The Avispa Fukuoka Thread

That's a really nice preview of J2 over at Rising Sun, I doff my hat to you Matsu, it must have taken some time.

Starting to get really excited about the start of the new season.

 

Exodus has started at Avispa with Wada, Kobara, Takahashi, Samir, Yatsuda, Miyaji, Yoshihara and Son all leaving the club on the first day after the play-offs.

Pleased about the older players going, they've done nothing to deserve to stay at the club and are mostly the wrong side of 30, but can't see the rationale of letting two 21 year olds leave who have been at the club since they were 18.
Fair enough if they are not good enough, but we have had nothing to play for since August. Why not give them a run out and get a proper look.

 

The general rumours are saying that it is going to be the guy who took over for the last couple of games of the season, Futoshi Ikeda.
If that does turn out to be true then I think it probably means we are in serious financial problems, as the guy doesn't really have any history outside of Urawa youth teams. The rumours going along with it are that it will mean the end of Sakata and Naruoka at the club, but that isn't really a big surprise.

I guess Sakata will be picked up by someone, but don't know what Naruoka can now expect. He has had 2 fairly bad seasons at Avispa, and while he occasionally does amazing things he isn't half as good as he thinks he is.

 

More important than the next manager is the next kit supplier.

There is a curse associated with SVOLME, possibly linked to it's use of garish colours and poor quality fabrics.

They have sponsored 2 football clubs in the J-League.
Firstly, Avispa who started their first SVOLME season with 14 straight defeats and got relegated from J1, and followed it up with the worst season in their history.
The second team... Machida Zelvia.

If your club announces SVOLME as their supplier for next year then get yourself ready for disappointment.

 

What better way to celebrate winning J1 than picking yourself up a mercurial #10 from Avispa who will refuse to score any goals unless they can be considered a thing of beauty?

The race for Jogo seems to be hotting up, and the links to Hiroshima seem to be a step ahead of previous ones as this one is now appearing in newspapers.
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/soccer/news/2012/11/28/kiji/K20121128004654800.html

He may well do ok at any club he goes to, including the J1 winners, but there is as much chance of the crowd getting on his back for going absent from games for long periods before sporadically popping up to volley a bicycle kick onto the underside of the bar from 35 yards.

 

Next from the crazy world of Avispa Fukuoka... Our new manager is a guy called Marijan Pusnik from Slovenia.

Seems to have some experience of managing from the Slovenian and Iranian Leagues, but how Avispa managed to find him is anyone's guess.

Don't suppose there is anyone from Slovenia or Iran around who could tell me anything about this guy.

 

Do you know anything about this guy Blue-san? Any favoured formations/tactics? He seems to have been manager at Maribor when they had little cash.

The Avispa U-18 team has only really had Taku Ushinohama come through it during his time at the club. There was also Masato Yoshihara and Son Jyun Ryon come through in the last 3 years but they never made it and were released this season.
There is currently a Japan U-18 international full-back at the club whose name currently escapes me, and a guy called Morishima who is younger but plays with the 18 year olds as he is supposed to something a bit special.

The club are in the Premier League for West Japan U-18s, and seem to hold their own, but I was very surprised to hear that he made the jump. He was at Consadole for a long time before coming down to Avispa so I think they are hiring him from that more than what he has done for us.
Recent U-18 scores: 2-2 Okayama Sakuyo HS, 1-2 Cerezo, 1-0 Estrella Himeji, 0-0 Sanfrecce, 7-0 Tokushima, 3-0 Roasso, 1-3 Cerezo, 0-0 East Fukuoka HS,