Alloa Athletic - Part Time to Legends - Football Manager Stories - FM16

liam1872

8 years ago

4 years ago

4

20 Feb 2016 15:45:52

Alloa Athletic - Part Time to Legends

With the ultimate aim of the career being to take Alloa from the depths of the Scottish Championship to the heights of the Scottish Premiership and into Europe, we would first have to keep them in the division. With a predicted finish of 10th place, bottom of the Scottish Championship, and with Alloa being only a part-time team in a division full of full-time teams, this was not going to be easy.

After relegation to the bottom tier of Scottish football in 2011, former Scotland international Paul Hartley was appointed as the new manager in an attempt to immediately bounce back. The 2011-12 season saw Paul Hartley's men win the Scottish Third Division and gain promotion to the Second Division before making their way to 2nd place in this division in 2012-13. This 2nd place finish meant Alloa would gain a play-off spot in which they faced First Division side Dunfermline for a spot in the 2013-14 Scottish First Division.

The 2013-14 season saw the reconstruction of the Scottish leagues and thus there was a name change for the old First Division, meaning Alloa would be competing in the newly formed Scottish Championship. A tough season saw Paul Hartley resign as manager of the club in January 2014 following a 5-1 defeat to Dumbarton leaving Alloa in eighth place. Barry Smith took over from Hartley but he too resigned in March 2015 after defeat to Dumbarton which saw Alloa fall into the relegation play-off spot.

April 2015 saw former St Mirren boss Danny Lennon appointed as the clubs new manager on a one year deal however his stint in charge lasted just 16 games until December 2015 in which he picked up only 5 points. Alloa managed to retain their status as a Scottish Championship club for the 2015-16 season and now, I take over with the aim of doing the same and taking them further.

liam1872

8 years ago

4 years ago

4

20 Feb 2016 16:15:06

Alloa Athletic - Part Time to Legends

Transfers

https://i.gyazo.com/7e5b5116d1b53e433464e4a1e4be1932.png

With a very limited budget to play with I only managed to bring in two new faces, one for free and one on loan. Given the already tight squad I decided against letting any players go.

The Team

https://i.gyazo.com/c13ef8eeff06fda558a5743eeb6a2357.png

Pre-Season Results

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Pre-season contained a mixed bag of results however we were remaining hopeful of staying in the division next season.

The Season So Far

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Not a great start to the season at all as we remain without a point in the league after 4 games and have been knocked out of two cup competitions already. A win in my first competitive game against Brora Rangers made me slightly more confident before we struggled past bottom tier club Queen's Park after extra time. These two wins were followed by 6 straight defeats in which there was not a single good performance to take positives from. If we are to stay in this league then the performances must improve and so too the results.

The League Table

https://i.gyazo.com/31590f4f33965af074fe46bd21c307c7.png

Rock bottom of the table after 4 games without a point is not the start we were hoping for however, it was never going to be easy. Hopefully performances can pick up in the coming weeks and we can begin to get some points on the board. Its going to be a battle, however it is a battle we're prepared to fight.

Thank you for reading and the next update will be at the beginning of February where we will hopefully have climbed the table a bit

liam1872

8 years ago

4 years ago

4

23 Feb 2016 19:00:32

Alloa Athletic - Part Time to Legends

Season 2016/17

TRANSFERS OUT

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https://i.gyazo.com/79bfdb56d4e69a8065f2ab71ab8eec57.png

TRANSFERS IN

https://i.gyazo.com/8d7057c3933468b461c3248c7b0e75da.png

THE SQUAD

https://i.gyazo.com/00e1c2c99edb71742a6ce3d48d8cf982.png

After a mass turnaround in players at the beginning of the season our squad looked in good shape and I was confident we could build on last years 8th placed finish.

THE U20s

https://i.gyazo.com/788700e3d57027726d7adcdd5fe67e6e.jpg

COMPETITIONS

SCOTTISH CHALLENGE CUP

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It is worth mentioning that Dunfermline were flying at this point and banging in goals for fun. After knocking us out of the same competition last season they done it again however this time much more convincingly than before as they went 6-0 up before we even got into the game. Two goals back made it look slightly better but all in all it was an awful day at the office.
SCOTTISH LEAGUE CUP

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We took our cup hopes to Fir Park to face Motherwell who had just been relegated into our division. However their squad still contained some Premiership players and we were quickly put in our place and knocked out after losing 2 goals early on. We never recovered and lost the game 3-0, no League Cup glory this season

SCOTTISH CUP

https://i.gyazo.com/b1456867cb9ca74eabe7524b32497cfa.png

After drawing League 1 side Ayr we thought our chances of progressing in the Scottish Cup were pretty good and when we took a 3-1 lead with 10 minutes to go, we could be forgiven for thinking we had done enough. We hadn't. Ayr fought back and scored in the 88th, 92nd and 93rd minute to win the game 4-3 and send us back to Alloa embarrassed.

SCOTTISH CHAMPIONSHIP

https://i.gyazo.com/de11e93cf4e672555c820e80a2fdbf9e.png

A truly remarkable campaign saw us start very well and continue that all the way through the season to finish 3rd in the table, up 5 places from last season! The league was incredibly tight in a season which saw second bottom and relegated side Morton finish just 5 points from the play-off spots. Our third placed finish meant we would have to face 4th placed Queen of the South over two legs before facing 2nd placed Partick Thistle over two legs. Only after these 4 games would we make it to the final of the play-offs against the side who finished 2nd bottom of the Scottish Championship.

THE PLAY-OFFS

1ST ROUND

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https://i.gyazo.com/3e80f63156935d8e4a28230115e2e82f.png

The first round saw us face Queen of the South, a team who we had beaten in the past and knew we could beat again. The first leg finished all square at 1-1 giving us the home advantaged to seal the tie in the second leg. An equaliser scored by Frank Mulhern 9 minutes from time saw the tie go to extra time. Just 3 minutes into extra time Joe McKee netted the vital goal to make it 2-1, a goal which would be enough to take us through to the second round.
2ND ROUND

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https://i.gyazo.com/60061cfb567d844e80c12a20e648e04b.png

The first leg of the second round would be played in front of our home crowd. A game in which the crowd got more than their money's worth in what ended in a 6-6 draw. Despite being 5-1 and 6-2 up we couldn't hold our nerve and were cut open too easily leaving it all to play for in the second leg baring in mind that there is no away goals rule, thankfully. We left for Partick optimistic and netted twice in the first half to give us a very healthy lead at half time. Loanee Mark Lowdon added another just after half time to put the game out of sight for Partick. A consolation goal from Bob McHugh with 15 minutes left was all they could get and we would be progressing to the final to face... Rangers.

FINAL

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https://i.gyazo.com/23b59980f49eca60d6e42cdc84665b87.png

Just like the first two rounds, the first leg ended in a draw however this time with no goals on the board. The second leg at ibrox would be the decider and after Mark Lowdon netter early we started to believe. Waghorn's equaliser just 6 minutes later brought us back down to earth and from there we thought the floodgates would open. They didn't, and an incredible defensive display saw us break away with 10 minutes to go and win a penalty, a penalty which could take us to the Scottish Premiership. Joe McKee held his nerve, stepped up and rifled it past Wes Foderingham to put us 2-1 in front and all we had to do was hold on for 9 more minutes. We managed just that and remarkably, Alloa would be a Premiership team next season!!!

SCHEDULE

https://i.gyazo.com/dac83dfb136d97ee603cda06a56509c0.jpg

https://i.gyazo.com/1ed03790dc825e354b2035bdc716957d.png

AN ANNOUNCEMENT

Despite winning promotion from the Ladbrokes Scottish Championship, we were still a part time club. However, without even having to ask the board made the decision to become a professional club with immediate effect. A huge step for the football club and a huge step for this career.

https://i.gyazo.com/1bbc158d6ba6bd1d5ec48327cec7d1ee.png

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING, LEAVE A COMMENT AND I WILL SEE YOU ALL SOON

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