From Nothing To....Something! The European Journeyman

[Griffers96]

I am so invested in this career!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

do you have any leagues in England loaded? Feel like it's made managing in Wales a lot easier for me because I can pick up players that have been released by English clubs pretty easily. Good luck with the upcoming season!

With the move to Wales, I have got rid of a couple of the Eastern European leagues and added England and Scotland. But this only came into effect at the start of my 3rd season so I haven't been able to take full advantage yet.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

I am so invested in this career!

Thanks mate. Massively appreciate that.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

All the new players were setlling in nicely and we strung together a decent pre season.

Before a comfortable win in the cup.

And this is the tactic I've been using with our new players through pre season that seems to be serving us well and will carry into the start of the Premier League campaign.

Our first taste of Premier League football would be against Cardiff Met Uni and might give us an indication as to whether we can stay up this year as they were one of the sides who finished closer to the bottom than the top last season.

We sure announced our arrival in the top tier in style as we romped to a 4-0 away win! Marc Williams had a league debut to remember as he bagged an opening day hat trick in a 10/10 performance!

Our impressive start with 4 points from our next 2 games as well, with Marc Williams scoring in every game so far.

Which was enough for my newest striker to lift the Player of the Month award.

Despite Williams going on to score another 2 goals against Bala, we unfortunately fell to our first defeat of the season. We were unlucky here in all fairness and didn't deserve to lose the game. Two of their goals came from direct free kicks which we couldn't really do anything about.

Next up, we'd be taking on the most successful team in Welsh football and the Premier League winners in 14 of the last 19 seasons!

And they proved far too strong for us as we were battered on the stats against the reigning champs.

After two straight defeats, it was important we put in a good performance against Connah's Quay. The boys did just that and earned a very good point against the side predicted to finish 2nd this season.

Although we sit in the bottom half of the table, it's fair to say we've made a good start to life in the Premier League. We are as close to the top as we are to the relegation places in what looks like it will be an incredibly competitive division.

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[FM_TNSSO]

Airbus came up from the North division last year, so this has to be seen as a bad result from our perspective. It was a tight game though and I am laying the blame entirely at the referee's door. He gave away a very soft penalty to gift them the win and then sent off Toby Jones shortly afterwards for a very soft second yellow as well.

Next up was 4th placed Haverfordwest and with us failing to win in our last 4 games, we really needed to pull something out of the bag here. I told the boys as much in the pre season team talk, thrashing my arms as I demanded we put an end to our poor run of form. A little bit of pre match hairdryer treatment seemed to work a treat as the boys ground out an important victory which stopped the rut.

Another comfortable cup win against lower league opposition followed. We seem to do OK in the cups each year and I do wonder if we have it in us to maybe win one this season.

There's nothing like a cup win to kick start a nice little unbeaten league run.

But 3 draws in a row wasn't the most ideal form to be going into our next cup game with, and we crash out of the Nathaniel MG to Goytre from the league below. An awful performance all round when you consider they played the last half hour with 10 men as well!

With goals proving a little tough to come by for us, I thought I'd give 16 year old Spencer Abrahams a shot in the first team as he has 14 goals in 12 games for our U19s this year!

My decision was justified as the youngster came off the bench in our next game to win and score a penalty in the latter stages and rubber stamp our first win in 5 games.

And he came off the bench to score again in our next match, although it was only a consolation against a Bala Town side that are challenging for the title this year and currently sit 2nd in the division.

Abrahams isn't the only 16 year old making a name for himself at the club. Dan Wilkes came through the youth intake last year and has been a first team regular ever since, despite his young age. He's having a very good season so far as well, averaging an assist every other game in the league.

With a good start to life in the Premier League now behind me, I'm pleased to report that the board have had a rethink on my request to start a new coaching course and have now agreed to fund my Continental B License. I'm confident this will lead me on to bigger and better things in the future and I should have the badge by the end of the season.

Despite our good start though, one thing that is still very clear is how far behind the likes of TNS we really are!

Still, top half after 15 games is very respectable indeed.

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[FM_TNSSO]

We were simply outclassed by Connah's Quay in our next game and it is becoming quite clear that there is a big gulf in class between the top 3-4 teams in this league and everyone else.

Playing much weaker opposition in the Welsh Cup gave us the perfect opportunity to bounce straight back with a win though.

For the first time in a while, a team has come forward and approached me for my potential services. That team is Brackley Town, but a move to the 5th tier of English football is not of interest right now, with that division ranked 145th in Europe against the Welsh Premier in 95th....it seems like it would be a step in the wrong direction at this stage.

Although we have a handful of players to potentially look forward to, the early prediction is that this year's youth intake will be a poor one. I guess I can't really complain though after two excellent intakes in a row.

Back in the league, it was defeat again in what is turning out to be a very up and down season.

And that defeat saw our form spiral into our worst run of the season, possibly even under my management at the club!

A run that saw us drop to 9th in the table. Although, we are still well clear of the relegation places which was the aim pre season.

And at this stage, the league now splits and we will play everyone in the bottom half another 2 times each to determine who goes down.

18 year old Gavin Probert has joined the club on a free transfer as our first signing during the January transfer window. He represents a significant improvement on the wide right for us and could become a very important member of the team for the next couple of years at least.

Although the youngster wasn't able to play in our next Welsh Cup game as he was cup tied. Not to worry though as we got the win anyway.

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[FM_TNSSO]

Two more youngsters were added to the team to bolster our options in attack. 19 year old winger, Rob Kilkenny, and 17 year old striker, Ali Abdalla, can certainly make an impact on our team and mark out a successful career for themselves at the club.

Next in was a more experienced player in the form of central midfielder Tom Dyson. I tried to sign Tom last season, but couldn't afford his wages and he opted to sign for Swansea Uni instead. He has 7 assists for them this season so far in the division below and when the opportunity presented itself to poach him and finally land his signature, I jumped at it.

The newbies didn't exactly bring much excitement to the team on their first outing though as we played out a drab 0-0 draw with Bangor.

But it didn't take long for us to get a win on the board. A solid performance against a team that had beaten us only a few games ago.

However, that was the calm before the storm as we went on a terrible run of 6 games without a win, including crashing out of the Welsh Cup. Baring in mind, we are only playing teams in the lower half of the league now, this really is a bad run and this feels like a sinking ship that I need to get off as soon as possible. Surely I have achieved enough with Risca for someone to notice and give me a way out?

Yes there was. Job applications went in for Torquay and Aldershot, who interviewed me but decided I wasn't the guy for them. However, Guiseley are willing to give me a move to English football and a £505 per week pay rise to boot.

Now although the Vanarama North sits below the Welsh Premier League in the European league rankings, Guiseley have a better reputation than Risca and bigger budgets to work with. If I can turn their fortunes around, then it will definitely lead me to bigger things quicker than the longer term job at hand at Risca to just make them an established Welsh Premier team.

So as I leave Risca, let's have a look at my record with them. 829 days at the club with a win percentage of 52%, one league title and promotion to go with it and firmly cemented myself as a club/fan favourite forever.

I led the team to their highest level of Welsh football ever and leave them safe in the division for next year, surpassing all targets that were set before me. All in all, my time in Wales has to be seen as a success.

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[Hampus Silverholt]

12 points above the relegation zone is a job well done considering the prediction at the start of the season! Hopefully you can get a quick promotion with Guiseley to boost your reputation even more