retired_dawnyyy1

07/08 Barrow Conference National

In the close season, the scouts were sent out, with a narrower remit, to find the players to fill the glaring deficiences of the second half of 06/07. One £12k GK and the traditional 4 season long loanees, left Barrow with a massive squad of 20, still £1k under our £5.7k budget, which left us room to manouevre when injuries kicked in.

The board wanted mid-table, so it came as a shock when the bookies made us joint favourites for the title. Ignoring this pressure, the team romped away to a 13 point lead by Xmas, with 3 of the loan players being fantastic fits for their roles. The scouts had truly earned their corn (if we had any left due to the abundance traditionally obtained by GKs- SI corn bonus for GKs in next game, please).

This season there was no slump, no substantial injuries and we strolled to the title with 6 games still to play. A player was sold for £18k (new record) but my greatest delight was in grounding out an amazing 15 1-0 victories (now that's the beautiful game).

My main concern for next season is that 06/07s promoted teams have been relegated. Also at the third attempt arch rivals Morecambe won the play-off final, so we will join up with Carlisle in League 2, to reform the malicious triumvirate last seen in 05/06.

Conf Nat: Pos 1 W28 D9 L5 Pts93
FA Cup: 2nd Round lost 0-1H Wrexham League 1
FA Trophy: 4th Round lost 2-3A Rochdale (93rd min aarrrhh)
Vans Trophy: 2nd Round lost 0-0H (pens) MK Dons League 1 (took first ever league scalp in 1st round at Torquay)
Avg attendance: 3764(down on last season!)
Manager of the Year

Cheers for all the positive responses, I'll let you know how Barrow do in their first Football League season since 1971/72.

retired_dawnyyy1

Cash from cups was pretty small, as in RL need to draw the big boys, though it all helps of course. Club coffers currently stand at £450k, mainly due to having played 95% of the game under the wage budget. I like to save enough to buy 2 players when it all goes wrong in midseason and if not, the chairman can buy himself another drinks cabinet.

retired_blondielovespink

Leaving the boss drinks is enough to retain your job in the lower-leagues by itself, isn't it?

KUTGW!

needsometlc

Barrow did great at my game. Won the league, gave my boys a hell of a beating and sent me down to eternal darkness outside the leaguesystem.

KUTGW!

retired_azie

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> gave my boys a hell of a beating <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That phrase must be ingrained deep in the Norwegian psyche. Maggie Thatcher..

retired_nikiah

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by muppetkokken:
Barrow did great at my game. Won the league, gave my boys a hell of a beating and sent me down to eternal darkness outside the leaguesystem.

KUTGW! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah... hmmmm, Barrow... our fierce rivals

My brother lives there... drove along the A590, reached the end and stopped! Only sea after that.

needsometlc

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by arbitrary:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> gave my boys a hell of a beating <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That phrase must be ingrained deep in the Norwegian psyche. Maggie Thatcher.. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Bjørge Lillelien!

retired_dawnyyy1

I was trying to find out who Barrow's all-time top goalscorer/most appearances (those type of facts) but spent an unsuccessful half hour googling. Could anyone suggest a website which contains these type of facts as I'm obviously being thick (no club site had the info or only contained current Football League). I also realise that such forward thinking, to when one of my players breaks a record, will result in me being sacked next season (as usually happens).
Thanks in advance.

retired_sandra

You could try nonleaguedaily.com or confguide.com but I'm not sure as to whether they will have information of that nature.

Did you search for an official Barrow website?

retired_dawnyyy1

Cheers for that- you're a star. I'd already tried all the official & unofficial sites but nonleaguedaily.com came up with the goods. Now I've got to motivate my players to beat 704 appearances and 282 goals!

If I can just moan for a second, why is it that the history of football is treated so shabbily in the UK. My other favourite sport is baseball and despite only being into that for a few years, I can name the great teams of the 1930s, while I would struggle to do the same with Herbert Chapmans' Huddersfield/Arsenal sides (maybe that's my fault). If anyone is asked to name the greatest ever player, they always choose a post WW2 player.

OK, I know the comparison doesn't massively work because:
A. TV allows a nation/world to see the same players
B. Football is not easy to put into statistics (no offence SI!) unlike baseball.

For all the increased media interest in football, in the last decade the history of the game is recorded as follows:
1966: England invent football by winning the only World Cup held until 1990
1970s & 1980s: Lots of hooligans
1990: Gazza cries
1993: For the first time, clubs in towns/cities are invented to form THE PREMIERSHIP and year zero has begun.

Thankyou, I feel much better now, the sedative is kicking in...