FK Zemun- My Starting Point

FK Zemun is a club currently in the Serbian Second League Belgrade(3rd Division). Until 2007 FK Zemun was a stable member of the Jelen SuperLiga(1st Division),usually finishing in the middle of the table. In 2007 they finished last and got relegated to the Prva Liga Srbije(2nd Division),and right away in 2008 they got relegated to Second League Belgrade! They managed to get back to Prva Liga Srbije and stay there for a couple of seasons but in 2011 they got relegated once more! Since then all their efforts of going up were in vain as they stayed in the Second League Belgrade! They have a small but loyal and passionate group of fans called Taurunum!
My name is Dragan Mrđa,and my goal is to become a world famous manager.
My story starts here,in Belgrade on 1st of July,2014.

I needed to strengthen my squad,especially in the back(DC) and on the flank(AMR)!
My first signing was former Red Star Belgrade captain Slavoljub Đorđević!

After that I signed former Grenoble DC Zoran Rendulić which made my defence complete.

And finally my last two signings were experienced Vladimir Buač who previously played for Vojvodina,Nimes Olimpique and many others,and Vladan Binić a never proven talent of Red Star youth academy.

This completes my squad and it looks promising,with a team full of players with international experience and a couple of youngsters ready to prove themselves.

I decided to play my standard attacking 4-2-3-1,with special focus on quick attacks over the flanks and passes into space. After 11 games,my score was 11 wins with a goal difference of 55:14,which means my attack is doing an outstanding 5 goals per match,but the part that worries is the defense that conceded more than 1 goal per match. Other part that wasnt satisfying was the fact that I got knocked out of the cup on penalty kicks by Zarkovo.

Its half season and things are going more than good! I played 8 more games and had 6 wins,1 draw and 1 loss! Im currently at the top of the table with 52 points,12 more than the 2nd one Zarkovo.
I made one signing in the winter transfer window,Rade Veljovic a former Cluj,Vozdovac striker. My attack is doing extremely well so far,but I couldnt miss signing Rade Veljovic on free,for a weekly salary of 45 pounds.

After demolishing the Jelen SuperLiga side Mladost in a friendly match 5-1,the results in the second half of the season werent as good as in the first but I managed to accomplish my goal,which was winning the 1st place and going up to the Prva Liga!

I finished the second half of the season with 6 wins,3 draws and 2 losses,with a goal difference of 35:18!

In the end I finished first with 73 points,16 more than second placed Radnicki.
Zemun striker Milanko Raskovic finished as the top scorer with 28 goals in 23 games.

Congrats on winning the league at the first time of asking.

CHAPTER 2

After getting promoted to the Prva Liga Srbije(Second Division),the board decided to increase my wage budget from 2,3K to 23K,which is a massive increase! But with the wage budge came an increase to expectations where I was expected to win promotion to the Jelen SuperLiga. That required massive changes to the squad,especially in the defence where I wasnt completely satisfied due to the big number of conceded goals.
So I signed 11 players.
In the defense I signed 3 new players:
Ugo Ukah(DC),former QPR,Lodz,Widzew and Cukaricki player.

Slobodan Lakicevic(DL),a player who was a target of much bigger clubs,I managed to sign him on a free transfer.

Bogdan Milicic(DR),brought in only to put some pressure on the standard DR to perform well.

Marko Knezevic(GK),as well brought in to fill in the bench.

In the midfield I made huge changes,with almost the whole team being changed.I signed 7 players.
Nenad Sljivic,experienced MC,signed on a free after his Tobyl contract expired.

Uros Delic(MC),used to be a promising youngster but didnt quite match the expectations in Belgium.

Marko Pavlovski(AMC),a wonderkid who got released by PORTO,so it was quite amazing that I managed to snap him.

Daniel Avramovski(AMC),as well a promising youngster who was on a trial at Liverpool,brought him on a loan from Red Star Belgrade.

Milan Vignjevic(AMR),brought in to strengthen the bench.

Petar Vukcevic(AML),a former Buducnost Podgorica winger,brought in to replace my standard AML.

And definitely the signing of the season,MILOS KRASIC,a former CKSA Moscow,Juventus,Fenerbahce winger,who was signed for a petty 1,3K per week! Im having huge expectations from him.

The beginning of the second season was like in a dream after winning 8-1 against OFK Beograd who got relegated from the Jelen SuperLiga. Daniel Avramovski was a revelation scoring 5 goals in that win. But after getting knocked out of the Cup by third division side Dinamo Pancevo,things went horribly. I had a couple of quarrels with the team,making half of the team unsatisfied,Milos Krasic didnt demonstrate his quality at all netting just 1 goal in the meantime with a lot of bad performances. The only bright spot in the team was Daniel Avramovski netting 11 goals in 11 games,but that wasnt enough and after 13 games(5 wins,3 draws and 5 losses) I decided to resign,unable to cope with the disharmony in the team.I left Zemun at the 6th place on the table only 6 points less than 1st placed Vojvodina.


The search for a new challenge begins

Tough luck their mate

Good luck!

After a week of unemployment a new challenge arrived. Shanghai Dongya offered me an interview,2 days after the interview the official offer came. I accepted and the new chapter can begin.
SHANGHAI DONGYA

Shanghai Dongya are a pretty new club on the Chinese football scene,having been founded on 25th of December 2005. They started their rise from the bottom and in 2012 they won the League One and a promotion to the Chinese Super League. I took them over on the 14th of November 2015,when the Chinese Super League already finished. They finished the season on 12th place. The boards expectations were that I finish on a respectable position and for that I got a transfer budget of 425K pounds and 43K wage budget. I signed a couple of Chinese players and 2 foreigners,a Brazilian striker on free who already played for another Chinese club and a Cameroonian striker whom I payed 350K(which was a mistake,since my scouts didnt do a really good job)! I signed around 15 staff members for both the first team and the youth team. I asked the board to fund my studies for the National B licence and they agreed. The media are predicting my team to finish on the 9th place,which would judging by the strength of my team,be totally satisfying. A new challenge begins and Im more than excited.

The start of the season was amazing bagging 4 wins in the first 4 matches. At the mid season I had 10 wins,1 draw and 4 losses,and i was sitting at the 4th place of the Chinese Super League. I also managed to win in 2 rounds of the FA Cup,going through to the Quarter finals. The top of the table is reserved for Guangzhou who have an amazing team(Gilardino,Diamanti,Fletcher) and will definitely win the title this season. I managed to pass the test for National B licence and I asked the board right away to fund my studies for National A licence and they agreed.

After playing a number of games in the continuing of the season I managed to get 5 wins,2 draws and 3 losses in the league,and I got kicked out of the quarter finals of the Cup by Second division side Jiayi. I was still on the 4th place on the table with high chances of claiming the third or second spot that would lead me straight to the Champions League.

A mixed set of results, hopefully you can get Champions League football!

The last few games brought plenty of excitement! I lost to Wuhan 2-3 but then managed to get 3 wins in a row,1 of them especially important against Jiangsu who were my main rival for the Champions League spot! The win over them brought me into 2nd place and all I had to do to secure the Champions League was to win in the last round! The last match of the season was against my bitter city rivals Shenhua led by Sven Goran Eriksen and even though I had the lead of 1-0 until the 92nd minute of the match I conceded a goal and only got a draw! Since Jiangsu and Beijing won their matches,they both went above me which left me in the 4th place,and which meant I had to go through the qualifications for the Champions League.

In the end the champions of the league were as expected Guangzhou while I finished 4th place which is more than satisfying since I was expected to finish 9th! I am looking forward to the next season and attempting to qualify for Champions League.