Jimmy Walker- Walsall Legend

[kmitchell96]

After seeing a number of different posts about people taking club legends and turning them into managers I thought I would do something similar. I had seen the Jamie Carragher game and Life after Depor game and thought I would follow that sort of story. I would create the profile as the player with his credentials and then I would start off unemployed. I would apply for jobs as they would come up and hopefully be in management by January 2015.

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Jimmy Walker
Jimmy Walker, also known as "Wacka" in Walsall is a goalkeeper who has played for several different teams. He started off in the Notts County youth system which he left in 1993 at the age of 20.

In his first spell at Walsall he notched up a total of 476 appearances in all competitions. This was what turned him into a club legend. After being with Walsall for 11 years he left for West Ham where he would make 20 appearances in 5 years. After those 5 years he moved to another London club in Colchester where he would only make 16 league appearances for the U's in 1 season on a loan spell.

From West Ham to Tottenham he spent a year with spurs, no appearances for spurs were made in the year he spent there but it set up a big return to his first club, Walsall. In his second spell with the club he would make another 58 appearances in 3 years. His last appearance for the club came on the last game of the season against MK Dons in 2012 a game in which he ended on a high keeping a clean sheet in a 1-0 win.

After this he would make a move to Peterborough where he has never played a game but is listed as a player coach for the club.

In his first spell for Walsall he set the record for most Goalkeeper appearances for the club with 476 appearances in 11 years. He also won the player of the year award twice for the Saddlers whilst also playing a key role for the Saddlers in 3 promotion seasons. He earned a testimonial game in 2003 just before leaving the club after he had gained legend status in which he earned a autobiography written by the club.

On January 7th 2012 he equalled the club record for appearances, a record held by Colin Harrison that had stood since 1981, he then went on to break this record a week later in a 0-0 draw against Brentford.

 

[kmitchell96]

My short term goal was to get management before January at any level, preferably in English football. In the long term I wanted to achieve a number of things, obviously I wanted to reach the top level of football and win the top divisions and things like the champions league. As well as that I wanted to manage international football, preferably England and win trophies like the world cup. My final goal was to return to Walsall at some point, I wanted to take the club legend back as a manager and have success with the team he is loved by.

Setting up the profile
I started by entering his full details, his own date of birth, birthplace, etc. I set his favourite team to Walsall and left the rest blank. Next was to set up the managerial style. As he is currently a coach at Peterborough I gave him a National Coaching A badge and set his playing career to professional football on a national level. I then tweaked the coaching side to fit his skills, he is a keeper who has played over 600 games, obviously he is going to be better at coaching keepers
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Beginning the game
To start the game there were 3 jobs available; Newport, Barnsley and Kilmarnock. I didn't want to start off in the top 4 tiers of English football and I think the top division of Scotland would be a bit of a push for a first time manager so I left it and waited it out until more became available.

 

[SamPeters]

Good luck with this mate!

 

[kmitchell96]

Good luck with this mate!

Thanks, not expecting to be in a job any time soon, just waiting for the right one to come around.

 

[kmitchell96]

That was quick!
Just 1 day into my career I had two job offers. I wasn't expecting anything for a while so it came as quite a shock.

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The first offer was from Barnsley. I had to think about this one carefully. They were a team who had just been relegated so they had high expectations in the league to at least make the play-off's. They were also in the same league as my favourite club, could I really go back to the team I love knowing I would have to beat them to keep everybody happy, not yet. I turned this offer down.

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The second offer was from Kilmarnock in Scotland. As I have said before I would much rather be in English football to start off my managing career but also it wouldn't be easy jumping straight into the top division of a country. Again, I turned the offer down.

I knew it was a risk turning both offers down as there might not even be another job available for months let alone I might not get offers but it was a risk I was willing to take. As I had said before, as long as I am in a job by the beginning/middle of January I am happy.

 

[kmitchell96]

The wait continued...
Okay, not much of a wait but I had made it to the end of July and jobs were starting to be questioned, a number of potential employers were on the horizon.
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Newcastle would be too far out of reach, they have expectations and not easy ones for a new manager. Yeovil are in a similar situation to Barnsley, slightly lower expectations but they were just relegated so expected to do well. Cheltenham, Weston-super-mare and Aldershot are jobs I would consider if they became available. The Irish league jobs I would consider later in the season but not now, I want to stay in England.

The only other insecure job was Portsmouth, I would consider it but they have a lot of expectations after years of turmoil the squad is finally strong again and looking for a promotion push. Funnily it was a pre-season loss to Walsall that put the manager in this position. A 1-0 loss to my club knocked him into insecurity after he only managed to get a draw against Weymouth to accompany 3 losses against Brentford, Havant & W and Walsall.

So it looked like there would be a few options come the end of August/beginning of September but for now I was still waiting for my first management opportunity.

 

[kmitchell96]

Anxious August
There were still no jobs available in August whilst 4 jobs which were previously under review were still under review and the only insecure jobs were in Ireland it looked like I would be waiting another month or two.
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Meanwhile my favourite club were having a rough start to the season, after going unbeaten in pre-season they started off with 3 losses on the bounce including Port Vale and Bradford in the league whilst also being knocked out of the League Cup on penalties to Northampton. They did then win 2 out of the next 3 against Yeovil and Scunthorpe with a loss to Leyton Orient in the middle.

 

[kmitchell96]

September
By the middle of September there were 22 jobs which were insecure or worse meaning that there was likely to be a few jobs available by the end of the month, including the Sutton job which would make a lot of sense. Sutton is near Walsall so I would be close to my favourite club.
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The first manager to get sacked was Neil Redfearn from Leeds, I thought this was odd. At not one point all season had he been insecure or under review and all of a sudden he lost his job. I wouldn't be applying for the Leeds job as I don't like Leeds and it is too much of an unstable job anyway.
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Another manager was sacked on the last day of the month and this time it was in Spain with Sevilla. Now I said I wouldn't apply for a top tier job and I am sticking with this, too many expectations and the names mentioned with this job were out of my league.
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At the end of the month there was a long long list of insecure jobs and a few of them I would jump at. The main 3 I would go for are Sutton, Hednesford and Tamworth as they are all local to Walsall.
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Meanwhile Walsall were still struggling. Their only win of September was in the JPT against Scunthorpe but in the league they only managed 2 points from a possible 15.

 

[kmitchell96]

The job hunt continues...
The beginning of October looked very promising as jobs were becoming available every day. Out of all the jobs there were a few I found tempting. The Walsall job became available at one point but I didn't want to jump straight into the team I loved.

I declared by interest in the Aldershot job when it was available and was given an interview. The interview went well and I was offered the job but I delayed the offer because the day before the offer came through I applied for the Sutton job and wanted to see if I could receive that, also it didn't help that in the meeting Aldershot wanted me to make automatic promotion!
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I was also offered the Yeovil job, they wanted me straight away after sacking their manager but I didn't want to manage in league 1 just yet.
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Sutton Application
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As I said before I had also applied for the Sutton job and this is one I had been waiting for since the last manager became insecure. In the bottom level playable they were an ideal team. After applying I wasn't too confident as it took them a week and a half before getting back to me and offering me the interview but I got it.
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After the interview they offered me the job just days later and I had to take it. One thing that really jumped out to me in the interview which was different to the Aldershot interview was that they said they wanted somebody to come in long-term, Aldershot wanted short term success.

 

[kmitchell96]

View attachment 789846
"Jimmy Walker has been given the job at Sutton in an attempt to push the club back towards the upper reaches of the table. He has been told he will be judged long term but they also want him to get at least a top half finish in his first season"

The start
I was given the job at Sutton and my first thing to do was assess the squad which wasn't easy to do since I didn't have an assistant manager, or anybody to give me reports on the squad and with a game in 3 days I needed this to be fixed quickly so I looked for an assistant manager.
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So I had managed to get an assistant manager in just two days and although he wasn't as strong as I wanted it was better than nothing. At least now I could quickly assess my squad for the game I had in just a day.
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I was worried about my goalkeeper and defensive situation at the moment. It looked quite week so that is something I knew I would have to improve come January but for now it was good enough. I had strong CM's and strong ST's but needed wingers so I would aim to improve this in January as well.
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For now I was just going for a simple 4-4-2 but I had set up other tactics for when I could adjust the squad to my liking. I went for this as I could play my two strongest strikers and two strongest CM's together and hopefully get a spine in the team which would aid the back 4.

First 3 games
The first game is one I should have won, a FA Cup qualifier against a team in a lower division but with injuries and fitness worries I had to settle with a 3-3 draw, coming back from deficits 3 times to start off my career.
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A replay from my last game was next and this time I went 1-0 down then had a man sent off, at which point I had given up on the game before I turned it around to 2-1. I couldn't hold onto the lead and eventually ended up losing 3-2 in ET.
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The 3rd game was my first league game against Hayes & Yeading and one I had to win as they were just a point below me in the first relegation spot. Luckily I dominated the match with a Jamie White Brace and goals from Fitchett and Gomis making it 4-1, my first win as a manager.
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Review
The first few games were mixed. I was lucky to come away with a draw in my first game then I was unlucky not to win in the second game after a strong performance, unfortunately fitness let me down in the end. I dominated the first game of November though and got my first win which gave me a slightly brighter outlook.

Jamie White gets player of "the month" with 4 goals in 3 games as well as two assists. He was proving to be a key player in the squad along with Fitchett and Gomis and with players returning from injury shortly it looked like things could only get better from here.​

 

[kmitchell96]

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Starting off my second month in charge didn't seem like it would be much easier. After the first game of the month (Hayes & Yeading, which I won 4-1) I had a tough run of fixtures. I had a couple of must wins and a couple of play-off teams to play.

I started with Bishops Stortford and this wasn't an easy game. They were 16th in the league when I played them but I had a lot of fitness concerns in the squad. Eventually I ended up drawing 1-1 after Shaun Cooper had put me 1-0 up in the first half.
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After the game I decided to change my tactics to 4-3-1-2 as my wingers weren't playing well enough. Also it meant I could cancel the loan of Scannell who was costing me £500p/w wages when I was £150 over. I also cancelled the loan of Billy Medlock to save more wages.

The next game was the hardest of the month in my opinion, Eastbourne who were 3rd in the league at home. Goals from Gomis and Spillane saw me beat them 2-0 as I moved up to 13th in the league.
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Now I had freed up some wages I decided to take action on my keeper situation and I signed a 4* keeper on a contract of £130p/w. An important move to improve one of my weakest positions. Doing this also led to me releasing 1* keeper Andy Stevens.
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Next I beat 16th place Hemel Hempstead 3-2 with goals from Amankwaah, Binns and Dundas winning the game from me and keeping me in 13th.
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A very unlucky game next away to 5th place Bromley. I was winning 3-1 thanks to Binns, White and Fitchett before I got an injury which took me down to ten men after the referee ignored my injured player for 5 minutes on the way to Bromley's second goal. I moved down to 14th.
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I signed another CAM after this game to improve the position I wasn't expecting to use. 2.5* with 4* potential but Work Permit issues keeping him out for this month.
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Final game of the month was in the FA Trophy against the Burnham Ramblers and I just got a 1-0 victory against the weaker team. Disappointing performance but a win is a win thanks to Jamie White.
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End of month review
Strong month, moved up to 14th in the table. 6 points off the play-off's with 3 games in hand against 5th place (at least 1 game in hand on every team above me!).
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Quite shocked to see I am insecure! Will be because of the league position but hopefully win two of the games in hand and I am just outside the play-off's and I will be secure again. Looking forward to January and hoping I can request for more wage budget.
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No player of the month. Players played well for a game or two but nobody was in the side consistently due to fitness and nobody performed brilliantly every game. Apparently White's performance isn't good enough to the fans and they want to see him dropped (he scored twice in this post and had an average rating of over 6.8!).​

 

[Lippo255]

Took a while mate but you've finally got a start. Will be following "Wacka's" Journey for sure!

 

[kmitchell96]

Took a while mate but you've finally got a start. Will be following "Wacka's" Journey for sure!

Yeah it took a while to get a job but started off well, only lost 1 in 8 and starting to build the team my own way.

 

[kmitchell96]

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Into December and this month I had 6 games. I was hoping to continue to push up the table and maybe continue to advance in the FA Trophy.

I started by receiving an email giving me some news about the fact I had broken a club record for unbeaten games, 6 games without loss wasn't bad for a new manager.
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Next I decided to sign 2.5* CB Manny Parry on a free transfer. He is only 20 meaning he has a lot of potential and I managed to give him a contract that'd keep him at the club till June 2016.
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After signing somebody I decided to release Serbonij, he was being paid too much for an unused player and it meant I would have a bit more money to work with in January.
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Now onto the fixtures. I started with 12th place Basingstoke at home, not an easy game but I managed to win the game 1-0 thanks to Jerson Dos Santos' first goal of the season for me.
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My next game was in the FA Trophy against Bromley, after going 1-0 down in the first half Tumwa equalised in the second half and forced a replay.
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I wasn't happy with getting a replay cause my fitness was already low but it had to be done and I am glad it is sooner rather than later. This time I managed a 3-2 win in extra time which was won by an own goal in the 113th minute. Fitchett and Cooper scored my goals.
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The next fixture was always going to be a tough one with 4th place Whitehawk visiting, it was never going to be an easy fixture but the fitness of my players really didn't help. A first half injury to Tumwa occured and then just minutes later they scored the only goal of the game to win 1-0. My 9 game unbeaten streak was over.
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14th place Wealdstone were next and Binns scored the first goal in the 73rd minute only for them to equalise 5 minutes later. Fitness was still low and another injury to CB Amankwaah didn't help.
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I was up against 6th place St. Albans next and I wasn't to positive about my chances with injuries and fitness concerns and it looked glum after going down 1-0 within a minute, only for White to score in the 3rd minute. He then scored the go ahead goal in the 33rd and Fitchett added two more in the 88th and 90th minutes to finish the game 4-1.
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End of month review
So at the end of the month I had managed to climb the table to 10th (6 points off the playoffs with 2 games in hand) and advance to the second round of the FA Trophy where I was drawn against King's Lynn.
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My job was now stable again after a strong month with fans happy about the signings made over the last couple of months but the club was making a loss.
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Fitchett gets player of the month with consistent performances and 3 goals to his name.​

 

[kmitchell96]

January Transfer Activity
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The only transfer I tried to execute outwards was of Adam Bygrave. He was using up wages which weren't necessary as he wasn't used. I had one offer from Maidenhead which he turned down. Eventually I released him at the end of the month.

I also released Otshuidi, he was taking up wages and I couldn't even apply for a work permit for another 2 months so I just decided it would be easier to release him and save myself money.

Two players came in on loan. Both were strikers, Lewis Wilson from Oxford City and Bobbie Dale from Cheltenham. Didn't want strikers but with injuries I needed back up and both were strong backup, Wilson could also play out wide.

Other than that I just offered new contracts to key players. A few turned them down but the following accepted new 1 year deals keeping them until June 2016:
Jaimez-Ruiz, Gomis, Fitchett, John, Tumwa, Wishart, Cooper and Seidu.

January Games
I had 7 games in January, should've been 8 but I had 1 cancelled in the league due to a waterlogged pitch.

Fitchett and Dundas won the first game against Wealdstone with goals in the 9th and 50th minute, this moved me up to 8th, 4 points of the playoffs.

Next I had 2nd place Weston-super-mare. I lost 2-0, Gomis and Wellard were both injured in the first half but even with them I think I would've lost to the stronger team. I moved to 10th, 5 points away from the play offs.

Then in the FA Trophy 2nd round against King's Lynn I won 4-3 in ET. After going into the half 2-0 down Wishart and Dundas pulled it back before I went 3-2 down. Fitchett scored in the 84th minute to send it to ET where Dundas scored the winner in the 116th minute.

Then I played top of the league Ebbsfleet. I lost 3-2 despite going into half time 2-1 up thanks to goals from Collins and Dundas. I was now 14th and 7 points away from the play offs.

Fitchett, Wilson and Dundas then gave me a 3-0 win against bottom of the league GoSport which put me in 11th and 4 points away from play off spots. Seidu had his best game of the season.

Then in the 3rd round of the FA Trophy I beat Whitehawk 2-1 thanks to Bobbie Dale and Jerson dos Santos. I got Braintree at home in the next round.

White then returned to the bench in my next game after weeks out. Fitchett scored a brace to earn a 2-2 draw against Farnborough. I was 11th and 8 points off now. The worst news was White came on in the 57th minute, he went off injured in the 59th!​

 

[kmitchell96]

February and March Results
After the end of January I was told that the first two games of February had to be wins if I wanted to keep my job, harsh considering I came in when the team were struggling and had a lot to do to make the play off's.

I started with a 1-0 win against Havant & W. Lewis Wilson scored the only goal in the first "must win" game. Gomis also played what would probably be his last game of the season after a rough challenge left him with a broken foot, he is ruled out for 6 months.

Then the fourth round of the FA Trophy against Braintree. I went 1-0 up thanks to Bobbie Dale, only for Braintree to equalise in the 93rd minute to send it to a replay. In the replay Fitchett put me 1-0 up early on but then an own goal from Seidu in the 73rd minute sent it to ET. They scored in the 110th minute and Manny Parry sealed the loss with an own goal in the 111th minute. I was out of the trophy but I was the only team from the bottom tier to make it that far which is a consolation.

Hemel Hempstead were next in the other must win game I was given and Fitchett opened up in the 28th minute. Hemel equalised in the 70th minute and it looked like a draw but White scored in the 93rd minute to win the game 2-1.

I then had Bromley at home and this was a game where I looked the weaker team, fitness gave me a depleted squad and I was playing backups all over. Dundas won the game for me in the 39th minute with a goal, it should've been a comfortable win but Dundas also missed a penalty.

I then had Concord Rangers and I was 1-0 down 4 minutes in, White got a brace to put me 2-1 up before he was injured from a bad challenge, which would rule him out for at least a month. Hart then made it 3-1 with a goal from a brilliantly worked short corner.

Then a 2-2 draw against Staines was earned in a very even match, the goals came from Fitchett and Hart minutes into the second half to earn the draw.

A well earned draw was next. Tumwa made a stupid challenge 20 minutes in against Weston-super-mare to put me down to 10 men. They capitalised on this scoring in the 48th minute. Luckily the back 4 stood strong and eventually Cooper earned a draw with a 58th minute goal.

Another tight game, this time against Hayes & Y. It looked set for 0-0 only for Collins to score a wonder goal in the 92nd minute to win the game 1-0.

Another 1-0 win, this time against Bishop Stortford. Fitchett scored in the 9th minute and a strong defensive display earned the win led by a back 4 which the lowest rating was 7.4.

Then in a game I should've easily won against bottom side Gosport I only managed a 0-0 draw. I can only count myself lucky as they hit the post 3 times and had a goal disallowed. The midfield just didn't create enough chances for me until late on when Fitchett had 3 shots saved in a minute.

The last game of the month was against Eastbourne and was very disappointing. I had chance after chance but poor finishing as well as Dale wasting chances with poor touches meant I was shut out. Poor defending also led to Eastbourne scoring the winner in the 49th minute.

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Review
A good two months all in all. Disappointed to have ended it with my first loss in 8 and my first league loss in 11. I did better than expected with the amount of injuries I had. At one point I only had enough players to have 6 on the bench and for most of this period I only had 1 or 2 healthy players outside of the top 16.

The great form saw me make it to the 4th round of the FA Trophy to only get knocked out by the eventual winners. And my brilliant league form put me back in the good books with the board, no more "must win" games by the look of it as I now sat in 3rd place with 5 points separating me and 6th place.

The next post will look at the last 5 games and the push for the play off's. With 15 points to play for and a 5 point gap between me and 6th place I am quietly confident about making the play off's but it will probably come down to fitness and whether or not that Eastbourne game causes a bad run like I have seen too many times before.

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[kmitchell96]

Last 5 games
The last 5 games were rough and so was the final result.

I started with a 1-1 draw with Chelmsford, a game I should have won with them being in a relegation spot but I was just unlucky with the result. Binns scored my goal six minutes in and then I hit the post several times but their keeper was just on form as he earned man of the match.

I then lost 3-0 to Boreham, I just wasn't good enough. No matter how I changed the tactics I couldn't stop them going forward or create any chances. Morias, who got my vote for player of the season, was unstoppable and got a hat trick.

The next game was another loss, 2-1 this time to Basingstoke. I was unlucky again, Basingstoke's keeper earned man of the match after making over 15 saves! Cooper scored my goal in the 84th minute.

I then had a must win game in order to stay in contention for the play off's and I did with a 2-0 win against Bath with Jamie White scoring his last goal for the club as he continued to refuse contract talks and Tumwa scored the second.


The Final Day!
The final game was difficult. If I won and Eastbourne lost I went into the play off's. If Eastbourne drew I would need to win by 3+ goals to make the play off's on goal difference. If Eastbourne won I wouldn't make them.

Eastbourne drew their final game which meant I had the chance to make the play off's with a 3+ goal win. I won 2-0 Fitchett scored as well as an own goal.

This meant that we were level on points and goal difference. It turns out we were level on everything! So I expected maybe a play off game between us for the final spot but no... I got an email saying they were through to the play off's on ALPHABETICAL ORDER!!!!!!!!

I have never been so annoyed.

Player of the season
Fitchett earns this with top scorer with 18 goals and top assister with 10 assists. Seidu and Gomis were rated better but the goals saved me from mid table mediocrity so Fitchett is Player of the season.

Next post will be season preview and preseason.​

 

[kmitchell96]

Season Preview
The first thing, I have been given a new contract for a year extension at Sutton keeping me until 2017. I have also convinced the club to get a Senior Affiliate, I had the choice between Bury, Barnsley, Shrewsbury and York. I decided on Barnsley.

I was given the goal of Promotion for the season and nothing else. The only other choice was Play-off's but they took £1.5k off of my wage budget so I chose promotion. The bookies had me down as 5th place, so I should end up in play-off's with a push for promotion.

I also set up Jaimez-Ruiz as my captain after Southam left on a free.

Transfers
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I am disappointed to have lost Hart and White but they refused contracts for higher tier football. I expected it with White who is now at Wrexham but Hart is still without a club after pre-season.

I had to bring in a lot of players, brought a few in from Barnsley on loan and then all free transfers. Few strong back ups but also a few starters. I added wingers and attacking midfielders so I could play my favourite 4-2-3-1. Bobbie Dale was signed on a free after the loan deal last season as a backup.

Pre-season
I expected better but pre-season ended with 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. Fitchett scored twice. A few new players got off the mark and everybody played well. There were a few big injuries which would effect the start of the season but with the new signings I would cope.

The best result was 2-1 against Man U under 21's.

I was positive going into pre-season but at the same time I knew fitness and injuries would be a big problem throughout the season. I would have to use a couple more loanees further into the season as I am already £23 over my wage budget (not much but it builds up).

I have decided that I will never apply for jobs, I considered it in the summer with a few league 1 and 2 jobs becoming available including the now league 2 Walsall job. I will only move to a new club from unemployment or from job offers.

The next post will be about the beginning of the season. Any suggestions, questions and comments are welcome.

​

 

[kmitchell96]

August
It was a tough start to the season. Through 5 games I had scored twice, also had 2 players sent off as well. I had only conceded 3 goals. My back 4 had played extremely well no matter who started but there were a lot of problems going forward, I was missing White.

I hadn't had a consistent side throughout the season, nobody managed 4/5 games starting and many struggled to keep fitness above 80%. I had 8 injuries at one point and ended the month with 6. It was going to be tougher than I thought.

I started with 3 draws on the bounce; 0-0, 0-0 and 1-1 before a 2-1 loss against Whitehawk who had two of my ex players. I then ended the month with another 0-0.

Review
I need to start finding goals and it wasn't going to be easy with injuries everywhere on the pitch. The only positive was that Jaimez-Ruiz was in brilliant form with only 3 goals conceded in 5 games and 3 clean sheets so far.

Fitchett needed to find form. Dale was playing well but just couldn't find the net and because he is only 19 he is struggling to keep confidence up.

I also needed to try and keep the players from getting booked. I had 12 yellows and 2 reds through 5 games and this needed to change. It cost me a point at least against Whitehawk and if I had 11 men against AFC Hornchurch I would've done a lot better and won the game as I was dominating with 11 men.

Fans were complaining about "safe boring tactics". I have mixed it up between 4-2-3-1, 4-1-2-3 and 4-3-1-2. They are all attacking formations and should create goals. I have been playing well and played interesting football but I am just missing the final touch.

Elsewhere
Walsall were struggling in League 2 as well. They had been knocked out of the league cup by Bolton and had only managed 3 draws and 2 losses from 5 games in the league which left them 19th in the league. Even though they had a bad start Brian Laws, who was in charge from the middle of last season, was still stable.

I had been looking at jobs since I was insecure and nothing sensible was available, no conference or league 1 or 2 teams were struggling enough to make jobs insecure if I got sacked there was no backup.​

 

[kmitchell96]

September
View attachment 813269
"As jobs all over the country become insecure and under review Jimmy Walker has decided to sign a 1 year extension to his contract at Sutton United. This will keep him at the club until June 2017 on a wage of £625 p/w"

Yeah I had signed a new contract. I considered resigning after a rough start to the season but I was offered a new contract and decided to take it. I was looking at the jobs becoming available with the likes of Cheltenham in the Conference being a possibility, as well as Walsall in League 2 after Brians Laws was sacked after a very poor start.

The ultimate decision came at the end of the month after I had picked up a lot of form throughout the month.

Fixtures
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After another draw to start the month I highly considered resigning. I just couldn't hold on to the lead in a 2-2 draw with goals from Fitchett and Gomez-Pico.

I then got my first win of the season against Fitchett, Gomez-Pico, Boakye-Yiadom and Phenix scoring. The Bromley goal was an own goal from Jaimez-Ruiz as it bounced off the post and onto the back of his head and in.

I looked to be coming back after Wellard equalised against Dartford before Harries got my 3rd sending off of the season. He went to the press after to say about how I reacted, which didn't help as I met him and did the same again, this time he shut up.

Then a 3-2 win against Maidenhead with goals from Fitchett and 2 from Phenix gave me a 2nd win in 3.

The best result of the month was the next, a 2-0 win away to top of the league Boreham Wood, a team who missed out on promotion by the skin of their teeth last season. The goals came from Fraser and Fitchett. Fitchett' was most important in the 88th minute when Boreham, still lead by last seasons top Goalscorer Morias, were attacking Jaimez-Ruiz as they had over 10 shots in the last 5 minutes.

Finally an FA Cup qualifier and a game I should have dominated (Bookies had me down to win by 4 or more goals) but I could only manage 2-1 with goals from Tumwa and Phenix. A brilliant first half, which could've seen me go into the half 4 or 5 nil up, was followed by a disappointing second half.

Review
I decided to finish the month by signing a new contract as I had turned things around and managed 4 wins from 6 games. As well as 6 games in a row with goals. I struggled in the first month for goals and this was important because I need the goals.

Scoring 14 goals in 6 games was something that would hopefully carry on for the rest of the season and especially in the near future as I tried to keep up my form. I ended the month in 10th place and pushing on I was only a couple of points from the play off's.

Another good point was the improvement in terms of discipline as I only received six yellows and a red, better than the 12 and 2 from the previous month, I would still like to see it improve further though.

POTM goes to Jaimez-Ruiz as he saved a lot of shots late in games that would have turned wins into draws.


Elsewhere
Walsall were still struggling as they were now 21st in League 2 under new manager Paul Mariner. They had managed just 2 wins from a possible 13 games in all competitions.

Liverpool were top of the Premier, Reading top of championship. MK league 1, Portsmouth league 2, Bristol Rovers Conference, Leamington in the Conference North.​