Legende - The career of Bartosch Gaul

Intro...Every year I typically will take a first year (or at least close) manager and attempt to play out their career. I've had a lot of fun with this model with the likes of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Luka Elsner, and others. Being completely transparent - I've never won much of anything with this type of career other than an occasional league title or few cups. This year I will be rolling with Bartosch Gaul.

Who is Bartosch Gaul...Gaul started his coaching career at Schalke 04 as the assistant manager for the U17 team in 2008. He spent 7 years with the club before heading to Mainz. At Mainz he started as Sports Coordinator for the Youth Academy but eventually became the manager for Mainz II in 2018 and remained in that role for 4 years before finally getting his first shot at first team management at Górnik Zabrze in Poland.

Who is Górnik Zabrze...The Miners are historically one of the most successful clubs in Poland, however they have not won a trophy since 1988. They dominated the 1960s with 6 league titles and 3 cups. They returned to glory in the 1980s with another 4 league titles.

Aim of this career...My goal is restore the glory days to Górnik Zabrze in Poland and see where Gaul's career ends up. I have this vision of staying for several years before moving on to a bigger league and competing for European titles. Let's see where we end up!

The Squad...overall this squad has some nice pieces to start but plenty of room for improvement prior to competing for the league title. In attack we are led by veterans Lukas Podolski and Dani Pacheco. Podolski is 37 years old at the start of the season and is expected to retire. The Bayern and Arsenal days are far behind him! He is still technically and mentally quite good at this level but his physicals have taken a sharp decline. Meanwhile, Pacheco offers us a bit more balance but the journeyman has never really been much of a goalscorer - which is what the club really needs.


Elsewhere in attack we have a nice piece with Szymon Wlodarczyk who joined the club on a free this offseason from Legia Warszawa. Wlodarczyk is a 19-year old project with loads of potential and won the first team spot with his performance in the preseason. Backups in the attack will be Robin Kamber, Piotr Krawczyk, and Amadej Marosa.


In the midfield Jean Mvondo and Blaz Vrhovec make a nice starting duo with Daniel Scislak and Jonathan Kotzke providing good cover. We also promoted Norbert Wojtuszek from Górnik II. Wojtuszek is an exciting youngster with very nice potential. Overall this group is likely to be our weakest link but hopefully we can pull something from them.


In defense we will be playing with 5 at the back, with plenty of rotation needed until we find the right group here. To start the season we will be going with Emil Bergström, Aleksander Paluszek, and Rafał Janicki as our back three joined by Robert Dadok and Erik Janža as wing backs. We have some nice depth in defense so we will plan to use plenty of rotation in the back with Jakub Szymański, Kryspin Szcześniak, Mateusz Cholewiak, Paweł Olkowski, and Richard Jensen all capable of stepping into the first team when called up. A solid group but they struggled with cohesion in the preseason.


Probably our most promising group is in goal. Kevin Broll provides a nice first team option with Daniel Bielica and Paweł Sokół providing nice cover. Broll joins the club from Dynamo Dresden.




Friendlies...our performance in the preseason leaves a lot to be desired. To say we were poor is an understatement. We repeatedly under performed against teams a league or more below us, including a 0-2 defeat against 10-man Chojniczanka Chojnice. However, the preseason is not about wins & losses. Hopefully we found our rotation in a dominant performance against Czech side FK Varnsdorf.



Board Expectations...our board has reasonable expectations but the pressure that comes with a 1-year contract and that poor performance in the preseason makes for a nerve racking start to Gaul's career.



PKO Ekstraklasa...we are predicted to finish 12th in the league according to the league preview with 250-1 odds. The club hasn't finished that low in the table since being promoted back to the first division in 2017. Maybe we are being underestimated.



I will be back in January to update our progress on the first half the of season!

PKO Ekstraklasa…with low team cohesion and low managerial support, Gaul was up against it to start the season after a sluggish preseason. However, a nice 1-0 home win against Cracovia gave the side some confidence as we get started – with the lone goal coming from Włodarczyk. The team issues could not be hidden much longer though. As we only get ONE point out of our next 9 matches! Away losses to Lechia Gdańsk (1-2) and Radomiak Radom (0-1) followed by a pair of home losses to Raków Częstochowa (0-1) and Stal Mielec (0-3) started to cause quite a bit of panic. Our only goal in that four match stretch came from Pacheco, from there we hadn’t scored in over 300 minutes!

Tactical tweaks were needed and some adjustments were made but Gaul refused to budge from his 3-4-2-1 formation. We finally scored again against Legia Warszawa in the 93rd minute but lost again 1-4 away. A bore draw at home with Jagiellonia Białystok provided some sarcastic optimism but Gaul was on the hot seat with nearly 80% of supporters calling for him to be sacked according to social media polls. That draw was followed in the league but a horrific performance against Piast Gliwice at home, losing 0-3.
At this point Gaul finally had enough of the 3-4-2-1 and decided to switch to a 3-4-3, only moving his two central attacking midfielders to inverted wingers. Surprisingly the board was extremely patient up to this point, they were not happy but they were not threatening either. We’ve just spent the last 5 weeks at the bottom of the table. For sure Gaul was feeling the pressure to improve immediately.

After the tactical tweaks the team we finally get a win, beating Korona Kielce 3-1 on the road behind goals from Maroša, Bergström, and Pacheco. We followed that up with a 3-0 beating of Zagłębie Lubin at home with Podolski converting a penalty and a brace from Maroša. Śląsk Wrocław were next, but we were able to overcome our sluggish play to pull of a 1-0 win away with the lone goal from defender Rafał Janicki from a set piece.

We come back home and get an opening minute goal from Podoski, followed by the winner from Piotr Krawczyk to beat Lech Poznań 2-1. A pesky Warta Poznań gave us some resistance but we were able to get a 1-0 win behind Erik Janža’s goal in the 50th minute. Widzew Łódź finally put an end to our winning ways with a 1-1 draw at home.

We are moving up the table, now sitting 12th. A road test against Pogoń Szczecin was a thriller and we came out on top with a 2-1 win behind goals from Blaž Vrhovec and Włodarczyk. In our final match before break we hammered Miedź Legnica 5-0 with goals from Maroša, Vrhovec, Krawczyk, and Pacheco complimenting their own goal.

That amazing/surprising run to finish the first half of the league sees us shoot up the table to currently sitting at 5th due to a very congested midtable. We are six points from European places but also six points from 15th in the table. The top four look headed for an exciting finish to the season with a few of us not to far behind to sneak in.







Fortuna Puchar Polski…we had the unfortunate draw of a fellow Ekstraklasa side Cracovia away. In an absolute bore of a match they were finally victorious with a the winner coming in the 5th minute of injury time from Filip Balaj…his only goal of the season so far. Exiting in the first round only provided more fuel to the fire of sacking Gaul.





Player of the Half…Blaž Vrhovec, he was by far our most consistent performer. The Slovenian got off to a bit of a slow start while getting acclimated to his first full season abroad but the 30-year old has provided some much need security to our midfield along with some timely playmaking.





Medical Centre…outside of a few bumps and bruises we have been very fortunate to avoid any major injuries. With Janža missing the most time due to a sprained ankle (4 weeks). We start the second half of the league with no injuries to report.


Contract Extensions…we are excited to sign first choice goalkeeper Kevin Broll to a provisionally agreed contract extension starting on June 28, 2023. The deal will keep Broll with the club through the 2026/2027 season. The club has also secured several of our younger prospects and have pending contract extensions with several other first team members.





Players Going Out…unfortunately we are losing our backup goalkeeper Daniel Bielica, he turned down our contract extension to sign with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim he will leave the club in the summer transfer window. Beilica has impressed lately and the club are really disappointed to lose him, he has 2 clean sheets in 2 league appearances.





Players Coming In…one free signing to report here with Igor Sapała joining the club at the end of October. He brings some much needed depth to the midfield and has very nice mentals for this level of play!





Up Next…we start the second half of the season with a rematch with Cracovia, hopefully we can get off to a better start overall! We are not far from European football but need to play more consistent as we finish out the campaign.

Poland has always been a nation I have thought of doing a save, so I will be interested to follow your progress. Dani Pacheco as a Liverpool fan is a great throwback! Hadn't heard his name in years. It was a very rough start, but those tactical changes seem to have worked wonders, good job.