Nagoya Grampus' challenge for the J. League title last season may have come as a shock to most observers, but manager Dragan Stojkovic insists he saw it coming all along.
Grampus was one of the J. League's original members, but the club had become synonymous with underachievement over the years with only two Emperor's Cup titles to show for all its financial muscle and big-name arrivals.
Not much looked set to change when Stojkovic took the helm at the start of last season, despite his pedigree as one of the best players ever to grace the league. The Serbian was embarking on his first managerial assignment, and talent looked sparse on a squad that had just lost star midfielder Keisuke Honda to the Netherlands and was coming off the back of yet another mediocre campaign.