Deciding on my first job on FM09 was an easy decision, seeing as i'm about 10 minutes away from Gateshead and relishing the opportunity to manage at lower league level, i took over the reigns at Gateshead hoping to bring the glory days back (not that they've had much glory over the years but they have certainly seen better days).
So here i was first day on the job and with a limited budget of 28k and a wage budget of £4.96k, first things first, a quick run down of the squad, who will be staying and who will be going..
Out went Graeme Armstrong on a free to fellow Blue Square North side Tamworth.
In came Jermaine Darlington, Jason Banton, Dean Grubb, Michael Cole, Ryan James, Ben Saynor, Zlakto Yankov, & Liam Needham all on free transfers.
Tesfaye Bramble soon followed from Leiston for 10k, Eric Hummel joined for 1k and Pierre Alexandre Pluchino Galuppo joined from Caracas for 14k (what this kid had in store for the Gateshead fans was soon to be a major talking point)
upon a meeting with the board we soon established that a feeder club and a parent club would be beneficial to Gateshead FC, a list of candidates were drawn up and Consett agreed to be a feeder club and Middlesborough a parent club.
4 players went out on loan to Consett, these were Jack Norton, Lee Novak, Alex Francis and Ryan James.
3 came in from Middlesborough, John Johnson, Joe Bennett and Richard Smallwood.
Pre season soon came upon us and we managed to pull off a real coup by agreeing a friendly with Cardiff City and Newly promoted Hull City. We also agreed to play Newcastle United under 18's and Sunderland Reserves.
Pre season was a bit of a mixed bag as we went down heavilly to Hull 8-0, lost 2-1 to cardiff and a 5-0 defeat to Sunderland Reserves. However a 4-0 win over Newcastle under 18's had the media pundits talking as they predicted a heavy defeat.
Around came the season opener a home tie with Tamworth where we got off to an absolute flyer recording a 5-1 win.
We played a simple 4-4-2 formation, Attacking mentality, Normal creative freedom, Mixed passing style (although throughout the season this was tweaked between mixed and direct) a quick tempo and normal width.
the next 5 fixtures came thick and fast and we picked up 3 wins and 2 defeats. So far so good as the board only requested that we finish in the top half of the league...
So.... fast forward to christmas and we had notched up another 13 wins, 5 defeats and 5 draws, sitting pretty at the top of the table. By this point there were a few squad players who were really starting to turn heads in the Blue Square North league, the most noted was our record signing Pierre Alexandre Pluchino Galuppo, who was scoring week in week out. David Southern was also getting in on the goal scoring act and he firmly established himself as Galuppo's regular strike partner.
The 3 lads loaned in from Boro soon established themselves as the foundation of out team and really showed the class where and when it mattered most with solid performances throughout the season.
3 cup competitions came and went, FA Cup, Conference league cup and FA trophy losing in the 3rd, 4th and 3rd rounds respectivley. Board were disappointed but there was only one thing we had in mind, a good run of results and we could possibly nick a playoff place come may.
Between the 20th dec and 7th March Gateshead were unbeaten notching up and impressive 11 victories and 3 draws with Galuppo still on fire and setting the record books alight. Fans started turning up in their droves with the attendance rising from 200 to 800 by the end of the season.
With 9 games left Gateshead were sitting pretty 12 points clear at the top of the league, surely the lads can only throw it away now??
Staylbridge were next at the International Stadium and and an 81st minute winner from local hero David Southern ensured the 3 points, this followed with a shock 1-0 defeat to the hands of our most hated rivals Blyth Spartans at home..Fans and board were not happy as the team showed little effort and this turned out to be the worst result of the season, however in the next 5 games we showed a lot more courage and commitment notching up a draw and 4 straight victories with 2 injury time winners, could these be the most important goals of the season?? Well they turned out to be just that as Gateshead Ended the season a healty 9 points clear at the top of the league, and promotion was ours!
The board were delighted as were the fans. The media couldnt not praise the team enough as they had predicted a season of doom and gloom...
All in all it was a terrific season, dark horses from the off and promotion in the bag in only out first season in the Blue Square Premier North! and if this wasnt enough our record signing Galuppo smashed in an incredible 36 goals in 38 games, notching 3 hattricks along the way...have a look at the screen shots (attachments) and remember that LLM is by far the best and most realistic way to play FM09! I'm just starting my 2nd season in the Blue Square Premier so i will let you all know how it goes come the end of the season!
So here i was first day on the job and with a limited budget of 28k and a wage budget of £4.96k, first things first, a quick run down of the squad, who will be staying and who will be going..
Out went Graeme Armstrong on a free to fellow Blue Square North side Tamworth.
In came Jermaine Darlington, Jason Banton, Dean Grubb, Michael Cole, Ryan James, Ben Saynor, Zlakto Yankov, & Liam Needham all on free transfers.
Tesfaye Bramble soon followed from Leiston for 10k, Eric Hummel joined for 1k and Pierre Alexandre Pluchino Galuppo joined from Caracas for 14k (what this kid had in store for the Gateshead fans was soon to be a major talking point)
upon a meeting with the board we soon established that a feeder club and a parent club would be beneficial to Gateshead FC, a list of candidates were drawn up and Consett agreed to be a feeder club and Middlesborough a parent club.
4 players went out on loan to Consett, these were Jack Norton, Lee Novak, Alex Francis and Ryan James.
3 came in from Middlesborough, John Johnson, Joe Bennett and Richard Smallwood.
Pre season soon came upon us and we managed to pull off a real coup by agreeing a friendly with Cardiff City and Newly promoted Hull City. We also agreed to play Newcastle United under 18's and Sunderland Reserves.
Pre season was a bit of a mixed bag as we went down heavilly to Hull 8-0, lost 2-1 to cardiff and a 5-0 defeat to Sunderland Reserves. However a 4-0 win over Newcastle under 18's had the media pundits talking as they predicted a heavy defeat.
Around came the season opener a home tie with Tamworth where we got off to an absolute flyer recording a 5-1 win.
We played a simple 4-4-2 formation, Attacking mentality, Normal creative freedom, Mixed passing style (although throughout the season this was tweaked between mixed and direct) a quick tempo and normal width.
the next 5 fixtures came thick and fast and we picked up 3 wins and 2 defeats. So far so good as the board only requested that we finish in the top half of the league...
So.... fast forward to christmas and we had notched up another 13 wins, 5 defeats and 5 draws, sitting pretty at the top of the table. By this point there were a few squad players who were really starting to turn heads in the Blue Square North league, the most noted was our record signing Pierre Alexandre Pluchino Galuppo, who was scoring week in week out. David Southern was also getting in on the goal scoring act and he firmly established himself as Galuppo's regular strike partner.
The 3 lads loaned in from Boro soon established themselves as the foundation of out team and really showed the class where and when it mattered most with solid performances throughout the season.
3 cup competitions came and went, FA Cup, Conference league cup and FA trophy losing in the 3rd, 4th and 3rd rounds respectivley. Board were disappointed but there was only one thing we had in mind, a good run of results and we could possibly nick a playoff place come may.
Between the 20th dec and 7th March Gateshead were unbeaten notching up and impressive 11 victories and 3 draws with Galuppo still on fire and setting the record books alight. Fans started turning up in their droves with the attendance rising from 200 to 800 by the end of the season.
With 9 games left Gateshead were sitting pretty 12 points clear at the top of the league, surely the lads can only throw it away now??
Staylbridge were next at the International Stadium and and an 81st minute winner from local hero David Southern ensured the 3 points, this followed with a shock 1-0 defeat to the hands of our most hated rivals Blyth Spartans at home..Fans and board were not happy as the team showed little effort and this turned out to be the worst result of the season, however in the next 5 games we showed a lot more courage and commitment notching up a draw and 4 straight victories with 2 injury time winners, could these be the most important goals of the season?? Well they turned out to be just that as Gateshead Ended the season a healty 9 points clear at the top of the league, and promotion was ours!
The board were delighted as were the fans. The media couldnt not praise the team enough as they had predicted a season of doom and gloom...
All in all it was a terrific season, dark horses from the off and promotion in the bag in only out first season in the Blue Square Premier North! and if this wasnt enough our record signing Galuppo smashed in an incredible 36 goals in 38 games, notching 3 hattricks along the way...have a look at the screen shots (attachments) and remember that LLM is by far the best and most realistic way to play FM09! I'm just starting my 2nd season in the Blue Square Premier so i will let you all know how it goes come the end of the season!
