Journeyman to end all Journeymen

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RobNemoo

17 years ago

1 month ago

18 Oct 2016 09:28:30

Starting off as unemployed with Turkey, Greece, Austria and Switzerland as playable nations it didn't take a week before some job offers came in. As best practice I alway select the least reputable team that wants my services.

Kartalspor is a 1-star regional team from the South-East of Istanbul, playing in the cosy 7195 seats big Kartal Stadyumu. Some noticeable former players are Fenerbahçe and Turkey national football team goalkeeper Volkan Demirel, national team defender Servet Çetin, and Fenerbahçe S.K. former captain Egemen Korkmaz. With not much money and with "below average" facilities there was nothing more to do than use the available squad with 4 free-transfers to support the bench.

Media-prediction was 14th, but the journo's clearly don't know my capabilities yet. After a strugling start to find our best formation, a killer mid-season run and an unbeaten run of 6 (5 wins) at the end, we just skipped passed Kocaeli Birlik Spor on goal difference (11 versus 10) and took the crown of the mighty fine Spor Toto 2. Lig Beyas Grup. The Turkish Cup we quickly lost on purpose after the season goal of 3rd round was met to focus on the league and that clearly payed off.

Now, the goal is to improve the squad over the summer with the available budget (€2 million to spend!), altough the wage-budget is still tight.
The PTT 1. Lig is very competative, with mostly very evenly strong teams, except for the usual Spor Toto Süper Lig relegated teams sticking out on top. Still, we should be alright with a budget like that.

Formation is a counter-attacking flat 4-4-2 with defensive and deep lying forwards, mostly to keep things realistic. If I ever should reach the higher echelons of any of the league structures I want to use something more fancy, but I find it unrealistic to use a fancy counterpressing or strikerless tactic at these lower lever teams. Personal thing.

RobNemoo

17 years ago

1 month ago

21 Oct 2016 18:45:33

Second season with Kartal ended safely above the relegationzone, 11th. During the summer I was able to get some decent players in, a Greek goalkeeper, Greek DC and an Argentinian striker proved very valuable. As a promoted team we obviously had our ups and downs, but without a real struggle to stay up.

For me personally Kartal was a nice first stepping stone into my career, but I don't feel 'it' for the club nor the competition. My contract end so I will be actively looking for a new club in Greece or Austria if I can.

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