Das ist mir Berliner SC : A German story

That’s my photo. Does it seem familiar to you ? I suppose not , in case you are not Hertha Fan. My name is Dick van Burik, I am 49 y.o. and I come from Utrecht, Netherlands. I started my career in Ajax, then NEC and Utrecht until I find my destination in Hertha Berlin, where I played for 10 years as defender, having 245 appearances and 7 goals.

I love football, however, things didn’t work that well in Heerenveen in 2010, when I was hired as Assistant Coach. A friend of mine called me recently for a new challenge. Without much money, but mostly with football logic, he took over a club in Berlin and he asked me whether I could help him as a head coach. I promised him a visit to Berlin for further discussions.




The club: Berliner SC
A few words about it: The club is 127 (!) years old, having won the German championship in 1930 as Hertha BSC (merger) , but later on they split up again. Now it is competing in Berlin – Liga.

The stadium: 2,500 seats
Stadium is surrounded by embassies and nice pizzerias ! However, I prefer Landhaus Grunewald for traditional German food.


The plan:
First 5 years : at least 3 promotions by using U-25 players
Next 5 years: Promotion to Bundesliga and improvement of youth facilities, mainly used German U-25 Players
Next 5 years: Bundesliga and Pokal win
Next 5 years: European title
It sounds too optimistic, but I like the challenge! So I accepted the offer and now I am searching for a flat in Berlin!
I made a few calls to clubs from higher divisions for loans, therefore our squad is full now of players with plenty of talent, however, our main star will be Omir Saberdest, which is an Iranian striker, started from Hertha and played in Regionalliga and Oberliga in the past. Last year he scored 14 times. He earns 18k EUR per year, he has 12 Acceleration, 12 Technik , 13 Finishing and 12 Heading. Another player I found in the club is Tim Michael, 24 y.o., earns 7k EUR per year, has 13 Acceleration, 13 Stamina, 13 Agility, 13 Pace, 4 Ball control, 7 Dribbling, 8 passing and 9 Technique and he plays as CM.

I choose 4-2-3-1 wide, trying to teach them how to control the match and press the opponent. In these divisions , I won’t be too demanding. I found an assistant coach and an U-19 coach of my choice.
The season starts!

The squad

Goalkeepers
Timo Habel , 19 y.o. loaned

Defenders
Benjamin Trojahn, 17 y.o., loaned DR
Sardrican Ekmekci , 19 y.o. loaned DC
Philipp Rohde, 17 y.o. loaned DC
L. Millgramm, 18 y.o. , loaned DL
Onni Turunen, 17 y.o. , loaned DL

Midfielders
Tim Michael , 24 y.o. DM,MRC, AMC
Biyan Kizildemir, 18 y.o. , DM,MC loaned
Luka Zdep, 17 , DC loaned
A. Millgramm, AM/ML , 18 , loaned
Bilal Kamarieh, 26, loaned

Strikers
Omid Saberdest, 30, ST
Morrez Nhacuonga, 18, loaned

Tactic 4-2-3-1 , controlled, lower passes, pressing, bring ball into the box

GK
Habel

DR DC DC DL
Trojahn Rohde Ekmekci Millgramm


DM DPL
L. Boateng Kizildemir

AMR AMatt AML
Windsor Tim Michael Kamarieh

AF
Saberdest



Großartig Saberdest!

Stern Marienfelde (A) 4-0 Saberdest (4)
Reinickendorf (H) 3-4 Saberdest (2), Michael
Spandauer Kickers (A) 3-0 Rohde, Kamarieh, Saberdest

BSV Al – Dersimspor (A) 3-0* Michael (2) , Ugbogbo
BFC Preussen (H) 0-3
TSV (H) 1-1 Saberdest
* Berliner Landespokal

2 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw during the first 5 matches. We can better for sure. Main impression is that over 300 people are watching these games, despite the low level. We are in the next round of Berlin Cup, a competition we want to win!
Main person to focus on, is Saberdest , who is ‘’großartig’’ with 8 goals in 6 matches so far.

Saberdest or Messi ? Probably Saberdest! Historic defeat!
Lichternrader BC (H) 4-1 Boateng, Michael, Saberdest (2)
Berlin Turkspor (H) 4-0 Michael, Kamarieh, Saberdest
VSG ALtglienicke 0-7 (H)*
TSV Mariendorf 1897 (A) 5-1 Saberdest (5)
Berlin Hilalspor (A) 3-1 Saberdest (3)
Wilmersdorf (H) 5-3 Michael (2), Saberdest (3)
*Berliner Pokal


Standings -10 matches:
Reinickendorf -30
BFC Preussen – 28
Berliner SC - 22
SV Empor Berlin- 19

Saberbest is clearly a striker of higher level, already scored 22 goals in 12 matches. I called him in my office and praised his form. We faced a heavy historical loss by Altglienicke by 7-0 , however, the boss still trusts the process and understands it’s just a bad result. We had a pizza in the local pizzeria, where he said he is happy he sees progress in the football we are playing and that he believes we can manage to reach the top until end of season and get promoted in the end.


Ich bin begeistert

Croatia Berlin (H) 4-2 , Saberdest (3), Winsdort
BSV AL-Dersimspor (H) 3-0 , Saberdest (3)
Charlottenburg (A) 4-0 , Saberdest (3), Michael
Sparta Lichtenberg (H) 4-2 , Saberdest (2), Michael (2)
Empor (A) 2-1 , Saberdest (2)
Steglitzer (A) 5-2 , Saberdest (2), Michael (2) , Windsor
Frohnauer (H) 4-1 , Saberdest (2), Windsor , Kibildesmir


Saberdest would win the Golden boot of lower leagues if it existed. He has 39 goals in 19 matches and the team is having a 11 straight wins.
Our promotion opponents seem to not lose any match though, thus we are still chasing them. We won our first important match, 2-1 away against Empor.

Standings 17 matches, 1st round
1. Reinickendorf , 49 p.
--------------------------------------
2. Preussen , 47 p.
3. Berliner SC , 43 p.
4. Empor , 31 p.

Promotion clash and Saberdest's injury

Winter break starts in Germany, therefore for a bit more than a month, my players focused on their personal lives and their jobs.
First match after the break, was a huge clash against Reinickendorf, which was first in the standings until then.
250 fans of ours and 150 of theirs were in the stands to watch this big game.
We noticed that they played 4-3-3, Ismaili was the main threat, however, they used Yilmaz as mezzala who was coming as a second striker, thus Yilmaz, even if CM, had 8 goals. I asked Boateng to mark him man to man.
We had the control of the match, however, Trojahn did a penalty in 40'. It would be very hard if we would receive this one. Timo Habel managed to beat this off. Our legend, Saberdest, with two goals in second half gave us the important 3 points.

In the next 5 games, we lost Saberdest in two of them due to injury, as a result we tied against Sparta.

Reinickendorf (A) 2-0 , Saberdest (2)
[color=#8AE234]Stern Marienfelde (H) 3-1, Saberdest (2) , Windsor
[/color]Charlottenburg SC (H) 3-2, Michael (2), Saberdest
Sp. Lichtenberg (A) 0-0 ,
[color=#8AE234]Empor (H) 2-0 , Michael (2)
[/color]Turkspor Belin (A) 4-1, Michael , Kamarieh (2) , Saberdest

Standings (25 matches)
1. Preussen BFC , 69
--------------------------------------
2. Reinickendorf , 67
3. Berliner SC , 65
..........................................
14. Berlin Hilalspor 24
---------------------------------
15. Charlottenburg 22
16. Steglitzer Stern 20
17. Lichtenrader BC 17

Promotion battle

Promotion battle comes to end. Preussen and Reinickendorf face each other and they end up in 0-0 tie, which brings us to second position before we face Preussen in a decisive match for promotion. We need a win against Preussen in order to get 1 point above them.
400 fans of ours are in the stands while 200 Preussen fans visited our homeground to support their team.
Preussen's striker Huke scored so far 40 goals while AMC Wendemman has scored 17 times. We asked Boateng to keep a close eye to Wendemann and the whole team to mark close Huke and press Wendemann once he has the ball.
The match doesn't have a lot of chances, however, we scored with our legend- Saberdest- in 41'.
We managed to keep the 1-0 until the end and now we are close to win Berlin liga and be closer to Oberliga.

Lichtenrader BC (A) 4-0, Michael (2), Saberdest (2) , Kamarieh
Croatia Berlin (A) 4-1 , Boateng , Saberdest (3)
Spandauer Kickers (H) 3-1, Michael, Saberdest (2)
BSV AL-Dersimspor (A) 1-0 , Michael
BFC Preussen (H) 1-0, Saberdest

Standings
1. Berliner SC , 83
----------------------------
2. Preussen, 82
3. Reinickendorf, 78


Scorers
1. Saberdest 61 , Berliner SC
2. Huke 42, Preussen
3. Ozcin, 33, Reinickendorf

Season 1 Ende: a football suicide

Three matches left and our team visits Sparta Lichtenberg, a team below relegation zone. We didn't manage to score and as a result Preussen is now above us in the standings.
Later on we beat Empor and Turkspor, but this is not enough.

Standings
1. Preussen , 91 , promoted
2. Berliner SC, 90
3. Reinickendorf, 87

Interview of the coach to Berlinersc.de


Coach, it should be disappointing that you came so close to the promotion but you didn't manage it, right

-We knew this would be a long term process, it's sad that we lost the promotion in this way, however, we trust the process. The board has a plan and we are confident of fulfilling it.

What do you keep from this first season?
Clearly Saberdest! I wouldn't exchange him even with Messi! 66 goals in 33 matches. I hope he will stay with us, otherwise we have a plan B already.

I would like to say a big thank you to our fans as well. Board informed me that we had an avg of 534 fans this season, which is the best in the league. We hope to make them happy next year.

Season 2: New board, new goals

Phone rings, the chairman is on the line:
Yeah, look, things got a bit tough, therefore, I am looking for someone else to lead the club. I spent too much on this project. You can keep your position and wait to see how this will be..

Of course I would like to keep the position, I still believe on this project no matter the budget.

Most of the last season's squad left us, especially our legend, Saberdest, who returned back to Iran for a 145k EUR/year netto contract.

We forwarded a lot of kids from academies, plus some signings and loanees. Here is the squad for the next season:

GK
Woerns, 17, loaned
Bierwagen, 16, from U19

DEF
Sychev, 16, from U19
Xhafa, 16, from U19
Majewski, 22 loaned
Grahle, 22, loaned
Gioukoudis, 20, loaned
Batz, 16, from U19
Rienhardt, 16, free

MID
Eichhorn, 25, loaned
Michael, 25
Beitz, 16, from U19
Nuhanovic, 23, loaned
Kamarieh, 27
Uyar, 16, from U19
Herrmann, 16, from U19
Gehring, 16, from U19
Arm, 19, loaned

ATT
Hoffmann, 18, free from Union Berlin
Herrmann, 16, from U19


Tactics: same as last year, 4-2-3-1

GK: Woerns
DR: Sychev
DC: Gioukoudis , Grahle
DL: Rienhardt
DM: Eichhorn
DLP: Michael
AMR: Kamarieh
AMC: Nuhanovic
AML: Uyar
STR: Hoffmann

Results:

Wilmersdorf (H) 1-0, Beitz
Makkabi Berlin (A), 2-1, Kamarieh, Hoffmann
Reinickendorf (H), 2-2, Beitz, Hoffmann
Lichtenberg*, (H) , 1-6, Uyar
Sparta Licht. (A), 0-3
Al-Dermispor, (H) , 2-1 , Hoffmann
Mariendorf (A), 3-4, Kamarieh, Nuhanovic (2)

*Berliner Pokal

Standings:
1. Sparta 16
-------------------
2. Berlin Turkspor 13
.........
6. Berliner SC 10

S02: Moving up

New board's goal is to reach the top-4- , however, we set the goal of promotion this year. Team starts rolling, Kamarieh and Hoffmann hit high performance scores.

Benjamin Hoffmann's interview in Berlinliga.de:

You moved from Union Berlin to Berlin-Liga team. What made you take this decision?

Union Berlin is a great club, with amazing facilities and coaches. They helped me a lot to grow, however, I need to play in this age, so I felt it's a better move to step down a bit and then move up. Berliner SC is a great club for this case. Coach has huge Bundesliga experience and he tries to set up a managerial career, the president provides us everything we need. My team mates are young as well and we hangout very well so far. My goal is to score as much as I can and play in Bundesliga soon.

What's your opinion about the level of Berlin liga this year?
The promotion race will be between us and Reinickendorf. Rest of teams are close to each other, everyone can beat everyone. All teams try to play football and not just defend in front of their posts and this helped me a lot to score these 9 goals so far.

Results
(A) Stern Marienfelde 5-0, Kamarieh (2), Hoffmann (3)
(H) Empor Berlin, 3-1, Gehring, Nuhanovic, Hoffmann
(A) Gatow 0-0
(H) Charlottenburg, 3-0, Nuhanovic, Kamarieh, Hoffmann
(H) Rudow, 3-0 , Nuhanovic (2), Kamarieh

Standings 11 matches
1. Reinickendorf, 25
------------------------------
2. Berliner SC 23
3. Turkiyemspor 22

S02:Chasing

An unexpected loss by Nordberliner SC puts us 5 points behind the top of standings. Otherwise, Hoffmann is the main scorer of the club, which plays nice attacking football as was expected by the board.

Results:
(H) Frohnauer SC 2-1 , Hoffmann (2)
(A) Turkiyemspor 4-2, Eichhorn, Kamarieh, Hoffmann
(H) Berlin Turkspor 3-2 , Gehrnig, Kamarieh
(A) Nordberliner , 1-2, Hoffmann
(H) Croatia Berlin, 2-0, Nuhanovic, Kamarieh
(A) Nord Wedding , 2-0 , Nuhanovic, Hoffmann

Standings

1. Reinickendorf 43
2. Berliner SC 38
3. Wilmersdorf 29

S02: >> Fast forward season ending

Hoffmann was never enough to be as good as Saberdest and Reinickendorf was hardly losing a game , thus we didn't manage to achieve the goal of promotion.
Now we need 3 promotions in the next 3 years in order to achieve the personal goals we set up.
Board from the other side gives us 2 more years in order to get promoted.

Standings:
1. Reinickendorf 86
----------------------------------------
2. Berliner SC 72
3. 1.FC Wilmersdorf 61

S03: Last chance
We changed the tactics to attacking 4-2-3-1 , with much shorter passes and slow tempo.
Hoffmann , who scored 22 goals last season, left us and we substituted him with Schloessler (under loan agreement).
We signed Mamy Conde, a 5 star CB from Pirna Copitz, Jochen Eisele as right winger and an experienced goalkeeper Pflug.

Squad:
GK:
Pflug, 28 , free transfer
Dojahn, 17, loaned

DEF
Sychev, 17
Batz, 17
Mamy Conde, 20, free transfer
Stroehl, 17, loaned
Liesegang, 17, loaned
Xhafa, 17
Rienhardt, 17

MID
Michael, 26
Vukajlovic, 17 from U19
Winsdor, 20
Eisele, 28, free transfer
Nuhanovic, 25, previously loaned, signed on free
Kamarieh, 28
Uyar, 17

ATT
Mkrtchyan, 17, loaned
Hermann, 17
Gehring, 17
Schloessler, 17, loaned

First 11:
4-2-3-1

Pflug: GK
Sychev: DR
DC: Conde, Liesegang
Rienhardt: DL
Stroehl, Michael: MC
OMR,C,L: Eisele, Nuhanovic, Kamarieh
STR: Schloessler

Standings- 1st round:
1. Berliner SC 34
--------------------------
2. Turkiyemspor 30
3. 1. Wilmersdorf

We are 4 points ahead so far, with Mamy Conde leading the club with 7.42 avg rating and Schloessler having 7 goals