gowerNCFC

Our first upgrade.

End of Season One - Finances Finances aren't fantastic, but the end of season play offs pull us back into the black. Our wage budget was around £500 per week, so a jump to over £3k is nice as allows us to keep hold of a few players who were going out of contract. The projection is looking grim... but interestingly it's based on our wage costs increasing five fold in the next year... which will not be happening as we won't be making signings. The increase in turnover is good, and hopefully we can start using that towards upgrading our junior coaching and youth recruitment over the next year or so. I am fully prepared for a slog getting out of the Highland League, it may take a while, especially with a youth only outlook. Some sponsorship deals will help, plus a decent run in the Scottish Cup will be great. The SPL clubs join in round four, and that'll be the aim.

Play Off Final First leg being at home always gives me the jitters... and I was right. A draw at home, not the best performance either. Never. In. Doubt. WE'RE BACK WHERE WE BELONG.

Play Offs - Game Two We win the play off comfortably... And to my surprise, we have another game. This one is for promotion! Two legs against Strathspey Thistle. Lets do this!

Play Offs - Game One A Wynter-Coles goal sends us a point away from promotion at the first attempt. A game we had no right to win, but we fought hard and got the three points.

Mid April 2023 We managed to get the point we needed away at Alness to get us into the Regional Play Offs, and followed that up with a great win away at Loch Ness. We now face Broughty Athletic of the Midlands League - who lost one game all season, and Dufftown of the North Premier Division, who lost also lost one game all season. Winner gets promoted.

March 2023 Just the two league games in March, but my word what a change of form. We bounced back from a poor February by winning both games. This leaves us 6 points clear. The only team that can catch us is Alness United. Next up... away at Alness, then away at Loch Ness. As tough as it gets.

Youth Intake 22/23 I didn't have high hopes for this youth intake, and I was right not to have. We haven't made any upgrades so far - but the intake did have two elite talents. Caillean will probably be our starting left back next season, and being from Fort William it's great to see. Another local lad that'll be around the first team squad is Connel. We are lacking in the CB position, and a couple of them are 30+, so we need to start getting some players through the academy in this position.

Thanks mate - appreciate it!

February 2023 Firstly, lets start February with some good news. A new contract offered, another year at Fort William. Now, for the bad news. Our first challenging month. Out of another cup in the first round (Don't care), two draws and a defeat in the league. We are now opening the door to others. 7 points is down to 3, and could be reduced to 2 if Invergordon win their game in hand. Four games to go. To quote a Sir Alex Ferguson phrase - "it's squeaky bum time".

January 2023 A good, solid month for us. 7 points is a great return. We're doing well, 7 points clear currently, but a whole host of teams have a game in hand over us.

December 2022 December started with some interesting news... Not 100% sure how this will effect me, but any extra funding into the club would be extremely useful. Another two solid wins, which were very pleasing. A heavy loss against Clachnacuddin's second team, where we were very much second best. Our final game of the month was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. Five points clear, however Alness do have a game in hand.

November 2022 Two very good wins to keep our run going, followed by a home loss against Loch Ness. 10 games unbeaten was a VERY good way to start the season, and the save. Defeat against Loch Ness was frustrating, as we did shade it chance wise. We are still top of the league by 3 points. Its worth noting, that top doesn't mean automatic promotion. To gain promotion we would need to win a play off.

October 2022 A fairly low key month. A couple of draws and an absolutely mad win against Orkney. We were 5-1 up at half time, and nearly managed to throw it away. Still top. Still unbeaten. Mad shout out to Golspie, who have seen 53 goals in their 9 games so far. Including two 5-4's, a 6-4 and a 7-1. Wild.

September 2022 We're out of two cups in the space of a week, which is frustrating but ultimately not our priority. Two good wins in the league, taking us to top of the table.

Tactics My thoughts behind this are keeping things tight at the back, with a low block, and quick counters down the wings. Eventually, I would like to be playing 4-2-3-1 and more expansive football, however, this may be a step beyond the current crop of players.

August Update We had a tough pre-season, whilst adjusting to tactics, but we hit our stride nicely against St Duthus. I'm not too bothered about going out of the North of Scotland Cup, it was always going to be tough against a Highland League outfit like Fraserburgh. The big thing this month is progress in the cup as we move into the Scottish Cup first round, and are rewarded with an away tie at Pollock, with a great chance of progression.

As many people are aware, Fort William have had a rough time over the past... well, 25 years. Now its time to give the fans of Fort William something to sing about. Fort William have been relegated (finally) from the Highland League, and find themselves in the North Caley league. The board would like a top half finish, which is completely reasonable. And going forward, they are happy to stay in the top half of the North Caley league. We will be playing (short term) at the 1,800 capacity Claggan Park. What a stadium this is. Look at that view. Other facilities leave a lot to be improved, but luckily we are here for the long haul. This will be a youth only save, I love developing players and building squads of home-grown players, and that is the vision for Fort William. Lets do this.

Yeah thats exactly it mate, raiding the players that get released from Prem teams, plus signing youngsters from Spain. After a few seasons a lot of smaller Spanish clubs start developing really good young players. It's tricky - I have £20m in the bank, but can't really do much with it at the moment other than keep asking for upgrades which keep getting refused.

Nice work so far mate. I am currently playing as Magpies in Gibraltar. Into my 6th season now, and have just made the champions league group stage. Progress is slow - but one thing that has worked nicely is signing 18 year olds and naturalising them. They have to stay in the country for 5 years before playing for the national team but it'll definitely improve the overall standard.