Asunto: Achmids time to finish on a high

With exams coming up, followed by 3 weeks of placement and my waning interest in the game, I figured now, whilst I am number 1 in the rankings, would be the best time to call it quits.

I've thoroughly enjoyed my 6 and a bit years here (21 seasons I think), and the amazing rivalries I've had ranging from Punt Road Tigers/Tollygunge/Losers/Tong back in my first few seasons of Div II, to getting trounced by Boyd Singers/The Black Flashes back when they were at their prime, to some middle table shenanigans with Forgmeisters/Chelsea/Roar FC/Melbourne Magpies/Fc De Bears and now finally my top of the table clashes with The Comets/Team Moose Power/Tribe.

With never being one to really care how many times I won a league (as long as it happened once), it's no surprise to see my list of achievements be full of Silvers and Bronzes as interest really waned once I managed to get that title under my belt;

Aus Cup: 1 Gold, 3 Silver, 6 Bronze, A-League
A-League: 1 Gold, 3 Silver, 2 Bronze, 2 Fourths
Junior A-League: 2 Gold, 2 Bronze
Div II: 3 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze
Div III: 1 Gold
Champions League Appearances: 1

Throughout this time I've been lucky enough to have some good NT players come through my ranks from the junior school, with the most capped being Greg Cunico who is still managing to kick about in Div II Australia, my first NT player being Damien Pondejak, and my latest Fred Haliti.

Finally I'd like to wish you all good luck in the coming seasons, and thank you all for the good forum banter, as this is probably what has kept me coming back the past half a dozen seasons (besides the teams listed above, I'm looking at Minkee, Sx, Uber). And finally a special thanks to Borkos, who has not only been a great mentor of mine from the time I first started this game til now, but I believe a great asset to the Australian community since he first became involved in not only our NT, but our community.
And as my thanks and respect goes out to this community, if anyone is ever keen to catch up for a beer, send through a message as to what town you are in these days, as my degree has me traveling to all parts of Aus (and even overseas), and if Minkees and my League match catchup is anything to go by, I'm sure a good rivalry and mateship will be formed.

I do plan on attempting to log on every now and then just to keep my team from going bot, and checking in on the latest results, but aside from that, not much else (could technically take on an NT player or two if they need training in the one skill, but I won't be managing them as such).

Cheers,
Achmid

P.S. A list of my players to be sold will be on the Transfer List, and if I can help list anyone at a particular time for you, feel free to yell out, but it will have to be in the coming days/not for a month, as I'm about to go in to hibernation for exams.

(editado)

The generational change is gathering pace.
Good luck with whatever you do, and hopefully we see you back here in the future.
I would be interested in training your young mids, but may struggle to pull money together in a few days. I'm skmail you.

Mate, it's sad to see you go... You definately brought a big thing to Sokker Australia and a few tactic tips to my team in the old day.
It's just a game but as you said it sometimes contributes to build mateship or friendship...

If you're ever in town let me know, we'll do a league game again... it might even be a Storm game if you don't wait too long ;)

I'll miss the banter, I've only got Uber to take the mickey at now... and he's already a Queenslander :(

Shame to see you sell up. It was fun doing battle with you at full strength these last few seasons.
And thanks for your help in the early days setting up my team... over 5 years ago.

Drop in and say hi from time to time. :)

I'll use this opportunity to say sorry, coz it might be my last chance to do so.

Hopefully you will not become a bot team, and you will make your come back one day.

All the best to you Achmid

P.S We should have argued more. I know we are in different divisions, but I felt the rivalry was still there :(

Sad day for Australian sokker really. Understand and respect your decision as it has been coming for a while. I think some of the highlights you haven't really discussed that need mentioning is your dedication in the early days to the NT and despite never having the buttons (which would have capped off your set) you still had a strong involvement with tactics.

There was a season or two there where we combined your attacking and out of the ordinary style of play along with my more defensive style to great effect and were probably unlucky not to have made the WC more often then we did. The game against Colombia probably best comes to mind where we needed to win by an absolute mile to jump over Colombia and we ended up slamming the required goals in the last 20-30mins to finish above them. We then fell short by 1 or 2 goals from memory from qualifying.

Does make the A League less interesting from my perspective (I assume something similar for vivski too) at least until the stage when uber can make it a 3 way fight again which may happen in the next season or two. I don't know what I'd do if vivski decided to put the game away, it's the competition and friendly banter that makes this game what it is and without either one the game becomes stale. However, this loss opens up another spot for another side who wishes to take that next step and try and make a top 4 fight out again as it use to be.

Anyway to get back on topic, thanks for the efforts over the years and all the best with whatever you continue playing. Worthy of one of the alltime greats of Australian Sokker.

I'll echo those sentiments. Been consistently a very strong manager and a great personality on the forum.

And yes, it's disappointing to lose another team from the top. Tribe, TBF, PRT, etc. It's a long list of A-League teams vacating from high on the A-League roster. Shame it can't keep people's interest.

From a selfish point of view, I'd like to keep all the good managers in this game. Achmid dropping out is a blow for the league. The fight for the title will not be the same, and we lose one of the best analytical managers from the forum as well.

I'll miss your rants, Achmid. Especially the ones after you came up against Comets. ;)

But it happens, life moves on. Hopefully you don't go bot... keep it ticking over, and come back with a strong team again after a break. It's a long-term game... you can take 3 seasons out (almost a human year) and not lose too much.

So many of the managers I looked up to in the early days have moved on. You're up there with the best, Achmid.

It's really sad to see you go...I hope you won't 'burn the bridges' and leave yourself some way to return to your team in the future, if you find that you want to :) Would be quite nice of you to keep your youth school at high level, since Australia has run down to 62 users, so every good youth school matters...

It's been great to get to know you in sokker, I hope that one day you might return :).

Farewell!