[FM10] Sun, sea and Southport

[Darkwain]

Running with England and Scotland running due to my old machine, Gamr rand straight from install no patches, appologies in advance for the bad spelling its never been my strongpoint

Ive tried taking Southport places before in FM 09 but ended up in a sea of mediocraty bouncing between the BSN and BSP so fingers crossed it goes better this time

I am in season 2012-13 at this time so i will give an update of progress so far

Season 2009/10 - Playoff Winners!

Hopes for this season for me want as far as reaching the playoffs and that exactly what i did, but it was by no means a smooth ride.

The season began poorly, I brought in a raft of free transfers to shore up the squad as deep as it was there was no strength to the depth, so in come 5 free transfers and they just would not gel together as a squad or take to the formation I wanted (4-1-2-1-2). Inconsistancy plagued us never going on a run of more than 2/3 wins in a row before loosing or drawing but it was enough for us to keep in touch with the teams in the playoff positions. Christmas came and went and the January transfer window closed but despite trying to attract some more players on a free no one would join. More consistancy from the team followed but not enough to get into the playoff places yet, 7 games to go in the season and we are still sitting in 12th and an amazing run of 7 wins let us sneak into 5th place, we were there i had got my target, the play off itself i did not hold out much hope for, we had drawn Fleetwood who had beat us convincingly in 3 previous occasions we had met.

The first leg provided a satisfying 2-2 draw away from home, we grabbed 2 late goals to keep the hopes alive the second leg even caught me by surprise by half time we were 2-0 up the team had their tails up and were taking no prisoners an early goal in the second half sealed the win and ultimatly ran out 3-1 winners taking the tie 5-2 on agg, the final awaitd us and the opponents were Ebbsfleet.

The final again turned out to be a sruprisingly straight forward afair, 2-0 up within 10 mins allowed me to drop back into what was to become my favoured counter attacking style, shortly after the start of the second half a long hopefull ball out of defense found my striker and bang! 3-0 the game was effectivly over, Ebbsfleet did eventually strike back in the 88th min but it proved to be no more than a consolation goal.

Promotion was ours, unexpected in the extreme but most welcome, the Blue Square premier awaited.

http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt114/Darkwain/BSN09-10.jpg

Season 2010/11 BSP - 13th

Promotion, surprising as it was has left me with a squad that was not good enough for life in a higher division, so the clear out began no less than 19 players jettisoned from all areas of the squad brining the wage buget down and giving me plenty of room to bring players in. So with the squad now thankfully trimmed i began targeting what I felt were my problem areas. Thomas Kind Bendiksen a Norweigian Under 21 recently realeased from Rangers recommended to me by my assistant manager i snapped him up on a free, another 4 players followed. This years youth intake threw me up the nice surprise of a 16 year old striker Kieth Meikle this boy instantly jumped to the position of best player in the team, I had a star on my hands.

The season began as i expected - BAD BAD BAD, first 10 games gave me only 2 wins and 2 defeats but incredibly 6 draws, the team were having trouble holding onto a lead bendiksen was supplying plenty from AMC and Steve daly putting them away but the defence and goalkeeper were conspiring to get me in a relegation battle. this poor form continued to the January transfer window i was sitting in 16th but by no means safe.

January window predictable seen me go after defenders to stop the rot and save my season. It worked more of the draws became wins and I climbed, I got as far as 11th before inconsistancy struck again and the season wound down with us finishing in 13th. Kieth Melkie pitch in with 18 gals and 8 assists in his fist season, its only a matter of time before someone came in for him

End of season table

http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt114/Darkwain/BSP2010-11.jpg?t=1267807089

Hoe its not too long and rambling, stopping here for now to get the season im currently on finished

Will update the rest later this evening brining us up to date.

[Darkwain]

Just realised I forgot to add in my cup progress. Unfortunatly theres nothing to really report

FA Trophy

Season 1 - 3rd qualifying round 0-2 Vs Fleetwood H

Season 2 - First Round - 1-2 Vs Fleetwood H (Again!)

FA Cup

Season 1 - 4th Qualifying Round 0-1 Vs Bedford H

Season 2 - First Round - 0-6 Vs Aldershot A

[Darkwain]

Season 2011/12 BSP - 5th

13th the previous season and a squad now used to each other, there was only one thing for it, yep another clear out the remnents of the team I inherited bar the goalkeeper are now gone, and after a fairly good season last year finishing mid table the board were looking for the same again, I on the other hand had other ideas, I was going after a playoff place again. I strengthened the team some more replacing players who were adiquate for the leage with players good enough hopefully for League two, the fist of the signings were Calum Bagshaw and Branimir Kostadinov and they didnt kosta lot, more free transfers both strikers to give me cover in that position as the bigger clubs are now trailing Kieth Miekle, Everton have been on his tail now for 6 months. Chris Lines (ML) and Kamil Witorski (DMC) to shore up the midfield and provide me with more cover. in total i signed 7 players and was hopeful this season would be special.

Pre season was to give me a taste of things to come, high scoring games including a 4-4 draw with Chelsea reserves who had Balack in there team, so the season began in the same vane, scoring plenty but conceeding too many at the same time, this indiferant for led us up to the midway point of the season sitting in 11th. Cup wise fist of all we crashed out disapointingly to York in the 4th qualifying round 1-2 away from home the FA Trophy Exit followed a month later losing 1-0 to Wrexham also away from home so for the 3rd season no cup run in sight, attention was now fully on the league and meeting my own expectations.

The transfer window opened and some more youth players not up to standard were released and to my dismay Kieth Meikle Packed his bags and shipped off to Nottingham Forrest a paltry 140K came my way from them but I made sue I had a few clauses in there to get some more should the boy reach his potential. Leaving with 22 games played that season and another 14 goals to his name, he was going to be missed. We had lost our star player so we had to look ahead and build up the rest of the squad in came Dedryck Boyata (DC), Vasilev Radoslav (ST), Josh Dawkin (AML)and the versitile Davide Enrico Somma (ST,AMR).

The second half of the season got under way and the new signings had made a real difference we were now winning more than we were loosing and the chase for the playoff began Good results against Altringham (5-1), Grimsby (3-1) and away to Darlington (3-0) say us in 5th at the end of the regular season

Finishing 5th left us with the unenvyable task of taking on Kettering who had missed out on promotion to the runaway Rushden, The fist leg at home we ran out 1-0 winners Bendiksen supplying the only goal, we survived the last 15 mins playing with 10 men when Witorski got sent off. The second leg seen a cagy first half with no goals but then Kostadinov popped up in the 59th min with his fist goal, the tie was sealed 4 mins later with his second, Kettering hit 1 back in the 74th min but by then it was too late the tie was gone from them. Our second Playoff final would we repeat our previous feat and seal ourselves league football the next season.

Sailsbury awaited us and to tell you the truth we would have been better off not turning up, Sailsbury were all over us from the start and were were 1-0 down in 14 mins, the team never got going after that and our fates were sealed as soon as we kicked off the second half when Sailsbury scored their second after that they controlled the game and our chance was gone, a third season in the BSP awaited us.

The end of the season showed why is was right to get Kostadinov in the squad 30 goals from 45 games with 14 MOM awards and an ave rating of 7.16.

http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt114/Darkwain/BSP11-12.jpg?t=1267814698

[Darkwain]

Now to split it up a bit

Pre Season 2012/13 BSP

The previous seasons exploits showed me I need 1 or 2 more players in the squad to give me the killer edge i need to get promotion, once again the board is asking for a safe mid table position, this season again afer the promice of last season I am after at least a playoff place.

So transfer time again and out went 11 players including all my coaching staff and assistant manager, he had been a good assistand but i am needing a little more to get ahead so in came Chris Perry to be my new No2 Terry McPhilips soon followed with Matty McGinn reamining as a player/youth coach, so with my new backrom staff in place in came 5 more free transfers and 2 loan signings John Adams (DM MC) from Bradford and Tony Almond (MC ST) from Blackpool, i had foolishly ignored Tony the previous season when Blackpool sent him to us, but the Assistant manager pointed out hes as good as Kostadinov so hes looking like a fist team pick. Pre Season was rather unispiring with only 2 wins in freindlys and they were against lower league opposition, but only time will tell what this season brings

On a side note, I have the clubs finances in good shape by sticking to only free transfers and keeping as close to wage budget as possible a tthe start of the season we have half a million in the bank and the club will still not improve my training facilities

[Darkwain]

And now to bring it up to date

Southport Jan 1st 2013 - Currently 4th

So squad assembled boots laced and we were off again, the season began at home to Grimsby and like every season we got off sluggishly a 2-1 defeat was not what we were looking for followed up with a defeat to Dagenham & Redbridge and a Draw to chester 1 point from 9 had me wondering if the wheels were coming off the bandwagon, but the draw at chester was the begining of a run of 12 games without defeat 9 wins and 3 Draws had us in second in what was proving to be a very tight league, the occasional draw and defeat keeping us off of top spot but still in the title race.

In the cups we have had our best season to date the FA Cup a Draw with Away to Chester kicked odd the cup campaign, the return match saw us running out 2-1 winners in extra time, the First Round saw is up against Blue Square opposition again in the form of York, no replay was required this time as we ran out 3-0 winners away from home, So into uncharterd territory for us we went and were rewarded with a Home tie to League 1 Exeter, a capacity crowd were there to see if our lads could cause an upset, despite there hard work, an 8th min goal from Ashley Grimes put us behind, despite our best efforts the woodwork and the Goalkeeper kept us from causing an upset, we may have been knocked out but they done us proud. So after a nice FA cup run the FA trophy was in our sights surly a good cup run there was not out the question we are due one. A convincing 3-1 win away to Histon got us on the road in the 1st round, Fates conspired to pull Grimsby out the hat with us, this was not going to be an easy tie as they were currently in second place and still on form. My fears proved to be completely founded as within 2 mins Peter Sweeny with a sweet free kick for 25 yards out, We had to come out of my usual counter attacking style as the team began sitting 2 deep and Grimsbys defence was coping with any breakaway we tried, so out we came and shipped another goal from a penalty after 23 mins Nathan Jarman the scorer, things were not looking good at all, then on 36 mins Jarman popped up again to make it 3-0 by half time. The players got the hairdryer treatment at half time in the hope they would come out fighting, and they did Jon Adams sent off in the 74th min for exactly that, Grimsby were quite happy to sit back and soak all the pressure we could put on them and the game ended 3-0 so the cups were over for another season

League table on the 1st of January

http://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt114/Darkwain/Sothport%20Odeyssy/Jan2013.jpg?t=1267829817

Kostadinov is once again our top scorer so fat pitching in with 12 goals and 5 assists but has not quite been on the form of the previous season and loan signing Louis Arnold from black pool has been our top performer with 9 goals 6 assists and a ration of 7.12

On the job front i am being linked to a few jobs in Scotland with Hamilton, Dundee and Queen of the South all being quoted as being intersted in me, theres been no job offers from them yet and if there was there getting turned down as my work with Southport is not done yet

[GioGio85]

Tough to get out of the BSN in the first year....even tougher to stay up the year after in the BSP! Good start! What are your aspirations for this save in the long term?

[Darkwain]

Im just taking it one season at a time with them, the ultimate goal is any sort of european football but the short term is to get out the BSP then stay in league 2 and build from there

[GioGio85]

Best of luck then!

[Darkwain]

Cheers, slow machine so a few hours and this season will be over

Also on a side note ive just patched to 10.3, im not sure if this will affect my game at all

[Nobby_McDonald]

Doing well so far Wain.

[Darkwain]

Jan 2014 - Seasons End 10th

So sitting in 4th things were looking good for us, the league was tight and exciting no slip up could be afforded. January transfer window saw my first signing for cash Alan Love (DR) from shrewsbury for £6k Lukasik Przemyslaw (Gk) a free transfer the only other purchace of note, some good youngsters were brought in for my under 18s but unlikely to feature in the next season or two unless they their potential in the next season or so.

So league bussiness continued with Daganam and Redbridge first footing us on new years day, quite clearly everyone was hungover and a dull 1-1 draw was played out, seemingly this was going to set the tone for the remainder of the season a couple of wins and defeats followed leaving us in 5th, things were still tight but everyone was taking points off of each other allowing the top 12 teams in the league still in with a shot at the title.

The indifferent form continued as the season went on never stringing any more than 2 wins in a row, this was normally followed by a draw then a defeat and the pattern would repeat untill a run of 5 draws and a defeat left me 9 points adrift of the playoff spot, half the team had gone on strike it seemed, the team was rotated to bring in some freshnes and that finally allowed us to get back on track with a 1-0 win at Hayes & Yeading stopped the rot and left me 10th but the gap to the play off spot was now only 6 points 2 more wins against Corby and Blyth had me in 8th with 2 games to go, we had been here before in my first season as manager seemingly against the odds we were homing in on the play off place I desired, untill AFC Wimbledon beat us 2-0 away from home, it was over, we could no longer catch them, the team was gutted, the final game against Histon was a Dead rubber so several youth team players got there first taste of league football, a 1-0 defeat followed but not unhappy with the performance some of the kids have a future with us it seems.

So the seasons over and I am left disapointed again a 4th season in the BSP awaits us

Final Table

So Ebbsfleet were champions and were joined in league 2 by Grimsby who beat Wrexham 3-2 in the play off final.

Will post some information soon on how the BPL and various cups are getting on as i have just noticed an intresting cup final in the FA cup

[Darkwain]

Premiership

         Winners         2nd        3rd        4th        Relegated
09/10  Chelsea    Man U         Arsenal    Tottenham      Birmingham, West Ham and Blackburn
10/11  Arsenal    Man U         Chelsea    Tottenham      Wigan Portsmouth and Reading
11/12  Arsenal    Tottenham     Man City   Newcastle      West Brom Blackburn and QPR
12/13  Arsenal    Man U         Sunderland Tottenham      Fulham Bolton and Wigan

FA Cup    Winners         Runners Up
09/10     West Brom    Charlton         -  Championship Vs League 1 final :0
10/11     Man City     Man U
11/12     Man U        Swansea
12/13     West Ham     Leeds

League Cup Winners      Runners Up
09/10     Aston Villa  Arsenal
10/11     Tottenham    Portsmouth
11/12     Stoke        Man City
12/13     Arsenal      Wolves

Champions League

         Winners      Runners Up
09/10    Barcelona    Liverpool
10/11    R.Madrid     Arsenal
11/12    Barcalona    Tottenham
12/13    R.Madrid     Juventus

Europa League

         Winners      Runners Up
09/10    Roma         Aston Villa
10/11    Celtic       Valencia
11/12    Liverpool    Man City
12/13    FC Byern     Shacktar

World Cup 2010 Winners Argentina Runners Up England - England lost on pens again

Euro Champs 2012 Winners Ukraine Runners Up Italy

Point of intrest is in the latest qualifying groups England and Scotland are meeting

[Darkwain]

Southport 2013/14 Pre Season

Pre season has brought me nothing but trouble, following failing to make the play off the Assistant manager, First team coach and both Scouts decided they no longer wanted to be here anymore, they just had no interest in resigning, so we were just left with our faithful old former player Matty McGinn as our youth coach so the search has began for replacements to all my back room staff. The board have given me nearly 11k for wages this season, so getting in decent replacements should be easy right?

Well the search so far has brought plenty of interest in all the posts but the board are interfering and curtailing how much I can offer, how many good assistant managers want to work for £200 a week? not many so the search continues

In the mean time players were coming and going out the door went Kevin McDonald, he just could not shift Bendiksen from the AMC spot, Simon Dunne was off to airbus on a free as he was now surplus to requirements and John Marquis never fufilled his potential and so he left at the end of his contract, Callum Bagshaw also left us this season for TNS but that was part of our record signing George Ferris 40k will be paid to them over the next 48 months in from Scotland came Craig Stewart and Alex Forster both young players with high potential I will be hoping they can make an impact this season

So as it is its jus me and my youth coach with the season rapidly closing in on us, theres various other offers to players on the table but we seem to be getting avoided so I may have to go with what we have, I predict a long hard season ahead

[Darkwain]

Southport - BSP 31st Dec 2013 - 3rd

So no back room staff for the first game of the season a virtually unchanged squad, the same team who had collapsed on my in last seasons run it, I was expecting a tough season ahead.

Hays and Yeading were this years first visitors to Haig Avenue, a confidence building 1-0 win followed, and following this more good news Mark Weasthead signed on as Assistant manager with 35k going to Blackpool for the pleasure, Martin Bevan soon followed as Coach on Marks recommendation, some stop gap scouts are also in place, so in the space of a week it had gone from doom and gloom to a little sunshine on the horizon. The positive feeling from then on went right on through the club, Hyde, Barnet, Dag and Reg, York, Chester and Barrow all fell to us, only 2 goals lost in the first 7 games we were top and 4 points clear, the next 2 games were against our rivals at the top Kettering and Sailsbury, 1-0 defeats to both away from home had us in 3rd but only for a short time as all the teams in the top half of the league got going and started taking points all off of each other. Meanwhile i was deep into an injury crisis i keep a large squad but 17 players across the reserves and under 18s too were putting the squeeze on us, 7 strikers in the squad and only 2 were fit, both young boys barely 18.

At this point the board surprised me by terminating out link with Blackpool and brining in Liverpool to replace them, with this link came a striker Nikola Saric sent to us as he was causing disruption in the squad, but desperate was the need for a striker i took him on anyway

It turned out to be a good piece of business he kept the goals flowing and kept us up with the leaders, the injury crisis finally let off and i had a full squad back, theres been a lot of injuries this season but I accredit that to a move to full time and a new training regimen that I had implemented.

In the mean time the FA Cup got underway and another trip to Barrow was in the offing a 2-0 victory set up a first round tie with Forrest Green a 1-1 draw led to a replay at Haig Avenue, in the mean time the winner was drawn against Macclesfeild another all BSP match in the offing with a chance at getting at the big guns, unfortunately for us we lost 2-1 at home after extra time so that door was cruely slammed close on us.

The FA Trophy for once we are still in it come the end of the year an easy 4-1 win against Alfreton has set us up for yet another trip to Barrow for the second round

Back to the league and the team were not on the best of form, players constantly coming and going due to injury ment a settled squad was not possible and to add to the woes the strikers were all firing blanks, the only ray of sunshine here was our mid fielders and defense were pitching in with a fair whack of goals, Somma was the most prolific and having a storming season so far. 2013 has came to an end and we sit 3rd just 3 points behind the leaders, we were in a similar position this time last year and finished 10th heres hoping we have learned out lesson from this and push all the way for the title.

Just for anyone intrested here is the whole Squad

And our financial position remains good, the hunt for better traing facilitys continues despite having half a million in the bank

[hrbfcrule]

Good Luck in the 2nd half of the season. I'm sure you will at least get a playoff place this time

[Darkwain]

Thanks, I hope so although they just shipped 4 goals to Dag and Red in the fist game of the new year, ive jus got visions of them repeating the previous season at the moment

[Darkwain]

Southport - Blue Square Premier 2013-14. Champions!

So as you can see from the post above the years got off to a bad start, an exit from the FA trophy soon followed with a 1-0 defeat followed, hardly the start to the year I was wanting. However the very next match saw barrow come and visit us, they were soundly beaten a vital victory that set up for a storming remainder of the season.

Injurys remained a constant problem throughout the season but the depth of the squad was such that anyone who came in performed admirably. as the season drew on we only suffered 2 more defeats and one that was out the way we were in 3rd still only 4 points off of Kettering.

The match against Kettering is where it begun coming off the back of a 4-2 defeat the league leaders were sent home defeated we were second, Kettering drew there next 2 games, they were heavaly distracted in this period by FA Trophy games there games in hand amounted to nothing, they were now 4 points adrift us us even after our 4-1 defeat to playoff chasing Burton. Then a stunning 11 game unbeaten run saw us keep ahead, the occasional draw kept things tight with Kettering and Mansfield hot on our tails. A cagey 2-1 win over the aforementioned Mansfield kept us in the driving seat, it was becoming a case of first to 90 points wins. The league title was clinched in the penultimate game of the season a 1-1 draw with one time title chasers Macclesfeild was enough. We had done it, my first title in the bag, the last game of the season was at home Vs Corby another 0-0 draw but it didnt matter the team were exhausted and I granted them the right to slack off.

So a league title in the bag and league football to follow, changes to the squad will have to be made, there is now a lot of players in the squad not good enough for that level.

The biggest surprise of the season has been the emergence of 2 young strikers bought on their potential, an injury to Kostadinov knocked him out of the title run in and these Bartholomew and Stewart cam in and began having a competition as to who can score the goal of the season, other strikers too were called upon to keep players fresh but these two stood out

Theres a world cup this summer and after coming through the same group together previous world cup runners up England and bitter rivals Scotland will be lining up to see if they can beat the worlds best and lift the most coveted prize in world football.

Will update the world cup and winners of the other comps a bit later, im off for now to bask in the glory of my league win - I never got out the BSP in FM09 so im entitled to a wee beer

Season           League              Final Position               Achievments
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009/10       Blue Square North          5th                       Promoted Via Playoffs
2010/11       Blue Square Premier        13th                        none  
2011/12       Blue Square Premier        5th                       Lost in playoff final
2012/13       Blue Square Premier        10th                        none
2013/14       Blue Square Premier        1st                       Champions  

Honors
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blue Square North - Playoff Winners 2010

Blue Square Premier - Winners 2014

[JuggaloStan]

Keep up the good work there, seems like you are doing a great job!

[Deisler26]

Congrats on getting Southport out of the BSP!

[Darkwain]

Thanks

I just need to plot how not to return there next season and make progress towards league 1

[Nobby_McDonald]

A significantly better season.

[Darkwain]

So a little break from the game for a week and now heres the winners from the main competitions this season

Premiership - Arsenal - for the 4th season running

FA Cup - Wolves

League Cup - Man City

Champions League - Lyon

Europa Cup - Inter Milan

World Cup 2014 - Italy

Southport 2014/15 Pre Season

Another season another assistant manager refuses to renew his contract, so in to replace him comes Jamie McGowan from Nuneaton who receive 50k in compensation, transfer front has been exceedingly quiet, out went 11 players at the end of there contract but that doesn't stop me being over my wage budget by 1k per week, there are some transfers in the negotiation stage at this time the main one being a former loan signing Louis Almond who is now on a free transfer but at this time he is weighing up several offers, he does have a soft spot for us so heres hoping we tie him up. There are some other signings in the delicate negotiation stage so hopefully we will be successful and get them in to further strengthen the squad.

The board for this season are hoping we bravely fight against relegation, nice to see they have faith in me, the bookies odd on the other hand have me at 16-1 for promotion just outside the favorites, but this season I am realistically looking at a low to mid table finish so anything higher than 14th i will be pleased with.

So, 2014/15 let the fun begin

[Darkwain]

Southport - Coca Cola League 2 - 31st Dec 2014 - 13th

The season began with no new faces at Haig Avenue, the lads were going to have to adapt fast if they want to compete at this level, there was still some transfer deals on the go attempting to bring in new faces before the transfer window closes. But into our first taste of Coca Cola League football we went against Hartlepool who are looking to claw back a 10 point penalty for going into administration. The game did not go well and we lost 2-0, another defeat followed to Scunthorpe, the team were clearly struggling to make the step up. The changes had an immediate effect with the next 2 league games being won. 6 points from 4 games I was taking this as success, so typically we picked up 1 point in our next 6 games, 10 games in and were were perilously close to the relegation zone, in the mean time Liverpool very kindly sent us a Goalkeeper Bob Allen, I swear they must have been feeling sorry for us and our poor start

So on from here the season continued we began wining and the team now complete and settling we began to get some wins under our belts, worryingly though all the goals are coming from midfield all 5 strikers in my rotation are off form and missing previously what would have been easy chances and to add to my woes Kostadinov is out for at least 7 months after breaking his leg. so on we trudged and each game we got better winning now more than we were loosing and up we climbed the further away from the relegation zone we got the more confident the team got and began playing more like the champions from last season, so its the new year and I am very pleased at this time to be sitting 13th. Transfer windows about to open and 3 new players will be coming in on deals previously agreed at the start of the season just after the transfer window closed. But the second half of the season beckons and while only being 6 points off a play off spot at this time will our misfiring strikers let us down? will our star defender Boyata who is attracting attention stay to see out the season?

God i hope not

In the mean time I've suddenly become a very popular man both League 1 strugglers Oldham and SD1 side Kilmarnock have both tried to lure me away from Haig Avenue both turned down again as I still have a lot of work to do here at Southport and to that effect I was offered a new contract to 2017.

Cups

Our Cup campaigns were very blink and you will miss it this season only the league cup provided any excitement Rd 1 saw us pitted against Championship side Scunthorpe a surprising 2-1 win at home giving us our first ever "giant killing" our reward? A visit from another Championship club, Coventry. This game actually had an additional edge to it, as the week before Kieth Meikle our one time promising star had just been transfered there from Notts Forrest for 1 million, this netted me a very cool 500k from a sell on clause, so it was fitting his debut was to be against the club where he started his career. We lost the game 2-0 but in truth we were unlucky by being hit by 2 break away goals late in the game as we piled the pressure on So League cup over the JPT came along and was over as quick as it came a 4-2 defeat on penalties to league rivals Bury. So our last hope of cup action rested in the FA cup surly a nice easy draw was in the offing.. wrong league rivals and playoff chasing Tranmere came to visit and promptly went to town on us winning 3-0, so the begining of November and we were rover and out of all competitions, just the league to look forward too

Transfers In

Danny Cole - Alloa 9k

Brian Tierney - Derry City 7k

Mikael Antione-Curier - Dundee 3.5k

David Crawford - Kilmarnock - 12k

Bob Allen - Liverpool - Loan

Thanks for reading, any feedback on how to improve the reports would be welcome

[Darkwain]

Southport Coca Cola League 2 2014-15 - 17th

We went onto the year off the back of a 3-0 defeat to Brentford, but there seemed to be nothing to worry about as we had been on good form.... how wrong I was, a run of 10 games and only picking up 2 points had put us in some difficulty the relegation battle was looking too close for comfort, in desperation to get some goal I turned to loan signings, but not even this strategy failed. The win when it finally came was a 3-1 win against Rushden, this was enough to keep me floating around 18th, it was another 4 games before we tasted victory again against bottom of the league Sailsbury this marked the return of Kostadinov from injury he grabbed a goal for us and looked up for it, here at this point surly my fortunes must turn, but no back to losing with the occasional draw, the last game of the season did however throw me some hope, Bartholomew who I had put out on loan for the majority of the season grabbed a hat trick in the last game of the season vs Yovil 5-1 the final score, makes me think of what might have been if they had played that well the rest of the season.

The stats for 2015 so far do not look pretty P 21 W 3 D 5 L 13. But the main thing is we survived our first season in the CCL2 it may not have been pretty but weve got another crack at it next year

It looks like the end of the road for Bendiksen, Kostadinov and Valisev all 3 have been great servants but have failed to make the step up, I will be keeping them around as back up. Boyata may have to be sold to fund the rebuilding of the team.

On a side note more job offers had came my way, all turned down again with Cardiff in the championship and QotS in the scottish first offering me positions.

Career so far

Season           League              Final Position               Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009/10       Blue Square North          5th                       Promoted Via Playoffs
2010/11       Blue Square Premier        13th                        none  
2011/12       Blue Square Premier        5th                       Lost in playoff final
2012/13       Blue Square Premier        10th                        none
2013/14       Blue Square Premier        1st                       Champions  
2014/15       Coca Cola League 2         18th                        none

Honors
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blue Square North - Playoff Winners 2010

Blue Square Premier - Winners 2014

[Nobby_McDonald]

I'd be satisfied with that for a first season back in the Football League.

[Darkwain]

I am pleased, just after sitting through so many defeats made me write a bit negatively.

[Darkwain]

Southport - CCL2 Pre Season - 2015/16

As the transfer window opens the clubs current owners have apparently entered negotiations to sell the club to a consortium, nothing else since then so we just need to see how this develops.

After last season a lot of new faces were going to be needed if we were going to make a bigger impact on the league, some long time servants of the club had to be moved on to pay for new players to arrive, both Boyata and Bendiksen among others have moved on and the promced new faces brought in

Players Out

Euen Grant - End of Contract

Craig Grant - Altringham £16k

Radoslav Vasilev - Falkirk £18k

Mickael Antione-Curier - Bournemouth 5k

Dedryk Boyata - Middlesborough - 150k

Matty McGinn - End of Contract

Danny Edwards - End of contract

Matt Fox - End of Contract

Thomas Kind Bendiksen - Leyton Orient 85k

Total income 275k

Players In

Tony Kane DR - Free

Sean Hendry AML - Kilmarnock 160k

Greg Tansey MC - Stockport Free

Asa Hall MC - Free

Ryan Harding DC - Free

Reggie Lambe MC,ST - Exeter 16k

Jermaine Ferdinand AMC - Everton Loan

Total spent £166k

So all friendlys played and every one lost its time for this years adventure to begin away to Bury.

[Darkwain]

Dec 31st 2015 - CCL2 - 9th

I finally got my new pitch, the mud bath that was my pitch and caused so many January call offs if finally gone

Pre season out the way and a new midfield in place it was time to take on Bury a 1-1 draw to kick the season off, but more importantly the take over of the club shifted up a gear, the chairman Chris Lines placed a transfer embargo upon the club so ended my chances of replacing Kostadinov and Soma up front we were going to have to go with them. another 1-1 draw and 3 1-0 wins got us off to a good start, at this point the take over was completed and i was looking to be on very shaky ground, the new chairman Kevin Ledgister is looking at possibly replacing me with his own man, the board were going to talk it over and get back to me.

With that bombshell dropped on me we were promptly defeated by Cambridge, a 3-0 win against Brentford and a 1-0 defeat to Ebbsfleet followed, and still no message about my future, I wasn't sure wether to take it as a good or a bad sign. It took a further 2 games an away win to Yovil and a draw at home to newly promoted Kettering before decision day came, there was to be no trip to the job center for me today due the the staff at the club being happy with me there. A big sigh of relief from me then.

Took a look at what the new man has brought and its basically a will to do big things with the club and 600k cash injection, finances at this point were sitting at a cool £1.3 million so I got back on my usual soap box and requested better training facilities again, and to my surprise he agreed. I am still waiting for them but I'm sure I will get them soon now i have that agreement.

Back to the important stuff in the league, to my mind we have had an impressive start to the season to this point played 10 and won 6 more impressively is we had only lost 6 goals and scored 11. we were keeping up with the in form teams and sitting 8th it took is another 3 games before we won our next game against bottom of the league Morecombe a 2-1 victory in a hard fought match, the lack of goals was worrying so another raid on the Liverpool reserve squad followed and 17 year old Craig Watson was drafted in. Despite the new signing a 2-2 draw followed this time it was a 2-0 defeat that was threw away after Alan Love and Greg Tansey got sent off. Luton were next and Tony Kane received his marching orders and a 2-0 defeat was the result. What happened next seems to be a turning point in our season.

More than a little annoyed at the lack of team discipline and our new season low of 10th place i slapped the boy with a 1 week fine, as this was not his first red card this season, granted his card was harsh but i was in no mood, what happened next surprised me the entire first team squad complained that his card was harsh, the lads were rallying round, over the following week all the players had resolved their issue with me and Carlisle came calling, the team now seemed to be a loser happier bunch and they were sent packing with a resounding 5-1 defeat, Draws with Cheltnam and Hartlepool followed and, our next defeat was down to fatigue following our antics in the FA cup, Oldham wining that one 2-1.

The next 2 matchers were very important it was against 1st and second, both away trips too, first up was top of the league Portsmouth who we somehow defeated 1-0 despited having our goal peppers with hots all game, the next game was 2nd place Hereford and again we were under the cosh for the whole game and we came away with a 0-0 draw, Chesterfield was next 4-0 win for us then it was the turn of high flying Bury who are chasing an automatic promotion slot a Kostadinov hat-trick gave us the 3-0 win there the year ended with a tame 0-0 with Grimsby which has left us rather pleasingly in 9th only 2 points off the play off spots.

Its feeling different to last season at this point we dont seem to be struggling in so many matches, so I'm making the goal for the remainder of the season of keeping in touch with the play off place and possibly scraping in.

Cup Competitions

As per usual nothing much expected form the cups due to how terrible we tend to perform in them so it was no surprise when Championship Huddersfield put us out the league cup 3-1, the JPT was next a bye in the first round set us up in the 2nd round with Barnsley, the team were on a bit of form at this point and we were put out with a hard fought 1-0 defeat.

Then came round the FA cup the draw again had been unkind and gave us Plymouth 1st in the league and not giving much away, a stale 0-0 draw play itself out so at least we were going to have a go at them on our own turf. going into the game off the 5-1 Carlisle game the team was out for blood and we trounced them 4-1.

Round 2 saw us sent to league 1 Barnsley again, revenge for the JPT defeat was the order of the day and the team duly delivered. 1-1 at half time the team were not really looking like getting anything from the match, but I game them encouragement all the same and out they went, set up to play counterattacking we had to wait to 2 mins into injury time for another goal and it was for us, Kostadinov caught their defense out a long hopeful punt from the keeper was let bounce by the Barnsley defense and Kostadinov was in there like a shot 2-1 to us!

The 3rd round of the FA cup awaits and our first chance at a real giant killing. West ham got pulled out the hat and have to make the trip up to Haig Avenue, never the nicest place to be in January with the wind and the rain.

Im going to make a special report on the FA cup game just due to the fact ive never got this far before and im quite excited for it

Sorry for the extra long post im rather enjoying this season and seem to have gone overboard with it XD

[Darkwain]

Southport v West Ham FA Cup 3rd Round

On a miserable January afternoon a record crowd of 6008 turned up at Haig Avenue to see if Southport could upset the odds crate club history by sending West Ham out of the FA cup.

It was never going to be easy and west ham proved this by pining Southport back for the first 10 mins peppering the Southport goalmouth with shots from distance, Southport playing in an unfamiliar 4-5-1 formation hoping to stifle the midfield. It took only 14 mins for West Ham to make the breakthrough when János Szabó headed home a delightfully floated cross from Faubert.

West Ham continued to Dominate until the 25 min when George Ferris had to be stretchered off with injured, south port took this opportunity to revert back to there tried and tested 4-1-2-1-2 formation with Ryan Harding coming on for the injured Ferris and Luke Chapman making way for Reggie Lambe, west ham had taken the foot off the gas a little and this allowed southport to come out winning a Corner in the 31st min the opportunity was wasted and the half faded out with play bogged down in midfield.

No changes from either side at half time and the second half got under way with the Hammers forcing Southport back again, amazingly the onslaught was weathered and Southport made an attempt to hit back. Sothports best opportunity came in the 77th min with the home side counter attacking from a west ham corner Watson who had replaced Somma up front had latched on to a through ball from Kostadinov which had split the west ham defense with just the goalkeeper to beat and a place in Southport history beckoning Watson paniked and blasted the ball straight at Robert Green and the chance was gone. West ham then killed the game by holding onto the ball and booking their passage into the 4th Round.

Final Score Southport 0 West Ham 1

[Nobby_McDonald]

Fine effort.

[Darkwain]

Southport - CCL2 Season End - 2016 4th

Cant do this justice at the moment, im ninja typing this from work, so i dont have enough acsses to the results and stuff. So im working off of memory here, will come back and edit it once my net at homes back on

The defeat to west ham started an indifferent run of form over the next 5/6 games pretty much mirroring the form after the new year of the year before after these games we were starting to loose touch with the play off contenders. It was going to take something special for us to catch back up and be a part of the festivities.

Step forward Branimir Kostadinov, this fellow had been out of form since our promotion he was transfer listed and almost on the way out, linking him up with fernadez who was on loan from Everton produced something near pure magic, the goals flowed and the games were won, at one point we were on a 12 game unbeaten run, this all pushed us into the play off spot, eventually landing in 4th, but more amazingly we were in contention for outright promotion 3 games remaining of the season and we were right on the heels of cambridge only 3 points off! only problem was our next 2 games were against the top two, first came 2nd placed portsmouth to Haigue avenue and a resounding 3-0 win was the result, the chase was still on, next came top of the league Hereford and despite peppering their goal for 90 mins a tame 1-1 draw played out, it was over no outright promotion for us, the last game we won leaving us the top team in the play off.

Ill need to leave it here for now as i am late back from my break at work

[Nobby_McDonald]

So work gets in the way of FM eh.

[Deisler26]

I made sure I picked a job where I can FM AT work. Like now

Well done on a great finish this season!

[Darkwain]

Work always gets in the way of FM

So ill finish off the remainder of that season now

The playoffs.

We were drawn against Crew the first game was to be away. The first half was a rather tam affair with very few chances which led to 0-0 at half time. The second half continued until Kostadinov scored the opening goal, Crew then equalised in the 71st min with Dean Atkinson scoring a penalty, the score remained the same as the game got bogged down in midfield, but with all still to play for we had a chance to bury the game at home.

Another very tense game followed at Haig Avenue, lots of fouls marring the game and it never really got a good flow going it wasn't until the 81st min when Kostadinov popped up again to put us in the lead. Alan Love then got sent off in the 89th min for his second bookable offense, his 4rd red card of the season (Only reason I put up with it was his rating for the season was 7.40). But we held out and off to another final we went to face Grimsby

The final again proved to be a tense affair Grimsby were playing on the counter and making life uneasy for us, but in the 42nd min Kostadinov popped up again with his 24th goal of the season. The second half again more of the same, Southpot had Grimsbys goal under siege but there was always the danger of being hit on the break, but in the end bot goals h eld form and that was it we were promoted, league 1 football for us.

Absolutely delighted

Season           League              Final Position               Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009/10       Blue Square North          5th                       Promoted Via Playoffs
2010/11       Blue Square Premier        13th                        none  
2011/12       Blue Square Premier        5th                       Lost in playoff final
2012/13       Blue Square Premier        10th                        none
2013/14       Blue Square Premier        1st                       Champions  
2014/15       Coca Cola League 2         18th                        none
2015/16       Coca Cola League 2         4th                       Promoted Via Playoffs

Honors
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blue Square North - Playoff Winners 2010

Blue Square Premier - Winners 2014

Coca Cola League 2  - Playoff Winners 2016

[Nobby_McDonald]

Well done Dark Lord.

[Darkwain]

Southport - CCL1 - Pre Season 2016/17

So a surprise promotion with the team i had built, there was not nearly enough strength in depth for League 1, a lot of players were going to have to be sold or released to make way for new signings if I want to survive at all in this division. The predictions naturally were all doom and gloom with us being predicted to finish bottom. As per usual for the first season in the league i was trying to build a squad to survive the board handed me 300k to get players in and a wage budget of 39k to "bravely fight against relegation". 16 players leave us to be replaced hopefully with 13 better ones a total of 275k received in transfer fees and 200k spent.

[Darkwain]

Sorry for the lack of update of late.

I been off work ill and not had the energy to do anything, getting back to normal now so I'll commence my game again and see how I get on