Assistant manager:
I think it would be a good time to meet the team. What would you like to say to them?
Me:
Hold my frappucino, dziękuję...
Meet Boleslaw I the Brave, the first crowned King of Poland in 1025. Under his rule, he was able to raise Poland to the rank of a kingdom and transformed Poland into an entity comparable to older Western monarchies and raised it to the front rank of European states. He was an able strategist and statesman. When the year 2025 arrives, it has been 1000 years since his coronation. We shall sing his name when WE have been crowned the Kings of Poland!
Around 700 years ago, Warsaw was just a small fishing village on the banks of river Vistula. Not many people inhabited the banks during that time, and they sure did not know what would be ahead for their small village as the years would fly by.
Warsaw has been the capital of many rulers and it has a rich history that has taken effects from all over the World. Poland and Warsaw have had their fair share of battles and conquerors. It has been demolished and ruined to the grounds but always in the end, on the last string of hope, the people of Warsaw have fought back and the city has risen from its ruins.
That is almost the synopsis for the club of Polonia Warsaw as well. The oldest Varsovian athletic club has seen its days as the king of Polish football. Fierce battles with local rivals Legia Warsaw over the years for the top spot not just in Warsaw but also in Poland, have left people telling stories about the golden days. On the other end of the spectrum, the club has almost been demolished more than once by poor handling of the club and chairmen who just didn´t have the heart for the task at hand. In the end, just like the capital itself, it was yet again the people who saved Polonia.
History of Polonia
To say that the Polonia Warszawa has a rich history would be a massive understatement. The club was established in the autumn of 1911 as several schools formed a union. At that time, Poland was not an independent country and Warsaw was a part of the Russian partition. It was brave to choose the name Polonia which is Latin and means Poland.
The glory days of Polonia Warszawa sets around the millennium. Polonia won its second Polish national championship in the 99/00 season. Fans of the Czarne koszule (Black Shirts) had been waiting for the title for a long time. Polonia won its first championship just after World War II in 1946. They had a chance to qualify for Champions League back in 2000 but were beaten by Panathinaikos in the 3rd Qualifying round. For the next couple of seasons, Polonia was playing for a chance in the UEFA Cup and was only able to get to 3rd round in the qualifying process. The only time Polonia has ever been in the group stage of a European competition was in 1997 in the Intertoto cup.
Maybe it´s the old saying "more money, more problems" that guided this team to the brink of existence. Only a few seasons later after attempting to get into European competition, Polonia was relegated in the 05/06 season to the second division after finishing in the last place in Ekstraklasa (the top division in Poland).
Eventually, the club gained promotion back to the top division in 2007 after the club merged with Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolsk and took its place in the Ekstraklasa. The next season saw them finish 4th in Ekstraklasa but already a few seasons after Polonia was close to relegation again. In the 09/10 season, a win against biggest rivals Legia Warszawa, their first win in 10 years and the first win in 60 years against the city rivals in the home field secured the place in the top division.
In 2012 the club's story was nearly coming to an end. Former owner Józef Wojciechowski decided to sell the team and in an unseen by European standards deconstruction of the club, 15 players were sold and the club was dead for a week. New owner Ireneusz Król (last name King) bought the clubs´ name and rights to the club emblem for 1 zloty.
Things got worse. Quite soon it was revealed that the new owner turned out to be financially unreliable. In the summer of 2013, nearly half of the team left the club and all the high-priced players left with free agency. Despite the fan's effort of buying the club from Król, the club remained in his control. It was reported that the club had a debt of 8 million polish zlotych (1,5 million pounds) and it was not granted the licence for Ekstraklasa. for the next season. So despite finishing 6th in the Ekstraklasa, the club dropped five league levels, the lowest in the club's 101-year history.
It took time and effort to get the club stabilised again as the club was already in trouble again back in 2019 with growing debts. Polonia had its new chairman takeover in mid-February 2020 when Grégoire Nitot, bought the club with the hope of having stability in the club that had a turbulent decade in Polish football. After the 21/22 season, Polonia gained promotion from the III Liga to the II Liga as they finished 1st place. Long term view for the club is to be back in Ekstraklasa in 2029.
Fans
No player wears number 12 on the Polonia roster as the number is reserved for the supporters.
Stadium
Polonia Warszawa plays its home games in 7, 150 seated Stadion Miejski im. gen. Kazimierza Sosnkowskiego (General Kazimierz Sosnkowski Municipal Stadium) or just commonly known as Stadion Polonii Warszawa. The nickname of the place is K6 which relates to the address of the stadium. It was originally built in 1928
The core idea for the save
Competition goals for the save:
- Promotion to the Ekstraklasa (top division)
- Secure a place in the Ekstraklasa
- Qualify for European competition
- Winning the Ekstraklasa
Club culture and policy for the save:
- Sign young Polish players and promote players through the youth system
- Legacy of Emmanuel Olisadebe; sign Nigerian players
- Play attacking football
- Keep the club out of debt
The main task is to get promoted to the Ekstraklasa which is the top division in Polish football. After the promotion, the goal is to secure a place in the top division and build for the future so that the club has a chance to reach European cup competition places and eventually challenge for the title. Every season, in the cup or the Ekstraklasa, the bragging rights of Warsaw are on the table against Legia Warsaw.
On the club culture and policy side, handling the finances properly is the main task mainly because of the history of poor handling of club finances by the club in real life. Also, that aspect of the game for myself has always been the main problem. There ain´t much money to work around the transfer market so free agents and youth players are the main force on incoming transfers. Money usually burns in my hands when I play FM. It will be a difficult task to keep the bills low.
I also wanted to pay my respect to the club legend Emmanuel Olisabede. Born in Nigeria, the former Polonia striker played for the Polish national team (25 caps, 11 goals) as he was granted Polish citizenship back in 2000. That's why we keep a close eye on the young Nigerian players and try to bring them to the club so they can have the same success as Olisabede had and use the club as a stepping stone for their career in Europe.
Tactically everything is still wide open as we need to explore the current squad and decide how we want to setup. In the previous version of FM, I strongly used a two-forward system with pressing forwards and with an AMC role operating as the number 10 role. I like my team to be physically strong as we look to make the most of set pieces along the way. This would be a raw version of the tactic:
It´s going to be tough and the save has a strong chance to go south. We won´t let that stop us from at least trying to give it a shot. We have to be brave.
Brave like Boleslaw the I.
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