With Sittard next on the schedule, Gunko has already marked the match’s turning points.

Groningen’s live plan begins with a counter-attacking 4-2-3-1. At 30 minutes, it switches to Passing. Two substitutions are set for 60, another for 70, followed by a conditional shift to Attacking at 78.

Some managers publish manifestos. Gunko’s is a timetable.

Seven league games into Season 4, Groningen have five wins, one draw and one defeat. They sit second on 16 points, one behind Enschede, with 11 goals scored and only two conceded. Only the leaders have allowed fewer.

The table rates Groningen’s squad at 75 on average, below Feyenoord, Ajax and Eindhoven. Gunko has them above all three. His wider record now places him 59th in Soccerverse’s tactician ranking and 89th among its veterans.

The application

This story began on January 17, 2025, in the jobs channel.

The Discord account iu_91 asked whether anybody had a paid managerial role available. When another community member requested a CV, the answer was modest.

new to this game, but play soccermanager in other websites. and follow soccer quite a bit

LACS’s later Groningen announcement identified iu_91 as Gunko. The archival ledger records a first appointment at Suwon Red in February 2025, followed days later by Groningen.

The publicly posted Groningen deal offered roughly 2.34 SVC per week, win and draw bonuses, and an expected finish between fourth and tenth. A top-three finish carried a reward of 50 Groningen shares.

Those were historical terms, not proof of Gunko’s current contract. They remain a useful measure of the original ambition: competence first, glory if possible.

LACS’s welcome was more expansive.

We are confident that Gunko will lead us to new heights.

After a later spell at Iwata, the ledger records another Groningen appointment in June 2026. The live club record places him there again now.

Why Groningen? Gunko has not published an answer. The evidence offers the safer version: he wanted a paid chance, Groningen offered clear targets, and both sides eventually returned to one another. Opportunity became a relationship.

A system, not a slogan

Gunko has used the 4-2-3-1 in six of Groningen’s seven league matches, starting with Counter four times and Normal three times. That consistency has produced five clean sheets, including a goalless draw away to leaders Enschede.

Yet the current plan is not passive. It changes rhythm after half an hour, refreshes two attacking positions at 60 minutes and holds an attacking switch for the closing stretch. The formation stays still while the intentions move around inside it.

That is what makes Gunko tick, at least in the evidence he leaves behind: preparation, controlled transitions and interventions made before emotion can take over.

Buying for the shape

Gunko has never posted a public transfer philosophy, so the honest reading begins with Groningen’s recruitment and his team sheet.

On July 4, the club bought two young central attackers within five minutes of one another:

• Fábio Freitas Gouveia, 23, an AMC/FC rated 78 — 32,209,650 SVC
• Juan Manuel Rengifo Duque, 21, an AMC rated 76 — 24,858,000 SVC

Together, they cost 57,067,650 SVC. Both start through the middle in the current 4-2-3-1, with Fábio leading the line and taking penalties while Rengifo operates behind him.

The transfer record does not identify who approved every bid, so this is Groningen’s recruitment pattern rather than a claim that Gunko acted alone. His use of the pair is unmistakable, though. The club made two concentrated bets on youth and central attacking quality; the manager built them directly into his system.

One point from history

The public Discord record remains thin: iu_91’s profile contains seven messages across 578 days. Community perception is therefore more endorsement than consensus. LACS, currently listed among Groningen’s leading influence holders with 2,613 shares, supplied the early belief. Gunko has supplied the results.

Sittard visit on August 19. Groningen’s cabinet contains one cup but no league title. The old brief asked for fourth to tenth; the new table asks whether this can become something far larger.

Gunko once wanted a chance. Now he has expectation.

The clock is already running.