Berwick Rangers: An English Club in Scotland

Glass Half Empty or Half Full?

I’m not sure if things are going well… I think they are.

The good news is that Stranraer look like they’re going down already and that we’ve scored in every league game so far.

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The bad news is that we can’t stop conceding, which in a way is not surprising considering the teams we’re coming up against.

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We picked up two key wins against Ayr and Stranraer and I’m hoping all the new signings will have gelled together by now so we can kick on. Despite being part-timers we definitely have a team that is good enough for the Championship.


Also the John Wilson transfer saga is over as he signed a new contract.

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I remember how unimpressed I was by the youth intake he was in when we were in League Two so for him to now be a Championship quality player is remarkable.

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Hopefully he can find some form and push us up the table away from 9th​ place.

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Just read it from start to finish.

Great story, hope you keep it up. I will keep reading
 
Just smashed all the posts in a oner - great read and hope you continue to build the side. feel you'll be in the Championship for while unless you go professional...
 
brooksey84 said:
Great story enjoying this!
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scousegin said:
Just read it from start to finish.

Great story, hope you keep it up. I will keep reading
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JT3197 said:
Just smashed all the posts in a oner - great read and hope you continue to build the side. feel you'll be in the Championship for while unless you go professional...
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Cheers for the support everyone it's much appreciated. And we definitely won't be ready for the SPL until we're professional JT, but the league is so close this year anything could happen.
 
This League is Nuts!

At the halfway mark this is what the league table looks like.

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After 2 wins in a row, including a 7-2 against Stranraer, we are 4th​ in the table which is the highest we’ve been in the league this season.

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I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen in the next half of the season, we could just as easily end up in the promotion playoffs as we could in the relegation playoffs it’s that close. We were also knocked out in the 3rd​ round of the cup to Inverness, that’s now 7 games in which we haven’t beaten them.

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It’s annoying as we’ve not put a good cup run together at any point during the save but allows us to concentrate solely on the league.
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What. Is. Happening.

I normally don’t post only three games after my last one but in this case I just had to before our bubble bursts. Look at the league table, look at it!

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In fairness our starting XI are definitely good enough to finish mid-table, but everyone in this league is beating everyone else so now that we’ve put a run together we’ve shot up to second!

It’s not just the fact we’re second though... we’re honestly blowing teams away. The Balon d’Or will be a two horse race between John Wilson and Tommy Caffrey at this rate as they’re both in ridiculous scoring form; Messi will come nowhere near them.

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I also thought a Scott Scott update was due. He’s top scorer in League One for highflying Queen of the South after joining them on loan for the season.

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He seems but a distant memory. We’re now seriously in with a shout of making the playoffs for the 4th​ season in a row.​
 
Playoff Addiction

So… remember that thing we do where we finish second every season?

It’s happening again.

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We just can’t stop scoring and can’t stop winning. It doesn’t matter how many we concede, we’ll just score more.

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This is solely because of John Wilson and Tommy Caffrey.

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Just to confirm that’s 23 goals and 11 assists for Caffrey in 23 games making Wilson’s 17 goals and 11 assists in 27 games look average. I’ve never known stats like it.

This is the tactic we’re using. I’m not sure whether it's specifically the tactic that’s causing these results but two pacey advanced forwards and next to no injuries throughout the season make life a lot easier.

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The way we’re playing I can’t see us not finishing in the playoffs.
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Wow! That’s awesome mate! How many games are left in the season?
 
LewCrisp said:
Wow! That’s awesome mate! How many games are left in the season?
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I know I can't quite believe it! There's 36 league games in total and I've played 31 now. We're either going to finish second or third this season.
 
New Contract and Youth Intake

Our success in the league has resulted in the board giving me a new, two-year contract. It shows they have faith in me, just not enough to allow us to go professional or upgrade the League Two standard training facilities…

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The youth intake this year was nothing special, Alan Frances was the pick of the bunch. Having said that I don’t really know what I’m talking about when it comes to youth intakes as John Wilson proves.

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We’ve also managed to get Tommy Caffrey on loan for another season. It’s a massive signing especially if we stay in the Championship, as he’s already Premiership quality.


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This is the table with 5 games left; it looks like we’re going to end up in second or third.

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You can’t have the playoffs without Berwick.
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If you manage promotion you'll need to turn professional due to SPL rules. Finances might be a problem as i don't think your stadium will meet the requirements (unless they've removed those restrictions now), meaning it'll need upgrading.
 
how much has your budget gone up? how much debt are you in?

You've flown up the leagues, be really interesting how the play offs go. will you go for Scot Scot if you promote?


whats the clubs records? you close to any?
 
neavie pops23 said:
Amazing season! Scot Scot must be kicking himself!
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He’s tearing it up for Queen of the South who won League One, 22 goals in 33 games. He’ll be very close to Inverness’ first team next year.

ratmsm1 said:
If you manage promotion you'll need to turn professional due to SPL rules. Finances might be a problem as i don't think your stadium will meet the requirements (unless they've removed those restrictions now), meaning it'll need upgrading.
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Yeah if we do get promoted I’m intrigued as to what will happen, presumably we’ll have to ground share because we don’t have a full-seater stadium. But then the financial aspect of going full time and having to improve the stadium will put us in massive debt.

JT3197 said:
how much has your budget gone up? how much debt are you in?

You've flown up the leagues, be really interesting how the play offs go. will you go for Scot Scot if you promote?

whats the clubs records? you close to any?
Click to expand...

The budgets for next year will come through after the playoffs and we’re not in debt but about to hit minus numbers for the overall balance however prize money for finishing second means we’ll end the season with £500,000 in the bank.

If it makes sense to get Scott Scott I will but I think it’s wise to not waste money on him for the sake of it, maybe I will in 10 years when we’re the best team in the world…

Second place in the Championship was Berwick’s highest ever position, we scored 86 league goals which was our most so far, and even topped the disciplinary charts but I’m still not even among the favoured personnel at the club.

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Final Table and Playoff Opponent

After a crazy first season in the Championship we managed to finish second, only three points away from getting promoted to the SPL with a semi-professional team. Not too bad.

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John Wilson and Tommy Caffrey dominated the goal and assist charts. Wilson was top scorer in the league whilst Caffrey claimed the most assists.

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The playoff system works a bit differently this year. We will play the winner of Morton and Falkirk (as they finished 3rd and 4th in League One) in a two-legged tie to determine who will play Partick thistle who finished 11th​ in the SPL.

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Morton beat Falkirk 5-1 on aggregate so we will play them in the playoff second round, the winner of this will then play Partick in a two-legged match.

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We’ve beaten them 5-0 and 4-1 this season and the first leg comes only 3 days after their victory against Falkirk. So we’re playing a team low on fitness who we’ve thrashed twice this season already.

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According to the star ratings we have a slightly better team than Morton as well.
If John Wilson and Tommy Caffrey show up then we’ll walk it.

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Three of our players were also called up for Scotland under 20s for the upcoming World Cup but I had to withdraw them from the squad because of the playoffs.

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It’s a shame John Wilson won’t get to represent Scotland as he came through our academy but he is very much needed to fire us to the SPL!​
 
Championship Promotion Playoff Second Round

First Leg - Morton 3-2 Berwick

A last minute goal gave Morton an undeserved 3-2 win in the first leg. We had countless chances to score and may rue those misses come the second leg.

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As is now tradition we got our obligatory playoff injury. Christian Antoniazzi loan spell has ended early after he sprained his knee ligaments. He will be sorely missed as he was the only player, along with Caffrey, who my assistant felt was Premiership quality.

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Second Leg - Berwick 0-4 Morton

Well that was an anti climax.

We don’t even make it to the final after Morton thumped us 4-0 in our own back yard. They scored two late goals to really embarrass us but they deserved the win, we just didn’t turn up.

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I expected us to comfortably beat them but I suppose that’s the beauty of the playoffs. Never will I be optimistic again.

Another season in the Championship awaits us.

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Rough ending to a great season, might have to stop finishing second next year!
 
2020/21 Season Review

Overall the season was undoubtedly a success as the form of John Wilson and Tommy Caffrey ensured we finished in the top two and not the bottom two. They scored almost all of our goals.

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Morton ended up losing to Partick in the playoff final so we will get the chance for revenge against them next season. Despite the playoff disappointment there’s no way we would’ve survived going up to the SPL at the first attempt.

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There were 11 times this season where we conceded 3+ goals. It’s obvious that we need to improve defensively if we are to go one better and gain promotion next year. We’ve got enough in the wage budget to do that, it just depends on whether there are any quality defenders who are willing to join us.

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Despite conceding goals for fun two of our centre backs, Luca Gasporotto and Oliver Fleming, were in the Championship Team of the Year along with Joe McKee and the two greatest strikers in world football Wilson and Caffrey. Caffrey unsurprisingly won Championship Player of the Year.

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Incidentally Fleming has been with us every season in the save and has another year on his contract. However we’re saying goodbye to Conor Scullion, Aaron Murrell and Michael McKenna all of whom have been with us since the start but are no longer good enough for the team.

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The transfer window will centre around John Wilson. We managed to keep him last summer and I’m sure he can be persuaded to stay for at least one more year to fire us to the SPL.

Not only this, but he’d surely stay at the club if we turned professional.
I had, after all, just led Berwick to their highest ever finish and with £500,000 in the bank the stage was set to ask the board to go full time.

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Of course they said no.
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