Time for Promotion?

Ange Postecoglou has been deservedly celebrated to be a revolutionary, a breakthrough figure among Asian managers. His stint at Celtic and the success is enjoying isn’t random, but it comes from several moments who could have turned for the worse. Furthermore, his work has been put together by a few people from his technical staff, who are trying to cut a role for themselves in some lone screenplays.

Arthur Papas didn’t reach that moment, having been hired by Kagoshima United FC in 2021, only to give up the job due to personal reasons and the need of going back to his family. John Hutchinson has served the role of assistant coach under Postecoglou, before leaving to be the manager of El Paso Locomotive FC and now coming back to Yokohama, but to the other side of the city (still as an assistant coach). And there’s one figure who was hoping for higher heights.

When Peter Cklamovski took over Shimizu S-Pulse, it seemed clear the club was searching for a new direction. After avoiding relegation by the end of the last matchday in 2019, they needed to start from scratch. Actually, COVID-19 and the long break – with no relegation to J2 in that season – would have played in Cklamovski’s favour to implement his tactics with no consequences, but the club thought otherwise and they let go the manager to end up two years later in J2 anyways.

Cklamovski restarted from Yamagata in mid-2021, bringing the team to a seventh place and then upgrading to sixth, before Montedio hit the wall against Roasso Kumamoto in the playoffs, drawing 2-2 away. But the rebirth of his process is coming to a crucial point: can Montedio Yamagata come back to J1 after nine seasons? With S-Pulse and Jubilo not in stellar form, there might be an opening to dream even of a direct promotion to the top flight.

The Wait Behind the Mountains

Mostly known for its hard Winter, Yamagata Prefectures didn’t start right away with pro-football. “NEC Yamagata Soccer Club” was founded just in 1984, pretty recently compared to other football realities. Promoted to the former JFL in 1994 and renamed in 1996 “Montedio Yamagata”, the club had to wait 1999 to be part of the inaugural J2 League season. They had to wait 2008 to clinch their first promotion ever to J1, in what we’d define an epic run.

Montedio didn’t just reach J1, they managed to stay there for three years. Shinji Kobayashi was the master behind this miracle, keeping a lower-budgeted team in the top flight. 2010 was actually their best season, reaching 13th place and having a better season than Vissel Kobe or FC Tokyo (who got relegated). When the inevitable happened and the return to J2 was official, we thought Yamagata would hardly get another shot at J1.

Nevertheless, something happened: in 2014, the club got both to the Emperor’s Cup final – lost against Gamba Osaka – and won the J2 playoffs with the help of Norihiro Yamagishi’s goal in the semi-finals. Striking feature? He was the keeper and captain. 2015 meant another relegation, but Yamagata kept producing or finding interesting players: Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Yuya Yamagishi, Koya Yuruki, Kota Yamada, Riku Handa. They found a proper dimension to survive.

Pete’s Revolution

In fact, Montedio had just eight different managers over 19 years. Not a bad record, but surely the current one looks different from the ones who proceeded him. In fact, he’s the first foreign manager in the history of the club. Peter Cklamovski was born in Sydney in 1978, being part of the Croatian enclave that populated the nation throughout the second part of the 20^th century – just like the Greek one produced Ange Postecoglou, the man of his destiny.

Cklamovski followed Postecoglou as a fitness coach in many adventures, until becoming the assistant coach when Ange was guiding Australia. After that, he took the role of the head coach for the U17 and then followed Postecoglou in Yokohama at Marinos. When it was time to spread his wings, he tried the S-Pulse gig, but like the years after proved, management at Shimizu didn’t really know what they wanted. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have ended up with a relegation a few weeks ago.

The switch to Yamagata was an opportunity for everyone involved. Of course, it helped Cklamovski remaining in the game of Japanese football, but surely Montedio got something in return. A different soul and flavour to the team, since Yamagata spent years – if not decades – being a team known for their rocky defence. Instead, under Cklamovski, the team used different gears and got more offensive (fourth-best attack of J2 in 2022, 62 goals scored), but also more balanced (third-best defence, 40 goals allowed, and Maasaki Goto got 17 clean sheets!).

2023, what’s cooking?

Sure, Montedio has to count some people leaving. Riku Handa went to Gamba Osaka, Kosuke Yamazaki signed for Sagan Tosu, Akira Disaro wasn’t retained from his loan from S-Pulse, and mostly Kota Yamada is off to Kashiwa Reysol in J1 (deserved chance). But Montedio have always been good at replacing players: Shumpei Naruse should represent a solid fill-in for Handa, while Zain Issaka gives depth in terms of positions. Masahito Ono should help with creativity, and the attack has been refurnished with the return of Junya Takahashi and the signing of Yusuke Goto.

The important thing is that the brand of football stays the same: for Cklamovski, surely the system is more important than the single pieces. Hiroki Noda, Yudai Konishi, Shuto Minami, Taiki Kato – who all improved under his guidance – were retained and upfront Montedio have multiple options. Not everyone can afford having Dellatorre, Tiago Alves and Yoshiki Fujimoto to choose from. For the first year in a long time, the squad has depth, especially from the midfield onwards.

In a J2 where both relegated sides look shaky – for different reasons, we admit – and with Fagiano, Oita and Roasso to be confirmed at this year’s party, Montedio have a real chance to play a role in this season. If they find a proper and consolidated setup upfront – choosing from the options they have – they might be on the run for something amazing. And at that point, Pete Cklamovski might have his vendetta on the pitch, making happen what it wasn’t meant to be in Shizuoka.