Travelling across Europe - proving I'm better than Dan!

An excellent season in the Premier Division came to an end as May produced seven gruelling matches as we looked to wrap up not just a league and cup double but also Austria.


Yes! League and Cup winners!

Our opening game of the final month in an excellent season was at home to Wiener Neustadt and a single twenty third minute goal from Markoutz was enough to seal the points.

We then played Ried in the Austrian FA Cup semi final and we eased to the final thanks to a four one away success as attacking midfielder Morina had fired us into an eighteen minute strike before an own goal doubled the lead early in the second half and then Markoutz and Cuntz both struck to seal the passage while Travner bagged a consolation goal for Ried.

We then slipped to a disappointing defeat away to Strum Graz as Benestad scored our only goal on ten minutes while Kainz, Marques and Ciftci all scored for the home side.

The impossible title challenge was completed as we travelled to Austria Wien and secured the league thanks to a supurb three goals to one away success as Markoutz put us into a twenty third minute lead before winger Ngwat-Mahop had doubled the lead and the league and points were secured on seventy two minutes as Zachhuber added a third goal, Vrsic pulled a goal back but Austria Wien weren't going to spoil the Altach party.

In our next game we lifted the league title but their wasn't much to celebrate as we played out an uneventiful 0-0 draw at home to Wolfsberger.

The 2014/15 season came to a conclusion as made the trip to Wacker Innsbruck and came out on top of the a five goal thriller, Prskalo opened the scoring for us on twenty minutes but the hosts levelled through Perstaller just a couple of minutes later and turned the game around on the half hour. We equalised on the stroke of half time through Hormann but we had secured the maximum points when Prskalo scored his second six minutes from time.

A remarkable season and adventure in Austria was to come to an end as we faced Lustenau in the Austrian FA Cup final and it wasn't a game to remember for both sets of fans and neutrals. The trophy was heading to Altach as Prskalo scored the only goal on sixty two minutes with the only effort on target.


Champions. What a magnificent season it turned out to be for us and not only did we wrap up the league title unexpectedly by finishing ten points clear of second place Salzburg but we also wrapped up the Austrian FA Cup thanks to a victory against Lustenau in a poor, poor game.


Proof that the title was sealed after an excellent away success at Austria Wien as the 3-1 win sealed the title that no one, not even ourselves expected to win.


An extremely poor game but victory in the cup final sealed the double.

So people, that's Austria officially wrapped up and now I am all set to resign and head back on the dole, save up enough cash and head to Belarus for my next adventure.

Fantastic sonner! Matching me step for step here and its fantastic to have such good competition! Lets leave the pack behind and make headway in Belarus now!

I'm utterly over the moon that I secured the league title against the odds, as for the cup I wasn't confident heading into the final as Lustenau had beaten Austria Wien in the semi finals if I remembered correctly.

But, Austria has been chalked off, the OP has been updated and I am now "signing on", waiting for a job in Belarus.

With the Premier Division and Austrian FA Cup success this season I have decided it's time this challenge moved onto the next country.


So I have decided to resign as the clubs manager and this was a tough decision to take. I had some good players at the Cashpoint Arena such as Cuntz, Prskalo, Markoutz and Jager to name just the four but for the sake of the challenge I needed to step down and let the new manager attempt to take the club to the next level.

Whoever takes charge will be managing at least some Champions League qualifiers and I hope they have the same success as I have, two and a half seasons at Altach and I won three trophies, that's not a bad record at all.

I've no doubt the fans are shocked that I have stepped down but I needed too.


Following my resignation three staff members decided to part company with the club also. The trio being coaches Addo and Rosa along with goalkeeping coach Roma, I don't think they'd be interested in following me onto my next chapter in my managerial career.


Then I received this interesting offer from Austria Wien, a team who I was interested in managing last season. If I remember correctly I applied for the job but they weren't all that interested, now they want me and I am not interested in managing in Vienna seeing as Austria has been completed - the transfer budget was a healthy one too, definitely not to have been sniffed at, nearly £5m is probably quite a bit for Austrian football.

If it hadn't then I wouldn't hesitate to manage them, they'd have been a step up from Altach no doubt.

Amazing achievment in doing the double! Good luck with the job hunt.

A new journey embarked as I arrived in Belarus looking for a new job as I needed to sign off. It's been a long time since I resigned as Altach's manager and the sooner I received a job, the better.

I applied for two jobs and received one from a club who were predicted to finish sixteenth in the Belarusian First Division. Tough? Absolutely, they're only semi professional and have seventeen first team players on their books, but it's a challenge and one I had no doubt but to accept.

Who am I managing?


I've become the new manager of Zhlobin, agreeing a two-year-deal at the club. It's going to be tough.


With us expecting to be relegated come the end of the season, the season kicks off on the road when we travel to Livadia Dzerzhinsk before hosting Baranovichi and our third game of the season is also on the road to Slutsk.

The campaign, and what I am hoping will be survival concludes with away games against Lida and Pinsk before the season officially ends with a home clash against SKVICh.

Cheers pal, my final season at Atlach was just remarkable and I’m still in shock that I managed to secure the double, against the odds.

But now I am in Belarus for my first job there and it’s going to be tough, very tough.

Congrats on getting out of Austria. Belarus will be interesting.

Well done on the job front buddy, both have very difficult tasks here in Belarus!

Thanks. Belarus is indeed going to interesting as they're isn't that many players interested in joining me and the players I have currently are, well, crap to say the least bar one or two.


Both tough jobs and the better question is I suppose, who will crack first? I am looking at a s**t load of players as I look to strengthen my squad.

However I can only have one scout on board due to playing on fmc! which sucks big time!

Managing in Belarus for the first time and with a semi-professional club was always going to be a tough order and that's how I am starting to feel after an absolutely atrocious pre season programme, which saw us play three games and lose three games.


We were predicted to lose our first two games against Neman Grodno and Shakhter Soligorsk as they're both from the Highest League and the game against Neman started the brutal pre season preparations as an own goal from Anyukevich on thirty four minutes saw us bag our only goal.

We were unable to score at all against Shakhter Soligorsk as they ran out five nil winners away from home and an awful defeat away to Ozertsy wrapped up a brutal pre season programme as Savitskity scored five minutes before the break.

An awful pre season? Absolutely. Do I desperately need to make signings? You're damn right!


Eleven arrived at the club ahead of the new season.

This is obviously the first time I've ever managed in Belarus so I wouldn't have a clue about any players, especially in the second tier.

Subochev was my first signing as the twenty-nine-year-old central defender arrived to try and make our defensive ranks better and he was soon followed by Vitorskiy who can play all over midfield, he'll play in the centre as we didn't even have a single one at the club when I arrived.

Another central midfielder arrived in Khomichuk and the twenty-seven-year-old will only back up as Talaev will be my second first choice player, he's another central midfielder amd the twenty-two-year-old can play in the defensive midfield position too, if needed. Bykov is a striker who I hope will boost my attacking threat, twenty-six-years-old I would like him to be my first choice.

Central defender Losik has joined the club, he has experience at thirty-old and will be first choice and so could Zharikov, he's a right back while I have attempted to make the left back slot stronger too with Mikhnyuk joining and at thirty-two-years-old he will have experience. Another player with experience has joined as thirty-one-year-old Melnik has joined, he can play along the entire attacking midfield section.

Our penultimate signing was a wing back, winger and left side attacking midfielder in Razmyslovich as the thirty-one-year-old will definitely be first choice and our final signing was Balakhomskiy and he's a second right back who has joined the club this transfer window, at twenty-five he could be a shrewd signing.

I'd like to say these signings would be excellent and seriously help me but deep down I feel they haven't made my side stronger at all despite some of them being just sheer quality and experienced for the level we're at but we'll soon see I suppose.

I'm allowed to have two scouts but even then they're nothing spectacular but I hope they do their job.

A horrid pre season like mine, lets hope you take better form into the season!

Pre season was just dreadful as we couldn't even win a match but sure I didn't have much time with the team so I hope the league form will be different.

Our first competitive month arrived for me in Belarus and it's been a mixed enough start as we've won two and lost three of our opening five matches in April. Not bad, considering we're predicted to finish bottom of the league, I am expecting nothing this season.


And life in Belarus started on the road as we travelled to Livadia Dzerzhinsk and we picked up a three two away victory with Melnik scoring on thirteen minutes and we bagged a second early in the second half through Vitorskiy and then Simonenko scored a third with four minutes left.

Our second game and first at home of the new season was against Baranovichi and we won a six goal thriller with all our goals coming in the second half. We opened the scoring on forty seven minutes as Melnik made it two goals from as many games and then Dashuk added a second goal on fifty four minutes before Koltovic scored our third a few minutes later before his second, in second half stoppage time sealed the points.

We then suffered our first defeat of the season as we made the trip to Slutsk and they beat us two goals to nil deservedly.

Next up was a second straight game away from home against Gorodeys and we suffered a second straight defeat, at two goals behind we pulled one back just before the hour mark through Razmyslovich.

And my first month concluded with a home tie against Vedrich Rechitsa and a third defeat on the spin came as the visitors secured a single goal victory in front of over two thousand spectators.


We had made a solid start to the league season but following the three defeats on the spin has seen us drop to tenth in the table and it's now important we pick up some victories to make sure we don't get sucked into a relegation battle, even though it's early days.

Picked up two more points from the opening five games of the season than I did. What is it with you beating my sides?

Still a pretty poor start to the season, and you know you're side is rubbish when they're currently only five players interested in joining the club.

For some reason whenever I face a side you're managing, I get the players "fired up" and they just win, it's great.

The second month in charge of the club was another disappointing month as we only manage to rack up four points from a possible fifteen that was available. One win and a draw and our confidence was seriously draining as we were quickly heading into a relegation dogfight.


We secured only our third victory of the season in our first game in May as a single goal from Razmyslovich was enough to defeat Rudensk despite us being down to ten men early on.

Unfortunately we couldn't make it two straight victory as we slipped to a two one home defeat by the hands of Smorgon despite Razmyslovich scoring for the second game running on the half hour the away side struck twice, including a heart breaking late winner.

Our third game was away to Granit, a game were we faced the impossible and I thought that as we went two nil behind but some new found confidence (no, I don't know were it came from) saw us fight back to earn a draw as Subochev and then for the third game running Razmyslovich in the space of two minutes levelled.

We then travelled to league favourites Torpedo Zhodino and despite Koltovich giving us an eighth minute lead, we slipped to another defeat.

May ended with an awful home defeat at the hands of DSK, Koltovich scored our first goal but then we conceded four without reply before Melnik added a second consolation goal.


We're slipping drastically down the table as we're now just a point above the bottom two after an absolutely awful month. I don't even know were some consistency is going to come from but it's needed and quick.


Finally, much to the disgust of some of the supporters I applied for the Torpedo Zhodino job whenever it became available as it would definitely be a step up should I manage to get it. They've struggled early on this season and it cost their last gaffer his job, predicted to win the league it would be a massive step up.

They're "flattered", which means someone else will get the job and I will be stuck with this side, heading for relegation and the sack.

Another poor month. Belarus is battering us! You may only get that job if you resign due to compensation and that.

Good luck though

We're going to be stuck in Belarus forever.

I don't really want to resign but I'd love to get the job at Torpedo as they're a much bigger club, but I don't think I will get it.

Just under three months ago I was appointed manager of Zhlobin, a semi-professional side who were predicted to finish rock bottom of the First League. That short spell at the club has come to an end as I've decided to move on to a bigger club and I hope it's a decision I don't come to regret.


Torpedo Zhodino have approached me to be the clubs new manager and it's a decision I needed to take time to think about. They're a step up from Zholbin and they're also offering quite a big transfer budget for a team in the Belarusian First League, it's an offer I can't turn down, right?

A three-year-deal has been offered from the team who are expected to win the league this season, a team who have been struggling hence why their manager was given the inevitable boot out. Since the squad is quite small and they are struggling I hope I'm not judged on this season, should I take the job.


And I've made the decision to jump ship. I couldn't get consistency with Zhlobin and they were heading down and if I did finish bottom of the league and get relegated then I would have been sacked. I feel I've made the correct career path for the sake of this challenge.

Torpedo have had to pay my former club £28k in compensation for my services and now my job is to ensure they don't regret employing me.


They're a professional club I believe are Torpedo so it's definitely a step up in quality I hope.

You're onto a winner there pal! Not only do they look financially adequate but they are expected to win the first league! You could move ahead here! Have you seen any cups take place yet? I haven't

Just looked on mine, This torpedo club are in the top division on mine!

They're definitely a step up from my previous side and a challenge I am relishing as I could get ahead in this challenge... all being well.

The draw for the Belarusian Cup is expected to take place on 14th June.

Just the one game was played in June as I managed Torpedo Zhodino for the first time in an away match against Granit.


And it was a dream start for me as their manager as we wrapped up a four goals to two away success at Granit as Korolyuk struck on fourteen minutes before our second goal came nine minutes from half time through Premudrov.

The hosts fought back but then a third goal away from home from Guzik was likely to ensure the points but (I believe) they fought back with a second before Korolyuk's second goal of the game, in second half stoppage time, wrapped up the perfect start to my reign.


The league favourites are lying in tenth place following that victory away from home as we're definitely still in the title picture as we're just nine points from top spot.

Meanwhile, my former club Zhlobin went second bottom after a defeat. Some things never change, I would love to see them survive, even if I was only at the club for like three months.

We don't have another league game now until the middle of July so I've decided to arrange some friendly games, try and get the players used to my style of play as I look to try and get this club promoted. Five games were played with us winning one, drawing one and losing three.


The friendly games didn't exactly go to plan with one victory from the five games that were all played at home although I did arrange some tough games against Highest League teams such as Minsk, Shakhter Soligorsk, Dinamo Minsk and BATE.

We did beat Minsk at home three goals to two in front of just over one thousand one hundred people but then we struggled and couldn't even beat our own reserve team, playing out a one all draw. The side then slipped to defeats against Soligorsk, Dinamo Minsk and BATE, which was to be expected I'm sure. I just hope confidence hasn't been dented too much ahead of the July fixtures.

July seen us play four league matches as I remained undefeated since arriving at Torpedo, two wins and two draws from the games and that's a little disappointing.


The month started with a home clash against DSK and the club made it two wins from as many games since I arrived as both goals came in the opening half as Tikhonovskiy opened the scoring on thirteen minutes and that was doubled a minute before half time thanks to striker Korolyuk who nipped in to finish.

We then travelled to Khimik Svetlogorsk and could only manage a point as we struck twice in the final fifteen minutes to draw, Tikhonovskity struck for the second game running before an own goal four minutes later saw us bag our second. Poor result.

Our third game of the month was at home to Smorgon and we picked up a morale boosting four goals to one victory as Premudrov opened the scoring on five minutes to get us off to a dream start but they levelled before Korolyuk restored the lead on twenty seven minutes and that's how it remained until the sixty eighth minute because Yevlash headed home to make it 3-1 and the fourth goal was scored with seven minutes remaining as Kur'yanovic inevertinly put the ball past his own keeper.

So with confidence high after that Smorgon win we stayed at home to face Belcard and we got off to a good start when Premudrov slotted home a penalty on eleven minutes but they levelled and despite trying we couldn't find a winner.


We're up to fifth in the table after those four games despite drawing twice, just eight points from the summit with half the season remaining.

Decent unbeaten start at the club mate. Think you will do enough to go up! First blood in Belarus to you!

Cheers pal. We're predicted to win the league and I'm still a little confident I can achieve the title.

I've played through August and I just need to post that. It's the curse of having rubbish weather, I can't be bothered to do anything else today.

This club looks very good to go up! Shouldn't be much of a problem!

Interesting to read both you and Dan's careers! I might start this once I beat Brittania

Thanks pal, the club look excellent and promotion is correct to be expected.

You should join us mate, the more the merrier. It's fun.