Matlock Town - The Gladiators

Hey Everybody!
Unfortunately my previous British steel attempt didn't work out, I was sacked by Tamworth after just three months and after that nobody would give me a second chance and hire me, even in the the Conference North/South or in Ireland, so I think it is for the best if I start over. However this time I have decided to combine this challenge with the Dafuge challenge which is so popular over on the SI forum. I left the game to holiday for a season and then got to chose from one of the six teams promoted into the bottom division in England.


My Profile

Everything is true to life, aside from me being a year older as I holidayed through 2014/15.
I'm starting off with the lowest reputation and with zero qualifications, as a former goalkeeper I left that attribute as the highest of my coaching ratings and boosted my determination a little, hey if your not determined to succeed, what's the point?

Getting Started
As you have probably all spotted in the title bar of this thread I chose to take up the reigns of Matlock Town FC, My wife and I are regular visitors to Matlock Bath as it's only a half hour drive up into the beautiful Peak district from ours, it's one of our favourite places for a day trip.
Despite many visits to the town I have never seen the football club play and know very little about them, so I have no advantage in this department and pre-season will be important for me in order to get a feel for my squad before the season begins.

The club's facilities are as you might expect very basic, of course if I am in it for the long haul it must be an objective to gradually upgrade them over the years, of course I won't rush into anything as money is a precious commodity at this level.


Team Report
I'm reluctant to rely too heavily on this team report as my assistant Nick Buxton only has a '3' for his judging current ability attribute, still it provides a useful overview of what areas of the squad we are well covered in and where we could use reinforcement.

I would say the defence looks the most sketchy area at the moment, however I will wait until we've played a few friendlies before I rush into adding any extra drains to the wage bill.

Finances

Not much capital in the bank, It's likely that even with the utmost care on my part that we will slide into the red before long, my objective is merely to keep the debt as low as possible to keep us financially viable in the future.

Competition
I'm sure most of you are familiar with the rules of the Conference North/South, however if you're not, there are two divisions at this level, each containing 22 teams with the champions of each gaining automatic promotion to the Conference Premier, the next four clubs play-off to join them. the bottom three of each division are relegated.

The media reckons we're for the drop, although we're marginally less fancied then Corby Town for finishing dead last!

Lets have a quick look how our players stack up compared to the rest of the division;

I'm encouraged by the fact we have the second best rating for teamwork, that suggests a good team cohesion which I consider vital to success. The poor decision making is something of a concern though, I might need to reduce the creative expression and roaming afforded to my team tactically or else run the risk of conceding lots of avoidable goals.


After looking more closely at these comparisons, I would think I may have to reconsider my assertion that the defence is the area of the team that needs the most work, the midfield looks rather shoddy compared with the rest of division.

Good Luck, looks like a long season ahead according to the media but you should comfortably stay up. Hopefully you don't get sacked this time

Also played at Matlock's ground and I have to say I've played at worse!

Good Luck Rick tough challenge

All the best mate.As said above its a tough challenge.

God luck Rick! Just for their badge I hope you do well!

+1 Thats a great badge! Good luck with this!

Good luck

Best badge in football!

Good luck mate!!!

I hope so mate, given the gloomy predictions for the club I should be given much longer than I was with Tamworth in order to prove myself.
Thats good, you a footballer then?

Aye it is, I'm going to try and break it up into smaller targets for each season, it can be easy to lose heart if you only think of the big picture.

Thanks mate.

Thanks mate, yeah I quite like it, although I do think it should have the clubs name on it somewhere, looks a bit dodgy without it in my opinion!

Thanks dude.

Gracias.

Hopefully I can do it proud someday!

Cheers!

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Pre-Season 2015/16

In & Out
My preparation for the new campaign is complete, or at least as complete as it is going to get! I've not made huge changes to the squad, I am keeping faith in the group that won promotion from the Northern Premier League under Mark Atkins last season, with just two new signings on my part.

Callum Jakovlevs and Craig Nelthorpe were acquisitions by my predecessor, although I am happy to have them as they are both good players. Matt Roome is a player who I have seen play many times when he was part of the Aston Villa reserve team and then when he signed for my real life local side Gresley FC so I know he's a solid right back who should be able to cope with the jump up two levels.

My other signing was a controversial one amongst the fans as midfielder Jonathan Williams joins us from arch-rivals Buxton! Despite his unfortunate ex-employers Jon is a well rounded midfielder who I think will play a important part in our bid for survival in the Conference North this season and win the supporters around.

I'm not too concerned about the six outgoing lads, although I did try to convince winger Mickey Harcourt to stay as he looked a good lad, however his wage demands were far in excess of what I valued his services at.

There is also an addition to the coaching team, (aside from me!) Mark Atkins's assistant Nick Buxton decided not to stay on when his contract expired, which was fine by me as I wanted to bring in somebody who can provide me with solid tactical advice which Nick wasn't suitable for. After sifting through a host of applicants for the job I opted to make Caernarfon Town assistant Ceri Griffiths my right hand man.

The Whole Team
So now I've given you a glimpse of my new signings, let me now showcase my squad as a whole;

Goalkeepers

Latvian born Jakovlevs will be my number one this season, he came through the academy at Burnley before being released last summer when he joined Conference Premier side Nuneaton but found himself playing second fiddle to Jon Maxted. not content with staying on the bench there he has decided to become a Gladiator in order to get some first team football. Homegrown talent Matt Leese will be hoping for an opportunity of his own during the course of the campaign.

Show Spoiler

Defenders

My assistant clearly doesn't think much of my decision to sign Matt Roome, but screw him, I believe in Matt! I have no shortage in talent when it comes to centre backs so I may chose to adopt a 5-4-1 or 5-3-2 if things don't go to plan in the early stages of the season in order to tighten up.

Show Spoiler

Midfielders

During pre-season I have been using a 4-5-1 with the two wingers acting as inside forwards, meaning I need three central midfielders, captain Liam Needham is an automatic choice at the heart of the team, either side of him are James Ashmore who looks to get forward and support the front three when possible and Josh Meade who stays central as a deep lying playmaker, his duty is adjusted to defend when we need to hold onto a lead although he can also push up when required.

Further forward we have experienced journeyman Craig Nelthorpe and one time Sheffield United and Leicester prospect Corey Gregory, ordinarily they are set to inside forwards, however I can adjust them to be defensive wingers when needs be.

Show Spoiler

Strikers

Still weak in this area, I've had trouble finding anyone who is really what I want from a forward, a battering ram who can upset opposition defences with their sheer physicality and aggression, silky skilled tranquista's and false nines have their place in football, however the Conference North is not it!

Show Spoiler

Finances

We made a small loss in June and July, this of course needs to change, however the financial model on this FM seems to be improved from previous versions where you would be in crippling debt within days unless managing a top team. The fact we didn't get to face any professional teams in pre-season prevented us from taking any large gates and thus missing out on a big pay-day.

Results
It was an encouraging start to my reign as my Gladiators went unbeaten through a short but challenging pre-season schedule which included several local derbies;

We kicked off against Heanor Town who are currently at step nine of the football pyramid, we showed our class by easing to a routine 3-0 victory as we prepared for the biggest game of the summer. I use the term friendly lightly when describing the visit of hated rivals Buxton to Causeway Lane, Buxton are only one division beneath us in the Northern Premier League, which we escaped from last season, so we got a much tougher game than the previous fixture. We trailed from the ninth minute when George Wearing stabbed the ball home to put the Stags ahead, a half time kick up the backside from myself seem to ignite the passions of my players as they rallied in the second period to come back and win thanks to winger Chris Sutherlands lovely curling effort and striker Danny Holland poking home a winner with just three minutes left on the clock to send Causeway Lane into raptures as we defeated our neighbours, earning me the admiration of the support;

A draw with Welsh Permier side Airbus Broughton wasn't a bad result, neither was beating another of our Peak district neighbors in the shape of Belper. We wrapped up pre-season with a slightly disappointing draw with Evo-Stik D1S side Sheffield FC. despite being held I am confident my squad is now fit and ready for the coming trials and tribulations and I am confident we can stave off the spectre of relegation that pundits feel is set to claim us.

After all these friendlies against local sides, the theme continues into the competitive games as we first take on on fellow Derbyshire outfit Ilkeston away before Macclesfield take the scenic journey across the peak district to visit Causeway Lane.

August 2015

We've had a mixed start to life in the Vanarama North after winning two and losing three of our opening five games;

The quality of our play has been encouraging even if the results haven't always gone our way, in fact we should have beaten Ilkeston comfortably if not for a dire opening six minutes where we conceded both goals, the rest of the game we were the better side as demonstrated by the match stats;

But of course if you can't put the ball in the net you are never going to win, as was the case here.

We did hit the target against Macclesfield in a game we were largely expected to lose heavily, we weathered the storm and got our reward for some stoic defending in the last minute when Josh Peake was on hand to head home from Corey Sutherland's searching cross to hand us our first three points in this division, much fist pumping on my part ensued.
Much like the Ilkeston game, we played fairly well against Hereford but got no reward against the Bulls as the promotion favorites took their chances much more clinically than ourselves and walked away with a comfortable 3-1 scoreline. Against Southport I can't honestly say we were unlucky, we weren't, Southport were by far the better side and the 4-1 final score didn't flatter them at all, in the end I had to shut up shop just to prevent the result becoming a real embarrassment.

Doggedly we bounced back against Stalybridge as midfielder James Ashmore netted inside a minute to get us moving in the right direction, Celtic pulled level on the stroke of half time through defender Matthew Regan when he headed down a corner, much to my annoyance as I have spent a lot of time organising my players at set-pieces. There were some nerves that we would go onto lose after that, however up popped Ashmore again in the 80th minute to score a beautiful freekick that any Premiership player would have been proud of.

Our six points see us currently sitting 15th in the league, if we can finish in 15th come May I will be very happy indeed! I think if we can average six or seven points from every five games we should stay clear of danger. My aim is to try and turn Causeway Lane into a fortress and make teams dread coming here.

Doing very well to be outside the relegation zone mate

Good until now and saying outside the relegation.
Also great presentation!

Thanks mate

Thanks, keep reading!

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September 2015

Last month I set my team a challenge of averaging seven points from every five games, which they achieved this month with two wins, two losses and a draw in the league;

I'm pretty happy with our form in the Conference North at the moment even if we were bested by Gainsborough and North Ferriby rather comprehensively due to a lack of discipline, we had three red cards in those games which of course badly affected us, this prompted me to tinker with the tactics and tell my players to stay on their feet rather than diving into tackles.

Since then we have improved a great deal, our new found self restraint has seen us put together a three match unbeaten run, moving us up to 14th in the table;

Midfielder James Ashmore has been in fantastic form, he's currently among the divisions highest rated stars;

So you can imagine my frustration when he was stretchered off against Chorley with a knee injury which will keep him out for 6-8 weeks. A big loss for us.

The disastrous FA cup tie with Southport is not something I wish to say much about, we were truly woeful at the back, in particularly when defending corners where four of the five goals were scored. I worked long and hard at devising set-piece plans so to see us marking so sloppily was infuriating, the players we subjected to my unbridled fury after this one I can assure you.

Financially our bank balance continues to depreciate at an alarming rate, we've lost almost £30k since July, we have to find a way to prevent a crippling slide into the red which would seriously hamper our future bid to climb the divisions.

It's a pity we won't be getting a good run in the FA cup, the prize money would have been most useful.

Certainly not a bad month there mate, seen worse balances for a club in your league!

Thanks Dan.

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October 2015

A tactical shake-up has seen our fortunes take an upward trajectory as we climbed into the top half of the league table following three wins from four games;

We've scored eleven goals in the last four games, only one goal less than we have scored in the previous ten games combined. Is this form just a flash in the pan or can we keep it up?

Just a point outside the play-off places, what a departure from trying to keep ourselves an arms length from the relegation zone which is now ten points below us.

I attribute the change in fortunes to my decision to abandon 4-5-1 and adopt good old 4-4-2, the extra striker has really opened things up creatively and made the long ball game a viable option with defensive forward Danny Holland and poacher Josh Peake playing off of each other to great effect.

I was pleased to see Dan Ashmore return to scoring ways immediately following his return from injury against Brackley, he is an integral part of my team and was missed whilst out of the side.

Everyone loves to play a 4-2-3-1 nowadays (myself included) but I think in the lower leagues you still can't go wrong with a 4-4-2...

Good month in the league, KIU

I was using this variety of 4-5-1 before, however my wingers just arn't talented enough to make it work, they don't have the skills to beat defenders and score regularly enough.

Superb turn of form here!

Yeah I was very pleased!

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November 2015

After our impressive form last month I was hoping we could maintain the momentum gained from those games, however things have been much tougher in November as we have come up against some of the better teams in the division.

For the first time this season my side failed to hit my seven points per five games target, managing to accumulate only four, hopefully this is just a blip, our actual play hasn't been too bad, we had been the better team in the first half against Tamworth, however things went to pot in the second period as promotion tipped Tamworth assumed control of the game and went on to win comfortably. We were very unlucky not to take a point up at Stockport, only an 86th minute goal gave James Quinn's side all three points, I was however angry after the Bradford fixture as we threw away a two goal lead.

These results leave us slap bang in the middle of the Conference North, still closer to the play-off spaces than the relegation zone which is a positive for sure;

Having to replay the FA Trophy tie with Northern League side Clitheroe is far from ideal given our busy fixture schedule currently, I will shoulder the blame after putting out a weakened side which didn't manage to get the job done.

Off the field I've had a couple of players moaning about lack of football, fullback Matt Roome hasn't played a game for us yet since I brought him in from fellow Derbyshire side Gresley in the summer, Ben Montgomery's form so far has been excellent so I told Roome that the situation is unlikely to change and he can look for a new club.
Winger Craig Nelthorpe is also unhappy with a lack of opportunity, however I was willing to accommodate his request for a chance and he has so far seized upon it, producing some fine displays on the left flank.

Hahahaha my brother is rubbish, 'Jakovlevs'