Oh, not that Margate?

[EagleFan]

Tiresome job hunting lately. I've been searching the papers everywhere for a job, at this point it doesn't matter to me what the job is.

There's a curious little advertisement for a job in Margate, a manager's job. I have some past experience in retail management prior to becoming a programmer. I might be able to fall back on that for a while.

There is an email address to write to if interested so I send off an email and mention that I had 7 years experience as a manager prior to finding a position much higher up with more room to grow.


It's a few days later and I received a response from the email telling me that growing ios just what they are hoping to do and they would like to call me to discuss my time as a manager. It was oddly worded, there was something in there mentioning pitch, it must be a sales job. I'll have to turn on the charm and see what I can do over the phone.


The next day I received the call. I was surprised to hear an English accent, not something you usually hear in Margate. He asked me several questions about how I handle my squad when I was managing, must be the English term for employees. I basically told him that I have always felt it best to see where they are the best fit, and see who gets along best within the 'squad' (figured it's best to stay in his element).

He asked what I would do if someone was making trouble on the squad and I basically let him know that I do not put up with that for any reason, especially if it is affecting the performance of the rest of the 'squad'. I said that I go with a team concept and that not one person is bigger than the team.

He was impressed with my views on personnel and said he was going to ask a little more techical questions but feels that my attitude should go a long way towards what they want. He hopes to allow for plenty of advancement for me and my squad. He said that he will be sending me out a contract offer and all I needed to do was sign it and return it if I was still interested in the position. I told him that I would look it over and get back to him one way or the other.

Finally, now I just have to wait to see just where he is located in Margate and maybe I'll drive by sometime to check the place out. I guess I just sit and wait to see the contract. Kind of odd that they would send out a contract just for some little retail management position. Oh well, at least this might be something to keep me going until I get back into programing.

...

[RPI-Fan]

Heh I did a several year-long Margate dynasty once. I'll look up the link if anyone wants it.

[EagleFan]

I received something in the mail today, but it's postmarked from England. When I opened it, there was a contract inside. After reading over the contract it seems that the manager job is that of a soccer team.

It's not great money but they will pay relocation for me to move over there and take control of the team. My only experience with soccer is playing indoor soccer for a couple years. Why on earth would I want to try that.

But then again, it is a job and maybe if I study a little bit before going over the I might be able to at least fool them for a season. That will get me some money coming in and a once in a lifetime experience. How mayny people could say they managed a soccer, or shall I say football, team in England.

I ended up signing it and sending it back in quickly before hey found out that I have no clue how to manage a soccer team. The letter says that they will be in touch for relocating me and my family.

When I told my wife what the job really was, she practically fell over. She said go for it, if that's what I want. This should be one interesting year coming up.

[EagleFan]

After getting everything arranged and settling into our new home overseas my first thing was to meet with the ownership. I have been studying my ass off lately to at least try to drop a few terms and tactics to try to keep my job (they'll probably fire me after the season, if I make it that far).

The meeting went okay and they told me that they expect a respectable league position. At least that doesn't sound like too much pressure for a conference club.


In the coming days I went over my list of players and coaches. The current non-playing staff looks like this:

Chairman: Keith Piper - I haven't quite figured this guy out, he seems a bit stuffy. Hopefully I can get on his good side.
Managing Director:Jim Parmenter - Seems nice enough, but ready to get rid of me at the slightest sign that I can't handle it.
Manager: Me
Assistant Manager: Kevin Raine - He seems to be happy where he is and has a decent knowledge about playing a defensive style of football. I'll have to pick his brain without letting him know it.
Scout: Alan Kendall - He's signed on for a while. He looks decent with young talent. I'll be hanging on his every word when it comes to younger players at this point.
[/b]Physio: John Griffin[/b] - Very good trainer that is proud of his work.
Player/Coach: Mark Harrop - A 39 year old defender. He's got the respect of the team and knows a lot about the game. He is currently injured but should be ready by the start of the regular season. His physical skills aren;t what they used to be, I've been told, but his knowledge of the game is what gives him the edge.


My team
GK Charlie Mitten - 27 years old. He is listed as a backup and has played very little in his career when it counts.
GK Lee Turner - 36 years old. He is said to be the starter. I may want to give the younger Mitten a shot to see what he can do this season, until I can find a good prospect. Has played about all of the team's games over the past 4 seasons.
SW/D RC Bill Edwards - 29 years old. A first team member. Is the only 'sweeper' on the team. I might give that formation a try, but not sure yet since he is the only one that is good at the sweeper position.
D RC Mark Harrop - The 39 year old player/coach. He is a bakup that has a good head for the game. Currently injured.
D RL Paul O'Brien - 26 years old. A backup that plays team first, which is good since he seems to lack true skills.
D/M R Iain O'Connell - 30 years old. A very solid member of the club with good overall skills.
D C Graham Porter - 26 years old. Not someone you want with the ball, but someone that you want on the man with th eball. Very good defender.
D/DM RC Jay Saunders - 22 years old. Very good quickness, better in the midfield than on defense. A key starter.
D RLC Lee Williams - 24 years old. A backup that should get some good playing time. Plays very well off the ball and good positional defense.
D RLC Dean Yorath - 21 years old. Very agressive player that shows a lot of potential at times.
D/DM LR Paul Lamb - 28 years old. Agreeive player with great tackling skills. Seems to get out of potision a lot which keeps him as a backup. I want to give him a little more of a shot though.
D/DM C Simon Beard - 28 years old. Solid, but not spectacular, backup.
DM C Nick Roddis - 28 years old. Backup that needs to learn how to work his position better as he gets caugtht in the wrong place a lot. First season with the club.
M C John Keister - 30 years old. Extremely aggressive and skilled player. Has international experience. First teamer all the way. Easily our best midfielder.
AM RC Mark Munday - 30 years old. Very average at best, though the coaches call him important to the team.
AM C Gareth Graham - 22 years old. Very skilled young player. It should be fun watching him get even better.
F RC Mike Azzopardi - 19 years old. A young backup that is just okay right now, but should become a very good player.
F RC Leon Braithwaite - 28 years old. Fast witha good head for where the ball is going. Listed as a backup but I want to get him some time in there as he looks like he can be an opportunity creator.
S C Phil Collins - 29 years old. Agressive and strong player that is good in the air, plus he plays drums at team outings. Scored 27 goals last season for the club.
Mo Tako - 21 years old. Good anticipation and a very good passer. Still a lot of room to grow.

[EagleFan]

I took a chance with a sweeper formation in our first friendly at Brechin and they beat us 1-0. We showed little except for Tako who created a little excitement until his temper argueing a call got him a red card and killed out chaces for the rest of the match as we couldn;t mount any offense at all.

I tried the sweper again in our second friendly, this one is at East Stirling. They handled us easily and won 1-0. I rested quite a few of my players and I was without Keister as he was away for an international match.

Our final friendly is at Royal Albert as we travel to Scotland for the third straight match. I listened to the begging of the coaches and switched to a 4-4-2 for the game. I went with just a standard formation instead of purely defensive to try to open things up a bit.

Braithwaite scores late in the first half as he found himself open with a rebound headed right at him and redirected it into the net easily. Collins scored on a header early in the second half and we held the 2-0 lead to the whistle in front of 40 people in a cold rainy afternoon.


Reports of another injury. Azzopardi was injured but should be back in time for the season, still a few weeks away. Looking ahead it looks like Keister will be away for an international game, that will hurt us a bit. We will be playing home against Chester. My first chance to see just how rough these fans are on a manager that doesn't know soccer. So far I've hidden it well, I think. I resisted the urge to yell touchdown when we scored that last game, that might have been a bit of a give away.


I got a call from Leyton Orient of the third division. They want to play a friendly on August the 3rd. We could use the extra work so I accepted.

A couple days later I got an email from teh board. They are looking forward to a long and successfulk era under my management. No pressure there.

Just prior to our next friendly I receove word that Braithwaite is unhappy and wants a new contract. I hear his demands but the board is not willing to pay the salary thathe wants. I low balled him with what they want to pay him. I hope this isn;t a bad sign for things to come.


We came out storming. Tako was all over the place and put one in the back of the net in the third minute, after we already had 3 corner kicks. We held that lead throughout and finished with a 1-0 win in front of our home fans in the friendly.


The next day I learned that Braithwaite wanted nothing to do with th econtract. That sonds like enough for us to help him on his way. I'll list him and see if anyone bites.


It's been a busy couple weeka around here. I have to see if we can replace Braithwaite if he leaves. At least a warm body in case of injuries.

[EagleFan]

With two weeks left until the season I received word that Cresham United is interested in Braithwaite. They are offering us his value, plus another 15 grand after he plays 20 matches for them. He accepted and will allow them to speak with him. Our club could use the money.


A couple days later the two came to a deal and we finalized his transfer. His talent will be missed but it's better getting some cash for him than losing him when the contract is up.


Five days prior to our first regular season game I was approached by Roddis and Yorath, eash wanted new contracts. This is getting to be an epidemic. Roddis hasn't proven much so I offered him a small contract but Yorath looks like he has a brigh future so I offered him a 4 year deal. Both accepted their offers and seem to be happy now.


As our opening match nears I have to worry about the lineup as I see that we can only set 5 subs. I will be going with a 4-4-2 against their 4-4-2 attacking style. Not that I relaly know what will work, but that worked fine for our last couple of friendlies. We will be missing Keister thanks to international duties for him.

Our starers will be:
G Turner
DL Yorath - hopefully fresh of the excitement of the new contract
DR Edwards
DC O'Connell
DC Porter
ML Graham
MR Munday
MC Saunders
MC Roddis
FC Tako
FC Collins

SB1 Mitten (GK)
SB2 Azzopardi (F RC)
SB3 Harrop (D RC)
SB4 Williams (D RLC)
SB5 Lamb (D/DM LC)



Playing in front of our home fans gave us a bit of a charge. Yorath, fresh off his new contract found himself in an open spot for a well placed long shot and a goal in the 13th minute to give us a 1-0 lead. We held the lead until the half.

At halftime I saw that Tako was looking a bit winded, though not being that involved in the play. I decided to sub Azzopardi for him at the start fo the second half.

It's been a good back and forth match for most of the second half. With about 8 to go I see that Munday and Yorath re looking tires so I bring in Lamb and Williams to replace them. We hang on fort a 1-0 win in front of 1509 home fans. Not a bad start for the season, or for my soccer career.


Well, that got rid of some of the nerves. Time ti settle in a bit and see how I respond when the struggles come.

[EagleFan]

Next up we host Morecambe. Keister is back from international play and I have made him a starter in place or Roddis. I moved Roddis into Lamb's spot as a substitute. This leaves Lamb off the ctive list for the game.

We will be trying the same strategy that got us our first win, this time we have the skills of Keister at our center midfield position to help us really open up the field.


We controlled the entire first half, not allowing a shot and keeping posession for most of the half. We just couldn't find the net though, but not for a lack of effort.

For a halftime change we move Saunder over to the right midfield position and replace Munday with Roddis at center midfield. Munday was looking a bit winded. No other changes as I like how the game has been going.

In the 55th minute, Saunders found himself in a clear position for a shot and found the back of the net to make it 1-0. We have carried play clearly. We were abe to keep the pace of the game just as we liked it and allowed just 1 shot, and not on goal. The final was 1-0 for our second stragith win. There were 1589 fans in attendence.


We are now at 2-0-0 and ranked 5th in the conference. Up next will be an away game against Stalybridge. They have lost two straight games by a score of 3-0. Hpefully we can keep their streak going.

[EagleFan]

Williams was injured in procatice so I took him off the active squad for our game against Stalybridge. O'Brien got the nod as a substitute for the game. I also noticed that Tako was looking a little winded so I will be starting Azzopardi in his place.


We took a 1-0 lead on a rebound goal by Saunders in the 16th minute. Unfortunately 5 minutes later Yorath had an own goal to make it 1-1. We had several chances go just wide or over the goal and one mistake turned into Stalyebridge scoring in the 63rd minute to give us out final of 2-1 for our first loss of the season.


Next up is Leigh RMI, on the road. They are 1-0-2 so far this season and we hope they don;t even out their record against us. I have decided to up the tempo a bit and try an attacking 4-4-2 to see if we can put a little better pressure on the opposing team's defense. They are missing 3 key defenders with injuries so I hope this will create a little more space for us.

They scored on us in the 2nd minute of play and that's where it all ended. We lose 1-0 in a game where we had a lot of chances but gave up too many good chances, time to go back to a defensive style.


Next up we play at Dover. We are now 2-0-2 and in 12th in the conference. They are 3-0-1 and 3rd in the conference. I have changed out style to a 4-4-2 defensive style to attempt to suffocate the other team's offense. They are the highest scoring team in the conference, but seem vulnerable to a counter-rush.

[EagleFan]

At Dover we started out defensively but had little luck as the embarrassed us 3-0 by half time. We have since switched to an offensive style but there seems to be about 15 of them on the field, we have no room.

We changed to a 4-2-4 and put in our offensive players for the second half. We played evenly with them and just missed a few good chances but it ended 3-0 as we drop to 2-0-3. I think I should avoid our chairman after that one.



To show that I still have no real idea about the game of soccer I have decided to let us try a 4-1-2-1-2 formation. I am trying anyway to work out the passing lanes a bit better to give our offensive starts like Tako a chance to shine. His morale seems to be dropping and all that I can think it could be is our losing streak and lack of offense.


We host Stevenage at home today. It's nice to be back home after the rough treatment we received on the road. The first half was scoreless and we really didn't generate much so I am swithing back to a 4-4-2.

Nick Roddis, a sub in the 46th minute scoed for us off an indirect free kick in the 67th minute to put us up 1-0, this was following a header for a goal by Collins that was called back for offsides. With them upping their pressure after the goial I pushed us back to a 4-4-2 defensive posture, looking to counter attack when possible.

Uh oh, in the 76th minute Graham was injured and we already used our 3 subs. We'll be a man down for the rest of the game, time to really pull back and play defense. We buckled in and kept the 1-0 lead for the win in front of 1075 of our loyal fans.

We're now 3-0-3 and in 11th in the conference. Bad news about Graham, he'll be out for 3 weeks with a broken toe. Also, one of our coaches had been offered a job as a scout for Burnley, a 1st division squad.


Our toughest game of the season is next. We play at Barnet, the 1st team in the conference at 5-0-1. They have 2 midfielders that are great with the ball and one forward with 7 goals in the 6 games. They play a 3-5-2 attacking style, time to see what might work against something like that.