We're the Millers - Rotherham United FC

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TheLuckDuck

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After 50 pages, 17 seasons, 6 clubs and 1 Champions League I'm sad to say I've lost interest in the save I've used for this story: http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/foot...insert-witty-title-here]-journeyman-save.html (cheeky plug), hopefully it returns but in the meantime here's me failing miserably in the Championship!​
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WARNOCK LEAVES ROTHERHAM
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Neil Warnock has today left Rotherham United after securing their Championship status next season

Warnock, 67, was appointed as manager in February 2016 after Neil Redfearn was sacked by the Millers' board

The Millers were in the relegation zone when Warnock arrived at the club, but the 67 year old guided the club to the safety of 21st

A club statement read: "We would like to thank Neil and his support staff for the 16 games they lead the team for"

Rotherham have held talks with Warnock for the past fortnight, but the former Sheffield United boss, along with his assistants Kevin Blackwell and Ronnie Jepson, have left the club, with Cardiff City rumoured to be interested in the trio

The Millers won six and drew six of their 16 games under Warnock - including an 11-match unbeaten run - which saw them finish nine points clear of the relegation zone

The club have said they will appoint a new manager in due course
​
 
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WARNE TURNS DOWN TOP JOB
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Rotherham United fitness coach Paul Warne has today turned down the manager's job at Rotherham United

Warne, 43, has stated that he doesn't feel able to tackle the additional pressures associated with the job at Rotherham and doesn't feel he is the best candidate and has turned it down for these reasons

Warne spent a total of 9 seasons at Rotherham as a player, making 247 appearances for the Millers

Warne, however, is just the latest in a long string of candidates to turn down the job at the New York Stadium, as he joins a list that includes Stuart Pearce, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Nigel Adkins amongst others

This string of rejections has left many Rotherham fans questioning who on earth is left and is qualified to take on the job

​
 
"Because babyyyyy, you're gonna be the one that saves meeeeeeeeee" I sang as I made my way to the Roundwood Sports Complex ahead of another day's work with the Rotherham youth squad, full of excitement as ever.

Sure the club aren't in the best shape at the moment, with the departure of Mr. Warnock to my boyhood club Cardiff City (as I was half hoping to get a call from him regarding THEIR youth teams) and the seeming refusal of anyone with an inch of pride/dignity/common sense to take the job and sure we may be relegated and my job as a youth coach may be under threat, but that isn't set in stone, so I might as well keep enjoying the job that saved me
See, Rotherham took me in when others wouldn't, and for that I'm forever grateful. They're the reason I even have a job and a steady income, sure one of the downsides is that I've had to move away from home but its a small price to pay

A job, coupled with the fact that's in my favourite field, made living hundreds of miles from home at just 19 (as I was when I took this job) more bearable than I thought. The people here and the staff at the club made the transition an easy one

Sure, laying out cones and not even being the manager of the youth team wasn't my boyhood dream, but its a start, and who knows where it might lead? It looks like nobody wants the manager's job at the moment, so I could be in luck
I parked my car, grabbed my sports bag and started jogging towards the entrance to the training ground to meet the other coaches and start to set up for the start of pre-season, I smiled, nodded and said hello to the people at the front desk before making towards the door

"Mr Hawkins? Mr Stewart would like to see you in the office, now."
 
"You wanted to see me, Mr Stewart?" I asked, watching as the chairman of Rotherham United slowly spun round to face me like a discount Bond villain

"Ah, Matthew, please, take a seat" he said, gesturing at the seat on my side of the desk, I took him up on his offer and quickly sat down opposite the man who held my future in his hands "water?"

"No thank you" I replied, my nails digging into my legs as nerves took hold, my mind racing through the possibilities of what I'd done wrong to merit a sit down with the chairman, were my tactics wrong? Were the players not progressing the way they should be? Have I been teaching them rugby!?!?!

"Right then, Matthew, we've been keeping an eye on you since you joined the club last year and we think you've been making some great progress as a coach in that short time" he started "some very good progress"

"Thank you, Mr Stewart" I replied

"Obviously now that Mr Warnock's left the club there's been a fair bit of turmoil and I just wanted to ask what your thoughts are on the recent events at the club" he asked

"I'm just looking forward to meeting the new manager" I replied, my knuckles now white as I prepared myself for the eventual P45 coming my way

"Right, the board and I have been discussing your progress recently, and your qualifications, which we must say make for a solid CV for someone of your age, and we were wondering whether you would be interested in a promotion?" he asked

"To the under 21s?" I asked

"Matthew, I'd like you to become the new manager of Rotherham United Football Club" I was gobsmacked "now I now you'd like some time to think bou-"

"Yes"

"Right then, we'll sort out the contract details later, but I think you've got some planning to do"
 
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YOUTH COACH GETS MILLERS JOB
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In a stunning turn of events Rotherham United have today announced the appointment of former youth coach Matthew Hawkins as manager of the first team

The South Yorkshire side's struggles to find a permanent replacement for the outgoing Neil Warnock have been documented, with several high profile refusals that have embarrassed the club somewhat

Despite this, some Millers fans are calling this the most embarrassing move yet, with fans of rivals such as Barnsley, Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday taking to social media to engage in a spot of schadenfreude following the announcement

Hawkins, 20, has no experience beyond the year he has spent with the Rotherham youth sides and many Millers fans are at a loss to explain how he will keep them in the Championship this season, especially with some sections of the support seemingly set against him from the start

Despite this, some fans remain optimistic and welcome the appointment as a "breath of fresh air", with the Welshman having impressed spectators of the youth side since his appointment last year
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1st of July 2016

Matthew Hawkins - Football Manager. It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? I've been saying and thinking constantly ever since accepting the job and I full much like what I'd imagine an actor would feel like once they get to add "Academy Award Winner" to the end of their name. I think I could get used to it, personally. Saying that, I may not have the title for too long, I've only been given a year long deal so this season is very much make or break for me as a manager, and with the state of the squad its looking like "Break" is the most likely outcome

Us in the youth team had a decent idea of what was going on in the first team and head rumours of problems there but none of those rumours prepared me for what met me when I had a look through the data provided to me by secretaries and staff members, I would never have guessed it THIS bad.

Zero scouts, zero coaches and a squad who's only redeeming characteristic is they aren't literal ****, and even then I'm not 100% sure on a few of them. The squad is a testament to the scatter-gun recruitment policy that's been in place at Rotherham other the past few years and that doesn't bode well for the season ahead.
A perfect example of Rotherham's **** poor recruitment policy is the fact that in the summer Rotherham signed THREE first team goalkeepers; Lee Camp, Richard O'Donnell and Lewis Price on a total of £15,500 per week between them, that's 10% of the wage budget! On GOALKEEPERS!

Not only that, but we have 6 centre backs! SIX! Their wages are more sensible, but they still earn an average of £4,250 per week between them, add to that the fact the majority only just joined the club which means noone wants them, we're stuck with them and these bang average League 1 centre backs take up the wage budget meaning we can't bring in better replacements

The midfield is better but the attack is a desolate ******* wasteland, our best striker, Jonson Clarke-Harris, is out for the season with torn knee ligaments which means I'm relying on Dexter Blackstock unless I can bring someone in with our tiny £300,000 budget. That will soon be bolstered, however, because as soon as I sat down in the manager's char I received and accepted an offer of £1.5m from Wolves for Richard Smallwood

I've been doing some number crunching and have looked at the points total who finished in 22nd every season since 2004/05, when the Championship became the Championship, and using my Maths GCSE to full effect by adding one to their total I discovered that, on average, 46 points is enough to keep a side in this division. With that in mind 50 points is the target for us, and if we hit that, I might have a job next season
 
5th of August 2016The season starts tomorrow. ****. We're totally under prepared for this, we aren't familiar with the tactics and we're not good at football, which is a key factor in football if I'm perfectly honest, but we're incredibly fit due to the obscene amount of friendlies we played as well as the fact that pre-season was effectively me telling them to run laps around a muddy field/damp sand/the pub.

Tactically, we're a mess. Now then, when it comes to football, I'm a bit of purist, I love watching free-flowing football but despite that I can still appreciate a good defensive performance, and that's what I'm going to be looking to achieve this season. Let's face it, we're not going to be playing total football, we're Rotherham, we don't have the resources of Wigan, never mind Newcastle or Aston Villa! So, with that in mind, I've turned away from the football favoured by the likes of Cruyff, Guardiola and Wenger and instead been studying that tactics of Diego Simeone, Antonio Puliso and Sean Dyche.

The main tactic will be 4-4-*******-2, with aspects taken from Simeone's incredibly successful system with Atletico mixed with the classic "Big man/Little man" combo of British football

The only reason we're even trying this is the fact that Joe Newell can actually play the "Wide Playmaker" pretty well and, if this, works, he will be an integral part of the system throughout the season

The only downside to the system is that key man Danny Ward doesn't really fit into it at all, he can do a job up front but is more of an out and out winger, not a wide playmaker and this is a bit of problem seeing as A) He's actually good and B) He's on £7,500 per week

Another problem with the system was that we didn't really have the personnel to play it properly, but now we've invested the Richard Smallwood money (what an unfortunate name) I'm genuinely excited to see how it pans out, God it feels good when a plan comes together.

We've spent a million quid on this lot so they'd better play well for us, otherwise I might be getting the chop earlier than expected. My first ever signing as a manager was Lee Evans (not that one) to fill that deep lying playmaker roll in the midfield following the injury to Lee Frecklington and due to the fact Newell is to be pushed out wide. He's a good lad is Evans, cost £300,000 from Wolves (he was transfer listed immediately after we sold them Smallwood) and has 15 caps for Wales Under 21s and he's from Newport, which means he's hard as nails.
We then brought in Michael Cain (no not that one) to partner him in the middle. We brought Michael in from champions Leicester for £230,000 in what I thought was some particularly shrewd business and he'll play the box-to-box role trying to supply the ball for RECORD SIGNING Kwesi Appiah who joined from Palace for £575,000, he's scored 54 in 123 league appearances with 44 of those coming in non-league for Ebbsfleet, King's Lynn, Kettering, Brackley, Margate and Cambridge. Great.

3 players in, a tactic sorted (kinda, not really), I couldn't be Appiah (see what I did there?)
 
Good luck with this TLD! If real life is anything to go by it could be a struggle

If you need a back up midfielder I would look at Greg Olley on loan from Hull. He's a decent player
 
issteo said:
Good luck with this TLD! If real life is anything to go by it could be a struggle

If you need a back up midfielder I would look at Greg Olley on loan from Hull. He's a decent player
Click to expand...
Cheers mate, if the one game I saw Rotherham play this season is anything to go by it will be incredibly hard!

I'll take a look at him :)
 
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SEAGULLS AND MILLERS SERVE UP A CLASSIC
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BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION 4
ROTHERHAM UNITED 3

Brighton and Hove Albion and Rotherham United served up a footballing classic on Tuesday night as promotion chasing Brighton edged past relegation fighting Rotherham by 4 goals to 3 on a wet night in Sussex

Rotherham took an unexpected lead through winger Joe Newell on 11 minutes before being pegged back almost immediately by a Tomer Hemed goal

The Seagulls then went on to add two in two minutes as Glenn Murray and Dale Stephens struck in the 25th and 27th minutes respectively to give Brighton a solid lead on half-time

Rotherham came out the brighter of the two sides in the second half only for veteran striker Glenn Murray to seemingly put the game beyond doubt in the 52nd minute

Rotherham continued to push and bagged two late consolation goals through Dexter Blackstock and Michael Cain in a match that is unlikely to be forgotten in a hurry

The result leaves the Millers in 18th position in the Championship following a home draw against Wolves and a 1-1 draw at Villa Park which sandwiched a 1-0 win over Northampton Town in the League Cup
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1st of September 2016

One month into my first season as a football manager and its not going too badly to be honest! A frugal recruitment policy centred around young players (mostly) means that we have a young, athletic team who can play my Diego Simeone inspired 4-4-2 to varying degrees of competency and that has translated into results on the pitch as we sit in 11th place after 5 games

Add to that progression in the League Cup up to the third round following a stunning 2-0 victory over Brighton and things are looking good in South YorkshireThe 4-3 loss to Brighton was probably the most important result of the season as it gave me some optimism for the upcoming season with this tactic, we'd toyed around with a 4-3-3 against Wolves and Villa to zero success (we barely had a shot) so we changed it up for the Brighton game, had shots, scored goals and looked like a football team!

That, followed by a 1-0 win at home to Brentford in the league and a 2-1 victory at Oakwell where we had 24 shots, has left us in mid-table, sure we're only five games in, but recently signed loanee Henrik Bjordal's late winner at Oakwell could really kick start the season
Oh yeah, and we signed Emile Heskey. Even I'm not really sure why
 
Heskey is a goal machine - promotion is assured with him up front!
 
30th of September 2016Lee Camp is my Jan Oblak, Joe Newell is my Koke, Dexter Blackstock is my Griezmann, and that means Rotherham United are 12th in the Sky Bet Championship

I'm not sure how we're doing it, its either the tactic or the players (let's face it, its the tactic) but we're somehow holding our own in what many dub one of the toughest divisions in Europe despite having the third lowest wage budget and 10% of that being spent on goalkeepers!

We've either drawn, won or been competitive in our losses, keeping it tight at the back and springing with pace as we move forward, Joe Newell effectively becoming a third midfielder by coming from his wing with Jon Taylor hugging the touchline on the other side and its worked a treat, we're yet to be smashed!

We kicked off the month with back-to-back draws with a 0-0 at home to Bristol City and a 1-1 at home to Nottingham Forest. These results annoyed me a bit as they were very winnable and South Yorkshire's answer to Koke missed a penalty in the Forest game where their game lead a seemingly charmed life

The way these results were to be judges was based on how we did away to Blackburn at Ewood Park, lose and it looks like a poor set of games, win and we're unbeaten in five league games. The match appeared to be fizzling out into a draw until Darnell Fisher whipped in a wonderful ball to the back post for Dexter Blackstock to smash home in the 92nd minute. 1-0, no time left. Scenes

Next up was a very daunting trip to Goodison Park as we took on the Toffees in the League Cup Third Round, they took us fairly seriously with big guns like Romelu Lukaku starting for the hosts but we coped well on the big stage despite the absence of some key players who were being rested and an early injury to Danny Ward which will see him out of action for 4 months

We even took the lead through Joe Newell before two goals early in the second half through Yannick Bolasie and Romelu Lukaku gave Everton the lead, we threw everything at Everton and managed to bag an equaliser through Blackstock only for Lukaku to smash home a worldie in the 89th minute to knock us out, unlucky lads

We then followed this with an incredible draw and the most disappointing performance of the season as we drew 3-3 with my boyhood club Cardiff in a stunning end-to-end game you wouldn't expect to see between Rotherham and a side managed by Neil Warnock only for us to figuratively bend over and take it as we allowed Huddersfield to walk all over us in a 2-0 hammering
 
5t[FONT=&quot]h of November 2016
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Remember, remember the fifth of November with gunpowder, treason and.. something else, I can't remember really. Hopefully people will be the same when it comes to Rotherham's form in October 2016, its been anything but spectacular.

We started the month with an incredible 2-2 draw with Newcastle. It takes them about 3 months to spend the same amount of wages we do per year and for a side consisting of the likes of Carlton Morris and Darnell Fisher to hold a side that boasts the likes of Dwight Gayle, Matt Ritchie and Ayoze Perez is quite something especially when you look at the incredibly even match stats, this wasn't a smash and grab, we equalled Newcastle

And this game filled me with false hope that we could continue our remarkable early season away to Norwich. I was wrong. I felt sorry for 1,000 hardy souls who'd made the 300 round mile trip to Carrow Road only to see us ripped apart by the Canaries who seemed particularly hungry for goals. Fortunately we stemmed the tide in the second half and held on for a respectable 2-0 loss

Fortunately we didn't have too long to dwell on our appalling display in East Anglia as we travelled to the Midlands to face Birmingham three days later, a squad still tired from chasing shadows at Carrow Road put in a surprisingly good performance as we left St Andrews with a deserved 1-0 win

The worst was yet to come however as we played league leaders Reading at home in what was a feisty affair as Reading battered both us and our poor goalposts, we were 1-0 down within 25 minutes via Yann Kermogant and somehow that's how it stayed as the ball refused to cross the white line at the New York Stadium

We followed that up with our second trip to East Anglia of the month as we faced Mick McCarthy's Ipswich. Our brand of anti-football met their brand of anti-football as we played out a game that was surprisingly lively for to very defensive teams which ended in a 2-2 draw, we went behind via Leon Best but soon fought back with Emile Heskey finding the net for us to take the lead. We seemed set until Joe Mattock decided it was a good idea to get himself sent-off and conceding a penalty whilst doing so. Words will be had.

Anyway, let's hope November's a bit better, eh?
 
NOVEMBER
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Only three games this month, thought I'd mix it up a bit

SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP
Rotherham United 2-0 Preston North End
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Camp, Fisher, Ajayi, Vaulks, Belaid 76, Evans, Newell (Cain 66), Adeyemi, Appiah (Broadfoot 76), Yates, Heskey (Taylor 66)
Our squad was so threadbare, we couldn't play 4-4-1, fortunately it was only Preston as the extraordinary strike partnership of Jerry Yates and Emile Heskey really showed up

SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP
Derby County 1-1 Rotherham United
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Camp, Fisher, Ajayi, Wood (Wilson 86), Mattock, Taylor, Evans (Frecklington 64), Cain, Newell, Yates, Appiah
Jerry Yates missed a wonderful chance just a minute before Nugent's goal and that upsets me

SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP
Rotherham United 1-0 Leeds United
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Camp, Fisher, Ekstrand (Ajayi 83), Wood, Mattock, Taylor, Evans (Frecklington 72), Cain, Newell, Heskey, Appiah (Yates 90)
WHAT A RESULT! Emile Heskey even filled in as an auxiliary centre-back as we clung on at the end

LEAGUE TABLE
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This is going better than expected​
 
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FESTIVE CHEER AS MILLERS SOAR UP TABLE
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Festive cheer has been plentiful at the New York Stadium recently following a month that has seen Rotherham United soar up the table, with the Millers sitting in 7th going into 2017

A quite incredible month started with a 1-0 win away to Burton Albion, with academy graduate and local lad Jerry Yates bagging a 74th minute winner for the Millers

This was followed by two creditable draws at home to high-flying QPR and away to Fulham as the Millers continued to build up a head of steam

Then came many Millers fans' favourite result of the month, a 1-0 away win at Hillsborough with Michael Cain netting the winner for an impressive Rotherham

This was followed by a somewhat disappointing draw at home to Wigan only for Rotherham to recover with a 3-1 win at home to Burton Albion to end the month

"Its something that gives us confidence" said Millers boss Matthew Hawkins "to look at the league table and see Rotherham United in 7th place is a great source of pride for me and the lads"
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31st of January 2017Here at Rotherham, if we want to buy players, we have to sell some first, we're not Manchester City, so that's what I did. We said goodbye to Aymen Belaid and Richard O'Donnell who've gone for £500,000 each to Bristol City and Derby County. An extra million quid in the transfer kitty and £10,000 off the wage bill. Let's go shopping!

But first, some football. January hasn't been kind to us in the league and has prompted me to change the tactic for our next game away at Nottingham Forest and the opening game of 2017 was no exception as we went down 2-0 to Leeds United despite playing pretty well. We then drew 0-0 away to Reading in the FA Cup
The bad start continued as league leaders Norwich City came to the New York Stadium, pulled ou trousers down and made off with all three points in a 2-1 win before we recovered and beat Reading 3-1 in the FA Cup Third Round Replay.

We then went to St James' Park and ran the Magpies extremely close as they beat us 4-2, with Jerry Yates bagging two for us before Ayoze Perez securing the win for Newcastle in the 90th minute
A 2-0 home win in the FA Cup Fourth Round over Brighton (sound familiar?) softened the blow as we drew senior affiliate Liverpool in the next round, with that in mind, I spunked some money on some players

First in was Michael Doughty from Queens Park Rangers, he was on the transfer list at Loftus Road and I decided to take him off their hands for the very good price of £300,000. With 114 league appearances at the age of just 24 Michael could really improve the side and, who knows he could make the Wales squad

Next is a player who COULD have played for Wales in Ben Turner, Ben was one of my favourite players when he was playing for Cardiff a few years ago and with Belaid leaving, we needed a left footed centre half. We've found one in Big Ben with the 29 year old coming in for a measly £200,000 and already being rated by our staff as our best centre-half
Last but not least is by far the riskiest signing, but it also has the potential to be the most rewarding signing. Signing for an initial fee of £1.2m (that's already a club record) that could rise as high as £3.5m is the defensive midfielder George Evans from Reading. The Manchester-born midfielder is the reason we're going to be changing to a more expansive 4-3-3 as we attempt to alter our style from uber defensive to counter-attacking to try and push for the playoffs in the next few years, he only made 9 appearances for Reading in 2 years there and was all too happy to move north to Rotherham
 
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MILLERS HUMILIATE FOREST
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NOTTINGHAM FOREST 2
ROTHERHAM UNITED 7

Rotherham United piled on the misery for Forest fans last night, as well as applying even more prssure on the shoulders of Forest boss Ryan Giggs as the side now lay 20th in the Sky Bet Championship

Rotherham started quickly with two goals in the first ten minutes via a Darnell Fisher header and a goal from winger Jon Taylor

Eric Lichaj then gave Rotherham a helping hand by turning the ball into his own net in the 12th minute before Chris Cohen responded with a 30 yard free kick in the 13th minute

Things went from bad to worse for Forest soon after however with debutant Michael Doughty restoring United's 3 goal lead in the 33rd minute

Zach Clough bagged Forest's second in the 36th minute only for Jon Taylor to more or less seal the points with a goal on the brink of half-time which sent Rotherham into the dressing room 5-2 up

Rotherham continued to tear into Forest after the interval with Jon Taylor completing his hat-trick in the 54th minute before Kwesi Appiah completed he rout in the 71st minute

The result leaves Forest mervously looking over their shoulders in 20th and Rotherham very much looking up in 12th as their tactical switch paid dividends
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1st of March 2017February started well and then it, well, let's see, shall we?

It started pretty well with a 2-1 win away to Bristol City an early lead via a rare Kwesi Appiah goal before Danny Ward (who I tried my hardest to sell in January) wrapped it up in the 59th minute. Bristol rarely threatened and their consolation came in the 90th minute, a solid performance. We followed that up with a comfortable 2-0 win at home to Barnsley via 2 Lee Evans stunners as our new tactic continued to impress. George Evans is a perfect anchor and allows the likes of Lee Evans and Michael Doughty to work their (limited) magic. Its beautiful to watch.

We then hosted Blackburn, dominated, and lost to a lucky goal from Lucas Joao. Disappointing. We soon recovered, however, as we hosted another Yorkshire side in Huddersfield (there's loads of them in this division) and grabbed another comfortable 2-0 win via goals from Kwesi Appiah and Lee Evans

And then, we went to Liverpool. George Evans was cup-tied so we went with the 4-4-2 and an incredibly strong Liverpool side battered us by 3 goals to 1. They were playing genuine internationals, it wasn't fair! They played Emre Can, Roberto Firmino, Daniel Sturridge and Serge Gnabry! We were playing Darnell Fisher, Joel Ekstrand and Lee Camp! They took the lead through Leonardo Bittencourt but we did manage an equaliser via a Loris Karius own goal (because, of course). They then scored two worldies and won the tie.

We then went to my hometown to face Cardiff and took the lead, only for them to bag a deflected equaliser before half-time. They scored 2 in 7 minutes at the end of the second half to win the game before Dexter Blackstock bagged us a consolation. 3-2. Then a trip to Brentford with the side down in the dumps Danny Ward and Kwesi Appiah combined to give us the lead following Lasse Vibe's opener, only for the Dane to score three more to win the game for Brentford 4-2. Awful.

That torrid end to the month leaves us in 13th and in the bottom half of the table, I don't like it down here, its dark and its cold and I don't like it
 
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