WT_Franjo - Comments

I couldn't agree more!

Although this has been an exceptionally slow start to deadline day

All Downhill From Here (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep69)

It's all going to be OK. It's all going to be fine. Somebody once told me something that really resonated with me. They said "It's all downhill from here." It's not an uncommon phrase, and I'd heard it many times before. But it wasn't the words that resonated with me, it was the perception of the meaning behind them that I hadn't heard before.

If you're riding a bike up a steep hill, then going up is the tough part. You pedal, and pedal, and pedal. It's exhausting and it's painful. But once you've pedalled enough, once you've put in the work and the pain, once you've shed enough sweat and tears, you find yourself at the top of the hill. And it's all downhill from here.

Recently, we have been pedalling and pedalling and pedalling and I have to hope that we're coming close to the top of the hill. What I'd give at the minute to be able to just hold onto the handlebars, keep my feet steady on the pedals and let gravity take care of the rest.

Today we take on Górnick at home. Last week we travelled to Piast and were unravelled by Tricky Janicki, and so I must drop 3 of my players. As the lowest performing players in that match, Tom Scheffel, Danny Wilson and Adrian Garbacik will be the ones to make way. Wilson's suspended anyway after picking up 4 yellows, but I want it on record that he'd be sat in the stands even if that wasn't the case.

To be honest, I had hoped that this new self-imposed rule would spur my players on to pick up a win, but I think that all I've succeeded in doing so far is cutting my nose off to spite my face. The upside though is that I have the chance to freshen up my squad with new or rarely seen faces.

I had hoped that Alan Hutton could replace compatriot Danny Wilson, but he picked up a bruised head a couple of days ago and so is not fit to play. I know, I don't get it either. I thought he was Scottish. I doubt that Duncan Ferguson's head was ever completely unbruised, but he still racked up 98 career goals. I'm willing to bet that at least 95 of them were with his head too. Anyway, Hutton is out of contention, so Bart will drop back into the centre of defence, with Gregurina replacing him in midfield. Abramowicz replaces Garbacik and 15 year old Tomasz Jaborski replaces Scheffel. He'll set a Lotto Ekstraklasa record as the league's youngest ever player.

I know what you're thinking.

"You've lost it, Franjo!"

"You're out of your mind!"

"I have a tattoo of your half-robot face on my thigh!"

Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm mad. Maybe I'm extremely photogenic and an excellent choice for anyone's thigh tattoo. But my squad is failing. I expected them to bounce back by now and they haven't, and yes, a lot of the blame for that is on my shoulders, but this kid's mind is fresh. He's untroubled by our recent failure. If he can play with a smile on his face and a couple of the lads follow suit, my gamble will have paid off.

10 minutes in, we go close. Kevin plays a well timed cross to Aaron Kwarko, but his header bobbles wide. A few minutes later, Kwarko gets into the box again, this time on the end of a pass from Fossy on the right. He shoots with power, but Berkovec saves and does well to hold onto it.

Alas, our promising start unravels before the 20 minute mark. Peyrzak's corner is headed clear by Gregurina but only as far as Dzalamidz, who toe-pokes the ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.

We try to control the game after half an hour, but we just can't find the equaliser. 10 minutes into the second half, Mackiewicz has the ball on the left wing for Górnick. He skips down the line past young Jaworski, who sticks out a foot and brings him down for a penalty. I bury my head in my hands. I've picked a young lad in the team to add some optimism into the squad, and within an hour he's set a new record for "Youngest ever player to give away a penalty in the Lotto Ekstraklasa".

Vukobratovic's penalty is near perfect. Power, accuracy, straight into the bottom corner. Nowak dives the right way but gets nowhere near it. With an hour gone, I break out a rare triple substitution. Gregurina, Kwarko and Tarnowski are replaced by Machalski, Tuovinen and Stryjek.

Within minutes, the extremely unfit Machalski is looking lively and wins the ball from Olejarka. He hoofs it onto the right wing for Ari Tuovinen, who breaks away down the line. I feel my vindication blanket drawing closer... Until Tuovinen makes the absurd decision to shoot from way out on the right wing. The ball goes nowhere near the goal. I am displeased.

We go attacking, but the last chance of the game goes to Mackiewicz following a Dzalamidze free kick. His shot is caught comfortably by Nowak. 0-2 it ends. I guess we'll just have to pedal that little bit more.

The GieKSa press officer, Michal Dabrowski, is sending me weekly updates on how long it's been since we last won a match, which is really fucking helpful and appreciated.

Next up in my fully immersive nightmare is a trip to Wisła Kraków. After their terrible start to the season, Kraków have picked themselves up for the second half of their campaign. Good for them. They currently sit above us in 13th place with 4 more points. We risk really isolating ourselves in the relegation scrap if we lose to them.

In terms of our inevitable personnel changes, Kwarko, Kevin and Tarnowski are dropped. Franczak, Glen and Stryjek are all in. With no disrespect to these guys, I'm really scraping the barrel now. Jaworski stays in the lineup because I want to give him another chance to prove himself.

It takes just over 10 minutes for Malecki to hoof a cross in from the right wing, and for Morrell to slip into space between Bart and Jaworski and nod the ball home.

Another 10 minutes passes before Morrell receives the ball again, this time skipping effortlessly past Gregurina and Hurley and into the box. He shoots, but drags his shot wide of the far post.

5 minutes later, Ondrasek crosses from the right. The ball flies over Bart's head once more and Vidémont's there to volley it in at the far post. 0-2.

I can barely believe my eyes though when within 2 minutes, young Stryjek releases even younger Glen on the left wing. The nippy youngster takes it forward and clips a lovely cross to the far post, where Franczak arrives to apply the finish. My fist flies into the air so fast that I nearly dislocate my shoulder.

Straight from kick off however, Kraków come back at us. This time, Bartosz crosses to the near post and Ondrasek is there to volley the ball into the bottom corner, restoring his team's 2 goal lead almost instantly.

It's actually quite impressive that with 25 minutes gone, we were losing 0-1, and with 30 minutes gone, we're losing 1-4. Kraków's 4th comes just 2 minutes after their 3rd, when Morrell dribbles into the box and up to the byline, squares the ball for Ondrasek, and he blasts his second past Nowak.

I watch my players' body language as they troop back to their positions, heads down, shoulders slumped. I watch the travelling fans, those who've shown up at least, as they boo and shout and throw their hands up in despair. I don't know if I can do this anymore, GieKSa. I think I'm done.

In the 32nd minute though, Bartosz is caught in possession outside his own box and Fossy nicks the ball away from him. I look up hopefully from my current position, slumped back in my seat in the dugout. Fossy lays it off for young striker Stryjek, who shoots from just outside the box - And the ball flies into the top corner. 2-4. All I can manage at the minute is a smile though. Good for Stryjek, I think. Maybe I'll try to sign him on loan for my next, far inferior club after I'm sacked in disgrace.

With just under 10 minutes to go until the break, Abramowicz takes a throw in, launching the ball down the left wing and into the box for Fossy to chase. Fossy does chase it, but just as he gets close to the ball, he's tripped by Maczynski. My heart skips a beat. He was inside the box. The referee blows his whistle and runs over, pointing to the penalty spot.

Mario Gregurina places the ball at 12 yards and measures his steps backwards. The referee's whistle blows. Gregurina takes a step, and another, and runs the last few, before striking the ball, and placing it comfortably into the bottom left corner. 3-4. I do stand this time, feeling hopeful enough to fist pump once more. The bastards are pedalling. They're pedalling furiously against the steep incline, against the force of gravity, against wind resistance. Just keep going, I beg them silently, just pedal a little further.

Half time comes and goes. I urge the lads on in my team talk, convincing them that the next goal will be ours. That they can still get a result. I think they believe me. I hope they do.

Nearly 10 minutes after the restart, my group of lovable misfits are playing with their chests puffed out. Fossy is having the game of his life and he plays a nice through ball into the box for Stryjek, who should shoot first time but takes a touch instead, allowing Lis to close down the angle and save his shot. The crowd are on board now though, cheering the players on. Kraków are getting scared, mistakes are becoming more and common among their players.

With a quarter of an hour to go though, they break. Sylwestrzak gets away down the left wing. He crosses the ball into the centre and Ondrasek meets it with his head - But the ball cracks against the bar. He was inches away from his hat trick. We go on the attack.

5 minutes later, I opt once more for a triple substitution. There's only 10 minutes to play and the fresh legs can only be good for us. Off come Gregurina, Hurley and Glen, on come Rodrigo Silva, Machalski and Karwot.

But it's no use. The clock keeps ticking on. 90 minutes pass and the 4th official signals for 2 minutes of injury time. We've not gotten close since Stryjek's chance in the 54th minute.

But then Stryjek finds himself with the ball, 20 yards out. He holds it up well. I get up from my seat, along with the travelling fans and my coaching staff. Stryjek lays the ball off for Rodrigo Silva, who's bombed on from his regular holding man role, arriving just outside the box. He shoots low, and the ground goes silent. The whole stadium inhales as one as the ball fizzes towards the bottom corner - And is saved by Lis. I make an involuntary agonised noise as I watch it bobble onto the right wing, away from goal.

But we aren't done. Franczak picks the ball up on the right, turns and swings a cross towards the far post. Kamil Karwot leaps to reach it, but he can't. He ends up in a heap on the floor. Because he was pushed by Malecki. The referee's whistle goes as he once again runs over, pointing to the spot.

After a split second of realisation, every single person affiliated with GKS Katowice lets out a cheer or a scream or a shout of delight. Apart from me. Not yet. Not until I see 4-4 up on the score board.

After a few seconds, the delight turns into worried murmurs and I think I know why. Mario Gregurina, our usual spot kick taker who has already put one away today, has gone off. And we're left with, quite frankly, a bunch of kids to choose from to take the second.

And then I remember. I remember a moment that seems like it was played out a whole lifetime ago, but in reality was only just over a year ago. A moment when I watched a 16 year old boy step up for a team of youth candidates, unfazed by the prospect of taking a penalty against a goalkeeper twice his age. He rifled the ball into the net from 12 yards then, and he can do it again. I catch Silva's eye as he trudges back towards the half way line, and point towards the box. "Take it Rodrigo!" I shout.

Dennis turns to me with a look of confusion on his face. "Rodrigo, Boss?" He asks.

"He'll be fine." I reply, as Silva starts jogging back towards the box. I sound a lot calmer than I feel.

Silva does look slightly more worried than I remember in that youth candidates match last March though, as he steps up and places the ball on the spot. He, like Gregurina, counts his steps back. The referee blows his whistle, and Rodrigo breaks into a jog, before hitting the ball - Nay, fucking twatting the ball - Straight down the middle of the goal, past the flailing feet of the goalkeeper as he dives out of the way to his left. 4-4.

Euphoria ensues. I don't think I've ever celebrated a point more. The players are piling up on top of Silva in the corner where the fans are sitting. The travelling fans that have finally been rewarded; Bouncing, singing and cheering as their heroes gather below. Dennis leaps into the arms of one of the coaches like he's Scooby Doo, laughing hysterically while the rest of the staff high five, hug and laugh.

I just stand outside my dugout: Applauding, breathing a sigh of relief, and wearing the first genuine smile I've worn in a long time.

Chin Up (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Mini-sode 68.5)

Our eyes meet as I turn the corner towards the home changing room. He's walking towards me from the other end of the corridor and we're on a direct collision course. I avert my eyes sheepishly and step to my right, but as I do, he steps to his left. I see him in my peripheral vision. We're still heading straight towards one another. I quickly step back to my left, but he steps back to his right at the exact same time, like he's my mirror image. My horrifying, vampiric mirror image. GieKSik starts to laugh. "We seem unable to avoid each other," comes the gruff, familiar voice from behind the dead eyes and the joyless, unmoving smile.

I look up and give the kind of facial expression that every Englishman perfects over his lifetime; The eyes roll in a full circle, as if to say "What are we like?". The head shakes back and forth, and at the same time tilts ever so slightly upwards, to ensure that eye contact absolutely cannot be made. The lips curl up at the corners, in an attempt to convince our new foe that we feel something other than pure, unbridled fury towards them and the situation that they alone have caused and inflicted upon us. The whole thing is brought together by a short "Tsk" as the tongue clicks against the roof of the mouth. For such a tiny noise, it packs a hell of a passive-aggressive punch.

Content that I've made my point, I continue to walk, stepping to my right so that I can pass GieKSik. As I do though, he stops and places a huge padded hand on my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks. I instinctively look around for something that could be used as a weapon. A ready-made wooden stake perhaps? A clove of Garlic? A vial of Holy Water? I see none of them lying around. Just my luck.

"You have flies up your nose, my friend." He says softly.

"I beg your pardon?", I ask, taken aback.

"You are troubled. What is wrong?"

I smile wryly. "It's no secret," I tell him. "We're losing. I'm failing. We're in relegation form at the minute and I can't turn it around."

GieKSik considers this for a moment. I mean, I'm not great at reading the body language of vampiric sports mascots, but he does go quiet. "You've had some bad results, Franjo, but it is no use crying over sliced bread."

I nod slowly. "You know, you really butchered that idiom, but I do appreciate what you're trying to get at."

He claps me on the shoulder. "Chin up", he says slightly cheerily, before walking past me and rounding the corner. Feeling slightly confused, but slightly buoyed, I continue walking in the opposite direction towards our changing room. A weak smile creeps across my face.

Thank you, that's very kind keep your fingers crossed for me if you would because it's looking pretty bleak!

Tricky Janicki (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep68)

"Let's play a game shall we?" I ask the squad in the changing room. "This", I gesture to the whiteboard sat on an easel next to me where my team is laid out in formation, "Is our starting 11 today. Nowak, Scheffel, Olivier, Wilson, Garbacik, Bart, Hurley, Amonike, Janga, Kevin, Goncerz." I point to each of their names as I reel them off. We're going with our 4-2-3-1 and the exact lineup that took a 2-0 lead against Bruk-Bet in the reverse fixture earlier in the season, before we came away with a slightly disappointing 2-2 draw.

"If we fail to win today", I continue, "The 3 players who I deem to have played the worst will be... Out." Wilson raises his hand.

"Out, Boss? Out of the side?" He asks.

"Out of the squad, Danny." I reply. "If we do not come away with 3 points today, then 3 of you will be dropped." The changing room starts buzzing with disgruntled murmurs. I raise my voice accordingly. "If we then do not come away from our next match with 3 points, then 3 more of you will be dropped. Etcetera. Understood?" I smile around at them. I know that I'm being a dick, and I know that this plan has the potential to backfire horrifically, but I honestly don't know what else to do at this point.

"I'm not asking any of you to become Ruud Gullit. This isn't a 'If I take on the entire Bruk-Bet team and score, I'm safe' situation. This is a 'Do what I fucking pay you to do' situation. Of course, the silver lining for anyone who does get dropped is that if we don't get a win soon, we'll be relegated, I'll be sacked, and you'll get a clean slate under your next Manager in the First Division. Good luck." And with that I walk out of the stunned dressing room, through the tunnel and out into the dugout.

God, I hope that works. I need to assert my authority now more than ever. Aside from the fact that we haven't won in 8 matches, I'm apparently the favourite to take over at Korona after they sacked Dariusz Wdowczyk. The stories of my departure have been doing the rounds this week, piling more uncertainty into a squad that's already undeniably broken. It's mildly flattering to be linked with them, but the way this 2nd half of the season has gone so far, I have my doubts that I'll be staying in Poland beyond the end of the Season whether we go down or not.

Bruk-Bet get off to a flier when Budzyn hits a 25 yard free kick straight into the top corner. My heart sinks. The sensation's becoming all too familiar. Budzyn comes close to doubling his tally less than 10 minutes later when he's released by a Gutkovskis pass, but his shot comes back off the post.

After the half hour, Amonike swings a corner into the box. Janga gets up to direct a header towards the far corner of the goal, but Misal's there to clear the ball off the line.

In the second half, we try to control the game, but we fail to fashion any decent chances. With 20 minutes to go, Kwarko and Tarnowski replace Amonike and Janga, and with 10 minutes remaining we go all out attack. We still create nothing until the 90th minute, when Goncerz finds himself with space on the left and has a shot, but the keeper makes a routine save. Bruk-Bet go straight up the other end, with Kiepura playing in Gutkovskis, but he skies his effort.

I follow through on my pre-match promise. Unsurprisingly, the 3 players that I deem to have played the worst are 3 attackers. Goncerz, Amonike and Janga are dropped. We have a 2 week gap before our trip to Piast, so that's 2 weeks to figure out who's going to come in for them. I eventually decide on Tarnowski up front, with Fossy behind him and Kwarko out on the right.

7 minutes in, the seemingly inevitable happens when Janicki's free kick is cleared as far as Kurminowski. He gives it back to Janicki, who rifles the ball into the back of the net from the edge of the box.

20 minutes later, we have a corner on the left. Hurley swings in a good cross and Kwarko nods it down towards the near post. Danny Wilson's there to blast it, but it's blocked by the goalscorer Janicki, who's stood on the goal line.

Right on the hour mark, we're looking threatening. Scheffel splits Piast apart with a great through ball, which Tarnowski runs onto. He sprints through on goal but is forced onto his left foot by the back-peddling defenders and skews his shot wide. We go on the attack shortly afterwards and bring Kawot and Stryjek on for Kevin and Tarnowski. Kawot should give us more width as a natural left winger.

With just under quarter of an hour to play, we come forward again. Hurley dwells on the ball for too long though, and Piast counter attack. Niezgoda ends up with the ball and pokes it through for bloody Janicki, who buries it in the bottom right corner of our goal. I can't say that I like Tricky Janicki all that much to be honest.

In the final couple of minutes we're still coming forward, but Hurley loses the ball again, this time on the left wing. Piast counter once more, culminating in Kurminovski laying it off for Tricky Janicki. The bastard aims for the top left corner, but his shot flies just wide. The fact that he fails to bag his hat trick brings me a small but hollow moment of happiness.

We have 3 matches left of the league stage and we're 6 points clear of 15th placed Korona. When the Relegation Group stage begins, every team's points tally will be cut in half, meaning that we're actually only 3 points clear. Ambitions of finishing in the top 8 are now a distant memory. Our new goal is picking up as many points as possible in order to avoid the second relegation of my career. I'll keep my chin up, I really will, but we need to fix this before it's too late.

Turn The Tide (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep67)

“Here’s the thing,” I begin, pausing to take a drink of my unnecessarily strong Polish lager, “I’ve not taken any confidence whatsoever from the falling counter system. We’ve lost both of the matches that we’ve used it.” Dennis listens quietly, a worried look spread across his face. “The far more vexing thing at the minute though is that I’m genuinely losing faith in the players.” I continue. “I know they can play better. I know they can be better. But they just aren’t rising to the occasion."

“It’s only been 2 matches though.” Dennis pipes up. “The players will get comfortable in the system given time."

“We don’t have time though, Dennis. We need to stop losing. We need to pick up some points or we’re going to get dragged into a relegation scrap.” Dennis nods with reluctant acceptance. “Korona away is a must win game. They’re second bottom. We need to turn the tide. Another loss here today would be catastrophic.”

“It’d be a league record too”, he says quietly. “7 losses in a row.”

“Excellent, thanks.” I reply, covering my face with my hands in exasperation.

“With 6 in a row, we’ve already set a club record”, he continues, unhelpfully.

“Right, well I’d rather not go down in Lotto Ekstraklasa history as the guy who can’t stop fucking losing.” I snap. We both take a long drink.

“So what do we do?” Asks Dennis, breaking the silence.

“We catch Korona off guard." I reply thoughtfully. "They stick religiously to their 4-4-2, so we go 3-5-2. We outnumber their strikers and midfielders and we dominate the game.”

After more scheming and more of that lager that I suspect might have been originally manufactured as a weapon, we settle on our team. A back 3 of Olivier, Hutton and Wilson, with Hutton playing a stopper role, Scheffel and Garbacik as the wing backs, Gregurina and Fossy playing in the midfield 3 either side of our full debutant Vladan Savanovic. Goncerz and Tarnowski are up front.

I signed Savanovic as a possible replacement for Baran when the young playmaker left at the start of the season, and I feel like now is as good a time as any to give him a try. He’s young, hungry and unpredictable. He might just give us that unknown factor that'll secure the win against Korona.

3 minutes in, Tarnowski releases Scheffel down the right wing. Tom whips a cross straight into the box, and straight onto the boot of Goncerz, who simply helps the ball into the bottom corner. 1-0. We’re winning. We’re actually winning.

The rest of the half is awful, but I’m fine with it. We completely nullify Korona. The only downside is that Savanovic hasn’t really been in the game at all, so we’ll go more direct in an attempt to create chances without him. Fossy moves into the central midfield spot as a deep lying playmaker to facilitate the change.

Almost 15 minutes after the break, Korona do actually threaten. Rovcanin crosses from the left but it’s awkwardly behind Palanca, and his header reflects that. The ball flies well over. Suddenly though, the whistle blows. The referee comes sprinting over and points to the spot. I’m flabberghasted. What possible reason could he have for giving Korona a penalty? A quick, friendly chat with the 4th official reveals the decision was made because Alan Hutton shoved Mitsanski in the 6 yard box. Neither player was anywhere near the ball. It was just a random act of violence from our centre back. I hate everything again.

Palanca steps up to hit the penalty - And Nowak saves brilliantly to his left! You brilliant old bastard, Sebastien. Wilson clears the ball following the save, but Korona smell blood now. It comes straight back at us via a Markovic ball over the top. Rovcanin latches onto it on the left and shoots at the near post. The ball ripples the back of the net. I have no words. We go control.

With 20 minutes to go, Garbacik and Tarnowski are replaced by Kwarko and Stryjek as we try to push Korona back and snatch another goal, but to no avail.

With a couple of minutes still to play, Tomasevic plays the ball over the top of our defence down the left wing. Olivier gets to it first but is tripped by Mitsanski. The referee waves play on and my fists clench. The red mist is descending. Mitsanski is one on one with Nowak and shoots, but our veteran keeper saves brilliantly at the near post. I’m still incensed. The ref’s extraordinary eagle eyes didn’t catch that one, did they?

I have a pop at the officials in my post-match interview. We nearly went into the history books in a really shitty way thanks to that late decision not to award us a free kick for the foul on Olivier and I would’ve gone full on Mourinho if we had done.

Let’s move on swiftly though. We’ve dropped down to 14th. We’re 1 place and 5 points above the relegation zone. Górnik Zabrze visit us next and they’re 13th, on level points with us but with a much, much better goal difference. This is another match that we just can’t afford to lose.

We’re changing system again. The 3-5-2 was specifically for Korona as they play a 4-4-2 and I don’t want to go back to the falling counter, so we’re trying a 4-4-2 of our own. We’ll attack Zabrze, focus down the wings where we’ve got power and pace in Kwarko and Janga, pass into space and float crosses into the box for the aerially proficient duo of Stryjek and Goncerz. We’re the home side. We should have enough about us to win. This may be some of these players’ last chance.

The first half is predictably dull. Towards the end I instruct the wingers to hit early crosses in towards the strikers. But it’s not actually until after the hour mark that we see any action, when Goncerz plays a one-two with Stryjek and gets himself into the box, before forcing a good save from Bolten. Kevin comes on replacing Stryjek and heads out to the left wing, while Janga accompanies Goncerz up front.

With 15 minutes to go, Gregurina and Goncerz are also replaced by Hurley and Tarnowski. It so nearly pays off in the last couple of minutes when Hurley’s through ball finds Tarnowski in the box, but his shot comes back off the post. The match ends goalless.

The good thing about draws is that they’re not losses. The bad thing about drawing the matches we have done is that we were playing against teams that in my eyes we should have beaten. At least we can take solace in the fact that we’ve picked up a couple of points, but I really am losing patience with some members of the squad, and I might have to start mixing it up and bringing in some new faces to keep it fresh. Who knows, my job may depend on it.

Thanks mate! Both for finding time to read on a bank holiday and for the vote of confidence

Welcome To GieKSa (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep66)

Today is the day of the annual youth candidate match. After our recent unimpressive run, it'll be a perfect palette cleanser and an opportunity for our latest band of young footballing wannabes to show me that they deserve to join the mighty GieKSa.

I've been told to pay particularly close attention to a number of players. Firstly, young right back Tomasz Jaworski. At 15 years old, it's already clear that he's a great athlete, a born leader, and that he's as brave as a lion. That's a very good recipe for an aspiring footballer.

Next, 15 year old left winger Filip Glen. He's quick off the mark and full of tricks, with a decent cross to boot.

And finally, Michal Grzybek, a 16 year old striker. He's pretty good with his feet and a decent athlete, but his real quality is his mental strength: He's another born leader and is remarkably mature for his age.

As per usual, I let the members of my first team that need game time play for the Under 18's, making it more of a B Team, so the youth candidates are in for a tough time.

Grzybek actually goes close early on when he breaks through the Katowice B Team, but he can only put his shot from a tight angle into the side netting.

Just after half time, Koj pushes Amonike in the area and gives away a penalty, and Gregurina steps up to confidently put the B Team in front. Machalski's free kick is headed home by Krawczyk 15 minutes from time to give the Under 18's a 2-0 victory, but I'm pretty impressed that the match was so close.

Interesting, that. I hope to be given reason to promote a few of the new lads to the first team over the next few months. Welcome to GieKSa, boys.

Anyway, back to first team news! Kevin's earned himself a place in Team of the Week for his consolation goal against Cracovia.

But please hold your applause. Sit yourself back down, Kevin. We aren't in this for personal glory. His accolade is meaningless because we've now lost 4 matches in a row. In an attempt to halt our recent decline, I'll be trying out a new system at home against Lechia today: The gracefully named "Falling Counter" system. It's essentially a variation on Project: Burnie MK II.

Our back 4 will stay the same personnel-wise but our full backs will be encouraged to fly up the wings on the overlap. A holding midfielder will be deployed just in front of the centre backs to offer stability to the side. Bart and Hurley will stay as the midfield duo, but Hurley will be given freedom to roam and to run into channels in the final third. Our front 3 will consist of Tarnoski, our right-of-centre attacking midfielder who will also run the channels, Kevin, our familiar left-sided inside forward, and Goncerz, the spearhead.

So the idea is that we'll have a defensive triangle of Olivier, Wilson and Hutton, who I'll be trying as a makeshift holding man, with Bart winning the ball in front of the 3 of them and starting counter attacks. Hurley and Tarnowski will get forward through the channels in support of Goncerz, with Kevin also cutting in providing support, while Scheffel and Abramowicz bomb up the wings, with strict instructions to stay as wide as possible, providing the width. They aren't ideal candidates for this, but I reckon they've got enough about them to give it a go.

Annoyingly, Goncerz isn't yet fit to play following the chest injury he picked up against Cracovia, so he won't feature. Janga starts in his place, and will play behind Tarnoski.

The match never really gets going if I'm honest. Janga hits a long shot in the first 5 minutes that's easy for Kuciak to catch. After 40 minutes we change to short passing and attempt to work the ball into the box.

With around 15 minutes to go, we go on the offensive. Kwarko and Fossy come on in straight swaps for Kevin and Hutton as we try to find the breakthrough. In the last 10 minutes though, the cost of my changes becomes clear. First, Jorge Diaz slams a shot against the bar, which I should have seen as a warning. Then, from a 91st minute Gajos corner, Kadlec heads home the winner. Nobody deserved to win this match. It's so, so cruel.

The bad news, apart from the obvious, is that Hurley twisted his ankle in the last 5 minutes and will miss the next 2-3 weeks. The good news however, is that I was really quite impressed with Alan Hutton's first ever (That I know of) performance as a holding man. He did a fine job, and I'll be training him to play there.

OK, now we really need a win. Or a draw. Why didn't I shut up shop and take the draw? Next up is a trip to our local rivals Zagłębie Sosnowiec. Gesundheit. Hurley's injured, Goncerz is fit again, and let's face it, Abramowicz is awful. Fossy, Goncerz and Garbacik come into the side. Hurley, Janga and Abramowicz are out.

With just over 10 minutes played, Fossy loses the ball in Sosnowiec's half and they counter. Fast. A move that I might have found quite easy on the eye in other circumstances sees Makengo tee up Mystkowski, who chips the ball on for Mills, who volleys it deftly past Nowak. 0-1.

It's another eventless match but nevertheless, we're somehow on the back foot again. With half an hour to go, nothing has happened and I see nothing to convince me that we'll turn it around without a change. Kwarko comes on for Kevin and we go attacking, and more direct.

5 minutes later, Tom Scheffel's... Direct... pass is cut out, and Sosnowiec counter. Fast. Makengo's glancing header from Pawlowski's pacey cross is saved well by Nowak, but our keeper is left badly positioned a split second later when Mills passes the rebound into the empty net. 0-2.

Not even 3 minutes later, Goncerz loses the ball high up the pitch and Sosnowiec counter. Fast. Or they would do, but Mills is tripped just into our half by the already-tightrope-walking Bart. He receives his marching orders. I'm about ready to walk down the tunnel myself. Amonike comes on and will spray crosses towards the big men from deep on the right. Tarnowski comes off.

But then, 5 minutes from time, it clicks. I don't know what it is, but it just clicks. Fossy's chipped free kick comes back to him and he tries another cross. It evades the defence and Goncerz is there to help it past the keeper. And the linesman's flag is up.

Sorry, did I say it clicks? I meant to say that I hate everything. I hate the linesman, I hate winter breaks, I hate wodka, and I hate Zagłębie bloody Sosnowiec. Goncerz does blast an injury time consolation goal in, but it's too little, too late.

The new Cameroon boss, Yves Nounkeu, was in the stands today watching Olivier. Why anyone would travel from another continent to watch any of my defenders at the minute really is beyond me. We need radical change and we need it now.

No Video Highlights For A While (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Meta-sode 65.5)

'Ello,

Quick heads up that there'll be no more video highlights for a while. I know that most of you just read the scintillating story and don't watch them, but I thought I'd let you know anyway.

In case you're interested, the reasons for this are that:

A) If you try to export highlights from a Mac (The save is on a Mac), it doesn't work properly. The highlights are unwatchable and from what I've seen from the forums, this has been a bug ever since exporting highlights was introduced to the game.

B) Because of that, I've always sent the save to my PC to export the videos, but the poor old thing's fallen on hard times recently and is currently incapable of doing certain things that I want it to do, such as exporting videos, powering on or being even remotely useful.

So yes, it's broken. While my PC's out of commission, there'll be no video highlights. If I get it working though I'll add them all retroactively.

Thanks for reading, have a great week.

Cheers,

Franjo

Is This Good Enough? (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep65)

So. Wisła Płock. It's strange in a way watching them disembark from their team bus. If I'd answered the press differently about the rumours of me moving there over the winter break, maybe it'd be me getting off that bus. I'd be getting ready to play my first match, poetically at Stadion GKS Katowice. I stand by my decision to deny interest though. I might go as far as to say that they've got a marginally better squad, with players more used to playing in the Lotto Ekstraklasa, but my team is made up of players that I know, and for the most part, players that I've brought in. I trust my team and that's not a thing that should be understated.

It's snowing again as I make my way back inside and into the home changing room. We'll line up with the extremely standard 4-2-3-1 that's often served us so well this season, with no real surprises in terms of personnel. Nowak starts in net with Scheffel, Olivier, Wilson and Garbacik in front of him, Bart and Hurley in midfield, with Janga, Fossy and Kevin behind Goncerz.

10 minutes in, a hoofed goal kick flies into our half. Reca nods it on for Guinean striker José Kanté, who dribbles easily away from Bart and fires just wide.

A few minutes later, the 2 almost connect again when Reca swings a cross in from the left towards Kanté, but Olivier heads the ball clear. Fossy goes for the header but aerial prowess is not his strong suit. Wlazlo beats him in the air and heads it back to Kanté, who makes himself a yard of space and places the ball into the bottom left hand corner. We immediately try to get on the front foot and try to control the game. By the end of the first half, we're full on attacking Płock, but we remain behind as the whistle blows to signal the break.

5 minutes after the restart, Reca plays the ball to Aurélio just inside our half. He dribbles forwards with purpose and gets to the edge of the box, before lashing a shot towards the bottom corner of our goal. Luckily, Nowak is on the ball and tips the ball behind. Zgrablic's header from the resulting corner is wide.

I am growing concerned about our chances of not conceding a second though. Płock have had 3 good chances, all of which have involved them exploiting the space between our defence and midfield. I drop Bart back to a holding man position in an attempt to close that area off.

The response is almost immediate. We start a pretty clunky counter attack after a spell of possession for Płock breaks down. Kevin passes to Hurley, who chips the ball into the box first time for Janga. The young Dutchman takes it down as the keeper rushes out, and powers it past him into the back of the net. I feel my vindication blanket flop down onto my shoulders once again.

With 23 minutes to go, Płock are venturing into our half again. Wlazlo catches Olivier out with a pass in behind him, into the path of Kanté. Olivier recovers with an inch-perfect sliding tackle, but in doing so, knocks the ball straight back to Wlazlo, who smashes it in off the bar.

I bring on Kwarko and Tarnoski for Kevin and Goncerz to try to give us the physical advantage against Płock's tiring defenders.

With 15 minutes to go though, our bottle seems to have gone. Aurélio drives the ball against the foot of the post, but the clock ticks away and the whistle blows, signalling a 1-2 loss.

https://youtu.be/o61WovbxqPg

We've now lost 3 on the bounce but 2 of them were against very good sides. Am I disappointed? Yeah, of course. Am I worried? Not really. We'll sort ourselves out.

And who better to sort ourselves out against than Cracovia? I had low expectations at Stadion GKS Katowice, and we came away with a well deserved 4-0 win. Now we'll go to their place and hopefully pick up another 3 points to end our miniature slump.

The good news is that Gregurina is back in full training. The bad news is that Tarnowski comes down with the flu just a couple of days before the match. I was considering giving him a start but he's only fit enough for a place on the bench. Therefore, we go unchanged.

20 minutes in, Cracovia are retaining possession well, presumably to kill off any early "We can turn these over again" spirit we may start with. It's the home side that get the first chance when Platek slips through Adamczyk, but his shot goes into the side netting.

Some worrying news comes in the 24th minute when Goncerz suffers a chest injury after a particularly rough challenge. He's able to play on though, so he does.

Before the half hour mark, Jendrisek sprints away down the left wing, leaving Scheffel for dead. He gets to the byline and crosses into the centre, and Platek's there to head it in. 0-1. We change mentality and try to control the game.

At half time, I sacrifice Fossy and bring on Kwarko, who moves to the right wing. This frees up Janga to move up front with Goncerz in a 4-2-4. He'll play as a false 9 to try to link our midfield to Goncerz.

With not even a minute of the second half gone, Adamczyk releases Platek, who's through on goal, but his shot comes back off the post.

The next 10 minutes are all Cracovia, and in the 54th minute, Forsell curls a brilliant 20 yard free kick over the wall and into the top corner. This will not do. We go attacking and we'll try to be more fluid.

Just after the hour, Kevin plays a good ball into the centre of the pitch for Janga, who runs it to the edge of the area but shoots just wide.

A few minutes later, Adamczyk, one of the best performers today, feeds Nagy, but his shot is saved well by Nowak. We go fairly narrow to try to limit the number of through balls cutting through us, and we'll close down slightly less to keep our shape.

With about 15 minutes to go, Goncerz plays a nice ball into the left channel for Kevin, who's cutting inside. He toe pokes it into the far corner of the net, but as I'm in quite a critical mood, the keeper should have done better. In a final roll of the dice, Stryjek comes on for Janga, and will be the poacher while Mr. Link-up, Goncerz, will play as the target man. We go more direct as we've now got 2 big players up front.

I do bring Savanovic on for a late cameo, but we can't turn the tide. Another match ends 1-2. I go into the changing room and wait silently while the players trudge in.

https://youtu.be/T2rySFbWlBg

"In our last 4 competitive games, we've conceded 9 goals and scored 2", I seethe. "Do you think that's good enough?" I ask nobody in particular. No response. All eyes are on the changing room floor. "What's so fucking exciting about that floor?" I snap, prompting the players to snap their heads up towards me. I turn to Tom Scheffel. "Is it good enough, Tom?"

"No, Boss", he says monotonously. I turn on Grzegorz Goncerz.

"Is it good enough, Grzegorz?"

"No, Boss", he echoes. I can sense that I'm getting through, but I need to make this hurt. I wheel around towards Hurley, Kevin and Olivier, who are sat side by side, looking nervous.

"What about you 3?" I demand. "I brought all of you here because I thought you could step up to this level and make this club better. Was I fucking daft?"

"No, boss", they reply in unison. I turn back to address the room.

"IS. THIS. GOOD ENOUGH?!"

"NO, BOSS!" Comes the slightly more enthusiastic reply. The words echo against the tiles for a second or so.

"No, it's fucking not." I sigh, grabbing my trusty grey coat and walking out of the changing room. I don't hear a single word as I stride down the corridor. I think I got through to them. My old manager at Worksop Town would be proud. Something tells me that spurring the players on won't be enough though. I desperately need to make some changes, and as far as I'm concerned, from what I've seen lately, nobody's place is safe in my squad.

My First Winter Break (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep64)

"Please can we take a break, Boss? We're knackered." Asks Alan Hutton, between deep, gasping breaths.

"What did Święty Mikołaj bring you, Alan?" I call.

"Eh?"

"What did you get for Christmas?"

"Oh. New boots, Boss." He grins.

"Ah, very nice. Did you get 90% of them or did you get 100%?" Alan rolls his eyes. I suspect he knows where I'm going with this.

"100% Boss."

"Right, well pay it forward, you lazy bastard! Give me 100%!" I'd been waiting for someone to ask to stop. I really wanted to use that line.

The lads are currently running cross country as a part of my winter high fitness training schedule, which should help carry us through until the end of the season. What certainly won't help is all of the bloody useless friendlies against weaker opposition that we've got lined up.

Janga won't be joining us for at least a month after straining his knee ligaments in the Legia match. He could be out for as many as 7 weeks, but other than that we're all looking good.

2 Months Later...

This has been my 1st winter break. As a player, a fan, or a manager. I've got to say, I'm not a fan. Maybe it's just that we've not done it properly. Maybe we should have arranged some kind of warm weather training camp, played a few top clubs to test ourselves, and that kind of thing. As it stands we've barely trained because we've had shit friendlies almost every other day. (I've realised that at some point I must have given responsibility for organising friendlies to Dennis for whatever reason, but I've made it abundantly clear that I'll be arranging them in future). In short, it feels like we've just stagnated. We've had a massive amount of disruptive, small, niggling injuries throughout the squad but nothing serious. It's just been quite a frustrating couple of months.

Sebastien Nowak tells me not long after the Legia match that he's hanging up his boots at the end of the Season. I try to convince our vice-captain to reconsider, but his mind's made up. He's had a good career and I'll try and get him to stay on as a coach, but we'll deal with that at the end of the season.

I also have quite a few conversations with Carmine Gautieri, Manager of Verona, as his club once again pepper me with offers for Kamil Karwot, our promising left winger. They start with an insulting bid that could rise to just under £80k and I reject it without hesitation. They make another, slightly better bid, and as much as I try to negotiate, they never get close to my asking price. Their 3rd bid is accepted - By Wojciech Cygan, our Chairman. It could rise to £275k, but as I may have already mentioned, Chairmen who go over my head with transfers can fuck right off. I talk him into backing down. Their persistence eventually wears me down though and I negotiate the same deal I give all of the clubs that come around trying to poach our young players: £500k and 50% of his next fee. We finally agree a deal. Days later though, Karwot turns down the chance to join Verona and instead signs a contract extension, because he's a bloody good lad. The Verona saga is finally over. Until the Summer, I'm guessing.

And then there's the small matter of these friendlies that I've been bleating on about for so long. We win most of them, but I don't learn anything. We don't test ourselves. We don't get anything out of them aside from match sharpness and that's very frustrating.

Polonia Bytom:

https://youtu.be/n2ncAG4I8QI



Olimpia Zambrów:

https://youtu.be/nB8-mV_CnEo



KS Polkowice:

https://youtu.be/2yZAw89RB_8





Liptovsky Mikulas:

https://youtu.be/56WomMAV5Ac



Radomiak:

https://youtu.be/NMYDNp3mDeU



Siarka:

https://youtu.be/hZ7VH2go0DY



Widzew:

https://youtu.be/j1u-9rwu9js



MKS Kluczbork:

https://youtu.be/qYtrFLaV4iE



Kisvárda:

https://youtu.be/NoglwsL8AGA



Puszcza:

https://youtu.be/vxxde3dU61I

One of the most curious stories that pops up in Polish newspapers over the break is the one linking me with the vacant Wisła Płock job. When asked, I quickly distance myself from the story.

As we enter February, the transfer window opens, allowing promising winger Ari Tuovinen to finally complete his transfer from PKKU.

We don't have the finances to do any more business, but I do allow Pawel Mandrysz to join Bruk-Bet on loan until the end of the season. It makes me feel slightly uneasy that a better club want him when I don't, but he's young and maybe some much needed game time will show me what he's made of.

Stjepan Geng also wants to leave, and I have absolutely no objections to him doing so. He's nice to have as a versatile backup, but I've barely needed him. I put him on the transfer list.

The final piece of "transfer" news is that Jakub Wilk decides that he'll retire in June. In all honesty I had tried to release him from his contract just days before his decision, so I won't lose any sleep over it. He strikes me as a player who never quite fulfilled his potential, and at this point he's past the point of being able to do so.

As our match against Wisła Płock draws closer, Maciej Machalski and Rodrigo Silva both rule themselves out for 5-6 weeks and 3-4 weeks respectively through injury, but I doubt that either of them would've started anyway. We've got to put our best foot forward if we're going to reach the top 8 by the end of the League stage. We'll be going full strength. We'll be fighting tooth and nail. I just hope it'll be enough.

Dennis Arranges Some Friendlies (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Mini-sode 63.5)

"...And so the penguin says: 'Dude, he's not an eggplant, he's retarded!'" I raise my eyebrows expectantly at Radzinski, but he looks puzzled as he absent-mindedly rubs his glass with a cloth for seemingly no reason.

"I don't get it." He says blankly.

"Oh", My face drops. "Because the penguin..."

At that moment, Dennis Lawrence pushes open the door to Radzinski's, revealing the thick snow that's settled outside. He steps in from the frigid cold to join us, looking extremely pleased with himself.

"I've done it!", he exclaims triumphantly, waving a sheet of paper in his hand.

"Done what?" I enquire.

"Arranged our friendlies for the winter break!" He beams, offering me the piece of paper. Excitedly, I snatch the sheet and scan my eyes down the list of teams and dates. My face drops.

"Who are these?" I ask. Dennis looks taken aback.

"They're... they're our opposition." He offers weakly.

"There's a million of them... And these are all bloody Polish Second Division sides! Third tier sides! How are we meant to prepare against these? And come to think of it, why are you arranging the friendlies? I didn't ask you to do that." Dennis looks crestfallen as I barrage him with my scathing, negative logic. I continue to scan the page. "And here, look! 7 matches in 16 days? Are you insane?" I bat the sheet of paper with my hand and give it back to him. "And these are all confirmed, are they?" Dennis nods, avoiding eye contact. "Perfect." With that, Dennis shuffles back out of the bar and into the snow as I glare after him.

After a short pause, I hear "Bit harsh." In Radzinski's gruff voice. I sigh.

"Yeah you're probably right." I acknowledge. "I'm going to see if I can catch him up, get him back in for a pint." Radzinski smiles darkly. "Of beer. A pint of beer." I clarify, narrowing my eyebrows and throwing back the dregs of my Polish lager. "Nobody wants draft wodka, you maniac. Watch the cats will you?" He nods. There's not much to watch to be fair, they're both curled up in one of the old booths with bellies full of wet food. They aren't going anywhere.

"Piece of icing on the cake." Radzinski says thoughtfully, as he gazes at Meatloaf and Burnie.

"Great, thanks." I laugh, as I don my trusty grey coat.

As I open the door, I hear "Franjo". I turn to see him still rubbing the glass with the cloth for seemingly no reason. Still staring vacantly at the cats. "Merry Christmas." He mumbles.

"Merry Christmas, mate." I smile. And with that I step out into the cold.

Back To Reality (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep63)

God, it feels good to be King. I hope that doesn't come across as big headed or anything, but I'm working wonders at Katowice. The press can't believe it. Neither can the players, staff or board for that matter. To be fair, neither can I. We're now unbeaten in 5 matches and edging closer and closer to a top 8 finish which would guarantee our survival.

Dependable right back Tom Scheffel, the possible future Cameroon International Olivier, Scotland's forgotten man Danny Wilson and the quite enigmatic Grzegorz Goncerz all get a place in The Lotto Ekstraklasa team of the week after we thumped KGHM. God, it feels good to be King.

We welcome Lech to Stadion GKS Katowice today. At their place in August, they put 3 past us and missed a penalty in a performance that we all, especially Olivier, wanted to quickly forget. This time though, we'll meet them in good form with our chests puffed out. We go unchanged, because why change a winning side?

The groundsmen have done a good job keeping the snow at bay before the match. It's been falling heavily and settling across Katowice since yesterday and shows no signs of letting up before kick off, but the pitch is green for the most part.

20 minutes in, the party atmosphere that we've been cultivating in recent weeks comes to an abrupt end when Gumny's floated far post cross is met by Jozwiak, who rises above Tom Scheffel to head the visitors in front.

Less than 10 minutes after the goal, Radut and Sacko press Kevin to win the ball from him. Our left winger has already had a frustrating afternoon thanks to Lech's aggressive closing down and has picked up a booking, so his sliding lunge at Sacko is ill-advised, and not only because the grass is frozen solid. He goes straight through the Lech player from behind and thoroughly earns his 2nd yellow. I ignore Kevin as he trudges off the pitch and instead turn to one of my coaches. I instruct him to follow Kevin into the changing room and restrict his shower or bath to cold water only. Prick.

Anyway, there's no point whining about it. Let's try a narrow 4-2-2-1 formation, with Janga and Tarnowski playing off Goncerz.

We hold Lech off until half time, but not a minute more. Another fine Gumny cross just after the restart is put in at the far post by the unmarked Jevtic. 5 or so minutes later, Janga works himself an angle just outside the box and shoots low towards the corner, but Putnocky gathers it easily.

We have a free kick in a decent position a couple of minutes later, but it breaks down and Lech counter. Sacko gets to the byline and chips the ball into the centre, and Vázquez compounds my misery with a nice volley. We go attacking and I give our 2 full backs license to push up on the overlap.

Just after the hour, Janga squares the ball for Bart who shoots from 20 yards. Putnocky gets to the powerful shot but can't hold onto it, and Goncerz nips in to bury the rebound. I look over to the linesman though, and sure enough, he's stood there looking infuriatingly smug with his flag-arm outstretched.

Over the next 20 minutes I bring on Hutton, Fossy and Garbacik for Scheffel, Tarnowski and Abramowicz, but I think the lads realised long ago that it wasn't going to be our day. Sacko does excellently to get clear down our right hand side with 5 minutes to play, but then makes the bizarre decision to shoot (And it was a shot) from a ridiculous angle way out on the right wing, sending the ball into the side netting.

It doesn't lift my spirits much to see Bart put Goncerz through in injury time, as Putnocky makes another good save to deny him. The match ends 0-3.

https://youtu.be/a6yoAg5u_jE

It's been one of those days. We faced a good side, didn't put our chances away, and to be fair, got absolutely torn apart. It's a reality check, definitely. Don't forget who you are, Franjo. Don't forget who you are, Katowice. Don't forget what's expected of you all.

There will be no palette cleanser though. No home tie against a league minnow. We'll have to try to bounce back against the mighty Legia Warszawa Away. We beat them in a thoroughly satisfying match at the start of the season but they've since found form and propelled themselves up to the top of the league. Repeating our winning performance today will be a tough ask. Mind you, we're only 7 points below them despite the fact that we're down in 10th place.

Tom Scheffel's yellow card against Lech was his 4th of the season, so he'll be donning his suit in the stands along with Kevin as they serve their 1 match suspensions. Hutton and Kwarko will come in to replace them, but Kwarko will start on the right wing with Janga taking the left. Garbacik and Gregurina are also in for Abramowicz and Tarnowski as we revert to our slightly narrow, flank exploiting Project: Burnie MK II that beat these in Katowice.

20 minutes in, Trinks drives forward into our half. He then passes to Costinha, who runs to the edge of the box and shoots powerfully towards the top corner, but Nowak pulls a save right out of the top drawer to tip it over the bar.

Familiarly, our free kick breaks down a couple of minutes later and Legia counter. Well I say Legia counter, but it's really only Trinks that counters, dribbling the length of the pitch before running into trouble just outside our box. He's forced to pass to Ritzmaier, who slots it through for Szymanski, who slides the ball under Nowak. It's a great goal.

As the second half arrives we go on the counter to try and stop Legia being able to counter quite as effectively, but 20 minutes after the restart, Szymanski swings a corner into our box. Rzezniczak barely has to move to lose Hurley, his marker, and nods the ball on towards the far post. Chatziisaias is waiting there, having barely had to move to lose Olivier, his marker, and he nods it in to double his team's lead. Game over.

The introductions of Amonike and Tarnowski don't help, and just to add insult to injury, or more accurately to add injury to a poor performance, Shurendo Janga comes off with 4 minutes to go with a potentially serious knee injury. Luckily he'll have the whole winter break to shake it off.

https://youtu.be/wkgLRHHSC7I

Well, consider me brought back to reality. 2 comprehensive losses against 2 good sides will do that. I still maintain that a top 8 finish is within reach and that will continue to be my goal, but for now, as we enter my first Winter Break, I'll look at the 8 point gap between us and Korona in the relegation zone and smile.

God, it feels good to be King.

Ziggy Plays The Ball (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep62)

Humiliated. Found out. Out of their depth.

These are just some of the words and phrases used by the local media to describe GieKSa after Jagiellonia ripped us apart in our first Lotto Ekstraklasa match. But it was one thing defeating us in their own back yard, sweeping aside a shambolic thrown-together mix of half-fit players managed by a fresh faced and naive manager. Beating us again today will be a completely different proposition.

I went into our last match completely petrified. Scared stiff by the nagging worry that I had made the wrong decision. That my career was over. That I had put all my eggs in an extremely precarious basket. But GKS Katowice are no league's whipping boys. We aren't the cannon fodder we were expected to be. We are spirited and determined. We are strong and skilful. We have learned to be somewhat efficient, and our Portu-Polish side has become much more of a unit, as oppose to the 2 halves of a team that it was. We all speak decent Polish now. We have better quality depth in our squad. And most importantly, we're all hungry for revenge.

Jagiellonia are having a decent season. They're sat 1 place and 1 point above us, sitting in 9th with 21 points. Interestingly, with 15 games played, we've won 5, drawn 5 and lost 5. We go unchanged today.

To give Jagiellonia credit, one of their players has the best name I've ever seen. Their Scottish fullback, who I remember from his contribution in our first encounter, is brilliantly named Ziggy Gordon. What other name could remind you so succinctly and vividly of both David Bowie and Brian Blessed? Maybe Brian Bowie would, but it's definitely not as good a name.

Ziggy plays the ball. Running good past Kevin and Hurley, for Jagiellonia. Crosses from the right, but crosses too far. Then Khomchenovskyi heads, but can't get it in the net.

GORDON'S A LIVE... wire all through the first half (Sorry) and we're kept pinned back a lot while he leads Jagiellonia forward from the right fullback spot. Indeed, with a couple of minutes to play before the break, he gets up and clips in a low cross towards Romanchuk and Guti. The ball reaches neither of them and instead deflects off Fossy and into our net. Luckily, both Romanchuk and Guti were stood in offside positions when Ziggy crossed the ball, and were deemed to be interfering with play enough for the goal to be chalked off. That was a huge stroke of luck.

At the break I tell my team to go back out and control the game. We've not looked like the home team so far and I'm well aware that our last encounter with Jagiellonia was 0-0 at the break, before we promptly lost 0-3.

In the first 15 minutes back on the pitch, Hurley chips a pass over the top of the defence and into the central channel for Goncerz. He takes it down and fires a venomous shot straight at Stachowiak, and the keeper tips it over.

I bring on Kwarko and Tarnowski in place of Janga and Fossy. Kwarko has become my go-to second half substitute to bully the tiring defenders with his immense physical presence, and Tarnowski tends to do quite well off the bench with his pace and intelligent runs.

A few minutes later, an exquisite passing move that includes most of Jagiellonia's players culminates with Frankowski at the right byline. He crosses to the far post and Khomchenovskyi puts it away. I'm having flashbacks. It's happening again.

As I said before though, we're a better side now. We show our composure and refuse to instantly capitulate like we did last time. With 20 minutes to play, we go on the attack.

7 minutes later, Hurley plays a carbon copy of his earlier pass, over the top and into the central channel. Goncerz takes the ball down again and expertly holds it up, luring 2 defenders out of position before slipping in Tarnowski, who drives it home to equalise.

A couple of minutes later, we're pushing for a winner. After a good move, Tarnowski plays a slick one-two with Goncerz and then slams home his second from the edge of the area, the brilliant bastard.

I bring on Gregurina for Kevin and shut up shop. We change to a 4-1-2-3, with Tarnowski playing as a just-left-of-centre attacking midfielder instead of a left winger, in case he fancies completing his hat trick. He doesn't, but I couldn't give less of a shit. We've held on. We've won. We've got our revenge.

https://youtu.be/0oCwj4IgNfA

Tarnowski's fantastic cameo not only won him the player of the match award, but also a place in the Lotto Ekstraklasa team of the week, alongside Goncerz, who did my confidence in him the world of good with those 2 clever assists.

KGHM Zagłębie are next at their place. I don't want to paint them as the worst team in the league, but in my defence they've done that themselves. After finishing 10th last season and being predicted to finish in the top 8 this season, they've lost 12 of their first 16 matches, drawing the other 4. Needless to say, I would be mortified to lose today.

We make 2 changes - Abramowicz comes in for Garbacik, who is suspended having picked up his 4th yellow card of the season against Jagiellonia, and Tarnowski comes in for Fossy as our number 10. He's earned it.

We get off to a surprisingly quick start when 6 minutes in, a near post Tom Scheffel corner is nodded into the net by Danny Wilson. The Scotsman celebrates his first GieKSa goal passionately with the travelling fans. Well in, Danny.

2 minutes later, Abramowicz whips in another near post corner from the other side. Wilson gets there again and nods it across goal, but Janga's subsequent header is cleared off the line by Uzelac.

That's pretty much the only action we see in what is a dominant first half display. That is until Olivier is caught in possession on the right and robbed of the ball by Badía. Badía dribbles down the left wing and crosses to the near post, where Nespor is waiting to turn the ball in from close range.

There's a sombre atmosphere in the changing room at half time, as is always the way when you concede just before the break, but a passionate plea to keep doing what they've been doing sends the players back out with smiles on their faces.

10 minutes later, we score a fucking beauty of a goal. Tom Scheffel stands over a free kick 35 yards out, and passes short to Olivier. The centre back turns and finds Bart, who plays it on first time for Janga, who plays it on first time for Goncerz on the edge of the box, who shapes his body and crashes the ball first time - In off the bar.

That goal really was a thing of beauty, and KGHM's manager certainly seems shaken. So shaken in fact that he throws me a curveball with extra mustard. KGHM change to a flat 3-5-2 formation. As I watch their players take their new positions, my face scrunches up as I try to process what to do now. Weirdly, I suddenly realise that I've barely played against such a formation during my Managerial career and it poses us several problems.

The first and most imminently dangerous problem is that their strikers are now 2 on 2 with our centre backs. I like our 2 central defenders, but they've proven themselves susceptible to clever movement that pulls them out of position, coupled with runs in behind.

The next problem is that our central midfield duo is now outnumbered by 3 KGHM players, so we'll be dominated in midfield.

And finally, our strike force of Goncerz and Tarnowski, because he is playing as more of a striker than a midfielder, are now outnumbered by 3 centre backs. The entire central column of the pitch belongs to KGHM and if I don't act fast, they have the potential to turn this back around on us.

So I roll the dice and do something that I don't think I've ever done before. I go with a back 3. Our 2 wingers Janga and Kevin come off and are replaced by Alan Hutton and Mario Gregurina. We change to a 3-5-2 as well, but with Scheffel and Abramowicz as wing backs. Hutton slots into the defensive line with Olivier and Wilson, Gregurina takes his place alongside Bart and Hurley in a formidable looking midfield trio, and Tarnowski joins Goncerz as a second orthodox striker. I've never played a back 3 before. I'm quite excited.

With 25 minutes to go, Gregurina plays a long ball into the left channel, and Goncerz does what he does, calmly placing the ball in front of Tarnowski to set him up with a great opportunity. Tarnowski takes a touch too many though, and by the time he shoots the keeper is off his line to close down the angle and block it. Promising signs nonetheless.

5 minutes later we're still winning the battle of the 3-5-2's. We break quickly following a half-hearted KGHM attack and Tarnowski chips a cross from the right wing towards the back post. Gregurina arrives and volleys it, but the keeper saves well. The rebound falls to Goncerz though, and with the keeper still stretched out on the floor, he has the whole goal to aim at. 3-1.

We go on the counter after that and KGHM have no response. I even have the luxury of bringing on young Stryjek for a bit of game time in place of Tarnowski. We see out the game with ease.

https://youtu.be/5I4N1do0ZSk

Our second half of the league stage begins with 2 wins. A few more and we'll be flying towards the top 8 and away from the prospect of relegation. Oh, and who was watching from the stands today? Cameroon Boss Joseph Onana. We might be a player light come the next international break. Today was a good day.

Haha thanks bud, to be honest I was extremely excited about using that line And yeah I completely agree! Not a bad 2 games at all. Glad you're still enjoying it man

Tough Opposition (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep61)

I am blinded. I'm blinded by the lights, and I'm blinded by the pain. The ground is cold and unforgiving against my back. The sudden silence is broken only by the scurrying of feet across the turf towards me. This can't be the end. Not now. Not like this.

I awake in a cold sweat. My heart is hammering in my chest and my left leg is aching. I feel sick. I've not had that dream in a long time. I hate that dream. I dread it. Dragging myself out of bed, I force myself to think of something else. To think of Katowice. The aching starts to fade.

The half way point of the first stage of our season is fast approaching. 13 out of the 30 matches have been played and the final 2 games before we start playing our 2nd round of matches are against 4th placed Górnick Łęczna and 2nd placed Pogoń Szczecin, both away. I'm obviously expecting 2 tough matches, but we'll have plenty of preparation time for them as they're the only 2 matches we've got in the remainder of November.

Surprisingly, Górnik aren't in great form. They're 4th, but they recently had 3 0-1 losses in a row, followed by a 0-0 against underperforming Wisła Kraków and a 1-0 win against Jagiellonia. We aren't making many changes today, but we are absolutely dropping Project: Meatloaf in favour of our usual, less fluid 4-2-3-1. We learned the hard way last time out that this team is not currently equipped to play fluid football. We're also bringing in Gregurina to replace Bart, who's picked up 4 yellows - A one match suspension in this division.

10 minutes in, Olejarka stretches his legs and dribbles forward powerfully. He reaches the edge of our box and shoots, but the ball flies comfortably wide.

Kevin dribbles forward himself on the half hour and springs Amonike, who's got himself goal side of his marker on the right. His shot's tame though and straight into the arms of Berkovec.

It's another scrappy and even match, and nothing much has happened by the time I make my 67th minute double sub, bringing Aaron Kwarko and Michal Tarnowski on for Amonike and Grzegorz Goncerz.

5 minutes later though, Spiaczka plays a pass over the top for Grzelczak, who places it past Nowak and into the bottom corner of the net. With not much time left, we need to put our game faces on. We go attacking.

It only takes a few minutes to claw our way back into the game. Fossy receives the ball from Tarnowski and plays a great pass over the top for Kwarko. The towering winger takes the ball down and pokes it under the keeper to equalise.

With momentum on our side, we keep attacking in the hopes that we can find a deciding goal, but with 5 minutes to go, Grzelczak plays a clever pass through our defence for Dzalamidze. His low shot is tipped behind by Nowak, and I take the hint. We go on the counter and take our point.

https://youtu.be/Zx7dJPvEElM

I'll take that. Despite their poor form, Górnick Łęczna are a good side and we're hardly in a position to turn our nose up at a point against the likes of them.

As we stare down the barrel of another international interruption in which not one of our players will participate, I arrange our first transfer of the upcoming February transfer window. 17 year old Finnish Under 19 International Ari Tuovinen will join us on a free when the window opens from Finnish amateur side PKKU. He's an interesting little player; A very aggressive and lightning fast right winger with decent levels of fitness, flair and work rate. He needs to develop the technical side of his game a lot but I reckon I can mould him into a solid winger.

I use the International break as an opportunity to keep fitness levels high and make sure we don't take our eyes off the ball. Premier League strugglers Fulham make the trip to Stadion GKS Katowice for a friendly match. We'll be facing the Cottagers without Alan Hutton though, who'll miss 2-3 weeks with a groin strain.

It's a good match to be fair. Bart drills us ahead on the stroke of half time, but 2 late goals from Aluko and Woodrow turn it around for the away side.

https://youtu.be/5vTJ77fRM00

It's not the end of the world, that. The thing that frustrates me much more than Fulham's second half turnaround is the sharp increase in medical attention that my squad requires during the build up to the Pogoń match. First, Kevin comes in with a strained neck, and will be out for 5-6 days. Then Tom Scheffel limps in dragging a dead leg, and he'll be out for 1-2 days. Mario Gregurina strolls in with a bruised jaw and is out for 3-6 days, and finally Michal Tarnowski wanders in clutching his gashed head. He's out for 1-2 days. I realise that all of these injuries could have been a lot more severe, but I do worry that a couple of the players won't be back to full fitness for the weekend.

Pogoń are 4th in the league but could actually move up to the top if they beat us by 5 goals and other results go their way. There's no doubt in my mind that they'll be tough opposition but I'd rather they didn't end the match as league leaders.

Bart comes back in after serving his suspension. He'll replace Gregurina and will play next to Hurley, with Fossy deployed behind them as a deep lying playmaker. Janga also comes in on the right wing in place of Amonike. At some point I'm hoping that someone will stake a claim to be our nailed-on starting right winger, but until that happens you can call me Lazy Susan, because I'll keep rotating.

The match is slow to start, and the first real chances comes 10 minutes before the break, when Olivier's free kick bounces off the wall and back to him. He passes to Janga, who's tripped by Sebastian Rudol on the edge of the box. We're given another free kick, which Olivier hits wide, but more importantly Rudol sees his 2nd yellow and we'll play against 10 men for the remaining 55 minutes.

Just minutes after the second half kicks off, Pogoń's day goes from bad to worse when yet another Olivier free kick is chipped into the box from the left. Gregorz Goncerz goes for the ball but is shoved by Senic. No card's shown this time but the referee points to the spot without hesitation.

Goncerz won the penalty and he steps up himself to take it. He runs up, smashes it towards the left, and the ball crashes in off the bar as the keeper dives the wrong way. We've taken the lead.

From that point on though, Pogoń seem galvanised and determined. Tuszynski leaves Wilson for dead as he sprints towards goal, only to thwack the ball wide of the near post. We go on the counter.

With 20 minutes to go, Danny Wilson makes a pig's ear of clearing the ball after Augustyn's cross, and can only get it away as far as Bargiel, who hits the ball over Nowak and into the back of the net.

We can't let this match go without picking up 3 points. We've had a penalty against a 10 man team, we can't fail to capitalise on good fortune like that. We change to an attacking 4-2-3-1, bringing off Fossy, replacing him with Kwarko, who moves onto the right wing and switches with Janga, who'll run from deep positions to link up with Goncerz.

With 10 minutes to go, Kwarko squares the ball across the edge of the box for Goncerz. The striker takes aim for the top left corner, but his shot comes back off the bar. Amonike comes on for a late cameo, but the match ends 1-1.

https://youtu.be/U6Pb64BaQm8

Through gritted teeth, I'll accept that result too. It is frustrating, don't get me wrong, to fail to get the result against 10 men, but we just need to keep pressing on. We're now at the half way point of the league stage, we're well clear of relegation, and we're close to the top 8. I'll take that.

Sorry mate, had to take another week over it, I'll be back from Monday

I'll still end up leaving it til the last minute! Cheers buddy

I'll still end up leaving it til the last minute! Cheers buddy

Taking A Winter Break (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Meta-sode 60.5)

So, what I didn't really consider at the start of the season is that a Lotto Ekstraklasa season contains a rather large (2 Month) winter break. It's taking a while to play through so there'll be no episodes next week while I get everything sorted. We'll come back strong next Monday (14th) and hopefully try to climb into the top 8 by the end of the season!

As always, thanks for your patience, thanks for your feedback and thanks so much for reading.

Cheers,

Franjo

Give Me Strength (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep60)

Andreja Prokic has left Katowice. "Who?" You may ask. Prokic was the left winger who I voiced my concern about shortly after arriving in Poland. He had a good pre season friendly where he set up 2 goals, before promptly injuring himself, and I'd be surprised if I've mentioned him since. He's gone out on loan to Icelandic Premier League side KR for the remainder of the season after telling me that he wanted first team football.

Anyway, let's talk about Piast. Piast were the other side to get promoted to the top division last season and are in front of us in the Lotto Ekstraklasa by a nose, sitting in 11th place on 16 points. We're in 12th on 15 points, so this should be a close match between 2 evenly matched sides.

I'm told that Piast's manager, Piotr Jawny, is a bit of a game player though. A bit of a shit stirrer. You know the type. And low and behold, he goes out in front of the press in the build up to our match and singles out veteran goalkeeper Nowak as GieKSa's weak link.

Now, I'll let a lot of things slide. Bragging, delusions of grandeur, even sometimes direct insults. But a lack of respect for a stalwart of the game is something that I will not stand by and watch. Piotr, you've pissed off a man that will hold a grudge at the drop of a hat, and you are going down. And Nowak will start in net. And I'm half considering doing that hilarious thing where I offer you my hand for a handshake, but then pull it back at the last second and run it through my hair instead. Prick.

Also, the only change we make is bringing Tarnowski in for Janga. The Janga plan worked last week but I want to see how Tarnowski does in that role.

An early chance goes Piast's way when Janicki's corner is nodded on by Polczak, before being glanced wide by Banasiak. 10 minutes later they're still pressing forwards. Wilson fails to clear his lines after a cross and Bart clatters recklessly into the back of Kurminowski, giving away a spot kick. Bollocks. Wieteska's penalty is pretty close to perfect, right into the bottom corner with plenty of power. Nowak, annoyingly, has no chance.

We have a chance to draw level on the half hour mark, when Amonike's cross from the byline is met by Goncerz, but he hits his shot into the side netting.

I'm very used to our matches dying off for a bit before a frantic finish, but this one just sort of... Dies. We try to control, we try to attack, we use all 3 subs, but it's a nothing match.

https://youtu.be/t7Ka50Az5jU

I said a few weeks ago that because of the congestion in the middle of the table, we could either climb or fall very quickly. As it turns out, we're falling. We're now in 12th place and my ideal finishing position (within reason) is 8th so that we're safe from relegation. But surely today's the day that we turn it around. Wisła Kraków are having an absolute shocker of a season. They we're predicted to be in or around the race for the Europa League places, but as it stands they're 15th, they've won 1 of their 12 matches and they have below half of our points tally. The only side doing worse than them are KGHM Zagłębie, who are yet to win this season.

I'm going off-menu for this one. We need to assert our dominance as the home side and as the favourites. Give me 4-2-3-1. Give me fluidity. Give me dreamies. Give me strength, we're breaking out the fucking Meatloaf.

We start off on the front foot. 20 minutes in, Hurley passes to Goncerz, who squares the ball for Fossy. He's been returned to his number 10 role today as we're trying to play a nice brand of football that a tidy player like him can often help to facilitate. Fossy's shot has power and precision, but a good diving save from Carlos keeps the scores level.

After half an hour, I've seen some warning signs, but in the 33rd minute, we collapse. Garbacik heads the ball needlessly to Mak, giving possession away. The ball goes to Llonch, who is closed down by Olivier, but also Scheffel. This leaves space for Vidémont to move into on the left. He receives the ball, at which point Olivier and Scheffel both abandon Llonch to chase him instead. Vidémont pokes the ball back through for Llonch, who side foots it past the keeper from close range.

I am incandescent with rage. Everything about our defending was wrong. I seem to remember similar teething problems after introducing Os Heróis to fluid football, but I won't accept that 3 of our back 4 forgot the very basics of defending because I gave them slightly more freedom. What a fucking shambles.

But in for a penny, in for a pound. We're going attacking but we're staying fluid. There's every chance that the rest of this match will be about us trying to break Kraków down while they cling to their precious goal, and we'll be best off doing that with fluidity. Instantly, Amonike cuts in and hits a pot shot from 25 yards, but it goes just wide of the far post.

Just before the break, Malecki's corner is curled into the 6 yard box, but Maaczynski heads the ball just over the bar.

The second half is just as frustrating as the first. Nothing interesting happens until Grzegorz Goncerz has to be brought off with a broken nose in with just under half an hour to go. Michal Tarnowski replaces him up front and Shurendo Janga comes on for Fossy.

With quarter of an hour to go, I'm sat in my seat in the dugout with my notebook open, silently fuming. In a bid to finish the game off, Popovic plays the ball behind our defence for Ondrasek, who runs through on goal and shoots, but the ball clatters back off the far post.

A minute or so later, we're finally stringing some passes together though. Tarnowski dribbles forward and feeds Janga in the area, who takes a touch, picks his spot, and buries the ball in the bottom corner. I leap out of my seat, sending my notebook flying through the air as I pump my fist. This match just got interesting.

5 minutes later, Hurley's on the ball. He spreads it onto the left for Amonike, who turns inside and chips the ball into the centre - And Michal Tarnowski's there to volley it left footed into the bottom corner. No time for fist pumping now. We fall right back. Mario Gregurina comes on for Kevin. We see the game out.

https://youtu.be/S9hrV5ZkrhQ

Well, we definitely made hard work of that, but a win is a win is a win. Tarnowski picks up the player of the match award despite only playing for 27 minutes, which should give you a good idea of the overall quality displayed by both sides. He scored one goal and set up another for fellow substitute Janga, and colour me impressed with both of them. Goncerz has yet to fully convince me that he deserves to be our undisputed striker, and I'm starting to wonder why it is that a couple of other first team regulars keep getting games too. These boys have both just done their chances of a run in the team the world of good.

Climb Or Fall (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep59)

The league table is starting to get extremely congested in the middle. We're in 9th place on 14 points, a respectable tally. We could well climb above Bruk-Bet Termalica to 4th if we win our game in hand, which would be incredible, but we're also only 2 points clear of 12th placed Cracovia, and only 4 clear of today's opponents Korona Kielce, who are in 13th. My point is that we could climb or fall very very quickly in the next few matches, and we need to rack up all the points we can.

I'll be making a few changes for the Korona game. I'm going to do something I never thought I'd do, and drop Olivier. It's nothing against him, but I want to see if there's anything to be gained by having an all-Scottish centre back pairing of Hutton and Wilson. I also bring in Fossy and Janga for Gregurina and Amonike. We're at home and we're going 4-2-3-1.

It doesn't even take Cebula 5 minutes to unlock our defence with a through ball. Klups takes the ball and places it well into the far corner and we're behind already. In the 12th minute things threaten to go from bad to worse when Klups dinks a free kick in from the left wing, but Arak's near post header comes back off the angle.

Just after the half hour mark though, we're put in our place. Klups crosses in again, this time from open play on the right wing, and Arak heads this one in. Changes must be made. I tell GieKSa to go control the tie and I tell Hurley individually to change from his deep lying quarterback role to his preferred attacking central midfield role.

As half time looms, my players start to push back. Fossy plays a direct ball to Goncerz on the edge of the area, and the brilliant bastard lobs the onrushing keeper to pull one back a couple of minutes before the break.

I encourage the lads at half time, sensing that spirit might be just enough to get a result today. It nearly pays off quickly. Fossy chips another ball to Goncerz and he shoots towards the near post, but Gostomski flings out his big gloved paw and bats the ball behind.

We go attacking, we go route one, I even throw Wilson up front as a makeshift target man towards the end, but apart from a Zubrowski shot that Nowak saves, the second half is drab and actionless.

https://youtu.be/UEBi_K6NkDo

In the spirit of not taking dropped points too hard, that was not the worst match I've seen. We were OK, but that first half hour when Korona played out of their skins killed us. Also, Goncerz was named in team of the week! His chipped goal was doing the rounds on social media too.

And also, remember in the final days of SC Angrense when I convinced Borba to pay for my National C license? I've kept it all a bit hush hush for the most part, but I just completed the course. I'm not sure if this is a good thing to announce 2 years into a Managerial career, but I finally have a professional coaching qualification!

OK, so let's pick ourselves up and go again. Bruk-Bet Termalica away promises to be a tough game. We're 11th and still only 3 points behind them in 7th, but they've won their last 4 games by a single goal and we've now picked up 1 win in out last 5 matches.

Olivier comes back in to partner Wilson at the expense of Alan Hutton, as we've picked up 4 points in the 2 games that those 2 have played together. I'm also trying something a little different going forward. Amonike plays on the right, Kevin on the left, and Janga in between them as an attacking midfielder. I'm sacrificing Fossy's playmaking role in the hopes that Janga can link up with Goncerz and get some runs in behind the defence. Goncerz seems to really like holding the ball up and playing others in, so let's lean into it.

We start off OK, but neither side is able to fashion any chances of quality. By time the first real chance comes for either team, there's only 10 minutes to play before the break. Janga has the ball, he flicks it skilfully to Kevin and sets off sprinting into the box. Kevin finds him to complete the one-two, and Janga stabs the ball home for his first GieKSa goal. As I watch him peel away towards the travelling fans, I feel something soft and warm on my shoulders. The feeling wraps itself around my torso and arms, and then my entire body: Swaddling me from head to toe. It's my Vindication Blanket. Hello, old friend.

We go on the counter attack after that, hoping that the trailing home side come out at us and leave gaps that we can exploit on the break.

5 minutes before half time, we have bodies forward following a free kick. Olivier lays the ball off for Garbacik and he rifles it in for 2-0.

Bruk-Bet come out swinging for the second half, though. Holownia swings in a perfect cross from the left wing, right in that awkward spot between defence and goalkeeper. Kiepura launches himself forwards to reach it and heads it home. I have to applaud that one, it was an all-round great goal.

About 10 minutes later, Gergel swings a corner in for Bruk-Bet. We're right on the back foot so far since the break. Putivtsev gets his head to the ball and powers a header at goal. It's going just wide until Hadascok glances it into the net. All square once more.

The game dies off once again. We bring on Kwarko and Tarnowski for Amonike and Goncerz, but can't find the winner. I'll take a draw there. It's always disappointing to lose a 2 goal lead, but both sides deserved a point in the end.

https://youtu.be/owwepPLfjps

On the other hand, that's now 1 win from 6. 6 points from a possible 18. The league table is still congested in the middle, and we could find ourselves slipping further and further down towards the relegation spots unless we start to turn some of these draws into wins. It feels like we just need that extra 10%, to finish our chances and to stop the sloppy mistakes. I feel like I'm getting to know this squad well though. I'm getting to know their character and their ability. They'll turn this around. I know they will.

Gesundheit (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep58)

Someone's knocking at the door. At my office door. It's a quiet, meek knocking, but it's clearly audible, cutting through the thick silence that hangs in the air. I stand, stride over to the doorway, and wrench the door open to see little Ben Whitfield stood on the threshold, looking up at me with wide, terrified eyes. I tower at least 3 feet above him.

"Please, Franjo", he whimpers, in his generic Southern English voice, "Please let me join GKS Katowice!"

Tears are welling in his eyes as he begs to join the tremendous GieKSa. We're on top of the league with a 100% record, while Ben's team, Zagłębie Sosnowiec, the team whose name sounds like an elaborate sneeze, have managed to be relegated 13 times this season already.

"I'm sorry", he continues as his voice cracks and the tears begin to roll down his cheeks, "I never should have passed up the chance to work with such a great team, and such a world class manager. I was wrong!"

My right hand reaches slowly down to the nunchucks attached to my waist, and I meet Whitfield's eyes. "Who do you play for again?" I purr.

Perplexed, Ben Whitfield answers "Zagłębie Sosnowiec", and with my lightning fast reflexes, I grab the nunchucks and swing them at his head, knocking it clean off. His decapitated body slumps to the floor as I turn back to my desk.

"Gesundheit." I quip, in sunglasses.

I jolt awake in bed. Shit, that was a dark one.

Shaking myself well and truly back to reality, I reassure myself that I did not actually decapitate Ben Whitfield, and that he will in fact be joining us today at the Stadion GKS Katowice as we take on Zagłębie Sosnowiec.

Contrary to my dreamtime beliefs, Zagłębie Sosnowiec have actually made a decent start to the season, sitting in 4th having won 4 and lost only 1 of their first 7 matches. Also, Ben Whitfield's been a bloody revelation, scoring 4 and assisting 2 in his first 8.

Apart from bringing Hurley in for Fossy to accommodate a 4-1-2-3 formation, I wasn't planning on making any changes from the previous game, but Alan Hutton is injured the day before the match and that forces my hand. Danny Wilson will partner Olivier today on his debut appearance.

Just over 10 minutes into the match, a Hurley corner starts a game of pinball in the Sosnowiec penalty box, and eventually it's Kevin's shot that's deflected in off a defender to open the scoring.

In the 23rd minute, Ben Whitfield, who remember has not been the slightest bit decapitated, curls a corner in towards our near post. Makengo nods it on and Mills is waiting at the far post to get a shot away, but Garbacik gets a heroic block in, sending the ball out for a corner.

If that was a warning, I missed it. Only a couple of minutes later, another Whitfield corner is headed in at the near post by Mills to equalise.

To try and take a foothold back in the match and end Sosnowiec's growing dominance, we start to retain the ball, which succeeds in the sense that nothing happens at all. For the rest of the match.

We go route one towards the end, throwing Fossy on for Gregurina to hit some good passes towards Kwarko, who comes on for Amonike, but to no avail.

https://youtu.be/wQ4DTv2BsGI

I'm fine with a draw, I think. They're a handy side. Plus, if we were to draw every game this season we'd probably survive. As long as we aren't losing, I'm happy.

Górnik Zabrze are next at their place. They're not enjoying quite as good a start as Zagłębie, or us for that matter. They're sat in 14th having lost half of their 8 league matches and won only 1. We should have these! We go unchanged.

Unfortunately, and for all my optimism, we start poorly. Just after the 10 minute mark, it's Arcon who turns in Grendel's low cross to put Górnik Zabzre ahead.

We show some spirit though and about 5 minutes later, Adrian Garbacik stabs home the equaliser after Hurley's corner is nodded down for him by Mario Gregurina.

At some point, I really need to sit down and have a good long think. I need to scratch my head and work out what it is about my management style, or system, or formation, or players, that makes it so that the 40 minutes leading up to the hour mark are so bloody uneventful.

Luckily, when something does happen just after 60 minutes have passed, it's a GieKSa goal. Bart fires the ball down the right wing for Amonike, who whips in a good cross for Goncerz, and the big man heads us back in front.

With the lead back in our possession, I swap us to a defensive 4-1-4-1, keen to kill the game again. I bring on Fossy for Kevin and sit back to actually enjoy a dull half hour of time wasting.

Within 2 minutes, Mraz lays the ball back for Matuszek, who cracks a shot against the bar. 5 minutes later, it's Mraz that's pulling the strings again. He floats a cross to the far post and Konrad Nowak heads it into the side netting. This "killing the game" thing isn't working as well as I'd hoped.

With about 15 minutes to go, Macierzynski equalises for Zabzre. My fist clenches involuntarily and my eyes narrow as I glare at nothing in particular. Throwing leads away is quickly growing tiresome.

In a considered risk, we swap to our 4-2-3-1, with Aaron Kwarko coming on in place of Bart and going to the right wing, while Amonike goes to the left and Fossy takes his place between them. It nearly pays off within 5 minutes when Goncerz's floated cross is headed just wide by Kwarko.

The last 10 minutes is tense and frustrating, but as we enter injury time we win a corner, prompting a roar of encouragement from the 300-odd travelling fans. Amonike swings the ball in, and it's cleared, but only as far as Fossy who's stood just inside the area. Everyone in the stadium holds their breath as one as Fossy lets it bounce, picks his spot, and drills it into the bottom corner.

https://youtu.be/w19NEaO6mg8

The final whistle blows. That'll do, I think as I applaud the players, listen to the cheers and songs of our fans, and let the relief wash over me. It was a close game. Very close. But just then a thought occurs to me. Maybe I've not fully adapted back to Managing an underdog yet. Maybe I've expected too much from these players at times so far. Maybe I've not savoured the wins enough. Maybe I've taken too many of our dropped points to heart. We've already picked up enough wins to give me hope that we can beat the drop, so fuck it. I'm going to savour this one. The pizza's on me tonight, lads. Dilly ding, dilly dong.

Knock On Wood (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep57)

I've got to admit, August was a bloody great month. After a shaky July start to life in Poland, we picked up 9 points from a possible 12, including a win over the Champions and the thrashing of a pretty good team. I've been awarded 3rd place in the Manager of the Month award behind Lech's Nenad Bjelic and Lechia's Waldemar Fornalik, which is excellent. Everything's coming up Franjo.

Anyway we kick off September with a visit to Wisła Płock, and having studied their start to the season, it seems that they play a very solid looking withdrawn 4-2-3-1 with defensive and wide midfielders. In most of the matches they've lost so far, their opponents lined up with a 4-2-3-1 with defensive midfielders, leaving Płock's attacker and number 10 isolated and outnumbered. This makes sense, so I'll do the same. I withdraw Hurley from the starting line up and bring Bart back in following his suspension to form a defensive midfield partnership with Mario Gregurina. Danny Wilson takes a seat on the bench.

In under 5 minutes, Reca's low cross bounces off Olivier's shin and Basca thumps the loose ball into the roof of the net.

We go on the counter after half an hour, and then on the attack after an hour, but both sides struggle to create quality chances. With 15 minutes to go, I bring on Kwarko and Hurley for Janga and Gregurina and tell the boys to be more direct. Hurley will add some good passes from deep and Kwarko will be a target to aim at further forward.

Thankfully, that does the trick. Hurley passes to Kevin, who puts a good ball into the path of Goncerz, who in turn slides the equaliser into the far bottom corner of the net.

I throw Amonike on for a cameo appearance, but the only other "decent" chance comes a couple of minutes later, when Szewczyk gets behind our defence and literally hits the corner flag with his shot. This has not been a great match.

I then get another one of those "Wow, I'm at a big club" reminders, as the International break actually disrupts our schedule. None of our players are internationals though, so we just get a 2 week rest.

Our next match is Lechia away. I had planned to bring Hurley back in and give Mandrysz another chance to impress on the right wing, but they both pick up knocks just a few days before the match. They're still lacking fitness when I pick the team, so Gregurina stays in and Amonike makes his full GieKSa debut on the right.

Just over 10 minutes in, Goncerz lays the ball off for Bart, who drives it left footed from the edge of the area and into the bottom corner of the net.

We don't get to hold the lead for long though. Only a few minutes later, Olivier fails to properly clear a Wolski cross and can only bobble the ball away as far as Gajos, who hammers it over Nowak and in.

Not uncommonly for one of our matches, everything dies down until just after the hour mark. I bring on Kwarko for Amonike, who's been quiet today. I'll put it down to the fact that he's still settling in. Not long after the sub, Gregurina chips the ball onto the left wing. Kevin rises well and nods it perfectly onto Goncerz's left foot, and he unleashes a thunderbastard of a volley - That smacks the top of the bar and balloons away.

With under 20 minutes to go, Kupisz lays the ball off for Kadlec, who lashes his low shot against the foot of the post. I decide to bring on Tarnowski to see if he can get another late goal, and Abramowicz as Garbacik has made a few mistakes today.

In the 82nd minute, the woodwork is struck once again when Takacs' free kick cracks against the bar. This time though, Kadlec is there to follow up and puts the rebound away. I feel sick.

To add insult to injury, the goal goes down as a harsh own goal for Alan Hutton. If the ball touched him, it must have grazed his shorts and it was on target anyway.

The goal only spurs my boys on though. Straight from kick off, Tarnowski plays a good ball through for Kevin - Who hits the bar. Ever get the feeling that it's not your day?

A couple of minutes later, Gajos' ball over the top is nearly converted by Kadlec, but he puts it just wide. Gajos tries again instantly though, passing it through for Makuszewski, who rolls the ball into the bottom corner. GG WP, Lechia. For fucks sake.

Look, we've been here before. This isn't new territory. "The Gods of Football blah, blah, blah". We came close a few times to scoring more, but so did Lechia. In the end, they finished their chances, and although I think we played well, we didn't finish ours. Today hurts. Luckily I know a place that serves pints of draft Wodka.

Deadline Day - Summer 2018 (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Mini-sode 56.5)

It's that bizarre time of year again. Marital aides are being removed from their drawers and taken down to football stadia with those select few fans that feel like spending their day standing behind journalists, looking half excited and half ashamed. Jim White's fucking yellow tie has been clipped onto his collar, the colour merging with his fake tan to create a nice sunset effect. It's a biannual international holiday when copious amounts of unjustified excitement is followed swiftly by disappointment, anger and reluctant acceptance.

Transfer deadline day is upon us, ladies and gentlemen.

We start off by shedding a piece of self entitled dead weight named Ryszard Baran. It's Genoa in the end that stump up £500k and a promise of 50% of his next transfer fee, trumping the previous frontrunners Bologna. He has real potential so I'm happy that we'll get a chunk of what might be a big future fee. It's just a shame that the club was already about £1.5m in the red from inherited debt, so we'll only see 25% of the cash, but it's better than nothing.

Anyway, Baran's got a bad attitude and I think we'll be better off without him. I tell him as much actually, before he leaves. Ta ra, Ryszard. Don't let the door hit you on your way out.

Our first incoming of the day is a possible replacement for Baran's position in the squad. Vladan Savanovic signs on a free transfer, well, for £8k compensation, from a small Bosnian side called Vlasenica.

Vladan is an 18 year old Bosnian midfielder. He's by no means the finished article, but he has potential. Good technique and leadership, along with great speed, balance and aggression are particular highlights.

My final incoming transfer of the window is a familiar face, but for once it's not one of my former heróis. Danny Wilson puts pen to paper after being released by Glasgow Rangers in the Summer.

I've always been a fan of Danny, ever since he came through Rangers' ranks as a youngster. In my opinion he took too big a step too quickly and paid a steep price. He's not convinced since moving back North of the border in what many saw as his last chance, but I still think he can make it. He's got everything a centre back needs: He's determined as all hell, a great leader and defender, fine on the ball, tall and physically excellent.

The one drawback to this deal is that Danny's agent insisted upon a £240k release fee for foreign clubs, but my thinking is that if he does well enough to make someone activate it, we'll have had a solid defender and we'll have made a profit.

"I'm recruiting so many Scottish warriors, it's like I'm Braveheart, isn't it Danny?" I ask enthusiastically in his first training session with the rest of the squad.

"Nae really" replies Danny Wilson, bluntly and without looking at me.

"Oh." My face drops slightly. I turn to Alan Hutton. "What do you reckon Alan, I'm a bit like Braveheart aren't I?"

"A wee bit, aye" replies Alan, who seems slightly annoyed by the question. I'll take it.

The last deal of our window is for our promising young centre back and central midfielder Arkadiusz Pluta. I turn down a potential £140k offer from Brentford, which naturally pisses Pluta right off, so after a bit of haggling, Brentford become the 2nd team of the day to sign one of our young players for £500k and 50% of the next fee.

I don't really mind. With Danny Wilson joining fellow scotsman Alan Hutton, the trusty Olivier and our regular left back Damian Garbacik, we've now got 4 players who'll do good jobs at centre back if needed, so relieving our debt a bit more for a youngster I had no intention of playing is a no brainer.

And with that, the day is done. The Sky Sports camera crews all pack up and head home from their respective stadia, the marital aides go back in the drawer, the yellow tie is unclipped and Jim White is put back in frozen carbonite where he'll remain until January.

The sun has set on deadline day, and our squad is finally complete.

Bartbeat (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep56)

Some might say "Franjo, could you leave SC Angrense alone now please?"

To those people I say that technically, Angrense released Amonike in the Summer and we've signed him on a free transfer, so I'm not exactly raiding them. Any more. They didn't want him for some reason, and I do. Welcome back, my friend.

I've been vocally unhappy with my options on the wings since I joined Katowice, hence the signing of Kevin and the loan signings of Kwarko and Janga, but I see Kevin as a left inside forward, Kwarko as more of a late game destroyer substitute, and Janga as a utility squad player. I needed a first choice right winger, and hopefully, once he's back to full fitness, Amonike will be just that for me once again.

Anyway, Amonike will get a place on the bench today as we take on Legia Warszawa. Our previous opponents Lech Poznań finished 2nd last season are predicted to do the same again this year, but 3 guesses where Legia finished last season and where they're predicted to finish again? Top of the bloody pile. This should go swimmingly.

Having done my homework on Legia, I'm seeing that they usually play quite narrow in a 4-2-3-1 with 3 central attacking midfielders. I'm quite pleased with this if I'm honest, because if we can just deny them space in the centre we might be able to nullify them entirely.

We'll be going for our Project: Burnie MK II system again, which has become a standard flexible system in the past few weeks as oppose to the counter attacking system we tried to play against Jagiellonia Białystok. We'll also be playing the same line up we played against Lech. I will be making a couple of crucial tweaks for this match though, considering Legia's play style. We'll be fairly narrow, restricting space in the middle, and we'll exploit the flanks where they're weakest.

The game starts with lightning pace. First Chukwu plays a good ball through for Costinha, whose low, central shot is saved by Nowak, then at the other end Goncerz plays a similar ball through for Hurley, ans his considerably better shot has to be tipped behind by Majecki.

Then in the 6th minute, Jedrzejczyk's cross into our box is headed clear by Alan Hutton. Janga gets to the ball on the right and plays it down the line for Goncerz, who surges forward as reinforcements arrive to his left. He dribbles forward and skips over a dangerous and malicious challenge from Hlousek, before swinging a cross to the far post. The ball hurtles towards Kevin, who decides not to go for goal, and instead uses his head to cushion the ball down for Bart, who lashes it on the half volley - Into the back of the fucking net.

I keep my poker face once again, as I don't want to celebrate now and look daft in 10 minutes when we're 1-4 down, but inside my heart is hammering and I'm fighting a losing battle trying to hold back the massive grin that's appearing on my face.

A couple of minutes later, Scheffel swings a cross in from deep on the right and it falls perfectly for Hurley at the far post. He pokes a volley at goal, but it doesn't have much power and Majecki keeps the ball out.

It all goes pleasingly quiet after that and we are indeed nullifying Legia, until 10 minutes before half time when Szymanski's drilled cross is turned towards goal by Chukwu, but he hits the near post.

Before half time, Goncerz, who I'm beginning to think likes setting up chances way, way more than he likes scoring goals, plays the ball to Hurley, who drives forward to the edge of the area and shoots, but Majecki catches it with a degree of comfort.

Half time comes and goes, and as we pass the hour mark, not much else has happened. I stand up and catch Amonike's eye. "Warm up mate", I smile. We'll bring him on for young Janga on the right. Except we won't. Because before the ball goes out of play, before our substitution can occur, our goal scorer Bart, the beating heart of GKS Katowice, or Katowice's Bartbeat if you will, trips Hämäläinen from behind. He was already booked in the first half and receives his second yellow for the trip. We're down to 10 men.

I scramble, telling Amonike to sit back down and gesturing instead to Fossy and Machalski. Our central midfield duo come on replacing Janga and Kevin, the 2 wingers, and we'll change to a flat 4-1-3-1 to make us as solid as possible. I also get the message out to go even narrower.

With quarter of an hour to go, we're more than holding on. We're pushing for a second! Goncerz again plays hurley through, but the midfielder's shot is just wide. There's a real partnership developing between these 2, I just wish Hurley would put a couple of these chances away.

We enter the final 10 minutes still relatively untroubled by Legia. With 8 minutes to go, Hurley plays a lofted ball forward and Goncerz takes it down and turns well. He tries to chip the ball towards the far top corner, but it goes just over the bar.

I don't think I'll forget today in a hurry. I love a good giant killing. The exhilaration when the ball hits the back of the net, the relief of the full time whistle. We're really onto something now. This is starting to feel a little less Höllviken and a little more Angrense. Today was a very good day. The final score: Predicted title winners Legia Warszawa - 0, The 10 men of predicted cannon fodder GKS Katowice - 1.

https://youtu.be/GTnzhOU4WU0

And do you know what? I won't forget Bart's contribution today, nor will I begrudge him that second yellow. A journalist asks me immediately after the match if he'll need to sit out of a couple of matches to learn his lesson, and I want to tell them not to be so fucking stupid.

It's not him that makes the team of the week though, it's Olivier! Aside from his off day against Lech, he's adapted really well to his new league. He's mainly been very solid, and of course, he played a big part in completely nullifying the champions.

So all we need is to keep spirits high, keep the players happy and try to build on this platfo... Oh bollocks, Baran wants to leave. So basically we've just received 2 bids: Up to £40k from Verona for our 16 year old left winger Kamil Karwot, which I reject, and up to £165k from Genoa for Ryszard Baran, our young and incredibly talented playmaker, which I also reject.

Instantly, Baran is banging on my office door, demanding he be allowed to move to Genoa. I tell him, very reasonably, that he can go if someone comes in with more money. In the next few days a bidding war erupts between Saint Etienne, Bologna, Cagliari and Bordeaux, and I allow Bologna to enter contract discussions as they bid the most: £400k and 50% of his next transfer fee. I'm not happy with this situation at all, Baran's been a little brat about it, but we'll just have to wait and see how that develops.

For now, Cracovia are my sole focus. They're an upper mid-table side and call me crazy, but I reckon if we can turn Legia over then we turn these over too. As the home side we'll return to our incredibly standard 4-2-3-1 and bring Fossy in for the suspended Bart.

Nearly a quarter of an hour in, Gregurina runs forward and sprays the ball out to Kevin on the left wing, and he crosses low to Goncerz on the edge of the box. Our selfless striker touches the ball straight on for Gregurina, who rifles the ball into the bottom corner for 1-0. What a start.

The rest of the half is cagey, not that I'm complaining. The second half begins tentatively too, and our first chance comes when Kevin chips the ball over the Cracovia defence and into the path of Goncerz. Goncerz dribbles out to the left hand side of the area before skimming a low cross into the centre, which Fossy converts from close range.

We're 2 to the good! Against a pretty good team! I'm over the fucking moon! I consider belly bouncing Dennis, but think better of it.

10 minutes later, Kwarko and Amonike are on for Janga and Kevin, and we're still playing the best football I've seen us play. An excellent passing move on the right hand side culminates with Fossy sending in a low cross from the right. A quick game of pinball begins as Osyra deflects the ball with his outstretched foot, sending it towards Goncerz, who's only a few feet away from goal. Before it can reach him though, Kotula slides in with a perfect tackle but only succeeds in knocking the ball away as far as big Aaron Kwarko, who stabs in his first Katowice goal just minutes after coming on.

3-0! Bloody 3-0! We're cruising! This is absolutely not what I expected from Cracovia. I expected them to take 1 point at the very least, but they're rudderless. They're helplessly throwing sandbags in front of their doors as the tidal wave of our fantastic football crashes into them. The gentlemanly thing to do would be to kill the game and take our 3 points without trying to humiliate Cracovia, but as far as I know gentlemanly conduct has never saved anyone from relegation, so we press on.

With a quarter of an hour to go, Fossy hits a hopeful ball forward from deep in our half. It falls to one of Cracovia's centre backs, Kornel Osyra, but it falls awkwardly and he miscontrols it, knocking it backwards towards his own net. Goncerz runs through and collects the loose ball, takes aim, and smashes it against the bar. It bounces back and into the grateful arms of Sandomierski.

I decide to bring Goncerz off and replace him with Michel Tarnowski. Tarnowski hasn't scored in 15 matches and today seems like the day to end that run, given Cracovia's capitulation.

A couple of minutes later, Scheffel's cross is cleared as far as Garbacik on the half way line. The left back thumps the ball straight back into the box, and as the defence snoozes Tarnowski acts quickly, losing his marker and nodding the ball over the onrushing keeper and into the net.

With a couple of minutes of the match to play, Cracovia's Ferraresso attempts to justify his side's decimation by getting himself sent off. "10 man Cracovia hammered 4-0" makes for a slightly less embarassing headline I suppose.

https://youtu.be/xAssnmnT49k

I don't think that I've had a more satisfying victory in my short career. We were immense. Everything we did came off for us. Fossy, Tarnowski and Gregurina all got off the mark for the season and Kwarko got off the mark for Katowice full stop. What a bloody day.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to tilt my head back and pinch my nose to prepare for the inevitable nosebleed. We're sat in 4th place in the Lotto Ekstraklasa.

Bollocks, I think you're right. Clearly I need to brush up on my LOTR

GieKSik (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep55)

...NOW. And do you know why we're starting now? Because we're playing KGHM Zagłębie at home. They lost their first match too, 2-0 against Wisła Kraków, so they're only 1 place above us in 15th. I know that league places are meaningless at this point but it's still a bit of a confidence booster.

As I walk towards Stadion GKS Katowice's home changing room, I get my instructions for the players ready in my mind. We'll play an incredibly standard and flexible 4-2-3-1 and we'll work the ball into the box. That's all. No messing about.

As I turn the corner though, I see something that sends shockwaves of pure terror through my entire body. Walking towards me is a man. A huge, horrifying man, with skin as white as snow and lifeless eyes as wide as saucers. His jet black hair is slicked back and his mouth is wide open, the corners curled into an unsettling smile.

"Powodzenia", says the scary man in a gruff, muffled voice. His lips don't even move.

"Are you a vampire?" I ask quietly, as he really looks like a fucking vampire.

"I am GieKSik", he replies, somewhat more chirpily but still muffled. He continues walking towards me until he's very very close, and then stops, holding up his massive hand for a high 5. I don't move. I stay perfectly still. He seems to get the message after a few seconds and I sense a touch of sarcasm in his gruff voice as he says "Well we could talk until the cows freeze over, but I have to go." As he skirts around me he drops a business card into my suit jacket's right pocket, before striding around the corner that I've just come from and out of sight.

Once I'm sure that the obvious vampire's gone, I take out the business card and have a look. It reads:

"GieKSik

Maskotka GKS Katowice"

He's a mascot. Of course he's a bloody mascot. And of course I already knew that. And of course I wasn't really scared.

Anyway, there's a link to GieKSik's Facebook page on the card too, because obviously. I make a mental note not to have a look later because I'd like to sleep tonight.

I walk into the changing room as the lads are chatting amongst themselves and announce in my boomiest voice "Right lads, thank you." The room falls silent.

"Are you OK boss?" Asks Dennis Lawrence, a look of concern on his face.

"Fine thank you Dennis", I reply.

"You're all white, you look like you've seen a ghost".

"No I don't. Right then."

"Can anyone smell piss?"

"RIGHT THEN, KGHM Zagłębie", I boom, feeling the colour flood back to my cheeks.

The team that I name for this match is the same as the team that faced Jagiellonia, with the exception of Fossy replacing Rodrigo Silva and playing behind the striker. After relaying my minimal instructions and making my way to the dugout, the match begins. And it's not a good one. The only first half action is an early shot from KGHM's Vasilef which flies high and wide, followed by a quick game of pinball in their box which we're unable to capitalise on.

The second half is no better, but as the match begins to wind down, I realise that I'm OK with it. Our first point on the board is not a thing to be sniffed at in our position. We might even move out of 16th place.

With 15 minutes to go, Bart finds himself with the ball in KGHM's half and plays it out to Kevin, who's cutting in from the left. He takes a touch, looks up, and drives the ball low into the far corner of the net.

Kevin is mobbed by his teammates, in particular his fellow former Heróis Hurley and Olivier, but he wriggles free and runs over to me in the dugout and I give him a high 5, as our resident scary bastard, GieKSik, watches on enviously in the background.

A couple of minutes later, Bart nearly makes it 2-0 when Goncerz lays the ball off for him, but his fizzing shot across the ground is just wide of the post.

https://youtu.be/MoIo5BS6OWE

Thank fuck for you, Kevin. I know that one swallow doesn't make a Summer, but that goal gives us a bit of vital breathing room. From being mid-meltdown last week, we've now scored the first goal of my tenure, kept our first clean sheet, picked up our first points and our first win, and that is not bad for a day's work.

So let's keep this momentum going... Against the team that finished 2nd in the Lotto Ekstraklasa last season... And are predicted to do so again... Well let's at least try. Lech Posnań have so far won 1 and lost 1 but as they're favourites to beat us in the same way that the Death Star was the favourite to beat Alderaan, we'll be playing a cautiously standard and flexible variation of Project: Burnie MK II, with Gregurina coming into the team in place of Fossy as a holding man, and Janga replacing Mandrysz on the right wing.

Less than 10 minutes in, Jevtic stings Nowak's hands with a low drive, but the veteran keeper can only parry it as far as Jozwiak, who thankfully smacks the ball into the side netting.

A few minutes later Lech are dominating, and Mbemba plays a good long ball forward to Galán, who dribbles into our area - And is tripped by Olivier. My heart sinks. The referee puts his whistle to his lips and runs over, pointing to the spot.

Jevtic stands at the edge of the area as the ref blows his whistle again, and the attacking midfielder runs forward to hit the ball from the penalty spot. He places the ball low to the left - And Nowak goes with it, tipping it behind for a corner, the beautiful bastard.

Before the 20 minute mark, just as things are starting to turn our way, Olivier under hits a back-pass to Nowak. Hutton tries to get to the loose ball before Galán, but he's not the quickest off the mark. Galán gets to it first and smashes it past our helpless keeper. Oh Olivier. Poor, sweet Olivier. Today is not your day, my friend.

Lech's pressure does not let up. A couple of minutes after the opening goal, Mbemba dribbles forward and hits a hopeful shot well wide, and a few minutes after that, Jevtic's free kick is shoved away by Nowak and Galán rifles the rebound against the post.

At half time, I tell Janga to position himself more centrally as he and Goncerz have been quiet so far, and I'm hoping having Janga as more of a secondary striker will bring both players into the game.

We start to drag ourselves back into the game after the break, and 10 minutes into the second half, Scheffel hits a good pass over the Lech defence and Goncerz runs through on goal, slotting the equaliser past Lis, the Lech keeper.

Spirits are high after that, but only temporarily. On the hour mark, Radut swings a free kick in from the left, Jach gets up above poor Olivier and directs what I would describe as a "Bobbling header" towards goal. It is utterly without pace, and Nowak should save it really, but he doesn't. 1-2. I suppose the penalty save balances out that horrendous mistake though, so I'll let him off.

5 minutes later, Baran and Fossy come on for Gregurina and Janga and we change to a fluid counter attacking system to try to catch Lech out again. It nearly pays off immediately when Hurley runs the ball into the box, but he puts his shot just over the bar.

With 10 minutes to go, Majewski swings a Lech corner to the near post. Galán nods it on, and their debutant centre back Valente is unmarked at the far post to head past Nowak. We go attacking, but the game's over.

https://youtu.be/U5poMwODbOk

You know what? Fine. I'll take that. On another day, Olivier is his usual solid self and doesn't give away a penalty, under hit his backpass, or get beaten in the air for their second. On another day we keep our focus from that late set piece and mark Valente. We were no doubt beaten by the better side, and I have no problem with that, but on another day we might have scraped a draw. I can live with that result though. And I can live with 13th place too.

Although there is one thing that's troubling me. Something that's been eating away at me for the last week, actually.

Why does GieKSik need business cards?

It was Minas Tirith too wasn't it? Look to the East and all that?

Anyway, that saviour could be here in today's episode. Except he looks less like a wizard and much more like a vampire

Going Dutch (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep54)

Well, our first match was a bit of a downer, I won't lie. But what better way is there to raise spirits back up than with a couple of brand new exciting loan signings from big clubs? I have taken roughly 100 wingers on trial this Summer (I'm not even kidding) as we did still need reinforcements there, and to be honest, aside from Whitfield who we missed out on, the quality of the available players hasn't been great, but we've signed 2 pretty promising young Dutch lads to bolster our ranks.

First to arrive is Vitesse's Aaron Kwarko. I signed him for a few reasons, but mainly because he's a... I don't know if there's a term for what he is, so I'm going to call him an Anti-Winger. Wingers are traditionally small and nippy, and burst past defenders purely through pace. Anti-Wingers are tall and strong, but still quick. They bully defenders and surge past them with power, and will be useful in a physical league like the Lotto Ekstraklasa. Kwarko is an excellent example of an Anti-Winger as he's 6'5", has good acceleration, speed and strength, as well as technique and crossing ability. He's only 19 but he can be a different option to what we already have, and he's also perfectly comfortable on either wing.

Our other signing is Feyenoord's Shurendo Janga. He's also a big lad at 6'2" but prefers to play through the middle as a striker or attacking midfielder, although he's also comfortable on either wing. At 20 he's another young man and he has a good touch, good technique, and he's quick, agile, skilful and strong. He's got the makings of a very good player there.

Our next match is a Polish FA Cup match away at our First Division neighbours Rozwój Katowice. Today is a very good chance for us to pick up our first win, and it's also a good chance to see what the rest of my squad can do. I'll try my second string with Project: Meatloaf and see how they do.

Azevedo makes his debut in net, with Geng, Pluta, Abramowicz and Franczak in defence. Silva and Fossy start as our midfield duo, and Janga and Kwarko make their debuts either side of Baran, with Tarnowski up front.

My new signings are almost vindicated in the 12th minute when Janga drills the ball into the box low from the right. Kwarko collects it in the centre but drags his shot just wide of the mark.

On the 20 minute mark, the ball's up the other end. Sobotka blasts a free kick from just outside our box, and it flies over the wall, past Délcio Azevedo and into the net. Bollocks.

At half time, I pace up and down in front of my team as they stare blankly back at me. I don't know what words to use. And even if I did, I don't know how to say them in Polish. I feel like this Country, this League, and this club are showing early signs of rejecting me like a transplanted kidney. The most frustrating part is that I've brought this on myself, playing the kids and reserves instead of the first team was a mistake. I should've known that.

I stop my pacing and turn to face the poor rabble, glaring at each of them in turn. I decide that the best course of action is to just open my mouth and let words happen.

"Bollocks! I'm a fucking kidney..." I blurt out. I feel myself go bright red. Did they understand that? A couple are smirking. This is awful. I lower my head into my hands. "Just... Just don't... Just win!" I sigh in desperation, before walking shamefully out of the door and away from the room full of confused and demotivated footballers.

Shockingly, those footballers come out swinging for the 2nd half. Less than 2 minutes after the restart, Tarnowski plays the ball into the box for Kwarko, who places it first time past Slowik and into the net. What's not shocking though is that the linesman's flag was already up and we're still 1-0 down. And in deep trouble.

On the hour, I decide to just stick to the original plan. I may as well give a couple more kids some game time. Kamil Karwot, a 16 year old left winger, and Mariusz Stryjek, the 17 year old striker who scored for us in pre season, replace Baran and Tarnowski.

But to be honest not a lot happens in the remaining half hour. Azevedo makes a good save from Zak, I beg the team to attack and even bring on Wilk as a makeshift second striker in place of one of our centre backs, but to no avail.

https://youtu.be/BsF2_TS_nWQ

Listen, I know I fucked up by not playing my first team. I know I fucked up again by trying to solve the problem by bringing more youth players into the equation. But these are the stupid decisions that get made when you're panicking, and I am absolutely panicking. This is feeling more like Höllviken with each passing day. I feel like I've turned up to the battle of Minas Tirith on the back of a 3 legged Shetland pony equipped with a pea shooter I got free with a copy of the Beano. And no peas.

But no more. No more will I let fear rule my decisions. No longer will I listen to Nuno's voice saying "You fail, Inglês! You fail, Inglês!" as I fall asleep at night. Katowice will not become another black mark on my CV next to Höllviken. We've had a bad start, but we've punched above our weight before in Portugal and we'll bloody well do it again here. Starting...