ChuckFM
17 years ago
3 days ago
15
So i'm into my third season now, a quick update on the opening 2 and upto the current point.
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Poprad, a city at the base of the Tatra Mountains boasts a population of approx 60,000 people and an International Airport.

Retired Tennis Pro, Daniela Hantchukova was born in Poprad, along with Peter Bondra, former NHL pro who had over 500 career goals in the comp.

FK Poprad play out of the newly upgraded facility NTC Poprad (National Training Centre), renovated in 2014. Used by the club as well as the National U21 side, seats 5,700 and the facility includes a hotel and aquapark.
The facility has been used by Man Utd and Leeds Utd in the past.


2019/20 -
2.Liga - Champions
Slovak Cup - 2nd Round

Having chased the top 2 or 3 for majority of the season, we hit our straps following the Winter break, winning 8 of our remaining 12 games and losing just 2. Taking over the top spot and pulling clear with a couple games left.

https://i.gyazo.com/bf6c42ffff37856227ea698e258a8d01.png

2020/21 -
Fortuna Liga - 8th
Slovak Cup - 2nd Round

https://i.gyazo.com/52897ca4db08107e71268fdf393348ca.png

A lack of quality and depth was obvious in the club first Fortuna Liga campaign. Registering just 5 points from a possible 33 after playing everyone once. The solitary win coming against the bottom team. We were in the relegation zone and much improvement needed.
Improve we did and we got out of the relegation zone after the 22, but resigned to the relegation group. With 6 wins over the 10 games we climbed away to comfortable finish 8th.
Finances suffered and we finished the season 600k in the red.

2021/22 - Current
Update to follow

ChuckFM
17 years ago
3 days ago
15
2021/22

Two priorities going into this season.
1. Stay in the top div. this the obvious one, the potential financial gain we could build on is significant and to grow the club this is necessary.

2. Fix the finances. While the potential financial gain is decent, this will mainly coincide with European Competition. Additionally we're hampered by an owner who doesn't invest and likes to make his own decisions about player sales, contracts, staff. So being tight with transfers, wages and any other decisions we can control will be vital.
We were fortunate enough to gain £542k in sponsorship for this season, up from £148 last season. So that reduced the debt so just under £230k and reduces a bit of pressure.

https://i.gyazo.com/c9cec904a69d61d0198fdbfff3592afa.png

Some useful outs, Boye the key offload, making a few quid and dropping £650pw off the bill.
The loan deal for Schofield also sound, £600pw off bill and take some extra from it. This player may have a future at the club, we've got a few left wingers so we'll see, but this deal all about the money.

https://i.gyazo.com/b7f6ac0e87514db8c80be88d7e215806.png

3 loans in with no wage cost to us which is perfect. Bartos the only of the loans that will be frequent starter, the others to provide depth.
Also have 2 other youngsters joining use part way through the season that i hope to have around the first team.

Squad

GK: Tomasch Calore, Igor Petkovic

DEF: Filip Stojanovski, Arman Corovic, Andrej Strba, Salvomir Pagac, Francesco Somma, Daniel Soucek

MID: Romario Vieira, Mirko Jukic, Matej Gresak, Viliam Bartos, Vadym Yanchak, Claudio Landa Olivares, Dal Varesanovic, Marian Chobot

ATT: Marvin Géran, Jean Louis Diouf, Christoforos Panagiotou, Luca Magazzu

July - August

https://i.gyazo.com/381ec1f9a09f6081b80ce9a3718019bd.png

The same amount of points in our first 3 games as it took us from 11 last season.
Started August with a couple tough losses but Pohronie was a bit of a turning point.

Goal tallies after 2 months. Corovic (3), Chobot (1), Géran (1), Panagiotou (1), Jukic (1), Magazzu (1), Somma (1)

Transfers
As mentioned earlier, 2 youngsters joined us at the end of August, who will be providing depth to the first team.

Berk Berk Turkish Wing Back joins us on a free from Gaziantepspor
Mark Laurenborg also joins on a free (common occurance) from Danish side Næsby

------------------------------------------

Next update will be September - January as I rush this up to speed for you all.
ChuckFM
17 years ago
3 days ago
15
September - January

https://i.gyazo.com/4434116134ff01a9471c47d700ed819b.png

Entered the cup away to 3rd Division Stropkov. It was 4-0 after 17min..

Went into our match v Streda with plenty of confidence. They won the league last season, beating Slovan on the final day to take the title on head to head rule.
A crazy game with Berk Berk getting sent off, on debut, just 6 minutes in, for a wild sliding tackle. All this from a bloke who apparently 'doesn't dive into tackles'. They then had a man sent for handball and a second yellow, literally punching the ball into the goal, before we snuck it at the death, Diouf scoring in the 86th minute.

Back to earth v Slovan, who fair struggling at the time, while still navigating their Europa League campaign. But they had no trouble with us.

We went on a nice run after that, getting through 2 more cup rounds, just. Before falling to a late defeat at Zilina.

A shaky start to November, but we finished strong with our best performance to date, 4-0 v a 3rd place Trencin, followed by a tight away win to go into the Winter break in 5th.

Transfers[b]

Halfway through the winter break the transfer window opens. A little business was done.
IN: Matus Kunik, Ken Jensen, Angel Gonzalez

Kunik I looked at as a good backup option to replace 2 of the outgoing loanees at seasons end. Gives futher depth on wings too if we're desperate.
Jensen and Gonzalez look like great prospects to take over as my main Centre Backs in the future. We've now got 2 Danes and 2 Chilean's.
I did apparently make a mistake with Gonzalez though, agreeing to improve the defence, which i don't remember. But anyway, when the window closed and we supposedly didnt do that, he got rather upset.
Hopefully our performances will sort him out and he'll be happy to stay.

OUT: We allowed Scott Schofield to go permanently, for a fee of £135k plus extras. We have enough Left Wingers so happy to bank that money. Varesanovic went across the border to Czech Rep. to Slovacko for £5k, clearing £900pw off the bill. 2 other youngsters also moved on for a total of £1.5k.

[b]February - March


4 Matches left until the league split. Plus a cup quarter final to hopefully progress.

https://i.gyazo.com/c3835d1c29954f5ef98267841749793a.png

Starting with away games v last seasons Champions and Runners Up. Diouf opened the scoring at Streda with what would be goal of the month.
While, Slovan are rampant this season and the fact we only conceded 2 was satisfying enough.

https://i.gyazo.com/dc1ac5fff78bb641ef7fe3615e88b2a7.png

An under performing Trnava arrived in town next and took a deserved lead, before we managed an equaliser and a useful point.

Cup Quarters and we hosted Zlate Moravce who were relegated last season and are finding it tough in 2.Liga.
https://i.gyazo.com/dcda6d46f5179e6ec92182deecad0494.png

Not pretty but Géran ends his goal drought and we somehow managed to keep a clean sheet.

We've been fairly poor since the Winter Break ended, even though we are heavily under resourced compared to most in the league, we had been competing well prior to the break so can't help but feel we should be doing better.

https://i.gyazo.com/4a2c6670975f5403bfa501acfe2d57ac.png

Final game before the split and we couldn't of asked for a better start. But pegged back by a free kick and we settle for a point.

https://i.gyazo.com/b52c13517e4eb95107ac4b9c3e08d7fd.png

Finally a table for you all, now we're up to date.

We could have missed out on the Championship group if results for opponents had gone against us.
Bust as a result, title holder Streda were beaten and overtaken by newly promoted Nitra and Pohronie came back from 3-1 down to score 2 goals in the last 5min, but not enough as they also miss out.

So, although i'm not across the entirety of this Championship group, I do know we play eachother twice.
3 Teams qualify for the Europa League, taking FA Cup winner into account. But there is a playoff which i guess i'll find out shortly what that is deciding.

Zilina in 3rd is reachable and achievable so that's possible, even though a long shot. The cup though is a great opportunity with the draw remaining.

Cup Semi Final
Poprad v Dun.Streda
Dubnica v Sered
Dubnica are 3rd in 2.Liga and knocked out Slovan in the Qtrs.

but all that qualifying aside, delighted to make the Championship group with this club and current squad. Lets go cause a few upsets.
ChuckFM
17 years ago
3 days ago
15
The split - March

So 10 games left, home and away against the other sides of the Championship group. This makes us underdogs for most matches, perhaps other than v Nitra. Potential to get some bums in seats and bank some gate receipts and broadcast money.

12/3/22 - Trenčín (A)
https://i.gyazo.com/26819edcc30622c38dbbd5e4d78db4a1.png

Horrendous first half, which saw us under the pump throughout, 2 set pieces and 1 other soft goal conceded. Could have been very different, Diouf spurned 3 CCC's all in the opening 40min and found himself subbed before half time.
His replacement got 2 back in the second half and we hit the post in the 95th minute, but damage was done.

19/3/22 - Michalovce (H)
https://i.gyazo.com/caae5e8320c63f6a51aec6bf2bfce592.png

Well i'm happy to say I was disappointed with a draw here, vs 2nd place Michalovce. Rediscovered some of the attacking flair that served us well prior to the winter break. But forced to settle with a point and we move on. Panagiotou netting again justifying is start over Diouf.

29/3/22 - Slovnaft Cup Semi Final 1st Leg - Dun. Streda (H)
https://i.gyazo.com/5a079e0d064762df8bfed88b8b6359dd.png

With a small break prior to this game we squeezed in a friendly v Lokomotiva Kosice and dispatched them 5-0. We needed to find the goals again and also get a bit more match fitness which hadn't returned fully after the winter break. This fixture definitely served it's purpose.

A great start in the first leg, 2 up after 20minutes and comfortable at HT. Faded a little in the 2nd and they scored from yet another set piece, our former player and Home grown talent Repa scoring against us, who is on loan at Streda from Dresden. Fortunately Géran restored the 2 goal advantage with the late pen after Laurenborg ran the entire length of the pitch following a counter and was hacked down.

In the other semi, Sered won away at Dubnica 1-0 to take the advantage into the home leg.

Table

https://i.gyazo.com/59a6b863114473f7f8ae204de7f63570.png

Now i'm not sure why we've dropped below the Champ group, last seasons rules stated that the group positions wouldn't overlap, so when we finished 8th and had more points than 6th, that was why.
I can't find that rule this season, however the European Places playoff states 4th-7th which is the only thing i can think of. That may coincide with introduction of Europa Conference League.

But we can avoid all that nonsense if we sort out our league form and start winning again, perhaps win the cup too which would be nice.
ChuckFM
17 years ago
3 days ago
15
Youth Intake

We're actually quite fortunate and seem to have a good pool of youth for our intakes. This season again supplying a couple that might turn our reasonable.

https://i.gyazo.com/e45e645ce55fba0237eff16b28f9d88f.png

Martin Jacko

Karol Bartos
ChuckFM
17 years ago
3 days ago
15
April

Finances

So, as you'll see our finances are in a state.

https://i.gyazo.com/9fdbf074500d5f1f934f5974cd074098.png

https://i.gyazo.com/c554f3ccbaca912cd1e5169077ebfd1b.png

https://i.gyazo.com/3d1f859d06c87c01313173a762778893.png

What we're spending on the likes of wages (both player and staff) isn't unreasonable, £61k combined last month, i do feel cutting back on bonuses could be a focus as last month that tallied to £13k.
The flip side to all this is our income just isn't covering it, last months highest values were 'other' £11k, 'merchandise' £10k, 'matchday income' £7.7k and 'gate receipts' £7k, although we only had 2 home games in March.

Bigger sponsors will hopefully be a factor moving forward, with a considerable increase in sponsor value this season compared to last. However, no fundraising money has come through this season, whereas £250k was raised last season. Perhaps this is something that'll come at seasons end? we can hope.

So if we can't earn European Qualification, which we really shouldn't be relying on, we will shifting players quick for profit and running a weaker or younger squad to keep wages down.

Or hopefully the several rubbished takeover rumours we've had will come good.

2/4/22 - Žilina (A)
https://i.gyazo.com/828b1ac8a8eaded9828c39c8c1f959f4.png

Tough away trip to 3rd, on the back foot for much of but we were pretty good on the break scoring 2 first half goals. Annoyingly more set piece woe as they equalised early in the second half.

9/4/22 - Nitra (H)
https://i.gyazo.com/54bcdf4393622d415c00e57ba5268a75.png

A role reversal here as we were forced to adjust early when Nitra wanted to sit back and hit us on the break, as they took the lead early. Some second half tweaks and a goal from a corner following our first attack, we took control but couldn't put the game to bed. That was until this injury time clearance sat nicely for Berk.

12/4/22 - Dun. Streda (A)
https://i.gyazo.com/8887d805ce83a23ad670987d4a5a034b.png

Huge result. Soaked it up early on and went at them with plenty of phyicality. Snatched a massive goal right on half time and through men behind the ball in the second half, nullifying majority of their play.
We're in to our first final and Poprad's first chance at a top domestic trophy. Huge opportunity too with us taking on Sered in the final after their 3-0 agg win over 2nd div side, Dubnica. Sered are propping up the table and look destined for relegation being 13pts from safety.
ChuckFM
17 years ago
3 days ago
15
April - Part 2

16/4/22 - Slovan Bratislava (H)
https://i.gyazo.com/f8138090c99c0b3d61d95373409c9558.png

Well, definitely one of the most conservative approaches i've taken into a match. Really top performance too as we held our own and never looked like an underdog. 2 goals in 5 mins massive, followed by Calore saving a pen right on HT. Inevitable Free Kick conceded in the second half but we went on to hit the post 2 more times and grab the points.

Now, we appear to have stumbled on a bug which i'll be reporting this arvo, that win should have moved us into 5th and back in the Championship Group which we qualified for, but it seems we're stuck.

https://i.gyazo.com/016fde87bed693c75a4491393611ae9f.png

23/4/22 - Trenčín (H)
https://i.gyazo.com/c969354f7ee320010a33c09e3dfe96bc.png

Tidy win this, backs up our performance over Slovan and puts us in good form leading into the Cup final. Couple of well worked goals, plus a few others created that should have been put away.
Happy to get the win over this lot who we were poor against last time.

On the Cup final, Sered were just beaten 5-0 by Senica and have had their relegation confirmed. Hopefully we can continue their season of disappointment. They will be hosting the final so that's an extra hurdle we'll have to overcome.

https://i.gyazo.com/4cb18651f60162505ef5069040cbd05c.png
https://i.gyazo.com/df50ffccb082edccdc212f16094f58c2.png

https://i.gyazo.com/7006aab43b4b340c7d2dac81e99dcb01.png
https://i.gyazo.com/85f719635e41ff0de8e92f438dce9c13.png

Well.. definitely not pretty and extremely frustrating for the most part. 16min goal disallowed for offside which I don't know how the linesman could call as it was a scrap of bodies within 4 yrds of the goal. They hit us on the break right before half time which led to the hair dryer treatment at HT.
We gave away a pen 10min into the second half but Calore saved well, that gave us a chance still and we pushed on earning our own pen shortly after. Géran making no mistake.
Unable to find a winner, on it went the extra time where tired legs made it a tough watch.
Through to pens which we don't have many good takers but we put them away when it mattered and lift the trophy.

£45k Prize Money. We'll take whatever we can get. £22k was paid out to players.

22 winners medals awarded as players must play atleast 1 game to earn a medal.

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