charlied99

My name is Chris, I am an ex professional who has failed to enter into the world of management. I started training for my coaching badges from an early age because I realised I was never going to make it to the big time on the pitch, so I thought I'd try my hand on the other side of the line.

This however is harder said than done. After sending out my rather empty CV to several League 2 teams, I was still out of a job, seems as though managing my local pub team to regional success wasn't the kind of experience they were expecting.

Now my grandfather was Hungarian, he moved to England during the war, this made me quarter Hungarian, and when the Hungarian National Team job came up I thought I might as well try my luck so I sent my CV over the the Hungarian F.A. not expecting anything back.

Comments are much appreciated if you wish me to continue.... p.s this is my first attempt so be gentle

woodsy

Good start, hope you'll continue mate. Cant wait for update KIU.

Bowser

Knowing how most people write their stories im guessing you'll probably get it mate. KIU!

charlied99

Mr, Davids,
My name is István Kisteleki, I am the president of The Hungarian Football Federation (MLSZ) and I am writing to inform you we are willing to offer you a two year contract to take over the MLSZ. We cannot offer you any wages but we do request you start learning Hungarian, you do not have to move over here straight away but we think in due course you should.
Regards
István Kisteleki

So there it was, the letter that would change my life, me, a manager of an international footballer, my girlfriend wouldn't believe me when I tell her. I didn't know whether to call her straight or take her out tonight, I decided the latter, I decided to take her out somewhere fancy for the night.

I'm not sure what I said but when I built up the courage to tell her I might be moving to Hungary she looked bitterly disappointed, as if she was expecting something else, it didn't hit me till later that she was more likely expecting a proposal. But I had more important things on my mind, like do I know any Hungarian players that are any good...

The next morning I went over to Stanstead and jumped on a plane to Budapest to see the President.

Better than I'd expected I suppose.

To be continued....

kopking2006

Kutgw

remember those who fell

Huggy B FmF-UniT co-founder

soulzNUFC

wow this is great Keep it up!!
(can't wait for update)

charlied99

Now the board wanted me to, and I quote ' Don't embarrass ourselves in the Euro Championships qualification rounds'. Now I may not be the best football manager in the world but i refuse to accept expectations saying avoid embarrassment. We can, and will work through these somewhat hard times and opted to tell the board my 10 year plan.
1. Qualify for Euro 2012
2. Qualify for World Cup 2014 and 2018
3. Qualify through group stages of Euro 2016

These may seem a bit ambitious, but I said I would reevaluate after Euro 2008. Which from my inherited position, we look unlikely to qualify for.



For my first game in charge I had Bosnia and Herz at home. A team that was shocking many by currently occupying the second spot in group C ahead of Turkey and Norway. I flew out the weekend before with my new assistant manager Giovanni Lorini. My wife was going to fly out on the Friday night for the Saturday Game, she didn't seem too keen to spend the whole week with me in Budapest.

charlied99

Charlie Davids is on the lips of all of the Hungarian faithful after what one can only call a huge upset. Going into the game today against Nosnia and Herb. at 3-1 not many of the Hungarian fans could have even dreamed for what was in store.

28,844 fans turned up to witness a 4-1 thrashing of Bosnia and Herb. It didn't take long for Davids' men to get started either, just 18 seconds were on the clock when Halmosi had his shot deflected past the keeper at the near post after some great two touch football from the rest of the team. And then in the 13th minute Halmosi became the provider as his cross was met by the head of Torghelle who glanced it by the keeper into the net. Bosnia didn't look like coming back but then 10 minutes later Hajnal made it three after some brilliant counter attacking football. Just to put the game out of Bosnia's reach Torghelle got his second and Hungary's fourth after some more fabulous two touch counter attacking football.

The second half was never going to be anything special and apart from the odd chance and a consolation goal from Bosnia it was rather boring. We caught up with Charlie Davids after the match.





I couldn't believe, we'd won, and not only that, we won convincingly. We played good attacking football and didn't the audience let us know it, they were on their feet from the word go. I went back to the hotel later in the afternoon to get freshened up as I was going out to celebrate with the girlfriend and the president of the hungarian FA.

Hartynips

Great so far mate will be watching with intrest!

charlied99

The Turkey game was the first time I’d flown anywhere with the squad so it was a good opportunity for me to start to get to know the team, and at what a time, the moral couldn’t have been much higher after the Bosnia game. The players even thought we had a chance against Turkey, even with the likes of Nihat and Emre all fit, not to mention Turkeys odds to beat us where as low as 1-6, I had to hide my worries as I didn’t want to damage morale. We had a relatively young squad with a few experienced players in there to give the youngsters some advice now and again. The fact they were young was good as I am a young manager at 29 and I don’t want to be bossing around too many players that are older than me.

Not many of the lads spoke English, and myself and none of my backroom staff spoke any Hungarian, but we tried to speak a bit of each others language as we attempted to bond as a team. We flew out on the Tuesday ahead of the Wednesday game. We got there late and went straight to the hotel, no trouble whatsoever, the talk I gave them when I first met the team was still obviously in their heads, the ‘you do one thing wrong and you will never wear the shirt whilst I’m manager.’ kinda talk.

On the morning of the game we all got up around 8ish and our team coach took us for a little sight seeing trip before we headed off to the stadium to see what the pitch was like and to do some light training. There was a bit of dampness left in the pitch but it was fine, clouds were overhead and it wasn’t too hot, almost the ideal playing conditions. I posted the team sheet up on the board about an hour before kick off. It was an unchanged team apart from the one replacement I was forced into making due to injury in the midfield.

Bowser

The scoreline looks good but the stats aint convincing, they looked like they were on the upper hand. However a wins a win so thats a good start. Hope you can qualify mate.

charlied99

A packed 80,000 Olympic Stadium in Istanbul witnessed their nation lose 3-1 to a battling Hungary side. The home side took the lead after just 7 minutes when Nihat scored a somewhat controversial goal, he appeared to be caught in the offside trap but the assistant missed it. Charlie Davids seem to say something to his players and whatever it was must of helped. His team got an equiliser when man of the match Miku headed home from close range. Torghelle got the second thanks to some good play from Miku who in the second half got his second and the teams third.

I caught up with Charlie Davids after the match as ever.

BP: Everyone wants to know what you said to your players after the controversial Nihat goal?
CD: Well I just told them to keep there cool and play our tactics and eventually it will pull off, and twenty minutes later it.
BP: Surely you couldn’t have dreamt for that result.
CD: Well what can I say, we are playing well right now and the team and I are really pleased with this result.
BP: Finally, Miku had a man of the match performance today, how do you think he played?
CD: Miku is Venezuelan but luckily enough he hadn’t been given a go in their first team. I’d seen a tape of him for Valencia B and I thought I’d take him with us for these two games, little did I know what a gem we have uncovered. I think all I can say is that I hope him and the team go from strength to strength.



I travelled back to Budapest with the squad as we had a party in the capital, my girlfriend and I flew back at the weekend as I didn’t have a match for three weeks.

thedeeb

This looks really good, mate. You certainly seem to have made a good start. What tactics are you using? Your own, or one you've taken from this site?

charlied99

I use my own, I'll try and put them up on the site sometime. They work wonders for many teams, especially my Newcastle team, who are unstoppable after a few seasons...

Jonners71

great start to the story mate - well written and presented - looking forward to reading more! KIU

charlied99

My three week rest felt rather short, and I didn’t feel much different either, I’m sure if was living in Hungary then I would be a national hero by now, but still no one recognised me on the streets of England. I flew out to Budapest for the game against Malta on the Wednesday, so I could have a few days with the lads before the game on Saturday. This game was a first, for the first time since I had taken over the team we were favourites for a match, not just favourites but firm favourites at 1-10, suddenly I had ex-players warning my team not to get complacent. People were already starting to talk about my team being the new Magical Magyars of the 1950s. I tried to distance ourselves away from this tag as I didn’t want this young squad to be influenced by what the media said and make them arrogant.

We had a good couple of days before the match, we went paintballing one day as we all were still in need of a bit of bonding, apart from the odd bump and bruise we escaped without too much harm and were ready for out first game that we were billed to win.

charlied99

For the first time under new management Davids finds his team in a different position in the table following a 3-1 victory over Malta, there isn’t much to comment about in a rather boring game, Hungary never looked like losing from the kick off and were 3-0 ahead five minutes through the second half. A slight defensive error gave Malta a goal but they never looked like mounting a serious challenge. A sell-out crowd will have left rather disappointed as Malta controlled the vast majority of the game but couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net.

soulzNUFC

Great win over Turkey mate!

thedeeb

You might still do it! Obviously, you're relying on results elsewhere. Who've you still got to play?

woodsy

This is good so far, never actually played as Hungary but your looking great for them so far hope you get past the Qualifications :) KUTGW