retired_sandra

****, you mean to say I've gone to Wales? I thought I was going over to Shropshire. Oh bugger, I'm going to have to start talking like Rek now so my players can understand me.
If I'd have known it was the Newport in Wales then I would have gone to Enfield or Moor Green!
:cool:

retired_sandra

So the Newport I thought I was in doesn't have a team at all?
It doesn't have a port either, given it's landlocked. What a ****ed up place.

retired_sandra

Two big money signings and five free transfers later (including a former Finnish international centre back/coach found on a staff search) and Newport County march up the league and have been the form team of the second half of the season.
The Finn top rated with 7.75 in 32 but Fans Player of the Year was the top scorer who netted 26.

We lost just 3 of our last 20 league games, form that next season would see us as title contenders.

It didn't stop there. Wins over Hartlepool and Hampton & Richmond put us into the Trophy semi finals. Three games couldn't seperate us from Leigh RMI, but Leigh missed all their penalties in the shoot out. In the final I had a D C sent off on 53 and hung on for a 1-1 draw. In the replay, Hednesford had a red card and we thrashed them 4-0.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************** ********************************************** English Conference - Saturday 29th April 2028********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2027/8 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st C Rushden 42 14 1 6 33 21 12 2 7 41 29 81 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Leigh RMI 42 11 6 4 32 22 12 4 5 32 21 79 3rd Enfield 42 10 9 2 33 19 10 4 7 31 20 73 6th Newport 42 11 4 6 34 23 7 6 8 37 34 64 19th Hartlepool 42 5 7 9 23 29 5 7 9 18 23 44 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------20th R Cheltenham 42 9 4 8 31 34 2 5 14 9 31 42 21st R Worcester 42 4 4 13 23 44 6 7 8 23 29 41 22nd R Bradford Park Avenue 42 2 5 14 19 38 7 8 6 26 28 40 </pre>

6th in the Conference and FA Trophy winners in our first season. That's considerably better than my first season at Billericay, though I have had money to spend that I didn't at Billericay.


Elsewhere...
Champions Cup - Crystal Palace beat Lazio 2-0 in Berlin having beaten Tottenham in the semis.
UEFA Cup - Parma 1 Celtic 2 in Copenhagen.
FA Cup - Norwich shocked the world, the Second Division side beating Leicester in the final.
League Cup - Leeds 3 Chelsea 2.
Vans Trophy - Norwich 1 Northampton 3.
Premier Division - Liverpool champions, Tottenham runners up. Stoke qualify for Champions League and Billericay qualify for UEFA Cup by finishing 5th. Nottingham Forest, Birmingham and Colchester relegated.
Division 1 - Portsmouth champions, Bradford & Bristol City promoted. Coventry, Hereford & Wigan relegated. Moor Green become the first computer managed non league team to survive a season in Division 1 by finishing 21st.
Division 2 - Watford champions with Sunderland and Woking promoted. Swindon, Southend, Droylsden & Leyton Orient relegated.
Division 3 - Luton champions with Crewe, Canvey Island & Ipswich promoted. Dagenham & Redbridge relegated after 10 years in the league (3 in Division 2).
Non League - Barrow & St Albans are promoted for the first time whilst Chelmsford return for the first time since a single season in 2009/10. I'm going back to Swanky Lodge next year!

After the season ended, a new board took control of Leigh RMI with £1.91b of debt being cleared to keep the club from the receivers. Who took over? Bill Gates? Bernie Ecclestone? Sultan of Brunei?

2028 European Championships held in France
Wales got 6 points from their group matches and somehow still got knocked out by Croatia and Yugoslavia with Germany ending pointless.
Ireland got knocked out of their group and the manager got sacked. I've applied.
England and Scotland were grouped together with Italy and Turkey. England defeated the Scots 2-1 in Lens and qualified with the Italians. England went to Saint-Denis to play Sweden in the quarter finals and lost 3-2. France defeated Holland in the final by a single goal.


Looking forward to next season, a further three Bosmans/free agents including a striker from Nottingham Forest should mean we should be right up there. The board only expect a respectable position. They have improved the facilities to good at a cost of £175,000.

retired_sandra

That was despite us winning 3-0 at Nene Park. Trouble was, three days later we did exactly the same at Leigh RMI too! We cost Leigh the championship.

retired_danishapple

Hi Nobby, been following your story and it is great, one of the best Ive read, just wondered how my home team, Canvey Island are doing?

retired_amberger

Good stuff as ever Nobby.

Can I just ask, from what you've said Billericay and Chelmsford share the same ground. Has this affected your stadium expansion? I take it you had the compulsory ground expansion when you reached the Premiership, has there ever been any other expansions? Just asking because I've had trouble with ground sharing/expansions myself.

retired_ellen

Marvellous. Pure class. Great thread. Hope you do well Newport and I really hope that Billericay drop like a rock now that the've sacked you twice!!! Swines!!!!! Still Stockport in the Conference when you started? Surely not! :eek:

retired_sandra

Cheers for all the posts guy, never knew so many followed this.

To answer the questions...

Canvey Island were promoted to the Conference for the start of the second season. They won it in their seventh season and struggled for a couple in the Third. The next six seasons they spent losing in the playoffs, then two seasons of mediocrity before finishing 3rd. They always struggled in Division 2 but survived for three seasons before getting relegated (best finish 14th). After another three in the third, they finished third again last season.
They have won the FA Trophy once and have once reached the 4th Round of the FA Cup.

Billericay and Chelmsford do indeed share grounds but since it's Billericay's ground there has been no problems increasing it. It went up for promotion to the Football League, up again for the Premier League minimum and I had three further increases to make it 19,500.
The only issue I've ever had with the ground share is that I once had a Premier League game moved because it clashed with a Chelmsford home FA Cup tie. Could be more interesting now they're both in leagues though...
The upside for Chelmsford is that they now play at a large ground holding 19,500. I can't compare attendances yet as they are just about to start their first Conference season since getting relegated before Billericay even appeared. Chelmsford have the highest capacity in the Conference, despite Huddersfield and Tranmere being there.

Stockport are in the non league, where they have been since 2017 when they finished 20th.

As for Billericay dropping like a rock, they finished in their highest ever position of 5th last season, qualifying for the UEFA Cup for the first time without having to go through the Inter-Toto.

Finally, just checked my fixture list... My return to Swanky Lodge is a midweek fixture in mid September. Have to have a word with Old Maurice the groundsman beforehand...

retired_sandra

Just looked at the Non League club list, some big(ish) names down there...

Cambridge United, Cheltenham, Port Vale, Rotherham, Sheffield United, Stockport, Wimbledon & York. Surely one of the biggest though must be Handsworth Continental Star.
I hadn't heard of them either.

Besides that, non league teams who have enjoyed success besides Billericay are Division 1 sides Moor Green & Woking, Division 2 outfits Canvey Island, Hereford, Scarborough, Telford & Yeovil whilst Droylsden have just been relegated from the Second.

retired_sandra

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by zammo47:
Yeah, I've followed it from the beginning and it's always the first thread I look for.

We should nominate it for "best ever thread"<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

OK, won't normally update after only two games, but thought I would share this with you...

14.08.27 Simon Bailey is appointed manager of Portugal.
15.08.27 Simon Bailey is appointed manager of Republic of Ireland.

:cool:

Must be the shortest stay in a job ever!

Usual half season update soon, certainly by end of the week.

As for best ever thread... look for LFCFan's 'World Relegation Tour' in the Hall of Fame.