lwalter66:Please do share which teams you think that I have the choice from. It will be interesting to see if you get them spot on; you won't get a prize but please still do it

Louis O.: I didn't know much about them at all but now time has moved on it does look like it was an ok decision. I am glad that you will still follow nonetheless.

2013-08-24 13:32#131067 Jamesg237 : lwalter66:Please do share which teams you think that I have the choice from. It will be interesting to see if you get them spot on; you won't get a prize but please still do it

Ok... But don't blame me if I spoil the story. I think one of the two teams available is Mirandela from Portugal, and the other is AGOVV from Holland? They are my guesses but I may be wrong.

lwalter66:Those would be pretty good shouts if I had loaded up those leagues

2013-08-24 13:39#131069 Jamesg237 : lwalter66:Those would be pretty good shouts if I had loaded up those leagues

Damn Thought I had it just from judging from what I've done. That means I don't know and you have the element of surprise against me. Can't wait to find out

After numerous different job offers from lower league teams, two job offers came from two clubs that are sitting in the top league of their respective nations. It was a very surprising turn of events as I had expected to settle for the next job offer that came my way from a lower league team. I knew nothing about the two teams and could only name one player from either side (Van Der Vaart at HSV) so I had to base my decision on the information I had to hand, which was to look at the expectations and their current league position.

HSV surprised me by offering me a three year contract; it was surprising as when you first join the game you are only offered a one year contract. I feel that this was because the club was not very stable after a very poor start to the season with them sitting in 15th place. The amount they offered me had no impact on my thinking as I have never seen it have a huge effect on the finances, especially as I tend to just take the lowest amount they can offer me.

I was surprised by the expectation for the team to qualify for Europe by their participation in the league. I was surprised because the team had started off so poorly and their recent form showed them as having only won one game in their last five. The expectations seemed too steep for a team doing so well, a quite tempting offer.

Another surprise came my way with the French club offering me a two year contract. I guess that clubs that are performing poorly look for stability in order to restart their season. Yet again the board of directors expected the club to qualify for the Europa League through their participation in Ligue 1, and as with HSV, they had only won one game in their last five. What put me off was the fact that when it came to January there would be no scope to improving the side by the empty transfer budget. Yes HSV had only offered me £625k to work with in January, it isn’t much but it is better than nothing.

When studying the two teams it didn’t help my decision process whatsoever as I failed to recognise many of the names. After a bit of investigating I begun to notice players in the HSV side with Michael Mancienne and Jeffrey Bruma jumping out at me as former Chelsea players (Bruma is at HSV on loan). Of course Rafael Van Der Vaart is seen as a HSV legend with him returning to the club from Spurs and he would be seen as the main man in the side. In terms of Stade Rennais, they have Jean II Makoun on loan from Aston Villa and Alou Diarra from West Ham with these two being seen as the two main players in the middle of the pitch.

Yes I am glad you chose Hamburg. They are a great team

Wow..did not see that coming. Hamburg is a good choice though, good club always had a soft spot for them, but same with Rennes. It seems I was miles off with my prediction Good luck

I didn't expect that, I thought Freiburg would be the best you'd get

wellsy1498:I don't know too much about them but I do think I could do quite well with them and I a lot more excited about the challenge than the last time I gave it a go.

lwalter66: I do think that HSV is the better of the two teams and I have a greater chance of doing well with them. Unfortunately you were miles off with your predictions but it was always worth a shout.

Louis O: I didn't expect to get such good offers and I am more surprised that both teams are doing so poorly. Freiburg who have been a good place to start but only time will tell if I have made a mistake in my decision or not.

2013-08-24 14:43#131093 Jamesg237 : wellsy1498:I don't know too much about them but I do think I could do quite well with them and I a lot more excited about the challenge than the last time I gave it a go.

Well I hope you have fun with the good players and I think you should research some famous Englsih players that have played for them. I think Keegan played for them at one stage

2013-08-24 14:47#131097 wellsy1498 :

2013-08-24 14:43#131093 Jamesg237 : wellsy1498:I don't know too much about them but I do think I could do quite well with them and I a lot more excited about the challenge than the last time I gave it a go.

Well I hope you have fun with the good players and I think you should research some famous Englsih players that have played for them. I think Keegan played for them at one stage

Yes, Keegan did play for them, I thought that was common knowledge

Good Luck James, I really like Heung-Min-Son. I hope he performs for you

i think rennais would of been a bigger challenge however, you cant turn your back on a job offer like that from HSV cant wait to see more from this storry!

Wellsy1498: Keegan did indeed play for Hamburg and did quite well during his time at the club I think. I am going to have to spend more time getting to know the players as very few of their names ring any bells.

The Madridista: I think Berg is going to start for me in the front poacher role over Heung-Min Son who will have to settle for a space on the bench. I hope you aren't too disappointed by this decision.

AaronHJFT96: Rennias would have been a good challenge but the last time I went down the unemployed route and became HSV manager and gave up very quickly. I want to give it another go and see if I can do better this time round.

When I joined the club I was met with a team that were deflated after a less than impressive start to the season and with two players that had requested transfers under the previous manager. It was always going to be a difficult task to get the team back playing together, never mind winning. You can imagine my surprise when I won my first game against Hannover, and the fact we won it so convincingly was even better. Van Der Vaart stepped up to the mark and showed why he is such a vital player with him scoring a hat trick. It is crucial that he stays fit and continues this great start under my leadership if we are going to get anywhere in this league.

Frankfurt has been the surprise team so far in the Bundesliga, with them at the top of the league at the time we came up against them. It was damage limitation against the league leaders and we were fortunate to have only been beaten two nil. It was important to get back to winning ways and a match against Nürnberg is what we needed. It was a confident performance with the team showing that they can perform well in front of a home crowd. Despite us losing against Dortmund it was brilliant team effort to come away with having only been beaten one nil. They walked all over us and created double the amount of chances that we did and René Adler has to be praised for his efforts to stop the likes of Reus and Lewandowski.

It has been an ok start to my time with HSV but things have to get better away from home if we are going to meet the expectations set by the board.