Some Hayes are Better than Others

So I have started a new save on FM15 and hopefully this will be a long and illustrious career. Adopting the legen - wait for it - dary Barney Stinson, I have taken over Hayes and Yeading in the Vanarama South.



The club have a modest target of a Top Half finish this season, and have offered a Wage Budget of £3k and a Transfer Budget of £0. Best be finding some good, cheap talent then!! Obviously a Parent Club is a must as well.

The club have no prefered philosophies to adhere to so it's free reign for now. I think it has to be the aim at this time to get rid of any deadwood and bring in come players that are showing potential, hopefully tying down a few 4 or 5 year contracts on the way.

Good luck

Well, it would seem that the wage budget here is pretty non existent. I have attempted to sign an extra scout and also a new Head of Youth Development. This should hopefully improve the quality of the younger members of the squad.

On another note, we only have 1% World Knowledge for scouting. Although Hayes and Yeading aren't going to be signing any Brazilian wonderkids anytime soon, I do think that this is something that needs to be addressed in due course!

Having looked at the Squad Depth, the immediate thing that I notice is the distinct lack of a presence in Right Midfield. I'll see if I can get a loanee in to cover this, as otherwise we may get torn apart down the wing.

Cheers Johno. First time attempting a career this low down!

2 new members of staff have now arrive in the form of a Scout and a Head of Youth Development.





This now gives me 2% Scouting knowledge. But obviously, it's nothing to shout about.

The first game of pre season was an Intra Squad friendly against the Under 21's side. Going into the game, players were reminded that no final starting 11 has been decided for the season, so places were up for grabs.

At half time, with the scores still deadlocked at 0-0, it was decided to bring on all subs. After all, what use is a pre season friendly if you cant see what players are like.

Anyhow, 68 minutes came and went, with only 1 shot on target each. Then a moment of brilliance from Danny Blake in the 69th minute for the Under 21's put the senior team a goal down. 21 minutes to go and the young'uns were stealing it...........

............final score 0-1.

The Hayes and Yeading board have now come to me with their proposed Parent Clubs, giving me a choice of Coventry, Peterborough and Walsall, in Sky Bet League 1, and Chester in the Vanarama conference. After debating between Walsall and Chester (the two teams offering the highest annual fee, after all money is everything at the moment), I decided on Walsall, believing that they would have better players available for loan. Only time will tel.

***NEW ARRIVAL***

Today marks the first full transfer. Nat Jarvis had been in on trial but, after my coach recommended doing whatever to get his signature, I have signed Nat on a 12 month deal. I will aim to increase this around November.



My coach is currently only rating him highly due to large potential, but hopefully he can make an immediate impact.

So the first league game of the season is away at St Albans. After a pre season of varying results, this is our chance to show our desire for the season ahead. Nobody wants to start with a win more than myself.



After a brief message from the board outlining the expectations for the season ahead (all of which seemed fair and achievable), it was game time. A quick pre match team talk gave me the chance to tell the players to give it their all for the fans sake and kick off began.

A disappointing first half meant that the players had to eat their oranges being one goal down due to a softly given penalty. 45 minutes left in the game to get some goals for a win to set the season up. Nat Jarvis was brought on at half time to try and turn the fortunes of the team around.

Full time arrived, and the lads were gutted. A narrow 1-0 loss in a tightly contested game meant a losing start to the campaign.



Onwards to the next game and hopefully our first competitive win of the season!!

Good luck with this chap! Will be a tough journey

A tough journey indeed! I'm relishing it but dreading the axe all the time!

Our first home game was to Concord Rangers. Going in at half time trailing just 2-1, I felt there was a real chance to grab our first win of the season. However, things were not to work that way and we were ripped apart, losing 4-1. Not a lot to say about the game really, other than it was so disheartening to lose so heavily this early on!



Still, onwards we marched to our next fixture, away at Basingstoke. We needed to stop the slump and a change in tactics had to happen. Rather than a simple 4-4-2, I decided to try playing 3 defenders, 2 wing backs, 3 midfielders and 2 strikers. Only problem with this? Nobody in the squad can play at Right Wing Back. Still, the old virtue of Nothing Ventured definitely holds strong here!
An early goal looked to be helping us towards our first win of the season. However, an injury to our loanee Ashley Lodge meant we were struggling even more to fill that wing back position on the right. We struggled on and had a penalty awarded in the 93rd minute. It was missed, but the rebound was tucked away, giving us a 2-0 win, our first of the season!!!! Unfortunately, an injury to the best striker in the squad forced him out for around 2 months



The next fixture was at home to Whitehawk, a team plugging away for top spot at the moment. A win here would move us on up the table, a loss could sink us to the bottom of the league. New signing Nat Jarvis gave us the lead and our Right Wing Back adding another just one minute later. Substitute Tom Collins added a third to put the game out of reach for Whitehawk. A great result from the lads, showing a lot of passion and smooth team play.



One more game for August, away at Weston-Super-Mare. We're currently sat 12th in the league, with our opponents level on points in 15th place. Early days in the season still so these positions not telling as much so far. We headed into the game on the end of back to back wins, while Weston-Super-Mare lost their last fixture 1-0. At half time, things were looking pretty even in the stats and the score was 1-1. We looked like the better team but needed to be wary at the back as a swift counter account could undo all our work pushing forward. After some encouragement at the break, the second half kicked off. Two quick goals and the score reached 2-2, before Weston-Super-Mare added to their tally, taking the score to 3-2. Unfortunately, the damage had been done and we succumbed to our third loss of the season.

Well, September has now been played through, with 4 games being carried out.



Our first game of the month was against Wealdstone. In a game that we should have won easily, we didn't take our chances and I really feel that we dropped two points here. 17 shots to 5 and the majority of gameplay was ours!!! Gutted.



Our second game of the month was against Ebbsfleet. This game was a much tighter game than against Wealdstone, and this showed when we were unable to bag a winner. A completely redundant and boring second half did nothing to lift spirits either.



Our final league game for the month came against Hemel Hempstead. In a game that we should really have won with ease, it came down to only being a one goal margin. Some sloppy defending allowing the opponent to get their noses back into the game, but we shut up shop for the end of game, holding onto a win and a lovely 3 points.



Our final game of the month was the second qualifying round of the FA Cup. We only needed to win this game and the next round to reach our achievement for the season, so we felt confident going in. How foolish we were. a 3-0 result was harsh, but we never looked like winning the game at all. We need to put this result behind us and now concentrate on both the league and the FA Trophy.

After having a mixed bag of results in the league, I have decided to look a little deeper into the squad at present, and the future talent that I may or may not possess. I finally have someone who can play on the right of midfield, but no backup which could pose a problem.



It's evident that a goalkeeper is needed to stop leaking soft goals. Also, backup left and right backs would be a good idea so sure up the defence, Finally, without a shadow of doubt, another right midfielder is an absolute must!

When looking at the potential ability of the available players, it is still evident that positions need to be filled. But there are one or two players who may really excel if given the right game time and training. I'm mostly looking at Matthew Harriot and Nat Jarvis here.



So I've decided to hunt for some loanees to bulk out the squad and fill the necessary gaps. But in the mean time, I think a change of tactics is in order!!



After looking a little closer, it's apparent that I do have players that can play in attacking midfield positions. Therefore, we'll try this tactic for the next month, maybe two. Wish me luck people!

The first match of the month, and the first with our new tactic, was at home to Bishop's Stortford. On the back of a 3-0 smashing in the FA Cup qualifiers, it was important for us to get a good result here and increase morale in the dressing room. So we headed out, ready for anything!

After a closely fought first half, the score was 1-1 although Bishop's Stortford looked more like making something happen. Still, we continued with the same team and Nat Jarvis took matters into his own hands, getting a second goal after 57 minutes. Our centreback Inman scored a third, putting the game out reach of the opposition, giving us a resounding 3-1 win! Could the new tactic be paying off? Obviously one game is not enough to judge.

Not doing too bad mate, hopefully the new tactic works for you

After a great result at home to Bishop's Stortford, the Hayes and Yeading team headed to Staines, full of confidence and the belief that they could outscore anybody on their top day! A relatively unchanged team, other than the return of previously injured Joe Anyinsah, meant that the transition between games would be as smooth as possible.

Anyinsah immediately thanked me for gifting him the start by scoring in the 25th minute, giving us a 1-0 lead at the interval. Things were looking good, and the team looked cool, calm and confident in their play. An unchanged team returned to the field for the second half, and what a second half it was. Another goal by Anyinsah gave us a 2-0 lead, but Staines pulled one back in the 62nd minute, before our centre back Inman got himself sent off with a straight red in the 63rd minute. A tense 27 minutes followed, but a hat trick for Anyinsah meant a second consecutive win for the lads who are really starting to build some confidence!!

Thanks again Dan. It seems to be working so far. Two wins in two games is always positive

Good to see you're picking up win again

Cheers Johno. It's nice to be picking up points again!!

Full of confidence, we hosted Boreham Wood in our next fixture hoping to pick up another 3 points. However, it just wasn't to be! In a game where we only managed to muster one shot on target, we were beaten by a team that played better on the day and deserved to win. The loss of Ansinyah to a bout of food poisoning proved costly!! The less said about this game, the better!

After the previous disappointing result, the team headed to Eastbourne Boro for another game in the Vanarama South league. The lads were made favourites before the game and we really felt we could go and show why we had been labelled favourites. Unfortunately, the first half ended with us going in a goal down at 1-0. A quick team talk to let players know that they've just been unlucky did little to inspire the team, who started the second half poorly and conceded early on to go 2-0 down. We looked beat, but 2 goals in the final 10 minutes rescued a 2-2 draw. We were lucky but really should have been winning games such as this!

So the final game in October was upon us, a visit to Ebbsfleet to try and improve on the 1-1 draw at home earlier in the season. I'm not entirely sure why this fixture had come around again so quickly, seeing as we're only just quarter of the way through, but never mind, we had a game to win!

A slow, boring start eventually resulted in a goal for Ebbsfleet, giving them a slender 1-0 lead at half time. Loanee Ashely Lodge was taken off at half time with Saul Williams appearing in his place. Another goal was scored 10 minutes in to the secnod half, this time by ourselves. Could we go on and clinch a win and a lovely 3 points?

Unfortunately not! A boring remainder of the game resulted in a 1-1 draw that should have been a win for ourselves. Once again, chances not being taken when presented!!



So what does this mean for our October performance? Well, 5 league games played and 8 points claimed out of a possible 15. It could be worse, and looking at the league table, we are meeting our objectives sitting in 10th place currently. Still, it would be nice if we could push forward and try to maybe get into the playoff spots!

Novembers first fixture was at home to Sutton United, a team sat in 17th position, just 3 points off the bottom of the table. This was a game that should have stopped our recent run of 3 games without a win. A good first half with a goal from Saul Williams meant that we went in at the break holding a one goal lead. All we needed to do was continue in this fashion and the win was ours, 3 points in the bag and 9th place in the table.

We went out for the second half, and 2 goals from Cliff Akurang and another from Saul Williams meant that we returned to winning ways with a comfortable 4-0 victory. The month has started brightly and we want many more wins like that!

On a side note, the Sutton United manager was fired after this game!

Its getting there mate, keep it going

Our second game in November came against lowly Gosport. The lads were confident of putting in a good result and grabbing another 3 points to push us closer to the play offs, and I didn't see any reason why this couldn't happen.

A great first half from the lads ensured that we were holding a 2-0 lead at half time, one of which a penalty. I decided that the match was as good as won, and proceeded to make 3 substitutions. True to Football Manager form, I received an injury in the 56th minute, reducing me to 10 men for the majority of the second half. However, this was evened up by a red card issued to Gosport. The home side managed to grab a goal but it was a small token in a foregone conclusion. A further 3 points for the Hayes and Yeading boys and things are on the up!!

A little bit of bad luck for the team now, as it turns out that their best striker and their third best striker are out for some time with injuries. An opportunity maybe for another player or two to show their worth, but a pain for me as I'd have these guys playing week in, week out if I could!

For our next game, we hosted Bromley, currently sat 12th in the league, just 3 points behind ourselves. The lads hoped to use the home advatage and grab another 3 points, but we knew we needed someone to step up and start banging goals in! Given that we were also favourites for the match, I let the lads know before Kick Off that we needed to keep this run going!

A shocking first half meant that we headed in at half time 2-0 down. There was a lot of work to do and just 45 minutes to do it. Could we turn the 2 goal deficit around and grab a great 3 points? The odds were definitely stacked against us.

After changing our right back, right mid and a striker at half time, I decided to let the boys know I wanted attacking, route one football for the next 45 minutes. Anything to turn this game around!! 50th minute, Bromley scored a third goal. The game was as good as over, it was now about damage limitation! Unfortunately, things went from bad to worse as a 4th goal shook our net from the inside, topping off the torrid day that we'd had. In addition to this, our left back got his second yellow card of the game in the 81st minute to truly sum it all up!

A consolation goal in the 87th minute was soon overshadowed, as we received our heaviest defeat of the season, and the heaviest of my short career

Good win over Gosport

Cheers Johno. Just a pity that the game after was so shocking!!