January, Season 2004/2005
The weather is very cold now, and in the morning, getting out of bed feels like a huge sacrifice. The players know that this will be one of the more difficult months for us. In 29 days, we will have to play 9 games, wich gets us playing one game every three days. I think that this kind of schedule is more fit to teams that play in the premiership, and have squads with 40 and 50 players. With a limited squad of 25 players, where quality is not abundant, 9 games in a month is truly a mighty test to our capabilities.
I meet with the boys and try to boost the moral, telling them that this is like playing in the upper leagues, and if we can make a good campaign this month, then we can for sure win promotion!! They have faith in me, and i have to put my faith in them.
Meanwhile i have a meeting with
Steve Friend (only in name), our Chairman of the Board, where he tells me that i have to lower our clubs wage bill or else....
SF: Hi Santos, have a sit.
CS: Thank you Sir. You have called me here?
SF: Yes indeed. I wanted to tell you how happy we are about the current club performance.
CS: Thank you Sir, glad you liked it. The boys have been wondefull.
SF: But, the current wage bill is extremely high, and we are not a financial institution, so i want you to take serious steps to lower it.
CS: Sir, we are trying, but the players want more money and it has been very difficult to lower it even more.
SF: I don't want excuses. I want results!! Nice to have this chat with you. Have a good day.
CS: Good day Sir.
So, here you have it. I am in trouble. I have to lower the wage bill, even if that means i loose team quality. Dunno what i will do, but for now i will let things rest and worry about it later...
Last month was the best month so far in the financial combat front, where we obtained excelent results:
Income: 69,686
Expenses: 25,562
Profit/Loss: + 44,124
Balance: - 30,786
Wage budget: 13,500 per month
Current Wage: 17,636 per month
Only 4k above the wage budget, but the new contract signings this month will unbalance those figures again.
First day of the month, and first game... Go go
Robins!
1/1 Game 21 home: Carshalton 2 vs 1 Hornchurch Attendance: 2381
Wheather: Dry 3'C
Referee: James Carr
Cold day but the the
War Memorial ground is packed full of fans after the sucessfull campaign we made last month. News of our victories and excellent league position are spreading and todays gate numbers are proof enough.
Team linups: Carshalton with a 4-4-1-1: Searle, Hamsher. Cole-Bolt, Simek and Burwood, Brown, Carroll, Bihan and Skelton, Batt and Flanagan.
On the bench:Warner, Birchall, Tozer, Murdoch and Payne.
Hornchurch with a 4-4-2: Westhead, Mustafa, Stuart, West and Matthewes, Purser, Elam, Shanaham and Caskey, Shipp and Weatherstone.
On the bench: Hill, Wormull, Clark, Sigere and McCarthy.
Hornchurch kicked off. Half time comes in with both teams playing mostly in midfield. 61"
Shanaham plays a nice pass to
Shipp and he scores the first of the game. I call some players right away to change things.
Payne replaces
Brown and
Murdoch replaces
Bihan. 67"
Batt picks a yellow card for obstructing. 76"
Hamsher holds
Sigere and gets a yellow card.
Hamsher full of himself, calls some names at the referee and its sent back home with a second yellow card. What a stupid reaction! 89"
Batt played a lovely ball to
Payne, he runs forward, looks up, finds
Birchall clear of any defender, pass to
Birchall, he shots and scores. Game is level now. 93"
Batt escapes the defenders, runs into the penalty area and is tripped by Mustafa. It was a dubious decision (not to me).
Batt steps up and scores! Emotion until the last minute in the
War Memorial grounds, the croud is screaming their heads off... Game over. What a dramatic finish.
Chris Batt (9) picks another MoM.
I call
Hamsher up and warn him about picking to many yellow cards in a game. He feels i was unfair !!
Brown picks a groin strain and stops 2 weeks.
Great game, great croud, heart stoping game finishing.
3/1 Game 22 home: Carshalton 3 vs 1 Cambridge Attendance: 1445
Wheather: Dry 6'C
Referee: Ian Harris
Brown injured,
Hamsher suspended and
Bihan unfit (57%). So i need to make some changes and
Hartburn, Murdoch and Payne step up to replace them.
Cambridge plays a 5-3-2. 9"
Burwood gets a yellow card for tripping. 26"
Skelton headed the ball upfield to
Flanagan, he advances on the keeper and scores. 78"
Cambridge striker hits a ball from some way out and scores. 1-1. 90"
Batt with a ball forward to
Flanagan, he dribles one defender, advances on the keeper and beats him for the 2-1. 92"
Skelton finds
Batt with a long ball,
Batt dribbles one defender, shots and GOAL! 3-1 and game over. My players are trying to give me an heart attack, scoring when the game is almost over!!!
Chris Batt (10) picks once more the MoM.
Flanagan (10), Burwood (8), Skelton (8) and Carroll (8) also played very well.
8/1 Game 23 away: Lewe - 1 vs 1 Carshalton Attendance: 1272
Wheather: Dry 3'C
Referee: Andy Garrett
Wood still unfit,
Cole-Bolt stays in the eleven.
Hamsher (returned after suspension) and
Bihan return replacing
Hartburn and Murdoch.
Lewe plays with a 4-4-2. 2"
Hamsher picks a yellow card for holding. 23"
Payne with the cross,
Flanagan with the finishing touch, scores the first. 69"
Simek picks a yellow card for holding. 79"
Flanagan picks a yellow card for diving. 84" Cross to the far post,
Batt looses the ball in the air to
Lewes central defender and he scores the equalizer. 86"
Murdoch replaces
Carroll and Birchall replaces
Flanagan. Game over. Good result for us away from home to secure one precious point.
Lewes goalkeeper,
Ademola Bankhole (8) picks the MoM.
Danny Carroll with a facial injury to stop 6 days.
Sunderland sacks
Mick McCarthy.
Willy Wordsworth takes charge at
Harrogate Town.
11/1 Game 24 away: Grays - 2 vs 4 Carshalton Attendance: 335
Wheather: Wet 3'C
Referee: Kevin Pike
Burwood picks a sprained wrist in trainning and is out for one week.
Tozer comes in to replace him.
Wood is now fit so he repleces the weaker
Cole-Bolt.
Carroll, also injured, is replaced by
Murdoch.
Grays with a 4-4-2 formation get the game started. 5"
Batt takes the ball forward, superb pass to
Flanagan, shots from same way out and scores. 8" fast counter attack,
Flanagan advances with the ball, turns around the keeper, and scores the second. 9"
Payne gets a yellow card for holding. 15" the
Grays make it 1-2. 17" corner by
Payne,
Simek goes to the first floor and heads it to goal, scoring the third goal for the
Robins. 20"
Batt picks a loose ball, skips past last defender and finds himself clear with only the goalie to beat, and scores to make it 4 to the
Robins, 1 to
Grays. 64"
Grays score to make it 2-4. 65" its
Payne out,
Warner in. 77"
Murdoch is replaced by
Henriques. 83"
Flanagan is replaced with
Birchall. Game over. We played 20 minutes to solve this game in our favor and then sit back and rested the other 70 minutes.
Chris Batt (9) picks yet again, another MoM.
Flanagan, Murdoch and Simek also played very well.
15/1 FA Trophy 3rd round away: Kendal - 1 vs 7 Carshalton Attendance: 204
Wheather: Dry 8'C
Referee: Michael Ryan
We are the favorites in this game, but in Cup games you never know. Anyway, this is a
"must win" type of game.
Wayne Cort, a 17 years old fast (16) right winger joins us from
Hampton & Richmond for free plus a 35% sell on clause.
Brown and Carroll back from injury but still unfit to play.
Wayne Cort ready for debut, sits on the bench. I use the same eleven from last game.
Kendal uses an attacking 4-4-2. 28"
Flanagan picks a yellow card for diving. 32"
Murdoch with a great tackle wins the ball in our midfield, makes a long pass to the back of the defenders line,
Flanagan runs alone and picks the ball, gets into the area, rounds the keeper and scores. It took 32 minutes to break
Kendal resistance. 49"
Kendal right winger escapes and scores a good effort. 51" double substitution, its
Payne and Bihan out,
Warner and Cort in. 52"
Kendal goalkeeper takes a freekick just outside the area, it hits
Flanagan and goes to the right side near the corner marker,
Flanagan runs and picks the loose ball, speeds to the middle of the area, dribbles one defender, stops and protects the ball from the keeper and another defender, turns around and shots to the empty goal. 54"
Flanagan plays a wonderfull ball to
Batt, he skips past the challenge of the defender and shots scoring the third goal for the
Robins. 56"
Flanagan shots, the ball hits a defender but the keeper deflects the ball,
Batt is first to the rebound and applies the finish touch. 3 goals in 4 minutes for the
Robins. 60"
Batt plays a good ball to
Flanagan, he finds himself in the clear and beats the goallie scoring his hat-trick. 61"
Flanagan is replaced by
Birchall and receives a standing ovation. 67" goal by
Birchall, but the referee called an offside. 81"
Birchall plays a great ball to
Batt, he goes forward unchallenged and hits the ball from 25 yards to score his hat-trick. 84"
Batt picks a loose ball in defence and launchs the counter attack, long ball to
Birchall, he shots from 20 yards out and scores. Scoreline is now 7-1 to the
Robins. Game over with
Flanagan (10) picking the MoM.
Murdoch (10) and Batt (10) also played very well.
4k in prize money and here we go to the 4th round. We will meet
Tamsworth away next month.
Gray boss
Mark Stimson resigns.
Peter Taylor takes charge at
Millwall.
19/1 Game 25 away: Welling - 1 vs 0 Carshalton Attendance: 377
Wheather: Breezy 3'C
Referee: Gary Mellor
Brown and Carroll are fully fited.
Carroll will sit on the bench (
Payne has been playing very well) and
Brown will replace
Murdoch.
Burwood is still out with injury, but will be back soon.
Tozer is filling in quite well.
Welling uses a 3-5-2 formation with a flat 5 at the middle. 5"
Payne gets a yellow card for words with the referee. 29"
Welling striker scores a header after a corner. 53" i try to change things a bit by bringing in
Warner, Murdoch and Cort, to replace
Payne, Bihan and Brown. Game over. We wasted some chances, but
Welling defended the advantage prety well.
Welling goalkeeper,
Martin Brennan (9), takes the MoM. Our goalkeeper,
Stuart Searle (8) was the best of the bunch.
Payne reached yellow card limit and will miss next game.
Burton Albion appoint
John Rains as manager.
Richard Dryden takes the manager sit at
Sutton Utd.
22/1 Game 26 away: Weymouth - 2 vs 4 Carshalton Attendance: 578
Wheather: Dry 3'C
Referee: Andy Martin
Half of my team is in the lower 90% condition. Not many days to recuperate all the players.
Carroll in for the suspended
Payne.
Burwood, still not fully fit is in the bench for any emergency.
Weymouth shows up with a 5-3-2 atacking formation.
Weymouth launch an assault on our fortress right from start. 7"
Weymouth central midfielder
Bradley Orr scores the first goal of the game. 11"
Weymouth striker
Matthew Cross picks an injury after colliding with
Wood and is replaced. 21"
Brown first and
Hamsher after, tell some prety nice things to the referee and both pick a yellow card. 45"
Batt sends the ball forward to
Flanagan, he shots and scores. Half time. I bring
Murdoch in to replace the tired
Bihan. 49"
Murdoch gets a yellow card for holding. 62"
Weymouth Player/Manager striker
Steve Claridge suffers an injury and is out of the game. 67" its
Birchall and Cort in for
Flanagan and Brown. 82"
Birchall with the pass to
Carroll, he gets free of the last defender, moves in on goal and scores. 87"
Batt with a pass to the right side, where
Birchall receives the ball, runs to the line and crosses to the edge of the area where
Carroll unleashes a half volley and scores. Its now 3-1 for us. 90"
Weymouth get one back, making it 3-2. 92"
Carroll passes the ball to
Batt, he runs to the line, puts in a cross and
Birchall scores our 4th goal of the match. Game over.
Chris Batt picks another MoM.
Birchall made the difference in the last minutes.
Bognor Regis sack
Jack Pearce.
Paul Hart gets the sack at
Barnsley.
Coventry sacks
Peter Reid.
West Ham sacks
Terence Brown.
Margate sacks
Chris Kinnear.
Roland Nilsson takes the sit at
Sunderland.
[b]Chris Batt[B], my star player picks a twisted knee injury in trainning and is out for 1 week
Margate hired
Andy Llewellyn as their new manager.
26/1 Game 27 home: Carshalton - 3 vs 1 Margate Attendance: 1249
Wheather: Dry 3'C
Referee: David Unsworth
Chris Batt is out with injury, so i bring
Payne in.
Burwood is back in the center of my defense.
Margate shows up with 5-3-2 atacking formation. They also have a new coach and come from 6-0 victory over
Hayes.
1" into the game and Skelton finds Flanagan alone in the area with a good pass and Flanagan scores the opening goal. 4" one of
Margate's best players, the striker
Che Stadhart, leaves the field injured.
Stadhart scored 18 goals in 23 games, 7 assists and 2 MOM's. 23"
Carroll centred the ball and
Jermaine Brown powered a header at goal scoring the second of the game. 27"
Searle with a very long goal kick finds
Flanagan running alone on goal and he scores the third. 28"
Payne with a yellow card for tripping. We go on a more defensive and slow system. 49"
Margate is reduced to ten men. 71"
Bihan, Carroll and Flanagan are replaced with
Murdoch, Cort and Birchall. 75"
Margate scores a goal. Game over.
Gavin Skelton gets the MoM.
Flanagan played very well.
My physio
Matt Beer tells me that Simek (DC) and Wood (DL) are in need of a long rest.
We sign
Marc Shackleton, 20 years old goalkeeper from
Barnsley for free plus 45% future fee and
Adrian Stone (SC).
Shackleton will come in to backup Searle, and
Borg my other keeper will go to the transfer list.
29/1 Game 28 home: Carshalton - 0 vs 1 Basingstoke Attendance: 1399
Wheather: Dry 6'C
Referee: Ian Harris
Simek and
Wood are going off to take some rest,
Tozer and
Cole-Bolt in to replace them.
Basingstoke comes in with a 4-4-2 formation. Very uneventfull game, until the 75th minute when
Basingstoke striker scores the first of the game. We cant make anything out of this game and i notice that my players are running into the 50% condition marker. To many games are starting to wear my best players out.
Simek and Wood are the first casualties, but i am sure more will get tired prety soon.
John Hamsher takes a 1 mach ban after collecting 5 yellow cards.
Charlton sack
Alan Curbishley.
MK Dons sack
Stuart Murdoch.
We sign
Yohance Lewis, 17 years old left winger that shows some potential, for free plus 45% future fee and
Tutu Henriques.
This was a very hard month with 9 games in 29 days. We are not a crack team with endless stamina and a deep squad, so we have most of our players tired or even very tired. Even with that, we managed to retain the first place in the league now with 4 points ahead of
Newport Co. (our next game) and 7 points more then
Hornchurch. We are 15 points away from the battle for promotion, and that leaves a nice feeling with us for the 14 games left to play in the league.
We continue our finacial recuperation and the future is looking brighter now.
This month we also signed some hopefull good prospects like
Marc Shackleton (GK),
Yohance Lewis (AML) and
Wayne Cort (DMR) without spending any money and even manage to get rid of
Tutu Henriques (MR),
Adrian Stone (SC) and
Dale Marvell (MC). With all player contracts signed except for
Jermaine Brow (AM/F RC), a regular in my midfield,
Lewis Tozer (DC), the backup for Simek and Burwood, and finally
John Burwood (DC), a very hot prospect for the future that has been putting some good performances.
After 28 games played in the league, the table looks like this:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Carshalton | 28 | 20 | 3 | 5 | 59 | 28 | +31 | 63 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Newport Co | 28 | 17 | 8 | 3 | 58 | 30 | +28 | 59 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Hornchurch | 28 | 18 | 2 | 8 | 52 | 31 | +21 | 56 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | Cambridge | 28 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 50 | 36 | +14 | 49 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | St Albans | 28 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 55 | 44 | +11 | 48 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | Havant & W | 28 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 49 | 41 | +8 | 48 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | Lewes | 28 | 12 | 10 | 6 | 37 | 26 | +11 | 46 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | Thurrock | 28 | 12 | 6 | 10 | 45 | 40 | +5 | 42 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | Weymouth | 28 | 12 | 5 | 11 | 49 | 48 | +1 | 41 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | Dorchester | 28 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 43 | 42 | +1 | 41 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | Welling | 28 | 11 | 7 | 10 | 48 | 43 | +5 | 40 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | Maidenhead | 28 | 11 | 7 | 10 | 36 | 33 | +3 | 40 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | Margate | 28 | 10 | 5 | 13 | 46 | 45 | +1 | 35 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | Bishop's S | 28 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 36 | 38 | -2 | 35 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | Grays | 28 | 9 | 7 | 12 | 46 | 43 | +3 | 34 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | Sutton Utd | 28 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 38 | 48 | -10 | 32 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | Basingstoke| 28 | 8 | 7 | 13 | 41 | 55 | -14 | 31 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | Weston-SM | 28 | 7 | 6 | 15 | 32 | 55 | -23 | 27 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | Hayes | 28 | 8 | 3 | 17 | 45 | 73 | -28 | 27 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | Redbridge | 28 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 33 | 51 | -18 | 26 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21th | Bognor Reg | 28 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 29 | 48 | -19 | 24 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22th | Eastbourne | 28 | 2 | 5 | 21 | 27 | 56 | -29 | 11 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
Nothing is yet decided in the english
Conference South (ECS), but i think we secured at least a safe place in the league and at best a dream of promotion. Next month we have already 7 games scheduled with important battles for the league against
Newport Co (2nd),
Bishop's (8th) and
Havant (6th) and an important game away for the
FA Trophy 4th round.
Until next month, be happy and stay well...
Cheers,
Carlos Santos, Carshalton Manager
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