The Story of the Nomadic Blaze Nottingham

[thehig2]

First post of this career update will be told in past tense and will be brief, as I'm already in 2022 of my game.

My Journeyman is a manager with a stupidly macho name, but in reality hes a weak little man Born in "The Settlement" in the "British Virgin Islands" with a big dream to be one of the worlds greatest managers. He faces several obstacles he has to overcome to be a success. he was only ever a Sunday league footballer, has never managed before and doesnt even have any coaching badges. Add to all of this hes a terrible uninspiring coach who cant motivate, cant man manage, and  has no determination.

Many months were spent carpet bombing clubs with applications to be manager, most clubs laughed off his interest and a few gave pity interviews such as Albion Rovers in Scotland, in the end had no interest. 

Finally a club offers Nottingham an Interview, it was Lokomotiv Gomel in the first division of Belarus (2nd tier) 

Nailed the Interview and landed first job in football management.

LOKOMOTIV GOMEL

A fairly new team they were founded in 2008 under the name of Gomelzheldortrans, in their first year as football club they won the Gomel Oblast championship. This is tournament against other teams in regional leagues were the winner would gain promotion to the Belarusian Second League. 5 years later Gomelzheldortrans were promoted via a 2nd place finish to the Belarusian First division. In 2016 they changed their name to Lokomotiv Gomel.

Lokomotiv Gomel play their football at the Stadion Na Sozhskoy, (seated capacity of 1000) the entry in Wikipedia claiming they play at a 8000 capacity stadium called the Lokomotiv stadium is incorrect, this stadium is actually called Centrainy Stadium and its home to FC Gomel, a much bigger team who play in the Belaruisian Highest division. 

The ground is actually rented for match days from Gomel state sports school, due to this the complex is well funded and in good condition. The pitch is synthetic 3G. The complex also has training pitches both indoor and outdoor and a basic gym. Compared to other teams in the Belarusian first division the facilities available to the players are very good.

 

 

 

THE CITY OF GOMEL

Gomel is the second most populous city in Belarus (behind the capital Minsk) with a population of over 500,000 despite the area still feeling the effects from the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, several parts of the city are exclusion zones due to high levels of radiation. In recent years the Belarusian government have invested heavily in School and sports facilities to promote healthy life styles and attract citizens to move to Gomel.

The official language in Belarus is Belarusian & Russian (football manager thinks its just Russian) if you speak Polish or Ukrainian you would be understood by most.

The culture of the city is heavy influenced by Russia as it was a part of the Russian empire until it declared independence in 1917, however Gomel was occupied by the Red Army up to 1919 which lead to a major revolt, insurgents took control of Gomel and executed several soviets and the city was passed to the Belarusian SSR.

Above a photo of City of Gomel, and a drone shot of Sozh river taken from above the Stadion Na Sozhskoy

 

 

[thehig2]

1st SEASON 2019

So Blaze joined Lokomotiv Gomel toward the end of the season, with 4 games left and the club in 14th (15 teams in the division bottom team relegated).

The squad is made up of woeful footballers, very small with several key positions not covered, due to this Blaze fielded teams with excess of 5 centre backs in the starting line up, a back 4 of centre backs and some times two holding midfielders who are also centre backs. 

All 4 games were defeats, a 3-0 loss to Slonim, a 3-0 loss to Naftan, a 3-1 loss to league winner Smolevichi and a 6-1 humiliation at the hands of Rukh. 

Lucky enough Gomel avoided relegation only because Baranovichi are even more hopeless.

Tactic being used is aimple 4-4-2, calling it simple is understatement. It consists of simple roles and no PI or TI because the players are so bad they cant be trusted to do anything. 

Update for 2020 season with Lokomotiv Gomel due, the 2020 Blaze will have a full transfer window to work with and a pre season to attempt to make a team that will be competitive in the Belarusian first league.