retired_w0lfpack1

Saturday, 14th August, 2004. Conference North - Game 1, at Hinckley.

It was a long drive down the M6 to Hinckley, which is centrally located, between Coventry and Leicester. Its not a particularly scenic location, but Middlefield Lane felt familiar - its similarly laid out to our own Giant Axe. The crowd of 329 was doing their best to be noisy and raucous, but in an open-air venue, it didn't amount to much distraction.

I started Jamie Spear in net, with Andy Scott, Ricky Mercer, Martin Clark, and Paul Sparrow across the back four - Mercer in for McMahon, who was back in training but not yet match fit, and the experienced Sparrow starting for Uberschar on the road. Steve Birks and coach Gary Bauress were our defensive midfielders, with Chris Beech central. New signing Shane Tolley earned the start at AMC, while up front Michael Yates was paired with Peter Thomson. Hinckley came out in a standard 4-4-2.

Disaster struck early, as a vicious tackle by Tommy Goodwin rendered Bauress unable to last to the fifth minute. Gary couldn't have been mugged worse if Goodwin had had a knife and taken his wallet. I nearly burst a vein, I was so angry - the ref didn't even call a foul! Its a rough league, as I was to learn.

I moved Mercer up to defensive mid, swung Sparrow over to central defense, and put Whittle on at right back. It didn't take long for Hinckley to find the weak link in our central defense, and by the 20th minute all the pressure was on us. Sam McMahon's free kick bounced off our crossbar in the 20th minute, Paul Barnes missed from only 6 yards out at the 23rd minute, and blazed one over the bar at the 27th. It was clear that there was something wrong with our defense, but I couldn't see how to correct it - Barnes kept finding space between my two central defenders, which made some sense as Sparrow wasn't used to the position. I was playing a zonal defense, and it looked like both expected that Barnes was in the other's zone.

In the 34th minute, right back Stuart Storer sent a long ball over the top of our defense. Barnes looked to be badly offsides, slipping past Martin Clark before the ball was struck, but the woeful linesman missed it, and Barnes had an easy chance, hammering it past the hapless Jamie Speare from 6 yards out. I almost picked up a yellow card screaming at the ref, it was such a bad call!

Worse luck, in the 45th minute Ricky Mercer, playing DMC, collided heavily with Richard Lavery, and he, too was unable to continue. Of course, there was no call. I put Stewart Clitheroe on for him, only to see Chris Beech hurt during injury time.

We tried to treat Beech over the half, but he was unable to go back out to start the second, so I sent on Phil Clarkson, which left me out of substitutions at halftime! I told the lads if the ref was this bad - not one of our injuries had drawn a foul - they could tackle as hard as they liked in the second half. I made some slight tactical adjustments to our midfield, basically creeping everybody forward a bit more, and trying to straighten out the tangled mess which sometimes occurred in the center.

As you might imagine, the second half got very ugly. Our lads were in a black mood, and Hinckley remained as vicious as they'd been in the first half. The referee finally began to step in, and the action was stopped repeatedly for fouls and a flurry of yellow cards - both sides ended up with four apiece. Our tougher attitude slowed the Hinckley attack, but it also tired the lads out quite a bit, and left us with little energy to make a late push.

Michael Yates, in particular, was thoroughly knackered by the 70th minute, and I sorely wished I had another substitution with which to bring him off. Sensing our weakness, Hinckley began to push forward more and more, often sending six or seven into the attack as they sought the knockout second goal. To our lads' credit, they held strong, but were very much unable to counter-attack. Anything they tried was shut down, even if it looked like we had numbers. When the final whistle blew, it was a mercy.

Hinckley 1, Lancaster 0
Beech 34; ----
MoM: Lavery (Hinckley DMC)

The only real bright spot of the match was Shane Tolley. The 19-year-old attacking midfielder had set up Michael Yates with an incisive pass in the first half, took our only shot of the second half, and still had a bit left in the tank at the end. Still, we were outshot 12-2, and the hosts had well deserved their victory.

I was very bitter about the standard of refereeing, but was told that the FA, swamped by such complaints, were no longer accepting them.

retired_w0lfpack1

Monday, 16th August, 2004.

I gave the lads Sunday off, which I was happy to spend with my fiancee. With most of the unpacking done, the place is at least livable, but now we have all the fun of trying to plan our wedding. We had a bunch of things lined up in California before my sudden career change - and that's going to make it quite a challenge!

We regrouped again Monday evening - our practices tend to be once in the early morning, before work starts, and once in the evening gloaming, training under the lights after work ends, as most of my players have job. In fact, the most common taunt in training, after a steal, a fake-out, or a save in goal, is "Don't quit your day job!"

I had the report from the physio: fortunately no lasting injuries. Gary Bauress was worst off, with a deep thigh bruise which would keep him out at least a week, two matches for certain if not more.

Ricky Mercer had a nasty shin bruise that would rule him out of tomorrow's match, but he could go in a pinch on Saturday.

Chris Beech was practicing gingerly, and told me he should be able to play tomorrow night. After watching him limp through practice, though, I pencilled in Stewart Clitheroe at the central midfield place: it looked like Chris's ankle was quite sore, even if he wouldn't admit it for love or money.

I had made a season-long loan offer to Blackburn for central midfielder Ciaran Donnelly, and there was a fax on my desk which must have come in sometime Sunday, stating that they accepted the offer, and giving me the cell phone number of Donnelly's agent. I gave him a ring, but got voice mail.

Also, Poole Borough and Kendal Town both asked for 18-year-old Ryan Yeomans on loan. It would suit me to see him get some quality time in goal, but only Poole had offered me a 'recall' clause - the ability to bring him back immediately if I needed him - so I accepted their offer, while countering Town's with similar terms.

I was using an Excel spreadsheet to track who I felt was improving their game, and reviewed it with my coaches over the evening. We felt like Ryan Elderton was making the most progress, especially in the technical aspects of his game; he'd be rewarded with the starting berth in Bauress' absence. Winger Lee Clitheroe and striker Ryan-Zico Black were also improving notably.

One other thing I noted - we'd bulked up, from 31 players to 36. With the wage bill a serious concern, I'd need to do something about that.

retired_w0lfpack1

Tuesday, 17th August, 2004. Conference North - Game 2, vs Hucknall.

Hucknall received a similar vague description from Carl Richardson: "Hucknall are a competent team, with a pacey attacking line." Great.

Dunbar United have closed a loan deal with Jimmy Graham, while Marine have reached a contract with Tony Sullivan. The deal lacked only my final signature, which I delayed until after our match Tuesday evening, to squeeze one more match out of him.

With the injuries and tired legs from the Saturday game, there were numerous changes in my lineup, as I switched to my favored 4-5-1 formation. Joe McMahon and Neil Uberschar joined Andy Scott and Martin Clark in the back four, replacing Mercer and Sparrow. Ryan Elderton would start at the lone DMC position, with Lee Clitheroe and Neil Prince the wingers. Jason Lay and Steve Jones would take the AMC positions, with Tony Sullivan making his first and last competitive appearance for us as the lone striker. Only 3 men from the opening match were starting this one, and one of those was goalkeeper Jamie Speare.

We got off to a great start, mounting loads of pressure on Hucknall in the first 10 minutes, before they got a counter-attack which resulted in a shot ricocheting off of Jamie Speare's crossbar. Our pressure continued through the quarter-hour, with David Artell forced to pick up a yellow card in the 12th minute, but began to slow a bit after that, as their defense soaked up attack after attack.

In the 25th minute, Gary Patterson dropped a Hucknall free kick right to Leon McSweeney, who launched a beautiful half-volley from the 18-yard stripe. There was little Speare could do but pick it out of the back of the net - astoundingly against the run of play. In the 40th minute, Artell brought down Tony Sullivan on the left wing, and received his second yellow card - a red! So we went into the half down 0-1 but a man up.

I gave the lads a more attacking slant, keeping the shape but pushing more people forward to get some additional options, but right from the restart Hucknall bunkered down, playing very tight defense. The introduction of Yates in the 63rd minute and Mellor in the 74th didn't seem to help us, and time was running out.

In the 79th minute, Martin Clark was called for a foul, and was lucky not to earn his second yellow of the game; Lee Clitheroe picked up a yellow arguing the call, but the real damage was to follow, as Roy Hunter stepped up and drove a 30-yard free kick on goal. It wasn't curving, it wasn't to the corner, and it looked like Jamie Speare had it.. but he tried to catch it above his head, and it went straight through his hands and into the net. The lads looked gutted, and at 0-2 it was all but over.

We did mount one last chance in injury time, when Michael Yates dribbled along the end line towards the near post. He cut it back to the top of the box for Ryan Elderton, but the youngster's 18-yard blast flew over the bar.

Lancaster 0, Hucknall 2
----; McSweeney 25, Hunter 81
MoM: Patterson (Hucknall DC)

It was somewhat telling that Hucknall central defenseman Gary Patterson won Man of the Match, not just for the assist on the first goal - he'd made a number of key tackles throughout the match in an impressive performance. Despite the scoreline, I was pleased with our performance: we'd dominated 60% of posession, and kept it in the Hucknall end most of the match. It was obvious what our weakness had been: we'd gotten off only 3 shots on goal, and 2 of those had come in the first ten minutes.

I was less pleased when I saw the standings: we were now down in 18th place.

retired_w0lfpack1

Thursday, 19th August, 2004

After the match, Tony Sullivan left to join Marine on a £6,000 transfer - our first income - and Jimmy Graham joined Dunbar United on a three-month loan.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Tony Sullivan, 01-06-04 to 08-17-04, 1 game, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 MoM, AvR 7.00</pre>

Even better I now had a transfer budget: a whopping £994. Wait a minute! When I'd spoken with Chairman Steve Johnston about the job, he'd promised me 40% of the transfer revenue would be available! I should have £2,400 to spend!

I rushed into his office, and angrily demanded to know what had happened.

"Calm down now," Mr. Johnson told me, "Have a seat. I would have been glad to give you 40% then, but the situation has changed. When we first brought you on, we had over £13,000 in the bank, but we've lost £21,000 thus far this year, and are now £4,500 in the red. In fact, the £6,000 from the sale of Sullivan is almost 60% of the club's revenue for the year," he went on, "And without it our expenditures are 7.5 times more than our revenues."

He looked up and saw the dark expression on my face. "I suppose I should have warned you about it," he said, "But I didn't want to worry you. We'll make a bit more from ticket sales now that the season has started - this last match netted us about £1500. But honestly, we'll probably be running in the red for most of the year, unless we get a lucky money-spinning cup tie.

"That's not all. I'm afraid our sponsorship is expiring at the end of the year, and with the current economic climate, I'm finding it difficult to line up a new sponsor. I'm hoping interest will heat up by the end of the year, but if not, that'll be another big blow."

My anger had curdled to a sick pit in my stomach: though I'd known we weren't well off, it was quite devastating to see it laid out in cold, implacable numbers, and doubly so to be called on the carpet for it by my new boss.

He still wasn't done.

"Finally, about the wage budget. I understand you want to bring your own people in, but I'd signed all of our existing staff to long-term contracts to try and provide some stability during the upcoming season or two. And with your new signings, our wage budget is now up to £347,000 per annum - and £154,000 of that are for non-playing staff. We simply can't afford that kind of staffing level."

I explained about my plan to drop the dead weight at the end of the year, but he rightly noted that the two people I had expiring accounted for only £30,000 of that wage budget. Then he hammered me on increasing the number of players - and exhorted me to sell more. I tried to explain that the players I didn't want were the ones nobody else wanted either, but he was not sympathetic.

So. £994.

I couldn't even spend it all in one place, as with the FA having raised the minimum transfer fee to £1,000 for this year, I was £6 shy. I couldn't even buy a single player.

retired_w0lfpack1

Saturday, 22nd August, 2004. Conference North - Game 3, at Barrow.

The transfer market was getting interesting: Goalkeeper Ryan Yeomans was garnering plenty of interest - another team had joined the fray to acquire him on loan, which I could only take as a good sign. It was also turning into quite a bidding war for Andy Oakes - four teams had bids in, and I'd offered him a one-year contract extension if he'd stay with the club.

Today, however, we turned our attention to 4th placed Barrow. Again Carl Richardson rated them as 'Competent', and noted that they typically used a 4-4-2 and lacked pace in attack. It was a good long drive, as Barrow is well south of us, and far to the east, just east of Newmarket in fact.

I switched back to the narrow 4-4-2, packing the middle on the road against a top team. We retained the same defensive unit, with Steve Birks, Gary Bauress, Stewart Clitheroe and Phil Clarkson in the midfield, and Michael Yates and Peter Thomson up front. That was only two changes from the lineup we'd sported against Hinckley in the opener.

Wow, this atmosphere was more like it: Holker Street held 1,100 screaming fans, despite the chilly evening - it had been overcast all day. We had early control, but failed to convert on two corners back-to-back in the 15th minute. Barrow's Ian Kilford got into our six-yeard box in the 22nd, but veteran Andy Scott made a great tackle to turn the danger into a corner kick. In the 28th minute, Joe McMahon picked up a yellow card for tackling John Turner just outside the box. After conceding two goals from free kicks on Tuesday, I was worried - but Turner blazed it over the bar.

Our big break came in the 34th minute - a long ball sprung Michael Yates on a breakway down the right side. Both the Barrow central defenders converged on him, so he slotted it left to Thomson, who uncorked a vicious shot which Ross Liddicott could only deflect. Phil Clarkson pounced on the rebound, and was knocked down by Mark Salmon. The ref checked with his linesman - penalty! I was beaming with pleasure as Gary Bauress stepped up to take it, only to see the player/coach golf it harmlesslesly over the bar! Heartbreak! Gary could surely hear the catcalls about it - and if he missed the first batch, he got more when the half-time whistle blew.

I told him not to worry about it, and assured the lads I was happy with their defensive form: now just find the net, and we'll get three points yet! Michael Yates nearly did just that thirty seconds after the break, but his shot curled just wide of the post. I

n the 57 minute, Jamie Speare made the save of the match, a brilliant effort to counter a wicked shot by Graham Anthony. He rivalled it again in the 63rd, just getting down to tip Turner's shot around the post, but the resulting corner proved our undoing. Salmon was able to find a hole in our marking, and headed home from five yards out for an 0-1 lead.

The fans hadn't stopped celebrating when Gavin Knight's cross found substitute Michael Kewley at back line beyond the far post. Kewley tried to cut it back into the 6-yard box, but none of his players were even close. Instead, his effort caromed off of Speare's shin, and rolled into the net. It would go down as an own-goal, and suddenly it was 0-2.

The hosts bunkered down, and though I threw on three substitutions and some 'go for it' tactical modifications, we never got another useful shot off.

Barrow 2, Lancaster 0
Salmon 64, Speare og 67; ----
MoM: Salmon (Barrow DC)

Mark Salmon was named the Man of the Match: what a roller-coaster it had been for him, going from the goat on the first half penalty to the winning goal in the second half. I had to concede he'd played well. Uberschar, Bauress, and Birks were impressive in our defensive half, and an analysis of the match statistics showed we'd outshot our opponents, and had even put more shots on goal.

I could only shake my head, remembering my naivete on that first day when, six minutes into my first match, ahead 1-0, I'd thought this might be easy.

retired_w0lfpack1

Tuesday, 24th August, 2004.

Embarassment.

Utter embarassment.

We're the last goalless side in the Conference North. Oh, and 21st out of 22 teams, where the bottom three get relegated.

If you're a fellow American, you might not know how English league structure works: on average, the top three teams in each division get promoted to the next higher one, while the bottom three teams get relegated to the one below. Imagine if the three worst teams in Major League Baseball were relegated to AAA, and the top three AAA teams were given a shot at the big leagues - and all down the line, so some AA teams were promoting to AAA, A to AA, etc.

Well, in the Conference North, the bottom three teams get relegated - and if we were to get relegated, that would be the end of my managerial career, I'm sure.

The division above us is the Conference National, which is often referred to as 'the Conference', and its bottom three teams are also relegated. The champions of the Conference North and Conference South each promote to the Conference, while the 2nd-5th placed teams from both North and South go through a play-off to determine the third team to promote.

This process can, of course, unbalance the North/South distinction, if for example, two teams from the 'North' promote while three 'Southern' teams all got relegated from the Conference, so the F.A. actually redistricts teams into North and South each season, by geography - it means 'border' teams may shift from one Conference to the other between seasons, and possibly back again the next.

The vagaries of the Conference structure, though, weren't going to matter a whit to me if we couldn't find the back of the net.

Despite the chairman's concerns about the wage budget, I found myself with a glowing report from Kevin Hull on one of our remaining trialists, a striker named Phil Bartholomew. After selling Peter Thomson, we did need one more for our rotation. I made him an offer, promising myself it would be my last.

Unless we could find a pair of wingers, of course.

retired_w0lfpack1

Friday, 27th August, 2004.

With the transfer deadline fast approaching, there was a flurry of contract action Wednesday. Veteran Andrew Oakes spurned our offer, instead signing with Burton. At least he went to a club in a higher division, and we wouldn't have to face him - Burton are a Conference National side.

Young GK Ryan Yeomans chose Poole Borough, and left on loan Sunday morning, a move more about earning him playing time than the money saved by having Poole pay his wages for a few months.

Phil Bartholomew did accept our offer, and I put ink to the contract as soon as it was back in my hands. He looked like a good lad, and joined us for Thursday evening's training session.

I also changed the squad over to our regular-season training schedule, with tailored training schedules for the keepers, defenders, midfields, and attackers. I was settling in on the 'my side needs wingers' aspect of my current dilemna, and attempted to address it by starting Ryan-Zico Black, who has good crossing skills, in training to become a wing. "I'll play wherever you think is best, boss," he said, when I told him of the move. I like him.

We put in a bid to loan, for the entire season, a winger from Bognor Regis, another Conference side. They rejected it the next day.

I spent the better part of the week trying on the phone trying to rid the side of deadwood, striving to find a market for the players outside my first- and second- choice sides. I desperately needed to reduce the wage budget, but could see no options.

I could not help but notice the Champions League results from mid-week - being so close to both Liverpool and Manchester, Lancaster has plenty of fans of both sides, and so the Champions League filled the news. Manchester had recovered from their 3-1 deficit against FC Kobenhavn, with two second half goals by Ruud van Nistelrooy giving them a 3-0 win and a 4-3 aggregate. Liverpool had won 2-0 to move through easily, while Rangers had been taken to penalties by lowly Cyprus side APOEL, though the Scots easily won the dreaded shootout.

Carl Richardson's scouting report on Worksop came in: "Competent, with a pacey attack." I don't believe I'll get anything other than 'competent' from him all year. They're in 6th place, and we haven't scored a goal yet this season - at least we'd be at home in The Giant Axe.

retired_w0lfpack1

Saturday, 28th August, 2004. Conference North - Game 4, vs Worksop

"If I'm going to go down," I thought, I'll go down with my own formation, not the one I'm forced into by circumstance." I went back to my 4-5-1, this time determined to give the lads several weeks in a row with it, to see what develops as they get used to it. My starting lineup changed around a bit to match.

Jamie Speare was still in goal, with Andy Scott, Martin Clark, and Joe McMahon unchanged. Paul Sparrow started at right back. Promising youngster Ricky Mercer, back from his injury, would start at DMC. Lee Clitheroe was the right wing, while David Mellor would get his first start at left wing. Shane Tolley would partner Jason Lay in the attacking midfielder roles, with debutant Phil Bartholomew up front.

It took Tolley and Bartholomew only five minutes to generate our first chance, but Worksop keeper Darren Bradshaw cleared the debutant's effort away to safety. At the 20th minute, Bartholomew's pass found Jason Lay at the top of the Worskop penalty box, and James Dudgeon took him down with a dangerous and poorly timed challenge. From 20 yards, Paul Sparrow lined up the free kick, and curled it over the wall and down into the lower-left corner, a beautiful strike for our first competitive goal!

Worksop came right back at us with Dudgeon's incisive long pass finding Gavin Smith in the 6-yard box, but Smith's effort went inches wide of the post. Six minutes later, we were not so lucky, as Lay was whistled for pushing Richard Peacock right at the top of our penalty box, about 17 yards from goal with our full defensive line well-positioned behind him. Nonetheless, a penalty was awarded, and Darren Bradshaw laced it into the back of the net to even it up at 1-1.

We were still level at the half, and I told the lads they'd been hard done by, but not to let the ref take away a game they clearly had every ability to win. He nearly did just that, as in the 49th minute, he blew the whistle on Paul Sparrow for pushing target-man Dene Cropper, again on the edge of the box, this time over at the far right. Another soft penalty, and Sparrow, already on a yellow card, was lucky not to be sent off. Bradshaw confidently stepped up... and Jamie Speare made an incredible save!

Over the next ten minutes, Worksop kept up intense pressure, and Sparrow and Joe McMahon each made great challenges in the penalty box to help avert the danger. Finally, their pace began to slacken, and in the 72nd minute I brought on all three substitutes, all up front: Yates, Clarkson, and Prince, with instructions to go for three points. It took 12 minutes for Yates to find a long ball, break past the last defender, and lance 1-on-1 towards their keeper Kristian Rogers...

Who made the save of his life to preserve the 1-1 scoreline! Though both teams threatened in the final minutes, neither could get the telling shot off, and somehow I think both sides were disappointed to settle for a draw.

Lancaster 1, Worksop 1
Sparrow 20; Bradshaw 29 (pen)
MoM: Peacock (Worksop MR)

Right winger Richard Peacock earned man-of-the-match honors for Worksop, though to my mind his only contribution to their victory was the dive in the first half which resulted in the first Worsop penalty. Either Speare or Sparrow had had a better game, and I was quite pleased with Bartholomew's debut.

Again, I found myself rueing the FA's decision to cease accepting complaints from managers.

Honestly, for a match in which we were outshot from the field, and had two bad penalties called against, we were lucky to escape with our first point - but I'd wanted that first win.

retired_jimmy1943

First point.
Good job lad. Here's to many more.

retired_w0lfpack1

LoL - Thank you! In fact, that was precisely my thought as well..