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Deleted Account #151676
#82875 The Night Thread Mk. IX
I vaccumed the bastards up, although strangely I don't feel like eating my Wheetabix any more.
#82619 Rick's Career
The 2018 Virsliga season has started fairly well for us, taking seven points from our opening three games;
A great opening day win over rivals Metalurgs was a the perfect curtain raiser, a debut goal for Brazilian winger Cavalo Ferreria was encouraging as was a strong performance from his fellow new boy Vitalijs Smirnovs who dictated play with an expertise which belied his tender twenty years in his anchorman position.
This result was followed up upon with something of a one man show but a rather unlikely candidate, veteran Scotsman Andy Graham scoring bth his first and second goal for Skonto within minutes of each other, his first a bullet header from a corner, his second a powerful drive after he burst forward and beyond the Daugava full back. The 34 year old joined us last December after serving me at both Dumbarton and Ross County and has been a massive hit here in Latvia, he's already a Virsliga champion and was inducted into the Skonto all time eleven after just 16 games.
FK Auda Riga were something of an unknown entity as we faced the newly promoted side for the first time, the league now boys gave a good account of themselves as they fought tooth and nail to keep my marauding attack from overrunning them much to our frustration.
I think this season will be a two horse race between ourselves and hated rivals Ventspils, we are by far the two strongest sides in the league and are both easily capable of pulling apart any other side in the division when in form. I can't see the other traditional title contenders Metalurgs managing to keep pace with us given their squad.
Thanks man.
#82486 need help desperately
Also are you setting up opposition instructions effectively?
#82446 The Night Thread Mk. IX
#82418 On the way to glory
#82414 What's the last thing you bought thread
I downloaded start menu 8 to enable the old style menu in the bottom left corner, the exclusion of which was my only gripe with W8.
#82403 Capital One Cup 2013/14
#82402 Rick's Career
The winter break provided some much needed time off for me and my players as we gear up for the 2018 season which gets under way at the end of March. I've put the time to good use, removing the deadwood in my squad and splashing some cash to replace them with some quality.
As you can see the outgoing list is quite extensive, selling Latvian international Alexandrs Fertovs to Daugava D. was a controversial decision, especially as he had served the club for almost ten years, however I don't feel I was ever able to get the best from him, hence letting him go, here's the man set to replace Fertovs;
Vitalijs moves in the opposite direction for a princely sum of £525k, he is actually a product of our own youth system but chose to move to Daugava in 2016 where he went on to establish himself as well as earning his first International cap.
Another hot prospect who is a member of my Latvian under-21 squad, he joins from Rezekene for £275k and should eventually replace the now ageing Oskars Klava in the heart of our defence.
On loan from our parent club Dinamo Bucharest, the flanks we possibly our weakest position last season with only Valdis Riherts impressing at all out wide, Gheorghe will provide a good option should Riherts need resting on the left hand side.
Right winger who signs from Sialuali who knocked us out the Baltic League last season, Aivaras was a constant pain in our side in that tie which alerted me to his abilities.
Brazilian winger on loan from Nautico, Cavalo is another young wide man who could well play an important part in our title defence this season.
The Livonia cup final went well with us easing to a simple victory over Estonian's FC Flora;
Although the Livonia cup isn't a highly prestigious title it's always nice to collect a trophy which is exactly why I came to Latvia in the first place.
That league and cup double has done the club itself the power of good;
I'm raring to go for the 2018 season, the minimum expectation to retain the Virsliga title, the Baltic League and Latvian Cup would also be welcome additions to my mantelpiece. A run in the Champions League would be great as we try to add some serious money to our bank balance, whilst the group stages are probably beyond our reach at this stage, hopefully we can draw a big team and get a lucrative two leg tie with them.
#82398 The Night Thread Mk. IX
Well it is a mobility car which are upgraded every few years, with the upgrade due in a week or so and my step dad also having a Ford Focus so she is signing the old Mondeo over to me.
Can't wait!
#82386 The Night Thread Mk. IX
#82226 Rick's Career
That's all folks!
With the title already engraved with our names on things slacked off a bit in the final month of the season as we finished with a couple of draws.
Disappointingly we were dumped out of the Baltic League in the first round after only managing a draw with Siauliali in Lithuania, we took the lead just after half time and began to get our tails up as we searched for a second which would have levelled the tie, unfortunately that left gaping holes in our back line which the home side exploited, turning the game around with two quick fire goals to make it 4-1 on aggregate, we did manage to pull one back to make the last twenty minutes a frantic one, however it proved to be nothing more than a consolation goal.
Valerijs Sabala secured a second brace in two games when he came from the bench to turn the game after we found ourselves 2-0 down, Sabala pounced twice in as many minutes to earn a draw.
Finally came the visit of relegated Metta/LU, both sides looked as if they were already on their holidays mentally as we played out a very end of season game which less being a case of neither sides deserving to win than one of neither deserving to win in a very limp game. still our supporters got to watch us lift the trophy at the end which will live long in the memory, unlike the match itself.
With Skonto's season concluded it was time to turn my attention to my Latvian under-21 team for the first time as we geared up for a couple of friendlies;
A decent draw with Iceland, it's a shame we couldn't hold on for the win, however it was a solid start as I try to figure out who should be a part of my squad and get them playing my way.
The last game was a close run thing, this one certainly was not! A brilliant display against a nation I expected much more of a game from. I couldnt have asked for any more from my youngsters.
There are no more fixtures planned for the U21's until the end of next year when we'll begin qualifying for the Euro 2019, I would love to take my players to that tournament which the country has never qualified for yet.
Skonto are back in action on the 30th January for the Livonia cup game with Estonian outfit Flora, a title we have won three times before but haven't collected since 2005. Flora have also won the cup three times but are the defending champions.
#82213 This place needs more moderators
#82154 Rick's Career
October was possibly my weakest month as Skonto manager in terms of results, however achievement wise it was my best as we secured the championship with three games left to spare.
The Baltic league tie with Lithuanian's Siauliali didn't get off to the best of starts as we slipped to a shock 2-0 home defeat to leave us with it all to do in Northern Lithuania in the second leg.
Things didn't get much better in the league as we were held to draws with Olimps and Metalurgs, meaning we hadn't won in four games, and perhaps even more concealingly we hadn't scored in three.
Thankfully neither Daugava or Ventspils managed to take advantage of our drop in form, our win over Rezekene meant that a point against Gulbene would clinch it for us, not content with limping over the line and scraping it, my side rose to the occasion and put on a show for the travelling supporters by thumping Gulbene 3-1, although it could easily have been five or more.
With the trophy successfully secured we returned home to a hero's welcome as the fans celebrated the clubs 18th Virsliga title, their first for five years. the occasion was marked with a narrow win over FK Daugava as we bumped up our points haul.
The main target for next month is to avoid being eliminated from the Baltic League at the first hurdle which will be tough 2-0 down and having to play away from home in the second leg.
In other news we will be playing Estonian's Flora in the Livonia cup, which is an annual match between the winners of the Latvian and Estonian leagues.
We have also welcomed our new quota of youngsters to the youth team;
There are some god prospects in that group which sets me up nicely for my ambition of making Skonto one of the strongest teams in Eastern Europe, My eventual aim is to equal the reputation of sides like Dinamo Kiev and the big Moscow clubs which obviously is going to take time, having a good youth academy will help with that.
Also next month I will be taking charge of the Latvian under-21s for the first time as we take on Iceland and Montenegro, my first squad will likely consist of a large Skonto contingent.
#82135 Rick's Career
It feel great to have finally set aside the disappointments I suffered in Scotland and lift my first league championship, I'm really enjoying myself at Skonto and I'm already looking forward to leading the club in the Champions League next season as well as trying to retain our Virsliga crown.
#82125 Rick's Career
We have one hand on the Virsliga trophy after another decent month which has extended our advantage at the top of the table to nine points with just seven games left to play. There was also an interesting opportunity for me personally.
I figured this was worth a shot, it will provide me with a great chance to scope out the best young talent in the country and get them to like me, improving the chances of them coming to Skonto should they be good enough, also my reputation should increase with some International management under my belt. My ever faithful servant Andy Graham will become my assistant manager which will do his own fledgling coaching career no harm.
Latvia were due to play a friendly with FYROM next month but to ensure that no conflict of interest arises I have cancelled that game and arranged two against Iceland and Montenegro in November after the league season has reached its conclusion.
Right then, back to Skonto;
I'm not sure I approve of our new habit of coming from behind to win, I'd prefer that we didn't have to fall behind at all, but as long as my players keep responding as they did against Rezekne I guess it doesn't matter as a storming second half performance saw us add another three points to the tally before we edged out Metta/LU in a tight 1-0 to extend our lead to nine points at the top of the table, Winger Valdis Riherts on target for the eight time this season there.
Onto our crucial game with second place Daugava knowing we could be almost home and dry with a victory, unfortunately after coming from behind several times in recent months this time it was our turn to crumble, 2-0 up at half time we looked to be cruising however I committed the ultimate faux-par in FM and looked at the league table before the end of the game which always leads to the same thing....defeat. My side's complacency was absolutely infuriating as the visitors ran rings around us in the second half and kept themselves in with a shout in the race for the Virsliga crown, much to my unabated fury at the final whistle.
Thankfully a narrow 1-0 win over Spartaks Jurmala put us back on track straight away, setting us up for a massive derby clash with Ventspils. I'm yet to taste victory over our great rivals after one draw and one defeat and that was not to change here, After Christian Gutierrez's 76th minute equaliser the momentum seemed to be with us and most people in the stadium must have thought we would go on to win, however nine man Ventspils hit back almost instantly to re-take the lead through 15 year old Imants Savelnaieks despite having had two players carried off since using their final substitution. Thankfully the additional space allowed Uruguayan Gutierrez to again pull us level but against such a weakened side I'm very annoyed not to have won my first derby against them.
Still the league makes for good reading!
We have also found out who we will be facing in the first round of the Baltic League next month;
It's almost a good job we didn't advance in the Europa League last month because I'm not sure my squad to handle having to compete in two Continental competitions at the same time. KFK Siauliali hail from Lithuania, You may recall that my very first game with Skonto was a Baltic League first round clash, also with Lithuanian opposition, I will be hoping for a better result this time around though!
#82122 The Mugshot Thread
#82123 The Mugshot Thread
#82046 Photoshop Brushes
#82035 Photoshop Brushes
#82011 Rick's Career
Another long month in which we have used up our games in hand, moving six points clear with twelve games to go. the tension is becoming unbearable! Our European adventure came to an end against Norwich despite a good effort from my lads who were ultimatly outclassed by Premiership side.
Before I get into all that however I have a couple of new signings to unveil;
Russian playmaker Nail joins from Tom Tomsk for £130k. He spent his early career with Dinamo Moscow before moving to Moldova to play for Sheriff Tiraspol, he will add some much needed depth to my midfield although his fitness issues will need to be monitored carefully.
A slightly controversial signing amongst supporters having previously played for hated rivals Ventspils for three years. he has also played in Scotland for Celtic and later Stranraer.
Ok on to the games, the trip back to Blighty didn't quite work out for me as my Skonto side were bested by Norwich at Carrow Road, although things could have been very different had John Ruddy not brilliantly denied Valdis Riherts from the penalty spot in the 13th minute. We matched the Canaries right up until the 71st minute when Mohammed Abu broke the deadlock for the home side. 1-0 was a scoreline which we could have lived with heading into the second leg, however a 92nd minute strike from Belgian Floren Michael made things a lot more complicated.
After having a penalty saved in the previous game it was our keeper Sergejs Tarasovs's turn to palm away Olimps's Kaspers Oryseyev's effort from twelve yards, the 24 year old pulled off a stunning save to keep us ahead at 2-1 and eventually go on to tie up the game.
I had more or less written off our chances of advancing in the Europa League after falling behind 2-0 to Norwich in the first leg, despite a valiant performance I was ultimately proved right, Floren Michael's 23rd minute strike confirmed the Canaries safe passage into the next round.
With no more distractions left we could now focus on wrapping up the Virsliga title, a 1-1 draw with rivals Metalurgs was perhaps two points dropped but three consecutive wins against Gulbene and Daugava saw us extend our advantage to six points with games beginning to run out, the 4-2 result against Daugava was particularly impressive as at one point we were 2-0 down before responding like wounded lions and running riot in the second half.
Unfortunately all good things must come to an end as our ten game unbeaten run in the league was ended by bottom of the table Gulbene, for the second game running we went 2-0 down, despite Davidovs's 87th minute header this time we weren't able to complete a comeback this time around.
September is going to be crucial, games against Ventspils and Daugava Daugavspils will be enormous as they are the only real challengers to us now, if we can avoid defeat in those games I think the title should be ours. *touch wood*
#81975 The Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge
I worked it out to be roughly 4000.
#81899 RJ's Scottish Hero
I've also done the Scottish hero thing but admittedly I took the easy way and did it with Rangers.
#81814 Random Jukebox's SAF - PLEASE DELETE!!!
#81799 I manage a football team
#81794 Rick's Career
July has been tough month with no fewer than eight games for my relatively small squad to contend with, still they managed to come out the other side of that fixture congestion unbeaten, top of the league with several games in hand and advancing into the third qualifying round of the Europa league which equals the clubs best ever performance in Europe.
First up was my first ever European fixture as I took my Skonto side to the Mediterranean island of Malta to face Hamrun Spartans where my 25 year old Uruguayan forward Christian Gutierrez put on a breathtaking display in front of goal to stake his claim for a more regular starting spot in the team, scoring four of the five goals that made the second leg a mere formality.
Gutierrez continued his potent form as we hosted the University of Latvia in the league, the Uruguyan and midfielder Vitalijs Trofimovs both on target as we eased past the students.
The return leg against Hamrun proved just as straight forward as the first as a hat-trick from Anderjs Putnins and a wonderful strike from winger Valdins Riherts totted up an aggregate score of 9-2 to see us emphaticly through to a tricky tie with Norwegian side Haugesund who were runners up Tippeligaen last season.
A 1-1 draw with Daugava was somewhat frustrating as we could have pulled clear in the title race had we run, my players more than made up for it though against Haugesund as they ran out 2-0 winners despite being slight underdogs and spending most of the game on the back foot, both goals came from Christian Gutierrez to give us a priceless away goal lead.
Another draw in the league prevented us from extending our lead at the top, we had come from a goal down to lead against Spartaks Jurmala, however we blew it late on, conceding n the 83rd minute.
Back to the Europa, we knew all we had to do to advance was to avoid defeat by two goals or more, the Norwegian's huffed and puffed but just couldn't blow down the door, a 49th minute header from Andrejs Putnins effectively ended the tie and saw us advance to the third qualifying round where I will lead my boys to my homeland, merry old England!
League cup winners Norwich will be an incredibly tough opponent, but sides like them go out to sides like us every year, if we can hold on at Carrow Road in the first leg then I see no reason why we can't pull off an upset in the return leg. As an added bonus the games will be televised so we get a nice financial bonus to go with the £86k we received from winning in each of the previous two rounds
Our final game of the month was against hated rivals Ventspils, both sides had good opportunity's to take home the points, however on reflection a draw was probably a fair result, our third consecutive draw, though we do still have two games in hand.
In addition to being a derby game, the match with Ventspils also took on added significance for me personally as it was the 200th game I have taken charge of in my career;
I've enjoyed every moment of it so far, even if I wish I had been able to collect more silverware, I now have four runners-up medals in my possession and just the Scottish Challenge cup medal in gold. hopefully here in Latvia I can change all that!
#81668 Transfer Rumours 2013/14
#81630 This place needs more moderators
I wouldnt mind being a mod though.
#81626 The SAF Challenge
#81618 Rick's Career
Due to several international dates we only played two games this month which was a welcome relaxation period as several of my players returned to fitness after injury. the spare time also gave me time to scour the transfer market for the next generation of Skonto stars, so far I have only brought in one player, and he is a familiar old face to those who have been reading my story for a while;
Andy played under me at Dumbarton where he was my club captain, when I left Dumbarton to join Ross County Andy came with me and played a important part in the Staggies defence during my eighteen months there. he would have joined me at Rangers as well but chose to go and try his luck South of the border with Bournemouth and later Gillingham. After Andy was released from the Gills I couldn't pass up the opportunity to once again be reunited with the veteran, At 33 his legs aren't what they used to be and he will probably largely be backup for the younger lads, however his primary function will be as a member of my back room staff;
Once he has a few coaching courses under his belt he could be a quality coach.
We have also been sent a couple of youngsters from our parent club Dinamo Bucharest;
Both look like good prospects who should do well here.
On to the games, first up was a Virsliga match against FK Rezekne which we sailed through at a canter;
Next it was the Latvian cup quarter final that didn't turn out the way I had hoped after a epic penalty shoot-out;
It's disappointing to go out when the door was wide open for us to collect the trophy this season after Ventspils and Metalurgs were both eliminated in the previous round.
Still things are looking good league-wise as we are top with two games in hand.
We have also now got the Europa League to contend with, Maltese side Hamrun Spartans are first up in the first qualifying round with a tie against Norwegians Haugesund on offer for the winner.
Skonto have never reached the first round proper so that provides me with a good target to work towards, if we can avoid any of the big boys then I can't see why we can't achieve a place in the groups.
#81500 Rick's Career
My first month in the Baltic has been a fairly successful one with Skonto four points clear at the top of Virsliga as well as advancing into the quarter finals of the Kauss. (Latvian Cup)
The only real sour note was a defeat to arch rivals Ventspils at the end of May, however the reigning champions are still eight points adrift of us in eighth place at the moment.
My reign got off to a poor start, although it was probably more the previous managers fault than mine that we got dumped out of the Baltic league in the first round by Lithuanian outfit Zalgiris Vilnius, we went into the tie 2-1 down from the first leg and quickly found ourselves with a mountain to climb when Zalgiris made it 3-1 on aggregate after eleven minutes. a late strike Andrejs Putnins ignited a small flame of hope that we could force extra time, however it proved too little too late as we bowed out early.
Putnins followed up on his late goal against Zalgiris with a brace against struggling FC Daugava in the league, which was complimented by a strike from winger Valdis Riherts to give me my first win as Skonto manager.
A narrow defeat to in form Spartaks Jurmala made my first three games one win, one draw and one defeat. Inconsistent as ever!
Things began to go my way finally with a comprehensive 4-0 win over the University of Latvia (FS Metta) in the cup to see us safely through to the last eight, with Metalurgs and Ventspils both getting eliminated and out of the way I have an excellent chance of collecting some silverware in my first season here in Riga and thus a Europa League place next season, although I obviously have my eyes on Latvia's single Champions League spot instead.
We once again lined up against FS Metta just days after our last meeting, this time in the Virsliga, whilst the scoreline wasn't as comprehensive this time it was still a comfortable win to take us back to the top of the table after slipping to second following the FK Spartaks result.
Another 2-0 win followed against one of our affiliate clubs JFK Olimps before local rivals Daugava Riga also fell by the wayside.
Next up was my first encounter with Metalurgs who are sort of our secondary rivals behind Ventspils, a hard fought victory was ground out to set us up for the big Ventspils clash.
Unfortunately for me my first meeting with our hated rivals and reigning champions ended in defeat, two goals in five minutes condemned us to defeat, one of them a very contentious penalty decision in the 72nd minute. Ah well, we'll get them next time!
So after 13 games we lead the way with four points separating us from Daugava, After so many slip ups and near misses with Ross County and Rangers you can rest assured absolutely nothing will be taken for granted and that I am determined to claim some silverware.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I know mate, I've played with Valmeira and Skonto before, the Virsliga is a great league to play in, as are most Eastern European leagues to be fair.
Yeah that is the hope mate, A season or so away will hopefully re-spark my intrest.
He just never got the chance!
Thanks mate