From Seahorses to Superstardom

[joma1108]

BLUE SQUARE NORTH - 10 Games to Go​

We had 10 games to go and were in the play off position albeit by the slenderest of margins

We started poorly with a 2-1 defeat to Cambridge Town

Next four games were unbeaten with three wins and a draw - Highlight was 3 goals in 4 games for Adam Handling, he was fast becoming our main striker, we had moved to third place now and consolidating our position in the play off spots.

A 2-1 defeat to Newcastle town dropped us back to 4th place but we had a cushion to 6th place by 6 points, that meant 6 points out of the next 4 games and we would secure a play off spot.

A 3 - 0 victory against telford and we could breath a little easier

We secured the play off position with a draw against Alfreton town.

Our next two games were agains potential opponents in the play off Guiseley and Brackley.

I decided to rest my main squad and played youths and reserves - a 0-0 draw against guiseley and a 2-0 defeat to Brackley town and we were in the play offs, finishing in 4th position

Blue Square North - Play Off Semi Final
We were drawn against Brackley Town in the first leg of the semi final, we had been beaten 2-0 in the previous game and had not beaten them in our other league game so we went in as underdogs

First leg went like this
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A 1-0 victory courtesy of Adam Handling again

Second leg and we were confident of getting to the Play Off final we had experience of this from the last two years and hoped it would stand us in good stead.

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We had drawn the match 1-1 with captain fantastic scoring to put us into the play off final.

Guiseley had won 3-1 over the two legs and were our oponents

Blue Square North Play Off Final
There was an air of expectancy surrounding this game and as we had a meteoric rise so far in the amateur and semi pro ranks.

The run had to end at some point however we were confident and maybe overly so, i had to bring the players back down to earth

The game started and we came right out of the blocks and a goal from Jamie McCormack meant we were 1 up

GOAL!!!! - 39 Minutes and it was Adam Handling again to put us 2-0 up and we went in at half time in front and well in control.


2nd half started GOALL!!!!!! - 2-1 We were pegged back, a headed goal from a corner in the 54th minute.

We pushed forward looking to put the game to bed and were awarded with a penalt to put the game out of reach.

Up stepped Yeboah - PENALTY SAVED..still 2-1 but that was a chance to put the game to bed


GOAL 77 Minutes - 2-2 equaliser from McBurnie for his 17th goal of the season.

Full time 2-2

The next thirty minutes came and went with little action or comment and we were in the lotterry of penalties

after 5 penalties the score was 4-4 both team missing a penalty

Sudden Death

GOAL...Whitley Bay
Guiseley Penalty.....GOAL

Whitley Bay Penalty....GOAL
Guiseley Penalty .......SAVED

We had done it we we were in the Blue Square Premier League after a 6-5 victory on penalties.....


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A hard season was finally over and although we never really got into top gear we were good enough to get the play off spot we had wanted and ultimately our promotion

Blue Square Premier would be a different story.

TO FOLLOW
OUR BLUE SQUARE PREMIER STORY




Apologies for the lack of screenshots, i will add the league tables and more screenshots in the BSQ updates

 

[joma1108]

CHAPTER 6
The Blue Square Premier Story
​

Season 2016 /17 was almost upon us and looking back on the last 4 years were a fairytale for a club the size of whitley bay.
Consecutive Promotions
Northern League Division 1 - Champions
Northern Premier League 1st Division North - Champions
Northern Premier League - Play Off Champions
Blue Square North - Play Off Champions

We were punching above our weight and some real strength in depth would be required to even stand still in this league, i was still hopeful of a play off plave if we could add ti the right areas and keep Adam Handling fit and maybe get another striker to pitch in with goals

Defensively i thought we could get by but would need to bolster the midfield especially the wide areas.

Season Aim Top 10 finish (hope for a play off position)

I was called to the chairmans office and wasnt quite sure what to expect.
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PRE SEASON

we had fared well against scottish opposition in our pre season games of previous seasons, so i decided to stick with a tried and trusted formula, whilst kicking on a level

we had friendlies lined up against scottish premier league opponents Aberdeen, Notherwell, Celtic & Rangers with Stockport county thrown in for good measure

ABERDEEN
We went into this game with no pre season training under our belt and was a difficult game, aberdeen gave us a royal humping 3-0 and we were never in the game

Motherwell
We were still way short of fitness in this game but gave a decent showing being defeated 2-1 and taking the lead in 16 minutes

Celtic
This would be a stern test and a goal in the 90th minute by Sean Fagan was enough to see off celtic and this avenged our 3-1 defeat in the pre season match last year

Stockport County
A poor game all in all and a 1-0 reverse, we never really got going in this game but the games were about fitness and although the scoreline wasnt the be all and end all was still dissapointing

Rangers
Rangers now back in the Scottish Premier League after their entry into the 4th tier of scottish football were the next opponents and a real ding dong of a game ended in a remarkable 0-0 scoreline and how noone scored is still a mystery.

3 defeats - 1 win and 1 victory told me this could be a difficult season

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The promotion odds were in and we were considered no hopers and whilst quietly i would have said utter tosh i have never found a poor bookmaker, they normally get it correct
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We needed to strengthen the squad and our first foray into the transfer market in a couple of seasons yielded three decent players

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The first 4 games of the season went in a flash
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New signing Michael Byrn was off the mark and adam handling 3 goals in 4 games was a positive start, we were in 10th position 3 points off the promotion play off position.

We received an unexpected Windfall
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NEWSFLASH
Adam Handling had to be taken opff in the last game hdue to an injury and it was bad news, he was out for 4-6 months with a torn hamstring, this was a massive blow to the club and the lad who had started so well


We looked at the transfer market and picked up Gavin Reilly on a free, he looked like he could do a job whilst adam handling was out injured. John o'Sullivan was a loan signing from Blackburn rovers to bolster the midfield
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17 games in things were not as we had hoped
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We had only been defeated twice in 11 games but again it was the draws that were hurting us, we had dropped dangerously close to the relegation places and now 12 points from the play off places and only 2 from the regation positions.

Gavin Reilly had scored 4 goals in the 7 games so was playing his part.

We needed to kick on away from the relegation as this was not a position we were used to and i wasnt sure how the players would react.

 

[joma1108]

Chapter 6.1
THE RELEGATION DOGFIGHT
​

It was clear that after 11 games we were goiong to be in a relegation dogfight and needed all our mental strength not to undo all our hard work

24 games in and things were still sticky
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We had moved up to 18th place 5 points clear of the relegation spots so at least we were in the right direction

one highlight was the return of Adam Handling albeit not 100% fit


We had fared better in the FA cup with a 3-0 victory against Blyth Spartans and a 1-0 victory against Burton Albion in the first round proper

This set up a 2nd round tie to Bristol City which would be a tough ask given we were struggling and they were a considerably stronger League 2 team.

FA Trophy we fell at the first hurdle against AFC Telford in an utterly embarrasing 2-0 reverse, and i let the team know this

At least it gave us an opportunity to concentrate on the league.

And as if things couldn't be made harder i was called into the chairmans office to be told this

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The ineveitable result was
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Our next game was the FA Cup 2nd round against Bristol City of Npower League 2, a welcome distraction, however a heavy defeat ccould have a massive impact on morale

Before that the draw was made and if we got past Bristol City who we could face, we were all sitting around the TV glued to the draw, the boys were hoping for a trip to Old Trafford, Stamfor Bridge, White Heart Lane or a derby at St James.


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Not quite the glamour draw we were hoping for however it was an away game and maybe make some money from it....but lets not get ahead of ourselves we have a very difficult game ahead


FA Cup 2nd Round

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Now that was an unexpected result and performance, where was this level during the regular season.

Hull City would be our hosts in the 3rd Round.

Now Back to our fight for survival.


But before that i got some astonishing news or at least a rumour, i was being touted for the job at St James Park, now i know that i had been going well but that was a massive leap.

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Oh THAT st James Park team

An offer duly arrived despite me playing down the speculation
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The offer was turned down as i have a commitment to the seahorses and i intended to see it through.

All this speculation around mine and the clubs future was not helping morale and we took a dip in fortunes

28 games in and we were right in the middle of the dogfight again only 3 points from the relegation positions

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The club was still in turmoil and the takeover was still in limbo
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This was a fight that we would need everyone pulling together to keep us in the league.

This was not what we were looking for this season but if we could stay up would build character and give us a platform for next season hopefully.
The final push to follow........

Any feedback or advice to help me out of this situation would be greatly appreciated

 

[reedynufc]

Hello

I think your story is amazing. I am currently on a similar journey (not quit that far in) with Whitley Bay. In my first season currently second in the league. I was wondering if you could give me any hints on decent players or just in general decent hints on how you achieved back to back to back promotions as I would like to get out of this league at the first time of asking.

Thank you for your support and good luck with the rest of the season and hope you will be playing league football at hillheads park soon!

 

[joma1108]

Hello

I think your story is amazing. I am currently on a similar journey (not quit that far in) with Whitley Bay. In my first season currently second in the league. I was wondering if you could give me any hints on decent players or just in general decent hints on how you achieved back to back to back promotions as I would like to get out of this league at the first time of asking.

Thank you for your support and good luck with the rest of the season and hope you will be playing league football at hillheads park soon!

Glad your enjoying the story

i got up the leagues pretty much on the last day of every season or through the play offs so I was lucky I suppose.

I used a 5-4-1 attacking formation as I had strong defence and decent midfield I signed Dali Gomez and he scored a fair few goals.

You need to keep looking in the transfer market for buys that will help your team, determination is a must for stats as if you go behind they won't give up.

I also used a rigid balanced tactic so players stick to their position.

Whitley bay are one of the poorer teams and it is difficult to get players to come but persevere and you will get ththerein in the blue square but as you can see struggling near the bottom so may take a few seasons to get out of there.

Hope that helps and let me know how you get on

 

[joma1108]

Relegation Fight 2016 -2017

We were in a fight for our lives and we had the uncertainty surrounding the club, a transfer embargo that had lasted three months on an already depleted squad was not helping

The chairman had had enough
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This seemed to have the desired affect as a decision on our future was made
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With the transfer embargo lifted we needed to act fast and picked up long time target Joe McKee on a free transfer from nuneaton town.
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We had made the FA cup round Three for the 2nd year in a row and were facing Hull City, we had no expectation in this game except to keep the score line respectable
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Our FA Cup adventure was over for another year and we were staring relegation in the face, i would need to earn my stripes now when the chips were down rather than when we were on the up.

The new board didnt have long to wait until i was asking for my monthly request to increase the youth facilities.
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The new board understood the need for a good youth system due to our lack of funds and accepted my request

Other than Tony Yeboah we hadn't produced anyone that was worthy of a first team place.

With 36 Games gone and 10 remaining we had given ourselves a chance of staying up

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Our run of games in february proved to be our most consistent period of the season with 3 victories All 2-1 and a 2-2 draw at 5th Place Newport Town
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Moving up to 17th Place 13 points off the relegation place had staved off the thought of relegation, we just need three points to be mathematically safe and i was confident relegation was no longer an issue.

We received some news from the league which was welcomed considering our good run of form
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The end of the season was looming close and we managed to pick up another free transfer that ti thought would give us a competitive advantage for next season and take some of the load from Adam Handling

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I had to pay top level of our wage structure and a hefty goal bonus, with a minimum release clause of £500k, as soon as i bought him Stoke city became interested so i may get a windfall soon.


End of the season
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Our final 10 games had produced 6 Victories - 3 Draws and only one defeat. this was championship challenging form and this gave me belief that we could kick on next season

our form gained us another award
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I was called to the boardroom for an update to our youth facilities
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Dissapointing was not even close to the emotions i was feeling, still i had a job to do and just had to get on with it.

END OF SEASON REPORT
Our league aim was ultimately to stave off relegation however i had a goal of a top 10 finish, we missed that by 8 points but were 17 points off relegation so all in all a good result

FA CUP we had achieved a third round place again and was what i wanted but not expected.

Next season would be a defining season and our aim was definitely an improvement on this season considering the last 10 games form

Adam Handling Despite being out for 3 months scored 19 goals and was a real plus point, the signings of McKee and Hernandez gave us considerable strength to our playing squad.

We would possibly struggle to hold onto these guys but we would not let them leave cheap

Season 2017 - 2018 to Follow..................

 

[joma1108]

Well the story unfortunately has come to an end

When i tried to load the save game it just wont work.

Not sure if the save file is corrupted or not and is a bit gutting as invested a lot of time into this

I am going to start a completely new save using the pentagon challenge in Classic mode (just due to time constraints)

Im going with the 4 additional Rules also
Only pay what i can afford
Cannot sign foreign players
No english leagues loaded
No resign (unless win champions league of continent)

This will be a long road but looking forward to the challenge

Starting leagues probably South Africa, Brazil, and South Korea to start with.

Thanks to those who were following and i'm totally gutted

....................................The End.........................................