The Ganja Trail - A Caribbbean Adventure

Yeah, he's the HoYD, I've given his responsibilities to English.

Erm, 5? I think.





Our attempt at a cup three-peat started off well, Caiquetio didn't trouble us too much.



Same story here, and having a 2-goal cushion within 10 minutes helped too.



Significantly less clinical here, though the general pattern of play was reminiscent of the previous 2 rounds.

And just like that, we're in the final - where we'll meet league leaders RCA:



Par for the course as well, about as comfortable as they come.



3-PEAT



Lake managed 7 in 4, 5 more than his league tally in with the same amount of starts.
And I don't wish to sound like a braggart, but seems like this time round the cup's been too easy, and we should be looking to replicate this form to our league campaign.



Got over 20k after all the rounds, not too shabby.

After the victory champagne had been chugged down it was time to resume our league campaign, as we finish the month with our 2 games in hand to be played:



Picked up where we left off in the cup, cellar-dwellers San Nicolas had no chance.
Though it did take us quite a while to get going.



If Caiquetio wanted revenge, they sure didn't show it - a comprehensive win.



This leaves us provisionally 2nd, would probably change though.
Regardless, RCA are looking like they'll run away with the regular season title.

A final piece of news:



Banked a substantial amount of the club's cash on this, it better pay off.

Love this still going! faring well in the league chief!

RCA is still that big piece of rock there...

Aye, they are, fingers crossed not for long though...

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

February 2021

What and odd game, both defences were quite poor.
Our defenders ended up having better average ratings because, well, more of them scored.



Derek Croes at the double, 2 good assists from strike partner Lake as well.



That's a mightily impressive 6 goals in 2 games for Croes, and what a quick hat-trick.
Cue his firing blanks in the next game, of course.



What'd I tell you, eh?
Midfield destroyer Rasmijn was the unlikely hero today, on other occasions I'd be fearing for him getting a 2nd yellow, but today he serves up a game-clinching performance.



We've played our cards perfectly this month, and we regain the lead (albeit having played 2 more games).
Pressure's on RCA now, knowing them they'll probably win both though.

Brilliant month for you, croes' hatrick was rapid to! out of your hands again briefly!

Perfect month and now finnaly at the top! Lets keep that pace!

Only 1 league game this month:



And a nervy one at that, Rensy Rolston doing his best to haunt his former club.
To our credit we came back well, Oehlers rampaging forward to great effect and Brison doing more than Lake in just over 20 minutes.



RCA, as it turns out have suffered a blip, but they do still have more points, so it's definitely not over yet, oh no.

Transfers now, and the frankly whack system of reputations in Aruba:



Now I'll have to clarify that these were probably all my fault for not handing them proper contracts, but come on, we're defending champions, and we've got a regional competition to play for, so why would you give this up?
Croes in particular, signing for a relegation-threatened club.



Fair enough for him, he's not a starter (behind Oehlers) an he'll probably do so in Britannia.
And I turns out that I've got a (rather neglected) prospect at RB by the name of Jean-Luc Giel:



Oh.

Enough of that shit though, time for some exciting developments:



Back in the subcontinental tourney, against the Vincentians (of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, who knew?) of System 3.



A milestone too, would be spiffing to mark the occasiono with a win:



Wasn't to be though, we had loads of chances but couldn't make them count.
Could bite us in the arse in the away leg.

April 2021

(Will be going in chronological order this month, it's quite important to the context)



Oh so much for worrying - Rangel Lugo was on absolute fire, making penetrating runs everywhere and combining well with de Waard.



They're right in saying we'll have a tough time it seems, Harbour View are as good as their titles suggest, and Cienfuegos aren't exactly minnows as well.
On the contrary, Caribbean All Stars don't quite live up to their name, with a team full of greyed-out players.



A double from Lake, another comfortable win, marred by the stupid, stupid sending off of Oehlers - I'd warned the man during the interval, and he goes out and does this.



Shocking, hands down the worst 1st half of the season.
Credit where it's due, to come back from that to draw, but finding ourselves in that position in the 1st place was unforgivable.



Our 1st back beck in the Group Stage, we struggled to gain control, but it wasn't as if we were expecting to do so - with our 4-6-0 it was always going to be a counter-attacking system, and that was how our goal came about.



Comfortable win, a good way to rebound from our Harbour View loss.

And as it turned out this was matchday 17, and with the games in hand completed we had a point's lead over RCA.
Who will we play on matchday 18? Well...



3 of our most important games in 7 days.



And what a fucking way to start it - shameful, shameful performance from us, with the nadir of another dismissal for Oehlers.
And of course with the group stages being only a single round robin (with only the winner guaranteed qualification) there was no point in playing a proper team against Cienfuegos:



But lo and behold, the 2nd string deal a thrashing - a pointless thrashing I should add.



I would mention that the best 2nd-placed teams from the 6 groups qualify for the quarter-finals, but it doesn't matter since we didn't.

Would I find solace in the league?



No.



In the end, Derek Croes will bring his scoring prowess with us to a relegation playoff, in a transfer that has done neither club nor player any favours whatsoever.

It's Championship Playoffs month (and a bit) next, but with this collapse I'm seriously considering Bukinapreto's advice to start looking for another employer. It'll in all likelihood depend on our youth intake, I'll have to see.

May 2021

I suppose it's a solid enough win, considering our collapse in the regular season I'll take them when they come.



A win again marred by Oehler's utter idiocy - 2 bookable offences in a minute.



3 dismissals in 19 starts, I'm pretty fucking sure I'm not being overly harsh.



Wasteful, but 1 goal was enough.



Well 1 goal wasn't enough here, and we didn't even get one to boot.
Rangel Lugo and Lake were abysmal here, but it's always going to be so isn't it.



Since playing strikers didn't work, let's try playing without strikers... Didn't work either.



It's baffling how we and RCA have contrived to trip up so often in these playoffs, at this rate a third side will sneak up on us and run away with the title.

Awards time as well (well the speculation anyway):



de Waard probably deserves it by default, he's going too be productive no matter what team he's in.



I'd like him to be punished for stupidly joining a relegation-threatened side, but he does deserve it to be honest.

Oh and I seem to have forgotten to mention a transfer from last month:



He's not irreplaceable, and I pocket a coll amount of cash, not too bad.

Good win, breaks us from our rut.

Then 3 matches in 5 days, including 2 against RCA (thanks fixture scheduler):



Squeaky-bum time it was, holding on to that narrow win for once was such a good feeling.



Then another regulation defeat of Bubali, though I'm now inclined to think that the referees do genuinely have an agenda against us.
Still, having conducted the routine berating of the 2 offenders I returned to this:



Some of these guys deserve a spanking, methinks.



Definitely thought that another choke was bound to happen, but Croes got us back with a spectacular drive and de Waard did the rest, doing well on the tip of the strikerless diamond.



Oh yeah, suck it RCA.



Icing on the cake I suppose, not that we were at our best anyway.



Losing 11 points on us is a proper choke on the part of RCA, didn't expect it to end up with such a commanding advantage.

Awards time:



So, so well deserved.
He didn't manage to get us the vital edge we needed in the subcontinental level, but he did more than enough in the league.



Derek Croes nowhere near, surprising.



Lake with 'only' 12 league goals, 19 overall.



Probably fair enough, Bubali weren't expected to be third favourites, so to do so is impressive.

Youth intake now:



Lots I won't use in all likelihood, really.



English's fave, he's got the pace but lots to improve if he's to feature in anyway next season.



Baten I like, half-decent technical skills and a Fairly Professional personality should put him in good stead.

Still, as I've said I"ll have a look at them and then decide on my future - they don't look good to be honest, so I might consider alternatives.



Bath have just been relagated from Saint Kitts & Nevis' 2nd tier to the non-league, so can't be managed and is therefore irrelevant, while taking charge of La Fama would just be fucking stupid.
Which leaves Hard Hitters, newly promoted to Jamaica's 3rd tier, a new semipro status, a team of amateurs for me to cull and an empty staff room for me to fill.

Thoughts?

P.s. You'll have lots of time to leave your opinions here, since I won't be available for the next 10 days at least. Ciao!

Go Hard Hitters! You've done superb here!

Congrats on the double! Didn't expect RCA to fall a part like that.

That Croes guy must be plain stupid. But I guess you have become quite familiar with that kind of deals in Aruba.

How about Jamaica? There's a lot of clubs with really cool names there... And maybe a bit more variation than Aruba?

I used to think The Strongest from Bolivia was the greatest name - until you taught me there was a team called Hard Hitters.

Hopefully, you will become a respected-enough manager that you'll be able to manage the great Trinidadian team called Joe Public should it ever become available.

Hard Hitters forever!

Thanks guys, Pretty sure I know what the general consensus is then...



Bummer, really wanted that job to be honest.

But that did get me thinking: maybe it is time for me to seek pastures new. And so I have:



Obvviously the club wasn't plesaed at me applying for numerous jobs in the likes of Martinique, Cuba and Barbados.

Eventually I did snag a new gig though, but not quite what I was expecting...





With that I end my journey with Estudiantes (for now anyway), joining the likes, of Paya Lebar, Eleven Wise, Smouha and Nima du Manga as the bloody obscure clubs that I've enjoyed a good long stay at.

Anyway:



The chairman wants to bounce back up to the top flight, but as always a new nation is always an unknown quantity and I'l have to see if I can actually do so.



This was last season's Player of the Season, not looking good if he's the guys they're counting on.



However this man is widely regarded to be their best player, and rightly so.

Other than that.... the goalkeeper's not completely useless, the left-back is our most inventive player (and hence will play in central midfield from now on) and I've got no one in the staff room.
Which wouldn't be so bad if some of my old staff had followed me out of Estudiantes, which they didn't.



Aye, a big chunk out of the wallets for firing the previous backroom, fingers crossed they won't want to experience such an ordeal again so soon.

St Kitts & Nevis... Wow. Good luck, man.

Here we go again!!

I'll need it man, thanks


Oh yeah, it'll be the same old, same old.

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

Preseason 2021

(No longer with Estudiantes FYI, it's Mantab time now)

Anyway, if there's only 1 thing you need to know about football around these parts:



Newtown are kings here.
Sure, they've ended up choking in the championship playoffs, but they're more or less odds-on in the regular season.

Another thing you'd like to know is that like in Aruba, everyone plays at the same ground:



Which is great news for us obviously, with 5 more teams in the league pyramid and 1 more cup competition than in Aruba I can't wait for the inevitable scheduling madness.

This is what we'll be dealing with - Saint Kitts and Nevis' 2nd tier:



Simpler here, 2 straight down, and a promotion playoff not unlike England's Championship.
The transfer window's a bit surprising though, but it shouldn't prove to be any problem for us at the moment, since it's not like we've got interested targets.

What does the media think of our team, then?





Leader does have a great future, while Samuel has shown glimpses of his defensive ability.

Here are (some of) the rest of the guys:


There were a couple of ins and outs to complement the team as well:





You'll notice that they're all quite tall, well what's not to like about some more aerial dominance?

The releases were all done before my signing, and a couple of the other departures aren't too damaging, but there's one the sticks out like a sore thumb:



He didn't want a proper contract when I arrived, and won't sign period when Newtown came knocking.
Depressing news this, I'd wanted to build the team with him in mid to some extent.

There's also another signing:



Taking a leaf out of the Estudiantes book and looking in-house, he's good as a calming influence.
Unlike in Estudiantes though, he's my only such addition - really can no longer be arsed to reject transfer requests.

So this'll be the squad for the next couple months:



Quite a small squad, much, much easier to handle than having to accept transfer requests every other day.
It's a bit of a faff looking at it, so basically one of my starting CMs is a right-footed LB, while I have no RBs.

As a result:



I've never played with a back 3 before (and have always disliked playing against it), so this'll be an interesting experience.
With the pace in that defence though...
I've also kept the 4-4-2 because this is FM and it's four-four fucking-two.

Also got my backroom men:


All were signed to a year's deal, allows for flexibility to upgrade should we earn promotion this season.



Glad to have that support behind us, eh?



I want that top spot this season (or promotion at the very least) - the 2nd tier isn't as reputable as Aruba's top division, but promotion will (fingers crossed) be able to attract the likes of English to join me here.

Enough of all that though, it's friendlies time:



Beating Newtown was never going to happen, not in my 1st ever match with these guys.
We should have beaten West Ham though, and really should have done the same against Bath.
At least we ended well, managing to beat parent club St. Peters Jrs..



As you'd have seen from before, we're expected to push for promotion, but 2nd favourites has upped the ante - and then some - for us.



Should be winnable? Erm, I don't know...

October 2021

Not the best way to start the season, and not a good 2nd half to sit through at all.
Still, a win is a win, and an opening victory at that.



Uhh, okay... I'll take them when they come I guess.



An even worse game to sit through, despite the scoreline - it was our 3-5-2 against a wide 4-3-3, which leaves us 3 v 1 (and overstaffed) at the back, and giving the opposition wide forwards the entirety of both flanks to use.
They'd given us multiple warnings, but somehow we took our chances and came away with a comfortable score.



Looking good, but it's early days.

It's also the end of the transfer window (a couple of days into November yes, but pedantry is a no-no, yes?) and there's been activity:



3 guys just to make up the numbers, and since we're allowed 3 per season.



Backup GK on a free, not the best but he's just a backup so no biggie.



Top tier side, so it's understandable. More understandable than Croes, anyway.

Speaking of Croes, have a look at this gem of a season review:



That's some next level over-achievement mind, but even better was Croes being one of the worst signings - still baffling how he convinced himself to put pen to paper on that deal.

November-December 2021

We were largely outplayed, but somehow got a winner.



If we took one of our few chances last time out, this was the opposite.
In fact it took the opposing stopper to fail to claim a cross properly for us to score the opener.

In contrast, Terrance Leader has shown just how good he is in these 2 games.



The table's even more unreliable than in Aruba it seems, I've managed to have 4 games in hand on the leader.
Told you the fixture scheduling would be brilliant.

Up for the Cup as well:



Lester Williams with a poacher's performance, though again we couldn't make life easy for ourselves at the end.



Oh yeah, just enough to pay the floodlights' bills.

Next up was fellow First Division side Village Superstars:



Man, if we'd just held on for a couple more minutes...
On a whole we probably did enough to win, but we were individually found wanting at those crucial moments.
Leader going off with a knock didn't help.

It's the January window up next, I might need to look for reinforcements to bolster this thin squad.

January-February 2022

We could (and should) have been punished for our rubbish defending, but Byron was there to save the day.



This was double negligence on my part - a failure to plan for the opposition's 4-5-1 properly and then hastily changing to a makeshift back 4, with all slow, lumbering centerbacks.

That''s January's games done, after which a couple of signings were made during the transfer window::



Drops a tier from a schools team, where he was already overage.
Kimaree Newton was out for a couple months due to a torn hamstring, so we were playing without a proper destroyer in that time, so Isaac provides another option for that role.

There was another signing, but it technically isn't a transfer because it was another in-house discovery:



I'm a sucker for great mentals, so if you completely disregard the sheer lack of physical ability (as was done with Austin Jones) he could actually be a decent player.



His versatility helps too.

Anyway, February beckoned, 5 games:



And we started it well enough, and as you can see Isaac also made his debut, before going off with a knock.



Not so good here, rubbish shooting as usual.



Even more rubbish defending here, and I learnt that a back 3 will be completely oblivious to a winger's run to the far post because they're all too busy ball-watching.
I mean, enough goals were scored, but fuelled with revenge we should have taken the win here.



Dominated proceedings, too bad we only have a goal to show for it.



Hands down our worst performance this season, the defence was being ripped to shreds while the attack was nowhere to be found.



Lots of draws meant that despite our drop in form we're still in the playoff spots, though it's effectively impossible to derive any useful information from the table, such is the amount of games in hand so many sides have over one another.

March 2022

Credit where it's due, we had 9 shots on target and the opposition stopper was more than a match to all of them.
Which made it hurt even more when we did concede, right at the death.

The next match was against Patriots as well, a great opportunity to settle the score almost immediately:



Even worse than the 1st match, we didn't look like we were up for it from the start, and promptly gave a very meek performance.

Next up was Village Superstars, we hadn't beaten them in our previous 2 meetings if you remember, so I wouldn't expect this to be any different considering our form:



What a surprise - actually having the mentality to fight back from a deficit, and having a penalty decision in our favour for once.

Doubly funny was this:



Could've sworn I was in considerably heavier pressure than the manager of the 2nd-placed side, so this was genuinely shocking.



Here we see the team having the mentality to let slip a 2-goal cushion.
Could've built up some form, but no we had to shoot ourselves in the foot.



Prematch odds didn't favour us at all, and so it proved.

After the SPD match:



Could be the end of the road soon, guys.



Incredibly, we could still be level on top of the league if we win all our games and other results go our way.
Whether I'll be able to see out the games in hand is another matter altogether.

Some tough results. But if you could play some of the games you have in hand the table might look prettier. Hope you get to keep the job!

Well I'd need to be given the opportunity to play those matches!

But yeah, at the very least there's the solace of those extra games.

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

March 2022

A win here was the pre-requisite against the league's bottom side, and thankfully we duly did what was required.
Also, Austin Robinson - what a player.



Rode our luck here a but apparently, our goals were a bit dodgy with regards to on/offsides, while St. Paul's had their own double ruled out.
If this was real life there'd be calls for an investigation I would imagine.



Probably my fault here, once we got the opener I immediately got the team to settle into a less tiring system, which backfired when we let them through for the comeback goals.
Robinson was great agin though, went on a lung-busting run down the right to deliver the cross for Byron to score.



AUSTIN ROBINSON IS GOAT
That is all.



The Keys victory was, erm, key, because we've now got a points buffer over the playoffs-chasing pack.
The delusions of 1st-placed grandeur are now over, but I've to count my blessings that I'm not looking for a new job!

We've got our new youth intake as well:



The guys are ranked by potential in descending order, so Thrizen Ward is supposedly the highest rated player - except he's rubbish - but at least he's not Archibald or Moses-Garvey, who are really rubbish.

The HoYD likes this guy:



He's making me consider shifting out Austin Lake, this season's signing who hasn't done anything of note so far.
I might sign some other guys, will show them in the next post.

Good pick up of form and league position!

Aye, in the nick of time too.

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





Austin Robinson making it 8 from 5, and his 14th in all competitions - I think it's safe to say that he's our most important player by far.

But having subbed him off as a precaution after taking a knock, I was greeted with this piece of news:



It's one thing being our best player at the moment, and it's another (much worse) problem being much better than the other strikers at the club, regardless of form.
Seriously, the other forwards seem to feed on his confidence, and without him it's much more turgid.



At least we no longer have to worry about falling out of the playoff spots as a result.



And so it proved - Lester Williams was fucking awful with his 'finishing', and the defences were the better areas of performance for both sides.



The striking malaise continued, but at least we didn't lose this one.



16 shots, 8 on target, and we still needed a late header from a setpiece to open the scoring - we really, really, need work up front.



We finish well inside the playoff spots, not bad considering I was odds-on for the sack at one point.



Yay.

Oh and by the way, I was wrong about how the playoffs work - instead of being a knockout format it's actually a single round-robin:



Chop chop, everything to be settled in 6 days.

Finally, due to some bug in the game all the youth trialists had been signed without my approval; oh well, if they don't turn out to be dud I'll be OK with it.
Here are some of the better ones:



Ward is the aforementioned highest rated player (who as you can see is rubbish), Liburd looks like he could do a job now, Jamal is a very good defensive option thanks to his speed, and Zevon... well he's an extra body in attack.

Playoffs next, wish me luck!

Good luck with the playoffs man

June 2021

Managed to get a point after going behind, but we didn't possess the killer instinct to bring home the win.



Oh.... We've choked on our most important match of the season, when holding out for the draw would have given us a fighting chance, not to mention actually going on to win.
Hindsight suggests that I should've started Austin Robinson, but I wasn't keen on starting him for 3 matches in 8 days.



We couldn't even give the fans something proper to cheer about our final match of the season, a dead rubber.
a 2-goal lead, and we still needed to wait till the 88th minute to get the winner.



See, the Superstars loss really cost us, though looking at the table drawing with Patriots was probably the bigger killer - though at least prospect and debutant Gerard Crawford got his first ever goal.
Either way, next season then.



Heh, that's 3 weeks of Atiba Gumbs' wages and a bit.



Well deserved, our strikeforce can scarcely do without him.

Players of the Season



Best player by a country fucking mile this season, 12 of our 13 wins came when he played, with a wins/games ratio of 60%.
But it isn't so much that he improves the team when he does play, it's just that the forwards look so awfully starved of clinical ability with him in the side.



Gumbs is one of the first names on the teamsheet and for good reason too, one of our better players as well.
Thing is he's shown an occasional lack of interest in games, which isn't good news because there's been slight interest from other clubs.
Still 8 assists is output, a league-leading output at that.



The stats don't lie (neither do they flatter here) but the fact is he's the best we've got, and without him we'd be doing much, much worse.
He's been called up to the national team (with Zephaniah Blanchette), though only the latter won a debut cap.

Speasking of Blanchette, he's been utter dogshit because I played (and continued to play) him in central midfield.
Still, I have faith that he'll one day become a half-decent creator.

Okay... what else:



I'm just relieved we didn't get the sack.



Despite that I've been rewarded with new facilities - this looks like a massive mistake now, because I've just plunged half of the club's cash into this. We''l need to go up fast or this could go tits up.

Like I said previously, we blew a ton of cash in improving training facilities that may or may not bear fruit before we eventually go under.
But hey, no taxes!



We're gonna need more than that guys.



It's funny, because top scorer Keithroy Samuel was subsequently released and is currently without a club.
I'll be surprised if SPD don't come back down.



Well deserved, partly because he was so good, and partly because everyone else was mostly shit.

Transfers:





Archibald has been signed to cover for Terrance Leader, who will be away now and then for the Caribbean U20 Championship qualifiers.
More importantly though, is his Professional personality - I'd love to have him tutor Leader if I could, but their squad statuses prevent that so he will help out with the youth intake GKs.



A fast CB - a rarity around these parts.
He also means that I'll be playing with a back 4 more often, because if last season was anything to go by the back 3 without speed is a recipe for disaster.

As for the departures...
Jones had the mental ability, but never developed the physical side of his game, nor was he going to play regularly enough to do so.
Newton, Blanchette and Crawford all wanted a regular wage and I was hesitant on adding to the wage bill.
Not that Blanchette was ever likely to stay anyway once Newtown came in - it'll be interesting to see him there though, he never had the ability to play as full-back, much less a wrong-footed one, so he could well turn out to be a dud.

Friendlies now:



Well we've beaten the beatable, and and put on an apparently decent display against Newtown.
Highlight of these games would definitely have to be this:



19-year old Kishorn Percival with a freak volley from the halfway line, and with his weak foot no less.

Now that that's done and dusted:



Putting pressure on an 18-year old goalkeeper and a DM who literally just came through the youth system, what could possibly go wrong?



And the bookies have reacted in the same way, putting us as sole favourites.
Thing is, they also have last year's runners-up (Security Forces) at last, on Evens - shows you how much the bookies know.



Not that complaining helps when even the board is buying into this bullshit.



As a result I've gone big on the bonuses again, couldn't care less about the cups but the league is a must.

Speaking of the cup:



Both ties look winnable...

Wish me good luck, because the alternative would be the dole queue.

Expectations and on! what a hit from Kishorn Percival