A Day Of Haste
The old season drew to a close with a flurry of activity as the Grilled Birds management engaged in some last minute tweaking. First off was the announcement that Gamma Stadium would be expanded from its current 43000 capacity to a massive 60-thousand seater, at a cost of some seven hundred thousand dollars. "We are determined that every fan that wishes to will be able to attend our matches," the club spokesman proclaimed. "With the boost in our fan club size from our promotion to the Second Division, we are confident that the stadium will be filled most games and pay for itself in about four matches." Secondly, he announced that recent youth draws, midfielder Chiam Chin-to and winger/striker Wu Cheng-Yong have been taken up by new clubs. "Chin-to would undoubtedly have been a credit to our team, but we are loaded at midfield currently. He will follow in the footsteps of Qin Kar and hope to distinguish himself at Division Three L3gend. As for Wu Cheng-Yong, he travels to Spanish Fifth Division team Lo Trident. We wish him luck too."
It came as a greater surprise when he informed the gathering that an old hand,
Rushanizam Yunos, would also depart. "With the arrival of
Joe Stern, we have many more forwards than we could possibly require," he said. "It was between Yunos and Attimarad, and we decided that Yunos would be more adaptable to new conditions while Attimarad had valuable experience and leadership. We thus decided to release Yunos. Italian team Weah F.C. beat out local side Star Ocean for his signature."
To loud applause, Yunos took the podium and bade the supporters a teary farewell. "Though I have scored just four goals for the team, I still owe the club for picking me out from the neighbourhood fields. I hope to stake a name out for myself in faraway Italy." He exchanged final handshakes with his squad mates, most especially
Xing Hua and Bertolin whom were also suspected to have been made available for transfer.
The exodus of players was countered slightly by Li Kum-Seng's secret acquisition of a new defender,
Nui Pakpao of Thai club ichong after some competition from Sverige team Zandys Gnuttar and Spain's BLUEDEVIL'S. The $208000 rated Pakpao had suffered a run of poor form which appeared to depress his value, but Kum-Seng was confident of his long-term effectiveness. "Dewilde hit a low shortly after joining us, but he's almost on the level of Alcántara now he's on form. I suspect Pakpao is around his standard, and is a real steal at just $250000." Pakpao appeared and made a few awkward bows before disappearing again, obviously uncomfortable speaking to crowds. Those who are in the know however assert that Pakpao is well suited to the passing game, very much in the mould of Dewilde and Alcántara, two of his likely partners in defence. Some bemoaned the passing of an era, since with Sun-Nee gone and youngsters bin Che Lah and Seng-Huat not nearly his calibre, the homegrown backline retains only
Lan Tuan-Mu amongst all the old guard.
The biggest shock of the night came when Kum-Seng revealed that he himself was about to exit the club. With the lifting of the league system's travel restrictions on coaches, the management had swooped to bring in a more capable coach at any cost. "It makes good sense when you consider the number of promising players under the club's wing. I'll just have to upgrade myself and find another posting." With that, he led the clapping as Arkadiy Bakunin, 33, was led onstage. The Russian turned out to have been recommended to this post by former coach Qi Haupai, who now runs a small international trading business and made the acquaintance of the burly Russian over a vodka transaction. "Despite his age, he has had many years of experience assisting in Russia's top university teams, and well versed in all areas of training." the spokesman praised. "This is a true testimony to the willingness of Grilled Birds to capture only the best, wherever they may happen to come from." Bakunin then made a short if intriguing speech on his personal brand of total football before the ceremony drew to a close.
