Exiled in a Foreign Land - Europe Edition

It is Saturday night and I am lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling, waiting for some kind of miracle to come and save my life. My resumé was excellent, being near the top of my class for most of my student life. I knew that and so did everyone else, but the reason for my unemployed was a lack of real life experience. While my classmates and friends interned at research labs and marketing companies, I spent my summers in the Indian FA Coaching Classes. I am a licensed coach who no one wants to hire. The i-League has no coach slots empty, and every Indian league other than that have no need for coaches - just friends who play together and want to somehow make it to the i-League. Oh, and the voice you heard earlier, that was my grandmother, who has been forced to sell her stitched tablecloths and napkins to support me. Yes, you heard that right - I am a 25-year old, unemployed man, with FA Coaching Badges, leeching off my 80-year old grandmother.

On January 1st 2010, I made a decision to stop crying myself to sleep every night and do something meaningful with my life. I got a job at McDonalds, but that didn't add any money to my wallet, but instead, added fat to my stomach. I've had enough McChicken Maharajas to last me a lifetime. I quit and started crying myself to sleep again.

On January 1st 2011, I made a decision to stop crying myself to sleep every afternoon and night, and do something worthwhile in my life. I started collecting money - one rupee at a time. I am not proud of it, but I stole a few coins here and there from my grandmother's purse just to keep that box anything but empty.

Today, on January 1st, 2012, I stand, making another decision - to crack open that box, now filled with more notes than coins, wanting to go abroad. After forcing my younger cousin, who lives and studies in Belgium, to give me his supervisor's number, I managed to persuade him to give me a chance to complete my studies in their university part-time. My academic performances meant they couldn't reject my application. I am back to being a student! The crying three times a day will now stop, maybe.

While I was in Belgium, I started making calls and there was actually a shortage of managers in the lower leagues all over the continent. Everywhere from Norway to England to Albania, everyone wanted managers who wanted to learn. All I needed now was for someone to return my calls.

For months, I went from club to club, begging for an opportunity to manage their club. I am pretty sure Mancini and Mourinho never had to do this before getting their big break, but I was desperate. I was always interested in football, although I never really played it, and a coaching job was much better than the server's job I had at that moment.

Finally, on July 4th 2012, I got a call back. Torhout FC in the Belgium Third Division A were running out of money and wanted a manager who wouldn't have a massive wage demand. I was perfect, because all I wanted was to make end's meet.


First things first. I would have to meet the Director and the Assistant Manager at the club and see how things are run, then meet the players and see how they fit into my style of management. My life was taking off, and I hadn't even fastened my seatbelt yet.


A good sized stadium, but a poor pitch condition, which means my players will get injured very easily. The training facilities and the youth facilities are as expected, and if I'm to stay with this club for any moment of time, I'll have to improve them to get better players and to maximise their talent. That's in my long term plan though; my short term plan is getting my name on the front of that office.


No major rivals, no affiliates, no icons or legends. This club has no real history. I will create history.

2013-08-10 22:33#126737 Akash : I will create history.

respect

Nice start mate

Can't wait to see you lift the champions league

brilliant start Akash love reading your stories. good luck creating History

Yay, an Akash story!

Great start there, hope you can indeed

2013-08-10 11:33#126737 Akash : create history.

Good luck.

Good Luck

My first couple of weeks as Torhout manager were anything but smooth sailing. Before I could even meet the team, I was told by the Director of the club that I would need to add some fresh talent to the squad. I agreed, but every player I approached had absolutely no interest in signing for us. Whoever said "Beggars can't be choosers" never met this lot of Belgian free agents. After heavy negotiating and lots of rejection, I was told by one helpful youngster that our club lacked ambition. What he said made sense to me. Almost all of my coaches weren't developing their own skills or the players', the scouts weren't really ambitious in their searches either. Before I could sign players, I needed to sort out my staff.

..And so I did. My assistant manager is the best 'realistic' staff member available to our club in the whole of Belgium, so he stayed, and so did our Under-19 Manager, who will take over from my Assistant Manager when his contract expires. The one scout we had, we threw out.


Once my backroom staff was set and, with their help, my training schedules and tactics were sorted, the search for players began again. This time, the players were more responsive, but there was a limited pool even now, because I wasn't allowed to sign any players from our division or the ones below until the end of the season. This was one of the Belgian League rules that still don't make sense to me. I would have to rely on Free Transfers and loans from higher leagues for the whole season, which makes the task of 'improving the core of the team' that much harder. Slowly but surely, after careful comparisons, I started approaching players. Lots of negotiations took place and by the end of July, multiple players signed on.

- We definitely needed to get a good goalkeeper to make sure we don't concede a lot of goals, and, with Dantschotter, we have exactly that. Amazing start to the transfer season.

- Now that we wouldn't be conceding any goals, it was time to look forward to scoring goals. Although Arena doesn't look like the best striker in the world, he can get the job done, and that's all that I want from him.

- This loanee will be our team's utility player, with the ability of playing in defence and midfield. When I first spotted him, I wanted to sign the youngster, but this club show the potential in him, just like I did, and weren't willing to sell. So, I decide to loan the youngster, and if all goes well, sign him up next season.

- Jadot's loaning was more to do with another Belgian league rule than anything else. I'll need 2 under-21 players in my match squad, and Jadot will ensure we never have that problem.

Nice signings, good luck

An Akash story is always great, one of your stories made Louis join this site, which led to me joining. So thanks Akash.

Every club, like every person, needs someone to look up to. A parent club can do wonders for the feeder club - with loans, ideals or just an annual friendly. For that, I needed to persuade my board to approach a club. They weren't too fond of the idea to begin with, but once I explained the importance of a parent club, they got onboard.


STVV was the perfect choice for a parent club, having just been relegated to the Second League last year. They still have some good players and youth from the higher league, and aren't too big a team so their loan listed youngsters won't mind dropping down one division. Speaking of loan signings, I've signed some more players.

- Another striker to strengthen the forward line, Martin is young and has decent pace. He won't play a lot, but if need be, he can step in.

- The experienced midfielder does a lot of things, but doesn't do them well. His passing and marking are nothing great, but in this division, he shouldn't do too bad.