Vernazza and beyond

ron6632 · 05-11-2005, 03:44 PM

After consulting Frank, I found myself on my way to Italy and Vernazza. Who play in a comley dark blue strip with red vertical stripes. Nice

Seria C2/A 04/05

Seria - C cup - One win and won loss in the group. No progress

Semi-decent side. Poor defence and attack were a problem but the club had a plethora of quality (at this level!) attacking midfielders. A pretty un-eventful season, hanging around the mid-table, not helped by some shocking finishing by my attackers.

My only scout was useless, only finding binary men for more money than I could afford, thus no transfers in or out were made.

A late season surge saw the team creep towards the playoffs, but this ended abruptly after a match away at the league leaders Belluno. 3-1 with just 6 mins to go. We lost the match 3-4

The next day I was offered the Carlisle job. Feeling extremely hacked off with my side for blowing (it was a 3-0 lead) the previous days match, off I went to join the Cumbrians.

Vernazza slumped to finish in 15th

ron6632 · 05-11-2005, 03:50 PM

05/06

The previous season ended with Carlisle in a lower table position. This season was to prove the best so far.

A couple of defenders were brought in for 2k and three loan players that were spotted at various stages of the season on loan in League two by my scout. A quality D/M L who would later sign from Man U on a free, an AM/F from Leeds (who was a revelation, scoring 35 goals with a 7.96 rating) and late in the season after my front line were pretty much put out of action an S C from PNE who knocked in 4 goals in 5.

The team was consitant, winning the Confrence by three points over Cambridge. It could be argued that we were a one man side with our attackers only managing around 15 goals between the four of them.

FA cup - Lost in 3rd round Away to Newcastle

ron6632 · 05-11-2005, 04:00 PM

06/07

League 2

Those who argued we were a one man team were right........

Despite my best efforts we were unable to re-sign the AM/F and the S C Loanees from the previous season, at great cost.

We started well enough, only losing 2 of the first 9, but after a 5-1 drubbing to Sunderland in the League cup only 5 points were forthcoming from the next 12 matches. Two strikers (Ross County and Alloa) were signed and a quality D C from Crewe were signed, neither of the strikers living up to expectations.

Things never improved and it came to a head with around 8 games left when the chairman showed me the door. The club was well adrift from the pack in second bottom.

A couple of weeks later I was offered the Chester job (in league 2) and off I went. Ironically, Carlisle beat them in the match before I took them over. Funny old game. The change of manager didn't help Carlisle, with them being relegated 8 points short of 22nd place Scarbourgh.

Chester finished in the bottom 5. Would next season be any better.

Elsewhere, in the Premiership Liverpool (

) won the title for the first time since 1990

ron6632 · 05-11-2005, 04:20 PM

It's more a case of I can't sodding remember what happened in those seasons.......

BoroPhil · 05-11-2005, 04:23 PM

Came in here thinking I'd seen some player naming...

ron6632 · 05-11-2005, 04:30 PM

06/07

A new season, and there's not much to say about this one. The cups were a disaster, apart from an away trip to Ipswich for some much needed cash.

A couple of players followed me from Carlisle in the close season. A veteren Centre back who was club captain there and very dependable and a striker that I got on a free from Ross County and decided that I would give a second chance. He wont be getting a third!

The board asked for mid-table obscurity, and they got what they asked for. The team never gelled and again at the tail end of the season I found a size 12 attached to my backside as I got the sack for the second time in two seasons. This management lark can be a bit tricky.

A few days later I was offered the job at Bristol Rovers, who were below Chester in the table after visiting League 1 very briefly the previous season. The season ended with Chester in 15th. One place and one point above Bristol Rovers. There were some good signs though with an unbeaten run of 5 games closing the ground with the clubs above.

At one stage it looked as if we might make a push for the playoffs but a couple of untimely defeats left me planning for the next season

ron6632 · 05-11-2005, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Came in here thinking I'd seen some player naming...

You weren't by any chance thinking of a certain Rotherham player......?

ron6632 · 05-11-2005, 05:11 PM

Elsewhere Liverpool (

) retained the Premiership for the 4th time (Made a mistake further up, they won it in 05/06 and havn't lost it since)

Also West Ham found themselves in League 1

The close season saw Rovers with a healthy bank balance. In came a quality Irish D/DM L from Bury who were now in the Conference. An 18 year old starlet (AM C) arrived from Carlisle for around 40k, an ex-Liverpool (

), Bristol City and Chippenham (where he had had a good season) arrived for 40k and a quality young Goalkeeper who was on loan from Birmingham decided that he liked it so much he wanted to stay.

The squad was augmented by a talented individual AM C who had a habit of scoring some spectacular goals. Unfortuanltly before the previous season ended he took a dislike to me and was eventually sold on to Northampton (what a waste!!) for £325k after refusing to sign a new contact.

The early season produced some fine performances, finaly losing after twelve games to Wrexham who would also go on to have a reasonable season, finishing in the play-offs. Birmingham were dispatched at home on penalties after a backs to the wall job in the League cup. Unfortunately the next round saw us lose heavily to Premiership Norwich 5-1 despite us taking an early lead. A few lessons learned there!

This ended the good run and a sticky patch followed which included a loss to former club Chester. Christmas seemed to gee-up the players with the side going on a fine run in January and Feb.

The good progress continued, including the LDV cup, in which the footballing authorities seemed to have a vendetta against us. On our way to the final the same referee was used in every game from the semi-final south. In three matches he managed to book seventeen of our players! The South Final was played against West Ham who were at that time second bottom of League 1, although they had just been taken over by a rather mad ex-England manager. (Who likes Spiritualists).

The final came against Huddersfield, and the same ref was chosen again. We lost the match 2-1 after taking the lead, 3 players injured and one sent off after 11 minutes. (six players booked). What I don't understand is the oppo only gave away four fouls yet managed to put three of my important players out for over two weeks each.

The injuries and many suspensions (due to that sodding ref) meant that results were patchy towards the end of the season, with the team just about holding onto 3rd in the league.

Thankfully 4th place Colchester were having the same problems as us and we finished the season on 79 points, 5 ahead of our nearest rivels.

Liverpool again retained the Premiership and West Ham avoided relegation to League 2 on the final day by 1 point.