“Where’s Tobias?” Ulrich asked.
“He said he wasn’t coming. The last time he came to a game because we convinced him to, we lost to Cottbus,” Joachim said. “He thinks if he’s here in person the team will lose again…”
“I have a hard time figuring him out,” Hans said to noone in particular.
“He’s weird. He’s not going to change,” Sasha said.
“Do you want him to change?”
“Will that mean he stops buying the occasional round?” she replied.
Sportforum Hohenschönhausen wasn’t all that full, maybe 4500 people, but the Bayern Fan Club had shown up in decent strength, 1500 boisterous fans at the other end of the stadium.
“What do you think?” Hans asked, leaning over to Ulrich.
“It’s like Coach said, If they give it their best, he’ll be happy with the result either way. They’re on a win streak, they’re playing well.”
A whistle was blown, and the teams headed off the field, to get ready for the game.
They were all hoarse. On Paper, and when compared one on one really, Bayern’s II squad was faster, more athletic, but if they were anything else, it was overconfident. Poor passes, bad decisions, the only thing loder than the fans at times seemed to be Coach Demichelis as he yelled and gestured at his player.
Amar Suljić’s goal in the 12th minute was a thing of beauty, as was the long pass that let him split the defenders and tap it in over the keeper, but the Wanner had scored for Bayern II two minutes apart in the 66th and 68th minutes. What enthusiasm the Dynamo fans had went flat, as Bayern sat back, invited the attack, and foiled every Dynamo attack.
“I can’t watch” Sasha moaned, burying her head in Ulrich’s arm. The game was well into extra time, with maybe a minute left. The team had given their all, but Bayern’s quality had come thru the last twenty minutes of the match, as every BFC Dynamo attack was frustrated.
Bayern chose that moment to try and put Dynamo on the backfoot, but a bad pass allowed Reher to get the ball, and after a few seconds of back and forth between Sommer and the defenders, Klump ended up with the ball. The roar of the crowd got louder, as Klump dropped the ball of to Ekailie, who then after a brief moment passed it to Schulz, who drove forward into two defenders. Pavlovic dispossessed him, and everyone started to groan when his short pass to Harold was intercepted by Klump, who flicked the ball backwards, turned around, and at the line lofted a ball towards Suljic, who was fighting to break thru two defenders…
They charged into the bar, cheering and chanting, happier with a draw than they had been in recent memory.
“That was amazing!” Ulrich said for what had to have been the hundredth time since they left the stadium.
“We know!” Sasha replied. “We were there too!”
“You think we have a chance?”
“Of winning? I like our chances now more than I did two hours ago…” said Hans.
Five days later, Stadion an der Grünwalder Straße was rocking. Literally, the stands were swaying back and forth under the Dynamo faithfuls feet as they screamed and cheered the entire match. Although outnumbered by the Bayern fans, a travesty Ulrich had mentioned enough times that Sasha had threatened him with violence if he didn’t shut up about it, they had given their all. Hans had yelled himself to near death apparently, the coughing fit he had after Suljić’s 19th minute goal came back after Zvonarenk had scored for Bayern three minutes later. A Beck goal right before the end of the half had sent the crowd into a frenzy.
All the Dynamo fans, and the announcers, were surprised when the team came out on the front foot. While not as aggressive pushing the ball up the field as they had been the first half, defensively speaking they were stepping up more, crowding the Bayern players more and forcing them to make mistakes. Bayern did have a couple of chances, but they were rushed, and the Dynamo defense was holding strong.
In the 84th minute, taking advantage of a misplay by a Bayern defender, the team surged forward, and a brilliant effort by Klump was denied by an even better effort from Schenk, who deflected the ball out of bounds. Gathering the ball up, Klump went to the corner as the rest of the squad sorted itself out, and after a few seconds, lofted the ball towards the back.
The only thing louder than the referee’s whistle was Sasha yelling “THAT’S A PENALTY, YOU AREN’T BLIND, CALL IT!”
Referee Michels pointed to the spot, the Bayern fans groaned…
Promoted.
To 3. Liga.
In our first season.
Well…crap. I wasn’t expecting this, but I wasn’t going to sabotage it either.
The board did what they could with regards to the wage bill and the transfer budget:
And while those numbers look OK, there’s this to take into consideration as well:
I am not going to say no to that, it just means I have to renegotiate all my players contracts, and since the ones I want to keep just won themselves promotion, it could be difficult to meet some of their wage demands.
Financially speaking, I think we did quite well, considering we were a Regionalliga team:
PLAYER PERFORMANCES
This pretty much says it all:
Beck and Suljic with 76 goals between them?
Geurts with 11 goals, 16 assists; Pollasch with 17 assists? I am pretty sure I could play this season over again 10 times and not get anywhere near those numbers
It was a really close competition in the League though as we almost played our way out of 1st Place:
But, our numbers more than speak for themselves:
The success of the season went the boards head as well, because they decided to spend some money I am not sure we have:
Which leaves our finances looking like this:
3. Liga awaits. We’re a pro Squad now, with not a lot of money, a smart bet would put us down as relegation candidates. Because of the finances this year I haven’t been able to scout like I have wanted to, and we may not have enough in next years budget to scout extensively either, which means we are going to have to get….creative with the scouting. And the accounting.
There was a polite knock on the door.
“Enter!” Nicholas called out, and a second later Frau Gerstner opened the door.
“Christian would like to speak with you?” she asked, her face telling him “No” would not be an appropriate answer.
“Of course,” he replied with a smile, and a few seconds later Beck stepped in, and sat in one of the chairs across from the desk.
“And how is my Northeast Player of the Year?” Nikki asked with a smile. Beck smiled in return, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“I’m retiring coach,” he said with a sigh. “I am going to make it official tomorrow, but I wanted to let you know in person.”
“Are you sure?”
“The mind is willing, but the body…” Beck gestured towards his legs. “Besides, I don’t think I will ever have a season close to what we had this last one, especially going up a level. And I would rather go on top as a player who scored 36 goals, won a Pokal and promotion, than a guy who spent the last seasons of his career on the bench in the 3.Liga. And I can’t go down to a lower level, there’s just no money in it. No, it’s time.”
Nikki nodded, sitting back in his chair.
“Plans for the future?” he asked.
“I’ve though about coaching,” Beck replied with a smile, which Nikki returned with a smile of his own, then stood up, and stuck his hand out.
“This is going to sound trite,” he said, as Beck stood and grasped his hand, “But it’s true. You’ve been a fabulous asset to the club. We would not be where we are today without the example you set on the field the past two seasons. You ever need a job, call me and I’ll help.”
“Thanks Coach.” A firm shake of the hand, a nod, and Beck turned and left the office, shutting the door behind him.
Thanks for reading!
FM_Jellico
THE FOOTBALL MANAGER BLOG OF FM_JELLICO 