Non League to Champions League

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September 2018
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I'll start the month off with a formation change. Our only left wing back, Kris Owens, picks up an injury keeping him out for a month. Therefore I decide to go for a 3-1-4-2 formation, introducing right and left midfielders, meaning Alex Henshall, who hasn't featured much for, will get more game time on the left side and 17 year old, academy player Mitchell Glover will also feature. Reece Prestedge will sit infront of the back 3 and mop up any loose balls. Tom Elliott is on central midfield attack looking to get in the box and support Chambers and Lofts with Burrell being used as a carrilero, moving laterally across the middle of the pitch, covering the middle of the pitch.
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Southport - We fall to a undeserved defeat, we at least deserved a point out of this game with countless chances we failed to convert.
Gainsborough - Back to back 2-1 defeats, this time deserved however.
Spennymoor - Back to winning ways with a 91st minute winner by little Luke Lofts, he has a knack of late winners.
Lowestoft - Back to back 2-1 wins now as Henshall scores his first for the club before an Ashely Chambers winner.
Mickleover - I play a full strength side after last years disappointment and we see them off comfortably with two late goals. We face Redditch at home in the 3rd qualifying round.
FC Halifax - WHAT A GAME! could've been 10-10! End to end game which ends as a fair draw, Ashley Chambers scoring a hat trick in this thriller.
Bradford Park Avenue - Back to back hat tricks for Ashley Chambers, back to back games where we score 4 goals aswell. We came from 2-1 down at HT to win this game so even more impressive from us.

A much better month with Tom Elliott getting in the goals alongside our deadly duo up top. We look a lot better now going forward however a month with no clean sheets is a tad worrying.
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We finish the month in 11th, 8 points ahead of the relegation places and now only 2 off Wrexham who take the final play off spot at the minute. With confidence rising, I'm hoping for us to now push on and try and worm ourselves into the play offs.

Next Update: October 2018 round up
 
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October 2018
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View attachment 1137939
Redditch - We start the month with a 4-2 FA cup win over lower league opponents Redditch, we left it until the final 10 mins to secure a deserved victory.
Alfreton - A game where we deserved at least a point. We went 2-0 down on 50 minutes so I made a triple sub, two minutes later and Steve Tomassen gets concussion so despite having 10 men for the remaining 40 minutes we go down 3-1.
Chorley - A low scoring game for us! A clean sheet and a single goal through the majestic Chambers seals a deserved win.
Eastbourne - Gutted! Luke Lofts scores a first half hat trick, we were fantastic and missed so many great chances and they grab a 92nd minute winner against the run of play to destroy our FA cup run and dreams.
Tamworth - Away to our rivals and we smash 5 past them! We were superb, an own goal, Chambers (2), Lofts and Niall Heaton with the goals.
Boston - I don't know what is more surprising a clean sheet or 2 goals in 2 games for centre half Niall Heaton.

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A superb month sees us finish it in 7th and the final play off place. Wrexham are only a point behind with Stafford 17 points off us. Despite our good form, York City are flying away with the title currently 12 points ahead of us.

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Our fantastic month hasn't gone unnoticed as I pick up manager of the month for October.

Next Update: November 2018 Round Up
 
November 2018
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View attachment 1138002First choice goalkeeper, Dean Lyness, is ruled out for a month and a half after spraining his knee ligaments after sprinting. This will give us a chance to have a look at Will Dennis who we brought in, in the summer. Darren Fryatt, will be backup after we signed him on from our previous youth intake.
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Only 3 games this month as we are knocked out of the FA Cup already.

Stockport - After going a goal down an hour in, I brought on Tobi Sho-Silva for Luke Lofts and he doesn't disappoint with 2 goals and an assist for Tom Elliott's last minute goal.
AFC Fylde - A game we deserved to win with Ashley Chambers having an unusual stinker in front of goal, he blazed a one on one over in the 94th minute. Mitchell Glover grabbed our equaliser for his first career goal.
AFC Telford - A smash and grab! We were second best on the day but come away with a 1-0 win after that man Niall Heaton scores again following a Ben Hedley corner.
View attachment 1138004
Another good month sees us rise to 4th on 32 points. We are now 4 points away from AFC Fylde who are 8th. We've also started to close in on York, reducing the gap to 8 points however they do have a game in hand.

The UK have left the EU...
View attachment 1138005These are the current changes so far, feel free to have a look and try and make sense of it.

Next Update: December 2018 Round Up
 
Just caught up with the thread. Do you think you can get promoted this year? And what position were you predicted to finish in at the start of the season?
 
Hampus Silverholt said:
Just caught up with the thread. Do you think you can get promoted this year? And what position were you predicted to finish in at the start of the season?
Click to expand...

Media predicted us to finish 10th and the board expect a mid table finish. I think we could potentially go up via the play offs, top spot seems to far out of reach ATM but a lot of games to play so who knows
 
December 2018

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With games coming thick and fast in December we started the month with two injuries, unfortunately ruling both out for the month...
View attachment 1138112Ashley Chambers came off the bench in the final game of the month, Tobi Sho-Silva came in to replace him.
View attachment 1138116Steve Tomassen didn't make a single appearance in December after pulling his calf, Ryan Hutchinson came in to replace him with youth product Lua Lua coming in to sit on the bench.
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Stafford - We make 11 changes for the FA Trophy, including 6 youth team players. They see off Vanarama North rivals Stafford 3-2, Reece Prestedge bagging 2 penalties.
FC United - We somehow fail to break down a resilient FC United despite battering them for the 90 minutes. Potentially missed Ashley Chambers.
York - We play York at home aiming to close the gap and take the lead through Tom Elliott. Jon Parkin equalised on the hour and despite end to end football, neither side could claim 3 points.
Southport - Back to 11 changes in the FA Trophy and we fall to an unfortunate 5-3 defeat away at Southport. Youth team product David Jennings netting his first goal for the club a highlight.
Blyth Spartans - An important win as we close the gap to the league leaders. A fantastic performance sealed with an Alex Henshall stunner and a fortunate own goal by Luke Conlan.
View attachment 1138118
We finish December in 5th place on 37 points. After beating Blyth we are now only 6 points away from the table toppers and 5 off York in 2nd although we now have a game in hand on them. However Salford are only 2 points off us just outside the play offs in 8th.

Next Update: January 2019 Round Up
 
January 2019
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Stafford - We start the month with a big win, we smashed them from the first minute, Hutchinson grabbing a rare goal, Lofts 2, Burrell and Chambers scoring the goals.
Wrexham - We go away to play off contenders Wrexham and grab a comfortable win and clean sheet, with Lofts and Heaton finding the score sheet again.
Harrogate - Ashley Chambers opens the scoring, Ben Hedley then gets sent off 27 minutes into the game! We grab a second through a set piece finished off by Steve Tomassen. They then get a goal back before Mitchell Glover scores a fantastic goal to seal a superb win!
Stourbridge - Another away win and clean sheet, Lofts grabbing another goal for us!
Salford - What a game! We go 2-0 up and throw it away after Sanchez Watt came on and demolished us! Their winner coming in the 93rd minute via a free kick.
Southport - Back to winning was, the third successive away game where we keep a clean sheet! Luke Lofts capping off a fantastic personal and team month with a brace.
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What a month! We finish the month 4th and are now only 2 points off top of the league. However there are 5 teams at the top with 3 points between us! Stockport in 8th are now 11 points off us.
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WOW! Luke Lofts finishes January with 7 goals from 5 appearances, with an average rating of 8.26, simply sublime!
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No surprise to see myself claim the manager of the month award with 5 wins from 6 games! My second manager of the month of the season.

Next Update: February 2019 Round Up
 
February 2019 and Youth Intake
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Middle of February, saw an influx of injuries hit the camp which made me sign a new player on loan for a very important game you will find out about later...
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Ashley Chambers and his blooming hamstrings!! Another 2-3 weeks out, pulling his hamstring again!
View attachment 1138285Not a very long injury but the most inconvenient timing! A week before our top of the table clash with FC Halifax, which forced me into a new signing.
View attachment 1138286The same week Lofts suffered his injury saw Mitchell Glover ruled out for a month with sprained ankle ligaments!

Due to these injuries and a top of the table clash at home to FC Halifax, I decided to sign Tyrone Marsh on a months loan incase Luke Lofts wasn't fully fit. I also looked for a right midfielder to take on loan but couldn't see anyone worthy enough to bring in so opted for Matt Fish to take his place on the wing.
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Tyrone Marsh - As mentioned, signed on a months loan from Macclesfield Town, electric pace, highly determined with decent finishing. He will chase everything up there and hopefully force players into errors.

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Gainsborough - We played play off contenders Gainsborough and Luke Lofts started the month the way he finished January with a screamer to seal a 1-0 win.
Lowestoft - We went a goal down in this game but surprisingly Warren Burrell scored a brace to seal a fantastic turn around away from home.
Spennymoor - 3-2 makes it sound a lot closer than it was! We got absolutely battered, not helped with a 2nd yellow card for Niall Heaton, who missed the Halifax game as a result. Lofts scored a brace but injured himself at the time.
FC Halifax - What an important win this could be! Brockbank turned in debutant Marsh's cross into his own net. Luke Lofts then came off the bench with 30 minutes to go and seals a 2-0 win to see us go top!

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You can just see now how big of a win it was against FC Halifax. We are now top by two points and 10 points clear of 8th placed Stockport.

YOUTH INTAKE​
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A decent youth intake! I decided to offer contracts to all players with at least 3 star potential, so everyone down to Jonathan Riddell got offered a contract.
Here are the 3 better players of the lot, Marios Ioannou, Kemar Sharpe and Alfie Davidson.

View attachment 1138297Marios Ioannou - English winger with lightening pace! With a bit of tweaking could be a decent player, his crossing stat worrys me a little.
View attachment 1138299Kemar Sharpe - An accomplished passer of the ball with high work rate.

View attachment 1138295Alfie Davidson - A centre midfielder with high work rate and a good first touch.

Next Update - March 2019 Round Up
 
March 2019
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I show you the worst bottle job known to man...
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Bradford Park Avenue - A less than comfortable 2-1 win, Tyrone Marsh scored on his final game for the club.
Chorley - We actually played alright in this game but we get hit for 4 away from home which started a dramatic change in form.
Alfreton - At home and we crumbled, Alfreton deservedly got the win.
Tamworth - We went a goal down but thankfully Lofts scored to secure a draw against our rivals at home.
Boston United - A horrendous performance and result to cap off a truly horrific month! Ashley Chambers scoring in the first game for ages! You may see this is the 2nd April, its because it was scheduled for 30th March however was postponed for 3 days due to a waterlogged pitch.
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We went from top of the league by 2 points to 3rd and 4 points off Halifax who are now table toppers. We are 8 points into the play offs with 7 games to go, surely we can hold onto a play off spot!

I thought I'd give the players a pep talk! I decided to hold a team meeting and said
'We are on a bit of a slide recently, however if we all pull together and work as a team we can climb back up the table.'
Lets just say, it went worse than our month of results if that's possible!!
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At least there was some good news to come out of March...
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Next Update: April/May 2019 Round up
 
April/May 2019
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View attachment 1138682Boston - our poor form continued with a 3-1 thumping against Boston.
AFC Fylde - A pathetic performance away from home ends with a 4-0 drubbing.
Stockport - Somehow we picked up a point at home to Stockport despite being battered for the 90 minutes!
AFC Telford - Back to losing ways although nice to finally see Chambers and Lofts scoring in the same game.
FC United - A fantastic game which we eventually lose in the last minute of the game. Back to back games conceding 5 goals aswell!
York - I decided to change to 4-4-2 and with fantastic affect as we finally win thanks to a Luke Lofts brace and a Warren Burrell goal.
Wrexham - We end the season with 2 wins thanks to a Chambers winner despite Wrexham being the better side.
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Despite a horrendous collapse at the end of the season, we finish 8 points off champions Blyth Spartans. An end of season 1-0 win against Wrexham sees us finish 5 points ahead of them. Stafford, Stourbridge and Bradford Park Avenue all are comfortably relegated.

So our 4th place finish means we will meet 7th placed Spennymoor in the play off 1st round at home!
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Next Update: Play off First Round v Spennymoor Town
 
Good luck for the playoffs my friend! Shame the team lost their way a little over the last 8 or 9 games, but with a good team meeting and maybe a shake up in the tactics, you could still fly through the playoffs if you can just find that form again from January-February time!
 
Good luck mate, but on a personal level if it wasn't you then I'm chuffed to see Blyth crowned as champions
 
Play Off First Round
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I decided against doing a team meeting after how tragic my last attempt went. I decided to keep 4-4-2 from the previous two games as that's what got us back to winning ways...
View attachment 1138685The first half absolutely stuffed any chances of us going any further in the play offs. Bradley Fewster had a terrific game and gave my back 4 a torrid time with a first half hat trick. At half time it was 3-0 and to be fair it could've been an awful lot worse as they completely tore us apart. I decided to go 3-1-4-2 which had worked so well earlier in the season and within 15 minutes we were back into it thanks to Lofts and Chambers. We then bombarded them with attempts at goal however most were half chances we blazed wide or over. With 15 minutes to go, Tobi Sho Silva came on for Warren Burrell as we went 4-3-3 but we just couldn't find that equaliser and fell to an unfortunate 3-2 defeat.

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Harrogate beat Gainsborough 5-3 away in the semi final, whilst FC Halifax beat Spennymoor 2-1 in extra time. In the final FC Halifax smashed Harrogate 4-0, joining Blyth Spartans in the Vanarama National next season.

View attachment 1138694No surprise that Luke Lofts gets over half the votes for fans player of the season and young player of the season, next was 17 year old Mitchell Glover, followed by Luke Chambers. Alex Henshall won the goal of the year however we didn't score many worldies throughout the season. Ben Hedley claimed signing of the season thankfully after he broke the clubs transfer record.
View attachment 1138695Crazy to think we didn't win the league when our top goalscorer score 35 goals! Luke Lofts also bagged highest average rating, most assists and most player of the match awards. Tobi Sho Silva got the highest pass completion rate with 78%, which is quite low! Ben Hedley gets the most ill-disciplined player with 6 yellows and 2 red cards.

Next Update: Transfers and Pre-season
 
BallyC7 said:
Good luck for the playoffs my friend! Shame the team lost their way a little over the last 8 or 9 games, but with a good team meeting and maybe a shake up in the tactics, you could still fly through the playoffs if you can just find that form again from January-February time!
Click to expand...
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Yeah, I started to believe we'd go up as champions at one point but it wasn't supposed to be, unfortunately we folded in the play offs aswell, oh well always next season.

neavie pops23 said:
Good luck mate, but on a personal level if it wasn't you then I'm chuffed to see Blyth crowned as champions
Click to expand...

Thanks mate. As was I, nice to see a smaller club as opposed to someone like Wrexham get promoted
 
Mate gutted for you in the playoffs! Still, as you said, there is always next season and you've definitely got something to build on next year....just gotta keep that form up for a month or two longer
 
Transfers and Pre-season
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View attachment 1138722We'll start the round up having a look at the players we've released throughout the summer due to their contract expiring. Wade Joyce, Matt Fish and Ryan Hutchinson all leave after a year at the club mostly because they were asking for way too much. I tried to offer Kris Owens and Alex Henshall a years contract but they weren't interested in talking about a new deal. Reece Prestedge, Luke Trotman and Brady Hickey are the other players you may be familiar with but I felt their time at the club had come to an end.
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Now for ins...
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Josh Hare - Signed on a low wage for a year after his contract with Maidstone expired. The ex-Gillingham youth product can play defensive midfield and has decent tackling, work rate, concentration, decisions, team work and stamina stats.

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Niall Watson - With Alex Henshall leaving we needed to find a left winger, so in came 19 year old Watson from Accrington Stanley on a years loan. An accomplished crosser of the ball with high work rate and determination with a fantastic change of speed.
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Tom Lloyd - A central midfielder with a passing stat of 15 at the age of 17. He is physically fit with flair and high work rate.
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Charlie Dunkerley - Another season long loan this time from Luton Town. An accomplished finisher with decent heading, decent movement and can anticipate any lose balls fantastically. Should give Lofts and Chambers healthy competition.

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Chad Field - Another player who has signed on low wages for the season. Field is 6 inches taller than the departed Hutchinson with similar stats despite Emmerson Boyce not rating him. 6ft 2 and with tackling, heading, marking, positioning, concentration all on 10 with good physicals.
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Juwon Hamzat - A left back signed after his contract with Rochdale expired. We don't usually play with full backs but in case we need a change in formation I thought id bring him in. Good physicals, determined, good crosser and decent at tackling. At the age of 18 he is bound to improve and is only on £160pw.

View attachment 11387336 games in pre season. 1 win against relegated Stourbridge. 2 1-1 draws against Dagenham & Redbridge and Coventry. Three narrow defeats against Colchester, Swindon and disappointingly Altrincham. We gave everyone a good game with plenty of chances created in all 6 games, I'm hoping against teams around our standard we will blow them away.

View attachment 1138732
Our season expectations. For the 3rd season on the trot the board expect us to finish mid-table. Id like to go for the play offs again. They want to reach the 4th qualifying round of the FA Cup however id like to reach at least the 1st round. They want to get to the 1st round of the FA Trophy however I'm not fussed about that trophy.

View attachment 1138734
The media have predicted us to finish 14th this season. No surprise to see AFC Fylde are favourites after some fantastic signings throughout the summer. With some very good teams in the Vanarama North this season and some excellent summer signings made by teams, this will be the hardest season yet in my opinion.

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This is our squad for the season. Some experienced players for this league. Keeping Chambers and Lofts was important and adding more competition with Dunkerley. Some exciting youngsters coming through particularly Glover, Toal, Plant and Lua Lua.

Next Update - August 2019 Round Up
 
August 2019
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New season, new injury worries...
View attachment 1138741Ashley Chambers picked up a damaged shoulder a day after the first game of the season. Charlie Dunkerley replaces him with youth products Lewis Collins and David Jennings challenging to be on the bench.
View attachment 1138742James King pulled his knee ligaments and is out for 3 weeks after jumping. Summer signing Chad Field will come in for him.
View attachment 1138743Lua Lua then pulls his hamstring to rule him out of any first team action which is a great shame after Kings recent injury. That leaves us with 3 fit defenders and youth product Pearson.
View attachment 1138745Harrogate - What a start to the season, a 3-2 away win. Chambers scores then comes off injured and unlikely scorer Ben Hedley scores a brace.
Salford - Another fantastic win, a clean sheet and first goal for the club for Dunkerley sees off newly relegated Salford.
Boston - We were fantastic for 89 minutes of this game! Dunkerley grabbing a further two goals before they score twice in injury time to grab a dramatic 2-2 draw!
Darlington - A game we deserved to lose but Dunkerley keeps his goalscoring streak up.
North Ferriby - 2 minutes into the game and Steve Tomassen gets a straight red card for a serious foul play however I thought it was harsh and appealed the sending off for the FA to go and hand him another match ban! Lofts got a consolation goal for his first of the season.
Stockport - Another game we didn't turn up in and Godfrey Poku grabbed the winner for Stockport to end a rollercoaster month.

After Steve Tomassen got sent off and with King and Lua Lua both injured, I decided to get a loanee for a month...
View attachment 1138744Marshall Willock - a young central defender comes in for a month, great technical stats with good positional and physical stats. Mentally he is a bit dodgy however hes only in for a month until our central defenders come back from suspensions and injuries.
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A rollercoaster month sees us drop down the table to 16th after a promising start! On 7 points we are currently 3 above the relegation places and 3 off the play off places.

Next Update: September 2019 Round up
 
Gutting to see you bottle it like you did, I'd blame the squad for moaning... morale can be a right pain. Another slow start but hopefully you'll be able to address that quickly and pick up.
 
DefinitelyTaylor said:
Gutting to see you bottle it like you did, I'd blame the squad for moaning... morale can be a right pain. Another slow start but hopefully you'll be able to address that quickly and pick up.
Click to expand...

I cant believe our horrendous form towards the back end of last season and the moaning and unhappiness that followed considering we were predicted to finish mid-table, hopefully different this season
 
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