Good evening my friends. I come to you tonight with small success and grave news. Not all is well in Afan Lido land, and my time as their manager may be short. Before we get to such disappointments though, let us first go over all that has occurred in my little corner of Wales.
As you were surely aware (if you’ve been following the story that is), we were due for our first ever taste of Champion’s League football! I was extremely excited going into the fixture, as not only was this a club first, but it would also be a personal first. I’ve never before taken a club into the Champion’s League at any stage, and I was pumped to see how we would due. Unfortunately the draw was not kind to us, and we were handed one of the toughest teams we could’ve faced in the Second Qualifying Round:
Red Star Belgrade.
Crap! While the quality of Serbian football has degraded since the fall of the Soviet bloc, they are still former Champion’s League (then the European Cup) winners and a damn good football team. Predictably, we went into the home leg as heavy underdogs:
Well I’ll be, we were downright competitive! Red Star was clearly the better of the two teams, and scoring 3 away goals all but guaranteed them advancement, but I was still duly proud of the squad. We showed we can’t be brushed aside without effort, and we mean business. Of course there was still the second leg to play out, and I was just hoping we wouldn’t be embarrassed in Serbia:
While many might consider being dropped out at the first asking a failure, I’m (and I believe rightfully so) proud of our scrappy 5-3 aggregate loss. Success against this club was never in the cards, and we fought bravely. The lads could hold their heads high after this one, that’s for sure. As an added bonus, we received almost 300k in price money; enough to wipe out our debt entirely (only for us to accumulate it back again by January)!
League Play:
Following our semi-successful Champion’s League outing, we headed into league play. As with last year, we jumped out to a quick start and were top of the table immediately. Unlike last year, however, several other clubs (TNS, Llanelli, and Airbus) were keeping pace with us. This set up an epic early season showdown with TNS, where the winner would take first place and hold a major advantage on the title race. I have to admit, I was crushingly disappointed with what I saw:
Yeah, we won, and comfortably at that. But look at that attendance! 69! SIXTY-NINE! Only 69 «fans» could drag their sorry butts out to see a thrilling winner-take-all match against one of the best teams in the league!? I was (and still am) completely livid, and this caused me to go back and take a look at some of our other home attendances (Champion’s League excluded):
Home against Neath:
Home against Prestatyn:
League Cup Semi-Final against Neath:
Home against rival, Goytre:
Bonkers, just absolutely bonkers! The only time we’ve come close to a respectable showing was against uber-ultra-mega-arch-rival (think Man U — Man City) Port Talbot, where roughly 180 fans showed themselves. These are numbers I was able to live with in our first season, but deep into my third seasons I was expecting to see *some* kind if improvement. Our season ticket sales have been at 25 for the past three years, and there’s been no indication of them going up. *fume*
ANYWAY, enough ranting about my complete and utter lack of attendance. In an attempt to improve my mood, I thought I’d ask the board to think about turning us into a fully professional outfit. Unfortunately, that wasn’t really an option:
Ah…well then. I suppose that’s out of the question for a while. How about we move on to transfers.
Transfers:
During the off season I left the starting eleven virtually unchanged (in which I mean to say, I didn’t change a damn thing). I off loaded a few bench players who had no future with the squad, and signed a single prospect for the Under-19 team. I was content with the squad I had, and all indications were that the rest of Wales was still far too weak to challenge us. Unfortunately, I may have been wrong.
While we continue to dominate the domestic league, I found myself beginning to turn into a paranoid despot. I was starting to see threats from everywhere, and with each 2-1 or 1-o victory, it became even worse. They were onto us, of this I was convinced. Drastic action was going to be needed come January, and drastic action there was:
And just like that, my two best players were gone. Javlon Campbell had been making noise about wanting to move to a bigger club all season, and when Koln came calling with a 65k bid (along with another 15k if he scores 10 or more goals), I accepted. Marlon, on the other hand, was a much more painful departure. He was perfectly happy with where he was, but his £500 a week salary was really starting to put a cramp on my ability to develop for the future. With that, he was off for 35k. Rodrigo Astudillo was a similar case, and was commanding a £300 a week salary just to sit on my bench. I let Bath have the 36 year old for free, and was content just to be rid of his salary.
All told, I reduced the wage budget by roughly £1000 per week, which will give us a bit more wiggle room the rest of the way home.
Boardroom Shenanigans:
With my player sales reducing our debt by nearly £100k, and our team flying high, I thought it would be a fitting time to ask the board for an extension to my contract. I’ve been running on single year deals since I started, and I wanted some long term security in reward for what I’d done for the team. The conversation didn’t exactly go how I’d planned:
This is a family website, so I won’t say what I was thinking, but the word «livid» comes to mind. That ignorant little *censored* says I don’t deserve an extension? I’ve led his team to Europe (twice now), I’ve won him the league, the Welsh Cup, and am on the way to winning him the league again. Afan Lido has NEVER known success like this, and he says I don’t deserve an extension? It’s on like Donkey Kong little man…
I will break you Adam Nash. I will destroy your team, and I will destroy your finances. I will sell, no, I will GIVE our best players to our biggest rivals. And when I’m done? I’ll resign in a blaze of glory. Forget the Champion’s League, forget improving the Welsh League, this story now exists for one purpose, and one purpose alone: Destroy and humiliate Adam Nash.
Goldblum out.
P.S. — I thought this was pretty funny:
Laxeyman
7 ноября, 2011 at 20:32
Wow, wasn’t expecting that! The chairman has really given you a raw deal Stromson, and it should be funny to humiliate him :) I wonder how long you’ll last before he sacks you…
After you’ve left the Lido are you going to look for another job or start a new game?
Stromson
7 ноября, 2011 at 20:39
Definitely another job, and hopefully in Wales.
Alex Murray
7 ноября, 2011 at 20:36
Nooo, I was loving this story, I couldn’t wait for you to force your way into the champions league proper. Is this story really coming to an end?
Stromson
7 ноября, 2011 at 20:40
Oh it’s not ending…just taking a twist.
nielsneutron
7 ноября, 2011 at 20:44
I think you are switching teams after sending all the players to other welsh teams,)
Stromson
8 ноября, 2011 at 14:11
Maybe… >.>
ri916
7 ноября, 2011 at 21:07
dont do it! think about how many hours youve spent! noooooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwww!! oh well this should be interesting……
Stromson
8 ноября, 2011 at 14:11
Don’t worry, the save won’t be going to waste.
Kevin
7 ноября, 2011 at 21:09
Stromson
You should apply for that Welsh job as I mentioned in your last update and while you are at it apply to Newport Countyor some other Wales team as your Chairman is about as smart as whoever wrote the last season of Lost!
Stromson
8 ноября, 2011 at 14:12
They hired someone the next day, so I never got the chance to apply for it. :( +1 for the Lost dig though!
TheZiggy
7 ноября, 2011 at 21:41
This is a turn of events I was not expecting.
I think SI have messed up as well on this, with the attendances, because just checking the Afan Lido website, their lowest attendance this year is 161, with as high as over 400, and they’re struggling. You’ve been sold very short with your attendance figures, for sure.
As for your chairman, he’s clearly a comedian, and a bad spirited one at that. Way back I did wonder about trying to a destroy a club I dislike, and seeing how long I would survive before they sacked me, but never got around to doing it. This should be interesting anyhow.
Stromson
8 ноября, 2011 at 14:14
See, I wondered about that, thank you for checking into it. I know the Welsh League isn’t the most popular of leagues in Wales, but there’s no way a team who’s dominating and going to the CL would be drawing sub-100 crowds, just no way at all.
DK1247
7 ноября, 2011 at 22:38
Wow. I completely understand you wanting to destroy the club. Give all the players away and resign right before the season starts ala Martin O’Neill.
Stromson
8 ноября, 2011 at 14:14
Hahahahaha, excellent!
Ana Garcia
7 ноября, 2011 at 23:26
I agree with you, what is your chairman thinking!
Those attendances are just terrible is Welsh football really that badly supported. 25 season ticket holders what is your stadium capacity?
Even in the lower leagues in Africa I get at least a thousand fans, you should defect from Wales and the UK and join me in South Africa!! :)
Think of the weather for a start!
Anyways, best of luck with your next adventure where ever it may be. :)
Stromson
8 ноября, 2011 at 14:17
*shudder* South Africa…never! ;-)
The overall league average (over all teams, all games) for 2010/11 was 343. Not great, but comparable to most BSN/S teams, which is about the quality of football you get in the WPL. My stadium can seat 500 and hold over 3000, but the only time I’ve even approached that number was when 500ish folks came out to watch that home draw against Red Star.
Lye
8 ноября, 2011 at 00:51
This is tough when your chairman is not giving you the support as you might wish. The whole situation in the club is pretty terrible with a low attendance. Good luck in your next adventure.
Stromson
8 ноября, 2011 at 14:17
Thanks Lye, I agree he’s a…bad person.
vaibhavc
8 ноября, 2011 at 07:14
Oh boy. That’s tough on you. You don’t deserve a contract, my ass. You have done really good. Good luck finding a new job.
Stromson
8 ноября, 2011 at 14:18
Thanks Vaibhav, silly Chairman ruining things for me…
Johnny Karp
8 ноября, 2011 at 07:28
I understand your disappointment, especially considering the dreadful attendances, but I don’t understand why you asked for a new contract. I never did that in any version of the game, I always waited for the board to offer a new contract and they always did.
Stromson
8 ноября, 2011 at 14:22
Sorry, I guess I didn’t really explain my logic very well. There were three main reasons I asked:
1) I was starting to be linked to a few jobs in the 1st and 2nd Division in Scotland
2) I was getting messages every two weeks or so stating the board «wasn’t sure if they could keep me»
3) I had an increasing number of players starting to become restless.
I figured asking for and signing a new multi-year contract would be a great show of loyalty to the club, the fans, and the players (and would stop cluttering my inbox with stupid rumors). I didn’t see it as an unreasonable request, because I felt I deserved a multi-year deal at that point, so I went ahead and asked, not even imagining the chairman would pull that stunt.
The rest, as they say, is history. :(
Johnny Karp
8 ноября, 2011 at 14:41
OK, got it now. Thanks for the explanation ;)
Calin
8 ноября, 2011 at 07:39
Lol, really funny the image you have regarding the Wales national position — glad to see that SI likes to insert these funny things.
Now, regarding your team… you had a pretty close game against Red Star so that should be a reason to be happy. However, the home attendances are really something that’s really worrying. Are attendances similar in the league or you can at least hope for things to get better?
Stromson
8 ноября, 2011 at 14:23
It made me pretty happy as well. :) Attendances in the rest of the league vary pretty dramatically, with me representing the low end, and TNS tending to represent the high end (but still only averaging in the 200s). SI seriously under-represented the Welsh League…
Martin Pickard
8 ноября, 2011 at 11:01
Another great post Stromson, in my oppinion your team did brilliant in the champions league qualifying game…to lose only by 1 goal in each leg is big achievement, a couple more additions and you never know. I’m just as shocked as you to see your poor attendences and I agree with Johnny…why ask for a new contract. I wouldn’t give up just yet, you’ve come along way in such a short space of time and I’m looking forward to you progressing. Keep it up fella :)
Stromson
8 ноября, 2011 at 14:24
See my response to Johnny. :)
David Wiggins
8 ноября, 2011 at 12:29
Hopefully you haven’t made any rash decisions. In my game, they refused to give me a new contract when I asked for one. A month or so later, the board offered me a new contract and were ‘delighted and relieved’ when I agreed to it. Maybe FM have just made the boardroom more stubborn and they prefer to do things in their own time?
Stromson
8 ноября, 2011 at 14:25
Erm…too late? *sheepish grin*