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This story is from FM06, the database uses the last official update and I have made a few modifications to it using the editor to input a club, Canterbury City, into the Conference South I have an affinity for. (I went to the University of Kent).
Canterbury City are in the Conference South in place of Carshalton who came 19th in the 2004/05 season. Canterbury’s home ground is called Marlowe Road, named after Christopher Marlowe a notable son of Canterbury whom the Marlowe restaurant and theatre in Canterbury are named after. The stadium does not exist in real life but for the purposes of my game is a 6,000 capacity stadium with 1,000 seats. The average attendance at games is 1,500 and the minimum attendance is 750. The maximum possible attendance is 75,000 fans (on the basis that if Canterbury ever got to the Premiership then the club would have built up a following not only in Canterbury but many of the surrounding towns and most of Kent.
For the purposes of my game Canterbury City were in the Conference South the year before I start playing and Carshalton were not. The story I am using for this game is that like Canvey Island, Canterbury had a manager who was funding the club and had got them up the football pyramid, but he decided to pull out after a disappointing campaign where Canterbury came 19th in the Conference South, this left the club financially crippled and the first team players all left to join other clubs. Local businessmen cobbled together to form a partnership that took over the club and ensured their existence, they loaned the club £2,400,000 and invested £1,400,000 of that on purchasing Marlowe Road. The loan is to be repaid over 10 years at £20,000 a month. The transfer budget was set at £235,000 and the expectation was achieve a respectable league position in the Conference South.
The nickname I gave Canterbury was the Bishops, due to the head of the Church of England being in Canterbury in the form of the Archbishop of Canterbury. I intended the fact that I had to create a squad from scratch and repay a large loan as a hindrance on my ability to operate and make my challenge more difficult seeing as before this, I was used to managing in the Premiership. The transfer budget exists to build a squad that does not exist. The reputation of the club stems from the huge publicity generated by the pull out, the investment and saving of the club by local businessman, and the sponsorship with P&O Ferries. (In real life Canterbury City, who play in the Kent County Football League are sponsored by P&O Ferries.)
I am writing in character for this in a style hopefully similar to Amaroq in his excellent Sharpening a Rusty Blade series, the name of my manager is Edward Nelson.
Summary
Club: Canterbury City Football Club
League: Conference South
Reputation: 1500
Nickname: Bishops
Balance: 1,235,000 (£2,400,000 loan)
Transfer Funds: £235,000
Wage Budget: £9k a week
Stadium: Marlowe Road
Capacity: 6,000 (1,000 seated)
Home Kit: Dark Royal Blue Shirt, Shorts and Socks
Away Kit: White shirts with blue trim, Blue shorts with white trim
Third Kit: Black shirts, black shorts and black socks with white trim
Club Crest: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a29...erburyCity.png
Leagues: England (Conf N/S), the top leagues from: France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Italy and Spain playable, others basic.
Players loaded from: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Iceland, Norway, Portugal, Scotland and Sweden.
Game: Football Manager 2006, latest update
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday June 27th 2005
The sound of the Foo Fighters song End over End burst through the room, I picked up my mobile and looked at a number that I did not recognise, I was at work, preparing some accounts for a client when it had started ringing, and without too much thought I answered the phone.
“Good morning, Edward speaking”
“Hello there Edward, this is Phil Knight here calling from Canterbury City Football Club I was wondering if I could speak to you about a matter of the utmost importance.”
Funny, I don’t remember Canterbury City Football Club as being a client of the firm.
“Of course you can, how can I help you Mr Knight?”
“Please call me Phil Mr Nelson, the reason I am calling you is that I have a proposition for you, one that I think you might be interested in. I represent the board of the club and we are very interested in bringing you in as our new manager, we appreciate that this is quite a step up for you but you have been highly recommended to me for the work you have done with your local club and the system you have put in place to ensure the continued success of your team in the Essex Senior League, we’d like to give you the opportunity to hone your skills and put them on show on a bigger stage in the Conference South with us.”
I sat there, flabbergasted, I’d dreamt of management of a professional football club for a long time, I’d been managing my local side in the Essex Senior League, admittedly I’d turned them from perennial losers to winners and installed a sense of confidence and a youth system drawing on the talents of the local youths around Southend but this was a great opportunity, but a gut wrenching decision for me, it would involve a move to Canterbury and back to where my wife went to university.
“I’m… I’m… in a state of shock, you’re offering me a job without even interviewing me? I’d need to come down and view your facilities and speak to the other members of the board but it is a great honour that you have offered me the chance to save Canterbury City after your recent troubles.”
“The pleasure is mine Edward and I understand this is would be a major career move for you but I can assure you we have faith in your abilities, both on the pitch and off it to keep us in the Conference South and out of debt. Why don’t you come down to visit us Wednesday? Meet us around noon at Marlowe Road, we’ll be expecting you.”
“I’ll be there Phil but bear in mind that does not mean acceptance; I must discuss this with my wife.”
I travelled down to Canterbury as I used to do only a few years ago in the same car, a Suzuki Swift, and made it there in about an hour and a half, it wasn’t rush hour so it wasn’t too bad a journey. I made my way to Marlowe Road on the edge of town and pulled into the staff car park there; three men and one woman awaited me as I pulled in. I got out and was greeted by Phil Knight, a 44 year old man who was the Chairman of the club, the 60 year old Vice Chairman and Director, Keith Vaughan, the Financial Director Adam Kent, like myself a Chartered Accountant, and Victoria Myers, I wasn’t told what she did at the club.
Phil introduced himself and led me inside the club’s headquarters, for a club so small it was impressive that they had sponsorship from a company as huge as P&O Ferries and that was proudly displayed as I entered the reception area. I was led into the boardroom and sat down opposite to Phil, Adam and Keith, with Victoria to my left.
“Right Edward, I should explain myself a bit better and tell you about us. As you well know we were supported and funded by the previous manager James Price who kept the club solvent and effectively ran the club, he grew tired of pumping money into the club to take over another club that had a firmer financial footing and all the players, coaches, and scouts left with him, either to the same club or other ones. This left Canterbury City Football Club in dire straits and unless someone stepped in the club would be forced to pull out of the Conference South and possibly dissolve once again. I gathered together my friends, local businessman I knew and we put together a rescue plan, there are 24 of us, we have each loaned the club £100,000 to keep it afloat, purchase Marlowe Road before it was sold to property developers, and give the club the funds to compete in the Conference South and hopefully move up with the eventual aim of league football to give this city the league football it deserves.
Adam, Keith and I, were elected by the investors to serve on the Board of the club, the loan is to be repaid over 10 years at £31,000 a month. As you can see Marlowe Road is in pretty good condition and there is plenty of surrounding land around the stadium which we own and leads to the possibility in the future of expanding the stadium and putting in more stands and seating. We’ve had stadium developers in and their evaluation was that in the future, Marlowe Road and the land around it has the capability to be turned into a 75,000 capacity stadium with parking facilities and the headquarters of the club. Now we realise that this is obviously a pipe dream at the moment and a complete fantasy but we are just letting you know that there is the possibility here that this club can become a professional club competing on a much bigger stage than it currently is.”
I chirped in: “That is quite impressive and I can see why securing Marlowe Road was such a priority for the club and it is nice to know there is potential to expand the ground but that is a long way off and you have bigger problems on your hand at the moment.”
Phil continued, “That we do Edward that we do. We realise that for us to compete in the Conference South and move up the football pyramid we need to have a manager with the vision and capability to build a club from the roots up, to instil his way of doing things and build a youth system capable of producing players to take Canterbury City forward. It is for those reasons that we have brought you in here, we know of the work that you have done to turn your team around and build a youth movement to ensure the club prospers, we now want to give you the chance to do that on a bigger stage with a bigger club with greater resources at your disposal. What do you say?”
“I have discussed this with my wife Louise and she is prepared to move back to Canterbury as her job as store manager with Asda is pretty flexible. Terms are an issue however, I understand you are a professional club in financial difficulties but I would be expecting a decent wage for what would become a time consuming job. I don’t expect anything near my present salary in accountancy but something that enables me to survive and not be completely reliant on my wife. I also want a promise that it will be substantially raised if I get Canterbury City into the Conference National.”
“I don’t foresee any problems Edward” said Phil as he put forward a contract, “It’s a one year deal at £300 a week to be Manager of Canterbury City; you’ll have £235,000 in transfer funds and a wage budget of £9k. You’ll have sole control over personnel hires and transfers, the goal is to avoid relegation and if you do that then we shall extend your contract, we will increase your wages when we escape out of the Conference South”
I thanked them for the opportunity, made excuses about further discussions with my wife and also the need to read the contract and agreed to come back tomorrow with a decision for them.
Thursday June 30th 2005
Arriving at Marlowe Road the next day with Louise I entered reception and asked for Phil Knight. Having waited ten minutes I was then asked to make my way to the boardroom, knowing the way I took Louise by the hand and entered the boardroom to find Phil, Keith and Adam sitting around the table. I sat down and took out the contract, flicking to the necessary page I signed in their presence and passed the contract across the table. Phil, beaming now, signed the contract as well.
I was now the manager of Canterbury City Football Club.
The decision hadn’t been an easy one but the fact that it was a chance to pursue my dream of management meant I had to accept the offer. Louise was excited for me and promised to support me to the bitter end and I was grateful that she was willing to be the main breadwinner while I tried to carve out a career in football management. It was a relief to me that she was behind me all the way as I never liked to do things that she disapproved of.
“I have a lot to do here to get us ready for the Conference South season and I also need to get settled in the area. My first priority is to assemble a backroom staff to assist me in carrying out my duties and sign players to play for our club. As such I need to be shown to my office and will need Victoria to be on hand throughout the next two weeks.”
“That won’t be a problem, best of luck to you Edward”
I thanked them all and was shown to my new office, Victoria, my new p.a. was at her desk and greeted me as I came in. (My office was through Victoria’s, ensuring that people had to go through her to get to me, just the way I like it). I checked my office out and decided on what I needed to make the office feel more like home and what I needed to purchase myself, there was a note on the desk stating that the club had given me £3k to spend on fitting out my office. The desk was fine but I’d need a top of the range laptop, a flat screen monitor, keyboard and mouse, as well as toiletries for my en-suite facilities.
I immediately got Victoria to place advertisements for an assistant manager, coach, scout, and physiotherapist. Canterbury City had one coach, one scout and one physio already on the books but they were not fit for purpose so replacements were badly needed. I planned to have a staff of three coaches, three scouts, one physio and an assistant manager. I then went out with my wife to purchase the items I required for my office, I took them back, set them up, gave the receipts to Victoria for my expenses and wished my wife a good day as she left to meet her new bosses.
My office phone had two lines and I spent half an hour fiddling with it to get it set to how I like it and soon after received a call from Phil inviting me out onto the pitch to meet the current staff in place at the club.
Coach - Gary O’Keefe
A determined 57 year old who is a mediocre coach is the impression I got from talking to him, will need to improve the club in this department.
Physio – Robert Douglas
Doesn’t seem to have as firm a grasp for physiotherapy as I’d like, will need to find a replacement.
Scout – Gary O’Neill
On first impressions he is not what I require but I’ll evaluate him over the season, the next two weeks will be crucial as he is my only scout and I need to find suitable players. I’m unlikely to get a response to my scout advert within a week thus for the first week he needs to identify potential signings, if he does well I’ll keep him on past this season.
I signed all my current staff to one year contracts so that I am not laboured with them if I do not require them. I got an average response to my physio advert, five people applied, I offered the best of them, Barry Statham, a two year deal at £275 a week.
My scout, Gary O’Neill, has been recommending a number of players to me over the week since I told him to scout the UK & Ireland. I’ve made offers to a number of free agents as well as made bids for players recommended by him who I also thought, from the tapes, were worth signing. I also offered a number of players recommended by Gary trials at the club to assess them, including Vinny Samways, the old Tottenham player, if he’s still good enough his experience will really benefit what is bound to be a young team.
A number of the best amateur players at Canterbury were offered part-time contracts to become semi-professional and stay with my club.*
*Writers note – Amateur players equal those greyed out players you get
Thursday 7th July 2005
The first signing for Canterbury City under my management was made today, I guess that is some milestone, it will undoubtedly be the first of many.
Matt Parker, SC, Free Transfer
A 22 year old striker recommended to me by Gary agreed to a two year deal with us at £275 a week. A left footed player, he has decent pace, is very brave, and his off the ball movement and concentration are quite good for this level, his finishing could use some work but he’s definitely a player who will feature during the season.
Saturday 9th July 2005
I had a response to both my coach and scout advertisements yesterday and made offers to several of the applicants. Hopefully in the next couple of days Max Griggs and Mike Flanagan will be joining my coaching staff, and Dave Colley will be joining my scouting staff.
Matti Lumijarvi accepted my offer of a two year deal at £275 a week, he seems to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff and as he is Finnish (how he knew about the job I do not know) I shall have him scout Scandinavia for talent I might be able to bring into my team, we shall see.
In the afternoon I learnt that Griggs, Flanagan and Colley accepted my offers, I’ve also added Simon Rog, and John Richards to my scouting staff, and Bjorn Hansen to my coaching staff. Patrick Cohen accepted an offer to become my assistant manager.
I now am positive I have a full complement of backroom staff, more than I anticipated but I think they are needed to get this club to progress, I may have problems with my wage budget in the future and therefore my staff may need trimming at some point but for now I do not see any problems.
I completed the signing of what I believe will be my goalkeeper of the future, I agreed a £2k deal with QPR for their young goalkeeper who was transfer listed, Jake Cole. Unfortunately he’s on loan at Cheltenham and won’t be joining my team until the 5th February.
Jake Cole, GK, £2k from QPR
Jake has excellent reflexes and handling, he shows great communication and command of the area skills as well as being good in the air and in one on one situations. He rushes out well and concentrates well. Decent decision making and anticipation makes him a very good signing in my book and I cannot wait until he joins my team, hopefully I’ll be still around when that happens.
I also put pen to paper on a deal for David Blomkvist, recommended by my Finnish scout, he cost me £6,000 from Swedish side Jonkoping Sodra.
David Blomkvist, DC, £6k
An excellent marker and tackler, who shows great positioning skills, as well as a good teamworker and work rate. He has decent pace and a nice first touch, hopefully I can pencil him in as a starter on my first competitive game. A five year deal at £500 a week means I hope that is definitely the case, he is only 16 years old but shows great promise, I hope my Finnish scout was right to recommend him so strongly.
Saturday 16th July 2005
I’ve been working 12 hour days over the last four days with my phone seemingly attached to my ear for most of those days as I offer trails, make transfer bids, talk to agents and generally do all I can to get players to join Canterbury City. I have however managed to secure the services of a number of players.
Mark Smith, GK, Free
A 32 year old with decent reflexes, handling, command and kicking, he should compete for the starting job with whoever else I manage to bring in.
Scott Mitchell, MC, £3k from Ipswich
Very pleased that he signed with us, rejecting offers from Worcester, Darlington, and Dag &Red. Good pace and fitness combine with good off the ball and positioning to create a good central midfielder who can pass the ball and shoot as well, he should end up as a starter.
Johan Teymur, SC, £22k from Brommapojkarna
I’ve put my faith in my Finnish scout, backing him with my record purchase thus far of this very fast striker who has good finishing abilities and apparently, a lot of potential. His decision making and composure are good for a 20 year old and I hope he develops into a good striker for me.
Mahmod Hejazi, AM/FC, Free Transfer
Another recommendation from my Finnish scout, what a player, I cannot believe he was available, an excellent finisher who is good from free kicks has good passing and flair, just needs to work on the defensive aspect of his game and the off the ball aspects and he will be a star, my assistant manager is recommending valuing him at £200k. I can’t believe it personally.
Eseyas Yemane, MC, £3k from Hampton & Richmond
A midfielder with potential, he needs a lot of work to progress and is definitely a investment for the future.
James Smith, DRC, £40k from Liverpool
I’m very happy with this signing, identified by Colley as a player worth looking into he was on the transfer list at Anfield but is a great player for a Conference South club, good defensive and technical skills will see him start most of my games this year I would think. This breaks my record purchase that I set yesterday with Teymur.
James Winter, GK, £1k from Hartlepool
A 19 year old shotstopper, he is a talented youngster who is good in the air and at rushing out with decent one on one skills and reflexes, needs some work in other areas, he could challenge for a starting spot.
James Lee-Matthews, DRC, £6k from Man City
More competition for the central defence and right back spot, a solid defender with great teamwork skills, a good work rate and great concentration. He should see plenty of playing time over the season.
Monday 18th July 2005
A friendly was played against Staines yesterday, the starting line-up consisted almost entirely of players on trial and this was reflected by the fact it was drawn 1-1. Vinny Samways won the man of the match award but there were no real stand out performances from the lads, Michael Jeffrey, a AM/FC, came on at half-time and grabbed our goal, I will start him in the next game and see if he is worth giving a contract.
I’ve also completed the signings of four more players, one, Eddie Hope is a youngster and signed for potential only. The others are Mark Jones, Jacob Gudiol, and Andrew Appleby.
Mark Jones, DC/MC, £50k from Liverpool
I break my record signing again, this lad is only 19 but Liverpool didn’t want him and so I signed him off them, a good all round player who can play in defence or midfield, he’ll see a lot of action this year as he has lots of talent.
Jacob Gudiol, DC, £2k from Hogaborg
Signed on the Finn’s recommendation, a decent central defender who may compete for playing time this season.
Andrew Appleby, SC, £1k from Hartlepool
This 19 year old has good pace, finishing and dribbling skills, he works hard and in a team and shows great maturity for a player so young. Appleby should compete for a starting spot upfront.
Thursday 21st July 2005
The team travelled down to Slough, which is right next to London Heathrow Airport, for a friendly. The trialists were on the pitch again however once again it was not a great performance from them. The best performance of the match came from Driver who I had signed the day before, and Teymur when I brought him on impressed me. The match ended up a 2-1 victory.
Andrew Driver, AML, £1k from Hearts
A pacey left winger with good passing and crossing ability, he shows great determination, aggression and bravery. I have him pencilled in as my starter in the left winger role I like to play.
Thanks for the positive comments, much appreciated.
Monday 25th July 2005
Friendly
Aylesbury 0 – 3 Canterbury City
Goals from Teymur, Yemane, and a late one from Hejazi ensured a convincing victory for Canterbury as the trialists were moved to the reserve squad. Winter, Smith, Driver and Mitchell had great games, with Hejazi playing very well and winning the man of the match award.
Thursday 29th July 2007
We had what I would call our first competitive friendly of the pre-season, a match against higher level opposition in the form of League Two club Mansfield. I started what I consider my full strength line up. It paid dividends straight away as cool finishing from Teymur gave me an early one goal lead as he was put through one on one with the keeper and slotted it home. Mansfield then started to apply pressure to our defence, and as Rundle put Jelleyman through down the line he crossed the ball into the six yard box to see Birchall score a tap in. Mansfield had equalised, however, the assistant’s flag was up and it had been ruled out as Birchall was offside to my relief.
After half time we started to apply constant pressure to the Mansfield defence and as Driver crossed from the left it was controlled by Hejazi who had a golden opportunity to score, he fired a shot at goal only to see the veteran Kevin Pressman make a brilliant save to prevent a goal. His great work was undone however when Teymur was played the ball into his feet on the penalty spot, he quickly controlled it, turned and fired a lethal shot that went wide of Pressman and into the bottom corner of the goal. 2-0 Canterbury!
On the hour mark Hejazi was put through once again and with the goal at his mercy made no mistake to score with a delicate shot to the side of Pressman, the score was now 3-0 to Canterbury and that is how it finished.
Canterbury City 3 – 0 Mansfield
CC: Teymur 2, Hejazi;
MoM: Teymur
I told the lads it was a fantastic result and that we had to build on it to succeed this year in the Conference South, I did remind them that it was only a friendly.
I got a call from Phil Knight to come to the boardroom at 10am. As I arrived I could see that Adam, Keith and Victoria were already there, along with the Chairman Phil Knight. I wasn’t aware that on the first of the month the Board holds a meeting to which I am invited and expected to attend. They discuss financials, performance, and expectations apparently.
Phil Knight started the meeting by saying that the Directors were still sure that they made the right choice in appointing me and pointed to the increasing squad size and staff coming in as proof that the decision was a good one. He also mentioned that the victory over Mansfield, even though a friendly, was a good result and hoped there were many more to come. He then passed over to Adam.
Adam Kent, the Financial Director, proceeded to discuss the financial situation, the club made a loss of £198,000 in the month of July but made sure to note that £108,500 of that was due to transfer fees and £31k was the interest payment on the loan. Income was minimal, with virtually no gate receipts or merchandising revenue at all. He informed the board that season tickets to the value of £125 had been sold to make the total for the year £3,569. My transfer budget of £234,000 now stood at a little under £61,000. Adam promised that 70% of all transfer revenue would be made available to me and added to my transfer budget. I wasn’t even thinking about selling players at the moment, being too busy trying to secure the services of them.
With season ticket revenue at only £3,569 for the year I could see that on the financial side Canterbury might be in a lot of trouble, I made notes to check our gate receipts per game once we started playing in the Conference South to ensure that I got an accurate picture of the financial situation and also made a note that the wages figure may need to come down in the future once I’ve evaluated the talent at my disposal and decided who I could do without. I needed to ensure the club was financially sustainable as well as successful on the pitch if I was to have any chance of progressing up the football pyramid.
Thursday 5th August 2005
A friendly against Portsmouth Reserves at Marlowe Road would be out last game before our first Conference South game of the season against Bishops Stortford. Portsmouth Reserves came out playing a standard 4-4-2 formation while I stuck with a more aggressive and attacking 4-4-2 formation featuring two central midfielders staying in the middle of the pitch, while the two wingers pushed forward and supported my two strikers. I gave a run out to two of the trialists I was most likely to sign, Graeme Law a young striker, and Neil Ashley a decent central midfielder. I think every single player Portsmouth put on the pitch was worth more than my entire team put together. I know Mbesuma was worth more than the loan hanging over Canterbury City, seeing as he was valued at £2.5 million.
From the outset of the game Portsmouth dominated and it wasn’t too long before Mbesuma got on the scoresheet in the 11th minute when he was put through by Todorov. My team were looking lacklustre and although they put Portsmouth under pressure at certain points we went into half-time 1-0 down and I was just glad it wasn’t greater! 5 minutes into the second half and some of the players didn’t seem to be responding to my half-time team talk so I took off Law and put on Hejazi, my Norwegian starlet, as well as making a couple of other changes. It wasn’t making much difference as we were unable to create any clear chances and were relying on the goalkeeping exploits of Winters to keep the score at 1-0 to Portsmouth. In the 90th minute Sawyers played a ball into the Porstmouth box looking for Teymur, Wilson intercepted for them, chesting the ball down, controlling it and was about to clear when Hejazi nipped in and took the ball from him with some deft footwork, he then rounded Wilson and drilled a shot at goal into the near corner which beat their keeper. It was a marvellous bit of opportunism by Hejazi and a great finish, my players went mad having battled for so long and I couldn’t resist myself. After the game finished I congratulated the lads on coming back and never giving up, as well as singling out praise for Hejazi for being such a great opportunist.
In the end our preseason was a set of decent run-outs and some good performances as I found my best team for the season ahead. The record we accumulated in our six friendlies was three wins, two draws and a loss.
1-1 against Staines
2-1 against Slough
3-0 against Aylesbury
3-0 against Mansfield
1-2 against Charlton Reserves
1-1 against Portsmouth Reserves
Saturday 13th August 2005 – Saturday 10th September 2005
The first match of our Conference South campaign started off in some fashion with us winning a corner after one two minutes from which Hejazi leapt up and drilled a header into the goal at the far post. My celebrations were short lived however when Bishop Stortford’s Forbes scored a stunning free kick from the edge of area just two minutes later to make it 1-1. It remained like that when we broke for half-time. I told the lads that they were playing well and had the opportunity to win this and they could do it.
There was only fifteen minutes when the Bishops Stortford defenders were passing it along the backline when one of them overshot the other and Andrew Appleby, starting upfront for me, nabbed the ball and as a consequence was one on one with the keeper, taking it round him he slotted it home to give my team the lead. I could of kissed him. We managed a third when Teymur headed down a long ball for Hejazi who took a shot at goal only for the Bishops Stortford keeper to parry it, straight to Teymur, who slotted it past the keeper into the bottom corner of the goal.
Canterbury City 3 Bishops Stortford 1
Goals: Hejazi 2, Appleby 75, Teymur 82; Forbes 4;
MoM: Johan Teymur
We followed the Bishops Stortford game by making the journey to St. Albans in Hertfordshire to play St. Albans City at Clarence Park, a 6,000 capacity ground that seats 904, very similar to Marlowe Road in fact. My team didn’t have too much trouble with St Albans as two first half goals from Appleby and my new signing Peter Gitselov who I envisioned as my starting attacking midfielder playing alongside the less attack minded Scott Mitchell. Gitselov has great flair and the ability to shoot from range with accuracy, his tackling is strong but he needs to work on his distribution to take his game to the next level.
St. Albans 0 Canterbury City 2
Goals: Appleby 23, Gitselov 35;
MoM: Andrew Appleby
Two matches, two victories, perhaps this manager lark wasn’t so tough, once again my ego took over but that didn’t stop my team entertaining Cambridge City and demonstrating the same ruthless efficiency with which we despatch St. Albans as goals either side of half time from Maddison and Hejazi ensured a comfortable 2-0 victory with Hejazi walking away as the Man of the Match. The attendance was improved on the game against Bishops Stortford as 992 filed into Marlowe Road as opposed to the seven hundred odd for my first competitive game in charge.
Canterbury City 2 Cambridge City 0
We remained in second place after three games as Eastbourne Borough kept up their winning ways, Weymouth kept in touch with us as well and were undefeated at this stage as well. The next game on the calendar was against Yeading, at the Warren in Hayes. Yeading came out quite defensively and kept us honest as they played some good football and we went in at half-time with the game scoreless. When I told the lads to start attacking them more and focusing the ball down the wings it paid dividends as goals from Hejazi and then Teymur gave my team the three points and made sure we stayed level with Eastbourne Borough who also won.
Yeading 0 – Canterbury City 2
After the victory against Yeading there was a break for international fixtures, England did well as they won both of their international games by 2-0 margins. After the internationals we entertained Bognor Regis, one of the more interesting names for a town in England, who were in 21st place with only 1 draw from their opening four games. This showed as my team ran rampant and destroyed them 5-0 to record our largest win thus far. A hat-trick from Teymur combined with goals from Appleby and Mitchell gave us the 5-0 victory and unsurprisingly Teymur was the man of the match, the attendance almost broke the 1,000 barrier with 996 in attendance, how I wish my parents and brothers had made the journey down!
We then travelled to play Weston-super-mare at their ground, Woodspring Park, which held 3,000 though it looked smaller. Having won my first five games in charge I was very confident once again and now my team were top of the table I hoped to make it six victories in a row by recording yet another win. Appleby opened the scoring after just 14 minutes with a nice strike when put through one on one with the keeper by Teymur. We were still 1-0 up at half time and I encouraged the lads to get another and ensure the victory. However shortly after half-time Danny Webb scored for the home side and as I told my team to try and retake the lead they sprung a counter attack from which Marvin Brown scored with only five minutes to go to put Weston-super-mare in the lead, I was devastated and in shock. Despite my instructions for an all out attack that was how the match ended and I suffered the first of what will no doubt be many losses.
That result meant we were no longer first as Eastbourne Borough won their game after drawing their previous one. The top of the table looked like this after six games:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">POS Team PLD WON DRN LST FOR AG PTS1st Eastbourne Boro 6 5 1 0 14 4 162nd Canterbury City 6 5 0 1 15 3 153rd Weymouth 6 4 2 0 14 5 144th Welling 6 4 1 1 8 4 135th Lewes 6 3 2 1 9 6 11 </pre>
Monday 19th September 2005
The draw for the second qualifying round of the FA Cup is made today and I settled down with the radio in my office to listen to the draw announced. Being from Essex I had a strange affinity for the teams local to where I used to live, as I heard teams Like Billericay, Maldon, Tilbury drawn I hoped they would all manage to get through the next round. I particularly hoped Chelmsford would beat Brislington as the Clarets, as Chelmsford were known, were looking to advance up the footballing pyramid and a good run in the FA Cup would do wonders for their morale, and hopefully their financial situation as well.
It was a long process as their were 168 teams in the proverbial hat. With 70 teams to go Histon from the English Conference South were picked and then out came Canterbury City. Great I thought, a English Conference South side as opposed to a team further down the pyramid, away as well. I suppose I can be thankful it’s not a Conference National side. The game is scheduled for this coming Saturday leaving me with little time for preparation. I came across an evening paper that was covering the draw and it stated that “the undoubted tie of the round sees Conference South side Canterbury City travel to newly-promoted Histon.” I was quite chuffed at that, I guess it was the game of the round as Histon are sixth and we’re second.
Saturday 24th September 2005 – Friday 30th September 2005
I sincerely hope that our game was not the tie of the round, because if it was, it must have been the most boring round in the history of the FA Cup. A drab affair was what I would use to describe our game against Histon at Bridge Road, Cambridge. The game was scoreless and pretty much lifeless until the 91st minute when Lee-Matthews played a ball into the box which was met by the head of the Histon central defender, unfortunately he headed it to Teymur who controlled it and powered it past their keeper. The game came to life as Histon sought an equaliser, pouring on the pressure but my keeper, Nicholas Baker, kept them at bay and 1-0 was how the game finished. We were through to the next round of the FA Cup, which got us £3,800 in prize money.
Histon 0 Canterbury City 1
Goals: Teymur;
MoM: Teymur
The draw for the Third Qualifying round of the FA Cup took place on the Monday and although I didn’t have to wait nearly as long, we were still drawn against Conference South opposition, away from home, in the form of Dorchester who were currently 13th in the division. One thing I noticed in the second qualifying round replays was that Braintree beat Thurrock, both Essex teams but I had a bit more of an affinity for the Iron, as Braintree are known.
Seeking Salvation 
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