Non League to Champions League

[NathanITFC]

This football managing 'masterclass' will see me attempt to take an English football team from the sixth tier of English football all the way to the Champions League. If I get sacked then I will retire and head back to the job centre and most likely be emptying your bins the following week.

The team I chosen to take control of is....

Nuneaton Town
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The history of the club is as follows...
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As you can see the club only founded in 2008 and have only achieved a few league titles as they headed into the Conference North, alongside a cup title. We aim to try and get a league title with every promotion alongside cup triumphs in every cup we enter as we head up the leagues.

Knowing my 'luck' and more likely inadequate managerial skills, I will be sacked before Christmas of my first season.

Next updates: Pre season/ Transfers/ Formations

 

[NathanITFC]

Preseason / Transfers / Formations

Transfers
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​

We'll kick off with the ins and lack of outs during pre season. As you can see there are plenty of ins which I will run through as for outs, I have tried to offload a few players however their wage is too high for teams to take them off our hands.

View attachment 1136664Luke Lofts - We have brought in Luke Lofts after his contract with Hull City expired. I particularly like the fact he has finishing, determination, composure, decisions, work rate and off the ball all in double figures! I worry about his physical stats especially as he is only 5ft 6 but hopefully that wont matter.

View attachment 1136665James King - Another freebie after Bradford released him. He is a centre half standing at 5ft 10 so that may also become an issue against massive target men. However at 20 years old he has some impressive stats especially concentration, determination and positioning all being at 12.

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Rory Oliver - Signed on a 6 month loan from Walsall, Oliver has some impressive physical stats merged with decent crossing, dribbling and passing stats.

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Ben Holmes - Holmes will be used as a left midfielder, he has some decent technical attributes however he isn't as strong or quick physically as Oliver who will be on the other wing.

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Liam King - Signed on loan from FC Halifax, King can play as a defensive midfielder or central midfielder. I love how determined, aggressive and brave he is. I feel in this league we will need at least one player who has the mental attributes King has to pick up all the second balls in the middle of the park.

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Jordan Sanderson -At 23 years old, Sanderson has played the majority of his career in the fifth and sixth tier of English football. He can play anywhere across the midfield aswell as either defensive or attacking midfield. Just like King, he is highly determined and has decent passing, tackling and marking stats.

View attachment 1136672Kris Owens -Owens comes in on a free after his contract expired at Liverpool! His stats on average are fairly decent and for a left back in the Conference North a crossing stat of 10 interested me. We also needed competition for this spot as we only had one other left back in Joel Dielna.

Preseason
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As you can see we had a decent pre season. 3 wins, 2 draws and one defeat. 3 clean sheets was also a highlight. Luke Lofts and Ashley Chambers found some form in front of goal which was also a positive. Our draw against Coventry was our best performance as we comfortably held our own!

Formations
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This is one of our 3 formations. We have quite a few decent centre halves so that's quite a strong point. We then have Owens and Trotman as our wing backs who have decent crossing. King and Elliott who are both determined with high stamina to mop up in the middle. Nicholson behind the strikers who can pick a pass and arrives late in the box. Chambers and Lofts up top who are deadly finishers for this division.
Our team instructions are currently look for overlap in order for our wing backs to bomb on and deliver crosses into the box. Secondly we have low crosses due to both Chambers and Lofts being quite small and wont win headers compared to brute centre halves in non league football.








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This is our second formation. 4-4-f'ing 2! You cant be a non league English team without having 442 as an option. This sees Chambers drop to defensive forward to link the attack and midfield. Two wingers come in with Holmes and Oliver. Elliott changes to box to box in order to get more bodies forward in an attempt to get on the end of our crosses. I may also implement low crosses again.













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4-3-1-2 - Again we have a flat back 4. This time we aim to use our creativity and numbers in midfield to penetrate their defence. We use the exploit the middle team instruction to further add to this. I would also use a target man in Callum Ball for this formation to look to hold the ball up and allow our runners from midfield to get in and around him. Billy Daniels would also be used as a shadow striker which I think would go well with a target man up top.











Next Update: August Round up

 

[NathanITFC]

August
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Harrogate - I kicked off my managerial career in fine fashion with a 2-1 away win, Lofts and Chambers grabbing the goals.
Kidderminster - That didn't last long! 3 days later and we fall to a disappointing defeat at home to Kidderminster.
Gainsborough - DAY LIGHT ROBBERY. They spent 30 minutes down to 10 men, despite hitting the bar twice and missing two absolute sitters, we fall to a 2-1 defeat at home to Gainsborough after they score from 2 set pieces.
Brackley - Another tricky away fixture ends as a draw after they score a last minute equaliser, a lot more of those to come!
York - Chambers puts us in front early on, before Owens gets sent off just before half time. We then defended magnificently well for the majority of the second half before York equalise in the 88th minute.
Leamington - We swap to 442 and both our strikers are on the score sheet again. Heading into the 90th minute 2-1 up we wont let this lead slip surely!? 92nd minute 2-2, nothing else needs to be said.
Boston - We take the lead on August bank holiday Monday via Ashley Chambers. They peg us back in the 89th minute! However this time the boys dig deep and find a 90th minute winner in Luke Lofts!

A decent start to life at Nuneaton, our season expectations are to finish mid table so we are on course to do exactly that. Worrying to see we have only two goal scorers so far and even more so with the amount of late goals we concede! This may be due to the formation we play and the average ground they cover in a game.
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2 wins, 3 draws and 2 defeats, see us finish the month in 13th. 6 points away from relegation and only 4 points off play offs.

Next Update - September Round up

 

[NathanITFC]

September
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We kick off the month with some injury news...
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Our centre back and assistant manager, Jon Ashton, is sidelined for 4-5 months with damaged Achilles tendon. With his contract up in the summer and at 34, this may well end his time at Nuneaton and potentially his playing career.

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The good and the ugly!

Alfreton - We kick start the month with a win and a last minute winning penalty from Luke Lofts.
AFC Telford - We went 2-0 down in 20 minutes before we changed to 4-3-1-2 and our fortunes changed with 3 second half goals including another Luke Lofts last gasp winner.
Bradford Park Avenue - Another game where we clinch a win within the last 2 minutes of the game!
Salford - A reasonably even contest which Salford won, they should storm this league!
Mildenhall - Absolutely gutted. I made 8 changes to give players a rest after a hectic start to the season. They didn't step up to the plate and we fall to a defeat, romance of the FA Cup is certainly dead for us this season.
Southport - We started the game really bright however some lapse of concentration in defence really cost us as we fall to our heaviest defeat of the season.

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Since August, we move up a place to 12th. 8 points off relegation and only 2 off play offs. A little disappointing considering we started the month so well and at one point found ourselves in 6th.

We also end the month with some transfer news...​

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John Marsden - Signed on loan from AFC Telford, Marsden will give Chambers and Lofts competition for the two striking positions and can also play behind the striker in an attacking midfield role to give further competition to Nicholson.

Next Update - October Round up

 

[NathanITFC]

October
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New month, new injury...
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Jordan Sanderson, will be out for at least a month with a calf strain. He will be a big miss considering Liam King is also suspended. Youngster Michael Tweed may step up to the plate for a game or two.

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Blyth Spartans - Probably our worst performance of the season as we fall to a 1-0 defeat away from home.
Darlington - Back to winning ways emphatically as an Ashley Chambers brace within 2 minutes seals the win.
Stockport - 0-0 doesn't do this game justice, we played brilliantly but just couldn't find ourselves that goal we desperately wanted.
FC United - We finish the month, how we started it... a defeat away from home. We found ourselves 2-0 down in 12 minutes. Our first half performance was shocking although we found ourselves only 2-1 down at HT. Straight after kick off it seemed they sealed their win before a 30 minute surge of dominance saw us just fall to a 3-2 defeat.

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We have dropped a place to 13th. Still 8 points off relegation but our point difference to the play offs has been doubled to 4 since last month. At the moment we are too inconsistent, if we find ourselves some consistency then come May we may have something to cheer about

Next update: November Round up

 

[NathanITFC]

November
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Spennymoor - We coast to a comfortable 3-0 win! Michael Tweed has filled in brilliantly since Sanderson's injury and grabbed a goal in this game. You can't see it but Luke Lofts scored the other goal in this game.
Chorley - Another 0-0 in which we should have won, we hit the post and bar and created numerous good chances in which we failed to take.
Curzon Ashton - We absolutely blitzed them, we should have won by 5 but we'll settle with the 2-0 win.
Newcastle Town - 11 changes and they went a goal up really early and I thought itd be another embarrassing defeat. Geohaghon scored a header from a corner late on and at the end of the game, I made a triple sub and our class showed with super sub Chambers netting the winner.

We now face Solihull Moors from the Vanarama National in the first round of the FA trophy at home!

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I asked for consistency and that's what I got with 2 wins and a draw in the league this month! As a result we finish the month in 9th. 14 points off relegation and now only one point off the play offs!

Next Update: December Round up

 

[TJOzzy90]

Ashley Chambers.. Remember him when he was a wonderkid at Leicester many FM'S ago...

 

[NathanITFC]

January
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Halfway through the month, I brought in two recruitments after Jordan Nicholson and Rory Oliver rejoined their parent clubs...
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Alistair Smith - A young central/attacking midfielder joins us on loan for the remainder of the season from Mansfield. He has good technical and physical attributes and average mental attributes so should be a good addition to the squad.
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Reece Prestedge - A central midfielder signed on loan from Maidstone, he has fantastic mental stats. Not so technical but he will certainly give us the grit and determination needed to push for promotion in the latter stages of the season in my opinion.
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Just after he returned from an injury that ruled him out for 4 months, Jon Ashton has now torn his hamstring keeping him out for 2-3 months.
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Tamworth - I don't know who did the fixture list but this is weird, playing Tamworth back to back. We weren't at our best at all and fall to a disappointing 2-0 defeat against our rivals.
Brackley - Another dismal performance, this time at the hands of Brackley who dismantled us. Jordan Sanderson netted his first goal for Nuneaton as a consolation.
Gainsborough - 2-1 makes it sound a lot closer than it was, we comfortably beat them thanks to a brace from Lofts.
Blyth Spartans - Back to losing, this time in the FA trophy despite fielding a full strength side we lose 2-1, Smith scoring his first for the club, before Marsden has!
AFC Telford - We deserved to get a draw in my eyes but fall to another defeat in January.
Bradford Park Avenue - We absolutely smashed them, missed countless opportunities and also hitting the bar before Luke Lofts grabbed the all important winner.
FC United - Back to back wins and what a way to do it! Chambers and Lofts put us 2-0 up before Luke Trotman gets sent off before time. Lofts then puts us 3-0 up before our RWB replacement Tom Elliott gives away a penalty and we somehow cling on to 3-1 after they tucked the penalty away.View attachment 1137004
After a reasonably poor month we finish January in 8th. 1 point off the play offs however they have a game in hand on us. Now 8 points off Salford however they also have a game in hand over us.

More bad news, in the FC United game, alongside the two sending offs we also have Ashley Chambers out for 2-3 weeks with concussion!

Next update: February round up

 

[NathanITFC]

I am struggling to insert screenshots at the minute, however I am going to continue with the save and then have a round up whenever I can start inserting images in again, sorry!

 

[DefinitelyTaylor]

You like your 1-1 draws at Nuneaton! Tough month there results wise, I think now it's just about preparing for next season because it's an uphill battle to getting a playoff spot now I feel. Do love a Non-League career as a fan of a National League club so I'll be following.

 

[NathanITFC]

You like your 1-1 draws at Nuneaton! Tough month there results wise, I think now it's just about preparing for next season because it's an uphill battle to getting a playoff spot now I feel. Do love a Non-League career as a fan of a National League club so I'll be following.

Thanks mate, yeah if only we won half of them then we could potentially put together a play off bid. Always enjoy trying to get a Non-League club to the Premier League

 

[NathanITFC]

April

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Again, we start the month with some transfer news...
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I was particularly pleased with this sale as on £450 a week, Nti was a high earner and still had a year left on his contract so we allowed him to leave on a free to Merthyr Town.



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A third player leaves this season to join Merthyr Town of a free. Winger Greg Mills leaves to join them on a free with his contract up in the summer. We agreed to pay £190 a month until June and then they will pay his full wages without our contribution.

Again, another month, another injury...
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Ashley Chambers ruled himself out for the rest of the month/season with a back strain. With his contact up in the summer, we will do all we can to see him play in the blue and white of Nuneaton again.


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Boston - 0-0, bore draw, enough said!
Southport - A game where we deserved to get battered, however they miss guilt edge chances to win by the one goal.
Salford - Result of the season in my eyes, we took the lead through Smith before they equalised through Redshaw. Kelvin Langmead then scored the winner with 15 minutes to go.
Darlington - Another fantastic win! Luke Lofts ended his goal drought of 13 hours of football without a goal with a brace, however he then picked up an injury keeping him out for a month and the last game of the season.
Blyth Spartans - I made several changes and gave a few youngsters a start, it massively backfired and proved some aren't quite ready yet as we fall to a heavy 3-0 defeat.

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Here is the final table of the season. We finish 10th on 63 points, 8 off of the play offs and 21 points ahead of relegated Leamington. Darlington end up as play off winners, beating Salford in the play off final on penalties so they will join Kidderminster in the Vanarama National next season. Special mention to North Ferriby who finish with 12 points! 2 wins and 34 losses!!

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Player of the season, young player and best signing of the season were all won by Luke Lofts despite a 13 hour goal drought. Surprisingly Dielna came 2nd in front of Ashley Chambers. January signings Reece Prestedge and Alistair Smith both got in team of the season.
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Top goalscorer, highest average rating and most assists were all picked up by Luke Lofts. Tom Elliott had the best pass completion rate with a low 76%. Luke Lofts won most player of the matches this season. Luke Trotman had the most yellow and red cards with 7 yellow and 2 red.

Next update: Transfers and Pre-season
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[DefinitelyTaylor]

Luke Lofts has had a brilliant season for you, if you can keep hold of him you should have a cracking season next year. Personally don't see why you can't aim for the playoffs and even win them.

 

[NathanITFC]

Transfers and Pre-Season
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Change in the backroom staff aswell, I have appointed a new fitness coach after being allowed an additional coach. With Jon Ashton retiring, I have brought in a new assistant manager in the shape of...
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Emerson Boyce - Good man management with decent motivating and tactical knowledge. His ability to judge players is also decent and a lot better than Ashton's! With Premier League experience and after winning the FA Cup with Wigan I hope he can show our players a thing or two.
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A list of our released players. Kelvin Langmead also left to join Slough Town however it was at the end of last season so you cannot see it here. As you can see a lot of deadwood, most players rarely featured. I did offer Dielna a contract but he wanted £1,500 a week which I refused to agree to. I debated giving Michael Tweed a contract however I felt I could find better players without a contract.
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9 transfers made and one leaving in the shape of Billy Daniels who joins newly relegated North Ferriby on a free.
Now for the ins...
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Steve Tomassen - An English centre half signed for £1,000 from Airbus UK in Wales. He is an all round player with decent technical, physical and mental stats.
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Ben Hedley - Signed for £8,000 from Morecambe, Ben Hedley will play centre midfield. Decent physical stats which will hopefully improve with age. Even at his age he is already a leader and has good passing with high determination. I was surprised to see the transfer of Hedley breaking an existing highest fee paid record, I hope it doesn't affect his performances at all.
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Reece Prestedge - signed following his loan spell here last season. Fantastic mental stats and already an influential player in the dressing room, again determination of 15, leadership 14 and with natural fitness at 15 he will hopefully maintain his stats at the age of 32.
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Warren Burrell - An all round player, with good physical stats he can get across the pitch in a box to box role which he enjoys. Fairly determined all his stats are about average for this league expect first touch which we will look to improve!
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Wade Joyce - Another midfield player with good fitness stats and determined. We will be playing 3 centre midfielders this year so this is why I now have 5 good options for our high tempo game.
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Ryan Hutchinson - Another central defender, Ryan has good stats with tackling, header, marking, positioning and determination all being in double figures. All the other important defensive stats are also around the 9 mark so I am really pleased to acquire him on a free transfer.
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Matt Fish - A right wing back signing from Salford where he was playing on non contract terms. Poor physically but a step ahead mentally with good tackling, passing, marking and crossing stats.
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Will Dennis - He's signed as understudy to Dean Lyness. He has very good technical stats for the age of 18 in this league so maybe he is one we look to develop and use him as a long term replacement.
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Tobi Sho-Silva - Signed on a season long loan from Dover, he will give healthy competition to Chambers and Lofts. He again is highly determined and is very quick, fit and agile, so will be a handful coming off the bench.

Pre-Season
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A good pre-season with 3 wins, 2 draws and one defeat. Luke Lofts is back in the goalscoring form. We played against football league competition and more than held our own narrowing losing 3-2 to Lincoln, drawing to Crawley and Gillingham and beating Coventry at home.

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This is our squad for the season so far, as you can see some real quality in there mixed with a few up and coming youngsters. Our board feel we should be top half of the table however I feel we can push for a play off spot.

Next Update: August Round Up

 

[BallyC7]

Some good signings there mate. I see you brought in a few centre mids, who do you see starting initially? Hedley and Prestedge catch the eye for me, not a lot of pace but decent passers of the ball with loads of determination. I like Prestedge for his teamwork and work rate stats!

 

[NathanITFC]

Some good signings there mate. I see you brought in a few centre mids, who do you see starting initially? Hedley and Prestedge catch the eye for me, not a lot of pace but decent passers of the ball with loads of determination. I like Prestedge for his teamwork and work rate stats!

Yeah gonna play a 5-3-2 with wing backs so Prestedge, Hedley alongside Tom Elliott in centre midfield. Hoping their fitness and determination will pick up all the second balls despite their lack of pace and as you've said all 3 have good passing stats

 

[NathanITFC]

August
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We kickstarted the month with unfortunate news...
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Summer signing and record breaking transfer fee, Ben Hedley ruled out for a month and a half with sprained knee ligaments hopefully something which wont be a reoccurrence.

Another central midfielder has been brought in as a result...
View attachment 1137537Louie Stanton-Cockle -As well as having an amazing name, we brought Louie in as he is more of a ball playing midfielder with vision, first touch, technique and flair standing out as well as having 15 determination. At £200 a week, there is little cons to signing Louie after his contract with AFC Wimbeldon expired.

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A poor month!
Blyth Spartans - My record against Blyth is abysmal! We didn't play particularly bad but fell to a horrendous 4-0 defeat on the opening day.
Stafford - The perfect response, Sho-Silva scoring a minute in before a Luke Lofts hat trick got his season tally up and running.
Harrogate - Another horrendous result, couldn't handle their direct football in a 4-3-3 formation.
Salford - Back to back 3-0 losses, our goal difference is taking a right beating!
After this game I tweaked the player roles, making the 3 midfielders all centre midfield, Tom Elliott being assigned to attack, Prestedge defend and Joyce to support.
Stourbridge - The tweak worked straight away, well lets hope it was the tweak and not just luck! Back at home and back to winning ways, Ashely Chambers coming back from injury and scoring a brace in a fantastic dominant performance.

3 games away from home - 100% of which we've lost - conceding 10 goals and scoring 0 in the process.
2 games at home - 100% of which we've won - scoring 6 goals and conceding 1.
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A horrendous month sees us 14th, 4 points off the play offs, 3 points to the relegation places and joint worst goal difference in the league with -5. We will hope for a lot better this coming month, the worst thing is it could get a lot worse still!

Next Update - September Round up

 

[DefinitelyTaylor]

Quite a large turnover of players there, Tobi Sho-Silva catches my eye, he did very well in the National League last season I remember at Bromley. I think that explains the slow start you've had in terms of results, hopefully that sorts itself out in the coming months. Also, I have to approve of Boycey, what a legend!

 

[biglol23]

Quite a large turnover of players there, Tobi Sho-Silva catches my eye, he did very well in the National League last season I remember at Bromley. I think that explains the slow start you've had in terms of results, hopefully that sorts itself out in the coming months. Also, I have to approve of Boycey, what a legend!

Given he was signed to fill Moses Emmanuel's boots he didn't do too badly at all - 11 goals I think in total for the season. Not found the going easy at Dover this season though, TSS has just the one goal.

 

[NathanITFC]

Quite a large turnover of players there, Tobi Sho-Silva catches my eye, he did very well in the National League last season I remember at Bromley. I think that explains the slow start you've had in terms of results, hopefully that sorts itself out in the coming months. Also, I have to approve of Boycey, what a legend!

Yeah I thought that aswell, with most the squad getting released, the turnover has been massive. However, I still want to be around the play offs come Christmas time and then push on from there.