A Bright Season That Went Flat
Unmotivated, dull and a total lack of dedication, are some of the terms that many Union Berlin supporters have been "affectionately" crying out at us when we play matches, both home and away. We finished 10th this season, a far cry from our expectaions and target which was to finish 6th and earn a UEFA Cup position. The board of Directors at Union Berlin are past their tolerance levels, and they did threaten to take action against me if such dissapointing results continued.
We did pretty well for the first half of the season, but completely lost it towards the end. Ferdinand Chifon, one of our influntial players moved to HSV, after a severe bust up with Koilov during a training session. The most embarassing defeat would have to be our 7-1 away mauling to rivals Hertha Berlin. I still remember that day vividly after we were 4-0 down at half-time, and the disaster continued after half-time after Ebbe Sand produced a hatrick of goals in the second half. My players had to be escorted out of the pitch after several fans hurled missles in their direction. The supporters had protested outside our training ground the next day for answers to our horrible performance that day. It was one of my greatest defeats through out my managerial life.
Our main problem lay in defence where there was a total lack of coordination and communication. The only positive spark that can be extracted from our otherwise torrid defensive displays, would be our new signing from the far east, Gang Chen, the first Chinese International to play in the German first division. He was lively and alert in the back, but one probable setback was the fact that he can't speak a word of German nor English, thus making communication among his fellow team mates a very difficult matter.
Our attacking shape did pretty much do it's job throughout the season, and Preciado, last season's summer signing received the Top Scorers, accolade, which was a great achievement for him. I took a very bold step by dismissing Ivan Tishanski, the Assistant Manager from his duties after I found his management style to be ineffective, and a hinderance to my plans. On hindsight, his departure might have been an immediate and perhaps hesitant reaction to Union Berlin's string of bad results towards the end of the season.
Fc Koln were unprecedented champions of the Division 1 title, their first since 1978. In general, we were less than impressive in our first ever season of top-flight football considering the quality of new signings brought in and I would be expecting much more from my players next season.