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I stood just outside the third base foul line watching the lads take fielding practice. I winced as another throw by the 13 yr old shortstop whizzed two feet to the left of the first baseman. I spat a stream of tobacco juice and held up my hand to stop practice. I walked out to the shortstop who was scuffing his feet nervously in the dirt. “Matt,” I said, “Don’t throw the ball sidearm after fielding the grounder. Instead, field the ball, take a couple of steps toward the first baseman, grip the ball and then throw three-quarters. That’ll improve your accuracy tremulously.” I then demonstrated, then walked back to my spot and play resumed. After about ten minutes, a car pulled up and a couple of men in coats and ties stepped out and headed my way. “Are you Bryan Alkire?” I said I was. They then asked for a moment of my time. I told them that I still had an hour of my practice left, but that I’d meet them at the pub down the street afterwards.
An hour and a half later, I ended the pub and joined the two men a table. All three of us ordered water and made small talk. Once the drinks arrived, I inquired as to what the men wanted. The older man said “We’re on the board for Chester City FC.” I took a drink of water and asked what the local football side wanted with me. “Bryan, we know you moved here ten years ago with your wife from the US. We also know that you were one of the best young football youth coaches in the US, yet you haven’t coached any football since you arrived in Chester, Why”? I took another drink, and thought a bit. “Sir”, I replied “I was one of the best rising soccer coaches in the US, but I never could get along with the administrations- either they don’t give a **** about soccer and don’t give you the support you need or they care so much about the game that they look over your shoulder and interfere at ever turn.” I got sick of it and burned out. So, I decided to put my college education to use, packed my wife and then 5 yr old son and moved to England. If you did your research, you know I work for the got writing policy papers and doing research. I also coach youth baseball and am involved in my kid’s activities haven’t really given soccer much of a thought. “The two men regarded me in silence for a bit and then the other man spoke. “We’re looking for a man to manage the club. We’re a young team and in debt so we need a man that can work with the youths. You’re the best qualified in the area and you have excellent references. We want you.” I drained my water, stood up and said. “Tell you what gentlemen, I’ll discuss this with my wife and kids and give you an answer tomorrow night.” They left me the number to call and bid me good night.
I went home and over dinner told Faithe and the kids. Faithe, my wife and a successful writer of poetry and short fiction, was ambivalent, knowing full well that I’d crashed and burned ten years earlier. Steven, 15 and in grammar school, predictably thought it was a great idea. He’d had no memory of me coaching soccer. Katie 9, who was born after Faithe, Steven and I moved to England, also thought it was a cool idea. Both she and Steven were adamant supporters of Chester and wanted to see the team make the League. Faithe was won over when I gilded the lily a bit and raved about the support I would get from the staff and the chairman.
So, I gave the English got notice and two weeks later joined the Chester City FC. I realized things were going to be interesting when I met with the chairman. For starters, he was a couple of years younger than I was. He told me he wasn’t wealthy at all, and was running this club on a shoestring. He said he was basically insolvent and showed me the club’s books. He wasn’t kidding. Chester is roughly 500,000 pounds in debt and it was growing. He also informed me that he only wanted to see Englishmen at the club, would be cheaper he said. I left the office shaking my head and went to my small office and made practice plans. The two hour session showed me that two things were apparent. One- the coaching staff was inept and I sacked all them on the spot. Secondly, most of the players didn’t match my needs. Either they were non-Englishmen or they played the wing, which isn’t featured in my system. I placed these players on the for sale list and hoped someone would take them off my team. In addition, I listed some players would never make the cut.
That night, after practice, I burned the phone lines looking for coaches, an asst. manager, a couple of scouts and a couple more trainers. I got positive feedback from all my gabbing and offers were quickly made. Hopefully all would accept and we could start the season with a full lineup of staff.
The first week of my tenure did not start out auspiciously. The previous idiot in charge had left a friendly schedule behind, but no one bothered to tell me till the day we had to depart for Scotland to play Stranaer. I got on the phone hand canceled the rest of the tour, but was stuck with this game. I looked at my squad list and randomly chose 11 players and told them to play a basic 4-4-2. It’s a wonder we didn’t get blown out, but we only lost 1-0 and actually played reseasonably well. After the game we returned to England and began training. The bids for staff were being accepted and slowly the coach’s et al was arriving. Everyone was in place and in their assigned role by the end of the week. The coaches were coaching, the scouting scouring the bushes and the trainers were fixing injuries. The players I’d put up for sale also drew interest. By the end of the week, several Welshmen and a couple of wingers had been shipped off to other teams for prices ranging from 10K to 40K. The rest of the misfits were sent to the reserves in the hopes that they would play well and draw scouts.
July 23 to July 30
Not much happened to Chester during this week. A minor scandal insured when I discovered that one of my best players, fullback Iain Jenkins, is Northern Irish rather than English. He was placed on the list and bids rolled in. I decided to attempt to ease the birder of debt with this sale. So I set a high price for Jenkins. If nobody pays we’ll sell him at a more reasonable price. The only news was that our Zambian dual national was selected to Zambia’s U21 squad, making him ineligible to play for Chester so he went on the list. During the week, the rest of the Conference was far busier than we were. Halifax acquired several players as did Dagenham and Redbridge. Farnborough hired a manager. Ireland hired, who else, David O’Leary to manage the national side. Those were the highlights. July ended uneventfully.
The big news this week was the Iain Jenkins sweepstakes. Several teams put in the large bids I requested: topped by a bid of 750K from Blackburn. If Jenkins signs a contract with them, that sum would pull us out of the red and neatly into the black ink side of the ledger. My scouts were active this week, recommending a free agent forward named Tony Clark. I viewed the videotape and concluded that he would never make the cut even though he’d spent seven years with Wycombe. Only two more weeks to go til the beginning of the season.
August 6-13
At the beginning of the week, Iain Jenkins agreed to contract with Blackburn and the deal went through. To show how huge this deal was for us, let me give the figures. After the deal was made, we had roughly 223,000 pounds in the bank. Thus, the deal lifted us out of debt and put us on solid footing. Two more youth signings occurred during the week. The more notable of the two was 15 yr old schoolboy striker Mark Fox. The tape of is interscholastic match showed that he had budding skills. Two or three years of good coaching and hard work should see him develop into a good player. At the end of the week Liverpool beat Arsenal 1-0 in the Charity Shield game and the season was less than a week away.
August 13-20
One of my scouts finished up his youth search and was told to go scout the UK for talent. It was a slow week for news as we were focused on our Saturday Conference opener against Northwich Victoria. On Wednesday the reserve went to the Vics and lost 2-1. Young Mark Fox was the only player who played well, bagging a goal and the MOM. On Saturday afternoon we played the Vics at home in the Deva Stadium. Since it was my first competitive match coaching soccer in nearly a decade, I was pumped. I had my pouch of chew ready, knowing I was likely to chew most of the tobacco during the match. The conditions were near perfect as my lineup headed out for the kickoff. An opening day crowd of 1614 saw us beat the Vics 2-0. The Vics failed to even get a shot off and were trapped countless times. For our part we picked the Vic defense cleanly and carefully. Captain Michael Twiss walked away with MOM honors.
After the match, I placed a couple of Irishmen that I belatedly discovered on the for sale list. Both Cary and Clare would fetch nice sums even if it would weaken the team a fair bit. On Sunday the bids rolled in for Clare.
August 20-27
The bids came in for Clare and I accepted most of them, asking for a slightly higher price. Cardiff came back agreeing to my new price on Tues as we prepared to take on Halifax there in the evening. It rained the entire match, but the pitch was dry and still fast. I trotted out the same lineup as the previous game. The rain didn’t bother us as we walked out 4-0 victors with all the goals coming in the first half. Once again, we dominated defensively, allowing Halifax one shot. Meanwhile we broke down their defense in shooting 9-12. All in all, a nice performance. This time, Mike Beasley, one of or forwards earned the MO<M.
This time the board was thrilled with our victory as it put us first in the Conference based on goal difference. Flushed with success, I decided to try to see if I could flesh out the team a bit. Realizing that the board was still pinching pennies, I deeded to hire three more scouts and set them to work. Bids were duly sent out to await responses. I also did a bit of head hunting on my own, dialing agents about players and offering a few contracts myself. Our next game was Saturday the 25th at home versus Kettering. As the week progressed, more bids for Clare were received. On Wed. one of my scouts recommended we sign 19 yr old David Marsh of Chelsea. Noting that Marshall would make an excellent AMC in my system, I approached Chelsea about loaning out the lad for the year at half pay. That same scout had finished touring the UK so I told him to hit the interscholastic games, junior league games and even pickup games to find youth blood for Chester. On Thursday, the reserves went to Kettering and blazed those 6-1. Fox was again named the MOM as he bagged another goal. The lad was drawing raised eyebrows among front office personnel already. Later that evening Chelsea rejected the loan offer. Being stubborn, I tried again, slightly altering the nuances of the contract. Later in the evening, the late news reported that Celtic’s Paul Lambert had broken his leg in training and would be out eight months. Ouch.
On Saturday morning before the match with Kettering, we got word that Rob Campkin had agreed to scout for us. I received the news while preparing for the match. Not that there was much to prepare; I simply used the same lineup and noted weather conditions. The weather and pitch were fine and we drew a lenient ref for the day. That meant a rough physical game. We won easily 3-0, battering their keeper 12-15 and playing tight defense. MOM went to second half sub Danny Collins, who scored a brace in his 45 minutes on the pitch.
The board was happy with the win as we continued to set the Conference alight. Rob Campkin was assigned to look for youth players. In other Saturday news, Liverpool beat Bayern on penalties to win the Euro Super Cup. Chelsea rejected the Marsh loan offer and Clare agreed to terms with Sheff. Wed. Netting us a cool 575K in the bank which would prove useful in the future With the Clare sale boosting profits, the board freed up about 500 grand for purchases. On Sunday, another scout, Martin Patching joined us and was assigned to scour the country. The last scout to sign, Spencer Field, arrived late on Sunday and was told to look for youth prospects.
Not much happened at the beginning of the week. On Wednesday we played Burton Albion at Eton Park. Conditions were good and I saw no reason to change the lineup. It proved to be a smart move. We won 4-0. Brodie led the way with a hat-trick. Again, we blasted away at goal 11-12 and held Burton to 2 shots. Whatever my coaches are doing to prepare the players for games, I hope they keep it up. We’ve now lead the Conference with a 4-0-0 record with a ridiculous 13-0 goal difference.
As expected, the board was thrilled with the win. During the rest of the week two of my scouts started their youth searches. On Thursday, our reserve match ageist Margate 1-0. On Friday the 31st I won the Conference Manager of the Month.
On Saturday September 1st played Margate at home in the Deva Stadium. Great conditions for a game and I didn’t mess with the winning lineup. It worked again as we won 4-0. This time, Davis the RMC won the MOM for a brace of goals. I’m running out of things to say about Chester. We’re simply smoking the opposition right now.
Of course, the board was thrilled with the big win. Of course they were more thrilled more with the monthly review. They were delighted with my job performance. Financially, we made over a million pounds in August. That money gives us more than 600K. That should make our tight chairman smile.
We start the first full week of Sept with a game at Southport. Conditions were fine and we drew a lenient ref for the third time this season. Southport managed to contain our offense and picked our defense apart to earn a tough 2-2 draw. The hot run is now over.
Over the weekend, the FA announced the transfer system changes. Our scouts found players, but the players were of the wrong nationality. Obviously the scouts weren’t aware of the non-English ban. Matters got even worse in that regard when the youth scouts recommended ill-suited players a couple of days later. It’s enough to make me fire them for incompetence, but, of course, I won’t….yet. Because of our early week game, we had till Saturday off, a nice break for the players who were recovering from injuries. On Thursday, our reserve side lost to Working’s reserves 3-2 at their park. Once again Fox put in a superb performance. It was hard to ignore the rumblings that the kid was ready for first team. On Friday, one of my scouts actually came up with a good player who I submitted a bid. On Saturday afternoon at the Deva Stadium. Conditions were good as we went out for the kickoff. We walked out 105 minutes later 5-0 winners. We hit all 10 of our shots and played well. The board was delighted as well they should be. In seven games, we’ve given up 2 goals and both of those were in the same game.
On Tuesday the 11th we traveled to Dagenham to take on Dag and Red. The game was played in the evening and conditions were good. In addition, we drew another lenient referee. It didn’t help us as we lost 1-0. In a way, it was a relief to lose as it took the pressure off us. We learned that if we shot poorly, we’d lose. It would give us incentive to train harder for our next game on Saturday at home against Forest Green. On Thursday our reserve side traveled to Forest and lost 2-1. At the end of the week, I accepted a bid from Droylesden for Shaun Carey. I also attempted to sign a youth player.
On Saturday afternoon we suited up to play Forest Green at home in the Deva Stadium. I figured we’d bounce back from the loss in the last game. 1025 cheering fans watched us beat the Green 3-1. Mark Beasley won the MOM for his goal and superb play. We shoot 12-18 and held off the Green.
On Saturday evening, the Boston United board sacked their manager Neil Thompson due to bad results. I spent that Sunday reviewing videotapes of youth prospects and attempted to sign them to contracts. We also welcomed Pickering to our reserve squad. In addition, Carey agreed to Droylesden’s offer. And left for 28,000 pounds.
The beginning of the weak was slow, just training to attend to. On Wednesday we signed 19 yr old AMC Jason Lay to play in the reserves. He has decent enough talent, but he’s no superstar. The League Cup started this week, I’ll report on those matches later on in the competition. On Thursday the reserves played at the Deva and drew 2-2 with Gravesend. Our resident Zambian international who I’m trying to offload scored the brace. Later that evening, another youth player signed with us. Justin Wilson is an 18 yr. old fullback. On Friday, Torquay made a bid for the Zambian- I had wondered who that strange gent in the stands was. That same afternoon, 18 yr old forward Matt Parker (a former Doncaster youth player) signed on a free. In the evening Harthoff, the Zambian happily went to Torquay for a cut rate 4000 pounds. Cheap yes, but it slashed the payroll a bit.
On Saturday September 22 we went to Gravesend to play them in an afternoon fixture. It was a bit hot by English day, but was still blissfully cool to this Missouri boy. Ten years in English weather and I still compare it to Missouri which is either a stove r a freezer depending on the two main seasons. At any rate we looked comfortable as the teams kicked off. Two hours later, we looked distinctly uncomfortable boarding the bus after a sloppy 0-0 draw. Neither offense was in sync and misfired a lot of the time. This was another ego deflating game as Barnet took 1st place from us. The next two days were filled with scouting reports and bids on players.
On Monday, Boston announced that they had hired Scotsman George Burly as their new manager. Nothing happened at Chester as we prepared for our home game against Nuneaton Borough on Tues. Match day dawned sunny and cool. In addition to favorable weather, we drew another lenient. Ref, the fifth of the year for us. I had gone back and reviewed the tapes of our previous ten games and so adjusted the lineup for the game based on good form. 1336 fans saw our winning ways return in style with a 4-0 drubbing that saw four different players’ bag goals for us. Our tenacious defense retuned as well holding NB to 1 shot and trapping them offside a whopping 23 times. All in all, a nice way to start off the week.
As one would expect, the board were thrilled with the win. Wednesday was my birthday, which was celebrated quietly with my family. Steve and Katie have suddenly become very popular at school now that Chester is winning. I shudder to think what will happen to the phone when we win the Conference as I believe we will. That evening as I was enjoying my one birthday drink, Spencer Field called me up to inform me that he’d scouted an ex Man U youth named Neil Wood. He described the lad in glowing detail and so I called Wood’s agent and made my sales pitch. On Thursday the reserves drew 1-1 with their Hereford counterparts. Mark Fox scored the crucial goal and won the MOM. His compelling matches are forcing me to consider calling the kid up to the first team even though he’s a callow 15, not even fully out of school yet. Friday passed uneventfully as we prepared for our Saturday afternoon fixture at Hereford.
I spent the drive to Hereford wondering if this was the location were the cattle breed was first raised. It was a pleasure to stare out on a pleasant sunny day. The boys arrived in high spirits and Chester was energized at kickoff. The game ended a 1-1 draw as we couldn’t covert endless opportunities. Very frustrating.
After the game, back at the office, I received word that Gary Lynch, an 18 yr old midfielder had agreed to a contract with us. Slowly but surely, the youth ranks are filling up. The more we have, the more likely we’ll be able to develop good players. On Sunday we sealed a contract with young Lewis Fielding. In a nice ending to September, our forward, Mark Beesley was selected as the Conference Young Player of the Month. Also in the news late that night was the fact that a new board had taken control at Derby County earlier that day. They had cleared the club’s massive debt and made some money available for transfers. I found myself glad to be here where finances weren’t a worry as I hoped the monthly review would prove the next day. But that wasn’t the end of the soccer financial news reporting. There was a story on the Everton mess and how’d they’d have to slash their roster. There was also a story on Wolves becoming a PLC meaning the manager was suddenly at the mercy of the common stockholders. Must be fun.
On Monday morning Charlton and Burnley dropped out of the Harkness lottery. That didn’t bother me as other suitors were offering contracts to the player. Indeed, that afternoon, Harkness went to Leicester for 300,000 pounds. The move canceled out last month’s debt and removed a huge salary off our books. He was making 250 grand a year, the next highest is Neil Wood at a more modest 55 grand a year. So every banker in the area was happy to see Harkness leave. Other than that bit of news at the beginning it was a slow week. On Thursday we signed 18 yr old Junior Hewitt. Hewitt will be a resave side forward. On Saturday morning we finalized the signing of Stockport’s 19 yr old right fullback Glynn Hancock. He’ll be starting at right back for us. He’s done well in his nine appears for Stockport’s reserve side and was cheap so I figured it was worth the gamble.
On Saturday afternoon, we began the FA Cup by playing Farnborough at the Deva Stadium. Conditions were fine and I didn’t change the lineup, leaving Wood in the starting slot. The game was over by halftime as we pounded Farnborough for four goals in the first half. Coulson added a 5th with a dodgy penalty and we went out from there. Now we were drawn in the FA Cup First Round. The board was merely “pleased” with our performance.
After the game, we received word that Hancock and Carl Leaburn, a dangerous target man had signed with us. Both moves bolstered our depth and allowed me to finally construct a first team proper. On Sunday afternoon we drew St Albans away to start our FA Cup hopes. After doing some squad adjusting I realized we were two midfielders short of a 22 man first team, so I started calling agents and teams to see if I could find a couple of midfielders that could play for us. My scouts recommended a couple of good fillers.
Guys, I've been fighting an inconsistant internet connection for the past week. Some days it's fast, others it's painfully slow. That's why I haven't been on the board much.
Oct 15-22
On Monday, Preston’s Mark Rankine agreed to terms with us. He steps into the hole at CMC. We got a good player for 90,000. Not a bad deal at all. Our next match wasn’t for almost a week and half so we had plenty of time to rest and recharge. On Wednesday we completed our first team midfield by adding Leke Odunsi from Millwall for 55K. He’s only 20, but he has the skills to play at the Conference level. With the first team complete, the only additions would be players that could bolster the team. On Wednesday night Kidderminster announced the hiring of Chris Kamara as their manager. The scouts came and went as this slow week progressed to a close. A boring week indeed, but it was good for the players.
Starting in Chester City..(CL C) 
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