MCFLY

Hucknall Town 05/06

Derby and Leicester accepted the friendlies but big-time Forest didn't. Still, I'm happy as we gained a little bit of cash in gate receipts.

I bandied that striker about, wanting £35k but accepted two offers of £30k from Conference clubs and he chose Burton which made sense I guess as they are quite local.

With that money I managed to bring in 6 players my scout had turned up, 4 of whom had been on my shortlist for ages but I'd had no cash until now to buy them.

Pre-season went well and no injuries and for once I was quite confident of some kind of success, more than the board and the fans it seems as they just wanted a safe mid-table position.

We were top and unbeaten after 14 games :cool: and picked up the Manager of the Month award for November, turning down my first ever managerial offer from Wycombe (er, no thanks!) but the curse of the award struck and we suffered some injuries just in time for the fixture pile-up over Xmas We lost 4 out of the next 5 and dropped to 4th.

Still, we recovered somewhat in mid-January but remained 4th, 9pts off the leaders. Then came the crunch home match with the top team which we won handsomely and surprisingly 4-0! From then on we never looked back and went on 11-match and 8-match unbeaten runs which saw us go top and there we remained til the end of the season.

Cups: A great run in the FA Cup saw us go through 3 rounds of qualifying and the 1st round proper (a superb 2-0 win @ Swansea) before falling narrowly at Barnsley in the 2nd round, 2-1. Still, the income generated was a massive boost. An early exit in the League Trophy again however, to bottom club Redditch! Baaaaaaaa

League record: P44 W24 D13 L7 85pts
Top scorer: 12 goals
Highest attendance: 1987 Ave: 1254

The fans want to erect a statue of me outside the ground! I feel so proud

MCFLY

Question:
How do you know when your LL team turns pro?
I've read on other threads about it but not experienced it yet. Only just been promoted to the Conference so wouldn't expect it yet anyway.
What factors are taken into consideration to decide to make a team a professional one?
Is it the league you are in or seasons played in the game, size of the club, bank balance or perhaps a combination of these things?
Is there like an announcement in the messages section to let you know if and when it happens?

retired_dawnyyy1

There's no message, it just comes up on the club information screen. Personally, I didn't notice any difference.

retired_HustleHard

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Having moved to Ilkeston (just outside Nottingham) a few years ago I thought it would be great to manage my local team. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You live suspiciously close to my own current residence.

Have you been sent by them? To spy on me? I think you have! May we never meet or I shall be forced to attack!

MCFLY

Thanks artauduck

I don't mix much with the locals, Live Forever. Most of them are nutters and, reading your post, I'm sure most can clearly see this

MCFLY

Hucknall Town 06/07 National Conference

Again managed to arrange pre-season friendlies with Deby and Leicester and also some lesser teams so a bit of cash was generated there and it provided some great fitness for the players.

The board and fans didn't fancy our chances and we were expected to struggle. Still, my own confidence was high and I was hoping for a top half finish at least.

We managed to bring in a few more players: an experienced defender, a nippy young winger and a new GK to replace my newly retired 41yo!

The season started pretty well and we were 8th going into the Xmas period and still in the FA Cup! After the draw was kind to us in the qualifying stages we were matched up with a 1st round home tie v Port Fail who were struggling at the foot of League One. We won 3-0 :eek: aided by one of the best own goals I've seen in the game, a bullet header from a corner by one of their midfielders into the top corner of his own net Disappointing crowd though, only 1437.

We then saw off their rivals, Sjoke in the 2nd round via a replay and a tense 4-3 penalty shootout. A better crowd of 2870 earned us some much needed money.

Unfortunately this meant we had a bit of a fixture pile-up, playing twice a week for almost the next two months. Injuries occured and results worsened including a 6-0 FA Cup 3rd round defeat @ Newcastle. Still, I'm sure the lads learnt a lot from the experience

Results improved in February but not enough and we finished the season in 9th. Still, not bad.

Final league position: 9th
Top scorer: 14 in league (+5 in cups)
FA Cup: 3rd round
League Trophy: 2nd round (still, an improvement on our 1st rnd exits in the first two seasons)
Highest attendance: 2870 Ave: 1677

retired_pmetzger1

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Earnie is God!:
We then saw off their rivals, Sjoke <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Who put the joke in Stoke?

retired_stelutaivan

Any one of their players

MCFLY

Hucknall Town 07/08 National Conference

A much better season all-round. Managed to bring in a few players pre-season and got shot of the remaining dead wood in the squad.

A slight change of tactics also helped and by Xmas we'd only lost twice. The usual injury crisis didn't occur and we only lost a further 3 games in the remainder of the season to win the division comfortably, 9pts clear.

A poor effort in the FA Cup for a change and for once a decent run in the League Trophy. So decent actually that we won the thing! :p So I'm naming this year as the 'double-winning' season

Final league position: 1st
Top scorer: 20 in league (+6 in cups)
FA Cup: 4th Qualifying rnd
League Trophy: Winners
Highest attendance: 2199 Ave: 1747

MCFLY

Hucknall Town 08/09 League Two

Disastrous start. Got humped 5-1 by Cardiff in the opening game! Things didn't improve a great deal in the next few games but then we slowly recovered and were 11th by Xmas.

Managed to sign a couple of top notch coaches (well, top notch for this level anyway) and a few decent players too: A defender who could actually head the ball, a midfielder who could pass to one of our own players and a young striker who chipped in with the odd goal here and there.

Steady climb up the table and we got our revenge over Cardiff, beating them 3-1 in the return fixture. They went on to romp the division but we managed to sneak up into 3rd place and gain promotion too :thup:

Final league position: 3rd
Top scorer: 19 in league (+4 in cups)
FA Cup: 2nd round
Highest attendance: 2936 Ave: 2174