I also had players there I liked. I'd gotten complete immersed in the game their and was irritated that I wouldn't get to see Stahl, Sundberg and the like progress under my guidance.
I was so mad that I actually wanted to stay in the division. Teams in Denmark and Norway were flattered by my apparent interest, as were teams in the Swedish Elite division but I help on for a team in the First Division North. Not very logical but potentially deeply satisfying.
And an offer came in...
I'd played against them a lot as 'Tuna City and I remember always looking at their youth intake for players to poach. More importantly though they were in the same division. I'd get to try and exact some revenge on the club that had, I feel, unfairly sacked me (something I stressed with expletives in the Vasteras SK press conference!).
How were they set?
Resources were scarcer, expectations were lower and the squad much smaller.
All that meant though was that I'd be able to build without as much pressure.
Tactically I decided that I would go with the same tactic as the one I'd used with Degerfors. I'd shown it could work, I'd tweaked it and it seem well suited for this level. Plus I wanted to do well with it to show them what they were missing. My replacement would undoubtedly be much more conservative tactically than I.
Recruitment
What did I need? Well wingbacks and plenty of midfielders. I actually recruited around 15 players but I'm just briefly covering the key ones.
Defence
Asberg and Jeppsson would sort out my wingback issues, and my youth and reserve players would provide back up. Jeppsson looked solid, though nothing special, and Asberg had been my youth backup at Degerfors. I had rotated him in occasionally and although he wasn't yet as good as the likes of Wallinder or Engstrom he did do well enough.
I did try and get Wallinder. My replacement shipped a lot of players out. I missed out though as despite offering Wallinder as much as I possibly could to join me for a 3rd time he decided to go to a Swedish Premier side. Understandable.
I also added Rahmanovic and Dalla Valle. My scouts thought reasonably highly of them and they would at the very least bolster my defence.
In an odd buggy glitchy twist I also tried to sign Blomme from Degerfors as a player/coach. He accepted and appeared on my squad screen....but when I clicked on him he was still down as as Degerfors player. I couldn't play him in any of my games and later in the season when he got fined by Degerfors I got asked about it. Weird and annoying but not a game breaker.
Midfield
Vasteras already had some promising midfielders. Not quite Stahl but in a similar mold. But they needed more. If you have a formation with 4 midfielders then you really need at least 8 in the team to provide cover and rotation. So I started signing.
Hamdi Al-Sheikh Al-Azhar had an amazing name and the scouts rated him. I imagined him being Stahl 2.0. Ali Khalaf was a bit of gamble but if he did well I had a feeling he would do really really well. A less risky singing was Hammenskog who would slot straight into that ball winning role. Bjorklund was then there for the Treq role and emergency cover upfront if things ever got dire.
Attack
We already had one player who looked half decent up front, and with only one striker in the squad I didn't need to recruit too heavily. Broberg was a player I'd almost signed for Degerfors. Biladama had experience at a higher level and would hopefully rotate.
The Season/Expectations
The board want mid table. The media think 8th. I'm of course hoping for more but I don't think things will be as smooth as last season. Anything above 6th I'll be happy with, above 3rd I'll be over the moon. Or alternatively finishing above Degerfors would do me, even if we both ended up relegated.
It's not enough that I succeed, they must fail also.
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