CM4 Scunthorpe 02-03

[Katon]

I just finished my 'experimental' game of CM4, and now I'm ready to start being serious. I do almost all of my CM playing in the English league somewhere, as that's far and away the league I know best in real life. I decided to take control of a Third Dvision team, then picked Scunthorpe more or less at random. This dynasty's being played with all of the English leagues active and a smattering of other European top divisions. It's using a small database, which seems to be all that my computer can handle at an acceptable speed. :(

[Katon]

The first thing I did after taking over at Scunthorpe was to take a look at the squad.

Goalkeeper
It’s pretty obvious who our starting goalie will be. Tommy Evans is a good goalie for this level, and looks to be brilliant at one-on-ones. Beyond him, our next best keeper is Andy Capp, who’s seventeen and plays like it. Considering that I’ve got a grand total of £22,000 in the transfer kitty, we’ll just have to hope that Evans doesn’t get hurt.

Left Defence
Our only out-and-out left-back is Andy Dawson, who apparently takes a mean throw-in. Until he acquires some other skills, he’ll be staying on the bench. Fortunately, we have a few central defenders who can also play on the left. Steve Ridley is actually worse than Dawson, although there may be hope for him considering that he’s only 19. Steve's elder brother Lee Ridley, who can actually tackle, wins the starting spot more or less by default.

Right Defence
This could be a problem position. There’s nobody I’m particularly happy with here. Nathan Stanton has the perfect attitude for football and is in great shape. Unfortunately, he’s completely devoid of talent. Andy Butler may be the worst tackler I’ve ever seen make a living in defence. Jamie McCombe, our third candidate, seems to be the best of the bunch but isn’t exactly the most intelligent fullback I’ve ever seen.

Central Defence
Russell Wilcox, my assistant manager, is still registered as a player. Considering how good he is in the air, he’ll probably see some action at some point this season. James Cotterill is a fairly good young player, and a legitimately good marker. He and Mark Jackson will be starting, although Jackson is nothing special and I’ll be looking to replace him.

Left Wing
Player/coach Peter Beagrie has played in the Premiership for several different teams, and even at 36 he’s still a class act. 18-year-old Lee Featherstone, a dead-ball specialist, is a passable backup.

Right Wing
I’m not too sure who’ll start here. Teenagers Scott Brough and Matthew Sparrow still have a lot to learn, but Ian Kilford and Wayne Graves both have legitimate claims to the starting spot. Graves seems to be more of a tough-tackling, hard-working type than a creative winger, so Kilford has a slight advantage, but this spot is very much up for grabs.

Central Midfield
This is very much a one-man show. Sadly, we need two people. Alex Calvo-Garcia is clearly number one here, but the rest aren’t up to much. Terry Barwick shows some promise, but is only nineteen and isn’t much good at the moment. Richard Kell wouldn’t be knocking my socks off even if he didn’t have a broken leg that will take him seven months to recover from. Whoever loses the duel for the right-wing spot will walk right into the second spot here.

Strikers
This is where most of our more experienced talent seems to be. At 29, Martin Carruthers does everything to a passable level but doesn’t really excel at anything. Robert Taylor, who’s entering his thirties, is an excellent dribbler who can’t move faster than walking speed. Stephen Torpey, who’s 31 like Taylor, is slightly faster and good in the air. Torpey’s still slow, however, and Taylor is noticeably better as long as the ball is on the ground. Paul Hayes is only 18, but he’s already a lethal finisher. If the rest of his game catches up in a few years, he’ll be a force to be reckoned with. Andy Parton, our other 18-year-old, is out for two months with strained ankle ligaments. Don’t expect to see too much of him once he gets back, either, as he’s still got a lot of learning to do. Carruthers and Hayes are the favourites to start here.

So, in review, my planned starting formation is something along these lines:

Evans

McCombe, Cotterill, Jackson, Ridley

Kilford, Graves, Calvo-Garcia, Beagrie

Carruthers, Hayes


Shortly after producing that lineup, I noticed a slight problem. Apparently, we’re £3,206 per week over our wage budget. As it turnes out, part of the reason for this is that both Andy Dawson and Stephen Torpey are drawing four-figure salaries. Sell them, and we’ll only be £106 p/w over budget. Considering that they didn’t really feature in my plans anyway, I’m not too upset to have to sell them. Ian Kilford is also drawing a big salary, and he’ll need to do well to convince me to keep him on.

[3ric]

It certainly adds to the challenge when you have to keep an eye out for the wage budget! I'll be reading this!

[Katon]

THe wage budget's annoying, but it isn't my biggest problem. Details to follow . . .

[Katon]

This may have been the worst preseason I’ve ever seen in any game of CM. The 4-4-2 I’d been planning to use provided absolutely no offence; when I tried switching to 3-5-2, that left our defence too exposed. We didn’t win a single game, and we weren’t exactly playing good teams. Just to add injury to insult, Peter Beagrie and Alex Calvo-Garcia both got hurt. Beagrie’s out for three months with a broken foot; Calvo-Garcia will miss two months with a torn groin muscle. So much for my two best players. Considering the limits that my wage budget is currently imposing, I could have a bit of a midfield problem during the first few months of the season.

[Katon]

Between preseason and season opener, I dabble in the transfer market. Overpaid left-back Andy Dawson leaves for Darlington in exchange for £5,000 up front and up to £10,000 more based on appearances. This doesn’t actually have much impact on our wage bill, as Watford midfielder Paolo Vernazza comes in on loan earning roughly the same amount. Vernazza, unlike Dawson, should be worth his wages. He’s a former product of the Arsenal youth team, and he looks the part. He instantly takes over set piece duties and one of my starting midfield spots.

Sadly, although I did improve our midfield situation by signing Vernazza, I still haven’t changed my strategy from my original 4-4-2. This comes back to haunt me in our opener, as we spend the whole match trying to lump the ball up to the strikers, which has absolutely no effect. We are thoroughly outclassed, and can thank Tommy Evans that the score stays as low as it does.
Hull 2-0 Scunthorpe

Just as if our midfield wasn’t battered enough, Wayne Graves sprained his ankle in that last match. He’ll be out for two weeks.

The bookies announce the odds for Third Division promotion. Our recent conquerors Hull are co-favorites with Rushden and Rochdale at 7-4. There’s a pack just behind those three at 2-1, and then we’re just behind that at 3-1. The bookmakers don’t believe you are far behind the top teams in the division in terms of quality and there is a feeling that if you perform well against them you might be able to achieve promotion. Our fans and board are somewhat more realistic. They expect as to achieve a respectable league position, which I’d say is fair. We are good enough to finish in the top half, although with the injuries to Calvo-Garcia and Beagrie I don’t think we can achieve promotion.

Our next match goes fairly well for the first quarter of an hour before Mark Jackson gives away a penalty. Boston United duly convert, and the match quickly settles into the same pattern as last time. Tommy Evans is excellent, our offence shows no signs of life.
Scunthorpe 0-1 Boston United

I continue to adjust our 4-4-2, hoping to find something that actually generates some offence. I can’t really add to the club’s wage bill until Stephen Torpey and his £2,100 wage are gone, so any changes I make to break this slump will have to be tactical.

Surprisingly, we actually give the opposing goalie a fright early on. He comes out to the edge of the area to hit a clearance and hits it right at Jamie McCombe, who promptly wallops it towards the goal from 40 yards out, necessitating a real scramble by the keeper to tip it around the post. Even more surprisingly, we score our first goal of the season just before half time. A neatly-worked throw-in routine puts Bob Taylor in on goal, and he wallops the ball into the roof of the net. Our lead only lasts for fifteen minutes, however. Our defence gets caught out by a long ball, and Tommy Evans has no chance. They look more likely to score after that, but they never put the ball in the net, and the game finishes in a draw.
Carlisle 1-1 Scunthorpe

Guess what? We’ve got another injury. Robert Taylor, who’s scored our only goal this year, is now going to miss a month courtesy of some strained ankle ligaments. I think I’ll take the opportunity to experiment with a few variations on 4-5-1. We haven’t been winning the midfield battle in the past few games, so maybe this will make a difference.

We look a bit improved in the next match, but that doesn’t translate over to the result. Cotterill loses his man for a moment midway through the first half and the opposing striker makes no mistake. We look slightly better up front with this formation, but our defence has gaps you could drive a tank through. I’m not going to go into detail. It’s too painful
Scunthorpe 0-4 Exeter

We have a real problem. Our defence has been incredibly poor, with the exceptions of Tommy Evans and Jamie McCombe. I’m not exactly thrilled with our offence, but we shouldn’t be letting in four against anyone. I’m going to drop both of our central defenders for the next match, as well as switching to another variation on the basic 4-4-2. This should be a good match to experiment in, as our next opponents are actually worse than us. They’ve conceded a goal less than us, but they haven’t scored at all, and they’ve lost every game.

This is getting worrying. Their offence is really bad, and we do get the clean sheet, but ours is worse. The game finishes goalless.
Leyton Orient 0-0 Scunthorpe

Aside from the Carlisle game, our offence has given us nothing. Every different tweak I’ve tried has produced no result. Playing 3-5-2 got a few goals in the preseason, but at the expense of making our never-too-stable defence even weaker. I need to take some time off and rethink how I want to go about doing this. Getting our two injured midfielders back should help, but I should be able to come up with something that can produce signs of life even with the reserves.

The relegation struggle:
Pos Team W D L F A
22. Scunthorpe 0 1 4 1 8
23. Leyton Orient 0 1 4 0 7
24. Southend 0 0 0 1 11

[Fonzie]

Good stuff. I'll be reading, Katon.

And I'll also be drooling in envy for a while, as ****ing Gamesplanet still hasn't shipped my preordered game.:mad:

[Radii]

I like the new touch with the bookies and odds for promotion :)

Anxiously awaiting shipment of my copy too, I'll be reading, good luck!

[Katon]

Into September now, and I still haven’t found a formation I’m happy with. The latest one seems to suit the defence quite well, as they all have fairly good games. On the other hand, once we’ve fallen behind to an eighth-minute header, the offence never looks like dragging us back into it. With Leyton Orient winning (and scoring) for the first time, this dumps us into the relegation zone.
Scunthorpe 0-1 Kidderminster

League Cup time now, and, as Lee Featherstone’s serving a suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card in the Kidderminster game, I’m forced to press Martin Carruthers into service as a left winger. As usual, I’m trying a new formation. In spite of the fact that we’ve been drawn away to a higher-level team, we actually hold our own for fifteen minutes before Evans parries a long-range shot right at an opposing striker. Our defence gets caught out on the counter as we push for an equaliser and, with Carruthers looking about as useful as a fish on a bicycle on the left flank, we’re never going to come back.
Brentford 2-0 Scunthorpe

A few interesting passages during the Brentford game suggested that I might have been barking up the wrong tree with my tactical adjustments. We had a few passages where we started out looking useful only for an attempted pass to wind up nowhere near any of our players. A quick look at some of the stats show that half of our starters are currently failing to find their targets with more than one pass in two. I think some focused training may be in order . . . In the meantime, I think that the formation which got us our only goal against Carlisle might be worth another look when we travel to second-placed Oxford on Saturday.

The formation works fine. Away to the second-best team in the league, we hold our own against them. We almost put our strikers in behind the opposing defence a few times, but, courtesy of Hayes’ unimpressive performances so far and Taylor’s injury, we’re playing Carruthers and Torpey up front. They fail to look even remotely threatening. As the game goes on, Oxford switch to a 4-3-3 formation with no wingers; I try to take advantage by switching to three at the back and packing the midfield. This sees us gain ground in the midfield battle, but we can’t capitalize and right at the end we get caught out around the flank. Tommy Evans, who’s been excellent all game, saves the shot but is still on the ground when an Oxford striker wins the race to the rebound.
Oxford 1-0 Scunthorpe

And then we were bottom. The hapless Southend have finally won a match and move above us to put us last. This is especially annoying since I think I’ve finally got a handle on our problems. In no particular order:

Our passing really isn’t what it should be. To some extent, this is due to our two best midfielders being out injured; still, we waste far too many attacks with careless passes.

Our attackers are inept. Carruthers and Torpey have been depressingly incompetent so far; how on earth my predecessor thought Torpey deserved £2,100/week is a mystery to me. Hayes is 18 and looks it. The only bright spot has been Robert Taylor, who scored a couple in our otherwise awful preseason and has our only goal so far.

Our defence has an annoying tendency to get caught out of position. This is more common than sloppy tactics alone could account for.

Unfortunately, it’s rather hard to change personnel while I’m over my wage budget. I won’t be able to make any real changes until either someone takes Torpey’s contract off my hands or a few of the current contracts run out.

Returning to the action, our next match sees us continue to look dangerous without actually scoring. On the other hand, our opponents don’t have any better luck than us, so we escape with the scoreless draw and move out of the bottom two.
Scunthorpe 0-0 Cambridge

In a side note, I’m transfer-listing Ian Kilford. He’s been improving recently, but he’s currently being paid roughly a sixth of my wage budget and there’s no way he’s worth that.

In our next match, we give Scott Brough a chance up front. He’s listed as an AM RC, but the filter seems to think he also plays forward. The choice turns out to be an excellent one as Brough and Paolo Vernazza dominate the game in the early going. Brough blazes narrowly over from a parried Vernazza drive before stripping a defender of the ball and setting up Paul Hayes. The goalie turns Hayes’ shout round the post, but Brough rises highest to meet the corner and we have our second goal of the season. Both teams have goals disallowed, but the score stays the same for almost the whole match before, with just a few minutes left, Wayne Graves wins us a penalty. Defender James Cotterill insists on taking the responsibility and whacks it right at the goalie. However, before I have time to get really mad at him, he wins the ball down at our end and whacks it half the length of the pitch into Brough’s path. The 18-year-old promptly slots a low drive into the corner for his second goal of the day to clinch our first win under my management.
Scunthorpe 2-0 Darlington

I’m informed that we’ve been paid an extra fee as a result of Andy Dawson playing his tenth match for Darlington – against us, ironically enough. He hasn’t shown anything so far to make me regret selling him. I’m also told that Wayne Graves wants a new contract. He has been useful in midfield, and I can sympathize with anyone who wants to be paid more than £325 per week, but I really can’t give out raises with the current budget situation.

Our next match is frustrating. One Rushden player shrugs off both our central defenders before beating Tommy Evans early on. With their goalie in top form, we can’t get an equalizer in spite of one of our most dominant performances of the season.
Scunthorpe 0-1 Rushden

As if losing a match in which we were the better team wasn’t bad enough, two players get injured. Tommy Evans fractured his jaw and will miss four weeks; Lee Ridley will also miss four weeks with a fractured arm. Joy and rapture. I don’t have a backup I’m confident in for either of them. I guess saying I hadn’t seen any reason to regret selling Dawson was sort of asking for trouble. And on that note, the month ends.

[henry296]

Katon,

I assume you downloaded the enhancement pack. It seems like injuries are still high though.

Todd

[Bee]

Excellent dynasty. Look forward to more.

[Katon]

Yes, I have downloaded the enhancement pack. It wasn't meant to fix the amount of injuries, which is fairly accurate; it was just meant to fix the lengths. Long-term injuries were showing up most of the time, instead of rarely. Aside from that horrible preseason patch, we've mostly had relatively short injuries. Relatively being the key word there. We're being unlucky, but not unrealistically so.

[Katon]

Our next match is away to second-from-bottom Bournemouth, at the excellently named Fitness First Stadium. The match is evenly matched, with both sides having chances but neither being able to take advantage. We almost score with twenty-four minutes left, but Paul Hayes’ shot bounces back off the post. We come even closer when Scott Brough, fast playing himself into number one striker status, puts the ball in the net only to be declared offside. Encouraging performance, but it finishes goalless.
Bournemouth 0-0 Scunthorpe

I also start negotiating new contracts for everyone whose current deal will be up this summer. This doesn’t actually have much effect. The only player who I’m sure I want to give a new contract who’s willing to accept the sort of contract I can offer under current financial conditions is Scott Brough. Aside from him, I make no progress. There is some good news, however. Alex Calvo-Garcia is finally recovered from the torn groin muscle he suffered during pre-season. He’ll start in our next match against Hartlepool. In other news, we’ve been drawn against Rochdale in the Vans Trophy North first round. They’re right near us in the league, so I like our chances even though the match will be at their place.

For some reason, we get dominated in midfield by Hartlepool. We’re so outclassed there in the first half that I decide to gamble on taking off a defender to get the extra man in midfield. This backfires in the short term, as we fall behind shortly after the restart, but we slowly begin to assert ourselves and equalize when Scott Brough celebrates his new deal by getting on the end of a Lee Featherstone corner. We stay equal for all of two minutes before the linesman forgets the offside law and lets a obvious non-goal stand. We can’t come back.
Hartlepool 2-1 Scunthorpe

Our Vans Trophy tie gets off to a horrible start when some sloppy marking at a corner gifts Rochdale a goal. This seems to dent our confidence and we are outplayed for most of the match, only staying in it through some excellent goalkeeping from eighteen-year-old Adam Capp, who even saves a penalty. He can’t hold out forever, though, and we never look like coming back from two down.
Rochdale 2-0 Scunthorpe

The twenty-fifth of October is probably the best day of my career as manager as Peter Beagrie, Tommy Evans, and Lee Ridley all return from injury. Adam Capp has deputised fairly well for Evans, but the other two are far better than their replacements.

For the second week in a row, we start out by conceding a goal from a throw-in. I need to tweak that aspect of our tactics, I think. We seem to be below par, and can’t create many real chances before conceding again. Our best chance comes from a free kick after a Torquay player attacks Peter Beagrie, but Vernazza’s drive is easily saves.
Scunthorpe 0-2 Torquay

I get a rather interesting note from the board:

The Scunthorpe United board were disappointed with the 2-0 defeat against Torquay United. The Irons have early in the season and will be a touch disappointed to find themselves in mid-table. However, they must still fancy their chances of meeting their target of a position in the top half.

Fair enough. I still haven’t settled on a consistently effective tactic – after the Torquay defeat I started tweaking again. However, I would suggest that part of the problem is that we have several highly-paid, unimpressive players (*cough*StephenTorpey*cough*) eating up wages and only one effective striker. And he’s a midfield trainee. To deal with this, I’m trying to nab a talented-looking Swede named Hakan Soderstierna (with various extras atop the letters) from Hereford, who have called in the receivers and therefore can’t refuse any decent offers. Soderstierna can play on either wing or up front, and does so well enough that I wouldn’t mind having to type that name on a consistent basis. We’re also given our FA Cup first round draw. Former Iron Andy Dawson and his new club Darlington are coming to Glanford Park. You may remember them from our only win this season and, considering that we’ve got home advantage, I like our odds.

There are only three clubs who have less than ten points heading into November:


Pos. Team W-D-L F-A Pts
22. Scunthorpe 1-4-8 4-15 7
-------------------------------------
23. Shrewsbury 2-0-11 9-34 6
24. Southend 1-0-12 4-30 3


Well, it could be worse. Who’d be a Southend fan?

[condors]

not sure if you have tried this but take a look at the top 3 scoring teams in the third division and see if their tactics have anything in common, it sounds like your ok in the back but 4 goals in 13 games is alarming. Best of luck and keep the updates coming

[klayman]

Originally posted by Katon
. To deal with this, I’m trying to nab a talented-looking Swede named Hakan Soderstierna (with various extras atop the letters) from Hereford, who have called in the receivers and therefore can’t refuse any decent offers.

Funny enough, I believe Hereford and Scunthorpe are hated rivals. This would be a doubly cruel blow to Bull supporters.

[andy m]

Originally posted by klayman
Funny enough, I believe Hereford and Scunthorpe are hated rivals. This would be a doubly cruel blow to Bull supporters.

i have no idea if that's true, but if it was that'd be like a single-A baseball team in New York being heated rivals with a single-A team in California. Sunny and Hereford are on opposite sides of the country so don't really have much reasons to be rivals! i went to a game at Glanford Park once, a friend of mine was a Scunny fan. i seem to recall they had a deep hatred of Grimsby. probably of Hull too. maybe an incident against Hereford sparked off the rivalry.

[Katon]

Originally posted by condors
not sure if you have tried this but take a look at the top 3 scoring teams in the third division and see if their tactics have anything in common, it sounds like your ok in the back but 4 goals in 13 games is alarming. Best of luck and keep the updates coming

Good idea, I'll do that. Of course, I suspect that they have actual talent up front. If you leave out Scott Brough, who is, after all, supposed to be a midfield trainee instead of our star striker, our entire attack has contributed one goal. If I can free up enough wage budget to loan someone in, I know what type of player I'll be going for.

[klayman]

Originally posted by andy m
i have no idea if that's true, but if it was that'd be like a single-A baseball team in New York being heated rivals with a single-A team in California. Sunny and Hereford are on opposite sides of the country so don't really have much reasons to be rivals! i went to a game at Glanford Park once, a friend of mine was a Scunny fan. i seem to recall they had a deep hatred of Grimsby. probably of Hull too. maybe an incident against Hereford sparked off the rivalry.

Ah, I might be mistaken then. I could be confusing Scunthorpe with another team. I'm not a very good Bull supporter, I guess. :)

[Havok]

woot!!! first CM4 dynasty!!!

good luck and hopefully you'll teach me a few things about CM4 (god knows i need all the help i can get)

[Katon]

I'd be glad to help with any interface problems. Tactical problems, however . . .

Actually, there may be light at the end of that particular tunnel. See below for details.

[Katon]

As it turns out, the three highest-scoring teams all use one of the default 4-4-2s. As it happens, we have also been using said default 4-4-2. It looks like our biggest problem really is hopelessly incompetent strikers. Until we get some slightly more talented attackers – Soderstierna doesn’t seem too enthusiastic about joining us – I’ll try to fiddle around with my own formations. I got a few goals out of Bob Taylor when I tried a 3-5-2 in the preseason, so it could be time to try that out.

We’re still in a 4-4-2 when we visit Bristol Rovers. Our attempts to test the latest tweaks are derailed eight minutes in when Alex Calvo-Garcia shoves a Rovers player needlessly. The ref sees red, and suddenly we’re in trouble. Rovers make use of the extra man to shred us mercilessly, and we’re already two down when an innocuous challenge by Steve Cotterill in the area is punished with a penalty. A rare moment of laughter ensues as an opposing striker calmly places the ball several yards the wrong side of the post. With our less-than-impressive attack, I don’t feel comfortable pulling a striker for a midfielder, so we wind up playing with a weakened midfield, and they punish us.
Bristol Rovers 3-0 Scunthorpe

In addition to Calvo-Garcia, Scott Brough will also miss our next match after picking up his fifth yellow card. I try to sign a couple different strikers, but no luck so far.

In our next match, we try a new 3-5-2. Things go pretty well early on, with Bob Taylor missing one absolute sitter. Then, just before half-time, Lee Ridley misplaces a pass at the back, and suddenly a Swansea striker is one-on-one with Tommy Evans. One-nil them. They almost return the favour with a comically bad header, but the man on the end of it is Bob Taylor and the opportunity comes to nothing.
Scunthorpe 0-1 Swansea

While events on the pitch may not be going very well, things off the pitch suddenly take an upturn as Peter Beagrie, Ian Kilford, and Stephen Torpey all agree to new contracts. Beagrie now gets £1,000/week, Kilford earns £1,400/week, and Torpey is getting £1,200/week. Admittedly, all three of them are being paid more than they deserve, but compared with before, it's a vast improvement. Kilford and Beagrie both accepted £1,000 wage cuts, and Torpey is draining £800/week less. Just like that, I’m only £1,300 over my wage budget!

Our next match is the FA Cup first round game against Darlington. It’s cagey, to say the least, with chances few and far between until Mark Jackson gives them a penalty. I don’t know why, but opposing teams have been awful from the spot against us this year. Adam Capp saved one while Evans was injured, and Bristol Rovers missed one completely. This time, it looks like the Darlington player tried to imitate the Bristol Rovers kick but couldn’t put enough power on it. The ball only barely makes it out for a goal kick. We have most of the possession as the match goes on, but they wind up scoring late from another throw-in. This has been a real weakness of ours, and unfortunately defensive throw-ins are the one type of set-piece that CM doesn’t seem to let you edit.
Scunthorpe 0-1 Darlington

Next up we visit Rochdale, the same place where we crashed out of the Vans Trophy. As usual, we create a few chances but can’t get the ball in the net; as usual, one stupid defensive error costs us a goal. The normally excellent Tommy Evans is the culprit this time, getting caught hopelessly out of position by a long free kick and gives an opposing striker an open goal. We also concede a second when Lee Ridley lets his man drift inside him and flick a cross on to a wide-open striker.
Rochdale 2-0 Scunthorpe

More formation fiddling. Using a 3-5-2, we outplay Wrexham early on only to be undone just over a quarter of an hour in by a long clearance that sails over all our defenders’ heads. Their lead doesn’t last too long, however, before a Peter Beagrie corner is met at the near post by Robert Taylor who duly heads us level. The match stays level with chances for both teams until Beagrie wins the ball in midfield and feeds Scott Brough, who steers the ball wide of the keeper from the edge of the area. We manage to hold out to the end, with a little help from the linesman.
Scunthorpe 2-1 Wrexham

Just under half an hour into our visit to York City, we provide a textbook example of Route One football. Russell Wilcox whacks the ball forward, Bob Taylor flicks it on, and there’s Scott Brough running onto it. The nineteen-year-old finishes neatly and we’re ahead. Our lead lasts all of ten minutes before a York defender heads in a corner at point-blank range. It finishes honours even.
York 1-1 Scunthorpe

Just as the month ends, I get some good news. Manchester United have deigned to lend poor little Scunthorpe one of their youth team products, and striker Jimmy Davis will be joining the Irons for the rest of the season. Davis is cheap at only £450/week and better than any of my current crop of strikers. He should make his debut against Bury on the 14th of December.

In one rather proud note, we have the tenth-best defence in the division. Sadly, our offence is the worst in the division. If our new formation and Davis’ signing sort that out – and it does look good – then we should rocket up the table.

[condors]

congrats on brining in jimmy davis

[Bee]

Jimmy Davis

A young Manchester United striker who will be looking to become one of the next men to progress through the club's youth ranks to stardom.

Joined the procession of United players to join Royal Antwerp when joining the Belgian club on loan in January 2001.

The player's United bow came in November 2001 when he replaced whole of the 4-0 defeat at Arsenal in the Worthington Cup.

Had another loan spell in August 2002, when joining Second Division outfit Swindon Town for three months. Made his debut in a 3-1 home victory over Barnsley, and netted his first ever goal in a 3-1 defeat at high-flying Brentford.

Although Davis is a striker, he also likes to play out on the right as an attacking midfielder.

Was a member of the underage England Under-20 side which performed so well at the Toulon Under-21 tournament in May 2002, netting twice.

Will be joining Scunthorpe beginning next month in the Third Division where he looks to be a major contributor.

[condors]

i have had scoring woes with gravesend although i didn't have too much trouble when playing with southampton, moved my wingbacks forward and my outside midfielders forward and had them all cross the ball, it seems acceleration,pace, jumping and heading are more important than finishing and off the ball at least so far in my limited tests but we have scored at least 3 goals for 3 straight games after not scoring 3 goals in any of our first 6 games

[Katon]

Our game against Bury starts out fairly well, with Davis working his way into a few dangerous positions. He can’t convert, however, and the game takes a turn for the worse when an opponent intercepts a throw-in and gets into the area. Mark Jackson takes the ball away and is declared to have shoved him. Why is it that whenever we make a challenge on the edge of the area, it’s a penalty, but when the other teams do it, it’s a fair challenge? It is sort of amusing watching the other teams take them, though. Only one of the four previous penalties against us went in and this penalty follows the trend as their number 11 drills the ball at Tommy Evans’ stomach. At half-time, I make what turns out to be a brilliant decision. Scott Brough’s sole contribution during the first half was getting booked, so I pull him for Bob Taylor. Within ten minutes, Taylor is intercepting a poor pass, riding a tackle, and driving the ball past their goalie. Then, midway through the half, Davis is swarmed after collecting a cross and the ball squirts through to the corner of the six-yard box. Taylor is nearest, and our lead doubles. The victory comes at a price, however, as Alex Calvo-Garcia picks up an injury which will have him out for the next two months.
Scunthorpe 2-0 Bury

Bottom-placed Shrewsbury are up next. We’re off form, and things aren’t going particularly well even before we concede yet another penalty. The culprit is Mark Jackson, who’s in serious danger of losing his spot if he keeps doing this. However, while we keep conceding these kicks, they never go in. The ball sails over the bar this time. Peter Beagrie almost scores a brilliant solo goal before the action switches back to our end and Jackson gives away another kick. Our luck finally runs out, as the opposing striker in question slams his kick into the top corner. Tired of giving away penalties, the officiating crew then take the rest of the match off – including one rather obvious offside call. Two goals, neither legal, both count.
Shrewsbury 2-0 Scunthorpe

Our bad luck with referees continues in the next match. Shortly after half-time, Paolo Vernazza clips a lovely ball over the top into Taylor’s path, Taylor finishes impeccably, and the linesman’s flag waves. We continue to press despite the disappointment, and are much the better team, but have a few problems putting the ball in the net. The most notable chance comes when Davis does well to get on the end of Taylor’s cross, but blazes over. He’s working hard and playing well, but he hasn’t quite found his shooting boots yet. A good performance, even if we don’t win.
Scunthorpe 0-0 Macclesfield

While all this is going on, I’m lining up potential bosman targets to talk to when the window opens in a few days. I doubt I’ll be able to pull anyone stunningly good in with the current wage situation, but there are some fairly nice players out there. More news as it happens.

Our boxing day game at Lincoln carries a price as Bob Taylor limps off with damaged knee cartilage. He’ll miss a month. Scott Brough comes on, works his way into several good chances, and wastes the lot. They have their chances too, but Tommy Evans is equal to every shot they manage to put on target.
Lincoln 0-0 Scunthorpe

It’s the end of the year and several different awards are given out. There’s the World Player of the Year, the World Footballer of the Year (no, I don’t know what the difference is either), and the European Footballer of the Year. Amusingly, the top three for each trophy (all that they announce) is completely different. Particular congratulations are in order for David Beckham, who wins the European award despite Manchester United’s trophyless 2002 and the fact that they’re currently a good month’s worth of points behind Arsenal in the Premiership.

Our New Year’s Day fixture is at home to league leaders Hull. They have most of the possession, but they shoot horribly and we’re always dangerous on the break, Scott Brough in particular missing a good chance. I’m happy with a point, considering how outclassed we were by them on opening day.
Scunthorpe 0-0 Hull

We still have the worst attack in the league, but our defence has improved to eighth-best. We’ve also moved up in the league, settling into twenty-first. It looks like Shrewsbury, Southend, and Darlington are the teams who’re going to be fighting it out to avoid the two relegation spots. If we keep going in our current form, we should manage to stay up relatively comfortably.

[Katon]

Our next match is in Boston. Not the Massachusetts Boston; some English namesake. Anyway, the game doesn’t go too well. We are hampered by the lack of Bob Taylor, which leads to Martin Carruthers being given a chance to convince me that he deserves some consideration. To cut a long story short, he doesn’t. We attack in waves to no avail and are given a lesson in the fine art of counterattacking, as Boston score on two breakaways either side of half-time. They then are given an inexplicable penalty. They convert that penalty, and another given late on after Vernazza is thought to have tripped someone, as we crash to one of our worst defeats under my management. Just to put the icing on the cake, Jimmy Davis breaks his wrist and will miss four weeks. Youngster Terry Barwick, who’s quietly played his way into a starting spot, is also hurt and will miss our next match.
Boston United 4-0 Scunthorpe

As if my mood wasn’t sour enough already, all the worthwhile players who I had a hope of landing on a Bosman have signed new deals with their original clubs. It’s looking like the team might have to go mostly unchanged into next year, which quite frankly is a slightly worrying thought.

No cure for offensive woes like the visit of the league’s worst defence, and bottom-placed Southend proved to be just the cure we needed for the woes Boston inflicted upon us. Speaking of Boston, our thirteenth-minute counterattack is a perfect imitation of one of the ones they pulled on us last week. Scott Brough’s sixth goal of the year erases all memory of what really has been a very poor patch from the talented youngster. Ten minutes later, Brough does it again, winning possession in midfield before recollecting the ball from Vernazza and racing in to score. Then, on the half-hour mark, a Southend defender heads one of our clearances back towards a team-mate, it goes astray, and Brough is bursting through to complete his hat-trick. We’ve switched to a 4-4-2 in order to deal with the current injury crisis in midfield, and it works well enough that I may give it a go permanently. Then again, this is only Southend. They’re now eight points back of us, and I can’t see them coming even close to hauling that up. Third division football next year is looking extremely likely.
Scunthorpe 3-0 Southend

The next match features an almost identical repetition of Brough’s first goal against Southend. Sadly, the one difference is that he’s a yard or two offside. We’re looking good until a few minutes before the half when Brough goes down with an injury. Time to talk with my physio, I think. We’re having far too many injuries. Anyway, this leaves us with a strike partnership of Paul Hayes and Stephen Torpey. Carlisle aren’t exactly quaking in their boots, and with good reason. Hayes in particular looks hideously nervous in front of goal. In case I was still having trouble appreciating the value of a good goal-scorer, Carlisle’s star striker Richie Foran makes and takes a half-chance five minutes from time to leave us with nothing from a match we could easily have won.
Scunthorpe 0-1 Carlisle

Brough has a broken shoulder, and won’t be heard from again for two months. Peter Beagrie will also be out for two weeks after damaging his shoulder. This is getting ridiculous. I currently have five players out, all of them for at least two more weeks. This isn't a unique event, either, as several of the hurt players have missed time earlier in the season. The enhancement pack helped – the beta demo was a nightmare in this regard – but this is still a somewhat silly injury situation. I’m giving serious thought to just abandoning this game and starting over with a team a division or two higher that can afford enough depth to avoid getting completely crippled by injuries. I’d appreciate some feedback on this decision.

[condors]

i am not sure if your unlucky or i have been lucky so far but using greavsend i haven't been hit with injuries(yet?) a few short term ones but nothing serious at all

[Katon]

Alright. Now that I’ve calmed down somewhat, I don’t really want to give up on this game after less than a full season. I’ll struggle through the injuries and try to hire another physio or two.

Our next match is started off by one of the best goals I’ve seen this season, a ferocious strike from fully thirty yards. The player hitting it? Exeter’s Don Goodman. Our makeshift strike force doesn’t look like getting us back into things even before Tommy Evans juggles an enemy header into the net. From there on in we completely collapse and wind up losing by a large margin. Just how bad it would have been had Evans not been playing out of his skin to make up for his earlier blunder I don’t even want to think about.
Boston United 4-0 Scunthorpe

After the match, I’m informed that my team picked up three injuries. Mark Jackson won’t be out for more than a couple days, but Steve Cotterill will miss a few weeks and Terry Barwick’s torn groin muscle will need two months to heal. This is absurd. Am I missing something? Or is my game just not working right?

So we’re heading into a match against Leyton Orient with no fewer than five regular starters out with injury. Why let a little thing like that stop us? We start out brightly and create several good chances. Of course, none of them are going in, but things have to improve eventually, don’t they? Yes, actually, as Paul Hayes notches his first goal for the club just before the half. With the just-recovered Mark Jackson titanic in defence, we hold out for a valuable win.
Scunthorpe 1-0 Leyton Orient

Kidderminster, our next opponents, like to pack central midfield in a 3-5-2. With our current injury crisis, we can’t avoid getting outpunched there. They do a depressingly good job of converting this into goals. And, of course, Wayne Graves further weakens our already-weak midfield by straining his calf. He’s out for three weeks.
Kidderminster 3-0 Scunthorpe

At this point, I get a rather interesting report from a scout. His assessment of our next opponents: Oxford’s team is determined Let’s see how helpful that is . . .

As it happens, they do have a determined team. And we have a battered and not entirely competent team. Put the two together and you have a twelfth-minute goal for Oxford. For once, however, we actually put up a fight after falling behind, equalizing through Ian Kilford. The scoreline holds like that through the rest of the half, but changes within five minutes of the restart. Teenage striker Andy Parton cuts the ball back and Lee Featherstone – on at halftime for the tiring Peter Beagrie – slots it into the bottom corner. Then Paolo Vernazza sends a beautiful ball half the length of the pitch to Paul Hayes, who is wide open on the edge of the area and finishes superbly. Oxford press hard for the rest of the match, but Tommy Evans is in top form and deals with everything they throw at him. There is one slight problem, though. Jamie McCombe sprains his wrist and will miss four weeks. Why are so many people getting injured?
Scunthorpe 3-1 Oxford

I’m informed that Colchester United have sacked their manager. They’re in Division Two, so that might be a tempting opportunity. Or then again, looking at their squad, it might not be. They’re in twenty-third place, and there’s no reason to believe that they could manage to fight their way out of the relegation places even with my guidance.

I’m not expecting much from our next match away to second-placed Cambridge, and boy do I get it. They look like cinches for promotion, and I’d root for anything that gets them and especially star striker Dave Kitson out of our division. Kitson scores two and we’re thoroughly slaughtered. Tommy Evans aside, we aren’t on the same planet as them.
Cambridge 4-0 Scunthorpe

[condors]

are you checking your players fitness levels before the match?

are you training on match days?

can't think of anything else right now but i feel for you katon

[klayman]

Yeah, the injuries are horrible. Some questions to help you out...How is your training? Do you have physios assigned to the schedules? Were your players fully fit before the season started? How about player instructions (hard tackling, etc)? Did you start with EP1 or patch after the game started? How is your training ground (although I don't think you have had a training injury)?

I'm sure you know all the stuff about injuries, I just wanted to make sure. Other than that I would say you are having a bad case of horrible luck. If you are not having fun writing the dynasty, then I would suggest starting over. Either way, I'm reading :)

[Katon]

I am enjoying writing the dynasty in general; just not the injuries. In retrospect, the fact that I got so upset about Brough getting injured is probably a good sign about how emotionally involved I am with this team. As to your injury advice, I think I do have my physio (only one, sadly) on a training schedule; I'll check. I am fully patched. No, I haven't had any training injuries. I don't have anyone on hard tackling, although I actually do have my strikers on Always Press in the hope that this will result in them chasing down defenders.

[Katon]

Our next match is against Bournemouth, who’re only a spot above us. A win would move us up to twentieth. Sadly, said win doesn’t come. We fall behind when an opposing striker finds space in our area midway through the half. After that, we have most of the possession but have trouble converting chances. Paul Hayes is the main culprit, tapping the ball tamely to the keeper after Jimmy Davis’ marvellous ball over the top. Sadly, this is a sign of things to come. Davis is in excellent creative form, but nobody’s taking the chances he gives them. Where’s Scott Brough when you need him?
Scunthorpe 0-1 Bournemouth

We’re in a surreal green strip for our visit to Rushden, and that’s not the only way we look green. We hand a Rushden player a wide-open header at the near post from an early corner – in fact, there are three Rushden players there with nary an Iron in sight – and he takes full advantage. Idiotic though that was, their second is worse. Martin Carruthers, playing right wing thanks to our injury crisis, intercepts an enemy throw-in, looks up, and lobs Tommy Evans from almost thirty yards. My reaction to this spectacular own-goal is unprintable. Fortunately, we make it through the rest of the match without committing suicide any more times.
Rushden 2-0 Scunthorpe

Our next match is away to bottom-placed Darlington. This is probably as good a chance as we’ll get to correct our abysmal away record. So far, we’ve only scored three away from Glanford Park, and we haven’t won any. Our offence can’t threaten anyone on their own turf, and that pattern continues here. For a good while, it looks like we’ll at least salvage a goalless draw, but then Mark Jackson gets drawn out of position and Darlington launch an attack through the gap that bears fruit. This defeat leaves us seven points ahead of both them and Southend, who’re in the two relegation spots
Darlington 1-0 Scunthorpe

Finally, our starters are recovering from that spate of injuries earlier in the season. For our next match we have home advantage and everybody fit, and you can see the difference. It’s almost a surprise that it takes us twenty-six minutes before Davis latches on to Alex Calvo-Garcia through ball and thunders home his first goal in a Scunthorpe shirt. It is a surprise when we can’t hold on to that. We’re the better team for the first hour, but they press late, and add first a ferocious strike from the edge of the area and then an injury-time header from a corner.
Scunthorpe 1-2 Hartlepool

Back to our travels next, and I’m not expecting much offence. I get a pleasant surprise, however, when Jimmy Davis breaks through on the counter and their goalie can only parry his shot right to Scott Brough. One-nil. Of course, we can’t hold out; a neat cross and finish shortly after half-time get them back on level terms. Amazingly enough, the best chance of the rest of the match falls to us, Davis swinging a last-minute cross towards the wide open Brough. Sadly, Brough heads right at the goalie and we have to be content with a draw.
Torquay 1-1 Scunthorpe

We had so much fun with Brough’s last-minute miss at Torquay that we get an identical situation here. Davis breaks and draws both defenders, swings out wide, crosses towards the middle, and watches Brough head at the keeper. This time, however, Davis wins the race to the rebound and we’re a goal up. We hold our own the rest of the match, but wind up conceding a last-minute equalizer when we’re caught pressing up a bit too far forward.
Scunthorpe 1-1 Bristol Rovers

As it turned out, our recent clean bill of health was too good to be true. Peter Beagrie is gone for three weeks with a damaged foot. Without him, we go to visit playoff challengers Swansea. Our plan is to cling on for dear life and score on the counter. Amazingly enough, it works, as Lee Ridley dumps a clearance by the corner flag and Scott Brough catches a defender in possession, notices the keeper off his line, and slides the ball in from the narrowest of angles. Even more amazingly, we score again just after halftime, as Ridley drops another clearance in the same territory. This time, Brough gets there first, notices Jimmy Davis making tracks into the area, and swings over a perfect cross. Davis’ header is equally impeccable. Can we hold on to a two-goal lead? No, to be blunt. We concede with twenty minutes to go, then have to watch as a deflected pass loops agonizingly over our defence and into the path of a Swansea striker, who duly equalizes.
Swansea 2-2 Scunthorpe

[Katon]

Our next match, against Rochdale, is extremely frustrating. We play well, have plenty of possession, create a few chances, but can’t score. Fortunately, Rochdale never really get going and don’t look at all like scoring. This makes our fourth draw in a row.
Scunthorpe 0-0 Rochdale

We get some disturbing news after the match. Southend have won their last four, much to my surprise, and have actually risen above us into twenty-first. This puts us only one spot above the relegation spots, but with a seven-point margin and seven games left, we should be fine. In other news, we finally complete our first Bosman negotiations. Striker Jason Lee, famous primarily for his extraordinarily silly haircut, will be coming in as I attempt to fix our strike force.

Our next match provides a remarkably good example of why I want to fix our strike force. Scott Brough is in profligate mood, wasting two good chances including one from point-blank range after the keeper spills a Davis shot. This poor finishing was punished shortly after the break when a Wrexham winger bursts away from Lee Ridley to beat Evans. We begin to push forward, only to get caught out again from much the same position.
Wrexham 2-0 Scunthorpe

I am reliably assured by the board that my job as manager is safe. They wouldn’t lie about a thing like that, would they? I’m doomed.

Our next match bears a remarkable resemblance to the Rochdale game. Brough is always good at getting into dangerous positions, but his ability to use those positions seems distinctly streaky. He’s in a bad patch right now. Evans keeps us in it.
Scunthorpe 0-0 York
Our last match carried a price. Jimmy Davis and Alex Calvo-Garcia both picked up injuries that will have them out for a month.

Our next match is the same old away story. We concede early, look ineffective up front, and concede a second on the break. Why can’t we do better than this away from home?
Bury 2-0 Scunthorpe

Now comes a real relegation six-pointer against bottom-placed Shrewsbury. In a fine spirit of charity towards the needy, we donate a first-minute goal to their cause, a low corner spinning off Tommy Evans towards a few Shrews at the far post. We do pick things up somewhat after that and then Bob Taylor gets chopped down in their area. Penalty. Peter Beagrie takes the responsibility and duly converts. Before we can get too happy, Steve Cotterill lets them back into it by punching an opponent in the face. What was he thinking? Fortunately, we manage to hold on even with ten men.
Scunthorpe 1-1 Shrewsbury

[Katon]

A win in our next match at Macclesfield would clinch our survival; but then, who can remember our last win? We’re in fairly typical form up front, with Scott Brough running on to everything and finishing nothing. He can’t shoot to save his life at the moment. As the match goes on, they gradually push forward, but Tommy Evans is in excellent form and stops everything.
Macclesfield 0-0 Scunthorpe

Well, we may not be mathematically safe, but at six points clear with two matches left and a vastly superior goal difference I think we can begin celebrating. With survival clinched, I send Jimmy Davis and Paolo Vernazza back to their clubs to save on wages. Davis only scored three goals in seventeen games, but he made a hatful of chances for Scott Brough during their partnership, almost none of which Brough converted. Vernazza was an excellent midfielder, playing in every league game and providing sterling service in the middle of the park.

Lincoln have distinctly more interest in their visit to Glanford Park than we do, as they’re in the middle of a tight struggle for the division championship. They go ahead through an early corner, and calmly set about consolidating their advantage. I can’t really complain; we’re simply outplayed.
Scunthorpe 0-2 Lincoln

As it turns out, that’s my last match at Scunthorpe. I’m fired immediately. James Storme, having just finished taking Shrewsbury to the bottom of the Football League, takes over. I was sacked in favour of him? After missing out on every job that comes up, I finally run out of patience and take over Conference side Leigh RMI.

[Fonzie]

Yeesh, that was really harsh. But hey, if the board wasn't going to give you the tools with which to win, you probably didn't want to work for them anyway, right? ;)

Good luck with Leigh RMI! How do they look?

[Katon]

Well, it's not so much getting sacked that I mind as getting replaced with the manager of the division's worst team. I think the problem wasn't so much the board as my predecessor. Among his decisions:

"Let's pay Stephen Torpey and Ian Kilford over two thousand pounds a week when our total wage budget is less than fourteen thousand a week!"

That was fairly typical of his approach to the team's finances. I was essentially hamstrung by the amount over our wage budget that we were when I took over.

[Katon]

The first order of business after taking over at Leigh is, of course, an assessment of the squad. I finally settled on a 3-5-2 last season, and at first glance there don’t seem to be any compelling reasons to change that.

Goalkeeper
Stuart Coburn is the clear starter, being paid twice as much as most of the rest. For some reason, we’re carrying four players at the position. Luke Weaver will back Coburn up, while either Craig Jones or Daniel Robinson will be moving on ASAP.

Central Defence
Neil Fitzhenry looks pretty useful. Beyond him, there’s a whole crowd that I can’t really separate out without seeing them in action. Wayne Maden and Martyn Lancaster are the favourites for the other two slots based purely on their attributes, but Gerry Harrison, Neil Durkin, or former Bulgarian international Sasho Angelov could also get in. Part-timer John Robertson, however, has already been placed on the transfer list. I suppose I also ought to mention Marc Tierney here, although he’s even less likely to play than Robertson.

Defensive Midfield
There are two defensive midfield slots in the system I play, and this is one of the positions I’d most like some help at. Just about everyone in the current squad who can play here also came up in the central defence discussion. Neil Durkin can play here, as well as all three current starters. I’m going to try to add a specialist at the position.

Attacking Midfield
This position may actually be weaker than the defensive midfield. Central midfielders are definitely top of my wants list. Veteran Ian Monk would be my starter if he wasn’t out for two months with a torn groin muscle. As is, Ged Kielty and Phil Salt will compete for the spot.

Right Midfield
Stuart Whittaker is a class act on the wing. He’d better be, as our best backup is Liam Carr, who’s 21 and still has a lot to learn.

Left Midfield
Andy Heald is the starter more or less by default. We have no other left-wing specialists, although Carr and Whittaker can both also play here.

Strikers
Dimitris Liaos, as well as having an extremely odd name, is our best striker on paper. Damien Whitehead, who won both the club’s Golden Boot and its Fan’s Player of the Year award last year, will get the other starting spot. Our third-choice striker is Ged Courtney, who still looks pretty useful. Veteran Keith Scott might also get a game or two.

[Katon]

It’s interesting, being under my wage budget. For one thing, I can actually sign people. Scotland international Phil O’Donnell joins up with us and instantly gets the attacking midfield job. Our preseason is fairly healthy by my recent managerial standards, if not by any others. Ged Courtney will miss a month, but that’s our only injury and he isn’t a starter. Contrast this with my two best players getting hurt last year at Scunthorpe. We also win almost all of our games, including wins over second-division Mansfield and third-division Wrexham. Liaos is in particularly fine form, banging in three goals in four games. Last year, I was happy getting that from the whole team! I'm definitely looking forward to the season . . .

[Katon]

On into the regular season now, and I’m feeling fairly optimistic. Our makeshift defensive midfielders actually looked fairly good in preseason, though I would still like to make an addition at the position. The bookies don’t like our odds, however, rating us at 40-1 and thinking that relegation is a real possibility and that Leigh should be gearing up for a long hard season. Chester are the favourites at 6-4.

We might be relegation favourites, but we sure don’t play like it. A neatly worked counter results in Whitehead being given a clear chance, and last year’s leading scorer needs no second invitation to put us ahead. Shortly before the break, we double our lead when Phil O’Donnell wins the ball in midfield and clips a ball over the top into the path of Liaos, who duly scores. We make it three midway through the second half when Stuart Whittaker races clear and lobs the enemy keeper from a narrow angle.
The win puts us top of the Conference by alphabetical order from Margate.
Gravesend 0-3 Leigh

In order to celebrate the win and our exalted position, we bring in Stoke’s hard-tackling young midfielder James O’Connor on loan. Even with him earning £625/week, we still have almost £1,300 more in our wage budget if I think we need it.

Our next match gets off to a nice start when, less than two minutes into his Leigh career, O’Connor gets on the end of an Andy Heald cross and heads home. The day gets even better five minutes later when Dimitris Liaos harries one of the Nuneaton defenders into giving up possession and then slots the ball past the keeper from the edge of the area. Liaos then grabs a second in first-half injury time, volleying home Whitehead’s cross. In the second half, we take our feet off the pedal a bit, content to hold on to the current score. Still top!
Leigh 3-0 Nuneaton Borough

Our chairman Chris Healy has declared himself extremely pleased with both results. Who can blame him?

[GrantDawg]

Good stuff! Looking forward to more.

[Katon]

Next up is second-placed Margate, at their place. They start out the better side, and go ahead in a goalmouth scramble after we only partially clear a corner. After being outplayed for essentially the whole first half, we eventually come back into things. Stuart Whittaker comes close with a few pot-shots from distance before Damien Whitehead collects a long clearance and somehow squeezes between two defenders to come one-on-one with their keeper, who has no chance. We’re slightly lucky to hold on to the point, but who’s complaining?
Margate 1-1 Leigh

Down to third now, with Barnet and Darlington the only teams to have won all three matches.

Our offence is definitely slipping. It takes us until the second half to take the lead against Morecambe, Phil Salt slipping the ball over the defence onto the boot of Damien Whitehead. Minutes later, a long clearance finds Dimitris Liaos, he draws the defence before feeding Whitehead, and we’re two up. The only real question remaining now is whether Whitehead can complete his hattrick. One shot flashes off the post, another loops narrowly over, but we’re running out of time. Finally, with less than ten minutes left, he rises to meet Ged Kielty’s corner and glances it into the net.
Leigh 3-0 Nuneaton Borough

Following Leigh RMI’s 3-0 win over Morecambe, Leigh RMI’s chairman Chris Healy declared himself pleased with the result. Although the season has only really just begun, Leigh RMI are already involved in a title race. However, the relegation favourites’ good form can surely not continue, and critics say it is merely a matter of time before they find themselves slipping down the table again.

Really? Would those be the same critics who just gave me the Manager of the Month award and also handed Damien Whitehead – the Conference’s leading scorer – the Player of the Month prize?

The Manager of the Month award is the most spectacular jinx in English football, so it’s not really surprising when we struggle to beat Farnborough, even falling behind to a near-post header from a corner. Still, I’m not worried. We’ll create chances, right? Indeed we do. It’s just that Whitehead entirely fails to demonstrate the lethal finishing that won him the Player of the Month award. He misses everything that comes his way and we slump to an embarrassing defeat.
Farnborough 1-0 Leigh

Our next match is started off by the worrying sight of Dimitris Liaos heading off with a fractured arm to be replaced by Ged Courtney. Liaos will miss four weeks. Fortunately for us, Damien Whitehead is back to his best and more than deadly whoever he’s partnering. Within the first five minutes of our next match against Telford, he’s striking a spectacular volley into the corner of the net from Stuart Whittaker’s cross. The lead only lasts six minutes, however, before a cross from the right finds its way through to an opposing striker and he heads the ball home. Within two minutes, a Whittaker free kick is spinning off the wall and the goalie’s hands into the near corner. Shortly afterwards, Whitehead finishes off a neat counter and we can relax. Courtney adds a fourth to totally kill the game before, incredibly, their right-back misplaces a pass and Whitehead seizes the ball and catches their goalie off his line from fully thirty yards for our fifth goal of the half. For some reason, nobody seemed interested in putting too much effort into the second half.
Leigh 5-1 Telford

After his second hattrick in three matches, I sort of have to praise Whitehead to the press. He’s the league’s leading scorer with eight goals in our six matches, and we’re the highest-scoring team. Needless to say, this is a bit of a change from my Scunthorpe days. We’re in third, but five points behind Barnet, who’re top having won every match so far. Of course, the same oddsmakers who thought we were relegation favourites didn’t rate Barnet with any real chance of promotion.

Woking, our next opponents, deserve some real credit for their defence. They manage to hold us to a few long throws towards the box for the first hour of the match, Then, just when I’m wondering if we’ll make the breakthrough, Stuart Whittaker swings in a corner and the inevitable Whitehead rises highest at the near post for his ninth of the season. We can’t hold on, however. An enemy cross gets stuck in some mud at the near post and they get there first to roll it home.
Leigh 1-1 Woking

Next up is a match against fellow promotion challengers Darlington. They’ve been trying to return to Division Three behind veteran striker Brett Angell, who heads them ahead in the first minute. We set about trying to reduce that lead, but their keeper is in top form and makes several excellent saves from Damien Whitehead. Eventually, Sasha Angelov heads the ball goalwards from a corner and watches as it is deflected past the goalie. We press for most of the match, but we can’t quite get the winning goal.
Leigh 1-1 Darlington

[Katon]

A thunderous strike from Damien Whitehead gives us the lead early on in our trip to Stevenage. Stevenage were given odds of 7-4 for promotion heading into the season, but whoever made those odds was as wrong about them as about us or Barnet or . . . well, the list goes on a while. Anyway, there’s no sign of this irresistible talent as we set about demolishing them. Unfortunately, almost all our chances are falling to Ged Courtney, who isn’t exactly threatening to keep Liaos out of the team when the Greek returns to health. Still, Courtney does get it right eventually, and we go in at half-time with a two goal lead. Unfortunately, some good work down the flanks from Stevenage sees them haul back to level.
Stevenage 2-2 Leigh

Next up, we’re headed to Yeovil to play another of the teams in playoff contention. A spectacular waste of possession hands them the opportunity to break and one of their strikers calmly rounds Stuart Coburn before slotting it home. In one of our worst performances of the season, we rarely look like coming back. The crowning touch comes when Damien Whitehead fractures his jaw. It’ll take him three weeks to recover.
Yeovil 1-0 Leigh

Now it’s time to travel to Lincoln for our Vans Trophy First Round match. We outplay them early, which is comforting to see, but with Whitehead injured it’s hard to finish chances. In fact, we don’t, and they take the lead just before half-time. From there on in they slowly take control of the game, eventually adding a second.
Lincoln 2-0 Leigh

Having Whittaker and Whitehead out seems to be causing problems, as they’re our two best attacking players. Still, with non-league Burton Albion coming to Hilton Park for the FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round, we should be good enough to win without them. We get off to a good start a quarter of an hour in when Liaos breaks free on the left. They manage to head the cross away from goal, but only onto the boot of James O’Connor, who thumps the ball into the net from twenty yards. Then Liaos glances in a Ged Kielty cross and the rout is on. Ged Courtney adds one on the break, and there we are content to leave it. No point exhausting ourselves over a game we’ve long since won.
Leigh 3-0 Burton Albion

Following that, a return to league opposition, and we get a lesson on the value of creating chances from Canvey Island. We have most of the ball, but with no Whittaker or Whitehead we struggle to create chances. Somehow, the sucker punch three minutes from the end doesn’t come as a surprise.
Leigh 0-1 Canvey Island

As it turns out, that match also featured three players carrying on the distance despite being hurt. Phil O’Donnell won’t be out for more than a couple of days, but Stuart Coburn will miss three weeks and James O’Connor will be unavailable for two months with a dislocated shoulder.

Our offence hasn’t been too good in the league recently, but its goal drought is finished just before the midpoint of our next match when Ged Courtney drops a cross onto the head of Dimitris Liaos. We hold out into the last fifteen minutes before conceding the equalizer. Damn. There goes the win, right? Wrong. On the stroke of full time, a Stuart Whittaker corner is headed back out to the newly-recovered winger, he swings the ball back into the box, and Liaos gets up highest to head home the winner.
Leigh 2-1 Scarborough

Next up we visit Bradford Park Avenue, who are challenging for a playoff spot. They show why, pressing us and having the better of the game. They’re clearly superior right up to the point that Whittaker pumps a free kick into the box, Harrison’s header is parried, and Courtney wins the race to the rebound. They equalize in a similar fashion, Luke Weaver spilling a shot at the feet of an enemy striker. At least, they think they equalize. The assistant referee says differently. I try to contain my glee and fail miserably. Shortly afterwards, Courtney wins the ball from a defender and bursts clear to put the match beyond doubt.
Bradford Park Avenue 0-2 Leigh

The victory comes at a cost, however. Stuart Whittaker is injured and will miss three months. Ouch.

We’re going to Darlington now for the FA Cup First Round. Their offence depends on star striker Brett Angell, who beat us in the league earlier in the season. But we have a star striker too, and Damien Whitehead, just back from injury, crosses for Ged Courtney to head the first shortly before halftime. Once again, however, we cannot hold the lead, Angell crossing for his partner to poke home. The replay’s on Wednesday week, as our schedule gets extremely packed.
Darlington 1-1 Leigh

The fact is, our wingplay this season has been a one-man show. Stuart Whittaker’s been excellent, but when he’s injured – as he is now – we have no backup. To fix that, I’m bringing in Ryan Wilkie from the Liverpool U-19s on loan.

Surprisingly, Damien Whitehead hasn’t scored for a month and a half. That record lasts all of a minute in this match before he manages to get to Phil Salt’s corner despite being mobbed by opponents. Northwich Victoria set about trying to take the game to us, and to be fair they do a good job of it. They just don’t get the ball in the net, and when Whitehead feeds Ged Courtney in the area that proves to be fatal. Courtney later adds our third from an Andy Heald cross.
Northwich Victoria 0-3 Leigh

Following Leigh RMI’s 3-0 win over Northwich Victoria, Leigh RMI’s chairman Chris Healy declared himself extremely pleased with the result. A top half finish for a team who were considered relegation favourites would be a fine result. But there’s a long way to go and this season is bound to hold many more surprises. If Leigh RMI continue to perform as they are at the moment, say the critics, there is nothing to prevent them from finishing in the top half.

Finally, they’re starting to realise we’re not a fluke.

Ged Courtney is having morale problems. After five goals in three matches, the solution which suggests itself is to give him the congratulations he deserves. I do so, and we’ll see where this goes.

[The Afoci]

Hey, this has nothing to do with your dynasty, but I have a question. I am playing Lincoln and 3 of my key players won't accept the max I can offer them 1.5k per/w. Is that common and is that number you can offer per week pretty consistant with all 3rd division teams in england?

[Katon]

That sounds like a bit more than I could offer when I was at Scunthorpe, although granted I was slightly over my wage budget. What are your key players currently being paid? I suspect that that would have an impact, as would what sort of job they could get away from Lincoln. Are they good enough to hook up with Second Division teams? Of course, sometimes players just get overinflated notions of their own value.

[The Afoci]

currently one is being paid 550, one is 750, and i sold the other so I can't remember. One I ended up getting a replacement and 12k for at the end of the season, and he is going to a second division team. the other, who is my goalie, no one will take for even 2k. so he is just gotta go.

[Katon]

You can't find anyone interested in a good (for third division) goalie? That's bad luck.

[Katon]

Ged Courtney’s most immediate reaction to my praise is to score after just four minutes of our match against Aldershot, poking in after their goalie turns a Phil O’Donnell shot onto the post. We concede an equalizer, however, fifteen minutes later, a thirty-yard free kick that is slightly better than you would expect from a team struggling to avoid relegation from the Conference. It’s more in the David Beckham class than anything I’ve seen so far this year. Their goalie, too, is looking rather impressive, especially for an amateur (ie: gray) player. I can’t complain about our performance, as we outplay them comfortably, but we never get the winner.
Leigh 1-1 Aldershot

Time for our FA Cup First Round replay now. Courtney opens the scoring with his seventh goal in the last five matches, collecting a Ryan Wilkie pass before spinning a defender and slotting the ball through the goalie’s legs. Our lead lasts until Sasha Angelov gives away a penalty in a rather innocuous position. Coburn has no chance of stopping a ferocious shot. Shortly after halftime, however, we win a penalty of our own, Courtney going down after collecting Andy Heald’s cross. Courtney limps off; nothing’s seriously wrong, but why take a chance? Wilkie converts the penalty. Darlington start pressing after that, but they don’t have it all their own way. Wilkie in particular draws a good save with a piledriver from twenty-five yards out. Watch this kid; he’ll play for Scotland one day.
Leigh 2-1 Darlington

Our FA Cup Second Round match will be away to Scarborough.

Shrewsbury, our next opponents, are rock bottom of the league. Of course, they grab a ninth-minute lead. Of course, they double their lead shortly afterwards. Of course, we never look like coming back. Will someone please explain this to me? How are we being outplayed by the worst team in English football?
Shrewsbury 2-0 Leigh

I’d love to go into great depth about our match with Hereford, but there’s nothing to be in-depth about. Their offence takes the match off, and ours buzzes around their area without quite creating the killer chance.]
Leigh 0-0 Hereford

A slight problem presents itself, as it turns out Stuart Coburn has torn a groin muscle and will miss three months. Ah well. Heavens know I’ve got enough backup goalies.

Damien Whitehead gets us off to a good start in our FA Cup Second Round tie, thundering a drive into the corner after eight minutes. Scarborough then set about dominating us, although the Railwaymen (that’s us) always look dangerous on the break. The identity of the next scorer is going to determine how the rest of the tie goes. Fortunately for us, it’s Whitehead, heading home a Courtney cross to eliminate Scarborough from the competition. A minute later, Courtney adds the third to kill what little hope Scarborough still had.
Scarborough 0-3 Leigh

The win comes at a cost. Damien Whitehead strained his calf and will now miss four weeks. There is some brighter news. Instead of drawing any top-class opposition, our third-round tie in the FA Cup features fellow Conference side Woking coming to Hilton Park. Do I smell the fourth round?

Our 3-5-2 is working well, but it does have some downsides. Foremost among these is a certain vulnerability to crosses, which Chester capitalize on within the first minute of their visit to Hilton Park. Fortunately, Dimitris Liaos manages to equalize shortly before the break. Liaos touches in a Ryan Wilkie cross early in the second half and we’re headed for victory.
Leigh 2-1 Chester

Now it’s time for a trip to fellow playoff hopefuls Southport. Away to a good team, I’d settle for a draw; with chances few and far between, that’s what we get. The draw moves us up into fifth, the last playoff spot.
Southport 0-0 Leigh

The goalless draw with Southport did have one major event. Veteran striker Keith Scott damaged his cruciate ligaments. He’ll be out for at least nine months, and he’s seriously considering retiring. Personally, I don’t expect to see him back. At 36, he didn’t have much of a future anyway, and this is a serious injury. In order to get some cover at forward, we snap up veteran striker Brian Deane on a short-term contract.

Deane gets a baptism of fire, as I choose to start him for our trip to second-placed Barnet. Our old cross weakness crops up again as they take the lead in the fortieth minute. If I had anyone who could play left-back, I might consider switching to a back four. As is, we’ll stick with the 3-5-2. What’s that? The game? Quite frankly, I’d rather not talk about it. I hope Barnet do win the division, as if we make the playoffs I’d much prefer to play Morecambe, who fell victim to a Damien Whitehead hat-trick earlier in the season.
Barnet 2-0 Leigh

Ged Courtney starts our next match off by latching onto a long clearance and beating the keeper. After that, the match settles down into a fairly even rhythm until the wide-open Dimitris Liaos hooks onto a long ball and steers the ball past the keeper. It finishes that way.
Leigh 2-0 Doncaster

Gravesend come to Hilton Park next, and the Railwaymen are all over them. Phil O’Donnell fires narrowly wide of the post after a brilliant solo run; Dimitris Liaos misplaces a cross with Courtney wide open in the middle. Eventually, Courtney breaks free and their goalie almost stops it. Almost. The ball trickles over the line and we’re ahead. The rest of the match is fairly even; neither side ever quite gets a clear shot at goal.
Leigh 1-0 Gravesend

Following a good, if packed, month, I’m voted Manager of the Month for the second time this season. We’ve established ourselves among the teams fighting for the last playoff spots, and we just need to push a little in the new year to claim the final slot. From there, who knows?

[The Afoci]

Originally posted by Katon
You can't find anyone interested in a good (for third division) goalie? That's bad luck.

Could it be everyone knows I can't resign him or something.

Good dynasty btw.

[Katon]

FA Cup Third Round day is always special, and even more so with us still in it. As you may remember, I was feeling rather optimistic about our chances of beating Woking at Hilton Park. My optimism is more than justified as we tear into Woking straight from the kick-off, and only improve fro there. The one thing we neglect to do is score. It’s hard to believe based on our performance, but the match is goalless right up until the eighty-fifth minute. With only five minutes to go, Neil Fitzhenry wins a tackle before dropping a long ball perfectly into the path of Ged Courtney. Courtney’s cross is neatly volleyed home by Damien Whitehead to put us in Round Four.
Leigh 1-0 Woking

In Round Four, I suspect, our cup run will end. We’ve been drawn away to Cardiff City, who’re currently challenging for a playoff spot in Division One. If we pull that one off, it’ll be the biggest upset of the tournament so far.

The Railwaymen seem a bit hung over from their cup success when they travel to Nuneaton on the Wednesday. We create a few chances, and their keeper is forced to make one outstanding double save in particular from Courtney and Whitehead, but we’re always working on the counterattack. In the end, it’s Nuneaton who take the lead when a cross from the right catches our defence in complete disarray. Fortunately, we manage to equalize when Whitehead sets up Courtney on a breakaway. There’s still time for Dimitris Liaos to come on and have a few good shots, but he doesn’t quite get the ball in the net. He does, however, pick up a torn groin muscle that will have him out for two months.
Nuneaton Borough 1-1 Leigh

More cup action now, as we host Wealdstone in the third round of the FA Trophy. They’re a few divisions lower than us and I don’t anticipate many problems. Sure enough, the first half is devoid of excitement with the exception of a couple of Damien Whitehead goals. He finishes crosses from Courtney and Andy Heald to give us a lead that Wealdstone have absolutely no chance of overcoming. The win does come at a price, though, as Phil O’Donnell twists his ankle. He’ll miss a month.
Leigh 2-0 Wealdstone

Time to travel to division leaders Morecambe now, and we put on a perfect display of counterattacking. Ged Courtney puts us ahead shortly after half-time, and we set about trying to hold onto the lead. We can’t. They equalize ten minutes later before going on to win a penalty in a scramble on the end of the area. It’s duly converted and we lose.
Morecambe 2-1 Leigh

Margate are up next, and our recent slump continues as we miss every chance that comes our way. Fortunately, so do they.
Leigh 0-0 Margate

Our poor form this month has seen us drop to tenth, although we’re still only four points outside the playoff places. We need to put together some form soon or it’s curtains for this season.

[GrantDawg]

Roll, Leigh, roll!!!

[Katon]

I hope so. Of course, I'm going on vacation now and won't get back until the evening of the 20th, but after that I'll still have a full week of spring break left with nothing to do but play CM4.

For when I do start cranking out reports again, how's my current format? Too detailed? Not detailed enough? Anything else you'd like to see?

[GrantDawg]

Originally posted by Katon
I hope so. Of course, I'm going on vacation now and won't get back until the evening of the 20th, but after that I'll still have a full week of spring break left with nothing to do but play CM4.

For when I do start cranking out reports again, how's my current format? Too detailed? Not detailed enough? Anything else you'd like to see?

I like what your doing. No improvements I can think of.

[klayman]

I like it, but a couple of tables every once and awhile would be cool. I know it's a hassle without the print function though. :)

[Katon]

I'll see if I can come up with some tables. I keep hoping they'll stick the print function in a patch, but that isn't looking too likely.

[Katon]

We’re coming up to the key part of the season. The Railwaymen are currently towards the bottom of an extremely tight playoff-chasing pack. If we don’t make a move soon, we can forget about any lingering playoff hopes. With this in mind, I’m finally preparing to start to spend some of my transfer kitty. I want two things. First, I want a left-back. Our 3-5-2 is uncomfortably vulnerable to good wingplay, as I’ve commented before, but our squad currently has no left-backs who I’d trust near the first team. Second, I’d like another winger. Stuart Whittaker, who can play on either flank, is currently our only good winger, and I’d like a partner for him. Ryan Wilkie, our loanee from Liverpool, is doing a passable job right now, but I’d prefer to have someone as a permanent part of my squad. Of course, all this is dependent on what’s out there.

Our next match is the FA Cup trip to Cardiff. Like us, they’re chasing the playoffs; unlike us, they’re in the First Division. My plan is to sit back, counterattack, and hope that we can keep the ball out of our net and create a few chances on the break. We do better at the former than the latter, not conceding for nearly forty minutes before Cardiff striker Paul McVeigh rises up highest to meet an excellent cross. I begin to consider giving a chance to the one left-back in our squad, who I’d previously dismissed as seriously incompetent. We’re just getting killed by crosses with our 3-5-2. Straight from the restart, our defence gets caught in possession and McVeigh sets up Robert Earnshaw to double our deficit. Goodbye cup. Thanks to the excellent Luke Weaver, who’s presenting a very strong case to be kept in the first team once Stuart Coburn’s fit again, we only let in one more. The crowning touch, however, comes when Phil Salt is injured, leaving me with absolutely nobody who can play the attacking midfield slot.
Cardiff 3-0 Leigh

In spite of our loss, there is some good news. Reserve defender John Robertson has moved on to Stafford Rangers, slightly lightening the wage bill and adding a full £2,000 to the club coffers.

We’re trying a 4-4-2 for the visit of Farnborough, using Brian Deane as the support man for the two strikers. Ouch. Still, none of our attacking midfielders are out for long; we’re expecting them all back within the next two weeks. Deane doesn’t do that badly, however. Indeed, he plays a part in our opener after eight minutes, dispossessing a defender and sliding the ball to Stuart Whittaker. Whittaker puts Damien Whitehead through, and our leading scorer doesn’t need a second invitation. With our defence feeling the strain after being given the run-around by Cardiff four days earlier, it’s a desperate struggle to hold on to our lead. With a bit of assistance from the linesman, we manage it.
Leigh 1-0 Farnborough

Although we did keep a clean sheet last night, I’m not convinced by the 4-4-2. For one thing, our left-back – Liam Blakeman – didn’t really prove himself that much better than my original assessment. For another, a look at the Conference stats reveals that, incredibly, we have the league’s best defence. Why change a winning formula? I switch back to a 3-5-2.

My decision is borne out in our FA Trophy tie with Dover. There are dangerous attacks coming down the flanks, but they’re all courtesy of Stuart Whittaker, who’s in top form. He isn’t involved in the first goal, however. Damien Whitehead puts Ged Courtney through, then knocks home after their goalie parries. The rest of the match is an exercise in profligate finishing, as we miss chance after chance to kill the game. Somehow, I’m almost expecting it when they equalize three minutes from the end. As if our schedule wasn’t busy enough. We’re playing Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday constantly at the moment.
Leigh 1-1 Dover

It’s amazing what a difference four days can make. After dominating Dover at home, we’re outplayed from the start in the replay and deservedly fall behind to a low drive from just outside the box midway through the first half. We never look like getting back into it.
Dover 1-0 Leigh

Our next match, against fifth-placed Darlington, is probably a must-win if we want to reach the playoffs. Things look bad early on, as they monopolize the possession. They can’t use that possession, though; in fact, all the chances are falling to us on the break. We go ahead half an hour in when Ged Courtney rounds the keeper to finish off a quick counter. Can Darlington equalize? No, to put it bluntly. We sit back and invite them to create chances, hoping for another goal on the counter; the best they can do is a few snapshots from well outside the area.
Darlington 0-1 Leigh

Now we travel to the second-worst team in the Conference, Telford. This should be easy. Then again, we’ve already managed to lose to the completely pathetic Shrewsbury – contributing a third of their current points tally in the process - so we can’t get overconfident. Indeed, the way we unerringly do the maximum possible damage to ourselves rather reminds me of the Shrewsbury nightmare. We start out by falling victim to our old cross weakness – with a twist. The twist lies in the identity of the goalscorer: James O’Connor, whose attempted tackle winds up flying into our net. Then, still before the break, Neil Durkin gets skinned for pace and the ball is duly dispatched past Luke Weaver. I yank Durkin off at the break and lay into the team. We are improved, but still below par, until the seventieth minute when Damien Whitehead strikes a glorious volley from the edge of the area to dispatch Stuart Whittaker’s cross. We press for an equalizer, but don’t find it, and wind up conceding a third goal when a Telford header spins off Gerry Harrison and into our goal.
Telford 3-1 Leigh

The next match seems to consist of a contest between Yeovil’s defence and our offence, to see whether they can give away chances faster than we can waste them. We win hands down. The crowning touch comes when Stuart Whittaker twists his ankle. He’ll be out for three weeks.
Leigh 0-0 Yeovil

[Katon]

Since it appears that EP3 will definitely alter the scoring balance, and possibly add the print function, I'm putting this dynasty on hold until that comes out. Sorry about the delay, but my willingness to put up with out-of-form strikers in the current version is roughly zero after the Scunthorpe debacle.

[Katon]

Well, I decided to try to pull some screenshots of the table and the team stats, and I wound up playing again before I knew what I was doing. Ah well. I think I’d probably better stop making major decisions about the dynasty’s future while I’m still angry about recent performances. I never seem to be able to stick to them.

You’d never know our offence was in a slump from the way it sets about Stevenage. Ged Courtney has a chance within the first two minutes, and it only takes us five minutes after his shot is saved to grab the lead. Andy Heald, in for the injured Whittaker, fires off a shot from the edge of the area which their keeper, former Sunderland man Lionel Perez, can only get a hand to. Our lead barely lasts six minutes, though, before a neatly hit corner finds a Stevenage player and his header bounces off a defender at the near post and into the far corner. Two minutes after that, Ryan Wilkie crosses and Damien Whitehead glances home only for a myopic lineman to rule that Whitehead was offside. Whitehead does eventually grab a goal, however, nabbing his twentieth of the season after Perez spills Phil O’Donnell’s long-range screamer. Stevenage implode after that, and the only question remaining is whether Ged Courtney can add his name to the scoresheet. It’s looking bad as he’s denied by a marvellous Perez save, but Whitehead seemingly with twenty minutes to go when he heads in a Ged Kielty corner. From the ensuing kick-off, however, a Stevenage surge forward finds our defence back-pedalling and they take full advantage to pull back to within a goal. We survive a slightly nervy finish, however, and the match finishes without further event.
Leigh 3-2 Stevenage

After our great start against Stevenage, it’s something of a shock to fall behind three minutes into our trip to Woking. Neil Fitzhenry misplaces a header slightly and Woking fullback Jamie Campbell snaps off a drive from twenty-five yards which Luke Weaver can’t quite handle. Things get worse a quarter of an hour later when a cross from the right gets volleyed in at the near post by a Woking striker. All the offence we showed against Stevenage is completely absent, and with Ged Courtney missing what chances we do get, we can’t pull anything back.
Woking 2-0 Leigh

Courtney’s slump can’t last for ever, of course, and he finally gets back to goalscoring when he lashes Damien Whitehead’s flick-down into the roof of the Canvey Island net a quarter of an hour into our next match. Our performance really isn’t very good, but we hold out until, shortly after the break, a Canvey Island player loses his temper and shoves Sasho Angelov. With our opponents reduced to ten men, gaps begin to appear, and Courtney is standing in an unbelievable amount of space when we launch a counter. He calmly lobs the keeper to clinch the win.
Canvey Island 0-2 Leigh

Around this time, I finally ink my first Bosman signing. Marien Ifura, a former QPR youth defender, will be coming in to replace the retiring Sasho Angelov.

Next up is one of the most important games of the season. Fifth-placed Bradford Park Avenue are coming to Hilton Park. They’re currently five points ahead of us in the last playoff place, about three-fourths of the way through the season. Their star man is veteran goalkeeper Gavin Kelly, who pulls off a super point-blank stop to deny Damien Whitehead. Even when we beat Kelly, Phil Salt’s free kick floats back off the crossbar. Our task isn’t made any easier when Andy Heald dislocates his shoulder, which essentially ends his season. He might make it back for the last few games, but he’s more or less done for the year. As time goes on with no goals, we get increasingly tense, to the point that Sasho Angelov chops down a Bradford Park striker in the area. Fortunately, their kick rolls wide.
Leigh 0-0 Bradford Park Avenue

Frustrating though Bradford Park Avenue’s ability to hold out for an undeserved draw was, we learned something from it. This is made obvious by our very next match, a visit to third-placed Scarborough. We’re outplayed; they can’t shoot; it finishes scoreless. Last week’s match with different shirt colours.
Scarborough 0-0 Leigh

Just after the Scarborough match, my first cash signing at the club joins up. Central midfielder and dead-ball expert Scott Jordan looks fairly good and, at £6,000, his fee isn’t exactly back-breaking. He’ll slot into the attacking midfielder slot against Northwich Victoria, with Phil O’Donnell moving over to the left wing.

The Northwich Victoria game is end-to-end. A few minutes after Damien Whitehead has a shot saved and Ged Courtney hits the side netting from close range, Victoria have a goal disallowed for offside. Half an hour in, we receive a man advantage when a Victoria midfielder tries to win a challenge with his elbow and is duly punished by the ref. From there on in, the trick is just to get the winning goal. We waste several good chances, but grab a goal with twelve minutes left when their goalie parries a Whitehead shot right at substitute Brian Deane, who obliges with his first goal as a Railwayman. Now that his duck’s broken, Deane finally starts to look like a former Premiership striker, as he adds a second on the break with the sort of neat finishing so missing from his game until now. We then go on to grab a third when Whitehead glances home a corner to give the scoreline a somewhat unrealistic look.
Leigh 3-0 Northwich Victoria

Shortly after the win, I receive the news that fellow playoff challengers Darlington are going into receivership. They have a few rather interesting players who I immediately put in bids for. I’ll keep you posted.

[Katon]

After all that, I didn't actually have any luck figuring out how to get screens. :confused: Can anyone help?

[3ric]

The "Print Screen" button saves an image to memory, switch to Paint or Photoshop and paste it in, save as a jpg.

[Katon]

Considering our record away to the division’s worst teams, I’m actually rather worried by the thought of travelling to twentieth-placed Aldershot. We’ve already lost to Shrewsbury and Telford; will we complete our charitable contributions by losing to the other team in the relegation zone? Well, we’re certainly bad enough to lose. Our offence provides nothing. With Aldershot also missing in action, the game is almost entirely devoid of excitement until, with fifteen minutes to go, Phil Salt launches a free kick into the box and the Aldershot clearance involves the use of a hand. Ryan Wilkie converts the penalty and we move up to sixth with an undeserved win.
Aldershot 0-1 Leigh

Speaking of Shrewsbury, our chance to avenge the travesty earlier in the season comes in our next match. It’s easy to see why they’ve only acquired ten points all season; within two minutes, they’ve handed Ged Courtney a chance on a silver platter, dithering in possession and getting caught out. Courtney thunders the ball home with aplomb before doubling our lead fifteen minutes later by volleying home a Stuart Whittaker cross. Game over.
Leigh 2-0 Shrewsbury

After much deliberation about what to do about Darlington’s cash struggles, I finally decide to help an old acquaintance out. As you may remember, I sold left-back Andy Dawson to Darlington back in my Scunthorpe days. He hasn’t been playing much this season, so I decide to help him out by spending £7,000 on the player starting ahead of him, Ryan Valentine. My motives for this are, I emphasise again, purely altruistic. The fact that the 21-year-old Valentine has been the best player in the league this season at a position I desperately want improved never even crosses my mind.

With Valentine added to the squad, we can switch to a 4-4-2 which I hope will afford more help against crosses, although the wisdom of altering the best defence in the league could be questioned. The formation’s first test comes in Hereford, where we get off to a dream start when a short corner routine brings the ball to Damien Whitehead’s feet five minutes in. After that, both teams have chances to get the next goal; Luke Weaver is called on to make a few excellent stops, while Ged Courtney’s failure to capitalise on a beautiful ball over the top from debut boy Valentine is nothing short of criminal. Still, I’m not too disappointed when the match finishes with just the one goal.
Hereford 0-1 Leigh

Our winning streak is now at a team-record four matches. With thirteen points from the last fifteen, we are the Conference’s hottest team, a streak which has moved us up all the way to fifth and the last playoff spot. With this in mind, it’s not really surprising when we leap out to yet another early lead against Southport. Ged Courtney is the goalscorer this time, collecting Whitehead’s feed and slamming it past the keeper. Shortly afterwards, Ryan Valentine launches a ball midway between Courtney and their goalie, Courtney wins the race, he slides the ball across to Whitehead, and our leading scorer knocks the ball into the empty net. Unfortunately, the linesman’s flag interrupts proceedings. A few minutes after that, however, Courtney is interrupted in the process of converting Stuart Whittaker’s cross by an extremely dubious challenge. I haven’t chosen any one player to take the penalties; this time, it’s Gerry Harrison, and he finds the net. Good thing we have the two-goal lead, too, as a quick counter-attack ends our streak of 728 minutes without conceding. We continue to be the brighter side, however, and clinch the match just after the hour mark when Scott Jordan drops a corner onto the head of Whitehead. A few minutes later, a Southport player trips Valentine up just inside their half and picks up his second yellow card. From here on in it’s just a question of how many we can score. As it turns out, all we can manage is another penalty, given for a foul on O’Connor and converted by Wilkie. The victory does come at a price, though, as Courtney pulls his hamstring. He’ll miss four weeks.
Leigh 4-1 Southport

After our fifth consecutive win, I’m moved to recognize James O’Connor’s recent form. He’s been terrific lately, and I’m really not looking forward to the day when he goes back to Stoke.

[condors]

nice run of form there

[Katon]

Isn't it just? What's especially interesting is that our recent five-match winning streak corresponds precisely with Scott Jordan's spell at the club. Coincidence?

[Katon]

And now, happily patched, let us continue.

[Katon]

With three matches left, the playoff race is a dogfight. Morecambe have already clinched a spot; Scarborough, sitting in third and six points clear of sixth, are almost certain to go. Below that, however, there’s a logjam:

Pos. Team Pts GD
4. Doncaster 70 +25
5. Leigh RMI 69 +26
6. Margate 68 +26
7. Bradford PA 68 +22
8. Chester 66 +16

Five teams, two spots. I’m not actually feeling too good about my chances. I have a hideous schedule coming up. Trips to Chester and Doncaster surround the visit of first-placed Barnet to Hilton Park. I need to beat Chester; if I don’t, then I’m never going to conjure up enough points from the last two matches to reach the playoffs.


Perhaps because the match is so important, the team looks rather nervy early on. We do find a remedy, however, when a Chester defender decides to relieve Damien Whitehead of the ball by the simple expedient of climbing over him. The referee takes a dim view, Ryan Wilkie converts the penalty, and we’re ahead. Chester press for the equalizing goal, but they founder throughout on a defence in which Ryan Valentine and keeper Luke Weaver are particularly noteworthy.
Chester 0-1 Leigh

My good mood is further enhanced by the news that Doncaster have drawn at home to Stevenage, moving us into fourth, and Bradford Park Avenue have replicated our earlier feat of losing away to the pathetic (only fifteen points all season) Shrewsbury. Margate won, but you can’t have everything.

Barnet, having already clinched the title, decide to test out a new plan for their trip to Hilton Park: get booked at every opportunity. They manage the feat on three separate occasions within the first hour, two of them courtesy of otherwise excellent midfielder Tom Doolan. Seven minutes later, James O’Connor puts Dimitris Liaos through, and we’re heading for a win. Barnet are top for a reason, however. They move to equalize and succeed when Luke Weaver spills a shot towards an opposing striker with time running out.
Leigh 1-1 Barnet

Shrewsbury, useless all year, are finally looking like a football team. They pull their second consecutive win out, this time defeating third-placed Scarborough. Doncaster also lost, to Woking, and Bradford Park Avenue eliminated themselves from playoff contention by drawing with Hereford. It’s just us and Doncaster for the final spot, and our last match is a perfect setup – we just need a draw, they have home advantage. Considering we’re unbeaten in ten, I like our chances.

Before the big match, we are bolstered by the announcement that Damien Whitehead has won the Player of the Month award for the second time this season – he also managed it back in August – and that new boy Ryan Valentine has won Young Player of the Month. Graham Howell’s ability to extract consecutive wins from miserable Shrewsbury is judged more impressive than my getting ten points from four games, so we can’t quite manage to sweep the April awards.

We are missing one face for the Doncaster game, with Scott Jordan having been injured during training. Phil O’Donnell returns to the spot he manned for most of the season. The actual game is, after all that build-up, a bit of an anticlimax. James O’Connor nods in a Stuart Whittaker corner just a minute in. Doncaster almost return the favour fifteen minutes later, but Martyn Lancaster blocks their header on the line. A few minutes later, however, Doncaster midfielder Ricky Ravenhill launches a free kick over the wall and right past Luke Weaver. I’m not horribly impressed by my keeper’s contribution. After missing a few chances on the break, our defence – the best in the league this year – falls apart. Gerry Harrison gets in a panic, backs off a ball he could have taken, and they score.
Doncaster 2-1 Leigh

Aargh.

Come on, our defence has been the best in the league this year and it chokes now?

[Katon]

Doncaster, having been handed a playoff spot by our defence in a magnificent act of generosity, take full advantage. They grab two goals in the last eight minutes of their tie with Morecambe to come back from a 2-1 first-leg deficit, then beat Margate 2-0 in the playoff finals. Several sayings involving salt, wounds, and the meeting of said items spring to mind.

Rather than ponder what might have been, I’ll start concentrating on what went right – and wrong – this year. Overall, I think the thing which killed us wasn’t our defence switching off on the big day, although that didn’t exactly help; it was our form over the winter. We jumped out to a hot early start, but then petered out and settled into midtable. We then pulled a ten-match unbeaten run out of our hats, including a six-game winning streak down the stretch. Our finish was fine; it was the winter, where we lost away to the incredibly inept Shrewsbury and almost-as-poor Telford, which was the problem.

That settled, it’s time to take a look at the players and see where I need to strengthen the team during the offseason.

Goalkeeper
When the season started, Stuart Coburn was the regular keeper. He did a passable job (7.15 AvR, 16 goals conceded in 19 games) until he picked up a groin injury in mid-December. Luke Weaver seized the starting job and never let go. Although he only played in 26 league games, he was the best keeper in the league once he got the job (7.57 AvR, 17 goals conceded, 16 clean sheets). He didn’t produce quite the same level of play in the cups, but nobody on the team looked their best outside the league. The other blot on his recod is, of course, a few rather soft goals in the last two matches against Barnet and Doncaster. Still, I’m happy with Weaver.

Left Back
Although former youth product Liam Blakeman tries to play here, the only person I’d actually let near the first team who can play here is Ryan Valentine. Valentine, who we pinched from receiver-ridden Darlington, was the best left-back in the Conference this year by some distance (7.46 AvR, next best was 7.19 AvR). He‘s been excellent in each of the five matches he’s played as a Railwayman. If he isn’t there, of course, we just switch back to the old 3-5-2.

Right Back
The Leigh squad features no out-and-out right backs, but we do have a few players who can fill the role. Neil Durkin, the least impressive member of my defence this season (6.69 AvR), isn’t really a solution here. He can’t even get out of his own way, a feat which opposing players accomplish with contemptuous ease. Martyn Lancaster is the current starter, although the combination of generally unexceptional performances (6.81 AvR) and an absolute nightmare during the Doncaster disaster has me looking out for a replacement. All in all, one of our weaker positions.

Centre Back
The star man here is Gerry Harrison, who only made one mistake all season. Of course, said mistake resulted in the goal which threw us out of the playoffs and Doncaster in, but nobody’s perfect. I’m not about to castigate one of the league’s classier defenders (7.38 AvR) over one mistake, no matter how hideous. Alright, enough about the stupid Doncaster game. The Doncaster game will not be mentioned again. Neil Fitzhenry is the other main man here (7.21 AvR), matching Harrison’s total of four Man of the Match awards if not quite his consistency. Besides them, Wayne Maden was a perpetual sub and has done nothing to make me want to change that, while Sasho Angelov provided distinguished service (7.08 AvR) in the last season of his career.

Defensive Midfield
Although players like Fitzhenry, Harrison, and Maden all made appearances here, the real star was James O’Connor. Quite why the 24-year-old O’Connor, who has already played forty games for Stoke in a season three times, was available on loan is inexplicable; he was, however, and he made the best argument he could for featuring in Stoke’s long-term plans. He was superb all year (7.45 AvR), and showed up to play no matter how dire the rest of the team were, winning the Man of the Match award in his last game for us. Yes, that game. Phil Salt also saw significant time at the position, and did a good job (7.18 AvR). Ideally, I’ll get O’Connor back in on loan next year; if not, Salt can probably do an OK job.

Attacking Midfield
Phil O’Donnell had this job for most of the season, and proved to be among our most significant creative forces (6 assists, 7.27 AvR). He was displaced towards the end of the season, however, by Scott Jordan, who we appropriated from fellow playoff challengers Scarborough when their financial situation hit the rocks. Jordan never played in a losing Leigh side, as we won six of his seven appearances, and he picked up two assists while playing excellent football (7.28 AvR). Ged Kielty, our main midfield reserve, also saw some time here.

Winger
Ordinarily, I would separate this into the two distinct wings, but most of our wingers saw time at both. Stuart Whittaker, although slightly inconsistent (6.96 AvR), was one of our most devastating players when fit, and this was reflected in his team-leading total of ten assists. Ryan Wilkie was our other main winger, and the Liverpool loanee showed flashes of talent which bode well for future chances of reaching the Scottish national team. Of course, the thing about eighteen-year-olds is that they tend to combine flashes of genius with moments of idiocy, and Ryan was no exception (6.96 AvR). Kielty, O’Donnell, and Andy Heald also saw time here. O’Donnell will probably start now that Wilkie’s gone back to Merseyside; Kielty and Heald will be reserves for the foreseeable future. This position could definitely use some strengthening.

Striker
First, some sad news. As I predicted at the time, Keith Scott’s damaged cruciate ligaments proved fatal to his career. The veteran striker never started a match before the injury; indeed, he played only 230 minutes all season, and couldn’t quite put the ball in the net. Still, he will be missed. Scott’s injury caused me to bring in Brian Deane to provide some depth up front. While we needed the depth, Deane never really got going. He scored only twice, both in the same match against Northwich Victoria, and he was clearly in the twilight of his career (6.50 AvR). His contract runs until December, and he won’t be getting a new one. Damien Whitehead was clearly our star player up front, winning Player of the Month twice and bagging 24 goals, 18 of them in the league. He was among our best players all season long (7.38 AvR). Initially, Whitehead’s strike partner was Dimitris Liaos; Liaos, however, followed Stuart Coburn’s example by getting injured and watching his replacement earn a permanent spot. Liaos’ ten goals and passable play (6.88 AvR) seem pathetic compared with Ged Courtney’s 21 goals, 10 assists, and all-around class play (7.18 AvR).

Our Player of the Season is rather tough to call, and the fans haven’t announced their selection yet. Luke Weaver was our best player once he started playing, but that wasn’t for about a third of the season. Gerry Harrison and Damien Whitehead, on the other hand, were both there all year, and they were both very nearly as good as Weaver. I suspect that the fans will go for Whitehead and his goals, which is probably how I’d lean, but Harrison has a real case.

[Katon]

Speaking of the Player of the Season award, what do you guys think? Does Whitehead deserve the award? Or should someone from the defence get recognition for our conceding less goals than anyone else in the league? Has Weaver played enough games to be considered?

[klayman]

Personally I'd go with Weaver as player of the year, but I think the game and the real life fans are more offensively minded, and Whitehead will probably pick it up.

[Katon]

Agreed. You can make out a strong case for any of the three, but the CM fans have always been suckers for goalscorers. Whitehead will get the fan award. Whether he should is a more difficult question.

[Katon]

Now for a more general review of what went on during the year.

Premiership
In Sir Alex Ferguson’s last year before retirement, Manchester United wound up running away with both the Premiership and the League Cup, thanks in no small part to Players’ Player of the Year David Beckham’s 22 assists. They achieved a century of points, winning by a full eight points from Arsenal and Liverpool. Newcastle came in about midway between the Big Three and the chasing pack, with a huge gap between the Champion’s League spots and fifth-placed Chelsea. At the bottom, only twentieth-placed Charlton finished below the three newly-promoted teams, with Portsmouth barely surviving while Millwall and Nottingham Forest both fell.

First Division
The newly-relegated teams dominated this year, with Blackburn, Aston Villa, and Birmingham heading up the table in that order. Birmingham fell in the playoffs to Wigan, however, before the Latics beat Preston via an extra-time goal from Nathan Ellington. The main story at the bottom was the incompetence of Walsall, who averaged a point every other game, but Stoke and Bradford both went down with room to spare too.

Second Division
The Second Division went right down to the wire this year, with none of the automatic promotion spots having been clinched heading into the final day. Crewe and Blackpool wound up clinching promotion, while Chesterfield, needing a win, lost at Reading. Chesterfield then wound up playing Reading again in the playoff semifinals, with no more luck. Reading, who had needed that last-day win just to get into the playoffs, went on to lose to Burnley in the playoff final. The other end of the table was almost as tight as the top, with even bottom-placed Port Vale coming as close to survival as Stoke or Bradford in the First Division. Mansfield, Plymouth, and Swindon joined Vale in the drop zone.

Third Divison
Colchester wandered away with the Third Division title while behind them four teams finished within a point of each other. Peterborough and Brentford squeaked into the promotion spots courtesy of last-day wins; Carlisle and Boston United, on the other hand, fell narrowly short and promptly crashed out in the first round of the playoffs. York eventually defeated Rushden & Diamonds to reach the Second Division. At the other end, there was a four-team dogfight to avoid two spots. Exeter clinched survival with two points to spare, while Dagenham & Redbridge were relegated by the same margin. Scunthorpe, however, wound up staying up by a single goal in spite of losing 2-0 to relegation rivals Bury on the last day of the season. If the Shakers had scored one more, they would have stayed up; as it was, they fell into the Conference.

[Dargone]

Great read, looking forward to more:)

[condors]

for player of the year i think i would go with o'conner

[Katon]

O'Connor! Of course! He'd already returned to Stoke when I typed up the team review, so the fact that he'd been my best outfield player didn't quite register. Now that you point it out, he's the obvious candidate.

Updates sometime this weekend, with luck. No promises, though. History papers are evil.

[klayman]

Actually, in the old CM, the player had to be one the roster when the award was given out, I think. I'm pretty sure, cause I had Carlos Corazzin on loan for Hereford in the conference, and he netted about 30 goals in the season, but went back to Oxford, and another striker who had 14 goals won the award. It would be great if that has changed for CM4.

[Katon]

I don't think it has, sadly. As I've said, the fans are almost certain to vote for Whitehead. Pity. O'Connor deserves it.

[Katon]

Conference review now.

Barnet ran away with the Conference title. They led more or less wire-to-wire, and wound up seven points clear. They had the second-best offence in the division and tied for the third-best defence, conceding less than a goal per game. Strikers Ben Strevens and Lenny Walker proved to be the best partnership in the league, bagging 51 goals between them.

In spite of Strevens and Walker, Barnet still scored ten goals less than second-placed Morecambe. Robbie Talbot, the only striker to reach thirty goals in league play, and classy midfielder Stuart Drummond led the only side other than Barnet who spent any real time at the top of the table. Until they conceded two goals in the last eight minutes of their playoff tie with Doncaster, Morecambe were on a clear course for promotion. They would have deserved it, too; they were as close to Barnet as they were to third place.

Margate, another of several teams tied for the third-best defence in the league, wound up sneaking into third place despite the lack of any real wide threats. The fact that they weren’t sure of that spot until the last day speaks to just how even the division was once you got past the top two. Apart from striker Jean-Michel Sigere, one of the best players in the league, Margate weren’t anything spectacular. The rest of their players were good, yes, but not quite promotion material. Their playoff bid came undone in the final against Doncaster, losing 2-0 in a match they never really showed up for.

In order to reach that playoff final, Margate had to overcome Scarborough, who had snuck into fourth purely on the back of the league’s second-best defence. Presented with a complete lack of talent, they set about to bore their way into the playoffs by not conceding, and the fact that they lost when they had to beat a good team straight-up speaks volumes.

Doncaster’s final few games read like a bad movie script. Outside the playoffs heading into the last day, they take advantage of some sloppy mistakes by the league’s best defence and sneak in before grabbing two late, late goals to win the playoff semifinals against what for most of the year (and the tie) has been a much better team. They then go on to win the playoff final, completing the Cinderella story. They were a good team, though, especially after spending £65,000 on Derby striker Marvin Robinson in November. Robinson repaid the fee by grabbing both goals in the playoff final and playing excellently throughout the year. Doncaster wasn’t a one-man team, though. Defenders Steve Foster and David Morley set up a superb partnership at the back, and most of the team was quality. Quite how this lot finished below Scarborough is one of the season’s biggest mysteries.

Doncaster’s last-day climb into the playoff spots meant that Leigh RMI missed out. Relegation favourites at the start of the season, Leigh bucked the odds most of the season with the league’s tightest defence, conceding only thirty goals. The defence, led by keeper Luke Weaver and on-loan holding midfielder James O’Connor, was made even tighter just before the transfer deadline when Leigh snapped up Ryan Valentine, the league’s top left-back, from cash-strapped Darlington. Leigh eventually missed out for two reasons. First, they could only get ten points from six games against the relegated teams; second, their offence was far too dependent on streaky striker Damien Whitehead. When Whitehead was in Player of the Month form, as he was at the start and end of the season, Leigh were among the league’s elite; when he went through a month-and-a-half goal drought in the middle of the season, their results suffered.

If ever there was a one-man team, it was Bradford Park Avenue. Their squad, which consisted of veteran goalie Gavin Kelly and a bunch of amateurs, somehow worked its way into seventh.

Although they weren’t quite so bad as Bradford Park Avenue, Chester City did center somewhat around hitman Daryl Clare. Clare, between an excellent league campaign and Chester’s runs to the FA Trophy and Vans Trophy finals (won the former, lost the latter, both by four-goal margins), managed a mammoth 43 goals on the season. The quality wasn’t there to support him, however, and they fell to eighth.

Although Woking had a couple of decent players – notably striker Lee Clarke and keeper Simon Royce – they followed the Scarborough plan of trying to bore their way to results. With a slightly worse defence and a much worse offence, they couldn’t manage anything better than ninth.

Although they started out well, Darlington’s season quickly went into decline during a hideous middle of the season. They managed a brief surge, but the wheels completely went off when the club went into receivership. With star defenders Stuart Whitehead and Ryan Valentine racing each other out the door, and fellow defensive starter Tim Ryan just a few days behind, the club collapsed. Veteran striker Brett Angell’s mid-January broken leg also contributed to their problems.

Stevenage actually had the third-best offence in the league, led by star striker Anthony Elding’s 48-goal partnership with Charlie MacDonald. Pity about the defence, really.

Aside from the fact that their strikers were slightly less talented and correspondingly less prolific, Gravesend mirrored Stevenage almost exactly.

With star attacker Hakan Soderstierna leaving for Burnley in December, Hereford were left completely impotent up front. Their defence tried, but it couldn’t quite take up the slack.

Southport were just treading water in fourteenth. Their fans could take comfort in the play of keeper Stuart Dickinson, but the horrifically inept Chris Lane’s continued ability to find employment on their right flank is probably a more accurate sign of how the team’s season went.

Among the worst personnel decisions of the 2003 offseason was then-Yeovil boss Gary Johnson’s decision to sell centre-back Adam Lockwood. With the honourable exception of Terry Skiverton, this left their defence totally devoid of talent, which showed up in the results.

Canvey Island’s first season back in the Conference was completely devoid of interest. It’s always nice for a newly-promoted team to establish itself in its new league, but that really was about all that happened.

Nuneaton Borough, a team with no real attacking talent, can thank keeper Chris Taylor for distracting attention from the fact that the team’s co-leading scorers, striker Carl Alford and winger Michael Phillips, could only manage ten each.

Farnborough Town featured a few rather nice early-twenties prospects this season. Centre-back Brett Solkhon was among the best in the league at his position, and midfielder Jamie McGuire also looked rather nice. They were completely devoid of any supporting cast, however, and so Farnborough eventually found themselves fighting for survival. They achieved it, but one has to wonder what might have been had former Scottish international Simon Donnelly not broken his leg in February. Donnelly wasn’t playing terrifically, but he was a cut above most of the team.

Northwich Victoria stood pat during the offseason, and fell just one point short of reaching their previous season’s total of 47 points. Whereas that had been good for fifteenth, however, this year they were the worst team not to actually get relegated.

Bad though they were, Victoria were still notably better than Aldershot. With the worst attack in the league, Aldershot were one of only two teams to score less than a goal per game. They opted to pin their striking hopes on £8,000 teenager Dave Nugent. His output? Two goals in seventeen games.

Although their attack was considerably better than Aldershot, Telford still finished ten points worse off thanks to the league’s worst defence. Right-back Simon Ramsden in particular deserves criticism, although nobody covered themselves in glory.

Even Telford’s ineptitude, however, pales behind the wreck that was Shrewsbury. How bad were they? All of the top eight won as many games as Shrewsbury got points (19). They conceded only one less goal than Telford, and scored only two more than Aldershot. The one player in the squad with legitimate talent, former Austrian captain Andy Herzog, played only twice after picking up a nasty foot injury on his debut. There is hope for next year, however; over a third of their points came in the last month, after Graham Howell had taken over the helm.

[Katon]

The offseason goes on, and the main attraction is of course Euro 2004. I’m rather more interested in a few negotiations taking place in and around Hilton Park, as Charlton youngster Paul Robson agrees to come here on a free. Robson’s a left-back, and a fairly good one, so I intend to use him as cover for Ryan Valentine. The only other possible candidate is Liam Blakeman, and he’s worse than nothing at all. We also line up more cover up front, with Leeds trainee Chris Armstrong coming here when his contract expires in November. With Brian Deane’s deal running out towards the end of the calendar year, we’ll need a fourth striker, and Armstrong’s already probably a better player than Deane

To the surprise of no-one, Damien Whitehead wins the Fans Player of the Year award, although one fan club – FOFP, or something like that – votes to give their award to James O’Connor. Personally, I’m inclined to agree with FOFD. I know O’Connor was a loan player, but I think he was the best player we had who actually played the whole season. Luke Weaver was better when he played, but he missed a third of the season.

We also receive our financial info for the upcoming season. Conference TV rights apparently amount to £100,000. I’ll take that! At least, I’ll take £22,000 of it, as that seems to be all the transfer budget my esteemed board feels like giving me. If I want any more than that, I have to sell players. The board does feel relatively confident in me, however – they’ve stopped expecting the club to finish in the drop zone. They now expect us to finish in mid-table, which is somewhat more realistic. Pessimistic, but it does bear some resemblance to reality.

Euro 2004 progresses towards the quarterfinals, and the big first-round shock is Holland’s elimination on goals scored. If it weren’t for Ruud van Nistelrooy missing a penalty in the last minute of their 1-0 loss to England, they would have headed through; the United striker proved uncharacteristically inaccurate, however, and Romania crept through. Holland’s exit is almost less shocking, however, than that of defending champions France, who get knocked out of the quarterfinals by a golden goal from Croatian striker Bosko Balaban. They, too, have cause to regret a missed penalty, with David Trezeguet having missed a chance to put them ahead only eight minutes in. Another match also resorts to the golden goal, with Germany eliminating England courtesy of a Miroslav Klose winner. Neither of the golden-goal winners gets through the semifinal, however, and the final is contested by Italy and Spain. Spain win, with Atletico Madrid striker Jose Mari grabbing the only goal of the game.

[klayman]

Called it on Whitehead...do I know my CM or what :D

[Katon]

Next season may be found here (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9315)