Gainsborough Trinity

[leecaplin]

I decided to be a team from step 6 of the English pyramid and try and work my way up as far as possible. I wrote out numbers 1-22 on a piece of paper and cut them out and also wrote out letters 'N' and 'S'. I closed my eyes and picked out 'N' and 11. This meant I would be in the Blue Square Northern league and would be the 11th team alphabetically. This team was Gainsborough Trinity.

Pre SeasonTransfers 12-13

In:

Will Morford - Gloucester - Free
Joseph Mwasile - Morecambe - Loan
Ashley Worsfold - Alfreton - Loan
Daniel Nizic - Burnley - Loan
Josh Brizell - Hyde - Free
Ross Durrant - Nottingham Forest - Loan

Out:

Jason White - Released
Jason Stokes - Released
Paul Connor - Eastleigh - 4K

Season:​

So in my first season as Gainsborough boss my board expectations are to have a decent season and come in the top half. I'm hoping to do even better than that and make the playoffs so lets see how I get on.

Further Transfers

In:

Andrew Mills - Macclesfield - Loan
Alec Denton - Rotherham - Loan
Jordan Ball - Doncaster - Loan

Back to my season

Season Review

So an exciting season ultimately lead to dissapointment. We finished just one point outside the playoffs although our poor goal difference meant that in reality we were two points off making the playoffs. I feel as though there were more highs than lows. I only made two permanant signings and they were both key players for me. Josh Brizell did a sterling job as a wing back despite me playing him out of position and my other signing Will Morford although not a prolific goalscorer chipped in with 11 goals and played very well in 'the hole'.

Highs

Beating Chester City on penalties in the thrid qualifying round of the FA Cup was a great feeling especially as all five our penalties were scored.

Dominic Roma's last gasp winning goal against champions to be Bradford PA who were unbeaten in 12 games.

Lows

Narrowly missing out on the playoffs and even not far off winning the league.

Getting thrashed by Solihull Moors twice. 5-1 and 0-4 respectively.

 

[leecaplin]

So it's on to my second season now as Gainsborough boss and looking to have another good season but this time go one better and get promoted to the Blue Square Premier which we narrowly missed out on last season.

My board expect me to have another decent season but promotion isn't expected. Little do they know what I have planned then!

Transfers

In

Alex Titchener - Fleetwood - Loan
Mehdi Lazaar - Hyde - Free
Ahmed Deen - Dulwich Hamlet - Free
Conor O'Donnell - Unatached - Free
Jonny Wright - Workington - Free
Neil Cartwright - Unatached - Free

Out

I released 8 players from last season. They were mainly deadwood although I released my top scorer from last season Bradley Barraclough.

Season

Mid Season Update

As you can see after a poor start my form improved a lot to put me up into mid table and got to the first round of the FA Cup for the second season running.

Season

Further season update

My form is incredible. I've lost just 2 in my last 22 games. I lost in the FA Cup 1st round to League 1 Stevenage after a replay. I'm in the 3rd round of the FA Trophy. I've had two 'scalps' beating two Blue Square Premier sides. Firstly Macclesfield in the FA Cup 4th qualifying round and then Alfreton in the FA Trophy 2nd round. I'm outside the playoffs at the moment but I've got a lot of games in hand. Games are coming thick and fast. Can we handle it? We'll soon find out.

Mid season Transfers

In

Lukas Lidakevicius - Barnsley - Loan
Mamadou Fafana - Lincoln City - Loan

Gainsborough Trinity have been promoted to the Blue Square Premier!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is how it finished:

Further season Transfers

In

Lewis Galpin - Gateshead - Loan
Ritchie Sutton - Mansfield - Loan
Godfrey Poku - Mansfield - Loan
Mitch Fellows - Unattached - Free
Mamadou Fafana - Lincoln - Loan

Out

Micheal Leary - Mansfield - Free
Simon Russell - Bradford PA - Free

Season Summary

So a fantastic season has culminated in promotion! We fully deserved it. We were fantastic throughout the season despite having a really heavy schedule due to drawing so many games in both cup competitions. I thought this may have come back to have haunted us but fortunately that wasn't the case. I actually got off to a slow start picking up only 8 points from my first 8 games. After that though we started to pick up and looked a really strong team. In the FA Cup we got to the 1st round knocking out Blue Square Premier Macclesfield on the way. We got a good 1-1 draw at home to Stevenage but the replay was too big an ask and were comfortably beaten 4-0. In the FA Trophy we also had a little run which included knocking out Blue Square Premier Alfreton but in the 3rd round we lost to Stalybridge from our division who went on to win the cup. We ended the season unbeaten in our last 15 games which is not only a record for our club but also for the division.

Playoff Games

Semi Final 1st Leg

Chester 0-3 Gainsborough

We blew Chester away with some fantastic football and dominated from start to finish. We saved arguably our best performance of the season for such a crucial game.

Semi Final 2nd Leg

Gainsborough 1-1 Chester (4-1)

I set up as though we were playing a normal game despite our 3-0 lead I wanted to go out and dictate play and not to sit back on our lead. We didn't play anywhere near as well as in the first leg but to be fair we didn't have to. Panic levels were raised when Chester went 1-0 in the first half but fortunately we pulled level before the break and that was how it finished.

Playoff Final

Gainsborough 3-1 Halifax

Halifax like Chester score goals for fun. Gareth Seddon had scored 42 goals so we knew he could cause us big problems. The game didn't start well. We found ourselves 1-0 down after 10 minutes and Halifax continued to dominate but somehow we found ourselves 2-1 up at half time. The two goals were scored a few minutes before half time to really turn the final on its head. We dominated the second half and got our just rewards when we got the killer goal in the dying moments to win the Final and see us promoted!

The rise of Gainsborough begins!

 

[leecaplin]

So I'm about to embark on a new dawn at Gainsborough Trinity. We now find ourselves playing in the dizzy heights of the Blue Square Premier! We've been given a rather healthy wage and transfer budget but the problem is that decent players just aren't that interested in joining us. My board expect me to finish around mid table. Personally I'd like to get a feel for the division and do as well as possible and then next season really push on and go for promotion a bit like I did in the past two seasons in the Blue Square North.

Transfers

In

Lukas Lidakevicius - Barnsley - Free
Gareth Seddon - FC Halifax - Free
Simon Russell - Bradford PA - Free
Tony James - Newport County - Free
Mamadou Fofana - Lincoln - Loan
Godfrey Poku - Mansfield - Loan
Lee Desmond - Macclesfield - Loan
Adam Birchall - Unattached
David Noble - Unattached

Out

Jan Budtz - Released
Ahmed Deen - Released
Jonny Wright - Released
Mitch Fellows - Released
Jonathan Williams - Released
Tyrone Thompson - Canvey Island - Free

Season Update

It's been a tough start to life in the Blue Square Premier. After 20 games we find ourselves occupying the last relegation position all be it only on goal difference. There is a huge difference in standard between the Blue Square North and Blue Square Premier. Our big problem is scoring goals. We are the lowest scorers in the division. My top scorer from last season Mark Jones appears to be out of his depth. Gareth Seddon who I signed from FC Halifax who scored 42 goals for them last season in the Blue Square North is shocking. He's only managed 1 goal so far and his performances in general are very poor. Another new signing Adam Birchall is showing signs of promise but still doesn't deliver on a regular basis. Will Morford who is one of my favourite players is probably out of his depth but does his best when I give him a rare chance.

We are however doing well in the FA Cup like usual. In my first two seasons I reached the 1st Round proper of the FA Cup getting through the 2nd, 3rd and 4th qualifying rounds in both seasons. This year however as I'm now in the Blue Square Premier we didn't enter till the 4th qualifying round where we got a very tough draw, Southport (away) who are from our division and were above us. We played out a 0-0 draw at their place and incredibly won 6-0 in the replay to record my biggest ever win as Gainsborough boss. My previous biggest wins were 6-1 and 5-0. In the first round we were given a very generous tie away at Hinckley who were relegated from the Blue Square North last season so we know them well. We went into the game in poor form but managed to scrape through 1-0 with a very late goal. in the 2nd round we were given yet another generous tie, this time at home to fellow Blue Square Premier strugglers Boreham Wood. If we win that we could play a Premiership team in Round 3!

In other news I was offered the Macclesfield Town job who also play in the Blue Square Premier. When I was offered the job I was told how much my wage budget would be and it was almost twice as much as ours so you can see what I'm up against. Many teams like Macclesfield are also Professional whilst we are only Semi-Professional. It's difficult to compete against these teams.

Mid-Season Transfers

In

Sam Sheridan - Bradford PA - Loan
Ibra Sekaija - Crystal Palace - Loan
Andi Thanoj - Grimsby Town - Loan

End of season

End of season League Review

A fantastic season after a struggle early on. We came into our own and proved we could mix it with the best teams in the division despite our semi pro status. I blame myself for our early poor form. I gave teams too much respect. I under estimated my teams ability and played too defencively. When I decided to be more attacking we started to win games and only just missed out on the playoffs.

End of Season Cup Review

We had another great FA Cup run making it through to the 3rd round beating my previous two seasons where we made it through to the 1st round each time. We enjoyed a fantastic 6-0 win at home to Southport (from our division) in the 4th Qualifying round replay which was our biggest win under my tenure. We then knocked out a couple of fellow non league teams in the 1st and 2nd rounds before taking on the might of Huddersfield at home in round 3. We were fantastic. We played Huddersfield off the park. How we were only 1-0 up at half time was a mystery. In the 51st minute Huddersfield got a man sent off but unfortunately we couldn't take advantage and Sean Scannell broke our hearts with an undeserved late equaliser. In the replay at their place we played really well again but went down by two goals to nil. Sean Scannell, Huddersfield's saviour from the first game didn't play in the replay not because he was injured or suspended but because he had been sold to Celtic in a 4.1 millions pounds deal. Even at their place despite the 2-0 loss we still managed more shots than them. A fantastic effort all round. In the FA Trophy we enjoyed our biggest ever win, even bigger than the 6-0 win against Southport courtesy of a 7-0 win over Hemel Hempstead. We did however go out in the next round to Blue Square North Hyde.

 

[rocheyb]

View attachment 367917View attachment 367918

These are from Hermanchides's kit request thread.

 

[Trinity4eva]

Go on you trinity!!

 

[mike887]

really enjoying this keep up the good work