Workin' Hard

Hello all, and welcome to my new career as manager of my local side, Workington Reds; and my attempt to bring glory to West Cumbria!
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Formed in 1921, the Reds were part of the Football League for 22 years between 1955 and 1977. My eventual aim will be to return them to the EFL and become the third Cumbrian club to occupy a place in the top four leagues, alongside Carlisle United and Barrow.

2022/23 saw the club gain promotion from Northern League Division One via the play-off's, so my short term aim will be to keep us in the NPL and build upwards from there.

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Club Info

Full name	Workington Association Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Reds
Founded	1921; 103 years ago
Ground	Borough Park, Workington
Capacity	3,101 (500 seated)
League	Northern Premier League - Premier Division
2022/23	3rd - Northern Premier League - West Division (Promoted via play-off's)
Kits

 - We will be competing in four competitions this season. I'm not bothered about the Northern League cup and will use that to give my fringe players a game, but certainly a run in the FA Cup and/or FA Trophy would be great, the prize money would be useful too.

Board Objectives

 - Nothing specific from the board for this season, just to try and keep the team up and do as well as we can in the cups.

Initial Squad

 - Pretty good basis to work with here, some good players who should be solid at this level, with the amount of central midfielders I have, I'm thinking 4-3-3 could be a sensible option to begin with, possibly a diamond shape when I want to really shut things down in the middle. We shall see how pre-season goes. I will be looking to bring in a few reinforcements to add a bit of depth, probably on loan to save money, but I won't be making wholesale changes right off the bat.

Manager Profile

 - Finally, here's me! Sunday league rep and no badges.

Used to live in Workington. Will be nice to see how you get on!

Not to far from you, in Penrith. Wishing you every success 

@Mak Jenkins @Joe Parkinson - Thanks guys, I'm near Cockermouth rather than Workington, but I've been going to Reds games regularly since moving to Cumbria last year. Thanks for commenting and keep reading!

Apologies for the delay in getting going here, I've had a hectic week or so. I'm now ready to begin this save properly though.

Tuesday 4th July 2023

Friendly

Whitehaven Amateurs 

There wasn't much preparation time for me to work with my squad ahead of this one, coming just 24 hours after I was appointed Reds manager. Given those circumstances, I don't think things could have gone much better as we made the fifteen-minute drive South, down the Cumbrian coast to Whitehaven. 

Tactically I kept things nice and simple, which is always a good idea at this sort of level, highly technical and complicated instructions don't tend to work very well in non-league football.

I'm pretty pleased with the squad I've inherited, the core of it at least. We are well-stocked in the central positions and the midfielders share good chemistry. I am in the market for a new left-back and cover for the wingers, though I've not had enough time to sort anything out yet.

My team played well and created chances in a manner befitting of a side four tiers above the opposition;

Three of our four goals came from outside the penalty area and were all scored by midfielders. Bobby Carroll, Brad Hubbold, and  Cieran Casson all fired home from a distance. Winger Kitt Nelson also netted, albeit from a closer distance.

Next up, we take on Northern League Division One side Carlisle City at home. I will probably ease one of the attacking players into a support role to maintain balance against the improvement In opposition quality.