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[Paris Hilton's Lover]

Welcome to my memoirs of my Managerial career. Before you read on I will give you a little background to my life up to now. I’m Ian Silva, born to English parents in Stockholm, Sweden in 1978. My parents moved to “Sverige” in 1975 for work and have happily resided in Fridhemsplan, a suburb to the west of central Stockholm, since then. By the age of 6 my enjoyment of Football grew, as I regularly visited Djurgården’s home games with my Father. By age 12 I was playing in AIK’s youth team, who converted me from an Attacking Midfielder to more of a Defensive player, which suited me much better; as I was never the “ball hog” you needed to be in attack. At age 16 I left AIK to join my team Djurgården who were very keen on me. I spent 5 years there establishing my career.

On my debut against IFK Norrköping at age 17 and 256 days, I scored the winner in a 2-1 victory. My career blossomed here and I was a fan favourite, and became even more popular when I turned down the chance to join England and the legendary Bobby Robson to become a full Swedish international. However, my relationship soured with the Djurgården faithful when in my fifth season rumours started circulating that Man Utd, Bayern Munich and even Juventus were interested in my services. Whilst the lure of the big teams was of definite interest I was very happy at Djurgården and had already secured my spot in the Swedish team. Unfortunately the owner of my boyhood club had accepted a bid for me and told me I was not wanted. The bid came from a small team called West Ham who had just been relegated from the top division. Unfortunately the owner of Djurgården lied to the press and made me the scapegoat, announcing that I “demanded to be transferred”. The faithful got hold of this and believed every word.

I left Sweden on sad terms to join West Ham. I remained a regular for Sweden, and proved a revelation at West Ham who still regard me as one of the best signings in Hammers’ history. We eventually managed to get promoted back into the new “Premier League” where I remained faithful to the Claret and Blue, turning down big offers to join Man Utd and Liverpool during my time with them.

Yet just a few days out from my 28th birthday disaster struck. We were playing Tottenham in a local derby when Robbie Keane came in with a two footed lunge. I heard a snap and my worst fears were realized; I had a broken ankle. The injury was far worse than originally thought, and Doctors advised me that continuing to play Football was completely out of the question. I had to retire. At just 28.

With tears swelling in my eyes I sat in front of a packed room at Upton Park, crouches by my side and announced my retirement from West Ham, the Swedish national team and from Football. I thanked The West Ham fans, the Swedish people, my parents and every single coach and manager I had worked under. I had many bad experiences, but that was by far the worse. A Swedish paper carried the story as the main story on the back page with the title “Hej då, Ian” with the sub title “40 caps, 13 goals for Sweden”.

The next day West Ham was home to Newcastle, and my announcement was broadcast on the big screen. I sat in the home dugout with a smile a tear on my face as the crowd chanted my name throughout the match. West Ham was my new home.

My Father rang to tell me that during Djurgården’s loss to rivals Hammarby that same afternoon the crowd chanted my name as well, including the Hammarby faithful. Although my career was finished, I felt my legacy would remain.

I wanted to stay in football and after getting some encouragement from fans, players and managers alike I went for my coaching badges and became a fully qualified manager just a touch shy of my 30th birthday.

This is where my story begins…

[Paris Hilton's Lover]

Part 1: First thing’s first, lets choose.

Of course, the first thing I needed was a job which I was convinced was going to be quite hard. Yet just before the start of the 08/09 season Roda JC from Holland offered me the chance to become their manager. A relatively small team with big ambitions and prediction of finishing 9th was very tempting. But I just wasn’t sure.

Gladbach from Germany were without a manager and there were numerous teams from Norway and Sweden in the lower divisions who were looking for a manager too. I couldn’t decide on where to go. Do I pick Roda and get dropped straight into the thick of things, or do I pick a smaller team and earn the right to join a bigger team once I have proved myself? If I failed at Roda that could end my chances of ever managing again.

In the end I applied for the three vacant jobs back home in Sweden. Forward, Västra Frölunda and Motala AIF were all keen on employing me, and with the Roda offer on the table already I sat down over a weekend and picked my team.

Roda JC were already established in the top division in Holland, and were offering me £4,100 for 3 years with a nice transfer kitty of £750,000. This was of course very tempting. Chairman Servé Kuijer was a very ambitious man, who loved his club and wanted his team to go places. But with Feyenoord, Ajax and PSV so dominant in the league it could prove very hard to crack that nut.

Forward on the other hand were mighty tempting too. Although they were only offering me £240 with just £15,000 for transfers they were currently sitting 2nd in the Division North with just 13 games to go. This gave me a good chance to get them promoted into the Superettan. But the lack of any real budget meant improving the squad for the struggle in the higher division would be hard.

Västra Frölunda were 3rd on my list. They were offering £575 but with a smaller transfer budget. They were sitting 7th in Division 1 South and their wafer thin squad was going to take a lot of work to improve.

Motala AIF was in a similar position. Offering me £220 with a budget of just £6,000, the team was sitting just in the drop zone in Division 1 South, 5 places below Västra Frölunda.

In hindsight the choice was obvious; Roda JC was to become my new home. I didn’t know much about Holland, Roda, or even where they finished the season before. But I couldn’t visit the tourist attractions on arrival; I had a team to manage.