Derby Days

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riggytheowl

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The first game to look for on the fixture list, the queue for tickets and the unbearable tension for weeks before. We all know this feeling. Whether you support title challenging moneybags clubs like Man City or financially tight rope walking clubs stuck in the depths, everyone loves to get one over on their rivals. There's the big game, the one against the bitter rivals. But also the smaller rivalries, the ones that seem to grow out of nothing and go again. The similarity? You expect the players to put in as much fight as you do passion from the stands. This is Derby Days. This is taking the city. This is all or nothing. Only one team can win the league, but sometimes finishing above those unmentionables from across the county is just as good.

The Premise:
Much like last year (though hopefully more successfully) we will be taking charge of teams up and down the footballing world to simply beat rivals. Individual games, league positions and ultimately trophies won. Each episode will also include a snippet into rivalries that go unnoticed in some parts of the world or maybe a fact or two about the bigger games that often get overlooked.

The Journey:
This year will see us start off a little higher than last, with a team that has a few more rivals to make things interesting. We will be moving a lot I suspect as I get sacked more frequently than I would care to admit. But ultimately we should see some successes. I have a few derbies I would like to win on the way, so if the chances come up they will be taken. Including:


The Steel City Derby: Sheffield Wednesday V Sheffield United (I am an Owl, enough said)

The Cross-border Derby: Chester V Wrexham (The best derby in non-league?)

The Cascadia Cup: Seattle Sounders V Portland Timbers (technically also includes Vancouver but the hotbed of soccer support in America falls squarely on these teams.)

The Eternal Derby: Hadjuk Split V Dinamo Zagreb (Which team really represents Croatia.)
View attachment 208610
As well as these the main classics will also be very tempting, plus some that we may never see coming.
 
The Start

Step 1. The Club:
So after a little bit of research League 1 seemed to be the best place to start, a few areas seem to dominate the clubs involved. Mainly: South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire, and Lancashire/ Greater Manchester. So this is where we start.


OLDHAM ATHLETIC:
The Latics, established in 1895, 3 titles to their name and no less than 4 rivals in the league this season, plus the two Manchester clubs to overtake (if we stick around).
Step 2. The set up:

We are expected to finish 6th, we do not have a squad good enough for that, but we do have some talented individuals. Most noticeably Centre Back James Wilson.


We have gone for a simple formation with fast direct football, the centre of the park needs to be improved and this will be job number one. The free list and the loan market may be our friends this season with an initial budget of Zero and a wage budget of just over 5 grand p/w.

Step 3. Assessing the rivals:

Blackpool:
Just relegated from the league above, a squad lacking in depth and a predicted finish of 19th. This should be 6 points and some serious bragging rights at the end of the season.
Players to watch include Jim McAlister and Jose Miguel Cubero

Bury:
Newly promoted, confidant side, still with a league 2 looking squad. They are predicted to finish 12th so may give us tougher games, but with the same 40-1 odds as Blackpool, I can't see us losing both games against them.
Players to watch include Leon Clarke and Chris Eagles both the first always a handful and the second a former Man Utd youngster with a lot of talent.

Rochdale:
These are the big ones to beat, the fierce rivals. Will this produce tougher games? Maybe. One thing is for sure, they have a couple of players that scare me. Strangely they are also 40-1 with the bookmakers and predicted to finish 14th. Maybe the mid table positions will be quite fluid this year. I'm predicting 3-4 points from them this season. (If we are as good as the media predict)
Players to watch include Ian Henderson and Jamie Allen, but Mattie Lund will also be influential when back from injury.

Wigan:
Look like world beaters at this level. Outright favourites to win the league and a squad that could do just that. Our hope is that they lose players to Championship clubs and fail to replace adequately. Let's hope we can get something from them this season, maybe a home win.
Players to watch are in theory Jason Pearce and Richard O'Donnell but players like Will Grigg have also proved great at this level.

The Others:
Manchester City and Utd will be going for the Premier league and Champions league titles this season both expected to do well, here's hoping Arsenal can win the league. Huddersfield will be looking to avoid relegation from the Championship, a nice team to get at home in the cup maybe.

Episode enlightenment:
Let's stay local with the first one. The Oldham V Rochdale game takes place between the two towns just 17 minutes apart by car. Oldham hold the advantage with 22 wins to 15 and 17 draws. The first a 3-0 win for Oldham in the 1915 FA Cup 2nd Round.
 
That Pre-Season Hype

That Pre-Season Hype!
So we start our reign as Oldham manager with 5 pre-season friendlies, defensively we looked pretty solid, but seem to lack a little in attack. The team is better assessed and we make our first signings to plug some holes. Some changes in the staff occur after they all get poached (dammit Baggies). And we start to look forward to the season opener.

The Games:
So a draw against Blackburn is our best performance, we kept the number of chances they had down and made the most of the few we had. Dominic Poleon getting the goal from the right winger position. Against Newcastle we looked decent but possession told in the end. And I would have liked us to score more against Stalybridge and Curzon Ashton but we created a decent number of chances. Poleon was the stand out performer of pre-season scoring 3 and setting up one in 4 games, one player we have to keep fit this season I suspect.

The Transfers:
Truth be told we were beaten to a lot of our first choice signings (Del Piero anyone). We did however sure up the midfield and add some more dynamism to the forward line, as well as one for the future.
So here are the four we couldn't get due to bigger teams snatching them or ridiculous wage demands.



Gary Gardner (Aston Villa) looked a done deal on loan before he decided not to join.
Gabriel Obertan (Newcastle United) looked like a possible loan target too but we just couldn't stump up the wage Newcastle wanted.
Alessandro Del Piero (Free) was always a wishful thinking kind of deal and tho we did agree a wage he decided on Genk and the Belgian top division

Darran Gordon (Galaxy Acadamy) was attracting attention from premier league and championship clubs, we made an offer but he chose Cardiff City

The players we did get (so far):

Jake Forster-Caskey (Brighton & Hove Albion) joins us on loan for a season, well equipped player to strengthen the midfield. Is likely to start in midfield.
Chris Dawson (Leeds United) also comes in on loan, he makes up the numbers in midfield but can do a job as an advanced playmaker.
Georg Iliev (Free) was released from Bolton previously in his career, not yet a world beater but one for the future. Or maybe even a decent sell on price. Will most likely be cups and sub appearances for him.
Rolando Aarons (Newcastle United) is the most exciting player we bring in. Again on loan but with Championship level attributes and pace to burn he could be very tricky to deal with in this league. Expect him to start most games.
That Staff Business:
So we lost a couple of staff to West Brom and started the season without any scouts, which really hampered progress. To that end we bring in two scouts and a fitness coach, with a GK coach on the way soon.


Next Month:

We start the season away to Walsall.

We play two cup games against South Yorkshire sides.

We play our first Derby game.

We look to make one or two more signings ready for the slog to come.


Episode Enlightenment:

Nearly every country has it's version of El Classico, these tend to be teams from different locations but representing contrasting views, ideas or social standings, they also tend to be the most successful clubs in the country. Take the Saudi El Clasico for example between Al-Ittihad and Al-Hilal. They not only represent the two largest cities in the country but are also two of the most succesful clubs. Riyadh the capitol of the country is relatively multi-cultural and as a result slightly more liberal (altough not by Western standards) it boomed in the 40's and has kept up with modern pace of life. Jeddah represents a more conservative attitude often being described as the gateway to Mecca (the holiest site in Islam) this causes tensions between the two sets of supporters and creates a very tense atmosphere in a country not know for its football prowess. If you can find it, it's well worth the watch.
 
riggytheowl said:
That Pre-Season Hype!
So we start our reign as Oldham manager with 5 pre-season friendlies, defensively we looked pretty solid, but seem to lack a little in attack. The team is better assessed and we make our first signings to plug some holes. Some changes in the staff occur after they all get poached (dammit Baggies). And we start to look forward to the season opener.

The Games:
So a draw against Blackburn is our best performance, we kept the number of chances they had down and made the most of the few we had. Dominic Poleon getting the goal from the right winger position. Against Newcastle we looked decent but possession told in the end. And I would have liked us to score more against Stalybridge and Curzon Ashton but we created a decent number of chances. Poleon was the stand out performer of pre-season scoring 3 and setting up one in 4 games, one player we have to keep fit this season I suspect.

The Transfers:
Truth be told we were beaten to a lot of our first choice signings (Del Piero anyone). We did however sure up the midfield and add some more dynamism to the forward line, as well as one for the future.
So here are the four we couldn't get due to bigger teams snatching them or ridiculous wage demands.



Gary Gardner (Aston Villa) looked a done deal on loan before he decided not to join.
Gabriel Obertan (Newcastle United) looked like a possible loan target too but we just couldn't stump up the wage Newcastle wanted.
Alessandro Del Piero (Free) was always a wishful thinking kind of deal and tho we did agree a wage he decided on Genk and the Belgian top division

Darran Gordon (Galaxy Acadamy) was attracting attention from premier league and championship clubs, we made an offer but he chose Cardiff City

The players we did get (so far):

Jake Forster-Caskey (Brighton & Hove Albion) joins us on loan for a season, well equipped player to strengthen the midfield. Is likely to start in midfield.
Chris Dawson (Leeds United) also comes in on loan, he makes up the numbers in midfield but can do a job as an advanced playmaker.
Georg Iliev (Free) was released from Bolton previously in his career, not yet a world beater but one for the future. Or maybe even a decent sell on price. Will most likely be cups and sub appearances for him.
Rolando Aarons (Newcastle United) is the most exciting player we bring in. Again on loan but with Championship level attributes and pace to burn he could be very tricky to deal with in this league. Expect him to start most games.
That Staff Business:
So we lost a couple of staff to West Brom and started the season without any scouts, which really hampered progress. To that end we bring in two scouts and a fitness coach, with a GK coach on the way soon.


Next Month:

We start the season away to Walsall.

We play two cup games against South Yorkshire sides.

We play our first Derby game.

We look to make one or two more signings ready for the slog to come.


Episode Enlightenment:

Nearly every country has it's version of El Classico, these tend to be teams from different locations but representing contrasting views, ideas or social standings, they also tend to be the most successful clubs in the country. Take the Saudi El Clasico for example between Al-Ittihad and Al-Hilal. They not only represent the two largest cities in the country but are also two of the most succesful clubs. Riyadh the capitol of the country is relatively multi-cultural and as a result slightly more liberal (altough not by Western standards) it boomed in the 40's and has kept up with modern pace of life. Jeddah represents a more conservative attitude often being described as the gateway to Mecca (the holiest site in Islam) this causes tensions between the two sets of supporters and creates a very tense atmosphere in a country not know for its football prowess. If you can find it, it's well worth the watch.
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looking is good

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