And Another Clip

Watching Poli matches on the Internet

There are generally two ways of watching matches online, as far as Poli is concerned.

The first and most simple one is by going to MyP2P. There you'll find out if you can watch Poli's match using a software program, most likely Sopcast (you can get it off the website), on match day. All matches in Romania are shown by GSP-TV 1, 2, 3 or Antena 1.

The second option is to go to a website like microbist.org, choose the channel which is broadcasting the match and make sure you have the sopcast plugin installed. Also, it's preferable to use Internet Explorer to watch the matches on this website.

You can probably also try to watch the matches on Antena 1, whenever they are the ones broadcasting it, or just go to http://www.favorit.tk/ and look whether the channel broadcasting it is anywhere among the available online channels. You may also try http://www.gecotv.ro/.

To see which TV station broadcasts the match, click here and check on the right hand side, under the league table, when and where the match will be broadcasted.

I hope this is sufficient info for everyone interested. If you have any questions, just add a comment and ask. Enjoy!

The Monthly Schedule

Seeing how I try to be as organized as possible, I've decided to jot down something that might resemble a monthly posting schedule, so that anyone interested in a "long term relationship" knows exactly what to expect and when to expect it (especially our Slovenian friends, who seem to have taken up an interest in their countrymen Vrsic and Rusic).

• about one or two days after the match day (perhaps even three, if I can't watch the match live, once I'm back in the UK) there'll be a match report, with player ratings and a special focus on foreign players and their performance;
  
• occasionally, there'll be unannounced news bits during the week, if I deem it significant enough to bother with them; there's a lot of ga-ga floating about, as far as I'm concerned;
  
• at the end of the month, I'll look back at the golden days that have passed and do a swift wrap up; I plan to also present the monthly performances of the foreign players;
  
• I thought of inserting a "Nostalgia Check" every once in a while - that is a descriptive piece on something regarding Politehnica's history, so that the non-fans around might become curious enough to check up on the team more often; (but don't bet on it happening, at this point)
  

Of course, all these except for the first depend on visitor numbers, so the more people come and check out this blog, the more enthused I will be about writing stuff. I doubt these will increase very soon, as the international profile of Poli is rather low, but one never ceases to hope!

Many thanks to you all for your time and presence.

Forza Viola!

Watching the Match

Online: http://85.92.128.155/~myp2p/Matches/Match7.htm

Through satellite: ProTV International

SATELLITE Eutelsat W2 a 16°Est FREQUENZA 11513 - POLARIZZAZIONE Verticale - SYMBOL RATE 29950 - FEC 3/4

SATELLITE Sirius2 a 5°Est FREQUENZA 12455 - POLARIZZAZIONE Orizzontale - SYMBOL RATE 27500 - FEC 3/4.

The Day Before

For those who don't know where we stood, at the end of last season:

1. We finished 7th in the Championship, behind teams which (at least on paper) are far inferior than Poli and have invested far less (Gloria Bistrita, Otelul Galati)

2. We had four different managers:

• Sorin Cartu (last person to have won the Championship with a non-Bucharest team - not of much use to us, though);
• Alin Artimon (came in as a temporary solution, seemed to be a permanent one, resigned shortly after the season re-run);
• Iosif Rotariu (manager of our second team, usually steps in for a few matches - did so this year too);
• Valentin Velcea (ex-assistant manager of Hagi and Cartu, also ex-Poli player, he seemed to have turned the team spirit around and won five consecutive matches in the Championship, but his decisions in preparing for the Romanian Cup Final were at least debatable if not straight out bad)

3. We reached the Romanian Cup Final, as hinted above, but lost it against Rapid Bucharest, although the match was played in Timisoara. What a sad and distasteful night!

These were last season's achievements - if I dare call them so - and as has been customary in the last years, they were far below everyone's expectations. Yet, most reckon it all comes down to the manager, and with four different (inexperienced some) managers you cannot attain a high level of performance.