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Post by jt on Jan 6, 2020 21:35:18 GMT
2020/21 - The world in focus So before i take a short break to consider my next step and whether i stick or twist with Oxford City, it is time for a nice little round up on the larger goings on around Europes top divisions. The Big 6 dominated the Premier League with a 15 point gap between Arsenal and 7th placed Everton. Man Utd are the somewhat surprise champions with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer bringing the title back to Old Trafford. Tottenham, Man City and Liverpool made up the top 4. In fact it was a great year for Man Utd as they beat Man City in the Champions League final. It was another derby in the FA Cup, this time the Merseyside Derby with the red half of the city lifting the trophy in a 3-1 final victory. Athletico Madrid made it back to back LaLiga titles with Valencia winning the Copa del Rey beating Barcelona in the final. Meanwhile, Juventus did the Italian double with Italian success in the Europa league as they beat Valencia in the final. Bayern Munich failed to win the Bundesliga again, this time with Bayer Leverkusen stealing the title by 1 point but they did manager to win the German Cup to lift some silverware. However, the biggest surprise had to be in France as Lyon won the league beating PSG to the title by 7 points but PSG did win the French Cup. Our Progress 0/17 Targeted trophies won 0 Other trophies Career2019/20: Oxford City, 6th Vanarama South, 4th Qualifying Round FA Cup, 3rd Qualifying Round FA Trophy 2020/21: Oxford City, 3rd Vanarama South, 2nd Round FA Cup, 1st Round FA Trophy, Vanarama South Manager of the year
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Post by jt on Jan 9, 2020 19:17:51 GMT
Oxford City - 21/21 Transfers & Pre-season So as you can see, the badge of Oxford City is still sitting somewhat reluctantly at the top of my updates. It certainly hasn't been the plan to stay but as the off-season rolled on, i found myself still in Oxford (Well Maidenhead technically) as i go about launching a 3rd promotion attempt. I havent renewed my contract so i am on a month to month basis which should make it easier for me to jump ship without the worry of compensation getting in the way. I did apply for some roles, even getting an interview at one but the three roles i did apply for were all unsuccessful. League 2 Morecombe was the closest i got to moving as i went for my interview but they instead opted for another man saying they were impressed but i just missed out. The other 2 were a little more left field but were in fact Bayern Munich II and Real Sociedad B who both chose not to interview me despite my strong pedigree of buying U23 players. I was hoping my dealings in that area was going to swing it but alas no. But because of the distractions it means pre-season hasn't had all of the love that i needed and i find myself with the season about to start, trying to drastically conclude some more business to give us the best shot of competing for a promotion spot. TransfersSo the wage budget has ended up sitting at £4700 per week and with the club constantly becing touted as debt ridden in the press. We even had some takeover talk which has now completely gone away, perhaps an attempt by the current owners to get me to sign a new contract. For some reason the board keep pumping money into help with the clubs running costs but we have over £600k in the bank now and we are certainly not losing money....yet anyways, so i am a little confused. We do have a bank loan we are paying back for the stadium but that doesnt seem to be putting us anywhere near the red. Perhaps they are getting the money in early before the bill for the stadium comes out. Once i had renewed all of the contracts i needed for the players, trying and failing to keep the wages as close to last years as possible we saw a few players released. Both were fringe players who were not getting enough game time and i have decided to use the regens this year as the squad filler in the hope some of them become stars. The previously mentioned Kassos is now the back up right back whilst David Shaw from my first intake has come in as cover for the wings. Then we had a few players get poached by other clubs as their non contract deals were capitalized on. Stephen Caro was the back up keeper, whilst Carter and Shulton were back up midfielders that only had 5 appearances or so between them last season. So all of the sold players were back ups, but we did have the horrible problem of seeing all 6 of our loanees go back to their parent clubs, leaving multiple gaps in the team. We had no strikers once again, we needed a first choice right back and we were desperately short in the centre of the midfield. So this is what i have managed to do before our first league game against Hemel Hempstead. Two familiar faces there for you all as Aaron Drewe and Charley Kendall both had their contracts with QPR expire and after impressing last season, i managed to snap them up as permanent members of the squad. The goals of Kendall were a big reason for our high finish and whilst Drewe loved a Yellow card (15 picked up last season) he was one of the league's leaders for key tackles and provides us our right back for the season. Filling out the midfield, Vanarama South experience was bought in with Freddy Moncur joining on a free having been released by Concord. he is solid enough with lots of 10's and high determination. Probably more of a utility style player that will sit on the bench. Secondly we added Sam Wilding on loan from Peterbrough in a deal where we pay nothing for him. Good passing and vision meaning he should be another good option as a playmaker for us The final signing saw us bring in Ollie O'Dwyer in as another option at the centre of the defence as i potentially look to a 3 at the back style formation with wing backs and to also allow me to cover at the back with the amount of suspensions we get. We still need another striker but we now sit £800 over the wage budget so i am limited to just loan deals where i pay nothing. I am trying to see if i can shift on 1 or 2 more players so we are back within an acceptable amount but as always it seems impossible at this level to sell anyone. On the fieldA mixed bag of results for us, as i wrestled with a new formation. I am not completely sold on it but it is getting trained and i will go into some more detail should it figure. For now we are back to the 4-3-2-1 that has served us well for two more seasons. The board want mid table, the media predicted us 17th originally (up to 11th on the eve of the first season) whilst i pray that i finally get out of this league.
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Post by jt on Jan 10, 2020 23:42:58 GMT
Oxford City - August 2021 TransfersWe added two new faces to the team in August as Callum Crook and Cameron Sangster joined on loan for the season. Crook joins from Swindon to be the back up to Kendall whilst Canadian U20 International Sangster adds some real quality to the midfield. In the meantime we let Zac Mceachran leave the club to join Kings Lynn on a free transfer On the fieldAn unbeaten start to the season in a gruelling first month can not be sniffed at as the attacking football has come out this season but there has been a few shockers in the defence as can be seen by the sheer amount of draws we have picked up so far. However, so far so good, Kendall is still scoring goals but the real shock has been Terrique Anderson who has banged in 7 goals already this season already surpassing his scoring efforts frrom last season, whilst youngster David Shaw has been a surprise hit with 4 goals already from the left wing. So things are going quite well and maybe this season will be a little different to the others. Lets see how it goes
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Post by jt on Jan 10, 2020 23:48:03 GMT
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Post by jt on Jan 11, 2020 15:19:23 GMT
Notts County - Takeover Update So there you have it as i leave Oxford to go upto the Vanarama National league and take on the famous Notts County FC. So here is a quick update of what the club have been up to HistoryNotts County (aka The Magpies) are the oldest Professional football club in the world having been formed in 1862. Since 1910 their home ground has been Meadow Lane which has a capacity of around 20k and historically they hold fierce rivalry with both Nottingham Forest and in later years Mansfield Town. Despite the long history, Notts County have a bare trophy cabinet when it comes to top honours with just the FA Cup win in 1894 to shout home about. There are a couple of 2nd flight league wins with the last been in 1923 with their last trophy being League 2 in 2009-10. However, in May 2019 the club were relegated from the English Football League for the first time in their 157 year history to the Vanarama National. The club was then sold in July 2019 to Danish Businessmen Alexander and Christoffer Reedtz. However, instead of getting instant promotion to the Football League the club have like myself had play-off heartbreak finishing 3rd and 5th in the last two seasons. In game they have gone through two managers with Neal Ardley and James Beattie both being fired, which then takes us to right up to ourselves. The Situation So here i am taking over after 9 league games with the club in 19th place having had a Media prediction of 7th before the season started. To be honest, it sounds worse than it is as we sit just 5 points away from the play-offs and with some good form we can be right back in contention. The 1-0 victory over high flying Macclesfield before i joined at least means Morale is in a better place but we have a tricky start with Yeovil, Wrexham and Dag & Redbridge my first 3 games. The squad was massive when i took over, partly due to the fact we dont seem to have an U23 side so i have trimmed it right down and added a tonne of players to the transfer list. We have £100k to spend on new players but just £275 on the wage budget which sits at £47k per week (Just the 10x Oxford City budget). So i want to sell a bit to free it up but also give me some time to assess the squad. We do seem to be stronger in the attacking areas. Enzio Boldewijn is the star player and the Dutch Winger has great Physicals and in particular pace. Spaniard Raul Uche looks to be a good striker for this level but for some reason hasn't been played. His stats lead me to think a pressing formation could be the way to get the best out of him. I also like Tom Crawford and Regan Booty in the middle of the park as they look to be good allrounders and will form part of the midfield for sure. Staff wise, we have virtually nothing as it looks like alongside Beattie, a tonne of the backroom team went with him so that will be another area for us to rebuild. Formation wise, i think will be a fairly standard 4-5-1 with a DM, with wingers in the AML/R slots and probably with a pressing formation that holds possession so a vertical Tiki-Taka is probably where i will start. That could be a little risky for Non-League football but i need to take risks if i am to meet the clubs vision. Signing young players and developing youth are going to be two easy ones and i am more than happy to keep people in contract. Selling for a profit is also a given whilst i am 100% not going to go over this wage budget so all of the club culture and ongoing ones will be a breeze. Hitting the performance ones will be interesting as it looks like they are expecting play-offs and more importantly get promoted with next season's aims all around League 2. I dont mind the ambitions and with it being so early in the season, lets give it a go
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Post by jawzy on Jan 11, 2020 16:14:00 GMT
Hopefully yyou do better than the managers who tried to get back to league two in my Gateshead save, 6 full seasons and they still stuck in National
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Post by jt on Jan 12, 2020 20:48:25 GMT
Notts County - September 2021 A nice short little update as we finish off the month of September with 3 games - Away to Yeovil, Away to Wrexham and Home to Dag & Redbridge On the fieldWith the first team trimmed down to what i will actually use, it was time to play some football and see if we can change the fortunes of this historic club. I had just 2 days before my first match and looking through the team report and comparison reports on the league, we had some of the fittest, most technical players on the field and that has what has led me to the Vertical Tiki-Taka style of play. I will do a full tactical review after October's games but the idea is to get the ball from front to back quickly whilst remaining in possession. So less long ball but certainly quick and high intensity. As our wingers are some of our stronger players i have also decided to try and get the ball wide as part of this. Stretch the opposition to make some more space for the team to score. So how has it gone? Pretty well to be honest as we picked up 7 points from 9 and have scored 6, conceded 0, leaving the table like this Against Yeovil, you could see we were still trying to get used to the new style and it was a solid if unspectacular 0-0 draw. However, against Wrexham and Dagenham & Redbridge, the team hit a new gear as we beat both sides 3-0 with everything clicking. Tom Crawford is looking superb in the centre of the midfield as a Mezzala scoring goals and getting past the Striker time and time again. A real threat. Now for the hard work to begin
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Post by jt on Jan 14, 2020 11:47:15 GMT
Notts County - October 2021 On the fieldWhat a move this is turning out to be. Bar a couple of hiccups we have been superb, scoring goals like no one's business and more importantly racking up the clean sheets as we sky rocket ourselves up the league table. Straight into the play-off positions and we have given ourselve a great chance of meeting the boards goals this season. Automatic promotion is unfortunately looking a little far off with both Chester and Cambridge someway ahead but this is turning into a nice opening spell for me. So how did it go down? Well we started October with a hiccup as we couldn't break down Maidenhead in my return to York Road (Oxford City's temporary home ground) as they nicked and i mean nicked a 1-0 win. However, that disappointment was turned into something positive as we took York to town smashing them 4-0 with Tom Crawford continuing his good form to score 2 goals with Raul Uche getting his first of the season. Then league leaders Cambridge were blown away 2-0 with two goals midway through the first half. A small foray into the FA Cup broke up the league fixtures and Bradford Park Avenue were dominated in another comfortable 2-0 victory before a late late goal against Woking gave us a 2-1 victory over the Cards. It was Tom Crawford with the goal against as the central midfielder bagged 5 in the month of October alone. He has been superb. In the next game it was our turn to lose to a late goal as i pushed too hard for a winner in a 2-1 defeat to Dulwich Hamlet but we were back to our defensive best against Torquay as we sealed a 1-0 win thanks to that man Tom Crawford again. Obviously the Tiki Taka football is working a treat and when we are in the groove we are superb. I am loving a Mezzala this year and Tom Crawford has been a hit. Enzio Boldwijn is lightning and every time he gets the ball and runs you can see defenders panicing and it is causing a lot of free kicks and also penalties. Defensivelty we dont have the best players but i cant argue with the clean sheets we are picking up. Squad wise we could do with some beefing up as in a few positions we are desperately short of quality past the first 11 (Central Midfield, Central Defence and Right back) but i need to get rid of the mass of poor young players the club has picked up over the years. Expect some exits over the next month or so but the good times are starting to come back for the Magpies!
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Post by jt on Jan 14, 2020 15:48:03 GMT
Notts County - November 2021 On the fieldHmmmmm.... The cracks have started to show a little as it is clear there is a bigger project here than i first thought. It isn't that we are losing games, in fact we were unbeaten in November, it is just that we dont have a lot of alternatives to the first 11. Once you get past our starters we are really thin in quality. We have some ok players on the bench but they are past their prime and more annoyingly on big money so it is proving impossible to free up wage budget to make changes. Still in the play-off spots and realistically we are looking at 4th place as the highest finish we can do and that is if we win our games in hand. Games in hand i hear you say? How come? Well because we are on an FA Cup run that is why. In the 1st Round of the FA Cup we had League 1 Peterbrough, a rival nonetheless and in two epic ties which both ended 2-2 we finally overcame them 9-8 on penalties. We threw away 4 other opportunities in the penalty shoot out to win, missing each time they missed, and in both ties we were 2-1 with just minutes to go but we became a giant killer. I was happy there, but the boys came out in the 2nd Round and this time beat an even bigger giant. The giant of Middlesbrough who find themselves in League 1 and this time it was a 2-1 victory that sees us go into the 3rd Round. A home tie awaits against Premiership side Southampton. Some rebuilding is needed and i might have a familiar face or two lined up to come kick this project into 5th gear. See you soon
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Post by jt on Jan 18, 2020 18:28:43 GMT
Notts County - December 2021 TransfersSo my first two signings at Notts County are familiar faces with Oxford City selling me both playmaker Josh Ashby and striker Charley Kendall. Neither are world beaters but i know both of them and they will be useful subs to come off the bench as the games come thick and fast. It took a combined £20k in transfer fees but their wages are comparitively cheap compared to the rest of the squad. A couple of players have managed to be moved on including veteran left back Damien Mcrory who went off to St Pats in a £9.5k deal but more importantly helped me shift over a £1k in wages per week. It was also time to get our first glimpse into a youth intake which at this stage looks like it is going to be thin but if i can get just 1 player good enough to be a back up i will be happy as i continue to try and bring down the wage expenditure. On the fieldOn the field it was another solid month but we are in no danger of catching the league leaders and we will be in the play-offs for a 3rd straight season. It started off well enough as we beat Maidenhead 2-0 but we were pegged back late against Halifax in the very next game in a 1-1 draw. Next up we had the FA Trophy and Kidderminster of the Vanarama National North. Unfortunatley a rotated side could not get rid of Kidderminster at the first time of asking with a 0-0 draw leading to a much unneeded replay where we beat them 2-0 with a stronger side. Still it is worth it as we will take on Oxford City in the next round and a chance to play my old side already. In the final 4 games of the year we were a little up and down as we lost to Wrexham 1-0 and Harrogate 2-1. In the middle of them two games there was a 4-1 destruction of a struggling St. Albans and a 1-1 draw with high flying Cambridge. It left the table like this as 2022 started. Time to get ourselves ready for another play-off fight
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Post by jt on Jan 18, 2020 22:53:21 GMT
Notts County - January 2022 TransfersOne more new face in the squad as we add 22 year old Congo International Yohan Bilingi to the squad on loan. The Bristol City Right back gives me much needed cover for Brindley as we fight on multiple fronts. On the fieldThe Month was dominated by our FA Cup 3rd round tie on New Years Day against Premier League Southampton. It was always going to be a tough game to cause an upset in and we put on a valiant performance but a 2nd minute penalty gave Southampton the lead and they scored a 2nd deep in injury time as we went down 2-0 in a respectable defeat. The money form the run has been used to build up our youth facilities. We did though progress in the FA Trophy as we beat Oxford City in a much tighter affair than i would have liked but we still came out 2-1 winners to set up a 3rd round tie against Boston United. Meanwhile in the league it was 10 points from a possible 12 as the team and in particular Raul Uche clicked into gear. No table this time as i forgot to get a screenshot but you know my by now. I am in the play-off positions which seems to be where i live
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Post by jt on Jan 19, 2020 21:31:41 GMT
Notts County - February 2022 On the fieldThis time i didn't forget a league table screenshot although i kind of wish i did as we failed to win any of our 3 league games in the month of February It was a month that nearly saw us drop out of the play-off positions with the particular low point losing to Halfiax 2-1 having lead until the 93rd minute. The one shining light has been the FA Trophy, which although the board say they don't care, i kind of do as i hunt for my first piece of silverware. Well we beat Boston United 2-0 before beating Chester away from home in another 2-0 victory to set us up for a semi-final clash with Wrexham. Can we get to Wembley.... only time will tell
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Post by jt on Jan 20, 2020 22:06:15 GMT
Notts County - March 2022 On the fieldSometimes the real understanding of how good a team is can only be seen after you see them react to some poor results. After the month of March i am confident this is a good team as we roar back into life in the league picking up 19 points from 21 available and almost guarantee our play-off spot with 5 games to go. The momentum is on our side and with wins over fellow promotion hopefuls Chester and Wealdstone the momentum is with us. A cracking month with Enzio Boldewijn and Raul Uche roaring into life again just as we needed them. Josh Coley on the left flank also now finding his goal scoring boots as well as we seem to be able to score goals for fun whilst also having the leagues best defence. If i had started the season at this club i would be very confident we would be up there with Wrexham vying for a title. Still we are just 1 point away from guaranteeing the play-offs and perhaps more surprisingly we could even nip into 3rd spot with Chester struggling a little. It is a long shot but i know we can do it. There was 1 compromise though and that was in the FA Trophy as we lost to Wrexham 3-2 on aggregate which was tough to take especially as we missed a penalty in the 2nd leg that if it had of gone in, we would be in the final against Yeovil. A game i knew i could win. Still hopefully that is my last ever FA trophy game as i finally strive to get out of Non-League football.
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Post by jt on Jan 20, 2020 22:11:21 GMT
Notts County - Season 3: Youth Intake Youth IntakeConsidering one of the club visions is to produce our own talent you have to be disappointed with that intake as we struggle to produce anyone that could better the club in tn the future. Hopefully our upcoming improvements will change our luck here a little. One thing i have noticed in this year's game is a much more varied nationality set coming through. I randomly have an Austrian and the best player of the intake Bernardo Herrera is an English / Cuban winger. Physically he looks ok and he could probably make it as a back up winger in a year or two but i dont see the next big thing here just yet.
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Post by jt on Jan 29, 2020 21:18:21 GMT
Notts County - April 2022 On the fieldSorry for the radio silence everyone as Work has got in the way. Did we bottle it and miss the playoffs? Hello No! Not even i am that bad as we easily picked up the 1 point we needed for the play-off spot and in fact picked up 13 points in the final 5 games to leapfrog a free falling Chester and actually nab a 3rd spot meaning we go straight into the Semi Finals. It Certainly hasn't been vintage performances but it has been enough and right now our form is impeccable as we have won 10 of our last 12 league games. Now it is time to finally win a play-off. Hopefully 3rd time lucky
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Post by jt on Feb 2, 2020 20:32:50 GMT
Notts County - May 2022 On the fieldFinally! 3 years of trying and we finally win a play-off and we now find ourselves back in league football. I started 3 years ago in the Vanarama South and now i am in League two. What a club move and what a final two games of the season as i finally vanquished the play-off demons to get myself into league football. Halifax were a team we had not beaten since the start of the game so getting paired against them was a worst possible result but in the end the semi-final was a tight turgid affait with Tom Crawford scoring for the first time in months, heading home from a free kick to put us in the final once again. There it was Cambridge, a side we had the better off in our own personal duels but who were leaps and bounds above us in terms of points as the season ended. I kind of felt it was going to be our final as our keeper saved their penalty just 2 minutes in and a Declan Dunn and Enzio Boldewijn goal gave us the 2-0 win despite going down to 10 men. The play-off who-do is finally gone as i now find myself in League 2. The team of the year pretty much names itself with Regan Booty being the fans player of the year and in some ways i cant deny. Perhaps not the most flashy of players like Boldewijn and Uche but he was by far the most consistent player for us in the center of midfield. So now back to League football and we have a very nice budget indeed. It is another £30k odd in wages and with a few reserve players being let go as they were costing far too much. As i said in previous updates, we need a rebuild and the £500k odd in spending moeny will allow us just to do that. This is a project and to be honest we could, with the right players find ourselves in a play-off fight again ( I mean i love a play-off fight so why not). Our first team is honestly good enough, we just dont have options should anyone get injured or suspended anad so the money will be spent buying or loaning in players who can make us have options. The future is bright, the future is Notts County Onwards and upwards
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Post by jawzy on Feb 2, 2020 21:53:09 GMT
Nice to see you get County back into the football league, far to big for non league!
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Post by jt on Feb 6, 2020 21:06:14 GMT
2021/22 - The world in focus Season 3 in game has been done and lets have a look at the wider football world. The Premier league saw Man Utd win the league again whilst adding an FA cup with a sweet victory over rivals Man City. Real Madrid continued their poor performances as Barcelona took the La Liga title with rivals Atletico winning the Copa del ray on penalties beating Valencia. Juventus were toppled for the first time in years as Napoli became the champions of Italy and it was more heartbreak for them as Inter won the Coppa Italia final It was a great year for PSG as they regained their status as Champions of France but also became Champions of Europe for the first time beating Liverpool 3-2 in the final. They couldn't win the Coupe de France though as Lille won that Cup competition. Another side struggling is Bayern Munich who once again failed to win the League title with Bayer Leverkusen being crowned of Germany with Schalke winning the DFB Pokal beating Leverkusen in the final Meanwhile the other European competitions saw a strong turnout for the English sides as Chelsea beat Arsenal in the Europa League 1-0 whilst Everton win the first ever Europa Conference beating Wolfsberger 1-0 Our Progress 0/17 Targeted trophies won 0 Other trophies Career2019/20: Oxford City, 6th Vanarama South, 4th Qualifying Round FA Cup, 3rd Qualifying Round FA Trophy 2020/21: Oxford City, 3rd Vanarama South, 2nd Round FA Cup, 1st Round FA Trophy, Vanarama South Manager of the year 2021/22: Notts County, 3rd Vanarama National (Promoted via Play-offs), 3rd Round FA Cup, Semi Final FA Trophy Past Clubs PerformanceSo Oxford City, couldn't make it into the play-offs for a 3rd year straight just missing out on goal difference with an 8th place finish. Not bad considering i took two of their best players.
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Post by jt on Feb 13, 2020 18:45:49 GMT
Notts County - 22/23 Transfers & Pre-season So here i am about to embark on my fourth season on the save and my first full season at Notts County. Most importantly it is also our first season back in the Football League after a 3 year exodus. As you have seen we were given a nice little budget to work with but our pre-season prediction was to finish a lowly 22nd and we are expected to be in the relegation dog fight. So what did we do to stop that happening? TransfersNow i said at some point last season there was actually a larger project than i initially had expected that needed to happen at the club and the pre-season was my first chance to make the changes we needed to do. A total of 22 players left the club on free transfers (1 retired but who counts) as we shaved a fortune off the wage bill and also stripped our U18's down to mainly players who could have a future here. Some of the players that left were former Oxford City man Josh Ashby, back up striker Remaye Campbell as well as Veterans Jim O'Brien and Matt Tootle. We have also loaned out 5 more players to Non-League clubs to allow them to get some much needed game time but none of them were likely to feature this season. So now onto the real action and that was the incoming moves where we saw 8 new players join the club for a total cost of £71k. We added a whole new backline to compete with the first choice back line that was the best defence in the Vanarama National. Yohan Bilingi was the first man in who joined on a free transfer having been here last season on loan from Bristol City. He will compete with Brindley at right back and keeps us having two very strong options. In the centre of the park we have gone for pure youth as regens Danny Bowerman and Russell Allen both join on free transfers having joined from Liverpool and Queen's Park respectively. Bowerman is a tower of a man who needs some work on his tackling and heading but his decent all-round physicals and decent positioning and decision making gives me hope he can turn into a solid player. However, Allen is the far better prospect with strong tackling and defensive stats. Physicals are not quite as good as Bowerman but are not far off and at 17 years of age he has the time on his side to keep improving. Both will be swapped with Betts and Bird as we go through a gruelling campaign that includes 3 cup competitions alongside a long league campaign. At left back it is a more familiar face as Zeki Fryers joins from recently relegated Swindon (Who are now in the Conference). Formerly a Premiership players with Palace and Spurs he has good experience and some allround stats and is likely to be our starter at left back thid season. It wasn't just defenders we bought as we added Northern Ireland U21 International Ethan Galbraith on loan from Brentford for the season to be an upgrade on Tom Crawford as the Mezzala whilst Frenchman Ousmane Fane joins as competition for Mitch Rose (Danny Rose's brother in case you were wondering) as a ball winner. Fane is limited but very high bravery, work rate, stamina and tackling stats means he should have the energy to get around the park. Galbraith has lots of stamina, a good first touch and also a surprisingly good tackling ability meaning i might even make him more of a box to box but we now have a lot more options in the midfield. An area we sometimes lacked when fatigue kicked in. The big signing of the window (well the one that cost money) was Dan N'Lundulu who joins from Southampton in a £71k deal. He played one game in the Premiership last season and scored in it and i think he has some great potential. Sure his finishing could be higher but again he has decent physicals and fits our pressing forward mentality meaning Raul Uche has some real competition for once up top. The moves have meant our pre-season prediction is up to 13th and now we are being expected to get into a mid table position. The board are still wanting us to fight against Relegation but personally i want to get into that Top half so it can be either a great springboard for a promotion push next season or the performance to get me into my next job. How have i done? Who is your favourite signing?
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Post by jt on Feb 14, 2020 10:16:08 GMT
Notts County - July & August 2022 With the season starting a little earlier due to the World cup in Qatar it was time to see how we could fare in League 2. It is fair to say i wasn't quite expecting this We have been largely rampant in the league scoring goals for fun (19) whilst also maintaining the best defence in the League (Conceding just 5). We are just looking like a really good team right now as things are clicking all over the patch. New signing Dan N'Lundulu is leading the League with goals with 7 to his name already whilst Dutchman Enzio Boldewijn is on 5 for the season. A 0-0 draw started our League season against a strong Scunthorpe side but it was then 4 wins on the bounce in the league as we beat Exeter (3-1), Gillingham (6-1), Plymouth (2-1) and Aldershot (4-0) as we largely ripped through teams. A battling 2-2 draw with Carlisle where we came back from behind twice halted the end of wins but a 2-0 win over Southend has pushed us into 2nd spot in the League. Now looking at the table, it could also be a fortunate that we have seemingly played a lot of the teams who are struggling but i guess we will see if we are the real deal as we take on fellow unbeaten side Fleetwood in our next game. It hasn't just been the League where we have largely performed well. In the Carabao Cup, the 1st round draw saw us paired with Nottingham Forest at home. What a tie! A local derby and a great game for us, despite going down to 10 men in the 22nd minute (Enzio Boldewijn petulantly kicking a player). We went 1-0 down but Zeki Fryers was an unlikely hero scoring an equaliser on his debut to send the tie to Penalties. Sam Slocombe was the hero saving two penalties to send us to the 2nd Round. There we had a nice tie against fellow League 2 side Crewe but in our one misstep we lost the game 1-0 preventing us from getting to face League 1 side Salford in the 3rd Round. However, we didnt have long until we faced Salford as they were in our Leasing.com/ Checkatrade/ Johnstones Paint or whatever it is called nowadays Cup group. We took on the League 1 side and a 2-1 victory was ours. Next up we have Accrington and Norwich U23 side to finish off the Group stage. Off the field we added in Wolves Chinese International winger and the Brilliantly named David Wang on loan for 5 months as both Coley and Charles picked up injuries leaving us a little short on the left wing. A great month and relegation is already looking a distant thought. Lets see if we can carry this on
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