Journeyman

Started unemployed and naturally applied for every position (took me half an hour to go through them all)
Decided on Truro because they were closer to the League than anyone else (but still pretty shit)

A bit of history:

These are the key group of players to help me in my bid for promotion.



What have I gotten myself into:


I can't let anyone go on frees because it'll cost too much. So i have to wait until the end of the season and review my options. I predict I'll lose the majority of my squad. Hoping to get promoted to get a bit of extra cash to pay the bills.
This dosen't help:

This does:

Young striker with good potential for the league I'm in. Took about $120 pay cut which is massive considering where I am.
Friendly results in next update.

Good luck mate! Journeyman is always fun! The financel problems don't look good! Good work on getting Eddy to take a pay cut

I know but he said he would gladly leave if our finances get worse. Hopefully we get promoted to get a bit of extra cash. Maybe a good cup run will help as well.

Not good to see you're in financial difficulties already

Yeah I didn't even know myself what sort of difficulties they were in. It came up 2 days after I'd taken the job.

These are the players that are off contract at the end of the year:

Basically my whole team. I could have little to no players next year if I am still in a embargo

Finally. I suggested that they look for a club to earn some income and they agreed. I'm hoping to get a club in League 2 maybe even higher.

Basically had to quickly throw some money making friendlies together. Wasn't looking for a result against the Under 21 teams but I'm disappointed we didn't win the last one against Newquay after being up 2-0.
We start the league campaign in a month vs Dorchester. I won't be able to post the updates until Monday (AEDT) because I'm on a trip to New Zealand and presumably you'll have to pay for WiFi

Massive learning curve for your team against U's21 clubs

Enjoy your trip in New Zealand I always wanted to go there /o\

Thanks mate. It really is a nice place to visit it's very beautiful. Hope to start the the league well. They're predicting me to go straight back up

I'm back baby.
Financial Update

Damnit. Lost some serious income with this.




Great news now that i'll be able to sign players. Unfortunately I can't afford anyone
Injuries
Lost Jamie Lowry to strained knee ligaments and he'll be out for 3 months. His replacement Luke Wannell is also injured. I also lost Ben Watson for a bit as well.


Results and Table

Unlucky in the first game against Dorchester. The guys were tired and they hit us on the break.

Great response in the game against Frome. Tweaked the formation slightly and it payed dividends with a 3-0 win.

Nothing to comment on the draw.

Liam Eddy is a weapon. He completely destroyed Chesham with three goals within 11 minutes and obviously got PotM.
Happy with the three clean sheets in a row. Great work by the back 5.

This leaves us in 7th after the 4 games.

We play our next game against Arlessy. Next month in the next update.

Pretty good start to the season mate given your off field troubles.

I know. I've lost two attacking midfielders plus my best striker to injuries which doesn't help. However it's a good chance for the younger guys to step up and stake a claim for regular first team football.

September

Great. Just what I needed. Unfortunately I still can't afford to buy any players.

A couple of scoreless draws to start the month followed by a 2-2 draw to Frickley in the FA Cup. We should have won that one as we were up 2-0. Lost the replay played three days later but I couldn't rotate the squad so they were all tired.

My sixth consecutive clean sheet in the league against Hitchin with Harper-Penman bagging a double. Unfortunately he got injured.

My final game of the month was against Yate in the Red Insurance Southern Cup (I think that's right). We won 2-1 after going behind after 2 minutes.


We have dropped down to 8th because of only winning 1 from 3 this month. Our for and against is amazing. 10 goals and 1 conceded after 7 games. That is all down to my back 4 and in particular my young left back Marcus Adams. He has been amazing since I signed him at the beginning of the year.
Injuries


Unfortunately I've lost my only left winger and my back-up striker to Eddy. Luckily Ben Watson is returning from injury so he can start banging in some goals. I have many guys playing out of position (Afful playing right wing). Most of my injured players are nearly ready to return so that'll be great. Hopefully they can gel and we'll be back in the conference.

October


Great news. I need these two to be fit and firing if we are going to get promoted.


I bought these two as we were lacking depth at the back and my first choice keeper Simon Hulse injured himself.

A crap start to the month where we lost two in the league 1-0 and got knocked out of the Southern League Cup on penalties. After a change in tactics, we won 4 straight to close the month scoring 9 and conceding 4.
Injuries



I just got Watson and Lowry back and now they are injured. Hulse was my first choice keeper so that lead to my signing of Sandercombe.

Our late run of form leaves us in 3rd spot with a great for and against record. We are the only team to concede less than 10 goals in the league so far. Great work by our defence.
All we have to look forward to now is the league. November is looking like an easy month. Results in the next update.

Good wins Shame injuries are stacking up

Cheers mate. It's hard because I can't buy any more players. I'm lucky I got Adams who can play anywhere in the back line and Sandercombe who is my first choice keeper. I also have a few guys who can play nearly anywhere on the pitch so I can rotate everyone around if needed.

November
Premier League:


Wow. They are running seventh after 13 games and he got the sack. Put a cheeky request in for the job
Results and Table:


Great start to the months with 3 wins against good opposition (two 4-2's). However I don't know what happened for the last three. We should have gone undefeated but due to suspensions and injuries, we lost two and luckily drew one against Burnham. Much improvement is needed for next month. Because of the last three games, we dropped from 2nd to 4th (but our goal difference is +15).
Injuries:

Afful the only injury. He returned for the first game of December which I'll cover next update.

Some Good Results there despite your Injuries shame about your last results least your still in playoff mix

Cheers mate. It is a shame plus some of my defenders are having a bit of a lean spell with some bad performances and no quality backups so I can't drop them. I'm hoping to turn it around next month.

December

This isn't good especially as I'm losing money every month.
Results and Table


What a month. I've picked out that game against St. Neots because Jack Adams got sent in the first half, I was down two-nil after 65 minutes and my man Liam Eddy scores two goals in the final 10 minutes (including a 90th minute equalizer) to salvage a point. Crazy.We also had a great win against 1st placed Dorchester. We went down 1-0 early before Jamie Lowry equalized in the 20th minute. Afful put us ahead and Joe Broad finshed the rout in the 62nd. They scored in the 91st minute but we were never going to lose. I nearly had an undefeated month but I think the lads were looking forward to the Christmas party and forgot about the game against Biggleswade. We had no possesion and when we did we gave it straight back. Missed some easy chances. We should have won.

That loss against Biggleswade cost us second spot on the ladder. Histon are now the new leaders having overtaken Dorchester. We still have the best defense in the league but we need to score a few more goals. Hoping to start 2014 with a bang.

January

Fifalona

I have agreed to a new 1 year contract. I have taken considerably less money to help the club with finance as well as having a reduced wage budget so I can buy some players.
Fixtures and Table

Shocking start to the month with 2 draws and a 4-1 hammering from Histon. Adams scored the first but it was all one way traffic after that. Great turn around for the Weymouth and Cambridge City games (Eddy with the 94th minute winner ) helped steady the ship but due to injuries and suspension nealry half my squad wasn't playing as well lost 1-0 to Hitchin.

Due to our poor month we are now down to fifth. We can't drop out of the play-off positions but we can move to second with a win, that's how close it is. Our defense is one of the best in the league when it is full strength but we need to score some more goals. Eddy has 14 this year already but needs some support from Watson.
Injuries


It always seems to be the same guys getting injured. Lowry is a key player and can fill in everywhere on the pitch while Afful is my 1st choice right winger.

February


Losing some income here. Again.
Fixtures and Table

After a slow start to the month, we gained some momentum with the two draws with 6 first team regulars injured or suspended (Bideford are 4th, Bedford 6th). We finished the month with three straight wins against lower placed sides. However, I'm starting to get troops back so I can push hard for a play-off spot. Special mention to Paul Parker after a great month with 4 goals in 4 games. Having come up from the 18's to replace Ben Watson, he has hit the ground running scoring 3 in 2 games and scoring another against Bedford.

One loss and 11 points rockets us up the ladder to 2nd only three points ahead of 5th placed Hungerford but 13 behind Histon heading into the penultimate month of the season.
Injuries



A couple of serious injuries to Watson and Wannell basically ends their season. Watson may have played his last game for the club. Cooke wasn't as major and featured in our last game against Totton.

March

Youth Intakes. This is great as it gives me some fresh options to rotate the squad and not spend heaps of money on new players.





These look my best prospects. Jefferies looks good. Might use him next year as a rotation option for cups/weak squads.
Fixtures and Table

What a crazy month! After losing a winnable game against Chippenham, Paul Parker went crazy and scored 4 goals against Hinckley. It was a case of I score, you score. 1-0 to us, 1-1 to them and so forth with Parker scoring his fourth and the winner in the 84th minute. He has been on fire since being promoted scoring 10 goals in 8 starts and 21 games. Eddy has 19 in 40 odd games. He will team up with Eddy next year as I decided to release Ben Watson at the end of the year to reduce the wage budget.

The end of the month was crazier. After losing to 22nd place Bashley, we managed to knock Histon and Hungerford off their f****** porch with a clean sheet against one of the best defences in the league. Liam Eddy scoring his 22nd goal of the season.

Gutted I can't finish first but definitely will be aiming for second so I get an easier team.
I will post April and the play-off results tonight or tomorrow (Australian time).

April
The final month of the season.










What a great month! After the board injected some much needed cash, they also agreed to increase the wage budget. This is great news as it allows me to re-sign the majority of the squad that are still young and that I want to help Truro in the future. The only exception is Jake Ash who I gave a 1 year contract as he is 30 years old but can still be a vital part of my team. I will be letting go Ben Watson and Les Afful at the end of the season as their wages are massive and they aren't first choice as well as being to old. I also have to say goodbye to Jamie Lowry, who decided not to go into contract discussions with me. The junior coaching upgrade is great as well so we can produce our own talent instead of buying players.
Fixtures and Final Table (Regular Season)

Undefeated final month with two 5-0 wins against crap opposition. A 4-2 win against Redditch was great especially as I put on a weakened squad. I handed Phil Jefferies his debut against them and he went well. A bore 0-0 draw against St Neots was my fault as I was watching telly as it was on.

This left us 2nd spot and a semi final against Bedford.

Uh-oh. I've lost my only left back until the second game of finals at least.
Playoffs


A 1- 0 loss away from home. They were even down to ten men for 70 minutes but we couldn't complete our chances. Hopefully the second leg was an improvement.

Great work by the boys to overturn the 1 goal deficit to claim a 2-0 win with Eddy scoring with a counter-attacking goal for the winner. We now play Bideford in the two legged final.

We are going up! We completely dominated them at their home ground in the first leg to score 4 away goals and seal our promotion.

The home leg was less exciting but we are still going up! Great work by the boys for a roller coaster season where we could have finished 1st or out of the playoffs.

Our top goalscorer was Liam Eddy with 24 goals in all competitions (23 in the league). He also got the most PotM awards with 11. Jamie Lowry had the most assists this year with 14 in an injury-plagued year. Special mention to Paul Parker with 15 goals in 24 games after stepping up from the Under 18's. Hopefully he'll be able to weave his magic for next year when we are in Skrill North or South (I don't know where Truro is).

Congrats on going up, mate! Massive away-win in the first leg, there!

Cheers mate. There was a period half-way during the season where I was really doubting we could actually do it. But then Eddy and Parker starting firing along with Lowry and we just gathered momentum and it showed at the end of the season luckily

Pre-Season 2014/15
Financial News





It just seemed silly that I had to pay taxes if I wasn't making money. My losses were not that bad but are predicted to tumble in the next few years. I glad the board upgraded my wage budget as I can bump up my squad number so I have more rotation this year as I'm in three competitions this year. Loan repayments . TV Rights money
Player News








I bought a host of youngsters on cheap money who will offer me rotation and will replace my senior players in years to come. Summers was my only expensive signing but I still have $650 in my wage budget which could buy me a few more youngsters. Sad to see Lowry go, didn't accept my contract offer even though I had money. I'm hoping Dan Hart, Cody Cooke or Phil Jefferies will be as good as him. Maybe even Bob Eacock. I re-signed Joe Broad as he is still a quality player and he is our leading appearance maker.
Other News




My best 11 and best player of the year. Well deserved by Ash, he was consistently our best player in a host of positions (RB, CB, CDM, CM). Good to be home for Christmas and Boxing Day although Sutton could be a test in the first game of the season. England losing on penalties to Germany. I saw it and I had to post it. Even Football Manager doesn't like England. In the end Argentina beat Netherlands 1-0 in extra time after a goal from Messi in the 112th minute to secure victory.
Friendlies

A great start with two 3-1 wins against my local rivals Newquay and Falmouth. A great effort against Blackpool where we kept them out for 82 minutes before they scored. Great effort by the lads they gave it everything and nearly pulled off an upset. Tough game against Plymouth but the draw was a good result. However we lost the last three games to Brest Reserves, Aston Villa and St Ives. I felt we could have beaten Brest and St. Ives but we did well against Villa keeping it to 2-0. Tim Sandercombe saved a penalty in the 2nd minute of the game. We were up 1-0 against St Ives when they equalized after 55 minutes and then Joe Broad scored and own goal in the 62nd minute to put them in the lead. I was disappointed we couldn't win after having many chances after that. Our first month of action will be in the next update.

August

The end of the transfer window. I brought in a host of youngsters on non-contracts so I'm paying them peanuts. I let go of Afful and Watson as they were getting old and were taking up the majority of my wage budget.

Not a great start to my life in Skrill South with a 3-0 hammering at Sutton. They were awarded a controversial penalty to make 2-0 which killed us. Nothing more to comment.

An awesome performance against Margate to turn it around where we had many chances to score. The final score could have been 8-0. Cody Cooke was the cream of the crop with 2 goals and pushed forward for most of the game.

A crazy game against Maidstone with the score 3-3 at half time. They scored 2 early goals before I pulled one back through Jake Ash. They scored in the 39th to make it 3-1 until Liam Eddy scored a minute later and then equalized two minutes later. It was a great turn-around and I was hoping for more. Unfortunately we couldn't convert our chances and 3-3 it stayed.

A bore draw against Harvant to close the month wasn't ideal, but it's better than a loss.


We finished September in 14th place which is great after we started with a loss. We are 5 points off top, but I'm not concerned about that. I'm more concerned about my injuries....




An injury to two of my strikers. This leaves me short in the striker department. I had to call up my 5th choice striker Tom Baird. Guess what? Got injured as well. Not a great month for my strikers.

September

Not an ideal start to the month with a 5-0 hammering to Hemel. I tried to pull a goal back at 3-0 but they hit us twice on the counter.

I don't know what happened but something clicked and we destroyed Woking twice (League and FA Cup), beat Ebbsfleet away when no-one fancied us to win and thrashed Concord 5-0 in front of the Treyew Road faithful. We should have won the last game against Bath after going up 2-0. Overall a great month of results apart from the Hemel game.


The three wins and draw leaves us sixth in which I'm 7 points of top and out of the playoff spots by the virtue of goal difference. I'm happy we turned around a poor start to post three consecutive wins and progress in the FA Cup.



Pugh is a big loss as he is a rock at the back and dominant in the air winning the majority of his headers. Kellaway is my back up left-back and injured himself in his first game back from injury.

Next Up: October

October

A great month in which we went undefeated in the league and our only defeat cam in the FA Cup. Disappointed we didn't make the first round but we lived up to expectations and made a bit of money. The highlight of the month was the win against Gloucester where we were up 4-0 after 20 minutes. The Bromley win was a good one too but we should have beaten Farnborough.

An undefeated month in the league puts us fourth and in the play-off spots as well as two points behind Maidstone. We have a healthy for and against compared to Concord. Look at St Albans and Farnborough. Played them both and only beat one. Must improve against the top sides.

Nice going, Joe!