[FM24] Darlington - the long road back

[warlock]

The Quakers: Fall and Rise

The list of football clubs brought down by dishonest owners is a long one - and getting longer - but this is the story of the one that mattered to me: Darlington FC. Founded in 1889, the club could boast no glorious history, but had enjoyed a relatively stable existence for more than 100 years... until they fell under the spell of one George Reynolds. Deemed a 'fit and proper' owner by the FA, Reynolds had enjoyed multiple spells in prison between 1964 and 1976 for theft, burglary and handling explosives among other charges. By 1999, however, he had amassed an apparently legitimate fortune, took over the football club, cleared the debts and immediately began construction of the modestly-named George Reynolds Arena- a handsome 27,000 seater stadium for a club that regularly attracted fewer than 1200 spectators.

In 2003 Darlington bade farewell to their traditional home of Feethams but it quickly became apparent that the new ground was a millstone that dragged the club deeper into financial trouble. By 2004 the club was in administration and Reynolds was on his way back to prison, charged with tax evasion and money-laundering after being found with £500,000 in cash in the boot of his car.

A brief revival of the club's fortunes followed but in 2008 the club was forced into administration for the second time, and then again in 2012. New ownership under the reins of a supporters' trust seemed to have steadied the ship - until the FA arrived to put the boot in one final time. Darlington were punished with an unprecedented four-tier demotion, from the Conference to the Northern League.

From that abyss, Darlington began the long road back. The club walked away from the white elephant of the George Reynolds Arena, supporters raised hundreds of thousands of pounds to finance ground-sharing agreements and player recruitment, and by 2016 Darlington had returned to the Vanarama National League North. Unfortunately, progress has stalled in recent years and in the season just ended the club narrowly avoided relegation.

Above: Feethams, home of Darlington FC for 100 years. I'm not sure when the picture was taken - some time in 1990s, I'd guess - but I don't remember blue skies ever being a feature. When I think of Feethams I think of freezing winds, relentless rain, the pitch either rock-hard with frost or a sea of mud. The covered terracing at the far end was always The Tin Shed, the terracing near the camera backed on to waste ground and any ball that went in there was never seen again. I never had the pleasure of watching from the stands on either side - it cost extra to get in there and my pocket-money didn't stretch any further than a standing ticket and a cup of hot Bovril at half-time. There's a gap in front of the left-hand stand and at half-time there'd be a stream of supporters changing ends, whatever way Darlington were attacking.

Above: Feethams abandoned. A fitting memorial to the chairmanship of George Reynolds.

 

[warlock]

The Long Road Back

For those who don't know much about Darlington - the town and the football club (and why would you?) - some background. The town, although never big, was a vital part of Britain's industrial heritage, most famously as the home of the Darlington and Stockton Railway, the world's first commercial railway to be operated by steam locomotives. Last year marked the bicentenary of the opening. That odd-looking contraption in the club crest is Locomotion, the first steam locomotive to haul a passenger train.

One of the financial backers of the venture was Edward Pease, a Darlington businessman and head of a prominent family of Quakers, the religious sect also known as The Society of Friends, who were also major benefactors to the town. The funny-looking hat on the crest is the traditional Quaker headwear. In addition to their business interests, the Pease family also gave the town a handsome library, the Mechanic's Institute, schools, public parks... and a football club. Hence The Quakers.

Every version of FM since forever has seen me take on the managerial role at the club in an attempt to restore them to their former glory (ie, League Two ) and I've only managed it once. This time I'm aiming to do better: Premier League or bust, hopefully adding the club's first major silverware en route.

For a Tier 6 outfit, the club is in decent shape: fan-owned, basic facilities, reasonably secure financially. Youth recruitment is poor but that won't be a priority until we're back in the EFL. The 'stadium' is Blackwell Meadows, which we share with Darlington Rugby Club, which has a decent capacity of 3,500 but securing our own ground is one of the club's key ambitions.

My managerial alter ego is Nobby Charlton, named after Manchester United's two World Cup winning heroes, Nobby Styles and - my all-time footballing hero and north-eastern legend - Bobby Charlton. Since I'm taking over from real-life manager Steve Watson, a Newcastle icon, I've given myself a National A coaching badge and national level footballing reputation.

Recruitment strategy

Although there hasn't been much footballing glory in the North East recently, it remains a footballing powerhouse with Newcastle United pre-eminent among a large number of clubs. In the Championship, we have Middlesbrough and Sunderland, while Hartlepool United are a step or two above Darlington's level. Since we'll have little by way of transfer budget for the next few years, recruitment will be based on signing young players released by those clubs. Casting the net slightly wider, there are rich pickings to be had from the likes of Leeds, Hull and the Sheffield clubs. Unfortunately, there are also a number of rival teams at our level - Spennymoor, Gateshead, Blyth, South Shields - who will be competing for those signings.

Club vision

For the current season, the board require a Top Half finish, and a push for the playoff spots in the next year or two. Pre-season predictions have us finishing firmly mid-table in 14th so there's work to do immediately. My own goal for the first season is to at least challenge for the playoffs this time and to win promotion next season. It's a long way to the Premier League and the National League is a tough division to get out of, so I don't want to hang around the VNN for too long.

Next time, we'll meet the squad.

And, as always, many thanks for reading 

Edited June 10 by warlock

[SixPointer]

He’s back and things have gotten personal 

[warlock]

1 hour ago, SixPointer said:

things have gotten personal

Indeed they have 

[CameronFM]

Can’t wait to follow this one along, had no idea of the turmoil Darlington had gone through so it has suckered me in!

[warlock]

The Long Road Back

July 2023

The squad

On taking over the club I start with the usual inspection of playing and non-playing staff. The latter is, as expected, somewhere between poor and abysmal so I quickly make offers for staff members who can at least do a job for us. At this level, I'm hoping to find key attributes at around 8 or 9. One unexpected bonus is in medical staff where we already have a head physio in Nathan Liddle, formerly of Middlesbrough:

In the VNN, he's a medical genius.

As for the playing staff, there are few surprises here - it's the usual mixed bag. We have an embarrassment of attacking forwards and wide players, an adequate number of defenders, and a shortage of central midfielders. Happily, there are a couple of wide midfielders who can do a job in the middle. Altogether, they can be assembled into something resembling a 433 or a 442 formation.

There are holes, though. We have only one decent 'keeper with a 19-year-old non-contract backup. My first reaction is to pray that our first choice never gets injured. We have only one LB; luckily he's excellent - Scott Barrow, on loan from York City; unfortunately, he's injured and will miss most of the season so we're paying £650 a week to have him littering our treatment room. We have a surplus of RBs, including Jordan Windass on loan from Oldham. Unfortunately, he's rubbish and we're paying £450 a week for his services.

In better news, we have two outstanding players: CM Ben Liddle and AML Cedric Main:

My rule of thumb for Tier 6 is values of 9 or 10 for key attributes so even at first sight, these two convince me that we'll be playing a 433 system.

We also have a couple of decent prospects who will, hopefully, develop into good players with some experience. The best is 21-year-old RB Blaine Rowe:

Formerly of the Coventry academy, he could be taller but otherwise has good physicals, an excellent hard-working attitude, and has the technical attributes to become an excellent wingback.

Transfers

Putting almost all of the minimal transfer budget into wages gives us just enough money for one or - maybe - two new signings. I decide that our priority has to be at LB and, after asking the DoF for suggestions, we trial four prospects. Most would be excellent but far beyond our budget so eventually I settled for a graduate of the Leeds academy:

Matty doesn't have much room to improve, but I like his resolute personality and determination, and he should be able to deliver a decent cross. Most importantly, he was willing to join for just £230 a week.

Other moves had to wait until we were able to terminate the loans of Barrow and Windass, saving us around £1,000 a week in wages. As soon as the cash became available I went back to the market for an upgrade at CB:

In keeping with our recruitment strategy, Cameron had been released by Sunderland earlier in the summer and joins us for £300 a week. He's more than capable of performing a job for us immediately but also has the potential to be a starter into L2.

Our final business - for now - was to bring in an upgrade at backup in goal. And we settled on a player who was familiar with Darlington:

Starting his career with Hull City, Saltmer joined Darlington in 2020 but spent just one season with the Quakers before leaving for Bradford at the end of his contract. Happy to join us with backup status, he's already arguably better than first-choice GK Tommy Taylor but I'm happy to have two decent choices between the sticks.

That leaves us with £350 available in the transfer budget should we need an upgrade somewhere in the outfield. We're continuing to bring in prospects on trial, particularly in defensive midfield where a better player would be very welcome. We could also do with a better option at LB where our current backup is a slightly uncomfortable RB.

Tactics

I'm a firm believer that a team at any level can play pretty much any tactical system so I have no qualms about asking a Tier 6 squad to play a progressive, possession-based style. Since that's my preferred approach, that's what we'll be doing. The players may not be the best when it comes to technique, flair or vision, but then the teams we play week in and week out aren't the best when it comes to defending against that system. More important, I think, is to make sure I'm not asking players to do a job they're not capable of performing so we have no liberos or registas or trequartistas. This is how the squad shapes up:

Next time: we get down to business.

[warlock]

The Long Road Back - First Steps

As the old cliche has it, you have to start from where you are. But in the lower reaches of the football pyramid that can be hard to establish. New club, new tactic, some new players, and - for much of the squad - little by way of reputation or track record. So the first fixtures take on extra importance. Happily, we did pretty well.

Following a strong performance against Curzon Ashton, it didn't take long for doubts to set in with a limp draw away at Hereford and a worrying surrender against Scunthorpe, although the latter are odds-on favourites to take the division title. We managed to stop an early slump with a narrow home victory over Brackley and then finished our opening month with another two wins. It made for an encouraging opening month as we shared the goals throughout the squad. Young CB Cameron Jessup made an immediate impact in his Darlington career, finding the net twice from set-pieces.

And we did slightly better in September:

An early loss to Buxton was followed by three league wins in a row, and another two victories as we opened our FA Cup campaign. The cup is vitally important at this level, representing a huge opportunity to boost revenues. We were expected to reach only the 3rd qualifying round, so to be in the hat for the first round proper is particularly pleasing.

To accentuate the negative somewhat, our away form is a concern as we have dropped 8 points from three fixtures on the road, something that needs to improve in a hurry. On the whole, though, it's a good start to the season and puts us firmly in the playoff places

 

[SixPointer]

Is qualifying for the FA cup worth a good bit of money? Or do you need a big away day draw?

[CameronFM]

A promising start, minus the rocky away form! Qualifying for the FA Cup could be massive early on, I suppose at your level, any club from the EFL away is a good revenue booster?

[warlock]

5 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Is qualifying for the FA cup worth a good bit of money?

There's two aspects to it. First, through the qualifying rounds, winners and losers get a small amount of prize money but at Tier 6 level it can still be significant. Winning in the 1st Round Proper is worth £40k, which is definitely significant, and if you manage a win in R2 you can pocket another £67k - so that's over £100k if you get that far.

The second aspect is that the FA Cup runs a revenue-sharing scheme for gate receipts so, as @CameronFM suggests, an away tie against an EFL club with a big ground can be worth way more than the prize money because both clubs get 45% of the ticket sales.

In real life this season, VNS side Maidstone made it to R5, picking up £350k in prize money and about the same again in gate receipts, a huge boost to the club who are spending £250k on relaying their pitch, plus other ground improvements. When Cambridge United earned a trip to Manchester United in 2015, they pocketed more than £1m from that run. 

It's the stuff of dreams for non-league sides.

[SixPointer]

29 minutes ago, warlock said:

There's two aspects to it. First, through the qualifying rounds, winners and losers get a small amount of prize money but at Tier 6 level it can still be significant. Winning in the 1st Round Proper is worth £40k, which is definitely significant, and if you manage a win in R2 you can pocket another £67k - so that's over £100k if you get that far.

The second aspect is that the FA Cup runs a revenue-sharing scheme for gate receipts so, as @CameronFM suggests, an away tie against an EFL club with a big ground can be worth way more than the prize money because both clubs get 45% of the ticket sales.

In real life this season, VNS side Maidstone made it to R5, picking up £350k in prize money and about the same again in gate receipts, a huge boost to the club who are spending £250k on relaying their pitch, plus other ground improvements. When Cambridge United earned a trip to Manchester United in 2015, they pocketed more than £1m from that run. 

It's the stuff of dreams for non-league sides.

Basically it’s the last thing left in what used to be a huge cup. Cause now replays are done away with. Because there so many fixtures big clubs often rest players cause they would rather be one place higher in the ridiculous money spinning PL

[warlock]

2 hours ago, SixPointer said:

the last thing left in what used to be a huge cup

Sadly true. I sort of understand why the FA have scrapped replays, but it will be a huge loss for lower- and non-league clubs.

[warlock]

The Long Road Back: November 2023

October was another good month, although we continue to struggle away from home - with one notable exception:

We began with a trip to Tamworth and needed a late equaliser from AMR Cam Salkeld to secure a point, and two weeks later we slipped against lowly Banbury who set up for the draw and were worth their point as we failed to create much. In between, however, our FA Cup adventure continued.

Drawn at home against a Rochdale side sitting in second place in the National League, I expected a tough game and so it proved. They restricted us to just a couple of shots on target while they grabbed the lead midway through the second half. But just as it looked as though we were on our way out, AML Cedric Main found a late equaliser to take us to a replay. I'm not quite sure what happened at Rochdale but we thoroughly outplayed them to lead 3-1 just after the break. Then that man Main had a rush of blood and bagged a superb hat-trick to put the game beyond doubt. An injury time goal for the home side was little by way of consolation.

We finished the month with three home games and we secured maximum points with three clean sheets.

We continued our good form into November, with another clean sheet against another National League side in the FA Cup. And it was another unbeaten month in the league, although we're still struggling on the road. We've now not lost in 19 games in all competitions and that form has propelled us to the top of the table, only on goal difference but with a game in hand:

AML Cedric is literally our Main man, top scorer, highest average rating, most PoM awards:

Edited June 12 by warlock

[Jogo Bonito]

Good to see you back with Darlo, making an excellent start of course!

A number of these names are familiar like Hatfield, Moke, Liddle, Nelson and Ngandu who IIRC used to be at Coventry? 'The Main Man' is certainly doing well, not a player I am familiar with at all. In fact I thought it was Curtis Main at first until I saw the photo 

[SixPointer]

High flying darlo! Could they be the fairytale run of the FA cup 

[CameronFM]

Cedric Main is a baller! Great to see you continue with the fine form

[warlock]

2 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

'The Main Man' is certainly doing well, not a player I am familiar with at all.

No reason you would know him, he certainly has an interesting history. Seems to have started with something called Ajax Amateurs in Holland, spent a couple of years in Spain, joined FC United and then seems to have settled in the North East with spells at South Shields, Blyth and York. Darlington picked him up last summer. 

7 minutes ago, CameronFM said:

Cedric Main is a baller!

He absolutely is, especially at this level:

[CameronFM]

9 minutes ago, warlock said:

He absolutely is, especially at this level:

Tall, fast, Dutch - a menace at that level!

[warlock]

39 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

the fairytale run of the FA cup

We're about to find out. First game of December:

Not the biggest draw we could have had but Tranmere are pulling in an average of 7,000 spectators and a season high of 11,000. I'm hoping for a decent payday, regardless of the result.

[warlock]

A little morale booster ahead of the big match:

We'll see how much that matters against L2 opposition 

[warlock]

Disappointment...

We had the possession and matched them for xG but they were clinical in front of goal and we weren't. The Tranmere defence did a good job of shackling our front three and that made the difference.

On the bright side, we picked up £40k in gate receipts and the cup run brought in more than £100k in prize money, which has made a big improvement to club finances:

Back to the important business of challenging for promotion.

[warlock]

The Long Road Back - January 2024

The defeat to Tranmere in the FA Cup was not unexpected, nor did we play particularly poorly, but it appeared to have a dramatic effect on squad confidence. We were not helped by the fact that we played 7 games in December and 6 of them were away from home. Results and performances were suddenly a major concern:

We eked out a poor goalless draw away at Southport before making an early exit from the FA Trophy away at local rivals South Shields. A rare away victory at Peterborough Sports - one of the surprise packages of the season and challenging for a playoff spot - was followed by a shameful draw against Gloucester who are very much relegation candidates. We needed a last-gasp goal to grab a share of the points.

However, we finished the month - and the year - on a brighter note, winning against Bishop's Stortford and then taking an away point from high-flying Scarborough who have been our closest rivals at the top of the table. And by one of those quirks of the fixture computer, our first game of the new year was the return fixture against the Seadogs. Just as December was foreshadowed by the defeat in the first game of the month, so too was January:

It was a flying start to the new year - six games, six wins, five clean sheets and only one goal conceded. Much of the credit, I think, has to go to a switch of tactic, from 433 to 4231 - a change I've made regularly in FM24 saves. The idea that teams change the way they set up against you when you're overperforming might be a bit of theory crafting, an FM meme, or a simple truth but I incline to the latter view. By adding an extra player in attack - simply switching an attacking CM to AMC - seems to have a radical effect on our ability to circumvent stubborn defences. And the comparison of results in December and January certainly supports that view.

Regardless, that run of victories has propelled us to a clear lead at the top of the table:

We have the best attacking record in the league scoring 64 goals, and the best defensive record with 20 conceded. And Cedric Main continues to be our star performer despite a lean spell through the end of the year:

Although there is no January transfer window at this level - we can make signings until March - I am looking to upgrade a couple of backup positions. Leftback remains a concern and we had some bad luck there. We finally found a decent option in George McCormack, a young wingback who agreed to join us on loan from neighbours Middlesborough... he played one game for us and then suffered a cruciate ligament injury in training that will keep him out for the best part of a year. We can't terminate his loan but since he's costing us nothing we can bring in another replacement if we can find the right prospect. We could also do with reinforcements at DM and AMC, but we need to move a couple of players on to free up wages before we can solve those problems.

[warlock]

The Long Road Back - March 2024

Having said last time I was looking to bring in some reinforcements before the transfer window closes, it now looks unlikely. We're almost maxed out on wages so we'd need to move a couple of players on before we can do anything and - as anyone who has managed at this level knows - there's little demand for players in mid-season. To complicate things further, we've lost star RB Blaine Rowe for at least a month with a twisted ankle.

Despite those issues we're continuing to play at a good level, although we did end our 26-game unbeaten league run:

It was South Shields who knocked us out of the FA Trophy in December; this time they increased their winning margin to two goals as we failed again to cope with their narrow diamond. That game aside, though, we scored plenty and recorded another three clean sheets. Which leaves us 9pts clear at the top of the table with 10 games remaining:

Closest rivals Scarborough have recovered their best form and are notching up a winning streak of their own so we need to maintain our focus.

[warlock]

The Long Road Back - First Step Taken

The longest journey starts with a single step...

At one stage in April I wondered if the lads were going to bottle it, but we managed to steady the ship:

We won our first game in April, which set up the chance to clinch the title at home against Southport. We got the job done in some style with an opening goal in two minutes and Hedley's excellent free kick the cherry on the cake.

So, league winners with two games to go and thoughts turn to a rebuild for the National League. Roughly half the squad will be - or have already been - offered new contracts but the hope will be for most to accept backup status if we can find - and sign! - the right players to take the starter spots. Having been through the coaches' reports on the squad, we have about 5 players rated at National League level, and another 6 or so who are expected to make it. The board have provided a reasonable increase in the wage budget, and some £32k for transfers, although I'll be moving almost all of that into wages, too.

 

[warlock]

The Long Road - end of season 2024

We won one, lost one to end the season. We had a chance of taking the league record for most points - 107 - currently held by Chester. Our final game of the season was against... Chester. Who were determined we wouldn't take their record from them and nicked a 1-0 on the final day.

Having been predicted to finish in mid-table, this was perhaps no surprise:

And a shoutout to GK Johnny Saltmer, best 'keeper in the league:

 

[SixPointer]

Nicely done, first objective achieved. Main looks like the main man 

[CameronFM]

A comfortable first season in charge! A huge summer ahead of the VNL next year

[warlock]

40 minutes ago, CameronFM said:

A huge summer ahead of the VNL next year

Yeah, I'm quite nervous about it - a lot of players to find. I've been tracking some really good prospects for the past year, hoping they'll be available at end-of-contract. None of them will consider joining us . Just into the first week of July and working through the list of released players. Currently have about 20 players on trial.

Board expectation is to battle against relegation. I think (hope!) we can do better.

[Carambau]

Late to the party as always... Nice to see such a passionate thread! And of course Congratulations to promotion  

[warlock]

The Long Road - 2024 transfer window

I find most transfer windows to be nerve-wracking; promotion windows are the worst. You know that most of the squad aren't good enough for the higher level but the prospect of releasing most of them and then struggling to recruit enough players of quality is a perpetual nightmare. As mentioned above, we've been tracking a number of good prospects for months in anticipation of them being released, and then most of them wouldn't even talk to us, while a few would have joined but on wages we couldn't afford.

On balance, I think we did OK - we've put together a 23-man squad with two players per position, but retained several players who should probably have been released. In the event, we allowed 12 players to run down their contracts and leave. In exchange, we brought in 8 new faces. The goal was to have the retained players largely as backup/rotation options while signing regular starters above them. There were obvious exceptions AML Cedric Main, DM Ben Liddle, DL Matty Downing were all deemed good enough to retain their starting positions.

I won't go through all of the new faces, but here are three we're looking to make an immediate impact:

Spellman was released by Sunderland after loan spells at Blyth Spartans and South Shields. Although he's slightly stronger on the left, he isn't going to supplant Main so he's our first-choice AMR. At National League level I'm looking for 10/11 for key attributes and he has most of them covered.

Mallon joins us from the Everton academy to be our starter at RB. He might be better in central defence but I think his pace and agility would be wasted there, and it's a great benefit to have players who can fill multiple roles. We need to improve some of those mental attributes.

In keeping with the recruitment strategy outlined at the start of the save - snap up released players from local teams in higher divisions - Kelly is another who joins us from Sunderland. With good passing, vision and flair, he's well-suited to the creative role in our midfield. I was very happy when he agreed to join us.

Tactically, I've retained the possession-hungry 4231 we employed through the second half of last season, but I'm already wondering whether a more defensive 433 might be more appropriate for our newly-promoted status:

Of the starters not mentioned above, Kie Plumley joined us from Manchester United, Jenson Sumnall is an 18-year-old from West Brom who could be brilliant with a bit of development, and Jim Simms comes in from Hull City with bags of potential. Even at first glance, it's obvious we still have work to do, particularly in defensive midfield.

Early form

The first games in a higher division are always a cause for concern - did we recruit well enough, are we ready? In the event, we got off to an unbelievable start before reality quickly set in:

Main started like a man possessed with 9 goals in our first five games. I chose to rest him for the 'easier' game against fellow promoted side Scarborough and we paid the price, underlining his vital importance for us. That draw was our first disappointment - Torquay had started well and was always going to be a tough opponent. The defeat to Grimsby was a real let-down as they had started the season in poor form, but they did feature a certain Emil Krafth at RWB, with the ex-Newcastle man still valued at £5m .

The board want us to fight bravely against relegation; the pre-season prediction suggests we're not going to achieve even that as we're forecast to finish rock-bottom of the league. I think we'll do better - Kidderminster, Aldershot and Dag & Red are all predicted as mid-table finishers; if we can pick up points against those kind of opponents we should be fine. And we still have enough wage budget to bring in another two or three quality players if we can find the right prospects.

Game on!

[warlock]

Good News, Bad News department:

[warlock]

The Long Road - October 2024

Three months into the season and there have been quite a few changes at Blackwell Meadows - players earmarked for departure, a couple of additional signings, and a new tactic.

As we settled into the higher division it became even clearer that some of the squad members were simply not good enough for this level but it isn't a simple process of replacement - there isn't much demand for our low-quality players and even where there is interest, wages are a problem. But we have brought in two newcomers, and found a buyer for one, although that move won't happen until the January window opens.

The outbound player is CB Cardo Siddick. He did enough last season to merit a new contract but has performed poorly and - even worse - has been abysmal in training. Remarkably, he found a buyer in Saudi Arabia and will even bring in a fee of around £12k.

His replacement is another product of the West Brom academy:

With decent all-round attributes for the role already, he could develop into a top-quality player for us. I don't normally go for CBs under 6ft but his jumping reach and heading are already good enough for this level.

Our second new signing was forced by injury. We only have two recognised strikers in the squad so when young prospect Jim Simms suffered a groin injury that would keep him out for 6 weeks I felt we had to bring in another option:

Jolley was released by Tranmere Rovers in the summer and has settled in well, bagging two goals in 3 starts and 3 sub appearances. 

As for the tactical change, it wasn't too radical. In the hope of a bit more defensive stability, I dropped the wide AMs back to wide midfield:

Cedric Main was "offended" at playing out of position when we made the change but after his flying start to the season he had been terrible in September. He may not like it but he has played much better since the switch.

Our form in September was well below the required standard, conceding in every game. From a more positive perspective, it was a tough run of fixtures with Gateshead and York battling for the top spot, and experienced National League sides in the shape of Barnet and Southend. But after the last game of the month I decided to try the 4411 and results immediately improved:

Which puts us in pretty good shape as we head into the long winter schedule:

Given our pre-season prediction of relegation, I'm very happy with this. We're among the better attacking sides but need to do better in defence.

We still have wage budget available but the overall financial situation is not great as we're losing a few thousand pounds every month. A good FA Cup run would help enormously and, on cue, we start November with a trip to L2 Walsall. They're currently in fifth place in the league above so it will be a challenge, but if we could get past them the money starts to flow. Here's hoping...

[CameronFM]

The joys of a higher division! With that being said, performing admirably to be inside the top half - what sort of buffer do you have over the relegation spots?

[warlock]

4 hours ago, CameronFM said:

what sort of buffer do you have over the relegation spots?

Currently 11pts, so we're much nearer the playoffs (not that I'm entertaining any thoughts of that this season).

Last season it took 48pts to avoid the drop so that's the target for us... being halfway towards that so early is definitely a bonus.

[warlock]

The Long Road - November 2024

A good month for The Quakers as we extended our unbeaten run in the league to 7 games. A disappointment in the FA Cup, though, as L2 Walsall proved too strong for us.

We gave it a good go against the Saddlers and if our forwards could have found a finish the result might have been different:

On the positive side, we did earn close to £60k in gate receipts and prize money, which is definitely a bonus for us.

Back in the league, we're massively overperforming and I'm trying not to get frustrated by the number of draws we've recorded - we definitely need reinforcements in defence, but we ended the month on a high when MK Dons came to Blackwell Meadows. The visitors are newly-relegated from L2 and odds-on favourites to bounce back immediately. But we turned in our best performance of the season to take all 3 points:

We played our usual 4411 system but something clicked on the day - our passing was excellent, we defended well and created a series of chances up front as B2B Graham, ML Spellman and AMC Kelly all found the net.

That result lifted us into the playoff places:

Are we a one-man team? No, but we're not far off:

We have the second-best attacking record with 46 goals scored in 21 matches, but we've conceded 34 putting us firmly in the middle of the pack and underlining the need for defensive upgrades. I still have plenty of money for wages but I'm reluctant to spend until and unless we can move on some of the deadwood. Our current spend shows how well we're doing:

[warlock]

The Long Road - January 2025

We ended the last update with a fantastic win against promotion favourites MK Dons and I said we were well-placed going into the winter months. Little did I know how well...

An excellent series of results saw us put together a run of league victories. Our improved defensive performance was largely down to two factors - Sumnall settling into the squad, and the emergence of Kie Plumley as a goalkeeping talent:

But I had one concern - that run of results in the middle of the month where all our goals came from DMs Graham and Hatfield. That didn't seem like a sustainable basis for success so - never happy - I switched us back to the 4231 from the start of the season to provide more impetus in attack. There were a couple of changes: the AMC was given a support duty rather than attack, and the AMR was changed from IW to winger to better hold the width. Both changes also saw us provide a bit more space in the opposition area.

Those changes paid immediate dividends as we played back-to-back away games, scoring 8 and conceding just one. And that form continued into the New Year:

While that was going on, Yeovil Town - who had jumped out to what seemed a commanding lead at the top of the table - had a nightmare start to the year, perhaps distracted by a huge money-spinning FA Cup tie at Aston Villa:

So this happened:

Squad News

Hopes of moving on some of our makeweight squad came to little. CB Cardo Siddick left for Saudi Arabia on his pre-arranged transfer but we've been unable to move anyone else out. But I decided we had to shore up the defence and brought in one new signing:

Wilson is a former Burnley youngster who comes to us via Chorley. He's a natural leftie, which we were missing, and will hopefully provide a bit of spine in central defence.

Unfortunately, in the match against York at the end of the month, GK Plumley suffered a shoulder injury that will keep him out for most of February. That could be a critical blow to our chances of holding on to the top spot. His backup, Johnny Saltmer, has been on the transfer list for months without interest so I might have to bring in another player if Saltmer can't produce.

[CameronFM]

What a turn in fortunes! About time the players get the rub of the green in terms of an implosion at another club!

Gutting news about Plumley, he seems the player that can ensure success at this level - big shoes to fill Johnny boy!

[warlock]

7 minutes ago, CameronFM said:

big shoes to fill Johnny boy!

No spoilers, but Saltmer played the next game, broke his hand, he's out for a month 

[warlock]

The Long Road - March 2025 and The Title Race

After storming through the previous months, February proved to be problematic. The GK injury crisis combined with a season-ending injury to backup LB Danny Preston, who suffered a broken leg against Bromley in the opening game of the month. This left me scrambling to find emergency replacements, while the off-field distractions inevitably had their effect on our playing performance:

Our first stumble came against VNS outfit Maidstone in the FA Trophy. They were 50 places below us in the pyramid and this should have been a comfortable win, but we succumbed to a penalty shootout defeat.

Our biggest derby followed against closest rivals Hartlepool and a good win suggested we might be back to our best. But we then travelled to Ebbsfleet and suffered our biggest defeat since October, despite taking an early lead.

By this point we had signed our two emergency replacements but were forced to play them immediately with no time to settle them into the team. First in was a 'keeper:

Young joins us on loan from our senior affiliate Sunderland and is arguably just as good as Kie Plumley. This was an issue because Sunderland insisted on important player status, which will likely come back to haunt us because I'll be playing Kie as our Number 1 when possible, Sunderland will probably get the hump, and it could jeopardise future loan deals. A bridge we'll cross when we come to it.

To replace Preston at LB, we returned again to our preferred recruitment strategy - players released from local higher league clubs:

Longelo came through the Newcastle academy and joins us after two seasons at Accrington Stanley. He's a workmanlike defender, better going forward, but is a good option to have at AML and may be a decent replacement if Cedric Main fails to get a new work permit.

When March rolled around we were up and running again:

Five wins from six. Of particular note this month has been the emergence of Charlie Jolley as a reliable source of goals, culminating in a great hat-trick against Southend. Also notable is the number of penalties we are awarded, a reflection (I think) of our possession-heavy style combined with tricky, agile wide players bursting into the opposition area.

We find ourselves in the driving seat for the title as Ebbsfleet, Yeovil and Rochdale continue to trade places behind us. If we can win the game in hand, a 10pt lead with six games to go would be very nice indeed.

Edit: I am, of course, innumerate - there are only 5 games to play 

Edited Wednesday at 13:51 by warlock

[Carambau]

Drive it home  

[warlock]

The Long Road - Step Two Complete

With five games remaining, all we had to do was keep on winning. And luckily, the first two fixtures saw us at home at Blackwell Meadows against teams fighting relegation in Boreham Wood and Eastleigh. 

Boreham Wood came in desperate need of 3pts, which played into our hands as we picked them off time and time again.

Eastleigh were a much tougher nut to crack. First half they sat deep and kept us at bay, but after half-time they came out looking for a winner and that proved to be their undoing. In the 70th minute, AML Spellman got in behind their defence, sent in a low cross, and Jolley was on hand to turn it into the net.

Important development:

We were the only semi-professional side in the playoff hunt, meaning training limited to two days a week (on a good week) and very limited staff. If I was in danger of getting carried away, a quick check reveals that they've given me one extra coach (up from two), and a sports scientist (up from none) 

Budgets have also been revealed:

We've been spending around £16k a week this season so there won't be a lot of wiggle room when it comes to putting together a full-time squad. I foresee another difficult transfer window!

[CameronFM]

It was never in doubt! 

It will certainly be your toughest window with the change to professional footballs, did somebody say free loans? 

[Carambau]

Glad to see the club turn professional! Now you can really challenge  

[warlock]

On 26/06/2024 at 18:25, CameronFM said:

It will certainly be your toughest window

On 26/06/2024 at 18:44, Carambau said:

Now you can really challenge

It really is tough. Two days I've been at this window - still have a week before the season starts - and I've only managed to put together half a squad. We have plenty of money available but I'm struggling to spend it.

We have trialled 30 to 40 players, most of whom will accept a contract offer and then disappear to another club. The most common feedback: Feels their squad is stronger than yours. Well yes, but the squad would have been much stronger if you hadn't beggared off somewhere else! My favourite excuse came from a good prospect at RB, ex-Middlesbrough youngster, we agreed a contract and then he went to Spennymoor two divisions lower on less money, because "they have a record of signing former Middlesbrough players" .

If I can find another four or five players we can probably make do with a squad of around 18. I'm still tracking some prospects who won't talk to us but haven't yet found a club. And we have a few loan targets to pursue, but our affiliate link with Sunderland is proving to be pretty much worthless - either they want good money for youngsters who will sit on our bench or won't agree a loan because our squad isn't good enough.

I'm certainly going to earn my wages this season 

[Jogo Bonito]

Going very well here, with your back-to-back promotions!

The transfer market challenge is tough, but about time you earned your wages 

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said:

about time you earned your wages 

Well, yes. First two seasons were pretty easy overall. Time to step up 

[warlock]

The Long Road - August 2025

What a tough transfer window this proved to be, with several factors contributing to our difficulties.

* As a newly-promoted side with a non-league reputation we were unattractive to many players who could have improved the squad.

* Although the wage budget wasn't a strict limitation, we needed a lot of players so we couldn't afford to offer many high-value contracts early in the window.

* The non-playing staff is generally poor quality so scouting recommendations, and coach assessments based on trials, were always going to be suspect. Even so, I under-estimated just how poor their judgment was.

* It was impossible to move on the deadwood for sale or loan for any fee. We ended up with a handful of the existing squad who are just not good enough but can't be moved out.

Eventually, we released 10 players on free transfers which did, at least, give us more headroom in the wage budget. The coaching staff assured me that half-a-dozen players - including Caden Kelly, Charlie Jolley, Mathew Mallon and Jonny Ngandu - were capable of performing to a decent level in L2. The coaching staff were very wrong.

Coming the other way, as the limitations of these existing players became obvious we replaced the outbound 10 with 13 signings:

As we began pre-season matches and into the first month of the season, it became equally obvious that I had been misinformed about the ability of several of them. The consolation is that many are still young and L2 experience will hopefully push their development. However, there were some gems in the list:

 

Stephenson came through the Liverpool academy and the DM is easily one of our best players.

Pye comes in as first-choice LB. The former Manchester United youngster joins us via a spell at Burnley and has good potential.

As Jolley's limitations became apparent at the higher level, we desperately needed an upgrade at striker. Westley is another signing from Burnley and has already done well in leading the line for us.

By early August I thought our transfers were done but fate had other ideas. We'd signed Ryan Huke on loan from Charlton to be our first choice on the right wing, and brought in Kai Corbett from Peterborough as rotation/cover there. By the last week of August both were injured and would be missing for up to two months. With no real alternatives in the squad, we were lucky to sign Birmingham's Cuban youngster Alvaro Ruiz Rente on transfer deadline day. He'll be with us on loan until January.

Our star signing was made before last season finished:

We had been tracking Thorndike since he was released by Birmingham over a year ago but he declined every offer we made to bring him in on trial or as a permanent signing. It was only when we turned professional that he agreed to talks and I was delighted when he signed. It's far from ideal that he's lost a year of development but I'm hoping he can continue to improve with regular playing time.

Season expectations

The board require us to fight bravely against relegation; the media don't think we'll be that good:

We faced a similar situation last season and won the title, so we're not taking that prediction too seriously. On the other hand, I know we have probably the weakest squad in the league so we'll be up against it.

In that light, I decided to begin the campaign with the 4411 version of our system, hoping to be solid in defence and a threat on the counter:

Which immediately lays bare our problem areas - RB, LCB, and our lack of depth overall. But there has been cause for cautious optimism this month:

Two wins and two draws in the league is better than we might have expected from our opening month, but the highlight was the EFL Cup tie away at Burnley:

We won the xG battle comfortably and were unlucky to lose the penalty shootout by the odd goal.

If we can continue to pick up points in September I'll be more than satisfied with our start in League Two.

Edited 10 hours ago by warlock