Shimizu S-Pulse 2018 Season New Team Announcement Meeting

On January 12th the Shimizu S-Pulse 2018 Season New Team Announcement Meeting took place from 10 a.m. on the 4th floor of the Century Hotel in Shizuoka City!

This was a long-awaited meeting after the near escape 2017 and some needed soul-searching.

It must be said that the club men-in-charge of the club did not disappoint and decided to take the bull by the horns genuinely recognizing the past mistakes and resolutely looking forward.

The President, Vice President and General Manager candidly addressed all issues in a refreshingly positive manner auguring well for the future.

The main points presented by the President were:

-TARGETS
Shimizu S-Pulse aims at no less than becoming J1 League Champions within 5 years and ACL Champions within 7 years.For this the budget will reach 45 billion yen by then, with more than 620 sponsors (compared to 500 in 2018)!

But the bigger changes to help reach these lofty goals is a marked change of staff and philosophy with the arrivals of Swedish Team manager, Jan Anders Jonsson and his head coach, Yoshiyuki Shinoda!

New Team Manager, Jan Anders Jonsson, who knows Japan well for having already played and coached there prudently avoided offering his own targets asking to fans to wait at least 3 weeks before he gets to know his players better,

Nevertheless he already informed anyone interested that his style will be hands on, focusing on communications and flexibility, taking a direct approach when needed but asking players to think more for themselves especially during training sessions to become more naturally adaptable on the field. He also insisted on team spirit and mutual reliance.

For this he will be ably helped by head coach, Yoshiyuki Shinoda, who in spite of his relatively youth has been a full time high level head coach for no less than 12 years!

This certainly promises high expectations from all the fans who will learn soon that things will be very different indeed!

Finally we were presented the new recruits

MF Akihiro HYODO (Jersey No 15), a former Shimizu S-Pulse who has played at the highest level for the last 12 years.

MF Jumpei KUSUKAMI (Jersey No 14), who has played at the highest level for the last 7 years, including a stint in the Australian Top League.

DF HWANG SEOK HO (Jersey No 3), Korean International

GK Yoshiaki ARAI (Jersey No 31), a top-class goalkeeper just out of university.

And five young players to nurture for the near future:

MF Yasufumi NISHIMURA (Jersey No 36) from Osaka

FW Daigo TAKAHASHI (Jersey No 37) from Kagoshima

FW Jin HIRATSUKA (Jersey No 33) from Gifu and Shimizu S-Pulse Youth Team

DF Kenta ITO (Jersey No 35) from Aichi and Shimizu S-Pulse Youth Team

MF Yuta TAKI (Jersey No 34) from Mishima City in Shizuoka prefecture and Shimizu S-Pulse Youth Team