Journeyman Career

After playing around on a few saves, I've finally decided to sink my teeth in to a long term save, and the first real proper journeyman I have done. I've loaded up as many leagues as I can whilst sticking below the 125k player database limit, and here is the variety of countries that I could possibly end up in.



Here I am, starting out with no coaching badges and a Sunday league reputation. The little points I have got, I have piled in to adaptability in the hope that will aid me with all the moving about I'm sure to end up doing.



I've got no real preference as to where I start off my journey at the moment, but I will take a good look in the job centre, and consider my options carefully before taking the plunge in to a job.


July 2017 to August 2017 - Energetik-BGU Minsk
January 2018 to present - Granit Mikashevichi

Trophy Cabinet

Next post - First job in management

My first job in football management. Where was I going to end up? I had a good look at the job centre, and immediately ruled out a number of clubs. I wouldn't be considered for any of these... yet. Let me build my reputation in some other leagues first.

Applications began flying out to clubs as varied as Richards Bay, Henan, Cherno more and IK Sport, and within a few days a couple of the clubs had got back to me with an offer of an interview. It was going to be a bit of a busy few days! I would be flying out to Israel to begin with, for my interview with Hapoel Ramat-Gan before flying back via Romania and Ukraine for interviews with CS Balotești and Rukh Vynnyky respectively.

I arrived back in the UK tired after travelling, but feeling that all three interviews had gone well, but continued to keep an eye on the job centre for any new vacancies to pop up. After a few days though, my first bit of bad news popped up. Hapoel Ramat-Gan had decided to go for Eli Cohen instead of me. Not that I was too disheartened, I never expected to get the first job I had an interview for. Besides, I was still in the running for another couple of jobs, and I also sent off a few more applications. A day later however, and more bad news. CS Balotești and Rukh Vynnyky had both gone with other managers as well.



After receiving this bad news, I pinged off some more applications via email to Clyde, Atlanta Utd, Energetik-BGU and SJK, and it wasn't long before I got offered some interviews. First up was Clyde, and a job interview that went incredibly well, and only a couple of days later, they offered me the job, on a salary of £210 per week. I decided to ask them if I could delay my decision for a week, as I had also had a good interview with Energetik-BGU, and wanted to see whether they would offer me the job, and what they could offer me. A few days later, and Energetik-BGU got back to me, offering me £500 per week.



Next post - Club Overview

Energetik-BGU

Founded in 1995, Energetik-BGU Minsk are a professional Belarusian club currently playing in the Persha Liga. Energetik-BGU are looking to build on their mid-table finish in the Persha Liga last season.

The club play their games at the 1,600 capacity RTsOR BGU and possess good training facilities and average youth facilities. The club also has adequate junior coaching and an above average youth recruitment network. The club is affectionately known as 'The Students' and retains a fierce rivalry with FC Zhlobin and Krumkachy Minsk.

Although 'The Students' are enduring a nineteen year barren spell, having not won a competition since 1998, the club still have a history of which they can be justly proud. Energetik-BGU finished runners-up in the Belarusian 2nd tier for the only time in 2001, and won the Belarusian 3rd tier for the only time in 1998.



I'm guessing that very few people will have ever played in the Persha Liga, or the Belarusian second tier before, so let me run through the rules quickly for you:



At the time of me taking over, the club finds themselves in 10th place in the league, with just under half the season played.


The board are expecting a top half finish, so hopefully not too big an ask and something we are not too far off as well. We are also still in the cup competition, the Kubak Belarusi.

The next thing for me to do was to have a look at the squad that I would be working with:


Some good prospects in the side, alongside some fairly decent experienced players. There are however some glaring weaknesses, particularly down the left hand side with no quality option at left back, and limited options at left midfield. I'm relatively happy with the rest of the squad though, with some good depth in most positions. There would be nothing I could do about it immediately though, with the transfer window not opening for another couple of weeks, on the 2nd August. Financially though, the club appears to be in a fantastic position at the moment, hopefully allowing me some room in the transfer market to bring in a few players, however I am likely going to have to look to move on some players before I can bring any more in.


I'm not sure yet what my best tactic is going to be with this side, however to begin with, I'm going to be sticking to a fairly basic 4-4-2, although I'm sure the first few games in charge will give me a fairly good idea of what tactic to go with.

First things first, I need to get myself on to the coaching course ladder. I asked the board if they would allow me to complete a coaching course and they agreed.


With my first game in charge coming up the day after my appointment at home against Torpedo Zhodino in the Kubak Belarusi 2nd round, I would have a great opportunity to instantly win over the fans and the players. It isn't going to be an easy fixture though, with Torpedo doing well in the Belarusian First Division.

Next post - Transfer Window round-up

Well... that first attempt at management didn't last too long. 30 days to be exact.


Turns out that when I asked the board to send me on a coaching course, they said that they would as long as I improved the club's position in the league. As you can see from the results, things didn't exactly go our way.



We leave the team in 12th place, having not really been able to improve the teams form, although I would argue that I wasn't really given the opportunity, especially being sacked in the middle of the transfer window! Never mind though, back on the job hunt we go!

Side note, I've been thinking about my long term goals for this save. What I'm hoping to aim for is winning the top continental club competition in each continent, so brace yourselves for a long term save!

Next post - New Job

Granit Mikashevichi

So we've stayed in Belarus, and stayed in the Persha Liga. After spending around 4 months unemployed, a couple of jobs popped up that we were the favourites for. Having spent the previous few months applying for jobs all around the world and getting turned down repeatedly, I decided to return to Belarus with a point to prove.

An introduction to Granit Mikashevichi for you:

Founded in 1978, Granit Mikashvichi are a professional Belarusian football club currently playing in the Persha Liga. The club play their games at Polasie and possess below average training facilities and basic youth facilities. The club also has average junior coaching and a fairly basic youth recruitment network. The club is affectionately known as The Miners.

Having enjoyed success as recently as 2014, The Miners are a club with a growing history. Granit won the Belarusian second tier for the only time in 2014 and finished runners-up once.

It's the end of the season in Belarus, and Granit managed to finish in 7th place last term, a massive 10 points behind Energetik-BGU, who appeared to turn things around after they sacked me last season. The board expectation is a mid-table finish, and I have got a transfer budget of £54k and a wage budget of £2k. The club's finances are looking healthy, and this should give me plenty of room for manouvre in the transfer market.


Time to meet the current squad.


The first thing to mention is it is currently very small. I'll be looking to change that over the transfer window, brining in a number of players either permanently or on loan.

Another piece of good news is the board agreed to my request to go on a coaching course. It won't be long now until I have a National B qualification!


Let's hope we have a bit more success this time in Belarus!

Next post - Pre-season round up

Belarus is an interesting place to get to start. Best of luck, @alec6247!

Thanks, r96skinner. It's somewhere I've never managed before so I'm certainly looking forward to the challenge!






At the end of pre-season, I'm feeling pretty confident with the squad we have managed to assemble. We've had decent results from the friendlies, only narrowly losing the two games against teams in the division above us, and comfortably winning the remaining games, including a game against Gomel who are also in the league above.


In regards to transfers, its been a busy couple of months at the club, with no less than 12 players arriving at the club with three loans, and nine permanent deals, whilst two players were moved out permanently, and we also were forced to release Andriy Stryzheus.


It was frustrating to have to release such a talented player (for this level), but due to the stupid rules in the league, I'm unable to register any foreigners and it worked out cheaper releasing him on a free rather than having him rot in the reserves.

Overall though, I'm happy now with the balance of the squad, and hopefully a second crack at the Persha Liga with the opportunity to strengthen the squad during a transfer window will mean that we do much better than we did before!


I've now got plenty more players at my disposal, and at least two options for each position to allow me to cover the inevitable injuries I will get. I adjusted my wage and transfer budgets, allowing me to sign the extra players and I am still well within my wage budget, with some room to manouvre in the summer transfer window if I need to. There's plenty of money in the bank as well, and generally we're pretty secure financially.


I was perhaps a little surprised to see us predicted to finish so low in the league though, with the media predicting us to finish in 13th! Realistically this season, my aim is going to be at a minimum to finish in the top half, and perhaps even push for top 4/5.


The basic tactic I've decided to go for, and the initial starting 11 for the season is a pretty basic, high pressing 4-4-2, with retain possession and play wider team instructions. Generally at this level, high pressing is a good idea due to the low decision making stats of the players and I'm going to be looking to force them in to mistakes, whilst at the same time using the pretty good passing stats we have as a team to control the tempo and find the gaps for our two strikers. The strength of the team lies in the flanks, so by getting the team to play wider, hopefully this will bring these players in to the game more, and allow them to create plenty of chances for the men up top.


With the season about to kick off, I'm optimistic and will be looking for a good solid start from the lads to really establish ourselves early on in the division.

Next post - Mid-Season Update