4 LUCH (1ST DIV)
Not the best of starts to the league campaign,found ourselves 3 goals down in the first 36mins,but goals from Gogichev and a late consolation from Mashukov made the scoreline a little more respectable.

SPARTAK NALCHIK 2-1 ALANIA (1ST DIV)
Played not too bad in this game but a late sucker punch in the 91st minute robbed of us of a point,Khojava with the goal just before half-time.

ALANIA 2-0 UFA (1ST DIV)
Completely controlled this game in what was a one sided affair to be honest,an own-goal and a tidy finish from martsvaladze securing the points.Referee spoiled the game with numerous bookings and 2 Red cards.

YENISEY 2-2 ALANIA (1ST DIV)
Dissapointing first half which saw us completely overrun in defence resulting in 2 goal deficit at half time,Marstvaladze with a goal dissallowed in the 1st half too.A more spirited 2nd half fightback saw goals from Martsvaladze and a smashing individual effort from Khojava who ran the show in midfield.Still a bit inconsistent for my liking at the minute performances have to improve.

LATEST We've been very poor in the league and the lack of decent resources at the club is really starting to show in the performances now as you can see from my league standing think i'll be lucky to be in a job in the next 5 games.



Heres some stats in general from my game so far,really starting to find out Alania are doomed i think still.


Hopefully i can turn this around im hanging onto my job here by th skin of my teeth after only 10games in charge!!!!!

After only 10 games in charge at the Russian club,i was dismissed with immediate effect,languishing in 15th place in the Russian First Division with a team with a media prediction of 2nd prompted action from chairman Valeri Gazzayev to turn the clubs fortunes around.My desk was cleared....

Overall i would say that managing in Russia was not a very pleasant experience in the slightest so i left to go on a vacation to clear my mind and seek the next opportunity in the footballing world.It was a long journey back to Glasgow.

Ex Arsenal defender Oleg Luzhny was placed in charge at Alania Vladikavkaz,i wish him luck.hes going to need it.