Jenninga

So here I was. Stalybridge Celtic Football Club. As a professional footballer with Ipswich, Plymouth and Weymouth towards the end of my career, I had some idea of what I was letting myself in for by agreeing to become to clubs new manager but there were one or two shocks in store.

After being introduced to the local media and shown around the facilities I was introduced to the players and invited to watch the afternoon training session, taken by the clubs existing assistant manager.

The club had expectations of another steady mid table finish. There were no funds available for signings but with many players leaving in the summer there was £3100 available in the wage budget and only £1800 of that was already allocated to existing squad members.

It was quickly clear that the side needed an injection of quality. There were plenty of youngsters that looked to have bright futures ahead of them, most notably 18 year old midfielder Ian Craney. However, the more experienced players lacked real talent and so I
began to get in touch with some of my old friends in the game to see who we might secure on temporary deals.

Phone calls to Stockport and Rochdale paid off. Michael Malcolm, once touted by the mighty Werder Bremen, agreed a 3 month loan switch from Edgeley Park and 18 year old livewire Clive Mayo-Modise was signed on a similar deal from Dale.

I advised the side that I would be looking to play a 4-1-2-1-2 system at home. With a narrow pitch we could afford to be condensed in the middle of the park and really get in our opponents faces. We had real pace up front and we'd look to play the ball around and dominate matches but could look over the top for chances when we needed to. A system that would be tweaked slightly for away matches where our opponents would likely look to get at us nice and early.

Some shaky performances from both keepers saw me take Gillinghams Lewis Edge on loan for the season.

Against Burnley we were beaten 4-0 a result I didn't mind given the huge gap in divisions between the sides. A 2-0 home reverse to Oldham followed in which we played absolutely superbly and conceded two wonder goals.

Jenninga

Further friendlies against Carshalton and Bromley, both away gave me the opportunity to assess how my new formation was sitting with the players. In both matches we led 1-0 with 5 minutes left only for the home sides to equalise. With last minute goals conceded against Burnley and Oldham it looks as if we have a nasty habit of switching off towards the end of the game.

Striker Lee Ellington accepted his fine of a weeks wages after a red for kicking out at Bromley.

A serious injury saw new signing Lewis Edge ruled out for months and once again I was forced back into the loan market.

Jenninga

The final pre-season match saw a good spirited performance but yet another defeat as Charlton Reserves left Bower Fold 2-1 victors.

Yet despite failing to win any of my 6 pre-season outings I was pleased that the shape of the side was starting to look promising. The midfield was very congested but this would seem to suit me with a number of midfielders on the books with great stamina, determination and tackling and I fancied our chances of dominating a lot of matches with our new formation.

Alfreton Town were the first visitors of the season and a 2nd minute goal from Nicky Platt looked to have given me the perfect start to managerial life only for the now traditional late goal conceded to earn my opponents an undeserved point. Time for me to start tightening up at the back and maybe changing the tactics towards the end of games in which I lead I thought. Another 1-1 draw, this time away to Worcester City in an even contest left me 16th in the table with 2 matches played. Then early leaders Hinckley visited but despite being in front twice I was beaten 3-2 with another two late goals. This time my tactics of trying to get men behind the ball left me with no real outlet and simply invited pressure with Hinckley gladly accepted as they took maximum points from their opening 3 matches.

The next two fixtures saw a 0-0 bore draw at Leigh RMI and a 1-0 home defeat to Workington meant that we slipped into the relegation zone just 5 games in. No win this season, including pre-season and no goals in the last 2 matches. In fact no sign of a goal.

Noticing that the link between the attack and the midfield seemed to be too large at times I had a word with Nicky Platt and asked him to almost play as a 3rd striker sitting just behing Moyo-Modise and Malcolm.

This paid immediate dividends as I started September with a bang. A 2-0 win at Blyth was followed by an unlikely 3-2 win at new leaders Boston and then after a 1-1 draw at Worksop, I recorded another 2 wins, 4-3 against Hyde and 3-0 against Hyde. Both Malcolm and Moyo-Modise had hit 5 each during this run of 4 wins in 5 and I was catapulted to 7th in the table, a point off 3rd.

The board announced they were happy with my performance and the fans were encouraged by the good start I had made. Suddenly, things were going my way.

Jenninga

At this stage I felt a trip to the Chairmans office to have another chat about the clubs long term goals was due. We'd spoken briefly when I took the job and he'd pointed out a number of things that really excited me about the future.

With the finances sitting around £15000 and average crowds of over 600 things were looking good. As I'd used the loan market I'd managed to pay practically no contribution whatsoever towards wages so still had plenty of room.

I explained that if we were still in the hunt at Christmas that £3k or so might be really handy to fund a couple of signings of some old heads that could help steer us through given the number of youngsters at the club. The Chairman agreed this might be an option especially if crowds increased should we maintain our good start.

I advised him that I would be sending out one of my scouts to look for suitable players in all positions, those with league experience, winding down and looking for one last challenge.

I also advised that I wanted a youth coach as, due to the impressive facilities at Bower Fold, I felt that we could bring some really good young players through the ranks, essential for smaller clubs like ours who can't splash the cash like a few of the richer clubs in the division.