bigmattb28 - Comments

As a Newcastle fan he;s done well in the handful of games he's played. That cross he made for Perez winner against Watford was sublime.

Back on topic, looking forward to seeing where you go from Dan

Hopefully confidence stays high and this continues for you. Looking good so far man

Congrats on the promotion. Next step surely to consolidate next season then try and push on

Great achievement manager of the year well done. The Libertadores is ace, I've never won it though always get so close yet so far.

Can we press the panic button yet? I asked myself this at least 100 times already. It doesn’t matter that this team has only just been promoted to this division, or that this whole club was on it’s way to becoming an afterthought before I came here, no that doesn’t matter as now I’m precarious in my job status and apparently 1 more bad result and I’m gone. Well if it wasn’t for me this club probably wouldn’t even be in this division! Sour grapes maybe but the players don’t perform the manager gets the abuse, but when the team the manager picks wins they get all the praise and the manager isn’t given credit. Oh well whatever, I’ve got enough about me to try and get this club out of this mess and I’ll be damned if we’re going down, we’re going down fighting!



First up in March are Gornik Zabrze at home. At this point I’m not bothered about the performance, I don’t care if we get 3 own goals scored against us, I don’t care if we get battered all over the pitch just as long as we win the game by any means!



Where oh where has this type of performance been! Let’s forget that new signing Veldwjik scored a brace for 1 minute, lets also forget that we abslolutely dominated this game all over the pitch, but how bad must they have been for left back Nwakali to get a hat trick, a bloody hat trick from a left back!!! Okay they all came from set pieces but whatever, we thumped this lot 6-1! We’ve got to carry this type of form on now and get as far away from the bottom of the league as possible. The news item says he's a playmaker as CM is his natural position, but he's green at most positions and played this game at left back.



Remember when I said Lech Poznan (still a big club despite this form!) are hanging around the bottom of the league with us? Well they’re up next and you know what happened?


It’s amazing what 2 wins can do. Now my board say I’m secure in my job. I’m not sure what to make of this, but we’ve still got a long way to go as the league will split in 2 now and whilst we’ve played well there is still the possibility of relegation. Also how am I supposed to make high profile signings if firstly I struggles to get the few players in I did, and the fact we’re still a promoted team and staying in this league is the only objective this year.





2 more games now before the league splits into the championship and relegation groups, and first up were Katowice away. A fair 0-0 draw however with the last 2 games in mind I can’t help but think this is 2 points dropped. But still not another defeat.



Widzew Lodz next and this was a poor game. A game we threw away in 1 respect as we took the lead and actually looked like adding more but after the break it seemed like they turned up and really took it to us. Poor second half and a poor result going into the split.



The league now splits in 2. The bottom 2 teams are relegated to league 1 and at the start of these 7 games Katowice and Slask are the 2 in the relegation places.



**disclaimer, for the eagle eyed amongst you see if you can spot the glaringly obvious mistake / bug in the next couple of posts. I have logged it as a bug over on the SI forums**

We’re up against Slask first and we got what could prove to be a vital win. Stefan Vico, you know right back Stefan Vico grabbing a brace. It was an end to end type of game as both teams really went for it and both keepers kept the score at 2-1. On another day we could’ve lost this.



We followed up that good win with a 2-2 away draw with Zabrze. Not too upset with this as we’re still doing okay, sort of.



Another draw followed, this time 1 all at home to Katowice. I’d like to close games out and get another win on the board to ease our relegation fears but we move on



Now we’re talking as we managed a win over Widzew Lodz. Despite the red card we managed to hold on and get some vital points on board toward the end of the season.



Good job we did manage to get that win over Widzew as we went down to Lodzi after going ahead. Another game we threw away a lead to lose. It could’ve been worse had they converted that penalty but a loss is still a loss.



Lech Poznan up next and a win here would guarantee our safety in the league, and a win is what we got. A pretty nervy game but both teams went at it for the win and we managed to take our chances whereas Lech didn’t.



Last up in a meaningless game were Zaglebie and with our survival mathematically confirmed we set up just to enjoy the game and we managed a 1 all draw despite being second best in this game. I’m not concerned, we survived and that’s the main thing.





Also confirmation that Lechia Gdansk won the league. Well done to them I guess.



So that’s that, we made it, well I made it to the end of the season. Despite it looking very likely I’ll be given the boot I managed to keep this team in the league. We finished in 4th place in the relegation group, 6 points above Slask who were unfortunately relegated. I literally haven’t thought about next season at all, I’m not sure if I’m going to stay here, all the will they won’t they sack me carry on really made me think I’m not as highly thought of here as I thought I was. I took this team and got them back here, not only that I made sure they’re going to be here next season as well. What more do they want, this club could’ve so easily gone on a downward spiral and stuffed it last year but because of me it didn’t it. Call me a narcissist but there’s 1 man and 1 man alone responsible for steadying the ship, getting the team together last year and promoted, and for keeping this team in the league and that’s me, Manuel Vargas!




Next post will be what happens after this season, if I stay or go and end of season stuff. Thanks for reading, I appreciate it!

I know right! I'm favoured personnel as well, so if they do decide enough is enough then so be it. We'll see what the future brings, I'm not confident of staying however.

Wow that's a lot of friendlies! On the transfer thing, I;m sure it was 17 (I gave up on 18) that Australian clubs couldn't buy or sell between them. Not sure if that's changed seeing as Ricciuto joined the Mariners, still Ki is a good signing (I'm a Newcastle fan for my sins) he's been good for us so I'm sure he'll tear the A League up. Just the FFA final to set you up for a no doubt successful threepeat of the Grand Final

I'm in the same boat as @r96Skinner I never knew they were in the third, half thought they were in Bundesliga 2. If you search the term fallen giant I;m sure Kaiserslauterns wiki pages comes up. Joking aside am sure you'll do fine. Good luck!

That's a very good point man, however Maritimo are currently 6th in the league I'm not holding my breath. I'll be lucky to still be at Wisla by next week

Yeah it sure feels that way. I'm hoping we can just get to where the league splits in 2 with me still there, I honestly think anything can happen when the league splits so fingers crossed.

It’s an eerily familiar feeling, we’re not playing well, we’re not getting decent results and the fans are on my back. It takes me back to my time at Oleiros where this kind of thing happened there, we went on a poor run and lost 6 in a row before I changed things up and we went on a pretty decent run towards the end of that season so maybe I change it up here? Maybe I go and completely rejig the team. No, not yet. I’ve had an idea on how we’re setting up each game and don’t want to deviate away from that, just yet. I’m going to give it 1 more game before changing things.

First game up after the winter break we’re at home to Korona, and we need a win or at the very least a draw and a good performance. We set up as we have most of the season in a flat 442 and the intention is to take to them. We make a break through early in the first half and never looked back. The game was sealed when Fidalgo grab a late second and my word did we need this victory!





Confirmed just after our game was that Nuno Espirito has been chosen as the man to lead my club Sporting Lisbon after Jorge Jesus left for England. Not a bad replacement and I will be keeping a keen eye on how he gets on



This popped up before our next game against Slask



This is a bit worrying, the club haven’t made any moves to secure my services at the minute, and with a few more bad performances their hand may be forced sooner.

Slask have been poor in the league and are near us in the bottom half. Praying we carry the form from the last game into this one. Not even close. I’m very concerned with this performance hopefully it’s just a blip.



Rounding off January was another piss poor showing as we got dismantled 3-0 away to Zaglebie. I’ve got to sort this out somehow, the transfer window is coming up, but with how much I struggled in the window before the season I’m not hopeful of improving my team with new signings.







Not only that but unsurprisingly my job is currently insecure.










Next game sees us at home to Pogon looking for a win to try and ease the pressure, and you know what happened? We got thumped despite it being a pretty end to end game but it’s the result that matters. Hopefully we can pick ourselves up and try and move on from this.



Captain Stefan Vico gives a public show of support but my job is now very insecure. It looks like only a matter of time before I’m given the boot





So it is looking more and more likely I am to be given my P45, how would my team respond in our next game against Cracovia? We lose, again, obviously. The red card didn’t help as it was still only 1 nil then and at 1 nil there’s always a chance but not on this day.





Somewhat surprisingly I’m still here after that game, however the media are quick to point out that a bad result against Piast in our next game could be my final game as Wisla Plock manager



Can you believe it, another poor result. At home I thought we might just take it to them but they were the better team all around and the team never looked like giving me any hope of staying in this job.







The bad news keeps coming as Tim Krul is more or less ruled out for the rest of the season, however the cynic in me says hopefully our back up keeper Dahne steps in and maybe, just maybe improves our results. We’ll see.



There’s 1 game left in January and it’s against Lechia Gdansk who more or less didn’t even break a sweat and absolutely destroyed us, destroyed morale and probably destroyed my chances of staying here.







After that abysmal performance we managed 2 signings on deadline day, not for want of trying but I just couldn’t get any players to come in, none that I felt would improve our team however. First in is center half Martin Erlic on loan from Verona.





Next in was striker Lars Veldwijk on loan from Sparta. Hopefully he can get us some goals to try and keep us in with a shout of staying up.





Closing out this update, I am greeted with an interview request from Maritimo in Portugal's top division. I’m actually surprised at this, surely they’re not considering me on current form? I attend the interview and wait and see what happens. Highly doubt anything will come of it.



This run of form has to end somewhere right. We struggled to score goals as well as stopping goals going in, maybe just maybe our 2 new loan signings will have a fire in them to do well and hopefully give us, and me the best chance of survival.

The league splits in 2 after the next 3 games with us in the relegation group where the bottom 2 go down. Lech Poznan are playing badly and we’ve got them coming up so we might just get a result there who knows. 1 thing for sure is I am bewildered how I’m still here, job status is insecure and with every game there is the media saying this is the 1 where I get sacked. I want to stay and try and keep this team up this season however if I fail and do end up getting the sack what will that do for my future chances? I won’t give up, however I think some of my may have already given up themselves.

Thanks for reading!

Hopefully you can repeat last seasons title win and get back to back victories. Maybe with the new signings you can really push on and win the champions league this time around.

I love bringing back favoured personnel to the club I'm managing so good to see you've done the same, hopefully Lemos can contribute to some success for you and only 2 losses in that round of games is good going mate. Keep it up.

Absolute awesome result there mate back to back grand champions! I can see a dynasty emerging here!

Whilst there is a big gap between you and third upwards, not that bad a season so far mate considering this is where you're expected to be. Maybe the difference in quality between you and those above is a touch too far at the minute,

Ahh right didn't realise you supported them mate, I'll give your career with them a read.

A decent pre season there hopefully a good regular season to follow.

Not a bad side to go with there mate, why you say it's predictable? Good luck for the new season.

Am sure the club won't want to let you leave any time soon bro, am sure you can build on this success and make a dynasty at the Pirates.

A solid mid table finish there mate, definitely something to work on for next season and the play offs has to be the aim now.

Cheers mate, hopefully this run of form is temporary and we really push on after the winter break.

Haha no way I'd get it yet, Patrick Vieira is the front runner as much as I want it, if I apply I think it would hamper my relationship with the board as my job status is secure but the bar is only half full. Going to try and build up my rep a bit more. As for the form it's bad but hopefully the winter break might sort it out and we kick on when we're back.

That's some good going there mate hopefully win your game in hand and continue the good form to keep you at the top of the league.

I tried to do an ex Soviet Union save on 17, just couldn't get into it, I started in Tajikistan but failed there and then failed in Kyrgyzstan as well. Best of luck though I will be following

Still solid mid table for now though mate which isn't the end of the world. As for the job, only you will know if the time is right. Depending on what happens this season you might be in a better position and a higher rep team might come calling

Doing okay I'd say mate, but as @Dan says a lot of draws, which really for a promoted team isn't the end of the world if you could turn 1 or 2 of those into wins survival would be achieved I reckon. Does the top league in Uruguay have that average points system?

October 2022

We kick off our next round of games in Ekstraklasa at home to Katowice looking to build on the 1 all draw with Lech, however as it turns out we were pretty bad. We were second best all over the pitch in this one. We’ve got to play better than this going on.



We followed up that home loss with another home game, this was against Widzew Lodz who managed to batter us nil nil as we never looked like getting anything out of this game either. Still it’s definitely a point gained and not 2 dropped.



Just after this Paderborn, current basement team in the Bundesliga offer me the chance of an interview. I politely decline as I’m not ready to leave Poland just yet. Plus I think I’ve got a better chance of keeping Wisla Plock in this league than I would if I went there to attempt to keep Paderborn in the Bundesliga.



We played Jagiellona next and whilst we beat them in our second game of the season we just about scraped a 1 all draw this time around. Despite having more possession and shot, most of which were half chances or just hit and hopes, we never really looked like winning this one. We even missed a penalty to make it a completely bad day all around.



We entertained the big boys now as Legia came to our place, not even break a sweat and win 3-1. Moving on.



After the match, not that it’s enough we’re struggling now the fans are getting on my back.



Just to make it a no win October LKS Lodz absolutely embarrassed us 4-1. Games like this make you question everything. Somethings got to give, there’s got to be some change along the way.



That brings us to the end of October and thank God we’ve got this winter break coming up. We’ve got to go away, think things through and come back stronger than this, 9 games with no wins and some bad performances in there for good measure. Dressing room atmosphere is poor despite the team still backing me, I just wished they’d back themselves on the pitch a bit more.





Just as the team are on holiday, I get another job interview request, this time a big club in the form of Sturm Graz from Austria. I won’t lie, I wouldn’t mind getting this one, it’s a definite improvement on my current job and they’re a bigger club than Wisla. Not only that maybe if I leave not I may not continue in this poor form. Fingers crossed.



During our winter break the World Cup of 2022 was held in Qatar and played during November. The final stages looks like this, with Nigeria pulling off 2 massive wins over Germany & Italy to get knocked out by eventual runners up Wales.



The main reason I’m showing this is because you’ll notice England got knocked out in the second round, prompting Gareth Southgate to get sacked, then this happens:





It’s my heroes first national job and a big one at that. Sporting are now looking for a new manager, however as much as I’d love to apply, I’d get laughed at right now.

Next update is going to be what if anything happened in the winter transfer window and the final 3 months of the season to see where we end up in the league.

Thanks for reading!

August 2022

Month number 2 now for us as we’re looking to improve on our current 2-3-0 record after 5 games. Next up are a team close to my heart, Slask Wroclaw .I have actually been to Slask’s stadium and believe me it’s a thing of beauty. Slask are a team I want to manage in this save and I’ll be looking for a good performance from the team here.

When I said I wanted a good showing I didn’t think we’d see another 4 goals in the first half of a game! My word we absolutely took it to them and even at 4 nil up we didn’t look like slowing down and it could’ve been a higher scoring game for us on another day.



Not quite the high scoring game as last time but we managed a win nonetheless at home to Zaglebie Lubin. A pretty solid showing again and another 3 points.



2 poor results rounded up August as we laboured to a 1 all draw away at Cracovia in a game they absolutely dominated, so really a draw wasn’t that bad a result before we saw another poor game and lost 1-0 to Pogon in a game they also dominated. Both of these games could’ve been worse results for us any other day so I’m kind of disappointed in 1 sense but not too disheartened as we’re still finding our feet back in the top league.





Finishing off August was transfer deadline day and we had 2 deals, 1 in 1 out. Firstly left winger Calo had kicked up a bit of a fuss wanting to leave. He’s been a decent option, but I’d rather just let him leave so as not to cause any friction in the team. He goes out to Miedz on a permanent deal whilst we secure Bartlomiej Pawlowski on loan from Slask. It’s a like for like replacement as Pawlowski can play on both wings and up front.








First game in September sees us getting humiliated at home to Lechia Gdansk in a game we showed absolutely no desire despite scoring twice. Nothing more to add, we were terrible, moving on.



We did however follow up that 5-2 defeat with a 5-1 win of our own over Piast Gliwice. A good all around performance by us and very deserved.



Back to back losses followed as we went down 2-0 away to Gornik Zabrze and losing late on 1-0 to Rozwoj Katowice. Not much to say other than we weren’t even close to playing like we have done previously and totally deserved these losses.





We play Lech Poznan next who have just sacked their manager after a bad run of form. This is quite a big club and 1 where Robert Lewandoski played before going to Dortmund. Not only that but I’m linked to the job and confirm I’d be interested in taking over I’m not going to actively follow this up as I’m happy at Wisla, for the time being.







The game itself we dominated really. Only a lapse in concentration in the final minute allowed Lech to get a very undeserved equaliser. Not too upset as despite their form Lech are still a massive club so a point away to them is always a good result.





For a promoted team that really didn't strengthen too much in the summer, I'd say we're doing alright. We're not getting battered every week although there has been a couple of one sided results, but in most matches we have been in the game for most of it and held our own. I'm still confident of staying up this year and feel we can only improve from here. Nothing came of the Lech Poznan links but I'm happy here for now. Who knows what the next few months might bring, we've only got October to go then there's the 3 month winter break.

Next update will be how we got on in October and if anything happen during the break and into the final 3 months of the season. Thanks for reading, it is much appreciated.

Seconded! Haha only joking @syemo but 12 games in and 4th in the league is good going for a promoted side and you've had some good performances in those too. Looking good for the rest of the season

First thing is I'm happy you've managed a top half finish mate against all the odds. Totally understand where you're coming from stepping down if you don't think you can at least match this finish. I'm looking forward to where you end up next, what jobs are available at the minute?

Here we go then, our first game of the new season. Wisla Krakow are a good side but I back the boys no matter what. I tell them to go out there and show the world we’ve got what it takes. Almost straight from the off Stefan Vico goes in hard and gets a yellow for his trouble. After telling him to concentrate he goes in again literally 2 minutes later and gets another yellow! Cheers Stefan you **********!! From there we struggled. We were battered from pillar to post it was only a matter of time before they scored, which they did with a good finish in the 23rd. We didn’t even look like threatening to score never mind actually scoring and they added a second late on. We couldn’t have wished for a worse start, we move on though and hopefully see an improvement.



Vico is also fined 2 weeks wages for this absolute embarrassment of a showing. He accepts his fine.

Our next game of the new season sees us take on Jagiellonia at home. Our season starts today, this is where we lay down the marker and let the rest of the league know we’re not here just to make up numbers. Hopefully my rallying cry rubs off on the players and we put in a good shift





All things considered it’s a pretty even game up unto the 36th minute where we get a corner. Dias swings it in



Finds new boy Vukcevic at the far post



He heads it down into the path of Nwakali who hits a first time volley



At first viewing it looked like an absolute belter, however it took a wicked deflection before going in and has gone down as an own goal. Not that it matters much, 1-0!



Late in the first half Jagiellona are pushing forward and send a long ball over the top, which Viala expertly cuts out and finds Dias





Dias is off and sends his own long ball forward towards Ivan Fidalgo





Fidalgo takes a touch before moving forward



He’s through on goal…..





Second half now and more or less straight away they get a corner



It’s whipped in deep and headed back towards goal



It’s hit on the volley and flies into the net, 2-1 they’re back in the game





10 minutes to go and Viala cuts out another long ball



Which finds Vukcevic



Who plays in Dias who made an intelligent run in front of him



Dias plays in Chen out wide on the left who fires the ball across goal



Dias himself gets on the end of it….



But it’s blocked, only to fall to Vukcevic, 3-1 and game over!!









A massive win and a good all around performance. Hopefully that will continue into our next game as we’re away to Legia Warsaw, the biggest team in Poland.

Despite going behind early on we equalised straight away before conceding before half time. Second half we came out strong and once again equalised to make it 2 all. Shortly after we let our guard down and conceded what turned out to be the winning goal. Losing to Legia isn’t that bad as they’ve won the league many times and are the favourites, however we showed great determination to get back in the game not once but twice. I am confident we can stay up this year after this match.



Next up were Lodz who had signed Daniel Smuga from us when we were relegated and we definitely got 1 over on him! Unbelievable stuff as this was a pretty even game we just took our chances and went 4 nil up before half time. Second half they didn’t look like scoring and we saw it out.



With that 4-0 win we came so very close to having 11 players in the team of the week



Next up were Korona away who decimated us despite the scoreline staying at 2-0. We had Tim Krul to thank keeping this at 2. Also Dias got injured in this game to make it a bad day all around





So that brings an end to our first month back in the big time. 1 thing for sure is we have goals in our team, however we also concede a lot of goals too. So that’s something to work on. I am happy so far as we’re not propping the league up and really everything considered we’re holding our own so far. The rest of the season looks promising.



Thanks for reading.