retired_marcias

Good luck! I almost started an inevitable FM 08 Kilmarnock game (not with a story though), but decided against it for now.

BarryLFC

Good plan.

retired_milissac

Thanks for the advice etc. chesterfan hopefully it'll look better this post

We had seven days to our next game, so plenty of time to think,at home. I usually drop by training once or twice a week but in the week between that match and the next I stayed in the flat all the time. As you can imagine the chairman was not happy but at the time I couldn't careless.

I was told via the phone that Mohammed Sylla, a bloke who I didn't even know we had had not turned up for training like me. And as I was feeling moody I promptly fined him 2 weeks wages, he was not happy but again at the time I couldn't careless.

My scouting advert came back and I signed up two of them: John Mcinally and Jamie Fowler. I recieved news we had been paired with an easy home tie in the league cup 2nd round against Ross County. And then we had our next game.

Dundee United Away SPL

For this game I sat in the stands as far away from anybody I knew.

I made a few changes to the team that got hammered:

GK Combe
DR Lilley
DL Hay
DC Murray
DC O’Leary
MR Invincible
ML Johnston
MC Fowler
MC Bryson
SC O’Donovan
SC Fernandez

It did not start well after just 10 minutes we were one nil down but on the 21st we equalised through Allan Johnston- our first goal of the campaign. We went into the break with the same score. I did not move a muscle from my seat in the corner. The second half was completely flat and all the chances petered out to nothing and eventually the final whistle sounded and I was out of there like a shot and down to the pub even though I was OK with the result. I may even turn up at the club I was meant to be managing.

more of the big Premiership clubs were enquiring about O'Leary. Wigan phoned me up during the week and wanted to buy him for £120,000. This was what I said:

"What the hell? Do you think I would sell my best young propect to you for fa money. Are you having a laugh?" After that I promptly told them to **** off.

Motherwell Home SPL

I started the game against Motherwell with pretty much the same team except Simon Ford came in for the injured Murray and a youth who had impressed me: David Cox started up front.

It was Craig Bryson who put us ahead on the 15 minute mark with a sweet strike. After that Combe made some incredible saves and it was 1-0 at half time. I should have took off Cox but he was playing well so instrad O'Donovan came off for Jarvis. They equalised on the 56th and that's how it stayed. We had a blantant penalty turned down after 76 minutes. I was absoloutely in-bloody-censed.

retired_charytine

Looks much better like that George. kutgw. :thup:

retired_milissac

Cheers aaberdeenn

After the game I met Nicola again. She wanted to talk to me about my views on the penalty that never was. Naturally I accepted. I said a hell of a lot of things during it mostly too rude to be published in a newspaper. But Nicola got the gist of it. And suddenly before I knew it we were opening bottles of wine. Our party then was moved down town. We stayed out for what seemed like ages although as I was utterly hammered by then I didn’t know and guess what, a rival paper to Nicola’s spotted us and surprise surprise I made two headlines that next day. One was me having my rant and one was a grainy image of me and Nicola in some nightclub. The chairman was not to thrilled about either to be honest and I got the feeling we had got off on the wrong foot. He had been mad with me so many times already; I had better watch my step from now on.

I received an official warning from the FA for my troubles of complaining about the vile refereeing and that was filed straight under shred. We were in action only two days after the league match against Ross County in the League Cup.

Ross County SLC Away

I lined up with a side of relative reserves for what should be an easy match. I won’t go through them all because both me and you have absolutely no clue who they are at all. Just 15 minutes in they had a man sent off, we really had no excuses now. We were almost assured of our place in the next round when Johnston put ahead five minutes after the sending off. Then Ross County had another sent off. We went in 1-0 up and I told the lads to relax. Johnston doubled his and our tally on 53 minutes and substitute David Fernandez made it 3 late on. We got a much needed morale boosting win as at the weekend we were taking on Rangers. Damn.

Rangers SPL Home

The team was:

GK Combe
DR Lilley
DL Hay
DC O’Leary
DC Ford
MR Invincible
ML Gibson
MC Locke
MC Fowler
SC Wales
SC Jarvis

Rangers began as by far the better side having all the chances and Kris Boyd put them ahead 17 minutes in. I was not a happy man. We were playing terrible. At half time I laid in to the players, telling them that they were good for nothing and everyone of them would be shown the door. O’Donovan came on for Jarvis before we began again. We battled but in vain as Kris Boyd grabbed his second late on to complete the win. We were yet to win in the SPL leaving us nicely bottom and I was dreading the end of month board meeting.

I got in the board room early in a pathetic attempt to try and seem keen. They began by ripping apart the performances my poor excuse for a team had been serving up. They went on to say that O’Donovan, who I thought had done OK, was awful. Harsh, I thought so. They rounded off a cheerful meeting with the warning that I had better beet Aberdeen on Monday otherwise there was a good chance the old boot was going to get used.

I went straight from the board room to the pub to drown my sorrows and worry about beating Aberdeen. Nicola came round later that night and we enjoyed a nice evening together but I really was still peeing my pants about the match.

Aberdeen SPL Home

David Fernandez and Craig Bryson started for this crucial game. I told the players what had been said in the board room and I didn’t know whether that would inspire them to win or lose. 6980 fans line the stadium to watch a flat first half, the only thing happening was a Chris Maguire goal to Aberdeen. I had controlled my sulks up until now, I just went away from the whole match completely, while leaving I looked up to see the chairman giving me the dirtiest look imaginable.

I didn’t go home, I just drove on and on forever until I reached some drinking hole in the middle of nowhere. When I got back the next day I seen the result 2-2. OK until I seen the goal times. Agonisingly, they had scored in the 90th minute to equalise. When will my bad luck end. Not soon likely.

retired_milissac

We had an international break then so we didn’t have to face Gretna for 11 days. Nicola and I took a much needed holiday to a luxury retreat in the Scottish mountains for a week. I was really beginning to love her. What’s the next step? We’ve taken a holiday together, slept in the same flat for days together. Do we move in or what?

Gretna SPL Away

We travelled to Motherwell to face Gretna on the 15th September knowing that we really should get our first win of the season.
The team I lined up with was:

GK Combe
DR Lilley
DL Hay
DC O’Leary
DC Ford
MR Invincible
ML Gibson
MC Bryson
MC Fowler
SC Fernandez
SC O’Donovan

I told the players before the match that I expected a win and if we didn’t get it against Gretna I would not be happy and soon I wouldn’t be here. We were awful in the first period and it was only a matter of time before we paid for it, Gretna took the lead just 13 minutes in. Nut luckily Ryan Jarvis levelled things up ten minutes later. We were still worse after that but amazingly Craig Bryson put us ahead just before halftime. We were in with a shot of getting 3 points now and I told the team that. Twenty minutes before the end Ryan Jarvis grabbed his second with a great solo effort and we were cruising now. And then 10 minutes later Jarvis got his hat trick and our 4th and it didn’t matter that Gretna got a consolation 5 minutes from the end.

I was so relieved that we had got three points that I invited Gretna manager Bruce Rioch to join me in the pub after the game. We talked and drank for ages, I received news while there that we had moved up to 8th spot after the victory and we were 5 points of a Europe place. It’s amazing how much one victory can change.
I let Billy Brown take over charge for this match and I didn’t even bother going to an almost worthless match. Instead I had a great evening with Nicola at a fancy restaurant. It pretty much cost my wages for one day but I didn’t care and after we drove back to my flat in the Audi with the roof down. What a night!

We ended up losing the match 1-0. Oh no. We now had more time to focus on charging up the table. On Saturday we had another must win match against rock bottom St.Mirren at our own place.

St Mirren SPL Home

I didn’t change the team for this match as there was really no need. I told them we had to win this match but it wasn’t going to be easy. I told O’Donovan that he had better perform, I was taking a risk playing him so much, the board and fans didn’t like him. He certainly started pretty well, having a great shot saved just 2 minutes in. We were the better side in the opening period and half an hour in it was that man Roy O’Donovan who put us ahead with an exquisite goal. He sprinted over to me and we embraced briefly. Two straight wins- wow! We went into the break 1-0 up but we were only winning for one minute in the second as the away team equalised. However we were still the better side having loads of chances to take the lead again and David Fernandez who had played brilliantly today got a deserved goal from a free kick. We had to hold on for ten minutes and I thought we hadn’t when St Mirren seemed to have equalised but then it was ruled out for offside. After the game I invited Gus McPherson back to my office for a bottle of Scotch and a long conversation. I think I may be turning alcoholic what with all the drink.

With that win we moved up to 6th and just 2 points behind 4th place. We had Hibernian in nine days and that would be a big game for us. Aime Koudou was having a go at me in the press for not playing him but we had 4 or 5 better strikers than him so I told him to **** of somewhere else, I didn’t care where as long as it wasn’t anywhere near my club. Craig Bryson won young player of the month accolade, and by the way very deservingly.


Hibernian SPL Away

The only change I made was putting Gary Locke in for the injured James Fowler. We should win this match as well and if we did we would continue to move up the table and possibly into Europe. The first half was a very dull affair- both sides had chances but we went into the break with the deadlock yet to be broken. It didn’t even get broken in the second half and we picked up 1 point from a tough match. However we had the better of the chances and we should have won.

Inverness CT SPL Home

It wasn’t long before we had to face second from bottom Inverness at home, the bookies touted us as very comfortable favourites and so did I. Again I didn’t change the team as we were performing OK. We had plenty of chances in the first half and luckily Fernandez who was performing well at the moment put us ahead. Just 2 minutes into the second period Ryan O’Leary looked to have scored but it was ruled out infuriatingly. We had plenty more chances and Fernandez got both his and our second 10 minutes later. It was an easy ride from there and we held on for our third win of the season to put us up to 5th.

retired_charytine

90th minute equaliser. Go Aberdeen. \o/

kutgw. :thup:

retired_milissac

We then had 13 days before we faced Falkirk so this time Nicola and I travelled abroad this time to the lakes in Italy for ten days. We had another amazing time and I ended up asking her to move in with me. She said yes. We wouldn’t do it for a month or so but at least I knew she would do it.

When we came back I went to oversee training. Fernandez, who had really impressed me recently looked good in training. As did young prospects Craig Bryson and Ryan O’Leary. I met with the chairman in the afternoon and he said we were on a good run of results and if we could keep it up we could even push for the Champions League. After such a poor start it certainly made a change to be looking at the top 2.
The Falkirk match had been put back another week but instead of spending another week with Nic I decided I had to put some time in at the club. I even took my first training session during the week which was a success and I took time talking to a lot of players about what they thought about the club. I spent most evenings in the pub with Billy Brown talking about the team and drinking.

Falkirk SPL Away

We then travelled to Falkirk during midweek to face Falkirk on the 24th. They sat in 8th place and we should take another 3 points. Again I named an unchanged side as we were looking pretty good. We won a penalty after 10 minutes and David Lilley stepped up to take it and he..... scored to get his first goal of the season. 1-0. Falkirk were destroying us still though with chance upon chance upon chance but thanks to some poor finishing we went into the break ahead. Fernandez was playing unusually poorly and I told him he better start playing as we had some decent strikers on the bench waiting for a chance. The second half was a poor affair and Allan Johnston got us another goal to secure another comfortable win. The only downside was Willie Gibson was put out for two months with a broken arm. Allan Johnston would have to come in, in his place.

I realised we hadn’t lost in six games and were sitting nicely in 5th spot. We had certainly come back from a poor run of form. But how long would it last? We had Hearts and Celtic coming up so not long likely. The first of those tough games was at home to Hearts who sat in 10th spot.

Hearts SPL Home

Surprisingly we were comfortable favourites but I suppose our opponents were in 10th place and we were looking good at home. The line up stayed the same except Johnston came in for the injure Gibson. I told the players I expected a win against a side that was performing poorly. We started brightly and got our first goal twenty minutes in through Gary Locke. We had plenty more chances, as did they but we went into the break still 1 up. Youngster David Cox came on for the largely disappointing Roy O’Donovan. David Fernandez made it 2, latching onto a wonderful through ball by Allan Johnston and we looked to have notched up another win. Unfortunately five minutes from time Craig Bryson got himself sent off for a second bookable offence but we held on for another 3 points.

retired_lrenfroe

Good Start George :thup:

retired_milla0225

George. Good work Fella. We old hands on the forum always like a new guy who'll listen to a bit of constructiveness. So Hats off to you.

By the way, the story is now officially execllent in every way