The Amazing Dale Watkins

I can even picture the look on Mrs. Churches face.

Barnet Seagull

That's not so bad.

I had exactly the same scenario at Queen's Park to the Scottish First Division in 3 seasons,then a further 5 seasons before biting the bullet knowing I'd never get to the SPL.

At least your missus is understanding. All I get from the wife is "Oh did your blobs do something silly again?" grr...

wewak

Again

I now scream obscenities under my breath to avoid creating a scene. The occasional loud banging sound does elicit a "what was that?" And the reply through clenched teeth "Nothing"

Kfoolmoon

Been there, done that... Parents don't bother asking anymore.

butlerjrt

My tantrums usually involve my dog looking at me rather inquisitively and then running into the other room.

Of course, he would probably have better luck at promotion than I sometimes!

wewak

My 3 year old looked at me the other day and said: "Why did you just say f4ck?" :o

That's why I barrack/curse under my breath now :o

Pangaea

Season 2009/10

Stenhousemuir - Scottish First Division

Fans and board expected us to stay away from relegation, media saw us as relegation battlers again. Got 40:1 odds for promotion. I hoped for a mid-table finish, as last year. Turns out I was terribly wrong.

Brought in three players for £4K to help achieve this. Only one played regularly, and he got injured for the rest of the season in January
Sold nine for the whopping sum of £1K!

After a loss in the first league match we got going quite well, and by the end of October we had built up an 8 point lead on the rest of the pack. Then the slump hit us, and it hit us bad. In ten matches a 2-1-7 record haunted us (and my furniture). But due to it being extremely close again, and everybody beating everybody, we were only two points behind on 3rd.
Then a remarkable 13 matches unbeaten, with 8 wins. This secured us promotion with 2 games to go! \0/ And good was that cause we played pooh in the last two with a 1-7 goal difference. Stenhousemuir were in the SPL!

This must be due to a very close season. We won with 65 points, runner up Dundee had 59 (roughly 1.6 pts/game). And we had the most incredible luck the whole season bar the mid-term disaster. Got outshot more or less every match, but somehow managed to grab points and wins. It's a bit worrying that one can get promoted with this a crappy team tbh. It looks as if you get into a good run you can get results almost no matter who you're playing, and vice versa for a bad run. Sorry for that rant :o

Sent out the reserves in every cup game as I needed everybody fit for the league games. Still they managed to get to the semi final of the Challenge Cup, where we lost to fellow divisioners Morton, who later beat Gretna in the final.

Scottish 1st Div: 1st P36 W19 D8 L9 72-47 65pts
Scottish Cup: 3rd Rnd. Gretna (H) (SD1) 2-4
League Cup: 2nd Rnd. Raith (H) (SD1) 0-1
Challenge Suck-Arse Cup: Semi-Final. Morton (A) (SD1) 0-4

Promotion to SPL finally raised our reputation a bit, now a few decent players are interested, and I've secured a few already. Hopefully they'll strengthen our squad. Seriously doubt we can survive, but it should be an interesting season

Pangaea

Oh, we're still Semi-Pro btw. Most players are on full-time contracts by now, but the staff isn't apart from myself.

Do all the staff and all the players have to be on F/T to achieve Pro status? And what are the consequences?

Pangaea

You must have pretty good self-control then. I don't, not yet anyway. When that anger builds up enough, it has to come out somehow, or it's Chernobyl all over again.

wewak

Do you have a 3 year old

It's powerful motivation to change your ways...