Gateshead FC - Taking Over Tyneside

Contract Extension

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Despite our financial situation, the board are delighted with my work so far and wanted me to commit to at least another season.


New Signing
Dominic Poleon

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Dominic has some great attributes for this level and has the potential to grow even further. With League One clubs sniffing around, we were very lucky to secure his signature.



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i've just been tonked by Gateshead in my save. Tough times
 
margate said:
i've just been tonked by Gateshead in my save. Tough times
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My save before this was with Margate, got them to League Two and then struggled to make it any further. You seem to be doing pretty well in your story though!
 
January

Results

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I am happy with the way our January went, although it is slightly alarming that we have only managed 3 goals in our last four matches, despite the fact that just the one goal was needed to win against Cambridge and Bristol Rovers. Our possession stats have continued to be very impressive, averaging around the 57-60% mark, even when we aren’t winning, again the worrying thing is that we often cannot convert that possession into goals. The loss to Stevenage was very frustrating as we finished the match with 63% possession but still could not find a breakthrough and the draw against Wimbledon has to go down as an opportunity squandered, this was a great chance for us to strengthen our position and further our advantage over our promotion rivals.


League Table

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I am pleased for now that we are sitting with in the top three, I am just hoping that we can hold this position between now and the end of the season. I think my ambition is getting the better of me but such has been our form this season, anything other than promotion now will be seen as failure in my eyes.


Player of the Month
Samúel Friðjónsson

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Samúel has been outstanding this month, now giving him the highest average match rating in the squad. His performances have been consistent and solid all season and his tireless work in the defensive midfield position has gone somewhat unnoticed until now, as sometimes it does when your main duties are to just do the simple stuff.

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February

Results

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We are starting to get into the 'business' end of the campaign now, every team is fighting for a reason, those near the top are playing for a shot at promotion, those at the bottom are giving their all to keep to battle off relegation.. no result is guaranteed anymore. Overall February was a decent month, 10 points out of a possible 18 isn't ideal but given the results other teams around us have managed, it is enough. Every match has been tight, hence why every result has only been by the 1 goal apart from our 1-1 draw with Swindon.


League Table

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So we are well within the play-off spaces now and I would like to think we have enough about us to maintain atleast a top 7 finish, that will continue to be my aim, if we can stay within the top 3 then I would delighted.


Player of the Month
Samúel Friðjónsson

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Another solid month for Samúel, he has been our Mr Dependable since joining on loan from Reading. With his contract due to run out in July, I am hoping I can convince the Icelandic youngster to sign on a permanent basis.

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March

Results

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Clearly we do not want to make things easy for ourselves. After a convincing opening win against struggling Hartlepool, we then went on to pick up just 4 points from a possible 12. Alarmingly we appeared to be a little goal shy and against some of the worst defences in the league. We may have just made it across the line with a 1-0 win at 23rd place Crawley but the appalling 3-0 loss to bottom of the league Dagenham and Redbridge was inexcusable. We really need to pick things up in April, we have some massive games coming up against Mansfield, Notts County and Luton, all must wins if we want to remain in the top 3.


League Table

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Luckily our rivals have also struggled to maintain any kind of winning form and things remain pretty tight at the top. With a far inferior goal difference to Notts Co. and Blackpool, it is vitally important that we pick up as many points as possible.


Player of the Month
Dominic Poleon
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Dominic has settled well since joining in January and has scored some important goals this month, without him we may not have recorded a single win.

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April

Results

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Another strange set of results for us as once again we beat the teams around us and struggled against the teams down the lower end of the league, definitely something that has been a theme this season and something I need to look at for next season. Vital wins against Luton, Notts Co and Mansfield were what gave us a chance of remaining in the run in for a top 3 spot, all courtesy of some terrific play from our front three of Nabi, Mitchell and Poleon.


League Table

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We have only gone and done it again! Another promotion now means we will be playing our football in League One next season! We have secured the third automatic promotions spot, although depending on the results in match week 36, we could yet finish 2nd. It has been a long, drawn out and hard fought season but we have made it over the line and I am absolutely made up with my teams efforts.


Promotion Headlines

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May

Final Game

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We collapsed in our final game of the season which was a shame, had we held onto our 2 goal lead it would have been enough to tack us above Mansfield on both goals scored and head to head results. I wasn't too upset though as we had already guaranteed promotion and in truth my mind was already on next season.


Final League Table

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Overall Season Review

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Board Confidence Review

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Club Awards

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Board Meeting

My first job before the new season began was to discuss the direction the club was heading in and any improvements that could be made. Finances have not been great over the past two years and had it not been for the Chairman Richard Bennett investing nearly one million pounds into the club, we probably would have gone into liquidation by now. After the recent cash injection and promotion to League One, our finances were beginning to look healthy once again. Mr Bennetts' first suggestion on improving the club was to look into purchasing the clubs home stadium out right, I told him that if he believes it would be financially viable then that would be great.. to which it refused and told me it would not be possible at this time.. confusing to say the least.


Improved Youth Facilities

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My first suggestion was to improve the clubs youth facilities, at first Richard said that it was not possible, to which I dug my heels and said that this was vital if the club are to grow and keep up with teams around us. After some consideration he agreed, I was extremely happy with this news.


Coaching Qualifications

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Next on my agenda was my own personal development as a manager. Since completing my first course in January 2016, the board have rejected all of my requests for further coaching training. My latest request has been accepted and I can finally continue my personal development.

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Transfer Overview

Loan Extensions

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My first piece of business for this window was to extend the loan deals for the four Newcastle players we had last season, luckily for us both the club and players agreed this would be acceptable and their deals were extended for another season.


Transfer Overview

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Next I was eager to build heavily upon the squad that we had last season, once again we lost quite a few players at the end of last season due to the expiration of their contracts, most of whom were nothing more than squad players at best, but obviously I wanted to replace them with a much higher calibre of player.


Player Profiles

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I am pretty happy with our dealings, in particular the signing of former Real Madrid and Brazil legend Roberto Carlos, who despite his age of 44, still has some terrific physical and of course mental attributes, if not for anything else his experience will be vital for our younger players. A couple of other players I am excited about are Kevin Douch and Nathan Holland, both have excellent attributes for this level and will probably go on to be good Premier League players at least, I am looking forward to seeing how they do with us in League One this season.
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Pre-Season

Friendly Results

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I am really happy with our pre-season preparations this year, and I think I can say that we are fully prepared for the obstacles that lie ahead. The demolishing of both Ashton Utd and Guiseley, whilst expected, is often easier said than done in a friendly but we were more than convincing enough in both score line and performance. I have no complaints at all about the losses to Reading and Liverpool, in fact we held the latter to 1-1 until the 70th minute and the tired legs set in, both still very creditable results. Our last friendly against Newcastle was a terrific game and a great way to end a very solid Pre-season, we held our own throughout and never give up, grabbing the equaliser in the last few minutes. Our best player during this period has to be Ivan Toney, 7 goals in 4 appearances, 2 hat-tricks, 4 assists, 3 MoM awards.. a stark contrast from the player that was out of form and struggling for goals last season.


Season Odds

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If the medias predictions are anything to go by, we clearly have a tough season ahead, although to be honest I am not going to pay much attention to this. We have made several good signings, our performances have been very positive and the team is in high spirits. It’s not the first time we have been penned as the under dogs and it won’t be the last, all it means is there is less pressure and expectation on our shoulders, I can live with that.
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August

Results

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I don’t know what all the fuss was about.. relegation battle? We started off our league campaign with a loss to Burton which wasn’t ideal but to be fair we had 59% possession and more shots on target, their goalkeeper was just on top form. We did follow that up with a loss to Boro, but again we actually had more possession and the Championship side were lucky to win. We followed those losses up with 3 great wins and a draw in the league and a win in the JP Trophy, in particular the wins against Southend and Bradford were the most impressive, with both clubs being arguably among the best in the league. Really happy with our opening month of the campaign and there are many positives to take from both our performances and results.


League Table

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I am very happy with the position we have taken up in the league after the first five games. I am hoping we can continue our impressive start and carry that from throughout the rest of the season.


Player of the Month
Danny Hollands
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Not only did Danny play out of his skin for the team this month in the defensive side of our midfield, he scored to absolute crackers from outside the box.
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September

Results

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Apart from our blip at home to MK Dons, we actually had another really good month in September and I have to say that so far I don’t feel like we are out of our depth at all, we are controlling matches on most occasions and our performances have seemed much more assured compared to last year. My only gripe would be that we do struggle to kill the game off when we are in a dominant position, all three wins against Mansfield, Preston and Rotherham could have been by much higher margins but for our lack of killer instinct and similarly the draws against Carlisle and Chesterfield could have easily been three points in the bag had we played with a bit more purpose and taken our chances. Then there is the loss to MK Dons, we had 60% possession and the opposition only had 4 shots on target, frustrating to say the least. I want to switch our play up to be a little more direct, but at the same time our possession stats have been great so far this season and things are going well, maybe I will assess our performances during October.


League Table

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As I said before, we certainly do not look out of place in this league and 11 matches in we sit 4th place, one point off of top spot. Despite the predictions from the media and the boards expectation, I see no reason why we should not be aiming for a top 2 place this season.


Player of the Month
Lubomir Satka/Ryan Hall

There was no truly outstanding performances within the squad in the last 6 games, but these two stood out as our best performers. Satka has been solid in defence all month and has built a good partnership with Curtis Nelson in the centre of defence. Halls's performances have been equally as solid with his tireless running down our left wing, creating some good chances and also grabbing two goals


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Doing really well mate, surprised to see you in League One already!! Keep it up and it won't be long until you're battling with the big teams!
 
Rednip said:
Doing really well mate, surprised to see you in League One already!! Keep it up and it won't be long until you're battling with the big teams!
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Cheers dude. I know I am a little surprised myself, although I have a feeling we may struggle if we reach the Championship, our club value is only 300k compared to the £1m when I first took over and the chairman has had to bail us out several times. Hope you are right though!
 
Transfer News

Billy Sharp - Free Transfer

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Billy has always had a good eye for goal and has been a consistent threat where ever he played. He has fallen on hard times over the past couple of years, struggling to cement a first team spot in Championship and League One sides. If I can get his match sharpness back, I am hoping he will be great addition to our attacking options.

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You are flying mate! Love a good Gateshead save! Was laughing when you bought Ramage to being a NUFC fan, it just tickled me!
 
October

Results

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October was a mixed bag of results, once again displaying that if we are to contend for promotion, we are definitely going to do it the hard way. In fairness 4 of our 5 opponents were around us at the top of the table, with the exception of Yeovil who were struggling down in 22nd place, the less said about that the better. We started off our league matches with a tight contest at Barnsley, rescuing a point with a last minute winner from substitute Nabi, coming on for debutant Billy Sharp who has been largely disappointing so far. Next up was a big game against Wigan, which again was close but Ivan Toney proved to be the difference between the two sides and sealed the 3 points. I was very disappointed not to get more from Rochdale at home, two mistakes early on proving costly. Millwall were in good form going into our tie and once again it was tightly contested and just the one goal being the decider on the day. When you take into consideration the position and form of each team we faced, October has to go down as positive month.


League Table

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We are still right up there in the mix despite two losses this month. The league is so tight at the top with just 6 points separating the top 12, this one could go down to the wire come the season finale.


Player of the Month
Kevin Douch

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Kevin Douch has finally arrived. I was excited about this kids prospect when the loan deal was first agreed but for one reason or another he has not had much of a run in the first team. 5 starts this month with 3 MoM awards and 4 assists, he has been influential in attack and I am hoping he can continue this run and help us maintain our good start in the league.


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JamesScott2908 said:
You are flying mate! Love a good Gateshead save! Was laughing when you bought Ramage to being a NUFC fan, it just tickled me!
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Cheers mate. Things are going well so far, just hoping the wheels don't fall off. I enjoyed the signing of Ramage as well, he was a good signing at first, sharply declined though!
 
November

Results

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A difficult month which see us drop a further five points in the league, three of those being to first place Peterborough and the other two in a tight fought contest against Pompey. Despite their league position I was very happy with the win at Plymouth, we bombarded their goal the entire game but come up empty, that was until the ref gave us a much deserved penalty in the last kick of the game, which was coolly despatched by the legend that is Roberto Carlos.
It took us two attempts but we made it through the FA Cup first round and with an easy draw in the second, I am hopeful we can pull in a big club for the third round. Our JPT loss was a bizarre game, after going 1-0 up, we found ourself 4-1 down at half time. We managed to pull it back to 4-4 in a terrific come back, only to bottle it when it come to the penalty shoot out.


League Table

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We are still hanging in there although there is still a long way to go. I think there is a lot of competition in this league we are going to have to do really well if we want to continue to compete for at least a top six, I still have my eye set on that 2nd place though.


Player of the Month
Kevin Douch

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Another great month from the young lad. His attacking play from the centre of midfield has been outstanding, everything seems to go through him at the moment, his range of passing is superb and it shows as he racks up the assists. He has quickly established himself as the first player on the team sheet, it's just a shame that we are just a stepping stone for this lad, I am sure he will go on to be a terrific player for a top club.

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