For my main series “Totalitarian football” I’m going to be managing the made up club CSKA Aransk in the made up post-Soviet totalitarian Communist nation of Bordavia. I have covered the creation process in a series called “Creating Club and Country”:
The idea from the beginning was for CSKA Aransk to get invited into the Russian league system, where most of the adventure would take place. I was going to create a Bordavian league, but only the top tier, as a backdrop. However, after a literal hurricane of interest in getting involved in this adventure the idea took a turn into something completely different. Over 60 people have reached out and contributed with ideas for towns and clubs and stories. Bordavia has turned into a mystic but rather grim nation, full of quirks, stories and lore. I fell in love with both the commitment shown by you and the nation of Bordavia, which has lead to the creation process of an entire Bordavian database. This has been a real team effort, which I have enjoyed massively, but it has also meant that I haven’t had much time to write blog posts or record YT videos. Therefore I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone, by sharing stories from the nation of Bordavia up until the db release around Christmas.
Today’s tale comes from a fellow Scandinavian in The Manager Mann, who blogs at https://themanagermann.webnode.com. Today’s tale is about “his town” Galsk.
Background
Galsk. When you hear the name, you think of Potatoes. Lots and lots of potatoes.
Founded back in the early 1100’s as the potato provider to the capital of Aransk, Galsk has developed from a small insignificant potato farming village, into a potato farming heaven.
The soil around Galsk is nutrient rich and the many potato farmers were responsible for 31.87% of the potato export out of Bordavia and 87.24% to Aransk.
Thanks to the old Mayor, a distant relative of the original founder, Galsk had blossomed into an attractive suburb to Aransk with newly built apartment blocks, bungalows, villas and a beautifully designed city-centre starting shooting up around the farms.
In 1286, the football club was officially founded. Meant as a little bit of fun in between the potato harvest, PFC Dynamo Galsk, quickly became the go to pastime for the villagers.
With a population of just over 21.484, of which 4.753 are potato farmers, Galsk has grown significantly over the last 10 years and has become an incredibly attractive city.
The growth of the village into a town, can be accredited the Old Mayor. Being a happy, but stupid, drunk, he often made big wagers with potatoes against the affluent oligarchs.
During a drunken stupor, he wagered the towns lower division football club in a game against and old KGB General: Veniamin Litvinenko.
Veniamin who had built his fortunes on money laundering for the KBG and government officials, had always wanted to be a ruler and he accepted the Mayor’s bet on the condition that he would retire and hand over the pitchfork to the city.
Being a stupid drunk, The Mayor accepted the bet and with Veniamin already known as a cheater, the pennies were stacked against the Mayor.
It only took 1 round, before Veniamin had won and the Mayor was escorted to the edge of town.
Last we heard, he had moved to the mountains to get away and become a sheep herder.
Veniamin, now suddenly the Mayor of a blossoming town and the owner of a small, and crap, football club, had to behave differently.
But you can’t teach and old dog tricks! He of course started using the town as a front for his money laundering business.
And with a football club as well, his job became a lot easier. Hiring friends of the Government, he started developing the town and the club.
After having many conversations with an old acquaintance in Mr. Abramovich, Veniamin had always had a little dream of owning a successful football club.
And now the spark had been ignited into a flame.
Veniamin started developing the football club and in 2017, the brand new, and aptly named, Novichock Arena was built.
A modern marvel with great facilities, Veniamin is using the Novichock Arena to smooch with high-ranking ex KGB officers and to stay on the good side of the Government with plenty of “VIP” treatment.
The lavish lifestyle as the mayor as one of the countries biggest potato providers, was the perfect fit for Veniamin and a fantastic way to clean the money from the government without arousing suspicion.
The Club – PFC Dynamo Galsk
Though it was initially meant as a way of laundering money, Veniamin quickly fell in love with the burly bunch of potato farmers and their commitment to the club and the honour of the city.
He quickly decided to put the money into the club and the surrounding area and thanks to Veniamin’s money, the training facilities are amongst the top in the country and the whole clubs dedicated training area is a glorious sign that sometimes the money does drizzle down.
Though the club has become a playground for the rich and famous, Veniamin has made it point to keep the ties to the old history and farmers and ticket prices are amongst the cheapest in the country, which helps the stadium to always be near capacity, despite being stuck in limbo in the lower divisions.
The Fans have become disloyal to the managers, who often only choose to manage PFC Dynamo Galsk because of the money. Loyalty has been a big weakness for the club and Veniamin is quick on the trigger, to both hire and fire the managers when they do not get the results he is wanting.
They fans are an aggressive bunch when they lose, which they do a lot, but incredibly passionate when they win.
Because of the constant defeats they run into, they have stopped expecting anything other than “just surviving”, but Veniamin has set his sights on making Galsk a club to be loved and revered and his dream is to become a superpower and challenge the traditional big clubs of Aransk.
Veniamin is putting plenty of money into the club and will surely back any manager on the transfermarket, in the hope of achieving the success the blossoming city is craving.
Can the new manager make something out of this new club?
With a chairman/owner who is more than happy to throw money into the club and with glistening facilities at hand, everything is in place for success.
Will the fans support the new era?
This was the fourth “Tale from Bordavia” and I’d like to thank Manager Mann for his great contribution. There will be a new one every day leading up to Christmas. I hope you’ll enjoy these little stories and that they will spark an interest large enough to follow my main series “Totalitarian Football” and maybe even try the database when it comes out!?
I stream my “Building Bordavia” creation process on Twitch on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Come hang out and say hi!
I also upload episodes about the creation process to my YouTube channel. Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss any content!
MikaelinhoFM 