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01-07-2006, 05:15 PM
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#1 | ||
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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FM2006: Lurgan Celtic
Backdrop...
My name is Godzilla Blitz, and I am the bastard of Lord Montley Hodgepuss, a British duke who would do anything to keep the press from knowing that I am his son. Over the course of my previous 34 years on this planet, I have used this delicate situation—delicate for him, anyway—to extort my quixotic wishes from his deep pockets. I have lived the high life. Women, cars, an estate in the countryside—you name it and I have gotten it from dear old daddy. In return, I have kept our precious secret. But they say, whoever they may be, that with age grows a sense of responsibility, and I have to admit that perhaps this is true. A couple of months ago, as I woke from a drug-enhanced slumber in my chambers at Hastings Ward Manor, shooed away the two ladies who had shared my bed, and stood looking out from my bedroom window at my sprawling estate, it dawned on me that perhaps it was time for me to, well, “do something with my life”. And so it began. “Do what ya’ love!” All people who work say that, I think. Seeing that it’d be difficult getting a job dealing with sex or drugs, I figured I better look for something in the football world, as that’s the only other thing I’ve ever cared a whit about. So I got right down to things and started looking. Well, to be more precise, Hodgepuss did the looking and I sat around and watched telly. Apparently, however, even with influence and money, some things are not easily had, and “buying” a job in the football world is not easy to do. After a month of searching, daddy had come up with a mere handful of assistant coaching jobs and scouting positions at lower teams, and none of them in “I just can’t do it, Godzilla. Not if you want to stay in England. I’ve applied for you at four clubs but they all won’t hear anything of taking an unknown with no previous football experience,” he whined. “Bah!” I replied. “I want Manchester United, manager! Do it or else I’ll make a little phone call to some of the But it was not to be, and deep down inside, I knew it as well. So as fall turned to winter and another month of his conniving finally opened up a managerial job with Lurgan Celtic in But one’s got to start somewhere. My vision of grandeur is to win It’s not a bad life. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 01-07-2006 at 05:18 PM. |
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01-07-2006, 05:21 PM
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#2 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Game Background
This dynasty will be a running account of my attempt to climb the ranks of the Settings: All Normal database, with all players loaded from the above countries. Fog of war is on. Fictional names are activated. House Rules To a certain degree, I will be using many of the LLM rules as described in more detail on the Sports Interactive game boards. Basically, the spirit of these rules is to play the game as realistically as possible and not “game the game” in order to win. Along these lines, I’ll: 1. Only send my scouts to realistic destinations. At the start, for example, I’ll allow my scouts to look in the 2. Rely on scouts to find new players. I’ll use the “Search” feature sparingly and realistically. 3. Use only home grown, realistic tactics. (No copying of tactics, no accepting tactical advice, no power tactics, etc.) 4. Never use any game editors, or restart, or revert to previous saves (unless due to technical problems). You get the idea. One last thing... Despite the lengthy intro, this will basically be a simple account of my managerial career through the digital football world of FM2006. I may add some flavor if time permits, but playing the game and writing this dynasty and then adding in a back story would take far more time than I have. Also, this dynasty will be posted over at Octopus Overlords as well, as there are a few players that are interested in reading this there as well. Time to get started. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 01-07-2006 at 07:01 PM. |
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01-07-2006, 07:33 PM
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#3 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Starting Situation
December 13, 2005 I’ve watched a lot of football on the telly, but this hasn’t prepared me to manage a team. I am lost. One thing, however, is apparent. Lurgan Celtic is a football club in disarray. Northern Ireland’s Second Division is the lowest level of football in the Isles. Lower than Scotland’s bottom league, lower than England’s Conference North/South. And our team sits in 9th place out of 11 teams. Two days ago their manager was canned, after having led them to one win, four draws, and three losses in their first eight matches of the year. Morale is in the dumps. The team is so bad that I can’t even find our goalkeeper. There was a goalie listed on the tactics page, a Mike Murray, but now that I’m here he is nowhere to be found and no one seems to know who he is. Our division plays a 20-match season this year, with each team playing each of their opponents twice. A relegation playoff is in store for the 11th place team, which I’m guessing is against the winner of some sort of league right below ours. Right now we are one point ahead of the last place team, so there isn’t much room for error here. With only 12 games to go in the season, we better get a move on quickly. Obviously our first goal is to avoid relegation. Glory can wait for survival. Along those lines, we’ll make some initial moves to shore things up… |
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01-08-2006, 02:52 AM
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#4 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Opening Thoughts & Moves
The team is 60,000 pounds in debt. This is a huge number at this level, as we only have a wage budget of 2,600 pounds/month. Right now we’re at 2,100 pounds/week, so we don’t have a lot of room to work with unless I can unload some of our expensive players. Our first priority is to improve our scouting and coaching. On my first day I make overtures to two cheap scouts and two cheap coaches. Anything is better than the awful ones we’re stuck with at the moment. Our second priority is to get a goalkeeper, which I’m guessing would be a big help on defense. Once we get some scouts in place, we’ll get them looking for help at this position. Once we get these priorities taken care of, we’ll start looking for cheap, young talent to help plug our holes, and look to unload our more expensive players. The basic plan will be to bring in as many players as we can afford in the hopes that a few of them work out well. Five days from now, however, we have our ninth match of the season, so we’re going to have to play and grow at the same time… |
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01-08-2006, 04:33 PM
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#5 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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December 2005
Match Results and Standings Code:
Match Comments We only have one match from the time I take over until the winter break hits. Interestingly enough, we play a solid match against 8th place Portstewart. We score two quick goals before halftime and put things on cruise control for an easy 2-0 win. Even more interestingly, a goalie, Mark Murray, showed up for the game. Right after the game he disappeared again, so I’m not sure what is going on here, but he did a decent job for us and he’s free, so that takes away some pressure to immediately find a goalie. Roster Moves We quickly add two scouts and two coaches to our staff and get them working to improve things here at the club. Over the last two weeks of December, however, we don’t have much luck finding a decent goalkeeper, nor are we able attract quality players to our team. Nevertheless, we do manage to add one central defender to our squad, as we pick up a Paul Reid on a free transfer. He should add some depth to our central defense, but his lack of stamina is an issue. Overview Looking over this team, I’m somewhat surprised that they weren’t doing better than they were. Relatively speaking, we have some talent here, albeit thin and spotty. The media blurbs that I’ve read in the past two weeks also indicate that our club was listed as a contender for promotion before the season started, and the disappointing efforts of the previous manager were what got him sacked. In short, we may not need to add a ton of talent to keep away from relegation. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 01-08-2006 at 04:33 PM. |
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01-09-2006, 12:33 PM
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#6 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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How Small Are We?
To give an idea of how far down the football world the Northern Ireland Second Division is, consider this: The attendance for our Portstewart game was 193 fans. Our promotional goods sales for the month of December was 12 pounds. Basically, we sold a sweatshirt. My weekly salary is 120 pounds, which translates into 210 dollars/week. This gives me an income of slightly less than $11,000/year for my full-time job. All of our players are part-time. Some of our starters make 30 pounds/week, which is about 210 dollars/month. Full capacity at our stadium is 1500. We have no seats. I’d show you a photo, but as far as I can tell no one has ever taken one, as it doesn’t exist on the internet. |
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01-09-2006, 12:36 PM
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#7 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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January 2006
Match Results and Standings Code:
We start off the month hot, with a huge away win against 1st place QUB. This match could have gone either way. Against Ballianmallard, we fought back from a 1-0 deficit to go up 2-1, but give up a late goal to end in a tie. Last place Brantwood comes to our pitch, and we blow their doors off in a 6-2 rout that lifts us to 4th place, a mere four points away from the division lead. The clubhouse mood is sky high, as talk of our winning the division flutters around the league. We are four points away from the top. However, the magic ends against Chimney Corner, as they score a breakaway goal late in the game to sink us. With a tight cluster of teams near the top the difference between a win and a loss is significant: we drop to sixth place. Roster Moves The Northern Ireland transfer window closes at the end of January, and we make a flurry of additions before things shut down for the rest of the season. All told we pick up nine players: four strikers, two goalkeepers, and three midfield/defensive players. All of them are young with apparent upsides. The two goalkeepers will compete for the starting job. The acquisition of these goalies is apparently enough that our phantom, game-day goalkeeper, Mike Murray, has stopped showing up for us now. The four strikers we picked up are roughly similar in ability, and we’ll let them all fight it out for first team roles. One of the midfielders will start immediately; the other two will need improvement. The acquisitions put us slightly over our salary budget, which will drive our team further in debt. We now are around 90,000 pounds in the red. I hope the owners don’t mind, but I have a feeling I’m going to need to sell players for cash at some point. With attendance hovering slightly below 200 per match, and January merchandising revenue of 11 pounds, selling players is likely our only way to eliminate the debt. If I only had some players that were worth anything, I’d be feeling a bit more secure here. Overview All in all, I’m very happy with the month. We added two goalkeepers, some potentially decent strikers, and a smattering of other young talent. We picked up seven out of twelve possible points and advanced in the standings. Winning the division would have been a miraculous comeback, but with our good run this month we have a good chance to finish in the upper half of the division. The financial situation is a concern, but most of the problem was created by my predecessor. Not that I’m helping things. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 01-09-2006 at 12:38 PM. |
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01-09-2006, 02:07 PM
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#8 |
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High School Varsity
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Cincinnati, OH
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I'll be reading...
Regards, Chas
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Email: [email protected] |
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01-09-2006, 03:42 PM
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#9 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: South Florida
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90,000 pounds in the red? Hmmmm. Sounds like its time to hop back in the sack with those two ladies you shooed away earlier.
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01-10-2006, 12:02 PM
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#10 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Chas: Thanks! I hope you enjoy it.
SFL Cat: 90,000 pounds and getting larger by the day! The owners really don't seemed concerned about it, though, so I'm not going to worry about it. I'm just hoping they don't all of a sudden get bent out of shape about it and fire me, which would of course send me back to those women... February 2006 Match Results & Standings Code:
Match Comments We open the month by blowing a 2-0 lead against Oxford Utd Stars. We salvage a tie, but this home match was in our pocket and we let it slip away. Things get worse as injuries start to mount. With such a thin roster, injuries are crippling. We drop yet another game, 0-1 to PSNI. We are sloppy on defense, confused at midfield, and inaccurate at the opponent’s end of the pitch. The clubhouse mood has gone from buoyant to bleak, as we now sit back in eighth place in the division. With a two-week break between matches, we schedule a confidence-building friendly match against our reserve team. Early in the match, one of our central defenders is ejected for a professional foul, and the aftermath is ugly. Our reserve team demolishes us. What ignominy. The mood in the clubhouse is awful. Most all of our players are down in the dumps. One good thing, however, is that we noticed the brilliant play of one of our newly acquired strikers: John Watson. The guy was all over the place for the reserves, and scored four goals against us. We quickly move him up to the senior squad. We’ll likely begin rotating him in to the starting lineup. With five matches left in the season and our team in free fall through the standings, we need to turn this around quickly. In our last match of the month, we go down early by a goal. Doom is impending. Somehow we claw back to tie at halftime, then miraculously play a great second half to nail down our first win in a month, 3-1 over Wakehurst. The win bumps us up to the exact middle of the standings, sixth place, with four matches to go. Amazingly, most of the teams in the league are within a few points of each other; with the win we’re only seven points out of second place and a promotion to the First Division. A hot run and we could actually pull this off. More importantly however, the win stabilizes our morale in the clubhouse. Roster Moves No acquisitions, as we’re both over budget and past the transfer window. Mainly, we spend the month evaluating our new players. Overview Although injuries hurt us this month, the team’s horrible play is likely a combination of many little factors. First, I made some comments to the press that shook the confidence of Paul Reid, our new central defender. I had moved him up to a starting role in one roster move, and he has played awfully after an initial solid first game. I have placed him back on the bench for the time being. Second, our newly acquired goalkeepers weren’t ready to jump in and play. Each of them made critical mistakes to allow goals. Now that they are match fit, things should go better, but their rusty play hurt us. Third, we’ve been hit by some tough injuries to key players. Still, the win at the end of the month got our spirits back up, and the poor play of teams in front of us actually gives us the chance to pull off a promotion. If we can pick up eight or more points or so in our last four matches, we’ll finish in the upper half of the division, which is a long way from where we started. Win three out of four and we might even be looking at a promotion! |
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01-11-2006, 12:47 PM
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#11 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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March 2006
Match Results and Standings Code:
In a much anticipated rematch against our reserve team, we once again lose. This is getting embarrassing. This time we fairly well outplayed them, as one would expect, but their goalkeeper is a talented 15-year-old from our Under-18 team. I would love to start him on the senior team, but he is ineligible because of his age. In any case, he shuts us down and the reserve team wins again. Sigh. Our next match is more important, and we win a wild one over Portstewart. After blowing a 2-goal lead at the 82-minute mark, we storm back with two goals in the final ten minutes to gain a much needed three points. Most everyone in front of us loses, and at this point we sit in 5th place, a mere four points out of second place and a promotion to the First Division. With a strong finish, we’ve got a chance! A weak Dergview team comes to town next. A win here and things could get interesting. Unfortunately, they play a frustratingly defensive game. We dominate, but can’t finish the job. We tie, 0-0. Teams ahead of us win, and with two games to go, our slim chances for promotion vanish. We end the month with a meaningless yet encouraging friendly win against our upcoming opponent, Annagh. Roster Moves I’m mainly treading water here until June 1st, when the transfer window opens back up. At that point, I will attempt to remake the team. With only two matches match left before the end of the season, I’ll preempt that a bit by offering up for sale some of our marginal and older players. I’d like to clean out about ten people before next season to free up salary. Also, we’re now over 100,000 pounds in debt. I’m not sure how the owners are taking this, but I’m starting to think I might want to do something about it. With a roster valued at a whopping 2,000 pounds, I’m not sure what I can do about it, though. Overview Our team is clearly talented compared to other teams in the division, and we lead the division in scoring. However, we are a poorly balanced team and suffer from inconsistent play. We’re especially weak on the outsides on defense, which allows teams to feed too much to the front of the net. We could also use a good defensive midfielder to help hold leads, and a midfielder with better passing/crossing skills to get more balls more consistently to our strikers. I’m not a good tactical manager, either, and I’ve yet to hit on a defensive scheme that works. Almost every time I order us to play defensively, we give up a goal within five minutes. At this point, the board says they are “pleased” with my performance, but wins in our last two matches would guarantee us a top half finish and a better job evaluation. I’m concerned that a large debt and a bottom half finish might get them thinking about pulling the plug on me. With that in mind, we’ll hope for a strong finish and then start working for next season. |
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01-11-2006, 09:09 PM
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#12 |
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High School Varsity
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: New Jersey, USA
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This is pretty cool. I like reading your reports, because you seem relatively new to the game and to the finer points of the sport much like myself. Your writing is also clear and reads quickly enough.
I'll be reading. |
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01-11-2006, 11:34 PM
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#13 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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aran: Thanks! Glad you're enjoying it. I'm definitely finding the game challenging. I thought I would be better at it having played a bit with CM01/02, but I've found that the game has evolved quite a bit, or maybe I'm just dumber now. Whatever the reason, the challenge level is about perfect for me, which is making the game a ton of fun to play.
April 2006 Match Results and Standings Code:
Match Comments We start the month by visiting Annagh, who lie in third place. We go up early, but right before the half they pop in a goal to tie. We play strong in the second half, but give up a breakaway goal to lose, 2-1. We have a long gap before we have to play our last match of the year, so I schedule some friendlies in there to keep us sharp and to try to find a lineup that clicks. We play some sharp football in wins against PSNI and Oxford United, then head into yet another match against our reserve squad. As in our first game, one of our central defenders gets a red card early on, and once again our reserves get a goal to take a 1-0 lead. Down by a man, things look grim, but we finally manage to play like the senior squad. We shift to a 3-4-2 and keep up the offensive pressure. By the end of the match we’ve scored three goals to finally beat our “lesser” squad. As we head into our last match we sit in 8th place in the division table. Our loss early in the month combined with some makeup games that other teams have played allowed three teams to pass us in the standings. A loss in this last game could drop us to 9th place. A win could lift us as high as 5th place. This is a big game for us. Unfortunately, we are facing 1st place QUB. Fortunately, it is at home… The match is our best performance of the year, as we play outstanding football in an impressive 4-1 win. The win vaults us to a final league position of 5th place and knocks QUB out of first place. Team morale rockets as we finish the year on a very high note. Roster Moves We start to get more active in the transfer market, as we set up the sales of two or our older players. They’ll go through when the transfer window opens up again in June. We are also working to pick up an extremely talented striker that is too good to pass on and a left-side defender, but as the season ends we are unable to close the deals. Overview The huge win at the end of the month in a way validates our season. Had we lost the match, we would have dropped to 9th place, which was exactly where we started when I took the team over. The solid win, especially against the first place team, puts an exclamation point on our season and gives us a top half of the division finish. Happy. |
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01-12-2006, 12:48 PM
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#14 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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2005-06 Season Summary
Overall this year, I’d have to grade myself a B-. Off the pitch, I was able to add talent to the team, but did so at positions for which we had relatively stability. I was unable to add talent at our most needed spots. On the field, I was able to generate a lot of goals, but unable to hit on a tactical solution to compensate for our relatively weak defense. Also, it took me to the last few weeks of the season to finally land on a lineup that clicked as a team. In the end though, under my leadership we won 6, tied 3, and lost 3, so altogether I’d have to say I’m happy. Our debt is a concern, however, and with that cloud hanging over our future, move forward in search for promotion to the First Division. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 01-12-2006 at 12:49 PM. |
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01-12-2006, 12:50 PM
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#15 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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May 2006
Off-Season Off Season Goals I’d like to improve the quality of our defense. Before I can do that, I’ll need to sell some players to get us under our wage budget. So, step one is to free up salary space. Step two is to buy some defenders. If there is a way I can do this and stabilize our financial situation, I’d be ecstatic. We've got about two and a half months before friendlies start for next season, and about three months total to accomplish our goals. Roster Moves At the start of May, we transfer list most everyone on our team, and offer up quite a few of our players to other teams. We get some low-ball offers on several players, but nothing worth jumping at. Two players, our 15-year-old goalkeeper Peter Mullan and striker Gary Robinson, attract some serious offers. Mullan will turn 16 in August, and as soon as he does I’m moving him into the starting role at goalkeeper. Everyone on our team thinks his future is golden. Robinson developed strongly in the latter half of the year, and is now looking to be a force at striker. We are relatively strong at striker, but if a large offer of say 50,000 pounds comes in for him, I’ll likely move on it to reduce our debt. As May drags on we have no success moving players. To be totally honest, I think we have a decent chance of making a run at promotion without adding much to our squad, so I’d be relatively happy taking last year’s squad into next season. I don’t want to make a move unless it’s a good one; no need to panic here. However, things break well for us as we hit the back half of the month. Our finances get rearranged by the board to give us a bit more salary space, and as we hit June we complete the sale of two minor players. These two matters put us under our salary budget, which frees up about 350 pounds/week for us. We’re still massively in debt, but there is not much I can do about a 120,000 pound debt when I’m getting offers of 1,000 pounds for a player. On to June to buy some new defenders! |
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01-12-2006, 03:11 PM
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#16 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Nice writeup thus far.
 I started off unemployed in a quiet game I've been playing and took over Dublin City in the Second Division of the Irish leagues. So far it's proving suprisingly fun. 
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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01-12-2006, 05:57 PM
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#17 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Newbury, England
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I had a brief stint at Lurgen Celtic myself a few months ago (in FM obviously) - interesting to see how you go on.
From reading the dynasty, I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but you realised that you can sign free agents outside the transfer window?
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'A song is a beautiful lie', Idlewild, Self Healer. When you're smiling, the whole world smiles with you. Sports! |
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01-13-2006, 03:13 PM
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#18 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Izulde: Good luck! I'd be interested to hear how it turns out. I too have been surprised by how challenging the game has been for me down at the bottom of the soccer world, but it's been a blast so far.
Jari: Aha! You know, I was wondering about that, as it seemed that quite a few other Second Division teams were added players outside of the transfer windows. Thanks for letting me know. That clears up a lot of the mystery. To be honest, I've been mostly relying on my scouts to find players and they haven't found many free agents, but your information sure is helpful. I've also sold a couple of players outside of the transfer window who have been transferred out right away, so I'm guessing I can transfer out players at any time as long as the league they are going into has an open transfer window? June 2006 Off Season Roster Moves Time to get serious on this rebuilding effort. The best way to improve our team would be to add four decent players across our defensive line: one DL, two DCs, and one DR. If we can do that for 350 pounds/week in salary, I’ll be happy. I thought we’d only need one DC, but it’s starting to look that we won’t resign one of last year’s starters there, so we badly need two DCs now. As the month moves along, we start getting some serious offers for Striker Gary Robinson. One comes in for 50,000 pounds. I am tempted to take the cash, but I have a sense the we are witnessing the blossoming of a potential star. We may be able to ride his talent to the promised land. I turn down the offer. We make a determined search for defenders, and land a solid central defender Gary Wilkinson midway through the month. One down, three to go. Late in the month, we get a series of offers for Striker Keith Foley in the 6k-8k range. He was our leading scorer last year, but with Robinson up and coming and a handful of other promising strikers behind him. I decide to let him go. He is our most expensive player with a 210 pound/week salary, and freeing up this money will likely equal two to three more players. Just as the month draws to a close, we are able to move out two more players, one of whom was our other player making 210 pounds/week. With these three players gone, we now have over 500 pounds/week in available salary to work with. Still, as the month draws to a close, we are unable to land anyone at left or right defense. Either our offers to clubs are met with demands for compensation we can’t afford, or the player has no interest in coming to Lurgan, or we can’t afford to pay him what he wants. Whatever the reason, we have no success in filling our two greatest needs. We’ll keep plugging away. |
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01-13-2006, 03:19 PM
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#19 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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July 2006
July opens and the season draws near. We get offers for friendlies with several Division One and Premier Clubs, which we promptly accept. Our first will be on July 22. Those will run up to the middle of August and the Intermediate League Cup tournament, which lasts about a month. The regular season starts in the middle of September. Roster Moves In the beginning of the month, we rearrange our staff. We had one player/assistant manager and one assistant manager. Neither of these two was impressive as a manager. The player/assistant manager’s contract expires and we let him go. We pay 7,000 pounds to terminate the other assistant manager’s contract. We then offer the job to one of the coaches we hired last year. He accepts. With that move we’ve got a solid improvement at assistant manager. We also add a better physiotherapist and one more coach. We then renegotiate the contracts of that staff that still remains from before I got hired. Most of these guys are just lumps of dirt, and I rework their deals so that they end at the end of the upcoming season. We get quite a ways into July without having any success landing more defensive help. We do manage to clear out a few more of our marginal players, basically giving them away for free, but the moves do free up more salary space. With this extra room, we get to work renegotiating some of our critical player contracts, as nearly everyone’s contract is set to expire at the end of June next year. Finally, as we start up our friendlies, we land three badly needed players: a strong defender on the right side, a solid central defender, and a strong midfielder with good overall skills. Friendly Match Results Code:
Friendly Match Comments Dundela and Barryclare were from the division above us, so the pummeling we served to Dundela shoots team morale sky high. The tie against Barryclare was moderately satisfying as well, considering that we outplayed them yet couldn’t finish the job. Limavady United finished fourth in the Premier League last year, so the tie here is stunning for us. Although they outplayed us, our starters had given us a 3-1 lead that our reserves couldn’t hold. All things considered, I’m ecstatic with our early performances. If they are any indication of how we’ll play this season, it should be a fun year. Time for a team overview as we head into our first full season at the helm… |
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01-14-2006, 12:26 PM
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#20 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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2006-07 Season Preview
With the majority of our team in position for the upcoming year, I thought this would be a good time to attach some names to our players. Here is a list of our top players, by position, in the order that I rank them. Starters are in bold. The star-ratings are those of our assistant manager: Strikers Gary Robinson (4 stars) John Watson (4 stars) Barry Hughes (3 stars) Paul Walker (4 stars) Gary Robinson is our man. Phenomenal skills for this level. He should be a goal scoring factory. John Watson is raw talent who looks brilliant one moment, then awful the next. I’m hoping he can grow into a solid striker over the course of the season. Midfielders C: Michael Robinson (3 stars) C: Mark Murphy (3 stars) R: Ryan Millar (3 stars) L: Mark McCann (2 stars) Stephen Hill (3 stars) Robinson has solid offensive skills and should be the one to get the ball through the middle to our strikers. Newly signed Murphy is an all-around player. His defensive skills in the middle should help cut down on our goals against. Millar is developing into a decent threat down the right side of the pitch. McCann plays a solid if unspectacular left side. Defenders C: Gary McClean (4 stars) C: Gary Wilkinson (2 stars) R: Brain Stitt (unrated) L: Colin McCullan (3 stars) Peter Brown (3 stars) Mark Watson (3 stars) David McConnell (3 stars) McClean is growing into an outstanding defender in the middle. After him, things are less decided. Wilkinson will complement him for the time being, but newly acquired Peter Brown may win the starting role shortly. Brian Stitt, who my assistant manager ignores, will start out on the right, but David McConnell, also newly acquired, will see a lot of time out there. For now, young, raw and untested McCullan will start on the left, but he is better suited to midfield, and he may not be ready for senior team football yet. If Mark Watson can play well out there, McCullan may slide up the pitch or get sent back down to the reserves for another year. Goalkeepers Peter Mullan (4 stars) Mick Gill (unrated) Paul Hughes (2 stars) Peter Mullan is perhaps the best talent on our team. He turns 16 on August 23 of this year, which—if I understand this correctly—finally makes him eligible to play on the senior team. |
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01-14-2006, 12:27 PM
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#21 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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2006-07 Outlook
Last year we went 6-3-3 after I took over, mainly playing with the talent that was on the team to start with. In the past three months we’ve seen our young talent mature, upgraded five starting positions, and removed most of our marginal players. In short, I believe we are more talented and deeper than we were at the end of last year. Add in the eligibility of goalkeeper Peter Mullan and it seems clear that we should be shooting for first/second in the division and promotion to the First Division. If the friendly results are any indication of future success, I think this assessment is on the money. I am fired up about this year and think we should be able to put a big hurt on the rest of the division. The press, on the other hand, predicts us fifth in the division. Our fans are hoping for a mid-table finish. Our board wants us to rebuild the team. All of these expectations are much less than I have for our team, which is probably a good thing. Season Goal: First or Second in the Division. |
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01-15-2006, 12:44 AM
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#22 |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Beware of the time teams sometimes need when you have a number of new players.
I don't remember exactly which one but there was a thread where MV mentioned what different type of friendlies do for your squad. I don't remember if friendly league or friendly cup was the one that help get new players fitting in. |
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01-15-2006, 08:40 PM
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#23 | |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Quote:
Ah. I didn't realize that was a factor in the game. Good to know. Thanks. August 2006 Intermediate League Cup For the next month, we play in the Intermediate League Cup. This is a competition involving 24 teams from North Ireland’s First Division and lower: there are no Premier League teams involved. The 24 teams are split up into four groups of six. Each team then plays each of the five teams in its group once. The team with the best record in each group advances to the next stage. These four group winners then play a single elimination tournament to for the Cup. Our group has three teams from the First Division: Dundela, Coagh United, and Larne. The remaining three teams are Second Division: us, Dergview, and newcomers Enniskillen. Normally I wouldn’t put much stock in our chances to do well here, but we did well in our friendlies against First Division teams, so I’d like to think we have a chance. Intermediate Cup Match Results Code:
We start out the tournament by demolishing Dundela again. We’re up 2-0 at the 12-minute mark and roll from there. Gary Robinson gets 2 goals and Man of the Match honors. We are 9-1 underdogs on the road against First Division Larne, and we play like it. They dominate, and we lose handily 2-0. Newly promoted Enniskillen is the weakest team in the draw, yet they fight tough until the second half, when we break things open with a couple of goals. This is the debut of Goalkeeper Peter Mullan, who turned 16 just a couple of days before the match. He played quite well in the win. We now sit in second place in the group, but if we are to have any chance at winning the group, we must beat Dergview, who has won all three of their matches. A loss here and we are done. Disaster strikes early, as Peter McCann gets a red card ten minutes into the match. Down a man, we miraculously hold even through the first half. Even more miraculously, Gary Robinson sinks a header as the second half begins and we go up 1-0. At the 61-minute mark, they lose one of their own players to a red card. We add an insurance goal shortly after that and cruise from there. Wow! We’re now tied with Dergview atop the group. They play weak Enniskillen at home. We play First Division Coagh United on the road as 4-5 favorites. We lead in goal differential by five, so if we both win things look good for us to win the group. Unfortunately, in an incredibly frustrating result, we cannot buy a goal against Coagh United. We had a half dozen great chances, but could get nothing in the net. We end up tied, 0-0. Dergview buries Enniskillen to beat us in the group by two points. Crap. August Roster Moves The transfer deadline arrives at the end of August. Just before it hits, we sign Peter Crawford, a top-notch young goalkeeper, then promptly unload one that we no longer need. Mullan is still our man, but backup is always nice. Overview Very frustrating to get so close to advancing in the tournament and choke at the end. Still I have to be satisfied with the overall performance. Our defense is clearly better than last year and our offense is equally potent. I feel quite confident as we head into the regular season. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 01-17-2006 at 12:15 PM. |
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01-16-2006, 10:22 PM
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#24 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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September 2006
Match Results and Standings Code:
Match Comments Our vaunted offense falls silent and we struggle out of the gate. We go up 1-0 against Oxford, but they sink a penalty kick shortly after that to tie. Things end that way. Unfortunately, both our right side defenders get hurt in this game. Stitt breaks ribs and McConnell has a calf sprain. Sigh. We are outplayed in our next match and lose solidly to Ballinamallard Ltd. They dominated play. Roster Moves None of any significance. Transfers are frozen until January 1, 2007, and we don't see much of interest in the free agent market. Overview Well, that was not the expected start. Our offense seems lost, as we have only scored one goal in our past three matches. We do seem to be getting chances, but we can’t finish them off. John Watson, in particular, seems to be having great trouble finding the net, despite having two or three solid chances a match. Nevertheless, I’m sticking with our current tactics for a bit longer. Too early to panic, and all three of our last matches have been on the road. The injuries to our right defenders hurts, but we’ll make do. Keep plugging away for now. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 01-17-2006 at 12:15 PM. |
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01-17-2006, 12:14 PM
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#25 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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October 2006
Match Results & Standings Code:
Well, we don’t have any problem handling our reserve team this time, as we crush them 9-2. Yikes. We get our home opener against Portstewart, and things finally click for us. Gary Robinson and John Watson score as we cruise to a solid 2-0 win. This early, the win jumps us up from 11th place to 4th place in the standings. Amazingly, we lose our third-string right defender to a gash in the arm. We are down to our last one, and well, he isn’t very good. Gads. In a match which seems to symbolize our underachievement so far this year, we manage only a tie at home against relatively weak Wakehurst, despite dominating the game. We can’t seem to find the damn net. I swear we hit the crossbar at least four times. Roster Moves At the beginning of the year, most of our team had contracts due to expire at the end of this season, so I have spent some time this month trying to extend contracts for players I know I want to keep. We still have 16 players with contracts expiring at the end of the season. Overview Well, things seem to be improving as we move forward, but our league position is hardly inspiring, and our offense is still sputtering. I’m not sure what is causing the problems. It’s either tactics, player instructions, or simply a lack of talent. I have to believe, because of the results we were getting last year and early this year, that it is more a question of tactics at this point: perhaps other teams are adjusting to our style of play. If things don’t improve, I’m going to try and shake things up in November. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 01-17-2006 at 12:14 PM. |
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01-18-2006, 07:11 AM
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#26 |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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You have quite a few new players in the First XI, especially in key spots like the middle of the pitch. Early trouble is not too surprising. I have had players take a few months to gel and others take almost the whole year. Not sure what you have so you will have to gamble.
If you want fast return, the only other thing would be to return some of the previous starters into the lineup. But that sounds like a talent downgrade. |
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01-18-2006, 01:50 PM
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#27 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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daedalus: Yeah, at this point I'm not sure what factors are causing the problems, but I definitely don't want to move backwards in talent. I can see a couple of weakspots, but I think we can win with the players we've got. I have a sense a bit of it has to do with tactics/player movement, as I'm seeing some downright poor play in the replays, etc.
One of the things I've found with a 22-game season is that I don't have a lot of time to figure things out. When I've played English Conference teams before, we could be mediocre the first 15-20 matches then turn on the jets to win promotion. Here, I have to figure things out faster. November 2006 Match Results and Standings Code:
Match Comments Things get worse in an ugly Brantwood match. Down 0-1 at the half, we are crushed in every way in the second half. After the game I am furious at the team. The loss drops up to 10th in the league table, out of 12 teams. We are going the wrong way. It is time to shift tactics and try something new. We automatically qualify for the 3rd round of the Irish Cup, and our first game, against a weak non-league Lisbun Rangers team, is not as easy as it should be. We were down 1-0, then tied 2-2 at the half. Fortunately, we found some kind of a stride in the second half and put the game away. This would have been a disastrous loss, and is only a moderately satisfying win. Back in league play, our overall funk continues as we totally dominate 1st place Dergview but end up with only a 0-0 tie. Most frustratingly, we had three goals called back due to offsides. Damn this slide. I am tinkering with our player movement on the pitch a bit here, and I’m not sure if I am helping or hurting us. Things are a mess. Finally! At the end of the month, we play our best league match of the year as we drub 1st place Enniskillen 3-0. Striker Gary Robinson, who has been playing terribly of late, erupted for two goals and his first solid game in a while. I think I may have hit on a player movement pattern that will work for us. Also, I pulled our starting right midfielder, Ryan Millar, and replaced him with a less talented yet blindingly fast Andrew Smith. Smith picked up two assists and sparked our victory. Unfortunately, the win was not without cost: both Gary Robinson and left midfielder Mark McCann go down with injuries that will keep them off the pitch for a couple of weeks. The win, however, is huge, as it is our first league win in four games and launches us to 6th place in the standings. Roster Moves Brian Stitt, our solid right defender who broke his ribs in the first game of the year, is finally back in training. Although his replacement has played well, Stitt’s solid passing is a catalyst for our offense. It will be nice to have him back. Elsewhere, nothing much moves. The transfer window opens in January, so from the middle of December I’ll try to unload some unused players on the reserve team. I’d also like to pick up some help at right midfield, where we just don’t have enough talent. I’m also going to have to move some players to create salary room to re-sign the large number of players that I haven’t re-signed for next season. Half of the unsigned will likely go elsewhere as they are unhappy with their limited playing time, but in that case I’d like to deal them soon so we get some money for them. Overview I’m hopeful our win at the end of the month signals the end of the mediocre play that we’ve seen so far this year. For some reason, our offense—which led the league last year and was spectacular through the early part of this year—completely sputtered as the season started, and we simply have not been able to regain that form. Financially, we are 200,000 pounds in debt, but our owners don’t seem to mind, so I’ve decided to stop worrying about it. Let them deal with it. I don’t see any real way to make cash now, short of selling Gary Robinson or Mullan, and I’d prefer not to do that. Looking toward the future, I’m hoping we can get our offense cranking again and make a good run toward the top of the league table in December/January. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 01-18-2006 at 01:51 PM. |
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01-19-2006, 01:08 PM
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#28 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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December 2006
Match Results & Standings Code:
We get a good draw in fourth round of the Irish Cup to start the month. We play at home again against another weak, non-league team. With two starters out due to injury and a weak Brian Stitt trying to work back into shape at right defense, I am more than happy with our comfortable 2-0 win to move us on to Round Five. Yes! Signs that our offense may finally be clicking are evident in a strong away win over PSNI. We dominate the game. The win pulls us up to 5th place. And maybe I spoke too soon. We dominate again against last place Ballymoney Utd, but once again can’t finish the job. The only redeeming quality of this game is that we could have easily lost it. Down 1-0 on a penalty kick, we score with four minutes left in the match to even at 1-1 and earn a point. Still, Ballymoney is in last place. Sigh. We rebound nicely, however, against Chimney Corner, who has gained first place in the division. Right defender Brian Stitt sparks two goals by John Watson. Gary Robinson and Michael Robinson add another goal each and we cruise to a 4-0 thrashing. The win gains us 4th place in the division, with only two points separating us from the top. We really hit our stride in the last game of the year, as we blow away 10th place Bangor 6-0. Gary Robinson and John Watson each score a pair, and midfielders Michael Robinson and Andrew Smith earn coveted 10 ratings. The win stretches our unbeaten streak in league games to 6 games and moves us into 3rd place as the first half of the season comes to a close. On a low note, we lose Gary Robinson again, this time for two weeks with a concussion. Roster Moves I’d like to try and pick up an outside winger or two during the January free transfer window. Also I’ll need a bit more salary room to sign some of our yet unsigned players. Along these lines, I manage to sell two players, Goalie Paul Hughes and a back-up striker. This frees up enough room to starting resigning a few of our key players. By the end of the month, I manage to resign another three or four players, which whittles the unsigned player list down to a more manageable size. Overview What a month! 3 league wins and 1 league draw. An Irish Cup win to move us to Round Five. By far, this has been the best month of our year-long journey. Hard to find things to complain about, as our team is clicking on all cylinders. We’re two points out of first place, yet we have scored the most goals in the league and allowed the fewest, and our play is on an upward spiral. With eleven games remaining, we are firmly in the fight for a promotion spot. |
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01-19-2006, 01:09 PM
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#29 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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2006-07 Mid-Year Stats
Code:
Although I had pegged Striker Gary Robinson as our budding star, it has been John Watson that has been the better player. He is nearly a half a point higher in rating as well. As the stats bear out, we have been strong in the middle of the pitch: our starting center midfielders have been sensational, and our middle defense has been solid as well. Interestingly, Goalkeeper Paul Crawford has played stellar net for us since Mullan went down with a virus. I think he’s our man until he proves otherwise. It’s been nice to see the play of left defender Mark Watson; he has been solid there for us at a position I expected weakness. Also, Andrew Smith has given us incredible play on the right midfield since replacing Ryan Millar, who has been sent down. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 01-19-2006 at 01:17 PM. |
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01-19-2006, 08:30 PM
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#30 |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Whitman, MA
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Very nice dynasty, GB. Have enjoyed it greatly so far and will continue to read along.
Tell
__________________
FOOL - Ann Arbor Winged Lingerines FOOLX - Portland Axemen Hattrick - Fizzle United (222968) |
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01-20-2006, 11:01 PM
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#31 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Tellistto: Thank you much. Glad to hear that people are enjoying it. I've been having a blast playing.
January 2007 Match Results & Standings Code:
Well, the six-game unbeaten streak comes to a thudding halt as 4th place Ballinamallard comes to town and puts on a big hurt. We are down 3-0 ten minutes into the game, and from there can do nothing. Sigh. In Irish Cup play, however, we rebound with a dramatic 3-1 win over H & W Welders, who currently sit in second place in the First Division! Wow! We advance to the 6th round. Only 16 teams left, but we have drawn a Premier league team in the next round, so our party in this tournament may soon come to an end. We can’t hang on to that momentum, however, as we subsequently lose to last place Portstewart 2-1. A win here would have moved us up from 5th place to either 1st or 2nd place, but we can’t even gain a point. We stay in fifth place. And things go from bad to worse as we lose our third straight league match to fall well off the promotion pace. Oxford beats us 1-0, although once again we outplay our opponent. We get in these funks where we just can’t seem to buy a goal. The loss drops us back to 6th place, a full five points away from second place and a promotion. Roster Moves We add a couple of youngsters to the team during this one month where the transfer window is open. In particular, we pick up a left midfielder that will give us some depth out there on the wing. We also have some success in clearing out some of our reserve players that we have little use for. One in particular nets us 22,000 pounds. By the time the month is done, we’ve sold 35,000 pounds worth of players, re-signed all the players we’d like to retain, gotten the team salary under the budget limit, and profited 16,000 pounds in the process. All told, it was a good month off the field. Overview What a dismal month on the field. We are back in that, “Can’t buy a goal.” stage that is simply painful to watch. Nearly every match we have the ball in our opponent’s end of the pitch for two-thirds of the game. We get shot after shot, yet we simply can’t sink them. Gary Robinson, in particular, has been simply awful. His finishing skill is outstanding, which means he should be able to find the net given chances, but he simply can’t sink a damn thing. The good thing is that there is still time left. If we can right this ship, we can pick up ground and then who knows what can happen. |
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01-21-2006, 03:07 PM
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#32 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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February 2007
Match Results and Standings Code:
Match Comments Just as I thought things couldn’t get worse, they do against Wakehurst in league play. Our “miss the net blues” continue, and Gary Robinson continues to be just awful. He misses a penalty shot early that would have put us up, and we miss another half dozen chances. Wakehurst lands a goal near the end of the half to go up 1-0. We retaliate right after halftime, but with 15 minutes to go in the game disaster strikes. First, striker John Watson breaks his ribs. Four minutes later Wakehurst scores and we lose our fourth straight league match, 2-1, and lose our best striker for about 2 months. Sigh. The loss drops us to 7th place in the standings. Clubhouse morale is awful. Our season is unraveling. Or not? In a game which saw us 6-1 underdogs against Premier League Loughgall, we pull off a strong 2-1 victory to advance to the quarter finals in the Irish Cup. Amazing. We actually played them even up for the match, and things broke our way. Of the eight teams remaining, 6 are from the Premier League, 1 is from the First Division, and then there is us, the only remaining team from the Second Division or lower. We will face the lone First Division survivor, Larne, on the road, in the Quarter Finals. How we can lose four in a row to some of the weaker Second Division teams and then beat a Premier League team is beyond me. Back in league play, I turn down the tempo and play a more balanced game, and it pays off with a solid 2-0 victory over 1st place Brantwood. A revitalized Gary Robinson scores both goals. Things seem to be swinging up again. We keep it up with a strong 1-0 performance on the road against Dergview. Suddenly, inexplicably, we are playing decent football again. The win lifts us to back to 6th place in the standings. Roster Moves Nothing. Keeping an eye out for talent, but the transfer season is frozen and we’re sitting tight. Overview Well, we continue to be a streaky team. After losing four in a row, we’ve now won three in a row. I think the attacking game I was playing perhaps was burning our players out. In our three victories this month, I turned back the focus from attacking to a more balanced game and slowed the tempo down a lot. The slower tempo, in particular, seems to help us. Next up is the quarter finals of the Irish Cup and a good chunk of the remaining five games in our season. Although promotion would take a miracle run of wins, a strong finish would help give us a sense of momentum. |
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01-22-2006, 10:27 PM
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#33 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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March 2007
Match Results and Standings Code:
Match Comments Unbelievable! We win our quarter final match in the Irish Cup! We’re 7-1 underdogs coming in, yet played Larne to a 2-2 tie through 90 minutes. With 15 minutes left in extra time, we turn on an attack that leads to a Chris Johnston goal. He then adds two more in the final 10 minutes for a thrilling 5-2 win to send us to the semi-final! Four teams left and we’re one of them! Wow! We’ll need to bring our rabbits’ feet for the semi-final though: we’re 30-1 underdogs and playing on the road. Our hot run continues as we win our third consecutive league game by beating Enniskillen 3-0 on the road. The slow, more conservative pace seems to suit our team well, as we are making the most of our opportunities now. The win lifts us to 5th place, but we’re only one point behind a cluster of three teams directly in front of us. Four games left. PSNI visits our pitch and we continue our winning ways with another 3-0 victory. The win lifts us into 4th place, still a mere one point away from a promotion position. At the end of the month, our miracle run in the Irish Cup comes to and end with a 1-0 loss to the Crusaders on the road. They sank a penalty early in the game to give them a goal that we could not match. Still, we played a solid game against them and our run in the Cup has been nothing short of inspirational. Roster Moves We make some inquiries on some potential transfers, but nothing works out. We re-sign the staff we’d like to keep for the upcoming season. Overview On the last day of the month, as we were playing in the Irish Cup, the 2nd and 3rd place teams in the Second Division lost. That leaves us one point behind them with three games to play for us, and two games to play for them. In short, if we can win our next game, we’d leap over them in the standings and hold a two-point lead on second place with two games left. Promotion is within our grasp. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 01-22-2006 at 10:28 PM. |
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01-23-2006, 11:27 AM
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#34 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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April 2007
Match Results and Standings Code:
Match Comments Blast it. Somewhat tired from our semi-final match just four days earlier, we get buried in the first half against Chimney Corner. Down 3-0 at the half, we fight back to 4-2, but can do no better. The loss drops us to 5th place, with all three teams between us and second place a mere one point in front. I should have played for a tie here. Got overconfident. With an 18-day break before our last two matches, I schedule a friendly to keep our players fresh. We lose the meaningless game 2-0. In our second to last match, we fire on all cylinders and crush last place Bangor, 5-0. Gary Robinson, who has been playing much better of late, gets three goals in a four-goal first half to spark the win. The victory lifts us to 4th place with one game left. We’re one point behind the 2nd and 3rd place team, and three points behind the 1st place team. We need to win and have two of the three teams in front of us falter. We’ve got the goal differential edge on all the teams in front of us, so ties work to our favor. It all comes down to one last match. Alas, it was not to be. We grab a 1-0 lead but cannot stop Ballymoney’s hot striker. He kills us with a hattrick to give them a 3-2 victory and drop us into 5th place. Had we won, we would have not gotten a promotion, as all three teams in front of us won their last matches. Roster Moves At the end of the month we sell Paul Reid for 1,000 pounds. He was our first transfer acquisition. He’s been wanting a bigger role in the club, but his low stamina makes it tough to play him on the senior team: we have better players. Otherwise, quiet. We’ll be busy soon enough. Overview Sigh. So close, yet so far. Four points away from promotion. Frustrating to end up losing two of our last three to go out with a whimper. |
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01-24-2006, 01:15 AM
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#35 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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2006-07 Season Summary
This was a year of just falling short. We just missed making the second stage of the intermediate cup by faltering in our last game. We just missed the finals of the Irish Cup by one goal. We were in the promotion fight until the last day of the season only to miss out in the end. On the good side, we had to play well enough to get that close to success, and even though there is the frustration from just missing almost everything we attempted this year, there is optimism from the sense that we are on the cusp of becoming a good football team. Overall, I’d have to grade myself a B-. Off the pitch, I think I was able to add depth and talent to the club, but not enough. On the pitch, I was able to put together impressive streaks and penetrate well beyond expectations in the Irish Cup, but I was also incapable of stopping bleak losing streaks that doomed us to mediocrity. Looking to the future, the board just announced that they were “delighted” in my performance, so that is a good thing. Still, I have to wonder what role the now more than 200,000 pound debt will play in our future. With that, we’ll drive on for yet another attempt at promotion. |
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01-24-2006, 04:24 PM
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#36 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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2006-07 Final Stats
Code:
Michael Robinson, Mark Murphy, and Andrew Smith rock the house for us at midfield. Both Smith and Robinson were in the top ten for ratings in the Second Division. Striker Chris Johnston, who I almost sold in January, turned out some stellar performances while John Watson was out with broken ribs. I had higher hopes for Striker Gary Robinson, and our central defenders struggled at times during our slumps. |
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01-24-2006, 04:31 PM
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#37 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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May 2007
Off-Season May 1st, and it is time to start looking to next year… Off Season Goals On the whole, I am fairly happy with the club as it stands now. We are incredibly young, and should be a better team by just getting a year older. Along those lines, I hesitate to shake things up greatly. There are, however, two ways we could play this at the moment. One way would be to sell off everyone, get our team far enough in the black that we could buy some better players and make a run for the top of the division. Another way would be to tweak our current team, ignore our debt situation, and hope that we can make ourselves four points better in the offseason. As tempting as cleaning house would be, I don’t think we could get quite enough cash to put us 100,000 pounds or so in the black, which is where I’d like to get to if I were going to try this move. More likely, we would still be about 50,000 pounds in the red, which would leave us with a neutered team still in debt. So we’ll take the second course, which leaves us the following goals for the offseason: Clear out some marginal talent to create some salary space to bring in better players. We’ve also got a handful of players on our reserve team that are getting a bit edgy with the fact that they were promised a more prominent role in the team than they are now playing. It might be best to move these players before they get angry. Also, I’ll aim to sell a few players to lighten this debt load a bit. In terms of new players, I’d like to find better players at: striker, left midfield, left defense, and central defense. I would very much like to find a shutdown central defender, one who I could set to man-mark deadly strikers on opposing teams. We got burned badly by teams with one great goal scorer. And off we go… Roster Moves We start by transfer listing nearly everyone to see what kind of offers we can get. I’m up for selling a few players if the price is right. We get boatloads of offers in return, but most of these are low-ball offers of little interest. Midway through the month, we get a 30,000 pound offer for one of our backup right-side defenders. We’ve got three decent players out there, so I jump at the offer. Otherwise, we are completely unsuccessful in moving players. I start to drop prices in hopes that I’ll get some bites, but so far things are quiet. I’ve gone after a few players I think we can use, but we suffer the usual fate of lack of interest in coming to our club or lack of adequate money to pay these players. As May winds to a close, we’ve made little headway. |
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01-25-2006, 12:04 PM
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#38 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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June 2007
Off Season Roster Moves We start to more aggressively market our players, and some big offers come in. Over the course of the first half of the month, we unload a good half dozen players from our reserve squad, and clear a hefty 100,000 pounds in profit for the month. Paul Crawford, the goalkeeper we acquired mid-season last year, is the big money maker, as he lands us 42,000 pounds. I would have liked to have kept him, but the opportunity to move the team toward the black was too tempting to refuse. By the time the month ends, our 200,000 pound debt has been whittled down to a little over 80,000 pounds. The result of this activity is that we are dangerously thin at several positions as we head toward the start of the season. We only make one acquisition, as we stumble onto an outstanding central defender by the name of Jimmy Moss. He’s a good one, but I want to pick up the following for the upcoming season: a backup goalkeeper; a left defender; a backup right defender; a backup central midfielder; a left midfielder; and a backup striker. It’s a long laundry list, and we’re seeing a definite lack of interest in Lurgan Celtic from potential players. Many are mentioning that they want to stay with the better facilities at their existing club. Ours are apparently in shambles. On to July, friendlies, and hopefully some new players. |
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01-26-2006, 01:17 PM
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#39 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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July 2007
Roster Moves We move aggressively after new players. Most of our attempts end in failure for the usual reasons, but mid-month we start to achieve some success. By far our most noteworthy signing is unemployed Striker David Armstrong, who looks to have all the skills to be a top scorer in this league. We also add one left winger and one right winger with good speed. We could still use backup help at center midfield and right and left defense, but overall I think we’re in decent shape as we start our friendlies. Match Results Code:
Friendly Match Comments We look sloppy against newly relegated Coagh United. Banbridge makes us look inept, but they are in the Premier League, so I’m not concerned yet. Things start to click for us against QUB, who has just made the jump to the Premier League. We play a strong match to win a morale-booster. With the Intermediate Cup Tournament starting in five days, our B team plays the first 60 minutes and holds Premier Division Ballymena to a 1-1 tie. Our A team comes on for the last 30 minutes and despite dominating play, is unable to break the tie. Still, a moderately satisfying result for us to wrap up our preseason friendlies. |
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01-26-2006, 11:09 PM
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#40 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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2007-08 Season Preview
Here’s an overview of our squad. Players are listed in my order of preference. Star ratings are those of my assistant manager. Strikers Gary Robinson (4 stars) David Armstrong (2 stars) John Watson (4 stars) Chris Johnston (3 stars) What confusion here. On paper, Gary Robinson is our best striker and led the team with 17 goals last year, but he has yet to live up to his expectations and has frequent poor games. John Watson would have led the team in goals had he not broken his ribs, but he is wildly inconsistent. Chris Johnston played fantastic last year when Watson was out, but on paper he’s not as good as the rest. David Armstrong looks great to me, but our assistant manager doesn’t like him. Although Gary Robinson and David Armstrong will start our first match, I aim to get all four of these players enough time to let their play on the field determine who gets the top two spots. Midfielders C: Michael Robinson (4 stars) C: Mark Murphy (4 stars) R: Andrew Smith (3 stars) L: Mark McCann (1 star) Colin McMullan (2 stars) Ryan Millar (2 stars) Mike Wignall (2 stars) Our entire midfield returns from last season. Michael Robinson, Mark Murphy, and Andrew Smith give us an outstanding core in the middle. Although McCann doesn’t get high marks from our assistant manager, he seems to have solid skills to me. Defenders C: Peter Brown (4 stars) C: Jimmy Moss (1 star) R: Brian Stitt (1 star) L: Mark Watson (3 stars) Gary McClean (3 stars) Gary Wilkinson (2 stars) David McConnell (2 stars) Newly acquired Moss looks to be the real deal and should compliment Brown to plug up our middle. Watson earned the starting role last year and has shown steady improvement since. Brian Stitt plays a decent right defense in terms of ratings, but we seem to score goals and win when he’s on the pitch. Our three backups give us plenty of depth here. Goalkeepers Peter Mullan (4 stars) Mick Gill (2 stars) We’re fairly thin here, and a healthy Mullan is key to our success. I’m comfortable with Gill in net as well, but I’d like to add some more help back here in case of injuries or fatigue. |
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01-26-2006, 11:10 PM
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#41 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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2007-08 Outlook
Last year we had five new starters for the opening match of the season. This year we’ll only have two new starters, and the two players they replace will both see heavy playing time. If cohesion counts for anything, this year should go much better than last year’s adventure with inconsistency. I like the talent level on the team and once again am encouraged by our strong play in preseason friendlies. I would like to think we have good chance for promotion, and we’ll set our sights on that goal for the season. Again. Having said that, we are a thinner team than last year. A couple of injuries at key positions and we could be faced with some big weakspots to overcome. Our assistant manager says we’ll need a lot of upgrades if we hope to win the division. The board and fans want us once again to rebuild the team. The media pegs us at fifth, but gives us reasonable 7-4 odds of winning the division. Season Goal: First or Second in the Division. |
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01-27-2006, 01:15 PM
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#42 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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August 2007
Intermediate League Cup For the next month, we play in the Intermediate League Cup. This is a competition involving 24 teams from North Ireland’s First Division and lower: there are no Premier League teams involved. The 24 teams are split up into four groups of six. Each team then plays each of the five teams in its group once. The team with the best record in each group advances to the next stage. These four group winners then play a single elimination tournament to for the Cup. This year we get the draw from hell, as four of the other five teams in our group are from the First Division: Ballinamallard, Bandridge, Tobermore United, and Newry, who currently hold the cup. Only one other team, Ballymoney, is from our Second Division. Not only that, but three of our five matches will be on the road, and all three are against First Division teams. Sigh. This will be a tough mountain to climb. Match Results & Standings Code:
We start out with a bang, as we pour on the goals in a 5-3 win over newly promoted First Division Ballinamallard. Down 2-1 at the 18-minute mark of the match, we score four unanswered goals to put the game on ice. Mark McCann gets Man of the Match with a perfect 10 rating. Gary Robinson scores 2 goals. David Armstrong gets a goal in his debut. Gary Robinson scores again in a solid 2-0 win over Ballymoney. With a bit of luck, this could have been a 5-0 game. We had nearly a dozen great chances and were only able to convert two of them. Now the easy part is over, as we head on the road for three straight games with First Division opponents… Against Banbridge, we pour on pressure in the first half, but go to halftime scoreless. Gary Robinson gets a breakaway at the 60-minute mark and gets tripped from behind. Penalty kick and a goal for us, red card and game over for them. We score another goal shortly after that to make the final score 2-0. The closest team to us in the standings is four points behind, so a win in either of our next two matches guarantees us advancement. We exchange goals with Newry late in the first half then play a quiet second half for a 1-1 tie. We now lie 2 points up on Tobermore Utd, who we play next. A win or a tie and we advance; a loss and they advance. Tobermore has yet to give up a goal in the tournament. Yikes. Tobermore draws first blood in this exciting, back-and-forth match. Gary Robinson drills a 20-yard goal to knot things right before the half, then lands a header at the 60-minute mark to give us a 2-1 lead. We hold on to win this excellent, evenly played match. We advance to the semi-finals! We’ve drawn First Division Larne, who won all five of their matches to advance from their group. The match will be played in early September. August Roster Moves Early in the month, we work on re-signing players whose contracts are set to expire in June. Suprisingly, things go quite well. Most players are willing to accept pay similar, if not identical, to what they received last year. By the middle of the month, we’ve signed nearly all our players to extensions. We also spend time trying to find a backup goalkeeper and a backup midfielder. Late in the month we land Paul O’Neill, a solid midfielder that gives us some insurance in the middle of the pitch. We have no luck with a goalkeeper, however, and the transfer window shuts down with only two goalkeepers on our squad. We’ll work to pick up a free agent in the next month or so, but we’re dangerously close to our salary limit. Overview Wow. What a month on the pitch. Gary Robinson, with 6 goals in five matches, leads us over four First Division teams to reach the semi-finals of the Intermediate Cup! Amazing! I am happy that we played so well. To win two and draw one, on the road, against First Division teams, has got to be one of our most impressive stretches to date. I hope it is an indication of things to come in the Second Division. |
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01-27-2006, 03:47 PM
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#43 |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Whitman, MA
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Nice run of results there! Hopefully the team keeps up the good work, plus it's more money in the bank account with extra matches being played.
Tell
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FOOL - Ann Arbor Winged Lingerines FOOLX - Portland Axemen Hattrick - Fizzle United (222968) |
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01-28-2006, 04:53 PM
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#44 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Tellistto: Thanks. Feels like things are finally clicking for us.*Crosses fingers*
September 2007 Match Results & Standings Code:
Match Comments Playing at home as underdogs against newly relegated Coagh United, we manage to go to halftime tied at 1-1. Andrew Smith plays brilliantly for us in the second half, however; he scores two goals and leads us to a 4-1 win to open the season. With our semi-final match in the Intermediate Cup coming only two days after our current match with Dergview, I decide to play for the cup win. I pull all 11 starters and our 3 backups and replace them with our second tier of players. We play an even 0-0 tie through 75 minutes. With 15 minutes to go I call for an attacking offense, and two minutes later newly acquired Paul O’Neill sinks a beautiful header to put us up 1-0. Striker Chris Johnston adds a pair shortly after that and we are delighted to pick up a 3-0 win in a game that I would have been happy with a tie. We end the month with our Intermediate Cup Semi-Final against Larne, who are on an Intermediate Cup 6-match winning streak that spans to last year. They, however, perhaps did not rest their A-team for their match three days ago, as we bowl them over in a crushing 6-0 rout. Striker David Armstrong sets a Cup record with four goals, and midfielders Smith and Mark Robinson add one a piece. Armstrong earns a perfect 10 and Man of the Match for his efforts. We’re on to the final! Woot! We’ll play Coleraine at the end of October. Roster Moves None. We lose about 14,000 pounds for the month. Overview It’s only two games into the season, but we’ve never been in first place, even for a day, so we’ll enjoy the view from the top while it lasts. We continue to roll. |
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01-29-2006, 02:00 PM
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#45 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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October 2007
Match Results & Standings Code:
Before our match against PSNI, right winger Andrew Smith goes down with a thigh injury. I bring up untested reserve winger Michael Barnes to replace him and boy, does it show. Our offense is inept, and only a last second penalty goal by David Armstrong saves defeat and gives us a 1-1 tie. By mistake, before our next match I forgot to switch out Barnes for our other, more consistent, backup right winger. Against Portstewart, Barnes has a horrible game and we get blown away for our first loss of the season, 4-1. Barnes is demoted to the reserve squad after the game. What a mistake that was. We are 12-1 underdogs in the Intermediate Cup Final against First Division Coleraine, but less than a minute into the match David Armstrong fights through the middle of their defense for a shocking goal to give us a 1-0 lead. Two minutes later he does it again, and three minutes into the match we are up 2-0! Things settle down after that, with Coleraine getting their chances in our end. Neither team is able to score, however, until Chris Johnston deflects a long shot of a Coleraine defender and into the net to put us up 3-0. Five minutes later he gets a breakaway to ice the game and the cup for us, 4-0. We win the Intermediate Cup for the first time in the club’s history! Woot! Roster Moves We are right at our salary limit, but I spend a bit of time looking for free agents to acquire. I find one outstanding midfielder, but as soon as I bid on him a flock of teams do likewise, and as the month ends I think it unlikely that I will land him. The profits from the Intermediate Cup matches give us a 5,000-pound profit for the month. Overview Intermediate Cup Champions! Wow! After our near successes last year, it feels good to run the table and pick up some silver in this tournament. It’s interesting to note, however, how differently our team played when I took out one excellent player, midfielder Andrew Smith, and replaced him with a player not ready for the first team. With Smith in the lineup, we constantly bring the ball up the right side and get it in front of the opponent’s net. Either that, or teams will cover our right side, only to leave the middle open for our central midfielders to exploit. I think it’s very difficult for teams to cover us when we’re healthy. However, replace Smith with an ineffective Barnes, and suddenly everything is different. Teams can concentrate on bottling us up in the middle and attacking on our right side. Our attack stalls. Instead of attacking up our right side, we are getting attacked by teams coming at us from that side. In this case, one player makes a huge difference for us. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 01-29-2006 at 02:01 PM. |
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01-29-2006, 03:33 PM
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#46 |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Oct 2004
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This is a good read. I usually take scaraborough from what used to be called the old english conference league.
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01-30-2006, 12:39 PM
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#47 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Astrosfan: Thanks! Glad you like it. I think I played Scaraborough once in a version a while back, but if I remember correctly, I got fired after one season.
November 2007 Match Results & Standings Code:
Match Comments With half our team out from fatigue after the Intermediate Cup Final a mere three days ago, I am expecting a tough match against Chimney Corner. They jump out to a 1-0 lead, but backup striker Chris Johnston comes to life for three first-half goals and we cruise to a 4-1 win. We draw non-league Albert Foundary in the Third Round of the Northern Irish Cup, which for us is our first Irish Cup match of the season. David Armstrong scores a goal in the first minute to put us up 1-0, but Albert Foundary evens up ten minutes later. Nevertheless, our offense is a bit much for them and we grind them down for a comfortable 3-1 win. We get an easy draw for the Fourth Round, as we’ll host non-league Glebe. The match will be played in December. Back in league player, we grab a quick 1-0 lead, but pesky last place Enniskillen keeps things interesting until a late insurance goal finally gives us breathing room. We win 2-0 and reclaim first place. At the end of the month, we fight back from a 1-0 deficit to grab a 2-1 lead, but Oxford Utd Stars evens up late in the match. We tie 2-2, but retain a slim one-point lead on first place. Roster Moves Sitting tight for the most part. I got nervous when Mick Gill, one of our two goalkeepers, got hurt for a week, but otherwise the month was quiet. We work on re-signing a couple of reluctant players. Overview All in all another solid month on the pitch. I’ve been trying to win home games, but playing a bit more conservatively on the road. So far so good. Our debt, however, is at 115,000 pounds and growing again. The difficulty with the debt is that the board limits all sorts of financial parameters: per player salary, transfer budget, total club salary. At this point, any improvements I’d like to make to the team would involve picking up players with more value and therefore higher salaries and transfer costs. By being in debt, I can’t get these players. Along these lines, it’s clear that we must address the issue of financial solvency at some point. With our blossoming talent, I’d like to think that I might be able to sell a few players and get into the black for next season. For now, we’ll focus on doing well on the pitch, but after this season, I think a fire sale might be in order. Especially if we don’t get promoted. |
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01-31-2006, 03:01 PM
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#48 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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December 2007
Match Results & Standings Code:
Match Comments Crap. In a match reminiscent of last year’s low points, we dominate our Irish Cup match against non-league Glebe but are unable to score in 120 minutes of play. In penalties, we lose 5-4 to get eliminated from the Cup. Argh. We rebound in league play, as striker John Watson forces Bangor into a red card response on a breakaway to put us up a man. We turn that into a decent 2-0 win. Our away match woes continue in our next match, against Donegal Celtic. We jump to a 1-0 lead, but watch as they rip apart our defense for four unanswered goals en route to a crushing 4-2 loss. Overall, our play seems to be flattening out, and we are crappy on the road. Tied with ten minutes to go against Ballymoney, defender Mark Watson picks up a red card to put us down a man. With a minute to play defender Jimmy Moss fouls an opponent in front of our net. Penalty kick, goal, 2-1 loss. Ouch. The loss drops us into second place behind Ballymoney. We rebound with a tense 4-2 win over Wakehurst as striker Chris Johnston racks up a hattrick. Valuable centerfielder Michael Robinson goes down for a month with a foot injury. The win lifts us into a tie with Ballymoney for first place. Roster Moves Our central defense, solid as a rock last year, has struggled this year. Along those lines, we sign a strong central defender, Kevin Maher, and immediately stick him in the lineup to see if that helps matters. Overview I suppose it was too much to hope that we would continue the hot play of the first three months of the season. If this is as bad as it gets, we’re going to have a fine year. Still, I’d like to build off the Wakehurst win and try to get some distance between us and the other teams clamoring for promotion. Last edited by Godzilla Blitz : 01-31-2006 at 03:04 PM. |
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01-31-2006, 03:22 PM
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#49 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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2007-08 First-Half Stats
Code:
Surprising to see strikers Chris Johnston and David Armstrong leading our team in scoring, when John Watson and Gary Robinson figured to be our leading scorers. Both Johnston and Armstrong have played so well that I am finding it harder to justify taking them out of the lineup. Defensively, we’re seeing a significant drop off from our central defenders. Jimmy Moss has been particularly disappointing, but McClean and Wilkinson have also played poorly. I’m hoping that Maher can help bring up our play here. In the middle of the pitch, Millar did a solid job playing for Smith when Smith was out hurt, and Michael Robinson and Mark Murphy continue to play solid ball. |
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02-01-2006, 01:06 PM
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#50 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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January 2008
Match Results & Standings Code:
Match Comments We blow a 1-0 lead in the second half and fall to Dergview to start off the second half of the season. Other teams seem to be beating us to the ball. We seem slow and lost. Our general funk continues as we can only manage a 0-0 draw at home against 11th place PSNI. Sigh. Ugly match. We’ve dropped to second place, and a horde of teams is closing in on us. We have a two-week hole between matches, so I decide to do something to shake things up. We install an attacking 3-5-3 formation and test it out against our reserve team. It works reasonably well, so we’ll give it a try in our next match. Our offense needs a jump start. With our new formation, we cut through Coagh Utd’s defense en route to an easy 3-2 win. Coagh scored two goals after the 90-minute mark, so the game was not as tight as the score would seem to indicate. Nice road win to shore up our second place position in the table. Roster Moves With the transfer window open this month, we make a deal for a solid goalkeeper but our board rejects the deal because we are currently over our salary budget. I scramble to unload some salary from our reserve team, but we don’t generate much interest. Finally, at mid-month I’m able to move a reserve player and free up enough salary space for the goalkeeper. We go through a round of negotiation, but manage to land Peter Dicks, a young goalkeeper with solid potential just before the transfer deadline. He’ll give us insurance in case of injuries. Overview Well, our hot start has kept us high in the table, but we’d better find a way to run off a set of wins if we’re going to entertain promotion hopes. With eight games to go, we’re up on the third place teams by 2 points, and out of first by an equal margin. Still, in December and January we’ve only managed to play .500 football, and I doubt that will be enough. Got to dig deep and regain our earlier magic. |
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