News: Daejeon Citizen Select New Club Captain

With K League teams stepping up their preparations for the forthcoming campaign, Daejeon Citizen are no different and manager Ko Jongsoo has moved to select his captain and vice captain for the 2018 season. A former Korea international and one-time Suwon Bluewings midfielder is set to don the armband for the Purples, whilst the vice captain vacancy will be filled by a player in his second spell with the Purples.
(Image via Daejeon Citizen)
In what is shaping up to be a completely revamped Citizen squad on account of an extremely busy transfer window, new Purples gaffer Ko Jongsoo this week announced that Oh Jangeun and Ahn Sanghyeon will be captain and vice captain respectively for the 2018 season.

The pair both signed on free transfers from fellow K League 2 side Seongnam FC earlier in the winter, prior to the squad setting off for their second winter training camp in Antalya, Turkey and will both lead the Purples into what Citizen fans will be hoping is a successful season. Oh Jangeun (pictured below) spent a season at Tancheon Sport Complex where the former Korea Republic international managed to feature just six times for the Magpies. The Jeju-born midfielder had had successful spell with K League giants Suwon Bluewings, however, where he made over 120 appearances over five years prior to the switch.

(Image via Getty)

Meanwhile, the vice captaincy will be taken up by Ahn Sanghyeon (pictured below),a player who is no stranger to Purple Arena or indeed the captain's armband. The 31-year-old spent the 2015 season with Citizen, making 25 appearances before joining the Magpies a year later.

(Image via Daejeon Citizen)

The decision to appoint new captains came after last season’s club captain Kim Jinkyu announced his retirement as a player and his subsequent transition into coaching with FC Seoul's Under 18 team. Kim's departure merely added to what was already long list of departures at Purple Arena. Whilst there have been significant number of players leaving, new CEO Kim Ho has been extremely busy in the transfer market to strengthen the team, adding no fewer than 30 players the ranks.

Controversy

It had been reported in the national press that former Purples manager Kim Ho, now acting as the CEO and primary transfer negotiator at Purple Arena, has ruthlessly culled a lot of the playing staff from last year's disastrous season and hasn't yet finished wielding the axe with further decisions on players who make up a estimated 50-man squad to be made in the coming weeks. Some players were said to have been kept in the dark on their futures, others such as Bruno Cantenhede reportedly had his new contract torn up. At present the first team are in Turkey for leg two of the club's winter training schedule but many have remained in Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province to make up what is likely to be Citizen's second string. Decisions to reduce the numbers further are expected to be made in the coming weeks.

Last season Daejeon Citizen did not enter a team into the reserve league but in 2018 Kim Ho has indicated that Lee Kibeom, who was initially reported as being Daejeon's new first team manager, will in fact coach the reserve team instead. A second string team would go someway in explaining the high volume of signings.

Familiarity

Speaking after his appointment as Daejeon Citizen manager, Ko Jongsoo (pictured below) revealed that there is some trepidation and that he perhaps wouldn't have taken the job if his long time mentor Kim Ho wasn't there to advise him. To further help Ko's transition from coach into manager, the former Korea Republic international has recruited players as well as coaches whom he has worked with before. Kim Jinwoo was appointed as Ko's number two; the pair worked together as part of Suwon Bluewings backroom staff in the early 2000s and were team mates at Big Bird.

(Image via Daejeon Citizen)

Elsewhere, Ko Minseong and Lee Jeongsoo are players whom have worked under Ko Jongsoo previously having both arrived from Suwon Bluewings. Clearly, Ko is attempting to create something familiar about his new surroundings to ensure that his first foray into management is as short-lived as of those of his predecessors, namely the derisive Choi Moonsik and the simply hapless Lee Youngik, both of whom were shown the door less than a year after they were appointed.

The more prominent in-comings into Purple Arena are: Pohang Steelers goalkeeper Kim Jinyoung, whom has ACL experience to boast of, Slovakian winger Filip Hlohovsky from Seongnam, Korea Republic U23 defender Ko Myeongseok, Jeju United midfielder Park Suchang, Gangwon FC captain Baek Jonghwan, as well as former Suwon Bluwings defender Lee Jeongsoo who reversed his decision to retire to take up a player coach role, amongst a whole host of others. Full list here.