The Ballad of Charlie McGhee – 2nd Stanza

If only you could bring back the powerhouse that is Emile Heskey...this is a very different save, other side of the world, looking forward to the rest of the save!
 
If only you could bring back the powerhouse that is Emile Heskey...this is a very different save, other side of the world, looking forward to the rest of the save!

Haha not wrong. I would love to have Heskey in this squad! If I'm still around at the Jets next season I'll have to see if I can some other older, well known, striker and have my own version of Heskey!
 
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30 October 2015 – Highs and Lows




It was 1am as Charlie’s alarm went off on his Galaxy Note. He picked up the phone, dragged himself out of bed and turned the kettle on. ‘What time would it be now in Scotland?’ He thought to himself and brought up a world clock that told him it would, in fact, be 2pm in Peterhead.


He dialed McInally, more expecting to leave a voicemail than anything, and was caught a little off guard when the Scotsman answered. “Charlie old boy, how are you?” McInally boomed down the line, “It got to be the ****** middle of the night over there!!”


“Yeah not wrong. Hey was just ringing to say I hope you can pull through at Peterhead mate. A lot of noise online about your job.” Charlie replied.


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“Aye, its to be expected I guess. Can’t go a couple of months without winning and expect any better!” Jim laughed.


“Got any thoughts on how to fix it?” Charlie enquired.


“Apart, for buying a whole new team? Nah, not really,” McInally conceded. “Hey, I’ve been keeping an eye on you too mate – you’e got, er, whats-their-names… the Jets, playing well mate! In fact, if things don’t turn around and I do get the **** I am going to suggest they look at bringing you over – would you be up for it?”


“Not sure mate, things are good here at Newcastle, stable. Would be a big risk upping and moving to the other side of the world again. I do love the club though. Talk soon mate.” McGhee sighed and hung up the phone. He had thought about what might happen if the Peterhead job did become available and the truth was he really didn’t know. He had put a lot of work into getting the Jet’s consolidated already at this point of the season up the table.


In fact earlier that day he had travelled with the team to Melbourne to take on Melbourne City, a sister club to Manchester City that has been acquired by the City Football Group. As such it is probably now the most well-resourced club in the A League, evidenced by their coup in signing David Villa on loan for the early part of the 2014/15 season.


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Their star player this season is Socceroo midfielder Aaron Mooy who has been banging on the door of a move to Europe for a couple of seasons now. Today though, had been all about the Jets. Despite the possession and shots figures being almost identical all the decent chances had come the way of Newcastle. They had to wait until after half time though to make their dominance pay.


In the 54th minute a cross, arrowed in from deep by Left Back David Carney, found Alivodic who was making a dart at the far post. His glancing header left City ‘keeper Thomas Sorenson no chance.


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Newcastle continued to be the better side and in the 80th minute any thoughts City had of a fightback were dashed when young midfielder Melling was sent off after foolishly picking up a 2nd yellow. Minutes later Trifunovic compounded City’s misery when a free kick that Retre couldn’t clear fell kindly to him and slotted home from close range. 2 nil to the good guys and that is how it would finish.

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8 November 2015 – Thems the breaks…



It was the 89th minute of the game at Hunter Stadium between the Newcastle Jets and the West Sydney Wanderers. Charlie McGhee raced to the edge of the technical area and screamed at his players, urging the troops forward for one last charge at the Wanderers’ goal with a voice hoarse from yelling instructions most of the last 20 minutes. It would be to no avail however as the match finished 2 all.


Earlier, Romeo Castelan had opened proceedings when he went on mazy run down the right for West Sydney. Surging past David Carney, who isn’t renowned for his defensive prowess, Castelan still had a lot of work to do with his shot from a tight angle but he made it look easy. Slotting the ball under Birighitti.


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Newcastle, urged on by the healthy home crowd of 12,425, quickly hit back. Trifunovic found himself with time and space out wide on the left and swung in an inviting cross that Haliti met with a head of steam, steering his header across the Wanderers’ keeper and into the far corner.


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Halftime came and went with the score locked at 1 all but almost immediately from the restart the Wanderers were back in front. A neat through ball from Baccus found Piovaccari surging into the Jets penalty box. He steadied himself with a touch before firing into the roof of the net.


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The Jets wouldn’t give in and, with an effort that brought a smile to Charlie’s lips, they drew level. Alivodic had swapped over to the left to replace the ineffective Lundy and made a nice run down the left. Cutting inside, he rolled a nice pass into the targetman Trifunovic’s feet. He took a clever touch with the outside of his left foot before rolling and striking Newcastle’s 2nd.


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Back to the here and now though Charlie walked over and shook Wanderers Manager Tony Popovic’s hand. “Poppa”, as he is affectionately known by the Australia football public, knew Charlie from their time together with the Socceroos and he placed one hand one McGhee’s should and said with a smile, “You don’t have to say anything mate – I know we’re a bit lucky to get away with a point today.”


“Too ******* right you are!” McGhee grinned back.

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Great start to life in the Hunter mate, Charlie really seems to be getting the best out of the boys. Still using the diamond mid? I never could get it quite right :S
 
Great start to life in the Hunter mate, Charlie really seems to be getting the best out of the boys. Still using the diamond mid? I never could get it quite right :S

Yeah I find that I'm never dominating possession with it and against teams like Sydney and Adelaide they are smashing us in terms of possession even if we are having relatively similar number of shots. I'll keep tinkering and see how I go!!
 
Hey, nothing wrong with playing counter-attacking football! If they want to hog the ball and do nothing with it, I say keep doing what you're doing!
 
Hey, nothing wrong with playing counter-attacking football! If they want to hog the ball and do nothing with it, I say keep doing what you're doing!

Not wrong mate - some people might find counter attacking boring well I find Tiki-Taka boring!!

There, I said it.
 
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14 November 2015 – F3 Derby




1 hour and 20 odd minutes. That’s all it typically takes to drive from Newcastle to Gosford. Gosford being the home of the Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle’s biggest rivals. Both teams like to claim the underdog tag when facing their other nearest neighbors – the two Sydney sides – but for this game both teams want to claim the ‘biggest’ title.
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Despite having the larger population base recently the Jets have found themselves in the Mariners’ shadow. The Jets , in fact, hadn’t tasted victory in this fixture since October 2012 – over 3 years!! That meant the Mariners current undefeated streak of 8 games in this fixture was the longest in its history so, understandably, Charlie has been amping them up all week in readiness for this game.


The Jets started like men possessed too and after only 5 minutes were ahead. Wide midfielder Alivodic picked out nippy striker Braedyn Crowley and he snapshot clipped the near post and still went in – top effort on the turn to give the home crowd something to cheer about.
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The next two goals could really be put down to ‘keeper error. The first, on 23 minutes, saw the Mariners draw level when Birighitti – despite having his entire body behind the ball – somehow allowed Caceres’ tame shot to squirm through his grasp and cross the line. Izzo was then the ‘keeper in a generous mood as he allowed Crowley’s effort from a tight angle to rebound in off his body, and to think, Australia used to be known for produced elite goalkeepers…
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After Izzo’s howler though the Jets really began to get on the ascendancy and were really unlucky to only score the additional one goal before the break. It was the ‘Boogeyman’ Nigel Boogaard who scored, flashing his header from a Ki-Je corner past Izzo to make it 3-1 at the break.
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Things seemed to be going easy for the Jets just after the break but this is a derby and Central Coast couldn’t be expected to roll over so it was no surprise when they fought back to reduce the deficit to one. Fausto it was who broke through the Jets defensive line and slammed one home past Birighitti. That made it 3-2 with everything to play for.
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This was the catalyst for McGhee, sensing his troops might have been starting to falter, to ask the Jets to play more defensively and the plan worked well to effectively stifle the Mariners – reducing them to speculative shots from range that Birighitti had no problems with. In the end it was actually the Jets who extended their lead on the counter – Trifunovic found himself with space on the left and he whipped a cross to the far past that Alivodic met first time on the volley and with his instep he steered the ball in for the Jets’ 4th.
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A really nice win at home in front of a bumper crowd of 13,400 for McGhee!
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22 November 2015 – Top o’ the Table clash



1 v 2 here as Newcastle travelled to a packed Hindmarsh stadium to take on the Jets and their Spanish armada. The Jet’s had been playing well and came into this match with a lot of confidence following their solid win over Central Coast in the previous fixture.
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Adelaide’s Spanish star Cirio was the chief destroyer today tearing Ki-Je a new one as he made the Korean fullback look silly time and time again. The first Adelaide goal came in the 11th minute as Cirio, with a dip of the shoulder, sped past Ki-Je before sending in a cross that Eli Babalj, on loan at the Reds from Eredivise side AZ Alkmaar, steered in across Birighitti.
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Sometimes in football you just have to stand and applaud an opponent’s effort and Adelaide’s 2nd goal was one such moment for McGhee. Elrich had started with the ball in his own half before beating both Leonardo and Carney. As the Jet’s defense kept dropping off it appeared he would be stopped by Kantarovski – a pirouette later though followed by a measured finish put pay to that – as the ball arrowed into the Jet’s goal kissing the inside of the post in its way by.
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Newcastle had started this game slightly more defensively than usual and the 2nd Adelaide goal prompted McGhee to ask them to push on. The change worked in the 57th minute as Trifunovic managed to get on the end of a Alivodic cross and nod home.
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It proved to be somewhat of a false dawn however as Adelaide quickly took control back of the match – their unique possession style game (in A League terms) meant the Jets spent most of the remainder of the afternoon chasing shadows. In the end, a minute from time, Adelaide made their dominance pay as Cirio got the goal his good play deserved when he found himself with the ball at his feet following a chaotic chain of events in the Jets box – he couldn’t miss.
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McGhee was pragmatic enough about the result after the match telling the assembled media in his post-match press conference, “Look they are the best side in the comp so far this season, 3-1 at Hindmarsh is no disgrace, particularly when we came here not just content with a draw and chased the game.”
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That result meant Newcaslte were sitting a clear 3rd after 7 matches, pleasing McGhee, not in the least because it was well in excess of their predicted spot of 8th at the start of the season.
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28 November 2015 – Way to bounce back!!



Returning home after the disappointment of the previous weekend’s match against Adelaide the Jet’s prepared to face the Brisbane Roar at home at Hunter Stadium. Given the Roar sit right below Newcastle on the table McGhee saw this as an ideal opportunity to create some separation between them and the chasing pack in the race for the finals, even at this early stage of the season.
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This fact didn’t appear to be lost on the team either as they started extremely well, finding themselves 2 goals up after only 8 minutes. The first came via Mr Reliable, Milos Trifunovic, who picked up a ball that Carney had played in and fired home.
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Carney then turned from provider to scorer a minute later when he ended up the farthest forward on a Newcastle attacking raid and slotted home. This involved some nice lead up work from Trifunovic as he dropped deep and gave Carney the space to run into.
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Carney then extended Newcastle’s lead on 41 minutes when he was picked out at the back post by a wonderful Alivodic cross and Carney’s volley was too hot for Roar ‘keeper Theo to handle.
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Just when it seemed Newcastle would be heading into the break with a dominant 3 goal lead disaster struck. McGhee couldn’t understand exactly what was going through Birighitti’s head as Boogaard rolled a simple backpass to him. Perhaps Birighitti didn’t even see it but he just watched as the ball rolled past him and into the goal. No miskicks or stumbles he. Just. Stood. There…
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After the break (and some not so kind words from McGhee) Birighitti was a changed man and he went a ways to redeeming himself when he saved sharply from Roar superstar Thomas Broich to preserve Newcastle’s 2 goal lead. Shortly after Carney completed his hatrick and ended the match – another bit of nice interplay with Trifunivoc resulted in the former one on one with Theo, a position from which he made no mistake.
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Wonderful effort from the left midfielder to pick up a hatrick and it ensured that Jet’s would run out easy winners here.
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4 December 2015 – Back down to Earth



Up for Charlie and the Jets was the trip to Allianz Stadium for the meeting with Sydney FC. Another team right around them on the table this represented a good opportunity for Newcastle to further establish their finals credentials.
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Unfortunately though Sydney FC were far too strong here – going ahead after only 2 minutes and barely looking back. Ninkovic got them on the board early when he headed in unmarked at the far post. It was an inauspicious start for Newcastle and things really didn’t get much better.
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Brosque then had himself a day grabbing a double by the half hour mark. His first in the 27th minute was as a result of a nice throughball and once in behind Brosque made no mistake.
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His second, 3 minutes later, came in almost identical fashion. This time however, rather than placing his shot, he lashed it into the roof of the net with power.
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McGhee made some slight changes after that which seemed to stop the haemorraghing but by that point the damage was already done. Newcastle grabbed themselves a consolation on 42 minutes when Mullen tapped in from close range but rarely threatened from that point on.
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Silver linings though – the game helped the squad see exactly how far they are from truly challenging for the title this season so now Charlie can expect them to work extra hard.
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14 December 2015 –Early Christmas present



10 days had elapsedsince Newcastle’s last fixture against Sydney FC when they welcomedMelbourne City to Hunter Stadium. The Jets had cleaned up City 2 nilin their first meeting and repeated the scoreline today – even ifone of the goals could have been considered a gift from theofficials.
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In only the 10th​minute of the match there was huge controversy as Milos Trifunovicscored when he appeared to be offside from a huge margin. Followingthe match referee Jared Gillet would say after the match that he andhis officiating crew believed that Kisnorbo stood on the ball but itwas clear to almost everyone else in the stadium that Crowley haddisposed him with a slide tackle.
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The ball fell nicelyto Trifunovic who, whilst Sorenson was still picking himself up offthe ground, simply tapped it in expecting to be flagged – but tohis astonishment he wasn’t and the Jets were ahead 1 nil.
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Newcastle were thebetter side all day and had most of the running but it wasn’t untilthe 54th​minute that Braedyn Crowley sealed all 3 points. Trifunovic, playingas a deep lying forward, continued his recent assist spree, playingin the young Aussie and he made no mistake even though he was facedwith the vastly more experienced Sorenson.
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After the matchMcGhee was questioned about the offside and responded, “Look thatwas offside all day every day, I could even see it from where I wassitting. That being said we have been, and at some point will beagain, on the wrong side of bad decisions so I’m not giving itback.”
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18 December 2015 – Adelaide, our Nemesis



McGhee looked up at the final whistle, taxed after a long day at the office. His side had performed valiantly and implemented his instructions reasonably well. For some reason though this Adelaide matches up well against his Jets. On his way to shake Adelaide’s manager Guillermo Amor he resolved to try a different system in their next fixture in an effort to find a way to beat them before the finals.
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Just like in the first meeting between these two teams this season Spanish maestro Cirio had been key to everything good Adelaide did. First he provided the cross for Eli Babalj to open the scoring (again!).
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Newcastle hit back though Trifunovic just before the break. A neat headed layoff from Crowley sprung Trifunovic and he took his first touch past Galekovic with his chest before slotting into an empty net.
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Cirio though returned to haunt Newcastle early in the second half. He found a yard of space in the box and wriggled away a shot that left Birighitti no chance.
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McGhee immediately responded, asking his troops to play higher up the pitch. It wasn’t until the 86th minute that it yielded results. Young striker Tom Waller, who had replaced Breadyn Crowley, got on the end of a deep cross from David Carney and volleyed home from a tight angle.
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Sensing blood of the league leaders in the water McGhee asked his team for one last effot and to push even higher up the pitch. Unfortunately the plan backfired when Kamou got on the end of a sweeping Adelaide counterattack and scored a 93rd minute suckerpunch.
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McGhee was disappointed that he got ahead of himself and refused to blame any of the players after the match instead taking full responsibility for the win saying, “This one’s on me – I asked the guys to go for it when I should have been happy with a point.”
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Loving the presentation on this one - the maps and the goal screenshots are neat additions!

Haven't followed this closely until now but I'll keep an eye on this from now on - this seems very interesting.
 
Loving the presentation on this one - the maps and the goal screenshots are neat additions!

Haven't followed this closely until now but I'll keep an eye on this from now on - this seems very interesting.

Haha - Well I wish I could take all the credit but the first time I saw the map idea was with Brendn's Javier Mendes story last year although I think they work well here because most will be unfamiliar with Australian geography and the screenshot idea I first saw Lippo use.

Thanks though mate - I've got to say its not a patch on your presentation though!!
 
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