The content of this post might be surprising, not because of the meaning but because of making it public.

We have got a very interesting invitation of the board this morning; when Sir Schluurggi called us to the meeting room to be present in the last board meeting of this season. When he opened the meeting he called us for attention, because he decided to give the supporters, friends and followers a small view behind the curtain. He also told us that we may write everything we hear inside this room, but he’ll be the one to approve the post before it’ll be made public on the blog. He started with the words: “And this is now how the mid-term ‘strategy to gold’ looks like:”

Definition of Gold:

First we have to define what this ‘Gold’ is, that we are after. Of course we are talking about ‘Success’ and that’s what we’re after. But there are different ‘mines’ in which ‘Gold’ can be found. From the early beginning the club was mostly focused on success in the domestic leagues, and this gives us this clear definition of ‘Gold’: we are on our way to the fourth division! Of course we won’t ignore other claims that should be staked coming our way.

Competitions:

Since we’re always focused on the leagues, there’s no doubt about which matches will be played with highest priority. But of course we’re also leaving the main track and take some side tracks from time to time, as we did in the past, when we competed in the Golden League or the FCB forever Cup. We will continue joining friendly tournaments but always with the focus on giving the reserve some time to practice their skills and guarantee them to be trained. We have the same intention while we are able to play in the Switzerland Cup; we take what we’re able to, but there is no focus on that competition at all. To be honest, there is one tournament, in which the Gold Rushers will try to reach more than they already did: the HTUM Challenge Trophy!

Diversification:

To predict the way our team will play in different games shall become a challenge to our opponents. This is the guideline for many other aspects, which are related or affected by it. What is the meaning of this? Our staff is asked to build a team which is able to act in suitable formations and use the optimal tactic to face each opponent at every site in the best possible way. Beside formations, tactics and trained skills, this strategy affects the squad the most. We know that this publication tells our opponent everything, or is it nothing? There are many teams out there who have specialized in one or the other direction, that’s something we don’t want, because it makes the team predictable.

Tactics:

Sometimes counter attacks would be the most promising tactic and sometimes long shots would be even better to face the opponent. We want to be able to play every possible tactic at a strong level! This is of course not done within one or two seasons, but the best thing on it is that we don’t have to train the tactics because they all depend on having the right players with the needed skills and specialties.

Squad:

This means that we need players of each type in the squad. We need the ones, who are able to use their heads and the others who use their brains, the ones who can run as fast as a cannonball and these who are fighting like a bull and finally also the ones who can juggle a ball over night. Of course they all should have the right skills on the needed level, but that’s something that could be trained. In addition it should be made clear that we are still staying to our course to have only Swiss players in the squad and we’ll be happy to give some of our talents a chance to join the first squad, but there is no focus on having a complete home grown squad. Every signed contract is related to the strategy.

Formations:

To build the right team suitable for all tactics it’s inalienable to define which formation is planned to use in combination with a tactic. The Gold Rushers shall become able to play with three or four defenders, combined with four or five midfielders which give us one up to three forwards completing the first eleven. Taking this in account our squad has to include at least twenty players who are able to be a part of the starting eleven and this gives us up to four slots to fill with promising young men, who should be able to be one of the first mentioned someday, or at least promising talents who could get a contract in a foreign team later.

Training scheme:

The players should be trained up to the needed skill level, and we will keep our scheme as it was so far. The main target regarding the training scheme is the balanced level of the ratings on the seven sectors. We will go ahead and train the skill suits best to increase a certain sector, for a whole season. During the season we decide which skill should be trained next, and this one will also be trained for a whole season. We’ll keep in mind to have all players with a solid stamina level at least and the set pieces should increase every season as experience should also. If talents join the first squad they have to fit in that scheme for at least one full season, afterwards we will decide if they’ll stay another season or they will leave the team.

Since we were only guests and had no right to interrupt the announcement or pose any questions, this was all we got to write this story. We tried to put as many information in it keeping in mind that Sir Schluurggi will have the final word about what’s in it finally. Luckily we found the right words, because he approved the very first draft already, but he added the following:

Targets in our 13^th season:

It’s the 13^th day in May in the 13^th year of the new millennium when the Gold Rushers will start their 13^th season, which is the 52^nd (four times 13) global season! Do we care about the number 13? No way! Let me explain our targets for the upcoming season: The scale for success is of course the rank we reach at the end of the season, because this number tells us doubtless where we are compared to the opponents, and the target is: we want to stay in the fifth division! But there is another scale to measure our success internally: the average ratings over the league games expressed in the well-known Hatstats. It is only a number but it is a wonderful one that gives us a good understanding of the team’s progress. According to this scale we made a progress of a bit more than four percent last season, and the target is to reach at least the same progress again.

Progress over the seasons