WT_Franjo - Comments

Optimism (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep53)

Let me level with you. I'm worried. Very worried. There have been times this Summer when I've questioned my decision to join Katowice. Off the back of a hugely successful season with SC Angrense, maybe it would've been more sensible to take a job in the Slovenian or Czech 2nd tier. I could've taken over at one of the big hitting clubs in a division like that and maybe continued to build up my reputation with another promotion. Instead I took the biggest job I could find, and possibly the most difficult one too.

There's every chance that this squad won't cut the mustard in the Lotto Ekstraklasa and that I'll be back on my arse in 6 months having been sacked, with GieKSa rooted to the foot of the table.

I'll be back where I was 18 months ago, trying to convince anyone who'll listen to take a punt on a Manager who's effectively relegated 2 clubs.

But enough of that. Optimism is the way forward now. We line up against Jagiellonia in our new look Project: Burnie MK II, a simple counter attacking 4-1-2-3 system. Vice-captain Nowak will start in goal, with Scheffel, Hutton, Olivier and Garbacik in front of him. I'm giving Rodrigo Silva a chance in front of the defence too. It's a risk, but his potential is excellent and I want to see if he's ready. Bart and Hurley are our midfield partnership, Mandrysz will take the right wing while Kevin cuts in from the left, and Captain Goncerz leads the line.

We start on the front foot, and Goncerz shows a glimpse that he can fashion chances, holding the ball up well and playing it through for Hurley, whose shot is straight at Stachowiak, the Jagiellonia keeper.

The rest of the half is quiet but we start the second 45 promisingly too. Mandrysz plays a long ball over the Jagiellonia defence almost straight from kick off and Goncerz latches onto it, but he drags his shot wide of the far post.

Less than 10 minutes later, the deadlock is found. And not in the way that I'd hoped. Khomchenovskyi squares the ball from the left side of our penalty box and Jelic drills it past Nowak from close range.

5 minutes later, Khomchenovskyi's corner is headed back to him and he crosses it in again. Cernych rises and heads the ball against the bar. I keep a poker face but this is a nightmare. The little momentum we'd built up from the chances we'd made has evaporated with the opening goal. We've gone all wobbly while Jagiellonia are growing in confidence.

2 minutes later, another Khomchenovskyi corner comes back to him and he crosses the ball back in to the far post. Gabacik swipes at the ball but can only clear it as far as Frankowski a few feet away, who puts it past Nowak for 2-0.

I tell the boys to attack and to play in a more structured way, but we're getting battered. Less than 5 minutes after the second goal, Frankowski plays the ball in to Jelic in the area and luckily for us, he skies it.

I decide to just go for it. I withdraw Silva. I feel quite bad that I started him today in such a big game, I shouldn't have put so much pressure on him. We go 4-2-3-1 and I bring on Machalski, an attacking midfielder, in Silva's place.

A couple of minutes later though, Jagiellonia's Scottish full back Ziggy Gordon swings a cross in from the right and Jelic volleys in his second. The match ends 0-3.

https://youtu.be/TRUag7ZoFyY

Huh. I don't want to sound like an arse hole, but I'd sort of forgotten what this felt like. To be beaten so soundly. To be torn apart by a far superior team. If I had to guess, I'd say the last time this happened to me was the first time Angrense played Caldas.

It doesn't feel good. I was worried before the match and I'm worried now. We offered up very little in terms of attacking threat or defensive solidity and in all honesty, Jagiellonia should've beaten us by 4 or 5. Our counter attacking was minimal. Our creativity was non-existant. We need to improve massively if we're to survive this year. Or come to think of it, if I'm to survive past Christmas.

So the road to survival with GKS Katowice is indeed going to be long and gruelling. We've gotten off to the worst possible start and we're already down at the foot of the table. Let's hope we don't stay there for too long.

2018 World Cup - Russia (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Mini-sode 52.5)

Let's take a second to talk about the 2018 World Cup. I'd completely forgotten about it this Summer, what with everything else that's been going on, but it seems like it's been a pretty interesting tournament.

Italy were the biggest side not to even qualify after finishing 2nd in Group 7 of the European Qualifiers and getting knocked out of their play-off match by the Netherlands. The tie finished 4-3 on aggregate after the Netherlands turned it around with an impressive 3-0 win in the second leg.

England were the only side to qualify from the UK & Ireland, and promptly finished bottom of Group A below the Ivory Coast, Australia and host nation Russia, whose home advantage didn't save them when Australia, who had an identical record to them in the group, were automatically chosen to proceed to the knockout stages at Russia's expense.

There were some surprise faces in the Group Stage too. Uzbekistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Qatar all made it to Russia, but were all sent packing before the knockout stages began.

Without any other major surprises in the Group stage, the second round got underway. The USA, Spain, France (After extra time) and Portugal all progressed at the expense of Australia, Austria, Switzerland and our new resident nation Poland, while the 2 biggest South American nations, Brazil and Argentina, both went out against the Netherlands and Belgium respectively. Uruguay went one better than their neighbours, beating the Ivory Coast to progress to the quarter finals, but Belgium knocked them out too. Elsewhere in the quarters, Germany beat the Dutch, Spain knocked out the USA and France took a second extra time win in as many games against Portugal.

Germany got themselves past Belgium and France beat Spain to set up a tense final in Moscow, which France won on penalties despite Dimitri Payet's 92nd minute red card.

So yeah, France are World Champions for the first time in 20 years. Man United's Paul Pogba, who scored the champions' only goal in the final, also won the competition's Best Player award. Real Madrid's 2017 £87M signing Eden Hazard and Chelsea's N'Golo Kanté came 2nd and 3rd respectively.

The Best Young Player award went to Portugal's and PSG's Gonçalo Guedes, an extremely talented young man who scored 3 goals and set up another 3 in only 4 matches.

Thibaut Courtois won the Best Goalkeeper award despite his Belgium side conceding 11 goals in 7 games in a style that's being described globally as "Classic Martinez".

And Edinson Cavani won the Golden Boot with 4 goals, but ahead of Paul Pogba by virtue of playing fewer matches. Guedes was in 3rd place.

The Dream Team doesn't hold many surprises given everything that I've just told you, apart from the fact that Guedes is only named on the bench. But then, he had some serious competition. 6 of the 8 defence and midfield spots are made up of French players: Djibril Sidibé, Samuel Umtiti, Laurent Koscielny, Paul Pogba, N'Golo Kanté and Antoine Griezmann. Raphaël Guerreiro of Portugal and Dortmund takes the other spot in defence, while Eden Hazard is the other man named in midfield. Courtois is in net of course, and Cavani is picked up front with his chompy compatriot Luis Suárez.

So that's the 2018 World Cup then. Vive la France. I very, very nearly forgot to tell you about it but that's just what happens when you spend half your Summer on the phone to your bastard of an ex-Chairman, and the other half getting peer-pressured into drinking pints of draft Wodka in the pub below your flat.

Pre Season 2018/19 (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep52)

Do you remember Stefan Andersson? I wouldn't blame you if you didn't. Stefan was a Swedish youth player that I signed for FC Höllviken. He played pretty well at centre back considering his age (16 at the time) and I subsequently moved to make him my first signing at SC Angrense. Sadly, he never managed to break into the first team there, putting in fairly solid performances for the U19's but not really making a case for a call up to the senior squad. He was released by Os Heróis this summer and snapped up by Sporting Ideal, a PT Championship side.

Anyway, I mention Stefan because he was the only player that I managed to bring with me from Sweden to Portugal. He was the only one that wanted to step up with me and take on a fresh challenge. This time I intend to do better. I want to bring the players I know and trust along for the ride. I want to bring in my Heróis.



30/6/2018

I get the ball rolling just a couple of days after my arrival, moving quickly to bring in Angrense youth squad's best player, Rodrigo Silva. Considering the money I now have at my disposal, the holding midfielder is a snip at £2.5k and becomes my first Katowice signing.



1/7/2018

The next day I'm on the phone to Borba again. Never one to hold out for a good fee for any of his players, he snaps my hand off when I put £18k on the table for Hurley. This deal won't be tied up so quickly though: Hurley will take a few days to decide whether he wants to leave his home nation for the first time.



2/7/2018

I'm not really a patient man though, so while my main transfer target has a think, I wrap up a deal for Délcio Azevedo. He'd been released by Angrense and although Nowak will be my first choice Goalkeeper, Azevedo provides a solid and trusted alternative.



3/7/2018

My first knockback comes the day after when my £16k bid for my former side's promising striker Renato Silva is accepted, but the man himself tells me that he has no interest in relocating. I'm disappointed as we could do with a good young striker, but I wish him well all the same.



4/7/2018

Then comes the big one. I ring Borba once again and offer a whopping £75k for Cristiano Magina. And my old employer rejects it. You bastard, Miguel. You horse's arse. The only explanation I can think of is that for some reason his balls had been in the drawer of the desk in my old office all this time, and whilst rummaging around for spare change and forgotten possessions that day, he'd stumbled across and reattached them. This isn't over.

But it is for now while I focus on our first pre season friendly against Frydek-Mistek, a Czech second division side. My inherited star striker Grzegorz Goncerz goes all out to prove that we don't need CM9 and has an insane match, scoring 4 goals including a penalty, missing another penalty and getting injured. Food for thought there at least.

https://youtu.be/_VIiALzYiqw



6/7/2018

But anyway, if I'm gutting my beloved Angrense's squad I may as well do it properly. An £18k bid for Kevin is lodged and accepted as we desperately need quality on the wings. Like Hurley, he'll think about it. This isn't going very well, is it.



7/7/2018

On the 7th comes our second pre-season friendly against Hungarian Division III side BKV Elöre. Goncerz sits the game out after his knock against Frydek-Mistek but we still come out with the win with goals from battling midfielder Mario Gregurina and 17 year old 6'4" striker Mariusz Stryjek. Left winger Andreja Prokic shows some promise by providing the assists for both goals, before promptly getting injured for 2 months with shin splints.

https://youtu.be/i0vKEfsZ6Gc

Oh, but who's this waiting at our training facility when we return from Hungary? It's free agent Olivier, recently released by Angrense and here to run lovingly back into my arms. We desperately need central defenders and I can't think of anyone that I'd rather bring in to fill one of those roles.



8/7/2017

The day after the first friendly is a big day. 2 big blows land with the news that firstly, Cristiano Magina does not want to join Katowice following my improved £90k offer, but then Renato Silva gets his wish of staying in Portugal by joining Nacional da Madeira for a fee rising to just under £17k.

I also get knocked back after a monumental £425k bid for Everton's versatile and transfer listed forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin is accepted. I'm willing to offer a lot in an attempt to convince him to join us, but in the end he takes the biscuit. As glad as I would've been to bring in someone of his quality, versatility and potential, I'm not paying him 3 or 4 times as much as anyone else in the squad.

So you might be thinking that the 7th of July 2018 has been a bad day for us... But has it?

Gonçalo Reyes is in the building, ladies and gentlemen.

#WitamyHurley



9/7/2018

Another blow today. My £22k bid for the new Elano, Jeferson Paulista, is accepted but the Brazilian knocks me back, saying that he's only been with Angrense for a few months and doesn't want to move straight on.



10/7/2018

Another friendly arrives and we take on another Czech second division side, Olomouc - Holice. Worryingly, it's quite an even game, but Goncerz is back in the side to grab us a draw.

https://youtu.be/NXzkynWwITY



13/7/2018

DCL has moved, but not to us. Barnsley have picked up a fine player there, but in the end it's probably a good thing I didn't blow the whole budget on him isn't it.

Our fourth friendly pits us against Odra Opole, a Polish second division side, in our 4th consecutive away friendly match. This time, young secondary striker Michael Tarnowski gets the only goal and secures the win.

https://youtu.be/N0bCcXE0g-4



14/7/2018

The good news is that Kevin has arrived! Perhaps swayed by Hurley, Olivier, Rodrigo and Délcio, perhaps not, but my God it's good to have him. Our front line suddenly looks a lot, lot better.

The bad news is that Kevin's arrival has prompted an uncomfortable line of questioning from our Chairman Wojciech Cygan, who hired me under a couple of assumptions: That I would save GieKSa from relegation, that I would keep our Director of Football, Dariusz Motala, in place, and that I would sign high profile players. So far I've only signed 5 players from a former Portuguese Championship side, so he's not best pleased.

We need a ringer. We need a big name. A superstar that'll sell shirts and set Polish tongues wagging. It's safe to assume that we don't have the pulling power or financial backing to attract a World Class name like Messi, Ronaldo or Neymar, so who's on the next level down? The just-about-World-Class players like Aguero and Kane are out of reach too. So are the incredibly good players. And the really good players. And the fairly good players. And the pretty decent players.

Oh shit, who can we actually attract?



16/7/2018

If there's one thing that I've always said about Alan Hutton, it's that he's a real class act. A hard working, no nonsense, old fashioned defender. And that's what we really need isn't it. In many ways, I think I'd turn down the opportunity to sign one of these up-their-own-arse mercenaries like Sissoko or Lukaku. I'd say: "No way Romelu, I need someone who's willing to rip out his own heart and throw it in front of the ball to save us a goal if he needs to. I need a professional. A solid, dependable Glaswegian who'll lead by example and kick seven bells out of far more skilful players in order to scrape us a point."

So yes, I've brought in the man known in some circles as "The Scottish Tony Hibbert". And the good news is that the signing of a former Tottenham and Aston Villa stalwart has appeased Wojciech's thirst for star power.

The bad news is that at 33 years old and at a price of £43k, Wojciech doesn't seem to see value for money in the Hutton deal. There's no pleasing some people is there?

Our final friendly is the only one that I actually arranged and it's going to be great. My first time overseeing a match in our home stadium, Bukowa, and we're taking on David Moyes' Premier League Sunderland side. Overall, I come away extremely pleased. In what turns out to be a very even match, Victor Anichebe opens the scoring on the hour, but Goncerz gets the decisive equaliser 7 minutes from time.

https://youtu.be/QQxqVaiGHPw



17/7/2018

Fresh from what I am adamant is a massive success for the club, I lodge a loan bid with Bournemouth for Ben Whitfield, a skilful, nippy and versatile young winger that's spent pre-season on trial with us and impressed.



19/7/2018

While we wait for Ben to decide whether he wants to join us, I go out and bring in another familiar face to our U18's backroom staff. Maybe my decision is partly driven by sentiment, but a lifelong hero of mine, Leon Osman, has a great deal of potential as a youth coach so I bring him in.



21/7/2018

Ben Whitfield is flying to Poland! To join Zagłebie Sosnowiec, our local rivals with whom we share a stadium. He'll regret that when we come up against Zagłebie and Alan Hutton starts breaking ankles.

Behind the scenes, I've also completely revamped Katowice's backroom team, bringing in about double the staff we had and more importantly, bringing in more quality.

I'm not done on the transfer front, although we're almost out of funds. We've got our trusty backup Goalie, we've got both of our centre backs (If Hutton can hold his own there against Sunderland he should be fine in the Lotto Ekstraklasa), we've got Hurley, who can provide the passes while Bart does the midfield dirty work, and we've got Kevin in on the left wing. So we only really need another winger and a backup striker. I'm lining up a couple of loan signings to provide the finishing touches, but they'll have to wait. It's time to start our League Campaign, and we begin our Season against Jagiellonia, who qualified for the Europa League last Season.

Here we go, GieKSa.

Lotto Ekstraklasa 101 (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Mini-sode 51.5)

You've met my new assistant. You've met our new club. You've met our new squad. Now meet the teams that form our new League, the Polish 1st tier, Lotto Ekstraklasa (LE).



Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza

From: Nieciecza

Ground: Nieciecza

Last Season: 14th in LE

Predicted: 11th

Rivals in Lotto Ekstraklasa: N/A



Cracovia

From: Krakow

Ground: Cracovia Stadium

Last Season: 5th in LE

Predicted: 7th

Rivals in Lotto Ekstraklasa: Wisła Kraków (Fierce, Local), Legia (Historic)



GKS Katowice (Us):

From: Katowice

Ground: Bukowa

Last Season: 2nd in First Division, Promoted

Predicted: 16th

Rivals in Lotto Ekstraklasa: Wisła Krakow, Legia, Zagłębie Sosnowiec (Local)



Górnik Łęczna

From: Lublin

Ground: Arena Lublin

Last Season: 9th in LE

Predicted: 10th

Rivals in Lotto Ekstraklasa: N/A



Górnik Zabrze

From: Zabrze

Ground: Ernesta Pohla

Last Season: 11th in LE

Predicted: 15th

Rivals in Lotto Ekstraklasa: Legia (Fierce), Piast



Jagiellonia Białystok

From: Białystok

Ground: Białystok City Stadium

Last Season: 3rd in LE

Predicted: 4th

Rivals in Lotto Ekstraklasa: Legia (Historic)



KGHM Zagłębie Lubin

From: Lubin

Ground: Stadion Zagłebia

Last Season: 10th in LE

Predicted: 8th

Rivals in Lotto Ekstraklasa: N/A



Korona Kielce

From: Kielce

Ground: Kolporter Arena

Last Season: 13th in LE

Predicted: 13th

Rivals in Lotto Ekstraklasa: Wisła Kraków (Competitive), Legia (Historic)



Lech Poznań

From: Poznań

Ground: Inea

Last Season: 2nd in LE

Predicted: 2nd

Rivals in Lotto Ekstraklasa: Legia (Fierce, Historic), Pogoń (Historic), Lechia (Historic), Wisła Kraków (Historic)



Lechia Gdańsk

From: Gdańsk

Ground: Energa Gdańsk

Last Season: 4th in LE

Predicted: 3rd

Rivals in Lotto Ekstraklasa: N/A



Legia Warszawa

From: Warszawa

Ground: Józef Piłudski City Stadium

Last Season: 1st in LE

Predicted: 1st

Rivals in Lotto Ekstraklasa: Lech (Historic), Wisła Kraków (Historic)



Piast Gliwice

From: Gliwice

Ground: Stadion Piast

Last Season: 1st in First Division, Promoted

Predicted: 12th

Rivals in Lotto Ekstraklasa: Górnik Zabrze (Local), GKS Katowice (Local)



Pogoń Szczecin

From: Szczecin

Ground: Floriana Krygiera

Last Season: 8th in LE

Predicted: 5th

Rivals in Lotto Ekstraklasa: Cracovia, Lech, Zagłębie Sosnowiec



Wisła Kraków

From: Krakow

Ground: Henryk Reyman City Stadium

Last Season: 6th in LE

Predicted: 6th

Rivals in Lotto Ekstraklasa: Cracovia (Local), Legia (Competitive)



Wisła Płock

From: Płock

Ground: Kazimierza Gorskiego

Last Season: 7th in LE

Predicted: 9th

Rivals in Lotto Ekstraklasa: Legia (Local)



Zagłębie Sosnowiec

From: Katowice

Ground: Bukowa

Last Season: 12th in LE

Predicted: 14th

Rivals in Lotto Ekstraklasa: Pogoń (Fierce), GKS Katowice (Fierce, Local), Górnik Zabrze (Fierce, Local), Cracovia (Fierce), Lech (Fierce), Wisła Kraków (Fierce), Piast (Fierce, Local)

The League rules are not all that different to what we've become used to in the PT Championship, although for the first time our squad is restricted to no more than 2 non-EU players in the starting lineup. That shouldn't be a problem though as we don't currently have any players from outside Europe.

Anyway, there are 16 teams in the Lotto Ekstraklasa who play each other twice, which is 30 matches. The top 8 teams qualify for the Championship Group and the bottom 8 go into the Relegation Group. Seem familiar?

In both the Championship and Relegation Groups, all teams start with all of their stats from the first Stage, like goal difference, goals scored, conceded etc. All teams also start with 50% of the points they've accrued. Apart from that it's very simple: The bottom 2 teams in the Relegation Group are relegated, the top side in the Championship Group qualifies for the Champions League and the next 2 sides qualify for the Europa League.

So that's all you need to know about the Lotto Ekstraklasa. It's a big step up and avoiding relegation will be massive ask, but with the right additions anything can happen... Right?

A New Challenge (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep51)

It seems like an age since I left the Angrense training ground, and it feels good to tie up the laces on my boots and get my feet back on soft grass. Today, as I watch my new club's first training session alongside my newly appointed assistant Dennis Lawrence, the excitement and optimism that comes with a new challenge is steadily building.

Without further ado, allow me to introduce you to GKS Katowice.

Górnicky Klub Sportowy (Miners Sporting Club) Katowice are a 54 year old club also known as GieKSa. We're based unsurprisingly in Katowice, a city in the South West of Poland. We've not won a trophy since 2006, a record that would be nice to break, but the more pressing matter this season will be survival. After scraping promotion thanks to a goal difference 2 higher than 3rd place Wisła Puławy, we're now comfortable favourites to drop straight back down.

As I did when I arrived in Hero Creek, I've chosen a preliminary starting XI so that I can see what we have and where we need to improve. Here's our team as it stands:

Goalkeeper - No. 82 - Sebastian Nowak

Sebastian is currently our best option in net, but it remains to be seen how long that perception lasts. He's 36 years old and could decline pretty quickly. He might already be declining, I'm not too sure, but I'll be keeping a close eye on him. Still, he's 6'6", solid, determined, and a good leader. He is predictably quite slow though.

Right Back - No. 2 - Tom Scheffel

Tom is seen by many as one of the best players in my new side. He's German, he's incredibly rounded and determined, difficult to get past at 6'2" and he's got plenty of time to develop at 23 years old. I have high hopes.

Centre Back - No. 5 - Damian Garbacik

Damian is probably our best centre back currently, and that's not so much a compliment on his ability as it is an inditement on our lack of natural centre backs. I intend to play him as he's a very good player, but I'd rather play him as a defensive left full back. Anyway, he's strong, good in the air, another sizeable defender at 6'1", and another with plenty of development to do at just 22 years old.

Centre Back - No. 3 - Dawid Abramowicz

As I said, we're short on natural centre backs. Dawid looks like he will provide very solid cover at both full back positions. He's in his prime at 27, another tall drink of water at 6'1", and he's a long throw specialist which is interesting. Oh yes, and he's well rounded. Have I ever mentioned that I like that in a player?

Left Back - No. 12 - Stjepan Geng

Stjepan is most likely going to play second fiddle to Tom Scheffel at right back, but he's another versatile player and can play at either full back spot or in the centre of midfield. He's Croatian, a good age at 25, by far the shortest player I've mentioned so far at 5'9", but mentally he's pretty good. His decision making and leadership are particularly impressive.

Central Midfield - No. 6 - Bartlomiej Kalinkowski

There is no doubt in my mind that Bartlomiej will be the beating heart of my Katowice side. He has absolutely everything that I look for in a central midfielder. He's a great age at 23, a great height at 6'0", extremely rounded and mentally excellent. In particular he's a determined, hard working team player that reads the game well and positions himself brilliantly. My hopes are very high for this lad and I'm excited to work with him. To be perfectly honest though, I'm not exactly pumped at the prospect of writing the name Bartlomiej Kalinkowski over and over again, so say hello to Bart.

Central Midfield - No. 13 - Mario Gregurina

In Mario, we have another Croatian player and another very well rounded midfielder. He's got experience at 30 years old which will help with our fairly young team, he's 5'11", and another hard working and athletic team player. He's maybe a little bit too similar to Bart though, so he may end up providing backup to him.

Right Wing - No. 16 - Pawel Mandrysz

No offence to Pawel or either of the next 2 players, but this is where we come a bit unstuck. Pawel's certainly versatile and young enough to improve, but I just don't think he's ready for this league. He's shorter than a lot of the lads at 5'9", which is fine for a winger, and what he lacks in technical skill he makes up for in his mental and and athletic prowess. He's pretty aggressive, determined, hard working and quick, so he may still play a part.

Attacking Midfield - No. 8 - Tomasz Foszmanczyk

Tomasz is a decent playmaker, and probably my current first choice for the number 10 position, but we also have a couple of promising young players who might push for his place. The thing that will work in Tomasz's favour is his brilliant versatility. He's able to play off either wing, behind the striker, in central midfield or even in front of the back 4, so I've no doubt he'll get a fair bit of game time. He also has plenty of experience at 31, and is pretty short at 5'7". Similarly to Bart, I don't want to commit myself to writing his name too often, so I've taken the liberty of naming him Fossy.

Left Wing - No. 17 - Andreja Prokic

Prokic is another that I think may be a couple of levels behind the kind of quality we need. He's a 5'10", 29 year old Serbian and he could be a decent option on either wing. At least he's built in the right mould: His determination, speed and stamina might be handy, as well as his flair.

Striker - No. 7 - Grzegorz Goncerz

If we're to make any kind of push for safety this season, Goncerz will be crucial. He's very, very similar to Cristiano Magina. A pretty good age at 31, can take care of himself at 6'1", and he's extremely rounded with great all round mental attributes and good balance and finishing.

So I think we'll all be pretty much on the same page now. We need 2 new centre backs and 2 new wingers. We absolutely need them. A good back up Goalie would be nice too in case Nowak shows signs of being past it. We're well stocked in terms of full backs and battling central midfielders but we could also do with a good backup striker. If I'm still rolling in cash after buying that lot, I may also go in for a better attacking mid, but as I say, we've got a couple of young players that could break through in that position. We have up to £1.1 Million to sort out our team, which compared to the sort of budget I'm used to makes us Multi-Billionaires.

I think I've got some work to do.

Who To Choose (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Mini-sode 50.5.5.5.5.5)

I let out a sigh as I sit in my new, extremely plush GKS Katowice Manager's office, in my new, extremely comfortable office chair. I need to think, and to think I need to move. I stand and pace across the room, glancing out of the window to see the sun setting behind the training pitch that my new office looks out upon.

After discovering that pacing isn't really helping, I sit back down at my desk, interlocking my fingers in front of my mouth. I stare down at the 6 pieces of paper laid in front of me. Shortly after arriving in Poland, I put the word out that I would be looking for a new Assistant Manager, and 6 eager applicants have thrown their names into the ring. I have no idea which one to choose. And the really interesting thing, the thing that makes me realise what a drastic step up I've made in taking this job, is that I've heard of them. I've heard of all of them. And although I respected most of them as footballers, I remain unconvinced with their non-playing prospects.

Option number 1 is everybody's favourite dreadlocked, goggle wearing Dutch maestro, Edgar Davids. Now, I had a great deal of respect for Edgar when he was playing, and I respected his decision to drop down the English ladder to try to start a Managerial career at Barnet, but... I heard things about Davids' stint down there. Things like he wouldn't attend matches that required him to spend the night in a hotel. Things like when he was Player-Manager, he (As a central midfielder) took the number 1 shirt in order to try and "Start a trend". I need to find someone who's 100% committed to being my second in command, and I need someone who doesn't arse about. Davids is out.

Could that someone be Peter Enckelman instead? A Finnish former reserve goalkeeper who most notably "played" for the likes of Aston Villa and Cardiff City? A solid pair of hands he may be, but I feel slightly uneasy about my right hand man having amassed only 150 appearances over a 20 year playing career. Where's your ambition, Peter? No, I don't think so.

Next up we have Brede Hangeland, of Fulham fame. Now here's a man who I'm fairly sure has the commitment, bravery, and brick-shithouseness required to run through walls for his employers. In another life I might've hired him, but I would like somebody with a little more experience than he currently has. Sorry Brede.

Option number 4 is Emile Heskey.

Number 5 is Paul Konchesky, the journeyman left back who represented some decent teams like Charlton and Leicester, but I'm not entirely comfortable with the idea of him either. I have no doubt that he'd try his best and if I was looking for a coach I might've given him a shot, but an assistant manager? I don't see it.

Finally, option number 6 is John Arne Riise. Another left back, and another former Fulham player. If I wanted to hire someone to play on my behalf in some sort of free-kick-off, then absolutely I'd hire him. The man had one of the most vicious left foots that I've ever seen. But an assistant manager? Again, he doesn't really have any experience to speak of and I'd like someone more qualified. It's a no for Riise.

So, I think as I place the final application on the "No" pile, Out of 6 candidates, I... I don't really want any of them. Where does that leave me? It leaves me grabbing the application forms and heading down to Radzinski's for a drink.

As I walk through the door into my new and extremely local watering hole, I see something unexpected. I see another Patron at the bar, nursing a beer. I knew that bastard Radzinski had beer. Beer man turns towards the sound of the creaking door and sees me, and I see him. And I recognise him. I'm not sure why, but I definitely recognise him.

As I sit at the bar, Radzinski appears behind it, and after a bit of an argument he begrudgingly pours me a beer. I start talking to beer man, only to find out that he's Dennis Lawrence, former Swansea player and Wigan and Everton Coach. He most recently had a poor spell as Trinidad and Tobago Manager. He's been in the country for an interview and has wound up drowning his sorrows right below my new flat. That's got to be a sign, right?

"Look", I begin, as I sway slightly on my stool, "I need an assistant. Come work for me. I need someone with your experience." Dennis delightedly accepts and I hire him on the spot. And I wasn't lying, he really does tick all the boxes for me: He's a good coach, he has experience in good quality leagues, albeit under a poor quality manager, and he has international experience as both a player and Manager. In short, he has everything that I'm missing. Plus he doesn't have that unsettling "Wildcard" characteristic that Davids and Riise do.

I ceremoniously burn the 6 application forms right there on the bar, prompting Radzinski's lip to curl with disdain once again, but it's not like this place can get any more beaten up, is it? Mind you, these sudden acts of reckless spontaneity could just be the effect that 2 pints of Polish beer has on normal unsuspecting lightweights like me.

Either way, with my number 2 in position, I think I'm ready to meet my squad.

Thanks very much mate! Looking forward to taking you on in FPL

Haha as long as one person appreciates the reference, it's worth it

No. 1, Radzinski's (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Mini-sode 50.5.5.5.5)

Night has fallen by the time my plane touches down. Thick droplets of rain hammer against the window as I attempt to make out the outside world. I can see bright lights of some kind, but they're distorted through a wall of water. I walk out of the arrivals gate at Katowice International Airport to see a line of individuals holding signs that bare names, just like in the films. I scan across them: "Dean" ... "Campbell" ... "Mendes" ... "Franjo". Ah, here we are.

Upon spotting my greeter, my first impression is that he's quite a scrawny man. Short, thin and he looks like a good gust of wind would knock him clean over. His face though heavily resembles some kind of cartoon rodent, maybe a Biker Mouse from Mars. His features are pointed and sharp, except for his ears that are large, round and protruding. One of them has 3 hooped ear rings clinging to his ample lobe. But his most distinguishing feature is a messy black goatee, flecked with strands of pure white.

As he watches me approach, his eyes narrow and his lip curls with disdain, as if I'm strutting all over his new carpet in wellies that I use exclusively to kick around animal faecal matter.

"Cześć!" I announce enthusiastically as I get nearer to the sign man. Cześć, as I understand, is 'Hello' in Polish. Never accuse me of being unadaptable. Although it is currently the only word that I've learned. Without uttering any sort of reply, sign man turns and shuffles away, dropping his sign on the floor. I quicken my step slightly to make up the ground between us, picking up the sign as I go.

We exit the airport and climb into a small black car. I squeeze into the passenger seat while sign man gets behind the wheel. He turns the key in the ignition, and with a cough and a splutter from the engine, we shudder out of the parking bay and out of the airport car park.

A good half an hour of uncomfortable silence later, we pull up outside a cosy looking hotel on a quiet road. This is the hotel in which I've arranged to stay and it looks very nice indeed. The only part of it that I don't like is the sign on the door, that google translate tells me reads "Closed For Refurbishment". Not ideal, is it.

I get back into the car and ask sign man to take me to a bar where I can take out my frustration and fatigue on some Polish beer, while I find another place to stay.

We pull up a short while later outside a small, grubby pub, with a large battered sign over the door that reads "Radzinski's". I step out of sign man's car, and as soon as the door closes, the car's engine starts up and sign man drives away around the corner, leaving me quite alone.

I make my way inside Radzinski's to find that I am still very much alone. There are no rowdy patrons. There is no bartender endlessly rubbing a glass with a cloth for no reason. The place is dark, dingy and deserted. Is every building in this City closed for fucking refurbishment or something?

But seeing as I am still alone in a new city with nowhere to go, I take a seat on one of the barstools. I then turn around to have a proper look at the rest of the establishment. There's a pool table in the corner that looks like it's had a pint or two spilled on it at some point. Lining the wall are several booths that presumably provided quite comfortable seating at some point, but now the tables are scratched up and the seats are ripped and stained. Against the far wall is a dart board, and I can tell that it's been there for a while. The black sections have faded massively, while the white sections have collected decades worth of dirt and grime, meaning that the once clear alternating pattern is now just a big greyish circular mass. The red and green bits have been similarly affected, and now form solid purpley-brown bands across across the aged board.

I sigh as I turn back around, and nearly leap out of my skin when I notice sign man standing behind the bar, rubbing a glass with a cloth for seemingly no reason, and staring straight at me.

I chuckle at how easily I startled, and exclaim "Christ, you scared me half to death!". Sign man continues to stare at me without a trace of amusement as he rubs the glass. His lip curls with disdain again. "You work here, do you?" I ask airily.

Sign man immediately reaches for one of the pumps and pours out a pint under the bar. He then plonks the glass onto the bar and pushes it towards me, but with my keen perceptive eye I realise that the contents of the pint glass don't really resemble beer at all. The liquid inside is clear and colourless, and smells like it could quite easily strip the paint from a car. I hold out a hand to refuse the drink. "No, no. Could I have a beer please mate?" I ask politely.

Sign man nods and continues to try to force the glass towards me. "Wodka." He utters. I keep my hand out on the bar, pushing back against the glass of 'wodka'.

"No, no. Could you pour me a... Wait do you keep your vodka in kegs?"

"Wodka!" He growls, somewhat more aggresively. His thick eye brows curl down into a frown as he continues to push.

I grasp the glass begrudgingly and hold it up to my mouth. I can feel the hairs in my nostrils burning away from the scent of the stuff.

"No beer?" I plead. Sign man shakes his head adamantly. "Just... Pints of draft... Wodka?" He nods solemnly.

He watches me curiously and silently as I nurse my bizarre and potentially lethal beverage. And you're bloody right I nurse it, I don't drink this stuff with mixers, let alone straight out of a pint glass. And from a keg, no less. Welcome to Poland I suppose.

I have no idea how I'm still upright by time I finish my drink. To be honest I have no idea why I felt obliged to drink it in the first place. As I eventually put the empty glass down on the bar, sign man twists his thin lips into a smile of sorts and holds out a hand. "Radzinski" he mumbles. With a small pang of embarrassment that I hadn't already figured this information out for myself, I take his hand and shake it, which as it turns out requires a surprising amount of effort and concentration.

"You can stay up there". He nods towards a staircase visible through the door behind the bar.

"I can? There's a flat up there?" I ask hopefully. Radzinski nods. I'm taken aback by the sudden offer, and I can't help but feel like I've just been weirdly initiated into something, but I immediately accept. "We do papers tomorrow" he says as he hands me the keys.

"And you speak English?" I enquire cautiously. Radzinski nods once more.

"I am very proud." He mumbles. "But, it isn't rocket surgery." I don't really have a response to that, so I just smile and nod.

I get up and walk through the door that he gestured towards, leaving Radzinski stood behind the bar, still rubbing the same glass with his cloth, and make my way up the creaky staircase. Before I reach the top, I see the room that is to Become my new lodgings. Placed in the middle of the wood is a faded brass number "1". But just as my foot hits the landing, a strange thought comes to mind and I start to walk back down. "Wait, do you not work for GKS Katowice? If you just own this place, why was it you that picked me up from the..."

As I reach the bottom of the stairs and step back through the door to the bar, Radzinski is nowhere to be seen.

Excellent

Year 2 World Roundup (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Mini-sode 50.5.5.5)

After saying my goodbyes and wishing the players well, I leave the Angrense training ground for the last time. I had called everyone together for one last kick about before I left. We didn't train, we didn't run drills or split into groups or practice anything in particular. We just played football. It was fun. I discretely took a few of them to one side and asked if they would be open to joining me in Katowice. It wasn't exactly the most ethical move but I thought I may as well ask. A few of them were open to the idea and a few of them sadly weren't. More on that later.

For now, I've got a plane to catch. I stop at the flat to pick up Meatloaf, Burnie, and my suitcases, we get into a taxi and leave for Lajes Field Airport for the final time.

Goodbye Angra do Heroismo. Goodbye Hero Creek. Goodbye Terceira. Goodbye Volcano Island.

As it turns out, the flight from Terceira to Katowice is not an easy one. It's an overnight journey, and we'll initially travel from Terceira to Lisbon, Portugal. From Lisbon, we'll fly to Warsaw, Poland. And from Warsaw, we'll zip over to Katowice, our final destination. It'll take 18 hours all told, except that it won't, will it, because what are the odds that all 3 of my flights are on time? What are the odds that 1 of them is? I fucking hate flying.

Anyway, the flight to Lisbon isn't all that bad. We arrive at 40 minutes past midnight, but now we have a 9 hour wait in the airport. Of course we do. I reach into my rucksack and pull out my laptop. We're here for the long haul, so we may as kill some time hadn't we? Let's find out what's been going on in the World of Football.

The Liga Nos title was retained by SL Benfica, but just barely. They won 79 points, which was only 2 more than rivals Sporting. Braga were a further 3 points behind, and Porto weren't even close. 4th place with 64 points. Benfica boss Rui Vitória won the Manager of the Year award, which was quite a surprise given that Arouca were predicted 13th, but crept into the Europa League places thanks to the guiding hand of Jorge Castelo, who was the runner up for the award.

There's been a plethora of great performers in the league this year, starting with Porto's André Silva, who did one better than last season and scored the most goals in the league, ahead of Braga's Hassan. Álex Grimaldo of Benfica was again one of the most consistently excellent performers, along with Thiago Maia of Sporting, and Pedrinho of Ferreira and Fejsa of Benfica bagged the most assists. SLB's Ederson retained the Best Goalkeeper award.

Speaking of retaining titles, Arsene's Arsenal have gone and done it again. They blitzed the Premier League and won 91 points, the exact same tally that they racked up last year. Again, they finished 9 points clear of Mourinho's United side and again good old Arsene took the Manager of the Year award.

Oddly though, the top performers in the league were all from Arsenal's rivals. Sergio Aguero's still got it, as evidenced by his 22 league goals. Chelsea's £69 Million 2017 Summer signing Mauro Icardi bagged 20 - the 2nd highest total. United's Juan Mata, City's James Rodríguez and Spurs' Dele Alli all had fantastic seasons, as did United's De Gea, who won the golden glove again.

Sacking Mick McCarthy and Steve Clarke didn't save Ipswich or Forest, who are going straight back down to the Championship under the stewardship of Neil Harris and Javier Aguirre respectively. They're joined by Crystal Palace, who are managed by Laurent Blanc, because obviously.

The trio will be replaced in the big time by Chris Hughton's Brighton and Hove Albion, Mika Lehkosuo's Fulham, and incredibly, Steve McClaren's Derby County!

In La Liga, Zizou and his Galacticos stomped their Madrid neighbours back down from the thrown, running away with the league on 94 points, which is 15 clear of Simeone's Athletico Madrid and 16 ahead of Enrique's ever-underachieving Barcelona. Quique Sánchez Flores won the Manager of the Year award for heroically guiding Espanyol to 5th and only 1 place off the Champions League spots, despite their predicted finish of 11th.

Luis Suárez of Barça and Simone Zaza of Valencia lead the way in terms of scoring goals with 23 and 21 respectively, but Lionel Messi unsurprisingly turned in some great performances. He was by far the highest performing player in the league, followed from a distance by his team mate Gerard Piqué, and he recorded the joint most assists with Real Sociedad's Recio. Real's Keylor Navas deservedly won his 2nd golden glove in as many seasons.

Moving onto the Bundesliga, and it's very much as you'd expect. Bayern held Dortmund at arms length to retain the title with 91 points. Dortmund were completely isolated in 2nd, 10 points behind Bayern but 19 points clear of 3rd place Bayer Leverkusen. Bayern's Carlo Ancelotti won the Manager of the Year award for demolishing the Bundesliga.

Dortmund's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored the most goals, just ahead of Dimitris Diamantakos, who seems to have single handedly prevented Karlsruhe from dropping straight back down to the 2nd tier. Mats Hummels and Jérôme Boateng put in consistantly excellent displays for Bayern, while Roberto Lewandowski racked up the most assists, just pipping Freiburg's Vincenzo Grifo to that honour. Neuer was unsurprisingly the top goalkeeper in the league. Wolfsburg are coming straight back up too, along with Braunschweig.

My God, I would not want to be Leonardo Jardim right now. The former Monaco manager moved to Juventus in December after Massimiliano Allegri took up the Manager's role of the Italian national side. My intuition tells me that Jardim might not be in his new job for very much longer, because Juventus drew with the already relegated Spal on the final day of the season. That in itself might not have been so bad, but it allowed Roma to leapfrog the reigning Champions into first place. So after winning the Serie A Title for the last 6 years running, Juventus end the season on 75 points with Inter, and they pass the baton on to Roma. Nobody will argue with Roma's Luciano Spalletti being handed the Manager of the Year award, I'm sure.

Paulo Dybala and Leonardo Bonucci both had fantastic seasons for Juve too. Dybala scored 21 and was the Serie A top goalscorer too, 4 goals ahead of Torino's Manuel Pucciarelli, who was signed from Empoli last summer. The top assisters were Milan's Andrea Bertolacci and Roma's Diego Perotti and Inter's Samir Handanovic won the golden glove.

The rest of Europe really wants to embarrass Juve too. As well as Benfica, Bayern and Arsenal, Monaco have also successfully defended their title with 99 points in Ligue 1, having promoted their former coach José Barros to Manager to replace Jardim. PSG weren't that far behind on 93 points, but their reign of dominance seems to be well and truly over. Although they were some way behind the top 2, Bordeaux performed well above expectations and nabbed the last Champions League spot, earning Manager Jocelyn Gourvennec the Manager of the Year award.

PSG's Edinson Cavani scored the most goals, just in front of Monaco's Valère Germain. Bernardo Silva and Ángel di María had excellent seasons, Dijon's Nabil El Zhar nabbed the most assists, PSG's Thiago got the 2nd most, and Monaco's Danijel Subasic won the Golden Glove.

Something I neglected to mention last year was the European Competitions, so here you go. Last year, Monaco beat a heroic Leicester side 2-1 in the final, meaning that the Jamie Vardy movie will probably have a pretty bad ending, and Man City beat Leverkusen, Barça and Juve to get to the final, and then recorded a comfortable 2-0 win over Real Madrid to clinch the Champions League.

This year however, Napoli won the Europa League, ensuring that there would be no chance of a London-based winner by knocking out West Ham and Tottenham on the way. They drew with Inter 0-0 in the final but won 5-4 on penalties.

Athletico Madrid won the Champions League, knocking Juve, Chelsea and Bayern out on the way before beating poor Barcelona 1-1 in the final via a penalty shootout in which Messi and Rafinha missed from the spot.

I should probably mention Poland too, shouldn't I? We do need to start learning about the Polish Leagues. In the Lotto Extraklasa, Legia won the League on 69 points with Lech, Jagiellonia and Lechia qualifying for the Europa League. Bruk-Bet Termalica finished safely outside the relegation zone on 30 points, which I make a mental note of for later.

Ślask and Arka weren't so lucky. They dropped down to the 2nd tier and will be replaced by Piast and GKS Katowice (Us). We, by the way, were promoted by virtue of having a goal difference of 8 while Wisła Puławy's was 6. It looks like it got pretty tense towards the end there. My predecessor, Krzysztof Debek, who I don't have anything against... For now... was poached by the aforementioned Bruk-Bet Termalica, which seems like a bit of a sideways move if I'm honest.

Anyway, how much time has that killed?

10 minutes.

Fuck it, I'm taking a nap. Someone watch my cats.





PS - As the new Fantasy Football season is upon us, I thought I'd create myself a team and a League, which you can come and join! If you don't play Fantasy Premier League but want to join, then follow this link (https://fantasy.premierleague.com), create a club and enter the code below to join my League. If you do already play, then you probably know the drill! My League code's below.

103559-27627

Cheers!

Franjo

Year 2 Review (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Mini-sode 50.5.5)



Pray silence please for the Portuguese Championship Manager of the bloody Year! I hadn't even been thinking about personal accolades but I'll take that. That's the cherry on top.

So... this season was a biggie, eh? Before I head off to enjoy the glitz and glamour of the top tier of Polish football, let's take a quick look back on year 2.



Club: SC Angrense

Final Position: 1st in First Phase, 1st in Promotion Stage, PT Championship Champions

Record: W27 D9 L1

Key Player(s): "Olivier" Kingue, Benjamim, Gonçalo "Hurley" Reyes, Pedro "Kevin" Aguiar, Cristiano Magina

Highlight: Our Unbeaten League Season

Lowlight: Belenenses' 120th minute goal that knocked us out of the Taça de Portugal 4th round



This year has gone better than I could have possibly hoped. Our only defeat was in extremely unfortunate circumstances: A 5-4 extra time loss to a Liga Nos side. For the rest of the season we drew a few and won a lot.

There were times that I feared for our unbeaten record. There were times when our oppositions' well timed defensive howlers and red cards kept the run alive, and there were times when our last minute winning goals did the same. All I know is that it has been a hell of a Season.

Let's talk about Cristiano Magina. He needs his own paragraph because quite frankly, he's had a ridiculous season. It's probably going to be easier if I just list his accomplishments, so here they are (And I stress that the following lists are taken from the Portuguese Championship, in which there are 80 clubs and about a quadrillion players):

- 1st in list of "Most Player of the Match Awards" with 11

- 1st in list of "Highest Average Rating" with 7.59

- 1st in list of "Top Goal Scorers" with 27

- 1st in list of "Minutes Per Goal" with 89.74

He was all of those things in terms of our club accolades too, as well as being our top assist provider with 12 and our Fans' Player of the Season. Oh, and of course the Championship Player of the Year.

Olivier deserves a mention too. He made the joint 2nd most key headers in the League with 88, and made the most interceptions by a distance with 571. He was also voted Signing of the Season and Young Player of the Season for Angrense.Kevin scooped the Goal of the Season award for his run and thunderbastard combination against Farense in September, Benjamim was our tidiest player, Hurley picked up 16 yellows, and not one of our players picked up more than 1 red card.

Lastly, if you had to guess the 2 Angrense players that made it into the Portuguese Championship Team of the Year, who would you say?

Hurley and Magina?

Bloody right! Have a toffee.



Former Clubs

FC Höllviken

Sadly, the last year has been brutal for FC Höllviken. When I last updated you Stefan Lundqvist had made a right pig's ear of replacing me and had been given his marching orders. Joakim took over for a few weeks before former Russia international Sergey Prigoda took the hot seat. He failed to halt Höllviken's decline and resigned shortly after they plunged into the 5th tier.

Barely anything remains of the squad that fought tooth and nail for me. Ghanaian flop Lawrence is considered their best player after the mass exodus, former pub teamers Stefan Bouvin and Mattias Andersell are still very much involved in the first team, and the striker I signed and pretty much didn't play, Wani Mukoko, is their captain. That's about it really.



So what next? Well, we've got a new challenge ahead of us. And something tells me it's going to be another extremely interesting year.

Hopefully!

Damn, I thought we may have had a new slogan but google translate says that it means "Go to GieKSa" 😄

Thanks mate, me too! And kudos for already looking them up! Can't wait to get started with GieKSa!

That Time Again (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Meta-sode 50.5)

Witajcie przyjaciele,

It's that time again I'm afraid. My God I've enjoyed this season and I'm very grateful to my FM save for seemingly going out of its way to create drama for us.

I've been playing this by ear for the past 73 episodes, mini-sodes and meta-sodes and I still am. Even after taking a week off after episode 25, it's been difficult at times to keep up with this story. Not that I'm complaining. It's been a lot of work but it's been entirely worth it.

But with that in mind, I've decided to take a 2 week break from daily episodes ahead of our first season with GKS Katowice. This should give me time to sort out our new squad, get to know our new club, our new league, our opposition, etc. I've got ideas for 3 or 4 mini-sodes throughout the next 2 weeks, so my thinking at the minute is that I'll release them on the next 2 Tuesdays and Thursdays, and then daily episodes will be back on the 24th of July. This might change but I shouldn't think it will. I'll let you know if it does though.

A huge amount of thanks once again to everyone who's been reading and getting involved by leaving feedback, I really do massively appreciate it.

Anyone wanting to leave me feedback, please leave a comment or message on the medium of your choice or email me at [email protected] !

Also, I set up a subreddit a few weeks ago specifically for FM stories. If you use reddit, then come subscribe and read some stories/post your stories/talk about your favourite stories! At the time of posting I think we've only got 4 contributors including myself so anyone wanting to post about their FM experiences is very welcome to.

Anyway, I'd better run. I've got a flight to Katowice to catch. Have a great couple of weeks.

Cheers,

Franjo

Vamos... Katowice?

I'll work on that.

The Next Chapter (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep50)

I'm very, very pleased with the position that I'm leaving Angrense in. Yes, I still plan to come back and pluck the best Heróis for my new team, but still.

The latest piece of big news is that Angrense have gone professional! This is a massive step forward for the club. It should enable them to keep up with the rest of the LigaPro, get players in on full time contracts, hire more staff, upgrade the facilities, the infrastructure, the quality of prawn sandwiches and all that good stuff. Borba has also decided to add 370 seats to Estádio Municipal de Angra do Heroismo, taking the seated capacity to 1306.

So all in all, the future is bright in Hero Creek and I can leave to start the next chapter of my career with a clear conscience and a spring in my step.

And bloody hell. What a difference a title winning undefeated season makes. 18 months ago, I withstood rejection after rejection after rejection, with the exception of the handful of English clubs that tried to bring me home. This Summer is... Different.

I send my CV far and wide to see who needs a new top dog, and at first the response is lukewarm. I decline LigaPro side Farense's offer for an interview, as well as Vanarama National side Morecambe. Not a good start, I think. Offers from 2 of the only countries that I'm not currently interested in plying my trade in. I want to move on from Portugal and the time still isn't right to go home.

I then turn down interviews with Budapest Honvéd Futball Club, a 2nd tier Hungarian side, and Union Sportive Concarnoise, a French 3rd tier side, as neither club represent a step up from Angrense. I'm willing to be bullish about this, I do want a step up. I'm not moving sideways.

Chester City in the Vanarama North can jog on, too. As can Vác FC, another Hungarian 2nd tier team. But the next email I receive is intriguing. Wojciech Pertkiewicz, Chairman of Lotto Ekstraklasa (Polish top tier) side Arka Gdynia wants me in for an interview. Now we're talking. The Lotto Ekstraklasa would be a significant jump up the managerial ladder for me. We make the arrangements and I interview for the role of Arka Gdynia manager.

I do hope for an even bigger opportunity to present itself, but I'm swiftly disappointed. Freamunde, another LigaPro side and Scottish 3rd tier side Arbroath both get in touch, but neither fit the bill. Get me an interview in Glasgow, Scotland. Then we'll talk.

I do reluctantly attend an interview with Vlastimil Gabriel, Chairman of Czech 2nd tier side Varnsdorf. To be honest though, I attend mostly out of boredom.

Gonçalo Valadão officially retires from football. He's done well with Angrense and I imagine he'll have a job for life there, unless he becomes a good coach, in which case I might pinch him.

After deleting an email from Vanarama South side East Thurrock United, offering me another pissing interview in England, I stumble across another from Vlastimil Gabriel. He wants me to take the Varnsdorf job. I stare at the email for a few minutes, before sending a reply in which I courteously decline. I feel like I lead him on a bit by interviewing, but especially as Gdynia is still a possibility, I want to set my sights higher than the Czech 2nd tier.

I reject interviews from Spanish 3rd tier side Tudelano and Slovenian 2nd tier side NK Komenda over the next few days, but I'm starting to sweat. My contract is up in less than 2 weeks. I do have the brainwave of getting Borba to pay the £600 for my National C license studies though, so that should set me up nicely if the worst should happen and I find myself unemployed in a few months.

I do have to laugh when Torreense throw me a cheeky interview offer. They finished 4th in their PT Championship Relegation stage group this year but you've got to admire their ambition.

I also decline interviews from Serbian 2nd tier side FK Temnic 1924 Varbarin and Slovakian 2nd tier side Slavoj Trebisov, before attending one with Turkish 2nd tier side Adana Demierspor and their President Melik Toprak. If I'm going to move to a 2nd division side, being 1 promotion away from the Süper Lig wouldn't be a bad shout.

In another pretty funny turn of events, after I turned down Farense's offer for an interview at the start of the Summer, they hired the manager of PT Championship Runners up Cinfães, Arlindo Gomes. So naturally, Cinfães send me an invitation. Naturally, I say no.

With about a week to go before my contract expires, and having rejected 2 more offers from Serbian 2nd tier side Buducnost Dobanovci and Spanish 4th tier side Palencia, I receive another email that catches my attention.

It's Wojciech Cygan, Chairman of Another Lotto Ekstraklasa side, GKS (Górniczy Klub Sportowy) Katowice. In 6 weeks time, they start the new season as heavy favourites to be relegated, having only just been promoted and having a weaker squad than the majority of the division, but I think I'm just about ready for another relegation scrap. I accept Wojciech's offer for an interview and fly back to Poland for another crack at a top tier job.

29th June 2016: 2 days before Angrense contract expires

[Email]

From: Wojciech Cygan, Chairman of GKS Katowice

Subject: Save Us, Franjo

Final Answer (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Mini-sode 49.5)

13 Days Earlier...

"I will ask you one more time, and your answer will be final. Will you stay with Angrense, Franjo, or will you go?"

I think for a moment as Borba takes a step back. And then I let out a sigh.

"This decision... would be a lot more difficult if we had a project here, Miguel." I explain. "But there's no project. There's no stability for me here. How am I meant to build a LigaPro squad while I'm looking over my shoulder, expecting my players to be sold over my head?"

Miguel studies me silently, his brow furrowed as he slowly nods. Then he holds out a hand. "I wish you luck then." He says coldly.

I take his hand and shake it firmly. "You too." I reply.

As our handshake ends he adds: "Just make sure you beat Cinfães. Your contract runs out at the end of June. You aren't gone yet."

"I've been gone for months Miguel." I chuckle. "We'll be fine."

He turns away and begins to walk back to the stands. I really do wish him the best of luck. Not for his sake, God no, but for the sake of Angrense. I've no idea how it's only been 18 months but I've really come to love this place. The fans, the players, the staff - Well, most of the staff.

But I'd be a fool to overstay my welcome. The time is right for me to move on to pastures new. I wonder whose attention I've caught this Season. I'm not sure Bayern will be hammering on my door, but I reckon I should be able to make a decent step up to a bigger club.

I guess we'll find out in the Summer.

One More Time (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep49)

The last couple of weeks has been a bit surreal. We won promotion from the Portuguese Championship and for a moment I thought that our Season was over, completely forgetting that we've still got to face off against the winner of Group A to determine who wins the Division. So in the end, our celebrations didn't last very long. We've still got 1 more match to play before we can claim to have gone the entire 2017/18 season unbeaten, so there's still work to be done.

We've had 2 friendlies against 2 small sides (The biggest teams that would play us right at the end of the season, frustratingly) to prepare us for our match against Cinfães, the winners of Group A. First, we eased past Guadeloupe at home. In a rotated line up, Seidi opened the scoring, Quina bagged goals either side of half time and Kevin put the cherry on top as we ran out 4-0 winners.

https://youtu.be/wlsYLR7qj5I

For our 2nd friendly I thought it best to play an away match as the play-off will be hosted at a neutral venue. To be specific, we'll be playing at Liga Nos side Nacional da Madeira's stadium, Estádio da Madeira. So we travelled to Vitória do Pico and played the exact same side that I plan to play against Cinfães. It was our dress rehearsal, if you like. Anyway, I hope the real match goes that well. Kevin opened the scoring before Sobral got the equaliser, and then Kevin gave us the lead again. Magina, Aires and Hurley all scored to get us another convincing win.

https://youtu.be/DbOEiun_04A

But it's one thing trouncing teams like Guadeloupe and Vitória do Pico. Trying to take a win against Cinfães will be an entirely different proposition.

The line up that I played in that second friendly, and the line up that I've picked today, is as standard and as predictable as it could possibly be. I don't know what to expect from Cinfães, except for a tough game, but we'll end the season the only way that feels right. We'll set up to dominate. We'll embrace the spirit of my arse hole of a cat one more time. We will of course go Project: Meatloaf.

Goalkeeper - No. 1 - Délcio Borges Azevedo

He has been solid if unspectacular over the last 18 months. Serginho took the gloves for a spell at the start of this season, but eventually Délcio won back his rightful place between the sticks.

Defensive Right Back - No. 13 - Vitor Hugo Alves Miranda

It's never even crossed my mind to replace him while I've been here. Yes, he's been known to have the odd lapse of judgement, but overall he's been solid defensively and decent at supporting attacks.

Centre Back - No. 26 - Lassina Touré

A free signing in the Summer, Lassina blossomed this season, even winning his first cap for Burkina Faso against Tunisia. He's been a solid upgrade on last year's centre backs.

Centre Back - No. 12 - Jean Olivier Sumo Kingue, AKA Olivier

Take everything I just said about Touré and multiply it by 10. Well, apart from the international cap thing. Olivier has been an outrageously good capture for us. A complete centre back, a danger from set pieces, and one of the unsung stars of my Heróis side.

Defensive Left Back - No. 2 - Mauro Aires Brasil Reis

Another man brought in during my defensive overhaul a year ago, Mauro has been a defensively solid option at left back. He's been OK going forward but I've generally left him out in favour of Diogo Coelho when I've wanted us to attack down the wings.

Box to Box Midfielder - No. 17 - Benjamim Pimentel Melo Vicente, AKA Benjamim

When I first saw Benjamim, I described him as a man who 'would have a good shot at winning the "Most Average Player in the World" award.' I was dead wrong. He's one of those players who is far more than the sum of his parts, and he makes the team more than the sum of it's parts too. He's the kind of footballer who is often overlooked, but who is so very crucial in every successful team. And that goal against Torreense, eh?

Attacking Central Midfielder - No. 11 - Gonçalo Miguel Reyes Dias, aka Hurley

I think I've already said everything that needs to be said about Hurley. He's gotten us through so many clutch moments with goals, assists and key passes. He is an excellent footballer and he'll be in my team next year. Also fun fact, his agent's name is Hugo. Make of that what you will.

Right Winger - No. 20 - Hugo Fernando Teixeira Bogas, AKA Amonike

I was dead wrong again. When I arrived, I overlooked Amonike. I overlooked him because he isn't blessed with great pace, or great skill, or even a fantastic end product. He spent most of the first 6 months of my Angrense career warming the bench while Aurélio stunk up the right wing. But just like Benjamim, Amonike as a footballer... Well, he just works. All of his semi-decent qualities just come together to make a fine footballer, and a regular in my side.

Advanced Playmaker - No. 16 - Jeferson Anti Filho, AKA Jeferson Paulista

As I once overheard an enthusiastic Angrense fan say, "Paulista doesn't know how to score tap-ins, does he?"* And they were right. Of the 4 goals Paulista has scored for us in his short time here, 2 have been free kicks, one has been a volley, and one has been a tidy finish. The man once described as "The new Elano" came in and added genuine quality to our front line, and he made an instant impact.

Left Inside Forward - No. 7 - Pedro Daniel Santos Aguiar, aka Kevin

Kevin has been an extremely reliable performer since I came in. He started my first season incredibly well, shining a light on Aurélio's poor form because of his brilliant goal scoring and chance creation. I've said before and I'll say again that if we find ourselves with a genuine goal scoring chance, I'll be shocked if Kevin hasn't played a major part in creating it.

Advanced Forward - No. 9 - Cristiano Toste Magina

My first impression of CM9 was that he reminded me of a 16 year old Wayne Rooney. He came deep to collect the ball, jinked and powered past defenders, before trying to score wonder goals from 30+ yards. But Project: Meatloaf made him an entirely different player. With Medeiros, or Antunes, or Hurley, or Paulista playing just behind him, he no longer needed to collect the ball from deep. Instead he became the focal point up top. He became the man who held the ball up and created chances for players around him, the man who got on the end of crosses, be it with his head, feet or chest, and the man who scored a shit tonne of goals. He's a complete modern centre forward and I'm positive that despite his advancing years, he's still got time to make it at a much, much higher level.

I struggle for a while to think of what to say to my players before the match. What's our motivation to win today? If we lose 10-0 to Cinfães, we're still going up. That makes this match feel on the surface like a meaningless fixture. But we can't lack motivation now. There's still silverware to be won. We're still breaking records. We're still unbeaten. These are the things that are still to play for. In the end I keep my team talk short and sweet. "Go and make history", I tell them, before walking out of the changing room, through the tunnel, and out into the dugout.

I suppose I should have seen this coming. If I have a complaint about this season, and I shouldn't, it's that too often we've failed to make an impact in the first half of games. Too often we don't start playing until after the break. Today is one of those days. Apart from Joel Silva's half volley rippling the side netting 10 minutes before half time, nothing really happens.

"One last push." I say to the team once we've all shuffled silently back into the changing room. "One last push and you'll go down in Angrense History. Vamos Heróis!" The players scream our motto back to me in Unison, and we head back out with our chests puffed out and our heads held high.

It takes less than 2 minutes for Aires to spot Hurley darting onto the left wing and pick him out. Hurley takes the ball and fizzes a cross in towards the near post. And CM9 turns it in. Of course he bloody does.

The goal only spurs Cinfães on though. Less than 5 minutes later Joel Silva gets on the end of an Alves cross and volleys in the equaliser.

The game momentarily seems to have come alive. Before the hour mark, Magina gets in behind the Cinfães defence and shoots from a narrow angle, but Diego Silva saves. The entertainment doesn't last. The final whistle blows with the scores tied, and our season will carry on for at least another 30 minutes.

I withdraw Hurley before extra time begins. Quite frankly, it's been a long season and he looks as if he's scaled Monte Brasil. He's shattered. After thinking hard, I decide to replace him with Bruce Ávila. If I'm bringing on fresh legs they may as well be on the wing where we can stretch the opposition. Paulista will take up Hurley's midfield position and Kevin will play behind Magina.

The rotation of positions very nearly pays off instantly, but when Kevin's excellent through ball is picked up by Magina, the big man uncharacteristically skies his shot.

4 minutes from the break, Bruce Ávila dribbles down the left wing and crosses in for Magina at the near post. CM9 doesn't mess around this time. He blasts the ball on the volley and it flies into the net. As my coaching staff celebrate, I go into full lockdown mode. We'll swap to a 4-1-2-3 shape, Seidi will come on for Amonike, and Kevin will take the right wing. We go all out defence.

Or, we should do. But the thing is, if you're defending a lead in a match like this, the other team should attack. That's just how it is. That's how it works. But Cinfães don't get the memo. They don't have anything left in the tank. They sit back and we come forward again in the 117th minute. It's fitting that Hurley's replacement, Bruce Ávila, is at the heart of it once more, creating chances in his absence. Ávila plays the ball inside for Paulista, whose shot across goal brushes Silva's fingertips as it flies in.

And that's it. That's all of it. Renato Silva has a 2 minute cameo in Kevin's place, but the game is already won. The league is already won.

https://youtu.be/2cW6TL5qSC0

We are euphoric. We are record breakers. We are undefeated. We are Champions.

We are Sport Clube Angrense. Vamos fucking Heróis.

*The enthusiastic fan is Sammuthegreat on fm-base.co.uk! Cheers for the constant feedback and support mate!

😂 Bloody right!

Vamos Heróis (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep48)

I stare, unblinking, across the pitch. It has all gone horrendously, hideously wrong. Correct me if I'm misremembering but I don't ever recall us being 2 goals down at any point this season. But here we are. 37 minutes in. Mafra 2, Angrense 0. What a great fucking time for this to happen.

45 Minutes Earlier...

"Now remember", I begin, "A loss today does not mean that we've failed. If Mafra beat us, all that happens is we pick ourselves up and go again in the play offs. But if we win..." I look around the changing room as I let the word sink in. I watch the players' body language. A clenched fist here, a flicker of a smile there.

"If we win", I repeat in a soft tone, "You will be legends in Hero Creek. You will be true Heróis." With that, a wave of calm optimism seems to wash over the players. "I'm not one for massive speeches lads," I continue, "but I'd like to remind you of some advice that a friend once gave me. A piece of advice that I passed on to those of you who played for me and for Angrense when I first arrived in Hero Creek." As my Heróis turn their eyes towards me, a wide smile stretches across my face, and I grasp the handkerchief in my left trouser pocket.

"Don't overthink it", I wink.

We're so fucking ready for this match. I've never known these players so excited, or so focussed. Mafra Away could arguably be described as the toughest match of our Season and there's a strange poetry to the way that it's come about on the last day to decide who wins Promotion. But to be honest, I wouldn't want it any other way. This match deserves to be an occasion and my players deserve to be the ones who win it.

We will line up today in a counter attacking 4-1-2-3 variant of our Heróis Original system. We will be solid, we will soak up pressure, and we will hit Mafra quickly on the break. Rúby starts as the holding man as Jaime Seidi is suspended and Diogo Coelho starts in place of the injured Mauro Aires. Jeferson Paulista starts on the left wing, leaving Kevin on the bench.

The first goal comes 13 minutes in when Varão lays the ball off for Bruninho, who belts it into the top corner from just outside the area. It's a hell of a strike to be fair. I react rashly, telling the players to abandon our plan of counter attacking and to attempt to control the game instead.

In the 37th minute, Carvalhas swings in a free kick from the right wing and big centre back Rafael Goiano heads the ball past the flailing Azevedo.

Do you remember when I mentioned the Gods of football? When I explained that they can be incredibly cruel and vindictive arse holes? Well how about getting beaten for the first time on the last day of the season? That's them. This is their doing. They're laughing their celestial tits off at me right now.

But suddenly, we come alive. The 2nd goal seems to flick a switch and it's only a couple of minutes before Amonike drills in a cross from the right wing, which Guilherme helpfully deflects into his own net.

My players smell blood. There's a real spring in their step now. In the 44th minute, as I consider what kind of approach I'll use in my team talk, Amonike gets free down the right again and puts another low cross in, but this time Guilherme does not score on our behalf. He doesn't need to. Because Benjamim arrives at the near post to score the equaliser.

If there's one thing that I've really grown to love in away matches, it's the silence. I don't know if we're a special case or if the whole division is the same, but generally you can count the number of away fans that attend these matches on one hand. Whether we're the home or away side, it's always the same: A couple of away fans amongst a sea of hundreds of home fans. And when we're on the road, and you could hear the sound of a pin dropping on the other side of the ground, it's one of the best feelings a Portuguese Championship Manager can have.

At half time, as it turns out, I barely need to say anything. A quick comeback before half time builds an awful lot of momentum and I only ask that the players carry it into the second half. Unfortunately they don't. Aside from a ridiculously optimistic long range shot from Bruninho, the first 25 minutes are quiet and tense.

Mind you, that may not be the worst thing in the world. After all, as it stands, we're going up. I don't want to rock the boat by making big changes, so I just drop our wingers back to form a 2nd bank of 4. We'll play our standard game in a 4-1-4-1 and try to scrape through to the end.

I'm clock watching now, which is never ever a useful thing to do. It only makes time go more slowly. It makes you feel every tick, and experience every tock. I'm watching the pot and expecting it to boil, but I can't help it. Into the final 10 minutes we go, and all we need to do is not fuck this up.

In the 83rd minute, Hurley chips a beautiful pass into the Mafra box for Magina, who chests the ball down - And half volleys into the bottom corner. My heart's pounding. This it it. Have we won it? We've surely won it. An equaliser wouldn't be enough for Mafra, they need to beat us. I promised myself I wouldn't, but I try to belly bounce Pedro again.

I needn't have worried about a Mafra equaliser. They may as well raise a white flag from their dugout. They're dejected and they're done. Pretty much straight from kick off, we get forward again. Magina squares the ball for Paulista and the Brazilian puts the cherry on top with a low finish into the bottom corner.

4-2. It's 4-2. The final whistle blows and it's still 4-2. I can hear screaming and cheering from my staff behind me and my players in front of me, and it's still 4-2. We've won. We've done it. We've been fucking promoted.

https://youtu.be/Fl4weyhM9os

I'm laughing, or crying, or something in between. It's difficult to tell. All I know is that I'm sprinting as fast as my legs will carry me onto the pitch towards the pile of Heróis in the far corner, along with Pedro and my staff. Even Nuno's caught up with us. He's running alonside me, beaming as tears streak down his cheeks. "VAMOS HERÓIS!" I shout, throwing my arm around his shoulder. Nuno looks up at me and just starts wailing with happiness. "VAMOS HERÓIS, INGLÊS!" He sobs. What a game. What a comeback. What a year. What a club.

As I join in the celebrations with the players, a golden retriever that's obviously sneaked through the turnstiles somehow, and the 2 travelling fans, who by the way have staged the smallest pitch invasion in the history of football, I feel a slight pang of regret. I've brought this team up to the LigaPro, but I won't be here to lead them through it. I'm starting to wonder whether the decision I made is the right one.

At that moment I notice Miguel Borba striding across the grass, looking straight at me. I can tell from his face that he can tell from my face exactly what I'm thinking. He keeps walking until he's stood uncomfortably close to me, and then he leans in towards my ear and whispers: "I will ask you one more time, and your answer will be final. Will you stay with Angrense, Franjo, or will you go?"

Five-A-Side (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep47)

"Dele Alli, definitely. Then Gary Cahill, Jordan Pickford, Harry Kane and... Probably Adam Lallana. You?"

Nuno smacks his leathery lips as he trundles his mower across the pitch alongside me. "Cristiano Ronaldo..." He begins, "Rui Patrício... Bernardo Silva... João Moutinho..." He deliberates over the final name. "Pepe." He concludes. I chuckle.

"You'd have Pepe in your Portuguese 5 a side team?" I ask, incredulously. "You need skilful players for 5 a side. Players that are good on the ball and handy in tight spaces. He's a bit of a bull in a china shop isn't he."

"If Pepe plays so rough that your team runs away crying, I win, Inglês."

"Fair point", I concede. And then after a short pause, "I still think my team would win though."

"Os Ingleses", he laughs.

Just then, I notice Pedro striding across the pitch towards us. I give him a nod, which he returns.

"Message for you, Boss" he says sympathetically, "Tuks called. They've hired someone."

I sigh. "Oh well. Cheers Pedro." He nods and starts walking back off the pitch.

I decided that I would apply for one more job. I had an interview with University of Pretoria (Known as "Tuks", a South African top tier side the other day. I don't know what chance I thought I had when a South African second tier side rejected me not that long ago. It can't be helped though, I don't think South Africa's ready for me yet. I'll have to find another destination. Maybe I'll stick to Europe for another year or 2 and then conquer the World.

Anyway, now that Nuno's got our pitch nice and playable, we're ready to host Barreirense. I have no particularly special plan for this match as I fully expect us to beat Barreirense at this point. We go Meatloaf, and we go full strength.

We start well. It takes Magina only 17 minutes to clip our opening goal into the far corner of the net, after a good pass from Hurley. And less than 10 minutes after the goal, our day gets even better when Barreirense's star striker Caraballo has to be stretchered off with an injury. He's scored 17 in 27 so far this season so it's certainly comforting to watch him be carried from the field. I do feel quite bad, but not bad enough to stop me subtly pumping my fist in celebration.

Before the half hour mark, a brilliant Heróis passing move ends with Magina returning the favour for Hurley, setting the midfielder up so he can slot the ball between the keeper's legs and double our lead. It could be 3-0 shortly afterwards, but Paulista smashes one of his excellent free kicks against the post.

In first half injury time however, Hurley turns brilliantly to lose 2 defenders, and then plays a perfect pass around the corner for Amonike, who does slot in our 3rd. Game over.

The 2nd half starts fairly slowly. Magina and Zé Francisco both have outrageously speculative long range shots just after the restart, but neither troubles either keeper. Lagoa then plays Zé Francisco through on goal, but he shoots straight at Délcio Azevedo.

With about half an hour to go, I bring on Quina, Dias and Renato Silva. They could all do with a run out and I feel like I can afford to give Kevin, Paulista and Magina a rest. The decision does threaten to backfire on me though. First, Félix latches onto a Severino cross and volleys at goal from close range, only to be denied by Azevedo's fingertips, and then Santos finds Lagoa with a well practiced free kick routine, but his shot is charged down by Olivier.

The final whistle goes and we record a 3-0 win over Barreirense. And not only that. We've also gone and secured ourselves a top 2 finish.

https://youtu.be/ah3tSj1D6-I

I receive a call a couple of minutes after full time from Miguel Borba. Not one to take a hint, he asks once again if I'd like to discuss a new contract. Just like I did a few weeks ago, but with more sarcasm, I tell him to invest in our academy instead. He declines. And he still doesn't get it.

I do also find out shortly afterwards that Caraballo tore his hamstring during our match, so I hereby withdraw my celebrations and fist pump. Poor guy.

These next 2 matches are arguably the biggest of our Season. First up is União at home. União have surprised me slightly in the way that they've slid out of reach of the top 2. I expected them to be in the mix for the top spot until the very end but I can't help feel that they've underachieved. In fact, they could condemn themselves to another Season in the Championship if they don't beat us today. We on the other hand, could secure ourselves the top spot and make next week's trip to 2nd place Mafra a dead rubber, which would be very, very helpful.

The yellow card that Hurley picked up against Barreirense was his 15th of the Season, so he's banned for today's match. Jaime Seidi replaces him in our lineup and will be the holding man in a slightly adapted Project: Meatloaf. Otherwise, we're unchanged.

Hey and here's yet another record within our reach: We've scored 62 goals so far this season. The record for a team in this division is 66. I'd definitely back us to break that in our 3 or 4 remaining matches.

The first half is an end to end encounter. Paulista sees a low shot turned behind by Rodrigo Antunes, before Amonike cushions down Kevin's cross and Magina executes a Di Canio esque volley from close range, but sends the ball crashing against the bar.

Flávio Silva gets the ball in the net for União after Marakis nods on Bica's looping free kick, but the linesman's flag is raised. Silva was offside and the game remains deadlocked. 5 minutes before the break though, Martins drills a cross in from the right and Flávio Silva is there again. And he's onside. 1-0 União.

At half time we change to be a little more attacking, but we can't get close to the equaliser. But then, 20 minutes after the break, Sérgio Marakis slides into Magina from behind. It's an ugly, ugly challenge and he's shown a deserved straight red. I see our opportunity and instruct Os Heróis to play the ball quicker and into space. We need to make the most of our extra man.

With 10 minutes to go we change again. This time to a 4-2-4 formation. We're throwing everything forward in search of the equaliser. I absolutely don't want our season-long unbeaten run to end with only 2 or 3 games to go. Aires picks up a gash on his leg, so he comes off along with Seidi. Coelho and Dias come on as more offensive alternatives.

5 minutes before the end, Coelho overlaps on the left wing and swings a cross deep into the box. Kevin nods the ball back across goal and Magina pokes it in. It's an ugly goal, and it's not the first time this Season that our unbeaten run has been saved thanks to a red card for the opposition or a late goal, but I'll take it. Rúby comes on to sure us up in a 4-3-1-2 system, and we see the match out to claim a valuable point.

https://youtu.be/yaeO_jbnOXA

That was far too close. Don't get me wrong, I'm over the moon to have guaranteed a Play-off spot, but I would be gutted at this point if we didn't achieve automatic promotion. Failure to grab an equaliser in that match would have not only ended our unbeaten run in a "He was only 2 days away from retirement" kind of way, but it also would have put us level on points with Mafra.

I had hoped to get Promotion wrapped up today, but in all fairness, where would be the fun in that? Instead, it'll all go down to the last day, when 1st takes on 2nd in a winner-takes-all encounter. The victor will be elevated instantly to the dizzy heights of the Portuguese 2nd tier, while the loser will have to get through a grueling 2-legged play off against a team from the division above.

Let's find out what we're made of, shall we?

Bilic Be Damned (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep46)

With 5 matches to play, we are well and truly coming up to crunch time. I'm not sure how seriously I took our promotion chances at the start of the season, but there's no doubt that we'll be in the mix now. Today we host Leiria, a side that we beat 2-0 in our last meeting, and a repeat performance would be just great.

With Big Slav's request still ringing in my ears, I decide to bring Domingos Quina back into the fold and give Jeferson Paulista a rest. He's been a revelation since he arrived in Hero Creek, but we've got some huge games coming up that I need him to be fresh for.

Amonike has drawn level now with Medeiros' and Magina's assist record of 10, but Kevin is catching up. There's plenty of players in the mix for this record, which just speaks volumes about this squad.

We start brightly. It takes less than 4 minutes for Magina to put the ball through to release Amonike, but the winger's first time shot, although seemingly destined for the bottom corner, is turned behind well by Bonet.

On the approach to half time I tell Os Heróis to push forwards and attack. We're nearly punished in injury time when Bernardo's corner connects with Santiago, who powers his header against the bar.

It's been another one of those halfs. Another one of those halfs that leave me more underwhelmed than 2008 Robinho when he realised who he'd actually signed for. I give the starters 15 minutes of the 2nd half to impress me, which they don't, before bringing on Silva and Paulista and hauling off Magina and Quina. Bilic be damned, I want to win.

Over the next few minutes, both teams come close. Silva hits a tame shot into Bonet's arms and Pereira's ball over our defence is latched onto by Allef, who goes one-on-one with Azevedo but can't find a way past our pint sized Keeper.

Keen not to keep our defensive line unnecessarily high and invite Leiria to have another go at that, we go back to trying to control the game. It nearly pays off a few minutes from time when we win a corner. Amonike swings the ball in, Olivier nods it on at the near post and Touré gets his head to it at the far post, forcing an incredible reflex save from Bonet.

Ah well. There's no argument here to say that either side should have won. In the end, both teams will gratefully take the point, the clean sheet, and then never speak of this match again.

Hopefully though, we can find our form again away at Casa Pia. We drew 1-1 with them at our place so we're all itching to get the 3 points today. Casa Pia usually line up with a narrow diamond, so we'll focus our play down the wings. Paulista comes in for Quina, and after his recently outstanding form for our Under 19's (After bagging 5 goals in his last match, he's now scored 26 in 26), Wilson Dias gets an actual real life start in place of Magina, who's had a couple of quiet matches.

We start brightly once again when after just 5 minutes, Paulista strides forwards on the ball and cracks a shot against the bar from 20 yards. Just before the half hour mark though, he steps up to take a free kick in a very similar position to the one that he scored on his full debut. Obviously he powers it straight into the top corner again, because that's exactly what Elano would have done. 1-0. Vamos Heróis.

Moments later, Hurley lays the ball off for Amonike, who forces a good save from Paulo in the Casa Pia net.

We head out after the break full of piss and vinegar. Paulista continues to pull the strings from the number 10 spot, playing the ball to Dias, who in turn feeds Benjamim, but Paulo is on form again to turn our midfielder's shot away.

Quina comes on with half an hour to go in place of Kevin, and then Magina replaces Dias with 10 minutes to go. Paulista takes a bit of a knock, but that seems to be all she wrote.

Until the 93rd minute. When Hurley's sloppy pass goes straight to Marques. Marques plays the ball to Ribeiro, who splits our defence with a through ball, and Rodrigues pokes the equaliser past the on-rushing Azevedo.

Bollocks.

https://youtu.be/8Diun1BqTe0

Again, I can't be too critical. I genuinely think that this may be the first time Hurley's messed up in an Angrense shirt, and it's cost us a cheap goal and 2 points. But that's just how it goes sometimes. 2 points in 8 days isn't the worst tally in the world, although it is slightly annoying. It's just been a bit of a "Meh" week.

But the only thing that matters to me now is that we still sit at the top of the league. And with 3 matches to play, we're a nose in front of Mafra in 2nd, but an entire 5 points ahead of Barreirense in 3rd. And somehow we've still not been bloody beaten.

Prank Calls - Part 2 (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Mini-sode 45.5)

As I walk home from training, planning my evening around watching our next opponent Leiria's last match and being shunned by my 2 cats, my phone starts to ring. I dig it out of my pocket to see that I'm being called by a withheld number. In light of recent events, I'm suspicious. I answer the call and hold the phone up to my ear. "Hello?" I say tentatively.

"Hello, is this Franjo?" Says a heavily accented voice on the other end.

"Yep" I reply curtly.

"Franjo, it's a pleasure. This is Slaven Bilic. I'm calling to..."

"Oh, go fuck yourself" I reply, before hanging up. Roger has been unemployed for a full year now and is obviously struggling to fill the days. But should I feel bad? If you work in football you've got to learn how to deal with being sacked haven't you. It's not my fa... My phone's ringing again. Withheld number. I answer.

"What is it, Roger?"

"This is Slaven Bilic", spits Roger. "You go fuck yourself, you insolent little man."

"Find a job and leave me alone" I plead.

"I have a job! I loaned you my player and you have not held up your end of the deal!" A long silence follows. Surely not. "You agreed with my staff that Domingos Quina would be a first team player. That's why we allowed him to join you!" I feel the colour drain from my face. I try to reply but the most I can manage is to repeatedly open and close my mouth like a goldfish. "WELL?" He barks.

"SLAVEN BILIC" I yelp, unhelpfully.

"Yes." He mutters, irritatedly. "Look, please could you stick to our agreement and play Domingos in your team?" He continues, as I whimper down the phone. This isn't Roger. This is a Premier League Manager. This is a former Everton player. I had a fucking picture of this guy on my wall when I was a kid! My first contact with a big name in football and I've just told him to go fuck himself!

"I am hanging up now." Says Bilic wearily. "Please stick to our agreement in future." I continue to whimper as the line goes dead, before the whimper evolves into a high pitched, maniacal laugh. I sink down to a squatting position, still holding the phone to my ear, and pull my Angrense jersey up over my head. I need to be alone and I need to be invisible. I just made a complete arse of myself and I've got nobody to blame but... Roger.

Beep Beep (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep45)

It's that time again. I've long since forgotten how my long running one sided feud with former SC Angrense Manager Eduardo Almeida started. All I know is that I've got one more chance to beat him. And the way that I beat him is by beating Caldas.

In other monumentally exciting news, Lassina Touré made his international debut in Burkina Faso's home friendly against Tunisia the other day. He came on at half time when the game was deadlocked at 0-0 but sadly he put in a sub-par performance and Tunisia ran out as 2-1 winners. I'm a bit gutted for him, but the silver lining is that he's a bloody international footballer now!

I've also had to swat away another attempt by Miguel Borba to get me to sign a new contract. I suggested that we instead invest in our youth academy. It was a very subtle dig that I think went over his head. He rejected my counter offer.

Anyway, Caldas. Caldas, Caldas, Caldas. I've laid awake for the last few nights thinking, plotting and a few times even scheming. In my 3 attempts at beating Caldas in the past, I have used Project: Meatloaf, and lost, I have used Heróis Original and drawn, and I've used Project: Burnie and drawn again. This makes things tricky as I'm pretty sure that there's nobody else in the Portuguese Championship that we've played against and not beaten at some point, well apart from a few teams in this promotion stage group, but we've still got another chance against them all. And what concerns me is that against Caldas, none of my systems seem to work.

We'll line up with a tweaked version of Project: Meatloaf today. Tweaked in the sense that our shape will be a 4-1-2-3 instead of 4-2-3-1. We'll show them respect, but we'll still try to control the game and beat them.

We've ran into a spot of bad luck too, as both of our usual full backs are suspended for this match. Vitor Miranda and Mauro Aires both picked up a booking against União, taking them both to 5 for the season.

Nevertheless, I've seen enough of Coelho to convince me that he's a solid option, so he'll jump in on the left. Luciano Serpa is a man who I've not really played since signing him in the Summer, as Vitor Miranda is a difficult man to shift from my starting XI when he isn't hacking down opponents. I don't have a choice though, so he starts too. Hurley actually returns from his suspension and he'll come in replacing Kevin, while Paulista starts on the left wing.

And as is becoming commonplace with this band of excellent bastards, we're still on the verge of some records. Benjamim has entered the race with Amonike and Magina to beat Jordanes Medeiros' assist record, but Magina leads the way having already equalled it. We're also level with our club record unbeaten run in all competitions, and avoiding defeat today would set a new one of 16 matches without a loss. Bloody Belenenses.

"Why today?" I ask nobody in particular in the dressing room at half time. "We need to make something happen against these. We need to." Nobody makes eye contact. That first half was one of our drabbest on record. Absolutely nothing happened. "Go out there, keep the ball, get a foothold in this match, and beat bloody Caldas!" I say assertively, before turning on my heels and marching back to the pitch.

They do seem to take my words to heart. With almost an hour played, Amonike swings a free kick in towards the near post. Benjamim takes it down and has a shot, but Paulo makes the save.

With 15 minutes to go, I throw on Kevin and Renato Silva for Paulista and CM9 in the hopes that their fresh legs will make the difference.

And then it happens - With 5 minutes of normal time to play, Amonike curls a corner to the far post. Renato Silva gets up to nod it back across goal, where Olivier heads it from a tight angle - Off the post. Goal kick.

I stand on the touchline with my hands on the back of my head and my fingers interlocked. I know that in the grand scheme of things, a draw against Caldas is fine. Yes, they're one of the weaker sides in this group, but I'll take every point I can get in our hunt for promotion. But I just wanted to finish this before I left. I just wanted to get the win over them. Just once.

In the 92nd minute, David Brás brings the ball forward threateningly for Caldas, and my heart jumps into my mouth. But Touré tackles him. Surely not. Touré plays the ball to Kevin on the right, who dribbles forwards and lays it back to Serpa. Surely not. The ball goes inside for Seidi, then back out for Benjamim, then down the line for Kevin. Surely not. Kevin slides a low cross towards the penalty spot...

I've done a lot of things wrong in my career so far, but I've also done a lot of things right. The day that sits at the pinnacle of the good decision pyramid in my mind is the 31st of January 2017. It was only a couple of days after I joined Angrense, and it was the day that I parted with £1,500 to secure the signature of Gonçalo Miguel Reyes Dias from Operário Lagoa. My most trusted Lieutenant. The footballer that I swear I will take with me wherever I go next. The man whose nickname was a gentle nod and a wink towards a large lovable character from a TV show that most people look back on with derision.

He only needs one touch. Hurley looks up and strokes the ball into the bottom corner.

As he comes sprinting towards the dugout with his arms held aloft, I feel a familiar wide smile stretch across my face. I hold my hand up for a high 5 as he sprints past, and Hurley does not leave me hanging. He never does.

https://youtu.be/5WeEb8x6Ix8

It gives me great pleasure to draw a line through "Beat Caldas" on my Angrense bucket list. I'm sure that wherever Eduardo is, he couldn't care less, but it would have left a sour taste in the mouth if I'd left without doing it. And now that that's out of the way, everything else seems easy. We can beat Camacha away. We can beat anyone. We can win this fucking league.

We're going classic Project: Meatloaf. Back comes Kevin, who's now also joined the assist record race, along with Miranda and Aires. Out go Seidi, Serpa and Coelho. Move out of the way Camacha, Os Heróis are coming through. Beep Beep.

Specifically Amonike is coming through when Magina plays the ball into his path 10 minutes in. The winger runs through on goal, but his shot fizzes wide of the far post. Nearly quarter of an hour later, Kevin chips the ball to the far post from the left, and Amonike's there again, but his header is saved by Jesus.

Half an hour in, he's in the thick of it again, swinging a corner out to the far post. Kevin gets there and cushions a header down to Cristiano Magina, who shapes his body brilliantly as he, how can I put this, absolutely twats the ball into the top corner on the volley. Beep Beep.

A few minutes later, Camacha's Camacho drives forward on the ball but shoots just high and wide of our goal, and then just before half time, Paulista breaks from a Camacha corner and plays the ball over the top for Amonike on the left. He gets level with the box and whips a cross in to the far side, where Kevin is waiting to take the ball down and slot it past the keeper. Beep Beep.

I'm a very happy man at half time, and rightly so. Vitor Miranda though is developing an annoying habit of ruining my good time. Within 2 minutes of the restart he pushes Roberto in the box and gives Camacha a penalty.

Luckily, for every Vitor Miranda there's a Délcio Azevedo. He saves the centrally placed penalty and maintains our 2 goal cushion. I don't know the exact number of penalties that he's saved this season but that's certainly not his first.

With 20 minutes left to play, Neto plays a good ball over our defence for Belo, who cracks a half volley against Azevedo's bar. We respond by swapping our system to the new Heróis Counter and throwing Seidi on for Hurley.

In the dying minutes, Paulista tries to set up our third. First he tees up CM9 for a long range shot that Jesus saves, and then he plays Amonike through on the left. The winger chips the ball over to the far post and Magina's close range header clips the bar as it goes over.

It doesn't matter. The 3 points are ours. The 3 points are always ours.

Beep Beep, Camacha. Beep Beep.

https://youtu.be/SBSIDiIB1yU

Interview (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep44)

"Why should we hire you, Franjo?" Asks Gian Carelse. I was expecting this question, of course I was. Who doesn't expect this question in a job interview?

"Well," I begin, "In the past 15 months I've transformed my Angrense side from a Championship Relegation Stage side into a team that are currently 1 point off the automatic promotion spot. I've spent under £10k, I've brought players through from the academy, some of which have been..." I shift uncomfortably in my seat. "...Sold on for club record fees. We're unbeaten in 25 league matches and I think that I can bring similar success to your club" I conclude. My morning rehearsals paid off. I sound very impressive.

Gian's expression doesn't change. He continues to look at me coldly, almost like he's studying me. "You only have 18 months experince..."

"I know! Imagine how good I'll be in a few years!" I joke. I realise almost immediately that I have made the wrong decision.

"...And you have already experienced relegation" As Gian finishes his sentence I feel myself turn red. I begin to flail.

"Uhhhhh... No. Well yes, but..."

"The Black Leopards are currently in danger of relegation. Do you really consider yourself well equipped to save us?"

It's a good question. Do I? Although Angrense were in the Relegation Stage when I arrived the quality in the squad meant that relegation was never a real concern. I've only had one shot at a survival race and I blew it. Höllviken is going to haunt me forever.

The Black Leopards, by the way, are a South African 2nd tier club that are currently 13th out of 16 clubs, and as Gian said they are in real danger of relegation. I applied for the vacant Manager's position for a number of reasons, but mainly because I think they have the best name out of any football club. And to a lesser extent, I'd quite like to try my hand outside Europe.

The interview hasn't gone as I had hoped though. I told Gian that I wouldn't be able to join at the minute due to my hopes of Promotion for Angrense. I said that I'd be available at the end of the season. The Black Leopards' Chairman, for whatever reason, didn't take kindly to that. I suppose he wants a manager that's able to join in time to prevent their relegation, which is probably fair. I don't have high hopes that I'll get the job.

Anyway, let's fast forward a few days and focus on the matter in hand. I still have a top 2 finish to secure and our next 2 matches will be very big ones indeed. We play Mafra today, the League leaders, and then União da Madeira next week, who are almost certainly going to be in the mix for the top 2.

More records are waiting to be broken today too: Magina's now 3 goals away from a Championship record, a win today would be a new Club record, and avoiding defeat would make this a record unbeaten run in the Championship. No pressure though, eh?

I'll be making a few changes for today's game. Délcio Azevedo's shoulder has mended so he'll come back into the first team, along with Maurp Aires and Domingos Quina. I almost forgot about the West Ham man since Jeferson Paulista arrived, but Kevin's been quiet lately so he'll be dropped to the bench, Paulista will play on the left, and Quina can have another crack at the number 10 spot.

Magina bruises his thigh in the opening minutes, which is not at all ideal. This is a big match and we really need to be firing on all cylinders.

Within quarter of an hour, Varão has a close range shot saved by Azevedo and Jimmy rattles the post with a drive from 20 yards, as the pessimism continues to be poured onto the occasion. We disband plans to control the game and retreat to a more standard mentality.

That does the trick, sort of. The next thing I know, an hour has passed and I'm bringing Kevin on for the ineffective Quina.

With 20 minutes to play, Amonike floats in a cross from our corner, Rafael Golano heads the ball away, but it falls perfectly for Jeferson Paulista, who crashes a half volley in at the near post. My jaw drops as I watch it happen. We really are unstoppable.

Not keen to let the lead slip, I swap us to a counter attacking 4-1-2-3 system, bringing Seidi on for Magina and shoving Kevin up front for possibly the first time so that the big man can rest his bruised thigh.

With full time approaching, Rúby comes on for Benjamim and we go to our trusty withdrawn 4-2-3-1. We see the match out, and in doing so, write ourselves into Angrense and Portugues Championship history. We are unbeaten in 26 league games and we've won 18 times in the division this season. Vamos bloody Heróis.

https://youtu.be/qQiJYKKUdvY

Magina misses training for a few days but he's back in plenty of time for our next match.

Miguel Borba calls me during the week and asks if I'd like to open contract talks, but I politely decline before hanging up and insulting the shit out of him. Unfortunately, Gian Carelse calls just minutes later, to give me the bad news. I won't have the enviable title of Black Leopards Manager next season. My search for a new club continues.

I think I'll just leave the job hunt for now. I'll finish the season here and then start applying again. Nobody's going to want to hire me if I can't join instantly anyway. Anyone that might want me at the minute will most likely be stuck in a relegation scrap and will want their manager in pronto.

The rejection of a South African minnow with a really cool name is not the only annoying thing that's happened either. União have climbed above us in the League, despite us sitting in 2nd and beating 1st place Mafra. So now we're still in 2nd behind União. I suppose we just have to do to them exactly what we did to Mafra.

We'll play on our new counter attacking Heróis Original system, which I may or may not rename to something more apt at some point. Hurley is suspended after picking up his 10th yellow against Mafra, but thank fuck for Portuguese league rules, it's still only a 1 match ban. Kevin also comes back in for Quina as my experiment last week fell flat on its face.

Our title challenge takes a knock instantly. With under a minute gone in the match, Olivier trips Wangler in the box. It could be the start of a horrific 90 minutes, but Flávio Silva's powerful penalty is well saved by Vitor Azevedo. We breathe a huge sigh of relief.

And within 5 minutes, the tables are completely turned on União. After such a promising first minute, the breakthrough goes to us. Kevin breaks down the right wing and drills it in towards the near post, where Amonike arrives to tuck the ball into the net.

About 15 minutes later it's all square again when Wangler's free kick deflects off Benjamim in the wall and sends Azevedo the wrong way, but within another minute Benjamim's shot deflects through to the far post, and Magina gets there the fastest to put us back into the lead. It's been a breathless opening 25 minutes.

The next 25 minutes are not so breathless. Half time comes and goes without incident, and it's not until the 53rd minute that Magina squares the ball to Benjamim in front of an empty net. It's an opportunity that our midfielder doesn't waste and he puts us 3-1 up.

I take the opportunity to thank our lucky stars, and then retreat to the relative safety that I keep finding in our withdrawn 4-2-3-1. We go all out defence.

Kévin Rodrigues' 2nd yellow for a trip on Amonike makes União's day go from bad to worse, and helps us to secure our precious, precious points.

https://youtu.be/xmvdBRTf5R4

The last 8 days could not have gone better. We've picked up 6 points against 2 teams who were at the top of the Championship Promotion Stage Group B, and we now find ourselves back at the top and 2 points clear. Roll on April.

Prank Calls (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Mini-sode 43.5)

I'm awoken by the sound of my mobile ringing on my bedside table. In my half asleep state I fling out an arm to reach it, but with the zero coordination I possess in the moment, my poor hand smacks straight into the side of the table. Cursing loudly, I swing my legs out of the bed and sit up, grabbing the phone violently like it'd just personally inflicted my injury. I look at the phone to see that the call is coming from a withheld number. The time is 1:34am.

"Hello?" I snap irritatedly.

"Och Aye", chirps the ambiguously accented voice on the other end of the phone, "It's Sir Alex Fergietime, I just wanted to tell you how much I look up to and admire you as a Manager" the voice says, seemingly through a fit of giggles.

"Who is this?" I bark. The line goes dead.

Annoyed, I settle back down in bed, and after a few minutes I start to doze. Shortly afterwards though, my phone rings again. This time I leap out of bed and grab it instantly. Seeing that the number is blocked again, I answer aggressively.

"What?" I shout.

"DILLY DING DILLY DONG" Squeals the equally unrecognisably accented voice in reply. "It's me, Sir Claudio Ranieri. I want you to take over Chelsea when I leave because I respect you so, so much" The layers of sarcasm coming through the phone are so thick that I'm afraid they'll drip out onto the floor.

"How long has it been since you've followed football?" I ask with a sigh. The giggles on the other end are very clearly audible. "And Ranieri's not even a..."

"Hey it's me, Fat Sam", says the suddenly incredibly gruff attempt at a Northern English accent.

"Fat Sam yeah?" I ask flatly. The voice goes quiet. "It's Big Sam, and you sound like Bollo, you dick."

"Who?" Replies the voice. I'm taken aback. There's a familiarity to the accent now. I don't think this one's put on. It's the kind of voice that makes you want to start kicking water bottles and flipping tables, so that the connect 4 sets that sit on top of them go hurtling towards the ground.

"Roger?"

The line goes dead.

Miniature Heróis - Part 2 (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep43)

As I make my way up to a good vantage point in the stands of Estádio Municipal de Angra do Heroismo, I turn and look at the players warming up. My eyes scan their faces, searching for someone I've been told to look out for.

"Where is he then, Vitor?" I ask, as I turn to face Vitor Azevedo, SC Angrense Head of Youth Development and no relation to our goalkeeper.

"There he is", he smiles, pointing out a young lad in the middle of the park.

There's a real buzz amongst the youth staff about Rodrigo Silva. He's a 16 year old local lad and has already been offered a contract with the Under 19's squad. This match is a mere formality for him. He's a holding midfielder with a growing reputation for making the right decisions and being difficult to push off of the ball.

Silva and the other candidates will face up against our Under 19 side. Well I say that, but it's pretty much an Angrense B team. Most of the side is made up of players who've had a run in the first team at some point. In fact, in their defence is 3 quarters of the defence that our started for the first team last season, so it'll be a tough test for the young ones.

The Under 19's take the lead early on in fortunate circumstances when Leão's deflected shot runs through for Thiago, and the centre midfielder pokes the ball past the keeper.

The 25th minute gets my nostalgia tingling when O Capitão and Under 19's Manager Gonçalo Valadão hits the post with a powerful free kick, but then after half an hour, goalscorer Thiago pushes Ribeiro in the box and young Rodrigo Silva confidently wallops the youth candidates' penalty into the net.

Before half time Xéxé's low cross is bundled in by Arruda to put the Under 19's back in front. They hold onto the lead through the 2nd half despite the youth candidates dominating. Andrade hits the woodwork and Serginho is forced into good saves by Amorim and Rodrigo Silva, but they fail to find the equaliser.

https://youtu.be/J0UcSEaArQ0

Promising stuff from the youth candidates. They went down swinging against a much more experienced side and I'll be keeping an eye on them. Rodrigo, the jewell of the side, faired very well in the "Benjamim" role of Project: Meatloaf. He showed a willingness to get forward to support attacks and did well defensively, as well as staying composed for the penalty.

In terms of our first team, it's time for Casa Pia to come to town. Casa Pia are the side that lost in the Promotion play-offs last year after finishing 2nd in Group B. They're one of the favourites to go up along with União da Madeira, who we play in a couple of weeks.

We'll set up with Project: Meatloaf with focus down the wings, as we do when a team sets up in a narrow shape like Casa Pia's narrow diamond. That means we keep Coelho in at left back for his ability to attack. In fact, the only change we make from our victory over Barreirense is that Vitor Miranda comes back in for Luciano Serpa as his suspension has ended.

Oh, and another record is looming for Cristiano Magina! Unsurprisingly, he's on course to break the record for Number of goals in a Portuguese Championship season. And he wanted me to sell him for £30k.

The first half is largely uneventful until Casa Pia's right back João Damil gets free and whips in a cross for Rodrigues, who controls the ball and finishes calmly to put the home side ahead with 5 minutes to play before the break.

The only action in the 2nd half comes about just after the hour mark when Kevin, making his 200th Angrense appearance, releases Diogo Coelho on the left wing. Coelho swings the ball into the area and Magina rises above the centre backs to power the ball home.

We try to play more methodically around Casa Pia's penalty area, we try to attack, we try to pass the ball into space and we try roaming with more freedom from our positions, but nothing I tell us to do breaks the deadlock.

https://youtu.be/mFdf_5uuZis

The game fizzles out, we keep our unbeaten run going with a credible draw, and Magina edges closer to a league record. I think we'll take that. We do slip down to 2nd in the League behind Mafra, but I'm not too concerned. Partially because with each match that passes we're proving more and more that we've got what it takes to go up against anyone in this division, and partially because we play them next.

Instant Impact (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep42)

"Franjo!" Pipes up a short, heavily tanned fellow towards the back of the room. "Diário Insular", he continues once he sees that he has my attention. "Do you see Paulista as a direct replacement for Carlos Antunes?"

I think for a moment, before replying "Things have changed in Hero Cr... I mean, Angra do Heroismo in the last couple of months. Our priorities have changed and I thought that we needed someone who could make an instant impact. I believe Jeferson is that someone."

It saddens me slightly to say it, but it's the truth. The priority for me is no longer playing the long game or giving the youth of Angra a chance, the priority is short term success. We need someone who can slot straight into the team and give us a boost. We've drawn our first 2 matches, which isn't awful, but I'd rather we start picking up enough wins to get promoted.

"And what about Domingos Quina? Did you not bring him in to be a first team player?" Inquires the Diário Insular reporter.

"Domingos is still in my plans," I say firmly, "But it would be unfair of me to ask him to take up the mantle of being our main creator alone. Now we have good competition for the number 10 spot, which is never a bad thing."

Jeferson Paulista, to state the bleeding obvious, is our newest signing. He's yet another player that we've brought in from Santa Clara, after Serginho and Coelho last year, but unlike those 2 he cost us £3k and become my record signing. To be honest though, I think we've bagged ourselves a bargain.

Do you remember Elano at Manchester City? Jeferson reminds me quite a lot of Elano: A skilful and technically brilliant Brazillian who's also capable of the odd screamer. He's a true number 10 at the top of his game and he should be much more comfortable behind Magina than Hurley or Quina have been.

And while we're talking transfers, I've accepted a £2k bid for Hélder Arruda from Penafiel, a Liga Pro side. He's currently negotiating a contract with them.

Anyway, we follow up our last gasp draw away at Caldas with a trip to Leiria, and then a trip to Barreirense. It's hardly ideal to have 3 away matches in a row but I suppose it should at least give me a couple more chances to find the winning counter attacking formula that I've been looking for.

Leiria also present a different sort of challenge today as they play a narrow 4-3-3. I'm not sure off the top of my head how many times I've played against teams in this formation, but all it reminds me of nowadays is Husqvarna. And relegation. And unemployment.

I resist the urge to have a traumatic flashback and go about setting my side up in a tweaked version of our Heróis Original system. We'll focus our play down the wings like we sometimes do with Project: Meatloaf, we'll play on the counter and we'll play slightly narrower in the hopes that we'll deny Leiria space to play in the middle. We'll also have Coelho come into the side, using his attacking prowess to overlap Kevin on the left. Jaime Seidi comes in for Arruda to fill the holding man role and Hurley keeps his place behind Magina. My new number 16 is ready and waiting on the bench though.

Also, we're on the brink of an Angrense record for number of wins in a season. So far we've won 15 matches, the record as it stands is 17.

Azevedo picks up a damaged shoulder early in the match. This isn't ideal, as I never have keepers on the bench, but luckily it's just a knock and he plays on.

It's Leiria who start the game well: Bernardo crosses to the near post after 5 minutes and Allef cracks the ball off the woodwork. A couple of minutes later, our corner is half cleared and Seidi squares it for hurley on the edge of the area, but his shot is straight at Leiria's keeper, Bonet.

A few minutes after that chance though, we break the deadlock. Amonike's cross from the byline deflects through to Benjamim. His shot is saved well by Bonet but Magina is on hand to boot in on the rebound.

We still don't stop coming forward, another minute or so passes before Amonike chips the ball into the near post and Magina rifles in his and our second. We seem content after that to take our foot off the pedal and aside from a booking for Miranda just before half time, we play out 60 extremely quiet minutes.

I bring on Paulista for his debut, replacing Hurley in the Brazilian's favoured number 10 role, but with about 15 minutes to play, Leiria go close twice when Asprilla's shot is charged down by Touré, and from the resulting corner, João Almeida boots the ball just over.

To see out the last 10 minutes I drop us back to a deep 4-2-3-1, with 2 holding men and 3 across midfield. Rúby comes on for Kevin and joins Seidi in front of the defence, and Paulista heads out to the left wing where he's also pretty comfortable.

Before you could say "Don't fuck this up" though, Miranda picks up one of his patented meaningless red cards after a second yellow, but Serpa replaces Benjamim and moves to right back and we see the game out with some degree of comfort.

https://youtu.be/HiAo_kLxGFg

The win is a massive relief. We were good value for it and we've now got 5 points from 3 matches, which is probably about as good a start as we could have hoped for.

So, despite the fact that our next match is another away one, it's Barreirense. I think if we want to have any hope of making the top 2 we need to win both matches against Barreirense. Having said that, Azevedo will be out for 2 weeks with his shoulder, despite the fact that he struggled through the Leiria match, keeping a clean sheet in the process. Miranda also misses out having received an automatic 1 match ban for his red card, and Benjamim makes up our missing trio when he picks up the mother of all stubbed toes in training, which will keep him out for an entire week.

In other news, although Magina has been on 9 assists for what seems like the entire season, he's now been joined on that tally by Amonike, so both of them are only 1 away from equalling Medeiros' record.

They'll both get the chance to pull level today as they'll both unsurprisingly start. Serginho and Serpa come in as like-for-like replacements for Azevedo and Miranda, and Hurley drops back into Benjamim's central spot as an attacking central midfielder. This leaves a space behind Magina, so Jeferson Paulista starts for his full debut.

Sometimes the Gods of football are completely and unapologetically shit. You know what I'm talking about. That time that the team you support hit the bar 3 times and lost 1-0. That time that your club's new signing broke his leg in his first training session. That time when your club got knocked out of the Cup Semi Final by a goal that shouldn't have stood.

But sometimes, just sometimes, the Gods of football are on your side. And when they are... It's just the fucking best.

8 minutes into our mach in Barreiro, we win a free kick in a central position, right outside the penalty area. Jeferson Paulista steps up on his full debut - And strikes it perfectly. It fizzes over the wall and so far into the top corner that I momentarily wondered whether it was possible for the ball to get stuck between the post and crossbar.

I am ecstatic. So ecstatic in fact that I try to awkwardly belly bounce Pedro for the first and probably last time. God I needed that goal. My passion to manage this club certainly didn't disappear after Borba's transfer hijinks but it definitely took a knock. I needed a moment like that to remind me what it's all about. I asked for an instant impact from my new number 10 and an instant impact is what he's had. And in case I wasn't clear, what a bloody goal.

Alas, the feel-good atmosphere is short lived. Almost 5 minutes later, Felix's powerful drive is tipped onto the post by Serginho, and Severino reacts quickly to get to the loose ball, before driving it low into the far corner of the net. Shortly afterwards, Severino plays a pass behind our defence, giving Caraballo a golden opportunity to give the home side the lead, but he shoots straight at Serginho from 8 yards out.

Under a minute later, Magina does the same for Hurley, playing a good pass in front of him in the penalty box, but his shot is saved well by Elói's outstretched hand.

It all goes a bit quiet until shortly after the break. Barreirense's corner is cleared by Paulista and we counter quickly. Amonike gets the ball on the right and plays it inside to Hurley, who squares the ball to Kevin in acres of space. Kevin unselfishly knocks the ball forward a few yards so that Magina can blast the ball into the back of the net, giving us the lead. To be honest though, from where I was sitting he was definitely offside.

Barreirense come back at us with the kitchen sink, forcing me to bring back our nice withdrawn 4-2-3-1. Rúby replaces Kevin to once again form the holding man partnership with Seidi, but the chances keep coming for the home team. Breimyr drives forward and shoots just wide and Altaír Júnior rifles the ball against the post with 15 minutes to play. I try to make us more solid, more narrow and less inclined to close the ball down and open space for Barreirense. Silva comes on for a late cameo, and in the 91st minute, Severino too smashes a low shot against the post.

https://youtu.be/cjo5AFMdOzc

It may not have been pretty, it may not have been convincing, but 3 points is 3 points is 3 points. We've risen up the top of the league with 8 points, but something tells me that staying there is going to be the difficult part.

Uh.... *Removes cap*... no of course not

Back Pocket (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep41)

I barely slept last night. I have absolutely no idea how the next few months are going to play out. The thing that I keep reassuring myself with is that we are in incredible form. But the thought that always immediately follows is that we've been playing against bad teams and now we're going to be playing against good ones.

When I did finally sleep, I had that same old dream again. I walk up the gravel road towards Monte Brasil under the dark red clouds, and continue up the winding path towards Pico das Cruzinhas. Half way up, a glum looking golden retriever drags himself along behind me, before disappearing in a puff of smoke. When I reach the top, I get the same sense of foreboding that I always get, and I see the same thing that I always see.

Miguel Borba is standing at the viewpoint, at the top of the hill overlooking Angra do Heroismo, and he's throwing my players off into the darkness one by one. I stand there, eyes wide in horror, but I'm paralysed and unable to help, or speak. When he's thrown the last of my team into the inky abyss, he grabs me by the collar of my trusty grey coat and throws me after them. And then I'm falling. And the ground is rushing up to meet me. And I jolt awake again, sweating through my Angrense branded pyjamas.

But today is not the day to be worrying about that, today is the day of our first match. And at least we'll start off at home. Camacha are coming to town and I decide to keep largely the same team that I used for most of the first phase. We'll keep Project: Burnie in our back pocket for now as we're the home side and I don't want to start on the counter. We'll use Project: Meatloaf as per usual.

Obviously Antunes and Batista are no longer available, so Amonike and new loan signing Domingos Quina start, and the ever reliable Jaime Seidi comes in for our suspended centre back Olivier.

Before 10 minutes have passed, Rúben leaves our crossbar shaking with a well struck free kick from just outside the area. I tell Os Heróis to abandon any ideas about controlling the match and just play our most standard game instead.

25 minutes in, we hit Camacha on the counter attack and Benjamim squares the ball for new boy Quinos, but the West Ham midfielder floats his shot over the bar when he really should've hit the target.

The rest of the half is tight and action-less, and our next opportunity comes when Kevin lumps the ball over the top of the Camacha defence with 10 minutes of the second half gone. Magina runs through on goal, takes aim for the top left corner, but his execution is slightly off and the ball flies just over.

Our 2 chances so far have come on the counter, so for the last half hour we set up to play exclusively on the counter. Rúby and Silva come on replacing Quina and Magina, with Rúby dropping back and allowing Hurley to take up the number 10 role.

Just a couple of minutes later, Rúby runs forward from deep and has a good crack at goal, but Jesus saves it well.

With 10 minutes to play, Renato Silva plays through Benjamim, and the box to box midfielder has a shot from inside the area, but the ball cracks off the bar. The match ends goalless.

In my book, an opening day draw is never a bad thing. A loss in your first match of any league can really put the side in a bad place mentally, but a draw, especially a draw which you were unlucky not to turn into a win, is fine. It inspires hope and optimism for the games ahead.

Caldas are next. I've been looking forward to this ever since we found out who we'd be playing against in the Promotion Stage. I reach into my back pocket, and pull out Project: Burnie.

The first half is tense and quiet, as first halfs often have been this season for us. It's not until the 52nd minute that the first chance is carved out, when Caldas' Cruz completes a patient passing move by passing the ball into the area for Rodrigues. The attacking midfielder slots it in to put the home side ahead.

We fail to fashion any noteworthy chances. We have a few decent shots but with 5 minutes left to play, we're staring down the barrel of our first defeat of the season. I withdraw Arruda and bring on Renato Silva.

In the 90th minute, we win a free kick on the right. My staff, our 2 travelling fans and I watch on with silent anticipation as the Caldas fans whistle and boo. The atmosphere is hostile and I don't know about the players, but I'm extremely nervous. We need to rise above it. We need a goal and we need it now.

Olivier steps up and curls it into the box, and Touré goes for the ball. He doesn't get it though. He doesn't get it because Juvenal charges in and pushes the centre back to the floor. The referee blows his whistle and points to the spot.

The whistles and boos from the home fans grow louder and louder as Cristiano Magina places the ball on the spot. He is focussed and he is confident. Our prolific striker steps up - and smashes the ball into the top left corner.

https://youtu.be/uxqqseInY2s

I don't celebrate the goal. The players celebrate, as do my coaching staff, Pedro and both of the fans. But not me. I've failed today. I thought that a new system would freshen us up and allow us to finally clinch victory over Caldas, but it didn't. We got let off and we keep our unbeaten run going thanks to some bad defending. It doesn't feel good.

It's back to the drawing board as far as Project: Burnie is concerned.