Dan does the Pentagon Challenge

[Dan+]

MELBOURNE CITY BEATEN - THE QUARTER FINAL LINEUP

I had a worry going into the game because of the amount of players we had out, I had to roll back the years and throw Sim Won-Seong back into the defence. In a double whammy we'd tired the defence through defaulting to have reserve players play for the B team and their game had fallen just before the CL, which meant Sim was not only past it, but pretty tired and unlikely to last the 90. He got an assist early on though and we doubled our lead almost immediately. It ended 3-1.

So once again, it's ourselves, a fellow Korean side, and two Australians on our half of the draw.

We run into the one we're yet to face before.

We make yet another trip to Melbourne to take on Western United, a club even newer than ourselves.

We could in theory have three Melbourne sides in a row!

I think they're probably the weakest of the other three so I'm happy with that, but it will be tough to go away there. The crucial big takeaway is that we'd be at home in the semis and the final. I think it's attainable.

In other news, we've had another belting intake.

He's not a million miles off first team standard already. I'm baffled that of all the clubs I've managed that it's Gangwon who are giving me the best products. But I'm not complaining.

[Dan+]

THE FINALE (long post this!)

I'll roll it all into one here but the season is done and what panned out was... interesting.

Champions League

We went to Western United which was my 4th trip as a manager to Melbourne, with the previous three yielding no victories, but I'd never gone to these. They're the new club of the city - formed in 2018 which is even more recent than Gangwon (2008). The Del Mastro derby if you like.

We started pretty slowly and an open game looked like punishing us, but Park Min-Woo scored a quick brace and we ended up winning it 1-4. We settled the game and ended up winning it pretty comfortably. We were set up for a semi final at home.

It's Suwon. They've won in Melbourne. A Korean side will be in the final. They will host either Shabab Al-Ahli or Al-Hilal (KSA).

---

The ground sells out for the 2nd time in my memory. It's another very open game and Suwon take an early lead. We equalise and start to dominate the first half, but cannot fully capitalise on it. Suwon are in amazing form and haven't lost in any competition since they last came here, and even that was their first loss in a silly number of games - for context, Suwon have only lost 1 game in 31 which is frankly ridiculous, and like I say that was here, they are very good, dangerous.

In the 70th minute we go ahead. Park Min-Woo, who really has carried us in this CL run produces another tidy finish and we look well on our way, and in the 82nd minute Jun Se-Jin seals the win on the break. I think we're in the final.

Only he hasn't. There's no VAR in this competition. The little quirks on the game where you feel like you already know an outcome before it's properly presented to you, one of them is that when the goalscorers name appears after a goal it's goal given, but I assume there's VAR and there isn't. He's flagged offside and the game runs on.

With 85 on the clock, Suwon equalise. It's another absolute howler at the back as left back Rio Kanno heads back to goalkeeper Lee Gwang-Yeon and he doesn't anticipate it, but Suwon's striker does and he can't miss.

We're tiring and starting to hold on a bit. Then in the 93rd minute my fears are confirmed. A corner for Suwon and a handball from Guzman. Penalty. Thai international Suksum steps up and.... blazes it over the bar. I can't believe my luck.

My joy is short lived though. Early into extra time he sets up South African Sean Isaacs in another piece of weak defending from us and Suwon take the lead again. We're knackered. It's too much and I know it's over. We try our best but we just haven't got it. Suwon qualify.

So it's yet another heartbreak. It's the third year in a row where we've gone a round further than the previous, but the third round in a row that we've gone out, at home, to a side from our own league - to a team we would end up finishing above in the league.

We are a bad cup team. It's that simple.

---

K-League

The league is hotting up but after the Suwon loss it was hard to get up for any of it, although it would be sickening to blow that as well.

The game following the Suwon loss was.... Suwon at home, again, three days later. Once again we end it in heartbreak. Another late goal and we draw 2-2. We then lose at Jeonbuk and cede control of the title battle. If Jeonbuk win their games, then they're champions, but they do crucially have to go to Suwon.

Three games left. Ulsan away, Daegu at home and Incheon at home. 4th-6th. I think we have a chance but I don't trust us. We just cannot defend.

We make no mistake at Ulsan. We're forced into substantial changes but we win a tight game 0-2. A really good win against an Ulsan side much improved from the garbage they served up away here earlier in the season. Jeonbuk and Suwon both win as well.

The vital penultimate game is Gangwon v Daegu, which goes on at the same time as Suwon v Jeonbuk.

We win 4-1. We're not actually that convincing in the performance but we're deadly in front of goal. Crucially the other game ends in a draw - Jeonbuk have ceded control to us. Suwon have finished 3rd regardless now and it's officially another title battle on the final day between Gangwon and Jeonbuk, who for the second year running go into the final day level on points.

---

Gangwon v Incheon
Jeonbuk v Daegu

Both teams have favourable fixtures but the schedule is testing - this has been particularly gruelling I think.

I fear the worst here because I see the condition of our side. It's appalling and I worry we'll pay the price. Hopefully we can start quickly and see it out. The ground sells out again.

The worst possible start. Incheon take a lead immediately through yet another goalkeeping error. The real hammer blow though arrives in the 4th minute when Incheon double their lead. Yes - we're 0-2 down after 4 minutes, they break through, shoot, saved but it ricochets off Hartono and into his own net. It's a shambles and with such a poor condition for our side I cannot believe we'll win it now.

We get one back just before half time, but Jeonbuk take the lead.

68 on the clock and it's done. Incheon get a 3rd and there is surely no way back from here. Things swing bizarrely as we grab another and Daegu miraculously equalise at Jeonbuk. If Daegu can grab a winner, we win the league.

But they don't. Nor do we get that equaliser.

It's one thing not winning it but Jeonbuk blew it as well and we let them off. It's disastrous. We end the season trophyless.

I nearly walked there and then. I really think I may have done all I can with Gangwon. We're good but just not good enough. Jeonbuk and Suwon are both better than us really when it's all said and done. They'll turn up in the crunch games more often than we will.

---

Where did it really go wrong?

I looked through the stats and it's pretty obvious, it's a crucial error I made and one that I nearly made last season too, but I rectified it.

It's the goalkeeping situation.

The data hub is quite interesting - to me it largely confirms the things that I thought anyway, but we need to seriously do something about this.

Basically our goalkeepers are a disaster and Jeonbuk's has won them the league.

We have obviously been ridiculously good in front of goal as well. We're the best creative side but we've been ruthless, the two Parks were both sensational again.

But the goalkeeping is the real problem.

We broke our own record for most goals in a season yet didn't even win the league. 49 conceded is just criminal.

The situation with the goalkeepers is this. We have the original, Lee Gwang-Yeon. He's been fairly steady - not perfect, but probably just about average, though he's a quite good distributor and that's definitely helped some of our attacking in the last couple of years.

But we got Kim Dae-Ryoon in an intake, who has genuinely got world class potential and is rated already by coaches as our highest ability player - at just 19.

The problem is he's inconsistent. Last season I started playing him but he struggled and after 7 games, I brought back Lee and he did fine.

This season I kept him in for a longer period, he was still inconsistent and couldn't be relied upon, and during this period Lee got annoyed and decided he wanted out. I persisted too long with Kim despite nothing really changing and by the time Lee came back, he'd lost all morale and his performances were no better.

Basically at no point this season have we had a reliable goalkeeper. Meanwhile Jeonbuk, on the graph I posted above, had the best performing keeper in the league, and it's won them the league.

I was wondering if I played overly expansively but we had the best xG against in the league. You can pinpoint 90% of where we've gone wrong this season to the goalkeeping.

Lee is out of contract and won't be sticking around and to be honest, I don't blame him either. Kim didn't deliver and he lost his spot probably undeservedly.

With Kim having a release clause of £1.9mil and more likely interest, we may lose him anyway and I don't think this is a save where I can really prioritise development.

So the obvious priority this window is a goalkeeper - and we might even need two.

[Dan+]

WE'RE BACK - 2031

It's been a while since the last update. A combination of reasons but mainly consisting of me being out of the country. I've also had a bit of frustration in general at the game.

The goalkeeper situation is a farce and I hit a point where I started to wonder if there was even much point in playing on. What happened this summer was I've somehow managed to capitalise on a situation at Jeonbuk. So I posted the graph above of the goalkeepers display - the best one in the league is Jeonbuk's goalkeeper, Song Bum-Keun. He's 33 years old but he is good. He's had a fall out with Jeonbuk over a new contract and I've decided despite his age to buy him and pay him a decent wage. Probably not a prudent long term move, but I feel like a goalkeeper was the finishing touch.

But he had been crap as well for us. I really started to wonder how it was possible that, yet again, we had the worst shot stoppers in the league.

But in fairness, things have gotten better. Maybe he just needed a bit of time to settle. I'm unsure. But he's improved and we've stopped letting goals in. The last month or so is exactly what I want to see - sick of the amount of times we've let in 2 or more in the last year or so. But we still don't keep enough clean sheets.

The Champions League presented us with the easiest group I think I've ever seen. The champions of Thailand, the champions of Vietnam, and the winners of the Chinese cup who ended up getting relegated. Hilarious. We've won it as predicted but we did drop some silly points within it.

The round of 16 game in September will be at home to Australian side Macarthur FC. Our first ever meeting.

I never thought we'd hit a point where China and Japan had nobody hit the knockouts, while Thailand bag two and amazingly Indonesia have a qualifier. The holders Suwon are out in the groups.

---

The league. Not too much to read so far.

Ulsan's revolution is in full swing but I can't see them going the pace. It's otherwise really tight and there's not too much to read into it just yet.

Our first two league games saw us win away at both Suwon and Jeonbuk. Amazingly we beat Jeonbuk 0-6. A bit of a freak of a game where everything seemed to just fly in. A bit of a grudge match - my midfielder Shin left us this summer and disgustingly turned down Porto to join Jeonbuk for £4mil, and obviously, we bought their keeper.

But there's a long way to go. It's a long season in Korea and there's not too much you can read into it just yet.

I do think if I don't win the CL this year I'm probably going to leave Gangwon.

[Dan+]

PROBLEMS FIXED - FOR NOW

We are on some run here. It's excellent because it's rekindled some of my fire for the save. I had worried that the goalkeeping situation wasn't fixable but it does appear that a reverting to an old system has done the trick, and it's seemingly just the right balance for this side.

As a result, we are looking very good for my third title at Gangwon.

I've believed for a while that no team can win trophies without a solid defence and that's exactly why I was so annoyed last year. We scored for fun but we couldn't keep them out at the other end. We've become harder to break down whilst still retaining some threat going forward.

This window is going to test us - there are expected to be moves and I feel my squad maybe needs another player or two, but I'm feeling good about this.

[Toinho]

How's Del Maestro faring elsewhere?

[Dan+]

16 hours ago, Toinho said:

How's Del Maestro faring elsewhere?

Still at Marseille. About a year ago when I checked he was transfer listed which I thought really highlighted the gulf in the levels we're working at, but he seems to have turned it around somewhat, seems to be a squad player for Marseille, 18 appearances last season and half of them as a sub, but 6.84 average rating and one goal. Not actually sure what position they play him - can play in midfield and can play as a striker.

He's considered to be Australia's 2nd most key player behind Harry Souttar.

He was a massive coup for a club of our level really. He's probably a £10mil player that we got for £1.1mil, albeit lost for not loads more than that.

I've also just lost my protege goalkeeper to Nurnberg too. A shame but was always going to happen.

[Dan+]

THE BATTLE IN GANGWON

First of all, the league is still all going to plan, I've no criticism of that at all other than losing our 22 game unbeaten run at Jeonbuk.

We've stumbled just a little maybe, although you're judging this against a nearly flawless run.

We've also managed to knock Jeonbuk out of the FA Cup, meaning there's a semi final set up away at Asan, with virtually all the big hitters out - Incheon is the likely final opposition for us, but I'll be taking nothing for granted, this tournament isn't kind to us.

We had a bit of business in the summer window. We lost nobody massively key other than Kim Dae-Ryoon, my protege goalkeeper. £1.9mil the fee but we always knew it'd be that much. A shame but I knew it was coming, and he wasn't even starting for us either. A new backup keeper arrived. As did a left back I sold a few years ago to Suwon for a cut price, albeit they've done us good and proper because he's played for both them and Gimcheon already this season, meaning he can't even play

We're also losing two key attacking players on frees - club record scorer Park Jin-Hyeon is off to Kobenhavn while left winger Choi Min-Hyuk is off to St Pauli. Both on frees which is a shame but they were both after silly money, and to be honest, I'm leaving Gangwon after this season regardless of what pans out now. This CL run is the measure of how far I can actually take them.

I think we look good for the title, but Jeonbuk always, and I mean always finish strongly. They often start badly then really chase us down towards the end and it appears to be happening again. We'll of course face them again when the league splits. 8 points clear with 8 left. I fancy us but the priority is the Champions League.

So on we move to the round of 16 against Macarthur.

The round of 16 is always a big banana skin. You can draw anybody on your half of the draw, but crucially as I've been through before, your squad is likely to be hit by the registration issue and you can only register new players in your squad from the quarters onwards - so unless they were registered 8 months ago, they aren't playing.

This really hits us, leaving us with just 6 subs.

I look at Macarthur's squad though and it hits me how badly timed this round is for Australian clubs too. It probably explains why they often falter at this round. Their season starts in November and their squads are also heavily hit. It's a bit of a mess and the AFC should really change this.

It's a battle. It's mammoth. It's an amazing, amazing game of football.

And we progress.

There really is nothing quite like continental football, anywhere in the world it seems.

The start is a disaster. Eskander, their striker, is absolutely lightning quick and punishes our high line twice. I have to adjust but I do appreciate that it's very hard to come back against opposition of this kind of style, as they always carry that threat.

The two players who are departing turn the game around for us in the second half and save the tie in extra time. We're the better side over the 120 and it's a fair result, but that was tense, far, far more tense than I thought it was going to be. Fair play to Macarthur.

News filters through from around east Asia. Jeonbuk have beaten Sydney to my disappointment. The shock of the round comes in Australia - a hat-trick of defeats as Melbourne Victory are beaten at home by Thai side Buriram United. Persija also dump out BG Pathum United, meaning amazingly, you have an Indonesian side in the quarters.

For some context, Buriram and Persija in the quarters is equivalent to Rangers and Lech Poznan being in the quarters of the Champions League. It's a huge pair of upsets.

The draw is done.

We are reunited with our group stage opposition in Buriram United. We drew 2-2 at their place but beat them 5-2 at home. I'm quite confident we'll get by them - the opener was the first day of the season, which is always hard because it's a bad schedule and we weren't fully prepared, and I was also playing my old, more open system.

The likeliest outcome is Gangwon v Jeonbuk in the semis. I'm not going to lie, it terrifies the fuck out of me. I've been here before.

But there's not much more we can do. Keep everyone fit. Manage the squad sensibly. And pray somehow Persija put them out.

This is my last season at Gangwon I've decided. I think if we don't do it this time we probably never will.

[Dan+]

WHO'S FAIRYTALE IS IT?

The quarter finals have been played and it's quite remarkable what's just happened.

We went to a packed out Buriram. This was no walkover. I expected us to be able to win it but they're no mugs, and nobody who goes this far into the tournament can be treated as such. There's a reason they won at Melbourne.

Digging a bit deeper I think I've found a part of the reason. They actually have a bit of a golden generation at that club. They play three 16/17 year olds in their side and one of them is legitimately going to the top - and that's without even checking the others. This is no fluke. Buriram are generally poor but have a couple of genuinely class players in their side. This makes them dangerous.

I wouldn't say it was easy, but we did it. It finishes Buriram 2-3 Gangwon. The scoreline really flatters Buriram and our old tendency of conceding what feels like every shot is back. But this is a big win. We went to a hostile ground and delivered. I changed a number of players for the game as the semi final follows shortly afterwards and I did think we could get away with doing so. This could've backfired spectacularly, but it didn't.

Over to Jakarta.

I ask, who's fairytale really is this? In Gangwon you have a small Korean club who have hit the summit of the domestic game largely through I would say good recruitment. The best period in the clubs small history by a mile, there is no doubt. But as a club winning titles in Korea, there's an expectation that continental success could follow, and so far, we've lacked it where it's really counted.

Our story is a great one. But it's being trumped.

We will face Persija in the semis. They've done it. 73k have witnessed a miracle. They have beaten Jeonbuk 1-0, withheld the barrage and somehow scraped through. The most unlikely semi finalist possibly ever.

Have we struck gold, or are we going to become the latest victim to the most bonkers story in Asian football, maybe ever? These are genuinely Terengganu level. It is utterly, utterly mental they have gone this far.

But we must cut this short. No mercy. We must progress. We have a semi final at home to an Indonesian side, then a final at home to Shabab Al-Ahli or Al-Hilal in our way. That's all that is between that first Champions League. This is the chance. We have to do it.

---

Fuck the Korean FA.

No honestly. Fuck them. This is genuinely disgusting.

What kind of fucking maniacs are they making us play Ulsan between those two games?

I'm going to have to essentially throw it because I cannot take any risks, and give Jeonbuk a chance in the title race. Jeonbuk haven't got to play on this matchday. It's utterly ridiculous. How has that happened?????

Final point - you will notice we won our cup semi. We are into the FA Cup final as well. We will face Jeju - the team who knocked us out last season. It is a two legged final, and I believe it would surround the CL final too, which again is just awful scheduling.

My god did this just get interesting. We could end up with a treble. We could end up with nothing.

[Dan+]

Gulp. It's the dreaded sell out.

[Toinho]

Good luck!!!

[Dan+]

THE THIRD TITLE AND PERSIJA

We have the league title in the bag with three games to spare. This has been our most impressive league performance yet - utterly ruthless, still unbeaten at home, points tally around the same as the last two titles with three games still to go - just 28 conceded as well.

But as we all know, I'm in that peculiar phase where the league is secondary, even if it is yet another good one to have on the CV.

The big night however is in the Champions League.

---

Gangwon FC vs Persija Jakarta

A sold out Gangwon stadium for the fourth time, and the previous three had all ended in defeat. I feel that this is probably the most generous draw you could ever possibly ask for at this level. I compared it to Europe and Persija are champions of the 20th ranked league - the equivalent to that in Europe is the Ekstraklasa of Poland, of which Lech Poznan are the champions on my game. So it's genuinely like playing Lech Poznan at home in the Champions League semi final. It's that ridiculous.

We absolutely bombard them in the opening 10 minutes, forcing save after save, but we just seemingly can't get the goal to ease the nerves. I can see why they're doing well. What they lack in quality they do make up for in organisation, and it's not like the saves are all point-blank, it's generally a case of their defenders forcing us into taking slightly more optimistic shots. Essentially they're just built to absorb us and hope they can nick something on the break.

They manage to get to half time goalless. I'm not going to lie. I'm scared. We've had 18 shots and they've had 0, but the xG really isn't that high, we're having lots of shots rather than lots of good chances.

Cometh the hour, cometh the Park. He finally manages to lash one of these half chances home and the deadlock is broken. We add a second almost immediately after and take a gamble in subbing Diarrassouba and Parra who are both a booking away from missing the final, although sadly my midfielder Paik has already been booked and will miss it, should we hold on.

We make no mistakes, Ko adds a third from a corner late on and we progress with a 3-0 win, 30 shots to 0, simply the quality we had was far superior in the end. Fair play to Persija who for me got about as much as they realistically could've done out of that squad, but it's Korea that will see the final.

And it's Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia who will be fulfilling it.

So here we have it. We are champions. We have three league games left where I plan to just rest players for the most part, maybe a bit of rotation so they don't lose sharpness. We then face Jeju United in the FA Cup final over two legs.

Then it's the big one. It's all on this. I am one game away.

[Dan+]

AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL - GANGWON V AL-HILAL (KSA)

We're finally here. We've played our first leg of the FA Cup final at Jeju and won it 0-2, despite a number of changes because of the priority being this game. There's a strong likelihood we take the FA Cup as well.

All that stands in my way of that first Champions League are Al-Hilal.

Al-Hilal are three time winners of this competition, but have been runner up five times. Still, eight finals is some going. They're one of the heavyweights of West Asia and they're going to be tricky.

I do a delve into their run to the final and it's really, really funny.

They went to Al-Jazira of UAE in the round of 16, played out a drab 0-0 draw but ended up sneaking through on penalties. In the quarters they went away to fellow Saudi side Al-Faisaly and once again, a drab 0-0 draw, and once again they sneak it on penalties.

They go away to Shabab Al-Ahli of UAE in the semi finals. You guessed it. They've drawn 0-0 and won on penalties. They haven't scored a single goal in the knockouts. They have done it all on penalties, every single round.

So I'm braced for a tight game. I expect them to be solid at the back and their goalkeeper, Brenno, their star man, to have a good game. Their key outfielder is injured as well, which is a huge slice of luck.

---

Quite honestly, there is not a lot of point diving deep into the game. Just sit back, laugh, then laugh again.

I am not even exagerrating when I say that is probably the easiest game I've had at Gangwon. I cannot believe the pure simplicity of it from the first minute until the last. We totally outclass them, we start quickly, we get a goal from a corner, we continue to dominate, we add a 2nd. We're just relentless and they haven't got a clue what to do about it.

Persija were better.

When I started this save I was expecting these games to be utterly excruciating. Macarthur, to a degree Buriram, they made us work. That Al-Hilal performance must be the most abject in a final possibly ever.

So we've done it. We are the champions of Asia!

One down. Four to go.

Gangwon v Jeju will be my final game in Asia unless there is some bizarre system where I play in a world club cup in the next couple of months, but I don't think that's the case. It shall be the goodbye, and hopefully the completion of the treble.

[Dan+]

On 12/03/2022 at 21:46, Dan said:

TERENGGANU - THE REFLECTION

So just a bit of an overview, some of the stats from a really good leg of this journey. When I got that job at Terengganu I took it on the pretence that I was going to achieve something in the short term that was virtually unattainable and just two losses later it was gone bar a miracle. I thought given my lack of experience, the fact I'd essentially thrown real life me into the game, gave me no security in this but they didn't sack me, they let things continue, and thank god they did eh?

The real key twist in the save came upon something I've used before, but kind of stumbled upon too - in playing a 4-1-4-1. It's a very unglamourous formation. It relied on creating pretty much a wall in midfield, a battering ram of a striker who'd hold the ball up and allow others to join on the break. Nobody in Malaysia seemed to have any clue how to handle this. Our defensive numbers were extraordinary and we scored plenty too.

I played 217 games. Of those, we won 145 of them (66%), we drew 39 and we lost 35. We scored 405 and we conceded 155, giving us a +250 goal difference. We bagged 8 trophies along the way - the highlight being the 2025 season which saw us claim four in one season.

The key players throughout the save, I'm going to highlight 5 key players from each save and in this instance, given the consistency of the delivery, I'm going to highlight some of the longer serving...

 

Mohd Suhaimi Husin - He did drop a couple of clangers at the end for me (particularly in the Kashima loss) but on the whole he was really reliable, despite me coming into the club and thinking 'my god, our keepers are terrible', he made himself safe from being replaced for years with his general reliability. He was a player who really surprised me.

 

Michael Enaruna - Signed fairly early on to replace my outgoing so called best player in Redzovic. He was an instant success and probably the highest level player we had in the team over the years. His height was a massive weapon as we became unmatched in our set piece ability. I very nearly went with his partner Zakaria but Enaruna was the superior player.

 

Muhd Azam Asmi Murad - I had to select one of the full backs as both had held their places here during my entire tenure, but he was the higher performing of the two despite being asked for the most part to hold the most defensive role. He was ultra consistent over the years and picked up many caps for Malaysia as a result.

 

Adam Nor Azlin - Resilience personified. Signed for me in my first summer but was ruled out for the entire season just before it got underway, but he clawed himself back into contention. He'd pick up another bad injury in the famous 2025 season but once again, he'd return and score 4 goals in our 2026 CL run, some effort for a central midfielder with finishing of 1. He deserved including.

 

Mohd Syamer Kutty Abba - A huge part of our side and another Malaysia international, signed in the first summer but frequently our best player, a key part of the counter attacking football we played. He scored the winning goal in the AFC Cup final as well.

 

Below, my all-time best XI in my opinion...

 

But it had to end eventually. It had run it's course and it was time to go. We are back in the game. I have landed in a bigger league in Asia. More to follow...

GANGWON - THE REFLECTION

I'll do this at every club I manage but a bit of an overview of what took place and what I take from it going forward. This was another brilliant leg of the journey and one thing I always thought about myself on FM, is that other than my own club, I can put in a solid shift at virtually anywhere. Once again, this all went better than I thought it would. I moved to Gangwon to finally get a taste of a big Asian league, but it came with the jeopardy of us potentially dropping out of it in my first season.

Within 18 months we'd secured a top 4 finish in the K-League and continental football was on its way to Gangneung. The rise had been so stark that I wondered if this was where I could secure that big one and eventually, after some big disappointments, we managed it in 2031.

Gangwon provided a really decent platform. Whilst it is a relatively small and new club, without the fanbase of a bigger name in Korea, they do have a bit of money behind them. I was never short of transfer budget - usually around £2mil to play with which given I was able to bring in good players at this level for around £500k-£1mil, we were never going to be far off success if we spent sensibly.

262 games managed at Gangwon. 165 wins, 52 draws and 45 losses. A proud record again.

So again, I'm going to pick out five players who deserve a mention for their roles during my time, for different reasons.

---

Sim Won-Seong - Bouncebackability. That's what I credit him with above all. Sim was a centre half already at the club when I arrived, albeit undertaking his national service with Gimcheon. He returned shortly after I arrived and as per the majority of players who go to Gimcheon, he's come back worse than he should be following not making their side. I sense no future for him and he cottons onto this, becoming a real moaner trying his best to get out of the club. Injury forces us to give him a chance and fair play, he proves me wrong, he's faultless. I keep playing him. He just seems to get better and better. I would go as far as saying a player of the season candidate. He gets a bad injury and he comes back again. This bloke amazed me, every time I thought he was done he'd step in, often outperforming players I considered superior. He's retired now, but what a warrior.

 

Jun Si-Jin - My very first signing at Gangwon. I needed a striker as the ones I inherited were either shit or whinging arseholes. I got pelters from my squad for letting this Serbian go and Jun was my replacement. He was better than I could've possibly imagined. A really good all-round striker who, like Sim, just never seemed to stop even when you thought he was done. I was reluctant to loan him out to Busan in a season where we ended up winning the treble. He also broke our top scorer record - albeit he lost the record within about 2 games  

 

Shin Hae-Won - My second signing at Gangwon. Yet another I got from Busan in the 2nd tier, again, I just needed bodies to pad out my squad and in came the 19 year old midfielder, average but a bit of pace, "yeah he'll do". His development was sensational and I was gutted to have to lose him to Jeonbuk (Porto were interested!!), a shame he was never part of the side that got over the line, but he was ace, totally outperformed expectation.

 

Park Jin-Hyeon - Goal machine. A really good striker who left Gangwon when I did. He was the reason Jun's all-time record scorer only lasted a couple of games. There isn't as big a back story, but he's ultimately been a goal machine for the club and I'm intrigued to see if anybody beats his 107 goals (84 in the league) which he got in 4 years there. Delivered in big games and just a generally reliable striker. Love him and will be following what he does in Denmark. I think he'll score goals in Europe.

 

Carlo del Mastro - I couldn't not mention him could I? He's the best player I've managed on this save. He was the one who I think really got the ball rolling for the success on the pitch. While we did win plenty after he left, he was the player who elevated us from a bottom half side to one who got us winning trophies more than any I think, and he deserved his big move. He has now left Marseille though as you can see - he went for £9mil.

 

And finally, my all time Gangwon XI.

---

We are aiming for South Africa.

I have turned off all Asian leagues with the exception of Malaysia and South Korea, so I am able to track the progress of my old clubs (and believe me I'm not liking what's going on at Gangwon already). I have added Canada, USA and Mexico, so North America is an option, but given the stature it's really worth doing Africa next - I actually think in hindsight I'd have done Africa first, but never mind.

[Dan+]

I PREDICT A RIOT

If you know, you know...

[Toinho]

Did you win the cup btw mate?

[Dan+]

15 hours ago, Toinho said:

Did you win the cup btw mate?

We did. A 3-1 win meaning it's 5-1 on aggregate. A treble. 5 trophies at Gangwon, 13 in total!

[Dan+]

BACK IN THE GAME AGAIN

Welcome to Africa. We have landed. We got the one we wanted.

Three months out of a job monitoring the situation in South Africa, I made my mind up that I wanted one of the following:

Kaizer Chiefs
Orlando Pirates
Mamelodi Sundowns
SuperSport United

Probably in that order of preference too. One of them had to come free eventually and it was the one I wanted most. I immediately bleated to the press about how interested I was in it. The fans wanted me. I bagged the interview and no mistakes were made. 9th April 2032 it was official and I had the job. Leg three of the world tour is here.

---

Once again I forgot to shoot the league table when the job became free, but they were 5th in the league, which is a sign of the lofty ambitions the club have. They were 10 points off the top, but the top three were all level on points and I did say in the interview that I thought I could bag a continental spot.

My understanding is the top 3 get a continental spot. The top 2 get into the Champions League by virtue of South Africa being in the top 13 ranked leagues in Africa, and the next goes into their version of the Europa League.

The interim manager won 3 out of 3 and closed the gap somewhat. I've then taken over two games and won them both too, implementing the 4-3-1-2 I was successful with at Gangwon.

Call me mental, but I think we have a genuine shot at the title. We actually don't have a terrible run in. If I can bag a title after just 9 games of management that'd be hilarious  but it's a big ask. I do think we have a decent squad, but it's not brilliantly balanced, although not terribly either.

Watch this space. The next leg of the journey is underway!

[Dan+]

Total trophies: 13
Champions Leagues: 1/5

UEFA Champions League: -
Copa Libertadores: -
CONCACAF Champions League: -
AFC Champions League: Gangwon FC (2031)
CAF Champions League: -

 

 

Honours list:


TERENGGANU FC (8) 
Liga Super Malaysia (2) - 2023, 2025
Piala Malaysia (2) - 2023, 2024
Piala Sultan Haji Ahmed Shah / Malaysian Super Cup (2) - 2025, 2026
Piala FA (1) - 2025
AFC Cup (1) - 2025

 

GANGWON FC (5) 
K-League (3) - 2028, 2029, 2031
AFC Champions League (1) - 2031

 

KAIZER CHIEFS (0) 

[Toinho]

I'm expecting a two year stay at the chiefs, hopefully a league win and a CL win. I think this will hopefully be easier than Asia!

[Dan+]

EARLY DRAMA IN AFRICA

So a bit more of an overview of what's going on, the permitations of the league etc...

I've come to Kaizer Chiefs and they want me to deliver them continental football. In short that means finish in the top 3 immediately this season.

In Africa I think there are 51 leagues, the champion of each goes into a 64 team Champions League, and the top 13 ranked leagues all get another spot. As South Africa is ranked I believe about 6th, that means 1st and 2nd goes into the CAF Champions League. Also as a result of this it means 3rd place goes into the CAF Confederation Cup (basically their Europa League). I see it as tough but not unachievable.

---

Well, it's been a very productive time at Chiefs so far, and we had ourselves in the title race! The objective has been achieved, but we're not going to be winning any silverware. That said, it's interesting what's panning out on the final day.

So we can still win the league but we need a bit of a miracle and I just don't see it. It's a three way title battle but, in all honesty, it's a two way one. But given the continental qualification on offer, it's a big matchday for us. And guess what?

We play the team above us in 2nd. Swallows are in a serious title battle yet might end up finishing 3rd.

The remit for us is this - win the game and we have finished 2nd almost certainly, an off chance of 1st but it's incredibly unlikely. Don't win however, and it's a 3rd placed finish, meaning my objective has been achieved but my actual long term objective will have to wait another year as we aim to bag CL qualification. I could have this leg of the journey sewn up in just 13 months which is incredible, but it almost feels too quick. While some play this challenge to get it done as quickly as possible, that's kind of already gone for me and I sort of want to immerse myself somewhat in the different continents. But we'll see what happens.

The nature of how we missed out was sickening though. As you can see in the form, we were nearly flawless. Since I've been in charge we've won 7 out of 8 games, the one failure coming against TS Galaxy at home (and with a win there we'd have a genuine shot). That game was particularly annoying as the manager of the month curse hit me, prompting their own manager to call me over-rated, before leaving our place with all three points - a game largely decided by the difference in goalkeepers.

I do wonder if I'm now in an environment where this kind of thing could be held against you. Despite such an impressive run of form, we did ultimately choke a bit and this is the most famous club in the country. It's not a Gangwon who were punching above their weight, this is a club that expects success.

Just a note for the Cape Town Spurs game - an excellent turnaround at a side high flying, the winner scored by my backup left back who is actually joining them in the summer. Some irony.

So it's onto Swallows! We have a terrible track record against them by the looks of things - losing the last four meetings including 3-0 there in February. But we've been largely impressive. We've dominated virtually every game and I'm very hopeful going forward. We need to win this though. I want my continental taste to begin in the big time. No time to waste.

[Dan+]

Swallows are in some position there  I mean you obviously gun for the title but a draw could win them the league, yet a loss will cost them playing in the Champions League. I'm glad we have a fairly simple remit. Fucking hell.

Just cottoned as well if we draw 0-0 and Sundows lose 1-0, or if we draw 1-1 and Sundowns lose 2-1 etc... Sundowns and Swallows would have identical records. You might actually get a title decided on random choice here.

[Dan+]

SEASON FINALE

We did our bit and it's 8 wins in 9 for me, and Champions League football is secured!

Sadly, we didn't get the 7 goals needed from Royal AM, or any at all, so it's another title for Sundowns. Their 22nd league title, first in three years. Congratulations to them.

It turns out I was virtually powerless. We ultimately needed to win 9 from 9 and pick up a goal difference over those games in isolation of plus 19, whereas we only managed 11. In simple terms it would've been a miracle if we'd done it, and we did well to get close.

But you have to say it's hard to not have some encouragement going into the new season, so I make a few points of note...

- We 'won' xG in every game fairly comfortably. I do think xG is quite a good measure and it's clear at this point that our build up play in terms of creating chances, and chances created against us, is second to none.

- The squad is going to need a lot of tarting up. We have about 6 players leaving on frees anyway and we're lacking depth in a number of positions. I've taken the decision to put £1mil of my transfer budget into the scouting budget so that we can scout the whole world for players, but I'm thinking of knocking this down to just Africa because I'm finding plenty either not qualifying for a work permit, or really fancying South Africa in general. I think we can attact players from the rest of Africa though.

- We've already found the system I think and it's the 4-3-1-2, probably the system I'm having most joy with. We do not have the depth currently to sustain it over a whole season as we're too lacking in certain positions, but we have the basis for it, and I think with a strong summer we'll win the league.

The quite obvious takeaway is the scouts need to deliver for me. I think we need about 8 signings to pad the squad out. We have 0 foreign players and 5 slots, which is great news. I also see no obvious restrictions in the rules to do with the Champions League either.

Overall, a bright start.

[Dan+]

NEW SEASON PREVIEW - 2032/33

My first full season (hopefully!) at Kaizer Chiefs commences then. We have confirmed CAF Champions League qualification by finishing 2nd in last seasons league. This means we will compete in the following this season, it's quite confusing, there's a few...

DSTV Premiership
The league of South Africa. There are 16 teams who play each other home and away once - fairly straight forward concept here and no league splits etc... so a simple one.

CAF Champions League
The prize. The one we're here to win. The format of this is that it's a 64 team tournament, coming from 51 different countries so it's very varied, albeit tough to qualify for. There's a preliminary round, an open draw, to knock it down to 32 teams, and then another round to knock it down to 16. There is then a group stage, four groups where two each go through, and then the ties fall as expected - quarter final, semi final and final. They're all over two legs, bar the final.

Nedbank Cup
A cup of the top two leagues of South Africa, so 32 teams involved.

Telkom Knockout
A knockout cup for the 16 teams of the DSTV Premiership. Their league cup, perhaps.

MTN 8
A knockout cup for the top 8 finishing teams of last seasons DSTV Premiership. I have to say I find this totally excessive by this point.

Carling Black Label Cup
An annual match in July between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. Unsure if this is to be taken totally seriously, and I feel loathed to put this on my overall trophy haul if I win it. I've decided I'll break down my overall trophy count between major and minor. It's a nice curtain raiser I suppose but it's hardly like the two clubs are strangers. Who am I to question them though.

---

I want to win as many things as I can but I think winning six trophies in a season might be beyond us

I know that I've got a bit of a rebuilding job to do here in the summer, and I even decide to draw up a bit of a list of positions I need to address so I don't miss anything. We have a bit of money, albeit I'm at a phase where it's hard to know who to buy. I've brought in a director of football with good knowledge of South Africa so I had a bit of a go-to to get some players in. We weren't totally blind, but I did realise part of the way through the window that we really, really needed some more players. I ended up bringing in ten, which I think is my busiest ever window as a manager.

I think we had a good window considering we were forced into sales of key players such as Nasief Baliso, top scorer last season, and Sibusiso Radebe, our most technically gifted midfielder. The majority of the signings were defensive based. Abulele Whelan is an exciting player, a midget number 10 with 20 flair, pace and skill, he should be fun if nothing else. We have built largely around playing 4-3-1-2 which has been as effective here as it was at Gangwon.

In Africa, we draw the excellently named champions of Ethiopia - Ethiopian Coffee FC. That really, really should be a win, but I'm still learning this area, I don't know who the banana skins are yet.

I dive into the Orlando Pirates game, my first ever meeting with them, with a largely undercooked squad. We beat them 2-1. We play well despite the absentees. I call this trophy number 14, but minor trophy number 3 (decided the Malaysian super cup can go into this category as well).

Our proper season starts with another game against Pirates and a triple header against Maritzburg United - two legs of the MTN8 cup sandwiching the opening day of the season.

Another win over Pirates despite a less than convincing performance. Our semi final looked to be heading for disaster after the first leg but we went 2 up very early on away, added a 3rd in extra time but had to win it on penalties following conceding with the last kick.

Our first two games against Maritzburg and TS Galaxy both saw us reduced to ten men. The Maritzburg draw was particularly annoying, we were hanging on big time and then somehow pinched what I thought was the winner right at the end, only for them to equalise immediately. We showed resilience though I suppose getting points in both games, and have been terrific at home - absolutely slapping three sides in a row and beating a fairly strong opposition in SuperSport.

No point posting the table as it's distorted with games in hand, although Sundowns seem to be our match. It's them we will face next - in the MTN8 final.

Oh and Ethiopian Coffee was as easy as I hoped. Should've been more really. We do have a fairly tricky round of 32 tie though in my opinion. We face RC Abidjan of the Ivory Coast. Now while I think we're a bit stronger, the registration timing means we'll be missing a good 6/7 of our squad for those games, and I'm not sure we're good enough to take such a hit. I think we'll go through but I think they'll make us really work.

Early doors impression - Sundowns are the team to worry about.

[Dan+]

PREVIOUS CONTINENTAL PERFORMANCE AT KAIZER CHIEFS

Thought I'd go through what they've actually done continentally so far for some context on what we're actually dealing with here. Actually have no idea and I'm discovering this as I look.

In 2020/21, in real life, they actually lost the final to Al-Ahly of Egypt, which was their only ever final. In my game....

---

2021/22 - Champions League - Knocked out of in the group stage behind ES Sahel (Tunisia) and Zamalek (Egypt) despite picking up 10 points. Very unlucky in all honesty, a very hard group and a decent points tally.

2022/23 - Confederation Cup - Went out in the second round to ES Setif of Algeria.

2023/24 - Confederation Cup - Got to the semi finals but lost to FAR Rabat of Morocco.

2024/25 - Did not qualify.

2025/26 - Confederation Cup - Went out to Diambars FC of Senegal in the second round.

2026/27 - Did not qualify.

2027/28 - Confederation Cup - Went out to AFC Jaraaf of Senegal in the first round.

2028/29 - Did not qualify.

2029/30 - Champions League - Went out in the quarter finals to Young Africans of Tanzania. They're better than you'd think but that's very disappointing all the same. Only went through their group with 7 points and 1 win, somehow.

2030/31 - Champions League - Went out to eventual winners ES Sahel of Tunisia in the semis, losing 2-3 at home and drawing 2-2 away. Their best performance in my save. As a side note they've run into Zamalek in the groups every time without fail. Went through as group winners with only 8 points  

2031/32 - Confederation Cup - Finished bottom of a group of Berkane (Morocco), AS Vita Club (Congo DR) and Salitas (Burkina Faso). Highly embarrassing performance and was actually the fuckup that freed up the job for me.

---

So they haven't really pulled up any trees at all. Two decent CL runs but nothing amazing. For some further context, below are the competition winners;

The South Africans really haven't pulled up any trees. Three finals, all of the weaker competition, and both lost. While this is a good job in the sense of what's available, it's going to be tough to go all the way.

Surprising lack of variety in the CL winners as well. Only five different winners since the game begun and three of them have won three each.

[Dan+]

PROGRESS (+ TROPHIES!)

So I left it last time with a final on the way and we duly delivered. The MTN8 is ours for this season, following a 1-0 win over Sundowns in the final.

We made no mistake in Africa either. Abidjan were pretty poor and we sailed through to the last 16 - the group stages, which weren't to be drawn until new years day.

To summarise, since that, we've been a pretty ruthless machine, have won our third trophy of the season already, and the draw is to be made at the end of this update.

The standard game for us is just a nice comfortable win, little allowed against us but generally dangerous going forward, lovely combination play, basically we're everything I hoped we'd be already.

There were two bad results in there. The obvious is the 3-0 loss at Cape Town Spurs. Just one of those miserable days where everything seems to go wrong. We didn't even play terribly but they seemed to take every chance they got and we didn't.

The other is the draw with Orlando Pirates. I predicted it would happen as well. When you look at the ridiculous scheduling around that time, including a very tough game away at Swallows, you don't want an Orlando Pirates side who've just sacked their manager on the back of it. Pirates are having an absolute catastrophe of a season. They were in the relegation zone ahead of that game. They even went down to 10 men in the first half, but with the very last kick of the game they equalised from a free kick and I just knew they were going to. These types of fixtures often defy logic and form and this was a perfect example.

It wouldn't annoy me too much, but Sundowns are probably favourites for the title. They're as relentless as we are.

But there is a long way to go, we've already beaten them in two big games, and they still have to come here.

Much as it'd be nice to win 6/6, I'm definitely prioritising the league and Champions League over the other cup. Which raises the point for me - if we win the Champions League, I believe there is a club world cup in 2033 and I think I may ride out my time at Chiefs to incorporate that. Don't forget Gangwon are going to be there too.

It's going excellently on the whole. We've been brilliant. There's a ruthlessness to this team. I think we may need another striker and I have my eye on a South African, ex Orlando Pirates (awkward) who is currently playing for Empoli, but he will cost me a bit of money. My top scorer, Evidence Makgopa (he's been there right from the start, as has right back Reeve Frosler) is 32 years old now with just six months left on his contract (though I will extend) and while he's having the season of his career, we do need a contingency and I often find myself playing attacking midfielders as his reserve. We're 1/2 players light.

The Champions League group stage draw has been made, it's as follows...

Tough but passable in my opinion. Al-Ahly is a brilliant test - and actually the renewal of a historic rivalry according to the game, which is surely the most miles between two rivals on the game. They're going to be a real acid test.

The other two are tough as well but I expect us to go through.

 

------------------------

Career major trophies: 13
Career minor trophies: 3
Champions Leagues: 1/5

 

Honours list:
TERENGGANU FC (8)
Liga Super Malaysia (2) - 2023, 2025
Piala Malaysia (2) - 2023, 2024
Piala FA (1) - 2025
AFC Cup (1) - 2025
Piala Sultan Haji Ahmed Shah / Malaysian Super Cup (2) - 2025, 2026

 

GANGWON FC (5)
K-League (3) - 2028, 2029, 2031
Korean FA Cup (1) - 2031
AFC Champions League (1) - 2031

 

KAIZER CHIEFS (3)
MTN8 (1) - 2032/33
Telkom Cup (1) - 2032/33
Carling Black Label Cup (1) - 2032/33