Oh Look. It's Another Izulde Try At FM (13)

[Izulde]

vs Exeter (4th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Tom Sharpe
DC Samuel Bangura
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Andrew Burns
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Callum McNish
MR Izak Reid
ST Lewis Taaffe
ST Ashley Yeoman

Pull off the win in this one, and we'll firmly establish ourselves as a team to be really taken seriously in the BS Premier race this season.

38 - Our clearance and positioning have been awful, but we've managed to hang on. Bad news here, though, as Parmenter has to leave the game. Naturally Woodford takes his spot.

43 - At this rate, Crocombe is going to be our leading goal-scorer, as we're awarded a PK and he converts. 1-0

44 - McNish makes a fabulous tackle on the opening kickoff and sends it ahead of Taaffe, who is having a phenomenal game. He beats the defense and circles around the goalie, and just when I think LT is going to hang on to it for too long, he banks it right in on the angle and we have ourselves a two goal lead scored *just* before the first half ends. 2-0



Announcers are calling this a drab match, but they must have missed the last two minutes of the first half, because that was damned awesome.

49 - Exeter changes to a 5-3-2, which makes no sense to me given that they're down two goals.

70 - Yellow for Clucas

74 - Gueduioura on for Yeoman

75 - Yellow for Harris

80 - Bullshit. That goal was offsides. Didn't get called, though. 2-1

Not the best we've ever played, but it's a win I'll take. 7.9 for Crocombe and McNish, the latter winning MoM, 7.7 for Sanchez.

That pulls Exeter down to 5th, but they're still a point ahead of us.

Colwyn Bay sets a BS Premier record with 18 straight losses, and our huge upset win over Exeter had 880 fans, breaking our non-friendly attendance record by 5 attendees.

Andrew Burns finishes his loan and did so well for us that Billericay now considers him indispensable and refuses to consider another loan.

[b]Max Crocombe/b] is on the Team of the Week.

@Chester (14th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Tom Sharpe
DC Leon Clowes
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Izak Reid
DM Ryan Woodford
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Callum McNish
MR Izak Reid
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Lewis Taaffe

Yep, that's right. Ashley Yeoman has officially lost his starting spot to Taaffe. It's all about the production.

8 - Yellow for Gracco

17 - Woodford sits on the ball too long when he has a clear shot, but we manage to get the corner, and Reid hits it to Clowes. The goalie deflects to the far post, but Sanchez is in the prime place to pop it in for the lead! 1-0

37 - Great sliding tackle shot by Taaffe, but the post robs him.

39 - Devastating injury to Harris. Reid moves up to MR to replace on him, and Bangura comes in at the DR spot.

We're playing really pretty well so far, so let's keep it going and maybe find some insurance somewhere.

50 - Chester makes a terrible pass back and Gracco's there to rush in, beat out the keeper, and strike the long-range shot at the empty net. In it goes for Air Italia's 10th goal of the season. 2-0

53 - And of course Gracco follows that by missing an easy header.

60 - In what is the most bizarre goal I've seen yet, Taaffe gives it to Woodford, who sends it forward for Clucas... and somehow the ball bounces up over the heads of both Clucas and Chester's keeper, and dribbles its way into the net for the score. Talk about craycray! 3-0



71 - Chester's screaming for a penalty on McNish, but the ref ignores it. It's getting nasty out there, and our Irishman is feeling tired, so I quickly put in Eyong.

76 - I'm really starting to hate Chester now. They're whining that a Bangura foul should have been a penalty. I'm suddenly quite glad the team passed on offering me the job when I applied to both them and Brackley.

88 - For some reason, Crocombe just stands there and lets the shot in. Maybe he didn't even see it. 3-1

They fight like crazy to get another goal and give themselves a puncher's chance, but phenomenal work by our defense allows us to hold firm with the two goal away win. Solid ratings all around, headlined by Woodford's MoM-winning 7.9, Sanchez's 7.9, and Gracco's 7.5 in his first game back from injury.

We're now up to 4th as part of a crowded field of playoff promotion contenders. Only Forest Green, who has 43 points to the 2nd place Macclesfield's 37, is well above the fray and in firm command of the league's top spot.

Courtney Harris is out 3-4 weeks, so bad, but not nearly as terrible as it could have been.

We've now gone five games without a loss in league play, and people are calling us paper tigers, which is a very fair assessment. But as long as we avoid the drop, it'll be a successful season.

We poach Billericay again, this time taking on MR Max Noble on a 3 month loan. He's had 5 goals to be the team's leading scorer, though obviously that won't be his role here - he'll be a fill-in for Harris's injury.

Good Trains
Samuel Bangura
Claidiu Hoban
Seanan Clucas

Bad Trains
Tom Sharpe
Dale Binns
Elvis Hammond

Callum McNish surprises everyone by finishing 2nd in Player of the Month voting, and Seanan Clucas is 3rd in Young Player of the Month tallies. I finish 3rd in Manager of the Month voting, and there's no question Forest Green's boss deserves it.

Just shy of $25k in profit last month. Don't remember if I posted this before, but last season we lost $513k, or almost a half-million. This season we're on track to lose a little over $100k, but I'm wondering if the stadium expansion got applied to this season's bill or last year's.

@Northampton (FA Cup 1st Round)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Stevland Angus
DC Leon Clowes
DC Samuel Bangura
DR Brett Solkhon
DM Ryan Woodford
DM Aaron Wickham
ML Claudiu Hoban
MR Izak Reid
ST Nabil Guedioura
ST Ashley Yeoman

We got hosed on the seeding for the FA Cup having to visit a League 2 team, so I'll just end out a B/C list lineup and see how it goes. Let's see if our two strikers can *finally* crack their goal drought (706 for Yeoman, 611 for Guedioura)

10 - A knock for Reid but he'll play on. One of Guedioura's problems by the way, is that he's having trouble fitting in with the rest of the squad - probably because he only has a basic command of English. Maybe I should find someone else who speaks fluent Arabic to help him adjust (Note: he also has basic French).

13 - Speaking of which... Guedioura performs this absolutely amazing run forward to steal the ball away and dash on to a one on one with the keeper. Now normally our Algerian prospect would shank it... but this one he hits for his first ever goal for us!!! Drought broken! 1-0



15 - They score immediately on a rebound. Sigh. 1-1

16 - Getting ugly fast. 1-2

23 - That's an 8 minute hat trick for Moult. Damn it. 1-3

34 - 4 goals by one guy all in the same half. Unbelievable. 1-4

40 ...5 by the same guy. 1-5

Let's put Hammond and Eyong in for Guedioura and Reid and call this a day.

52 - 6! 6 by the same guy! 1-6

85 - Wickham goes down and Parmenter replaces him for the last few minutes of the game.





I salute you, sir! And I totally don't care about the result or how badly we sucked. We just went up against a guy who was absolutely on fire.

Oh nice. Reid is out almost 2 months. Good thing we got that Noble on loan!

...LOL Now Izak Reid wants to stay and be removed off the transfer list. Fine.

Samuel Bangura may be hinting at wanting a new contract, but I think I'll wait to the offseason to be able to extend him until 2017.

@Gainsborough (23rd)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Tom Sharpe
DC Leon Clowes
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Samuel Bangura
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Callum McNish
MR Max Noble
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Lewis Taaffe

This game should be a nice tonic to bounce back from that brutal defeat.

6 - Disallowed goal due to Gracco offsides.

10 - Yellow for Taaffe

46 - Their defense has been doing a terrific job of shutting us down in the middle, and Crocombe's made some dumb clearance mistakes. They almost score here, but Parmenter gets out the danger just in the nick of time.

So yeah, we're sucking ass here. Angus comes on for Clowes because we're that banged up on the D-line right about now.

75 - Full credit to their keeper - he's been lights out today, stopping what looked like a few sure goals. Guedioura on for Taaffe.

82 - McNish to Guedioura who sends it to Gracco... who plays a frozen rope between two defenders and finally into the damn goal. 1-0

Not the greatest and not the worst. One of those days where 3 points and Sanchez's 7.5 for Man of Match will do. That'll do.

20 games in, we have 38 points and a +17 GD, good for 4th in the league. We also hold a 4 point cushion on 6th place, which is crucial, given we get #1 Forest Green next game.

[Izulde]

Huh. Nabil Guedioura is showing great training progress, apparently.

@Forest Green (1st)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Leon Clowes
DC Stevland Angus
DC Ryan Woodford
DR Samuel Bangura
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Claudiu Hoban
MR Max Noble
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Lewis Taaffe

Injuries and tired people mean we have a less than optimal lineup against the Premier leaders.

44 - Hoban holds to the ball, waiting until he sees Clucas just outside the box for the pass. Our loanee then skims along the box line until he finds a shot he likes, and *BAM*! In it goes for the host nutcrunching goal. 1-0

Wickham slots on for Parmenter, and we're doing great on defense. If we can just keep on to that and maybe get another sneaky score, that'd be awesome.

45 - Noble's knocked but will fight on.

73 - Guedioura on for Gracco, who's having the worst game of his career.

What.a.monstrous.upset.

7.5+
Stevland Angus - 8.1 (MoM)
Seanan Clucas - 8.0
Leon Clowes - 7.9
Samuel Bangura - 7.5

In short, another dominating performance by our backline, and Angus shows that he's still got it.

But it comes as a huge cost. Max Noble is out 6-7 weeks with an injury, further crippling our already shaky right midfield situation. On the bright side, we're up to 2nd in the league. Oh, and get this. Tambeson Eyong's loan expires in a few days, and I don't know who we have left that can play MR for the short-term

Ashley Yeoman continues to impress in training.

vs Woking (18th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DC Ryan Woodford
DR Brett Solkhon
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Aaron Wickham
ML Callum McNish
MR Tambeson Eyong
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Lewis Taaffe

We have to get a little creative with the lineup here due to so many injury and rest needs. Three MRs all injured at once and our 4th one due out of loan soon. Just freaking insane.

34 - Keep coming close but nothing doing until Taaffe runs through the entire defense and plants it in. This was a guy I debated on for a long time before signing because my scouts thought he was just okay. The way he's played since claiming a starting spot, though, he's been more than okay. 1-0

38 - And here's the sweet, swinging corner by Taaffe to Sanchez, who punches it on in. 2-0

49 - Parmenter takes a nasty knock. I'll try to keep him on as much as possible, though.

57 - Taaffe plays a terrific ball for Eyong on the far right wing. Our loan healthy MR fetches it and centers it back to Taaffe, and there's our third goal! 3-0 This allows us to switch to a 4-1-2-1-2 setup with Bangura and Yeoman as DC and AMC, and Eyong and Parmenter off the pitch.

79 - they score, but probably too little too late 3-1

Nice win. 8.6 for Sanchez, 8.3 for Sharpe, and 8.8 for our MoM, Taaffe.

But it's another expensive win. Taylor Parmenter, our rock in the defense, is out a month. We're now 2 points behind Forest Green for the lead.

Free transfer and loan deadlines are both in a week.

vs Macclesfield (4th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Leon Clowes
DC Stevland Angus
DC Brett Solkhon
DR Samuel Bangura
DM Seanan Clucas
DM Ryan Woodford
ML Claudiu Hoban
MR Tambeson Eyong
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Lewis Taaffe

Ugly lineup, I know, but we really didn't have much choice. The transfers and loans we have lined up didn't go through in time for this game.

1 - Yellow for Woodford. Going to be that kind of game, is it?

43 - Yellow for Hoban.

So this has been a pretty ugly, boring game to watch. Feels like we're scraping out a tie here. Luke Dixon goes on for Woodford because we're just that weak right now in terms of depth.

45 - Should've been a goal for them there.

48 - Yellow for Clucas

63 - So does not only Angus flub the easiest goal ever, but we get scored on via the counter. Fuck this noise. 0-1 Yeoman on for Gracco

Total shutdown. Pathetic.

Still, we're halfway through the season, and after 23 games, we have 44 points and sit 4th. Considering we were tabbed to hit the drop in preseason, that's a huge improvement. And not shabby at all considering all the injury woes we've been hit with all at once.

[Izulde]

Clucas will sit out next game due to too many yellows, but Bangura has continually impressed in training.

We loan in 21 year old DR Matthew Challoner from Stalybridge Celtic for 3 months, but are rejected by a ML/MR who could really help us out. Ryan Markey, one of our reserves, signs a contract with Gloucester. I care not. Another loan offer for a ML guy gets rejected because Dorchester doesn't want him on a division rival.

Sergio Sanchez is named to the Team of the Week.

A DM prospect I really wanted signs for AFC Hornchurch, much to my annoyance.

Courtney Harris has stepped up his training game recently despite his injuries.

vs Stamford (FA Trophy)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Tom Sharpe
DC Stevland Angus
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Brett Solkhon
DM Aaron Wickham
DM Lee Dixon
ML Claudiu Hoban
MR Tambeson Eyong
ST Nabil Guedioura
ST Elvis Hammond

Keeping with my usual policy of scrub lineups in cup matches against scrub teams.

25 - I'm told Hammond doesn't like Solkhon as captain. Interesting. We're playing like shit today. Yellow for Angus at this juncture.

36 - Yeah. Someone's getting ripped into. 0-1

Bangura comes on for Sanchez and I go into epic meltdown mode all over the locker room.

59 - Odd sequence in which everyone is tripping all over one another, but in the end it's Hammond who floats one to Bangura, and the Sierra Leone native finally gets his first goal for us. 1-1

63 - Eyong misses a gimme, and Yeoman comes on for Guedioura.

Yeah, fuck this. I've got some things I need to pick up, a GM is dicking me around in one of my MP leagues, and there's no excuse to tie to a team like this on our turf.

I'll hit this again later.

[Izulde]

@ Stamford (FA Trophy)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Tom Sharpe
DC Stevland Angus
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Brett Solkhon
DM Aaron Wickham
DM Lee Dixon
ML Claudiu Hoban
MR Tambeson Eyong
ST Nabil Guedioura
ST Ashley Yeoman

We've got a league game coming a couple days after this, so we're going with the same lineup, with the exception of Yeoman in for Hammond at striker. 873 minute drought for Yeoman, BTW.

11 - Dominating this game and nothing to show for it. Dixon to Hoban to Yeoman... ...and we finally not only break down a goalie that's been a real assfarmer, but our highest paid player stops the dry spell just shy of the 900 minute mark. 1-0

25 - Man, this just isn't Yeoman's year. Now he's hurt and has to go off, and Taaffe comes on much sooner than I would have wanted him to.

26 - Talk about your immediate impact. Taaffe tackle-passes the ball and Guedioura thunders down for the goal. 2-0

27 - Of course they answer right away. Of course. 2-1

That goal aside, we're controlling this match, so let's just let it ride.

53 - This is one sick fucking joke. 2-2

57 - I blame Wickham for these screwups and put Woodford on.

59 - Why yes, let's have a fucking horseshit penalty on top of it. Fucking homer refs. 2-3

Fuck.that.shit.

[b]vs Barnet (20th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Leon Clowes
DC Samuel Bangura
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Matthew Challoner
DM Ryan Woodford
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Lewis Taaffe

Feels like a long time since we've had a squad that was this close to full-strength.

13 - So very fucking cold. 0-1

21 - Yellow for Bangura

Fucking embarrassing. That's what this streak is right now.

66 - Woodford's gotten hurt and I've subbed in Wickham and Yeoman for him and Gracco and Clucas at this point picks up his second yellow. Whatever.

77 - McNish pushes it to Yeoman who dodges and weaves until he finds his angle and powers it in. Nice, especially with only 10 guys on our side. Fucking idiot Clucas getting sent off. 1-1

8.4 for Crocombe, who really saved our asses to even get a point out of this pigslop mess of a game.

[Izulde]

Good Trains
Tom Sharpe
Max Crocombe
Elvis Hammond

Tambeson Eyong's loan finishes. Won't really miss him.

Board is still delighted due to our position, but they're upset about the asskicking we took in the FA Cup. Profit of $16.42k last month.

Our January 27th match against Lincoln will be televised, and we'll pick up $8k from it.

vs Newport County (11th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Leon Clowes
DC Stevland Angus
DC Samuel Bangura
DR Matthew Challoner
DM Ryan Woodford
DM Aaron Wickham
ML Claudiu Hoban
MR Courtney Harris
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Lewis Taaffe

We're big favorites here despite our slump and juryrigged lineup.

1 - Challoner to Woodford to Harris to Gracco, and there's the angled laser beam for the early lead! 1-0

19 - Textbook thievery by Clowes, who punctuates it with a 20 yard pass to Gracco. The Italian Stallion runs wild and free to the far side of the box, where he diagonal crosses it to Taaffe in the center and it's in. 2-0

20 - Great position, terrible finish by our opponents for the immediate answer.

26 - WOW! The opponent deliberately elbows Challoner in the face... and Nathan Jarvis gets the red!!!

32 - Yellow for Bangura

A goal attempt by them missed by mere inches near the end of the half and I'm shocked it didn't go in. Yeoman comes on for Taaffe, who got hurt early in the first but played through it to get us a goal.

66 - How stupid. Wickham gives up a penalty and they convert to cut the lead in half. 2-1 I immediately yank him for Dixon and give him an earful on the sidelines.

Woodford picked up a yellow at minute 90, and we had tons of shots in the second half, but just couldn't convert. Not the best win we've ever had, but we'll take it. 7.5 for Leon Clowes and 8.5 for MoM Gianluca Gracco in a game with a ton of 7s. Really needed that win to boost morale, too, which was starting to drop.

We're now up to 2nd, but 4th and 5th have a game in hand on us, and our 48 points still aren't remotely close to touching Forest Green's 55.

[Izulde]

Gianluca Gracco is drawing a ton of praise from the press and Max Crocombe just keeps getting better and better in training.

@Altrincham (12th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DC Samuel Bangura
DR Matthew Challoner
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Lewis Taaffe

Best lineup we've had in quite a few games, with Parmenter back from injury.

1 - Challoner throws it into Harris, and a short, looping pass to McNish later, the goal's in and the early lead's ours. 1-0

16 - Yellow for Bangura

We're doing well at the half. Both goalies have made some awesome saves to keep this a one score game. Dixon comes on for Parmenter, Taaffe slides to MR and Yeoman hops on at striker.

64 - Wow! For the second straight game, an opponent's sent off with a red for elbowing one of our boys in the face! Seems like teams are really fearing us and have to play dirty to try and win.

72 - In what I swear was the longest header of all time, Sharpe flies it all the way down the pitch for Gracco, who bonks it down for control, dribbles forward a bit, and then aces it home for the insurance goal! So pretty! 2-0



81 - Challoner hits a moonshot and McNish is there to send a powerful header quite a ways away from the goal, and yet, it somehow goes in. Wow, we are *really* up for this one... literally. 3-0

Although McNish wins Man of the Match with a 9.2 rating, I really feel like Crocombe (8.3) deserved it. He made so many amazing saves when it was still a 1-0 score that it was incredible. 8.1 for Challoner, 7.9 for Sanchez, 7.8 for Sharpe, 8.3 for Gracco as we really took advantage of the power play in the second half, unlike last game.

Better yet, Forest Green lost, so now the gap narrows to 4 points, and our +23 GD is better than anyone in the league except for 7th place Macclesfield with 47 points, +29 GD and a game in hand to our 51.

Nabil Guedioura impresses in training, but Ian Gay is warning me that he needs more first time experience or his growth will be stunted. Fair point and time to transfer list Ashley Yeoman then.

Gianluca Gracco, Callum McNish, Tom Sharpe, and Max Crocombe all make Team of the Week.

An offer's in for De'Jaune Taylor-Crossdale to go on loan for 3 months to Gloucester. They're fighting a relegation battle, so I figure why not?

Checking In Other Loan Players
GK Liam Priestley - 11 apps for Bromley - 6.45 rating (7th in league, a point out of playoff spot)
DR Gareth Lee - 15 apps for Leamington - 6.42 rating and in need of a rest. Still better than last's year 6.26 rating in 10 games for the same team
ST Jack Jeffrey - 16 apps for Leamington - 6 goals, 1 assist - 6.35 rating and in need of a rest
DC Jordan Smith - 7 apps for Wealdstone - 1 goal - 6.53 rating (3rd in league) so Priestley and Smith are on opposites, and now DJTC will join them.

Ashley Yeoman really wants to stay at the club, but sorry kid. Your salary demands are ridiculous, and you're our third striker. I tell him the club needs money and he goes all aggro and asks me if I'm trying to make things worse.

...Excuse me? So I tell him he's being unprofessional, so then he's like You haven't left me with much choice, you wanker. So I tell him we should continue it at another time and he tells me he's not at all happy with how I've handled it.

Fuck.you.

...Um, what?



Yeah... here's my thoughts on that, asshole Ashley.



Oh now this is interesting.

Dartford wants Ashley Yeoman on a 3 month loan and they'll pay 90% of his salary for those three months. Other teams are reportedly interested including Barrow and Mansfield, though those two want him for transfer. But I don't want to loan him, I want to transfer him, and I'm willing to do it at a discounted rate of $6k, even though he's worth $28k.

Dartford withdraws the offer upon my asking for a transfer rather than a loan. Mansfield will consider it if I lower my demands. Considering they're 6th in the league, that's a big fuck no.

Let's try $3k and see what happens.

Mansfield is offering me no money and I'll still have to pay his contract? Fuck that.

Samuel Bangura impresses in training.

vs Gatehead (11th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Tom Sharpe
DC Leon Clowes
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Izak Reid
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Lewis Taaffe

It's my 100th game in charge of Brackley and for the first time in a long time, we have our total and complete preferred lineup in charge, Izak Reid finally back from injury. We've dropped to 3rd, as we didn't play on the last BS Premier day.

4 - Beautiful run by McNish after a pass from Taaffe, and the authoritative strike is in! Wow, our Irish left midfielder has been scorching the last few games. 1-0

9 - Sanchez starts an attack with a terrific dispossession, but the McNish to Gracco pass goes for naught when the Italian Stallion blows an easy goal as he often does.

12 - And this is why I don't get mad at him. Harris plays a perfectly pristine pass and Gracco grabs it, gunning it in goal. 2-0

26 - Taaffe taps a pretty one to Harris who has the goal wide open in front of him, but a weak kick robs us of the sitter. Our ensuing corner comes up empty, too.

32 - Yellow for Parmenter

Great. Parmenter and Sanchez both get hurt shortly before the half ends, so I immediately pull them in favor of Wickham and Bangura.

69 - This is how dominant we've been this game. It takes until almost the 70 minute mark for Gateshead to put up any highlights on offense, but we fend it off and the two straight corners that follow to stay clean.

72 - I really thought that was in by Taaffe

82 - Yellow for Harris

We keep the pressure on right up until the final whistle, and nearly scored another one a couple times.

8.1 for Lewis Taaffe as PoM, 7.7s for McNish, Harris, and Clowes in a textbook performance by our guys.

Still in third, but with a game in hand on Forest Green and Exeter, who we're behind 4 points and 2 points, respectively.

vs Wrexham (7th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Tom Sharpe
DC Leon Clowes
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Izak Reid
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Lewis Taaffe

5 - Early yellow for Harris in what is a key game for position in the league.

19 - Yeah, we're playing like crap today. 0-1

30 - Holy shit! Okay, so Harris passes it to Clucas, right? Or maybe it was Parmenter in there somehow... anyway, Clucas is on the far side of the post and crosses it to the left side where I'm thinking it's going to be wasted, and out of nowhere, Gianluca Gracco and a defender come racing, and the Italian Stallion does this awesome freaking sliding kick that sends him, the defender, and the ball all into the goal! Wow, just W-O-W wow! 1-1



38 - That amazeballs goal appears to have fired everyone up, because while we were sluggish and hum-drum before it, now suddenly people are playing faster and with fiery purpose. We get another shot opportunity thanks to a McNish-Parmenter-Gracco chain, but the shot's rejected... but Parmenter's there for the go-ahead goal on the rebound! 2-1

Taaffe is having a garbage game so he's pulled for Guedioura. Sanchez *was* having an equally stinky showing, but got his head out of his ass after that fabulous first goal so he stays in.

49 - Perfect dropshot by Harris in front of Gracco, who delivers for his second goal of the game. Love watching the Italian Stallion play. 3-1

66 - Harris again with the excellent play, racing down the sideline on a counter and sending it to Guedioura. The Algerian threads it through three defenders and into the goal! They're calling it his first senior goal, which doesn't make sense because he's scored for us, unless they mean first league goal, which would. Either way, just a lovely play. 4-1

80 - Yellow for Parmenter and he's tired anyway, so on comes Wickham

84 - A second yellow for their own Harris and it's early bath, like what, 10 minutes before everyone else? In case you're keeping track at home, that's our third straight game an opponent has gone off early.

7.7 for Clucas, 7.9 for Parmenter, 8.7 for Harris, 7.7 for McNish, and 9.0 for Player of the Match Gracco, of course.

I don't know what a ding-dong battle is, but we took the spoils in it. Oh yeah, and that's also Leon Clowes' old club we just waxed despite being underdogs at home.

Still third, still with a game in hand, but now we're 2 points out of 1st place. Media is saying we're still a fluke and disrespecting us, but hell... that's been going on all year.

[Izulde]

Oh how cool. The fans have created a special chant just for Gianluca Gracco, and he's being idolized.

Shane Fagan is upset about not getting regular first team experience. Sorry kid, but you're playing behind Max Crocombe. What do you expect?

I offer to loan him out but he says he wants to be moved permanently. I tell him we should discuss it another time and he gets pissed off and says he's mad.

Whatever.

@Braintree (18th
GK Max Crocombe
DL Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Samuel Bangura
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Claudiu Hoban
MR Courtney Harris
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Lewis Taaffe

Oh now this is interesting. According to my coaching staff, Samuel Bangura has surpassed Izak Reid as our top DR player. He's also now tied with Leon Clowes for our 2nd best DL, who I'm switching back to DL because the gap between him and Sharpe at DL is less than the DC gap between the two.

Reid's been complaining about his heavy workload in training and he's decreased due to also having been trained at DR most of the year on the recommendation of the staff. I honestly don't think he's going to hang around here once his contract runs out - he's very much a backup now. Even when he was a starter, he was prone to bouts of inconsistency, and in danger of losing his spot to lesser players like what happened to Yeoman, who is still considered my top striker by far.

Weird first half. Only one highlight and it was for them. On the other hand, Gracco and Parmenter both pick up yellows, and Hoban and Taaffe are hurt. In come Max Noble back from injury to MR, Harris switching to the left side, and Guedioura in for our striker.

We should be dominating this team, so I firmly tell them they've been playing like crap, and by the ratings, they have been.

63 - Seriously? Now Gracco is hurt. But he'll play on.

75 - Going to burn my third sub with Wickham for Parmenter. This has been an ugly game.

Great job defensively, but we just lacked that killer instinct in front of goal. Our play did improve quite a bit in the second half and we had a few chances, so I'm not going to be too hard on them.

Taylor Parmenter impresses in training, and he's one guy I forgot to sign to a two year deal who I really wanted to lock up, but the board is blocking me from meeting his salary demands. With a little negotiation though, I'm able to get him to consider a contract extension.

I also work on locking up my staff that's under contract to keep them for another year. Why fix what isn't broken?

@Stockport (21st)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Samuel Bangura
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Lewis Taaffe

0 - I think it's a testament to how much Crocombe has improved that he made the right decision in coming out and snagging the ball out of the air in a dangerous situation. Before, he would have mistimed coming out and allowed the goal.

11 - Beautiful 25 yard strike on a free kick by Taaffe that overpowered the goalie! 1-0

30something - They made an awesome move of passes that completely hoodwinked our backline, but Crocombe makes a dynamite save on what I think again would have been a surrendered goal earlier in the year, and Sharpe gets rid of it.

Literally 5 seconds before the half ends, McNish is slapped with a yellow. Cheap shit if you ask me. We could be up by more than this, so let's keep it going folks.

46 - Booming kick by Crocombe and it's no challenge at all for Gracco to beat his opponent and charge ahead for the one on one with the keeper. This isn't a flub shot - just pure perfection and the sweet string music of a doubled lead. 2-0

51 - Yellow for Bangura

57 - Woodford on for Clowes

71 - Tiptop send from Sharpe to Gracco, but the open angled shot just nicks the post and out.

75 - Textbook pass by Clucas to Harris on a run and gun, and our right midfielder gets a very lucky bounce in on the post for the clincher. 3-0

8.0 for Crocombe, 7.6 for Bangura, 7.9 for Sanchez, 8.1 for Harris, 7.9 for Taaffe and 8.8 for our Player of the Match, Gianluca Gracco.

30 games in the books, 16 more to go. We're in 2nd place with 61 points, a mere point behind Forest Green for the lead.

Good trains
Max Crocombe
Ashley Yeoman
Sergio Sanchez

Bad Trains
Elvis Hammond

Gianluca Gracco wins BS Premier Player of the Month and I win Manager of the Month

We lost $34k last month, but the board still loves me, even if Eddie Nisevic is still on their hearts and minds. Nevermind that we've three players who are equal to or better than him.

Samuel Bangura signs a new contract that tears up his $2,200 deal and has him making $14.75k instead, a massive raise, but one he's frankly earned.

@Boreham Wood (11th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Leon Clowes
DC Stevland Angus
DC Samuel Bangura
DR Izak Reid
DM Ryan Woodford
DM Aaron Wickham
ML Claudiu Hoban
MR Courtney Harris
ST Nabil Guedioura
ST Ashley Yeoman

Because everyone's tired, we've got a B-list lineup operating for the most part today. Could spell trouble.

7 - Yeoman came determined to play, slicing a beautiful pass by Guedioura, who does his best bang-in Gracco impersonation for the early lead. 1-0

40 - Yeoman gets knocked but he'll play out the half.

42 - I thought Crocombe had the ball when he pounced for it, but the attacker faked him out and literally dribbled it in. First terrible mistake I've seen from our Kiwi keeper in ages. 1-1

Uh, let's see.. 5.8, 5.9, 6.1 and you want to say we're playing well, Assman? Hell to the nawh, Shawty. Hammond comes on for Yeoman. So in my talking to players individually, I restored Guedioura's confidence but pissed off Wickham. Weird.

51 - Not going well here. 1-2

85 - Ridiculous. 1-3

So we lose Ashley Yeoman for 4 weeks and Ryan Woodford for 6-7 weeks. Better them than our starters. We also drop to 3rd, but are 2 points back. Getting to be a crowded field in the 1-4 spots - just 3 points separate those places. 5th is further back with 57 to 60 in 4th (Ironically that 5th spot is held by Portsmouth) and 6th is another 3 back with 54.

With 15 games left, anything can happen. Except our getting relegated. While it's mathematically still possible for us to drop as far as 22nd, we have no ability to crash all the way to 23rd or 24th, and even if we suddenly go on a cold streak, this will be considered a successful season.

[Izulde]

For the umpteenth time, Max Crocombe draws praise for his training ethic.

I try to negotiate a deal for an elite DM from Mansfield, but though they're interested, we can't come to terms with the player, who has outrageous wage demands.

@Cambridge (8th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Stevland Angus
DC Taylor Parmenter
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Izak Reid
DM Aaron Wickham
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Lewis Taaffe

Injuries and rest needs continue to cause backline shuffles.

27 - BS penalty awarded, but Crocombe blocks it!!!! A knock on Harris a few minutes later, but he'll play on til the half. We aren't doing so hot out there, by the way.

34 - Geez, now a knock for Parmenter

38 - Great boomer by Angus, but really, this is about Gracco showing once again why I love him so much. Out-heads his opponent, then zooms his way the rest of the way to a one-on-one, which he wins for the score. 1-0

44 - A third injury, and this time it's serious enough to need a sub. Clucas goes off for Solkhon

47 - Wickham crosses to the far post on a free kick, and Sanchez breaks free of the crowd by the time the ball gets there and puts in for the oh so late, oh so critical insurance. 2-0

Noble comes on for Harris, who had a lousy first half anyway (6.2), the injury clearly affecting him.

53 - Jesus. Another knock, this time for Solkhon.

60 - Despite the knock, team captain Solkhon steals the ball and passes it to Taaffe, who puts it up nicely for Gracco on the left flank. Our Italian Stallion gallops down the wing and then centers it to where none other than Solkon is there to rise up and head it in! 3-0

81 - I swear their guy was offsides, but at this point, it doesn't matter much. 3-1

Nobody thought we could pull this off, but we showed them. It's a huge win not only for the 3 points, but because it pushes a potential challenger for a playoff spot down further.

Sanchez earns Player of the Match with an 8.5, Gracco grabs an 8.3, and Solkhon rounds out the 7.5+ guys with exactly a 7.5 Nice performance from our team captain in what will be his final year with us.

Unfortunately Seanan Clucas is out 4 weeks, adding to our injury issues.

But guess what? We're now in first place! Granted, it's only by a point, and 2nd place Mansfield, who has been as fast rising as we have, still beats us on goal differential, but it's a delicious thing to savor.

Elvis Hammond is hurt in a reserves game and is out 6-7 weeks.

We lose Leon Clowes for 2-3 weeks with a virus, although on the bright side Samuel Bangura continues his stellar development.

vs Dorchester (20th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Tom Sharpe
DC Samuel Bangura
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Izak Reid
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Aaron Wickham
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Lewis Taaffe

We're having some good discussions with some teams about possible loans, I think, so we may see this shake up again by end of season. But for now, this is probably our best lineup. This should be an easy win.

7 - We're playing like ass right now, and should've surrendered a goal there. Pathetic.

16 - Knock for Parmenter. Suck it up, buttercup.

22 - Bullshit offsides call to stop what would've been a sure goal on our side.

24 - After an insanely long sequence that see us pass back to Crocombe twice and do a lot of movement, Harris finds Taaffe, and our biggest surprise of the year dribbles a bit, finds a seam, and knocks it in. They cry about it being offsides but fuck you. There were defenders well in the way. 1-0

Placing someone in sub of Parmenter at the half involves a lot of risk that I'm not comfortable with, so we'll roll with it for now.

64 - The injury issues just keep mounting. Taaffe's next on the list, and Guedioura comes on for him. Now's the time when I roll the dice, putting Challoner at DL, moving Sharpe and Bangura down the line at DC, and shift Sanchez to DM.

71 - Long free kick by Reid sees McNish beat out everyone else and his header finds its way home for majorly majorly important breathing room. 2-0

77 - Goal by them is disallowed due to offsides. Whew.

80 - We're robbed of a clear penalty, which is ridiculous.

Despite spirited Dorchester efforts, we fend them off the rest of the way, and get a solid, workmanlike win. 7.5 for Crocombe, 8.0 for PotM McNish and the usual spate of 7s galore.

Damn it. Lewis Taaffe is out 2 months. Major blow.

By a single attendee, we broke the attendance record and now have 881 as our high mark.

Another injury. Brad Varney out 4 to 5 weeks. Granted, he's a reserve, but still.

Max Crocombe in Team of the Week.

Although we tried to get him on a straight transfer and failed due to contract demands, we nonetheless secure DLR Ben Nunn on loan from Boreham Wood for the rest of the season. He's right up there with Izak Reid for second best DR behind Bangura, so the 24 year old gives us versatility and options.

Poor pitch conditions cause a game postponement and I really need to talk to the board about that for next season.

Oh, and Liam Priestley and Jordan Smith finish out their loans. Neither one impressed much in their time there.

@Portsmouth (6th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Tom Sharpe
DC Samuel Bangura
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Izak Reid
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Aaron Wickham
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Ashley Yeoman

Going to be a tough matchup against the team I wanted to manage, so this game takes on major significance.

19 - Wow. So this is what a Premier League stadium looks like. Massive, to where players look smaller. Reid shoots an amazing pass forward, which Wickham of all people finds, dribbles forward, and calmly plants in like he was a striker. Damn. Never would have imagined that! 1-0



24 - Harris heads it to Yeoman, and our much misaligned striker sends it up for Gracco, only Portsmouth intercepts, but the defender can't control it, and the Stallion swoops in. From there it's a one on one, and he's not going to lose that one after missing an easy shot earlier in the game! 2-0

42 - Terrible job of marking. 2-1

We'll keep this going for now.

48 - He's tired and just had a terrible pass, so off goes Yeoman and on comes Guedioura.

71 - Fabulous game by Wickham but he's running out of steam, so Ben Nunn comes in at DL, with Sanchez moving to DM and slidings for Sharpe and Bangura

75 - Uhoh. Knock for Gracco

81 - Oh how awesome! Parmenter tackles the Portsmouth midfielder, gets up, runs and gets the ball, and threads it to Gracco. Knock or no, our superhero striker surges through and bangs it home!!! 3-1

And it's ours! Terrible game by Guedioura in the second half though, no matter what the 7 rating was, and Nunn's debut 6.5 did not excite. What does excite? How about Gracco and his 8.8 Player of the Match performance, Parmenter's 7.8, and of course Wickham's 7.9?

Oh, I forgot to mention, since I missed it in the news items, Parmenter did sign that contract extension, and for the same salary as he's making this year, with a little bit of finagling on my part.

So here's the good news. With the win, we have a game in and 2 points ahead of Mansfield, though they're still 2 ahead of us on goal differential. We also have a 7 point buffer and a game in hand on 4th place.

Here's the bad news. 3rd place Forest Green has a game in hand as well, and with a win get to 69 points, which would leave us with only a 1 point lead if we lose our game in hand.

And the horrific news? Gianluca Gracco is out 6 to 7 weeks, and his 7.55 average rating is the highest in the entire league, in addition to his 20 goals. Lewis Taaffe, our other starting striker, has 9 goals, and between them, they have 29 of our 62 goals.

And we have just two days left to the transfer window close

Good Trains
Sergio Sanchez
Samuel Bangura
Taylor Parmenter

Bad Trains
Dale Binns

I finish in 2nd to Altrincham's boss for Manager of the Month voting, and Mansfield finished 3rd. Frankly, I think that's a bit of rob job for Mansfield.

We're still bleeding money, losing $55k last month.

AFC Telford, a Blue Square North side, fucking steals a striker from us that we were just about to land on a season-long loan.

Fortunately, we're able to get two key season long loans in 23 year old striker Jake Reed and 20 year old DM Kieran Martin. The latter could in fact be a long-term starting defensive midfielder if I can transfer him, and almost thought about that instead of a loan, but wanted to make sure we control our finances.

Gianluca Gracco is in the Team of the Week, a bittersweet accolade.

Max Crocombe gets yet more praise for how hard he's working in training.

vs Lincoln (18th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Tom Sharpe
DC Samuel Bangura
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Izak Reid
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Kieran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Jake Reed
ST Ashley Yeoman

Note that Yeoman is at 87%. That's how bad a shape we're in up front, even with grabbing Reed on loan. Our only hope? Fucking survive. Oh yeah, Lincoln brought in 8, yes *8* transfers at the deadline, the busiest by far.

15 - Yellow for Sharpe

33 - Yellow for Reed. Also both our strikers are at 77% energy. This is not good at all.

35 - And there's Crocombe out too early. Ugh. 0-1

39 - Yellow for Yeoman. That's both our strikers now with a yellow, BTW. AND tired. And just... fuckity fuck fuck.

Yeah, this game had fucking trap all over it. I yank McNish for Hoban, on the playing like shit principle.

60 - Yellow for Bangura

62 - Martin pounds the ground with his fist after a fuck up play and well he should. Off he goes for Clucas.

90 - Wide open shot for Parmenter and he shanks it.

Completely fucking unexcusable for this pissant turd of a game. I don't give a fuck the striker situation you do not fucking lose at half to a motherfucking relegation candidate team fucking loading up the god damned fucking bus with 8 fucking new transfers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ESPECIALLY A FUCKING TELEVISED GAME!

I make the bold claim just before our biggest game of the season that I see us as the title favorites.

vs Mansfield (2nd)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Samuel Bangura
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Izak Reid
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Kieran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Jake Reed
ST Nabil Guedioura

Just realized Bangura at DL and Sharpe at DC gives us the strongest lineup. Nobody is giving us a chance in hell of winning this one, and nor should they. Thing is, we lose here, and we're out of the #1 spot.

12 - Yellow for Sanchez

We're playing extremely tense, but manage to get out of the first half with a tied scoreline. Clucas comes on for Martin at the break, who has played like ass his first two games.

46 - Well, that'll make things a lot easier. Double yellow for some Smith on their side, and we now have essentially a full half of the power play.

64 - I'm tired of watching Sharpe suck shit out there, so Bangura moves down, and Nunn hops in.

77 - While Clucas gets a yellow, I'm really here to mention how we have a fucking man advantage and yet they've had 80 million shots with only 10 guys and we can't even get a fucking one out there

We'll take the point, at this point. Bangura wins PotM with a 7.4 - that's how uninspired this game was. Oh, and get this... I now find out that Jake Reed hasn't scored in 20 matches. No wonder our striker showings have been such shoddy shit.

10 games left. We're in first place by 2 points, 4 points ahead of 3rd, and 7 points still keeps us in the promotion playoffs. By the way we've officially clinched that we can't relegate no matter what we do, so that's good at least.

If we can just hang on until March, Lewis Taaffe should be back by then, and another couple weeks for our hero, our champion, our everything, Gianluca Gracco.

I only hope we're not out of the title race by then.

[Izulde]

That draw broke our attendance record again, this time going from 881 to 910, so an appreciable jump.

@Dover (14th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Samuel Bangura
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Ashley Yeoman
ST Nabil Guedioura

Things are starting to improve on the injury front, and I just have we have the Skillz to defeat Dover at Crabble.

20 - Sketchy offsides call to negate a goal for us.

We've been in control, but largely playing terrible, if that makes sense. Time to light a halftime fire under them. Clowes is freaked out by the ripping, so I move Bangura to the left side and insert Reid.

64 - Reed on for Guedioura

82 - Knock for Bangura

Both defenses played a sensational game in this one other than the iffy disallowed goal, so yeah, we should have gotten the win here by that margin. It's that kind of game again where Clucas' 7.4 is good enough for Player of the Match.

More injuries, as Samuel Bangura is out 4 to 5 weeks. We've had a terrible rash of them at the worst part of the year, and to key players to boot. Fortunately, Mansfield drew at home vs Portsmouth so we're still leading the league.

...Um, what?



Fuck the FA!

@Hereford (21st)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Ben Nunn
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Izak Reid
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Ashley Yeoman
ST Nabil Guedioura

42 - Yeah, because we don't have enough fucking problems with striker injuries and injuries overall, Yeoman takes a knock.

43 - We're taking a lot of long, useless shots because I'm not able to give instructions. And the relegation likely cows should've scored here, but shank it. Fuck the FA.

60 - Terrible pass by Crocombe and though I swear the fucker was offsides, they fucking score. 0-1

What a pathetic fucking game. All of our shots were long-range, so if my Work the Ball into the Box instruction was on, we would've won this one.

We still hold on to first place, but now Wrexham is just a point behind us.

Guess what? Ashley Yeoman is fucking out another god damned 6 to 7 fucking weeks. Fuck the injury rash

Ian Gay tells me to rip Hereford's poor pitch to the media to make our players feel less responsible for that shitstain loss. Good idea, so I do, and mock the Cows' manager while I'm at it.

In happier news, Lewis Taaffe is finally back to full training.

Good trains
Tom Sharpe
Sergio Sanchez
Courtney Harris

Bad trains
Max Crocombe
Brad Varney

We lost $22.8k last month.

vs Ebbsfleet (13th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Izak Reid
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Lewis Taaffe
ST Nabil Guedioura

Gracco should be back by next game, as he started training again just before this contest.

1 - It's so good to have one of our best strikers back. McNish passes it to Taaffe, who I think is going to shoot, but instead he makes the brilliant move to pass it to the other side of the post where a running Clucas is there to literally walk it in. 1-0

6 - Parmenter gets into a back and forth with a defender in the box, by gets the last steal and passes it to Taaffe, who shoots it in like he didn't just miss a month and a half of soccer! 2-0

30 - McNish chases down a loose ball on the left flank and crosses it to the far post. Charging like a bull, Harris makes a Goldberg-Spear style header at the goal and it's in! 3-0

33 - Long-range free kick goal. 3-1

35 - Are you fucking kidding me right now?! A knock for McNish

Hoban on for McNish at the half because there's no way I'm going to risk it getting even worse than it already is.

49 - Yellow for Clowes

71 - A poor pass back allows Guedioura to steal the ball, dash forward, and shoot... ...and it bounces off, but he sticks with it, gets a second chance opportunity and makes it!! 4-1

72 - With the game now well in hand, I can sit Taaffe and put it in Reed.

Prior to this smashing victory, we'd only had 1 win in the last 5 games, so this was a crucial get. Clucas wins Player of the Match with an 8.5 rating and it's 7.8 for Harris, 7.6 for Parmenter, 7.7 for Guedioura, and 8.2 for Taaffe. Been a while since we've seen lines like that.

Gainsborough and Colwyn Bay are officially relegated. Sure fucking enough, Callum McNish is out 5 to 6 weeks. UGH!

We're now tied on goal differential with Mansfield, but are only 2 points ahead of them, and still just 1 point ahead of Wrexham. 4 ahead of Portsmouth and 5 ahead of Forest Green. We're also 10 points ahead of 6th place Exeter with 7 games left to play, so while we have no room for error in terms of winning this thing, we do have a buffer for promotion playoffs.

But of course, I want the trophy now that we've come this far.

[Izulde]

Rightfully deserved that Lewis Taaffe makes it to the Team of the Week. He should have won Player of the Match, because his return instantly sparked us.

@Colwyn Bay (Relegated)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Ben Nunn
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Izak Reid
DM Kieran Martin
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Claudiu Hoban
MR Courtney Harris
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Jake Reed

Always dangerous to be on the road to a team that has absolutely nothing to lose.

11 - On his first game back, Gracco fakes out the opposition and passes to the left post, where Martin's all alone and comes in for the cool shot and goal. 1-0

34 - Pressure by Reed causes an Own Goal for Colwyn Bay. What an absolute disaster this season has been for them. 2-0

41 - Gracco patrols outside the box before passing it to Hoban, who, by the way I got ridiculed for saying he was my replacement pick for McNish, and the Romanian himself did not feel worthy... anyway, he centers it, and Reed kicks the ball through a seam to put it in and finally end his goal drought! 3-0

Yeah let's just keep this going for now.

74 - We'll victory lap it with Binns in at ML and Solkhon at DR, Reid moving up to MR

89 - Yellow for Nunn

7.8 for Sanchez, 7.5 for Nunn, 7.6 for Clucas, 8.2 for Player of the Match Martin, 8.0 for Reed

Upset loss for Wrexham means we're now 2 points ahead of Mansfield and even on goal differential with them, 4 points up on Wrexham, 5 on Forest Green, 7 on Portsmouth, and 12 on 6th place, which has now changed hands with Macclesfield. 6 more games to go and we're getting closer to locking up at least playoffs.

De'Jaune Taylor-Crossdale comes back on loan from Gloucester. He made 12 appearances, scored 2 goals, and had a 6.54 rating. But he goes right back out on loan for 2 months to Klingstonian in the Blue Square South.

Youth Candidates
Only two guys worth talking about - MR Leigh Wade, who could turn into a pretty good player, and ST Jason O'Dea, who won't get a contract because we're loaded with striker prospects as it is.

@Exeter (7th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Izak Reid
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Claudiu Hoban
MR Courtney Harris
ST Lewis Taaffe
ST Jake Reed

Going to be a tough fight, but an important one. Well, every game from here on out is important, but winning here greatly damage their playoff promotion hopes while hopefully coming close to securing our own spot.

4 - Their goalie has nervous hands with the ball and we've already had numerous shots at it in two highlights. This one sees us with three different chances on rebounds before Clucas finally gets it in. 1-0

13 - Yellow for Clucas

42 - Fucking ugh. 1-1

We've been the better team by far, but that fucking stupid late allowance screwed things up. Reed is having a terrible game, so he's pulled for Guedioura.

54 - What the fuck kind of shot was that, Harris?! Great pass from Clucas and you should have DESTROYED THE GOAL, not fucking kicked it right at the fucking keeper!!

56 - WTF Hoban?!?! Guedioura sets it up perfectly for you and you do the same fucking thing as Harris just did?!?!

57 - There's some crazy hockey-style mugging of our boys going down in the box and finally the ref calls the penalty. Exeter's wigging out but it's well deserved. My boy Crocombe calmly jogs over from our goal and blasts it in for the lead! 2-1

82 - Unfuckingbelievable, and yes I actually just fucking shouted that at my god damned fucking screen. Sanchez misses a jumper and they hit the long range goal. 2-2 Out goes Clowes for Nunn

NO SHIT WE FEEL WE MIGHT HAVE WON THIS FUCKING GAME!

And yep, we just fucking lost the top spot to Mansfield on fucking goal differential 1 fucking goal differential

Want to know what's even better? Taylor Parmenter is out 4 weeks a week later

Exeter breaks Luton Town's FA Trophy streak. Look at all the fucks I do not give.

Jordan Smith goes on loan to Bath. We bring in MLR Christian Nanetti on loan just as a stopgap measure at the deadline.

vs Chester (19th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Samuel Bangura
DM Kieran Martin
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Claudiu Hoban
MR Courtney Harris
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Lewis Taaffe

We need a win here, and should expect one.

1 - Yellow for Gracco

36 - We're playing sloppy, with awful passing and finishing. Disgusting. Yellow for Sanchez here, by the way.

43 - Oh look, another fucking knock for Gracco like WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH MOTHERFUCKING STRIKING INJURIES YOU FUCKING WHORE'S GET OF A GAME!

A lot of halftime shuffles - Guedioura on for Gracco, Sanchez to DM, Bangura to DC, and Reid at DR, with Martin going off.

70 - Remember last game when Hoban fucked up an easy goal? Well, here he redeems himself by getting first to an open ball in the six yard box following a deflection and kicking it in. 1-0

Our play improved dramatically in the second half, and though it was an ugly one with Sharpe's Player of the Match-winning 8.0 the lone highlight, we got the 3 points and secure ourselves a playoff spot.

Gianluca Gracco is out 4 to 5 weeks

940 people attended that match against Chester, breaking our attendance record again.

We're still in 2nd, still behind on 1 fucking goal differential. Also still 4 points up on Wrexham, 6 on Forest Green, and 8 on Portsmouth with 4 to play.

[b]Elvis Hammond[/b and Aaron Cooke are retiring at the end of the season - Hammond from playing and Cooke from being our physio.

Good trains
Courtney Harris
Nabil Guedioura
Elvis Hammond

Bad trains
Dale Binns
Lewis Taaffe
Elliott James

I finish second in Manager of the Month voting to Mansfield, which makes sense.

We lost $45.1k last month.

vs Gainsborough (Relegated)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Ben Nunn
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Samuel Bangura
DM Ryan Woodford
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Christian Nanetti
MR Izak Reid
ST Lewis Taaffe
ST Nabil Guedioura

We have to manage this very carefully, because we have Forest Green two days after this, so after a lot of thought, this is the lineup I'm going to go with.

10 - Yellow for Clucas

16 - Guedioura passes it to Taaffe[/b, who elects for a spin move and pass back to Clucas. A half-circle pass later, Nanetti's got the surprise shot and score on his debut! 1-0

22 - Clucas to Guedioura to Taaffe and GOAAAAAL!!! 2-0

33 - Clucas steals the ball in the box and kicks it in for the goal and temporary possession of first place!!! 3-0

Every goal matters right now, so we're not going to let up at all.

50 - Bangura bangs a long ball that I think is a goal kick, but no it's a perfect pass to Reid! The follow-up is a center to Guedioura who waits to set himself, then kicks it home!!!! 4-0

78 - Want to know why I haven't made any subs? Because we're fucking kicking ass, and here's Reid on the right wing making a second straight beautiful pass to Guedioura who is full of confidence and fire right now and snags his second goal of the game. 5-0

Statement.fucking.win.

How dominant? 7.2, 7.6 and 7.8 are the lowest ratings.

8+ Ratings
Nabil Guedioura - 9.5 (Player of the Match)
Seanan Clucas - 8.6
Izak Reid - 8.3
Lewis Taaffe - 8.2
Christian Nanetti - 8.1
Ben Nunn - 8.0

Wrexham secures a playoff spot and Stockport is relegated.

3 games left. +2 GD advantage on Mansfield. Still 4 points ahead of Wrexham. We can finish no worse than 4th, and with another win, we're no worse than 3rd.

vs Forest Green (4th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Izak Reid
DM Kieran Martin
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Claudiu Hoban
MR Courtney Harris
ST Lewis Taaffe
ST Jake Reed

Taaffe is only at 87%, but we've shown that our offense falls apart without either him or Gracco in there. A win here, and we lock up at least 3rd place. Draw or lose, and chaos starts happening.

6 - Yellow for Taaffe

26 - Broghammer, a guy I really, really wanted but couldn't bring because of money, scores on us. 0-1

31 - Yellow for Clucas

33 - Yellow for Sanchez

43 - Yellow for Reed

44 - Reed's forced off with injury and it's Guedioura in.

Look, we're playing like shit this half and I tear them new assholes over it. We're in 2nd place now because Mansfield and Wrexham are both winning, and fuck that shit.

66 - Yellow for Hoban and Nanetti goes on for him.

Clowes and Guedioura pick up yellows as well and fuck this game. We got fined $2.1k for 7 players receiving yellows? FUCK YOU, ASSHOLES! IT WAS THE FUCKING COCKGOBBLING REFS THAT FUCKING SCREWED US!!!!

So remember that goal differential? Gone back to Mansfield and we're 3 points behind with 2 games left. Guess we're doing the fucking playoffs then.

Gianluca Gracco is shortlisted for BS Premier Player of the Year, but has no shot at winning.

@Woking (17th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Samuel Bangura
DM Kieran Martin
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Ashley Yeoman
ST Lewis Taaffe

We're almost back up to full strength, but at this point, it doesn't really matter. Our hopes of auto-promotion are all but dead.

7 - Fuck you, ref. We were onside.

9 - You can't call that McNish strike offsides, asshole. Long-range! 1-0

16 - Harris steals the ball inside the box after shadowing the defender for a long time, then passes it to the opposite post where Yeoman awaits the emphatic short goal. 2-0

28 - We're playing angry now. Taaffe's on the right wing and he centers it for a sliding Yeoman to literally tackle the ball in for his second goal of the game. 3-0

36 - Yellow for Bangura

As of the half, Forest Green and Wrexham are both losing. We're only 1 point ahead of Wrexham going into this one, and 5 ahead of FUFG. So with a win and losses by both of them, we can secure 2nd place.

43 - Yellow for Clucas, which means he won't be playing in the last game. Ouch.

49 - Beautiful booming kick by Bangura to Taaffe, but he's rapetackled in the box for the clear penalty. Woking laughably thinks it isn't, but it so is, and Yeoman's given the chance for a hat trick here.... and he converts! 4-0

56 - Another stupid pass by Crocombe. Should've cost a goal but didn't. Nanetti comes on for McNish.

58 - Yellow for Sanchez

86 - Ugh. And there's the double yellow for Clucas. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!

Minimum 7.2 for our starters, highlighted by Ashley Yeoman's 9.6 and Lewis Taaffe's 8.0.

Okay, here's the situation.

With one game left
Mansfield - 89 points - +47
Brackley - 88 points - +48
Wrexham - 87 points - +27

Scenarios in which Mansfield wins
Win in the final game
Tie with Brackley tie or loss
Brackley loss

Scenarios in which Brackley wins
Win and Mansfield tie or loss
Tie and Mansfield loss

Scenarios in which Wrexham wins
Win and Mansfield and Brackley losses

Seanan Clucas is banned for 2 games, so we really need to win and get some Mansfield help in the final game.

Nabil Guedioura is sent home with a virus. He's done for the season, I think.

Samuel Bangura and Max Crocombe are praised for their training results.

@Macclesfield (6th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Samuel Bangura
DM Kieran Martin
DM Taylor Parmenter
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Ashley Yeoman
ST Lewis Taaffe

Well, we sure as shit didn't get any favors in the final game draw. Mansfield is at Forest Green and Wrexham has the easiest matchup of all at Braintree. The other two teams have opponents with nothing to play for. We have a squad that can still get into the promotion playoffs by beating us.

It's all down to this. Let's go. We're not favored, so I tell the team just to relax.

We have several opportunities in the first half, but just miss converting any of them. Not that it matters because Mansfield is having an easy time of it against Forest Green with a 2-0 lead at the break.

51 - I forgot Wrexham can leapfrog us with a win. They're doing so now, up 1-0.

62 - Nanetti on for McNish. Mansfield's up 3-0 now and will win the league.

68 - Yellow for Clowes

77 - Nunn on for Clowes and Reed on for Yeoman.

81 - They blow a surefire goal.

84 - Harris with the beautiful juke move and the just rightly placed angled shot for the late lead to push us back up into 2nd 1-0

87 - We win a penalty appeal, but Crocombe has his first missed PK of the year... then Taaffe roars in for the rebound and sends it home!!! 2-0

88 - Reed plays a fabulous ball for Taaffe and the one on one is no problem! 3-0

8.8 for obvs PotM Taaffe, 8.0 for Harris and 7.6 for Sanchez.

Unfortunately it wasn't enough, as Mansfield also won 3-0, and we lose auto-promotion by a single fucking point.

Oh, it gets better. We draw Portsmouth as our opponent in the playoffs - you know? The team I tried to leave Brackley for?

Fellow promoters from last season Dorchester drop on the last game of the year.

Courtney Harris gets praised for his training efforts

@Portsmouth (Playoff Leg 1)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Samuel Bangura
DM Kieran Martin
DM Taylor Parmenter
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Jake Reed
ST Lewis Taaffe

Nobody, and I mean nobody, gives us a shot in this one, and for the first time in a long time, I think they're right to doubt us. Don't forget, they have the deadly Ashley Harris at striker, who is the one player in this league that scares me.

2 - Yep. Ashley Harris. 0-1

5 - OMFG GOD DAMN SON OF A BITCH ROBBED BY THE MOTHERFUCKING PUNK BITCHASS POST!!!!

13 - Yellow for Reed

39 - Fuck this. We're done. 0-2

44 - Reed steals the ball and crosses to Taaffe, who does his cool spin move and scores to give us a lifeline 1-2

Look, the goal was great, but a fluke. We're overall sucking out there. Bangura doesn't respond to my talk, and he's at a 5.9, so he's out for Nunn.

50 - 30 yard rainbow from Sharpe to Taaffe, and one on ones go in our favor a lot of the time. They do here and we've fought our way back!!! 2-2

51 - They answer immediately, but it's an offsides answer, so there!

56 - Sanchez is still having a shit day (5.8), so Nunn moves to DL, Clowes and Sharpe slide one down, and Reid replaces our vice-captain.

78 - Easy shot, and Reed blows it, his nerves getting the best of him.

Should've won, should've won, should've won. But we'll take the clean slate draw escape.

By the way, 15,148 fans showed up for that Portsmouth game, which is a Blue Square Premier record, breaking the 11,065 record set by Oxford in 2006. That's what happens when you have a former Premier League team in your conference.

A capacity sellout crowd of 4,000 is expected for the second game, with 1,000 of them Portsmouth fans

Whoever wins, we'll be facing Wrexham, who won 3-2 aggregate over Forest Green, which is good. I feel like FG is a tougher matchup for us.

vs Portsmouth (Second leg)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Samuel Bangura
DM Kieran Martin
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Lewis Taaffe

Note: There may be errors in previous lineups as I copy/paste and sometimes forget to write all changes. This is correct, though, and this is right here. McNish and Taaffe are at 88% each, but you dance with who brought you here, and our hero Gracco is back.

Everyone is still favoring Portsmouth.

26 - FUCKING BLOODY FUCKING HELLL DO NOT FUCKING LEAVE ASHLEY HARRIS WIDE FUCKING OPEN YOU FUCKREJECTS!w!!!!!! 0-1

I fucking scream at the team and yank Bangura and McNish for Reid and Nanetti.

70 - What a fucking waste of a god damned season. Fucking Taaffe shanks an open fucking goal.

83 - Hot potato in the box as Martin passes it to Gracco who defers to Taaffe, but our other striker doesn't like anything either so he hotfoots it to Nanetti, who scorches it home!!! 1-1

And we're on to extra time!

Nobody scores in extra time, though each side gets a couple opportunities, and it's down to a penalty shootout.

Portsmouth makes first 1-0

Crocombe does his part 1-1

Of course Ashley Harris scores 1-2

Goal for Taaffe 2-2

Portsmouth perfect still 2-3

Gracco gets goal 3-3

4 for 4 Portsmouth 3-4

Close one, but Martin gets it in! 4-4

Flawless five for five for Portsmouth 4-5

Harris keeps this thing going! 5-5

Unstoppable Portsmouth 5-6

Netting Nanetti!!! 6-6

PORTSMOUTH'S SHOT HITS THE BAR!!!!!

Now it's all up to Tom Sharpe... AND HE HITS IT!!!! WE'RE ON TO THE FINAL ROUND!!!!!!!!!!

7.6 for Sanchez as we were damned, damned lucky to win that and advance. Bet Portsmouth is wishing they'd paid the compensation to land me now.

Obviously that 4,000 people sellout smashed our attendance record and we got $75k in receipts, which destroyed our previous takings record of $24k in that monster upset of Oldham in the FA Cup 1st round last season. To put this in perspective that one game is equal to what we take in about 2-3 months

Taylor Parmenter is praised for his training work as is Max Crocombe.

Good Trains
Sergio Sanchez
Elvis Hammond
Dale Binns

Bad Train
Christian Nanetti

The board is willing to offer me a one year contract worth $66k a year. I don't like that number, and I think if we go up to League 2, we're automatically turning professional, so I'll reject it for now.

Nabil Guedioura's training draws praise and he's up to a 2* player now in current ranking. He started off the season as a 1*.

Manchester City wins the FA Cup. Dorchester, Gainsborough, and much to my amusement Chester all fire their managers.

Wrexham (FA Final)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Samuel Bangura
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Lewis Taaffe

This is it. Everything riding on this game. Wrexham is pretty heavily favored, and there should be around 38,000 people in the Wembley Stadium seats.

Time to head on out and see how this goes.

4 - Gracco and McNish with rocket pass 1-2s and the Italian Stallion gallops through the defense and shoots a laser right into the goal!!!!! 1-0

44 - Gracco has had a couple shots since then, but nothing doing. Before the game I debated a long time over whether to start Clucas or Martin. That's relevant here because Taaffe passes to Harris, who lovely threads it to Clucas... ....who bangs it in the upper corner for the insurance goal right before the break!!!!! 2-0

45 minutes. That's all that stands between us and promotion.

61 - It wouldn't be Crocombe if he didn't put my heart in my throat with a stupid fucking pass, but Sharpe bails him out.

74 - Gracco can't convert on the great opportunity Taaffe gives him.

78 - 12 minutes away and we should probably think about shutting this into lockdown mode, but why? That's not the Brackley Town or the Izulde Jestor way. Instead, Yeoman and Reid go on for Gracco and Harris respectively. Unfortunately in that same moment, Lewis Taaffe own goals I feel sick. 2-1

87 - Sharpe is gangbanged and they score, but the ref wisely whistles the foul and disallows it.

AND WE'VE DONE IT!!!!! WE'RE GOING ON TO LEAGUE 2, WHICH I DON'T THINK I'VE EVER DONE IN FM!!!!!!!! CERTAINLY NEVER BACK TO BACK PROMOTIONS!!!!!

We slew the Injury Dragon who tried to kills, beat back all the damned naysayers who said all season long we weren't shit, and overcame Professional Portsmouth with their Premier League stadium!

7.9 for Player of the Match Sergio Sanchez, 7.7s for Clucas and McNish, and 7.5 for Gracco, as everyone secured a 7 or better in the most important for all the fucking marbles ever match of the year!

And it wasn't 36,000. It was 38,824!!!

Sure, $99k of our $210k money we just won had to be paid out in squad bonuses, but that still leaves $111k pouring into our coffers.



But that's not the best one... The sweetest news is this:



A lot of interesting stuff to report next time, but for now I'm just going to savor this one.

[Izulde]

First, the following:

Dale Binns
------------
Favored: Ashley Yeoman

Leon Clowes
------------
Favored: Callum McNish, Ashley Yeoman

Luke Dixon
------------
Favored Club: Brackley
Favored: Ian Gay

Gianluca Gracco
------------
Favored: Callum McNish, Me

Claudiu Hoban
-------------
Favored: Me

Izak Reid
------------
Favored Club: Brackley
Favored: Callum McNish

Tom Sharpe
-----------
Favored Clubs: Nottingham Forest, Brackley
Favored: Me, Ashley Yeoman

Ryan Woodford
-----------
Favored: Me

Good thing I didn't ditch Ashley Yeoman, as he has a lot of friends on this team. Note: I only included those players who had Brackley as a favored club or a Brackley member as favored personnel. I did not not list the non-Brackley favored personnel because it wouldn't mean anything.



To put some of these numbers in perspective:

Gianluca Gracco
Tied for 7th in Goals - 21
Tied for 5th in Player of the Match - 8
2nd in Shots on Target - 58%
14th in Average Minutes/Goal - 123.9*
Tied for 1st in Offsides - 47
3rd in Average Rating - 7.49

* - Note Nanetti was right behind him, but since that was a late season loan, I'm not counting it, no matter how huge he came up for us.

Max Crocombe
Tied for 1st with 3 others in PKs made
Tied for 1st in Team Goals - 89
Tied for 2nd in Games Won - 28
19th in Pass Completion - 82%
1st in Shutouts - 20 (2nd place had 18)

Sergio Sanchez
Tied for 5th in Team Goals - 85
Tied for 8th in Games won - 26
Tied for 5th in Cross Completion - 50%
17th in Average Rating - 7.3

Tom Sharpe
13th in Games won - 24
Tied for 19th in Team Goals - 76

Courtney Harris
Tied for 19th in Team Goals - 76
5th in Distance Covered - 312.7 miles
1st in Distance Covered/90 minutes - 8.1 miles

Seanan Clucas
Tied for 3rd in Yellow Cards - 13
Tied for 1st in Red Cards - 2
5th in Tackles/Game - 5.97

Taylor Parmenter
3rd in Tackles/Game - 6.14

Callum McNish
11th in Distance Covered/90 minutes - 7.9 miles

Lewis Taaffe
9th in Key Passes - 40
Tied for 20th in Average Rating - 7.28

Gives you a good sense of who our key players were, I think. Note that I only listed Top 20 rankings



Portsmouth averaged 7,234 fans this season to set a new BS Premier record.

Final Training Results - Good
Max Crocombe
Sergio Sanchez
Courtney Harris

Final Training Results - Bad
Stevland Angus
Elvis Hammond (Retiring anyway)
Izak Reid
Dale Binns
Christian Nanetti

The board's spending $232,000 to add 1,175 seats to the stadium as part of the terrace conversion as per League 2 requirements.

How the fuck do you get promoted as a relegation team and your manager doesn't even finish third in the Manager of the Year voting? That's some serious disrespectful bullshit.

I don't mind losing to Mansfield's Paul Cox. He deserved it. But to fucking vote Gateshead and Forest Green 2nd and 3rd when we finished 2nd in the league and were supposed to be dropped is a fucking slap to the face. Fuck all you assholes in the league.

We get a new one year uniform sponsorship deal. This one is worth $12k compared to last year's $8k, so it's a slight improvement at least.

The new wage budget is set $550k and $0 transfer budget.

The board realizes that only offering me a $2k raise after promoting is an insult, so they come back with a two year, $77k per deal, or a $17k raise plus extra job security, but I think we have to turn professional so I'm going to hold out a little while longer.

We made $133k last month, due largely to our prize money, and it's enough to actually make us stable.

Ian Gay got his B-Class license. Yay Ian!

The board is now offering me only a $66k a year, 2 year deal. Fuck that. After some haggling they bump it up to their original $77k a year deal, but I'm so pissed off, I want $83k a year now, which they finally give in on.

Dropping From League 1 to League 2
Wycome, Bury, Carlisle, Scunthorpe

Naturally we win Overachievers for BS Premier.

And naturally, Gianluca Gracco is voted Fans' Player of the Year.

New Overall 11 Players
Samuel Bangura
Gianlucca Gracco
Nabil Guedioura
Courtney Harris
Lewis Taaffe

All reserves, though Guedioura making it now is a weird choice.



The final semipro All-Time Brackley 11. That changes starting next season I *think*

Brackley given $524k in League 2 TV rights for next season. WOW!!!

And we officially go full-time. We also terminate the parent link to Oxford now that we're in the same league. Our scouting range is upgraded to include Ireland. Previously it was just the UK and more specifically England.

Transfer In - DM Kieran Martin (20) (Oxford)
Signed through 2019 with a $25k base salary on a fulltime contract, my very first one. I gave him what he wanted plus another year or two, I forget which, and he immediately signed on. Maybe I paid too much, but considering he did well for us, and it's so hard to find good defensive midfielders, I had to pull the trigger.

Transfer In - DMR Andy Yiadom (23) (Barnet)
Signed to a two year $48.5k/year part-time contract as I made the offer before we turned professional. He's immediately our best DR *and* MR, so what will probably happen is he takes over DR and Samuel Bangura moves to DL.

There's a lot of stuff to sort through and a greater plan of attack to be laid out, but for now, we've started laying the groundwork.

I will say that the board loves my signing of Kieran Martin back to the team, especially since we had no hope of getting Seanan Clucas back since he's under contract until the end of this year.

Oh, and team captain Brett Solkhon left after his contract expired. On the flip side, Ashley Yeoman is willing to stay or be offered a new contract. My staff still thinks Yeoman is our top striker by far, but the statistics just don't seem to bear that out. It'll be a tough choice in any case.

Goalkeeper Glance
It's still going to be Max Crocombe, though I think League 2 is the extent of his potential and his level. He can be decent here, but that's about it. So we might finally be seeing the end of the rainbow here.

Defender (Left)
We're okay here. Tom Sharpe and Samuel Bangura are both capable, and Leon Clowes is a capable option as well. Wouldn't mind getting another one here, but it's fine.

Defender (Center)
It's Sharpe and Sergio Sanchez as the starters, and it's clear that Clowes is going to serve the DLC reserve role that Stevland Angus played for us the last few seasons. Easily our strongest area.

Defender (Right)
As noted, Yiadom is the winner here, but Izak Reid has pretty much fallen to mediocre, so I'd like to potentially get yet more depth here.

Defensive Midfielder
We're okay at starters with Taylor Parmenter and Kieran Martin, but could use talent upgrade and depth, as it really falls off after them.

Midfielder (Left)
Callum McNish looks mediocre for the level, and depth is a screaming issue, as it's always been for us. I'd like to get a massive infusion and upgrade here, like what Yiadom was on the right side.

Midfielder (Right)
Courtney Harris will retain his spot, but like I said, Reid has dropped off, so the wing situation is going to be a concern.

Striker
The consensus is that Gianluca Gracco has maxed out his ability and at best he'll be average here. The Ashley Yeoman love is still strong as I've noted and they don't particularly like Lewis Taaffe, so this is going to be an area we need to take a long look at.

Synopsis
Goalie
Defensive midfield
Midfield (Left)
Striker

in terms of starting

and

Defender (R)
Midfield (LR)
Defensive midfield

in terms of depth

[Izulde]

Ultimately I release Ashley Yeoman, Aaron Wickham, and Liam Priestley.

We get an additional jersey sponsorship - 5 years worth $2.5k a year.

Fulltime Extensions
Samuel Bangura - 2019 - $33.5k
Leon Clowes - 2019 - $20.5k
Max Crocombe - 2018 - $33k
Gianluca Gracco - 2019 - $39k
Callum McNish - 2019 - $38k
Sergio Sanchez - 2019 - $35.5k
Tom Sharpe - 2019 - $38k

Probably paid too much or went too long on some of these guys, but I wanted to keep my core together for now. Courtney Harris is wanting to be the top money-earner and he isn't worth it, so he'll probably play elsewhere next season. We also couldn't agree to a deal with Taylor Parmenter and still aren't sure if Nabil Guedioura is worth it.

Transfer In - DL Jazzi Barnum-Bobb (19)
In addition to having one of the coolest names ever, JBB signs cheap - $9.25k base until 2019. Very raw right now and largely an injury cover, but he has enough upside that he's worth the cheap contract.

Transfer in - GK David Raya (19)
Extremely raw, but I see this Spanish keeper's ceiling as even higher than that of Crocombe's and he could eventually supplant our Kiwi as our top keeper. In fact, I'm going to make sure he gets some first team experience this year, because I'm high on him. Signed to a similar deal as JBB.

Transfer in - ST Alexandr Geynrih (30)
I broke the salary cap bank for this guy. $55k a year base and signed for 2 years, but this Uzbek who has 78 international caps and 20 goals to his credit is the single greatest player ever to pull on a Brackley jersey. I had to get a work permit for this guy. He only speaks Russian and Uzbek though, which could be an issue.

We have only scant room in the budget now, so we're going to sit tight and roll with what we have, maybe try and find some guys on loan.

This is what happens when you're the boss of bosses.



Let's see what comes up. I canceled the link with Leamington, by the way. No sense in feeding to a scrub team like that. We'll look for a better one.

By the way, our new super striker spent a year in South Korea. Didn't pick up even basic Korean while he was there, but oh well.

@ Maidenhead (Friendly)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Samuel Bangura
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Andy Yiadom
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Alexandr Geynrih

Only two new guys in our starting lineup, but there's still a long ways to go before they're fully familiar with our style of play. A little disappointed the familiarity bar is so low, to be honest. I then realize I haven't signed a Physio yet. Oops.

3 - Yeah, you think this guy's going to rock? Geynrih has a beaut of a long-range shot that he made look easy. 1-0

9 - Martin gets hurt

23 - Shit. Now Geynrih is knocked

24 - What the fuck? Now Gracco's hurt?!

So let's recap. We're barely beating a Blue Square N/S side and our two strikers and a starter at the thinnest position are all hurt. Yeah. Screw listing subs because it's preseason.

The second half was all about us missing easy shots for goal and just LOLbad.

Alexandr Geynrih is called up for international duty for July 25th and 30th.

vs Southend (Friendly)
GK David Raya
DL Jazzi Barnum-Bobb
DC Leon Clowes
DC Jordan Smith
DR Samuel Bangura
DM Luke Dixon
DM Keanan Martin
ML Claudiu Hoban
MR Izak Reid
ST Nabil Guedioura
ST De'Jaune Taylor-Crossdale

Yep, I'm giving the kids a chance to shine in this one, since it's on short rest.

20 - Hohum 0-1

Knocks for Guedioura and Barnum-Bobb before the half. I have to say, despite the allowed goal, Raya is quietly impressing me.

46 - Showing the n00bz how it's done, Sanchez strips the ball, Reid gains possession and passes it way down the middle for Taaffe, and a goal hits the nets. 1-1

66 - Welp. 1-2

I'm not mad about losing to Southend. We had a scrub lineup out there and though they're a BS Premier team this season after dropping, they have a long history as a League 1/2 team with a 6 year run in the Championship in the 90s, as well as a fluke reappearance there in 2006/07.

Wow. We have to register 25 players. As it turns out, it's not a problem because we have a lot of U21 guys. In fact, we barely have enough to make the minimum 15, leaving 10 spots open.

Speaking of open slots, we have an open coach slot and that goes to Mark Noon, who we lock up through 2019, and who is easily the best coach we've ever had. We also get the best physio we can, and lock him up for 2019 as well.

Max Crocombe said he wants the #1, so I give it to him.

vs Brentford (Friendly)
GK David Raya
DL Samuel Bangura
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Andy Yiadom
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Seanan Clucas
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Nabil Guedioura

By the way, Guedioura has gone from basic English to fluent English

23 - I meant to start Crocombe but accidentally left Raya still in. Anyway, Parmenter kicks it back to Bangura on the left wing, and a long, precise pass into the six yard box is perfect for Guedioura to just stroll it in. 1-0

42 - Caught napping. 1-1

55 - Hmmm. 1-2

56 - K. 1-3

68 - Guess who won't be losing his starting job anytime soon? 1-4

Now granted, that was a League 1 side we just played, but still.

Our feeder options aren't great. Team Northumbria has only been around since 1999 and are amateur, with a 1,000 seat stadium. Carshalton Athletic is at least semipro with an 8,000 seat stadium and a long history, so I'll recommend them.

International Update
Alexandr Geynrih scores a hat trick for Uzbekistan in a 4-0 smashing of the Philippines. Great work! Evidently a World Cup Asian Qualifying Match too.

And it is Carshalton who becomes our feeder.

@Tamworth (Friendly)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Samuel Bangura
DR Andy Yiadom
DM Sergio Sanchez
DM Keiran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Nabil Guedioura

If we can't even beat a BSN team, we may as well pack it in for the season.

4 - Harris bloops it for Gracco, who somehow gets the angle to drop into the goal. 1-0

32 - Clowes with the solo shot just inside the box and I'm feeling a bit better. 2-0

90 - Taaffe makes a great feed to Taylor-Crossdale for a nice capping score. 3-0

Gianluca Gracco gets hurt again, but this time he's only out 2 weeks.

One more friendly to go, but I'll wait until later to play that out.

[Izulde]

Uzbekistan beats the Philippines on aggregate, winning their second game 2-1, although Alexandr Geynrih didn't have the greatest game, so my guess that means they're on to the third round.

Farnborough and Wealdstone want De'Jaune Taylor-Crossdale on loan, with Farnborough offering 6 months loan. DTC is 5th on our strikers list, so I'm okay with that.

Staines and Solihull Moors want Jordan Smith on loan, with my former club wanting 6 months loan. Yeah that one I'm not so sure about, as while Smith is 6th in our list, that includes DMs, so I'm going to decline.

Good Trains
Taylor Parmenter
Luke Dixon

Bad Trains
Stevland Angus
Izak Reid

No parent club for us, unfortunately.

vs Yeovil (Friendly)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Samuel Bangura
DR Izak Reid
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Keiran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Lewis Taaffe
ST Nabil Guedioura

Neither side can get anything on target in the first half, so we're all square at the break.

63 - Fluke goal. 0-1

74 - I'm beginning to regret approving his loan because Taylor-Crossdale just make a splendid pass to Hammond for an equalizing goal 1-1

I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with our tying a League 1 team in preseason.

We made a $101k profit last month, due largely to season ticket sales.

Last season (BSP): $18 ticket price $285 season tickets $190k value Semi-professional Insecure Finances Local Reputation 3013 seat stadium to 4000 by season's end
This season: (L2): $24 ticket price $418 season tickets $675k value Professional Okay Finances Local Reputation

3537 seats are available right now until our expansion is done on November 15th. 1175 terrace seat conversion project is planned, but we'll see if that makes our stadium bigger.

Anyway, you can see how jumping to League 2 and turning professional has skyrocketed us from a financial standpoint.

My reputation turned Regional after we got to Blue Square Premier and it's still there.



A lot of work to do in terms of our facilities, though. Let's see if we can get the training facilities improved. I'm turned down because they say there's not enough money yet. Which is true - we're almost $800k in debt, even though we only lost $3.5k last season. By the end of the year, we should have our debt down to $415k.

With Brett Solkhon now gone, we've decisions to make regarding our captaincy. My thinking is Sergio Sanchez and Gianluca Gracco, given that Sanchez has been the vice-captain the last two years and Gracco is our top player. Stevland Angus actually has the highest influence, but will almost never see the pitch, and Alexandr Geynrih has the same influence as Sanchez and is 30, but can't speak the language.

Ian Gay thinks Gracco should be captain and Sanchez vice-captain, but IMO the Spaniard deserves it over the Italian even though Gracco is 25 to Sanchez's 22.

My gut was right, as a lot of players commented how happy they were Sanchez was named captain, and Gracco is very happy at being named vice-captain. I anticipate Sanchez being our captain for a very long time.

Staines again come calling for Jordan Smith, this time for 5 months, and this time I okay it. My old employers also want Jazzi Barnum-Bobb and are willing to pay his entire salary, but that's not going to happen. Unlike Smith, who's stunk with the time he's been given, JBB has really done pretty well.

Transfer in - DM/DC Agustin Battipedi (24)
Another reason why I was willing to let Smith go on loan. The Argentinian can be a backup to both DM and DC (Also plays MC). 2 year, $20.8k is a little steep for someone who's strictly a backup, but it's a DM tax.

Alexandr Geynrih is being left off the Uzbek national team for the game against Laos, but he's okay with it.

vs Burton
GK Max Crocombe
DL Samuel Bangura
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Andy Yiadom
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Kieran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Alexandr Geynrih
ST Lewis Taaffe

You know we've hit the big time when we can now have 7 subs as opposed to 5. Also there's Homegrown designations now.

4 - Yellow for Geynrih

11 - Sure looked offsides to me. 0-1

15 - Sheesh. Crocombe looks really lost at this level 0-2

19 - Harris heads it to Taaffe, who kicks it in and we've got our first League 2 goal. 1-2

25 - Why oh why did I give Crocombe that extension? 1-3

43 - Missing easy goals like that doesn't help matters.

My entire backline is sporting sub 6s, which is inexcusable. McNish and Sharpe appears not to GAF, so on come Hoban and Clowes in their place.

83 - Parmenter stringshots a beauty to Harris who runs in open space into the middle of the box, then flicks it to the left where Geynrih is racing to hammer it home, which he does! 2-3

91 - Yellow for Parmenter

I'm proud of the way we battled back in the second half, even if we fell short. By the way, attendance was 1,545 which literally doubled our average attendance from last season I think

We sell 586 season tickets compared to 225 last season, so that's a huge leap too.

@Milwall (Capitol One Cup
GK David Raya
DL Jazzi Barnum-Bobb
DC Leon Clowes
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Izak Reid
DM Agustin Battipedi
DM Kieran Martin
ML Claudiu Hoban
MR Leigh Wade
ST Nabil Guedioura
ST Jack Jeffery

Tanking the away Cup game at a League 1 side, you say? Yep.

17 - Own goal by Wade. Oops. 0-1

21 - Yep. 0-2

24 - Jeffery not only gets a yellow, he has to go off. LOL. I make McNish a MC and leave Guedioura as our lone striker up front.

Time to stop paying attention.

We go down 0-4 at the break but hold them scoreless the entire second half.

@Mansfield (16th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Samuel Bangura
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Andy Yiadom
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Kieran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Alexandr Geynrih
ST Gianluca Gracco

If we want to get out of the drop this season, we need to win matches like these.

35 - Shit job by Crocombe to get to a ball. 0-1

There's only two teams relegated from League 2 every year, but damned if we don't look like one of them this season. Taaffe in for Gracco

60 - Tired of watching Yiadom's poor play. He hasn't done shit since he came here. On goes Reid.

63 - Sigh. 0-2

Going to be a very long season. We're 23rd after the first two games.

[Izulde]

I've gotten mildly obsessed with this cover of "Let It Go"



And it may be fitting if I end up fired because of how much we suck hobbit snot at this level.

vs Kidderminster (3rd)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Samuel Bangura
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Leon Clowes
DR Andy Yiadom
DM Agustin Battipiedi
DM Sergio Sanchez
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Alexandr Geynrih
ST Lewis Taaffe

5 - Yellow for Sanchez

29 - They should've scored there.

35 - ...and there. Thought they did but it just managed not to break the plane and Bangura blasts it out.

It's hard to know if it's simply a lack of talent, or if it's a system failure that we've been doing so poorly so far the first few games.

46 - Right as I say that, Geynrih's heading it to Taaffe after a beautiful Harris pass. Taaffe literally dribbles through the defense and the goalie to walk it in the goal. 1-0

61 - I didn't want to have to do this, but Martin in for Sanchez, who has been awful at DM and was directly responsible for what should've been a goal by our opponents.

70 - After a pause, I put in Reid for Harris to keep the freshness there.

71 - Our own shoulda, as Taaffe weak-sauces a header to the side of the goal.

They score late but it's called back due to offsides and we eke out a victory. 7.7 for Leon Clowes, who is PotM, and 7.4 for Taaffe. Yep, we're back down to that level of measurement.

Eastleigh wants Jack Jeffery on loan, but only as a backup. Screw that. I'm not going to lose the training we have here just for him to get a few scant games.

vs Accrington (6th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Samuel Bangura
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Andy Yiadom
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Kieran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Alexandr Geynrih
ST Gianluca Gracco

0 - Oh wow! Harris makes a thunderous tackle, Gracco gets the loose ball and passes to Geynrih for the easy score. A flyer indeed, all the more dramatic since the Italian got his bell rung just seconds before the inciting tackle. 1-0

25 - A one on one for them and the guy shanks it totally.

38 - Harris takes a knock.

39 - Two straight clean sheets too much to hope for, I suppose. 1-1

43 - Yellow for Bangura

We've been doing okay. Yiadom and Harris come off with Reid at MR, Bangura at DR, and Clowes at DL.

57 - Reid flies it from the wing and I think the goalie's going to get there first, but then Geynrih does a diving header, falling to the ground as he nods it on... ... and it goes in!!! 2-1

68 - Did Gracco blow an easy goal? Yep, he did.

This right here is why I was willing to shell out $55,000 for a 30 year old who speaks no English. Geynrih naturally won PotM with his 2 goals and 8.8 rating. 7.6 for Gracco, 7.2 for Martin and 7.1 for Parmenter along with flat 7 for just about everyone else.

If it wasn't for our Uzbek, we don't get 3 points today and for a relegation candidate, every point matters. Just ask Southend and Grismby, whose 44 and 40 points saw them knocked down to BS Premier this season.

But it's our first win streak in League 2 and it's good enough for 12th. Right now every team in the league has at least 1 point, so it's great that we got those two narrow victories.

[Izulde]

Alexandr Geynrih gets called up the Uzbek national team for September 4th and 8th games against India and Singapore.

@Carlisle (10th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Samuel Bangura
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Andy Yiadom
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Kieran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Alexandr Geynrih
ST Gianluca Gracco

13 - 35 yard boomer by Yiadom lands in front of Harris who runs past his opponent and gets the 1 on 1... and the resulting shot is good! 1-0

23 - The opposing strikers are playing nervous and miss a chip shot here.

24 - Another nervy miss, even though they're beating us soundly. One thing I've noticed is that this game is having a ton more powerful tackles than I'm used to seeing, especially in the midfield.

Battipiedi on for Parmenter at the half. We've been playing better than I anticipated, but I expect they're going to finally break through in the second half. Parmenter's pissed about being pulled, but it's an energy issue. Sorry, dude.

60 - Yellow for McNish

71 - Hoban on for McNish

75 - That's... yep, offsides. Thought so. Our lead saved.

7.4 or higher for our entire backline and our goalie, capped off by Yiadom's 7.9 and PotM nod. 7.5 for Harris and Gracco, as everyone in the starting lineup posted 7 or better. 6.6 for Hoban is a little worrying, though, and our wing midfield depth still scares me.

Callum NcNish and Leigh Wade stand out in training but Elvis Hammond continues his decline.

The board's satisfied with me. We lost $17.8k last month. They love Alexandr Geynrih's signing, but are sad that Ashley Yeoman left. He landed on his feet nicely enough though, signing on with Boreham Wood for $90k a year. Sheesh. In 6 games, he's given them 3 goals and an average 6.54 rating. Not exactly what I would call ideal for that kind of money.

@Kidderminister (Johnstone's Paint Trophy)
GK David Raya
DL Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Samuel Bangura
DM Agustin Battipiedi
DM Taylor Parmenter
ML Claudiu Hoban
MR Izak Reid
ST Nabil Guedioura
ST Lewis Taaffe

Since this is a winnable match, I'm not going to water down the lineup *too* much. Plus you have to figure Raya is due for a good game at some point.

1 - Damn. Knock on Parmenter

Both sides appeal for a penalty and both get turned down, so it's only fitting it's all square as we go into the locker room at half. Parmenter aggravated his injury so he needs to sit out the rest of the game IMO. That means Martin even though it's going to put us in dangerous position for our next L2 game.

53 - Wow!!! Taaffe steals the ball on a backwards pass and races all the way down the pitch with no one even coming close to catching him and he slams it past the keeper! I'd show the highlight but it cuts in after the steal. 1-0

68 - Ugh. Raya literally drops the ball and they score on the rebound. 1-1

No extra time in this one. Straight to the PK shootout!

Kidderminister makes it 0-1

Taaffe scores 1-1

Kidderminister does it again 1-2

Martin barely makes it 2-2

Sigh. 3 of 3. 2-3

Battipiedi has no problems 3-3

So close to a block, but just shy. 3-4

Hoban MISSES

And of course Kidderminster makes the final penalty to win the game and advance.

8.3 for Lewis Taaffe and PotM but this loss is solely on Raya's shoulders and I can't help myself from letting him know that, which greatly upsets him.

Wow. Kidderminister's players angrily call out their manager with how he treats them. Two of them did in fact. Taylor Parmenter is out 5-6 weeks, a crippling blow.

Damn damn damn. Should've just started Crocombe.

[Izulde]

Mansfield added 11 players during the last transfer window. Sheesh. Shane Fagan is still whining about wanting first team soccer.

@Morecambe (24th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Samuel Bangura
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Andy Yiadom
DM Agustin Battipiedi
DM Kieran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Lewis Taaffe

18 - Opportunity after opportunity after opportunity and we miss, miss, miss... yet what happens on their first fucking offensive highlight? Yep, a fucking score. 0-1

42 - Favorable bounce for us keeps this a one score game.

We're playing terrible out there, and Martin gets all Eeyore on me during the halftime talk, so I put in Dixon

54 - Shit Crocombe pass = goal. 0-2

60 - Guedioura and Reid in for Gracco and Yiadom, both of whom have been fucking awful today.

82 - That kinda game. 0-3

Pathetic.

Uzbekistan destroys India 3-0, with Alexandr Geynrih getting a goal and posting a 7.5. The third round of qualifying is group play, and currently they're first in their group with India, China, and Singapore.

Bad game for Geynrih against Singapore (6.4), but Uzbekistan still wins 2-0, and they and China are in the early driver's seat for advancing to the Final Stage.

Geynrih and Harris make the Team of the Week.

vs Dag & Red (1st)
GK David Raya
DL Samuel Bangura
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Andy Yiadom
DM Agustin Battipiedi
DM Kieran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Alexandr Geynrih
ST Gianluca Gracco

38 - It's been a very quiet first half, with only one or two highlights thus far. Then there's this, with Martin passing to Battiepiedi and then on to Gracco for our Italian Stallion's first goal of the year six games in. 1-0

46 - McNish short-passes it to Geynrih, who lances it through an open hole of three defenders to Gracco. A short run later and a kick with a bit of loft to it, and we're looking in fantastic shape. 2-0

We're playing brilliantly and so far my new philosophy of switching keepers after one has a terrible game seems to be working out okay.

56 - Gracco pays back Geynrih with a beautiful pass and our Uzbek international star keeps the train running. 3-0

75 - Well, can't stop 'em all, kid. 3-1

76 - Of course, when you have a superior striker like Geynrih, and a good winger like Harris to get it to him, the occasional allowed goal is no problem. 4-1

77 - Terrible job defending that corner. 4-2

79 - Double yellow for one of their guys, which makes the comeback task that much harder.

Great win. 7.7 for Battiepiedi and Harris, and 9.3s for Gracco and Geynrih, the Uzbek beating the Italian for PotM honors.

Ian Gay praises Sergio Sanchez's development.

@Scunthorpe (21st)
GK David Raya
DL Samuel Bangura
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Andy Yiadom
DM Agustin Battipiedi
DM Kieran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Alexandr Geynrih
ST Gianluca Gracco

Smells like a classic trap game, on the road against a just dropped team who has yet to win at home this season.

14 - Battipiedi makes a sensational pass for Gracco who outpaces the four defenders closing down on him and strike its home for the goal. The fans are dancing in the stands! 1-0

25 - Damn near a repeat, but Gracco shanks the shot after getting it from Harris. It's just how he is.

39 - McNish runs down the wing and then centers where Geynrih is there to beat out the defender on the header battle! 2-0

44 - Yellow for Geynrih

Wow, what a fabulous first half!

48 - Yellow for Martin

54 - Dixon in for Martin, who has had a bad second half thus far.

61 - Bad positioning by everyone. 2-1

68 - Clowes in for Sharpe, the main culprit in the goal we just allowed.

92 - Lousy finish on a shoulda goal there, McNish. Clowes also picks up a late, late yellow.

8.0 for McNish, 7.8 for Gracco and 7.6 for Geynrih in a quite good result.

We're now up to 4th in the league through 8 games with 15 points. That's awesome, but it's still way early in the season, and even the drop zone guys have 5 points a piece.

Not gonna lie - I shudder to think where we'd be without Alexandr Geynrih. So far that gamble (we couldn't even scout him) has paid off in a huge way, as he ranks #8 in the league in overall rating.

[Izulde]

@Oxford (10th)
GK David Raya
DL Samuel Bangura
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Andy Yiadom
DM Agustin Battipiedi
DM Kieran Martin
ML Claudiu Hoban
MR Courtney Harris
ST Alexandr Geynrih
ST Gianluca Gracco

A chance for a real statement game here if we can beat our former parent club.

4 - Obvious offsides Oxford is obvious.

25 - No stopping that one. 0-1

41 - I love how well Gracco and Geynrih play off each other. Here, the Italian arcs it up to the far post where there's just enough hang time for the Uzbek to beat the keeper and equalize. 1-1

Bangura is having a garbage game so he comes off for Clowes at halftime.

60 - Taaffe on for an exhausted Gracco

83 - Caught not paying attention to the back door. 1-2

85 - Aaaaand an own goal by Taaffe. 1-3

We completely tanked it in the second half. Not cool. Not cool at all. Wasn't even Raya's fault. It was Yiadom and Hoban who let us down.

[Izulde]

Callum McNish was named to Team of the Week.

vs Hartlepool (16th)
GK David Raya
DL Samuel Bangura
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Leon Clowes
DR Izak Reid
DM Luke Dixon
DM Kieran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Lewis Taaffe
ST Nabil Guedioura
ST Jack Jeffery

Rest concerns force us to this lineup and that's with Martin running at 88%. This lack of DMs is killing us, but we're already over budget.

31 - Clowes is mowed down. 0-1

40 - Sigh. 0-2

Gracco and Battipiedi go in at the half for Jeffery and Martin out of sheer desperation.

84 - Rain pouring. Taaffe got a yellow prior to this BTW 0-3

Not ready to bench Raya yet. Not when 3 of the 4 backline guys posted below 6 and the high mark was 6.1

@Wycombe (17th)
GK David Raya
DL Samuel Bangura
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Andy Yiadom
DM Luke Dixon
DM Kieran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Alexandr Geynrih
ST Gianluca Gracco

46 - We've had a ton of sloppy passing all half, but this one has Geynrih backpedaling to snag a failed corner outside the box, wing it out to McNish, and watch the resulting pass to go Sharpe for the ground-eating header that scores mere seconds by the first half whistle blows. 1-0

Harris got injured during the first half, so he's replaced by Reid at intermission.

68 - Our shots have been soft all half, but then there's this one, where Geynrih strips the ball from the defender and Gracco beats the race to the loose ball and sinks it in. 2-0



80 - Bangura costs us one with a terrible pass so he's yanked for Clowes 2-1

87 - Gracco's knocked out of the game, so I put in Taaffe, because Guedioura's salary goes up to $5,000 if I put him in another game.

Whole lot of mugging in their goal box but it doesn't called for a penalty. We still hold on for the win. 7.8 for Sharpe, 7.6 for Dixon and 8.1 for PotM Gracco. That's Bangura's third straight bad game so he's going to get benched.

Gracco is out 2 months. Wycombe and Hartlepool fire their managers.

The Italian Stallion sure gets hurt a lot. Now the onus will be on Alexandr Geynrih to even more carry the side. We're 6th with the win, 18 points in 11 games, but considering we've been inconsistent and 10, 9 and 6 points all hover around the drop zone, it's by no means a safe buffer.

[Izulde]

@AFC Wimbledon (15th)
GK David Raya
DL Jazzi Barnum-Bobb
DC Leon Clowes
DC Samuel Bangura
DR Andy Yiadom
DM Agustin Battipiedi
DM Sergio Sanchez
ML Courtney Harris
MR Izak Reid
ST Alexandr Geynrih
ST Lewis Taaffe

1 - ...Well then. 0-1

2 - Bleh. 0-2

5 - Reid has to come off with injury. Harris to MR and Hoban in at ML.

30 - What's that? A first half hat trick? Yeah. 0-3

36 - Hoban hits Clowes for a header on a corner, but it's not anything worth hyping about, especially since Hoban gave away possession to lead to that last goal. 1-3

45 - Pile on, why don't we? 1-4

53 - Guess who's getting benched next game? 1-5

59 - Guedioura on for Geynrih

Yeah this was probably the worst performance ever. Just awful all around.

Good Trains
Callum McNish
Sergio Sanchez
Samuel Bangura

Bad Trains
Max Crocombe

Loss of $27k last month and Samuel Bangura is getting blasted for his recent play, which is understandable - he's sporting a 5.9 over the last several games.

Alexandr Geynrih has international duties again. We find a goalie who's so far ahead of everyone else on our squad it's incredible and we'd love to sign him, but will the board swing for it even though we're over budget?

...Yes, yes they will. While we wait to hear back, Oldham fires its manager, and good riddance to him, as they're dead last in League 2 at the moment.

vs MK Dons (16th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Jazzi Barnum-Bobb
DC Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DR Andy Yiadom
DM Agustin Battipiedi
DM Kieran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Alexandr Geynrih
ST Lewis Taaffe

28 - Beautiful free kick by Barnum-Bobb to McNish, who centers it to Geynrih for the score and early lead! 1-0

I'm really impressed with how our defensive line has bounced back from the ghastly showing last game. Yiadom moves up to MR and I'm going to give Bangura another chance to prove himself by putting him in at DR.

60 - A failed corner sees Geynrih take the ball and run horizontally towards the right flank, whereupon he crosses it back to Taaffe, and boom goes the dynamite! 2-0

75 - Clowes hits a rocket shot that bounces off Taaffe, who turns around and does a slide tackle back pass to Martin. Long-range shot? No problem! It's his first goal of the year. 3-0

81 - Bangura knocks it to Taaffe who can't control it and has to kick it back out to him on the wing. No problem here either, as Bangura boots it into the six yard box, where Geynrih beats the defense for another goal. That's one way to get back in good graces. 4-0

8.0 for Sharpe, 8.2 for Clowes, 8.1 for Martin, 8.5 for McNish, 8.3 for Taaffe, 9.4 for PotM Geynrih. What an incredible bounceback against a team nobody thought we could beat.

In what I think is the third time this season, our opponent fires their manager immediately after losing to us.

We get our goalie, snapping up 21 year old Welshman Luke Chambers on a deal through 2019 that pays him $48.5k base with 10% raises and way too much money. He was a backup goalie for Southend last season before they relegated and didn't look so hot there, but his potential says he can be elite at this level.

Luke Chambers struggled in a 2-3 loss to England, but Alexandr Geynrih notched 2 assists and an 8.1 rating in a friendly against India that ended in a 4-1 scoreline.

vs Cheltenham (23rd)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Jazzi Barnum-Bobb
DC Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DR Andy Yiadom
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Kieran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Nabil Guedioura
ST Lewis Taaffe

19 - Taaffe's thunderous crack is deflected by the goalie, but that leaves him out of position and Harris has just enough pace to win the race and put in the chip shot. 1-0

35 - Knock for Guedioura

44 - Knock for Clowes and Harris picks up a yellow

Play on, boys. Play on.

45 - Wow. Now Crocombe is knocked.

71 - Disallowed goal due to Crocombe getting fouled. Sanchez, who I forgot to put back in the starting lineup, goes on for Clowes.

Ugly win, but we'll take it. Nabil Guedioura is out 3 to 4 weeks, which further decimates our weak striker situation.

@Bristol Rovers (9th)
GK Max Crocombe
DL Jazzi Barnum-Bobb
DC Leon Clowes
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Andy Yiadom
DM Agustin Battipiedi
DM Luke Dixon
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Jack Jeffery
ST Lewis Taaffe

33 - And that's why you're going to get booted out of here, Crocombe. Bad pass = allowed goal. 0-1

Bangura comes on for Barnum-Bobb, who's had a surprisingly good run in the lineup until now.

70 - Hoban on for McNish

78 - Injury for Clowes

To be honest, I didn't expect to win this one. We were on the road and pretty weak at striker.

Luke Chambers impressed in a 4-1 victory over Iceland's U-21s, but Alexandr Geynrih had one of his worst games ever in a 0-0 draw with China, but that still leaves Uzbekistan on top in their group and with a commanding lead. Wales, on the other hand, failed to get their U-21 team out of group qualifying, England and Romania advancing instead.

vs York (2nd)
GK Luke Chambers
DL Jazzi Barnum-Bobb
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Samuel Bangura
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Kieran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Jack Jeffery
ST Lewis Taaffe

Our offense has been completely nonexistent in the first half, but our defense at least has held strong.

66 - Hoban on for McNish; Battipiedi in for Martin

74 - Perfect opening for Jeffery and he freezes. Ugh.

83 - Nothing to be done there. 0-1

Harrogate offers to take Max Crocombe on loan for 3 months and pay 100% of his salary. We'll take that. Other teams make offers to pay for less than 100% of wages, which is unacceptable.

vs Oldham (24th)
GK Luke Chambers
DL Jazzi Barnum-Bobb
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Leon Clowes
DR Samuel Bangura
DM Agustin Battipiedi
DM Kieran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Andy Yiadom
ST Alexandr Geynrih
ST Lewis Taaffe

20 - Bullshit disallowed goal. No way Geynrih was offsides. In the next breath, Chambers shows why we pay him the big money by making an insane save after a terrible Clowes pass. Wow!

30 - Butter-smooth pass from Geynrih to Taaffe, who gets the excuse me bump off the upright for the goal. 1-0

67 - Reid on for Yiadom

70 - Yellow for Geynrih

79 - Dixon on for Martin

It was that kind of game where Bangura's 7.9 wins Player of the Match. It wasn't pretty, but 3 points is 3 points, and through 17 games, we have 27 points, which puts us 5th. Drop zone is 17/14/13 at 22/23/24 even though only 23 and 24 drop, but 23, which just fired their manager (Bury), has a game in hand. There's no easy outs in League 2, put it that way.

Max Crocombe takes the loan agreement from Harrogate and our wage bill thanks us, though we're still something $26k over it.

[Izulde]

@Northampton (2nd)
GK Luke Chambers
DL Leon Clowes
DC Sergio Sanchez
DC Taylor Parmenter
DR Andy Yiadom
DM Agustin Battipiedi
DM Kieran Martin
ML Claudiu Hoban
MR Courtney Harris
ST Alexandr Geynrih
ST Lewis Taaffe

39 - They've had shot after shot after shot on us with nothing doing. Meanwhile, we've had a complete shank by Taaffe and then this: Taaffe with the beautiful drop shot pass to Geynrih, who shrugs off two would-be tacklers and slots it home shortly after dribbling into the box, already his 10th goal of the year. 1-0

46 - Terrible diving decision by Chambers allows them to literally walk into the goal. 1-1

64 - Dixon on for Martin, Jeffery on for Taaffe. But before that happens, Martin does a beautiful pass for Geynrih, whose shot is denied by the post

72 - Heh. Jeffery is knocked out, so we try Harris at striker and Reid at MR.

80 - Not sure WTF happened there, but they score 1-2

Not going to be harsh on them for this. Our backs were up against it to begin with, and then with the injuries and yeah...

Speaking of which Jack Jeffery is our third injured striker and is out for 2 months. In other news, Crawley fires their manager. Tough time to be in League 2 with all the firings.

Loan-In - MLR Connor Hughes - 3 months
From Alfreton although he apparently can't be registered for the next match. Strictly a backup, but one who provides better quality than Reid on the MR and definitely Hoban on the ML.

Good Trains
Tom Sharpe
Callum McNish
Samuel Bangura

Bad Trains
Alexandr Geynrih
Izak Reid
Dale Binns

Board's delighted and we made $31.5k last month despite being over wage budget due to the fact our attendance has shot way up - we're averaging 1,763 attendees - still way last in League 2 - only Crawley is also below 2,000 and they're just that at 1,923 - but still.

@Aldershot (18th)
GK Luke Chambers
DL Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Andy Yiadom
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Kieran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Alexandr Geynrih
ST Lewis Taaffe

18 - McNish-Taaffe-Geynrih create a triangulation, and it ends with our Uzbek blasting one past the poor keeper for the early lead. 1-0

23 - Taaffe argues for a penalty, doesn't get it, and is slapped with a yellow for his efforts.

35 - Perfect cross by McNish to an open Harris on the far side, and the Aldershot goalie is caught napping, giving up the easy score. 2-0

55 - Sharpe misses a jumper and Chambers comes out which ends up in a long-range effort scorching right over his head and into the net. 2-1

59 - I'm starting to hate Chambers. Poor decisions. 2-2

67 - Bangura on for shoddy Clowes

73 - Their goalie can't hang on to the ball and Geynrih is right there to punish him for it. 3-2

7.9 for McNish, 7.7 for Taaffe and 8.8 for PotM Geynrih. It was a scary win, but a win nonetheless.

We're now 7th, just barely hanging on to the last playoff spot.

[Izulde]

vs Hereford (FA Cup 1st Round)
GK Luke Chambers
DL Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Samuel Bangura
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Kieran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Alexandr Geynrih
ST Lewis Taaffe

What would happen if we actually *tried* in a cup competition? Let's find out.

42 - God, this game has been frustrating. Weak shot after weak shot after weak shot. Finally Taaffe, Martin and Harris do a circle of passes that caps off with the latter sending it to Geynrih, and *finally* we get the damn goal. And of course they're crying that it was offsides, but whatevs. [ b]1-0[/b]

71 - I forgot we have Hughes now, so he goes in for McNish and Battipiedi bops in for Parmenter.

82 - Well shit. Geynrih's hurt.

Great job by the defense as they only threatened twice all game. 8.0 for Sharpe and Harris, the latter earning PotM. 7.8 for Geynrih, and he's out 4-5 weeks. Not the worst injury in the world, thankfully.

$31,770 pours into our bank account with the win.

[Izulde]

Sergio Sanchez is praised for his training. Luke Chambers does okay in Wales' 3-0 win over Taipei, but he was a reserve.

@Torquay (10th)
GK David Raya
DL Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Andy Yiadom
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Kieran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Nabil Guedioura
ST Lewis Taaffe

7 - Missed header by Parmenter gives them the goal. 0-1

30 - 25 yard strike a better keeper could have stopped. 0-2

No surprise our offense is struggling. We always do when Gracco and Geynrih are both out. It may be time to clear some guys out at the end of the season. Anyway, Bangura on for Yiadom at the break.

77 - Parmenter rails a beautiful pass to Guedioura who runs down the left flank until he crosses to Taaffe in the box, and our man puts it in to cut the lead in half. 1-2 Also, Hughes on for Harris.

They could've won by more, and probably should have, so we'll take the loss, tough though it is.

Our capacity is still 4,000 after the stadium renovation. The difference is, we now have 2,000 actual seats, 1,175 more than before. It's still a piss-poor pitch, though, with the field rated Very Poor.

Samuel Bangura continues to impress in training, but has still lost his starting spot for now.

vs Luton (6th)
GK Luke Chambers
DL Leon Clowes
DC Tom Sharpe
DC Sergio Sanchez
DR Samuel Bangura
DM Taylor Parmenter
DM Kieran Martin
ML Callum McNish
MR Courtney Harris
ST Gianluca Gracco
ST Lewis Taaffe

34 - [b]Taaffe[/b with the corner, and Parmenter heads it to Sharpe, who in turn heads it right in front of him into the net for a goal. 1-0

44 - WTF Chambers?! Poor hand pass that no one is ready for and a 30 yard striker given up. 1-1

45 - Insert keyboard smash here. 1-2

Raya and Hughes go in for Chambers and Harris. Both the latter players are on thin ice with me due to their poor play lately.

46 - Wow. such terribleness. much goals. Wow. 1-3

57 - Yeah, I'm resigning after this one. 1-4

We plummet from 10th all the way to 16th with the defeat. Yeah, time for me to head on out. It's getting to be a grind having that many games in a season.

Then this cool note pops up.



I've added a certain nation down to its lowest leagues because the quality is supposed to be delightfully awful, so we'll see if I get in there.

Rumors are starting almost immediately.



Yeaaaaaah... not gonna happen.

Australia has had its national team job sitting open for quite a while now, so I'll go ahead and apply.



Seriously? Fuck you guys.

At this point I decide to go on vacation and tell my secretary to apply at all openings and get back to me when I have a job offer. Then when the first offer is some Spanish lowest league B team I have no interest in signing, I just decide to wait until the nations change over.

But then this happens:



They've got a quite nice setup there, though they're also paying off a $3.9 million loan debt. Never made it to the Premier League as far as I can tell, so that'd be something to shoot for. With 6 games left, they're 20th, which is just above the drop zone, so no harm, no foul if we get relegated.

Very tempting. Very tempting indeed. But after reading about the city of Walsall I decide to pass.

Nobody offers me a job after the spate of end-season firings. Brackley and Staines stay in League 2 and BSS respectively.

David Raya gets a 6 month loan to Dover. Just for jokes, I apply to Crystal Palace in the Premier League. Indonesia, which is the set of leagues reportedly the worst, don't look so bad at second glance, I'll cancel that out if I'm not hired by a lowest division club.

There's interest by both clubs I apply to, but both reject me. I try Cardiff City for the hell of it, keep trying to get a Premiership gig. And the numbers are frankly impressive.



But yeah... I was just doing it to see if I could do it. Sorry, Cardiff City! The new house rule is that I only take jobs offered to me, unless it's a Blue Square team. Then I can apply at will.

And I find one I'm looking for.

Havant & Waterlooville has yet to get out of Blue Square South, finishing no higher than 4th in this universe, and so far they're 16th. They're offering me a two year, $61,000 per season contract. They have a $415k/year wage budget, but are sitting at $487k.

So the first thing I do is release everyone making a significant amount of money on a free. LOL at this press conference question:



Yeah I'm slumming it. No, I don't care. They ask me if I have regrets about leaving Brackley, which I don't. This club is a lot closer to Portsmouth geographically, anyway.

Ian Gay signs a 2 year deal to become my assistant manager for the third time. He and I come in to what is now essentially an empty cupboard team, with $391k available in the wage budget.

We hire Martin Davies, a fantastic keeper coach, as one of our coaches, and bring in John Hartson to be our Chief (and only) Scout.

vs Maidenhead (17th)
GK Ross Kitteridge
DL Robin Whittington
DC Pat O'Connor
DC Ben Martin
DR Daniel Cleary (Loan)
DM Adrian Kearns
DM Medi Abalima
ML Lindsay Nardiello (Loan)
MR Alex Price
ST Sam Malsom
ST Dennis Osborne

Pay no attention to most of the names in this list. They're largely reserve league and youth team scrap heap guys. The nice thing is, I already had a bunch of DMs to run my Arrigo 4-4-2 right off the bat.

35 - Can definitely tell we're back in the slums. Awful finishing all around. But then there's this thing where Martin boots it to Nardiello and a header later, Malsom has the ball and kicks it in for the first goal of my H&W tenure. 1-0

Damned impressive first half from a team I thought was going to get clobbered. Let's see how we do in the second half.

66 - Well, we knew it wasn't going to last. 1-1

72 - Uff da. 1-2

80 - Abilamba kicks it along the ground to Osborne, and the hoof from the half-circle somehow goes in! 2-2

We came in 16th, so I'll take the draw against the team directly below us with the lineup we had out there tonight.

Keith Smith comes in to coach, so I've now got both staff members who left Brackley with me.

Transfer In - George Colson (23 - MR)
Signed to a 2 year deal worth $11.5k/year. Some great physical attributes, including 14 pace, and 13 passing. Massive upgrade at MR over the junk piles we had there, and he has BSP level potential.

Loan In - Michael Roberts (25 - DM)
Okay, so he stinks. But he's only here for 3 months and will probably start because there's not much quality to be found right now.

Loan In - Jack Maloney (22 - ML/ST)
From Portsmouth of all teams. 3 month loan who will be an immediate starter at ML and may see time at ST, because we have no depth there and he'd be a stopgap solution.

@Weston-super-mare (7th)
GK Ross Kitteridge
DL Robin Whittington
DC Pat O'Connor
DC Ben Martin
DR Daniel Cleary (Loan)
DM Michael Roberts (Loan)
DM Medi Abalima
ML Jack Maloney (Loan)
MR George Colson (New Signing)
ST Sam Malsom
ST Dennis Osborne

1 - Can't believe they missed there. And I just realized I forgot to set my position training for Colson.

We're lucky to go into the break tied. Whittington, who is a U18 call-up, is wiped, but we literally have no one who can cover for him there.

46 - Empty cupboard we are, so no surprise. 0-1

Despite the loss, Ben Martin earns Player of the Game with a 7.7 rating.

Swell. Daniel Cleary's loan deal is due to end in a few days.

Transfer In - Mark Bower (36 - DLC)
Signed to a PPA deal, he still has mental attributes galore, and will be a DL stopgap for now.

Loan In - Michael Drennan (22 - ST)
Got him from Woking until the end of the season. He wanted way too much money to transfer outright, so I cancelled negotiations and took the loan instead. Elite Finishing for this level (13) and strong all-around mental attributes, so if he pans out, I'll look to sign him long-term if the money isn't too funny.

Transfer In - Jamal Hackett (22 - DR)
Signed to a two year, $17k/year contract. (I've determined that I will sign no players above $20k this go-round). Already good for this level, he's got BSP level talent on him.

Transfer In - Elliott James (20 - ST)
Yep, *that* James, the one I signed as a prospect with Brackley, who fizzled out at the League 2 level. 2 year, $8.75k p/a deal, which turned out to be a major overpay, but we'll give him a shot.

vs Bromley (3rd)
GK Ross Kitteridge
DL Mark Bower (New Signing)
DC Pat O'Connor
DC Adrian Kearns
DR Daniel Cleary (Loan)
DM Michael Roberts (Loan)
DM Lindsay Nardiello (Loan)
ML Jack Maloney (Loan)
MR Alex Price
ST Sam Malsom
ST Dennis Osborne

Ben Martin went out for 5-6 weeks last game and I just realize I haven't hired a Physio yet. Oops. Michael Drennan and Jamal Hackett have one day injuries so they won't be back until next game.

We hold our own in the first half against a superior opponent, but this smells a lot like last game. I make a couple freshness subs at half and hope we can hang on. I also forgot to put Elliott James in the subs, because we really could use him right now. Double Oops.

60 - Like I said... 0-1

70 - New goalie too, perhaps? 0-2

So yeah. Nice at the unveiling of Elliott James and Jamal Hackett. I get asked if I plan to sign players I worked with before as a general policy, and yeah, I love doing that.

Transfers In
Chris Blackburn (34 - DCR/DM)
Wes Daly (32 - DM)

Just a couple of PPA depth/possible starter signings to beef up the squad for the rest of the season.

Good thing we got them too, because Lindsay Nardiello's loan is finished, which leads me to believe that the previous management fucking wasted the long-term loans they had this season. Only loan in season-end loans on long-term loans you fuckwits.

vs Basingstoke (18th)
GK Ross Kitteridge
DL Mark Bower (New Signing)
DC Pat O'Connor
DC Chris Blackburn (New Signing)
DR Jamal Hackett (New Signing)
DM Medi Abalima
DM Adrian Kearns
ML Jack Maloney (Loan)
MR George Colson (New Signing)
ST Elliott James (New Signing)
ST Michael Drennan (Loan)

Note: Not all these guys are healthy enough to start by their fitness levels, but I don't give a fuck. This is a must win game so it's all possible hands on deck.

Malsom and Price come in at ML and MR respectively at the half, as it's been a very boring first 45 minutes and we have major fitness problems going on here.

62 - That's my boy!!!! Drennan slides it sideways into the half-circle to James, and the young kid shoots it perfectly right in the far corner of the net for a debut goal! 1-0

Despite Kitteridge fucking up with Crocombe-like passes straight at the opposition, and Drennan blowing an easy shot on goal, we grind out the win for the 3 points. Raftful of 7s, highlighted by PotM Adrian Kearns with a 7.6 and Elliott James my man with a 7.2.

Transfer In - Leon Hoskins (DM - 18)
Raw right now, but BSP-level upside. Signed to a 2 year, $3.1k deal that goes up to $4.9k if he appears in 30 games. Worth a prospect signing, to be sure.

Oh sweet irony. Staines's boss wins Manager of the Month. Daniel Cleary heads back to Exeter.

@Worcester (13th)
GK Ross Kitteridge
DL Mark Bower (New Signing)
DC Pat O'Connor
DC Chris Blackburn (New Signing)
DR Jamal Hackett (New Signing)
DM Medi Abalima
DM Michael Roberts (Loan)
ML Jack Maloney (Loan)
MR George Colson (New Signing)
ST Sam Malsom
ST Michael Drennan (Loan)

15 - Heh. PK for them. 0-1

32 - Knock for Maloney

35 - Should've doubled their lead there.

Lalalala let's keep going. Daly and James on for Abalima and Drennan, who Eeyore out on me at the halftime talk.

62 - Zzzz. 0-2

76 - Good thing I may have a new goalie coming in. 0-3

83 - Hat trick lulz. 0-4

Transfer In - GK Chad Collins (22 - $19.5k, 2 year deal)
My staff swear this kid is the real deal right now, with BSP potential all over him, so I went *right* up to that $20k line to get him. We'll see how this goes - I haven't had good luck with goalies that don't irritate me.

George Byers is loaned in for 3 months. Purely a ML spell.

@Wealdstone (14th)
GK Chad Collins (New Signing)
DL Robin Whittington
DC Pat O'Connor
DC Adrian Kearns
DR Chris Blackburn (New Signing)
DM Medi Abalima
DM Michael Roberts (Loan)
ML George Byers (Loan)
MR Alex Price
ST Sam Malsom
ST Michael Drennan (Loan)

21 - Great recovery off a bounced corner kick by Blackburn, who wings it out to Byers. A kick up top sees Drennan head it in for the goal and the lead. 1-0

Lights out defense and just enough offense that first half. Let's hope we don't implode like we usually do.

57 - Price is hurt for the second time in the game, so I send in Colson even though I really, really don't want to.

67 - Daly on for Roberts

What a huge win. Nothing lower than a 6.9 for anyone, and Drennan (7.7 PotM), Kearn 7.6, and O'Connor 7.6, really dominated in our first away victory in a long time - 5 straight road losses this team has had, dating back to before I arrived.

We're still just 16th, but the team is slowly starting to come together.

[Izulde]

Transfer In - Connor Hateley - MR (18)
Really more of an AMR, he signs a two year $15.75k per year contract. He's a backup right now, so I probably shouldn't have done that but oh well - he's good insurance for Colson. League 2 potential at AMR

Transfer In - Bernard Williams - DLCR (19)
Also inked a two year, $15.75k per year contract. I'm hoping he's my next Samuel Bangura. Hell, right now, he's our top guy at both DL and DC, so he'll likely start on the left side to give us our biggest boost. 18 Teamwork and 14 Work Rate are off the charts.

Transfer In - Kenny McGonigle - ML (19)
Solid potential but he's a PPA deal to give depth to our ML situation.

We try to bring in other players during our insanely long 3 weeks off, but no go.

vs Eastborne Boro (20th)
GK Chad Collins
DL Bernard Williams
DC Pat O'Connor
DC Chris Blackburn
DR Jamal Hackett
DM Medi Abilamba
DM Wes Daly
ML Jack Maloney
MR George Colson
ST Sam Malsom
ST Michael Drennan

2 - Oi. 0-1

33 - Sheesh. Abilamba sets up a beautiful 1 on 1 for Malsom and he can't convert.

Yeah we stink at the half. Kearns on for O'Connor and James on for Drennan.

50 - Never seen an own goal by an opponent yet, I don't think. 0-2

59 - Maybe some yet? Maloney passes it to James, who kicks it back to Daly for the score. We won't talk about how Malsom blew another open shot earlier. 1-2

88 - Open shot #3 Malsom has missed.

@Chippeham (21st)
GK Chad Collins
DL Bernard Williams
DC Pat O'Connor
DC Chris Blackburn
DR Jamal Hackett
DM Medi Abilamba
DM Michael Roberts
ML Jack Maloney
MR George Colson
ST Elliott James
ST Michael Drennan

This will be our ideal lineup the rest of the season. I'm not bringing in an other new guys for now and will instead just let this group grow and meld together.

33 - How that made it in I'll never know 0-1

Hateley and Malsom replace Colson and Drennan at the break. We're really bad right now.

83 - Will we even stay up? 0-2

vs Oxford City (15th)
GK Chad Collins
DL Bernard Williams
DC Pat O'Connor
DC Chris Blackburn
DR Jamal Hackett
DM Medi Abilamba
DM Michael Roberts
ML Jack Maloney
MR George Colson
ST Sam Malsom
ST Michael Drennan

Elliott James got hurt last game and is out 2 weeks.

McGoinigle on for Maloney at the half, and our offense is truly, truly awful. 0 shots on goal that I saw in the first 45.

Great work by the defense, but Drennan is showing why he didn't deserve all that money he wanted. Still, a point is a point.

[Izulde]

@Dartford 10th)
GK Chad Collins
DL Bernard Williams
DC Pat O'Connor
DC Chris Blackburn
DR Jamal Hackett
DM Medi Abilamba
DM Michael Roberts
ML Jack Maloney
MR George Colson
ST Elliott James
ST Michael Drennan

ML Kenny McGoinigle got hurt in the interim and is out 2-3 months.

15 - Knock for O'Connor but he'll fight through it.

...Yeah, until people start really getting familiar with our system, we're going to struggle to score or do anything offensively.

51 - Hateley on for Colson, Kearns in for O'Connor

79 - A couple yellows for our guys, and here's Dartford with an amazing goal. That'll be enough for the loss 0-1

Our wing play has been absolutely dreadful.

Transfer In - ST Mark Postle (18)
Pace and Finishing combo (12/9) should be the best on the team, and he's cheap at $200 PA and $200 PG. Great mental attributes, too, so he'll get a start and see if he can enliven this offense.

Transfer In - MR David Wheeler (26)
Spent way too money - $27k guaranteed, up to $36k next year after he reaches 30 games, but he was great when I was with Staines, so I had to pull the trigger on it to try and fix our midfield.

Bad Trains
Mark Bower
Bernard Williams
Sonny Pullan

We somehow lost $15.6k last month despite a low salary budget, unless it was all the buyouts. Oh well. Board is only satisfied, which is fitting.

vs Bognor Regis (22nd)
GK Chad Collins
DL Bernard Williams
DC Pat O'Connor
DC Chris Blackburn
DR Jamal Hackett
DM Medi Abilamba
DM Michael Roberts
ML Jack Maloney
MR David Wheeler
ST Mark Postle
ST Michael Drennan

If we can't beat the worst team in the league at home, we're in deep, deep trouble.

21 - Trouble's here 0-1

Hateley in at MR, Wheeler sliding to ML and out goes Maloney, who I deeply regret having gotten.

54 - Drennan's hurt, so on goes Malsom.

FFS.

@Braintree (19th)
GK Chad Collins
DL Bernard Williams
DC Pat O'Connor
DC Chris Blackburn
DR Jamal Hackett
DM Medi Abilamba
DM Michael Roberts
ML Jack Maloney
MR David Wheeler
ST Mark Postle
ST Michael Drennan

1 - Been so long since this has happened I don't know what to think. Abilamba gets the ball and slides it to Maloney, and shortly before his loan ends, we finally see our ML make a good play to put it in front of Drennan inside the box, and the kick is good! 1-0

Our defense has been phenomenal, but Maloney looks exhausted at the break, so Wheeler moves over to ML and George Colson gets a redemption try.

57 - The top bar robs Postle of his first goal after a precision pass from Ablilamba

64 - Missed sitter by them gives us a spot of luck

84 - Terrible pass by Collins goes unpunished.

Finally a win! Tons of 7s, led by Drennan's 7.5, O'Connor's 7.4, and Abilamba's 7.3. Maybe this is the break we needed to finish strong.

Heh. Izak Reid is on the shortlist of Player of the Year.

vs Gloucester (11th)
GK Chad Collins
DL Bernard Williams
DC Pat O'Connor
DC Chris Blackburn
DR Jamal Hackett
DM Medi Abilamba
DM Michael Roberts
ML Jack Maloney
MR David Wheeler
ST Mark Postle
ST Michael Drennan

8 - Knock for Drennan, but he'll play through the half.

[b26[/b] - Postle chases down a cleared corner and passes it to Maloney, who centers it to O'Connor for the crane volley kick and goal. 1-0

35 - Sigh. Flubbed shot by Postle.

Colson and Malsom hop in for Wheeler and Drennan, though that might be a mistake.

49 - Roberts is forced off with injury, requiring Kearns to go in.

64 - Dafuq? Should've been tied game there. Totally weak effort on their part.

74 - And there's the tie on Collins' piss-poor pass. 1-1

77 - They should've scored there. Come to think of it, not once have we scored on a bad goalie pass. Or at most once. I hate this engine sometimes.

80 - Great, Postle has to go off and we're out of substitutions.

8.1 for MotM O'Connor and 7.2 for Maloney. While we're lucky to get the point, I'm bitterly disappointed about that bad pass goal which happens to almost all our fucking goalies it seems, so I rip into Collins.

Great. Mark Postle, who I have high hopes for, is done for the year.

We're not yet safe from the drop, with three games left, but we're perpetually Sweet 16th.

vs Bath (12th)
GK Chad Collins
DL Bernard Williams
DC Pat O'Connor
DC Chris Blackburn
DR Jamal Hackett
DM Medi Abilamba
DM Michael Roberts
ML George Byers
MR David Wheeler
ST Sam Malsom
ST Michael Drennan

Bognor Regis officially relegated prior to this game, so that's one out of the way.

3 - ...wow. Everyone just stands there and watches them kick it in. Pathetic. 0-1

Drennan and O'Connor are benched for James and Kearns at the break.

Second half as pathetic as the first. Sigh.

We drop to 18th and are still not safe from the drop. Jack Maloney goes back to Portsmouth and says it was a complete waste of time playing for us. Fuck you, dick. Maybe if you didn't play like a total fucking shitbag, you would have learned something. Michael Roberts also sees his loan end, which sucks, because he was great for us at DM.

@Farnborough (3rd)
GK Chad Collins
DL Bernard Williams
DC Pat O'Connor
DC Chris Blackburn
DR Jamal Hackett
DM Medi Abilamba
DM Adrian Kearns
ML George Byers
MR David Wheeler
ST Sam Malsom
ST Michael Drennan

All you need to know is we lost 1-4. Moving right along.

Good news is, we've cleared getting dropped.

@Hayes & Yeading (15th)
GK Chad Collins
DL Bernard Williams
DC Pat O'Connor
DC Chris Blackburn
DR Jamal Hackett
DM Medi Abilamba
DM Adrian Kearns
ML George Byers
MR David Wheeler
ST Sam Malsom
ST Michael Drennan

42 - Whatevs. 0-1

To be perfectly honest, it wasn't a bad effort to end the season on. Not great, either.

Board's slightly disappointed in how things have started, but the offseason is a fresh new page which will probably see drastic changes.

[Izulde]

Not great ratings by any means, which leads me to believe it may be time to abandon the Arrigo 4-4-2, and instead, I create the Izuldian 4-4-2 and make notes of the stats each position calls for.

Goalkeeper
Chad Collins - 3.5*

Wingbacks - Attack
DR Jamal Hackett - 3.5*
DL Bernard Williams - 2*
DR Chris Blackburn - 1.5*
DL Mark Bower - 0.5*

Ball-Playing Defender - Defend
DC Pat O'Connor - 2*
DC Bernard Williams - 2.5*
DC Chris Blackburn - 2.5*
DC Mark Bower - 1.5*
DC Adrian Kearns - 1.5*

Defensive Midfielder - Support
DM Chris Blackburn - 1.5*
DM Medi Abilamba - 2*
DM Adrian Kearns - 1*

Wide Midfielder - Support
ML Kenny McGonigle - 1.5*
MR David Wheeler - 2.5*
MR George Colson - 2.5*
MR Connor Hateley - 2*

Box To Box Midfielder - Support
MC George Colson - 3.5*

Poacher
Mark Postle - 1*
Michael Drennan - 4*
Elliott James - 4.5 silver stars
Sam Malsom - 2*

Deep-Lying Forward - Attack
Michael Drennan - 3.5*
Mark Postle - 1*
Elliott James - 4.5 silver stars
Sam Malsom - 2*

Notes
GK, DR, and MC are all fine and under contract. It's everywhere else that we need help. MR is also okay.

Heh. Staines wins the promotion playoffs and is going up to BSP. Oh, how the irony kills me. Brackley suffered through a terrible season and are being relegated from League 2.

Hehe. I make an offer for Jack Maloney and while Portsmouth is willing to consider it, he had such a bad time during his loan spell here, he won't consider it.

The fuck?!?! The board takes my wage budget from 415k p/a to 130k p/a

As a result, I have to cancel one of the depth signings I had planned, though I still make my superstar signing that will now take up a huge percentage of the wage bill.

$7.72k profit last month, but the club is still paying off a loan and is in poor financial shape. The board's disappointed in me, but I'm fucking disappointed them in for slashing my wage budget to a fucking quarter of what it was

Transfer In - DM Paul Branagan (19)
Signed him to the bargain basement price of $8.75k a year for 2 years. 4* DM Support and he's a massive boost to that spot in our lineup.

Transfer In - ST Jacob Hazel (23)
I broke the bank to get him, committing $36k a year for the next two seasons, but he is so, so worth it. 14 Pace and checks in as a 4* DLF, 4.5* Poacher. He's going to be a god damned star for us.

We're now $40k over the wage budget, so my hands are tied in what else I can do. Fucking board. And they want a mid-table position with that budget TROLOLOLOLOLOL

The team lost $400k last year.

We lose Adrian Kearns on a transfer to Bath and who knows who all else? There's enough money to relay the field, but not to increase the wage budget apparently. Heh.

Friendly - Vs Eastleigh
GK Chad Collins
DL Bernard Williams
DC Ben Martin
DC Chris Blackburn
DR Jamal Hackett
DM Paul Branagan
ML Kenny McGonigle
MC George Colson
MR David Wheeler
ST Sam Malsom
ST Jacob Hazel

Let's see.. Wheeler misses a PK because I forgot to put my set piece takers, nobody likes Martin as team captain, and Hackett is hurt right before the halftime whistle.

Yep, gonna be one of those seasons. 0-1 loss that I'm not too worried about, to be honest.

Jamal Hackett is out 4-5 weeks.

I change captain to David Wheeler and vice captain to Paul Branagan because people hate Martin, and everyone gives me shit about it. Fuck you guys.

@Abingdon United
GK Chad Collins
DL Bernard Williams
DC Ben Martin
DC Chris Blackburn
DR Izzy Johnson
DM Paul Branagan
ML Robin Whittington
MC Medi Abilamba
MR David Wheeler
ST Sam Malsom
ST Jacob Hazel

I notice too late the ML screwup but it doesn't matter.

8 - Complete fluke off the post goal by Wheeler, but we'll take it as the first score under my personally designed tactic. 1-0

10 - Wheeler steals the ball on a clearance attempt and heads it to Hazel, who takes a bit to trap and control it before firing it in with authority! 2-0

19 - One of their players is sent off with a red.

So... it's a friendly against a scrub team, but best half so far. McGonigle in for my mistake.

51 - ... You've got to fucking be kidding me. McGonigle is hurt and has to go off. Malsom to ML and Postle in at ST

76 - Rushing out by Collins = yeah. 2-1

Garbage second half, but we'll take it. Wheeler gets Player of the Match with an 8 rating and a 7.3 for Hazel, 7.2 for Collins.

Soo... board tells me we can't find the funding to get a parent club. Whatever.

@ Merstham
GK Chad Collins
DL Robin Whittington
DC Ben Martin
DC Chris Blackburn
DR Bernard Williams
DM Paul Branagan
ML Sam Malsom
MC George Colson
MR Connor Hateley
ST Mark Postle
ST Jacob Hazel

38 - Hazel picks up the loose ball on the right wing, kicks it back to Branagan, and a lofting kick from Postle via the intermediary pass later, we've got a goal. 1-0

45 - Ball bounces off a defender and Hazel is right there to put it in 2-0

54 - Really rather would save the own goals for when it matters, but we'll take this 3-0

77 - Nothing doing about that one. 3-1

8.1 for Postle as PotM, proving my faith in him, but tip of the hat to Hazel's 7.7 as well. Even more importantly, two straight friendly wins have done wonders for our formerly terrible morale.

Ross Kitteridge signs with Woking, continuing the slow poach of our players.

Good Trains
Mark Bower
Paul Branagan

The board's bitching about the payroll. Well if you fuckclowns didn't have unrealistic expectations for a tiny budget, this wouldn't be a problem, now would it? As is, I have to bring in Louis-Rae Beadle on a 3 month loan - yeah the same guy who was an afterthought for my Staines squad.

@Harrow
GK Chad Collins
DL Bernard Williams
DC Mark Bower
DC Chris Blackburn
DR Izzy Johnson
DM Paul Branagan
ML Louis Rae-Beadle
MC George Colson
MR David Wheeler
ST Sam Malsom
ST Jacob Hazel

4 - Branagan gets knocked, which is not cool at all.

60 - Hateley centers it into space for Colson, who blasts it in from 20 yards out. Amazing how Colson has gone from struggling like crazy at MR last year in the Arrigo 4-4-2 to flourishing as the MC in the Izuldian 4-4-2 1-0

67 - Great shake and bake by Hazel, but his finish is awful.

71 - They equal on the flubbed shot

87 - Heh. Sitter Collins just sits there. 1-1

Not worried about it, though. Looking ahead to our first league match.

We lose Paul Branagan for 2-3 weeks, which sucks, but isn't awful. Ben Martin says he doesn't want to contend for the captaincy because he's signing a contract with Hyde, so I leave David Wheeler and Paul Branagan as captain and vice-captain.

Chad Collins breaks his ankle and is out 3-4 months. Seriously, fuck this.

@Wealdstone
GK Greyed out Keeper
DL Bernard Williams
DC Mark Bower
DC Chris Blackburn
DR Izzy Johnson
DM Medi Abalimba
ML Louis Rae-Beadle
MC George Colson
MR David Wheeler
ST Mark Postle
ST Jacob Hazel

25 - The joys of speed. Hazel is first to get to the ball near the six-yard box and he punches it home! 1-0

46 - Go jump in Lake Fuckass, injuries. 1-1

58 - A god damned injury fro Williams. Whittington and Daly in for him and Colson. But before that happens, Colson plays a beautiful ball in the 61st minute to Postle and my own pet project scores his first ever goal for us 2-1

Chris Blackburn, who has been an unsung veteran hero for us, wins Player of the Match with an 8.1. Postle's good for an 8, and Hazel nabs a 7.4.

Lucky win? Perhaps... but it's a season opening victory and a validation of the Izuldian 4-4-2

[Izulde]

We sell 62 season tickets, or one less than last season with a much more hyped roster expected to contend for promotion playoffs.

GK Barney Watson comes in on a 3 month loan from Whitehawk. At 1.5*, he does suck, but he's better than a greyed out keeper.

vs Farnborough
GK Barney Watson
DL Robin Whittington
DC Mark Bower
DC Chris Blackburn
DR Bernard Williams
DM Medi Abalimba
ML Kenny McGonigle
MC George Colson
MR Connor Hateley
ST Mark Postle
ST Jacob Hazel

12 - Oh look, McGonigle takes a knock.

14 - The bar bounced their way. 0-1

20 - And an injury aggravation by McGonigle, so we'll just go ahead and put Malsom in.

21 - Bower boots it to Colson's head knocking it down to Postle, whose pretty little pass to Hazel ends in a boomtown goal and a tie. 1-1

25 - Colson kicks it out to Malsom on the wing, and our sub sends it to Postle for the defender shake off and the bottom corner score! 2-1

What a quality first half! Our guys are exhausted, though. We'll wait until they sub in before countering with our second sub.

70 - Daly jumps in for Abalimba

Wild shots by both sides to close it out and we have our second straight 2-1 league victory. Mostly 7s, with highlights being PotM Postle's 8.1 (his second straight 8 rated game, by the way), and 7.3s for Hazel and Watson.

Hopefully we can keep winning and start bringing people into the park. Our home opener netted 551 fans, which is better than what we were doing towards the end of last season.

[Brian Swartz]

New thread game: counting how many different(real and made-up) words beginning with fuck Izulde can use.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

New thread game: counting how many different(real and made-up) words beginning with fuck Izulde can use.

I have a bit of an anger issue (which I keep pretty well concealed publicly) and do have a tendency to swear a lot in general conversation.

In fact, during Nationals for a marketing competition one year, a bunch of us from my college were at a bar chilling and having a couple drinks, and somebody again happens to mention the round in Quiz Bowl at State where I won like 10 of the team's 11 points.

All of a sudden this cute girl a few stools down gasps and looks at me. "*You're* the guy from Wisconsin who's so insanely smart at Quiz Bowl?"

"...I do all right. Why?"

"I never would have guessed it from how much you swear. You shouldn't swear so much."

I just shrugged because I couldn't think of what else to say. Never had anybody get on my case about my language before. We ended up finishing third at Nationals (long story as to how that happened), but the team that finished first had this Filipina girl from Michigan who was equal to or even better than I was, and I would have *loved* to have challenged her in the championship, but we lost by 2 points in the semi-finals to a team we should have beaten easily.

[Izulde]

@Bishop's Stortford (13th)
GK Barney Watson
DL Robin Whittington
DC Mark Bower
DC Chris Blackburn
DR Izzy Johnson
DM Medi Abalimba
ML Louis Rae-Beadle
MC Wes Daly
MR David Wheeler
ST Elliott James
ST Jacob Hazel

29 We're playing like garbage and are lucky to only be down one. 0-1

33 - Like I said... 0-2

43 - 2 gimme shots at the goal and we waste them both.

Hackett, McGonigle, and Malsom all go in at DR, ML, and ST to replace Hazel respectively, and I shred the team.

53 - And there goes any shot at making this a game. 0-3

87 - Consolation long-range goal by McGonigle 1-3

We played a lot better in the second half so I'll give them that.

@Bath (16th)
GK Barney Watson
DL Bernard Williams
DC Mark Bower
DC Chris Blackburn
DR Jamal Hackett
DM Paul Branagan
ML Louis Rae-Beadle
MC George Colson
MR David Wheeler
ST Mark Postle
ST Jacob Hazel

A full-strength lineup save for the keeper for the first time this season

8 - First game back, and Branagan's knocked again.

14 - Our defenders bunch up in the middle freeing them to strike from the wing. 0-1

44 - Bullshit penalty call 0-2

Abalimba and Malsom go on for Branagan and Postle.

[b]49[b] - WTF is this shit? Now Abalimba is knocked.

67 0-3

91 - Own goal, whee. 1-3

The FA is quiet on my ripping them, but at this point, I've fucking had it with the wage budget, the inconsistent team, and just everything ever, so I resign again.

This time I'll wait for somebody to offer me a job. New house rule: I can apply to jobs that list me as a candidate.

Heh. Remember Johnny Goddard, my last big FA signing for Staines? He just broke the team appearances record with 176. Too bad Staines and Brackley are both due to drop back to down to the BSN/S level, as through 14 games, they're 23rd and 24th.

We get to February and Staines is still in last, but Brackley is now above the drop zone and in 18th. Meanwhile, Havant & Waterlooville is currently in the drop zone, which warms the cockles of my heart.

We're into September of next season and nobody's expressed interest in me yet. Havant & Waterlooville did indeed drop, as did Staines. Brackley managed to stay up in BS Premier, but they're in last place right now.

So I go on vacation and tell my secretary to apply me to all bottom division jobs. They're the only ones that will hire me now with my flaky record, probably.

And even then, I get turned down by Bath. Wow. I get a few offers and turn them all down, but I forgot to reject Dartford's job opening, so I'm their manager for all of three days before I realize what happened and resign.

I wait and wait and wait until I find the exact right opportunity: Gainsborough Trinity. They have a $475k payroll available, but are only spending $282k of it and don't have much exciting history in this universe, although they were Championship level back at the turn of the century. They're offering me a one year, $47k contract, and a chance to prove myself. I feel like that's selling me short and work up to a $54k deal.

Ian Gay refuses to join me. He's still at Havant & Waterlooville

I change captain and vice captain to Aynsley McDonald and Danny Parslow. Parslow was formerly the captain.

We drop our first game 0-1 which puts us in the drop on goal differential. The team's been hit hard by injuries and I had to scrabble together a makeshift lineup.

Two days later, we have another game, but I'm able to hustle in a couple of loan guys into the lineup. We tie that one 2-2 and should have won, but for a fucking horseshit penalty in the 90th minute that gave them the draw. And you know who scored on us? Two guys named Wint and Dickman. No, I'm not kidding - Too bad it was Aaron instead of some form of Jimmy for the Wint

That tie pushes us up to 17th that's really a 3 way tie for 19th, a point ahead of the drop zone with 24 games played.

[Izulde]

Roster Overview

Goalkeeper
Joseph Lumley (25) - 2*
Stuart Town (23) - 1*

Wingback - Attack
DLR Aynsley McDonald (27) - 1*
DR Danny Parslow (34) - 4*
DL Michael Riley (Loan) - 2*
DR Dwayne Samuels (29) - 4.5*
DL Paul Weldon (27) - 4*

Ball-Playing Defender - Defend
DC Aynsley McDonald - 1.5*
DC Danny Parslow - 4.5*
DC Curtis Da Costa (24) - 4.5*
DC Angus Hopkins (19) - 2.5*
DC Jack Taylor (24) - 1.5*
Paul Weldon - 3*

Defensive Midfielder - Support
Danny Parslow - 4.5*
Eddy Gnahore (26) - 5*

Box-To-Box Midfielder - Support
Eddy Gnahore - 4.5*
Nicky Deverdics (32) - 1.5*
Taylor Miles (24) - 4*
Jide Ogunbote (31) - 1*

Wide Midfielder - Support
ML Nicky Deverdics - 1*
ML Liam Hubbard (16) - 1 silver star
MR Taylor Miles - 3.5*
MR Dwayne Samuels - 4.5*

Deep-lying Forward - Attack
Jesse Darko (Loan) - 4*
Kane Richards (25) - 4*
Adam Creswell (21) - 2*

Poacher - Attack
Jesse Darko - 4*
Kane Richards - 4*
Adam Creswell - 2*

So a raft of injuries and general fitness issues have taken its toll on what should be an excellent team. GK and ML are the biggest concerns.

We bring in ST Elliott Charles on a 3 month loan (2.5* Poacher), 29 year old DC Remy Clerima (1.5* BPD) on same.

Other newcomers - 18 year old DM/MC Dion Argent on a PPA (2* DMC/3* B2BMC) and 18 year old DCR Jimmy Tickle, also on a PPA (2* DR/3* BPD)

After seeing our strength here, we cancel a transfer in of a DR, but do make another one.

Transfer In - ST Gergo Lippai (20)
2 year $19.5k a year deal, which I consider a fair contract for the Hungarian striker. As of right now he's the #3 striker when Richards comes back from injury, but Darko's also just a loan, remember, so this is a kid I can see building a future around, maybe. 3* DLF/3.5* Poacher

[b]@Kettering (15th)
GK Joseph Lumley
DL Michael Riley
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Angus Hopkins
DR Jimmy Tickle
ML Nicky Deverdics
MC Dion Argent
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Jesse Darko
ST Gergo Lippai

Lot of short-rest guys, as we've been ridiculously crammed in terms of fixtures.

27 - It's snowing. Offsides goal disallowed for our opponents. Tickle seems ever-present from the highlights.

32 - Knock for Lippai

36 - No offsides luck this time. 0-1

Taylor in for Hopkins, Charles takes Darko's place.

53 - They should have scored there.

73 - Wow! Lippai threads a perfect pass to Charles, who takes advantage of the 1 on 1 to beat the keeper! 1-1

86 - Gorgeous pass from Riley to Samuels, but the open header is shanked.

Should've won this one probably, but given our issues, I'll take the tie and another point. Unfortunately, our shiny new signing, Gergo Lippai, is out 4 weeks.

Dwayne Samuels wants to leave, but I tell him I can get us promoted in the next two seasons, so he gives us that.

vs FC Halifax (2nd)
GK Joseph Lumley
DL Aynsley McDonald
DC Remy Clerima
DC Angus Hopkins
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Danny Parslow
ML Liam Hubbard
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Taylor Miles
ST Jesse Darko
ST Elliott Charles

Not seeing us winning this one, to be honest.

We have a few chances in the first half, but nothing goes. Fortunately, we're holding strong on the other end as well. Riley and Argent swap in at DL and DM, with McDonald moving to DR.

66 - In the post corner-kick scrum, Riley pounces on a loose ball and cracks it in for the lead. Is our first win far behind? 1-0

88 - ...Yeah, even I saw that offsides for us.

90 - Charles bloops a beautiful drop ball in front of Darko, who runs to beat the defense and score! They're complaining it's offsides, but my players are telling me they got away with two penalties, so it's all fair. 2-0

7.6 and 7.5 for Hopkins and Clerima, 7.9 for Player of the Match Charles and 7.6 for Darko, who by the way had a 5.8-6.0 before that goal, and 7.5 for Riley. A monumental upset that jumps us up to 17th and provides a precious 3 points of breathing room.

The board evidently believes in this team, because they infuse $170k in the finances even though we're still expected to lose money.

@Southport (6th)
GK Joseph Lumley
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Jimmy Tickle
DR Danny Parslow
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Nicky Deverdics
MC Taylor Miles
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Jesse Darko
ST Kane Richards

On paper, this is our strongest possible lineup, made possible by constant match rearrangements and a long break. We still need to do something about the ML, which i should have done during our idle stretch, but forgot.

41 - Shady fucking goal disallowed. No way Samuels was offside. We've been controlling this game all match but haven't pushed through yet.

55 - Fucking crybabies whine the goal should be disallowed due to offsides. How about um, NO. Richards went back and grabbed his own dispossessed ball and booted it in with 3 of your assclowns standing in front of him. Get fucked, prissy bitches. 1-0

78 - Thanks, post, for blocking the should've goal!

83 - Charles on for a tired Richards

What now, mofos?! Da Costa picks up Player of the Match with 7.9 and all 12 players to hit the pitch got at least 7

In a few days we've got a big rivalry match against [b]Worksop/b], which is all the more important since they're 21st, and while they're all but guaranteed to relegate, having just 2 wins in 28 matches and 13 points, a victory here would really put the sword to them and enhance our own standing.

@Worksop (21st)
GK Joseph Lumley
DL Michael Riley
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Jimmy Tickle
DR Danny Parslow
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Nicky Deverdics
MC Taylor Miles
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Jesse Darko
ST Elliott Charles

8 - 25 yard free kick goal by Deverdics, who at least brings that to the table, even though he's soon to be replaced in an optimal lineup, I think. 1-0

19 - Shit. Knock for Gnahore, who is only our most important player on the whole damned team.

25 -...Yeaaaaaah... kinda obvious we were offsides, there.

Argent and Weldon come on at the break to replace Gnahore at DM and in at DC with Tickle kicking out to DR due to health issues.

56 - Diverdics to Miles to Charles... and Gooooaaaal! 2-0

66 - Argent punts it to Darko's head, who nods it on for Charles to hoof it in. 3-0

75 - Sigh. Weldon gets knocked.

76 - Samuels kicks it out to Tickle on the far right wing, and the DR puts it up in the middle of the air. Charles is there to knock it down and in with his head, and we have the hat trick!!!! 4-0

What a blowout win. 8.2 for Tickle, 7.6 for Da Costa and Riley, 7.5 for Samuels, 7.7 for Miles, 8.3 for Deverdics, and, of course, 9.7 for Charles with his amazing hattrick.

)

We jump up to 14th with the win. Originally this squad was picked to finish 5th, so the talent has always been there - it's just injuries and what apparently was a poor use of the players on hand took their toll.

For instance, even though we've been running the Izuldian 4-4-2 since I got here, even a base 4-4-2 they had no knowledge of, so it's been a learning process.

[Izulde]

We sign 18 year old GK Dereck Turner as a prospect. He'll be in the Reserves for now, but will get work and development and could very soon take over as a starting goalie.

vs Bradford PA (6th)
GK Joseph Lumley
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Angus Hopkins
DR Danny Parslow
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Nicky Deverdics
MC Dion Argent
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Jesse Darko
ST Kane Richards

This is my 200th game as manager across three different clubs (since I don't think I got in a Dartford game, but maybe I did. Let's hope we can get a win out of this.

10 - Gnahore gets knocked.

13 - Deverdics is hurt badly enough to go off. Fortunately I have an upgrade over him waiting to sign the papers, but for now, it's U18 Liam Hubbard on to replace him.

We've had some great chances to get goals if people were in the right damn position, but they haven't been. Parslow moves to DM and Aynsley McDonald comes in at DR.

46 - Lousy free kick defending 0-1

80 - Second free kick goal given up, and our offense has had nary a shot this second half.

Yeah we flat out sucked there.

Worse yet, Eddy Gnahore is out 5-6 weeks.

You can imagine my shock when I win Blue Square South Manager of the Month. Totally unexpected.

Transfer In - ML Ray Atkinson (21)
Two year, $9.75k per year deal. Dude would not move from that number no matter what I did and he was getting pissy so I finally just signed him to it. Great potential and will be an immediate starter on the left wing, though he's very raw right now.

vs Solihull Moors (13th)
GK Joseph Lumley
DL Michael Riley
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Angus Hopkins
DR Jimmy Tickle
DR Danny Parslow
ML Ray Atkinson
MC Nicky Deverdics
MR Taylor Miles
ST Jesse Darko
ST Elliott Charles

17 - Beautiful clearance by Deverdics to Darko who outruns the field..only to blow the shot.

And yeah otherwise it's pretty scrummy the rest of the first half. Miles slides to MC with Samuels taking over on the right side, and Darko is replaced by Lippai up front.

Our midfield play was putrid today. 5.6 for Atkinson, and low-mid 6s for everyone else. It's why we generated no attacks in the second half. Our defense was the complete opposite - balls-out amazing, especially [b]Da Costa[b/] PoTM'ing his way to an 8.3, and a 7.5 for Lumley in the net.

[Izulde]

vs Leamington (13th)
GK Joseph Lumley
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Angus Hopkins
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Danny Parslow
ML Ray Atkinson
MC Taylor Miles
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Jesse Darko
ST Kane Richards

17 - Lot of action in the first 17 minutes, but we don't see the first real breakthrough until Atkinson makes a phenomenal ground-cross to Richards on the edge of the six yard box, and it's an easy score right there. 1-0

37 - Parslow to Miles to a wide open Richards for the easy finish. 2-0

42 - Parslow short kicks it to Tickle on the wing, and a centering later, Richards has the first half hat-trick!!!! 3-0

Remember our old friend De'Jaune Taylor-Crossdale? Well, he's playing for Leamington after two forgettable seasons with Solihull Moors. He's exhausted this game and it's great to be whipping a former prospect of mine.

58 - Argent in for Parslow, McDonald on for Tickle after they score on a corner 3-1

77 - Richards picks out a corner clearance and sends it back to Hopkins, who hits a booming cross to Darko's head for the easy goal. 4-1

82 - Hell of a long strike by them. Just one of those fluke goals. 4-2

Obviously a 9.6 for Player of the Match Richards, but let's also applaud
Miles for his 8.3, Darko for his 7.7 and Hopkins for his 7.6. Phenomenal performance by our boys.

Now this is interesting. We've got our eye on an amazing young DM who has an agent, and the agent is asking me to make an offer first before he reveals what his client wants.

Transfer In - DM Alex Worsfold (22)
Yes, it's a $29k/year contract, but it's for two years and he's immediately our best DM. Plus, at 22, he's young enough to be here long-term. Which is critical because...

Expiring Contracts
DC Curtis Da Costa (24) - $43.5k
DM/DC/DR Danny Parslow (34) - $34.5k
MR/DR Dwayne Samuels (29) - $38.5k
DL/DC Paul Weldon (27) - $38.5k
MC/DM Eddy Gnahore (26) - $26.5k
ST Kane Richards (25) - $36.5k
MC/MR Taylor Miles (24) - $31k
DC/MC Angus Hopkins (19) - $24k

2 Year Contracts
DM Alex Worsfold - $29k
ST Gergo Lippai - $19.5k
ML Ray Atkinson - $9.75k

8 of our current starters are expiring, and one of them, our oldest one, now has a cheaper replacement. As for the rest of our starters and most of our depth? Either loan guys or non-contract signings.

We get Kane Richards and Paul Weldon to sign one year extensions at their same paygrade, but everybody else is demanding far more money than I'm willing to dole out, so we'll have to do a lot of offseason shopping, it looks like. At least we have DL/ML/DM/ST/ST figured out, which is always a start.

We loan in DRC Leadun Astley for 3 months just to keep building our depth.

@Tamworth (7th)
GK Joseph Lumley
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Jimmy Tickle
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Ray Atkinson
MC Taylor Miles
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Jesse Darko
ST Kane Richards

22 - Richards swings in a corner and Da Costa rises above everyone to bang in his first goal of the year 1-0

56 - Lippai in for Richards, Parslow to DM and Astley in at DR. LOL and two seconds later, Astley gets yellow. Less funny - a minute later he loses possession deep in our half, but Weldon bails him out.

75 - That was down to Astley doing an awful job of defending 1-1

78 - ....fucking ridiculous. 2 goals right back to back and worse yet, the guy's name is Aeon Duckworth. Aeon and Kevin Duckworth from GAH all in one name. 1-2

86 - Fuck this. Duckworth with a second half hat-trick. 1-3

Pathetic. Just fucking pathetic.

Good Trains
Jimmy Tickle
Danny Parslow
Dion Argent

Bad Trains
Eddy Gnahore
Remy Clerima

The board is pleased with me, even though we lost $24.83k last month.

Oh and we've had a few players make Team of the Week the last few weeks that I forgot to report. Kaine Richards the week of his hat trick, Joseph Lumley a few updates ago, and now Danny Parslow.

Transfer In - MLC Antonie Boland (25)
Our first player signed through 2022, he's a 3* B2B MC, which is the role he'll take over next season most likely, but for now, he's our new starting ML, signed to a $24.5k a year contract. The Vauxhall supporters are *pissed* he left on a free transfer and felt he should have been sold for money.

vs North Ferriby (22nd)
GK Joseph Lumley
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Jimmy Tickle
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Taylor Miles
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Jesse Darko
ST Kane Richards

7 - Weldon swings it to Richards and it's a wham-bam easy goal. 1-0

9 - Richards has a great pass to Darko, but the latter's shot is denied. But then who's there to pick it up? None other than Boland, bopping in the easy rebound for a debut goal. 2-0

We're playing well, but we all remember what happened last time...

57 - Samuels on the wing to Miles, quick kick over to Darko, followed by pass forward to Richards and there's the shot for the three goal lead. North Ferriby is playing with zero confidence. 3-0

68 - Argent in for Worsfold, Lippai on for Richards

78 - What an amazing game Boland has had in his debut. This time he takes a great pass from Darko and crosses it into the penalty area for the *just* onsides Samuels for another score. 4-0

80 - Darko with the pass forward to Lippai, and another pass forward to the still racing Darko and yet another goal!! 5-0

90 - Samuels puts it in space for Miles and I think this six goal outpouring is an FM record for me 6-0

8+ Ratings
DL Paul Weldon - 8.9
DC Curtis Da Costa - 8.2
DC Jimmy Tickle - 8.3
DR Danny Parslow - 8.4
ML Antonie Boland - 9.0
MC Taylor Miles - 8.6
MR Dwayne Samuels - 8.7
ST Jesse Darko - 8.8
ST Kane Richards - 9.4 (PotM)



Absolutely amazing!!! And North Ferriby fire their manager immediately after that, continuing a long tradition

That win also set a contemporary club and Blue Square North record for margin of victory

Paul Weldon, Taylor Miles and Dwayne Samuels make Team of the Week.

Youth Candidates
DM/MC Will Wilkins looks to have tantalizing potential as a MC and GK Spencer Hubbard might turn into something worthwhile. The rest of the squad, though, is trash.

@Droylsden (2nd)
GK Joseph Lumley
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Jimmy Tickle
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Jesse Darko
ST Kane Richards

Gnahore has actually been ready the last few matches to come back. I've just forgotten about him until now. Whoops.

35 - Richards cracks a jumpball that Darko wins and heads in for the early lead. I'm really going to miss Darko when his loan finishes in a couple days along with a few other players. He's really been a quality, if underrated player for us. 1-0

52 - Gnahore drops back down to DM and Miles comes in at MC. But before that happens, we're caught napping and they score. 1-1

58 - Parslow is hurt.

70 - Lippai on for Richards because I forgot to make sure I had backline coverage. Oops.

Honestly, against a vastly superior team like this and on the road, I'll damn sure take that point.

Danny Parslow is out 4-5 weeks, which sucks, but we'll make it through.

vs Accrington (6th)
GK Joseph Lumley
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Angus Hopkins
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Taylor Miles
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Jesse Darko
ST Kane Richards

7 - Blown easy chance by our opponents

[b]37[/b - Goal given up on corner. We've been playing not great anyway 0-1

Argent for Worsfold, Atkinson for Boland

54 - I change to more direct passing on my Assman's advice

59 - Tickle has to come off, making that our second straight starting DR guy to be hurt. Astley gets the call.

69 - Weldon is knocked.

71 - Second time so far we've seen a Richards corner that Da Costa hits in, this time for the tie. 1-1

88 - Now it's Argent to get knocked.

Jimmy Tickle is out 5 to 6 weeks, Paul Weldon 3 to 4 weeks

[Izulde]

We loan Liam Hubbard to Arnold to get some PT. Coaches are high on his potential, but he's not going to see PT here.

vs Guiseley (15th)
GK Joseph Lumley
DL Aynsley McDonald
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Angus Hopkins
DR Leadun Astley
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Taylor Miles
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Kane Richards
ST Gergo Lippai

A bunch of players on loan finished out, and a ton more injured, so our lineup is a little shaky, to say the least.

27 - A high free kick by Richards is enough for Hopkins to get to head and slot it in the upper part of the net for his first goal in a Gainsborough jersey. 1-0

40 - Terrible pass by Da Costa. Fortunately, they shank the ensuing shot.

Adam Creswell in for Richards, and Gnahore in at DM in place of Worsfold, who has yet to play a full game for us, I think.

50 - Fuck! Lippai's out and I'm out of strikers. Guess that means Nicky Deverdics as a very awkward AMC.

[b]51]/b] - And Da Costa blows an easy insurance goal on a corner. Lousy game by him.

72 - Another blown corner header by Da Costa.

We close it out. 8.2 for PotM Hopkins, who literally was the differencemaker in a game we dominated and should have won by a bigger scoreline.

Gergo Lippai is out 3-4 weeks.

$26.56k loss last month, but the board is still pleased with me.

I try to convince the board to bring in a super-talented young goalkeeper, but they reject me. We also try to bring in Jesse Darko, but his agent refuses to even consider anything below $55k and the board nor I are having it.

@Workington (14th)
GK Joseph Lumley
DL Aynsley McDonald
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Angus Hopkins
DR Leadun Astley
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Taylor Miles
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Kane Richards
ST Adam Creswell

21 - Miles delivers it to Creswell in the half-circle... and he booms it in from the distance! 1-0

28 - Miles again, kicking it back to Worsfold this time, and our DM races up the pitch and hits a screamer into the net. 2-0

I love it when telling the team not to get complacent results in some guys getting confused and others zeroing in. Pretty hilarious. I tell the confused guys, Miles and Creswell, that I'm happy with them so far, but they still look puzzled.

[b]60[/b - Atkinson in for Boland. But before that I notice a player for them called Wong Wai Sum, who on the pitch is listed as Sum Wong Wai, and they blow an easy shot right after one of his passes. He's EBC (English-Born Chinese) apparently and looks amazing. $70k a year and he's on loan from Altrincham

72 - Gnahore in for Miles

7.9 for PotM Worsfold, 7.8 for Miles, 7.7 for Da Costa 7.6 for Creswell and the team picked up its play in the second half despite a lack of goals.

We're now up to 10th with 50 points, but are 12 points away from the playoffs with 5 games remaining. So while it's mathematically possible, it's not going to happen. On the flip side, we're 15 points clear of the drop and can not be relegated. That didn't appear at all a certainty when I first arrived.

Our first June signing is confirmed, but we'll discuss him later. Leadun Astley somehow makes Team of the Week. We lose Alex Worsfold for a week and a half because of injury.

vs FC United (20th)
GK Joseph Lumley
DL Aynsley McDonald
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Angus Hopkins
DR Leadun Astley
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Antonie Boland
MC Taylor Miles
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Kane Richards
ST Adam Creswell

0 - Richards hits Hopkins on the corner and the powerful header's in with ease. 1-0

6 - Awful miss by Miles

22 - Pathetic. 1-1

60 - Atkinson on for Boland

73 - Shocking miss by them.

81 - Another wtf miss by our opponents

So yeah, we should have lost. Granted, they're fighting to stay up, but we played down to their level, which is unacceptable.

[Izulde]

@Alfreton (8th)
GK Joseph Lumley
DL Kyle Whalen (U18)
DC Jack Taylor
DC Angus Hopkins
DR Leadun Astley
DM Will Wilkins (U18)
ML Antonie Boland
MC Nicky Deverdics
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Richard Warriner (U18)
ST Neil Millidge (U18)

Short turnaround + still massive injuries = this ugly looking lineup.

2 - Gonna be a bloodbath. 0-1

Da Costa in for Taylor and Richards in for Millidge, exhaustion be damned. Let's try to at least squeeze out a point.

62 - Heh. An assist for Darko. Yes, that one. 0-2

90 - And they pile on 0-3

It's to be expected.

Chester clinches the title and auto-promotion. We're mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, so time to give the young kids some playing time.

@Nuneaton (14th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Angus Hopkins
DR Danny Parslow
DM Will Wilkins
ML Antonie Boland
MC Taylor Miles
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Kane Richards
ST Adam Creswell

Bunch of guys come back healthy for this one.

29 - Boland passes through traffic to Miles, who crosses it to Creswell in front of the goal, netting an easy score. 1-0

31 - Hopkins with the booming rainbow to the head of Richards, who knocks it to the far post where Creswell is wide open for another authoritative score. Where did this come from?! 2-0

55 - Astley on for Parslow, Atkinson to replace Boland

8.8 for PotM Creswell, 7.6 for Da Costa and Richards. Nice to see a clean sheet debut for Turner

vs Chester (1st)
GK Dereck Turner (Signed)
DL Paul Weldon (Signed)
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Angus Hopkins
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold (Signed)
ML Antonie Boland (Signed)
MC Will Wilkins (Signed)
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Kane Richards (Signed)
ST Gergo Lippai (Signed)

Everyone's back healthy, and you can see we have 7 confirmed players signed for next season. There's also a third striker coming in June and we're working on finding a veteran DC.

38 - I've gotten a few notes throughout the season that Boland has had troubles fitting in, but he can play. Demonstrated it here as he races by the defense on the wing, kicks it to Samuels in the middle of the six yard box, and watches as our right midfielder hits it forward for Lippai to *finally* get his first goal in a Gainsborough jersey! 1-0

64 - Oh well. Gnahore on for Worsfold BTW 1-1

73 - Double yellow for Boland and Atkinson comes in at ML, with Wilkins sitting.

I'll take a 1-1 draw against the league's elite team.

Leadun Astley is out for 2 months due to a hernia.

And we get the 32 year old veteran central defender we wanted. He also represents a first position hire for us ever in my FM career, but more on that later.

Good Trains
Kane Richards
Antonie Boland
Dereck Turner

Bad Trains
Danny Parslow
Aynsley McDonald
Dion Argent

Nice to see three of our committed players doing well.

So, remember Gainsborough offered me a one year $54k deal to prove myself? Well, now they're offering me a two year extension at the same salary. I think I deserve a little more than that, and negotiate myself a two year, $62k per year contract.

vs AFC Telford (4th)
GK Dereck Turner (Signed)
DL Paul Weldon (Signed)
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Jimmy Tickle
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold (Signed)
ML Ray Atkinson (Signed)
MC Will Wilkins (Signed)
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Kane Richards (Signed)
ST Gergo Lippai (Signed)

8 - With help from the post, Richards snaps his goal drought! Beautiful passes by Wilkins and Lippai set up the score. 1-0

I just have to put a plug in here and say Dereck Turner showed in this one game why he's going to be our starting goalie of the future, maybe as soon as next season. He's been making phenomenal save after phenomenal save.

46 - Bad move by Tickle but they miss the open shot.

66 - Richards passes back to Atkinson and gets it right back on a perfect pass, and boom! Double the goals, double the lead, and that's his 10th goal of the season. 2-0

76 - Hopkins replaces Tickle, Gnahore does the same for Worsfold.

80 - They blow the chance to give themselves a lifeline.

89 - Lippai hurt again.

7.8 for Turner, 7.6 for Da Costa, and 8.8 for Richards in a great late-season win over a team that's trying to for sure clinch a promotion playoffs spot. As it turns out, that was our last game of the season and our last two contests drew over 1,000 fans at home, as we finished 9th on the year.

Round 2 of Negotiations
DC Angus Hopkins - Won't even talk
MR Dwayne Samuels - Agent won't budge on the $58k/year
MCR Taylor Miles - Debating whether I want to bring him back. He's only a 3* MR and while he's a 3.5* B2B MC, I'm not sure I see him as the guy, particularly with Wilkins developing more.
MC/DM Eddy Gnahore - On the other hand, Gnahore is the best player on the team and we're able to hammer out a two year, $38k per season contract where he gets a nice rise and we can afford to develop Wilkins more slowly. That also means Miles won't be back, as we'll look at a cheaper or at least more suitable option at MR.
DC Curtis Da Costa - We convince him to take a paycut to $35.5k a season in exchange for a deal through 2022. By itself, this covers a large chunk of Gnahore's raise.
DC/DR/DM Danny Parslow - I'm nervous about our DR situation, so when he's willing to do a one year deal at the same basic salary ($33k, which is slightly less, but bonus and whatnot makes it the same), I accept.

Dereck Turner makes Team of the Week.

Confirmed Players Through Next Year
GK Dereck Turner (19)
DL Paul Weldon (28)
DC Curtis Da Costa (24)
DM/DRC Danny Parslow (34)
DM/MC Will Wilkins (16)
DM/MC Eddy Gnahore (26)
DM Alex Worsfold (22)
ML Ray Atkinson (21)
ML Antonie Boland (25)
ST Georgo Lippai (21)
ST Kane Richards (25)

11 players inked for next year, plus I have a defender and striker coming in when June hits. Oh yeah, and the defender can play DC/DM/MC natively just as a teaser, and could play MR if he needed to. So needless to say, we are beyond stacked at DM.

Key Areas
MR - Starter
Depth - DL/DC/DR/ML/MR
4th striker
Backup GK

Portsmouth have fired their manager, so I just have to try and see if I can get the job

Good Trains Of Players Confirmed For Next Year
Dereck Turner
Antonie Boland

Bad Trains of Same
Danny Parslow

Portsmouth considers me, but again it comes down to the compensation since I just signed an extension. Oh well, they're League 1 anyway and I like what I'm building here.

Payroll gets slashed to $375k for next season which means we're going to be well over it once our new transfers come in. This is not good. Until I remember Dwayne Samuels, Taylor Miles, and Angus Hopkins are all expiring contracts, which will cover the money we're spending and give us a little buffer besides.

We get $22.9k from Chesterfield as part of our parent club arrangement. We lose $11k the month before.

Transfer In - ST Zach Little (22)
Two years, $27k a year, 3.5* both as Poacher and Complete Forward. He'll be a starting striker for us, which means Georgo Lippai will move back to the third striker spot. Some solid all-around attributes to be sure.

Transfer In - DC/DM/MC Director of Football Simon Walton (32)
Yeah. We now have a Director of Football of all things. I do some Googling to find out what he can do, and apparently it's a bunch of stuff. Nothing I want him to do except take over outgoing Transfers and Youth Development, since he's a better assessor of talent than Ed Marney, my Assman, and I can never find players to take my guys when I put them on the transfer list. Speaking of which... I transfer list my expiring contracts to see if they can get moved out quicker. None of them are worth much, but it'll be a test of Simon's transfer sending out ability.

...Wow. Within 2 days, he's got teams bidding on Hopkins and Samuels. No money coming in because they were only worth $2k each (which is weird for Samuels), but still.

Player of the Year is Kane Richards, which is no surprise.

Gainsborough Best 11
GK Joseph Lumley
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Angus Hopkins
DR Danny Parslow
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Jidie Ogunbote
MC Taylor Miles
MR Dwayne Samuels
ST Kane Richards
ST Adam Creswell

None of these guys were people I signed, although in the subs Gergo Lippai and Jesse Darko get mentions.

Gainsborough All-Time Best 11 Current Players
DL Paul Weldon
DR Danny Parslow
ST Kane Richards
Reserve GK Joseph Lumley (Just joined)
Reserve DC Curtis Da Costa (Just joined)
Reserve DM/MC Eddy Gnahore
Reserve ST Adam Creswell

Note - the All-Time Best 11 uses a flat 4-4-2 for whatever reason.

We get $12k in TV rights for next year.

The budget is cut again - $371k/year for a top-half finish. The increases for something better aren't worth the expectations, so I'll stand pat.

Taylor Miles and Kyle Whelan leave the club once their contracts expire. Dwayne Samuels goes to Luton and Angus Hopkins goes to Histon, both on free transfers.

Hopkins is getting paid an insane $42k, but I'm pissed to find Samuels took a $37.5k deal. We would have kept him for that amount of money. Asshole.

We have $44.5k in wage budget following the transfers.

137 season tickets sold in the early going. We transfer in DL/DC/ML Matt Fell on a PPA contract. He's 1* in everything but he's a depth signing and doesn't count against our wage budget.

DC Jack Taylor signs a PPA with Boston United and the fans are happy. Meanwhile, we have a huge hole at MR we can't sign anyone for. MLC Nick Deverdics goes to Guiseley on a PPA and the fans are once again good with it. Boston United signs a couple more of our scrubs on PPA deals for some weird reason. Team captain Aynsley McDonald goes to Droylesden on a PPA.

This is how desperate we are for a MR. We burn a season long loan on 21 year old MLR Tom Knotts who grades out as a 1.5* Wide Midfielder Support. We're so weak there that he's an immediate starter

@ North Ferriby (Friendly)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Tom Knotts
ST Kane Richards
ST Zach Little

4 - Knock for Little

6 - Boland is forced off. Not good. Atkinson takes his place, naturally.

7 - Worsfold to Richards and the chance fizzles out.

20 - Knott picks up a blocked ball and sends it to Worsfold, who strikes it from 20 yards out 1-0

40 - Sheesh. 1-1

58 - Richards takes advantage of a poor clearing header to punch it in. 2-1

65 - Weird. Wilkins hits a diving header, but it lands at Lippai's feet. No problem for the Hungarian striker, with a punishing finish to finally put this game right 3-1

The kick in the ass I gave them at halftime did the trick all right, but we lose Antonie Boland for 4 weeks, so he'll miss our league opener it looks like.

[Izulde]

So after poking around, I see Brackley managed to stay up, and much to my shock, I discover that Gianluca Gracco has retired. He doesn't want to work on our staff, though, and I don't even bother asking Alexandr Geynrih. But imagine my even bigger surprise when I discover someone else who retired:



Yep, our underrated striker. He's leaps and bounds ahead of my current Assman in everything but scouting potential, so I decide to fire my Assman and sign Taaffe to a 2 year deal for the same position. He accepts! This also means I fire one of my old coaches for $7k and bring in James Bittner, a world class goalkeeping coach (20 Goalkeepers, 13 Working with Youngsters) to train up Dereck Turner.

I'm just going to make quick notes of the rest of Friendly season.

vs Oldham
Ugh. Lippai is sent off at 16th minute due to injury. We play like we don't care much and lose 0-1.

Bittner's transfer is cancelled because fuck the board. We're listed as 20-1 second tier promotion candidates, and the media has us picked 6th, just out of the promotion playoffs.

Reputation: Local
Ticket Price - $15
Season Ticket Price - $248
Value - $130k
Stadium Rent - $160 per year
Capacity - 4.304 (504 seated)
Average condition
Very good Field Condition
Fairly basic corporate facilities
Basic training facilities
Basic youth facilities (rented)
Youth setup category: 0
Adequate youth coaching
Basic youth recruitment

I let Lewis Taffe handle friendlies from now on because they bore me. Kane Richards is out 3 to 4 weeks and we lose to our parent club Chesterfield 0-3.

Adam Creswell gets $53k out of Macclesfield, which is hilarious.

We lock up another year on Alex Worsfold, but it requires raising his pay from $29k to $37.5k. But we won't be bringing back Paul Weldon next year, either, so we'll save money that way.

Good Train
Alex Worsfold

Bad Train
Liam Hubbard
Simon Walton

We're upset by a god damn weakling team 0-3 in our last preseason.

Danny Parslow regains his captaincy, and Simon Walton is named vice-captain. This makes everyone happy, and truth be told, I never should have demoted Parslow in the first place.

vs Alfreton
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Ray Atkinson
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Gergo Lippai

A couple injury issues, but in all, a solid lineup

30 - Atkinson longballs it to Little and the little header back to Lippai in the half-circle is a left-handed storming volley that slices into the net 1-0

Solid first half by our boys, and amusingly enough both goalies are named Turner. It's the battle of Dereck vs. Jack. Tickle comes on for Walton.

62 - Ugh. 1-1

68 - I throw my keyboard in the air and wonder why the fuck I even bother. 1-2

I scream at the players and almost ponder quitting again.

We sell 331 season tickets this season, compared to 323 last year.

I try to convince the board to spend money to bring in a great looking young MR, but though they're willing to agree to it, they don't have the money, and so decline.

@Solihull Moors
GK Dereck Turner
DL Matt Fell
DC Simon Walton
DC Jimmy Tickle
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Liam Hubbard
MC Will Wilkins
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Gergo Lippai

Boring first half. Argent for Worsfold and Da Costa for Walton at the break.

53 - Hubbard should've sunk that.

72 - Oh look, Lippai's knocked again.

73 - Dangerous foul by Wilkins, but we get a very generous spot so it's not a PK.

77 - Lippai wings in the corner and they miss the interception, so Da Costa is right there to punish them for it! 1-0

87 - Holy shit! He's so tired, but Lippai takes a great pass from Little, dribbles through the defense, finds a spot inside the six yard box, and slams it home! 2-0

8.1 for Lippai, the obvious PotM. 7.8 for Tickle, who I'm tickled is still with us on a PPA, 7.6 for Little, and a huge 7.5 from Da Costa who came off the bench on what was supposed to be a game off.

vs Histon (7th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Gergo Lippai

Both our strikers are exhausted for this one but we have no depth, and Kane Richards isn't due back until next game. This contest is notable for two reasons: 1) The young MR we wanted but the board said no and Angus Hopkins both play for this squad.

36 - 25 yard free kick by Knott! Wow, way to earn the season-long loan we gave you, kid. 1-0

70 - Tickle out to DR, Walton in at DC

A somewhat surprising grindy win, but we'll take. The kind of game where Knott's 7.4 is good enough for PotM.

24 year old DR/MR Ryan Richefond signs on a PPA. He's strictly a depth signing.

@Tamworth (9th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Kane Richards

2 - How did Little even miss that?

Garbage first half.

60 - Worsfold has gotten the trouble blending in comments several times but here he passes it to Richards, who knocks it in to space for Little to beat out the opposition and pop it in for what is surprisingly his first ever league goal for us 1-0

Also, Knott moves to the left side and Richefond gets his debut at MR. Wilkins comes in for Gnahore at MC.

72 - Wilkins makes a brilliant dispossession and starts a counter move by running down the pitch and long-balling it to Richards. Our prized striker runs all the way down the right win and deep crosses it to [b]Little/b], who doubles his goal tally for us all in one game. 2-0

78 - Blown easy goal for Wilkins

87 - A 25 yarder from Wilkins for his first ever senior goal!!! 3-0

7.9 for Da Costa, 8.6 for Richards and 8.8 for PotM Little. This is exactly the deadly striker combination up front I was hoping these two would be.

We're in 3rd after our first 4 matches. Brackley has dropped their first 5 games in BS Premier play and are looking terrible.

[Izulde]

Alex Worsfold continues impressing the hell out of everybody in training.

@Grimsby (17th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Kane Richards

37 - Great pass to Richards from Da Costa and rather than take the shot himself, he slides it to Little, who shanks it.

50 - Ugh. 0-1

52 - Immediate answer as Boland hits Little for the run, shoot, and score! 1-1 Subs in as Knott to ML, Richefond in at MR, and Lippai replacing Richards at striker.

We were heavy underdogs in this one, so to walk out with a point is okay, though I feel like we should have taken 3.

Bad Trains
Eddy Gnahore
Simon Walton

Good Train
Will Wilkins

Loss of $20.3k and board is satisfied.

vs Corby (20th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Jimmy Tickle
DC Simon Walton
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Will Wilkins
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Kane Richards

33 - I thought Richards tried to shoot it, but upon further review it's a pass forward where Little literally steamrolls the opposing defender and goalie for the score. 1-0

47 - Now it's Boland's turn for a wide open miss. I'm wondering if perhaps I should be finding a new ML. He isn't that great out there and is maddeningly inconsistent.

55 - Fell in for Boland, Lippai on for Richards

Not a great win, but one we'll take. I keep thinking about Boland, who I've actually been training as a box-to-box center midfielder because I thought that's where he'd be playing this year before I re-signed Gnahore and developed a strong liking for Wilkins.

vs Kettering (8th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Jimmy Tickle
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Kane Richards

Their goalie does a beautiful job stopping a surefire Gnahore goal in the first half, but otherwise it's defend, defend, defend for us.

As an experiment, I move Gnahore to DM, Boland to MC, Knott to ML, and put Richefond in at MR. Let's see how this goes.

70 - They score. Lippai on for Little, Walton in for Tickle. 0-1

82 - Gnahore is forced off but it doesn't matter. Tickle's fuckup cost us the game already anyway. Or maybe not. Weldon hits a crazy shot that was supposed to be a pass I think, but it bounces off the woodwork, confusing the goalie, and Richards nabs the equalizer! 1-1



They get their own woodwork bounce but no one's there to stick it in (That's what she said), so we escape with a draw.

Transfer In - ST Curtis Beasley (18)
Two year, $4.6k/year deal. Raw right now, but has BSP potential. Then again we've all heard *that* one before. But if he works at it, I think he can definitely be something.

vs Leamington (19th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Kane Richards

3 - Gnahore to Boland to Worsfold as a 3 man triangle of passes culminating in the last's thundering kick for a score. 1-0

24 - Boland on a free kick and a walk-in Walton goal. 2-0

Could be leading by even more. Wilkins in for Gnahore and Fell on for Weldon at halftime.

66 - We suck at corner defense 2-1

7.9 for Walton, 7.5 for Worsfold, and we're in 1st place, but we should have destroyed this team, not played down to its level.

vs Blyth (FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Jimmy Tickle
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Liam Hubbard
MC Will Wilkins
MR Tom Knott
ST Gergo Lippai
ST Curtis Beasley

I would've put more second unit guys in, but most of them were still tired from the Reserves match three days prior, so we'll run with a mix of first teamers and reserves.

18 - Dafuq? 0-1

27 - Beasley takes the pass from Lippai, runs through a horde of Blyth defenders, and hook shots it in the goal!! 1-1



30 - Not a combo I expect, but Wilkins' free kick hits Tickle for a long header goal. 2-1

38 - Knock for Lippai. He'll shake it off though.

[b]63[b/] - Fell on for Hubbard, Argent in for Wilkins

We win this one because PotM Turner has the game of his life, racking up an 8.4. 7.6 from Tickle didn't hurt either. Lippai is out 9-12 days and we get $9.75k for the win.

[Izulde]

@Buxton (22nd)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Kane Richards

9 - Disallowed goal because Little fouled the keeper.

Fell for Boland and Beasley for Little at the half. This has been a disgrace.

70 - A mostly silent second half cuts in with this exchange of Beasley and Richards flipping the ball back and forth until Richards finally breaks the scoring drought. 1-0

76 - Worsfold is still getting problems fitting in messages, but here he passes to Beasley, who centers it for Richards and a second goal. Nice to see us finally waking up. 2-0

82 - Should've been a hat trick after Fell's great cross, but nope.

9.0 for Richards as a one-man show, but the rest of the team really stepped up in the second half and prevented embarrassment.

@Accrington (6th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Curtis Beasley

21 - Trap game writ all over it and sure enough... 0-1

45 - ...Yep. 0-2

So that was a pretty shitty half. Weldon is yanked for Fell, Beasley for Richards.

69 - Richards dribbles through the defense to knock one in and give us a faint glimmer of point hope 1-2

Despite the loss, we're hanging on to 1st by a point 10 games in.

[Izulde]

Loan In - MR Trevor Sedgemore (20)
We've been going back and forth on this kid with AFC Flyde until we finally got him on a season-long loan. He's raw but he's supposed to be better than Knott at MR, and at the very least, it gives us insurance.

Good Trains
Paul Weldon
Dereck Turner
Tom Knott

I finish in second in Manager of the Month voting.

$29.5k profit last month, which is great to see. Board's very pleased.

@Hyde (FA Cup Qualifying 3rd Round)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Danny Parslow
DC Jimmy Tickle
DR Ryan Richefond
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Will Wilkins
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Curtis Beasley

Trying something a little different and putting in guys who have Important Matches as a strength and witholding guys who have Important Matches as a weakness

21 - Score one for the IM theory. It's not Boland who makes the great initial pass, but Wilkins who has the trait and delivers a pristine assist to Beasley, who takes two steps and fires it in! 1-0

31 - HTF did Beasley miss that?

Parslow shifts to DR and Fell comes in at DC.

70 - Fucking Fell gets robbed and they get post help 1-1 I move him to ML and decide to gamble with bringing a poor IM guy in Da Costa

79 - Off Beasley goes with injury, leaving it up to Richards to step in.

85 - I told him before he went in that he could be the differencemaker and what do you know? Wilkins to Little to Richards, and the angled shot banks in!! 2-1

89 - First time I've seen the opposing goalie make a bad pass, but they get back on defense and the goalie atones by making a hell of a stop.

They threaten again in the 94th minute, but the whistle blows just in time.

So that IM theory? Will Wilkins is PotM with an 8.0 and Zach Little gets a 7.7 None of the IM strength guys get less than a 7. Bad IM guy Da Costa got a 7 too, though, so it's inconclusive.

That's another $13.24k in the piggy bank. Kingstonian upsets Staines much to my glee.

vs Nuneaton (13th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Tom Knott
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Kane Richards

9 - Wow. Should've been a penalty but they denied us.

18 - Little bloop header by Little somehow finds the net due to goalie incompetence. We'll take it. 1-0

41 - Our umpteenth corner this game. The traditional method is to kick to Da Costa's head, but this one's far post to Gnahore, who rifles it home for his first goal of the year. 2-0

67 - Wilkins in for Gnahore, Knott flipping to MR and Boland stepping in at ML.

68 - Da Costa forced out and Tickle on.

7.7s for Walton and Gnahore, and an 8.0 for PotM Little. Our old friend Jesse Darko is playing for them and I bet he bitterly regrets not staying with us now.

Oh, nifty. I forgot to save it, but a journalist comments on how our goalscoring streak means that we must be confident of scoring on any opponent. Sure enough, we've scored in 13 straight games.

Which means we're probably due for a goose egg next time out.

[Izulde]

We cut further into our wage budget by signing Will Wilkins to a two year, $5.5k per year contract for his first professional deal. We still have $23.5k in room, though.

@Colwyn Bay (13th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Jimmy Tickle
DC Simon Walton
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Ryan Richefond
ST Zach Little
ST Gergo Lippai

44 - Very quiet first half. So much so that this is only the second highlight in total, but it's a pretty one, as Gnahore challenges and wins the ball, then challenges again to pass it to Little for the short, firm locker room lead *just* before the break. 1-0

45 - Holy shit! Lippai kicks it to Richefond on the wing, and the booming kick is to Worsfold's head who "bravely rises above the opponent" to knock it in! Wow, talk about devastating for the Bay! 2-0

Tickle moves to DR, Weldon to DC, and Fell comes on at DL. The stellar playing but tired Gnahore is replaced by new contract man Wilkins.

73 - The second half has been all about yellow cards, including one of their guys getting a double yellow right here. At this point, the game is ours. They're not coming back down 2 with only 10 guys on the pitch.

Worsfold is PotM with 8.2 so screw the trouble fitting in remarks. Weldon nabs a 7.5 and we just played a solid all-around game.

That win gives us a 3 point cushion + goal differential in first, which is a great combo to have.

vs Hereford (FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Matt Fell
DC Paul Weldon
DC Jimmy Tickle
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Will Wilkins
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Kane Richards

Still sticking with my IM theory for cup games. Hereford's a BS Premier side, which sucks for us to get one this early, but we're still going to make a go of it.

5 - Richards with the corner... and Weldon with the sliding tackle goal!! 1-0

40 - At long last, an own goal that goes our way!!! Though I seriously thought it was Wilkins with the score. We'll take it either way. 2-0

Want to know the weird part? Despite the two goal lead, we haven't been playing that brilliantly overall. We've just been damned lucky.

46 - Hmm. Parslow gets the ball stripped away from him and they score. 2-1

65 - Gnahore on for tired Wilkins, and I'm going to risk Da Costa at DC with Weldon moving to DL.

71 - ....Turner really should have stopped that one. 2-2

74 - And they blow the go-ahead goal opportunity there.

79 - The post denies them.

84 - Weldon to Worsfold to Richards sitting in the middle of the six yard box. Takes Kane a bit to control it, but then he puts it in the lower right hand corner for the lead in our only offensive highlight of the half!!!!! 3-2

They switch to a 3-4-3 to frantically fight for the tie, but it's no go and we pull off the massive upset!!!

7.8 for Worsfold, 7.5 for Weldon and 8.0 for Richards. Only the first one is part of the IM strength crew. One of their players won PotM but I don't care. It's us who won.

I'm tempted to tell them off and say it's a Jekyll and Hyde performance because it was, but why ruin that? They ignore me anyway when I say it's a good win. First time that's ever happened.

$22k in the bank for *that* win. I like these cup victories.

Gavin Mutch wants more than the youth contract he's got. WTF are you again, kid? Oh. Somebody who's got some potential apparently, but he's never going to break into our current rotation as it stands. I tell him to prove to me that he deserves that money. He played 21 games last year before I came in and stunk.

@FC Halifax (2nd)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Tom Knott
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Kane Richards

As you can see from Halifax's place, this game has huge implications for the early league lead. We're heavily favored due to our hot streak, which makes me nervous since it's an away game.

18 - Our favorite corner move strikes again with Walton punting it to Da Costa's head for the quick, sneaky strike. 1-0

42 - He damn sure looked offsides on that free kick goal to me. 1-1

We're playing like garbage, particularly our strikers, and Weldon gets butthurt when I tell the team off, but I have no one to replace him, so I switch Knott to MR and put Boland in at ML.

54 - Going to gamble here. Lippai in for Richards and Wilkins replacing Worsfold while I pray there's no injuries. Oh, and they should have taken the lead here.

Da Costa played his ass off and got PotM with an 8.4 and Walton grabbed a 7.7, but our strikers were terrible and I give them a head-knocking talk.

vs Boston United (13th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Matt Fell
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Ryan Richefond
ST Zach Little
ST Kane Richards

Remember our old friend Lukas Lidakevcius (sp)? The Lithuanian goalkeeper who didn't pan out with Brackley on a loan? Well, he's been the keeper for Boston United ever since he flamed out at Brackley.

The first half is sheer trash. Our offense is nonexistent. Lippai replaces a tired Richards at the break.

52 - Gnahore-Little-Lippai is the chain reaction that breaks the drought and keeps our games scored streak alive for another day. 1-0

58 - The whole team's been fired up since the halftime and Fell charges down the wing, then crosses it to where none other than Richefond is there to put it in for his first ever goal for us!!! 2-0

63 - Wilkins subs for Gnahore

92 - Just for good measure, we get ourselves a Boland weirdly on the right side kicking out to Walton, whose cross is just what Worsfold needs to head in the finisher. 3-0

By the way, you may also remember Boston United as the team that raided our scrubs on frees in the offseason, two of whom started today.

I get the expected comment about how the half-time talk really sparked something in the team. How big a difference? I'll let you see for yourself.



Yep.

@Scunthorpe (FA Cup 1st Round)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Danny Parslow
DC Simon Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Kane Richards

We have zero chance almost of beating a League 2 side on their own turf, so I'm just going to put out the most well-rested lineup possible since we have a league match again in a few days. The fact that it turns out to be a solid lineup is bonus points, I suppose.

15 - Wow! Wow wow oh wow *that* was a clear own goal to our advantage! 1-0

18 - That immediately changed the complexion of the game, with Scunthorpe going more offensive, and us going defensive for the first time ever.

33 - Little and Richards exchange passes and I'm half out of my chair because I think Little has it... but he shanks it.

41 - Damn! Damn damn damn!!! Little denied by the upright!!!!

44 - Fuck. Terrible clearance by Knott 1-1

We should be winning, not tied.

52 - Fuck you, dipsucking ref. That was not a fucking penalty! 1-2

54 - Floodgates are open now. Lippai replaces Little 1-3

75 - ANOTHER FUCKING PENALTY?!?! FUUUUUUUUCK YOU YOU FUCKING FUCKSTICK GNOBBLING ASSCLOWN FUCKING PAID OFF BY THE GOD DAMNED FUCKING SCUNTHORPE BOARD! 1-4

Granted, we totally fell apart in the second half: See Parslow - 3.1 and I have to rip them for it, but still...

That also ends our unbeaten streak overall, but not in terms of league play.

Good Trains
Jimmy Tickle
Curtis Da Costa
Antonie Boland

I win Manager of the Month going away.

Board's very pleased and we make a huge for us profit of $90.46k, the biggest sum I've made with any team in a month in this universe.

vs Southport (10th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Tom Knott
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Ryan Richefond
ST Zach Little
ST Kane Richards

For some reason Danny Parslow's in a morale slump and the fans think he should be pulled after that last game, but I'm going to give a shot to play his way out of it.

12 - Bout time they called offsides on a free kick.

33 - Fucking great. A double yellow for Wilkins and he's off.

45 - Yeah. The game wants us to lose. 0-1

Knott is pulled for Fell, Walton slides up to MC, and Tickle comes on at DC.

51 - Motivated and committed Weldon steals the ball in the 6 yard box and goes up the line to Richards, who hoofs it in. 1-1

60 - And of course Richards is knocked out with injury, requiring Lippai in.

67 - Beautiful pass from Lippai to Little, and this time we get some damned frame help! 2-1

77 - Time for us to turtle up into defensive.

81 - Fuck this bullshit. Overload, motherfucker. 2-2

89 - Fuck you Turner and your shitty passes. You're lucky they fucking blow it.

Not happy. Not fucking happy with that punkass cockknobbery at all. We fucking drop out of first with that pissant performance. I also warn Wilkins about his dumbassery, which he accepts as he damn well fucking should.

@ Garforth (FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Matthew Fell
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Jimmy Tickle
DR Ryan Richefond
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Dion Argent
MR Tom Knott
ST Gergo Lippai
ST Curtis Beasley

Worst first half I've ever seen us play and it's only because they're such a fucking horseshit team that we're still scoreless at the break.

55 - Fuck it. In go Gnahore and Little for Argent and Beasley. Somebody show me they want to win this fucking thing.

81 - Lippai's shot is blocked but he grabs the rebound and puts it in space for Little and we finally fucking have somebody who can put the god damned ball in the fucking net. 1-0

When a 7.3 is good enough to win PotM (Fell), you know it was a putrid game and I tell the players as much. Unbelievable.

$6.79k for the win.

@Hyde (18th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Kane Richards

30 - Little parks on the upper left corner of the six-yard box until Boland gets free and kicks a pretty around the net blaster for the lead! 1-0

50 - Lippai on for Richards, who appears to be in a real slump.

59 - Biggest bullshit offsides call ever.

65 - Da Costa gets knocked. Fight it off, son.

76 - Lippai is hurt and there's fucking terrible miscommunication between Turner and his defense leading to a fucking WIDE AS SHITFUCK OPEN FUCKING HORSERAPEY GOAL! 1-1 Wilkins in for Gnahore and OVERLOAD!

80 - FUCK YOU, ZEBRAFUCKING ZEBRA FUCKFACE FUCKING REF! LIPPAI WAS NOT FUCKING OFFSIDES EITHER TIME! I AM SO GOD DAMNED MOTEHRFUCKCING SICK OF TIRED OF THIS FUCKING BITCHY ASS FUCKING HOME COOKING COCKSHIT BULLSHIT!!!!!

83 - AND NOW LIPPAI HAS TO FUCKING GOOFY FOOT LONGRANGE A FUCKING SHANKER BECAUSE OF YOU, YOU FUCKING STRIPEY ASS WANKER!

Here is a fucking giant ass saw thing:



Sit your fucking homer ass on the sharp end and gyrate, you fucking two-bit line of code low-level fucking clueless "official". You fucking piss me off so fucking much you fucking made me scare quote AND I FUCKING HATE SCARE QUOTES! I EVEN TELL MY UNDERGRADS NEVER TO FUCKING USE THEM!

Kettering tries to lure Dion Argent away. He tells them to fuck off until they show him the god damned money.

Curtis Beasley gets a vacation to deal with the flu. He's as sick as this team's been playing.

vs Wealdstone (FA Trophy 1st Round)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Jimmy Tickle
DR Danny Parslow
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Will Wilkins
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Kane Richards

We need a breakthrough win, so I'm going almost full strength here.

2 - I literally can not read the yellow on white text. And my fucking moron players evidently can't see our opponents 0-1

5 - Yeah, let's have Worsfold go off with injury right after the fucking game starts too, why don't fucking we? Get in, Gnahore

45 - Don't forget to knock Richards too, assholes! Oh wait, you didn't.

48 - Boland finds Little, who dodges the would-be tackler and strikes it home. I shout, "Yeah! Fuck you!" and double-flip off the nearest ref. 1-1

73 - Wilkins is playing like ass, so let's put Walton in at MC.

82 - Let's see if Lippai can give us some fucking onsides magic for once. In for Richards

I can't fucking read the text at the end. All I know is, it's another worthless showing.

Alex Worsfold has a hip injury, which means the following options
A: Specialist. Out 3 months + $1k
B. Injections. In for next game, but out 8-10 months + $1k
C. Let the physio handle it. Free, but out 6-7 months.

What the fuck option do you think I'm going to choose? Fuckin' A!

vs Wealdstone (FA Trophy 1st Round Replay)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Jimmy Tickle
DR Ryan Richefond
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Antonie Boland
MC Will Wilkins
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Kane Richards

Shaking things up a bit for the replay.

5 - Does it even matter anymore? 0-1

43 - Fuck it. 0-2

45 - Another fucking injury for Richards

A couple of subs at half. Who gives a fuck?

60 - I crack a half-smile at this Vincent-Young sends it into own goal! which I don't see how it was possible, because it was clearly a score from Da Costa 1-2

Morale is starting to tank, so I'm far nicer than I feel like being at full-time. Whatever. Fuck it.

[Izulde]

vs Droyslden (6th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Jimmy Tickle
DR Danny Parslow
DM Simon Walton
ML Ryan Atkinson
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Gergo Lippai

7 - 25 yard free kick goal by Lippai. Maybe we can finally snap out of the slump? 1-0

14 - Lippai gets knocked, and of course that means he shanks the wide open shot.

33 - Clanging action sees Da Costa score the header off the corner from Lippai 2-0

Argent replaces Gnahore at MC and Beasley comes in for Lippai at ST during halftime. Health reasons, you know.

50 - Here's Beasley with the crossing free kick... and Tickle with the jumping half-volley kick for his first ever senior goal!!! 3-0

52 - Can't believe they missed. What a weak effort.

69 - Great stolen ball by Little and he's got the one on one... and he sends it completely wide. What the hell, dude?

81 - Bye clean sheet. 3-1

8.3 for PoTM Da Costa, 8.0 for Lippai. Lot of guys looked whatever after we went up by 3 goals, which is something to take note of. Still, that was a huge win for us in terms of creating space in promotion playoffs.

Injury train continues with Gergo Lippai out 4-5 weeks.

Good Trains
Joseph Lumley
Zach Little
Liam Hubbard

Bad Trains
Danny Parslow
Simon Walton

Curtis Da Costa is named to Team of week and there's probably other guys I've forgotten as well.

Board's still very pleased, but we lost $8.65k last month.

Loan In - ML Ryan Lloyd (26)
Finally we get a left midfielder worth having! 3* WM support and he's here until the end of the season. I wanted to transfer him outright, but Bradford PA wanted $20k for him, so I'll just keep him around for our title fight. He'll miss the next game because he's hurt, which is a shame, because it's such a huge one, but major impact player right here.

vs Worcester (1st)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Ryan Atkinson
MC Will Wilkins
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Kane Richards

Still trying to find the right combination on the right side of the pitch. I do think Danny Parslow is all but done. Fans hate him and he hasn't broken out like I hoped he would. Anyway, big game obviously. Win and we move back into first place. Don't win and we have a growing hill to climb.

They're doing a phenomenal job defensively, and we can't crack them in the first half. Likewise, we do well enough to keep things all square. Knott and Argent take over at ML and MC respectively.

67 - Not a single highlight thus far and Argent is knocked out. Gnahore is pushed up to MC and Parslow is going to get a shot at redemption at DM.

90 - Walton with the corner in just the third highlight for either side this half... and it's to Little's head for the late score!!! Let's Contain!!!! 1-0

8.1 for Walton, Player of the Match. He played brilliantly, and Da Costa pulled a 7.7. More importantly, by stealing that win, we're back in first place!!!

Dion Argent is out 4 weeks, just when I'm thinking of giving him an extended tryout at MC. On the other hand, Will Wilkins is continuing to develop and Lewis Taaffe singles him out for his gains.

@Bradford PA (8th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Danny Parslow
ML Antonie Boland
MC Will Wilkins
MR Tom Knott
ST Kane Richards
ST Curtis Beasley

Short turnaround, and a lot of rest and injury things to sort out, so we're going with a slightly wonky lineup.

36 - Own goal by Turner after he dropped the ball. Literally. 0-1

42 - Richards and Beasley trade passes back and forth until the first sets up the latter with a pass prettier than Kate Upton, and our prospect slams it home for his first-ever senior league goal 1-1

Knott's pulled for Sedgmore at MR. Our guys are sucking wind, but they'll have to keep fighting on.

57 - Knock for Richards so I move Parslow to ST, Gnahore at DM, and Fell replacing Da Costa at DC.

62 - Free kick goes like this - Walton spraying out to Weldon on left, short pass to Boland, kick sidelong to Beasley, who hits his second goal of the game! 2-1

77 - Everyone thought that was a Beasley hat trick, but a superb job by the keeper parries it.

Hell of a performance by Beasley with his 8.8. Evidently there's something to this kid, after all.

But we lose Kane Richards for a week and a half. Not the worst injury in the world, but it does deplete our striker stocks in the short term.

[Izulde]

@Workington (21st)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Matt Fell
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Ray Atkinson
MC Antonie Boland
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Curtis Beasley

14 - Yeah, he couldn't be any more offsides. Good call, zebra.

15 - Wow, another offsides call in our favor after Turner literally drops the ball.

45 - We have been completely shut down offensively until this sequence, when Fell hits the rocket to Little's head.. and the keeper makes a ridiculous save. Luckily Walton boots the corner to Da Costa's head, and we get a just before half goal! 1-0

51 - Well that's just great. Walton earns a red on what should have been a simple yellow. We go to a 4-1-3-1, with Little the lone striker and Parslow at DC.

65 - Wilkins on for Boland

91 - The home fans have to be calling for the ref's head right about now after a third disallowed goal, this time due to a foul.

8.3 for Da Costa, as he did yeoman's work back there, particularly after Walton got sent off. We had a couple chances to get goals and add to our lead even with the man down, but it didn't happen. I'm going to appeal the suspension, as I don't think it was warranted.

My appeal's denied but that's not the worst part. I was willing to go over wage budget to sign an amazing 19 year old Irish DC... who chooses Alfreton, right behind us in the league standings, instead.

@Guiseley (10th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Danny Parslow
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Ray Atkinson
MC Antonie Boland
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Curtis Beasley

35 - Our old pal Nicky Deverdics is on the team, and for some reason Tickle keeps fouling him until a yellow results. Deverdics pays us back though by setting up Wong Wai Sum, who has the best.name.ever., for the score. 0-1

43 - Thank goodness Wong Wai Sum went the wong way because a stupid ass fucking pass by Tickle got easily intercepted and Turner got caught with his shorts down.

Lloyd will finally make his debut as he goes on in place of Atkinson, and Gnahore's whatever ass is replaced by Wilkins.

65 - Because we can't keep any of our fucking strikers healthy, Beasley goes off with injury, requiring me to promote Parslow of all people, and put in Fell at DC.

90 - WHAT.THE.ACTUAL.FUCK?! THAT WAS WIDE OPEN, LITTLE! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING OUT THERE, YOU GOD DAMN TINY DICKED JAGOFF?!

BAM! There goes our undefeated streak. And there goes our goals scored in a game streak, too.

But it gets better! Beasley is out 3 to 4 months. You know, because we aren't short enough on strikers already.

Loan In - ST Steve Dowie (21)
From Wrexham. Kid's got solid all around skills and he'll be a valuable asset on a 3 month loan while we sort through our striker hell.

@ Alfreton (2nd)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Danny Parslow
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Ryan Lloyd
MC Will Wilkins
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Steve Dowie

We're 4 points up, so we'll still be in first no matter what happens with this game, but obviously a victory would go a long, long way to solidifying our position.

6 - Are you FUCKING BLIND, YOU HORSESHIT ZEBRA?! THAT WAS NOT A FUCKING PENALTY! 0-1

15 - Makeup penalty!! And Lloyd god damned blows it!

37 - Another PK awarded to us! And Dowie converts on his debut! 1-1

I switch Tickle and Parslow around to try and snap them out of it, and Fell and Boland go in at ML and MC for Lloyd and Wilkins respectively.

63 - Bullshit! He was fucking offsides, you assfarmer! 1-2

85 - Fucking pathetic. 1-3

I rip into the players and they leak that shit to the press. I get suspended for a game for the second time by the FA.

Antonie Boland has officially blossomed into a star player for this level and will be taking over MC permanently.

vs Solihull Moors (9th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Danny Parslow
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Ryan Lloyd
MC Antonie Boland
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Kane Richards
ST Stevie Dowie

Taafe didn't even fucking replace Richards when he went off with injury, which probably cost us in this 0-1 defeat that dropped us to 3rd.

Fuck this bullshit and fuck Kane Richards going out 5-6 months.

[Izulde]

Expiring Contracts
ST Kane Richards - Current: $36.5k
DR/DM/MC/ST Danny Parslow - Current: $33k
DL/DC Paul Weldon - Current: $38.5k
ST Gergo Lippai - Current: $19.5k
GK Dereck Turner - Current: $2.4k
ML Ray Atkinson - Current: $9.75k
A bunch of reserve guys

Richards is too injury-prone and Parslow is too old. Weldon makes and wants far too much money. Lippai and Turner have no interest in signing with us again right now. Atkinson is filler.

So in other words, we're saying goodbye to everyone on this list for next season.

vs Tamworth (16th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Sam Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Ryan Lloyd
MC Antonie Boland
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Stevie Dowie

25 - A whole lot of tackling outside the six-yard box turns into Gnahore kicking it out to Lloyd for the supreme feed inside the box to Dowie and the score! 1-0

27 - Terrible clearance by Tickle equals immediate answer. 1-1

43 - Dowie receives the throw-in on the right side, dribbles inside the six-yard box, and boots a ball to Little's head, and we're back in the lead. 2-1

54 - Lloyd steals the ball and proceeds to run all the way down the left side of the pitch. Just before he gets to the touchline, he centers it to Little, who kicks it in with ease! 3-1

56 - Boland tackle-passes it into space, and there's Little for the hat-trick!!!!!!! ]b]4-1[/b] It's Wilkins on at DM.

61 - Wilkins shifts to MC, Walton moved to DM, Fell in at DC.

84 - Lloyd pops the ball forward to Little, who runs with it into the box, and slams in his fourth goal of the game! 5-1

86 - Consolation goal for them 5-2

What an exceptional game! 9.8 for PotM Little obviously, but also give credit to Dowie with an 8.6, Lloyd having exactly the kind of game I envisioned when I loaned him in to finally solve our ML problems at 8.3, and even a 7.6 for Sedgemore.

More importantly, we're back in 1st

Oh, and Little's 4 goals is a Gainsborough record



Good Trains
Danny Parslow
Will Wilkins
Ray Atkinson

Bad Trains
Simon Walton
Joseph Lumley

The board's very pleased, and we only lost $165 last month.

@Histon (15th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Matt Fell
DC Danny Parslow
DC Sam Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Antonie Boland
MC Will Wilkins
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Stevie Dowie

9 - Our old friends Eddie Nisevic and Angus Hopkins are playing for Histon. In this sequence, though, it's Fell who clears out a corner to Wilkins, and the race is on with our youngster charging down the length of the field until he picks out Gnahore, and the MC to DM is a GOAL. 1-0

34 - Well crap. Boland has to go off, so I'll move Knott to the left and put in Richefond on the right.

36 - Own goal by Parslow of all people. 1-1

Walton moves to DM at the half, and Weldon comes in at DC.

77 - Goal for us is called off due to foul, which was a little ticky-tack, but whatevs.

92 - Wilkins picks up the Histon clearance and shows steely nerves in pushing it up to Little... who SCORES WITH SECONDS TO SPARE!!!! 2-1

This was all about Wilkins putting on arguably his best performance yet for us, an 8.6 that sees him net Player of the Match honors, and no one else in the 7.5 or better range.

Ryan Richefond picked up a knock that will have him out a week and a half. Not a big deal, as he's just depth at this point anyway.

Transfer In - ST Richie Madine (22)
A two year, $31k per season contract. My scouts consider him the team's #3 striker right now, but with League 2 potential, so we're thrilled to get him. That means we're over budget and we'll have to send out a player. I already have in mind who I want to dump.

@ Corby (17th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Sam Walton
DR Danny Parslow
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Ryan Lloyd
MC Will Wilkins
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Gergo Lippai

2 - Lippai shifts it out to Sedgemore for the blooper volley ahead, and Little mows down everyone to thunder the ball in. Wow, he's just been freaking AMAZING the last few games. 1-0

25 - I've counted three different times Little was close to bagging his second goal, and then Lippai gets this thing started by passing it to Sedgemore, who locates Wilkins, and then it's to Little, and this time he won't be denied! Cool to see Wilkins and Little brohug after that one! 2-0

40 - It's starting to rain now. Sedgemore passes it to Lippai, who runs through the falling rain and the defense to just inside the six yard box, where he powers it in. 3-0

44 - Lloyd takes the free kick and plants it perfectly for Walton to ninja-style sneak ahead and kick it in for the ongoing deluge. 4-0

57 - Madine and Argent go in for Lippai and Wilkins respectively, since we have no chance of getting caught.

85 - Uh oh. Da Costa, our defensive rock, has to go off. Fell goes in.

8.4 for Walton, 7.8 for Da Costa, 8.1 for Weldon, 8.2 for Sedgemore, 7.5 for Lloyd, 8.0 for Lippai and 8.9 for Little, who again is PotM. Talk about total and complete domination!

Curtis Da Costa is out 2 months.

The papers are continuing to sing the praises of Zach Little and Lewis Taaffe comments on the amazing progression of our young striker. I see him capping out at the BS Premier level, though, rather than someone who hangs around long-term.

Transfer Out - DC/DR/DM/ST Danny Parslow (35) - Colwyn Bay - Free
Sad day for the fans and the squad, as our team captain packs his bags. He's been with the squad for 5 and a half seasons, but we needed to free up the money, and though he made 24 appearances for us this year, he was really a second string option rather than a true starter.

In his stead, Simon Walton is promoted to captain, and Curtis Da Costa is named vice-captain.

For the most part, people are happy with the appointment, though Dereck Turner and, ironically, Curtis Da Costa are upset about Parslow's leaving.

I don't list all the players in Team of the Week because that gets repetitive, but Zach Little, Trevor Sedgemore, Ryan Lloyd, and Simon Walton all making the squad deserves a mention.

vs Buxton (22nd)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Matt Fell
DC Paul Weldon
DC Sam Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Ryan Lloyd
MC Antonie Boland
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Richie Madine

Before we begin, I'd just like to note that the top 5 teams in the Blue Square North have clearly separated themselves from the rest of the pack. Team #5 - 50 points. Team #6 - 38 points, through 26 or 27 games.

Also, our efforts to add to our defensive line strength have fallen through. We lost one guy on loan to Dover, who's in the BS Premier. Another guy wanted more money than we were willing to offer him in spite of what my scout said, and a third didn't want to join us on loan at all.

19 - Their finishing is awful, but their defense is stout. Then Weldon kicks it back to Fell, who deep crosses it... their defender misses the header, and a hard-charging Sedgemore sends it in for the lead. 1-0

25 - Lloyd finds Little's head on the free kick, and we double our lead, finally starting to show we're working the kinks out after an 11 day layoff. 2-0

43 - Madine's had trouble blending in so far, but here, he takes the moonshot from Sedgemore, dribbles down the right flank, and makes a beaut of a center to Little, who blasts it in. 3-0

I see Gnahore's all whatever at the half, so I replace him at DM with Wilkins.

58 - Wow, wow, wow! Little pounces on a tackled ball and just boots the hell out of the ball into the upper right hand corner of the goal for his hat trick and 20th goal of the year! 4-0 Dowie comes on for Madine, who still needs to be gradually worked into the lineup, it appears.

7.6 for Weldon, 9.0 for Fell, 8.7 for Sedgemore, 7.6 for Lloyd, and of course, 9.6 for the guy who has become perhaps the greatest striker I've had at this level, Little of the Hat Trick.

vs Grimby (8th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Matt Fell
DC Paul Weldon
DC Sam Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Ryan Lloyd
MC Antonie Boland
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Richie Madine

Remember Callum McNish? Well, after six seasons with Brackley, he moved on to League 1 Chesterfield where he played for a year as a reserve, then transferred to Grimsby this season on a whopping $60k contract.

Both teams are playing stiff, and our strikers in particular are doing terribly, so I actually sit Little for Dowie at the break.

58 - Tickle goes off with injury, and I'm thankful we have Richefond to cover for him. We really need more help on the wingback positions.

Nevermind Weldon's 8.1 PotM performance. We played like shit and were lucky to scrape out a point.

Still, it's enough to increase our lead to 2 points over FC Halifax and 4 over Accrington with 28 games in the books and 57 points to our name. Pretty impressive when you think about it, considering all the injuries we've had at striker, the chaos in the backline, and the lengthy injury to a key player who should be back in another week or so.

[Izulde]

So, about Callum McNish. He's actually on loan from Chesterfield - not outright transferred like I thought. Whoops. He's listed as not needed, but he has no interest in moving to play for us despite having me as favored personnel.

@Leamington (17th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Matt Fell
DC Paul Weldon
DC Sam Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Ryan Lloyd
MC Antonie Boland
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Richie Madine

10 - Knock for Madine

13 - Lloyd passes it back to Gnahore and gets it back again, dribbles just inside the left corner of the six-yard box, and hits a screaming diagonal that finds it way in the net for his first Gainsborough goal! 1-0

16 - Gnahore locates Madine, who sends it in the middle to Boland. Our MC shows off his comfort and newly acquired skill by passing it perfectly to Sedgemore, and just like that, our loaned wide midfielders have a score a piece. 2-0

22 - We really need a new DR. Tickle's toyed with like twine twice, and the end result is a long-range strike for them. 2-1

30 - Little delivers it to Boland, who records his second straight laser beam, this time to Madine. With a little help from the post, our pricey striker FINALLY gets his first goal for us. 3-1

Dowie goes in for Madine, Tickle shifts to DC, and Richefond suits up at DR at the break, because Weldon's looking complacent.

56 - Gnahore has to leave after an injury, and Wilkins comes on.

[]b72[/b] - Boland passes to Dowie and it continues on to Little. Our top striker pauses just outside the box, takes aim at the upper-corner of the goal... and hits! 4-1

Boland scores a 9.0 and PotM. He's blossomed into exactly the role I envisioned for him when I signed him last year. 8.0 for Sedgemore, 7.8 for Lloyd and 7.7 for Little.

Transfer In - DL/MC Seb Turner (23)
2 year, $28k per year deal. Rated 3* attacking WB and 2.5* B2B MC, and he has upside of the BS Premier level. While his contract puts us over budget, he's $10.5k a year cheaper than Paul Weldon, and his replacement for next season. Given that Curtis Da Costa is still hurt, Seb will immediately step in the starting lineup at DL and get an opportunity to win the job now. Nuneaton has some unhappy fans with the move.

Joseph Lumley signs a non-contract with AFC Telford because he knows he'll never see the starting lineup again with us.

vs Accrington (2nd)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Seb Turner
DC Paul Weldon
DC Sam Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Ryan Lloyd
MC Antonie Boland
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Richie Madine

Big, big game obviously, given that we're only 1 point ahead, although we do have a game in hand. We definitely need to get a win here in the 30th game of the season to really cement our hold atop the conference.

1 - Madine kicks out to Tickle for the booming hoof, but Little can't put it in despite the golden opportunity.

30 - It's Madine again, this time using his speed and awareness to race and grab his own deflected ball, power down the pitch, and then pass it horizontally to Little, and all the faked out goalie can do is watch as Zach tallies up another one. 1-0

Knott comes in at ML, because Lloyd is having a terrible game, and Wilkins takes over at MC for a tired Boland. Close, close contest.

79 - Brilliant tackle by Wilkins results in the ball in Little's possession. He passes it to Madine, and the post once again is in favor of our newest striker, for the doubling of the lead and Madine's Gainborough goal tally!! 2-0

91 - And there's Sedgmore knocked out of the game. Richefond steps in for him.

"Gainsborough secure a massive win!" Boy, you ain't kidding. 7.5 for Dereck Turner, Walton, and Weldon. 8.2 for the duo of Little and Madine up front, the first getting the PotM award.

Sedgemore is out 4 to 5 weeks, but that may not matter.

D/MR Freddie Dalton comes in a 3 month loan. He's just depth, though.

Good Trains
Will Wilkins
Dereck Turner
Steve Dowie

Zach Little comes in 2nd in Player of the Month voting, and I win Manager of the Month and the difference is not even close. Our efforts at landing an elite MR loan-in failed.

$4.71k lost last month.

Will Wilkins continues to flourish in training.

@Kettering (12th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Seb Turner
DC Paul Weldon
DC Sam Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Ryan Lloyd
MC Antonie Boland
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Stevie Dowie

Yep, you saw that right. Alex Worsfold is finally back from injury, and it's amazing how well we coped in his absence. Or maybe not, considering depth at DM was a big priority for us in the offseason.

37 - This is our game in hand, and we're playing like we don't care. 0-1

60 - Dowie and Walton are yanked for Madine and Fell. Sub-6.0 isn't going to cut it.

80 - So much for that 0-2

83 - Beautiful strip, run and pass to Little by Madine to give us a glimmer of hope after Zach's knock-in. 1-2

88 - Ugh. Lloyd hits it right, but the post bounces us out.

93 - Fluky long strike. 1-3

Our backline completely let us down there. Just a total collapse.

[Izulde]

I release Ray Atkinson on a free because I'm really trying to free up space to land an absolutely perfect player.

Zach Little is praised for his awesome development.

vs Colwyn Bay (12th)
GK Dereck Turner
DL Paul Weldon
DC Jimmy Tickle
DC Sam Walton
DR Freddie Dalton
DM Eddu Gnahore
ML Ryan Lloyd
MC Will Wilkins
MR Tom Knott
ST Zach Little
ST Richie Madine

Our old friend Danny Parslow is playing for them, remember, and is itching to get revenge on us for letting him go, no doubt.

8 - Back and forth passing between Gnahore and Wilkins and before I know it, Wilkins jacks a shot from just outside the semi-circle, and holy cow it goes in! 1-0

37 - Nothing to do about that one. It was a perfectly blasted thunderbolt. 1-1

Richefond is in for Knott at MR at the half. We're doing okay, but we're capable of so much more.

59 - Fell on for Lloyd at ML, who's lollygagging his way through the match.

Our strikers were sleepwalking the whole game. Just a sad, sad performance all around.

Transfer In - GK Ricky Castles (20)
2 year, $28k per year contract that puts us over budget but he's worth it. Already a top-shelf goalie with BS Premier level upside and immediate next year replacement for Dereck Turner. I'm excited to have this kid from Crawley in our system.

Transfer Out - ST Gergo Lippai - Free Transfer - $26k contract - Hinckley
He wasn't going to come back next year anyway, and the Hungarian never broke into the starting lineup full-time. And with Zach Little and Richie Madine locked up as our starters next year as well, and Curtis Beasley a rising prospect, he was just surplus to requirements.

And we're still $4k over our wage budget, but I'm not releasing anyone else for now. As it was, we had to pay Atkinson $4k on the free just to get under budget so the board would sign off on Castles' contract.

@Nuneaton (10th)
GK Ricky Castles
DL Seb Turner
DC Paul Weldon
DC Simon Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Ryan Lloyd
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Richie Madine

Almost to full health, as we can see. Curtis Da Costa may see reserve time in this one, but he'll be back full strength next game for sure.

32 - Castles just earned his paycheck right there by having the alertness to swipe the ball from none other than Jesse Darko in what should have been a surefire goal.

35 - Sedgemore is knocked out again, and we have no true cover for him. Fortunately, Walton can play MR in a pinch, so we move him there, and bring Da Costa in at DC, since we were going to put him in at half anyway.

42 - No stopping Darko that time. 0-1

Multiple 6.0 and below equals horrid play. Boland slots in for Gnahore at the break to try and jumpstart this offense.

71 - I've had it. Off goes Madine and in goes Dowie, whose loan ends in a few days.

88 - Darko strikes again. He knows us too well. 0-2

Our lead is cut to a single point, and 10 points away is all we have left away from 6th, 4 from 5th, so things have tightened up very quickly.

Good
Jimmy Tickle
Richie Madine

Bad
Matt Fell
Seb Turner

Big $34.34k loss last month due to not having many home games.

@Boston United (17th)
GK Ricky Castles
DL Seb Turner
DC Paul Weldon
DC Simon Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Ryan Lloyd
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Richie Madine

That was a real nothing first half. Our offense is awful, and we've dropped down to 2nd place if we tie so far, so we need to win this game. Dowie in for Little and Boland on at MC at the half.

84 - Lloyd steals the ball on a throw-in and we get a daisy chain of him, Worsfold, Boland, Madine for the late slammer that maybe gets us out of here with a win against our old Lithuanian goalkeeper 1-0

85 - He was fucking offsides, you assgnobbling ref!!!! 1-1

94 - Fuck the cumslut homer refs and fuck the literal Coward who knocked Boland out of the game and fuck Boston United for fucking keeping playing even when our injured player was fucking out cold on the grass. Fuck this match and fuck the god damned fucking horsedick Blue Square North

Seb Turner's out for 2 weeks, Antonie Boland a week and a half most like.

Youth Intake
We're developing a real reputation for producing promising MC prospects. First was Will Wilkins, and now this year there's two more, both of whom could be even better than he is - Arron Payne, who has BS Premier potential, and Aaron Eustace who has same and can also play DM naturally, along with pinch-hit playing at ML and MR. Everyone else is trash, though.

vs FC Halifax (5th)
GK Ricky Castles
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Ryan Lloyd
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Richie Madine

We need a win here to really add some punch to our playoff ticket hopes and maybe even sneak us back in 1st place.

30 - Offsides call finally goes our way after Weldon giftwrapped them the fucking ball.

35 - One of my favorite plays: Sedgemore boots it out to Tickle, who crosses to the Little head for the big goal 1-0

57 - We're awarded a penalty and somehow the goalie stops Walton, who has a 19 PK rating from scoring. Fuck that noise.

64 - Dowie in for Madine, because I'm getting real sick and tired of seeing stupid plays, and Wilkins hops in at MC, because Gnahore has looked uncomfortable whenever he's played there lately.

67 - We suck donkey dick at defending corners 1-1

Another pissant performance when we needed a breakthrough win. One that, I might add, would have put us back in 1st place. That's our fifth straight game without a win

Salisbury City wins the FA Trophy

@Southport 16th
GK Ricky Castles
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Ryan Lloyd
MC Antonie Boland
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Richie Madine

8 - And the rain keeps pouring 0-1

44 - Fuck this. 0-2

Fuck it. 4-1-4-1 with Gnahore an attacking CM and Little the lone striker.

72 - Seb Turner in for Boland

We drop all the way down to 4th after that horseshit display and we fucking deserve it.

@Worcester (2nd)
GK Ricky Castles
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Alex Worsfold
ML Ryan Lloyd
MC Eddy Gnahore
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Richie Madine

19 - *Keyboard toss* 0-1

[b49[/b] - ... 0-2

vs Hyde (20th)
GK Ricky Castles
DL Seb Turner
DC Paul Weldon
DC Simon Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Will Wilkins
ML Tom Knott
MC Antonie Boland
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Curtis Beasley

Part of this is due to rest, part of it is us trying something, anything to get a result going.

31 - "Great spell of dominance by Hyde". Fucking of course. Even though a relegation candidate is tailor-made to be a bigger slumpbuster than a so fat every time she turns around it's her birthday redheaded chick for DaddyTorgo, and we put up with this shit.

32 - Sedgemore gets the ball and dribbles, then passes it down to Knott, who tries a desperation shot that manages to go in. Ho-fucking-ray. 1-0

45 - You have GOT TO FUCKING BE KIDDING ME!@$%!@#%$!@#$%kl4JTHIOAWERHAWERGHI8[RY890YHRT4H4RTF789YTPWE3RT789T782354235T78923R5T789235RTY890Q235RFGT89P23;5UG23P895

63 - Seb Turner goes off so some shuffling of players and Dalton in at DR. Not that it fucking matters. We're going to tie or fucking lose to a god damn fucking relegation team AT FUCKING HOME

68 - GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE, ALL OF YOU! SHUT IT FUCKING DOWN! 1-2

72 - We level it but I'm too busy in DON'TGIVEAFUCKVILLE to care. Madine goes in for Beasley 2-2

vs Workington (21st)
GK Ricky Castles
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Ryan Lloyd
MC Antonie Boland
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Richie Madine

We fucking lose 0-1. Fuck it. I'm going to finish out this season and then close this fucking dynasty down.

vs Guiseley (14th
GK Ricky Castles
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Ryan Lloyd
MC Antonie Boland
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Richie Madine

9 - Little scores on a pass from Sedgemore. I don't get excited. Not with the fucked up way we've played in however many fucking games. 1-0

12 - Sedgemore to Madine to Little, and all I can think is, where the FUCK was this shit before?! 2-0

51 - Dalton in at DR after a swapout of Da Costa, Wilkins at MC.

61 - Three straight shots at the goal and nothing. FML.

74 - Wilkins to Little to Madine and that's another one on the board. Hard to get jazzed up though. This isn't doing anything other than solidifying our 5th place spot. 3-0

7.7 for Walton, 8.2 for Madine, and 8.8 for PotM Little.

2 games left. Table looks like this:

Worcester - 75 points
Alfreton - 73 points
Accrington - 71 points
FC Halifax - 71 points
Gainsborough - 70 points
Grimsby - 66 points

Everyone else is already eliminated from title or playoff consideration. With a little luck, we can sneak up to as high as 2nd, but Worcester has this all but locked up.

With those 2 goals, Zach Little has 24 goals and breaks the 2017 record for most goals scored by a Blue Square North player

@Droyelsden (9th)
GK Ricky Castles
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Ryan Lloyd
MC Antonie Boland
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Richie Madine

8 - A 30 yard boot by Sedgemore sends everyone into raptures and vaults us temporarily into 3rd place 1-0

12 - Madine should have crushed that, but he freezes instead.

27

WTFE - BULLSHIT THEY GOT TO FUCKIG PLAY POWER PLAY WHILE ONE OF MY GUYS IS GETTING TREATMENT OH FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK YOU!

47 - We answer with a Da Costa header off the corner but I don't give a fuck. Sick of fucking getting SCREWED BY THE FUCKING REFS 2-2

I move Sedgemore to ST at the half and put Knott in at MR, because Little hasn't done shit all game. Dalton goes on at DR.

60 - Unexpected. Not Sedgemore passing to Madine, but Madine dumping it off to a wide open Lloyd who is up in the striker position and slams the net 3-2

80 - Boland blows two great shots at goal. I'm going to snap my keyboard in half if that costs us.

8.2 for Da Costa, 7.6 for Walton, 7.8 for Lloyd, 8.3 for Sedgmore, and 8.5 for PotM Madine, who despite the missed open shot played brilliantly even if he didn't end up on the scoresheet.

We clinch a playoff spot and Worcester wins the league. We can still get up to 2nd with an Accrington loss or tie and a victory by us, or even a loss by them and a tie by us. Hell, even a tie by them and a win by us gets us up one more spot.

vs Bradford PA (7th)
GK Ricky Castles
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Tom Knott
MC Antonie Boland
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Richie Madine

Their goalie is playing the game of his life and it's frustrating right now.

63 - We're awarded the penalty and this time Walton converts 1-0 Meanwhile, Fell and Wilkins are waiting to go in at ML and MC, respectively.

78 - That was a wide open goal and Little blows it.

Castles is PotM with an 8.5. First time in a long time we've had a goalie earn that honor. 7.7 for Walton, 8.1 for Gnahore

We do end up 2nd on goal differential and draw Grimsby, who snuck in at the very last minute over a free-falling FC Halifax. It was a 5 point margin of championship for Worcester, so it's not like we would have beaten them for sure if we didn't have that prolonged slump anyway.

@Grimsby (Promotion Playoffs)
GK Ricky Castles
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Tom Knott
MC Antonie Boland
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Richie Madine

Why the hell we're playing at their place and not ours, I don't know.

7 - Gonna be a quick exit. Fuck the draw 0-1

Seb Turner and Fell replace Weldon and Walton at the break, because our whole backline is playing like ass.

FICL UPI SDFJASTJAERHFOLAWEOASGHA[FGH][SDGHO[ASGHIRTGRFHHGNASDIO;WERFYFHWEU9POYWE89PRTWE89PITYH789WEGFWUIPOFB79-ROFV783RTB026B2389P

76 - Boland goal. WGAF 1-2

vs Grimsby (Promotion Playoff)
GK Ricky Castles
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Ryan Lloyd
MC Antonie Boland
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Richie Madine

...Oh. Guess there's a second leg. Heh.

Mansfield, once rivals of Brackley, got up to Championship level but relegated back down to League 1 after finishing last there this season.

35 - If this is our last hurrah, at least we got to see the Walton corner to Da Costa for a score one more time. 1-0

51 - Madine's knocked. In goes Richards, who made his stealth return last game, but nevermind that.

52 A FUCKING OWN GOAL BY WALTON 1-1

73 FUCK YOU THAT WAS NOT A FOUL YOU FUCKING ZEBRA DICKED COCK MUNCHING ASSCLOWN!!!!!!

81 - And here's a doublefisted FUCK.YOU. to the fucking refs. Walton hits Little and this one they don't DARE FUCKING deny 2-1

88 - Wilkins and Richards make the two most important passes of our entire season, the latter pushing it to Little for the icy-veined score! 3-1

We drop down into contain mode and we pull it off!

Walton played the game of his life, his 9.0 getting us through to the Final, and of course Little's 8.8 and 2 goals deserve mention.

Richie Madine is ruled out for the Final

And here's why the higher seed is finally an advantage. We play Alfreton on our own turf.

vs Alfreton (Blue Square North Promotion Final)
GK Ricky Castles
DL Paul Weldon
DC Curtis Da Costa
DC Simon Walton
DR Jimmy Tickle
DM Eddy Gnahore
ML Ryan Lloyd
MC Antonie Boland
MR Trevor Sedgemore
ST Zach Little
ST Kane Richards

This is it. All the blood, all the sweat, all the cursing comes down to this one final game. Win, and we're up. Lose, and everything will feel as though it's been a giant waste.

12 - Shit. Little gets knocked. He'll fight through it, though.

35 - How many times have we seen this? Walton on the corner to Da Costa, and while this time it's trapped by his feet and then kicked in, it's still a thing of beauty in this high-stakes moment. 1-0

73 - I decide to play dangerous, putting Knott at MR and Beasley in place of Richards at ST.

Da Costa with the 8.4 and PotM, and Walton with the 7.8 as we pull off the defensive victory AND WE'RE GOING TO THE BLUE SQUARE PREMIER!!!

Before we get too excited though, this isn't new territory. In fact, they were in the BS Premier for the 2013 and 2014 seasons, and then again in 2018. Nor, obviously, is it my first promotion rodeo in this universe, having taken Brackley all the way to League 2 before I abruptly quit there.

Oh, and we'll be passing each other, too. Brackley finished last and least in the BS Premier, so they're going down and I'm going up with my new team. At least they had a nice 7 season run between League 2 and BS Premier before dropping back down again. The only players left from my era are Samuel Bangura and Taylor Parmenter. Bangura's the team captain now, incidentally, and their finances are insecure.

[Izulde]

The good news - we're retaining most of our key players. The bad news - Seb Turner was terrible, so we may need to rethink that.

The fans loved the signing of Ricky Castles and I do too. I'm hoping he can be a long-term fixture for us in back.

Year Training Results
Fantastic - Will Wilkins
Great - Dereck Turner
Good - Antonie Boland, Tom Knott, Trevor Sedgemore
Decline - Simon Walton
Red Flag - Seb Turner

Well that's just great.

We get a 2 year, $22k per year main sponsorship deal. Our last one was $21.6k, so it's a slight improvement.

I win Manager of the Year for Blue Square North, which is awesome and rightfully deserved.

Our payroll is boosted to $550k, which means we have $173k to go shopping with.

Critical Need Areas
ML, MR, DR, DL

Worth Looking At
DC, ST

We're fine at MC and DM, though I may look for depth there.

Transfer In - DR Cameron Dummigan (24)
3.5* attacking wingback but with 13 Tackling and Marking. Has a ways to go in his development yet, but BS Premier quality, and signs for the affordable rate of $25.5k a year for 2 years. World beater? No. Insane upgrade over Jimmy Tickle? Hell yes. Put up 7.12 average rating with Hyde last year.

We're paid $22.9k by Chesterfield as part of the parent club arrangement. Oh, and we also make a profit of $115k the previous month, a new high

As a result, we're -$18.3k in the bank account now, which is the best shape the club's been in since I got here.

Transfer IN - DR Terry Windass (23)
I'm sorry, but that's the best.name.ever. He can fight it out with Dummigan for the starting spot, and he signs a two year, $18.25k a year contract. Jimmy Tickle is quickly fading into the dust on our depth chart.

Our efforts to fill our other need areas, though, aren't going so well. Either they don't want to come here, will cost too much, or suck.

Oh now this is interesting:



Hope Stuttgart doesn't match!

Dion Argent gets a $27k contract from Corby, where he'll actually get paid and get PT. He's still a talented kid - just got lost in the logjam we had at DM and MC.

Transfer In - ML Wayne Gregory (22)
We had to massively overpay to get him - $38k on a two year contract, but we were in a real bind at the ML spot, and he represents a current upgrade already over Ryan Lloyd with good upside for the next level to boot.

Jimmy Tickle signs a $34k contract with Guiseley, to which I say good for him. Would have loved to keep him to play DC, but he was never interested in a contract when I offered him.



That's a first for me! Let's see if we can go back and see what I said about his initial signing...

[b]quote]
Transfer In - ST Zach Little (22)
Two years, $27k a year, 3.5* both as Poacher and Complete Forward. He'll be a starting striker for us, which means Georgo Lippai will move back to the third striker spot. Some solid all-around attributes to be sure.[/quote]

Oh and we won our U18 group last year. Don't ask me how

No surprise to see Zach Little voted Player of the Year



Weird seeing Matt Fell on there, as he played ML/DL/DC and was more of a flexible bench player than someone I'd expect to see on this list.

$9.15k for TV rights.

$550k and no transfer budget to avoid relegation? Yep, I'll take that.

Tired Players
Eddy Gnahore
Curtis Da Costa
Antonie Boland
Ryan Lloyd
Richie Madine

One of our coaches is saying we should use the 4-2-2-2, the 4-1-3-2, or the 4-1-2-1-2

Loan In - DLR Damilola Leigh (20)
Season-long loan from FC Halifax. May or may not start at DL, but he was solid at the BSN level last season and he gives us depth there at least.

Paul Weldon and Kane Richards immediately leave the club after their contracts expire. Dereck Turner has decided to stay for now.

$187k in budget room after those choices. We have no one to occupy the MR spot other than Simon Walton and we're still weak at DL and DR despite our signings. We could also really use a powerhouse DC so I can make Walton a versatile reserve rather than a required starter. ST depth is weak. DM, MC we're golden still though.