April/June, Season 2004/2005
With only 3 matches last month, i had almost no chance of offsetting our debt. So instead of dropping, we had a small increase into the red!
Our finances now look like this:
Income: 20,051
Expenses: 31,105
Profit/Loss: - 11,054
Balance: - 55,107
Wage budget: 13,500 per month
Current Wage: 17,420 per month
Transfer Budget: 3,972 (35%) <- Two players sold for 3k each and one for 6k
This month i had to renew all my staff contracts.
Burwood and Brown still don't want to sign new contracts and i am afraid i am going to loose them, especially
Burwood.
Tozer finaly signed a new contract. I am now 4k over our wage budget.
Here we go for the finishing line...
2/4 Game 38 away: Dorchester 0 vs 3 Carshalton Attendance: 321
Wheather: Dry 22'C
Referee: Darren Spicer
Our first game has us go to the Avenue Stadium in Dorchester, to play the local team. Before the game i release a statement to the press telling that
"i believe we are going to get promotion". I know its a little early but i am only trying to put my players into high morale for the last five games. The effect on the players is instantaneous and i get 5 players telling me they will do anything to get promotion.
The day was very fine, but the croud stayed at home. The teams show themselves with the following linups:
Dorchester with 3-2-2-1-2: Craig Bradshaw, Andy Walker, Alex Browne (C), Gary Middleton, Michael Walker and Anthony Griffin, Mark Robinson, Mark Hughes and Juan Ugarte, Matt Groves and David Laws.
Carshalton with a 4-4-1-1: John Hamsher, Peter Wood, Franklin Simek and John Burwood, Danny Carrol, Chris Payne, Neil Le Bihan (C) and Gavin Skelton, Chris Batt and Callum Flanagan.
Game starts with my team into full attack mode.
20" Batt gets a yellow card for words
26" Wood with a long pass to the middle where Batt collects the ball and looks up. He sees Flanagan running to the left side of the pitch and sends the ball in. Flanagan collects it, dribles Browne and runs to the corner marker, goes past Griffin, enters the area from the left side and centers the ball. The ball goes up in the air, and down into the goal, for a "total fluke". He meant to make a cross, but a goal is not bad also....
35" Dorchester players recreate with the ball in midfield until Robinson lets a pass to Law, he takes two steps and unleashes a mighty strike from 35 yards and bangs in the crossbar and goes out.
Half Time 46" Flanagan takes a yellow for yet another dive. Must speak to him about where the pools are.
55" Throw in by Wood to Payne, perfect sliding tackle by Dorchester's Hughes, Batt picks the loose ball in the midfield line, starts to run with it, Robinson is left behind, shot coming in from 35 yards and GOAL! And what a goal that was!!
71" Chris Payne injured is replaced by Murdoch.
78" Carrol with a nice sliding tackle in our midfield, loose ball to Murdoch, he plays a first timer upfield to Flanagan, he gets away from the defenders and runs alone on the keeper from about midfield. Flanagan runs, runs, runs, turns to the right side around the keeper, but when he is going to shot Browne shows up to make an "in extremis" tackle. The ball gets lost into the right side of the area, where Flanagan gets to pick it again, turns around and centers to the left side, just outside the 6 yard box where Carroll stops the ball in the chest, drops it down to hes right foot and unleashes a torpedo at the top right corner of the goal. What a strike from Carroll. And he started the play with an excellent tackle in our defense.
Game Over Chris Batt (10) took yet another MoM and
Danny Carroll (9) played very well also.
I can't keep quiet with so much joy after this excellent performance from my players. On the sad note,
Payne gets a groin strain and stops for about 2 weeks.
First 3 points of the month are in our bag!
Martin Foyle gets sacked at
Port Vale.
9/4 Game 39 away: Carshalton 3 vs 0 Weston-SM Attendance: 1406
Wheather: Dry 10'C
Referee: Andy Martin
Payne with injury is replaced by
Warner.
Brown is out of the injury but still unfit (58%). We are playing one of the weakest teams in our league, but desperation can bring heroes to the surface, so we need to concentrate and beat them. The fans showed up in greater numbers then before, and the cheering is awfull loud. Me and my players can feel that they believe in us, trust in us and are 100% behind us! We can't let them down now!
Weston uses a 4-4-2 tactic.
Game Starts 10" Warner gets a yellow card for words. This guy is very temperamental
25" We are missing to many chances.
36" Indirect free kick in the middle of Weston midfield. Warner steps up and send the ball to the edge of the area where Batt receives it, turns around and shots for the first of the night!
Half Time comes in with 4 more goal chances wasted.
52" Corner by Warner, Batt climbs above a defender, heads the ball towards goal and scores the second of the night and hes second of the game. This kid is wonderfull.
58" There goes Flanagan diving again and finding a yellow card waiting for him. This boy never learns.
65" Murdoch comes in to replace the tired Bihan.
74" Wood intercepts the ball in defense and sends it to midfield where Murdoch collects it and passes back to Wood. He now plays the ball upfield where Flanagan wins the header with a defender and leaves the ball right in front of Batt. He picks it, runs with it, dribbles one defender and shots just as he was entering the area to make it 3-0 and a well deserved hat-trick.
Game Over and we did it again!
Off course,
Chris Batt (10), got the MoM. Great game also from
Simek (9) and Carroll (8). If we win our next game we can safely say the we won promotion!
Chelsea manager,
José Mourinho his given an ultimatum by the board!!
Chelsea is 8th in the
Premiership.
Liam Watson leaves
Southport to accept a job at
York City.
Gilder is injured in trainning with fractured ribs and a 1 month stop from active duty. Have to tell the boys to not play so rough in trainning, but with promotion one game away they are very excited.
16/4 Game 40 away: Sutton Utd 1 vs 3 Carshalton Attendance: 428
Wheather: Dry 11'C
Referee: Trevor Massey
Jermaine Brown back into the first eleven,
Warner in the bench and
Gilder out of comission.
This is our first
"Match Point" for this season. One win and we are into the
Nationals. To bad the game is not at home.
Sutton with a 4-4-2 formation.
We launch ourselves on the attack, promotion is just behind the corner :-)
Game Starts 7" Skelton gets the first yellow of the game. It looked to harsh.
Half time The game is very quit and we are to nervous. Responsabilitie weights high on our shoulders. I give the players a talking and tell them to relax and just play the game.
64" Batt takes a fast throw in, on the left side to Flanagan inside the area. He turns around one defender and shots, keeper makes a great save but Carroll was the to take the rebound and aply the finishing touch.
68" Flanagan picks a loose ball in our midfield and starts a counter attack by running a full midfield to the line on the right side, crosses the ball back to the panalty marker where Bihan on the run shots with no chances for the keeper, making it 2-0 for us. Oh National Conference, you are so near...
81" Carroll in the midfield with a pass to Batt, he looks up and spots Flanagan on the run, long ball upfield to Flanagan, hi picks it, enters the area and shots for the 3-0! Its party time...
84" Fast counter attack by Sutton and they score on the break. We were to slow to close the gap.
89" Flanagan with another yellow for diving. The boy doesn't learn.
Game ends and...
Newport draws 1-1!!
WE WIN THE LEAGUE with two games left and
WE WIN PROMOTION!! :-)
Its party time in the lockrooms as we sing:
"We are the champions -
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the conference -"
...the champagne flows freely down our throats, cloths and body.
We can now cruise our last two games with no pressure in our backs.
Meanwhile
Chelsea sack
Mourinho after a draw with Man Utd. Former England international
Tony Adams takes the hot sit at
Port Vale.
George Burley exchanges
Derby with
Ipswich and is now their new manager.
23/4 Game 41 away: Bognor Regis 1 vs 2 Carshalton Attendance: 331
Wheather: Dry 13'C
Referee: Andy Martin
Just noticed that
Flanagan, Batt and Burwood are now worth 180k. Burwood still doesn't want to sign a new contract and i think he is lost for good. Its a huge blow for our next campaign in the coming new season.
Burwood is a 20 years old central defender with 20 heading, good positioning and jumping, above average tackling, composure and decisions. He is lacking in acceleration and pace, but that may come in later.
For this game i mantain my confidence in the same eleven. Nothing to loose now!
Bognor uses a 3-5-2 tactic.
Game Starts 12" Simek trips Bognor's striker and the referee points to the spot. Very dubious penalty. Skelton, Batt and Carroll all got a yellow card for words. Bognor's striker steps up and scores.
15" Long ball from Brown to Flanagan, he gets way ahead of the defenders, one on one with the keeper and a nice counter attack goal. Fast answer to Bognor's early goal.
Half Time 55" Simek gets a yellow for tripping.
76" Flanagan centers the ball on the left side, the ball hits a defender and goes straight to Batt's feet, he says "thank you" and shots to score our second of the game!
81" I bring Cooper, Murdoch and Warner to replace Flanagan, Bihan and Brown.
Game Ends Batt (9) goes up to pick another MoM. Great game from
Burwood, Carroll and Flanagan (all 8).
Colin Hendry sacked at
Blackpool.
Harry Redknapp is the new
Chelsea manager.
I am approached by
Blackpool with and offer to become their manager.
Blackpool is going to be relegated from League one. I refuse the job, because my football life objective at the momment is to bring some glory to
Carshalton.
30/4 Game 42 home: Carshalton 3 vs 1 Maidenhead Attendance: 323
Wheather: Dry 14'C
Referee: Ian Harris
Its our consagration game at home, and a huge croud of ... 323 fans showed up. What thet hell! We just won the league and the fans don't show up?? Something is very wrong with this town's mentality.
Authors Note: I consider this not realistic. The croud should have come in numbers since this was THE DAY of consagration with our fans. The whole town should have come to see the game.
Anyway, we are going to party all night, with or without fans.
Payne replaces the injured
Carroll.
Maidenhead with a 4-4-2 tactic.
Game starts 25" Clearance from Hamsher in our defense, Flanagan picks the loose ball just after midfield line and finds himself running alone into goal, he continues until he enters the area and shots for the first of the game. Nice and fast counter attack goal.
30" Maidenhead puts the game level again with a nice shot from 20 yards. 1-1
39" Flanagan with the center, Payne with the finish. 2-1
Half Time 91" Bihan plays a lovely ball to Flanagan, he was unmarked and shots to socre the third of the game, second of his account.
Game Ends
We made a wonderfull campaign this year, and we are hoping for another sucessfull one next year, but to know how we are going to fare, you will have to tune in into another thread where the story will follow up.
The league table looked like this:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Carshalton | 42 | 30 | 5 | 7 | 100 | 40 | +60 | 95 | C | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Newport Co | 42 | 24 | 13 | 5 | 85 | 45 | +40 | 85 | Pl| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Hornchurch | 42 | 23 | 8 | 11 | 69 | 42 | +27 | 77 | Pl| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | St. Albans | 42 | 22 | 10 | 10 | 78 | 58 | +20 | 76 | Pl| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | Lewes | 42 | 19 | 15 | 8 | 62 | 40 | +22 | 72 | Pl| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | Cambridge | 42 | 20 | 12 | 10 | 70 | 49 | +21 | 72 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | Havant & W | 42 | 19 | 9 | 14 | 69 | 68 | +1 | 66 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | Margate | 42 | 19 | 8 | 15 | 69 | 57 | +12 | 65 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | Thurrock | 42 | 19 | 7 | 16 | 63 | 59 | +4 | 64 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | Weymouth | 42 | 19 | 6 | 17 | 75 | 67 | +8 | 63 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | Welling | 42 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 63 | 58 | +5 | 59 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | Basingstoke| 42 | 15 | 10 | 17 | 59 | 67 | -8 | 55 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | Dorchester | 42 | 15 | 10 | 17 | 55 | 64 | -9 | 55 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | Grays | 42 | 13 | 11 | 18 | 67 | 65 | +2 | 50 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | Bishop's S | 42 | 13 | 11 | 18 | 53 | 60 | -7 | 50 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | Maisdenhead| 42 | 13 | 10 | 19 | 52 | 61 | -9 | 49 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | Weston-SM | 42 | 12 | 12 | 18 | 53 | 78 | -25 | 48 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | Sutton Utd | 42 | 12 | 7 | 23 | 56 | 78 | -22 | 43 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | Redbridge | 42 | 9 | 14 | 19 | 54 | 82 | -28 | 41 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | Hayes | 42 | 11 | 8 | 23 | 64 | 99 | -35 | 41 | R| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21th | Bognor Reg | 42 | 8 | 10 | 24 | 45 | 77 | -32 | 34 | R| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22th | Eastbourne | 42 | 3 | 8 | 31 | 32 | 79 | -47 | 17 | R| -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
20 June 2004 Newport Co won the playoffs and joined our team in promotion to the
Conference National.
My players stats looked like this:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Name | Apps | Gls | Ast | MoM | Pass | Tck | Drb | Av.Rat| | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Stuart Searle | 52 | - | 4 | - | 52% | | | 6.79 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Gavin Skelton | 50 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 80% | 2.09 | 0.43 | 7.20 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Neil Le Bihan | 45(1) | 6 | 9 | 1 | 82% | 2.13 | 0.35 | 7.07 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | John Hamsher | 45 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 63% | 1.87 | 0.25 | 7.24 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | John Burwood | 44 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 73% | 1.18 | 0.07 | 7.36 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Peter Wood | 43 | - | 5 | - | 63% | 1.77 | 0.21 | 7.14 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Franklin Simek | 42(1) | 3 | 2 | 2 | 69% | 1.24 | 0.02 | 7.47 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Chris Batt | 41(2) | 26 | 24 | 22 | 78% | 2.04 | 8.20 | 8.58 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Jermaine Brown | 40(2) | 5 | 10 | 2 | 81% | 2.97 | 2.72 | 7.29 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Callum Flanagan | 36(3) | 44 | 12 | 5 | 78% | 0.83 | 7.73 | 7.51 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Danny Carroll | 27(8) | 7 | 7 | 1 | 79% | 4.17 | 2.51 | 7.43 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Lewis Tozer | 20(2) | 1 | 1 | - | 70% | 1.04 | 0.10 | 6.86 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Chris Payne | 18(18)| 4 | 3 | - | 82% | 2.95 | 1.62 | 7.00 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Tim Murdoch | 15(21)| 1 | 4 | - | 84% | 2.29 | 0.20 | 7.08 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Matty Warner | 12(9) | 4 | 5 | - | 77% | 2.47 | 2.20 | 5.57 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Kevin Cooper | 11(12)| 12 | 2 | 1 | 85% | 0.56 | 4.17 | 6.96 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Aaron Cole-Bolt | 10 | - | - | - | 65% | 1.00 | 0.30 | 6.90 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Colin Hartburn | 7 | - | - | - | 70% | 1.43 | - | 7.29 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Phillip Gilder | 2(11)| 2 | 1 | 1 | 71% | 2.65 | 2.50 | 6.23 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Wayne Cort | 1(5) | - | - | - | 83% | 4.06 | 2.58 | 4.83 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Yohance Lewis | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.00 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Marc Shackleton | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.00 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Kevin Lock | 0(1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.00 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Adam Gillespie | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
Clearly
Burwood and Simek in defence,
Carroll and Bihan in midfield and the pair
Batt/Flanagan in the front (especially those two) were the main skeleton of my team.
Searle, our goalkeeper was not bad, ending out really above the average.
In the end of the season our finances took a cash injection of 100k prize money for winning the league, and looked like this:
Income: 113,517
Expenses: 48,551
Profit/Loss: - 64,966
Balance: - 9,775
Wage budget: 14,000 per month
Current Wage: 17,236 per month
Transfer Budget: 3,972 (35%) <- Two players sold for 3k each and one for 6k
Not bad in the end. Just little above 3k in excess of our wage budget, no loans, and a negative cash flow of only 9k. Next season looks better....
This finishes the first chapter of the Carshalton story.
Thank you all for reading this and for your comments. It was my first experience writing something so long, and many errors are now detectable. Next story, continuation from this adventure, will follow shortly. This story was written while playing so there was no later editing and any thoughts about the format and flow. I would love to listen to your comments and suggestions, so send them in.
By the way, should i start a new thread for season 2 or continue it here? PS: Anyone wants the tables for the other leagues?
See you all another day.
Cheers,
Carlos Santos,
proud and happy Carshalton Manager.
been an enjoyable tale so far.
Linear Mode
