An Englishman In Ukraine

Hello, my name is Jordan Palmer. I am a former professional footballer that had his career cut short by injury. My story began when I signed for Carlisle United at the young age of 12 and developed through their youth system into a fully fledged centre midfielder. At the age of 18 I broke into the first team and endured an injury ridden first season playing only 14 times in all competitions. After the summer I was approached by the club chairman Andrew Jenkins and I was informed by him that the club would not be renewing my contract after the end of the upcoming season. In a stroke of fate my agent approached me and informed me that a number of clubs would be looking to sign me if my contract expires, one of which was Nottingham Forest. In April Carlisle was challenging play off rivals Yeovil Town for a place in the play-offs during this game I went into a tackle with former Carlisle man Paddy Madden in this tackle my anterior cruciate ligament broke. Whilst this injury was being dealt with in rehab my contract at Carlisle expired , Nottingham Forest noted my injured record and decided not to offer me a contract and that was the end of my professional football career….I was never as fast or strong after the injury. I took a year out and then decided to enter coaching , after completing my coaching qualifications I began to make a name for myself , I was the first manager of newly formed Chester FC a small club that had vast financial resources available to me , I managed to achieve back to back promotions before I was noticed by bigger clubs.

On the 9th July 2011 my agent named Volodymyr Aliev put me in contact with the chairman of Ukrainian giants Shakhtar Donetsk. The chairman Rinat Akhmetov asked me if I would be interested in becoming full time coach of the Shakhtar Donetsk U21 Youth team, I accepted his offer as I was overwhelmed with joy that a team wanted me to coach their team. Unfortunately before the 2012/2013 season began first team manager Mircea Lucescu became ill and his assistant took charge of the first game of the season this was a 2-2 draw at home to FC Goverla-Zakarpattya. After this game it became apparent to the Players, Coaches and Fans that the Managers health was only going to get worse. This is where I come in; I was approached by the chairman and asked if I could be the first team’s manager for the rest of the upcoming season to see what I could achieve. Naturally I was thrilled with this proposition so I jumped at the chance.


Confirmed, Former Carlisle United player Jordan Palmer has been appointed Manager of Shakhtar Donetsk after former manager Mircea Lucescu was relieved of his duties after becoming ill before the season began. The eyes of Britain’s clubs will be turned to Ukraine on Friday as new Manager Jordan palmer will be looking to prove that he can cut management at the highest level.

Good opening post.. Better layout maybe....

A bit too wordy Jordan. Try to include the uses of images and bbcodes in your story and use paragraphs as much as possible. Readers don't like reading too many words

Other than that ,good start and I'll be following.

I will be following just remember paragraphs to break up the text and add a couple of graphics and pictures

Try and add more images and use less text in a post as it makes it dull for the reader. try to even it out like when you confirmed yourself as the manager of shaktar that could have been in a separate post as it would stand out. Also add colour where possible but otherwise good start and im sure it will improve.

2013-05-25 18:44#104968 patrick1 : Try and add more images and use less text in a post as it makes it dull for the reader. try to even it out like when you confirmed yourself as the manager of shaktar that could have been in a separate post as it would stand out. Also add colour where possible but otherwise good start and im sure it will improve.

I don't agree. Graphics are nice but that first bit he wrote didn't need pictures, it was like a prologue. Fair enough the Sky Sports bit could do with a bit more colour but other than that, I think it's good!

An Englishman in Ukraine

Settling In

Upon arriving at the training complex I was greeted by a group of fans at the gate, to say the least they were openly voicing their concerns with the boards appointment and it would be fair to say their thoughts coincided with the media.


Early reports show that new Shakhtar manager Jordan Palmer is going to have to convince the fans that he is the right man for the job.

Sky Sport spoke to the chairman of the fans association of Shakhtar and this is what he had to say.

‘We feel that Jordan is a great man that is trying to do well and what is best for the club , but he has never proven himself at a club at the level of ours and both the fans association and myself believe this is a incorrect decision and one that will take the club further away from the goal of champions league glory’


After my first training session I realised that the players were the polar opposite of the fans , they could not have been more supportive. Some of the players I had worked with in the U21 teams. Before I left the training ground I spoke with the director of football. Between us we agreed on one transfer target, Lazar Markovic.

I met the board the following afternoon and expressed my admiration for Mr Markovic's play style and technical ability. I presented my case on why I think he would be a worthwhile signing and what he can bring to the team. This transfer was met with an unusual sense of excitement as it was meeting the owner’s policy of quality young players.

These were Mr Markovic's attributes before any contact was made between the two clubs. Whilst at Shakhtar I am looking to mould him into a skillful winger that has the ability to play on both wings that can run with the ball and beat his man in 1v1 situations.

Much better use of bbcodes and headings and pictures. The writing is good, as well. Keep it up, will be following!

Good work, Jordan. Good work for a "Fifa fan", that is

An Englishman in Ukraine

My First Game

Wednesday 18th July
I woke up early; I all most predicted something had happened over night. I checked my phone I had 4 missed calls from the club’s office, I rang back the number sleep still in my eyes….No answer I was worried had the board replaced me ? Had one of our key players been sold?. I got dressed quickly and travelled the short journey to the training ground. I went straight to my office that overlooked the training complex and was greeted by Lubos Michel the director of football. He explained to me that our transfer bid for Lazar Markovic had been accepted during the night and he had flown to Donetsk to have a medical and agree personal terms. I could see that Markovic was speaking with Fernandinho and Luiz Adriano. I decided to go and speak with him myself so I began the long walk to the training pitch , whilst on my way down I was met by the chairman he explained that we got Markovic for a fee of £6.25 Million and we would be paying him £12,500 per week. Upon arriving at the training pitch Markovic explain that he had booked into a hotel for 1 month whilst his possessions were in transit to him. He also explained to me that he was not fully match fit but should be good for my first game.

My first match in charge ended with a good solid win goals coming from Costa, Fernandinho and Kucher. A solid team performance that demonstrated to fans both with and against my appointment the style of football I enjoy playing and encourage my team to play.