ChaosClive

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou January/February 2032 Transfers Clive was already thinking about another season in the First Division when signing Bozicic, who would be an upgrade in goal. He did demand a massive wage of £550p/w, so it would be a waiting game to see if the gamble would pay off, but if anyone came in to match the release clause of £150,000, it would smash the club record fee. The second signing was more of a power move. The ability to even speak to someone at Inter, even if it was in their U19 side, would have only been a pipedream a few years ago. But that along with the media calling Beltrame a promising midfielder was enough for Clive to bring him in until the end of the season for £0p/w. Results van Looy scoring in all 6 league games went further to justify the massive contract that he was given. But as a team, every player in the matchday 18 had played their part in starting what would hopefully be an unbeaten run in and another league title. Table With the likes of ASIL, Paralimni, and Olymp. Nicosia not being able to keep up with Geroskipou, a league title was looking ever more likely, the gap was now 8 points with 7 to play. Fixtures A win against Ypsonas would be enough to remove them from the title race, and a win against cross-town rivals Pafos could see them head into the relegation zone if other results do not go their way.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou December 2031 "An unbeaten streak can't last forever" was all Clive could muster after the final game of the calendar year, a tight 1-0 loss against ASIL. Despite the 13 game unbeaten streak coming to an end, the players and staff did not let the result ruin the end of year party, especially van Looy, who had scored 7 over the month. After all, they had just come off the back of a streak that saw them finish the year off in a commanding position in the league. Table Geroskipou were almost nailed on to gain promotion back to the First Division at the first time of asking. January/February Fixtures January in particular would be a great test for Geroskipou, playing a lot of sides in and around the promotion push, some wins here would be imperative in their realising their own ambitions and put a 'catch us if you can' message out to the rest of the league.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou November 2031 A positive month for Geroskipou, with the only slight hiccup coming in a 0-0 draw with Deryneia, who Clive still feared slightly when their name comes up in conversation. But apart from that, a wall of green littered the month. Table With the unbeaten streak sitting at 9, it was no suprise that Geroskipou still sat top going into the festive month of December. December Fixtures With the Paralimni game re-arranged, December was made ever so tougher. One positive for the month was the relative poor form of Karmiotissa, who were sitting in 11th.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou October 2031 A real statement was shown by Geroskipou in October, winning all 4 games by an aggregate margin of 16-2, with van Looy grabbing 9 of the goals. Table It came as no shock to anybody that the recent run of results saw Geroskipou sitting top of the league. November Fixtures Geroskipou's November fixtures would be a true test of how good they thought they were, with difficult games such as Deryneia and Paralimni coming up.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou September 2031 400 up for Clive. By now he thought that he would be sipping at a strawberry daiquiri on a beach after a Champions League match, but instead, he was having a pre match tea in a temporary building in Geroskipou. Results Despite turning around a 3-1 deficit away from home against a First Division side, Geroskipou crashed out of the cup on penalties. The league was a mixed bag, drawing with ASIL but then battering Akritas 7-1. The next week it was Geroskipou's turn to get battered, this time 5-1 by Olymp. Nicosia. The month was rounded off by a 2-0 win away to Olympos. League Table October Fixtures Clive saw 3 winnable games and a possible win against Othellos to try and get Geroskipou in a best a position as possible early on in the season.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2031/32 Pre-Season Before the preseason had even got underway, APOEL came in once more with their tounges wagging for Clive. He didn't think about leaving Geroskipou for one second and turned it down, stating in the local paper that he was at home. With the goalscoring exploits of van Looy sure to attract big attention from other clubs, Clive had a sit down with him to discuss a new contract, and to his knowledge, it was the most ridiculous contract he would ever make to keep his star man at the club. Another reason for this contract was the board had announced cutbacks the previous season due to a bank loan being taken out. Now the day that they had to start paying it back had finally come. Mid way through getting ready for the first training session of the season, Clive checked his emails one last time, and saw that there was still room in the budget for him to start taking his exams for his Cont.A licence. Carvalho had been bought in on a free transfer after his successful loan period, which checked off the need to find a new starting MR. But then came the loan army that Clive had commissioned for the upcoming season. Pre-Season results It was the usual tune up games for the pre-season. Bookmakers odds Perhaps it was the 3-3 draw against Pafos in the pre-season that bookies were paying attention to, or maybe the tight wage budget, but despite being relegated last season, Geroskipou were not even favourites for promotion straight back up. September Fixtures A mixed bag of fixtures were to come, with First Division opponents in the cup, before both top and bottom table teams to start the new season.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2030/31 Season Review Finances Compounding the bitter taste of relegation, having battled for 7 years to get into the First Division, Clive received even more bad news from the board. A BIG debt. This news is sure to decimate the finances of the club, which were already nearly at breaking point. This would culminate with the board dropping the wage budget down to the usual £5,750 p/w. Clive was worried, and rightfully so. His gamble of signing key players with relegation release clauses was now leaving the squad open to gutting from first division clubs. Also not helping the situation was the Cypriot tax man, who took no mercy on the club. The club was now needing to pay £22.5k p/m to the bank, but with only £77.5k for the entire 31/32 season, it looked like they would need a miracle cup run to even think about keeping up with the payments. Some positive news to come from the relegation was a move back to Geroskipou Stadium though, meaning that fans would no longer be required to make the long drive to Pegia. Squad It was obvious that retaining the loans would be key for an instant return to the First Division, especially players like Viegas, who linked up with van Looy to score a combined 43 goals and assist 14 more, not bad for a strike partnership of a relegated side. Clive thought that if these loans go through along with players like van Looy and Iosidifis staying at the club, they would have a good shot at promotion. Clive's cuttings

Will this mean all 3 leagues will need to be completed to move on? If that is the case, how many leagues are there in total to complete the challenge?

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou Matchday 32 - vs Karmiotissa Another game where Geroskipou should have come away with at least a point. The season was now over with a 1-0 loss, but more sadly, relegation. Even if they had won, due to the Achna-Alki game ending in a draw, they still would not have been safe. Looking over the goals scored, his side were average for the league, but on the opposite side in defence, it was a shambles, with the most conceded in the league.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou Matchday 31 - vs Aris Limassol Another frustrating game for Clive, with his team being the better on paper, but as everyone knows, football is not played on paper. Sloppy defending lead to both Limassol goals and despite having some good chances, nobody on the team decided to show up in the second to last game. Sitrep - Geroskipou were now 3 points adrift from safety, the final game against Karmiotissa was a must win but ultimatley, lady luck also had to look favourably with them. Alki and Achna were due to play each other in their final game of the season. Clive did some long and drawn out maths to figure out what Geroskipou would need to survive. As the league sorting rules were aggregate scores between teams - away goals scored between teams - goal difference: Agg. score vs Achna - 3-8 Achna Agg. score vs Alki - 9-9 Away goal agg vs Alki - 4-4 This meant the following had to happen: 1. Geroskipou win over an already relegated Karmiotissa 2. Achna to beat Alki 3. A 10 goal swing to occur somehow

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou Matchday 30 - vs Achna The first cup final of the run in did not go to plan for Geroskipou. Despite having more shots and more on target, Clive's strike partnership couldn't conjure up chances of note, whereas Achna did show up on the day, and finished the game 3-1 victors. Geroskipou were back in the familiar red spots in the table. There were now 2 games left for Clive to try and survive in his first season in the First Division.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou April 2031 A massive win against Alki after a strong start in the first half lifted Geroskipou out of the relegation zone for the second time all season. This performance was followed up with a disapointing draw against Apol. Limassol, where they could only come away with a 2-2 draw, leaving them 3 points above the relegation zone with only 3 games remaining. May Fixtures The biggest 3 games in the clubs history approached in May, with Clive asking his side to treat all games as cup finals. A win against Achna and a draw against either Aris Limassol or Karmiotissa would ensure survival without needing to worry about other results, but a loss against Achna would see Geroskipou right back in the middle of the dogfight

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou March 2031 A real hit and miss month for Geroskipou. A thumping victory over Apol. Limassol was then followed by a disapointing 2-1 loss against the other Limassol team (Aris). A win against Karmiotissa and a heavy loss against Achna saw Geroskipou finish the month in the relegation zone with the 5 games to go. A heavy blow for Clive, as Petrovic was an ever present either at DL or BWM. April Fixtures A win against Alki would be critical in Geroskipou's survival chances, with them both sitting on the same number of points. Over the course of the season, the team had done well against Apol. Limassol, so Clive was hopeful on picking up 3 points in that game.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou February 2031 - Post split After a morale boosting friendly win against Kedros, Geroskipou marched into their next game against Alki and pulled off a 4-2 win. This would also be the last game that Geroskipou would be missing van Looy. For the first time in the season, Geroskipou had finished the month outside of the relegation zone. Clive knew that it would be a 50/50 on relegation, as their early season form may come back to haunt them. van Looy was injured again, this time he would be out for 7 weeks, but luckily because the fixtures were moving into the 2 a month period, he would not miss as many games as first feared. March Fixtures With van Looy out for the first half of the second phase of the season, Clive was pinning hopes on the team to be able to rally around Viegas, who was becoming an important cog in the machine this season. He asked his God if it would be too much to ask for 4 wins in the league to trade getting hammered in the cup against APOEL.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou February 2031 - Pre split The team was filled with hope after bouncing back to finish the first stage of the league really well, with a 2-1 win against Achna and a convincing 3-0 against Aris Limassol. The two wins still see Geroskipou in the relegation zone, but now they were level on points with Achna with 10 games left to go. February Fixtures - Post split Only 1 more game in February post split for Geroskipou, and it would be a big one. A loss against Alki would put them 8 points ahead of the relegation zone, potentially making the relegation race a 3 horse one.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou January 2031 Another shock win in the cup, which was decided in the first leg by a very late Viegas goal. Geroskipou pushed their luck at times, and then in the very next game, karma came back to bite them, with a late collapse against Apol. Limassol. Predictable losses against Nea Salamina and Ermis Aradippou were sandwiched inbetween a good draw against Anorthosi, with Magi popping up with a 90th minute equaliser. The solitary point was a factor in seeing Geroskipou ending the month in dead last, now 6 points from safety. Toward the end of the month, disater struck. van Looy went down with a 6 week injury, seeing him miss some crucial matches for the start of the second phase of the league season. February Fixtures With 2 games left before the split, 2 wins were crucial in February.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou December 2030 Not a good month for Geroskipou, first losing 3-1 against Alki. Next was a must win against Karmiotissa, where Viegas was out the blocks quick-ish, but after the scores were levelled, Geroskipou did not look like scoring again. This changed in the AEL game, where Geroskipou scored 3. It was just a shame that AEL got 5 of their own. The APOEL game was always a write off, but going away from home only losing by 2 goals is something that Clive urged his players to hold their heads up at. No league table unfortunately, the CFA must have forgotten to update the tables at the end of the month, Clive could only guess that Geroskipou were still stuck in 11th. January Fixtures Another set up cup games, in which the Geroskipou faithful were hopeful of at least a competitive tie. In the league, there were 2 winnable games in Clive's eyes, Limassol and Ermis Aradippou. 6 points would be very handy going into the second stage of the season.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou November 2030 Another great month for Geroskipou, it was unfortunate that only 2 games were won, although at the minute to Clive, that didn't matter. A good win against Ermis Aradippou and a massive win in the 6 pointer against Aris Limassol topped and tailed the month off. The Achna game was frustrating, with Geroskipou hitting the post twice in the 1-0 loss. The cup journey also continued, with an emphatic 4-0 win over Apol. Limassol. Again, other teams around the relegation zone picked up points, leaving Geroskipou in 11th after 12 games played. A win against Achna would have seen them shoot into 8th. December Fixtures Wins against Alki and Karmiotissa would be massive wins if Geroskipou could play well enough to earn the points. APOEL and AEL would be tougher opponents.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou October 2030 Geroskipou picked up their 1st win of the season in against Limassol. Sadly for Clive, it was then followed up by 2 massacres against Nea Salamina and Anorthosi. Another goalfest in the first leg of the cup ended the month, again against Limassol, where it finished 3-3. Results elsewhere had not been kind, with Geroskipou still stuck in the relegation zone, but level on points with Achna. November Fixtures Potentially two early season 6 pointers lay ahead in November against Achna and Aris Limassol, along with the second leg of the cup tie. Clive was hoping to get at least 6 points in the coming month to at least ease expectations going into the second half of the pre-split and get some points on the board.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou September 2030 A 5-5 thriller in the cup set up a winner takes all game in the second leg, which Geroskipou duly took the oppertunity to do to make it through to the 2nd round. In the league however, a single draw with Karmiotissa sandwiched inbetween some tight losses saw Clive's side sit 11th after the first 5 games. There were some good performances, namely against 2nd place AEL, where the score was only 2-1. October Fixtures All months would be tough, but playing 3rd, then 4th, then 7th would be a challenging month. This would be followed up with another away trip to Limassol in the cup.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2030/31 Pre-Season Going into the club's first season in the First Division, Clive thought that this would elevate the clubs reputation to at least around about the same size as other First Division sides. He could not be more wrong. According to reports, Geroskipou were still roughly a mid-table Second Division club. That meant the following message pretty much redundant, as players in Cyprus did not want to join the club, let alone other countries in Europe. With the enhanced budget and scouting region, Clive wanted to experiment with a new, improved HoYD, just to see if some good players could come through the youth system. He splashed out massively, offering £750 p/w for his chosen candidate, but only time would tell if this was a good move. Transfers A lot of new players came in during the off-season, a lot of these players would not play, but Clive was desperate to try anything to try and pull off the impossible. Going into the season, it was obvious that Geroskipou were up against it, with them only spending £285,000 p/a on wages, where on the other end of the spectrum, APOEL were spending £12,180,000 p/a. It was then suprising, that in the middle of pre-season, Clive got an email from a P.Petridis, the chairman of APOEL offering him an interview for their manager's position. This was tempting for Clive, but he still had work to do at Geroskipou. Pre-Season Fixtures A good pre-season, only conceeding 1 goal over the 7 games. September Fixtures Clive was not concerned too much about the cup, just wanting to focus on the league and survival.

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou 2029/30 Season Review Finally, a final promtion for Clive. After 7 years in the Second Division, and with little to no budget, he had managed to build a side that was capable of not only getting promoted, but winning the league in dramatic fashion. It was clear however that a lot of work would need to be done in order to keep them up in the First Division. Another issue with the promotion was that Geroskipou's stadium was not an all seater, which did not comply with the First Division rules, which requires all seater stadiums. Geroskipou's home games were now 30 minutes away from their acutal stadium, and Clive wondered why they could not reach a groundshare agreement with Pafos to move into a bigger and closer stadium instead. van Looy topped the scoring charts with 37 in all competitions. Scarily though, there were only 8 seperate scorers throughout the whole season. Clive's Cuttings

Clive English - Back to the motherland - APOP Geroskipou May 2030 Final day of the season vs Karmiotissa Going into the final game of the season, Clive knew that anything other than a win would not be enough to be promoted, especially knowing that there were other sides hot on their tail. He was lucky that nobody got injured in training the week leading up to the biggest game in the clubs history, at the end of their 10th season as a club no less. Also adding to the positivity toward the game was that in the home leg, Geroskipou had won and was the result that started the great run of form that they had been on. All of this positivity was shortlived however, with Karmiotissa opening the scoring after just 3 minutes. On 13 mins, Markou had to be stretched off and replaced on the left wing. Geroskipou now needed 2 goals without reply and without their main creative threat. Other scores were coming in via the radios in the stands, Agia Napa were ahead in their game, now sitting on 59 points, and ahead of Geroskipou. Just before the half hour mark, a long ball forward reached the onrushing Viegas, who then slipped it past the Karmiotissa goalkeeper to level the scores up at 1-1. It seemed like the tide had turned in the game. Karmiotissa were committing fouls left and right to try and keep the midfielders from launching any kind of play, and just after picking up their 4th yellow card of the match on 35 mins, Viegas struck again to make the score 2-1 Geroskipou. Half Time: Karmiotissa 1 - 2 APOP Geroskipou Confidence was sky high at half time, maybe too high though, as not long after the break, ex Pafos striker Labbe tucked a slow shot, that probably should have been easily saved, to make it 2-2. Geroskipou now needed a goal in the next 40 mins or it would all be over. Geroskipou were knocking on the door, just after the hour mark, they had a corner a brilliant save from the Karmiotissa goalkeeper. Both centre halfs lumbered up in the 6 yard box, and Bonde came in with a header that no keeper would save! 3-2! They were now top of the table. Would Geroskipou manage to hold on? Clive did not change anything majorly tactically, if they had hold of the game and scored a goal every 20 mins on average, why change and conceed a late heartbreaker? Duly though, despite some minor scares, which all turned out to be massively offside, the referee blew his whistle for the final time. Full Time: Karmiotissa 2 - 3 APOP Geroskipou Geroskipou had manage to win the Second Division! Final League Table Despite having a worse goal difference, the head to head record was 4-2 in Geroskipou's favour. Clive offered his commiserations to Agia Napa, losing out on promotion by a single point, and Pafos, their cross town rivals, who for the first time they would be playing in a higher division. Both of these were rejected. A great end to the season, 3 wins from 3. First half of the season Second half of the season 3x the current wage budget! Surely this wouldn't be enough for a survival season? Time would tell.

Hopefully! But you are right, a win and only a win would be good enough considering everyone elses oppositions in the last round of games.

Good luck in Mongolia, I managed there for about 30 seasons. Money problems in the Asian Champions League were an issue, but one of my most enjoyable saves on FM.