Out of Nowhere.....

[Dan McConnell]

My name's Dan and I've been an avid fan of Football Manager for many years. I've lost many a day of my life playing the wonderfully addictive game and would like to share some of my experiences in the future with you.

Now, my next idea is one I've stolen and something I've not done before despite playing every version of the game since 2008, start unemployed with my actual management stats, which are nil. I've witnessed and silently followed a few stories on here of a similar mould and have thoroughly enjoyed reading them, so I want to start my own.

So here I am in all of my glory...View attachment 179847

And here are my starting stats...View attachment 179846

As you can see, I am trying to be as realistic as possible throughout this story. I have no coaching qualifications whatsoever and played at Sunday League level. My next update will be to see if anybody takes a punt on a complete unknown... me!!

 

[Dan McConnell]

Okay, so there are a few clubs that are in need of a manager when the games first starts, as well as a few international jobs available ahead of the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio in 2016.

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Personally, I don't think I'm in with a shout for any of these jobs so I'm not even going to bother trying. I'm going to wait till later on in the season when managerial changes usually occur and try my luck at applying for some lower league jobs, maybe even abroad, to see if I can get my foot in the door. Ideally my first job would be in England, but if the FM gods decide my destiny is to manage outside of my homeland then so be it!

 

[Dan McConnell]

After deciding to go on holiday and apply for bottom division jobs only in that time, my holiday abruptly cut short after just 5 days. I had been invited to an interview with Berwick Rangers. They play in League 2 in Scotland and, despite actually playing their games in England, are still part of the Scottish League. Think of it the same way Swansea and Cardiff play their games in Wales but are members of the English league.

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I decided to attend the interview. It was short and sweet which included a brief chat about finances. Of course, Berwick aren't exactly oil rich, but for a League 2 side in Scotland, a £16k transfer budget and another £400 spare in the wage budget per week wasn't too bad at all. Now all that was left to do is see if I was to be offered the job, then I'd have a decision to make. Do I jump in at the first opportunity I get, or do I wait for another chance elsewhere?

 

[Dan McConnell]

After a few days, I had been offered the Berwick job.

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I'd been set objectives of making the promotion places with what was a slightly decreased transfer budget that was agreed upon in the interview but a much improved wage budget which had increased to a spare £600p/w. I myself would be earning £450p/w.

After much thought and deliberation, I decided to turn down the Berwick job. I thanked the chairman for the opportunity and I really did mean it, not many chairmen are going to offer me a job like this. But I feel the world doesn't look at the Scottish game the way they look at the English game. I feel if I was to get a job in one of the top European countries, specifically England, I'd be able to further my career much more.

Again, I was very grateful for the opportunity, but I've decided I want to focus on a job in my home land of England, for now at least.

 

[Dan McConnell]

Fast forward to the 10th November 2015 and I'm getting a call on my phone. After many a month in the wilderness, I was at a crossroads. I'd applied for a few lower league jobs in England but not had much luck at the likes of Chorley and Boreham Wood, but then, the Guiseley job became available. They're struggling in the Conference and were offering me the chance to save the semi-professional side from relegation. I decided this was my time. I was very pleased to be offered a chance in the 5th tier of English football as opposed to the 6th, maybe I'm not as undesirable as I originally thought.

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So, suddenly I was a football manager. A manager with zero experience, right in the thick of a relegation battle. Let's see what I had to work with.

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The club had amassed a handful of trophies in their 106 year history and I am aiming to try and increase the tally. Why else would I be here?

What about the players? Are they up to scratch?

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In a nutshell, no. There are a few more than decent, quality in fact, players at this level but nowhere near the strength in depth to compete in a challenging league like the conference. Injuries were not helping the cause either.

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With 4 first team players currently out injured, two of them being slightly more long term too, we desperately need some reinforcements to not only help me put my own stamp on the side, but first and foremost, to be competitive. The loan market has already been used this season extensively, so I'll have to keep an eye out on some shrewd frees or take another player or two on loan to try and bolster the numbers.

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There are currently 3 players in on loan (Tristan Sword's loan ended on the day I arrived at the club) therefore I think we'll definitely be dipping into that market again. We also have a couple lads out on loan, I won't be worrying about those for the time being, I'll wait to appraise them upon their return to make sure they're getting some football.

Finally, so to not rock the boat any more than I need to, I decided not to change the captaincy at this point.

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We're struggling as it is for form and I don't want to risk any dips in morale from a change of captain so everything will stay as it was on that front until at least the end of the season.

 

[Dan McConnell]

Guiseley's form in short so far this season has been woeful.

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My first game in charge was on the day I took over against a Cheltenham side who'd just been relegated from the football league back in May and found themselves in 8th place. Our record from 19 games this season was 5 wins, 2 draws and 12 defeats. 7 of those defeats came in our last 7 games. The other game played in that time was an FA Cup Qualification 4th round tie against Grimsby, which we lost. That means 8 games on the bounce without picking even as much as a point. This was going to be difficult.

I will be posting monthly updates of games with a short overview of each match accompanied with the match report.

 

[Dan McConnell]

My First Month in Charge

After taking over on the 10th November and seeing our first 3 games under my stewardship, you'd be forgiven for thinking this may be a lost cause for Guiseley, but as you'll see in a moment, we've actually been more than unlucky.

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My first 3 games were all against teams in the top 8, then welcoming Barrow followed by the final game of the month at home to mid-table Bromley.

I was nervous ahead of the Cheltenham game, after all, this was to be my first ever match in management. I told the lads to go out there and give their all and who knows, we might even come away with a draw or even all 3 points.

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Unfortunately, it wasn't to be, although we were extremely unlucky. Much of the game was very even and it took a close range finish by on loan striker Emmanuel Dieseruvwe to win the game for Cheltenham. I was more than satisfied with our performance and after the game told the lads that if we could reproduce that kind of performance we'd be in with more than a fighting chance of beating the drop. I was particularly impressed with Zac Thompson in that game too. He ran midfield and created good chances for the front two, we just weren't clinical enough when it mattered and ultimately it cost us in this one.

Our second game was my first in charge at Nethermoor. We welcomed 3rd placed Eastleigh, another tough test.

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Or so I, and many others, had thought. We dominated the game from start to finish and goals from veteran winger Paul Parry, Gavin Rothery from the spot and Adam Boyes ensured we stopped the dismal rot of 8 games without a point with a much needed 3 points. I was extremely happy with the lads, they seemed to be playing with a new sense of freedom and were really looking to attack, something I was again pleased with. Although the game looked relatively even from the post-match stats, we were by far the better team as the scoreline shows.

Our next game can only be described as a huge crash back down to earth.

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We traveled to Birkenhead to face top of the table Tranmere Rovers who, just like Cheltenham, had been relegated from the football league last season but had managed to keep hold of talent most League 2 sides would pay good money for. We fell behind in the 5th minute and from that point, Tranmere were in control and didn't look back. An own goal from Adam Lockwood doubled Tranmere's lead and we were looking sorry for ourselves and just couldn't recover. We went in three down at half time but hadn't actually played that badly, we were just being outclassed. We eventually lost the game 4-0 and I could only sympathize with the lads, we were just not on the same level as Tranmere who could seriously run away with this league.

Our next game was a chance for redemption against a mid-table Barrow side.

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This was the proverbial game of two halves, if you count 25 minutes as our half and the 65 as theirs. We were 3-0 down again after Ashley Grimes scored a brace either side of David Symington's second and we were looking desperate again. But once we were three down things began to swing back into our favour. Whether Barrow had took their foot off the gas I'm not sure, but we got ourselves back into the game with a Gary Lavery goal, his first for the club on 70 minutes. We started to push for another and hit the post before Oli Johnson got our second in the 89th minute to set up a nervy finish for the visitors. Unfortunately, we couldn't quite push hard enough to grab the draw, but I was happy with our performance after the 65th minute.

After the Barrow game, I tried to employ a scout for the club, as we currently had no scouting network at all. Unfortunately, this request was blocked by the board as I'd promised to reduce the number of staff when being appraised for the job, which I did by unfortunately letting 3 youth coaches go. I thought one scout would be an acceptable request, but it wasn't, therefore I had to go on my own scouting mission. In the end, I ended up bringing in 4 fresh faces on the loan deadline day. They are as follows...

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Brendan Moore, an American keeper on loan from Fleetwood, we're paying him a wage contribution of £80p/w, nothing the club cannot currently afford, plus he'll provide good competition for the number 1 spot.

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Our second loan signing is Luke Ruddick from Chester. He's a 25 year old wing back who can also play wide in midfield, so is a good option in a number of positions should we need any cover at any point. Again, only a small wage contribution which is good for us.

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The third loanee is James Reid, brought in from Nuneaton. He's found himself on the transfer list and looks to be on his way out of there, so if he can impress with us, who knows, we may sign him permanently should the opportunity arise in the future. Again, Reid is versatile, being able to play left back as well as left wing and central midfield, so he's a good option over a number of positions.

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The final loan signing on deadline day was this man, Jonathan Kapend, from Port Vale. He's a pacy front man who likes to run in behind and stretch defences and at 18, there's a lot of buzz around this youngster. I'm hoping he can provide a much needed boost in front of goal and given the right service, I'm sure he can do a job for us. The best thing about this signing is there's no wage contribution by us at all, Port Vale are still paying 100% of his pay packet per week. Great stuff!

Moving onto our final game of the month, we welcomed Bromley to Nethermoor.

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What a game this one was for the neutral! In my extremely short tenure in charge, we've been very unlucky. This was another example of our bad luck, a topsy turvey game which could easily have resulted in us leaving with all 3 points went completely against us. Bromley played well, as did we, but they just had that cutting edge upfront which we couldn't quite match. We lost the game 4-3 but again, I was proud of the players, they played really well and were very unlucky to end up on the losing side today. Losing so late was particularly difficult as there's no way our play deserved to lose the match in such a manner. Onto the next one.

Finally, a look at the Vanarama National League table going into a busy December.

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We didn't move down, but, more importantly, we didn't move up. We stay in the relegation zone after 1 win and 4 defeats in November. We really need to start picking up points and a month like December where, weather permitting, we'll play 4 league games, could be pivotal.

 

[Disclaimer89]

Tough start but I'm results will pick up.

Lower league football is another game entirely!

Keep it up, will be following

 

[Dan McConnell]

Thanks Disclaimer89.

You're right, lower league football is so unpredictable it's scary.

Thanks again, will be posting an update tonight, busy weekend with the missus!

 

[Dan McConnell]

December 2015

So, could Guiseley end a pretty dismal second half to 2015 on a high? Well, we got off to the perfect start...

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A wonderful second half performance away from home against Halifax Town gave us a much needed 3 points and this was very much a step in the right direction. We fell behind to a Sam Hillhouse goal shortly before half time after a relatively poor first half, but the lads woke up in the second, equalized within a minute of the restart thanks to Zac Thompson. Things were pretty even up until the 71st minute when Rob Atkinson popped up and got himself on the score sheet to give us the lead and sub Jonathan Kapend wrapped up the victory with a late goal. I was very happy with the lads after that and hoped this could kick start a possible push for safety.

Our next game was away to Macclesfield in the FA Trophy 1st Round. I was not overly interested in this competition due to our league troubles so fielded a slightly weakened side.

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Although you wouldn't have known it. We were absolutely fantastic throughout the whole game. We thoroughly deserved to win this match in normal time. I know this may sound as though I'm being slightly biased, especially considering the possession and shot stats, but we had by far the better chances, despite having less. The game went into extra time and I decided to leave youngster Gary Lavery on the field as he did look sharp during normal time, getting on the score sheet twice in the opening half hour. He completed his hat-rick in extra time and sub Luke Ruddick made sure of our progression with his first for the club since joining on loan from Chester. On we go to the next round where we would face....

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... Oxford City from the Vanarama National League South. A favourable draw for us and I'm expecting us to progress against the side 2nd in the league below us. There was also a couple more pieces of news following this game, one bad, one good.

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The bad is Adam Boyes is going to miss the next 5-6 weeks a pulled hamstring he picked up in the cup win. It's a shame for the lad because since I've come in he's been playing well and has an average rating of 7.46. Hopefully he can carry on that form when he returns.

The good news is that our coffers have been slightly topped up with some revenue from the cup win.

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It's not a vast amount, but £5k is a lot at this level, hopefully we'll sit it reinvested in the squad in the future.

Moving onto our penultimate game of the month, we faced Aldershot away from home.

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Unfortunately, we just couldn't reproduce the kind of performance which saw us wipe the floor of Macclesfield. We fell behind on 10 minutes thanks to a Richard Brodie goal and Matthew Barnes-Homer, a lower league stalwart over the years, doubled their advantage. We recovered slightly and managed to keep the score down for the rest of the game but didn't really threaten their goal despite having more of the ball overall. Maybe the cup game had taken it out of some of the lads.

So, our next game was on Boxing Day and unfortunately turned out to be our final game of the month. I'll get to that point later. We faced an in form Grimsby at home.

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Unfortunately, we fell 2 behind again in the second half after what was a very promising first half performance where we kept it at 0-0. Gavin Rothery got a goal back for us but it just wasn't enough against a far superior Grimsby side in the end. Onto the next one.

Or so we thought. We were scheduled to face Gateshead on the 28th December but it was unfortunately postponed due to a waterlogged pitch up in the north east. The game has been rescheduled for the new year.

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So, the month ended with us in 21st position again.

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We're 7 points away from Halifax and I feel that is a gap we can bridge given some of the performances of late. If we can keep some key players fit and scoring then I think we're in with a real fighting chance and could upset the odds!

 

[Dan McConnell]

A new year, a new start?

We entered January on the back of a postponed game meaning we had some extra time to rest ahead of our next one which was a rematch against Grimsby.

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Unfortunately, we just couldn't keep up with their wonderful forward play and they were back to haunt us again with another victory over us. Tom Craddock actually gave us the lead going into half time, but just a few minutes into the second and we were behind. We went 3-1 down when Grimsby scored a late own goal to set up a nervy end but we couldn't make the breakthrough and lost again.

We were then due to face Gateshead in our rearranged match from the end of 2015 when unfortunately, the game had to be postponed again for the same reason, a waterlogged pitch, meaning it was rescheduled for later on in the month again.

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This again meant we had some more time to work on our strategy ahead of another tough game against Forest Green Rovers.

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Unfortunately we just couldn't match the energy and the work rate of this Forest Green side and we fell behind in the 26th minute to an Aaron O'Conner goal. Just 2 minutes later and Adam Lockwood was given his marching orders for a professional foul and we were all of a sudden facing two thirds of the match with just 10 men. Forest Green went 3 up and despite a late Gary Lavery goal we just weren't good enough today. Lockwood's red card meant he was now banned for 2 domestic matches. We decided not to appeal the red card as, mentioned before, he was dismissed for a professional foul and we were not going to win that one.

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I also decided to fine Adam a week's wages for his poor actions in the game. I was disappointed in him for getting sent off so early. He accepted the fine and apologised for his actions.

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I decided we needed to try and bolster our central midfield as it's the only position where we're currently lacking real depth, so as a Birmingham City supporter IRL, I'm pretty knowledgeable when it comes to the academy, therefore I decided to bring in Jordan Potter on loan from the club. He'll be a backup option to Thompson and Hatfield should either of those need a rest in the near future and will stay with us until the end of the season.

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Also, we had some good news ahead of our next game as Adam Boyes had returned from his hamstring injury which had seen him miss a month's worth of action.

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So, we were ready for our FA Trophy 2nd Round tie against Oxford City when I had this email come...

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Another postponement which meant the game had to be rearranged whilst our schedule was getting more and more congested. This time it was our pitch that was waterlogged, not much we can do about mother nature at times.

Also, just a note on an earlier decision on my part...

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Good job I didn't take it in the end...

Back to matters I could control, or so I thought...

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This game against Gateshead will be played.... one day. It's been rearranged again as the match against Oxford City will be played on the 19th January to make sure it's in time with the FA Trophy schedule. So, that match rearranged again for the 3rd time.

Should we progress against Oxford City, we'll face Maidstone United in the FA Trophy 3rd Round.

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So, after a couple of postponements we finally got to play our next game, against Oxford City in the FA Trophy 2nd Round at home. We found ourselves two up after 67 minutes thanks to Jonathan Kapend and Gary Lavery when Kynan Isaac got a goal back for the visitors. Luckily, we managed to hold on and progress to set up a 3rd round tie against Maidstone United. Unfortunately though, Rob Atkinson picked up a knock in this game and will be out for for approximately 2 weeks.

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We did have a little bit of good news though. We were given an extra £6k this time for progressing into the 3rd round of the FA Trophy, again, every little helps.

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Our next game was away to Kidderminster who were flying high in 4th place.

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Unfortunately, they proved why they're so high up in the table at the moment. We found ourselves 3 down at half time after being completely outplayed. Again, Gary Lavery got a late goal for us but it was nowhere near enough and we paid the price for being far too open in defence.

Our next game saw us travel to the north east to play the game that was originally scheduled for the 28th December last year and has been rescheduled 3 times since for a variety of reasons.

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In all honesty, I'd rather have played it earlier on in the month to compound our misery. We were absolutely atrocious and I made sure the players were aware of it. Two down after just 4 minutes and I tore into them at half time.... to no avail. Were eventually found ourselves 4 down before getting one of our own through Tom Craddock, only for Gateshead to restore their 4 goal lead with a late James Curtis goal. A very poor performance.

Our final game of the month was a trip to face mid-table Lincoln City.

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This was a shambolic showing from my side. I couldn't have been any more embarrassed if I tried. In the first half, we didn't actually play too badly and kept the score down to one. But the second half performance was by far the worst under my stewardship so far. Two goals in the space of 2 minutes with 20 minutes left gave Lincoln a 3 goal cushion and we were looking desperate when Lincoln got themselves a fourth with a few minutes left. Our second half performance was absolutely appalling and I made sure the lads knew how I felt.

So at the end of a terrible month for us, we slipped down 3 places to the base of the Vanarama National League table.

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It's going to be a real struggle to get anything out of this team now, but we're going to try to the best of our ability to try and turn our fortunes around and do our best to stay in this ridiculously competitive league.

 

[Dan McConnell]

February 2016

So after a dismal start to 2016, could we get off to a better start in February?

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We kicked off the month with our FA Trophy 3rd Round tie against Maidstone, well, at least that was what I intended, but the lads didn't even show up today. We were very poor once again and against a side a division below us, maybe we're starting to show our real level. We lost the game 1-0 and I was very disappointed to be knocked out by a team in a lower division. The defeat was made even worse by injuries to two key players both in similar positions. Unfortunately I forgot to get screenshots, but Paul Parry and Gavin Rothery would both be out for 4-5 weeks and 8-9 weeks respectively.

Our next game was a chance at redemption back in the league against mid table Woking. We decided to go back to the formation with two attacking wingers instead of a flat 4-4-2 in this game and we seemed much more attacking.

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Unfortunately for us, our defence was as shoddy as ever and despite a wonderful second hat-rick of the season for Gary Lavery, we still ended up on the losing side of this high-scoring game. I sympathized with Gary, he's a cracking young lad with bags of potential but he and, to an extent I, are being let down by a combination of poor decision making all over the pitch as well as individual errors being punished on almost every occasion. We were unlucky to lose against Woking, but being unlucky every week won't keep us up.

Just a few days later, we welcomed top of the table Tranmere to Nethermoor, exactly what we need right now.

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Unfortunately, we chalked up another notch in the losses column this season, although it was no more than we expected once again against at strong Tranmere side. I was relatively pleased with the second half performance as we managed to keep Tranmere at two goals, but the goals scored within 19 minutes by Andy Mangan all but finished the game there and then.

Our next game was against Altrincham, another side struggling towards the foot of the Vanarama National League basement in 22nd, although you wouldn't have known it based on their performance against us.

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We were, once again, outplayed by a side who were not expected to struggle this season and we were the unlucky side to see why this was the case. We were already 1-0 down when Oli Johnson received his marching orders for a second bookable offence when the floodgates really opened for Altrincham. They scored 3 goals in 5 minutes to compound us to yet another crushing defeat and left me hanging on to my job.

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The board requested a crisis meeting following the defeat and I could sensed I may well have already taken charge of Guiseley for the last time. I explained to the board that I had to field a weakened side due to the amount of loans that had expired that week (Jonathan Kapend, Charlie Scott and Brendan Moore had all returned to their parent clubs and as the loan market was still not open, I couldn't extend their deals). The board said this was not an excuse and gave me one more game to save my job, which would be against Braintree next weekend at Nethermoor. I promised I'd be able to win them round, although deep down I think the decision had already been made upstairs at the club.

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The week passed and the day of what could be my final game in charge was here. Braintree at home. They were plodding along nicely in mid table doing exactly what people expected of them before the season. Could they just throw me a lifeline by putting in a poor performance to give us, and me, a fighting chance? The media had cottoned on to the fact this may well be my last match in charge of Guiseley too.

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I was nervous and decided to pick the best team available to me despite fitness issues for some to try and save my job.

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As you can see at the bottom result of the list, we managed to squeak a one all draw against them, but as you can also see from the lack of options on the right hand side of my screen, a draw wasn't enough.

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I was sacked just 3 months after being thrown in at the deep end at a semi-pro club in relegation trouble already with no money to spend. I did the very best job I could but couldn't achieve the aim of getting the team out of trouble and ultimately it's me who's paid the price. I've left Guiseley bottom of the Vanarama National League with a huge mountain to climb if they're to even attempt to stay up.

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With 9 points to make up, as well as many of the other relegation rivals having games in hand, it's going to be an extremely tough ask for Guiseley and I'm not sure they're going to be able to stave off the drop. But sacking two managers in the space of 4 months isn't exactly going to help steady the ship there. I wish the club the very best of luck in the future, but in a way, I'm glad that my nightmare first job has come to an end. I've learnt an awful lot and have increased some of my attributes as a coach and a manager. I just hope my reputation hasn't been tarnished too much after one unsuccessful job at a lower league club.

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There are quite a few jobs available at home and on the continent, but I think I'll wait until the summer to see what options there are out there unless I'm approached by a club beforehand. I need to make sure I find the right club before jumping into another tough managerial challenge.

 

[Dan McConnell]

New Beginnings...

Just a few weeks after being sacked by Guiseley, it seems as though I'm in demand.

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Stalybridge Celtic are in the Vanarama North League and are flying high for their standards in 10th place at the time of approaching me. I decided to attend the interview do increase my interview experience, although I'm not entirely sure right now if I want to drop down a division or whether I should wait until the summer to see what opportunities present themselves then.

After a few short questions I was asked if I'd need to make any changes to the current backroom staff at the club. I explained I would like a large budget to make some changes if need be should I be offered the job. The interview concluded with a warm handshake and a smile.

Just days later, Stalybridge contacted me again with approximately a £20k compensation budget for staff should I want them to be made redundant. I decided, after appraising the staff, should I be offered the job, that 3 of them should go so I could bring in alternative members of staff.

Stalybridge agreed to my demands and informed the staff should I choose to become manager of the club that they would be out of a job.

Again, just days later, I was offered the opportunity to manage Stalybridge Celtic.

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I'm not too sure what to make of this offer. The club are overachieving in the league and could possibly make the play-offs, but should they achieve promotion, could a club of this size really reach the football league? I'm not entirely sure at the moment, therefore I'm going to request a delay of a week to give myself some thinking time.