An old friend returns

Today out of Yokohama, reports are that Kazu Miura is indeed staying in Yokohama on their way down to J2. Ohhh, did you think that was the old friend?

Nope, not it........Verdy reported that Masaki Iida will finally be a full member of the squad for next year after on again, off again bouts of training and playing at Ryutsu Keizai for both the university squad and the JFL side........but that's not it....

No I'm referring to our good friend Nick who has some thoughts about the season as a whole and the final game

Nick has left a new comment on your post "The silly season is upon us": Well the last time Verdy were top of the league was on opening day after the 5-0 demolition of Thespa Kusatsu. Its been a VERY long time coming but what a time to return to the summit!! The season has had its ups and downs and has been a true rollercoaster ride. Ramos and the boys have been up and and down like the proverbial prozzies undies. A good start saw us among the contenders after a few games as was expected. However, from nowhere came the six game losing streak. At this time even the most ardent Ramos fans would have been wondering what the heck was going on?? Things came to a head against a Mito side who were struggling at the foot of the table. They came to National Stadium and gave us an absolute a total shoeing. Hiramoto started the scoring early with a somewhat flukey effort, but following this the entire side seemed to capitulate. The final scoreline was entirely fair. Hammered by the bottom of the league. This was when the front office obviously made its decision. They were to stick by Ramos through thick or thin.Everybody was calling for his head,myself included.This would have been prime time to fire him. However, the permed one kept his job and a couple of weeks later the boys turned up to give Kyoto a sound 4-1 beating. Our form continued to be consistently inconsistent, win 2, draw 1 lose 3.. Nothing was on the horizon except mid table mediocrity. Then, Hiramoto was shipped out a move that surprised a few, again myself included. And Hulk exploded into form. Over the last section of the season we have been nearly unbeatable, only 2 defeats in 22 games. Incredible from a team who couldn`t string two decent results together in the first half of the season.The big test came in late September when were to face the big three in the division in successive games. And what a way to do it!! 2-1 away to Kyoto, 4-1 away to Sendai and then the pick of the bunch a 5-1 pasting of Sapporo at Ajinomoto. We had put ourselves firmly in the reckoning for the first time this season. Our form continued again in the same vein but the other teams kept their own runs going too. The promotion race had been hotting up with 6 teams all with a shout with 3 games to go. We drew our crunch battle with Sendai which kept them at arms length and the others stumbled also.Including our inactive week when none of the teams around us could come up with a win!!This led to Sundays game with Ehime....if we won we would be virtually guaranteed straight promotion!!!!??? Shocking considering where we were earlier in the season.


And so to Sunday.....I could go into some long winded disscusion about the technicalities of the win,the chances that came and went and the flight of the ball as it slammed into the back of the net but, that is secondary when we consider the importance of Sunday.Not just for Verdy but for all fans everywhere. We all sit and watch footy in all corners of the world in vague hope of days like Sunday. They only come around very occasionally for most fans (unless you are a Man U/Milan etc supporter.We sit in freezing drizzle watching guys who we usually reckon we could do better than anyway in the hope of seeing something special with a bunch of like minded other people.The hope of any fan is to witness days like Sunday. Their team on the up. We hope to sit and watch countless games throughout the years that culminate in a make or break day like Sunday. Sometimes it happens usually it doesn`t.All fans need a bit of danger!! Omiya had the same excitement last week, the whole seasons work balanced on a knife edge. Theres was in a potentially negative way but the excitement is still the same. Winner takes all, loser takes nothing. When the stakes are so high, the quality of what is on the pitch fades into insignificance. The result is all that matters. You see it from the extra numbers in the stadium, the tension before the game, supporters baying for blood at any marginal decision. Fantastic!! The crowd was 14,000 at the weekend and while this doesn`t seem so much in wider terms,given the fact that Ehime had about 200 supporters,it just goes to show there some dormant Verdy fans out there!! Let`s hope they continue to come!! I still have to pinch myself to believe we are going back up and Ramos is still at the helm. There is nothing we can say about the guy. He has done the job that was expected from him. He might have gone all round the houses to do it,but he HAS done it.My hat goes off to the permed one. He has got a promotion in his second full year of management, saw out an extremely rocky period and come out the other side with the potential for a championship next week. Its a great week to be a Verdy fan!!! As a Verdy fan great weeks don`t come along so often so to all Verdy boys out there, a toast to El Permo and his Magic Donkey!! He`s still a donkey but because of his heroics on Sunday he could maybe be left to live out his days in a field somewhere nice and green instead of a direct line to the glue factory. Maybe they can name a bench or a corrider after him at Verdy HQ. Well done Funakoshi!! Every donkey has its day!!