Salzburg ist violett-weiss

[Reiver]

It's funny how memories work. I have this very vivid and detailed memory that I can pinpoint to a specific day of my youth. It was the 7th of December 1993, I was 8 years old. I was in the living room of my family's flat, watching football with my dad. It was a wednesday, back then a UEFA Cup day, and the game on TV was SV Austria Salzburg (known as Casino Salzburg for sponsorship reasons) against Sporting CP, the second leg of the cup's Third Round. Sporting had already faced Kocaelispor (0-0 away, 2-0 at home, Cadete and Pacheco with the goals) and Celtic (Celtic won at home 1-0, but Sporting turned it around with a 2-0 victory in the second leg, with two Cadete goals - interestingly enough, Cadete would play for Celtic three years later). Salzburg beat Dunajská Streda (2-0 on both legs) in the first round and Antwerp in the Second round (again, 1-0 on both legs). The first leg of the third round, Sporting playing at home in the now demolished Estádio de Alvalade had finished 2-0 for the home team, with goals by Scherbakov and again Cadete. As expected, Sporting, who had not only Cadete and a pre-accident Scherbakov in their team but also Figo, Paulo Sousa, Balakov, Capucho among others and was managed by Sir Bobby Robson was a clear favourite to go through.

All this just to provide some context. The game started in Salzburg on a very rainy day, and the pitch was muddy, specially around the goals. Sporting was clearly comfortable with the result and was trying to control the game, slowing it down and trying to keep the ball. Things were going well until the 48th minute, when Leo Lainer, a defender, unexpectedly shoots from over 30 meters away from goal to beat Costinha. This gave hope to the Austrians and they started trying to push forward more. And it's at this point that this memory gets anchored in my head - I turn to my dad and tell him "I bet him 2000 Escudos [the equivalent to 10€; adjusted to inflation would be closer to 20€ nowadays] that the austrians are going to go through". My dad looked at me , probably bemusedly, because I was just 8 and I was trying to make a football bet and said that it was on. My first bet ever. I did not have that much money. I had never had that much money, I was eight!

But the world and fate was on my side, despite teasing me first. Less than five minutes before the end of the game, Salzburg go down to 10 men due to a red card, but just two minutes later the now Eintracht Frankfurt manager Adi Hütter with another shot from way outside the area scores the second for the violets - it was one minute before the end of the 90 minutes. The game was going to extra time. During the extra time, fate teased me some more as two Capucho shots hit the post, one in each half of the extra time - but Sporting engineered their own undoing. 113 minutes in, corner for Salzburg. While the Sporting defense was still getting ready, the ball is kicked short in what seemed like a studied play - it fizzles down to nothing when a Sporting defender catches the ball from a weak Austrian header, but he takes to long to clear the ball, and under pressure from an attacker ends up kicking the ball against him, the ball bounces up in the area where Amerhauser scores with a half volley, and I am a happier and richer kid.

Casino Salzburg would keep on suprising that season, beating Frankfurt in the quarter finals and Karlsruhe in the semis, losing in the final against Inter Milan. On the other side, legend says that Bobby Robson was fired during the flight back home. For me, it was a little spark that lit the fire that made me like football some more, and anchored a memory in my mind, probably forever.

What happened later with Austria Salzburg is well known. In 2005, Red Bull bought the club and claimed it was a new club, removing all history, staff, management, symbols and colours. Most supporters of the team were against this and ended up starting a new Austria Salzburg club from the bottom of the Austrian footballing world - 4 promotions in a row saw the club quickly in the Regionalliga, the third tier of Austrian football. Since then it was mostly stayed at this level, and I am here to change that.

[chaodck]

Fan-fucking-tastic story to kickstart this save Reiver. I'll be following, good luck!

[Dirk Nowitzki]

Couldn't agree more! The league format is pretty weird in that tier with a huge winter break, hope you can win promotion straight away!

[Reiver]

2020/2021 Regionalliga Salzburg

So, her we are, at Sportverein Austria Salzburg, somewhere in between a phoenix and a protest club, a little bit AFC Wimbledon, a little bit FC United. Formed by supporters of the old club of the same name after Red Bull took over and wiped the club, it quicky climbed up the leagues to plateau at the third tier of Austrian football, the top division where teams are playing in regional leagues, and the last league before small regional level semi-pro teams face big professional leagues. This is where Austria Salzburg's been for the last 10 years, with the exception of 2015-16, after the club managed to get promoted to the Erste Liga, only to finish second to last and come right back down.

But what do you expect from the third tier of Austrian football? it depends where your from! Prior to the 2019/2020 league, there were 3 Regionalligas - West, Central and East. Last year the local federations of Tirol and Vorarlberg decided to make their own smaller leagues, citing the travel expenses and distances - and Salzburg was forced to do the same, so now for these areas you have 3 groups of 9 or 10 teams playing each other twice, and then the top two go on to play against eachother three times to find out who gets the one promotion spot formerly reserved for the Regionalliga West. It sounds hard to get out of this league, because it is - it also means that while in other leagues you're fighting for promotion, or relegation and have the most exciting games of the season by February, March or even later, and here it gets exciting by the end of October, beginning of November!

This is how our league looks. We play each other twice from August to November, then we have a huge winter break until March, where the top two play in the promotion stage with the teams from Tirol and Vorarlberg, and the others play each other to figure out who goes down. The board isn't joking around and is straight up asking to finish first, even though the media predict us to finish in second behind Pinzgau. We also have SV Grödig, who are used to play at levels hgigher than this one, including in the top division in 2013/14 and 2014/15. SAK (Salzburger Athletiksport Klub) is one of our rivals, to add to the fun of the league. We also play in the local cup, the Stiegl Salzburger Landescup, where we only enter in April and the board deems as not important.

We play at the A.S.K.Ö.-Sportanlage West Maxglan, but that the club calls MyPhone Austria Stadion for sponsorship reasons. The club does not own the stadium, it belongs to A.S.K.Ö., an amateur workers sports association that has several clubs in the Austrian divisions, a bit akin to the Hapoel teams in Israel. There is even such a team in Salzburg. ASK Salzburg, but they currently field a team together with the Police team of Salzburg, calling themselves PSV-ASK Salzburg and they play at PSV's stadium, so we don't have to worry about groundsharing. The stadium has capacity for 1566 people, and I expect to have the stadium at least two thirds full most games - we have around 500 season tickets sold. We pay around 30k€ per year to use the stadium. As for the rest of the facilities, we have good training and youth facilities, average academy coaching and adequate recruitment, so we might be able to bring some players in to help the team from the very beginning.

Next, the team itself and first results.

[Reiver]

2020/2021 Regionalliga Salzburg

The squad rules in Austria are fairly simple for the national leagues, there are almost no rules (other than a wage cap of 50% of turnover on the top tier, and a few rules on the amount of loanees), which will come in handy when we get there. At our level, the rules are straightforward but a bit more restrictive: No more than 3 foreign players in the match squad; 5 players trained at the club in the match squad; No more than 7 foreign players registered. Maximum of 6 loanees, of which maximum of 2 from the same team. On top of that, a rule for all divisions, as it is a rule in general for all jobs in the country: Foreign players need a job permit, and they can only get one if their wages are 2.9k€ per month of higher. Now that I've bored you with these explanations, here's my team, filled with players you never heard of:

I always find it hard to connect with a team I know nothing about at the very beginning, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I don't know the players, and they're not my players. I didn't find them, scout them, saw them come from the youth ranks, figured out how they tick, etc. Now, you'll see I have a couple of players marked as foreign that are below the WP wage - don't ask me why? I'm not complaining. The transfer season closed on the 11th of July for some unknown reason, so I had just a couple of weeks to find players to fill the gaps, so I had to resort to Director of Football suggestions, so in came Kahrimanovic from Pinzgau, Demir from SC Imst in the Regionalliga Tirol and Harvilko from TESLA Stropkov in the Slovakian third tier. The team is very short at the moment, and until I have the time to properly scout for improvements, I will have to plug any holes with youth players.

So here's the team - with links to their profile, if you're interested.

Goalkeepers

    

33. Felix Wilfing
1. Christian Schlosser
21. Fabian Bauer


Wilfing, despite being the youngest is clearly the best option and should have the position every game that he is fit.



Defenders - Ring Wing

    

19. Florian Wiedl
23. Umberto Gruber
12. Luka-Nils Sandmayr.


Here things start to be a bit more interesting. I am unsure of how we are going to play, I haven't set into a tactic system yet. If we're playing 4 in the back with a full back, Wiedl gets the spot; if we're playing 5 in the back with wing backs, Gruber gets the spot. As we're short on players that can play there, it is very likely that Wiedl ends up playing games at left back out of necessity.



Defenders - Left Wing

15. Milan Harvilko

Poor Harvilko is the only player that is a natural playing in the back in the left wing, and he is only a wing back, but at least he is more than competent for this level, and is also competent at full back, so he gets the spot, at least until I get the chance to look for more alternatives.




Defenders - Centre

      

4. Denis Kahrimanovic
42. Marco Oberst
5. Matthias Theiner
26. Aman Brinkmann

Here's confirmation of the small squad we have - 4 options for centreback, and one of them was signed by me. Kahrimanovic, while not being very strong, is quick and is good at passing, and is complemented by Oberst, who is stronger and better at marking. Theiner is more allround and not as good is my third option - if i play with 5 in the back they all play obviously. Brinkmann is more of a last resort option with his very low strength.



Midfielders - Left

    

16. Andrej Lazarevic
25. Christoph Bann
6. Gravrilo Fonjga


At least in the attacking part of the wings things are a bit better and players are more polivalent. Lazarevic is our first option if we're playing with wingers but he can also play as a striker, and the same can be said for Bann. Fonjga is a breakthrough prospect that might see some minutes of game time.



Midfielders - Right

    

10. Marinko Sorda
7. Lucas Purkrabek
28. Alexander Schwaighofer


The same can be said of the right side of our attack. Sorda has decent stats for a winger and for a striker and can do both equally well. Purkrabek has speed in his favour, while being very average in the rest. Schaighofer too, although his average is a bit better than Purkrabek's average.

Midfielders - Centre

      

24. Mario Keil
14. Thomas Gastager
8. Alp Demir
11. Manuel Kreinz

Keil is our most defensive minded midfielder in the squad, and we'll probably end up using him quite a bit because of that. Demir and Gastager should share the the Central midfielder position and play side by side, while Krainz is an attacking midfielder that can also play as a (quite nice) striker - not the kind that scores goals, but one that facilitates the goals of his striker partner..


Strikers

    

9. Marco Hödl
22. Manuel Lugstein
20. Melvis Memic

Hödl is our out and out striker. Not very good at jumping but good at heading, decent at finishing, wh should be our main goalscoring threat. Memic and Lugstein are propects that may see some footballing time, but might actually be blocked by our more experienced wingers coming to play as strikers if need be.



We also have a B team playing 4 levels below us in the Salzburger 1.Klasse Nord - the squad itself is pretty much empty and will be sued to give playing time to first team players in need of match fitness and for some youth team players to have some more experience. Talking about the youth team, we actually have a very decent team, and with some youngsters that despite being teens are close to breaking into the main team:

I will probably talk about them as (and if) they break into the main team. Now we start playing the season.

[Reiver]

2020/2021 Regionalliga Salzburg / August - September
First Half

Things have been okayish. I guess. We are still in contention for the promotion spots and the title but we have slipped way too many times. We are not playing as well as I want and I know we can - we haven't been able to settle on a tactic that satisfies me. We've played 5-2-2-1-2 in the first 6 games, 4-3-2-1 in the next games but we're still not playing as well as we should, and this format is unforgiving, as it is so short. Let's see if we can improve to catch the top teams.

[Reiver]

2020/2021 Regionalliga Salzburg / September - October
Second Half - Most of it

Despite generally positive results (though the defeat against Bischofshofen hurt), we're still not playing welk. Even in the games we're winning, we're not doing it as convincingly as I thought we should. We're been wasteful as we are the team with the most expected goals per game, while TSV St Johan is the opposite - way outperforming their xGs, and at the same time very solid in defensive, with the second lowest expected goals against. The next game is crucial for a board that is demanding the title, is already disappointed at how we're doing and giving me a C-. It doesn't help that my last three games are against the three strongest teams on paper, despite current results, while their 4 games are against us and Grodig, and against Wals-Grünau, but their last game is a lot easier, against Seekirchen, so they even have the upper-hand there. The feeling i get is that I will be fired if I don't qualify for the promotion round, and if I do so in second place, I might survive but I'll be on very thin ice.

[Reiver]

2020/2021 Regionalliga Salzburg
A look into the youth team

None of my youth team players have been pulled up to the first team permanently, a few have already shown promise, and have played some minutes for the first team as used subs. A few of them are already rated 2 and half stars, and will likely be brought up to the main team come the winter break, even if they do not end up being used a lot yet. Let's have a look at the three closest to getting first team football:

    

Franjo Strok, AM(C)/M(C), AM(R), Croatian, 16 years old, despite being unambitious, has had excellent improvements in just 3 months, going up a staggering 18 points. I see him as a one trick pony at the moment, as he's just fast and good at passing but if he keeps improving like this, he can become something. He's been used as a sub in 5 games and has scored one goal.



Simon Gadow, AM(C)/ST, Austrian, 16 years old. Despite also having a less desirable personality (Light-hearted), and being a twig with legs, he's been used as a sub a few times, and again in just three months, 17 points improvements. I can seee him turning into a decent poacher or advanced forward.



Jannik Kühne, D(RC), Austrian, 16 years old. Hasn't actually played any games for the main team, but I can see that change soon. A resolute full back, as he's too weak to be a solid central defender, he still has plenty to offer. I'm hoping to get his attacking stats a bit better, but he seems to have bags of potential. Has gone up 9 points.

[Reiver]

2020/2021 Regionalliga Salzburg / October - November
Second Half - Last Games

Close but no cigar - we played well, specially in the last game against Pinzgau, where the team played at their best this year, and where I finally felt like I have a tactic I can settle on - basically a 4-2-4 with a flat 4, 2 DMs, Wingers and two strikers. However, St Johann's last 3 games were just as good as ours - we had a very close game against each other that ended in a fair draw, and we both won the other two games. We're still in the run for promotion, and I think that is the only reason I still have a job. Their view of my job as a manager is currently a D, and immediately after the Pinzgau game we had a meeting with my head on the chopping board. Luckily, I was able to convince them to keep the job, but I have the feeling that any string of 2 or 3 games without a win will see me get the sack.

Anyway, we got a spot in the promotion stage, which looks like this:

We now have a very long winter break, and we return in March, where we'll play each other 3 times for that single elusive promotion spot. The board is asking for top half, but I get the feeling that anything other than promotion will see the team not want to renew my contract because of our failure to win the regional league. As with our previous competition, we're aiming for winning the league and getting the promotion spot. i hope that if we manage to settle on this tactic things will go better.

By my calculations, this means at least 4 good quality players, at least for our level. Gives me some hope for our intake, but you never know...

[chaodck]

Good job on getting into the playoff Reiver, I feared for your safety at times reading this. Really like the style of your posts, adding those headshots for the players, as a sidenote, where do you get them from? Good luck in the playoffs!

[Reiver]

Feb 2, 2021 13:52:55 GMT chaodck said:

Good job on getting into the playoff Reiver, I feared for your safety at times reading this. Really like the style of your posts, adding those headshots for the players, as a sidenote, where do you get them from? Good luck in the playoffs!

Thanks! The headshots are from here: sortitoutsi.net/graphics/style/1/cut-out-player-faces; the regen ones from here: fm-base.co.uk/resources/newgan-facepack.1266/; whenever there's a player that doesn't have a face on those packs I'll search for it myself - so far in this save I had to do it some 4 or 5 times. Then I just made a small photoshop template that added the purple line and the player name.

[Reiver]

[Dirk Nowitzki]

That doesn't look good...
Do you have the game to cycle saves, so you have the (v02) and (v03) back-ups?

[Reiver]

I have the game saved immediately before this happens - but it happens every single time I hit that continue button.

[Dirk Nowitzki]

Ah that sucks, did you try holidaying past that date? Which database are you using?

[Reiver]

I'm using a lot of them, that's probably the problem - all leagues in europe, and a few more. I've tried holidaying too.

[Dirk Nowitzki]

Sorry to hear that Reiver, was enjoying reading about this save.

[Reiver]

I have found another one - possibly crazier, and with plenty of custom leagues that might bite my ass again in the future, but i'll have fun while I go along.