With every year that passes in his tenure as manager of Nagoya Grampus, the stakes Dragan Stojkovic has to play with just keep getting higher. But if the Serbian is feeling the pressure as he prepares to begin his third season at the helm against Gamba Osaka this weekend, his poker face is a good one.

In 2008, Stojkovic returned to the club he once graced as one of the J. League's best-ever players, and promptly led the perennial underachievers to an unexpected third-place finish in the first season of his management career.

If that suggested "Pixie" could sprinkle the same magic dust over Grampus in the dugout as he did on the field, however, 2009 did not quite follow the same fairy tale.