In need of an Oxford degree; in miracles

Really enjoyed this mate.

Playoffs are a ***** but I'm.chuffed they have given you time. Even more chuffed you clinched promotion on the last day.

Henry Cowans is ace mate. Love him on my save (The Journeyman)

Well done mate
 
Danny21237 - Thanks mate, yeah was defo a highlight of the save so far getting promoted on the last day of the season! will have to catch up on your story!

October

We welcome two new additions to the side...
View attachment 24755Cameron Healey - A central midfielder who can also play defensive midfield if needed. He has some impressive physical stats alongside high determination which will be massively needed in our current relegation fight.

View attachment 24754 Dominic Smith - A centre half that was released by AFC Telford last season. He doesn't have a weakness as a central defender and doesn't have a real standout stat however is a decent addition to the side. I like his 11 for positioning, heading, tackling and bravery.

View attachment 24753AFC Fylde - A disappointing defeat at the hands of Fylde, Norman Wabo did get a consolation in the last minute.
Stockport - A great win despite us not playing very well. Joe Anderson scored a free kick to seal the win.
Chesterfield - A decent performance against a strong side although ends in a defeat.
Hemel Hempstead - A strong side I put out and it ends embarrassingly as we fall out of the FA Cup against a side a league below us.
Ebbsfleet - Probably the strongest side we've face this season and we got absolutely bossed!
Gateshead - A game I targeted as a potential 3 points and we should've come away with the win if it wasn't for poor finishing.

View attachment 24752
A poor month sees us drop into the dreaded relegation zone. We are massively lacking in goals so far however our squad is a lot worse than most teams in this league so I guess that was always going to happen. We are in desperate need for a few wins otherwise this season could turn ugly really quick!



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November

View attachment 24634Hartlepool - A day to forgot as we were given a right lesson at home to Hartlepool!
Dulwich Hamlet - An away game I was secretly dreading considering where they are in the table. We went ahead through Dominic Smith on his debut before they equalised 18 seconds after half time, my team talk must of gone done brilliantly!
Macclesfield - WOW! We kept a clean sheet and more surprisingly we scored 3 goals in one game with only one of them being from a set piece, Joe Anderson scoring a beautiful free kick to get the scoring started. Wabo and Ashby with the other goals.
Billericay - A disappointing 2-0 defeat to relegation threatened Billericay despite their team being good enough to chase for promotion. A game we never really showed any signs of winning.
Eastleigh - We actually dominated this game and two of my changes from the defeat to Billericay scored with Henry Ochieng and Caolan Lavery scoring, the latter FINALLY grabbing his first goal for the club!

View attachment 24633A month where we seemed to play all the teams around us and we failed to capitalise with only one win! We have also played a game more than most teams around us so could see ourselves in a worse situation! We desperately need something to change in the coming months, I have been tinkering with a formation that may be used in the next month, not like it'll make much difference as I don't think we are good enough generally.

Lastly, the day before December and another player on a part time contract departs...
View attachment 24632I wasn't too disappointed that Jamie Lacy joins Sutton United as he was third choice with me however with White leaving for Cork in January, I know desperately need to find a back up to Dudzinski before then!
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It's always going to be tough after a promotion but you still have plenty of time to turn things around....just need to string together 2 or 3 wins and you'll be away
 
TheNotSoSpecialOne - Yeah hopefully we can put a run of wins together and bouce up the league!

December
View attachment 24517
Barnet - Another game we got totally outclassed in, Caolan Lavery came off the bench to score in injury time.
Halifax - A much better performance and result to match with Norman Wabo grabbing a brace.
Solihull Moors - Probably the best we've played all season, an incredible performance where we failed to convert any of our chances whilst they took 2 of their 4 shots.
Dorking Wanderers - We changed the whole side to see what they have to offer. We went a goal down before they had a player sent off and we managed to scrape through in the end!
Wrexham - Fantastic win and it was needed as we were beginning to look adrift. Tshimanga, Adekunle and Wanadio scoring in a thrilling end to end game.
Sutton - Another good performance, Sutton shaded the game however we looked solid at the back with all the back 4 getting over a 7 and Corbridge sitting in front of the back 4 also above a 7. Wabo could have won it at the end but failed to convert his one on one.

View attachment 24516
We've changed system lately to a 4-1-4-1 attacking system. The method behind it being that if we have the ball we attack with intent and directness. When we lose possession we have numbers behind the ball but equally we don't sit back, we aim to crowd the opposition out and win the ball back. It has lead to better performances and decent results lately so hopefully we can turn it round and keep us up!
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Its been a tough owd season mate... HOWEVER!!! you are 3 points away from climbing out of the relegation zone, there is a lot of football to play so you can do this!!

Keep the faith brother!

Side note... I'm seeing a lot of people go to 4-1-4-1. im thinking i may switch to this next season!
 
Danny21237 - Thanks mate however every single month I lose more and more hope.

January​

Some good news that came out from January was that we have extended the contracts of numerous first team players with the majority of them taking a pay cut! Ryan Huckle, Kabongo Tshimanga, Luke Wanadio, Norman Wabo, Joe Anderson and Rob Sinclair have all signed on for another year.

Also we have a new goalkeeper in Christian Dibble from Wrexham on a season long loan with us contributing £100 to his wages.
View attachment 24435

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View attachment 24456
Boreham Wood - A horrendous performance and result to match.
Hemel Hempstead - Knocked out of both the FA cup and Fa trophy this season by Hemel as we play a weaker side and we pay for it. Alan Gleeson our youth player made his debut but failed to impress.​
Barrow - Really unlucky as we deserved so much better! We were the better team but fall to another defeat.
Leyton Orient - Their first team on paper is fantastic so I was apprehensive about the score however we dug in deep and grounded out a solid point.
Dagenham & Redbridge - A game to forget as we got battered 3-0, could've been more to be truthful.

View attachment 24447GRIM READING! We are now 7 points adrift after a horrendous month where we picked up one point. I think we are all but down now as I cant see us picking our form up enough to stay up.

Interesting to see where we are in the league based on how much salary we pay during the year...
View attachment 24446We are rock bottom! We spend £161,000 a year on wages. The second smallest amount in the league with £389,000 is more than double ours!! Madness that a national league side can be spending £3,600,000 a year!!
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February

View attachment 24393Grimsby - We were given a right footballing lesson as they smash us 4-0.
Morecambe - A really good defensive display that we could've ended up winning had we converted one of our two clear cut chances.
Dover - Another footballing lesson as we lose to top of the table Dover at home.
Bromley - I switched it up to 4-3-3 wide and it clearly didn't work as we lost comfortably 2-0 at home to Bromley, I'm lost for ideas!

View attachment 24391Another disastrous month leaves us bottom of the league, we are all but down in my opinion.

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How are the board and fans at the moment...have they started getting on your back yet? Is your job still safe and do you think you'll keep it if you do go down?
 
TheNotSoSpecialOne -The fans are starting to get restless however the board are still happy with me and my job status is still stable. I think my job will be safe even if we do go down as our target was to fight bravely against relegation.

March

Some good news to start the month!...
View attachment 24189
View attachment 24188
The board accepted my demand of improving both the youth and training facilities. I am delighted especially as it means we will move up a youth level! The whole construction work will cost £750,000, so far we have £800,000 in the bank so can afford it however if we go down I am nervous that our finances will struggle as a result! Hopefully we bounce back straight away or have a healthy FA Cup run!

View attachment 24162Chesterfield - We play ok in this game but got what we deserved as we fall to another defeat.

I then decided to change tactics and go 4-4-2 but play with a defensive mentality. This is simply so we go old school and have 2 banks of 4 that the opposition have to break through and then when we do have possession we attack direct and have 2 strikers up top

​
Stockport - It more than worked in our next game as we got our first league win in donkeys years!
Fylde - We then got back to back wins against a strong Fylde side thanks to a Teddy Bloor free kick
Ebbsfleet - 3 wins on the trot for the first time in ages! What a win, Tshimanga scored a penalty after 30 seconds of the game before Ryan Huckle doubled our lead with a towering header from a corner.
Gateshead - We took the lead 5 minutes before half time through another Tshimanga penalty! We then had a 55 minutes to hang on to our lead against relegation threatened Gateshead and we only went and done it! We could've actually hit a few more goals on the break but ill take a 1-0 win everyday of the week!
Dulwich Hamlet - We went a goal down through a Lloyd James penalty however we hit back nearly immediately with another Ryan Huckle header from a corner. Second half we didn't show up, with 20 minutes to go and being 3-1 down we went 4-3-3 attacking to try and salvage something from the game but if anything they grew even more dominant in our worst display of the season.

View attachment 24171We have given ourselves hope! Another month like this one and I think we may just stay up! We need Gateshead to have a stinker of a month as there goal difference is far superior so its ultimately 4 points with a game in hand. Halifax are too far ahead to catch so we are clinging on to the hope that we can overtake Gateshead.

I forgot to post the youth intake from last month...
View attachment 24186I signed anyone with a potential of 3 stars however im not sure how many will ever play a first team game. The reports suggest that Cliff Salmon is the player with the most potential however I feel centre half Alexis Alefragis was the best of the bunch...
View attachment 24182Alexis Alefragis - An English centre half at 6ft 1in. Physicals aren't the greatest although thatll improve as he gets older. He has fantastic bravery, decisions, determination, leadership, tackling and heading. I just hope his positioning and marking will improve.

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What a month!! There is hope!! Everything crossed for you mate...I don't suppose one of your last 6 games is against Gateshead is it?
 
TheNotSoSpecialOne - Thanks mate, unfortunately we didn't although Halifax at home is our last game of the season.

April/May
View attachment 23943
Hartlepool - We offered very little going forward during the game however defended brilliantly until we gave away a penalty in the second half which they converted to make us lose 1-0.
Macclesfield - A game that we will look back on with massive regret, after going a goal up, we then squandered the lead against the run of play and dropped 2 valuable points.
Billericay - HOPE! A fantastic 2-0 win to keep our hopes of avoiding the drop alive!
Eastleigh - Which come crushing down with another defeat this time away at Eastleigh, again we offered very little going forward.
Barnet - An awful game where we were truly toothless. We defended well as a team but story of the month, had nothing going forward. This defeat coincided with a Gateshead 4-1 win over Dover which meant...

View attachment 23946We are relegated after just one season in the Vanarama National back into the Vanarama South. There were many reasons as to why we were relegated, lack of quality in the squad, 10 match winless run in the middle of the season but the main one was...

View attachment 2394427 games lost! Awful stat!

Halifax - We finish the season with a draw at home to Halifax with Tshimanga scoring our goal! At least we didn't make it 28 games lost in the season!

As a result of being relegated, Tshimanga, Ashby, Huckle and Sinclair have all handed in transfer requests which I have accepted. I expect interest in Tshimanga and maybe Sinclair but I cant see many clubs in a better position than ourselves come in for the other two.
View attachment 23942
We finish the season 21st which sees us relegated, if only they had 3 relegation spots in this league! We were 5 points off of Gateshead in the end but manage to finish above Solihull Moors, Dulwich Hamlet and Macclesfield who have all had horrendous seasons especially the latter. Leyton Orient storm the league as they go up as champions. Wrexham go up as they beat Sutton in the play off final.

Despite relegation the board must be expecting us to bounce back straight away...

View attachment 23948£125,000 transfer budget! That's astonishing as we had nothing to spend after promotion. I wont be spending much at all as we will be in serious danger especially after our training and youth facilities going under £750,000 worth of improvements.

View attachment 23941Rob Sinclair deservedly won fans player of the year. Surprisingly Josh Ashby came second and claimed young player of the season! Joe Anderson finished third. Ben Dudzinski got awarded signing of the season, most because he was probably the busiest player most games! Luke Wanadio scored our goal of the season and came third in the leagues goal of the season award.

View attachment 23940SHOCK, Tshimanga claimed the top goalscorer again this time with 13 goals. Sinclair got highest average rating with a low score of 6.90. Our lack of quality shows with 6 players being joint on our most assists with a tally of 3. Surprisingly Giorgos Aresti got our highest pass completion rate with 89%. Our full backs claimed the most player of the match awards with 4 each. Sinclair and Adekunle both got the highest yellow cards with 7 whilst most red cards were Cowans, Sinclair and Anderson with 1 each.

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£125k budget for the national south....you could buy a whole new team with that!! Unlucky on the relegation mate, but at least the board are keeping the faith and haven't got rid of you...which counts for a lot! I do like a board that show faith in you as a manager and aren't quick to jump on your back! Macclesfield are such a big club for even the national league, so their performance was nothing short of disgusting!!
 
TheNotSoSpecialOne - Tell me about it! Its ludicrous to give me that much money though as if I spent it the club would have very little left and the projection for this season doesn't look good! Yeah thankfully they stayed with me however if we don't perform great im sure they'll give me the chop this year and rightly so I guess. Yeah Macclesfield are currently in league 2 IRL so they've had a horrid few years!

Pre-Season and Transfers

No first team players got released as most signed on for another season halfway through the year, Alan Gleeson did get released as he wasn't good enough IMO. Henry Ochieng, Christian Dibble and Michael Cregan all went back to their parent clubs however Teddy Bloor has re-joined on a season long loan for a third season!

View attachment 23858Surprisingly despite our healthy transfer budget, we make only 3 signings with 3 departures. The main departure is Josh Ashby, he leaves for Cheltenham after he handed in a transfer request. We get a respectable £16,000 for him and wish him luck in the football league. The second departure is Jurwon Hamzat, he joined two years ago but failed to make any impression and was in the under 18 squad most of the time, he joins AFC Telford. A few more on part time contracts may depart if we manage to bring in anymore signings throughout the season.

View attachment 23862Eddie O'Brien - A 17 year old central defender recently released by Brighton. I think this was a great bit of business as he is bound to improve although he already looks a beast at 6ft 5in and with some nice physicals. Already capped at u19 level for Ireland.

View attachment 23861Pete Whittington - Another youngster, at 18 years old he will hopefully improve but for a teenager still has some impressive attributes, I particularly like his passing, teamwork and vision. He comes in to compete for the centre mid role now Ashby has gone.

View attachment 23860Luke McMahon - 18 year old right back, he comes in as back up to Teddy Bloor on a part time contract. Another player who has age on his side and should hopefully improve in time however is still a decent enough player at this level.

View attachment 23859We started preseason continuing our relegation form losing at home to both Kidderminster and Sailsbury however it picked up with wins against SM Caen Reserves and Leatherhead. Nice to see a few of our usually goal scorers get up and running before the season starts. We then drew 2-2 at home to finish pre season against Dagenham and Redbridge from the league above us. Caolan Lavery coming off the bench to score the equaliser.

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August

View attachment 23845Chelmsford - We start the season with a point. We went a goal down before a Ryan Huckle meant we shared the points.
Hungerford - Not what I expected to see, a home defeat with Christian Scales scoring a wonder goal from left back, he has been playing there so far this season after an impressive preseason and has done himself justice so far.
Welling - Back to back defeats although Tshimanga is up and running for the season!
Dartford - Our first league win of the season! It came against Dartford who were top at the time, Wabo grabbing a brace and Lavery rounded off the scoring after coming on.
Chesham - A great away win, we went a goal down inside 2 minutes however Tshimanga, Healey, Bloor and Wabo scored to make it 5-1.
Kingstonian - 3 consecutive wins! Tshimanga making it 4 from 4 before a Cameron Healey winner with 10 minutes to go.

View attachment 23844After a poor start to the season we managed to turn it round and end it in the play offs. We are 3 points off of Woking who are top of the table.
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September
View attachment 23714AFC Hornchurch - Another game winning performance and goal from Teddy Bloor via another free kick!
Truro - Back to back 1-0 wins, Luke Wanadio scoring a screamer to secure the win.
Bognor Regis - A terrible performance and result to match!
Hastings - A comfortable 2-0 win. I made 10 changes to the side and the only player to keep his place in the side was Norman Wabo who scored a brace.
Havant & Waterlooville - Back to the league therefore back to our first team squad and it resulted in back to back 2-0 wins with Tshimanga grabbing a well deserved brace.
View attachment 23713Chippenham - I had to include this photo just so you could see how angry I got! With 20 minutes to go I saw a few players' body language was complacent so I gave a team talk and made two subs and I thought that done enough as there were no more highlights until the 91st minute where they clawed a goal back. Surely just a consolation? NAAAA they literally dispossessed us from kick off and went and scored didn't they!

View attachment 23712
We remain 3 points off of the top however climb to 4th. With a bit more consistency and no more complacency I expect us to be challenging for the title.

We had some good news to follow after the disappointment of the Chippenham game...
View attachment 23711
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October

The first bit of news for the month was the fact Jayden Corbridge we ruled out for 4-5 weeks however he has been 4th choice in recent weeks so wasn't too much of a miss. We also signed a new player....
View attachment 23624Harry Pritchard - A left winger previously of Blackpool. He maybe quite small but offers good dribbling, passing, crossing, teamwork and pace so should be quite effective for this league. He is yet to reach match fitness so hasn't featured.

View attachment 23622
Canvey Island - I made 9 changes for this game, Wabo kept his place and managed to grab a goal, Jayden Corbridge scored and got injured in the process and Caolan Lavery rounded off the scoring.
Wealdstone - I thought this was gonna be another Chippenham game when we conceded in the 88th minute to make it 2-1 to them however Adekunle scored a dramatic last minute screamer to rescue a point.
Hemel - We were 1-0 down with 30 mins to go so I went 4-3-3 and it worked wonders as we turned our domination into goals with 4 great well worked goals.
Darlington - There was nothing between the two sides when we faced top of the Vanarama North, Darlington. We held them to a 0-0 draw at their place and then a penalty was the only difference between the two sides in the replay.
Eastbourne - A game we completely dominated and finally won thanks to a Cameron Healey strike late on in the game.
Torquay - Another game we deserved to win. Teddy Bloor scored yet another free kick and nice to see Whittington score a goal as well.
Dulwich Hamlet - A game where we were second best most areas of the pitch but not at putting the ball in the back of the net! A great win with goals from Tshimanga, Teddy Bloor free kick (obv) and Ryan Huckle header (obv)

View attachment 23621We climb the table to 2nd, 4 points off of Bath however we have a game in hand on them. I think our game in hand is against Woking where if we lose they will leapfrog us.
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I've really enjoyed this season mate. You have had to battle for everything. If you stay up... surely that will be a better achievement than promotion given how far you were behind at one point. #Respect
 
Danny21237 - Thanks mate however I think you are a few updates behind!

November

View attachment 23538
Woking - A really good game of football that we eventually went down 3-2 against a strong side!
St Albans - FUMING! So inside 18 minutes we had Ryan Huckle sent off for a fantastic tackle, this resulted in a penalty which they converted and then it just went from bad to worse from there. We played so many games in October and Woking was only 3 days ago so we got really leggy as they beat us 4-1.

View attachment 23544This was the tackle. He clearly knocks the ball out for a corner before he even comes into contact with Graham!!

View attachment 23543That FA rightly accept our appeal and rescind Huckle's ban however I don't feel this is enough as the Huckle sending off in the 18th minute and resulting penalty clearly changed the game and could cost us valuable points!

Gosport - We got back to winnings way via a Tshimanga goal, it should have been a lot more however our finishing was wayward.
Margate - I made 9 changes with only Wabo and Whittington staying in the side. Wabo opened the scoring in first half stoppage time.

View attachment 23540We slip to 6th and are now 4 points off of top spot. Bath are still going strong at the top of the table but there is now quite a hunting pack chasing them!
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December

I've been looking for a new striker for a while just in case someone gets injured as we currently only have 3, make that 4 now...
View attachment 23486Adam Liddle - He signs on an 18 month contract after his contract expired in the summer with Reading. He is relatively small but possess fantastic heading and first touch. He is fairly quick with good decision making, anticipation, finishing and technique so should be an ideal poacher if needed.

View attachment 23485East Thurrock - We went 2-0 up and got pegged back by two wonder goals until the 88th minute when Rob Sinclair let off a stunning strike to seal a 3-2 win away from home.
Bath - Our top of the table clash doesn't go to plan, we dominated the game and deserved three points however fell to a 2-1 defeat with our goal coming late on through Healey.
Leamington - In the FA trophy we face Vanarama North side Leamington and got absolutely battered however a deflected Pete Whittington striker sees us through to the next round.
Chelmsford - Back to back 1-0 wins with a Teddy Bloor free kick, we won this game comfortably in the end.
Hungerford - Three games on the trot we have kept a clean sheet. Tshimanga scored an outrageous 30 yarder to seal our win.

View attachment 23484We rise a place to 5th and are now 5 points off of new front runners Wealdstone. I feel like his is going to go write down to the wire with numerous sides in the running for the only automatic spot!
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