He waited eight years to take over the first team, and when he got the chance - he grabbed it with both hands!
For eight years, Goran Miranović led the junior categories of Podgorica, a former first league team and participant in the Eurocups, and was also on the coaching staff of the senior team.
When the second-league team from DG Arena reached the point where it could not go any lower, in the play-off zone for relegation to the sub-league, Miranović was given the task of pulling the "chestnuts out of the fire".
The rest of the story is well known, at least for those who follow the domestic club football scene - Podgorica, with a new coach, managed to survive without any problems with a great series of results in the final.
"First of all, it is a great honor and privilege to lead the senior team of the club where I have been working for eight years. After successful seasons working with the younger categories, cadets and youth teams, but also as an assistant in the first team, it was a matter of days when I would get the chance to take over the first team. Maybe I expected that I wouldn't have to wait this long, but in the end everything turned out as it should," says Miranović.
Five rounds before the end, when the popular Mira took over the team, Podgorica was last in the standings. "The situation was difficult, because the last two teams were playing play-off matches with third-league teams. I accepted the challenge, even though I was not the first option after the previous coach left. I strongly believed in myself and the guys because I knew most of them from before, mainly through working in the club's youth teams. During the negotiations, the sports sector set a goal for me and the most important thing was to preserve the second-league status - whether through the play-offs, or in the ideal scenario and direct survival. A large number of people had largely written us off and we had already been seen in those play-off matches," Miranović points out.
In the last five rounds, Podgorica has achieved three wins, one draw and a defeat against Grbalj in the last round when it had already secured survival, "In addition to the players, who carried the heaviest burden and have all the credit for the achieved result, I must also highlight my associate Dragiša Vlahović, with whom I collaborated in the younger selections of the national team and whom I consider to be an extremely promising coach, without whom this result would certainly not have been achieved."
It started with a victory in a direct duel for survival - against Ibar in Rožaje.
"It wasn't easy to wake up the team after the results crisis, but I knew that these were players who had much higher quality than the standings indicated. After four games played, with several results from our direct competitors that suited us, the goal was achieved and we mathematically secured survival one round before the end of the championship."
The hardest part was in Rožaje. "Especially psychologically, the match to be or not to be, my first, in the end we won - deservedly but very difficult. After the draw with Iskra, we played our best match in the extra round against a very high-quality team, Lovćen. We won 5:1 and showed how dangerous a team we are. With the victory against our neighbors from the DG Arena, Mladost, who had already secured entry into the First League, for which I congratulate them, we finished all the work."
Next comes the break - then preparations for the new season. Will Miranović continue to lead the team?
"My contract is expiring and it's the club's turn. I'm willing to continue what I started if I find common ground with the club's leaders. In the end, it's a great experience for me when it comes to my first independent job as head coach in senior football," Miranović concludes.
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