Hello and welcome to my #FM19 save exposé. While this reveal isn't as slick or as early as Dan Gear's, I hope you find it interesting all the same.
It should be apparent that I intend to manage Anzhi Makhachkala in Russia. I would like to thank a good friend for help with the featured image but he/she wishes to remain anonymous.
Why Anzhi Makhachkala?
So of all the teams in Russia, why chose Anzhi Makhachkala? I should start by saying my absolute favourite position in football is the full-back. They can be used in so many ways and you can generally determine a side's attitude toward a game solely by watching how their full-backs attack and defend. Personally, I love nothing more than watching a team in possession work an opening for a marauding full-back. Think Marcelo at Real Madrid, or Dani Alves during his time at Barcelona. I've also been fortunate enough, in recent times, to see Joshua Kimmich live and he is one beautiful footballer.
With all this in mind, one of my all-time favourite players is Roberto Carlos.
I was fifteen or sixteen when he hit that famous free-kick against France. I used to fancy myself as a set piece expert (I had to be as I couldn't do much else) and I remember thumping balls all over the school playing fields trying to get the same action on the ball as he did that night.
Like most football supporters, in the UK at least, I had never heard of Anzhi Makhachkala until they were taken over by local oil tycoon Suleyman Kerimov in 2011. My interest in their story was piqued even further when they signed my man Roberto. He was one of the first of the big name signings promised by the new owner.
I even managed to see Anzhi play live against Newcastle United in a Europa League tie in 2013, unfortunately, Roberto Carlos had already left the club. Newcastle won the game 1-0 in the last minute, I remember being so cold and glad the game was over as extra time was looming at 0-0. Interestingly, also in attendance, that night was legendary Al Ahli manager and Club World Cup winner Diego Mendoza.
As we know the money soon disappeared and despite promises to turn to the club into a superpower, by the end of 2013 Mr Kerimov had significantly scaled back spending, and a fire sale of stars began. The club was eventually sold in 2016.
Unsurprisingly harder times on the field have hit the club with a record-breaking low number of points in 2014 leading to relegation. Although an immediate promotion followed, the club was relegated again in the 2017/18 season. Fortunately for Anzhi, they were handed a reprieve due to the withdrawal of FC Amkar Perm from the Russian league.
Normally I like to start a division or two below the top tier, however, given their recent travails I see Anzhi as a decent challenge for this FM cycle.
Why Russia in the first place?
Around August time each year, I begin to think about my next FM save. This summer two things happened that brought Russia to the fore. Firstly, I enjoyed the World Cup immensely, it already seems so long ago. It was fantastic, the stadia and host cities all held a significant amount of intrigue and wonder to me. Most of the games were exciting, add in the use of VAR, plus all the positive hype around England, it made for a memorable tournament; despite any early trepidation about the hosts.
Secondly, I had a long conversation with my sister one evening, while quaffing a few beers, about how countries come to be. More specifically why some, such as Russia, seem to become so extraordinarily vast when many other countries around them are so comparatively small. As a result, my sister bought me "Prisoners of Geography" by Tim Marshall for my birthday. The very first chapter discusses the Geo-political reasons behind Russian foreign policy and some of the reasons why it grew so massive. The chapter also offered an explanation of why Russia is set on controlling lands in Eastern Europe.
Essentially, if you are interested, the only area of Russia not protected by Geographical features such as mountains or harsh climates is its western front. Any invading army can simply march to Moscow unhindered across relatively flat plains albeit, as Hitler found out, with very long supply line issues. It may seem as though nobody would want to invade Russia on this front but that is not how history sees it. The Poles invaded in 1605, followed by the Swedes in 1708. Napoleon had a go in 1812 as did the Germans twice in 1914 and 1941. If you include the Crimean War of 1853-1856 Russia has been defending or fighting on this front, on average, once every thirty-three years.
(L-R) Churchill, Eisenhower and Stalin at the Yalta Conference, Feb 1945
Upon winning the Second World War Joesph Stalin set out to ensure the Soviet Union would never again allow an army to march on Moscow unopposed. He was determined at the Yalta Conference in February 1945, to ensure the Soviet Union had at least de-facto, if not full, control over the lands of Eastern Europe. This strategy created a 'buffer zone' of pro-Soviet states around the plains that led to Moscow. In the event of war these states would be Russia's first line of defence, but ultimately could be sacrificed if necessary.
Map showing the division of Europe East to West after WWII. Credit www.shutterstock.com
Slowly, but surely, a narrative for a #FM19 save began to coalesce in my mind. What if Russia again tried to control the citizens within these lands, not through outdated military might, but through a dominating footballing and social ideology?
Aims for the Save
I want to follow-up on this in a little more detail in my next post when I introduce my manager for this FM cycle.
For now, in general terms, I aim to secure the club in the Russian Premier League using only players from the former Soviet states and the Eastern bloc (+other Comecon countries may be used). I will achieve this using a "planned", sustainable, financial model. Once stature and finances are secure the aim shall be for Anzhi to become one of the leading teams in Russia. Achieving European qualification will allow their Pro-Russian social and footballing ideology to infiltrate westwards into Europe once more. Ultimately, these ideals shall spread across the entire continent before enveloping the rest of the western world and beyond; Football and Anzhi shall be Russia's trojan horse to world domination.
It is clear that the hyper-capitalism that permeates modern football has failed Anzhi Makhachkala. It is time for a new mindset, a new world order, it is time for the Workers of the World to Unite!
If you made it this far thanks very much for reading. By now I will have set up a Slack channel of my own (#fmeadster) where I will be discussing the save in more depth as I go along. Feel free to join me. I'm happy to discuss most of life's important subjects, beer, politics, real-life football, and of course Football Manager!
Over and out FMEadster