The Down on The Up?

[Finn]

END OF SEASON UPDATE :​

Well this is the big update you've all been waiting for, the end of season update! After a long, hard and very rocky journey we have finished our season in the Western League Division One.​

Where did we come? Did we meet media predictions and finish 20th in the league? Or did we defy all expectations and gain promotion through the play-offs? No. Better. WE WON THE LEAGUE!​

Champions
Thats right, champions. Against all the odds and after an extremely hard season which seemed at times like an up hill struggle, we have managed to win the league!​

Top of the league by 8 points in the end even though up to November-December we were 17th to 13th in the league.​

Awards​

Fans Player of the Season : Carlton ***
Managers Player of the Season : Michael Coady
Managers Person of the Season : Alan Gracey + John Murtough
Top Goalscorer in WE1 : Michael Coady (19 in 21 apps)
Signing of the Season in WE1 : Michael Coady
SotS in WE1 runner up : Tom Knighton​

Club News ​

Major Departures
Paul McGee
Barry Richardson
Alan Gracey
Barry O'Neill
Tony McDonnell​

Major Signings
Aaron Burns (st)
Aaron Robinson (dc)
Marcus Browning (dm)
Andy Marriot (gk)
Ashley Bayes (gk)
Geoff Horsefield (st)
Nick Robinson (st)
Bradley Midleton (dc)
Ian Finlay (mc)
Chris Mason (mc)
Mohammed Dikuiza (st)
Chris Powell (dl) (YES, THE CHRIS POWELL!)
William Quevedo (dl/dc)
Marc Zanotti (aml)
Janick Tamazout (aml)​

Featured Signing : Chris Powell
Yes thats right, you head me! Odd Down AFC have signed Chris Powell on a free from Leicester. With 5 caps for his country and years of Prem and Championship experience at the likes of Southend, Charlton, Derby, West Ham, Leicester and a few other clubs, Powell has been announced as the new Odd Down captain after Tony McDonnell departed the club.​

Odd Down turn semi-pro
The Down chairman, Ian Brady has confirmed that the club have now turned semi-pro on their promotion to the English Western League Premier Division. Ian Brady stated that due to O'Leary's genious foreign friendlies campaign last summer, there is a fair amount of money in the bank and the wage budget is rumoured to be around 1,500 sterling per week. O'Leary has confirmed that he has offered contracts to many of the players that remain in his plan although more than 30 players could be about to be realeased from the club.​

O'Leary brings glory to Odd Down
Finn O'Leary has led Odd Down to the English Western League Division One title against all the 'Odd's. A fans spokeperson stated O'Leary was one of the greatest managers around and he hoped that he would stay at Odd Down for many years to come. O'Leary has been labelled as the mastermind behind the success and must surely go 'Down' as a legend in the history of the club.​

 

[iamauser]

Excellent work! how many did you have to win in the end?

 

[Hush Baby]

Great achievement well done. Good luck for the next season. I hope all of those new signings don't work against you. May take a while for the team to gel

 

[Finn]

Excellent work! how many did you have to win in the end?

Won two in a row, which guaranteed me the play-offs and then a draw got me the title! Holidayed the last game and we lost but still 8 points clear

Great achievement well done. Good luck for the next season. I hope all of those new signings don't work against you. May take a while for the team to gel

Nah don't think so...the squad are gelling fairly well and morale is great since I released 30 useless regens who thought they should be on the first team!

---------- Post added at 10:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:09 PM ----------

Favourites
Well I must have done something right in the transfer market, we have been made title favourite for the English Western League Premier Division this season.

Friendlies
We have so far made a profit of over 450,000 this season which has to be at least 98% from our away friendlies appearance fees.

Larkhall Match
Well it turns out we have a derby this season! Larkhall are from Bath, just up the road and we have been scheduled to play them for the opening game of the season away.

Result : Larkhall 0-0 Odd Down
We definately should have got a win today. Dominated the game but couldn't finish our chances. Aaron Burns and Michael Coady missed a lot of sitters today. The worst news is, our captain Chris Powell picked up a three week injury after he fell heavily during the match.
​

 

[Wezkat]

Awesome thread mate! I could learn a lot from this story! Good team..

 

[Finn]

Thanks Wezkat! Might even be better than Crewe some day....lol! League 2 in 9 years!

 

[iamauser]

Your favorites too Its shows how amazing we are I should update mine soon, but I have college and work today till about 9pm :S Good luck in English Western League Premier Division this season. And try get as far as you can in the FA Cup too, that gets you loads of money!

 

[Finn]

Yeah have no school today cos I'm sick so I'll make a bit of progress! Will do my best in the FA Cup, have over 800k now from friendlies

 

[iamauser]

Im soo annoyed my away friendly dont give me cash :S I've only got 100k and you can only play rubbish clubs at home and loose money

 

[Finn]

That sucks... Its the best moneymaker on the game! I got one home friendly against Ipswich. Made me 6k. Not near as good as the foreign friendlies!

 

[Wezkat]

Thanks Wezkat! Might even be better than Crewe some day....lol! League 2 in 9 years!

Don't get cheeky now! You will never beat Crewe Alex. Why don't you organize a friendly at Gresty road? it'd be interesting to see the result(H)

 

[Finn]

U think that would be slightly one sided....top league 2 team vs. a level 9 team....lol!
Do Crewe still have Julien Baudet? He was one of my favourite players when he played for county!

 

[Wezkat]

U think that would be slightly one sided....top league 2 team vs. a level 9 team....lol!
Do Crewe still have Julien Baudet? He was one of my favourite players when he played for county!

No they don't.

 

[DaSiimM]

Cool reading mate Nice job. And I can't stop thinking: you must've done something really extremely right in the transfer market since you ,as a promoted team, can be the favourite to take the league win

Respects.

 

[Finn]

Cool reading mate Nice job. And I can't stop thinking: you must've done something really extremely right in the transfer market since you ,as a promoted team, can be the favourite to take the league win

Respects.

Thanks DaSiimM!

 

[Finn]

Update

Managers Diary​

Sorry I haven't been posting my diary for my readers regularly as I've been very busy with a congested fixture list but I have managed to take notes fairly regularly so I can now post my entries here.​

24.4.2010
Today was the best day I've had since arriving at Odd Down. We had been announced champions of the English Western League Division One and were to play our second last game of the season. It was to be our first and last home game since being crowned champions and the game got a massive crowd of 296. This was the clubs second highest attendance of all time, the highest being 318 earlier in the season. 296 people sounded like 2,296 people as they roared, chanted and booed all through the match. It was the best atmosphere I had ever seen at this low level of football and there was a massive celebration after the game when our new captain, Marcus Browning who we just signed from Bath City lifted the trophy in front of the tiny, 160 seat stand.​

24.4.2010
I haven't written in my diary for a while as I've been busy celebrating and holidaying anytime that I can fit in with work. Today I was surprised by an unknown man approaching me on the street in Bath and asking me was I leaving Odd Down. Apparently I had been made media favourite for the University College Cork job. U.C.C were facing relegation in the Munster Senior League Premier Division and had just sacked their manager. Later I was approached by a reporter and asked to go on the record about whether I would be interested in the job or not. I immediately denied any speculation linking me with the U.C.C job, stating that I am completely happy at Odd Down. The board released a statement to the media that they were delighted with my actions.​

25.6.2010
The board announced today that the club are now semi-professional. Hopefully I'll get a contract soon so I can quit my job as a sales rep and concentrate on football.
The board also announced a link with Mangotsfield today.​

30.6.2010
Well our last game of the season away to Wells City wasn't spectacular with a 2-0 loss. Thats what I was told anyway as I had gone on holidays home to Ireland to celebrate my achievement with my family and friends back home. I went to visit my oldest friends and family down in Wexford for two days before heading back up to Dublin to party and drink with my friends from my life directly before football management. I returned to Bath today and found my small flat full to the brim with letters which had piled higher than the letterbox. I had left my phone behind and when I turned it on the inbox was overflowed with messages. Apparently I was being voted by fans as someone who must surely go down as a legend in the history of the club. I got a contract offer from the board today of 210 pounds p/w until 30.6.2012. It was a full time deal which meant that I had to quit my day job. The pay wasn't as good as my normal job but this contract could lead me to a lot bigger money than a big sale could. Anyway my rent is cheap so I had nothing to lose. I accepted it without thinking.​

1.7.2010
Well I didn't get inducted into the hall of fame as a legend. Not even as a favoured personnel. Star centre mid, fans player of the season, Carlton *** was the one to be inducted into the hall of fame as a favoured personnel.

5.7.2010
After just signing my contract four days ago, today I was approached by a journalist asking me was I interested in taking the Salthill Devon job. Salthill had been predicted to win the A Championship but were performing below par. The board had sacked their manager and I was touted as media favourite for the job. Again I declined stating that I was happy at Odd Down and again the board released a statement that they were delighted with my actions.

20.11.2010
I haven't had time to update my diary in months because of pre-season friendly campaigns, the start of our league campaign and FA Cup/Vase games. We've had a very congested fixture list and the players have been worn out in between matches but after 16 games we are top of the league, 10 points clear. I can't believe how well we're doing after just coming up. I have built an amazing team here and we are favourites for the English Western League Premer Division. We are unbeaten with 12 wins and 4 draws in the league. Recently the big news is our two new signings Kevin Phillips and David Grof. Kevin has 8 caps for England and bagloads of Prem experience so we all knew he'd be good but no-one expected him to sign when there were bids from Shamrock Rovers and Notts County. It seemed to good to be true when he turned both clubs down and signed for us. He has scored 3 goals in his first 2 games. David is a 21 year old keeper with 8 youths caps for Hungary. I signed him just as Andy Marriott left.
Marcus Browning has departed the club for Poole Town.​

 

[Ben]

Good luck on promotion Finn and well done on last season.

 

[Finn]

Good luck on promotion Finn and well done on last season.

Cheers Ben, good luck with ur AFC Liverpool story!

 

[Finn]

Champions!

STAND UP, IF YOU LOVE THE DOWN!

We've done it lads! With another seven league games to go we've been crowned champions and the trophy was lifted by Chris Powell in front of the Down fans in the match against Bishops Sutton earlier today. We were crowned champions just after our 0-2 away win over Almondsbury last week and it was decided that the trophy would be lifted in front of our home crowd. To demonstrate the great gap between us and the rest of the league, the lads went out and thrashed Bishops Sutton 3-0 in front of a home crowd of 220 people. We are currently 27 points clear at the top of the league and now that we have won it manager Finn O'Leary was asked were they going to take it easy for the last few game. He responded :

'Take it easy? And lose our unbeaten streak right at the death? I don't think so. We've put in a lot of hard work this season and its all payed off and for the lads to go unbeaten all season would make it that bit more significant in the history of the club.'

Winning the Western Premier is the biggest achievement in the history of the club and the board have decided to mark the event by investing funds in special area's of the club. Due to O'Leary's great money-making schemes the board have revealed that they accepted his demand to improve youth and training facilities a few months ago and that work had started in upgrading these facilities. The training pitch is set to be relayed as it's in very poor condition and the youth squad are getting their own ground built on land that has just been purchased by the club right next to the ground at Coombe Hay Lane along with their own small clubhouse. A large clubhouse is set to be built behind the stand at Coombe Hay Lane as the current clubhouse is small and too far away from the ground. Last but not least, money has been invested by a group of fans to set up a supporters group. The board have made an agreement to pay 80% of the groups expenses.

Plan for new clubhouse :

 

[Jack Fulham]

Good to see this back Finn, looking forward to more updates