Hi guys, this is my Hungerford story. Not going to be a daily update rather I'll give a summary at the end of each season. hopefully it assists other managers taking on the challenge of the lower leagues. I've just finished Season 1 and managed to scrape promotion through the playoffs.
Start of Season
Club Overview
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Currently in Vanarama South, semi-professional, local reputation with okay finances.
Board Expectations
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Quite simple, use this average squad and avoid relegation. To achieve this we'll give you about £1 000 in free wages.
The Squad
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Best Players
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Our GK George Legg on loan from Reading looks decent. Will have to use this season to find our own Gk for next season just in case I cant re-loan him. Very good att's for this level. Low determination which I don't like.
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LB Nicky Shorey amazing for this level. Great all round att's with exceptional for corners and free kicks, I am going to have to make use of that. At 35 will probably loose a lot of physicals this season.
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Finally, Rhys Tyler whose stats are more representative of the league. But at 23 I hope to get a bot of an increase with loads of game time this season.
If there is anymore info you need comment below and I'll see that you get it!
Let the games begin!!!
Season 1 Completed
So' I've completed the 1st season and managed to get promoted through the play-offs. This is how it happened.
Signings
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Due to budget constraints I only made 8 free signings. 5 at the beginning of the season. 2 more in November and 1 after January. The later signings were not available at the beginning of the game or I did not find them. Either way I am glad as they all became key players for me. In LLM I emphasize determination, work rate, pace and acc.
How did they perform
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They performed exceptionally. My two strikers stand out with 31 and 26 goals respectively. Bignall won the golden Boot and Brown was voted Vanarama South Player of the Season. I was lucky to avoid major injuries. Only Bignall had two injury spells of about 3-4 weeks each. Let me know if you want screen shots of individual players.
Schedule
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Sorry guys cant get the final 2 games onto the pic??? A 2-0 home wine against Bath and then a final 3-2 victory against Maidenhead. I've been promoted!
The Table
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I was fortunate to finish 3rd. There was a point when Dartford was 20 points ahead of the rest. But some abysmal results by the teams at the upper end of the table and a bit of a run towards the end meant that I could squeeze into the play-offs. There I was fortunate as the two semi-final legs were played two days apart meaning Bath played an exhausted team in the 2nd game. The final was against Maindehead. They started the final with an injured striker, so they were also not in the greatest shape, I capitalized(H)
Tactics
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I played with six different tactics throughout the season. Not my usual style but teams seemed to work out my tactics quite quickly. For obvious reasons I soon became known as the Tinkerer. My final tactic which I started using towards the end of Feb was a 4-2-4 with 2 wingers and 2 strikers. It was adopted and tweaked from WorktheSpace's Hereford series on YouTube. Other formations used included 4-4-1-1; 4-4-2, 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1. I can share if you'd like.
So that's it for Season 1, will be working hard to get the team ready for life in Vanarama National League. Speak at the end of season 2.