“What is with this team…” Sasha moaned, head down on the table. The only thing particularly worrying about this situation was that she was sober.
You expecting the bottom to fall out? Up,” Paul slid a plate of food under her as she sat up
“No. Yes. No. They are doing good, it’s just that…”
“It’s just that if someone told twelve year old you fifteen years ago the team you chose to follow would not only be playing in the Bundesliga, but playing Champions League football-” Paul said, until Heinrich cut him off.
“You’d be wondering what you had to eat for that day, or are afraid of waking up and it all being a dream?”
“Yes. No.”
“I get it,” Heinrich said sitting down with his own plate. “No one expected the team to be where it is, least of all us. But at the end of the day, why worry about it. Live in the moment, they are doing well. Enjoy6 the victories, drown the losses in a couple of beers, and decades from now we can be telling our grandkids about how we remembered when Dynamo was in the Bundesliga and doing well. Lord knows all the new fans won’t hang around that long.”
They all looked around. The bar was a bit more crowded than usual, a lot of newer, younger faces.
“Next thing you know they’ll start asking for wine spritzers and “light’ Beer,” Paul said. Sasha shuddered visibly.
“So,” Heinrich said around a mouth full of food. “What’s the RUMINT on who they are going after in the transfer window?
Whatever Dylan MacLennan is, he’s not a first team, top tier striker. When I look at his attributes, he should be, but there has to be something going on behind the scenes, as he just…disappears. I should have fought to keep Mirko Tulli, who spent all of a season at Monaco before signing at Eintracht Frankfurt this season.
Luckily our defense has has been very good, we haven’t been blown out (yet) and we’ve salvaged more than one draw.
August was a decent start, even the Borussia Dortmund game. Neiva got sent off in the 3rd minute on a straight red, but Viveros put us up 1-0 in the 17th minute, and it took a Christopher Essomba goal (because of course it would be one of our former players) who scored in the 93rd minute to get the draw back. Although if I am being honest we should have conceded at least two and maybe a 3rd, but parking the bus really frustrated them.
In what may become a theme of this season, we lost to RB Leipzig due to a Luca Montanaro goal (yet another former player.
Olympiacos did well to earn the draw, but I’d like to think that if Castillo and Tenorio hadn’t gone out with injuries, we would have won.
The draw against Villareal was well earned, Popovic was very good between the sticks, and , from a statistical point of view we were even, so I will take a 0-0 draw.
Arijon Ibrahimović, who is not related to Zlatan, did his best impersonation by scoring a brace in the latter half of the game, first drawing and then scoring the winner that let Bayer win. Scoring 2 against Union on the bounce was nice, as it’s always fun to beat an intercity rival, and then at home, against Man City, we won, 1-0
I still can’t believe it. They absolutely outclassed us, but everyone on our squad who wasn’t an attacking player had a 7.1 or better, and the Jon Jiménez goal was very nice. Turning around and blanking Stuttgart 3-0 was a nice way to end the month.
Needing extra time to beat Union in the Pokal was a gut punch. Drawing against Werder, whose also a relegation candidate, was equally annoying.
Napoli crushed us. I thought we had a chance until Kvarradonna weaved his way past five of my players and scored in the 8th minute. What’s also getting frustrating is that we are starting to “play down” to some of the not so good teams. Take Wolfsburg as an example, they are a bottom of the table club, who beat us 2-0, but then we turn around and beat them 2-0 in the Pokal.
Djurgårdens got an absolute gift of a goal in the 95th to claw the draw back. I logged off and didn’t touch the game for a couple of days., only to be blanked by Bayern. Again. We closed out the year with a good run of games, but again a 96th(!!) minute goal gave Braga the draw. We’d be top 16 if it weren’t for these last two games. .
Annoying as hell.
But not as annoying with MacLennan and his 7 goals.
I think it’s time to start spending some of this money the board has set aside for me to use.
It’s not like I can threaten them with the Wolves job interview to give me more…
“An unexpected finish from the youthful BFC Dynamo squad sees them playing in the Champions League for the first time, and their path will not be easy. Man City, Napoli, Monaco, Braga, Wolves, Villareal, Olympiacos and Djurgårdens means, Dynamo will have to be extremely good and extremely lucky to go further than the League Phase.”
An Excerpt from Berlin Soccer Post, June, 2034.
“There is a philosophical change underway at BFC Dynamo. While outwardly theclub was…parsimonious shall we say…with spending money on players, behind the scenes it was quietly built up one of the best scouting departments in Germany, if not all of Europe. While finding the proverbial diamonds in the rough, Tenorio, Sountoura, Baffouman, the club has started to sign more established players who look to have a long term career in the scarlet and black, such as Cezar, and Neiva. Should the club stay successful especially with top of the table finishes and continued European Football, it may well cease to be a stepping stone club, and the likes of Mirko Tulli and other good players might be persuaded to stay long term”
An excerpt from Kicker’s “Year in Preview, the 2034/35 season.”
The transfer window was quiet, but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t busy behind the scenes. As expected, out good finish last year had several players come and ask for new contracts, several player leave for “bigger” clubs, and several players expected to step up this year, especially with the tactical change to a Brazilian Box inspired 4-2-2-2.
TRANSFER WINDOW:
Out’s:
Alexis Portocarrero and Juan Ayala both caught a case of “We want a new contract that gives us “Star Player Status” even though at best we are “Regular Starters”. This is something I hope is fixed in FM24, because as this save goes on, it’s getting more and more prevalent. I told both players “Nein” and listed them, the fact none of the other complained after they left tells me they thought the same thing of their demands that I did.
Standard came in with an unsolicited offer for Ognjen Vojvodić, who seemed way to eager to leave. I think we have enough young talent to replace him, but losing him was unexpected.
Martim Fernandes was the team players of the year last year, and I was really reluctant to let him go, but he didn’t have a release clause, and Athletico is a bigger club. Again, one of those moves that could hurt us if someone doesn’t step up.
Baffouman, Jaspert, Zappasodi and Vinterburg all went on loan for first team playing time. I thought the transfer window was over, and then with something like four hours left, Chelsea swooped in for Novotny. I don’t remember if they had another player get injured, but here I was looking forward to Novotny being my front pivot man and…nope, of to England. That just means Carlos Tenorioa gets more playing time.
IN’S:
I do not have the original screenshots I took, I believe this is around the time the external I was saving things do decided to yeet itself into the next world, so the screenshots that follow are from the players at the end of the season.
Boris Castillo should be able to step up and claim one of the D(C) spots, and if he can’t the opportunity is there for him to be the D(R) instead. An above average player in most area’s, he still has the potential to get better. He will get a lot of opportunities the season.
I signed Phillip Schulz to be part of the rotation, but chances are he’s going to be a full time starter. I think he fits that ‘savvy veteran’ player mold that every team needs: A guy who knows his capabilities, knows what he’s good at, and plays in such a way that he sets himself up to meet those goals all game. He probably won’t get a lot of highlights, but when you look at his statistics at the end of the year, he’ll be top 5 and you’ll be surprised.
With Vojvodić leaving, I felt I needed a replacement, so I looked in my scouting pool, and Viveros was listed by Bayer. For €2.1 Million. They bought him last year from Porto for €8M, and he had 6/5 in 27 games for them, so either he had a falling out with the coach, or Bayer has some good depth (they don’t), to let a player this good go for that cheap. He will do the job for us I think.
To be honest, I forgot about Renato Arruda. I started this season, then went to Italy on a school trip with my son for 10 days, came back and was in the middle of the transfer window when news popped up that we had signed him.
I don’t remember doing that.
In hindsight, this may not have been the best move. He’s an above average player to be sure, but the lower finishing and concentration plus below average positional skills are making me more than a little wary. I thought he would be a good off the bench option, but after the first games of the season, I am starting to think Olympiacos are getting one over on me.
I’m really looking forward to this season, especially the Champions League games. Yes, we are playing some tough teams, but it will be nice to see how we stack up against them, and to find out how close/far we are to joining that elite level of football.
The celebration after winning the game was muted, Bayer 04 had walked off the field, Jaissle shaking Nikki’s hand and congratulating him. Then the big screen switched to the Borussia Munchen-Gladbach-Mainz game. BMG had drawn with Dynamo two weeks prior, and then had played a listless game away at Hoffenheim the resulted in a draw, meaning Dynamo no longer controlled its own destiny. They needed a win, and a BMG loss or tie, and it looked like they might get their wish. Mainz was in the relegation zone, but had been playing BMG tough, they were currently tied at 2 all wih just under 15 minutes left. “Didn’t they start the same time as us?” Sasha asked? “Stadium had a power outage right before the second half was supposed to start, delayed the game by about 15 minutes,” Heinrich said, staring into his phone. “Oh, crap,” said Klaus, watching the big screen. Vladimir Camara, the former Dynamo player, lofted a long pass across the field, where Bernd Anacker ran up on it, dribbled around the Mainz defender, and lofted a cross in at the top of the box. Ulrich went for the header, but instead of directing it towards the goal towards Naldo, he kept it going right, where it bounced in front of Joe Gelhardt, the veteran winger waiting until it was a few inches in the air, before blasting it into the upper left corner of the goal past Yusufu’s outstretched hands. 14,000 voices all groaned, Sasha’s loud “VERDAMMT!” caused more than a few people around her to step away. Fifteen minutes later, despite Mainz’s best efforts, BMG’s defense held, and the ref whistled the game to an end. Coach Schmidt called the team to huddle around him, gave a short speech to them that no one heard, then had them line up, he and his coaching staff shaking their hands as they headed to the stands to applaud the fans. Schmidt and his coaching staff followed, walking around the stadium, clapping for everyone who remained. As they headed towards the entrance to the lockers, a small crowd of men in suits came out. The coaching staff stopped in front of them, and there was a short discussion. There were handshakes and congratulations all around, and the coaching staff, still waving and clapping, headed inside. Before entering, Coach Schmidt turned around and called out, and the chairman turned around to look at him. Coach Schmidt raised his hand, and made the universal ‘spending money’ hand gesture, then turned and left, before he could see the chairman face go red with anger.
We only had two outs in the January transfer window. Joan Vallejo is a capable midfielder, but he wanted a new contract that guaranteed him First Team playing time. I countered with Squad Player, because up to this point that’s what he was, a very capable M(C)/DM player off the bench who could get the occasional start when players better than him needed a day off, but he wasn’t having it. I am not a babysitter, so out he went, for €1.1M.
BMG made an unsolicited offer for Federico González. He had a really good season last year, with 4 goals and 10 assists in 18 appearances, and at the halfway point this season had 5 goals and 3 assists in 11 games, he was part of a very good rotation, but he jumped at the chance to go to BMG. I couldn’t figure out why, until I saw they were already playing Europa League Ball, and he would be a full time starter there. FYI they lost in the Semi’s to Inter on aggregate, they have a very good team, and for a €7.75M fee, González joined them.
I did sign a bunch of youth players, a couple might have potential, but they are more to help the squads have more options so my younger players don’t get hurt. The Youth Intake this year was a great big bucket of “Meh”, it will be another year or two before I see some top talent coming thru.
The highlight in this series of matches is that we beat a full strength Bayern Squad. They had more shots on goal, but they also had more Yellow Cards, and were just off their game the entire match. I would have counted this seasons mostly successful if we had been relegated but beat Bayern on the way down. We’re reaching the point where mistakes are starting to catch up to them in a couple of years other teams will be challenging for first place. The only real disappointing result in this run of games was losing the Pokal to Hannover, only to turn around 5 days later and beat them. Annoying AF to say the least.
We went on a rampage in March, only to pay for it in April and May. We had the opportunity to finish 2nd, but let it slip thru our hands, which I am upset at. I can take some solace in the fact that BMG and Hoffenheim are both decent squads, and to be fair so is RB Leipzig, but 3rd is not 2nd, even though we came away with European Football and a lot of money.
The team, is still struggling to find its offensive identity, which is odd considering how well we did this year. Maclennan and Cezar each had 12 goals, Novotny led the team with 9 assists, and I had 15 players start at least 15 games. Maybe I am tinkering to much, and that’s affecting things? The enemy of ‘Very Good’ is perfect, and it seems I am not a fan of ‘Very Good’ lately. I still think we are a couple of players away from being better than ‘Very Good’, but the nice thing is, the club now has the money to spend, and as long as I spend it wisely, we’ll be playing European football for a long time to come.
“This club is going to give me a complex,” Klaus said.
“You sure it’s not the Indian food you had earlier disagreeing with you? Again?” Sasha asked.
“Christmas season got you down?” Heinrich added to the conversation, setting a tray full of beers down on the table and handling them out.
“We could win the League!” Klaus said.
“Not unless Bayern stumbles,” Sasha sighed. Heinrich gave her a bit of the side eye, Bayern was usually a curse word when she said it. “And with €220M Euros spent so far, I don’t see the tumbling anytime soon. Dammit.” She sighed, and drank down half a blass of beer.
“We could finish Second!” Klaus said.
“Shockingly, we are all OK with that,” Heinrich said.
“But what if-” Klaus started to say, until Paul, who was sitting next to him, wraped his arm around his neck and clamped a hand over his mouth.
“Think very carefully on what you are about to say, and then sit and theink of the consequences you will suffer should what you want to say come true. Ja?”
He purposely avoided looking at Sasha, she was throwing enough daggers in Klau’s direction he didn’t want to get hit by any more unfriendly fire than necessary.
“Next round is on Klaus!” Heinrich said, and the table responded with mostly cheers.
We aren’t doing anything really different formation wise this season. Any changes to the instructions have been minimal at best. I am playing a 4-2-1-2-1 formation that I started to use last seasons, and for whatever reason, that and the players I signed, the players I kept, and as good summer worth of training, have helped us get off to a very good start.
I didn’t put to much stock in our August games, with the exception of Eintracht they are all weaker teams than us, but it’s nice to see MacLennan hitting the ground running, and scoring. By all rights were should have lost that Eintracht game, because were simply better than us.
September is made me start to worry, if only because Hertha and HSV are not the best teams. On paper at least we are better than them, but for whatever reasons our defense was nonexistent against Hertha, and both offense and defense were lackluster in the Hamburg game. The Bayern game was a great game, until the 89th minute, when Benjamin Šeško scored to claw the draw back. We were absolutely dominating that match, but one defensive “Whoopsie” later I was chucking bottles at the guys.
The team responded, really well.
The good news is that we’re winning a lot of games. The bad news is that noone has really stepped up to be “Der Mensch”. While on one hand I abhor an offense where one player is responsible for 90% of the goals and assists, on the other hand it’s annoying to have yet another player step up and carry the team for a game or three. MacLennan appears to be trying to be the focal point of the the offense, but he’s to streaky at the moment, and the issue is I don’t know what games he’s going to show up for. When he doesn’t show up for games, Cezar or Novotony steps up, usually. And if they don’t, someone else does and our defense holds. It’s not a reliable plan, but its working. So Far.
The plan worked very well all of October, then not so much against a good Borussia Team and a horrible Mainz team. It was surprising to see Tenorio score against Werder, because he is more of a facilitator, but I suspect if I wanted to retrain him as a striker/attacker, he’d be pretty good, but right now he’s an excellent support player, and why take that away from him?
Leipzig bossed us, and while I could blame the three games in eight days thing, the fact is we were 6/2 with a .67 xG, and they were 13/6 with a 1.35. We tried playing keep away, with a 63% possession rate, but it didn’t work. We went into the short break strong though, and at midseason, are in 2nd place.
I am not sure how, or why, or how long it’s going to last, but I am pretty sure we are finishing top 6.
“Did he even stay a calendar year?” Sasha asked around a mouthful of food? The bar was actually a bit more crowded tonight, which was odd because there wasn’t a practice, there wasn’t a game, and the weather was nice. Noone seemed to mind too much.
“No, 330ish days,” Heinrich replied.
“Talking about Mirko leaving again, eh?” Klaus said sitting down, shaking hands with those around him.
“Yes,” sasha nodded.
“Mans a professional mercenary. Twenty Euros says he’s at Monaco less than a year.”
“Deal,” Heinrich and Sasha replied.
“You think he’d ever come back?”
“Coach would take him back in a heartbeat I bet,” Klaus said, thanking the waitress as she set a beer in front of him.
“Coach might, the board wouldn’t,” Heinrich said. The table stopped what tehy were doing and looked at him.
“Like you said, he’s a mercenary. Yes, I’ll admit his press conference he said all the right things, did all the right things, and Coach has nothing but good things to say about him, and none of the team speaks poorly of him either, but everyone knew this was going to be a short stay for him. If he had wanted to stay, he would have.” “So who’s the RUMINT to replace him?” Sasha asked.
“McClennan, from Lille,” Klaus replied.
“What?” Sasha asked around a mouthful of food, eyes wide open.
“Berg thinks he could be something, and he could be right. Look, he was never going to get playing time in Liverpool, not with Salah, and them Martinez and Nunez in front of him. He’s had some good loan spells-“ “Lille picked him up on a free, and he was mediocre for them last season,” Sasha said. “Whats French for mediocre?” she asked Heinrich.
“Shockingly, it’s mediocre,” he replied with a smile.
“Admittedly, after last season the board is a little wary about spending money,” Klaus said.
“Will they let him spend more next season when they finish top four?” Sasha asked, then stopped with a mouthful of food a few moments later when she saw everyone at the table staring at her.
“Seriously?” Heinrich asked.
In response, she reached inside her purse, opened up her wallet and pulled out a wad of Euro’s.
“Top 4, of Klaus shaves his beard,” she said with a smile.
“What-” Klaus started to say.
“Deal,” almost everyone else said, opening their own wallets to lay money down on the table.
A lot of frequent flyer miles spent scouting, new regions opened up, new scouts hired. and this window was one of the quieter ones, but not for lack of trying.
First in is a player who probably won’t be in Berlin at all this year, Jean Cedric Baffouman, from Excellence d’Adjamé in Cote d’Ivoire. He’s young, with good potential I think, but in order to get him to develop I think it would be better for him to go out on loan a few times and get some good first team playing time. As crowded as my midfielder is, I don’t think he would get it here.
Fabio Neiva is a versatile youngster, who is going to play primarily at D(L) for us, but they fact he can play anywhere on the backline is a huge plus for us. We had him on loan last year, and he did a good enough job for us that exercising his €4.5M fee was not a doubt.
Francis Koto I brought in for depth purposes more than anything else. A natural DM who can play D(C) and M(C) the only thing that bothers me is the fact that at 6’3″ tall, his heading ability is so poor.
With a huge transfer budget it was possible to spend €40-80M on a Striker, but I am always wary of doing that. In my experience, the difference between say a €10M Euro striker and a €60M Euro striker is reputation and what they have done at higher levels. Alexander Petrov is a prime example of finding a capable young striker for cheap, and hoping he develops. Did Tottenham make a mistake by buying him for €74M? To early to tell IMO, but it’s possible he doesn’t hit, and Tottenham is out that money. Now a Big 6 club like Tottenham can recover from a mistake like that every so often, but we can’t. So instead of spending €75M on a young striker with potential, we spent €8M on Dylan Maclennan, a 25 year old Irish international who I think can do a good job for us. If I do have a owrry about him, it’s his personality. Ambitious isn’t something you see on a regular basis, and it could be trouble down the road.
Rodolfo Herrera is the personification of ‘No Nonsense Center Back’, who is versatile enough to play fullback on either side if you don’t expect them to be bombing down the flanks. A bench player, I would feel comfortable for him starting games as needed, but in the meantime he provides experienced depth, which is what we need IMO.
Cezar is an interesting player, in that in looking at his attributes, he can be one of those players who in the right system scores 20+ goals and gets a handful of assists, or he will never crack the starting line up because he is not any better than any of the players you already have. I signed him to be a back up, because he is quite versatile up top, and as readers will know, I am a fan of a guy on the bench who can play multiple positions, and for €500K, he’s a bargain IMO.
On the OUTS, I don’t think there are any surprises here really.\
Santiago Barros had all the potential in the world, but despite the training and number of games he got on loan and on the II squad, he never got any better. Despite first team playing time back home in Uruguay and here, and despite being a stalwart of the II squad, despite all the training, he never improved. Could be a bug, could be a PBKAC error on my end, but I don’t think he will be long for Derby really.
Vfl Osnabruck wanted to give me €79K for Roger Puigvert, who I picked up for depth reasons for the youth squad. He will never be a starter here, and I couldn’t click fast enough to send him out.
Eesa Quigley is a good player, and had some very good games for us. The problem is he is at best maybe a 125 PA player, and he wants first team playing time. I countered with a squad contract, he declined, I put him out there, and Bayer snapped him up. If we were in the Bundesliga 2 I have no doubt he would be a dominant Striker there, but he’s just not good enough to be one in the Bundesliga. He could prove me wrong of course, but that’s a risk I am willing to take.
Iacopo Zappasodi and Josue Levy were the odd men out in the rotation, players who are good enough to get the occasional start and bench appearance, and that’s about it. Now, my rule is if a player comes to me and wants to go out on loan to get some first team playing time, as long as they haven’t been an idiot (IE getting a ton of cards, or coming to me demanding a Star Player contract when they are clearly not a Star Player, I will do what I can to send them out on loan, if only because it increases their visibility and the opportunities for me to move them on later.
I am confident about this season, the more I look into last season, when I don’t get nauseous I think we just had a run of bad luck that even Job would be like “Dude, sucks to be you.” I think a top 6 finish is well within our reach. It will be a few years and transfer windows before we are challenging for the top spot though, but this year I feel good about.
Or that could be the Chinese food talking back to me…
Coach Nicholas Schmidt and BFC Dynamo have exceeded expectations for the better part of a decade. A meteoric rise from the RegionalLiga to the Bundesliga, European Conference Football this season, a good nucleus of of players, a system that has been in place for a few years now set the table for the club to vie for yet more European Football next season.
Instead they finished in 13th place, on 35 points, and if not for some historically poor performances by Hannover and Stuttgart, might have been in a relegation fight. In fact, if not for a November-December run where they won 4 games, drew 2 and lost two, the season would have been in doubt.
Where did it go wrong?
We can’t take issue with the transfer window, given the teams performance last season it was inevitable that several good young players would leave, just as it was inevitable that finding replacements for them would be very hard, even with a large transfer budget. For all of their success, BFC Dynamo is still seen by many as a ‘Second Tier” club, and has long been regarded as a stepping stone club for many players. See Mirko Tulli as the latest example of this.
Coach Schmidt and his team play it off as a string of bad luck. Key injuries at bad times, the failure to close out games (Tel scoring in the 85th minute to claw the draw back is a prime example of this), and the fact that several good players, Tiozzo, Ouassli, Lobo, all had “below average’ seasons based on previous performances.
I think we can ascribe the 32/32 season to the following: There was no one over arching reason the team did not perform to expectations, but a of of small reasons, that when taken individually shouldn’t matter that much, but when considered in aggregate, led the team to where they finished.
I do not think it is anything to worry about.
But if it happens again next season…
-Excerpts from “Stumbling Forward, a Season in Review” By Paul Schimmerman, Berlin Football Daily.
This was the sort of season everyone was expecting us to have almost every season up to now. It was painful to watch, painful to play, and painful not to go in an tinker and tweak and try out stuff “Just Because”, because doing that always -ALWAYS- makes things worse.
The transfer window was quiet, the only out was Christopher Essomba, my promising young wingback. I was in the midst of signing him to a new contract when Borussia Dortmund swept in with a €16.75M offer, and off he went, which really stinks, because I think he has a very high potential and a good future ahead of him, and I’d rather not see it play out in the same League I am in.
On the in’s, I did a lot of window shopping, but I am not one of those managers that needs to spend money if I have it, even if I am going to lose some of it before the next window.
Galatasary listed Emre Akkaş for loan, and with some of the injuries I had he seemed to be a good fit. He does have some weaknesses in his game, yes, but his positional flexibility and many of his other attributes should be enough to offset those.
I have high hopes for Jeppe Vinterberg, but not a screenshot unfortunately. He possesses above average Agility and quickness, is a very good passer, with above average ball control and crossing ability, and very good in the finaly third as well. He can’t defend worth a lick, but as a winger he doesn’t need too. I think he could be a top flight player, and the price we got him for was a steal. Then in February he dislocated his hip in practice…
With Essomba leaving I needed some quality depth at WB, and PSG made Martime Fernandes available. He’s a bit older, but that’s not a knock against him in the least. He’s Above Average attributes in everything but set pieces and finishing, and he’s a more than capable crosser as well. a 4 star CA/PA player for €13.75M? What’s not to like about that?
The one thing that will make you physically ill was the second half of the season:
The only real accomplishment the second half was beatring BMG, because they were a solid team and finsihed 7th. Maybe getting a draw with BAyern can be called a ‘victory’ because we didn’t lose, but we should have. In past seasons our defense was strong enough to keep us close, this season it was just…bleg…
I knew we were in for a hectic last four weeks when we couldn’t even beat Hannover and Union, and they were awful this season. But we managed a 13th place finish. Which after last season’s success id a big let down.
Player wise, Mirko Tulli was everything advertised, leading the club in goals and assists, and he was already getting offers in the January transfer window. Some team will come and make an offer for him and he’ll be gone soon I bet.
Quigley had a decent season, but its become obvious we need to get better at his position. Carlos Tenorio came in the January window, and he didn’t get a lot of playing time but when he did…whoa. And for his first season between the sticks, Popovich was solid.
The rest of the club was…mediocre, as befitting our season:
And as always, the youth intake was very “Meh.”
Next season I think is going to be interesting. We need to be prepared to lose Mirko, which means a new striker, and while we have a fairly good budget, and I suspect when we sell some players that number will get higher, I am not sure we can buy our way into success.
No, this year was an aberration, a blip, a whoopsie, whatever you want to call it. Next year we will be back, fighting for midtable.
“A Toast!” Uwe said, holding up his beer, and everyone followed, although more than a few of them spilled.
“To Hannover, to Stuttgart, and to Union Berlin!” HE said, leaning over and making a ‘ptui1’ noise towards the floor. “Thank god you are all in the Bundesliga this year, or we’d be in a relegation fight!”
“It’s like we spent all that money for nothing,” Heinrich said.
“But, European football!” said Klaus, who was on the wrong side of sober.
“Big. Deal,” replied Ulrich.
“Tulli is pretty good though, isn’t he?” asked Richard.
“Shame he won’t be here past the summer trasnsfer window?”
“Why wouldn’t he be?” Erick asked “Why would he be?” replied Sasha, lifting her head up from the table. “We all knew before he signed he was going to be here short term.”
“But a year?” asked Heinrich.
“Still longer than any relationship you’ve been in,” Sasha mumbled, laying her head back down on the table. She didn’t see Klaus reach over and stop Heinrich from knocking her on the head.
“Any ideas on the January transfers?”
“Sell them all, start from scratch,” Sasha mumbled.
“No more beer for her,” Ulrich said, sighing.
It’s then end of December, and JFC have we taken a huge step backwards. I don’t know if it’s because a lot of the team in new and has yet to gel together, if its the FM Gods toying with me or what, but in the Immortal Words of Bart Simpson:
The season actually got off to an OK start:
The good news about playing in th Conference League is that it’s European Football, the bad news is that the luck of the draw can really bite you in the ass early, and thats what happened to us. Beşiktaş is a solid squad, but on the whole our squad is better than theirs, and it showed. Yes, it took a 91st Tulli goal to beat them in the first game, but the second game was solid.
Then we drew Aston Villa, a club who outclasses us almost everywhere, and it showed just how far we have to go to be competitive at the upper levels of European football. The wins at Stuttgart and Werder were nice, and the September hit and the team just just enough to make me think we could pull out a few more draws.
It’s not the fact that we went 1-5-2 in September and October, it’s that our goal differential was -7. From a player point of view, defense is supposed to be a strength pf the squad, and we are giving up way too many cheap goals. And it’s not all Popovic’s fault, when two of my defenders cant agree who’s covering the attacking forward so neither of them does and he runs between them unimpeded, I can’t blame the keep for not making the save.
Sure, the Quigley Hat Trick against Hoffenheim was nice, but it was 4-1 at the half in that game. Against Hertha, Augsburg, BMG and Main we were just…lackluster and listless. They Bayern game looks good, but we were down 3-0 after 109 minutes and 4-0 after 24, and Heidenheim took us to penalty kicks in the Pokal…Penalty kicks.
This looks good, but its really kinda mid:
Beating a solid Wolfsburg team is nice, but Hannover and Union are both horrible this seasons, and it took a 91st minute goal for us to beat Union. then it took extra time, again, for us to beat Nurnberg. That and them having a man sent off in the 103rd minute…
Eintracht clawed the draw back in the 91st minute because three of my defenders though Savioli’s ball dribbling skills were binge worthy, and watching him was more important than defending him…
Against HSV everyone was just…ready for break, so not only did I throw a lot of bottle and do a lot of yelling, I changed the schedule so everyone was doing a ton of fitness work, and the guys responded with a 4-2 win against Bayer, and I thought maybe I had turned the corner with the team but it turns out I was just out of bottles to throw because a week later we were bossed by a very good Freiburg squad, and we went into the Christmas break well below midtable.
Now, I was expecting us to drop off a little after last season, but this, this is freacking ridiculous, and to be honest if it weren’t for the fact I am a popular coach with a good record at the club, I’m sure more people would be calling for me to get fired.
We need to turn it around the second half, but I don’t think this hole is something I can spend our way out of…
The windows closed, what’s the grade? A look at BFC Dynamo, by Karl Hausser
BFC Dynamo have built up a reputation this past ten years as the “Little Team That Could”. From a RegionalLiga club with poor finances that were compounded by an inexplicable decision by management at the time to build a new stadium, to a 3. Liga and Bundesliga 2 club whose finances were a bit more secure but whose spending was always on the thrifty side, many fans were hoping that after they survived their initial foray into the Bundesliga the club would turn around and start reinvesting some of their newfound riches, especially as it appears the club is trying to transition itself from being a stepping stone club to one players will want to join and stay long term. Supplementing these players would be those found by the clubs scouting department, one which is very under rated by others in this reporters opinion. The club has always been careful in the transfer window, and what risks they have taken in the past have been well calculated and prepared.
OUTS
If there is one thing to be said in the clubs defense, it is that they received value for every player sold, especially in the case of Dragan Pavlovic, as Sheffield’s numerous attempts to unsettle the player and club by not meeting his contracts release clause were turned aside and he ended up leaving for €24.5M.
And with Pep Guardiola and Tottenham making it known that Aleksandar Petrov was their primary target,, the young Bulgarian striker leaving for €74M is a very good deal for both teams.
Lamine Injai and Gabrijel Rukavina were key to the club getting promoted, but it has been apparent for a season at least that the Bundesliga is a step beyond their capabilities. Mohammed Mehri, an early success story of the Dynamo youth system product, is a very good example of how to conduct oneself on and off the field, but if we are to be honest his only season as a started in the Bundesliga was so bad he didn’t see the bench for the next two seasons. Although some domestic clubs were interested, he preferred to move back to Iran, to be closer to family.
Abdelkader Nasri was part of a crowded midfield, but the Algerian international had obviously made a big enough impression on RB Salzburg that they made an unsolicited €7.5M offer, one that was quickly accepted by the club. Given the depth the team has at the positions Nasri plays, losing him would not be a big concern, but BMG swooping in to get Vladimir Camara to join for €7M makes one of the clubs strengths a question in the reporters opinion.
Matteo Anelli could not adapt to Coach Schmidt’s offense, and his performance in the league last season was marred by the numerous yellows, one red card, and several defensive mistakes that if he had stayed, would ensure he would not see a lot of playing time. He asked to leave, and Dynao agreed, helping facilitate the move to Salernitana.
Several players also left on loan, many in an effort to get them more playing time to develop. Clermonts offer for Mpho Mathenjwa was at first rebuffed, until the striker told them he would prefer to play in France and develop some more, Clermont stepping up to cover more of the players salary certainly helped as well. Fan favorite Sebastiano Esposito left on loan to Motherwell, and given this is the last year of his contract it is highly unlikely we will see him in Dynamo Red and Brown again. While his first two seasons in the Bundeliga with the club were very solid, the devestating hip injury he suffered last season has clearly robbed the young Italian of a step, and with several promising youngsters behind him, there was little guarantee he would see the pitch here in Berlin.
The deadline deal for Sergio Gonzalez took everyone by surprise. The promising young Chilean international had transitioned quite well to his role as a D(c), and had already performed quite well in the first four games of the season. Dynamo may have been able to fight of Stefano Pioli’s first offer, but once Gonzalalez’s release clause was met, there was little Dynamo could do to keep the talented youngster from leaving.
INS:
The expected spending spree however, has yet to occur, but that just means Dynamo has been doing “Dynamo Things’ as fans like to say. Scout hard, scout often, spend wisely. And in this reporters opinion, for the most part, they have.
Day 1 of the Transfer window opening signing Antonio Borani and Roger Puigvert are youth players with potential, whether or not they reach that is up to them, but they are both in the “Low Risk – High Reward” category. More intriguing is the signing of young Malian international Defensive Back Mantene Sountoura, who brings an intriguing set of skills to the table, and who development potential is very high in many peoples opinions.
Iaccopo Zappasodi, Mounir el Ouassli,Josue Levy and Gilberto Olivera are all low risk signings by the club, signed to fill needs at depth and to bring compeition to positions. Of those four, El Ouassli will probably see the most playing time this year ion the midfield, the Algerian DLP by way of Porto brings a very deft touch, good passing technique and ball control skills to the pitch. Keeper Olivera is solid enough between the sticks, but I am not sure he is an upper tier sort of keeper. However should something happen to young Jakov Popovic, the young Croatian international who will mostly likely be Pavlovics successor, Olivera should be able to hold the line. The Young Belgian Keeper is capable, and I do not doubt the team would win games with him wearing the gloves, but I also do not think he is the long term answer in goal.
The clubs first big money signing of the window left many, including this reporter, in shock. Mirko Tulli, the young…mecurial forward had signed with Inter from Cremonese to be a starter, but with Nicolas Jackson, Wahid Faghir and Goncalo Ramos having a lock in Simeone’s 5-3-2 formation, Tulli was often left on the bench, eventually falling out with the club. Tulli is a talented player, anyone with a modicum of football knowledge can see that, but Inter’s demands for the youngster were sky high, pricing him out of most teams budgets, and Inter went even further by not allowing the youngster to go out on loan. Things finally came to a head at the end of the 31/32 season, when Tulli announced he would not resign a new contract with the club, leaving on a free. Inters initial transfer fee was still sky high, but once the club realized the price they put on the player was keeping him in Milan, where he would soon leave on a free, they lowered their asking price, and the offers came flooding in.
Noone expected him to sign with Dynamo, and after he did, noone expects him to stay beyond the January transfer window of next season. Why did Tulli sign with Berlin and not one of the other 20 plus teams chasing after him? If his comments after the contract signing are to be believed:
“Coach was honest with me. How could I tell? Let me tell you, after listening to everything that REDACTED REDACTED Simeone said to me my five years in Milan, I know when a person is telling me the truth and when they are REDACTED Lying. Coach Schmidt and I met, he said ‘Petrov is going to sign with Tottenham, for big money. I need a forward who can score goals, be professional on and off the field, and start at least 30 games for me this season. You go out, you do that, maybe a bigger team comes after you, and if you want to leave, fine. But be a good player, be a good teammate, and everything will work out. You do right by me, I will do right by you.’ That REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED Simeone, 5 years he tell me “You will be doing this, you will be playing here, scoring from there, when I am not getting splinters in my REDACTED from sitting on the bench, Simeone is down one one knee kissing my ass making me promises with his sweet REDACTED talk, and I’m sorry, you want to REDACTED Mirko, you need to buy me a good dinner with some good REDACTED wine first. Coach Schmidt, treated me like a player, and a man. I REDACTED REDACTED respect that.”
Ognjen Vojvodic is the sort of player Coach Schmidt loves to sign: versatile, capable, and fairly cheap given this years market. The Serbian Defensive back will see a good amount of playing time this year.
American International Christian Doughty is the tall, imposing aerial defender Palace has been lacking these past couple of seasons. After signing with Palace the Florida native could never crack the starting lineup, but with the likes of Anderson, Kristensen, and Nelsson there, it’s easier to understand why. Dought did get plenty of playing time in other competition, a loan spell at Bristol City was good; but it was his spells at Braunschweig and Schalke from 29-31 that put his on most Germans radars, including Coach Schmidt.
Leo Marques is likewise another player that checks off many of the things Coach Schmidt likes, the Portugeuse defender can play either side opf the defense, and while I wish he would be a little more aggressive in his playstyle, he is still a very solid defender.
Fabio Neiva from Braga is a very similar player, except he is more versatile in the positions he can play. The young Portuguese international appears to have a very high ceiling, one which Dynamo could help him reach should they exercise the €4.5M optional fee in his loan agreement.
The signing of the offseason however, may be the one player that has been overlooked by many, and that is the young Ecuadorian AM(C) Carlos Tenorio. The player was signed and immediately loaned back to Alianza to finish the season there, but it appears that the BFC scouting department has once again found a diamond in the rough who could develop into one of the better Advanced Midfielders out there.
All told, BFC has sold €130M and bought €54M worth of players. On paper, is the club better? Yes. On the field, that remains to be seen. For the most part, many of the player moves are swaps: Petrov for Tulli, Camara for Doughty, and so on, but in spending that much money, even taking into account what and whom they sold, unless they finish as high or higher than they did last season, will it have been worth it?
The door to the conference room opened, but only a few people inside stood as he walked in. Today was a casual day, slacks, nice shirt sports coat. He took a seat at the end of the table, and poured himself a glass of water. “The answer,” he said, after taking a drink, “To your first question, is no, I haven’t decided yet. Herr van Delen was nice enough to give me a few days to consider.” “Is it about money?” Rudolf Schneider asked. “Yes, but not in the way many of you believe,” he replied, taking another drink of water. “I have a contract, I just signed it, I am willing to honor it, and in the future, taking into consideration the direction the team is going, I am willing to sign a new contract with similar terms. Any articles you have seen, read or watched was not put out by me.” He said the last part looking at one of the men sitting in the back, a member of Hans Biermanns communications team at his construction company. The young man looked at him briefly, then glanced away. “I have said it before, I will say it again, and if you do not believe me, I am not going to waste any more effort. We need to spend money. Smartly. This Schwabian Grandmother attitude of taking everything we get and sticking 30% of it in the savings account while only spending the remaining 30% we have left will endure us years of mid to lower table mediocrity, with the occasional European Conference League appearance. We will become a turnstyle club, young players will come here for low money, they stay a few years at best, improve, we move them on for big money, which we then sit on and do not improve the club with, with no gaurentees that we stay up either.. That’s not the sort of team I want to coach, I’m sorry, but there it is.” The table was quiet. “I am committed to the long term success of this club,” Nicholas said, finishing his water. “It just seems some of us have a different definition of what success means to us.” “Can you promise European football next year?” A board member asked. “No. If anything we will fall off to midtable.” This was met by a series shocked faces and noises. Nicholas filled his glass again and took a drink. “Aleksander Petrov is leaving, probably for Tottenham, because he wants to play for Pep and play European football, that is a higher level of European football. Teams are asking about Dragan and Christopher, and I suspect Sergio is going to get offers as well. That’s our Star Forward, Keeper, our left wingback, and our right wingback, for starters. And right now I get 25% of whatever I move them for, on top of the €20M you were…generous with.” “Are you saying you can’t work with that budget?” “Not at all,” Nicholas said. “I’ve proven in the past I can work and succeed on a shoestring. The problem is this is the Bundesliga. If you want to stay here and achieve great things we need to spend, smartly.” “So you can’t work with the budget,” Biermann said. “You misheard me,” Nicholas said, sitting back. “It’s not that I can’t work with this budget, it’s that I won’t.” The room exploded, angry voices trying to outdo each other. The loud “SMACK!” of the hand hitting the table silenced everyone, and caused more than a few people to drink. “Enough with this childish bickering,” Klaus said. The outgoing President of the Supporters club was one of the few still sitting down. “You all are worse than my grand kids, and all three of them are younger than four.” He started to cough, and pulled out a handkerchief and spent more than a few seconds with it held to his mouth. “This club has come a long ways in nearly ten years. If you had told me we would be in the Bundesliga, I would have died a happy fan. Now we are in the Bundesliga, we are a rising club in Europe, and we seem to be afraid of success. Why?” He coughed again and looked around the table. “We have one of the best young coaches in the game, who could have left of at anytime in the past decade for greener pastures. We have had success in the Bundesliga, we are playing European football this season, and yet for some reason we hedge our bets against future failure? What good will this huge balance do us in Bundesliga 2? In 3.Liga? And he says to us all that we need to be smart, to not overspend, to not become another Kaiserslautern, or 1860 Munchen. Why are we fighting him on this? It certainly isn’t greed, is it?” He looked around the room, and more than a few people avoided his look. “Coach,” he said. “Nicholas…Nikki.” He smiled, somewhat paternally at the younger man. “I do not know why you have stayed with this club for as long as you have, why you have turned down the opportunities that have come your way as a result of how well you have guided the team so far. Before this meeting, the Supporters Club had one of its own, and I’ve been asked to tell you that you should take Ajax’s offer, and go work for a club that will appreciate your hard work, work with you hand in glove, and reward your efforts. We will not hold you responsible for leaving. Its obvious to us that this current board has no desire to do that,” he stopped talking for a moment, which is why tomorrow the Supporters Club will put forward a No Confidence Motion before the rest of the teams ownership. I suspect it will pass.” Nicholas sat up like had touched a bare wire, he was not the only one, the meeting descended into shouting and screaming. It came to a crashing halt when Klaus started coughing blood into his handkerchief, and collapsed on the floor.
It was what his dad used to call “Typical East German Weather”, dull grey, streaked with rain, and chilly without being cold. The funeral was supposed to be a quiet affair, but when you had been the Supporters club president for almost fifteen years, “Friends and Family” took on a whole new meeting. There were few eulogies, but it was gratifying to see almost every player had shown up to pay their respects, including most of those who had been on vacation. He had sat in the front, as was expected, but as the crowd began to thin out, after hugging Joanna and Hannah and a few others, he sat, until he was by himself. The rain was barely noticeable, just enough to be annoying, but he didn’t care. Standing up and stuffing his hands in his pockets, he walked down the headstones for a little bit, feet taking him on a path they knew well. He took a few moments to clear the leaves and other detritus away from the headstones, kneeling down and wiping the dirt of his mothers with his hand. “Hi Coach,” he heard a voice say quietly. He turned around, and saw Sasha and Ulrich standing there. He nodded. “Sorry to interrupt,” Ulrich said, but Nicholas waved that away. “Your parents?” Ulrich asked quietly, and he replied with a nod. “We are on the way to talk to mine,” Sasha said. She pointed in a direction but Nicholas didn’t look. “I come every couple of weeks to get them caught up on all things Dynamo,” she said. “All things?” Nicholas said, looking at her and smiling. Ulrich covered his mouth, trying to hide a laugh that he turned into a cough. “Yes, Coach-” she stopped talking when Nicholas held a hand up. “Here, it’s Nicholas, OK?” They both nodded. “I suspect we’ve crossed paths before here, but-” “Boundaries, Coach, I mean..Nicholas,” Sasha replied. He nodded. “How long has it been since you talked to them?” he asked, standing back up. “Couple of weeks,” Ulrich replied. “Lets go say Hello then, shall we?” Nicholas said, gesturing for them to lead the way.
It was a short distance, in which Nicholas found out Ulrich and Sasha were first cousins, their dads were brothers, both of whom were still alive, and Hertha fans apparently. Sasha looked like she was going to be physically ill mentioning it, but swallowed her pride and pronounced it like it wasn’t a curse word. “Did you know Klaus was sick?” he asked them as they walked along the path. “We knew something was up when he announced he was stepping down,” Ulrich said. “My understanding from talking to his wife was that he went to the doctor about eight weeks ago complaining about having a cold, and they found out it was Stage Four Lung cancer.” Nicholas nodded, and they were quiet until they got to a family plot. Nicholas stood aside as they others did their own maintenance on the area, then after listening to Sasha talk for a minute, to tell them about Klaus, she mentioned she had a special guest. He stepped forward, and introduced himself. “Hello, my name is Nicholas Schmidt.. You may know me as one of the two gentlemen who bailed your two daughter and nephew out of jail,” he said with a smile, turning around to see both Sasha and Ulrich looking anywhere but him. “I am the head coach of BFC Dynamo, and your grandchildren you were fans of the club as well, in fact some of their earliest memories were watching games at the old stadium. “If they have been keeping you up to date, you know there has been a bit of turmoil at the club lately. Our friend Klaus, who you will meet, if you haven’t already, can fill you in on the details. I’ve already told my biggest fans the news, but I thought maybe sharing it with you would be appropriate as well, for as much headaches as they’ve given Klaus and I thru the years, they are the best group of Ultras a club could have.” He turned and looked at Ulrich and Sasha. “Before the funeral, I called Chairman van Dalen, and told him I couldn’t accept his offer to join Ajax.” He expected the happy scream from Sasha. He didn’t expect Ulrich to faint.
The plan, like all plans, was not the same at the end as it was at the beginning. We were solidly midtable, and while we made some moves in the transfer window, I spent more time fighting off transfers for my players, Petrov in particular, than I did scouting and signing.
Unfortunately, I do not have screenshot of the players I signed, and I do not have a save file for this season (PBKAC error on my part), but I can give a recap of each one.
Joan Vallejo is a depth signing, at €1.6M he provides a solid backup option at both the M(C) and DM spots. If he were better off the ball and dribbling, he’d be a very good AM, as it is he has better than average Technique, Movement, and Passing skills, and excellent first touch. He’s probably not going to improve that much, but that’s OK, as he is a very serviceable DLP in my opinion.
Juan Ayala is similar, but he can play AM(C), with Excellent Technique, good Movement, Ball Control and FInal Third skills, his excellent Decision making compensates for his lack of positioning, and his Endurance ill probably never be more than average. Of the two, Ayala will probably get more playing time, but they would be a solid midfield duo for most non top flight clubs IMO.
Alexis Portocarrero is an AM/M everywhere player. Excellent Technique, good in the Final Third, decent Positioning, and with Excellent Ball COntrol, Movement and Passing attributes, he also has very good endurance attributes. My only quibble with him, and it’s a big one, is that he tries to Play his way out of trouble way too often, which against lesser opponents in the 3 Liga and Bundesliga 2 he could get away with, but not so much in the top flight.
On the outs, Teden Mengi wanted a new contract. He thought he was a Full Time starter, and maybe a couple of seasons ago he was, but I saw him as more of a bench player. He disagreed, and now he’s playing the MLS at LAFC.
Teams started coming after Aleksandar Petrov before the January break, but I was bound and determined to hold onto him, and eventually we did. Although to be honest when Tottenham HC Pep Guardiola (!) announced they were interested in him, any hopes of signing him to a new long term contract went out the window. But Petrov took the interest to heart, and decided that if a few teams were going to go out of their way to take a look at him, he was going to get all the teams interested in him, and he did.
The RB Leipzig game wasn’t as close as it looks, goals in the 89th and 94th minute were the result of Leipzig being lackadaisical than our good fortune. Petrov’s Hat Trick at Hoffenheim, goal at Wolsfburg, and effort in the loss against Wolfsburg were noticed by more than a few people, the news feed was p[populated with messages about coach so and so from Big Team in Big League watching.
February was very good, although we had to claw the draw back against Stuttgart, good wins at Werder and Hertha were very nice, especially as Espositio came back from his hip injury and looked to pick up from where he left off. Scoring the equalizer as well against Bayer, I thought maybe he was back for sure, and wouldn’t be suffering from any sort of drop off as a result of his injury, but I was wrong.
March was Petrovs, a brace against Frieburg, the last coming in the 92nd minute to claw the draw back, and in the loss at Mainz put him well ahead of everyone else on the team in terms of scoring. I rested him against Braunschweig, but Quigley and Tiozzo picked up where he had left off.
At this point, we had been flirting with 5th place, but we had a tough schedule coming up, and my goal was to qualify for European football.
The losses at Dortmund and Bayern proved we still have a ways to go before competing at the top level, and while the draw at Frankfurt was nice, we didn’t deserve to win the game at Union. Hell, we didn’t even deserve to draw we played that poorly, but we did. The victory at Koln secured us 7th place, so I played a very rotated side against Hamburg, and it showed.
The other piece of good news was that the teams training facilities were finally upgraded, the bad news was it took me almost resigning to get the to do that…
So we qualified for European Football, and the board rewarded me with a €42M p/a payroll and a €21M transfer budget…The bad/good news in all of this is that some of the youngsters I have are going to be moving, Petrov in particular could being in well over €40M, and we get most of that back.
On one hand, that’s good, but on the other hand, that’s bad because as you can see Petrov was our primary goal scorer. And on the Gripping Hand (IYKYK) while Tiozzo and Quigley are capable players, I can’t rely on them to be the focal point of an attack against better squads. Especially as Esposito lost a step and a half due to his hip injury, and Rukavina is not a Bundeliga level player in this iteration of the game. I have a lot of good young players with potential, but giving them playing time here is an iffy proposition because I don’t want to be relegated any more than any other team does, but were hamstringed by the club because out two affiliates at the moment are both RegionaLiga teams, and all of my players are too good to play at that level, and lately when I do send them out on loan to clubs outsider the country, then end up playing out of position, or not at all.
But we still need improvements to the club, especially if we want to attract and keep better quality players. There’s going to be a decent amount of change next year at the club, some of it intentional. The question is will we qualify for European football again? The answer is most likely no.
His jaw hurt, a sign he had been grinding his teeth more lately. He had avoided going to the bar, because not only was it becoming too crowded, there were to many non supporters hanging out there for his tastes. There was talk of making it a members only place, but there were a lot of hoops, legal and otherwise that d to be jumped thru in order to make that happen. As it was he was pretty much done talking to the board face to face. At the moment, noone outside the organization was aware of it, but if people knew he and the board weren’t getting along,
He was sitting on the balcony, enjoying a drink, watching the evening sky, when his phone buzzed. He looked at it, a message from his agent.
KLAUS: YOU ARE GOING TO GET A PHONE CALL IN ABOUT 5 MINUTES. DO US A FAVOR AND AT LEAST PICK IT UP AND LISTEN?
Sighing, Nicholas was still debating a response when it rang. He didn’t recognize the number, but that didn’t stop it from answering.
“Hello?”
“Hi, is this Nicholas Schmidt, Head Coach of BFC Dynamo?” The voice on the other end of the line was surprisingly cheerful for the lateness of the hour.
“It is.”
“Good,” the voice on the other end said. “My name is Rens van Dalen, I’m the Chairman of the board of Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax, and was wondering if I could have a few minutes of your time?”
THE FOOTBALL MANAGER BLOG OF FM_JELLICO 