Educated Hick Posted August 30, 2006 Author Share Posted August 30, 2006 Cheers ntfc January 2007 "So what happened to improving? 12th place in the Prem with a 7 win, 9 draw, 9 loss season so far isn't what you promised." "Well sir, the offense is stagnant. O'Conner is acting like an entitled superstar and doesn't seem to be producing." "How do you propose to turn the team around?" "With nothing to lose, I'll put O'Conner on the transfer list. Maybe that will motivate him." "For your sake I hope it works. By the way, I was incorret with my math. You have five and a half seasons before the Alliance lease runs out after the 11/12 season." "Well sir, that's a relief, the Prem is a tough league." "What do you see as West Ham's weaknesses?" "We need another great forward, a better AMC and more experienced players." "Do you have any idea of who you want to acquire?" "No I don't sir, I'll wait until the offseason before deciding that. For the rest of the season, I'll just use the hot players in the lineup." "I hope it works. You had best show results in March." <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************************************************************ West Ham United - Saturday 23rd December 2006 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2006/7 Senior Club Stats ================================================================================================ No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Bald, William - - - - - - - - ---- 9 Baldé, Boubacar 10 (2) 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.33 1 Bonnefoi, Landry 18 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 7.33 23 Boyack, Steven 3 (4) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.57 24 Brebner, Grant 9 (6) 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.73 - Camara, Ibrahima - - - - - - - - ---- - Campbell, Gordon - - - - - - - - ---- - Campbell, Gordon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Casanova, Patrick - - - - - - - - ---- 14 Collet, Cédric 5 (2) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.43 - Curren, Lee 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 13 Cuthbert, Kevin 3 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 - Davidson, John - - - - - - - - ---- - Denquin, Frédéric - - - - - - - - ---- 25 Deroff, Yves 3 (2) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.60 22 Devaux, Jean-Christophe 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 6.00 - Diane, Ugo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Doyle, Jamie - - - - - - - - ---- - Ebonbo, Albin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 20 Fisher, John 16 2 0 2 (1) 0 1 0 1 7.25 16 Forsyth, Ross 8 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.75 17 Giacopelli, Romain 2 (4) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.67 15 Grax, Sébastien 6 (4) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.70 8 Howie, Willie 16 1 0 0 4 0 1 0 6.75 6 Innes, Mark 4 (4) 1 0 0 3 1 0 1 7.13 3 Kamara, Abdelhaziz 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.33 19 Keogh, Liam 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 - King, William 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Kisamba, Cédric 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Konaté, Alain 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Le Bris, Ludovic - - - - - - - - ---- - Leray, David 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Malacarne, Franck 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Mathieu, Jérémy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 7 Mathis, Lionel 12 (3) 2 0 0 3 1 0 0 6.80 - McLaughlin, Kevin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - McLaughlin, Paul 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Montgomery, Kevin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 18 Murray, Ian 15 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 6.93 10 O'Connor, Gary 18 4 0 0 3 1 2 2 7.17 5 Planus, Marc 3 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.25 12 Plessis, Guillaume 7 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.43 11 Robson, Barry 18 (1) 2 0 0 3 2 0 1 6.84 - Rodgers, Andy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 2 Sahnoun, Nicolas 18 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 6.72 4 Stewart, Michael 13 0 0 0 1 5 0 1 6.92 - Veigneau, Olivier 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Walker, Stephen 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 27 Weir, Graham 6 (3) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.89 - de la Loma, Cédric 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted September 1, 2006 Author Share Posted September 1, 2006 March 2007 "So how are things now?" "Well Mr. Chairman, West Ham are now in ninth place with an 11 win, 10 draw and 11 loss record so far." "That's an improvemen. What brought it about?" "After O'conner was put on the trainsfer-list, he went on a goal-scoring binge." "I'm glad to see that he became motivated." "That he did. I'm worried now that it won't work again. He seems to be a player who has to be prodded to bring out his best." "I'm sure you can continue to motivate O'Conner." "I'm not so sure sir. O'Conner is extremely talented, but he tends to choke against the big teams." "So he fails to perform in big games?" "Not necessarly big games. If we have a must-win game asgainst a smaller Prem side like say Bolton, then he will perform well. It's games against the Arsenals and Liverpools, regardless od the type of game, where he seemingly disappears." "Don't start him then against those teams." "If I do that, then I'm conceding to the world that our highest-paid and franchise player, is in fact, a fraud." "I see your point." "Besides sir, the backups wouldn't be much better." "I see, still the team has improved." "Yes sir, at least in terms of this season. I'll report back in May, where I'll give you the seson wrap-up." "Ok, good luck." Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted September 3, 2006 Author Share Posted September 3, 2006 May 2007 "Well sir, that's the season." "How did West Ham do?" "Finished the year with 13 wins, 12 draws and 13 losses." "And where in the Prem did you finish?" "We did crack the top ten, finishing in tenth place." "That seems to be a bit of a setback." "Yes sir, it was, but at least we are emerging as a consistant middle table finisher." "That may be true, but I expected West Ham to improve, not regtress. Mid-table success is all well and good, but the Alliance is expecting a Prem title." "Yes sir, I realize that, but it is not easy to get top flight Scot and French players to come to a Prem team." "Why is that?" "Because they can play in Europe with thier top domestic clubs." "So, make it into Europe." "Again, with all due respect sir, it's easier said than done." "MMM" "You don't belive me, but check out the Euro qualifiers. They're all big-budget clubs who are under no player rescrictions." "Well, you and your Alliance partners are to blame for that." "Yes, I know and we have the moral high ground, but it does make things difficult." "Deal with it in the offseason." "Yes Mr.Chairman, that's what I intend to do. See you in July." <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************************************************************ English Premier Division - Sunday 20th May 2007 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2006/7 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Liverpool 38 13 5 1 30 7 11 5 3 29 11 82 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Man Utd 38 15 3 1 41 10 8 3 8 23 24 75 3rd Chelsea 38 15 4 0 30 6 5 7 7 17 17 71 4th Newcastle 38 11 6 2 33 13 8 3 8 23 21 66 5th Arsenal 38 14 2 3 41 12 6 4 9 16 26 66 6th Fulham 38 13 4 2 31 9 4 4 11 24 34 59 7th Birmingham 38 11 5 3 28 12 3 9 7 13 19 56 8th Bolton 38 11 6 2 26 15 3 4 12 11 25 52 9th Southampton 38 10 5 4 27 11 3 7 9 20 27 51 10th West Ham 38 9 6 4 26 17 4 6 9 18 29 51 11th Leicester 38 10 4 5 22 15 3 5 11 13 28 48 12th Tottenham 38 9 6 4 25 15 3 5 11 18 33 47 13th Charlton 38 8 6 5 31 25 5 2 12 17 30 47 14th Portsmouth 38 10 3 6 38 31 3 2 14 20 40 44 15th Blackburn 38 10 4 5 32 17 2 3 14 11 40 43 16th Leeds 38 8 8 3 22 18 3 2 14 18 37 43 17th Blackpool 38 10 2 7 33 26 2 5 12 10 33 43 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th R Man City 38 4 7 8 31 42 5 6 8 35 42 40 19th R Millwall 38 6 5 8 22 26 2 5 12 11 37 34 20th R Watford 38 5 3 11 17 32 1 7 11 12 33 28 ************************************************************************************************ West Ham United - Sunday 20th May 2007 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2006/7 Senior Club Stats ================================================================================================ No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13 Alonzo, Jérôme 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Bald, William - - - - - - - - ---- 9 Baldé, Boubacar 23 (2) 5 0 0 2 1 0 0 7.12 1 Bonnefoi, Landry 36 0 40 0 0 0 0 1 7.44 23 Boyack, Steven 6 (6) 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.42 24 Brebner, Grant 21 (8) 7 0 0 4 0 0 1 6.93 - Camara, Ibrahima - - - - - - - - ---- - Campbell, Gordon - - - - - - - - ---- - Campbell, Gordon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Casanova, Patrick - - - - - - - - ---- 14 Collet, Cédric 10 (3) 0 0 0 1 4 1 0 6.38 21 Curren, Lee 2 (3) 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 6.40 - Davidson, John - - - - - - - - ---- - Denquin, Frédéric - - - - - - - - ---- 25 Deroff, Yves 9 (2) 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 7.09 - Diane, Ugo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Doyle, Jamie - - - - - - - - ---- - Ebonbo, Albin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 20 Fisher, John 33 7 0 7 (5) 0 4 0 2 7.24 16 Forsyth, Ross 20 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 6.60 17 Giacopelli, Romain 4 (5) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.44 15 Grax, Sébastien 9 (5) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.79 8 Howie, Willie 27 (3) 2 0 0 4 0 1 0 6.57 6 Innes, Mark 15 (7) 2 0 0 4 3 0 1 6.68 3 Kamara, Abdelhaziz 14 (1) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.67 19 Keogh, Liam 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.33 - King, William 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Kisamba, Cédric 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Konaté, Alain 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Le Bris, Ludovic - - - - - - - - ---- - Leray, David 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Malacarne, Franck 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Mathieu, Jérémy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 7 Mathis, Lionel 21 (3) 6 0 0 4 1 0 1 6.83 - McLaughlin, Kevin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - McLaughlin, Paul 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Montgomery, Kevin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 18 Murray, Ian 29 2 0 0 1 5 0 0 6.72 10 O'Connor, Gary 34 7 0 0 4 3 2 2 7.21 5 Planus, Marc 5 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.29 12 Plessis, Guillaume 7 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.43 11 Robson, Barry 33 (2) 4 0 0 4 3 0 2 6.77 - Rodgers, Andy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 2 Sahnoun, Nicolas 32 3 0 0 0 1 0 1 6.91 4 Stewart, Michael 28 (1) 0 0 0 2 14 0 2 7.00 - Veigneau, Olivier 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Walker, Stephen 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 27 Weir, Graham 12 (4) 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 7.06 - de la Loma, Cédric 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted September 5, 2006 Author Share Posted September 5, 2006 July 2007 "I've had it with you sir!" "What's the matter?" "You know damn well what the matter is." "I don't understand. After all, you now have 36 million pounds to spend on players." "Ah, but sir, for the second year in a row, you've refused my request to repair the training facilities." "I simply don't see the need for improved facilities." "But sir, better facilities means that young players will have a better chance of becoming elite players." "You can just buy your players." "Yes I could, but I hate wasting momey." "So I've noticed. Well, you'll just have to continue using aging infrastructure. You can buy your players." "Ok sir, just registering my protest. As it is, we just spent 7 million to acquire AMC Moriera." "Who's he?" "A player for Lens the last few years. He's been capped at the French B level. He seems to be a great player." "I'm glad to see you're spending money. Have you increased the wage bill?" "Yes sir, Moreira is now the highest paid player of my tenure. He gets paid 1.6 million pounds per year. However, the payroll for 50 players is still only 13 million." "That's one of the lowest wage bills in the Prem. Why don't you spend more on salaries?" "Because sir, I'm a frugal Scot." "Ah, use some of that 36 million." "As I've said earlier, without good facilities, it's impossible to lure top-flight French or Scot players." "We will continue to disagree on that point. Good luck with the beginning of the season." "Thamk you, I'll report back in September." Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted September 7, 2006 Author Share Posted September 7, 2006 November 2007 "So why the long delay in reporting?" "Well sir, I didn't want to face your wrath." "And why would I be displeased?" "Because sir, West Ham continues to be throughly medicore." "I see. So what's the record now?" "Through 13 games, West Ham sits in 9th place with 4 wins, 6 draws and 3 losses." "So there's been no general improvement." "No sir, the team seems to have stagnated." "What's gone wrong this year?" "Moriera is struggling and O'Conner is inconsistant." "How about the rest of the team?" "Inconsistant. The new signings like Milne just aren't working out." "Wasn't Milne your other big signing of the offseason?" "Yes sir he was. He cost 5 million pounds from Dundee. The hope was that he would emerge as a good complement to O'Conner." "That's not working out?" "No sir, it's not. Milne has yet to score a goal or notch an asist." "That's pretty paltry." "Yes, but what's worse is that West Ham lack a killer instinct. About four of those draws came in the second half because we were unable to lockdown the opposition for a half-hour or so. Needless to say, we have yet to achieve a comeback victory this year either." "So, as usual, West Ham seems to be unable to advance above middling status. Are you worried about your job yet?" "No sir, but my Alliance partners grow ever more cool about my performance with each passing month." "Good, I won't lose hope of reclaiming my team." "You may well get your wish. See you in January." Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted September 9, 2006 Author Share Posted September 9, 2006 January 2008 "So what's the record now?" "Well sir, West Ham is still sitting in 9th place with 9 wins, 9 draws and 8 losses." "So the team continues to be mediocore." "I suppose sir." "I can't imagine that the fans are happy." "Well, they haven't said much, yet." "You must be disappointing the Alliance board members." "Probably sir, but I can't change the team overnight." "Overnight? You've had six and a half years to change the team. I'm getting tired of mid-table finishes." "Ah, but sir, your opinion doesn't count." "One of these days itr might." "You've no idea sir hoe difficult it is to get relite playeres." "Just spend your 30 million pounds you have available." "Ah, but elite French and Scots players don't want to come to a club that finishes in mid-table." "Well, that's your own damn fault isn't it?" "I'll assume that's a rhetorical question sir. See you in March. Here's the stats for halway through the Prem season." <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************************************************************ West Ham United - Saturday 22nd December 2007 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2007/8 Senior Club Stats ================================================================================================ No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25 Archibald, Alan 1 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 13 Bald, William 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 7.33 10 Baldé, Boubacar 8 (3) 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 7.27 1 Bonnefoi, Landry 17 0 17 0 0 0 0 1 7.12 18 Boyack, Steven 1 (2) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 7.33 24 Brebner, Grant 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 - Brown, Martin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Bruce, Mark - - - - - - - - ---- 7 Camara, Ibrahima 13 (1) 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 6.64 - Campbell, Gordon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Carlier, Rudy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Casanova, Patrick - - - - - - - - ---- 26 Collet, Cédric 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 21 Davidson, Callum 9 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.56 14 Davidson, John 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 - Denquin, Frédéric - - - - - - - - ---- 2 Deroff, Yves 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 - Diane, Ugo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Ebonbo, Albin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 6 Fisher, John 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.91 - Goursat, Eric 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 17 Howie, Willie 4 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.67 4 Innes, Mark 2 (5) 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 6.57 - King, William 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Kisamba, Cédric 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Konaté, Alain 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 5 Lauchlan, Jim 17 1 0 0 0 7 0 1 7.18 - Leray, David 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Malacarne, Franck 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Mathieu, Jérémy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 16 Mathis, Lionel 5 (5) 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.70 - McLaughlin, Kevin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - McLaughlin, Paul 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 15 Miller, Lee 3 (1) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.50 19 Milne, Steven 13 (4) 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.82 - Montanier, Laurent 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Montgomery, Kevin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 23 Moreira 16 3 0 0 1 2 0 1 7.00 20 Murray, Ian 9 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.45 9 O'Connor, Gary 16 5 0 0 1 1 1 2 7.25 22 Plessis, Guillaume 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 11 Robson, Barry 18 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 6.78 12 Sahnoun, Nicolas 18 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.72 8 Stewart, Michael 17 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 7.00 - Tanguy, Christian 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Veigneau, Olivier 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 3 Vosahlo, Anthony 11 (1) 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 7.25 - Weir, Graham 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - de la Loma, Cédric 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted September 12, 2006 Author Share Posted September 12, 2006 March 2008 "This is the off-month isn't it?" "Yes sir, it has been that over the last couple of years." "Why is that?" "Because it's the month that sees Prem teams wraping up Cup competitions." "Ah" "Yeah, we're usually eliminated from the silverware hunt by this time. As a result, we only play about three games this month." "How is West Ham doing?" "We're holding steady in 9th place still with an 11 win, 11 draw and 9 loss season so far." "So you haven't managed to improve the team any?" "No sir, not really." "Why is that?" "Inconsistant play. I've finally conceded that O'Conner chokes against 'big' opponants." "Why does he do that?" "Damned if I know sir, but he does. The guy simply can't handle playing the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and the like." "That's a shame." "It is sir, O'Conner is a talented player, who should be able play big-time competition, but he can't." "How are you handling it?" "I bench him for big games. I've tried subbing him in late against the big boys, but he doesn't do much better. In fact, in two seasons with West Ham. I can recall one gamne out of about 17 against the big five teams." "That's pretty convincing." "Yes it is sir." "How is the rest of the team?" "Well sir, Milne is proving a bust and we will probably unload him after the year. Jim Lauchan is proving a nice acquistion. Moriera shook off his opening season funk and is playing well. Several reseervists left for other teams before the deadline and Plessis, who can't seem to translate his talent into success will be leaving for Rennes in the summer." "Ah, good luck in the last 7 games of the seasson. Remember, we probably won't tokerate the mid-table stagnation much longer." "Thanks for the warning sir, see you at the end of the season." Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Tunnycliffe Posted September 14, 2006 Share Posted September 14, 2006 Excellent, concise story - really enjoying it. It's very realistic what with West Ham's mid-table medocrity... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted September 15, 2006 Author Share Posted September 15, 2006 Cheers May 2008 "So how did the year end?" "Well sir, West Ham finished the season in 10th place with a record of 12 wins, 14 draws, and 12 losses." "So you dropped a place in the last few games, why?" "It was a resurgent Arsenal sir. They started the year really bad. dropping into relegation for a bit. Then in the second half they got red-hot and clumbed into the top ten druring the last couple weeks." "I see, but the fact remains that West Ham remain very medicore." "I suppose so." "This has got to change. Use your off-season well or you'll be asked to resign." "Really sir? The Alliance directors agree?" "Yes they do. They, like me, want to see the team successful. The difference is that I want to be the sole chairman." "So, you're still outvoted by two others?" "No, they've agreed to sell thier shares back to me if you are fired." "Nice move Mr. Chirman." "So, be warned and make West Ham a better team in the off-season." "Yes sir." <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************************************************************ English Premier Division - Thursday 22nd May 2008 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2007/8 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Liverpool 38 16 2 1 36 8 11 4 4 22 11 87 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Fulham 38 13 4 2 32 16 8 7 4 17 16 74 3rd Chelsea 38 14 3 2 28 6 7 7 5 17 13 73 4th Man Utd 38 12 6 1 40 11 7 4 8 29 29 67 5th Newcastle 38 13 3 3 31 9 5 3 11 22 29 60 6th Blackburn 38 14 2 3 36 16 4 4 11 20 30 60 7th Arsenal 38 10 7 2 33 13 5 2 12 20 34 54 8th Southampton 38 10 4 5 27 18 5 4 10 16 23 53 9th Birmingham 38 9 6 4 26 15 5 4 10 18 29 52 10th West Ham 38 7 7 5 16 13 5 7 7 16 22 50 11th Sunderland 38 12 4 3 31 17 2 4 13 16 36 50 12th Middlesbrough 38 7 5 7 18 12 6 4 9 21 29 48 13th Tottenham 38 8 2 9 24 23 5 4 10 19 29 45 14th Blackpool 38 7 4 8 19 19 4 6 9 16 29 43 15th Leicester 38 8 6 5 22 19 2 6 11 11 29 42 16th Bolton 38 9 5 5 23 19 1 7 11 4 27 42 17th Leeds 38 10 4 5 24 15 1 4 14 7 37 41 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th R Charlton 38 5 5 9 27 29 5 5 9 18 29 40 19th R Barnsley 38 8 2 9 28 30 3 3 13 10 24 38 20th R Portsmouth 38 3 9 7 19 25 4 1 14 14 35 31 ************************************************************************************************ West Ham United - Thursday 22nd May 2008 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2007/8 Senior Club Stats ================================================================================================ No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25 Archibald, Alan 2 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.25 13 Bald, William 6 (1) 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 6.86 10 Baldé, Boubacar 19 (3) 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 6.91 1 Bonnefoi, Landry 32 0 27 0 0 0 0 1 7.13 18 Boyack, Steven 5 (3) 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 6.88 24 Brebner, Grant 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 - Brown, Martin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Bruce, Mark - - - - - - - - ---- 7 Camara, Ibrahima 27 (2) 3 0 0 0 5 1 0 6.72 - Campbell, Gordon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Carlier, Rudy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Casanova, Patrick - - - - - - - - ---- 26 Collet, Cédric 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 21 Davidson, Callum 12 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 6.50 14 Davidson, John 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.00 - Denquin, Frédéric - - - - - - - - ---- 2 Deroff, Yves 8 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 7.13 - Diane, Ugo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 6 Fisher, John 30 0 0 1 (0) 0 5 0 1 7.10 - Goursat, Eric 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 17 Howie, Willie 7 (7) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.71 4 Innes, Mark 8 (8) 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 6.56 - King, William 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Kisamba, Cédric 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Konaté, Alain 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 5 Lauchlan, Jim 35 1 0 0 0 9 0 1 6.94 - Malacarne, Franck 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Mathieu, Jérémy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 16 Mathis, Lionel 6 (12) 3 0 1 (1) 1 0 0 0 6.67 - McLaughlin, Kevin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - McLaughlin, Paul 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 15 Miller, Lee 8 (2) 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.60 19 Milne, Steven 24 (5) 2 0 1 (1) 1 3 0 0 6.86 - Montanier, Laurent 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 27 Montgomery, Kevin 2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 5.50 23 Moreira 35 7 0 0 2 4 0 4 7.06 20 Murray, Ian 11 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.46 9 O'Connor, Gary 29 (3) 8 0 0 4 2 1 3 7.28 22 Plessis, Guillaume 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 11 Robson, Barry 35 (1) 4 0 0 3 0 0 1 6.75 12 Sahnoun, Nicolas 32 0 0 0 6 2 1 0 6.81 8 Stewart, Michael 30 0 0 0 1 9 1 0 6.77 - Tanguy, Christian 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Veigneau, Olivier 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 3 Vosahlo, Anthony 28 (1) 0 0 0 1 7 0 1 6.93 28 Weir, Graham 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - de la Loma, Cédric 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ntfc Posted September 16, 2006 Share Posted September 16, 2006 Good luck on not getting the sack What is your average position in the prem? You've finished like around 10th for few years or so Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted September 17, 2006 Author Share Posted September 17, 2006 July 2008 "This is unfair sir." "No it isn't." "Yes, it is. First, you once again refuse to upgrade the facilities, meaning West Ham continues to use dilapidated equipment and facilities, but now you've ordered me to achieve European qualification." "Yes, we have. The directors have no wish to pay for an expensive upgrade when the team's performance doesn't warrant it. Additionally, we feel that West Ham is capable of reaching Europe next season. So, we are enjoining you to be, for once, successful." "That's not my only complaint sir, you paid the stockholders 7 million pounds." "Well, they aren't seeing succes on the field, so a little pocket money will keep them happy." "That's seven million less in the transfer budget." "Why should it matter? You never spend money on players." "This year sir, I have no choice." "Oh really?" "Yes sir, I've opened the checkbook this summer. West Ham accquired Scotland left back Stephen Crainey for 8.5 million pounds from Newcastle. We've purchased veteran sytriker Gabe Mamadou from Rennes for 3 million. He actually begins his second tour of duty with West Ham. We signed goalkeeper Jamie Langfield from Norwich for 6 million pounds and derfender Syvain Discan for 900K. All these players will be first team regulars next season. In addition, we spent 2.5 million pounds on youth prospects." "I see, you really did open the chequebook. Did you see the article in the Yelegraph this morning?" "No sir, I aviod the London papers." "They had a sports article about how West Ham supporters are expecting their team to have a good year after spending 23 million pounds on players in the offseason." "Ah, I'd heard about the article, but declined to comment." "There are high expectations among even the fans. You had best succeed." "Well sir, we just wrapped up a six game preaeason schedule. We went 5 and 1, losing only to Everton at Goodison. The wins were against a mixture of League teams not in the Prem." "That's good to hear. I only hope the winning carries over to the regular season." "We wiil try sir." "For your sake, you had best win." Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
attjen Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 Hick, I've just sent you mail about an offer you can probably refuse. KUTGW anyway. (23 million pounds though! Egad man!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted September 18, 2006 Author Share Posted September 18, 2006 Attjen- replied to your offer. As for 23 million pounds, when I have to spend money, I go all out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted September 19, 2006 Author Share Posted September 19, 2006 September 2008 "So how is West Ham now?" "Well sir, they are meeting your draconian expectations." "Are they now?" "Yes sir, four wins, two draws and a loss so far. That's good for fifth place in the Prem so far." "That's good work. What accounts for tthe turnaround?" "Well sir, I think it was the lengthy preseason scedule. That ensured the starters were in match form by opening day." "I see. Have you made any change to the lineup so far?" "Yes, the starting right back of the last three seasons Nicolas S. has been just meserable. His form has really hit rock bottom, so we had to go out and purschaee Jamie NcCunnie for 600K pounds. He and Deroff are now having a bake-off for the starting job." "I see and what of Nicolas S.?" "Sent to the reserves sir. He's in the last year of his contract." "Ah" "So sir, bask in our success." "That I will. Hope you have as much success in your next report." "That will be in November sir." Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted September 21, 2006 Author Share Posted September 21, 2006 November 2008 "So how is West Ham now?" "Well sir, with 16 games played, West Ham have 8 wins, 5 draws and only 3 losses." "You've gained at least a point in nearly three-quarters of your games, not bad." "No sir, not bad at all, considering that West Ham are second in the Prem." "Who's leading the league?" "Chelsea by a mile. They've won 15 and lost only one." "So they're running away with the league." "Yes sir, they are doing that at the moment." "So why the sudden turnaround?" "Well sir, the lads are worried about job security. A couple of the players in the reserves are making a case for first-team inclusion and as such, forcing the regulars to play better." "Has anyone been particularly inspired?" "Yes, Moreira. He bagged four goals in a 4-0 thrashing of Southampton at their park. He then went on to score two more goals in the next game." "Pretty impressive." "Yeah, he became the first ever West Ham player under my tenure to be named Premier Divsion Player of the Month." "Seems justified." "And if I may be immodest for a moment, I was named Manager of the Month as well." "Ah, nice going. Has anyone else contributed significantly to the recent wins?" "Yes sir, both Langfield and Crainey have proven they were well worth the price West Ham paid for them." "Good, we have a reliable keeper and defense this year?" "So far, and Robson is finally playing well on the left." "So the whole is playing well." "Yes sir." Well, keep up the good work and maybe I'll let you keep your job." "Well, I aim to keep it." "Report back in January." "Yes sir." Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted September 24, 2006 Author Share Posted September 24, 2006 January 2009 "It's a new year now and how are West Ham faring?" "Well Mr. Chairman, we've slipped a wee bit." "How so?" "West Ham are back down to fifth place in the Prem. We've won 11, drawn 9 and lost 5." "What happened?" "Well sir, our hot hands have cooled somwhat. We were helped by a surfeit of home games early in the year." "I see." "Yeah, we haven't liost a game yet at Upton Park yet." "That's impressive." "Yes, but if we want to win the Prem, we are going to have to play better on the road." "That's true as well. Still, the team seems to be doing well." "We are better than we have been the past few years." "I hope you manage to keep it up." "I do too, McCunnie is proving to be a great addition at right back." "Good, and how is O'Conner?" "His usual inconsistant self. Plays great against weak competition, lousy against strong teams." "I don't understand that, the lad has such good skills." "Well sir, I don't understand either. You've have to ask a psychologist." "That would cost too much." "Fair enough sir, it's your team." "Yes it is, keep performing well." "Ok sir, see you in March." <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************************************************************ West Ham United - Saturday 20th December 2008 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2008/9 Senior Club Stats ================================================================================================ No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Archibald, Alan 3 (4) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.43 9 Baldé, Boubacar 5 (6) 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 6.82 - Barré, Yannick - - - - - - - - ---- 1 Bonnefoi, Landry 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 22 Boyack, Steven 1 (3) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.75 24 Brebner, Grant 2 (6) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.63 - Bruce, Mark - - - - - - - - ---- - Caldwell, Chris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 7 Camara, Ibrahima 15 (1) 4 0 0 1 0 0 2 7.00 - Carlier, Rudy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Casanova, Patrick - - - - - - - - ---- 3 Crainey, Stephen 18 0 0 0 3 4 0 0 7.17 - Denquin, Frédéric - - - - - - - - ---- 2 Deroff, Yves 8 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 7.00 - Diane, Ugo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Didot, Lionel 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 14 Distin, Sylvain 19 2 0 4 (2) 2 0 0 0 6.68 6 Fisher, John 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Giraudon, Loïc 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Goursat, Eric 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Henry, Christophe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 12 Howie, Willie 4 (5) 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 7.00 8 Innes, Mark 6 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 7.17 - King, William 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Kisamba, Cédric 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Konaté, Alain 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 13 Langfield, Jamie 19 0 14 0 0 0 0 1 7.37 20 Lauchlan, Jim 18 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 7.00 - Malacarne, Franck 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Marsiglia, Steven 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 26 McCunnie, Jamie 10 1 0 0 3 3 0 1 7.20 - McLaughlin, Kevin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 18 McLaughlin, Paul 1 (1) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 7.00 15 Miller, Lee 1 (3) 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 8.00 23 Mondafu, Gabriel 19 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 7.42 - Montanier, Laurent 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Montgomery, Kevin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 19 Moreira 19 10 0 0 5 3 0 4 7.68 17 Murray, Ian 2 (4) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.67 10 O'Connor, Gary 14 3 0 0 2 0 0 1 7.36 11 Robson, Barry 16 3 0 0 2 0 0 1 6.94 - Ryan, Billy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 25 Sahnoun, Nicolas 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.33 4 Stewart, Michael 20 0 0 0 4 4 0 1 7.25 - Tanguy, Christian 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Veigneau, Olivier 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 21 Vosahlo, Anthony 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 7.33 - Watt, Mark 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 16 Weir, Graham 3 (2) 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 7.40 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Tunnycliffe Posted September 25, 2006 Share Posted September 25, 2006 Come on Hick, you're losing you're creative mo-jo - still loving your work, but where's the story-line baby? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted September 27, 2006 Author Share Posted September 27, 2006 March 2009 "What's the latest?" "Well sir, West Ham has played 31 games now in the Prem." "Yes, I figured that, but what's your record?" "We've won 14, draewn 11 and lost 6." "And your league position?" "Fourth place sir." "I see, and the FA Cup?" "We made it to the fifth round, the best Cup finish in my tenure." "I see. So you've still managed to essentially fail in the competitions." "I don't see what you mean sir." "You had to win both English Cups and the Prem twice in order to meet the Alliance's goals." "Did I?" "Yes you did." "I didn't know about the Cups sir." "Igonorance is no excuse." "Fair enough." "In fact, you're running out of time to achieve any of these goals." "Am I?" "Yes, you have the 09/10, 10/11 and 11/12 seasons to win all those competitions." "Why are you telling me all this in March sir?" "Because I expect you to use your last 7 games to prepare." "And if I don't do as you wish sir?" "I think you know what will happen." ""Prehaps I do sir, but the Alliance should be happy with the team's performance." "They are, but they are impatient with the lack of results." "Prehaps they would like to manage." "Prehaps they could do a better job." "Well sir, I respectually doubt that." "We shall see in May." "Yes, Mr. Chairman, we will." Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted October 2, 2006 Author Share Posted October 2, 2006 May 2009 "So how did the last seven games go?" "Not too bad sir. West Ham finished with a 17-13-8 mark. That was good enough to retain our hold on fourth place in the Prem." "I see. That means you'll be playing in Europe next season." "Yes sir, we should be in the Champion's League." "The group stage?" "No sir, more likely one of the qualifying rounds." "Ah, did you find a new lineup for next season?" "No sir, but a couple of reservists should be ready for first=team action next season." "I warned you, did I not, that you were to use the last seven games to find a lineup for next season." "Yes well, it's not that easy. Several players could leave since their contracts run out or they could retire. It's impossible to put together a lineup for next season when I'm not sure who will be here." "Can't you at least try?" "Hmm, I'd guess that Crainey, McCunnie, and O'Conner are locks. Everyone else is either old or was a stopgap." "I see." "But, the team finally seems to be playing to its portential." "Prehaps it is, but remember, you have a lot of work to do." "I guess so, see you over the summer sir." <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************************************************************ English Premier Division - Sunday 17th May 2009 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2008/9 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Chelsea 38 13 3 3 21 6 12 2 5 29 14 80 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Liverpool 38 15 3 1 36 8 8 7 4 25 18 79 3rd Man Utd 38 9 6 4 33 17 13 5 1 46 17 77 4th West Ham 38 11 6 2 29 10 6 7 6 25 20 64 5th Tottenham 38 10 3 6 24 14 8 6 5 22 18 63 6th Newcastle 38 11 3 5 28 18 5 7 7 24 28 58 7th Arsenal 38 10 5 4 31 21 5 6 8 18 20 56 8th Blackburn 38 10 7 2 29 18 5 4 10 21 30 56 9th Sunderland 38 7 9 3 25 18 8 1 10 26 32 55 10th Fulham 38 12 5 2 32 8 2 7 10 12 22 54 11th Leeds 38 7 7 5 22 18 6 7 6 17 25 53 12th Southampton 38 8 5 6 27 24 6 4 9 20 27 51 13th Birmingham 38 9 5 5 23 19 3 8 8 15 26 49 14th Middlesbrough 38 8 7 4 26 21 3 7 9 13 25 47 15th Norwich 38 6 3 10 23 31 5 7 7 15 20 43 16th Leicester 38 6 6 7 27 26 6 1 12 12 27 43 17th Bolton 38 6 6 7 17 21 4 3 12 14 29 39 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th R Wigan 38 5 6 8 30 31 2 4 13 16 34 31 19th R Blackpool 38 3 5 11 16 29 4 4 11 20 35 30 20th R Millwall 38 1 1 17 6 40 1 4 14 8 38 11 ************************************************************************************************ West Ham United - Sunday 17th May 2009 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2008/9 Senior Club Stats ================================================================================================ No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Archibald, Alan 5 (4) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.56 9 Baldé, Boubacar 9 (8) 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 6.88 - Barré, Yannick - - - - - - - - ---- 1 Bonnefoi, Landry 17 0 17 0 0 0 0 0 7.12 22 Boyack, Steven 2 (13) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.73 24 Brebner, Grant 5 (10) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.60 - Bruce, Mark - - - - - - - - ---- - Caldwell, Chris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 7 Camara, Ibrahima 35 (1) 5 0 0 6 2 0 3 7.14 - Carlier, Rudy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Casanova, Patrick - - - - - - - - ---- 3 Crainey, Stephen 35 6 0 0 4 9 0 1 7.29 - Denquin, Frédéric - - - - - - - - ---- 2 Deroff, Yves 12 0 0 0 4 1 1 0 6.92 - Diane, Ugo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Didot, Lionel 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 14 Distin, Sylvain 40 5 0 6 (4) 2 2 0 0 6.67 - Giraudon, Loïc 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Goursat, Eric 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Henry, Christophe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 12 Howie, Willie 5 (7) 3 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.92 8 Innes, Mark 11 (5) 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 7.00 - King, William 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Konaté, Alain 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 13 Langfield, Jamie 27 0 18 0 0 0 0 1 7.44 20 Lauchlan, Jim 39 0 0 0 0 7 1 0 6.90 - Malacarne, Franck 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Marsiglia, Steven 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 26 McCunnie, Jamie 29 2 0 0 7 5 1 3 7.17 - McLaughlin, Kevin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 18 McLaughlin, Paul 5 (1) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.33 15 Miller, Lee 2 (4) 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 7.50 23 Mondafu, Gabriel 38 6 0 0 2 1 0 0 7.24 - Montanier, Laurent 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Montgomery, Kevin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 19 Moreira 39 (1) 13 0 0 7 5 0 5 7.38 17 Murray, Ian 4 (6) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 10 O'Connor, Gary 30 7 0 0 3 2 0 3 7.40 11 Robson, Barry 35 5 0 0 4 0 0 1 6.91 - Ryan, Billy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 25 Sahnoun, Nicolas 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.33 4 Stewart, Michael 39 1 0 0 4 7 0 1 7.03 - Tanguy, Christian 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Veigneau, Olivier 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 21 Vosahlo, Anthony 9 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 7.33 - Watt, Mark 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 16 Weir, Graham 9 (7) 5 0 0 1 0 1 2 7.25 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Tunnycliffe Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 That's better Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted October 10, 2006 Author Share Posted October 10, 2006 My eyes snapped open at 5 am, just like they did every morning of the year. Football is a preparation-driven sport especially at the Prem level. Humming to myself, I blithely walked through my morning routine, showering, drinking two cups of coffee, scanning the national news in the paper, but never reading the sports pages. At 7 am sharp, I grabbed my briefcase, which contained the practice and to-do schedules for the start of the week. I walked into the hallway, walked to the elevator, went down four floors to the lobby, through the lobby and out the front door. As I stepped out, I got the shock of my life. I fainted. I woke up only a couple of minutes later. A strange man was couched next to me. I felt a warm trickle running down my face. Apparently, the man had revived me by throwing the contents of his cup, hot tea, into my face. I sat up and looked around, nothing had changed. The man looked at me, and inquired, “Are you ok?†I looked at him, “No sir, just merely had the shock of my life. Where’s the nearest pub?†The man smiled and said that he was the owner of the pub on the corner of the street. He helped me up and supporting me, dragged me into his pub. Despite the early hour, he went behind the bar, asked me for my order and then handed me a pint of bitter. After two fortifying gulps of the brew, my mind began to clear. I looked around the pub. Just as I feared, I didn’t recognize the place. My usual pub in London had a dingy, rustic appearance that reminded me of home. This place, however, had a sea motif. Various ship paraphernalia lined the walls. I took another gulp of the bitter, turned and faced the barman. “Can you tell me where I’m at?†I asked. The barman gave me a long look and said, “Are you sure you’re ok?†I replied, “I don’t know, humor me for the moment.†He said simply, “You’re in the Sea-side Pub, in Dover.†“Dover?†I repeated with a hint of panic “Yes, Dover, say aren’t you going to be late for work?†He asked, gesturing at my briefcase. “Uh, no, I’m uh self-employed.†“Sure you are, aren’t you the man that guided Dover to the title just two weeks ago?†“Dover? I manage West Ham.†“You’re joking, That D1 outfit.†“Division 1 my ass. We’ve been in the Premier since 02/03. For your information we just fourth in the Premier in the just completed 08/09 season.†“The…08/09 season? Are you sure you didn’t hit your head?†“I passed out, I didn’t hit my head. Take a look at the briefcase.†The barman opened the case and pulled a sheet from it. “This paper here says here that you’re going to work with Calleja on his crossing today at the morning training session.†“I “Really, can you humor me again and tell me the year?†The barman squinted at me, “It’s June 2, 2007. Really sir, are you ok?†“No I’m not, pull me another bitter and leave me be.†“Ok.†The barman pulled another pint for me. I slid off the stool and flipped my cell phone open as I moved to the restroom for privacy. Sure enough, the list of numbers was different than I remembered them. Thankfully, my phone organization was the same, so I called the top number and left a message saying that I was ill and that I would be in tomorrow. I promised to fax in the training schedule pronto. I returned to the bar, where my bitter sat. I pulled it towards me and drank. The publican left me to his own devices as he bustled around getting his pub ready for the noon lunch crowd. I brooded and tried to collect my thoughts. Last night, I had been thrilled that West Ham had finished fourth in the Premier for the 08/09 season. Now, in the morning, it seemed that I had, A. Become Dover’s manager, winning the Prem title, and B. had just finished the 06/07 season. It was strange and unexplainable. Still, I had grown up a science fiction fan, so the idea of falling into an alternate dimension didn’t really bother me. What bothered me was actually having fiction come to life in my case. Still, two pints of bitter had cleared my head nicely. I thanked the barkeep for his help, attempted to pay, only to have the note pushed back into my hand. I walked out the pub doors. I had a lot of catching up to do. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted October 10, 2006 Author Share Posted October 10, 2006 June-August 2007 I rapidly walked back to my apartment clutching my briefcase as it were the nuclear football itself. My heading was spinning from the two pints and the shock of being lost in a new city, no, checks that, a new world. I had no idea what was going on. I let my feet guide me back home. Once inside the apartment, I did a thorough search of the premises. I discover that I had been called “Pascal McIntosh,†which seemed strange, considering that I had never known either a “Pascal†or a “McIntosh.†From the correspondence file I found, I saw that the Alliance challenge had happened here too and that I had agreed to try it. The rules and expectations were the same. Using Google, U ascertained that Dover had indeed won the Premier League title two weeks ago. In addition, they had won the FA Cup, which filled half the goals of the AAC. I would have to win the League Cup and the Prem title for a second time. Calculating rapidly, I realized that I would have a further five seasons to finish the last two legs of the challenge. Vaguely, I wondered if this Pascal fellow was now sitting in my West Ham office and reaching the conclusion that he would have about three seasons to do all four legs of the Challenge. It certainly sounded like I had the better end of the bargain. As the hours passed, my shock wore off. I began thumbing through the contents of my briefcase. It appeared that I had been using a 4-5-1 and the squad obviously tailored to fit it. As the papers began to pile up, I became very nervous. This Pascal character or whoever U had been was very strange. There was no way I could act like him and pull it off in convincing fashion. So, I wasn’t even going to try People were just going to have to chalk up all the changes to eccentricity ir brilliance. The first thing to go would be this 4-5-1. I had no doubt that it was a good tactic; after all, this team had apparently won the Prem with it. However, I had never used it that I knew of and it’s dangerous to use a tactic you don’t understand. My experience was a 4-3-1-2 so that’s what I would now coach and use. In the age old sports debate of whether to use a regular system, regardless of talent, or to fit the tactic to the personnel, I was squarely in the former camp. Having decided this point, I then called all the staff and informed them hat I had decided to make wholesale changes, and therefore they were all dismissed. The lone survivor of the coach purge was McCabe, who remained because he was a player and a Dover icon. He, however, would be limited to overseeing the conditioning of the players. I also informed him that he would now be playing in the reserves, to help the younger players. The next morning, I went to my “new†office at the Crabbe. I put in a few phone calls to line up a new coaching staff. Then I held a meeting with the players. As the players entered the room, they didn’t seem too nervous; it appeared that McIntosh was an odd manager, so if they noticed any change, they didn’t let on. However, they quickly became tense as I launched into my speech. I said I was proud of them for winning the Prem title. That made them smile and nod. Then, I said that in order to win a second title, Dover would have to make a number of changes in order to surprise our opponents. That froze the smiles, but worse was to come. When I unveiled the dry erase board and showed them the new system that I was going to install. I saw the smiles disappear from faces of the pure wingers. They knew their job security was up. Sure enough, I put the wingers up for sale later that day. Over the next few days there was a flurry of activity. As staff arrived and left in large numbers. The new staff arrived and began drilling the players in the fundamentals of my 4-3-1-2. Since the new tactic was defensive in mindset like the previous 4-5-1, the focus of training was more focused on technical than philosophical. Craig, for instance, had to learn to work with Lecocq up front. As predicted, the wingers left quickly. McIntyre, Callejia, Oliver, McLeod, Falvre and Rae all left over the summer pre-season, bringing in about 5 million pounds in income. In came a ton of new faces. Some were summer signings made by McIntosh, but others were signings I made to stock the midfield and the reserves. Probably the most important of these signings was Frenchman Dario Rosales, whom my previous incarnation had signed. I made no comparable signings, focusing on creating depth. I had a barrelhead of cash to spend, actually more than I had at West Ham and I used it. By the beginning of the League season, there were 50 players in my usual 25/25 split between first team and the reserves. To be fair, aside from the players mentioned above, none were sold or released. My predecessor had built a sound squad and so, except for a couple of position switches and the change in tactics, the team remained more or less intact, augmented by the raft of players I brought in. By the end of the summer, I was starting to feel at home in Dover. For starters, the club, unlike West Ham, had no chairman, just a very compliant general manager. For another, Dover had first-rate practice facilities, something that was conspicuously lacking at West Ham. Third, the constant pressure to succeed at West Ham that was fueled by the media and supporters alike was not evident in Dover. The local press and fans were just over the moon at having won the Prem the previous year and therefore were inclined to be generous in their expectations for the upcoming season. All they wanted was a respectable league position. As a result, the workaholic routine I had created for myself at West Ham began to gradually disappear at Dover. I realized that I had been granted a new lease on life and I began to, once again, enjoy managing. Perhaps I became a bit too complacent. Dover’s 07/08 opened with a trip to Italy in late July for the FIFA World Club Championship. The players were still learning the new system and as a result, the first two group games against a Mexican and a Saudi side ended in scoreless draws, knocking us out of the competition. With nothing to lose in the last group game, we beat Boca 2-0 as new RMC Kevin Hamilton bagged the brace. Dover returned to England for Charity Shield action. We won that game on penalties after drawing 1-1 with Fulham. August concluded with the opening of Premier play. With the players still not quite getting the new system, the home opener against Arsenal and the road opener at Charlton were both 1-1 draws. The draws, while disappointing, were not morale-killers, because Dover Athletic was not based in London. Had those draws happened at West Ham, those faithful would be screaming bloody murder for not winning against London teams. Again, I briefly wondered if McIntosh was at West Ham, whether he was learning about the hell that was London derbies. Even though there was little pressure on me, I wasn’t happy with the production I was getting out of my new team. With the European season coming up, I decided to reorganize the team. The following 25 players would comprise the European squad and regular first-team. The starter at each position is listed first under each position. GK: Guilluame Chevalier Oliver Abiven Herve Gatumel DL: David Main Kenneth Murray DR: David Perez Fabrice Landrin DC: Regis Batrice Daniel Poggi DC: Max Aimar Patrice Diawara Utility Defender- David Munoz LMC John Miller Ian Sinclair CMC Dario Rosales Stuart Quinn RMC Ghislain Faure Keith Hamilton AMC Fabian Foulon Ian Clark Utility midfielder: Stuart Robertson FC Michael Craig Andy McCann FC Pascal Lecocq Gary Paterson This would be the first team for the rest of the season, barring sales or long-term injuries. Everyone else was in the reserves. They will either turn into good players or be sold to raise cash. As it happened I made the roster reshuffle just in time. Dover was awarded 1.8M pounds for being entered into the first group stage of the Champions’ League. We were drawn in Group A with Dinamo (Croatia), Dortmund (Germany) and IK Goteberg (Sweden). Having no clue what this reality was like as far as foreign leagues, I had no idea whether this was a tough, average or easy draw. I guess I would find out soon enough. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 The first test of this reconfigured crew would be the Super Cup against Roma. The only starters to get the game off were the injured Batrice, Rosales and Faure. Everyone else fatigued or not, had to play. Only 11,800 fans showed up in Monaco for the game and it was well that the crowd was that small. Dover put up absolutely no fight against Roma and the Serie A giants were up 3-0 by halftime. That didn’t bother me too much. Dover was a tired team and fielding an uncohesive lineup for this ****-ant contest. My main concern during the second half was to make sure that no-one got hurt. Roma added a fourth goal to complete the drubbing. The only good thing was that we had the next two weeks off before going to Derby for a league game on the 18th of September. In the interval, a number of Dover players went off to play international matches, mostly at the under 21 level. Craig was actually the only member of the team selected to play a full international, playing for Scotland. The break also gave me time to relax. The fans, media and town of Dover were so friendly and loyal that managing here was a piece of cake mentally. The players played hard, trained hard and seemed to enjoy football. Even with the blowout loss against Roma, the team remained optimistic. Part of it was that they were still in shock from my “personality†change. This guy Pascal, who I had supposedly been before, had been an angry, intense manager with a hard demeanor. By contrast, my style was far more laid back. I was a Scot by birth, but ha moved to the US when I was two. As a result, I had grown up watching American sports and absorbed their coaching methods. I had always hated coaches who yelled at their players. As a result, I took a gentle, low-key approach to managing. This approach had worked until I got to West Ham. There, the team and the chairman and the Alliance were egoists. They were prima-donnas, incapable of a winning attitude. As a result, I tried everything, including yelling and fear to motivate them. Nothing really worked. The team refused to listen. Because of all this, I had become a stressed out workaholic. I had become short-tempered and likely to blow up. I had once fined a player 6 months wages because he refused to stay in playing shape. Since arriving at Dover, I had returned to my old self. I was mellow and low-key once more. I was able to show patience with my younger players and actually help coach them. This difference was driven home to me one night as I sat doing research for tactical adjustments. On the net, I had come across a blog that purported to be fiction. However, when I skimmed the contents, I realized it wasn’t fiction at all. It was the Pascal McIntosh story. It told of how he had gotten Dover to the Prem and it made for interesting reading. The latest posts showed him at West Ham, the West Ham I had so suddenly left. I saw that Pascal was struggling with the problems and players that I had. It appeared that the Chairman still refused to improve the facilities and that the Alliance was pressuring Pascal, who had landed in the hospital, to get back to work. I had no idea who Ellen was, but who said it had to be an exact dimension match. I had to admit that I chuckled at Pascal’s predicament. At least, from what I had seen of the Dover days, when Pascal roared, people would listen. I was hoping he could turn West Ham into a winner, while, by comparison, I basked in the sun at Dover. My low-key approach was soon to cause problems. The day after I started reading Pascal’s ‘fictional’ account, the first of the reservists, McNab, was sold. The displaced left back signed a deal with Portsmouth that would net Dover 750K pounds on December 15, assuming the deal went through. Before I even realized it, the Derby match was upon us. Batrice was still out, replaced by Poggi, but every other starter was fit and ready to play. Craig stunned the hostile, 33,000 strong crowd by going on a run early and capping it with a top-corner drive on 6 to give Dover the early 1-0 lead. However, Derby answered quickly on 13. Then, Faure, freshly recovered from his injuries, stuck a loose ball back into the net to give Dover the 2-1 lead. However, Chevalier was having a bad game for us and promptly allowed the tying goal near the end of the half. Fuming, I sent in Abiven for the second half. Worse, five minutes into the second half, Faure reinjured himimself and Hamilton came in to replace him. Dover did a credible job of holding onto the 2-2 draw. After the game, I was told that Faure would be out for two weeks with a calf strain. That just capped a sour game for us. Dover had yet to lose, or win a game in the Prem and was sitting in 14th place. But, there was no rest for the weary now as we had to travel to Sweden for a Wednesday night game against Goteberg to open group play in Europe. But, things got worse still. We had a spate of attitude problems leading up departing for Sweden. Chevalier was actually absent from training. When I found out, I didn’t warn him, didn’t fine him, but rather, released him. That made Abiven the number one keeper until I could find a replacement. I immediately got to work replacing the disgraced Chevalier by sending the scouts out and my making phone calls of my own. I found a French veteran named Ludovic Jaeger, who looked like a good signing. Julbio accepted our cash offer and we offered a generous contract to Jaeger. We traveled to Sweden amidst the turmoil. In addition to off-field troubles, we had been bit by the injury bug again. Hamilton was now out. That meant that Sinclair and Robertson were going to have to help Rosales in the midfield. Every other regular draw the nod however, so I had a bit of hope. The game started off badly as a card-happy ref sent Rosales to the showers just two minutes. If this had been West Ham, that would have been the game right there. But, this Dover bunch showed more fortitude. Lecocq and Foulon scored to give us the 2-0 lead by halftime. At that point, Goteberg began playing like they actually had the man advantage and young international Bergman, quickly drew the home side level with a pair of fine strikes. At that stage, given Europe was not a large priority, I would have settled for a draw. However, the fine young men of Dover had more grit than I gave them credit for. First, Robertson, and then Foulon, for a second time, scored to give Dover the 4-2 road win. Based on that match, I decided to make Abiven the number one keeper right then and there, canceling the Jaeger deal. I hoped that the great resolve shown in this contest would manifest itself again on Saturday the 15th, when we would host Oldham at the Crabbe in a return to Prem action. No changes were made to the lineup for the Oldham contest. A few players were less fit than I would have liked, but because of injuries, they would have to reach down and find the energy to play well. As with the Goteberg game, things did not start well for Dover. Oldham opened the scoring account on 7 when Ramsey beat Aimar to the ball and sent it past Abiven. But, Craig converted a penalty late in the half to tie the game. Then, ten minutes into the second half, Sinclair sent in a corner that Batricle headed into goal to give Dover the 2-1 edge. The nearly 20,000 at Crabbe anxiously watched as we managed to hold onto the lead for our first Prem win of the season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted October 12, 2006 Author Share Posted October 12, 2006 After that game I was able to walk down to the Sea-Side pub and enjoy a pint of bitter for the first time since, well, I can’t remember. I would have to imagine it hadn’t been since joining the Prem with West Ham way back in 02/03. In terms of real time, that had been eight years ago, but, of course, no one in Dover would have believed it. The pub was filled to the brim with happy fans and reporters alike. When I walked in, everyone raised a glass in my direction and then went back to their conversations. As I sat at the bar, I listened closely to what was being said around me. Apparently, the hot topic of the moment was me, specifically my ‘new’ attitude. The media were agog that, unlike the old Pascal, I would calmly listen to their questions and provide complete answers. The fans were talking about the ‘change’ in my demeanor. Gone was angry, irascible and irritated Pascal, who seemed have been possessed by this strange, low-key, calm and quiet alien. As I heard that theory, I had to chuckle, they weren’t that far off the mark. I finished the pint and tipped the barman generously. I then made my way out of the pub, occasionally stopping to shake hands or even sign an autograph or two. The good burghers of Dover seemed to appreciate their manager, something I was still trying to get used to two months into the season. I was used to pressure from any and all quarters. It was so nice to have the West Ham gorilla off my back. I found myself whistling “Dixie†as I walked back to my apartment. When I got back in, I checked the Pascal blog and found that he’d reamed Langfield for being an un-reliable keeper. No real surprise there, given that there had never been such a thing as a reliable keeper at West Ham during my tenure. I also noticed that O’Conner seemed to be doing much better under Pascal than he’d done for me. I had to wonder how Pascal had managed to motivate him. But, hey, he was no longer my problem. I smiled to myself and got to work on Dover training plans for the upcoming week. As we prepared for the upcoming game against Dinamo, the local media did a write-up of Foulon and asked me to comment. O said that Foulon was a great young talent, the best I’d seen since François Denquin and Chris Caldwell. The reporters looked puzzled and asked to whom was I referring. I realized that, of course, these folks would have no idea who I was talking about. I cast my mind around for an analogy suitable to this time and drew a blank I had no idea who the young superstars were. So, in effect, I told the reporters that Foulon was a unique talent. I just hoped the youngster wouldn’t feel pressured by such high praise. We would find out soon enough when Dinamo came to Dover for the second round of matches in the Stage 1 group a section. The lineup was manned by all the regulars except for the injured Faure and the suspended Rosales. Robertson and Quinn took their places. As it turned out, I had no reason to worry about Foulon. The youngster picked of the MOM and a goal in our 3-1 pasting of Dinamo. The match had been scoreless at the half as Dinamo managed to repel all our goals on goal, whole we prevented Dinamo from even getting a shot off. The second half saw Dover break through with goals in the 50’s from Perez and Foulon. At that point, Dinamo’s offense scored on their lone shot of the day. However, on 84, Robertson iced the win with another goal to give Dover the 3-1 win. It was a nice performance and I wished that more than 13,500 had turned out to see it. After all, it’s not everyday that that you see your team take 15 shots and hold the opposition to a miserly 1. The Dinamo game set a record for gate receipts from a single game with 283,000 pounds. To me, the number seemed small. At West Ham, the record was around 600,000 pounds. Then again, Upton Park was double the size of the Crabbe. Again, I was having trouble recalling exact figures from my West Ham days. It seemed that all the new Dove data was crowding out the West Ham info. I was slightly disturbed by this trend. I wanted to remember the London days clearly. That way I wouldn’t make the same mistakes at Dover. Besides, the better I remembered the West Ham days, the more I would appreciate Dover. As it was, the Ipswich game arrived too swiftly for me to dwell too much on what had been. Though the entire lineup was a bit tired, only Main and Robertson got the day off as Murray and Clark took their places respectively. Abiven was named captain for the game. By halftime, the 27,000 at Portman Road were stunned into silence. Their hometown Ipswich side had failed to get a single shot off. Their only consolation was that Dover had failed to score either, taking only four shots and only putting one of those on the money. Nine minutes into the second half Foulon broke the Ipswich defense off the dribble and put the ball in low to give Dover the 1-0. Thirteen minutes later, Craig iced the win with a bullet header off a Perez cross that made the score 2-0, Ipswich never got their offense going, taking just three shots in the second half. This was a great confidence-boosting win as we would have to travel to Dortmund in four days to take on one of Europe’s top teams. The win also put us in 7th place in the Prem, where we had yet to lose a game. The Dortmund game arrived with little fanfare. This time, it was Perez and Miller who were unfit to answer the bell and they were replaced by Landrin, who would be making his first start of the season and Sinclair. Dortmund was a classy team and they proved it by totally abusing Abiven. The man who had been so solid earlier gave up three goals to the German side in the first half alone. By halftime, I had made a couple of subs to rest key players so they wouldn’t be injured in a meaningless second half. Predictably though, a stare went down in the second half anyway. After the game, I was told that Aimar would be out a week with a bruised thigh. We would be able to move past this loss quickly as we had a home game against Bolton on the weekend. It would also be the last game in September. I would be able to catch my breath and take stock. In the run-up to the Bolton game, we were drawn into the League Cup third round, a road game against D2 side Coventry. Given that this Cup was one of the missing crown jewels of the AAC, I would have to focus more resources on this game than I normally would have. But first, we had to play Bolton. The good news before the match was that Faure was cleared to regain his RMC spot. The bad news was that Aimar, Foulon and Lecocq all needed the day off. They were replaced respectively by Diawara, Clark and Paterson. Main regained the captaincy after Abiven had failed to rally the troops in the Dortmund game. The 19000 that crowded the Crabbe saw Dover’s defense shut down Bolton in the first half and they raised the roof near the end of the half when Faure looped in a corner that Craig headed into the goal to give the home side the 1-0 lead. With Bolton having lost a man in the first half, the second half was a mere formality. The crowd at Crabbe gave Craig a standing O as I pulled him twenty minutes from the end. The man who really deserved the ovation was defender Perez, who played about as flawless a game as possible. He won the MOM, but, being a defender, not the cheers of the fans. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************************************************************ English Premier Division - Sunday 30th September 2007 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2007/8 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Chelsea 6 2 0 0 5 0 3 0 1 8 2 15 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Man Utd 5 2 0 0 4 2 3 0 0 8 2 15 3rd Everton 7 3 0 0 4 0 1 1 2 3 4 13 4th Arsenal 7 2 2 0 9 3 1 1 1 6 6 12 5th Dover 6 2 1 0 4 2 1 2 0 5 3 12 6th Watford 7 3 0 0 7 2 0 2 2 5 9 11 7th Nottm Forest 7 0 1 2 2 5 3 0 1 5 1 10 8th Tottenham 7 2 0 1 9 7 1 1 2 2 5 10 9th Leeds 6 2 0 0 5 0 0 3 1 4 6 9 10th Liverpool 5 2 1 0 6 3 0 2 0 0 0 9 11th Sunderland 7 3 0 1 10 3 0 0 3 1 8 9 12th Ipswich 7 1 2 1 5 6 1 1 1 6 5 9 13th Bolton 6 3 0 0 5 1 0 0 3 0 4 9 14th Millwall 7 0 2 1 5 6 2 0 2 6 8 8 15th Aston Villa 6 0 1 3 2 7 2 0 0 6 2 7 16th Fulham 7 1 3 0 5 3 0 1 2 1 4 7 17th Oldham 7 1 0 3 2 7 0 1 2 4 6 4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Derby 6 0 3 1 5 6 0 0 2 0 5 3 19th Charlton 7 0 1 3 0 6 0 2 1 3 4 3 20th Newcastle 7 0 1 2 2 7 0 1 3 3 12 2 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spav Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Aha, I just figured out the switcheroo between yourself and attjen. It's a unique idea and I'll follow your efforts closely. KUTGW Hick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted October 13, 2006 Author Share Posted October 13, 2006 Cheers Spav To say things were going well would be an understatement. As September ended, I felt sure that somebody from the organization would win one of the monthly awards, but it didn’t happen. I wasn’t all that worried about it either. If we continued to play the way we were, Dover would be raking in the awards at the end of the season. Dover was a team perched on the edge of greatness and I felt lucky to be managing a group with such strong mental character. To be honest, I was afraid to acquire any players for fear of wrecking the positive vibes of the dressing-room. Still, I needed to pick up another goalkeeper to replace the dismissed Chevalier. But, before I could really get to searching, the October 4th game against Aston Villa. They were one of the teams that I was having to constantly having to remind myself were in the Prem. They, Derby, Everton and, particularly, Oldham just seemed to be out of place to me. But, nobody cared what I thought; Dover still had to play all of them. Aimar and Miller were deemed unfit for the match had been replaced by Diawara and Sinclair respectively. The 19000 fans at the Crabbe were treated to another dazzling display of defense in the first half as Aston Villa failed to even get a shot off. Meanwhile on 36, Faure chipped the ball to Foulon who jinked past a pair of confused defenders and buried the shot to give Dover the 1-0 lead. The second half was much the same. Villa managed to get off two lonely shots and Dover coasted for the last ten minutes as Batricle iced the game on 80 with a header and Clark added a keynote just five minutes after coming on for Sinclair. The 3-0 win showed that Dover was just amazing, but the game raised a concern as well. One that would not bode well for the future. I hoped ten days off until an October 13 game against Fulham would give us time to figure out a solution. The trouble was the lousy play of Rosales, who just did not seem to be able to play CMC. In eleven games he was averaging an anemic 6.18 and was averaging less than a tackle per game. Normally, I would just put him on the transfer list, but if we sold him, Dover would be another man short in the European roster. In addition, I didn’t feel comfortable making Quinn the starter. In the end, I decided to stick Rosales on the transfer list and keep playing him until he was sold. After all, it’s not like Dover was losing. Understandably, Rosales was upset at being put up for sale. He stormed into my office and demanded, in thickly accented English, to know what the hell I was thinking. Had this been West Ham, and one of those incompetent prima-donnas, I would have blown up and told him to get the **** out of my office. But, this was Dover and my mild manner had returned. I told him to sit down and poured coffee for both of us. I patiently explained to Rosales that he didn’t seem to fit my system that entire well. I told him that I hadn’t known the system would change when he had signed a contract. (I really wanted to tell him that I had not signed him, but that would not have been a good idea.) I told him that he needed a fresh start somewhere else where they used DMCs. I expressed the hope that a team would pick him up forthwith. He left the office looking a bit more cheerful, but that was probably because I told him he was still the number 1 CMC. Shortly after meeting with Rosales, I found a good replacement to fill the third-string goalkeeper role. Toulouse had a young keeper named Frederic Renard, who appeared to have potential. We offered 450K for him and they accepted. His contract demands were easy to accommodate and we signed him a few days later just in time to sit in the stands of the Craven Cottage during the Fulham game. The good thing about the week and a half layoff was that every one of the regulars returned from injury or got fit. Therefore, all the regulars got the nod for this game. On the other hand, a long layoff can result in a flat team. The latter is what happened to us this game. Dover held Fulham to just one shot in the first half, but we only took two shots ourselves. The second half saw Fulham pull ahead 1-0 on 65. They held onto that lead as Dover mounted an offensive surge and fell short. This was our first loss of the Premier season. We would have no time to dwell on the loss as we had to host Dortmund Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted October 14, 2006 Author Share Posted October 14, 2006 The night before the Dortmund game, I was sitting in my apartment surfing the net. When I checked out Pascal’s blog, I couldn’t help but laugh. The man was waxing dyspeptic about the “loser attitude†of West Ham. Not that I could blame him, after all, I was the one that had tolerated the situation and let it get so bad. As I sipped the glass of bourbon that would help me sleep the night before a match, I began to ruminate on the West Ham days. Where had it all gone wrong? At one point West Ham was a winning club. We had survived the playoffs in 01/02 to win promotion to the Prem for the 02/03 season. That season and the next were spent consolidating our stay in the Prem and recovering from self-inflicted bankruptcy. Then, things seemed to stall. It seemed that everyone was just satisfied to be in the Prem. Once survival was certain, all the players and the staff seemed to lose ambition to aspire for greater things. Matters were made worse, when trying for a quick fix; I signed several players to excessive contracts in an attempt to upgrade the team in a hurry. In a fit of Steinbrenner economics, I forgot that some players don’t react well to being millionaires. Take O’Connor and Moreira for example. If I remembered correctly, both had pulled down salaries of about 1.5 million pounds a year. Yet, instead of playing like superstars and earning their pay, they laughed all the way to the bank and became fat, lazy and indolent. Now Pascal was paying the piper for my mistakes and I began to feel vaguely guilty. Even if Pascal did hate the world, he didn’t deserve to be at West Ham. But, as I stared at the blog, a new feeling came over me. A feeling of purpose. I had no idea why I was at Dover. I had no idea what had happened. All I knew was that I had been given a chance to be successful and that I had damn well not blow it. This Dover gig might be a cakewalk compared to West? Ham, but I had the sense that I had better not blow this golden opportunity. I had better not repeat the same mistakes all over again. This is exactly the wrong attitude to have the night before facing a European superpower like Dortmund, but I couldn’t help myself. I fell into an unsay sleep that was all too reminiscent of the West Ham days. The next morning, I was bleary-eyed and downed a pot of coffee just to stay alert. My ill feelings increased when the trainer came into the office and told me that Foulon and Lecocq were unfit and best left off the lineup card. I merely grunted and took another large swallow of the bitter black coffee. Clark would play in place of Foulon and McCann in place of Lecocq. I’m not sure what I really needed to be worried about. In front of 12000 die-hards at the Crabbe, Dover held Dortmund to two shots in the first half. It was however, the second half that convinced me that, given a bit of luck, Dover could go all the way. You see, Pascal’s blog had told the tales of a prolific striker named Craig. When I came in, I had noticed that Craig was a good player, but hardly the demi-god that Pascal’s blog mentioned. In my opinion, Craig was a solid, steady producer of goals. My opinion changed in the second half of the Dortmund game. In the first minute of the second half, Miller whipped in a free-kick and Craig muscled his way through a crowd to leap, and nail a spectacular header to give Dover the 1-0 lead. Then, thirty minutes later, Craig struck again to ice the game, beating everyone to a Clark pass and blistering the game0clinching goal for the final 2-0 victory. It was a truly sublime performance and now, I finally understood that Craig was a great player. Call me crazy, but I have seen and now believe. The Dortmund win put us in the driver’s seat of Group A with a three win, one loss record. We would play Millwall next at home over the weekend. There was one bad note after the game. I decided to banish Rosales to the reserves. He was simply having an awful season and I was tired of his inept play. To take his place on the first-team, I called up Coach McCabe, who would back up Quinn. The change seemed to reinvigorate all the regulars and everyone but Main was fit for duty against Millwall. Main was replaced by Murray. Since Main was normally the captain, the players had to vote for another one and selected Quinn. Nearly 21000 loyal fans crowded the Crabbe in what was easily the largest home crowd of the year. They witnessed a tough, defensive, bruising first half. Neither side gave much quarter nor was it a wonder that the ref didn’t issue more than three cards. The second half proved to have more offense, but neither Dover nor Millwall could break through and the game ended a scoreless draw. No matter, we remained firmly in fourth place in the standings. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted October 16, 2006 Author Share Posted October 16, 2006 The morning after the game I found myself on the computer at my office at a ridiculous hour. I had to admit that my West Ham work habits were starting to become just as bad in this reality with Dover. Never mind that it was my coaches who designed the practice schedule and drills and those they did a lot of the paperwork, I still spent endless hours looking for ways to improve. There’s always one more film to watch, one more idea to consider. Now though, I was looking at the net and checking up on my favorite spectator sports. I also checked Pascal’s blog to read about the latest mishaps at West Ham. I saw that Pascal was launching an investigation into why realities had switched on him. I silently wished him luck. Not that I would actually want to return to West Ham. I had the distinct feeling that Pascal missed Dover more than I missed London. One item from the blog did stand out. In the course of his cross-examination of Ellen, she had told him that people had been worried about ‘his’ health, since he was working himself to death. At least Pascal had Ellen to tell him when to stop worrying about managing West Ham. I had nobody back then and nobody now. I wondered if things had really gotten that bad while I was at West Ham. As the dawn light filtered into the room, I spun around in my chair and stared out the window. Life was pleasant in Dover, but did I really belong here? So far, I had considered this a lark, a vacation from everything. Now, the reality was starting to sink in at last. I was stuck here and I wasn’t likely to go back to London. I had to admit, I missed my family and friends, none of whom existed in this reality. My cell, email, and address books all showed different people. I had lost touch with most of them since my ‘return’ because ‘I’ didn’t have anything in common with them anymore. They were Pascal’s friends, not mine. As a result, I was all alone in this office, with no life outside. But, then, I thought to myself, “So what else is new…it’s exactly the same as it was with West Ham. Different location, different players, different reality, but human nature doesn’t change.†I rubbed the stubble on my chin. It was too damn early for deep thinking. I turned back to the computer to finish reading Pascal’s blog entry. Apparently, he had managed to scare the daylights out of O’Conner. The lad seemed to be finally reconciling his hundred dollar talent with his ten cent head. Chuckling at the thought of Pascal tearing out his hair over O’Conner, I got back to work. Now our attention turned to facing Goteberg at home. A win on Tuesday would punch our ticket to the second round of group games in the Champions League. The game arrived in due time. I was surprised when everyone but Main and Murray reported fit enough to play. Poggi got the nod at left back, but everyone else was a regular. 14000 Crabbe loyalists saw Dover make mincemeat out of the Swedes early. Perez rang in a corner 29 minutes in for the 1-0 lead and Craig followed up with a penalty four minutes later for the 2-0 lead. Foulon added the coup de grace on 65 and both he and Craig got standing ovations when I pulled them from the game a minute later. The 3-0 win clinched our berth in the second group stage. I could only hope that the crowds would be a bit larger for that competition. I didn’t realize it until I had a chance to catch my breath before we headed to Liverpool to take on Everton, but both the Millwall and Goteberg games had set records. The former set an attendance record, the fist sell-out in Dover history. The latter was a gate receipts record of just over 300K quid. But all that was secondary to the Everton game. Given that most of the players were tuckered out from the Goteberg game, a patchwork lineup was devised as Diawara, Sinclair, McCabe and Hamilton were given starts. Regulars Perez, Foulon and Craig would be yanked at the first sign of extreme fatigue. The game proved to be difficult. Our vaunted defense cracked and allowed Everton a goal on 33, while a knackered forward crew was having difficulty creating offense. At the half, I pulled a tired Foulon, not wanting to risk his health. Even though we went on the attack in the second half, Everton sealed a 2-0 win on 83 when they converted a penalty. To complete a comedy of errors, Lecocq was sent off for receiving two yellow cards and a bunch of other players on our side got carded as well. The only real positive of the game was that no-one got hurt and that McCabe played well. Now we had four days to focus on the League Cup game against Coventry, which was an important game to the AAC challenge makers. The game would finish off the October schedule on Halloween. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted October 18, 2006 Author Share Posted October 18, 2006 During the intervals between all these games, I managed to keep up with Pascal’s online blog. When he mentioned tracking down a newspaper article entitled ‘The Death of English Football’ by an ’E.K’ and mentioned a note with my initials, I got curious. I went over to the Dover public relations office and inquired as to how long they kept their clippings. They said about five years. I asked them to look up the article that Pascal had mentioned. The young intern seemed to go even paler and he stammered, Are…Are, you sure you…you…want to read that article sir?†I looked him straight in the eye and said in my best country twang from my childhood, “yes, son, I wanna read that article right quick.’ The young intern stared at me…â€I’m sorry sir, I didn’t understand you.†I repeated the statement, and growing irritated, my accent increased. The clerk goggled at me. “But sir, that’s not a Scots or French accent.†I yelled at him. “I ain’t from France goddamn it, I’m from Missouri.†The clerk cowered, “Whatever you say Mr. McIntosh.†I calmed down quickly. It wasn’t the kid’s fault that I was stuck in a reality that I still wasn’t used to. At least he hadn’t called me ‘Pascal.’ I was getting used to being ‘Mr. McIntosh,’ or better yet, ‘Mac,’ but I was still apt to go off, or simply ignore people who called me Pascal. At any rate, I finally got the article from the very subdued clerk. The byline showed it to indeed be written by an ‘E.K.’ the date of the story was in fact, the day before my ‘arrival’ at Dover. I must have missed it in all the upheaval and after reading it, I understood why no one had wanted to show me the article. It was a pure polemic that ranted on and on about how Dover was corrupting English football by fielding a lineup of French and Scots. As I read the piece, I started to chuckle, which by the end, had turned into mad laughter. The clerk looked at me as if I had indeed cracked. But, I hadn’t, the article was indeed hilarious. For one thing, there was no such thing as “English†football anymore. The advent of the Bosman and the EU had seen to that. All Prem clubs, most D1 clubs, a few D2 teams, a handful of D3 teams and even one or two Conference teams had foreign players. That list would expand rapidly if the Scots, Irish and Welsh were considered foreigners. So, ‘English’ football was already dead and why picks on Dover? Granted there was nary an Englishman on the roster, but at least there were British players. Old ‘E.K,’ sure was a hypocrite. I decided to let the article go by without comment, though I did check to see if Ellen Keating was still in this reality. Thankfully we weren’t, meaning she was Pascal’s problem, not mine. I returned to preparing for the Coventry game with a huge grin on my face. All the regulars got the nod for the game at Highland Road Coventry. We were looking to avenge the 1-0 loss we had suffered to them two years earlier in the same competition. Lecocq scored his second goal of the season on 14 to give Dover the 1-0 lead. We grimly held off Coventry until 81 when Craig iced the win with a bullet header. We thus avenged the loss and moved onto the Fourth round of the competition. The only sour note was that Foulon had pulled up injured on 91 during extra time. He would be out a week and half with a twisted knee. Having dispatched Coventry, the November portion the schedule was set to begin with a hoe game against Sunderland on the 3rd. Foulon won the YPOM, the first time someone in the Dover organization had been honored since my ‘takeover.’ In an amusing news item, West Ham decided to hire Dean Taylor as their new gaffer. Taylor appeared to be a rather no-account man who had started his managerial career in 2006 with Burnley. I chuckled as I saw the news on my computer screen. Of course, this West Ham team had nothing in common with the group I had managed. Their stars were Daniel Black and R. Diduca and the team was languishing in the First Division. Even the chairman was different, some guy named Andrew Parr. At least it wasn’t Keating; that would have been just too damn weird. Just before the Sunderland game, we received word of who Dover would play in the League Cup 4th. Round, we got Derby at Pride Park in Derby. That was not the draw I would have liked, but it was better than, say, Chelsea. But, we had to face Sunderland first. The lineup against Sunderland was a bit banged up, but the only regulars to get the day off were Perez and Craig due to fitness and Batricle due to suspension. Their places were filled by Landrin, Diawara and McCann. 19000 fans filled the Crabbe and saw a tedious and goalless first half in which each side took precisely two shots. That’s how the game ended as well, which both teams taking four shots apiece. The scoreless draw dropped us to 9th place in the Prem. But, I wasn’t too worried. After all, there was plenty of time to focus on the Prem. This year’s goal was the League Cup. But, the first weekend game of November on the 6th would be the wrap-up game against Dinamo in Croatia. Since we had assured ourselves of a spot in the next stage, the game would be anti-climatic. Still, we had to play the game. The lineup was a bit banged up, but, again, only three regulars were out. This time it was Miller, Faure and Foulon, who was still out with a twisted knee. Sinclair, Hamilton and Robertson replaced them. Very little happened in the early portion the game. With 8 minutes gone in the second half, Sinclair drilled a shot true to give Dover the 1-0 lead. We retained the lead the rest of the way as Dinamo iced the game by committing an own goal on 81 to give Dover the 2-0 win. The win gave us first place in the Group. Our next game would be in 12 days in a rare Monday night game against Nottingham Forest on November 19th. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted October 19, 2006 Author Share Posted October 19, 2006 The day after Stage 1 ended, the Stage 2 groups were drawn. Dover would get, gulp, Ajax, Barcelona and Inter. Talk about a tough group. On the other hand, the gate receipts would be staggering, even if the Euro powers tuned their noses up at 21000 seats Crabbe. We were also awarded 1,2M pounds for the achievement. Our game with Forest was pushed forward a day to Sunday. On Monday the 12th we sold reservist Nasser Joly to Leicester for 2.1M pounds. The cash gave us 20 million to spend on players, and I started looking in earnest. On Friday, we unloaded Fraser to Mansfield on a free. Much like Pascal in a dimension far away, I had slashed the reserve players price tags to free. On Sunday, in the Prem game of the week, we faced Nott. Forest at Crabbe. All the regulars, but two got the nod for the game. I decided to start McCabe in place of Quinn and Paterson got the start for the suspended Lecocq. 19000 at the Crabbe saw an offensive explosion in the first half. Unfortunately, Dover scored three times in the first half. It started with Foulon on 7, Paterson on 20 and Perez on 34. The latter promptly gave Forest a goal on 41 when his back pass slipped by Abiven. Still it was a great half, but it wasn’t perfect as Batricle had to leave the game just 8 minutes in. The second half was notable only because Clark frosted the cake with a goal on 82 after coming on for Foulon a few minutes before. The 4-1 victory was one of the best of the year and a rare display of offensive fireworks from Dover. We would need that confidence because we would be kicking off the Second Stage of the Champions League against Inter at the Crabbe. Worse was the news that Batricle would be out three weeks with a broken toe. Damn toe bones could ruin the season. But, Diawara should provide a competent replacement for the time being. A day later, French youth player Trevino signed a youth contract with Dover. The kid would bolster the forward corps in the reserves. The game with Inter arrived much more quickly than I would have liked. The only regulars not to get the start were the injured Batricle who was replaced by Diawara and Foulon, replaced by Clark. Just fewer than 13000 turned up for the game, which was a shame. Dover held Inter shot-less in a brilliant first half performance. Clark slotted home a penalty on 37 to give Dover the 1-0 lead. Inter, like the great team they are, pulled level on 75 when Cetin scored. However, I would take the draw with no complaints. The relentless march of games would continue with an away match at Leeds on Saturday November 25. The day after the game we signed young Scot Graeme Murray to a youth contract. The only Perez, Miller and the suspended Lecocq got the day off. Landrin, Sinclair and Paterson filled in for them. As usual, there was little action in the first half as Dover held Leeds to a solitary shot. The second half was unpleasant. Leeds’ Sparrow and Shaw scored soft goals to give Leeds the 2-0 victory. Worse was the news that Diawara had twisted his knee and would be out for a week and a half. We seemed to have stalled a bit on the road. All of a sudden, road games in the Prem were becoming difficult regardless of the opponent. Next up would be another road game. This one was the November 28 League Cup game at Derby. After it, the November grind would be over and the December schedule would begin. The lineup for the Derby game included all the regulars except Quinn. McCabe played in his spot and Poggi played for the injured Diawara. The less said about the game, the better. I’ll confine my remarks to commenting that the referee was a sadist, a homer, and a Dover hater. By the 50th minute, both Abiven and Lecocq had been ejected. Remarkably, given the ref, we were only behind 1-0. The latter ejection doomed us to nine miens and Derby’s little got the clinching goal on 81 as they knocked us out of the League Cup completion. With that loss, the focus of the season shifted to attempting to win the Premier for a second time. The refocus would begin on the weekend with a home game against Man U on December 1. I appealed the suspensions of both Abiven and Lecocq and I bitterly denounced the ref to the news people. /The FA said they agreed that the standard of officiating was bad. However, I wanted action, not words. But, with regard to the official, but words were all would happen. November then ended with the news that the FA had allowed Abiven’s three game suspension to stand. Lousy buggers. The result of all this was that a tense Dover team had to face a tough opponent in Man U. At least the game was at the Crabbe. It was a tired and cranky bunch that went out there. All the regulars except the injured ones, Main and Miller got the nod. Murray and Sinclair took the spot of the latter two. Quinn was voted game captain by the rest of the starting 11 and they went into battle against the better-known Manchester team. The first half was thrilling as the vaunted Red offense failed to get a shot off. Meanwhile Dover was peppering the Man U goal with more offensive vigor than usual. Unfortunately, Sabin, the Man U keeper was having a career day, saving left, right and center to keep us off the board as well. To the disappointment of the 19000 fans, the second half was all Man U, as the big Red offense roared to life and started harassing a tired Dover defense. Still, they were unable to put the ball into the net and the game ended a scoreless draw. The point dropped us to 10th place in the Prem and I was starting to feel very worried again. The initial blush of success had passed and now a grim reality took hold in my mind. Things were not as bright and cheerful; instead, I felt the grind beginning to take hold. My mood was made more depressed by the fact that our next game was against Barcelona at the Nou Camp, which would be, given our road form of late, be a manifestly difficult game. At least after the game, Dover wouldn’t have to worry about Camion’s League action until February 12, 2008. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
attjen Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 Congrats on your grand and flame! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted October 21, 2006 Author Share Posted October 21, 2006 Cheers Attjen It was during the run-up to the Barca game that I made a fateful decision. David Main was simply not getting the job done at left back. I decided to sell him and make Batricle the left back with Diawara taking over at center back. The move came after considerable thought. Main would be dropped to the reserves and hopefully would be gone in a short time. The change would take place after the Barca game, so Main had one last shot at glory with Dover. As usual, it was a dinged up starting eleven that took to the Nou Camp pitch ion Tuesday December 4. The only non-injured regulars held out were Faure ad Foulon, who were replaced by Hamilton and Clark. Barca was the cat and Dover the mouse in the first half as we were totally outplayed for the first time since the away game at Dortmund. They out shot us and even held the edge in possession, a rarity. But, the score was level 1-1 at the half, thanks to a superb Clark strike. Italy national team veteran Cassano had put Barca ahead 1-0 on 18. At halftime, the contrast between the two teams was made abundantly clear. Every member of the Barca lineup had been capped for his country at least 11 times and the average was about 45 caps per man. By contrast, we had one international, Craig, in our lineup. Makes quite a difference when you think about it. That said, Dover was gamely hanging in there. Not surprisingly, Barca scored twice more in the second half to take the 3-1 win. At least we didn’t have to worry about Europe for a couple of months. Now I could implement that lineup change before the next game, which was on Sunday next at home against Watford. The new depth chart for DL and DC was as followed: DL: Batricle Murray DC: Diawara Poggi DC: Aimar TBA The quicker they go t work, the quicker the new lineup would make an impact. So, I drilled them hard over the next week. Instead of purchasing a backup, Lavange, a 35 yr old central defender and AMC was called up to be Aimar’s backup. As I made the roster move, I released another French reservist so that I could acquire another French prospect or first-team midfielder, depending on what turned up. Fortunately, a first-team midfielder turned up in the scouting file and I quickly made a cash bid for the player in mind. That item was then placed on the back-burner as other things diverted my attention. Diawara’s contract was up in six months and I began contract talks in earnest. Then, near the end of the week, Lecocq suffered an ankle sprain and would be out three weeks. Paterson would be the starter in the meantime. On Friday, Diawara returned to full training and Batricle followed suit. However, I decided not to start Batricle, since he’d had no time to practice all week. So Murray took his place. The only other non-injured regular not to get the nod was Quinn, who was replaced by McCabe. The players elected Diawara to be the new first-team captain. The 19000 at the Crabbe saw the usual dull first half. Watford failed to get a single shot off and Dover, even with a few shots, failed to break the scoreless deadlock by halftime. The second half saw more offense, but Dover, despite playing extremely well, failed to take the 1-0 lead until 80, when Miller jumped on a loose ball and drove it back through the box. Dover held on to the victory, which moved them up to seventh in the standings. In the closing minutes, Murray limped off with an injury. After the game I was told he would be out for two weeks after breaking his toe. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted October 23, 2006 Author Share Posted October 23, 2006 The beginning of the holidays is always a good time to reflect on one’s life and the year that has just passed. In my case, this reflection was sorely needed. I was still in shock. Contrary to what the media says, change is not easy to deal with, particularly in a high-pressure occupation like professional sports. That change is even harder to handle when it is a sudden break from what ever transpired before. In my case, going from West Ham in 2009 to Dover 2007 in the span of six hours, presumably switching over while I was sleeping. Ever since downing those two pints of bitter the morning of the change, I hadn’t given my situation too much thought. Sure I scanned McIntosh’s blog to read his tales of managing West Ham and laugh at his follies. Beyond checking to see if Ellen Keating had existed in this reality, I had done nothing about my situation. My sub-conscious mind had allowed me time to evade the question of why the hell I was at Dover and not West Ham. Now the question was assaulting me daily. Why? Because of damned holiday cheer. You see, at the beginning of the season, people had left me alone for the most part. They just assumed that I was being eccentric and burned out when I couldn’t recall last season details. Now that the Christmas season was nigh, my façade of eccentricity was beginning to show cracks. The trouble was that when players, staff and the public wished me a Merry Christmas or what have you, they would add some reminisce of the championship season. Invariably, they would ask if I remembered Craig’s goal in such and such game, or a Calleja cross. Those I dealt with by simply smiling and nodding. If that had been the end of things, the trouble would have been avoided. But, that wasn’t the end of it. Some people, mostly serious fans, pundits and other so called “experts†felt the need to probe deeper into the reasons for the championship season. They would inquire as to the reasons for subbing player X into game or situation Y and ask me if I felt the move had worked. Worse, many of these people wanted an analysis of the 4-5-1 that “I†had used previously. That fact was that only having ‘arrived’ in June, I couldn’t answer these questions because had no clue. I could tell you all about the formation I’d imported from West Ham, but not the former Dover one. As such, my answers to strategic questions began to draw fire. Commentators were beginning to wonder if “Pascal McIntosh†was going senile. Many noticed the change in tactics, the change in personnel. The change in practice and most of all, the change in personality. For many, the last was the real evidence that “Pascal†had gone insane. Apparently, my former self had been hot-tempered, mean and hated the English. I couldn’t bring myself to act like that, it wasn’t my personality. The upshot of all this was that I began to hear jokes about alien possession, or worse, old-age jokes and even blind jokes (because I couldn’t “see†what had changed.) Mostly, it was in good fun as few people really cared what happened as long as the team was doing reasonably well. Not everyone agreed however. A group of rabid Dover fans started circulating a petition on the net which stated that I was mentally unhinged based on the changes I had brought to the team. More worrisome were the strange looks I got from Dover staff as I bade them good morning or good night. That young clerk in the PR department had never forgotten that ‘strange’ blowup I had had. I got the feeling that he was talking behind my back. Of course, these issues and troubles had always been present, but the cheery holiday spirit and the rounds of cheer, just seemed to bring the stuff to the forefront. Nothing spoils a cover like gabby people and emcees. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take the much-needed break and reflect and rebuild public confidence in “Pascal McIntosh.†I was too busy managing football games in what was proving to be a grinding schedule far more pressure-packed than West Ham. So much for the holidays. We didn’t have much of a break as we had to travel to Liverpool to face Liverpool FC on Wednesday December 12. Much to my surprise, Montpelier accepted our bid for Julian Descamps, the midfielder I mentioned earlier. Descamps’ terms were easy, the man must really want first-team football. I hoped he would accept in a hurry so that I could reconfigure my lineup. The next day, we resigned Diawara to a three-year deal. On Tuesday Descamps came to terms and would figure in the plans after the Liverpool game. Batricle returned to the lineup at his new left back position for the Liverpool game. The only non-injured regulars out were Abiven, who began his three-game suspension and Quinn, who was about to lose his starting position. Gatumel played goalie and McCabe took Quinn’s spot. I had made a couple of changes to the system to see if that could break our bad road play. In fact, my ideas actually worked. Liverpool was not prepared for an attacking, aggressive Dover team that was playing off the Liverpool players on defense. Faure put in a corner on 13 that Foulon calmly headed into the net for the 1-0 Dover lead. We retained that lead going into intermission. But, Perez pulled up injured and McCabe was having trouble playing up-tempo, so both had to be replaced at halftime. Foulon added what seemed like a game-winner on 55, but Liverpool managed to get the game tied 2-2 by the 85th minute. Still an offensive draw as not a bad thing and showed that we could be more competitive than we had been in enemy stadiums. The confidence booster was needed as we had to travel to Chelsea next on the weekend for a game on the 15th. By then, the new lineup would be in order. Perez was out for the next two weeks with a gashed leg and he would be replaced by Munoz in the interim. The Descamps transfer set a new season high for money spent on transfers at a whopping 19M pounds. But, I regarded it as money well spent. The midfield saw the following depth chart switches. Quinn was bounced to the reserves and put up for sale. LNC Descamps Sinclair CMC Miller McCabe Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted October 23, 2006 Author Share Posted October 23, 2006 The beginning of the holidays is always a good time to reflect on one’s life and the year that has just passed. In my case, this reflection was sorely needed. I was still in shock. Contrary to what the media says, change is not easy to deal with, particularly in a high-pressure occupation like professional sports. That change is even harder to handle when it is a sudden break from what ever transpired before. In my case, going from West Ham in 2009 to Dover 2007 in the span of six hours, presumably switching over while I was sleeping. Ever since downing those two pints of bitter the morning of the change, I hadn’t given my situation too much thought. Sure I scanned McIntosh’s blog to read his tales of managing West Ham and laugh at his follies. Beyond checking to see if Ellen Keating had existed in this reality, I had done nothing about my situation. My sub-conscious mind had allowed me time to evade the question of why the hell I was at Dover and not West Ham. Now the question was assaulting me daily. Why? Because of damned holiday cheer. You see, at the beginning of the season, people had left me alone for the most part. They just assumed that I was being eccentric and burned out when I couldn’t recall last season details. Now that the Christmas season was nigh, my façade of eccentricity was beginning to show cracks. The trouble was that when players, staff and the public wished me a Merry Christmas or what have you, they would add some reminisce of the championship season. Invariably, they would ask if I remembered Craig’s goal in such and such game, or a Calleja cross. Those I dealt with by simply smiling and nodding. If that had been the end of things, the trouble would have been avoided. But, that wasn’t the end of it. Some people, mostly serious fans, pundits and other so called “experts†felt the need to probe deeper into the reasons for the championship season. They would inquire as to the reasons for subbing player X into game or situation Y and ask me if I felt the move had worked. Worse, many of these people wanted an analysis of the 4-5-1 that “I†had used previously. That fact was that only having ‘arrived’ in June, I couldn’t answer these questions because had no clue. I could tell you all about the formation I’d imported from West Ham, but not the former Dover one. As such, my answers to strategic questions began to draw fire. Commentators were beginning to wonder if “Pascal McIntosh†was going senile. Many noticed the change in tactics, the change in personnel. The change in practice and most of all, the change in personality. For many, the last was the real evidence that “Pascal†had gone insane. Apparently, my former self had been hot-tempered, mean and hated the English. I couldn’t bring myself to act like that, it wasn’t my personality. The upshot of all this was that I began to hear jokes about alien possession, or worse, old-age jokes and even blind jokes (because I couldn’t “see†what had changed.) Mostly, it was in good fun as few people really cared what happened as long as the team was doing reasonably well. Not everyone agreed however. A group of rabid Dover fans started circulating a petition on the net which stated that I was mentally unhinged based on the changes I had brought to the team. More worrisome were the strange looks I got from Dover staff as I bade them good morning or good night. That young clerk in the PR department had never forgotten that ‘strange’ blowup I had had. I got the feeling that he was talking behind my back. Of course, these issues and troubles had always been present, but the cheery holiday spirit and the rounds of cheer, just seemed to bring the stuff to the forefront. Nothing spoils a cover like gabby people and emcees. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take the much-needed break and reflect and rebuild public confidence in “Pascal McIntosh.†I was too busy managing football games in what was proving to be a grinding schedule far more pressure-packed than West Ham. So much for the holidays. We didn’t have much of a break as we had to travel to Liverpool to face Liverpool FC on Wednesday December 12. Much to my surprise, Montpelier accepted our bid for Julian Descamps, the midfielder I mentioned earlier. Descamps’ terms were easy, the man must really want first-team football. I hoped he would accept in a hurry so that I could reconfigure my lineup. The next day, we resigned Diawara to a three-year deal. On Tuesday Descamps came to terms and would figure in the plans after the Liverpool game. Batricle returned to the lineup at his new left back position for the Liverpool game. The only non-injured regulars out were Abiven, who began his three-game suspension and Quinn, who was about to lose his starting position. Gatumel played goalie and McCabe took Quinn’s spot. I had made a couple of changes to the system to see if that could break our bad road play. In fact, my ideas actually worked. Liverpool was not prepared for an attacking, aggressive Dover team that was playing off the Liverpool players on defense. Faure put in a corner on 13 that Foulon calmly headed into the net for the 1-0 Dover lead. We retained that lead going into intermission. But, Perez pulled up injured and McCabe was having trouble playing up-tempo, so both had to be replaced at halftime. Foulon added what seemed like a game-winner on 55, but Liverpool managed to get the game tied 2-2 by the 85th minute. Still an offensive draw as not a bad thing and showed that we could be more competitive than we had been in enemy stadiums. The confidence booster was needed as we had to travel to Chelsea next on the weekend for a game on the 15th. By then, the new lineup would be in order. Perez was out for the next two weeks with a gashed leg and he would be replaced by Munoz in the interim. The Descamps transfer set a new season high for money spent on transfers at a whopping 19M pounds. But, I regarded it as money well spent. The midfield saw the following depth chart switches. Quinn was bounced to the reserves and put up for sale. LNC Descamps Sinclair CMC Miller McCabe Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 Hopefully the switch would improve midfield play, which had been shaky all year long. Three days later, after much drilling on the training pitch, we traveled to London to play Chelsea. I had to fight down the tension I felt before the game. This was not a London derby. Dover could lose or draw and not get flayed by the media. Still old habits die hard and I found myself gulping coffee to remain alert as I worked on the lineup. Only the youngsters Foulon and Miller got the day off and were replaced by Clark and Lavange, who was making his first start under the ‘new’ regime. Chelsea was clearly prepared for us and cleaned our clocks in the first half. They clearly anticipated our tactical adjustments from the previous game and left winger Bradley had the run of the left flank, totally abusing a shell-shocked Munoz who let Bradley score three on him. Thus, by halftime, the game was over. The only thing left to determine as the extent of the beating. Faure scraped a goal for Dover in the opening minutes of the second half and that was all she wrote as Chelsea wrapped up an easy 3-1 victory for them. We would face Tottenham in London in our third straight road game on Wednesday. December 19. That game would also mark the half-way point of the league season. It had been a long, tough grind thus far this season and the slog would continue. To keep myself amused, I made it a point to check Pascal’s blog on occasion. The night following our last game, I checked as usual. When I read it, I fell out of my chair in shock. I picked myself up, and looked again. Nothing had changed. I went to the kitchen and poured a shot of bourbon and tossed it back. I returned to the computer, the blog still there, unchanged. As the alcohol rush hit, I stared bleary-eyed at the monitor. It couldn’t be. But, there it was in black type on a pastel background. Pascal had managed to actually convince the idiot of a chairman to improve the practice facilities. As I read the story of how he did it, my admiration grew. Pascal had done something I never thought of doing, basically threatening to quit if things didn’t improve. He had gotten the fans on his side and the chairman had caved. Impressive to say the least. Not only that, but he’d thrown that Keating bitch out of the house. As I had observed from his Dover entries, when Pascal gets angry, heads roll. In addition, he had kept the West Ham ship of state dialing smoothly, doing neither better or worse than I had done in my last season. I poured another shot and raised my glass to toast Pascal on a job well done. At least one of us was having success in transition. When the match day arrived, all the regulars not injured or suspended got the starting nod. White Hart Lane was stuffed with 31000 fans. Both sides actually displayed some offense in the first half. Tottenham got a late goal to pull ahead 1-0 with two minutes left until halftime. Five minutes into the second half, right back Landrin took a free-lick and lobbed it Craig’s way. Craig leaped and blasted a header to tie the game 1-1. The score remained that way despite both team’s increased offense. On 66 Foulon limped off with an injury. The rest of the game was spent making damn sure that Tottenham didn’t score. Dover would take a draw. After the game I was told that Foulon had a twisted ankle and would be out for three weeks. Unfortunately, there was no half-way break for the league season and we continued our march with a December 22 home match versus Newcastle. The most important lineup news was that Abiven returned to goal. Landrin again took the right back spot and Poggi played for Batricle, who got the day off. In addition, Craig also got the day off, with McCann spelling him. In short, given the injury scratches, this was a backup-heavy lineup. I could only hope that they would be competitive against the Brown Ale team. The 19000 Crabbe faithful who attended every home Prem game lent their loud support. They didn’t see much action; it was a typically dull Dover half, except for a freak double injury that sent Aimar and McCann carted off the field at the same time. The second half was even duller and the game ended a scoreless draw. The draw dropped Dover to 8th in the Prem. The next contest was a game on the day after Christmas. Dover would take on Liverpool at the Crabbe. Aimar would be out for a week and a half with a broken toe, an injury that seemed to be rather common this season. McCann had suffered a groin strain and would be out three weeks. The injuries were mounting and I began to wonder if I would even have a squad left by January. The lineup for the Liverpool game saw the return of Lecocq to the starting lineup. All the non-injured regulars took their place in the lineup as well. Poggi took Aimar’s place and Robertson filled in for Foulon. The 19000 filled the stadium again, but to be fair, they didn’t help much. Liverpool scored on the one shot they took all half and they had the 1-0 at the half. Dover just could not muster any offense as they landed one shot on-target. It was a heartbreaking loss, particularly since we needed to start winning if we weren’t to drown in mid-table obscurity. We had no time to rest as we would wrap up a December schedule with a Saturday afternoon game on the 29th at Aston Villa. The main news leading up to the Aston Villa game was that McCabe, Lavange and reserves man Ritchie all announced their plans to retire at the end of the season. The lineup saw the return of Perez, but Batricle, Miller and Lecocq were all too unfit to play, being replaced by Murray, McCabe and Paterson respectively. The return of Perez seemed to galvanize the Dover lineup and Craig gave us the 1-0 lead as the defense shut down the Villa offense in their own stadium. This was the easiest half that Dover had had on the road in quite some time. I only hoped that it would stay that way. Craig added a second goal late in the second half to ice the game in Dover’s favor. It was only our second away victory all season. Our next game was a Tuesday evening contest, a January 1 home game against Arsenal. Hopefully, we could get the New Year started on a good note. I’m sure the players weren’t expecting what happened next. I had been trying to figure out a way to get this team out of the rut. I had studied film until my eyes were shot and had decided to make a bit of a tactical overhaul, since it appeared that no one could play the CMC position, I decided to drop it back into a DMC role. The DMC would function as the key man to imitating the Dover offense, much like a point guard in basketball. He would have space to dribble up field and asses his options. Towards this end, I dropped Hamilton to the reserves and brought back Rosales. Back up. I also switched Batricle back to DC as the young lad just did not have the energy needed to play fullback. To make room for McNab, who had been called back up, I sent Lavange back down. Thus, as of January 1, the new depth chart posted in the locker room was: DL (Rotation) Murray McNab DC: Batricle Poggi DC Diawara Aimar DMC (Rotation) McCabe Rosales MC: Descamps Miller Sinclair MC Faure Miller Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted October 26, 2006 Author Share Posted October 26, 2006 Miller seemed to be having trouble staying fit, so I decided to make him a key backup for the rest of the season. In addition, I made Diawara one of the regulars over Aimar. So, new tactic and lineup in hand, we hosted Arsenal. If nothing else, we would surprise them. Perez and Craig were the only non-injured regulars held out of the lineup and Landrin and Paterson took their place. Murray and Rosales got the start at their positions. The first half of the new tactic seemed to pass muster as the only reason Dover didn’t score was erratic shooting. Meanwhile, Arsenal failed to get a single shot off. At the half, I pulled Clark, who was having a bad game. Lousy shooting continued to plague Dover in the second half and we were unable to answer Arsenal’s lone goal late in the half, thus losing to the Londoners 1-0. It was only our second loss all season at the Crabbe and the 19000 faithful were disappointed to say the least. I could only hope that the shock of a home loss wouldn’t demoralize Dover. Then, I remembered, this was not West Ham. We would finally get a week off before traveling to London to play Charlton on Sunday January 13. Match day arrived without much fuss. The big piece of news was that Foulon was fully relaxed and ready to start. That meant all the regulars to the start for the first time in a while. McCabe and McNab were placed in the lineup as the rotation went their way none of the lineup changes did any good. Charlton destroyed us 2-0 as we couldn’t shoot straight for a second game in a row. The only consolation was that we had six days off until the next game, a weekend home contest against Derby. The game arrived quickly, a good thing in my opinion, as we needed to reverse the losing skid before it became difficult to motivate the players. Derby, even though the game was at the Crabbe, would be a bit tougher game than usual because the Derby manager was holding onto his job by a mere thread. I started the same lineup as I had against Charlton, except that Murray and Rosales were rotated in. The usual 19000 showed up at the Crabbe to watch the usual first half, a scoreless draw. Dover couldn’t score and Derby failed to get a shot off. The game ended as a scoreless draw. Dover simply could not pout the ball into the net. We seemed mired in a mid-season slump. Next up would be a home game against Ipswich in two weeks on Sunday February 2. To start the two week break, we received a hatful of offers for reserve man Christie, which were all accepted. The lad quickly came to terms with Bristol County and he departed rapidly. After that, Dover was finally entered into the FA Cup 5th round, drawing a home game against Arsenal on February 16. Hamilton left for Abroath shortly thereafter, leaving us with two reserve spots to be replaced with Scots. But, before I could take a look at the Scots youngsters that my scouts had found, the Ipswich game intervened. All the regulars got the start and McNab and McCabe took their turn in the rotations at their respective positions. The game finally broke our winless streak. The 19000 fans at the Crabbe, who had every reason to be pessimistic, watched in disbelief as Ipswich failed to get a shot all day long. In the meantime, I had told the Dover lads to attack and attack they did, taking fourteen shots. Lecocq and Clark scored goals late in the second half to seal the much-needed 2-0 win. That win would hopefully be a springboard of confidence as Dover got set to begin another grueling stretch of two or three games a week, beginning with an away game at Bolton on the 6th of February. There was plenty to occupy myself before the middle of the week. First, I looked at Scottish youngsters who my scouts had found. Using transfer funds that were rapidly diminishing, I made a couple of bids. Then, the UFFA called about registering players for the resumption of the CL in two weeks. I shuffled the roster a bit and handed in a revised list that saw the entire first team entered. Hearts rejected my offer for Scott McMillan, so I upped my bid. Then, the Bolton game arrived on Wednesday evening. All the regulars got the nod, with Murray and Rosales starting as well. The 24000 at the Reebok Stadium saw a Dover team that had regained its mojo. Faure contributed a goal on 38, working a give and go with Lecocq to give Dover the 1-0 lead at the half. In the meantime, the Dover defense shut Bolton down, allowing them only one shot. We held onto the 1-0 lead in the second half as well, pouring out ream of shots. The two wins in a row pushed Dover back up to seventh in the league. Next up was a weekend contest at cellar-dwellers Oldham. After the game, we received word that Ayr had accepted our bid for Brown, a promising DLC, would have been capped at the U21 level. The youngster quickly came to terms. Hears accepted our premium bid for McMillan and he quickly agreed to a contract. Then we had to go to Oldham. It was McNab and McCabe’s turn in the lineup and they joined all the regulars except Craig, who got the day off. The game saw Dover win its third-straight game. We took control early as Paterson slipped a ball in on 18 to give us the 1-0. The rest of the half saw us stifle Oldham’s offense. They managed to tie the game early in the second half on their only on-target shot of the day. Foulon, who had been in a bit of a slump since returning from his injury scored on a brilliant breakdown off the dribble to give Dover the 2-1 win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted October 29, 2006 Author Share Posted October 29, 2006 It was good that we were on a winning streak as our next game was a home game against Ajax on Tuesday February 12 as the CL started up again. The lineup against Ajax saw Murray and Rosales take their turn. In addition, Batricle and Foulon were given the day off in favor of Aimar and Clark. Slightly less than 13,000 turned out for the game. The first half saw the Ajax offense get stuffed as Craig nailed a bullet header to give Dover the 1-0 lead at halftime. Lecocq added a late goal to put the game on ice as Dover won 2-0. Ajax had failed to have a single shot all evening. Dover was now starting to play as they had at the beginning of the year. I hoped it hadn’t come too late. Next up was the February 16 FA Cup match against Arsenal. The game against the Gunners arrived. Perez was the only regular given the day off and McNab and McCabe took their turn the rotation. Only 9500 came out for the match, a rather disappointing crowd. But then, Dover fans had become a mite spoiled over the years. Dover performed well against Arsenal in the first half, keeping the game level at 0-0. The Red only got one shot aimed at Abiven, making his life rather easy so far. But, he lost his touch in the second half, letting in two goals. To be fair, one of the goals was a penalty. Still Arsenal won 2-0 as Dover was unable to put the ball past the Gunners keeper. I wasn’t heartbroken over the FA Cup loss; I had more important things to worry about, like our next game a Wednesday evening fixture in Amsterdam versus Ajax. The Ajax game came without any controversy to distract us in the prior days. The lineup actually contained every regular plus Murray and Rosales. Ajax took the lead late in the first half on a Hernandez strike. Dover played well, but couldn’t push the ball past Vandenberg. They iced their first group win by scoring on 80 for the 2-0 victory. Meanwhile, Faure limped off the field two minutes before time. The trainers told me that he would miss the next three weeks with strained knee ligaments. Miller would take Faure’s place in the lineup starting with the weekend with a home game against Fulham. Against Fulham, all the non-injured regulars except for Foulon, replaced by Clark, got the starting nod. 19000 Crabbe faithful saw a strange first half. Fulham took the early lead a half-hour in when Fortadis nailed a header. Then, a few minutes later Perez went off with an injury. Then, Lecocq tied the game with a strike, but a minute later, Clark was ejected from the game. Despite all the drama, the score remained tied at halftime. Given the trouble in the first half, I would have been satisfied with the draw. However, substitute Robertson, cracked a goal on 65 after coming into the game five minutes earlier. Then, three minutes later, Craig drilled a header to make the score 3-1. Dover then coasted to the win by burying the Fulham offense the rest of the way. The win solidified our hold onto 7th place. The home stretch was beginning for the Premier as each team now only had ten games left to play. Perez would be out for three weeks with strained ankle ligaments. <Munoz and Landrin would rotate at right back until he returned. Dover actually had the week off until the next game, a Saturday March 1 contest against Millwall at the New Den. February ended with a nice surprise as I won the Manager of the Month award. The lineup for the Millwall game saw rotation players Munoz, Murray and Rosales take the pitch. In addition, Diawara was suspended for the game and Aimar took his place. Every other regular got the nod. Foulon broke down the defense early on 8 to give Dover the early 1-0 lead. Millwall didn’t panic and Clark tied the game for them on the half-hour. In fact, Millwall seemed to handle the Dover defense quite well, getting four shots during the half. Ten minutes into the second half, I pulled game captain Craig, who was haven’t the worst game of the season. McCann came on for him. Then on 72, Lecocq went off with an injury. Then, on 81, McCann, who seemed to be channeling vintage Craig, blasted a shot through on 81 to net Dover the late 2-1 win. Lecocq would be out for three weeks with a broken toe. Paterson would take his place in the lineup. The next game for Dover would be a CL match on Wednesday March 4 in Rome against Inter. The Inter game didn’t really matter all that much to me. So, the lineup saw McNab, Landrin, McCabe, Sinclair (for Descamps) and Roberson (for Foulon) as well as Paterson getting the start. As expected, Inter schooled us the art of fop-flight European football. They took a 2-0 lead in the first half even though Dover didn’t play badly. Inter killed the clock the entire second half, graciously declining to run up the score, a gesture I appreciated. The next game we had would wrap up our European campaign with a home game against Barcelona in a week. For that game the lineup was Munoz, Murray and Rosales in rotation turns plus most of the other regulars. Again, I wasn’t too worried about this last European game. We would as good as done unless Inter lost in the other group game. Nearly 13000 were in the Crabbe for the game and they were electrified when Foulon struck quickly on 8 to give Dover the 1-0 lead against the European giants. Then, Foulon limped off with an injury on 40, dampening the crowd a bit. The second half was a battle as Barcelona tried to save face. Ward managed to tie the game late. Then, in a case of youth being served, Miller, in injury time. Slipped by all those interneuron players to nestle the ball into the back of the net to give Dover the shock 2-1 win and deal the Spanish side their only loss in the group stage. However, Inter beat Ajax and advanced. Dover went home, fuming about losing Foulon for two weeks with a foot injury. We would pick up Premier League action again on Monday with a home game against Everton. I was really glad to be done with the European campaign. At least I would have a fresh lineup for the last few Prem games. The lineup saw the return of Faure, who was cleared to play. Robertson took louver for the injured Foulon and McNab, Landrin and McCabe took their rotation turns. The 19000 who filled the Crabbe were treated to an exceptionally dull first half. Both sides took a total of one shot, and it missed. The slick pitch was giving both teams trouble and to be honest, I wouldn’t have blamed the crowd for walking out. But, loyalty proved strong and they stuck around for the second half. The fans were duly rewarded. Dover hit on 9 of 11 shots taken in the half. That led to three goals from Craig, McCann and Robertson for one of our easiest wins in a long time. The 3-0 thrashing kept us in seventh place, but we were finally knocking on the door to return to Europe next season. We would have 12 days off until we had to go to Sunderland for our next league match. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
attjen Posted October 30, 2006 Share Posted October 30, 2006 Always going to be a tough CL group. Shame Foulon can't seem to stay healthy. C'mon Dover! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted October 31, 2006 Author Share Posted October 31, 2006 I finally got around to checking Pascal’s blog for the first time in a while. I saw that he had posted short snoops of the next season. O’Conner had been sent to a D2 side and predictably had a Hall of Fame year once he was out of the limelight. The trade-off would be that he would probably never play for Scotland again, if I remembered right, the Scots manager never picked anyone from lower than the English First Division. I also saw that Pascal had made a brilliant move, signing Sebastian Frey, only to watch the move blow up rather quickly. It was fast becoming evident that the switch wasn’t really gong to change much. Pascal would struggle with West Ham and I would coast with Dover. I just hoped Pascal would be able to deal with the Alliance when the time came. Perhaps he could fast-talk his way out of trouble. These musings got me to thinking for the umpteenth time, why the switch had been made. I knew Pascal was doing some detective work on the question, but he had no better answers for all his hard legwork. I essentially got the same answers staring into a glass of bourbon. But then, questions of cosmic importance are rarely if ever answered to satisfaction. So far, unlike Pascal, I had no links to my past. I was marooned in this time. It was pleasant in its way, but I really wanted to return home. All I could hope for was that one night I would fall asleep and wake up right with the world again. The Everton game saw two Dover club records fall. First, Craig set the career mark for league goals at Dover with 61 goals in almost four full seasons. The second record was career league appearances for Dover set by Diawara with 133 games. These two players were honored after the game for their remarkable accomplishments. I was sorry that I hadn’t been there for most of the run. During the next days, players like Perez, Foulon and Lecocq all recovered from their injuries. Dortmund and Milan came in with bids for Batricle. I told them I wouldn’t accept anything under 17M pounds sterling. The kid was a legit superstar at the tender age of 22 and I was not going to be cheated. Of course, both teams gave up in a hurry. I then offered a fat new contract to Batricle to keep him around and happy for a few more years. The trip to the Stadium of Light was our last game in March. The lineup was filled with all the regulars and Murray and Rosales. The nearly two week layoff probably made us a bit rusty. Davidson scored on just the 12th minute to give the Cats the 1-0 lead which they held through the half. We couldn’t tie in the second half and Faure strained his ligament again and would be out for three more weeks. The next game would be against Tottenham at the Crabbe. Batricle rejected our first contract offer, so I gave him another. All the regulars plus McNab and McCabe got the start as Robertson filled in for Faure. The 19000 saw the usual dull half, which ended scoreless as they normally did. The game ended as a scoreless draw as the Hotspur keeper played his best game of the season. At this point, Dover was entrenched in seventh place in the Prem, so results were not excessively important at this moment. Our next game would be next Saturday, April 12 at Old Trafford against Man U. During the week in training, I announced that McNab and McCabe would be the starters at their positions for the rest of the season, which covered about five games. ? Both were playing well and deserved the chance to play. The Tottenham game saw one more club record set as McCabe became the oldest player to play a first-team game in club history. In addition, Batricle signed a new six year deal that would make him a very wealthy young man. In addition, Batricle won the Young Player of the Year award, beating out teammate Foulon for the honor. They weren’t the only Dover players selected for post-season awards. Both Abiven and Craig were named to the All-Premier team. After being informed of the awards, I offered new contracts to Foulon and Craig. Interestingly, Craig declined to negotiate a new contract, though he was the least paid of the club stars. Foulon quickly agreed to a new contract that would make him rich beyond his boyish dreams. All the regulars got the nod for the Man U game. Miller took over for Faure. The first half was strange as Man U’s defense was far superior to their offense. Craig drilled a penalty so that Dover took the early 1-0 lead. However, for the third time this season, Lecocq was ejected, thereby earning himself a ticket out of town. I determined right then and there that he would not be with Dover next season. Predictably, Man U revved up their offense in the second half to hand us a 2-0 loss. Next up was a Wednesday April 16 game at Watford. It would be our first mid-week game in a while. Lecocq was hit with a 5 game ban which I appealed. Even though it was a midweek game, every one of the regulars was rested enough for the game at Watford. Miller quickly gave Dover the 1-0 lead after just five minutes, a lead which held at the half. Watford sealed their own fate late in the game when Bater tipped the ball back into his own goal, giving Dover the 2-0 victory. Next up was an away match at Nott. Forest on Saturday. The FA told me that the five game bans on Lecocq would stand. The regulars were all tired for the game against Forest, but the only ones to get the day off were Perez, replaced by Munoz and McCabe, replaced by Rosales. The game began and ended as a 0-0 draw as Dover strangled Forest’s offense, but couldn’t land a shot themselves. The next game would be in a week, with a home game against Leeds. Dover was now in 6th place and we were going to try and keep it that way. Leeds came to the Crabbe on April 26 for our last game in April. The lineup saw all the regulars start, except for Descamps, replaced by Miller and the suspended and disgraced Lecocq, replaced by Paterson. The 19000 fans were quieted by Makaay, who scored on four to give Leeds the quick 1-0 lead. However, Leeds lost Yates to ejection just ten minutes later. Craig converted a penalty on the half-hour to tie the game back up. Ten minutes to the end, Robertson, who had some in for Faure, drilled a goal to give Dover the 2-1 lead. But, the ref, who had been carding players all day, handed Miller a red to even up the sides at ten apiece. Fortunately, Dover was able to hang on during the last minutes to preserve the win. There were only two games left in the season. Our next to last game would be in almost a week and half, a home game against Chelsea on May 5. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted November 1, 2006 Author Share Posted November 1, 2006 Miller was suspended for three games by the FA. I immediately appealed the ruling. A day later, the FA dismissed the appeal. This irritated me. One good thing about West Ham was that the FA revoked almost all bans on appeal. This FA seemed to be far harsher and I was still adjusting to this fact. Craig’s agent called me the day of the Chelsea game, telling me that Michael wanted a new contract. But, when I talked to the player himself, he did not want a new contract. Still, I made an offer that would make him the highest paid player on Dover. I made the offer, and then filled out the lineup card for the Chelsea game. All the regulars got the nod and Miller continued to play in place of Descamps. The 19000 fans saw a tough grinding first half. Both Dover and Chelsea could not get their offense going. Both sides took two shots each, missing on all of them. Chelsea scored on 76 to take the 1-0 victory as Clark missed a late penalty, only the second penalty shot Dover missed this season. The last game of the year would be at Newcastle in two weeks. In the run-up to the Newcastle game, Craig rejected the offer I had made. I made another offer, but I had the feeling that Craig would reject it. Since he also refused to discuss a new contract, I had the feeling that he would be out the door soon. No surprised then that he rejected the offer a couple days later. I made one more offer. Again, Craig rejected an extremely generous offer. With that, I knew the situation was hopeless. I put Craig up for sale, hoping to frighten him into signing a new deal. The ploy, of course, didn’t work. But, we did have some roster successes. First, Main was given to Crewe for free. Then, we sold Quinn to Wycombe for 500K pounds. A few days later, we traveled to Newcastle for the last game of the season. The same lineup as the last couple games except that Miller was serving the first game of his suspension and Robertson took his place in the lineup. We played well in the first half. Batricle headed in a Faure corner on 40 to give Dover the 1-0 lead. We did a credible job of stopping Newcastle offense, holding them to 2 shots. We sealed the win just minutes of the second half when Foulon broke down the defense off the dribble and planted a shot into the goal. The win solidified our final league position which was 6th. Chelsea won the Prem with 81 points. I was glad the season was over. The finances were given a much needed boost when we were awarded 3.8M pounds for finishing sixth in the Premier. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************************************************************ English Premier Division - Sunday 18th May 2008 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2007/8 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Chelsea 38 14 1 4 40 15 12 2 5 29 20 81 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Man Utd 38 15 4 0 36 11 9 4 6 29 22 80 3rd Liverpool 38 14 5 0 40 16 9 4 6 24 22 78 4th Arsenal 38 12 6 1 42 16 10 3 6 28 25 75 5th Leeds 38 12 1 6 30 18 7 6 6 30 27 64 6th Dover 38 9 7 3 22 8 7 5 7 21 21 60 7th Nottm Forest 38 6 8 5 16 14 9 3 7 18 18 56 8th Fulham 38 11 7 1 33 16 4 3 12 18 31 55 9th Everton 38 12 4 3 22 9 3 6 10 19 34 55 10th Ipswich 38 11 3 5 34 25 5 3 11 18 28 54 11th Tottenham 38 8 7 4 33 24 4 6 9 27 34 49 12th Newcastle 38 10 3 6 37 31 4 4 11 15 28 49 13th Derby 38 8 6 5 29 18 4 5 10 19 27 47 14th Charlton 38 7 5 7 20 19 4 6 9 14 21 44 15th Watford 38 8 3 8 26 22 3 6 10 22 34 42 16th Bolton 38 7 4 8 26 30 2 5 12 10 29 36 17th Millwall 38 4 5 10 23 29 4 6 9 17 31 35 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th R Sunderland 38 7 4 8 22 20 0 7 12 10 35 32 19th R Aston Villa 38 4 5 10 14 22 4 3 12 14 34 32 20th R Oldham 38 4 4 11 15 32 1 5 13 13 39 24 ************************************************************************************************ Dover Athletic - Sunday 18th May 2008 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2007/8 Senior Club Stats ================================================================================================ No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Abiven, Olivier 48 (1) 0 38 0 1 0 1 0 7.22 6 Aimar, Maximiliano 28 0 0 0 2 3 0 0 7.18 3 Baticle, Régis 45 3 0 0 2 6 0 6 7.71 - Bridard, Didier 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Brown, Colin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 16 Candela, Stéphane 0 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 26 Clark, Ian 10 (17) 5 0 2 (1) 1 0 1 0 6.85 10 Craig, Michael 54 18 0 5 (5) 1 1 0 4 7.44 - Cunningham, John - - - - - - - - ---- - Cunningham, Kevin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - David, Gilles - - - - - - - - ---- 31 Descamps, Julien 23 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 6.61 19 Diawara, Patrice 40 (1) 0 0 0 1 11 0 3 7.37 - Djorkaeff, Karim - - - - - - - - ---- - Duriez, Philippe - - - - - - - - ---- 24 Faure, Ghislain 41 3 0 0 10 2 0 0 6.78 28 Foulon, Fabien 37 13 0 0 6 1 0 3 7.35 25 Gatumel, Hervé 3 (1) 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 6.75 - Hughes, Andrew 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 30 Landrin, Fabrice 9 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.22 14 Lavagne, Fabrice 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.00 15 Lecocq, Pascal 41 5 0 0 3 7 3 1 7.05 7 Main, David 25 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.76 - McAlpine, Scott 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - McAuley, Paul 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 29 McCabe, John 19 0 0 0 1 7 0 0 7.11 27 McCann, Andy 3 (7) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.70 - McMillan, Scott 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 32 McNab, Marc 14 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 7.00 21 Miller, John 30 (5) 3 0 0 8 2 1 1 6.80 5 Munoz, David 6 (3) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.56 - Murray, Graeme - - - - - - - - ---- 23 Murray, Kenneth 18 (6) 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.79 - O'Donnell, Mark 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Orr, Ian - - - - - - - - ---- - Oumouri, Gilles 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 12 Paterson, Gary 18 (4) 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.82 2 Perez, David 43 3 0 0 5 5 0 4 7.35 20 Poggi, Daniel 9 (8) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.94 - Poueys, Daniel - - - - - - - - ---- 17 Quinn, Stuart 11 (3) 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 6.64 13 Renard, Frédéric 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 22 Ritchie, James 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Robert, Bruno - - - - - - - - ---- 4 Robertson, Stuart 12 (14) 5 0 0 2 2 0 1 7.08 18 Rosales, DarÃo 22 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 6.45 9 Sinclair, Iain 9 (6) 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.33 - Thomson, Ian 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Trivino, Jean-Marc - - - - - - - - ---- - Watson, David - - - - - - - - ---- </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted November 2, 2006 Author Share Posted November 2, 2006 A couple days after the season was over, I sat by myself at the Sea-Side Pub. It was late in the evening and I had come in for my weekly two pints of the local stout. I was halfway through the first pint when a man wearing a Foulon jersey approached the table. He started talking in a rush, the usual blather about how nice it is to meet the manager of his favorite team and all. I gestured for him to take a seat. I didn’t normally invite strangers to sit down, but it was a slow night and I had a feeling this conversation might be important. Besides, the season was over, so there was no vital information that I could disclose by accident. He stared at me, sat down and signaled the barman for another scotch. He leaned across the table. “Pascal, my name is Roger Bellamy and I’ve been a Dover fan all my life.†I stayed polite, “Have you now?†“Yes Pascal, I have and I truly admire the way you’ve taken the club from the Conference to the Prem in such a short time.†“Mm†I said as I sipped my stout. I really hoped he wouldn’t pursue this line of inquiry too far, or I’d look like an ass, or worse, a blithering idiot. “Yes sir…I remember Xavier well.†“Yeah, he was a great player.†I lied through my teeth. I had no clue of whom Bellamy spoke. “What ever happened to him Pascal?†“Haven’t the faintest idea.†Bellamy, sensing the stonewall and obviously wanting to continue his conversation with a real live manager switched tacks. “So Pascal, what are your summer plans?†I shrugged, “Shuffle the roster some, just like any other team.†When I failed to provide details, Roger looked crestfallen. He tried one more gem, “Pascal, I searched the internet for information on you and guess what I found?†I grimaced, “No doubt something awful right?†“No Pascal, it was just something very strange.†“Mr. Bellamy, do me the favor and stop calling me Pascal/†“But sir…†“Call me Mac.†“Ok Mac... I found this website…†Bellamy’s voice trailed off “And?†“Well Mac, it’s just that I saw your name…and it was a blog†“Yeah so?†“But you don’t get it. It had you managing a team you would hate.†“What team?†I knew where he was going with this, but I’d be damned if I was going to help him along. “A London club, West Ham.†“Really, how interesting.†“But sir, it demeans you; after all it defames you by claiming that you currently manage West Ham.†“Must be a fan fic then.†I took a swallow of stout. “But it claims to be the truth. Someone is out to ruin your reputation. Everyone knows you hate the English/†“Mm†The stout in my glass was low now and I nursed it. “You should sue the writer and the website for libel!†Bellamy cried I looked Bellamy straight in the eye. “I once had a player named Cisse, H was a brilliant striker for me in one magical season when the club finished 6th in the league. The next year Cisse was sold to a German club for 10 million pounds. Since then, the club has never been the same. The Alliance and Chairman Brown saw to that.†Bellamy looked confused, “huh, what are you talking about?†“My tenure at West Ham.†I replied icily. I stood up and walked out of the pub, leaving a very stunned and confused Roger Bellamy sitting at the table. Served him right. He insulted my club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted November 5, 2006 Author Share Posted November 5, 2006 Of course, I should have known better than to talk to Bellamy. The very next day, a headline in the tabloids said it all “Pascal English Lover!†with the story by one Roger Bellamy. The story contained a twisted version of the meeting an had me quoted as saying that I loved English football, that I loved West Ham, that I was a mental case and that I was a turncoat hypocrite who had disowned Scotland and France with my ‘candid remarks.’ Unfortunately, there was just enough truth in the article to prevent me from winning a libel suit…especially in light of the fact that I was a public figure. So, I did my best to ignore the articles that emerged over the summer. Once the first article appeared, it seemed that every poor person with an ax to grind dragged me into their tales of woe somehow and the tabloids were more than happy to print the noise. Hell, they paid for the blather. But, I did my best to avoid the stories. However, I occasionally received calls and run-ins with people from extremist Scots in the Liberate Scotland movement that denounced my [patriotism. However, I became fond of quoting Dr. Johnson’s famous statement to these sorts of people, “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.†Then I would hang up or walk away while they tried to work out what I’d said. Most people, however, denounced the stories as unfair and stupid and I got a lot of moral support from them. So, for the most part, the offseason went smoothly. The real offseason began a couple days later. I dispatched my scouts to look for players during the summer. I also installed a punishing practice regime that was designed to help the 25 and under players to develop their potential. I put in requests to the board to expand the stadium and to improve the facilities. Both requests were denied, with the explanation that the board was happy with everything as it was. Barcelona won the CL final, beating Arsenal 2-1. Both Batricle and Craig were selected for their country in the upcoming European Championship Finals that would start in June. As June arrived, the transfer dead period ended and Main, Quinn and Sinclair all left for new clubs. On the 18, the next season began. The Supporter’s Club named Craig as their Player of the Year. In addition two more club records were set. First, the average attendance of 17264 was a new record high and Batricle’s average rating of 7.71 in 45 games was a record as well. The 12 million that Dover was given for 08/09 Premier TV rights give us a war chest of 28M pounds to spend on players. All the board wanted was a ‘respectable’ league position. Dover would be playing in the UEFA Cup alongside Derby ad Leeds. I scheduled six friendly matches for the pre-season warm-up. All were D1 teams and three games were scheduled for home and three on the road. On June 22, McCabe officially retired. We held a nice ceremony for him where the fans paid tribute to him. I even included snippets from Pascal’s blog that heralded McCabe’s achievements. Of course, everyone got a chuckle out of it. McCabe then left the club to try his hand at coaching in the lower leagues. As training camp and the pre-season approached, I made a couple of roster moves. Thompson, McMillan and Kenny Cunningham were called up to take first team spots. We then signed Graeme Robertson from Dundee Utd to be the starting left back. With these moves, the first-team roster was complete, at least for preseason. Preseason began with the opening of training camp on July 18, three weeks before the opening exhibition game. The match was a home game against Hull. The first three weeks of training camp passed without incident as the players strove to get ready for the season. The first game of the pre-season, against Hull, proved to be a rousing success as we thrashed them 3-0 behind a Foulon brace. During camp and throughout the exhibition season, I attempted to flesh out the reserves, filling the ranks with, in theory, promising youth. At midweek, we traveled to Sheffield to take on Wednesday. The first team backups, mashed the Wednesday crew 4-1 in a game that was never in doubt. At the weekend, we traveled to Bolton to take on Aston Villa. The regulars got the start, but struggled as Villa lit up the Dover defense for three first-half goals. I forced the regulars to play the full 90 minutes as I wanted this humiliation to be burned into their brains. I wanted the regulars to be so damn embarrassed that they would have motivation to do much better in their last two pre-season starts. The backups would get the midweek game. To add injury to the 4-1 loss, it turned out that Rosales would be out for a week and a half with strained knee ligaments. He was thus spared the next couple of anger infused two a days. I took over practice myself and employed every sadistic trick I had learned from my high school football coaches. Wind sprints: check, hill runs, check, bleacher runs, check, And cone drill: check. At the end of two days, the regulars began to puke just thinking about practice. At that point, I resumed regular practice, hoping the first-team regulars had gotten the message. The backups started the midweek friendly at the Crabbe versus Luton. The backups put on an impressive show, mopping up Luton 2-0 thanks to a Clark brace. The most impressive stat was that Dover got 18 shots off, 11 on goal. Thus far, the backups had outplayed the regulars, no surprise really as the backups had far more to lose. The regulars would start the last two preseason games. At the weekend, the Dover regulars destroyed the Barnsley team 3-0 on 13-23 shooting. The game saw Ian Thompson nail down the starting DMC role over Rosales, who had lost out due to injury. Craig was injured in the Barnsley game and would be out for two weeks with a thigh strain. After that game, we were requested to submit jersey numbers to the Premier League office. Near the end of pre-season, Rosales drew interest and a couple of bids were made for him. Meanwhile, Aimar was sold to Hull for 1.3M pounds. Graeme Murray took his place on the first team roster. The last preseason game, against Crystal Palace in London took place 11 days before the Premier League opener vs. Everton. The regulars beat Palace with 3 goals in the first half. The only casualty of the game was Perez, who would be out for two months with strained ankle ligaments. To fill the roster spot, I decided to look for a utility defender. Thus, preseason ended on a frantic note as Dover prepared for Everton. As we were preparing for Everton, Craig rejected the latest contract that we offered. I had to admit that the petulant forward was beginning to **** me off. Maybe he was beginning to realize that I was not the same person as McIntosh and just wanted out. Who knows? A day later Rosales was sold to Alaves for 500,000 pounds. We then signed Brian McPhee from Dundee Utd for a hefty premium to be the starting right back. Perez, when fully healed, will be sold. We also signed 33 year old DMC Paul McBride from Hibs to be the backup DMC. The depth chart would be as followed. Regulars are the first listed at each position. GK Oliver Abiven Herve Gatumel Frederic Renard DL: Graeme Robinson David Poggi DR: Brian McPhee Fabrice Landrin DC: Regis Batricle Kenneth Murray DC: Patrice Diawara Graeme Murray DMC Ian Thompson Paul McBride LNC: Julien Descamps Scott McMillan RMC: John Miller Gristain Faure AMC Fabien Foulon Ian Clark FC: Andy McCann Gary Paterson FC: Michael Craig Kenny Cunningham Utility Players: David Munoz (DR/C) Stuart Robertson (AMC/R) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted November 7, 2006 Author Share Posted November 7, 2006 With this first team, we traveled to Liverpool to take on Everton at Goodison Park. We already had injury troubles as Diawara and Craig were unable to suit up and they were replaced by Murray and Cunningham. Miller had two games left on his suspension late last season and he was out, replaced by Faure. Nothing of note happened the first half except that McCann limped off with an injury. The defenses held the game to a scoreless draw at the half. Ominously, Everton had controlled possession in the half, never a good sign. The second half proved to be exciting as both sides began taking lots of shots at goal. Faure pulled up lame as the second half began, but the injury cost us little as the game ended the way it began, 0-0. Our next game would be the midweek home opener against Fulham on August 20. Both McCann and Faure were on the shelf for two weeks, the former with a stubbed toe, the latter a thigh strain. The days before the home opener were spent trying to flesh out the reserves. We got a French youngster, but were unable to acquire either of the two top prospects we had our eye on. On Wednesday evening, Fulham came to the Crabbe. All the regulars except, Diawara, Descamps, Miller, and McCann got the nod. The subs into the lineup were Murray, McMillan, Robertson and Paterson. A little over 19000 showed up at the Crabbe, meaning that we would draw about the same number of fans as last year. The first half, in typical Dover fashion, was dull, a scoreless draw. Erratic shooting plagued us in the half, but Fulham wasn’t much better. Neither side shot well in the second half either and the fresh legs I subbed in had no effect. So, we got another 0-0 result. All the offense displayed in the pre-season seemed to have disappeared without a trace. Next was a weekend game in London at the New Den against Millwall. The game in London saw the return of Miller from his suspension. The only regulars held out were Diawara, Robertson and McCann, replaced by Murray, Poggi and Paterson. As usual, defense ruled the first half as neither side could land a shot. Dover then turned on the offensive spigot by nailing four of five shots in the second half. Craig scored the first official goal of the 08/09 season when he sent a Graeme Murray pass screaming into the net to give Dover the 1-0 lead. Then, Foulon got his season going by icing the game on 87 by burying a Craig lob for the 2-0 win. Now we had two weeks off before going to Nottingham to play Forest on Saturday September 6. The two week break saw Lecocq sold to Dijon and the return of Diawara to practice. The UEFA Cup first round was drawn. Dover would play Ventspils, a Latvian side. The first leg would be at the Crabbe on Thursday September 11. A couple of days later, I registered the first team for the UEFA competition. It turned out that McPhee was ineligible, so the roster was one man short. August ended with Batricle earning the POM for the Premier Division. By September 2, we had the squad filled to the brim with 50 players, 25 of them French. Despite the large number of players, the entire payroll of the team was only 10.2 million pounds. The highest paid player is Batricle at 726K pounds a year. Ironically, he’s being paid less, and is far better than those wastrels, O’Conner and Moreira at West Ham. Batricle is only 22 and already has 10 caps for France. I’ve valued him at 15 million pounds and Liverpool is still scouting him. I must admit, if they make a bid, I may well accept. But, before any of that would be possible, we had to travel to Forest for a match in the first weekend of September. All the regulars got the start except for an unfit Craig, who was replaced by Cunningham. The game did not start out promising as an ugly first half saw no shots on goal and only four shots total. Both sides hunkered down to play defense. The second half was worse for Dover. We managed to put exactly one shot on goal the entire game. Still, we managed to keep Forest off the board and take a 0-0 draw. Our next match would be against Ventspils at the Crabbe on the 11th. I received unwelcome news on Wednesday evening. Foulon had been injured during France’s 5-0 win over Ghana in the Olympics. He’d be out a month with a calf strain. I couldn’t help cursing the French manager for the Olympics. That man had cost me my third best player for a number of games. Ah well, Clark would now get his chance to shine. The match day arrived. According to the scouts, Ventspils was a poor team and couldn’t play defense. I hoped it would be an easy game, but I wasn’t holding my breath. All the regulars except the ineligible McPhee, replaced by Landrin, got the nod. The reports turned out to be correct. Ventspils turned out to be awful. They failed to have a single shot in the first half and allowed seven shots to Dover. By halftime, Craig had a brace as Dover took a commanding 2-0 lead. 11000 fans watched as we held off the visitors in an uninspiring second half to take a 2 goal aggregate advantage. Our next game would be a return to Prem action as we hosted Bolton on Sunday the 14th. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted November 10, 2006 Author Share Posted November 10, 2006 As the season started, I had kept an eye on Pascal’s “fictional†blog. Right now, he was in the midst of recounting yet another up and down West Ham season. Indeed, it seemed to be a typical West Ham season, no better or worse than I would have done. As I read through the entries, I kept nodding my head. It might have been a new cast of players, but it sure looked like the same iffy team. From a dimension away, I could see the problem clearly. West Ham simply lacked a killer instinct and that blame fell on the chairman. Given his constant refusals to upgrade the practice facilities, despite numerous requests from both Pascal and me. That alone said it all. If the chairman refused that request, it meant that he was a greedy bastard who didn’t give a damn about the team. As far as he was concerned, just being in the Prem was enough. He obviously could have cared less about winning. What concerned me, however, was the last part of the “English†update. As I read over it, I couldn’t help but think that Pascal was beginning to lose his marbles. Not that I could blame him. That West Ham team was enough to drive any manager insane. Surprisingly, most of the regulars were fit enough to play Bolton. The exceptions were Batricle and Miller and they were replaced by Kenneth Murray and Faure respectively. 19000 filled the Crabbe to watch a more exciting game than the normal fare. Craig took a bouncer from McPhee and blasted it into the net to give the home side the 1-0 advantage. We managed to keep Bolton off the board and retained the lead through halftime. The second half was probably the most shot-filled half in recent memory. We had had five shots in the half and Bolton had eight. They poured on the pressure and only cool keeping by Abiven kept them in check. Nevertheless, Bolton managed to tie the game at 77 and I figured we were headed for our fourth draw in five games. However, five minutes to time, Craig came through one more, this time driving a Stuart Robertson pass high and hard to nail down the 2-1 Dover win. Our next match would be a Prem League game at Newcastle in six days. The days before the Saturday contest at Newcastle were pretty uneventful. Perez signed a contract with Belgian side Mouscron. That deal would go through on December 15 and Dover would get 1.7 million pounds from the sale. That was the only news of the week. Against Newcastle, I started all the regulars that U could. Clark remained in place of Foulon, but everyone else got the nod. The first half of the game saw a combined total of 10 shouts, nine of which landed where they were supposed to go. This was an indication that Dover’s defense was not quite up to par, indeed, Batricle and Diawara were having pedestrian games. But, it was us who struck first, when, on 23; Clark gathered in a long cross from McCann and sent it spinning into goal to give Dover the 1-0 lead. That lead held through halftime. The second half proved to be more difficult as Batricle was sent off just ten minutes in. Newcastle converted the resulting penalty to tie the game 1-1. Then, Clark, out of nowhere, scored again to give Dover the 2-1 advantage, but then, in a late surge, Newcastle managed to score a goal in injury time to scrape the 2-2 draw. I would have preferred the win, but a draw was not a bad result for being a man down. Our next game was against Ventspils in the Thursday evening UEFA contest. I appealed Batricle’s suspension that resulted from his ejection in the Newcastle match. A couple days later, the FA informed me that the ban would stand. I had yet to win an appeal in this reality and it was irritating to say the least. The day after that unwelcome news, the League Cup Third Round was drawn. Dover would face D! Side Wolves at their stadium on October 29. The day after that, we were in Latvia for the Ventspils game. All the regulars got the nod. The game itself was nothing to write about until the second half. Craig scored a brace of goals in the span of four minutes, between 69 and 73 to seal our entry into the second round. Then things got a bit strange. Batricle was sent off, and at that point, I made three subs, taking out my “stars.†Then, a few minutes later, Clark limped off with an injury. That left us nine miens on the field. Despite this, we added another goal when McCann converted a penalty to make the game 3-0 Dover. After the game, I was told that Clark would be out a month with strained ankle ligaments. The Second Round draw had us playing Russian side Spartak Moscow. Of more immediate concern, however, was the Sunday home game against Derby. On Sunday September 28, we hosted Derby at the Crabbe. Robertson took over the starting AMC duties and the only regular not to be in the starting lineup due to fitness was Graeme Robertson, who was replaced by Poggi. The usual 19000 maniacs showed up and watched a usual dull first half, which saw practically no offense at all. The second half was much the same until injury time, when Derby’s Crane slipped in a goal to hand us the 1-0 loss. That loss dropped us to 11th in the Prem. The October schedule got started right away with a home game versus Watford. Miller and Craig were deemed too unfit to play and they were replaced in the lineup by Faure and Cunningham. 19000 saw the usual defensive battle as McCann gave Dover the 1-0 lead by converting a penalty just before halftime. Watford, who was in dire need of points, went all out in the second half and pulled the equalizer ten minute before the final horn to scrape a badly needed point. The 1-1 draw was our 6th draw in nine games. At least, we weren’t losing. After the game, one of the trainers told me that Graeme Robertson would be out of action for 3 weeks after suffering a twisted knee. Poggi would take his place in the lineup until Graeme returned. We had ten days off until our next game on the 11th, an away contest at Chelsea. The international games did not prove to be kind to Dover. Miller would be out for three weeks after twisting his knee in the Scots U21 2-0 win over Holland. Players were dropping like flies all of a sudden, and there was nothing I could do about it. In addition, McBride would be out for three weeks when he twisted his ankle in the full international against Holland. I wanted to shoot Scotland manager Andy Mitchell for costing me my firs team. On the other hand, Craig was praised on a national stage and the Dower supporters were thrilled that I lent my praise to Craig. With all the good-will seeming to flow, I decided to offer Craig an even more generous contract. Saturday the 11th arrived and I found myself scratching my head over the lineup. In addition to the injuries, Batricle started his three game suspensions with this game. Still, I managed to come up with a lineup and threw them out into the lion’s den that was Stamford Bridge. We managed to stun the Chelsea faithful by scoring first on 21 when Faure scored off a brilliant run. But, Chelsea drew level 15 minutes later and by halftime we were fighting to preserve the draw. It didn’t help that McPhee and Faure limped off the field injured. I found myself cursing our injury state. The second half was a wild ride as both sides tried their hardest to break the deadlock. The Chelsea fans were quieted near the end of the half when Dover sub McMillan managed to put in two goals after coming into the game at 65 to give us an improbable 3-1 victory. The win was sweet but the cost was high, both McPhee and Faure would be out two weeks. As we started to prepare for the UEFA Cup second round, first leg, a home game against Russian giants Spartak Moscow, fully seven out of 25 members out the first team were out of action. I only hoped that they would heal quickly. Craig rejected our latest offer and I finally lost my patience. I put him up for sale. Although Foulon returned to full practice on Tuesday, I held him out of the Thursday night contest against Moscow; instead he took a seat on the bench, ready to come in if needed. The lineup saw a bit of creative shuffling, as Stuart Robertson took over at RMC and McMillan got the nod at AMC. In addition, Diawara was suspended, so Graeme Murray took his place in the lineup. By halftime, in front of 11000 fans, Dover held a commanding 3-0 lead, thanks to a quick opening goal by McMillan and a late half brace from McCann. Not wanting to risk injury in a blowout, I pulled Batricle and Craig at the half. It didn’t make a dent in our confidence as McCann completed his hat-trick to give Dover a 4-0 win and virtually seal our entry into the third round with the second leg likely just a formality. Our next match was a home game against Charlton on the weekend. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted November 12, 2006 Author Share Posted November 12, 2006 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">make a dent in our confidence </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Foulon returned to the starting lineup against Charlton. The rest of the regulars that were able got the start, though Robertson had to fill in at RMC again, K. Murray got the nod at left back and G. <Murray started at DC. Foulon wasted little time in making an impact upon his return. In front of the largest crowd at the Crabbe for the year (20400) he went on a backbreaking run from midfield and buried a volley to give Dover the 1-0 advantage. Unfortunately, we were unable to hold onto the lead as Charlton scored in the second half to force another 1-1 draw. That made it official, in 10 Premier games played, Dover had three wins, six draws and one loss. At least we would have a week off before facing Arsenal at Highbury on Sunday October 26. The lineup against Arsenal saw both G. Robertson and John Miller return to action. On the other hand, both Thompson and Descamps were out and were replaced by K. Murray and McMillan respectively. The first half was a nail-biter that saw, what else, another injury as McCann came off. We were holding our own with Arsenal and on 64, McMillan whipped in a corner that G. Murray headed into the net to give Dover the 1-0 lead. It couldn’t last however, and Arsenal’s Baxter calmly slotted home a penalty twenty minutes later to level the score. The game ended in a 1-1 draw. Not a bad result against the second-place team on the road. McCann would be out for two weeks with strained ankle ligaments. The last game of October with is on Thursday the 30th as we traveled to Moscow for the wrap-up game of the UEFA Cup Second Round. The lineup for the game was the same as the last game except that Paterson replaced McCann and Batricle and Descamps returned to the lineup. Slowly, most of the regulars were returning to the lineup, a good thing, though backup players were showing that they might have a future at Dover as starters down the line. Six minutes into the game, Foulon went down with an injury. Spartak converted a penalty on 22, but were never in the game after Craig scored an away goal on 33. The game ended in a desultory draw as Dover advanced 5-1 on aggregate. The news after the game was that Foulon would be out for three weeks with a calf strain. The next day I had the doctor look at Foulon. The doctor reported no lingering or hidden injuries, so I was forced to conclude that Foulon was just having bad luck with injuries. But, this injury thing was getting ridiculous. Every starter but Abiven had suffered an injury that kept them out of at least one game this season. The injury bug was certainly getting its share of my players. Worse, we had Liverpool at home to contend with on Sunday Nov. 2. By the time of the Liverpool game, all the regulars were uninjured except for Foulon and McCann, but a number of them weren’t fit for the game. Robertson, Batricle and Descamps all got the day off as Poggi, G, Murray and McMillan took their places in the lineup. The 19000 at the Crabbe saw the home side take the 1-0 lead twenty minutes in when Clark, passing up a shot, handed the ball to Paterson, who blasted the shot in. McMillan got himself ejected just minutes into the second half. Liverpool pressed the advantage, and just two minutes before time, got the equalizer from Da Silva for a disappointing 1-1 draw. Our next test would be a mid-week League Cup game versus Wolves, in Wolverhampton. The morning of the Wolves match, a Turkish side phoned in a bid of 10.5M pounds for Craig. I told them to make it 12M. That evening, all the healthy regulars but Miller and Craig got the nod for the match. Faure and Cunningham taking the vacated spots in the lineup. Dover had a 1-0 advantage at the half thanks to a late Paterson strike, but Clark limped off with an injury long before then, so the mood in the dressing room was subdued. The lead survived and Dover advanced to the League Cup Fourth Round, where we would face Charlton at the Valley in London. After the game, we got semi-good news. Clark would only be out a week with a bruised thigh. The next game would be on Saturday November 9th at Leeds. No wonder no one seemed able to get fit, we were playing a lot of games in a short period of time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted November 14, 2006 Author Share Posted November 14, 2006 The latest update of Pascal’s blog detailed just how miserable his life was at West Ham. Not that I could blame the guy. He had failed to get the improvements to the practice facility that he had wanted. More than that, the chairman proved to be even more of a scoundrel that I had thought. The bastard had apparently lied to Pascal. But then, the chairman’s duplicity was no surprise to me. After all, the chairman and I had never gotten along, and, indeed, my job had been on the line many times. I had often feared the Alliance might desert me, but never had I dealt with the overt threats everyone seemed to be laying on Pascal. No wonder the bloke was going mad. He had every right to do so. I just hoped he wouldn’t end up in Bedlam. Hell, to be honest, I was amazed that he hadn’t already been placed there. People tolerated my seeming madness as just an eccentricity, but then again, I was ‘continuing’ the success of Dover. When you lose or having little success as Pascal was, it was an entirely different matter. On Wednesday, Miller strained his wrist in practice and would be out for a week. Great, now practice was causing injuries. The luck of the Scots was curing us it seemed. Then on Thursday, the UEFFA Cup Third round draw took place. We would face Litex, a Bulgarian side and the draw was away for the first game and at the Crabbe for the second leg. On Friday, the Turkish side declined to pursue Craig. On Saturday, we went to Leeds for the game. The lineup the only uninjured regular who got the day off was Thompson, who was replaced by McBride. S. Robertson got the start at AMC. On 19, Craig silenced the Leeds crowd when he took a S. Robertson pass, dribbled in a banged home the shot to give Dover a 1-0 lead that stood at halftime. Remarkably, no one had been injured in the first half. At the half, I pulled a struggling G. Robertson, the first halftime performance sub I’d made in a long time. It meant that he would not be playing in the next game. To my great surprise, we held onto the lead in the second half and got the 1-0 win. Even more surprising was the fact that there were no injuries during the game. Better yet, we got the week off to prepare for a home match against Blackburn on Saturday November 15. On the Thursday before the game, I was told that McAuley, one of our reserves, was having trouble with his fitness. I read him the riot act, empathizing the fact that everyone seemed to be getting injured this season. The young Scots lad apologized and said he’d make more of an effort in the future. Miller and McCann returned to the lineup from their injuries and Clark found himself back on the bench as Poggi started at left back over G. Robertson. The 19000 fans that usually filled the Crabbe for Prem games were on hand to witness a remarkable half. Dover only got one goal, a header off a Miller corner, from Ian Thompson on 27. However, Dover took 12 shots, landing eight and completely shut out Blackburn, taking the 1-0 lead to halftime. At that point I replaced McCann, who hadn’t been 100% before the match. Dover continued to dominate in the second half and put the game away thanks to goals from Robertson and Craig four minutes apart in the 70’s for the easy 3-0 win. Remarkably, Blackburn was shut out the entire match, failing to even get a shot off. Armed with this confidence booster, we prepared for the Litex game to be played on the following Thursday. On Thursday, we traveled to Litex for the first leg of the UEFA Cup Third Round. The scouting report on the Bulgarian side was that they were a “competent†team, so I was expecting the same level of competition that Spartak had given us. All the regulars save for Foulon got the nod. Litex managed to draw nearly 17000 to their stadium for the game, but I doubt the fans were impressed. Litex failed to garner a single shot in the first half. But, we weren’t much better, landing only one shot on goal. Miller, whose starting job was under threat, managed to scrape a goal for Dover minutes into the second half, which was all we needed to take the 1-0 victory back to England. Following the game, there was an article in the local sports pages revealing the “scoop†that Craig was about to make a move. The reporter had, of course, gotten the news from Craig’s agent. I decided to ignore the item as I do most media stories about sports. The worse thing you can do as a manager is read your own press clippings. Rarely do they get it right. After all, managers generally have a good reason for doing something, or they simply wouldn’t do it. Our next game was on Sunday November 23 at Ipswich. While Robertson, replaced by Poggi and Miller, replaced by Faure, got the day off, Foulon returned to the starting lineup. It was an ugly game for Dover, Ipswich sliced up our defense in ways I hadn’t thought possible. Meanwhile, the Dover offense was pitiful as all the attackers seemed to want to take the day off. Therefore it was no surprise that Ipswich led 1-0 at the half. Ipswich sealed their win on 75 by taking a 2-0 lead. Ian Thompson made things interesting by scoring three minutes later, but it remained a mere consolation goal as we lost for only the second time this year, 2-1. We had the League Cup to worry about in three days, so we couldn’t afford to dwell on the loss too much. The League Cup game versus Charlton at the Valley on Wednesday evening saw Batricle and Descamps getting the night off, replaced by K. Murray and McMillan. Charlton scored quickly ten minutes in and I thought it was going to be a reprise of the Ipswich game, but Foulon, in danger of losing his starting came through big with a brace of goals on 19 and 43 to give Dover the 2-1 lead by halftime. I thought we had the game locked up late, but Charlton scored the equalizer on 90 to take the game into overtime. The overtime passed without incident and the match went to penalties. The first four pairs all made their shots. Captain Diawara stepped up and slotted the fifth penalty for Dover. Over on the other side of the pitch, the Charlton fans groaned as Rudigar blew his shot wide. Dover was now in the quarter-finals of the League Cup. Incredibly, Dover would play D2 side Wycombe in that game, abet at Adams Park in Wycombe. We would return to the Crabbe for the weekend Prem game against Southampton. The Southampton game saw Robertson, Miller and Craig get the day off, replaced by Poggi, Faure and Cunningham. Otherwise all the regulars got the nod. Despite the cold drizzle, 19000 fans showed up at the Crabbe, only to see no action of note in the first half. Faure limped off at 21 and both teams seemed to want to take a rain check and go home. Poggi cost us the game late when Alonso rounded him and potted the shot to give Southampton the 1-0 win. Faure would be out for two weeks with a thigh strain. Our second straight loss in the Prem dropped us to seventh place. But, we would have a chance to get our act together on Thursday with the home game of our series with Litex on December 4. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted November 16, 2006 Author Share Posted November 16, 2006 All the regulars got the nod for the Litex game. For some of the regulars, it was getting close to panic time as I was giving them only a few more starts to correct their shaky form. Once we had gotten through half the Prem schedule, U intended to make a few changes. In front of nearly 15000 at the Crabbe, McCann scored an early goal to give Dover the 1-0 lead by halftime. Craig sealed the Dover 2-0 win with a goal ten minutes into the second half. In the UEFA Fourth Round, Dover drew Lazio, but got the home leg first, a small consolation. The game would take place on February 26, 2009. On December 7, we returned to Prem action by going to cellar inhabitants Wrexham. Graeme Robertson and Julian Descamps got the day off, with K. Murray and McMillan replacing them. The game was over by halftime as Miller, Foulon and McMillan all cored before thirty minutes had passed. At the half, I pulled Batricle, Foulon and Craig so they wouldn’t get hurt in the blowout. This proved to be a mistake as McCann went down with an injury on 67 and Clark went down on 84. But, Wrexham couldn’t take advantage of the one man (10-9) superiority and were shut out 3-0 anyhow. Both McCann and Clark would be out a week and a half, the former with a twisted knee and the latter with a sprained ankle. Both would miss the League Cup Quarter-final at Wycombe on Wednesday. That night also saw the draw for the FA Cup 3rd Round. We drew Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Considering that Chelsea appeared to be relegation fodder this season, I was not looking forward to the match. Wednesday duly arrived. Paterson replaced the injured McCann and unfit regulars, McPhee and Thompson were held out. In there place were Landrin and McBride. Though Wycombe was a solid D2 side and had the home pitch advantage, they provided little completion in the first half as Craig and Foulon scored to give Dover the 2-0 lead at the half. Though Batricle was injured, we coasted through the second half, pulling Craig and Foulon out shortly after the hour mark. Our semi-final opponents would be Leeds, which would be an intriguing two-leg matchup. Batricle would be out for two weeks after spraining his ankle ligaments. Our next game would be on Sunday at the Crabbe. We would face Man U in what was the halfway game in the Prem schedule for us. That game would determine a couple of second-half futures, notably at LB, RB and the two MC positions. The lineup for the Man U game was the easiest cad that I had filled out in ages. Except for the injured Batricle and McCann, replaced by Murray and Paterson, all the regulars got the nod. The 19000 loyal fans got a treat. It was a wet, cold day; almost freezing cold and the Man U attack seemed impotent. That allowed Miller and Foulon to score with seeming ease as Dover took the 2-0 lead going into half-time. Miller was pulled at the half and Foulon and Descamps followed thirty minutes into the second half. Cunningham sealed the 3-0 Dover win with a bullet of a shot that nearly took off Sabin’s head. The win put Dover in fourth place in the Prem, ten points behind league leader Man U. The game also saw a couple of lineup battles resolved. DR would be a rotation of Landrin and McPhee from her on out. LMC would be a rotation between Descamps and McMillan and RMC a rotation between S. Robertson and Miller. All the other regulars would remain the dame as the second half of the season started with a home game versus Tottenham on Saturday December 20. During the week leading up to the game, Perez was sold to Mouscron for 1.5M pounds. Munoz and Faure were also placed on the transfer list as I decided to shake up the first team bench a bit. Munoz drew interest and the day before the match with the Hotspur, Rennes came in with a bid. The lineup for Tottenham saw McCann return to the lineup, though Batricle was still out, and replaced by G. Murray. Rotation players McPhee, Miller and Descamps took their turns to open the second half of the Prem season. The 19000 Crabbe fans nearly had a heart attack when the Hotspur scored first on 16 with a Hunter strike. However, Craig leveled the scores on 32 and the rest of the half was a grinding 1-1 draw. Ten minutes into the second half, McCann notched the eventual game-winner when he gave Dover the 2-1 lead, which held up for the rest of the game. Unfortunately, McCann limped off with an injury 15 minutes before the end of the match. Later, I was told that he would be out a month with a twisted ankle. That meant Paterson would take over the starting duties for a while and that Cunningham would become the key backup. Philippe Duriez was brought up from the reserves to provide depth and possibly even start a game or two. Our next game was a Prem contest at home versus Millwall on Saturday the 27, two days after Christmas. During the week, Munoz was sold to Rennes for 1.9M pounds and young Andrew Hughes was called up to replace him on the first team. Two new French youth players were signed during the week and Faure found him released and out of a job. The board was upset by the latter’s release, but we had more players coming in and young Pierre Fischer would do nicely as a utility midfielder. At the end of the week an article appeared that praised Foulon to the skies. I agreed that the young lad was indeed a great prospect for the future and Foulon thanked me the next day after practice. The Saturday game finally arrived. The lineup included all the non-injured regulars plus Landrin, McMillan and Robertson. Nearly 20000 came out to see the game against Millwall. They braved cold weather to watch the usual dull first half, the only goal going to Dover on a Craig penalty conversion at 16. Dover held the 1-0 lead going into halftime as the defense prevented Millwall from even getting a shot off. Millwall did a bit better in the second half, putting one shot on target, but it wasn’t enough to make a difference and Dover ground out the victory 1-0. McMillan, however, was a victim of a late groin strain and would be out a month. This meant that Miller would rotate with Descamps, while Robertson became the regular at the RMC position for the time being. On Wednesday evening, December 30 we were in Watford to play a Prem game. McPhee and Descamps took their turn in the rotations, while Robertson’s, Foulon and Craig were really unfit to play. The latter wee replaced by Poggi, Miller, Clark and Cunningham. It was an ugly next to play outdoors’ as it was sleeting and the temperature below freezing. Therefore it should come as no surprise to learn that the first half saw minimal action as players merely tried to stay warm. Both sides were happy to run back to the changing rooms at the half. Watford scored to open the second half, but Clark and then Diawara received pinpoint Miller passes to tie and then take the lead on 56 and 58. Thirty minutes later, Paterson sealed the 3-1 Dover win with a strike off a Cunningham lay-off. Our next game was the FA Cup Third Round game against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************************************************************ Dover Athletic - Sunday 14th December 2008 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2008/9 Senior Club Stats ================================================================================================ No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Abiven, Olivier 27 0 15 0 0 1 0 1 7.52 - Arphexad, Hugues 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Balfour, Stevie 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Bataille, Laurent 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 3 Baticle, Régis 20 0 0 0 1 2 1 2 7.90 - Brown, Colin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Candela, Stéphane 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 19 Clark, Ian 6 (4) 2 0 0 2 0 0 1 6.80 10 Craig, Michael 22 (1) 12 0 1 (1) 3 0 0 7 7.78 - Cunningham, John - - - - - - - - ---- 7 Cunningham, Kevin 5 (4) 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.78 - David, Gilles - - - - - - - - ---- 22 Descamps, Julien 22 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 6.68 6 Diawara, Patrice 23 0 0 0 1 3 1 1 7.74 - Djorkaeff, Karim - - - - - - - - ---- - Duriez, Philippe - - - - - - - - ---- 21 Faure, Ghislain 8 (3) 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.64 - Fischer, Pierre 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 9 Foulon, Fabien 14 7 0 0 1 1 0 1 7.29 29 Gatumel, Hervé 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Hughes, Andrew 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - King, Gary - - - - - - - - ---- - Lacombe, Laurent 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 14 Landrin, Fabrice 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.11 - McAlpine, Scott 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - McAuley, Paul 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 20 McBride, Paul 2 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.75 11 McCann, Andy 19 6 0 2 (2) 1 0 0 2 7.26 - McKenzie, David 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 16 McMillan, Scott 6 (11) 4 0 0 2 0 1 1 6.65 17 McPhee, Brian 18 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 6.94 8 Miller, John 16 3 0 0 4 1 0 1 6.88 24 Munoz, David 0 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50 15 Murray, Graeme 8 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 8.13 12 Murray, Kenneth 7 (5) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.67 - O'Donnell, Mark 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Oumouri, Gilles 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 25 Paterson, Gary 8 (9) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.94 2 Perez, David 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 18 Poggi, Daniel 8 (3) 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 6.73 - Poueys, Daniel - - - - - - - - ---- 13 Renard, Frédéric 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Robert, Bruno - - - - - - - - ---- 23 Robertson, Graeme 17 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 6.94 4 Robertson, Stuart 9 (7) 1 0 0 5 1 0 0 7.19 5 Thomson, Ian 23 2 0 0 2 10 1 1 7.57 - Thomson, John 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Tissot, Jacques 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- - Trivino, Jean-Marc - - - - - - - - ---- - Watson, David - - - - - - - - ---- ************************************************************************************************ English Premier Division - Sunday 14th December 2008 ************************************************************************************************ ================================================================================================ 2008/9 Table ================================================================================================ Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Man Utd 18 7 2 0 19 4 6 0 3 15 12 41 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Arsenal 18 6 1 2 13 9 6 3 0 18 8 40 3rd Southampton 18 5 3 1 23 13 4 1 4 7 10 31 4th Dover 18 3 4 2 11 6 4 4 1 13 6 29 5th Nottm Forest 18 4 2 3 9 6 4 3 2 14 11 29 6th Liverpool 17 5 2 1 11 6 2 5 2 11 10 28 7th Leeds 18 4 1 4 8 7 4 2 3 14 11 27 8th Tottenham 17 5 0 3 14 9 2 4 3 12 13 25 9th Fulham 18 5 2 2 13 8 1 5 3 7 11 25 10th Ipswich 17 3 3 3 13 13 4 1 3 9 9 25 11th Charlton 18 5 3 1 13 8 2 1 6 8 14 25 12th Derby 17 3 2 4 11 16 4 2 2 11 9 25 13th Watford 18 4 0 5 11 14 2 3 4 13 18 21 14th Blackburn 18 2 4 3 11 12 3 1 5 7 8 20 15th Bolton 17 3 4 1 11 8 1 3 5 9 18 19 16th Everton 18 2 3 4 6 10 3 1 5 7 12 19 17th Newcastle 18 2 4 3 15 16 2 1 6 9 15 17 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th Millwall 18 3 1 5 4 10 1 3 5 7 13 16 19th Chelsea 17 1 2 6 12 17 3 1 4 16 16 15 20th Wrexham 18 0 2 7 9 20 2 1 6 5 13 9 </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted November 19, 2006 Author Share Posted November 19, 2006 Our next game was the FA Cup Third Round The end of December brought some good news to Dover as Graeme Murray was named EPL Player of the Month. On Thursday we signed veteran French striker Guilaume Liop from Brest for 400K. He would serve as the primary backup at striker and would stay on the first team after McCann returned. That would allow Cunningham to go back to the reserves and get more playing time. Saturday arrived and the lineup against Chelsea were all the regulars except Foulon and McCann who were injured, Clark continuing to hold down the AMC spot with McPhee and Miller taking their turns in the rotation. The game was uneventful for three-quarters of the time. Then Chelsea scored on 75, which was fine with me. But then, Craig equalized, forcing a replay at the Crabbe in a week or so. I wasn’t happy with Craig to be quite honest. The last thing I wanted was more games on the schedule. But, never mind that now, we has a home game against Everton at midweek on January 7. A day later, Craig reacted my latest contract offer, stating that he was unhappy with me. It was clearly he wanted out, and I wasn’t going to argue. On Wednesday we hosted Everton. McPhee and Descamps took their turns in the rotation while G. Robertson, Diawara and Clark all got the day off, replaced by Poggi, G. Murray and Cunningham. The 19000 faithful at the Crabbe saw their hometown team take a quick 1-0 lead thanks to Craig header. Everton were thoroughly shut down in the sleet and cold as Dover retained the 1-0 lead by halftime. Descamps sealed the win early in the second half with a scruffy goal and we ran out the clock on the 2-0 win. Next up was a Saturday Prem game at Fulham on January 11. I finally decided to put Ian Clark on the transfer-list. The young Scot was perpetually getting injured and he didn’t have to talent to overcome that particular problem. Before the Fulham game, the same Turkish side made a 10.7M offer for Craig, which I accepted. On Saturday, we traveled to Fulham. The lineup for this game saw Landrin and Miller take their turns in the rotation. Foulon returned to action at AMC and Liop replaced Craig at FC. Despite the cold pounding rain, the first half saw plenty of offense as both sides took 6 shots and land three each. Fortadis of Fulham scored first on 32 to give the home side the 1-0 lead. However Foulon drew the two sides level just a few minutes later and the scored remained knotted at halftime. The second half was not as good and both teams got a point out of the 1-1 draw. The next game would be the FA Cup replay with Chelsea at the Crabbe on Wednesday. Wednesday arrived without much fanfare. Clark had been sold to Derby the day before for 476K pounds. The lineup against Chelsea was virtually the same as it had been vs. Fulham. Landrin held on to right back as McPhee was out with a minor injury, Descamps took his turn in the rotation and Miller replaced Roberson at the other midfield spot. Liop got his second start in place of Craig, who wouldn’t start again, though he was on the bench. The game wasn’t much to write home about. Pisano scored late to give Chelsea the 1-0 win. I was glad because it meant that Dover could now focus on the League Cup and the Premier. The bad news from the Chelsea match was that G. Robertson would be out a week and a half with a gashed leg. Yet another injury. Our next match as a home game against Newcastle on the weekend. On Thursday, the Craig era at Dover came to a close as he was sent to a Turkish side for 10.7M pounds. I would wait for McCann to heal completely before figuring out what to do with my forwards. The lineup against Newcastle was somewhat subdued. Poggi started at left back as Landrin and Miller took their turns in the rotation and McBride started in place of Thompson, who was suspended for the next two games. The 19000 at the Crabbe watched in horror as Abiven gave up a cheap goal to give Newcastle the 1-0 by halftime. Dover was certainly reacting to the loss of their superstar. Despite the fact that the team was playing its worst game of the year, we managed to get the 1-1 draw when Foulon scored late. We now had a week and a half off before having to face Leeds in the first leg of the League Cup Semi-final. Over the break several first team players returned from injury. That meant the old rotations could be set up again with Descamps paired with McMillan and Robertson paired with Miller in the midfield. In addition, Dover signed Allessandro Alves, a 30 year old Brazilian with Scots nationality. Alves would back up Foulon at AMC, with allowed me to restructure the forward corps. McCann and Paterson would be the starters with Liop and Cunningham serving as the backups. This new look was tested against Leeds. The lineup for the Leeds game saw McPhee, Descamps and Miller taking their turns and would join most of the regulars, the exceptions being the suspended Thompson and Diawara, who were replaced by McBride and G. Murray. Dover played decently in the first half and put all four shots on target to Leeds' one. But it was Leeds who held the 1-0 lead at the half, thanks to an early Garcia goal. Foulon again got a very late goal to get the 1-1 draw as the series went to the Crabbe next week. Miller limped off with an injury and would be out for three weeks with a calf strain. Our next game was a home game versus Nottingham Forest on the weekend which would be the last game of January. Given Graeme Robertson’s lousy performance in the Leeds game, I sat him down in my office and told him that he and Poggi were going to rotate the rest of the season. He took the news better than expected, even though he would be rotating with Kenneth Murray for the next three games because Poggi was suspended. Saturday arrived and Murray, Landrin, McMillan and S. Robertson took their turns in the lineup. Foulon also needed the day off and Alves got his first start with Dover. All the other regulars got the nod. The 19000 packing the Crabbe saw a turgid half that was clearly anti-offense. Neither Dover nor Forest took more than 2 shots and halftime saw the score unchanged from the beginning 0-0 tally. Alves endeared himself to the Dover faithful one minute into the second half when he gathered in a cross from Murray and sent it into the net to give the hometown team the 1-0 lead. Forest tied the game 1-1 on 72 and neither team could break the deadlock in the last fifteen minutes for yet another 1-1 draw. Our first game in February would be on the 4th at Derby in a midweek Prem game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted November 22, 2006 Author Share Posted November 22, 2006 By February, the furor in the tabloids over my West Ham “psychosis†had died down a bit. But then came the Craig row. The papers were in an uproar over this one. Apparently, as he left for Turkey, Craig, or his agent more likely, had let it slip to the press that the player had actually taken a pay cut to play in Turkey. This, of course, raised suspicions that something was amiss in Dover. As everyone well knew, Craig had been seeking a new contract for quite some time and that I had been willing to pay him over a million pounds a year. So why would he bolt to Turkey for less money than his current Dover contract? Answer, the apparent insanity of the manager. In a rather lengthy interview, Craig admitted that he hated Dover now. He discussed my sudden change in personality a year and a half ago. He discussed the sudden shift in tactics from the 4-5-1 to the 4-3-1-2 and then the 4-1-2-1-2. He discussed the mysterious sacking of the coaching staff and the shifting of training routines. He discussed the sale of the wingers. All in all, Craig seemed to believe that a demon had invaded Pascal’s soul and taken over. In truth, he wasn’t far wrong. The article ended with Craig’s plea that Dover sack me and bring in a more “rational†manager. The story was picked up nationally and once more, I was inundated with mail, calls and messages, mostly from people who though I was a danger to society. Once again, I tried to ignore the furor, but it was much mire difficult. Craig had been a Dover icon and his sale left much bitterness among the fans and the team. No one could simply fathom for accept the transfer. All of a sudden, the scrutiny was magnified a hundred-fold. I couldn’t do anything without someone repeating if in the tabloids. The Fourth arrived and Robertson, McPhee, Descamps and Fischer (rotating with S. Robertson for the time being) took their places alongside the regulars. Dover seemed to regain a measure of confidence when Descamps stuffed a rebound back on 25 to give us the 1-0 lead which we retained at halftime. However, Derby’s Bruce scored ten minutes into the second half to tie the game. Again the draw held up and both sides had to be content with a single point from the encounter. Next up was an away game at Bolton on Monday the 9th. All the regulars got the nod for the Bolton game and Poggi, Landrin, McMillan and Robertson. The first half saw the offensive floodgates open as a total of 11 shots were taken with 9 being on the money. However, when the dust cleared at intermission, Dover was ahead 2-0 thanks to an early goal by McCann and a later goal by Foulon. The second half was moot and Bolton never really threatened us as we cruised to an easy 2-0 victory. Our next game was in a week and a half on Wednesday the 18 where we would face Leeds in the second leg of the League Cup Semi-final. The day after the Bolton game, Caen accepted a 1.6M bid for disgruntled Scots forward Scott Mitchell. Both parties quickly agreed to terms and Mitchell was in Dover a day later. He would be a regular, taking the place of Paterson, who would go back to spelling McCann. Liop would back up Mitchell. Cunningham would go back to the reserves to get more playing time. Mitchell would have a week to learn the offense and get acquainted with his teammates. Game day arrived at the Crabbe and the lineup against Leeds was Robertson, McPhee, Descamps and Fischer all taking their turn to play alongside the regulars. The nearly 13000 who bothered to turn out witnessed the standard Dover first half, a tight, nearly shot less, first half that ended in a 0-0 score at intermission. The second half was tight as Leeds tried desperately to score and win. But, on 68 Descamps sent in an out swinging corner that Batricle buried into the net to give Dover the 1-0 lead. We would hold onto that lead, winning the Semi-final 2-1 on aggregate. Dover would play Fulham in the final at Wembley Stadium on March 29. Of course, we didn’t get much time to celebrate, having to turn around and play a match on the weekend. We faced Arsenal at the Crabbe. The lineup for the game was Poggi, Landrin, McMillan and Robertson taking their turn in the rotation. In addition, Batricle and Foulon were both unfit to play, replaced by G. Murray and Alves respectively. The other five regulars played as usual. Neither side acquitted itself well in the game nor both sides left with a point, having fought to a 0-0 stalemate. Dover now had ten League games left and were in third place in the Prem with 49 points. Our next match was a home match against Italian side Lazio at the Crabbe as the UEFA Cup got underway once more. The Lazio game came quick enough. The lineup had to be juggled slightly because not all of the first team was eligible for Europe. Robertson, Landrin, Descamps and Miller took their turn in the rotation while Mitchell was replaced by Liop... Otherwise, it was the same regulars as usual. Nearly 13000 fans came to watch their home side play Lazio in the first half. Dover at least, had two shots on target to Lazio’s none. The second half stared as a see-saw battle and then, much to the delight of Dover fans, the team’s offense exploded. First came a sizzling strike from Paterson on 69, then eight minutes later, Foulon followed with one of his breakdown dribbles to make the final score Dover 2-Lazio 0. It was a remarkable win and put us in good shape for the second leg, which would take place on the road. As it was we had a Sunday March 1rst game against Liverpool in Liverpool next. The lineup against Liverpool saw Poggi, McPhee, McMillan and Robertson take their turns, while Foulon got the day off, replaced by Alves. The first half passed without incident as Dover took the only shot of the first 45 minutes. In fact the only thing of notice as that Liverpool had two players injured, forcing them to go to the bench early. The second half was a bit dicey for Dover as Liverpool managed to increase their offensive output a fair bit. But, we held onto the 0-0 draw and took the point. Next up was Lazio on the road in Italy. The lineup for the Lazio game was Roberson, Landrin, Descamps and Miller all taking their turn as well as Paterson replacing Mitchell, other than those changes, regulars filled the lineup. Late in the first half, Foulon stunned the 61000 strong Rome crowd by breaking through and slipping a shot past an incredulous goalkeeper to give Dover the vital road goal and the 3-0 aggregate lead. Lazio essentially conceded the second half and we walked out of Rome winners. We drew Spanish side Albacete in the UEFA quarter final, the first leg to be played in Spain. In fact, we would play them in our next game, on Wednesday March 12. Never one to intentionally mess up a good thing, I kept the same lineup for Albacete with the exception of the rotation players as Poggi, Landrin, McMillan and Robertson, who took their turn in the starting eleven. The Spanish jumped out ahead early as Garcia scored on 12 and Dover couldn’t answer in kind. The second half was even duller as Albacete ground out their 1-0 victory to open the series. But, now we had a Sunday game at the Crabbe versus Chelsea to worry about. The lineup against Chelsea saw all the regulars plus K. Murray, McPhee Descamps and Miller taking their turns in the lineup. The 19000 loyalists at the Crabbe stared as Dover took a 2-0 lead inside of 10 minutes as Diawara headed in a goal on 2 and Foulon busted one on 7. The lead would have been larger, but Mitchell blew a penalty on 12 as the Chelsea goalkeeper got sent off. No matter, Dover controlled the rest of the half and went into the dressing room leading 2-0. The second half was a cakewalk and we took an easy three points. Next up was the Crabbe leg of the UEFA Cup series against Albacete. The lineup for the game saw even more of a shuffle than usual. Poggi, Landrin and Robertson took their turn in the rotation, but K. Murray found himself at LMC because McMillan was away on U21 duty. In addition, Thompson was suspended for the game so McBride got the start and Liop got the nod at forward. The 13000 fans that showed up probably weren’t impressed by the first half play as both teams were a bit lackluster in playing to a scoreless draw by halftime. Pressing and attacking all the way, we managed to get late goals from Paterson and Foulon to shock Albacete and punch our ticket into the UEFA Semis. The UEFA semi would pit Dover against Inter, with the first leg being played there. To make matters worse, Liop tore his groin muscle and would be out three months, meaning that Cunningham got the callups and Liop got the transfer block once he recovered. Next, however, was the most important game of the year, the League Cup Final against Fulham, which was in eight days. We arrived at Wembley fully prepared. Fulham arrived without a manager as he had taken the Everton job two days earlier. My lineup saw Robertson, McPhee, Descamps and Miller taking their turn in the rotation. Every other regular was rested and ready to play. Nearly 78000 packed the stands at Wembley, meaning a large payday for both teams. Those fans were probably disappointed as the first half was vintage Dover, a scoreless draw. The second half was a scoreless draw as well. In fact, Fulham failed to even get a shot off in the first 90 minutes. By contrast Dover had 11 shots, seven on goal, but couldn’t put it past the keeper. So, the game went into overtime. At 101, McCann limped off with an injury and Paterson came in. I then told my team to attack. The idea worked as Mitchell scored his first goal of his Dover career on 103 to give us the 1-0 lead. During the second half of overtime, Foulon and Descamps added a goal each to ice the cake on a 3-0 Dover victory. The only bad thing was that we lost McCann for a month, meaning Duriez was brought back up as we prepared for Inter on the road. The lineup against Inter in the first leg of the UEFA Cup semifinal had to be even more creatively jiggered than usual. Poggi, Landrin and McMillan took their rotation turns, but Robertson had to start at AMC and Foulon had to start at forward in addition to the regulars. Neither team played with must gusto, but the 74000 fans in Milan were struck dumb when S. Robertson score a cheapie to give Dover the 1-0 lead by halftime. Milan didn’t roll over. They made it a game in the second half when Cetin scored. But, late in the day, Thompson came through with a goal to give Dover an improbable 2-1 victory over Inter Milan. But, we had no time to celebrate as we had a home game against Leeds on Sunday April 5. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Educated Hick Posted November 25, 2006 Author Share Posted November 25, 2006 For the Leeds game, the lineup card had Robertson, McPhee, Descamps and Fischer rotated in. All the regulars that weren’t injured got the nod as Paterson took over McCann’s spot until the latter was healthy again. The 19000 at the Crabbe saw an unusual first half. Dover took the 2-0 lead early with goals Batricle and Fischer, but Leeds score two goals within five minutes late in the half to force a 2-2 tie at the half. In the second half, Mitchell scored his second Dover goal to put us ahead 3-2 and we never looked back, running out the clock for the victory. Foulon played his most sublime game of the year, a perfect 10, despite not having a goal. Next up was Man U on Saturday April 11 at Old Trafford. During the week off, I learned that Abiven, Diawara and Thompson were named to the All-Premier team. It was well deserved on all their parts. For Man U, Landrin, Poggi, McMillan and Robertson took their turn and joined all the other regulars in the lineup. By this time, Dover was getting used to playing in front of large crowds, so the 58000 fans didn’t bother them all that much. A grinding first half saw watch side take precisely one shot each and not land it. Man U was the far better team however and scored two goals to shut us out 2-0. It was only our fourth league loss in 32 games, but our hold on third place was beginning to slip and howling wolves were baying at the door. But, we got Inter at home next in five days on Thursday April 16. In the run up to that game, an article appeared that did a hatchet job on Poggi. I angrily defended Poggi, saying that he was still making a contribution to Dover. Then, I found out that Batricle wanted a new contract. I decided to wait until the season was over to something about it. For the Inter game, Robertson, Landrin, Descamps and Miller got the rotation nod and Cunningham filled in for the ineligible Mitchell, otherwise, all the regulars got the nod. Almost 13000 fans came out to watch Inter tie the aggregate 2-2 with a goal on 36. The second half was the wildest I’d ever seen in my two years at Dover as we scored four goals in the half. Cunningham, Paterson, Miller and Diawara sealed our entry in the UEFA Cup final. Inter got another goal late, but it was to no avail. Dover was through 6-3 on aggregate and a 4-2 second leg thrashing. We would play Italian side Verona at Wembley on May 13. Right now though, we had to worry about a way match versus Blackburn on the weekend. . Against Blackburn, Dover started Poggi, McPhee, McMillan and Robertson in the rotation scheme. In addition, Thompson was out, suspended for the next three games, so McBride would start at DMC. In addition, both Batricle and Paterson were slightly less fit than I would have liked and so found them getting the day off in favor of G. Murray and Duriez. The first half was the usual defensive struggle, with Blackburn taking the edge on a Stuart goal in the 23 minute. The home side held on to that lead through halftime. Dover managed to claw back into the game late on a Foulon goal to take the 1-1 draw. It was clear, however, that Dover was becoming mentally fatigued. The constant stream of games was putting the team on edge. We would get a week long break next until we had to face Wrexham at the Crabbe on Saturday April 25. That evening, West Ham announced that they had sacked Dean Taylor. I had to smile, even though I rarely thought about those days anymore. As the years between the break with reality, those memories were fading fast. On Saturday we hosted Wrexham as Robertson, Landrin, Descamps and Miller got the rotation nod, in addition K. Murray got the start at DMC. Right before the game, one of the trainers came up and told me that Foulon needed the day off. I agreed and made Alves the starter. The first half was dull tedium. Wrexham were already going back to D1, so they were just trying to keep us from winning. For a half, the strategy worked as the game was the game was tied 0-0. The nearly 20000 strong crowds were relieved when Cunningham scored on 67 to give Dover the 1-0 lead and the victory as we ran out the clock. Next up was a midweek Prem game versus Charlton in London on April 29. That week, West Ham announced that they were hiring Ian McBride from Celtic. Wednesday arrived swiftly as Poggi, McPhee, McMillan and Robertson took their turn in the lineup. Murray got the start at DMC for the second game in a row and regulars filled out the starting eleven. Charlton got things going early with an 18 minute goal from Watson and generally played well. Dover was not quite so good, missing a couple of shots, but Mitchell knotted the game back up with a goal right before halftime. The second half saw an ineffective Foulon replaced by Alves, who promptly scored a brace of goals on 79 and 83 to give Dover a 3-1 advantage. Watson scored again a minute before time to make the final score 3-2 Dover. Next in line was the weekend contest on May 2 at Southampton. On Thursday, an article appeared praising Batricle as a brilliant young player. I said that I quite agreed. I hoped he would be more willing to sign a contract if I told him how valuable he was to Dover. On Saturday we went to Southampton. The lineup saw the return of Thompson and McCann to the lineup as well as Robertson, Landrin, Descamps and Miller. The other entire regulars god the nod as well. The only remarkable thing about the first half in this game was that by the 40th minute, both sides were down to 10 men, thanks to an overzealous referee. With the numbers equal for the entire second half, Southampton began to dominate play. They cracked the defense handily and were imposing their will easily. They scored on 70 to take the lead 1-0. For our part we failed to muster any offense, not putting a single shot on target until injury time. But, that one shot on target was all we needed to get the cheap 1-1 draw, thanks to a nice McCann shot. Next in our relentless march was the last home game of the year on Wednesday May 6, versus Ipswich. For that game, Poggi, McPhee, McMillan and Robertson all got the rotation nod. All the other regulars got the nod as well. The Crabbe faithful would see a full-strength lineup to close of the home schedule. 19000 Crabbe fans saw the usual boring first half. It didn’t help that we couldn’t shoot straight, but at least we were getting shots. Ipswich had one measly off-target shot the entire half. Though Dover went on the attack in the second half, their shooting woes continued and it was until 85 that a goal was scored. Mitchell converted a penalty and five minutes later, Foulon scored to seal the 2-0 Dover victory. Next up was the UEFA Cup final against Verona on May 13. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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