retired_teju

Well I always play 4-4-2, slightly attacking. Things have developed over time. When I take the lead away from home now, I go defensive/counter attack. Same applies when I go up 2 goals in any game.

My training is very specific. Defenders work on strength and aerobic, defending, tactics etc. Strikers work overwhelmingly on shooting, all they are required to do by me is put the ball in the net. I leave midfielders on general, defensive midfielders on the defenders training.

Signing players is all about who you can get. I just look to get the best player I possibly can, regardless of position even if I am covered at that position. In lower divisions, when selling, I multiply the player's listed price by 10 and ask for that. If nobody's interested I work down from there.

Look to Premiership reserve teams for signings. I have signed gem after gem from there, especially Man U Chelsea etc. Sell on your relative nobodys and replace them with these type of players, often for free or very favourable terms. This helps you build up a war chest for when really good players become available.

Hope that all helps. Good luck!

retired_teju

Oh and by the way, you can never have enough quality strikers. My lower division promotions were built almost entirely on devastating firepower, 4 or 5 guys who were all capable of scoring 20 goals a season at that level.

retired_teju

1st August Scott Morrison leaves the club to join Brentford for 200K. This represents decent value for the club, on a player I signed for the princely sum of 1K. His contract was up at the end of the season, and his career had fallen away a touch.

Sheffield United vs Notts County
Lewis, Peltier, Lloyd, Ochoa, Vitale, Flamini, Nisja, Iakovenko, Ebanks, Rezek, Cesnauskis.
A very poor game this one right from the start, both sides looking like they have just arrived back for pre-season training. A turgid 1st half is punctuated only by them taking the lead (19), then extending it on 33 minutes. I get very annoyed at half-time, and we begin pounding their lines, repelled time after time by Paddy Kenny in the Blades goal. Nisja finally heads in a cross on 75 minutes. That's as near as we get, a defeat that owes everything to the performance of their keeper. Some people might find that a consolation. I don't.

Sheffield United 2-1 Notts County ATT: 25608

Consolation arrives in the shape of Pires announcing that he will be the Blades new manager. It occurs to me that this is one of the other jobs that I have turned down during my time in charge here, which adds a little piquancy to his departure. Dennis Bergkamp is immediately promoted to assistant manager. We get on well, he's my type of guy, and I have no doubts at all about this appointment.

4th August Notts County vs Leicester
We've had some truly awful battles with this lot over the years, and I have come to expect nothing else. We're unchanged, more through injuries than anything else. Nisja scores again, opening our account with a wickedly deflected free kick 3 minutes in, a lead which lasts only 10 minutes. The visitors then start to completely manhandle us on our own turf, which is embarrassing, and I go spare again at half time. The result is a much better 2nd half, culminating in Nisja sneaking in to head home a back post cross, and Calliste profiting from a woeful backpass (84), to give us a barely deserved 3-1 win. Nice to get one over on Leicester. They always seem to be a pain in the arse, and have had their share of barely deserved wins against us over the years.

Notts County 3-1 Leicester ATT: 16249

5th August We beef up the medical team, signing physios Clive Goodyear from Chester, and Jason Atkinson from Wigan. Both are an improvement on what we've got. I remember years ago I tried to sign these same guys, but balked at the 40K compensation I would have had to pay. Now that seems like such small potatoes.

8th August Birmingham vs Notts County
This starts out evens, until Nisja gets selfishly sent off in the 22nd minute. We dig in to the trenches, expecting to get nobbled eventually. Yet by some miracle, we hang on for the remaining 68 minutes. In fact, we didn't even need any miracles. The home side were pretty pathetic, and I reckon if we'd had 11 men on the pitch the whole game, we'd have won with something to spare.

Birmingham 0-0 Notts County ATT: 29199

Ochoa and Peltier both fall victim to injury after the game, for a period of up to 2 weeks.

10th August That's slightly offset by the return of Brandao who I think has been badly missed by the defence. He's one of those unobtrusive quality players, who you only seem to notice when he's not there.

12th August Kelvin Wilson DRC (remember him?!) left us in my first season I think in charge, for what was then a huge fee of about 650K. He ended up at Bolton, criminally under-used, and I am delighted to announce that he is rejoining us for a fee of 550K. He tells the media he jumped at the chance to come back here (more of a statement about the club than me I suspect), and I am now convinced he is ready to excel after maturing in the reserves of a Premiership club. He turned down a host of other teams to be here, and as a wise man once said, "one volunteer is worth ten conscripts".

15th August Doncaster vs Notts County
Wilson plays DR, Brandao DC, and Giuffrida MR. And the Italian forward gives us a great start, tapping in a cross after 8 minutes. Iakovenko finally shows what all the fuss was about after 26 minutes, blasting in a 25 yard free kick. The home side score immediately, then in 1st half injury time, Rezek runs on to a defence-splitting pass to open his account for the season. I go defensive, and after the hosts have a man sent off with 20 minutes left, we coast home to an easy 3 points. Nice performance.

Doncaster 1-3 Notts County ATT: 9895

Victory exacts a price. Ebanks will miss a week or two with a sprained wrist, while a sprained ankle will put David Pipe on the sidelines for 1-2 months.

19th August Burnley vs Notts County LG CUP RD 1
The reserves are all in for this one, and have an absolute shocker. Our League One hosts are all over us and thoroughly embarrass us, and despite their atrocious finishing, they tally in the 13th, 31st, and 89th minutes. It could have been a lot worse, and I am absolutely furious at the end, effing and blinding and putting on a right performance. Not that I particularly give a hoot about the League Cup, but that's not the point.

Burnley 3-0 Notts County ATT: 7158

22nd August Derby vs Notts County
This one's televised. With our regulars back in, we manage a bright start, culminating in a quite brilliant individual effort from Rezek on 26, a mazy run and unstoppable shot. I go defensive, yet the home side proceed to score with their 1st and 2nd kicks of the game (32 and 40 minutes), leaving me just as bewildered as I am angry. It's even more infuriating, because they do absolutely nothing for the rest of the game either. Unfortunately, neither do we, yet still we are well and truly robbed of a point at least in this one.

Derby 2-1 Notts County ATT: 33651

24th August Notts County vs Oldham
Unchanged through necessity, we huff and puff throughout the entire games, without creating that much. When the chances are eked out, the finishing is rotten. While the visitors never offered to win the game, we never looked like doing it either. This is an extrememly worrying trend. That's several sh***y performances in a row. Even in the games we were winning there was something amiss. That's enough. I won't tolerate this. With no more games in the month I can concentrate on bringing in new faces before the deadline.

Notts County 0-0 Oldham ATT: 5494

Before the new signings must come the clear-out. With tremendous upward pressure on the wage bill, more people have to go. Many of them I would prefer to keep, but I've already parted with a number of players in pre-season that I didn't really want to.

Lee Barnard is farmed out to Colchester for 95K with a 40% sell-on clause. His 3.5K a week wages can no longer be afforded for a guy who is about 6th on the depth chart for strikers. Colchester fans are over the moon, and the media speculates that I have been robbed by them. At least I have the protection of a hefty sell-on clause.

Lee Peltier is bombed out to Sheffield Wednesday for 110K plus 25% sell-on. He didn't pan out, simple as that, and I don't feel like I have time to wait right now. 4.4K/week off the wage bill.

I arrange for Saritama to join Reading for 500K, only for the deal to fall through when they can't afford the fee. Maybe that was meant to be and I take him off the market. I am still determined to spend our way out of trouble. To paraphrase George W Bush (though I'm certainly not a fan), "I've built up a lot of capital, now I'm going to spend it".

25th August I tie up the signing of Liverpool's Spanish U-21 DR Juan Antonio Barragan for 1.8M on a 5K/week contract. This is a hefty deal for a young player, yet my scouts were in no doubt at all about him, and the way in which the Reds insisted on squeezing every penny for him makes me think they rated him just as highly.

30th August With time fast running out, I sign Italian U-21 striker Alberto Lupoli from Arsenal for 2.7M. This was something of a desperation signing. I wanted him on loan initially, but the Gunners were adamant - a sale at this price or no deal.

This is a huge gamble, because the transfer budget is now more or less exhausted. The whole thing came about due to a fiasco with Wigan over Dave Nugent. I was under the impression that I had agreed a 2.4M fee with them, only for the dirty bas***ds to up their demands again to 3M. I called their manager all sorts of names, and pulled the plug.

All these moves smack of panic I suppose, yet I am sure this all needs to be done. We are not up to the job as presently constituted, I can't put my finger on why, only that some changes have to be made. We'll see if it works out.

The month ends with a 3.7M loss, and a rather ticklish and uncertain future for a team touted as promotion favourites at the start of the season. Looking at our start it may seem that we have done all right. Yet it's nowhere near our expectations.

retired_teju

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Fulham | | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 14 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Nottm Forest | | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 8 | +6 | 13 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Derby | | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 8 | +6 | 11 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Birmingham | | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 10 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Everton | | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 10 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Sheff Utd | | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 11 | +2 | 10 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Plymouth | | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 10 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Ipswich | | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 10 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Stoke | | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 9 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Brighton | | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 12 | -1 | 9 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Barnsley | | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 6 | +3 | 8 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Notts Co | | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 8 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Sunderland | | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 8 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Reading | | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | -1 | 8 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Leicester | | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 9 | -2 | 8 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Crystal Palace | | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 8 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Hull | | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 7 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Southampton | | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 6 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Doncaster | | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 14 | -3 | 6 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Oldham | | 6 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 5 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21st | | Coventry | | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 14 | -5 | 3 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22nd | | Wolves | | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 11 | -5 | 3 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23rd | | Bristol City | | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 10 | -5 | 3 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24th | | Bradford City | | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 | -6 | 3 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

retired_perilousfaith

Heya irish,

This is definitely a great read! I've spent most of the past 4 hours reading through it, and definitely enjoyed myself

Great style of writing, with nice touches of good humour, so keep up the good work!

retired_teju

That really is great to hear Flying_Fin, thanks a lot. Honestly, the only way one can keep these stories going for as long as this, is with the encouragement and enjoyment of the readers.

retired_Tums

just to let you no irish the jimmy sirrel stand season ticket holder's just started his game last night with a fairly attacking 4-4-2 i've so far p5 w3 d1 l1 stuggling to sign players though only managed to get a liverpool u18 at the moment oh and filipe morais amr he's fairly good

retired_teju

hopefully you can go all the way glynnbob! Will be interested to see if u can get promoted first time around. I should have done, but made a balls of it.

retired_teju

5th September Notts County vs Fulham
The league leaders visit Meadow Lane, and new signings Barragan and Lupoli are in the team to take them on.
Our new striker has a dream start, capitalising on a goalkeeping blooper to tap in after just 25 SECONDS! Then in the 28th minute he manages to win us a penalty, which Flamini duly misses. This is followed almost immediately by a Fulham equaliser, which hardly sweetens my mood going into the break but I decide to go easy, considering who we are playing.
We have the better of the 2nd half, and the game as a whole, yet there is no finish and we end up with a draw.

Notts County 1-1 Fulham ATT: 7904

Maybe I can't see the bigger picture here, but I am so monumentally ****ed off after the game that I start to seriously consider my position. I'm so disappointed with the way we have played this year. They're playing like they want me to get fired. After a lot of soul searching, and a reminder from the wife that I am on 3 grand a week, I decide to soldier on...for now.

8th September Stoke vs Notts County
The home side are going nicely in 6th place. Giuffrida plays at MR. We go behind on 7 minutes, 6 minutes later Lupoli pops up to finish off a cross for his 2nd in as many games. However, we fall away badly and start to get dominated, resulting in another goal for them 5 minutes before the break. Words of encouragement do little to rectify things, and we concede again (53). We never looked up to it in this game, and 4 games without a win deepens the gloom around the club. The coach home was like a morgue.

Stoke 3-1 Notts County ATT: 19596

12th September Bristol City vs Notts County
A bad result here may be the last straw. Not for the board, since I have them around my little finger; for me. If the Midas touch has gone I won't ever outstay my welcome.
Brandao is injured, replaced at DL by Lloyd. We get a good start. Cesnauskis plays a clever corner to the edge of the box for Giuffrida to hammer home. I don't recall working on that one in training, though the fact that I don't normally bother showing up for training might explain that.
The good work is undone on 35, when Lloyd scores a fairly inexplicable OG, being as he was under absolutely no pressure.
I try encouragement with the lads again, and the reward comes on 66, Ebanks heading in a useful cross. I go defensive, desperate to win, and we hang in there, adding a 90th minute breakaway goal, Ebanks again. Not an overly deserved win, yet we were clinical, which used to be our trademark.

Bristol City 1-3 Notts County ATT: 14606

I really would have resigned had we lost this game I think, though it never came to that. The cloud to this particular silver lining is delivered by Dennis Bergkamp. Apparently, Cesnauskis, Flamini, and Lewis have been nattering about me behind my back, saying they've no confidence in me. They wouldn't dare say it to my face of course. I have an iron grip on this club. This was just the motivation I needed. I certainly will not resign in the face of player power. If necessary I will hang on there long enough to see any malcontents rot in the reserves. Just to put the marker down that no-one crosses me and gets away with it.

19th September Notts County vs Plymouth
The 5th placed Pilgrims will present a stiff challenge. A lovely passing move in the 13th minute slots in Lupoli, whose lethal finish adds to his growing reputation. We have more chances, unfortunately all of them seem to fall to the wrong men. I go defensive with half an hour left, and we look in control, yet you never know. The lads hang tough, and deliver our 2nd win in a row.

Notts County 1-0 Plymouth ATT: 5567

The attendances this season have been nothing short of ludicrous. Is there an Ashes series going on at the minute or something?

22nd September Everton vs Notts County
The Toffees sit 3rd. We go in unchanged, and come under heavy pressure right from the off. I go defensive (25), and suddenly things turn around. Just before the half, Lupoli gets the bounce of the ball and hammers in. We hold out until well into the 2nd half, conceding near the hour, yet hang on to claim a real battling draw, against a heavily favoured opponent. This is more like it.

Everton 1-1 Notts County ATT: 38982

26th Notts County vs Reading
There's very little to actually report in this game. Very few chances to either side, turgid, poor quality football, it was a relief that the whole thing flew by with hardly any highlights. Didn't linger long in the memory this one, except that this was the sort of game we were losing earlier in the season. Here we earned a point, which is symptomatic of our good run. The defending has improved out of sight, the goalkeeping has been spectacular, and some guy called Lupoli has been scoring like a maniac.

Notts County 1-1 Reading ATT: 10159

We record a loss of 77K for the month. We have however, recovered my lost credibility, and no-one's nattering behind my back now.

retired_teju

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Birmingham | | 12 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 21 | 8 | +13 | 28 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Fulham | | 12 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 16 | 6 | +10 | 25 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Everton | | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 26 | 12 | +14 | 24 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Nottm Forest | | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 28 | 17 | +11 | 24 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Plymouth | | 12 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 18 | 13 | +5 | 22 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Stoke | | 12 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 16 | 13 | +3 | 20 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Derby | | 12 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 25 | 19 | +6 | 18 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Oldham | | 12 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 11 | 13 | -2 | 18 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Notts Co | | 12 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 15 | 12 | +3 | 17 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Reading | | 12 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 9 | +2 | 17 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Crystal Palace | | 12 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 14 | 15 | -1 | 17 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Hull | | 12 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 17 | 15 | +2 | 16 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Barnsley | | 12 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 18 | 14 | +4 | 15 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Southampton | | 12 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 15 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Brighton | | 12 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 18 | 20 | -2 | 15 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Ipswich | | 12 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 15 | 18 | -3 | 15 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Leicester | | 12 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 18 | -5 | 14 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Sheff Utd | | 12 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 19 | 25 | -6 | 14 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Coventry | | 12 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 17 | 23 | -6 | 11 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Sunderland | | 12 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 18 | -7 | 11 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21st | | Bradford City | | 12 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 13 | 22 | -9 | 9 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22nd | | Wolves | | 12 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 23 | -11 | 8 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23rd | | Bristol City | | 12 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 22 | -11 | 7 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24th | | Doncaster | | 12 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 18 | 28 | -10 | 6 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>