samd577

Once again, Sam Draisey was at the stage of the romanian season where he didnt have a game for another .... 78 days! He even had a little calendar pinned up on his wall, with big red 'X's' for days ticked off and a large red circle around the first of March. He sits in his office. Its seven days untill he flies home for christmas, and he is seriously bored. let me bring you up to speed.

Prefab are 11th. thats not bad for them, especially since they are still tipped for relegation. But Draisey has higher hopes that that. he wants to build on last years fairytale with a top half finish. thats 9th or above for those in the know. He has brought in three players for this season. A romanian fullback, Adrian Brazovan, who has started most games this season, but between you and me, Draisey only sees him as a short term player untill his young full back, Valentin Balan, can take his place. This could be as soon as next season. He also signed Dioisio Cabrera, a former Uruguay under 20's international. Due to the legislation of the league that states that no more that four foreign players may be in a match squad, Dioisio has had little match experience. Untill recently. Draiseys final signing has sent shockwaves through the Romanian second division. Young Pole Kamil Wojnak has been in the local paper's 'team of the week' almost every week since his arrival. The young winger has made 20 starts this year, scoring three goals. The fact that he can play on the left, the right or up front makes him a dangerous player indeed.

Draisey has also recently changed his formation. After a good start to the season, which included a run to the fourth round of the romanian cup, Prefab's form started to become unsettled. After losing three nil in the fourth round, Draisey changed from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 and, after a shaky start, the team seem to be adjusting well to the change. Only time will tell if they can take momentum into the second part of the season and push for a top half spot. 78 days time should be enough.

So Draisey sits in his little dark office. He has little to do. He has a clear out. The place is starting to remind him the office from the old Ultimate Soccer Manager games. He feels like he should be turning the light on and off, killing the plant, scribbling on the notepad and pushing the picture of the chairmans wife.

Being in Romania for such a long time is a very lonely thing to do. He speaks the language pretty well now, but cheesy chat up lines dont sound the same in Romanian. it will all be better once he gets home for christmas and new year. Then he can come back and enjoy the rest of the season. He picks up his guitar from the corner of his office. The first chord he strums sends waves of dust into th air. 'I think il write a christmas song', he says.