WT_Franjo Activity

The King Is Dead (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep113) Things have been looking up for Santos F.C. lately. I really think that the thrashing against local rivals Ajax CT was our rock bottom and it's forced everyone including myself to have a good lon...

Franjo: The New Kevin Keegan (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep112) 
As Jack should have said to the man hungrily eyeing his cow whilst holding out a sweaty palm full of magic beans, “He’s not for fucking sale, so piss off.”
 In this cas...

The Return Of Cup Football (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep111) 
The atmosphere around training in the week proceeding our unforgettable win over Mthatha Bucks is probably the best that it’s ever been during my time in Lansdowne. There’s noth...

Last Hurrah (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep110) 
I check my watch. There’s half an hour to go before we need to be out on that pitch. I glance towards the door of the treatment room, which is still closed. It’s another few minutes before it...

Singh With Me (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep109) Losing the Cup Final in such a comprehensive manner really made me take a step back and look at my performance this season. It was arguably the worst day of my career but I’m determined to at least...

Cup Final (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep108) 
For most, I think to myself as I abandon the warmth of my bed and place my feet on the cold floor of my bedroom, the winter break has already started.

 For them, I think as I cram toast into my mouth and...

Stretched (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep106) 
“Alexa, who do Santos FC play next?”
 “Hmm. I don’t know that one.”
 Well fat lot of good you are in the South African Premier Soccer League, eh? I think, absent-mindedly str...

Crouchie (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep105) I smile as I bite into my toast, skimming the morning headlines on the BBC football website. “Brewers appoint Crouch as interim manager” is the one that catches my eye.

 That’s made my wee...

Smoke Me A Kipper - Part 2 (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep104) 
I touch back down in Cape Town feeling odd. The International break has been awful but now I’ve got to turn my attention back to Santos and our upcoming SA KO Cup Semi Final against a...

Hollow (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep103) We’ve lost another one, I think, letting out a long sigh. Long serving Liechtensteiner right back Yves Oehri has retired from professional football after his extended period of training with Santos. It&rs...

Perfect (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep102) 
I step onto the team bus outside the Athlone to the usual mutters of “Morning Boss” and smile very Englishly around at the squad before making my way to my seat at the front. As I do I glance over...

Back On The Horse (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep101) Am I irresponsible with money? I’m genuinely asking. Not because I went out into Cape Town last night with some of my coaching staff and spent a week's pay (I blame my assistant Jakub. I n...

Franjo: Part-Timer (Meta-sode 100.5) Ho ho ho, 100 bloody episodes lads!
 I’m off again, this time skiving for Christmas! Should put me in a position to come back strong on New Years Day though.
 Thanks once again for reading, especially now that...

Must Win (Franjo: A Journeyman Story Ep100) Just 1 more league match to take care of before I’m back on Liechtenstein duty, then. The match in question is away at Bloem Celtic, who beat us twice last season by a combined scoreline of 1-4. Naturally...

Unstoppable (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep99) I step onto the Santos team bus to a cheer and a round of applause. “Thank you, lads, thank you.” I say with a smirk. The lads were obviously paying attention over the International break, with...

The Great Banquet (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep98) 
If International football is a great banquet, then Liechtenstein’s national team, and I mean no offence, are a very dirty man dressed in rags with a bindle on the end of a stick, desperately pl...

Derbies, Debuts & Deals (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep97) 
"We've gained a lot of new faces since the last time we sat in this changing room", I say to my players, before gesturing vaguely around me. "This is the Cape Town Stadi...

South African Premier Soccer League 2020/21 (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Mini-sode 96.5) Let's refresh our minds about our opponents that compose the Premier Soccer League, meet the newly promoted clubs, and see how our Summer of change has affecte...

The Great Cull (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep96) 
“Breathe it in, Stevie!” I shout once again upon seeing my landlord approach the Geen Rook Nie building, with Chappie plodding dutifully along beside him. 
“What am I smelling this ti...

Euro 2020 (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Mini-sode 95.5.5.5.5.5) Ah, there's nothing quite like an International Tournament, is there? The daily doses of football, the national flags waving patriotically everywhere that you look, the crushing disappo...

Done (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Mini-sode 95.5.5.5.5) The work of a Football Manager is never done, so while my Santos team jet off on their holidays and before I can get down to the Summer shake up of my club side, I’ve got some International f...

Year 4 World Roundup (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Mini-sode 95.5.5.5) Once more. I'm going to try this once more and it's going to work. It's going to work, because who's the boss? I'm the boss. Franjo's the boss. My eyes n...

Year 4 Review (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Mini-sode 95.5.5) Heads up - I originally said I'd be "back on the 11th (2 weeks)" but that's only 1 week. I'll be back on the 18th, sorry for my maths! 
4 years, 4 clubs. I've en...

Cheers mate haha nice, what kind? Is it one of the fancy non-chocolate ones? Like every day you get a G&T or a sock or a lego Millenium Falcon?

A Summer Advent-ure (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Meta-sode 95.5) Alright guys, 
Summer 2020’s upon us, which means I’m gunna pop off again and prepare for the new season, and I’m in quite a new position as I’m not actually sure...

All Hail King Carl (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep95) All hail King Carl!
 Alright, it’s not exactly been plain sailing for Carl Lark this season and he’s had to endure some extreme form troughs as well as enjoying the peaks, but he’s...

Safe (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep94) Sometimes you need to face the music and admit that you did something that turned out to be a mistake. At the beginning of this year, a book called “How to Watch Football” by Ruud Gullit convinced me t...

Ernie (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep93) 
We’re coming to a point now where I’m going to have to make a decision. I’ve already decided that I’m not going to leave Santos in the Summer unless I’m presented with an offer I ca...

The Best Laid Plans (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep92) After the Denmark match I’m eager to get back to Lansdowne. My first toe-dip into International water has been interesting but I’m looking forward to finishing off Santos’ league c...

Liechtensteiner (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep91) I always envisioned that if I ever became, for example, the England manager, I'd pick my sides the right way. I'd pick a system and pick players to fit that system. I'd favour hard worker...

Here Comes Franjo (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep90) 
“Breathe in deep, Stevie!” I cry, seeing my landlord approaching the Geen Rook Nie building that I’ve just exited with Chappie bounding along at his heel. He fixes me with a confuse...

Crisi-Tunity (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep89) I’ve prepared a horribly challenging general knowledge quiz for you today, so let’s get straight into it:
 Q: The dog says...?
 A: “Woof!” Good start!
 Q: The mouse says...? 
A:...

Death and Taxes (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep88) 
I want to dwell on our last league performance about as much as I want to listen to a Joe Pasquale-voiced audiobook version of a collective autobiography written by all of the dickheads that have ever...

Half Moon - Part 2 (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep87) We were battered and we were thrashed, and yet, I smile. We were humiliated and mocked, and yet, I smile. We were outplayed in every area of the pitch, and yet, I smile. Today we face Cape Town City...

Dropping Like Flies (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep86) Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, on Christmas Eve Magesi FC buy Blignaut for £4k, Hey!
 You’re trying to fit it to the tune, aren’t you. Don’t worry, it doesn...

Yep the group actually turned out as well as I could’ve hoped for haha, it’s a shame we probably will still come bottom after such a lenient draw. And no it wasn’t THE Tshabalala, I wondered that too! But nope he’s an assistant ma...

Winter Break (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Meta-sode 85.5) Morning all,
It’s time for another winter break. I’ll take a week to get everything together and then be back to go through a signing-heavy (I hope) winter break and then our very fi...

Half Time (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep85) 
We need players. More specifically, we need my kind of players. Hard workers, fighters, scrappers. Reliable footballers who know what it takes to win. I’ve been harping on this for a while but the wint...


It feels good to be an International Manager, and to some extent I’m buoyed by the fact that I’m getting plenty of practice trying to make a mediocre bunch of footballers play well in my day job. I’ll need to do it all over again when I...

Franjo: The New Glenn Hoddle (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Mini-sode 83.5) Everyone’s got an earliest football memory. Everyone who loves football at least. Everyone remembers that moment that grabbed them and made them fall in love with the game....

Smoke Me A Kipper (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep83) "Right then lads", I begin, "All I want you to do today is keep in mind what I've been telling you this week. What should be going through all of your heads when the scores are lev...

Joseph’s The Future (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Mini-sode 82.5) As the lads troop in after training, I knock on for Goolam Allie, the club Chairman. "Franjo!" He exclaims as he opens his office door. "How’s the reaction?&quo...

Mr WT Franco - Part 2 (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep82) What’s the worst thing about having a 24 day gap between matches? Is it the fact that the momentum from your 2 wins beforehand will inevitably have evaporated by your next game? Is it Emil...

Half Moon (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep81) "We’ve been unlucky in our last couple of matches", I say sympathetically to the team. "We got robbed of 2 points against Golden Arrows. We were by far the better side. And but for that &...

Febreze (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep80) So what did we learn from our match against Highland Park? We have to figure it out quickly as the Boffins at the SAFA have scheduled us 2 matches in 3 days after our 15 day break. I think the most obvious thi...

One More Try (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep79) You know when your team’s fixtures come out for the new season and you see that in your first few fixtures you’re playing Chelsea away, or Barcelona away, or Paris Saint Germain or Bayern away?...

Not Like This (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep78) "Ready?" I sit myself down next to Khat on the bench. He nods. "Remember, no sprinting about, you’re an old man", I grin. "What’s your job off the ball?" "D...

The Chosen One (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Ep77) So now that I've met my team and have a vague idea of what they can do, it's time, weirdly, to start my second pre-season of the summer. It kicks off in quite baffling fashion when backup goalk...

Haha I’ll take that as a compliment cheers bud!

South African Premier Soccer League 101 (Franjo: A Journeyman Story - Mini-sode 76.5) Here we go then. We’ve met some of our new players, we’ve met my new assistant Keith, and now it’s time to meet the 16 sides that make up the South Af...