First Steps
Come October more and more jobs were becoming available so I applied for a number of them before waiting a couple of days I recieved an Email from a club in Russia from the 1st division(2nd tier) I waited a couple of hours to make my mind up.
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At about 1800hrs that evening a call came in from FC Volendam from the Jupiler league in Holland. He told me the clubs situation and there whereabouts in the league. He explained if I was to come to there club they would give me some accommodation nearby the stadium. I told him I would sleep on it as Russian club Torpedo Moscow were also offering me a job. He said that would be fine and he gave me his personal number to get back to him on.
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As soon as the call was over I looked quickly at both clubs standings in there leagues and I took in that FC Volendam had a better chance of reaching the play-offs which could mean promotion to the Eredivisie. I also liked the fact of staying in Holland and being part of Deutsch football. Russia would be to cold even for me someone from Scotland.
So that was it. Excitedly I called back the chairman of the club and told him that I would take the job! He was delighted and told me he would book the flights for the following morning...
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The next morning it was made official by the chairman. On arrival I was greeted by a member of the club who couldn't speak any English but all I knew was to get in the car. I went to Kras Stadion(The stadium of which Volendam play at) and grabbed a coffee from the little cafe outside the stadium and then wandered in.. The chairman greeted me just outside what was going to be my office and he took me inside and sat me down. He told me about the current financial situation and he gave me details about loanee's etc.
He asked me if I would like to take charge of the game that evening... Dutch Cup 3rd round: Ajax 2 v FC Volendam. It was an away game and the squad would be leaving soon and arriving back tomorrow morning. I decided against taking control in that fixture and said that I would like to take a detour around the training facilities etc.
So after that brief meeting the chairman told me he would get me a taxi to my accommodation later on.
Our training facilities were okay. Could have been better. Some of the players not travelling were inside playing FIFA in the recreational room. They paused there Ajax V Barcelona game as I entered.
"Hallo! U moet onze nieuwe manager worden" Exclaimed a young looking bloke on crutches. I had no idea what he had said one of them apologized then asked if I was the new manager.. I responded with a yes before saying I needed help finding where the youth trained and where the youth coach might have been.
Once I got there the youth coach came and greeted me and took me inside to the gym before taking me back outside to watch some of the players.
If am honest they don't look like the next Johan Cruyff' and what not. There passing was all over the place.
They couldn't cross a ball but one centre-back looked half decent. The youth facilities were poor. The gym was small with no space and a couple of the machines said
'niet in orde' which the youth coach told me was meaning 'out of order' The tiles on the floor were cracked and damp. The pitch was okay it was enough.
That night after getting some stuff unpacked I received a call from the assistant telling me we had been defeated 4-0 by the Ajax reserve squad. Brilliant eh? At least now all I had to keep an eye on was the league. Speaking of my assistant...
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After hours of trying I managed to connect to the internet and looked in at the club...
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Table standings:
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8 points from the play-off spots. Very possible.
After looking at my squad etc. Captain and maybe my best player:
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The squad look very strong and with my life objective being worlds best manager if I don't get promotion I will leave.
On the transfer side of things many players have been released on a free. I also took in many..
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Really pleased with how I did on that side of things.
After more some more games I have improved how the team play.. League is looking better all we gotta do now is PUUUSHH!
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My 1st league game in charge was a 1-0 victory over struggling Drodrecht. C'mon YOU VOLE! C'MON YOU VOLENDAM!
Next: End of season