The Evolving Story of DUNVEGAN CASTLE FC

[phnompenhandy]

I kept the front three together to start the Juniors game, leaving Ji on the bench. He’s not match-fit and our next game is the Mallaig one, so we’ll work on his fitness in the fortnight between both games.

Lucas really doesn’t want to lose his place. How bonkers is this??

 

The score was 8-4 

 

 

Is it possible Ji and Lucas could play together? I don't think they can, but I might experiment next pre-season.

Edited January 6, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[abulezz]

McCormick showing up !

[phnompenhandy]

9 minutes ago, abulezz said:

McCormick showing up !

A problem every manager wants, but is horrible to deal with!

[phnompenhandy]

Something new for 2023 - gongs

Edited January 6, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

We hadn’t played a match with ‘Highland DNA’ for 6 weeks. If it were any other game, we’d revert now, but Mallaig away was potentially a title decider. So we went with our winning balanced tactic one last time. The other big decision to make concerned our starting striker. I just couldn’t bring myself to drop McCormick for this one, but Stevenson was ready to spring off the bench if for any reason Lucas was under-performing.

For a week all our training was focused on Mallaig and their plastic terror. Portree High School kindly allowed us to use their pitch for a couple of sessions, thanks to Reegan.

 

The Big Day came around. 

Mallaig. Eigg and Rum are in the background. I have stories to tell about when I got marooned on Rum, a castaway for two days, but now is not the time.

Less a game of football, more a cage fight

 

 

2-2. How did we not win this with all those shots and that xG? Needed Ji? Maybe, but amongst all my careful decisions, I made one major error. I had mentioned that the coaching staff were concerned that Hugo Brown doesn't play well with Lind and Grant. I have keep keeping them apart, but two defenders were poorly and were left out of the matchday squad, and so I took a chance. It backfired - a mix-up at the back and they punished us. Oh well, we're still top though.

Edited January 6, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

I put a cheeky bid into Hugh to build us some rudimentary training facility. I didn’t hear a word for a week, but I did see some hard hats with tripods and tape measures behind the pitch. Then, without even asking me to argue the case, this:

So at the end of season work begins on a new training centre. The architect is local and designs turf houses. Hugh is bringing in a French team to work with him. He says he’s been planning this for months – the Skye/French team have been putting their heads together to plan out a phased development, starting small but future-proofing the (what will one day be termed a) complex. He showed me the provisional sketches - it will be a combination of:

Skye turf house

And this French model:

He reminded me he has to move at a certain pace so as to not antagonise the hostile natives, so we have to keep the plans hush-hush for now.

He estimates we should add one more phase every time we gain promotion. That part, of course, is down to me.

Edited January 6, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Another month, another pair of gongs. Smith proving to be a late bloomer:

Just a minute - Liam, are you SURE?? The WORST in the league? How is this even possible?????

 

Yeah, that goals against column ...

Edited January 6, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Two more defenders picked up knocks before the game with Sleat & Strath. Rather than pick Brown, I risked starting Grieg Allen, whose early promised had quickly faded and had only started four matches. He did well, but everyone was overshadowed by playmaker Nathan Smith scoring two and assisting two more, and Stevenson and Mosson combining brilliantly up top. We thrashed them 6-1.

The next match, at home to Plockton in March would guarantee us promotion if we took a point. We warmed up by taking on Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s Under 18s in a friendly and only lost 2-3. The 3-1 win over Plockton was merely routine; the occasion perhaps overshadowed the game. We’re up.

makes a change

[phnompenhandy]

out for the season - that's okay

We popped down to Kyleakin and came away with a 3-1 win. The boys are doing enough without pushing themselves too hard – partly because there’s simply no need to, and partly because we’re starting to pick up a lot of knocks. Since we drew at Mallaig, they've drawn twice more. We're six points and a tidy goal difference ahead with three to play.

Edited January 6, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

When Reegan brought his 16 schoolboys to be assessed, I must admit I was disappointed. After a couple of hours, I'd decided that six wouldn't make the cut - they lacked the most basic of footballing skills. That left ten to join us for two weeks of trials and practice matches.

Their skills were okay, but Tassone failed his medical, Muir appeared to be an animal, trying to break the legs of our lads, and Rigal and Kirkpatrick simply had very poor characters - we're very strict about that. MacLennan also has a few rough edges but we felt he could be influenced for the better once separated from his chums. So we only gave youth forms to six of them. It brings our squad up to thirty since we’re not releasing anyone. Thirty is a good number.

 

 

Edited January 6, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Amidst all the too-ing and fro-ing, we had a game against Loch Broom. If we won it, the title was ours. I put the same XI out that won the last game. What a show they put on for our dour fans.

And with that, this

History has been made - the club's first ever trophy (but not the last)

 

How pleased are the fans with me?

A bit.

 

Oh, and I'm ready for the new infrastructure

Edited January 6, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

I requested – and was granted -permission to add one more coach to our team. We’ll see who’s available over the close season. I had expected to create an Under 18s squad and ask Craig Meikle, who this season has only come by on Sundays to manage friendly matches, to try out to see if he can coach too, or look for a specialist coach for the new lads. But with only six newcomers, I can keep everyone in a first team squad and train together. It does put an extra burden on the coaching staff, so an extra body is important. Talking of whom, Hugh is fielding approaches to our staff daily. He’s fretting about how long it will be before we lose good friends.

we lose one

In our final home game against Glenelg, I gave debuts to two new boys who’d looked comfortable enough in the previous week’s friendly, Stan Duncanson at Libero and Euan MacLennan at right wingback, and gave a first start to defender Jay Mcgarva, who’d been patiently waiting for his chance the whole season. Ji was fit again, but Lucas would get the last two games. He helped himself to a hat-trick, two goals assisted by Mcgarva in a 6-4 victory, a nice end-of-season gift to our ungrateful fans.

McCormick signed off his first season campaign with four goals in a 5-1 demolition of Portree United in our final match – as amateurs!

GoPro

MASSIVE!!!

Was this Hugh's solution to keeping his staff? No, our title win has confirmed in his mind that his plans for Dunvegan Castle - under my leadership - is no pipe dream. I might be a bit disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm towards me by the supporters, but Hugh insists that despite being born here, I'm considered a mainlander, and that they will warm to me, but I need to adjust my interpretation of the lack of outward signs of emotion. Furthermore, he insists, that from his stance as 'true head of his people' [sic], he can see that the initial suspicion has evaporated, and that Skye as a whole is egging us onwards and upwards. There's no need for him to hide his lamp under a bushel, he maintains - we go public with our plans as everyone is onboard. It probably helps that after funding the creation of Sabhal mor Ostaig's football club, he's handed ownership over it to joint body comprising the college and the shinty club. (which had a good season in its new home)

Now that does alter expectations - I am now under pressure to make a charge towards the SPFL. Five promotions in five years?  This is not realistic without further deep transformations. The first intake shows clearly that recruiting solely from schoolkids in Skye is not going to hack it as we rise up the tiers. Widening and deepening our youth recruitment and youth coaching is essential. Hugh's building plans are tangible and easy to grasp - the human factor is more slippery. How fast do we have to move to improve the quality of our intakes to keep up with the progress the club is expected to make? Faster than Hugh anticipates, I fear. Amidst the jubilation, privately I'm very nervous about this. Nevertheless, I'm in it - I'm at the heart of it. We go.

Liam, the coaching staff and I are due to sit down and sift through the data to present to Hugh showing the players' progress line graphs – i.e. we see who made progress and roughly how much. I will use it to persuade him to accelerate the intangible upgrades I'm talking about.

We have to be careful with interpretation of graphs. Guys at St. George explain that at that age, many kids progress impressively in the first year and flat-line in the second, and many underwhelm in the first year before blossoming in the second. So we don’t give up on any of our original squad yet. Jay Mcgarva's late entrance to the starting line-up is an example of that.

It will take us a day or two - I'll be back with the results later.

Edited January 7, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Ahead of the progress reports, some end-of-season housekeeping:

One player sweeps the awards

But ...

Ji did damage to his ankle ligaments twice. I've asked Hugh to employ a Sports Scientist to prevent further damage, but he doesn't see the need and thinks our bucket-and-sponge girls will be fine. I'll need to ensure Lucas and one of our new lads are capable of stepping in should Ji have further problems.

 

The bit about finishing is nonsense but the rest is fair enough. I'm still flummoxed about how to get Hugo Brown gelling with the other defenders. Talking of which,

Maybe next year, eh?

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

The final table looks like this

The final table of the tier 9 H&I League One based in the Western Isles and Orkney:

Champions Firth was the team that knocked us out of the H&I Trophy. Relegated into that league to join us are:

We beat Top Joe's earlier in the season. And just for future reference the tier 7 H&I Premiership, the top amateur-based Highland division

It's maybe worth observing that Lewis & Harris and Strathaven Dynamo are semi-pro clubs.

Brechin returned to League Two at the expense of Forfar, and Strathspey Thistle avoided relegation from the Highland League. At the other end of the pyramid, Ross County, relegated from the Premier League, and Inverness Caledonian Thistle, winners of the Championship, swap places. There is a deep sense of inertia in Highland football. We aim to break the wheel!

At some point, we aim to challenge their dominance of the Highlands.

Edited January 7, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

The player development report.

Here are the players ranked by average ranking over the season. Make a mental note of the number of matches played

[phnompenhandy]

Let's go through the squad (half of them, omitting too much repetition) from top to bottom -

Ji Stevenson - after a modest beginning, a big increase from August to November. Flatlined during his periods of injury.

Lucas McCormick - superb striker, but see how he's been hampered by his gametime being blocked by Ji.

Louis Mosson - first-choice partner to Ji, similar rate of progress

Ollie Penrice - back-up to Mosson - really suffered through lack of gametime. He's our fourth-best player, but unfortunately for him our top 3 are all strikers.

Kyle Grimm - no progress until December, but persisting in starting him paid off

Edited January 12, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Getting past the strikers, next is our Libero, Andrew Lind. You wouldn't know it from seeing him play, but he's consistently improving.

Jamie Tulloch, segundo volante.  A difficult role - he took time to get the hang of it, but since October, and especially January, progressed very well.

Jay Mcgarva - included to show that although when I finally gave him a chance he played really well, by not playing a competitive game until the final month means he made no improvement at all.

 

Nathan Smith - the playmaker who makes us tick. His importance is reflected in his development.

Josh Blair - back-up goalkeeper - like Mcgarva, included to show the effects of little gametime.

 

[phnompenhandy]

Moving on to our troublesome positions, the complete wingbacks.

First the one who played the most games, Zach Mauchin

closely followed by Aiden Cooper

In both cases you can see they took a few months to get to grips with the role, but once they did, progress was very pleasing. Patience, and trusting the process is a virtue.

Next, troublesome Hugo Brown - plays well, trains well yet somehow makes those around him worse. A conundrum for sure - I'm at a loss.

If it's not obvious, where some players have flatlined in the final month or two, it's because we'd won the league and those players were rested to give squad players some game-time.

Jacob Pazikas, our main goalkeeper. Steady as she goes. Seems while they go for longer than outfield players, they take longer to get there.

Logan Grant, rated by the staff by far our best defender. Looking great here, but performances, like other defenders, bear no resemblance. 'Trust the process', I guess!

Finally, Mckenzye Campbell who struggled so much with a role he hated early doors. He still managed to make satisfactory progression.

 

That concludes our assessment of the progress our boys made over the season. It's over to Hugh now. Initially, when I presented the data, he changed the subject. He wanted to discuss the playing side of the club vision. I struggled to remove Hugh’s desire to play defensively sound football. This season showed that to be unrealistic. He wants direct and counter-attacking football too, which isn’t our DNA, but I compromised and accepted it for next year. For the upgrades I'm requesting, he says he needs to crunch the numbers and will get back to me after the training centre is built.

The implications of turning fully professional won’t be clear until Hugh reveals his plans in late June, but already the staff are asking me questions. Will they be on salaried contracts? Will I have a salary? Will they be expected to give up their day jobs? I don’t see Molly giving up her studies or Reegan his teaching gig – talking of which, is Reegan the right man for the job if our recruitment is going to be off-Skye? Is Hugh going to leave these decisions to me and turn me into a ‘You’re fired!’ fiend. How do we preserve the friendly, local nature of the club while aiming our ambitions so much higher?

I can't think about this right now - I need to take a summer break and will return in a month!

Edited January 7, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Second week of May and Hugh's not hanging around.

I had to sign this by fax. The expenses are generous, I guess.

He did listen then - he's adding a wee medical room to the training centre. It's the second building in the turf house design.

Edited January 7, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

June 1st - I'm back from my tropical break and have attended the opening ceremony for our training centre - we're basic, baby!

[disclosure - I'm cheating - this is the pitch at Eriskay, whom we'll meet this season]

Now I'm back, I can get on with looking for a coach and sports scientist. I'm also picking up hints of the wages Hugh is throwing around at these young lads. I'm not bitter or anything, just saying.

Honestly, I'm not. It's the height of the holiday season and I'm staying rent-free in this cottage that would cost a tourist family a fortune:

Gardens Cottage

Inside

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outside

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Meanwhile, in a galaxy far far away...

 

And not so far away

 

And right here, a chairman who wants to keep to his job and let me do mine (I mean, do you want direct football or tippy-tappy? You don't get both!)  

Edited January 7, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Boy, have I been busy. Not doing the job I love; far from sticking to doing what he does best, Hugh's had me doing his job - and I'm not a moneyman. What business have I spending Hugh's money, especially when I'm not getting a penny? But, as soon as the opening ceremony for the training complex was over, he had to dash abroad to do whatever mysterious business he does, and getting players and staff under contracts couldn't wait until he returned.

That's no exaggeration - the very day I scheduled for lads to come in for talks, a deluge of offers started pouring in for them - bigger (if semi-pro) clubs after poaching our boys for free. I had to do a marathon session over two days getting them all to sign. Mostly it was straightforward - the minimum was we could offer was £425 per month, or £5,000 over a year. Somebody had alerted the boys to the fact that the law also requires employees aged over 18 to be paid a minimum of £1,100 per month, so they were not persuaded to sign for over 12 months - unless the base salary was substantially higher. Ji, Lois and Nathan knew their worth and hung me out to dry, but for the rest they accepted the £425 plus small bonuses.

That all adds up to a wage bill not far shy of £200,000 for the year. Crazy money for our level - I just hope Hugh's out there making the money I'm deputed to sign away.

The staff were cannier. They'd put their heads together and came up with the line that now they were more highly qualified, they need higher wages, and they now need to operate more specialist equipment. I unnecessarily reminded them where all this largess came from. Once they had a look around the new centre though, they softened. Given the weather here, an indoors training centre is worth more than a few quid they might get elsewhere. They all signed on full-time apart from Reegan who can't as he already has a full-time job, Molly the Gaelic student together with Liam, doing his Highers, and Craig Meikle who is still only required one day per week. The easiest job of the summer was recruiting the Sports Scientist - Nicola politely pointed out that she's noted on her CV that she's qualified and was happy to take the position full-time. It means we have a vacancy for one more physio, but I'm not sure that we need one.

Heaven - who'd want to leave this?

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

In our first staff meeting back, the coaching team agreed that whilst our young lads had matured a year and in some cases had grown and bulked out, overall, Ji Stevenson was the only player we could point to and say that definitely had his skills increased over the year (some included McCormick too). I shared the graphs Liam had produced indicating serious progression, but we agreed there was either a wide disconnect between what they showed in training and in game, or we were analysing their states before preseason had begun and we should revisit the situation after the intensive preseason was complete. I’d arranged friendlies against higher-level opposition, up to Fort William to really push the players.

We were hoping that the improvement in ourselves together with the training facilities would have a greater effect this season.

And then Jack Todd returned from his holidays and went through our assessment in the training centre – wow. He’s been obsessively training in his own way throughout the summer and he looked sharp. He’s currently understudy to Mosson and Penrice as a pressing forward and if he keeps going, we might be seeing a bit of him this season.

Two of the players who were perhaps amongst the most underwhelming last season and who looked a bit less determined than most in the first week of preseason were Finn Allen and Josh McCulloch. New lad Stan Duncanson who I had marked as Libero might also be able to do a job as understudy to Tulloch in the Segundo Volante role rather than Allen, and Euan MacLennan, if his personality has improved over the summer, could stake his claim to be #2 right wingback

Here's something Liam and I worked on. I'm particularly concerned about our atrocious defensive record. In order to fix any problems, we have to identify precisely what they are and to that effect, we've designed a 'HIGHLAND DNA' squad view for Liam's analysis:

But the major change I'm making to improve the defence is potentially huge. At the risk of undermining the whole concept of Highland DNA, I'm radically changing one specific role. I fear 'libero' is too much for our lads to handle, so that's altered to the more conservative stopper centre back. We can always revert to libero if the change isn't working or the defenders' skills develop suitably. We're sticking with ball-playing defenders, complete wingbacks and segundo volantes though.

Molly expressed a wish to work as a physio to the Under 18s and just come in on Sundays with Craig Meikle due to her field work commitments. I’d found another physio willing to join us full-time, so it worked out fine for all of us. Heather Gouck, who was working for free down Edinburgh way after taking time out to raise a family, has joined the team.

When Hugh returned, he was introduced to Heather, and Nicola put in a bid for some equipment for her new outhouse/'medical centre'. However,even with the staff going full-time, we urgently need two more coaches. Hugh is currently being evasive or distracted or more often than not, absent, so I might need to bide my time on this.

With all our ducks provisionally lined up, we enthusiastically set about training six days a week for two or even three sessions per day (most days). I hope Reegan sticks around - his main use right now is wangling a special school schedule so our boys can combine their school classes with our schedules. The weather was mostly fine, but we constantly used the indoor facilities, mainly because they'renew. There's only room for 5- or 7-aside practice matches, so we were outside a lot too. I'd lined up ten friendly games over the preseason month, so we should be ready for the big kick-off.

Edited January 8, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Pre-season preparations went very smoothly. We played the first eleven in three friendlies with the Balanced rather than intensive DNA approach until the boys’ fitness levels were high enough, and then three more on intensive DNA style. The rest of the squad also got six friendlies as nominal Under 18s. The first team staff were all present for those games. Nicola got to busy herself along with Saran and Heather, treating quite a number of aches and pains.

bumps 'n' bruises - all good

Full-time preseason training was new to all of us except Duncan; even with new facilities and equipment, it was really a case of sticking with what’s familiar and planning on introducing fancy new techniques as and when we pick them up in our coaching courses at St. George’s.

I have had to make an ‘executive decision’. Hugh is simply not around or focused enough on club matters at the moment – I guess making millions to bankroll us is a serious business. Even on full-time hours, the coaching staff was breaking under the heavy schedules and we were desperate for more hands. So without waiting for Hugh to authorise extra salaries, I found two available guys and persuaded them to come down on non-contract terms in the hops and expectation that Hugh will get round to approving them. Scott Gardiner had a very short stint as a coach at Fort William a couple of years ago (no slight on him – the Fort have been through extremely unstable times), and Evan Murray has been a journeyman non-league player around the North Caledonian League scene and has just hung up his boots. They both see themselves as filling in until a suitable post comes along, although they understand that signing up to start coaching courses to learn about our DNA at Burton is contingent on them staying with us.

Even with two more bodies, to make things manageable, I had to split the squad into a strict first team of 18, and the rest comprise the Under 18s (there will be regular tooing and froing between them). That meant I had to temporarily give a full-time contract to Craig Meikle even though I’m not sure he has the chops to train my boys, but I really didn’t have room to manoeuvre. He’ll need help too, but I can’t spend any more of Hugh’s money until he gets back from wherever.

Hamish Munro came up from St. George's waving his Continental A licence and, crucially, a handbook on the newest DNA-based training schedules. We went through it and amended it in line with the equipment we had, and came up with this:

 

We again kept the pitch to the minimum legal dimensions – the boys are still young and a bit frail, so we need to help them. It helps them develop spatial awareness and their passing game anyway.

The awkwardness between Brown and other defenders appears to have gone – was it that he couldn’t develop understanding with a libero, or was it an issue specifically with Hamilton? The latter is currently a regular benchie. And Nathan Smith asked to be relieved of the vice-captain responsibility. I’ve handed over Mosson’s deputy’s role over to Stan Duncanson who, whilst junior, looks as if he’s really got an air of authority about him. Liam presented his interpretation of the squad dynamics in a neat little table that I have to say, really surprised me - I mean, where did it suddenly come from?

All I can say is, on and off the pitch, we feel 100% ready to smash this league. Let's go!

Edited January 10, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

The results of the pre-season friendlies is worth comment.

 

The first table was our first-choice starting XI playing about 70 minutes per game; the second table was our subs and seconds. Both groups had some pretty tough opposition - who were for the most part maybe a week behind us in terms of fitness. Apart from nearly all the goals in both squads coming exclusively from our strikers, what stands out for me is that the number of goals we conceded is way down - particularly for the first team. Very encouraging indeed.

 

In the opening weeks, there are a few times when we play twice a week. If the midweek games look like a bit of a pushover, I'll play the seconds, but until I'm sure, I'll go with the balanced approach and try to get most of the first-team coping with two matches. I know some can't manage it - Lind and Mosson in particular, but at the moment I'm expecting most to be able to.  By the way, we long ago abandoned the 'kill the game' ploy to conserve energy and see a game out, as we kept conceding multiple goals with it. We just use the two tactics we're fully familiar with - the intensive Highland DNA and the Balanced approach.

Edited January 8, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Chairman, you invest millions into the club and you're hoping we avoid relegation? I fear your business pursuits are turning you a shade of Musk.   The bookies are more sober, and 3rd would get us promoted, but I don't see any reason to fear Staxigoe or Carloway.

Edited January 8, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Our opening game was an accomplished 4-0 home demolition of Barra, with McFadden fighting his way back into the first team with a brace. A terrific team performance and a clean sheet were great news. So comfortable was it that rather than rest the team and omit training in order to send them out again in three days, I elected to play the seconds away against Benbecula. My confidence was well-placed. New boys MacLennen, Duncanson and king were excellent, and McCormick does what he always does when I give him a chance ahead of Stevenson and bagged a hat-trick. A 6-3 away win with eleven seconds surely indicates this year is our year.

Benbecula. One poor travelling fan hadn't read the information and ended up having the island to himself as the team play their home games over on Barra at the Vatersay 'Stadium' - here:

Liam’s Highland DNA table is immediately revealing important insights. Campbell from left wingback scored and assisted in the first game, but in fact he was quite lazy compared to the other wingbacks. Now I have to take into account that I asked the boys not to over-commit in their pressing in the first game and told the 2^nd XI not to hold back in the second match. And yet MacLennan’s work rate in the first match put the others in the shade. We’ll keep an eye on this table as the season progresses.

Edited January 8, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

The oddness of the fixture list is such that of the six games we play in August, five are at home. The Firsts would play three more and the Seconds one. I was aiming for a 100% record in the opening month, including two cup competitions.

Ji Stevenson decided finally he fancied the limelight and slammed in two stoppage time goals after missing a penalty as we beat Kirkwall Hotspurs 3-1 in a match that was way too close for comfort. We’re going to beat ourselves with complacency at some point.

As the Seconds thrashed Stornoway United 5-1 with Grimm reminding us of his existence with four goals (and Cooper reminding us he’s an idiot by picking up two daft yellows), the Firsts prepared for cup games against two of last season’s rivals, Glenelg and scary cousins Sabhal mor Ostaig.

 

I finally got on a conference call with Hugh, who didn't actually reveal which country he was in - he summarily rubber-stamped my staffing decisions and permitted me to make the coaches' contracts full-time.

Glenelg were swept aside 7-3 with Ji really getting into his stride with six goals. Skipper Louis Mosson got himself sent off this game – it was bad, and he’ll get a long ban. He could cost us if we come up against strong opposition soon.

 

And our scary cousins? The 3-0 scoreline was routine, but in the 91st minute, one of their thugs did this:

UTTER UTTER B*****DS. Out for a year - possibly the end of such a promising career. The Highland Haaland no more. The boys and everyone at the club are so upset about this. Sarah's in tears. I don't know how we move on from here

Edited January 10, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Ji’s injury ought to be a big opportunity to Jack Todd, understudy to Lucas McCormick. But he’s showing a worrying unprofessional side to him – a bad apple that escaped our notice. If he gets more disruptive, I’ll probably send him on his way when his youth deal ends next week. The timing was particularly bad – he could have kept his nose clean for a couple of weeks and signed forms for a year. He has real potential, but the lads all need to know no one is bigger than the club.

He still won't follow our training scheme. He’s out.

There was another cup tie, home to Kyleakin. 7-1, all goals coming from the front three. Then on the Wednesday our Seconds hit the road to play a league game against Gairloch-Aultbea at Ullapool’s 3G gig. They got off to a sluggish start, not having played for a while, and whilst our substitutes rallied with two stoppage time goals, it wasn’t enough to prevent a 3-4 shock defeat.

Despite that setback, I sent a team of Seconds out for the following game, home to pointless and basement-dwelling Kirkwall Thorfinn, but with balanced instructions.  We had a cup tie to negotiate three days later and I needed my Firsts fresh for that.  The team I put out was too weak – I was too confident - lesson learned – and we drew 0-0.

Fourth is unacceptable. I need to get my head straight immediately. At the very least, I need to pack the bench with first teamers, sending them on for 30-40 minutes if we're struggling. If that's not enough security, I need to ensure two or three key first team players switch to leading the Seconds in these games.

Edited January 10, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

I've just received the go-ahead from Hugh to start a new badge – the Continental C. St. George are recommending me to Manchester under Pep Guardiola’s team for this course. At the same time, Hamish and Cameron have applied to do the Continental Pro licence and are due to fly to Madrid to understudy Diego Simeone’s team. The others will continue to do their National courses at Burton. We have to fully appreciate Hugh funding all these courses and the considerable travelling involved in lieu of higher salaries. It seems to me a risky strategy as it tests the loyalty of the staff once they gain their badges as naturally our strategy is attracting wider attention, but it’s his money and his business.

Already I can see that if we lose another key striker, we’re screwed, and I can’t play McCormick and Mosson every week. In fact, one of them needs to start for the Seconds whenever we have a midweek game – which will happen if we progress in all the cups. This does require a radical rethink, and ahead of attending courses at Manchester City, I’m going to work on a back-up tactic with a one-up-top formation. It will be a 4-3-3. I think we have the personnel to do it – the players we use as deep-lying playmakers and Segundo Volantes are all comfortable playing higher up in central midfield, as is McFadden, and some of our attacking midfielders are comfortable out wide. I need to test whether they can invert, and whether a back-four with wingbacks starting deeper won’t weaken our already shaky defence. Next month we’ll have a few free Wednesdays to arrange friendless to test this out.

[phnompenhandy]

We struggled to get past Stornoway Athletic in the first round of the Highlands & Islands Trophy     winning 1-0 after MacKenzie was sent off. I’m beginning to doubt the benefit of playing so aggressively – for the next few games we’ll go easier and see if we can keep eleven players on the pitch. I’m trialling both aspects of my experimental new approach – two starting teams that are more equally balanced, one (this one) going with the Highland DNA 5-2-1-2 and the other, to be used in midweek games whether they be competitive (in the league) or friendlies with the new 4-3-3 formation.

After two practice games, we took the risk of rolling out the 4-3-3 in the midweek league match against struggling Harris, in the other new Stornoway ground. It was clearly a ‘work in progress’, and Biggar struggled a little bit in his debut, but against non-threatening opposition, but with Penrice particularly relishing his new role. We nabbed a 2-0 win.

back-to-back visits to the two new grounds in Stornoway:

comhairlie nan eilean siar stadium at stornoway

steornabhagh stadium at stornoway

 

Compare our 5-2-1-2)'Saturday') lineup with our 4-3-3 ('Wednesday') lineup

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

The following Saturday were travelled to Orkney to face the team that had been top until midweek, Rendall. Playing at Firth School’s ground in Finstown over the bridge.

Rendall and Finstown. You can see the football field if you squint a bit.

 

Our intensive 5-2-1-2 side (‘Saturday team’) went into combat. Two hat-tricks were achieved, ours by McCormack in a 3-3 draw. I didn’t see anything terribly disappointing there – we were away to a very decent side. In midweek we played the bottom side in the league, Stromness with our 4-3-3.

Stromness

We won 4-2, nothing spectacular. Biggar and Maclennen are still learning their roles as wingbacks and Macgarva is still bemused at starting regularly in this new system. But I like what we’re doing – we’re getting the hang of playing with some unfamiliar teammates and in unfamiliar roles, but winning while we do it. With two systems, more players are getting plenty game-time. What’s not to like? Am I heading for a fall again?

Not according to Hugh, who may be going through some sanity issues:

Oh ye fans, never change!

Looking good?

Edited January 10, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

With a reduction in midweek games now, we’re into a routine of playing the 5-2-1-2 side in cup ties and trickier fixtures, and the 4-3-3 side in easier matches. The coaching staff are working in relays to coach the boys and fly off/get the train to their courses. Cameron Ross has found the culture shock of studying in Spain a bit much and having to take a further year – all being well, to complete the highest qualification. If we’re to learn anything from Atletico Madrid, it will have to wait until next season.

With the new formation, the centre backs have nothing new to learn, but the wingbacks need to start further back. Brooklyn Biggar, who hadn’t started a first team match before this trial, looks quite comfortable on the left, but it looks like Mauchin and Campbell can grow into the role although it might be confusing if they have to switch starting positions from game to game, same as Cooper and McCulloch on the right. In midfield, Nathan Smith looks good in all three roles, but as a combination, I’m going with my first choice of Duncanson in the deepest role with Smith as a Mezzala and McFadden as an attacking central midfielder (retaining a flavour of his shadow striker excellence). Kyle Grimm looks very comfortable as an inside right and is happy with the prospect of playing with McFadden rather than competing with him. Ollie Penrice also likes the prospect of starting on the inside left and starting with Mosson rather than be his understudy. The big loser in the new formation is Lucas McCormick, who is a one (brilliant) trick pony – he’s really only an attacking forward or poacher – he can’t press or play out wide. If Mosson disappoints or gets injured, we can try Lucas as an attacking forward up top, but I think a pressing forward combines with inside forwards better.

I learn from City that their DNA includes an inverted wingback and inverted winger, but we just don’t have the players for that – too one-footed.

 

Our room for manoeuvre is tightening with a bit of an injury crisis. Our goalkeeper is out now.

I'm revisiting our training schedules - we need to lighten up.

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

At home to midtable Wick Groats we won 3-1 with the 4-3-3 – another routine win, which is fine while we’re still building up familiarity with the tactic and coping with injuries. Josh Blair was calm in goal. With no midweek games we can cover injuries since players who can play in both systems can play every game.

Up next was a trip to Thurso to face very good Top Joe’s side. We went with our first choice (available) starting line-up but with instructions tweaked quite heavily to reflect our DNA values more closely. I’m acutely aware that there might be a period of confusion as I try to get the lads to merge two sets of instructions into one new synthesis. We shaded a very close-fought match 2-1

The dizzying metropolis of Thurso, and Top Joe's

We might have dented their ambitions, but the management still treated us to a great meal and a terrific evening - with the boys on orange juice, of course!

 

I’ve got Liam tearing his hair out. He can produce for me game-by-game analysis of our players, but his ongoing overall analysis has been thrown into confusion by me switching to two tactics (albeit both with the same team instructions), one of which players are fully familiar with and the other needing a good few more games before a high level of familiarity kicks in. He reckons he needs a swankier computer and a few training courses to handle the developments. He can’t spare the time for extra-curricular courses, being in his final year at school, so I’ve assured him we’ll manage without a deep-dive into the statistics this year.

 

 So, I'm having to go on instinct and half-digested tactical ideas picked up on my course, in conjunction with the instincts and half-digested ideas picked up by the rest of the coaching staff. I'm sure there will be continued refinements; nevertheless, I'm broadly happy with the changes to our formation, roles, duties and instructions - happy enough to keep to the format and ensure it's all continually reinforced on the training ground.

The thinking behind the alterations are as follows. No doubt the 433 has plugged the hole in the back door.  The board and fans were on my case all year about the leaky defence, despite us winning the title.  It was supposed to be a temporary fix for losing Stevenson for the year, but I've now decided to make it our default tactic.  Is it still be Highland DNA? After much reflection, I'm inclined to argue it is. The starting formation, roles, duties and team instructions may be different, but like Trigger's broom, the philosophy - the DNA - is the same. 

the philosophers amongst you will understand the reference

In essence, what I've done is remove the libero role, which was proving too sophisticated for our defenders, and gone with a more conventional four at the back.  I think the attack has been adversely affected, but not because the defence is stronger.  The front three combination of shadow striker, attacking forward and pressing forward was phenomenally effective, but so much of that was down to Ji, and for the rest of this season I'm one attacking injury away from disaster.  The 433 relies on a pair of inside forwards (or wingers but I currently have no one who can remotely play that role). Unlike in defence, I do have players who can use both feet well enough to be okay in those roles, although it needs more time to make a sound assessment. I'm over-dependent on Penrice on the left at the moment - if we lost him, I'd need to revert to the 5212 and recall McCormick. But concerning the attack in the 433, I suspect we'd score as many as least season if we had Ji, and I trust that as familiarity grows, more goals will come.

When we feel more secure in the tactic, I'm going to experiment with even shorter passing at lower tempo to instil a vertical tiki-taka style. Possession and passing is the heart of Highland DNA - that doesn't change.

current positions and instructions

Edited January 11, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Well it had to happen, didn’t it? Having said that we had no backup for Ollie Penrice and inside left, he went and got injured in training on the morning of the quarter final of the Highland and Islands Trophy against Merkinch. I had said that we’d revert to the 5-2-1-2 if we lost him, but we had no time. Penrice got injured in a tackle by Biggar which took him out of my starting line-up too, so in a last-minute, unprepared change, Mauchin and Campbell both had to play on the left flank – one in a never-tried position of inside forward. It was pretty much random who went where – I figured they might switch positions and work it out themselves. What they decided was for the inside forward to drop back to defensive winger and the wingback to overlap. Smith played safe by directing most of his balls over to the right.

Isn’t it typical when your best-laid plans are thrown out and you revert to bodging things together and it results in our best performance with this new system? Mauchin, Campbell – all of them were brilliant. We sent Merkinch from the tier above us back to Inverness with a statement win. We were 4-1 up when Grimm got sent off and went on to finish 7-2.

interesting match stats

We needed to take that form into the next match, away to Stornoway AFC, joint top with us, inferior only on goal difference. We put a lot of work into planning how to nullify their threat – not something we do as a matter of course, but we knew to treat them with respect. With Penrice unlikely to recover for that game, we training with our asymmetric formation. Nathan Smith picked up a knock in training, but with our injury list so long we had no one fit to step in, so he had to hobble into the match. The gamble backfired. Smith got through the game but with him being unfit and subdued, the rest of the players took their cue off him, and us operating at 80% effectiveness was not enough. We went down 2-3.

I hadn’t followed my own recommendation to save some first-choice players for a midweek match, which was had due to reaching the next round of a cup competition. The opposition was only Eriskay, but it was a struggle to cobble together a team of walking wounded to face them. With Penrice back on the left, and Grimm too fatigued on the right, we reversed the polarity with Maclennen and McCulloch on that flank. Lucas McCormick got a rare start too.

Except Penrice got injured in training again. I threw him on anyway due to an absence of backup. We got away with it, thanks to McCormick bailing us out with a hat-trick in a 4-2 victory. And Stornoway AFC lost, putting us back on top.

i'm gonna get pulled up for child abuse at this rate

Edited January 11, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[deez0r]

Going well sir!

[phnompenhandy]

30 minutes ago, deez0r said:

Going well sir!

Results wise, yeh - but the injury list is killing me. Ji apart, they're nearly all in training. I'm doing something very wrong!

[deez0r]

Must be the soft wet Scottish turf

[phnompenhandy]

34 minutes ago, deez0r said:

Must be the soft wet Scottish turf

Well, actually, you may have a point. I've been dissing all these plastic pitches some of our rivals have; maybe there's a point to them after all. But on the other hand, we built a damn indoor training centre! Seriously, I reckon I've banging in too many physical training sessions - the boys are still fragile flowers after all. One of my coaches is due to do a weekend at St. George's in Burton in a few days - he should come back with some good advice [a.k.a Jack@theCult0f with his Burton-based England DNA series has the next YouTube instalment out in a few hours]

[phnompenhandy]

The cup tie was against semi-pro Petershill from Glasgow, playing in the sixth tier, but no less than four first team regulars had got themselves suspended to add to our injury woes. A trio of centrebacks in Lind, Grant and Cormack were all banned together with Mauchin, leaving the defence threadbare. The team that we put out did their best, but the ramshackle defence couldn’t hold out, and we went down 3-4. We’re out of one competition.

We had another cup game the next Saturday as we travelled to the south-east to face tier 8 side Arniston Rangers in the third round of the Challenge Cup. We had our defence back for that game, and they didn’t allow the opposition one shot on target, but another swathe of injuries and fitness test failures in other areas prompted me to use our balanced 5-2-1-2 as a one-off. The score was 0-0 after 90 minutes, but we dug deep to score twice in extra time. The 2-0 win took us through, but none of the players will manage the upcoming Wednesday night game and our resources are paper thin. The opposition was struggling Dounby, playing at the Firth School in Orkney. We took every lad who could walk, cobbled them into an unrecognisable formation and told them to simply do their best. I was pessimistic, but I needn’t have been. Ben Mansell, a young right-winger, playing up top by himself having never done so before, ably assisted by Kyle Grimm was sensational, and we cruised to a 5-2 victory. We were back on top of the league, and the fans when we got home lauded me. Fortunately, none of them had made the long voyage and were oblivious to the zero-tactical approach I’d taken.

attaboy 

[phnompenhandy]

Liam has done his best and presented me with some latest data. It's encouraging.

The change in formation hasn't blunted our attack as much as I'd thought - we're still efficient and deadly even without Ji Stevenson.

Whilst our attack is still potent, our defence has really tightened up. That's it's still a tad below the league average and we're still conceding twice as many as we should is mostly down to all our injuries, so for me, it's great news.

What this shows me is that our pressing is strongly disrupting our opponents, but our passing has deteriorated. Again, I interpret this as mainly due to our injuries. I'm confident that when the squad is stronger and more familiar with the tactic, this will improve. I'm still going to make a small adjustment to our tactics, however, and ask the boys to express themselves a little less in order to follow my instructions more fully as well as go with a more 'positive' mindset rather than recklessly attacking.

 

Only three days later we had another rearranged game up at Orkney against Kirkwall Accies. Pazikas had finally shaken off his injury, and whilst he was nowhere near match fit, Blair had been so poor in goal in his stead that I risked starting him in the game. I took Blair for the bench just in case. It was another questionable decision as Pazikas was culpable for two goals in a 4-4 draw.

The third ground in Kirkwall, the Pickaquoy centre 

 

 

Edited January 11, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Murray and Gardiner are the latest coaches to return from St. Georges with badges and a dossier of the latest tactical experiments.

Hugh’s bankrolling the staff’s relentless accumulation of badges. We’ll be by far the biggest and most highly-qualified team of coaches outside the SFPL at this rate – providing members don’t take their booty and defect. I’m about to start my Pro licence soon.  

Mind you. Hugh's also so pleased with me for no rational reason that he’s doubled the wage budget. The man’s gone completely bonkers.

We’re trialling an attacking mezzala and two ball-playing defenders. We’ve noticed we concede goals when our counter-attacks are countered, so as we’re playing a high line and dominating possession in the opposition half, counter-attacking is not that effective, and we need to be more patient in creating changes while holding back and keeping the back door closed. A key intension of the tweaks is to expend a bit less energy and hopefully reduce in-week injuries.

With those minor adjustments that didn’t cause the players any difficulty in taking in, we went into the Highlands & Islands Trophy semi-final with Top Joes. We still conceded two in a 3-2 win. It was a good team performance, and the defenders were less fatigued by the end but the improvements were barely perceptible. It’s just one game though.

Success in cup competitions brings midweek matches – we had to entertain Staxigoe followed by Mallaig the next Saturday. We brushed Staxigoe United aside 5-1 in a performance that matched the score line. Our hodgepodge of a line-up against Mallaig was off-the-boil, not unexpectedly but we still won 1-0. The midfield of Mcgarva and King were off the pace, not often playing matches, McCormick was unfit up top, but the experiment to see if defender Logan Grant could fill in for Duncanson in defensive midfield worked well enough. Experimenting while still winning games will do in my book.

 

looks to be us and rendall for now

 

Edited January 12, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

In the fourth round of the Challenge Cup we were up against sixth tier Musselburgh Athletic. We weren’t given much chance, but we had a strong, fit line-up determined to give it a good go.

 

And we only went and did it!

Beating a Tier Six side in a cup competition - this is the biggest result in the club's history! We deserved it too - we gave it everything, and it proved just enough. Wow!

In the next round we're away to Lowland League Stirling University.

The result coincided with an amazingly positive week off the field too.

Yes, Duncan and Reegan brought me a similar preview last year, and it turned out to be a bit of a damp squib. I'm more excited about the intake after that:

 

Tell you what, Hugh has a perverse joy in a bit of the old arm-twisting. Get this:

He doesn't talk about it, but he's obviously made a killing overseas.

Edited January 12, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Striking while the iron is hot - an extension and lots of fancy equipment:

 

 

On the other hand

 

This is his second time. He's putting a brave face on it, but it's clear he's not relishing these commutes to Spain.

Edited January 12, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Up at the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar ground in Stornoway we saw off Carloway 2-0 in another very comfortable display. Results have clearly improved since we adopted this formation with a substantial reduction in goals conceded. The progress has been achieved during our injury crisis – with our schedules reduced in intensity, I’m hoping that phase will be over soon. We still needed to give half the Starting XI four days off from training during Christmas week in order to put out a team against Kirkwall Hotspurs in Orkney. We raced into a 3-0 lead in the first half hour, before the game ceased due to Christmas dinners kicking in. The leftovers constituted a patchwork side to host Benbecula before the year was out. With Mcgarva getting used to being a midfield dogsbody, it was Grimm and Mosson who saw us home in a 3-1 win. Bye bye 2023, we’re leaving you growing into the team we believed ourselves to be – and more.

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR, best wishes for 2024.

We're looking good, just over the halfway point of the league season

We have a 12-point cushion in the promotion zone, although for the sake of our prestige, we can't not win this league. January gives us a steady game every Saturday, but February opens with a brutal schedule

Most of our players can't manage both matches - which one do I prioritise?

 

Hey, the fans are delirious. First time in my career they've not winged about the number of goals conceded!

Edited January 12, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

We were cruising through January after winning all our games in December. This current version of our 4-3-3 is proving superb for the players; Mosson scores a brace a game and when he gets suspended McCormick fills in and gets a hat-trick. Nothing could stop us - until the snows.

snow joke

Rendall, in second spot are our only serious challengers for the title. The match at Stirling University is the biggest in the club's history - a tier five opponent. The next game is our first attempt to win a trophy in the club's history. Gruelling doesn't begin to describe our prospects.

 

The coaching staff joined me in a meeting to do an evaluation of the squad. Here's what we've concluded:

Zach Mauchin is our most improved player; he got his act together once he got rivals to his position; he can play anywhere on the left flank.

Also, Kyle Grimm has improved and become established in the first team – maybe as he's more in limelight since the loss of Stevenson.

Duncanson excels as the workhorse – Stan’golo, we've come to call him, the Skye Kante.

From the academy intake, along with Duncanson, Mansell is starting to emerge and MacLennan is proving unproblematic.

accolades

 

Mosson and McCormick always excel up top. I probably could play them together in the 5-2-1-2 now midweek games have diminished, but I’ll stick with the 4-3-3 until it stops working.

 

The problem with the 5-2-1-2 was never the attacking side; the problem was the lack of quality in defence and the segundo volante failing to protect them, as he needs a level of workrate that no one other than Stan has. I also suspect the segundo volante alongside a deep-lying playmaker confused some players as to which one to pass to.

raspberries

Now that Brown is playing in a defensive structure that he’s comfortable in, he’s turning out to not actually be very good. Other centre backs Neilson and Grieg Allen have never established themselves (one reason why we shifted from a 3-CB to a 2 CB system) in contrast to midfielder Mcgarva who’s evolved from nobody to dogsbody, usurping Jamie Tulloch whose early promise has faded.

 

not even a bad mullet gets jay mcgarva noticed

 

Liam "FM Stag" Hutton has done a great job presenting a detailed analysis

One observation that's becoming increasingly clear to us is that we have a number of players who play very well in one specific role, but not in others. If we except the versatile Nathan Smith who can do any job in midfield very well (and Mcgarva who can do the same jobs but not very well), we have Duncansoon who is our only good defensive midfielder, McFadden who is our only good mezzala, Penrice out only inside left and Mosson our only pressing forward. If we can get through the early February congestion and have a run of wekend-only fixtures, our best side should smash our way to the title. But we do badly need decent back-up in our next academy intake.

As coaches, it takes time for us to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the players. Hopefully as we improve our qualifications we'll be quicker and more accurate. Nevertheless, you still need to have a player play in a position for a while before you can make a judgement, and if a player appears to be underperforming, you can't be too quick to write the player off when the cause might be more due to the surrounding players not doing themselves justice or being in suboptimal roles themselves. Although we're excelling on the pitch, it's taking me longer than I'd hoped to identify the finer points of our DNA.

The chief problem is the number of players available. We've been hampered by the amount of injuries, and I accept the blame for that - we've been overusing the fancy equipment we bought to get the players to a state of fitness their young bodies can't take yet. The other reason is that we retained only half the number of youths that came to us last March. This is completely out of my hands - I can only hope we get better characters and more skilful and hard-working lads in about ten weeks' time.

Edited January 13, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

After much reflection, I’m going forward with the following strategy. We’re putting out our strongest team against the opposition we’ll almost certainly lose to, University of Stirling. It will be an important experience for our best players. That leaves the midweek games in the hands of our less-than-optimum players. I’m gambling that if we lose to Rendall, we can make up ground over the rest of the season. Despite the event, we should overpower Kirkwall Accies the following week. I’ll rest some of our key players after the Stirling game and have them on the bench for the cup final. Let see if my calculations pay off.

Stage 1. After a goalless first half, we raced into a second-half 3-0 lead against Rendall, before the lack of fitness amongst the starters and substitutes I’d cobbled together crushed us and we conceded three in the last ten minutes to draw 3-3. Despite the disappointing finish, sharing the points leaves us seven points clear at the top – we’ll happily take that.

Stage 2. Stirling University’s football team play at Stirling Albion’s ground, the impressive Forthbank Stadium – impressive, but at the same time intimidating given only Duncan Shearer our assistant manager had ever savoured the atmosphere of a league stadium before.

Wow!

Less than 80 home supporters turned up though. We were missing the suspended Grant at the back and Mosson, who wasn’t quite fit enough to start up front although McCormick was a willing deputy. Otherwise, we were at full strength. We did start nervy and conceded a goal inside two minutes. After that, despite raining 20 shots on us, the Students were a little subdued and we grew into the game. In the second half we equalised with a penalty and then Grimm nabbed the winner. 2-1. The greatest giant-killing act in our history. The draw for the Quarters pits us against the next lowest-ranking side left in Hill of Beath, playing in the same league as Musselburgh in the sixth tier.

Stage 3. The Highlands & Islands Trophy cup final was played at – our ground. Talk about an anti-climax. We had no fit defenders and I was hoping we could put the game out of sight in the first half because I knew we were going to wilt badly. The game against Kirkwall Accies went very much according to plan. 3-0 up in 35 minutes, then tired. Played out the second half with necessary negativity and coast to the trophy 3-1 in front of 400 delighted supporters.

A pot!

[phnompenhandy]

We all know football was invented in Scotland, but did you know they were kicking around mammoth skulls?????

 

  was it something I did?

 

Unfortunately, I’m finding I just can’t get my Under 18s manager to follow my instructions. If I pick the team for friendlies, he changes my training schedules. If I manage the training schedules, he won’t pick the players I need to get fit and calls in random kids from the town. It’s consuming too much of my time so I’ve reluctantly had to sack him and ask Duncan to oversee the basics.

It's not me, and it's not him either. Bug :-(

Long way to go, but I think we can agree the league is sewn up - promotion at least. Just that Challenge Cup to occupy us now.

 

Hmm, a struggling Tier 6 side.

Encouraging news

 

We've not forgotten you, Ji!

Edited January 13, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Ollie Penrice had got himself suspended for the visit of Hill of Beath from near Cowdenbeath in Dunfermline. The versatile Zach Mauchin played left wing, not for the first time. In a game of fine margins, the absence of Penrice was covered by the form of Mosson. We won!

 

For the semi-final we travel to Falkirk to face ex-league club East Stirlingshire, most famous for sacking Alex Ferguson

And just when we thought that was all we had to worry about, this:

 

What? Nobody told us about this. I'm assuming winning a meaningless trophy is responsible. More matches - that's good - it gives gametime in the league to our backups.

So as our fame spreads around the Highlands, this:

Fifth tier Highland League - flattering. And it moved Hugh to put a new contract in front of my face. After all the success I'm bringing, and the prospect of a proper wage dangled in front of  me the day before, he offers me - nothing. Again. I walked off.

Edited January 13, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Schedule's a mess in March. Don't see us getting a clear run at all. 

Lochar are high in their tier 7 league whilst Bo'ness are midtable of their tier 8 league. Sorted.

We won't give me a penny in salary but he's happy to pay three more staff. The guy's nuts. But .... I'm gonna have to sign that damned useless piece of paper, arent I?

Edited January 13, 2023 by phnompenhandy