Vyzas: Nothing But A Dream

*click*
5 Unread emails? Hmm...wonder what they’re about…
Penis Enlargement - deleted
A wealthy Nigerian banker - deleted
BBC News update - I’ll read that later
“14 of your friends have joined Instagram” - Deleted; who cares?!
AGS Vyzas Megaron request your presence - Dele- wait, what?!


Dear Mr Myron,


Further to your speculative application for a job at our club, we would like to invite you to run a training session with our club tomorrow; consider it a trial. Should this go well, we would be delighted to offer you a job, with the aim of rebuilding this side. In terms of the deal offered, we are offering a 1 year contract, with a weekly wage of £500. Additionally, should you avoid relegation, we can offer you a bonus of £2,500.

We look forward to your visit

Kind Regards
Konstantinos Kossyvakis
Vyzas Chairman

Well...that’s certainly a turn up for the books...i’d applied speculatively for a job at Vyzas, arguably the worst team in the Greek 2nd division, after the rumours surrounding Goutis’ future, but he’d stayed put...until now, seemingly.


It wasn’t an application out of the blue though, i’ve been involved in football all my life, managing school teams, running youth summer camps, cleaning boots, more or less every job there is since i hung my boots up at the tender age of 19, and went for some coaching badges.


Grinning, i printed the email, folded it neatly into an envelope, and laid it on my bedside table, ready for tomorrow, and then e-mailed the club back, saying i’d be happy to attend tomorrow, and i’d see them bright and early.

Nice start man!

That night, sleep was not something which came easily. The shadows cast on the walls taunted me, flickering with the broken streetlamp outside my apartment. The faint light cast by my television was usually subtle, but tonight seemed glaring, unrelenting, as if trying to expose the frailty of my dream.

My dream. To manage a football club. To lift league titles, cup trophies, even European Cups. Even now, I wasn't sure I'd show up tomorrow, at Vyzas, the worst team in Greece...but even the worst teams can become the best, with enough effort, enough love...enough luck.

As I lay on my bed, with sleep still eluding me, my mind wandered, took me back to the day my entire footballing career fell apart. In fact, it didn't even fall. It was ripped apart.
Playing for PAOK, only my second senior appearance for the club, I broke away from the opposition defence, barelling down the left wing. I could feel their right-back catching me up, and I was ready to cut acros him and into the box. But suddenly, I felt his studs in the back of my leg, and a searing pain in my knee. I hit the deck instantly, lying there for what felt like an age. The crowd were silent for a second, before erupting into anger, determined that this hulking right-back be sent off for injuring me. Nobody knew how serious it was.

At the hospital, I lay in my bed quietly, as nurses and doctors went backwards and forwards, and the club's physio was getting visibly irate. I knew it was bad. The doctor came over, several hours later, shaking his head. I looked up at him, knowing what was coming...

"You'll make a full recovery, but you won't play professional football again...i'm sorry"

That one sentence. That sentence ended me, there and then. One bad challenge...a challenge that wasn't even malicious, just mis-timed and heavy, had ended my entire career...What was I meant to do?!

Nice read xD Enjoyed the first section

Josh Thanks buddy
Denzy: Thanks I'm enjoying this already, plus I can update and Uni with thoughts and stuff, rather than having to wait till im home

Lets hope you are planning on sticking to this story. Good luck.

TodayAtTomorrow : That night, sleep was not something which came easily. The shadows cast on the walls taunted me, flickering with the broken streetlamp outside my apartment. The faint light cast by my television was usually subtle, but tonight seemed glaring, unrelenting, as if trying to expose the frailty of my dream.

For a second I was afraid I was reading «Fifty shades of Greek football»

Nice start, I Will be reading.

James:I am indeed; it's something i've been playing for a wee while, been planning it too; got to start it as my Barca Save corrupted, so i'll be switching between this, Liverpool and Scotland

Northwood: Not a chance; I can't stand 50 shades of grey thanks man

12 Months. 12 months of physio, near-constant pain, and sitting on the sidelines watching my team-mates train and play. I was no longer on the club's books; my contract ran out a month after that tackle, but I still wanted to be involved.

Once I could walk normally (ish), and get around easily, I plucked up the courage to ask our academy director about maybe helping out with the younger kids, for something to do, and a possible route back into the game. He shrugged; it wasn't going to hurt to have a former player helping around the academy, and i'd always had quite a bright mind tactically. I started working my way through my coaching badges and worked my way up the age-groups in the academy too.

Even at that, PAOK couldn't give me a full-time job in their academy; the money just wasn't there, so I ended up with a full time, Monday-Friday, 9-5 job in one of the banks in Athens, and everything was good for a good few years. I kept working through my coaching badges, picking up experience with Sunday-League and Semi-Pro clubs, and eventually got myself a UEFA Pro Licence, although I didn't think it would ever come to anything

And then the Economy went. People were being made redundant left, right and centre, and I was one of the ones cut loose...with the lease running out on my apartment, and little to no money in the bank for food or anything else, i'd sent my application in to Vyzas, purely on the off-chance. They're a tiny, tiny club, at the very bottom of our professional leagues, but it's a job, and it's doing something I love...

After a night of broken sleep,I arrived at the Vyzas training ground early on the Tuesday morning, and the sight that greeted me was nothing like I was expecting...only half the squad were there, 5 minutes before training was due to kick off, and they looked like a bunch of prisoners; there because they had to be, not because they wanted to be. This wasn't going to do.

Two sharp blasts on my whistle later, they shambled towards me like something out of a cheap zombie film, slow, defeated, looking like they'd rather be anywhere than here.
What is wrong with you lot?! You look like something out of a horror movie! Where's your passion!?
I was less than impressed. They looked around at each other. A couple of them shuffled their feet, but they all remained silent.
If someone doesn't talk, you'll be doing laps until someone tells me whats wrong...

22 year old Ierotheos Maziotis, a product of the Vyzas youth system who returned to the club this season, piped up; Well...this club's never won a competition in it's history...none of us know how it feels to be anything other than this league's whipping boys when we've worn these shirts...It's tiring, and we're fed up.

Well...At least there were words...I can work with players who talk to me...although what they're saying isn't the most encouraging...

So is that the general feeling? Who here genuinely thinks we're not good enough to make it in this league?

A good 5 or 6 players reluctantly raised their hands...not good...but then 19 year old Kostas Klapis, one of the brightest talents in the team cut across the murmors: “Why can’t we be this season’s surprise package?! we’ve got a decent side! If we can keep everyone fit, and work as a unit, rather than a shambles, why shouldn’t we be contenders?!”

Wow...wasn’t expecting that...Kostas is one fiery wee guy...albeit slightly idealistic...but his idea was taking hold; a smile spread across the faces of every single player on the team; a smile which very quickly found its way onto my face…

“Right guys, this is how it’s going to work…”

Exhausted, I practically fell in my door, collpasing onto my sofa, the last vestiges of that traning session still playing in my brain...wayward passes, sloppy tackling, innaccurate shooting...It was little short of a nightmare, but there were some high points...

Nikos Lekkas, our star Left Winger, had showed flashes of brilliance during the training session, especially his off-the ball movement, and his first touch...there's certainly a lot of work still to be done, despite the height in the side, none of the guys are particularly strong, so i think that might be my first focus at training, to help the guys build some strength and make us more competitive in the league.

It's also going to be vital to get these guys working as a unit, so I asked my assistant to give the guys a training focus individually, and he agreed that strength was key, so the majority of the guys will be spending that time in the gym...for the main training, we're putting emphasis on team cohesion during pre-season, so that we look more like a unit come the start of the season. Tactics are also going to be important, and the guys will be playing loads of games this pre-season so we can get familiar with them.

With training and tactics sorted, I fell back onto my bed, and was drifting off to sleep when my phone rang, jolting me awake. The number was not one I recognised, but I answered anyway; nobody calls this late if it's not important...

Hello?

Mr Myron? I believe we have something to discuss...

Some great writing here. I can't wait to see what is next.

Sorry, can I ask who's calling?

Mr Myron, who's calling is, i'm afriad, irrelevant to you...why I am calling, or rather, we are calling, is far more important...we have some information which may well be of interest to you...but it will come at a cost

Erm...what is the cost? This all sounds somewhat suspect...

Kostas, Kostas, let's not play games here; i'm not going to harm you, or your family, or anything equally film-villanish...I just want to form an arrangement with you...my company have tabs on some of the brightest young talent in Greece and beyond...we can give you a route in...but we need you to do one thing for us...

What's that...?

We need you to throw some matches during the season, Vyzas doing too well would just look suspicious, we all know that...

WHAT?! You can forget it; throwing matches is just...it's ridiculous!

*Click*

He was gone...I rested my head in my hands, shaking with anger, the conversation replaying in m head...."Some of the brightest young talent in Greece and beyond..." It was certainly a tempting offer....but throwing matches...was I capable of that?

The streetlamp outside flickered once and then went out

nice start mate will be following this

Cheers Mate