The Return of Wolves.

Been reading these for a while, and thought I'd have a go at one myself. Tried to start one last year but never managed to get into that save, but hopefully be able to get into this.

The basic objective of the save is to try and restore Wolves into being the top flight club that they were just 2 seasons ago, and eventually to being the dominant force in English, and hopefully European, football. However, I would also like my team to be a real community club, and for that reason I have decided that I want to have as many players as possible in my first team to be from my youth team, and hopefully the local area, and that those players who are not products of my youth team will all be British or Irish. Obviously, at the beginning there will be some foreign players in the squad and it would make no sense to just cast these players off straight away with no replacements so this process will take a couple of seasons to complete but hopefully by the time I get to the Premiership, my team will be composed entirely of British and Irish talent.

But all that's in the future. For now I need to focus on the job at hand, winning promotion back into the Championship. Come on you Wolves.

Season 2013-14

Pre-Season



Don't actually take charge of the friendlies myself, but some encouraging results there against some decent teams from the Netherlands. Never read to much into friendlies though, the important games are coming up.



In the transfer market, I felt it was right to let Roger Johnson go off to Crystal Palace as this allows me the finances to bring in some players I really wanted, and he was probably going to end up being my 3rd choice centre back anyway. Being Scottish, it came as no surprise that I found myself looking to the Scottish league for some reinforcements, and while my main target, Ryan Gauld, was snapped up by Arsenal for £3million (and also loaned back to Dundee United for the season, so no chance of getting him on loan yet either) I did manage to get 2 of my other top targets.



Aaron Taylor-Sinclair is a very promising left back, who could apparently become a decent Premier league Left-Back in the future. Having seen him play a lot in real life as well, can also testify that going forward he is a very able player and defensively reasonably solid, and should be able to do a very good job for me in League One just now and then later on in the Championship.



Paul McGowan was the only other addition to the squad, a player who has been kicking about in the Scottish Premier League for a while now, and who I am quite surprised he hasn't made the move down in real life, he's a very good player, and should do a job for me in the hole just behind the striker.

Other than that, the only business was a couple of players going out on loan, but only Flatt has any real promise to be of use to the team so not too bothered about how they do.

With that in mind, my team for the coming season looks like this.

Goalkeepers



Wolves stalwart Wayne Hennessey will be my number 1 for this season, and as he is supposedly good enough to be playing premiership football, he should do. Ikeme and McCartney will have to make do with being squad players, and I'll probably move both of them on at some point when I get a better prospect in to replace Hennessey.

Defence



In retrospect, maybe selling Roger Johnson wasn't my wisest move, as its left me a little bereft of centre backs, with only Batth and Stearman being bets there, alongside Ricketts who can play right along the back four. Might have to look at bringing someone else in if there are any injuries.

Midfield



An abundance of centre midfielders, with a noticeable lack of wingers is how I would describe this area of my squad. Like in defence, they are all clearly good enough to be playing in this league, and fortunately Taylor-Sinclair can fill in at left wing, but in my 4-2-3-1 formation, this might cause problems if one or both of my natural wingers get injured. Will have to look at bringing another in August.

Forwards



This is what I would consider to be the strongest area of my squad, with every one of my strikers capable of doing a job in the league. Leigh Griffiths will be my first choice, as even though Sigurdarson ha more potential, I'll be moving him on at some point to keep with the British and Irish players only theme.

I also brought in a lot of staff, and let almost all of the staff from the previous regime go, in order to have my coaching as good as it can be. Here's how it looks at present.



I'll be playing a 4-2-3-1 formation and my first choice starting line up for the season will be,



So there you go. Will have to make a couple more signings to beef up certain areas of my squad in terms of numbers, but in terms of talent I should have a good enough team to mount an immediate challenge for promotion and hopefully the title.

Great look at the team mate ! Good luck !

Cheers George, hope you enjoy reading it.

August

One more player arrived during August, again from the Scottish Premiership, and this time it was Kilmarnock's Rory MacKenzie, a 19 year old winger with bags of potential for 1.6 million, which is more than I had intended to spend on anyone at this point, but considering they initially wanted a deal starting at 2.9 million with add on's, I don't think it's too bad. He also has the potential to be good enough to play in the premiership one day, so hopefully with the right training and development he can prove to be a relative bargain in the long run.



Need to work on his crossing and technique in particular, along with first touch maybe, but I think he has bags of pace and at present is a good inside forward, which is great as it gives me another option. Still only 19 as well, so plenty of time to improve.

Results



Started with a win against a good Preston side which I was very happy with considering we fell behind twice, but 2 Danny Batth headers and a penalty from Kevin Doyle helped us to a victory in our opening game. Next up was a double header against Gillingham, first in the league cup, where we were well worth the 4-1 victory totally dominating the game, and also, more importantly in the league, again making light work of them, with a brace from Leigh Griffiths being the highlight. Bristol City were the first team we faced who were likely to be challenging us at the top of the table, and a draw was probably fair in an even game, another Danny Batth header getting us a point. The Crawley game was one of those that makes you hate football, a truly abysmal game of football, but we won, again through a set piece, so thats what really matters at the end of the day. The League Cup took us to Goodison, and we took the lead before being pegged back immediately and falling behind 10 minutes before half time. They came out strong and it was 3-1 within 60 seconds, before we grabbed a late consolation after they had missed chances to extend the league. Wasn't too disappointed here as Everton are clearly a great side, but annoyed that we didn't hold our lead a bit longer as if we had, I felt we could have gone on to win. We bounced back by hammering Port Vale, and I mean we properly destroyed them. Sako could have had 4 goals in the first 15 minutes, and McGowan was denied his first by a great save or two from their keeper. 4-1 let them off lightly, as I feel the stats show and it could have honestly been about 10-1.



Only other thing of note that I can think of is that we seem to love set pieces, 5 of our 12 league goals have been as a result of corners, another 1 from an indirect free kick, and of course the penalty in the first game means that more than half the goals have been from set pieces. May not be everyones idea of entertaining football, but its certainly effective.

So with all that in mind, the league table looks like this.



Unfortunately, I can't fit all of the table onto my screen, but if you're interested the bottom 3 are Oldham and Crewe, who have 2 points and Coventry, who have -2 as they were in administration and got a 10 point deduction. Delighted to be at the top of the table, hopefully make that position mine over the course of the season.

September

With September came transfer deadline day, and although he had potential to be a good player for the club, I have stated that I only want British and Irish players, and as such, I allowed Wigan to take Bjorn Sigurdarson for £2.9 million. He wasn't going to be my first choice striker, and I felt that as I was inevitably going to have to sell him anyway, I may as well cash in on him now since a season sitting on the bench would only harm his value. Although I didn't make any additional signings, this also means I have a healthy budget to bring in any reinforcements I might require in January.

Results



Although we had been intended to start the month against Walsall, we had 4 players who I would have been starting away on international duty and as such took the option to postpone the fixture for a while. As such, we then started the month against Swindon with a solid win. Next up was that rearranged game with local rivals Walsall, and it was a very convincing win for us, Walsall hardly got a look at goal all game outwith the goal when we were already 3-0 up. Shrewsbury, however, took the lead early on, and although we came back to win this one thanks to a great Leigh Griffiths strike and a header by Stearman, it was a thoroughly unconvincing win. Sheffield United were destroyed by Bakary Sako however, who either scored or assisted every goal. Unfortunately, he'll be away at some point a he was born in France and represents Mali internationally, but while he's here he's definitely proving himself a useful asset. Paul McGowan as well has been a great signing, having a hand in a number of goals and generally playing very well.



The bottom 3 are Stevenage and Port Vale on 5 points, and Oldham who have 3.

So far this season has been very good, we've managed to open up a good gap between us and the rest of the leaders, and also taken something from both the teams directly below me. An immediate charge for promotion seems to be well underway, hopefully without any hiccups, although i still have some tough games coming up.

Great start mate ! Unlucky against Everton also !

Good start to the season.

Cheers guys, hopefully it continues

October



A poor month started off well enough with victory at Colchester, which was expected. We then faced League 2 side Hartlepoole in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy second round, and struggled to break down a team who had clearly come to sit and try to hit us on the break, a dodgy penalty and free kick straight in from Leigh Griffiths proved enough in the end however. Then came our first loss of the season, and it was a poor display. Had a number of players away on international duty or injured (only named 3 subs) and went 2 down before the half, before Leigh Griffiths got us back in it after 55 minutes. As we pushed on for an equaliser, we were picked off by Carlisle, fair play to them, we deserved to lose this one. 2 dreadful games of football followed against Coventry and Oldham, where neither side created anything at all really. We rounded the month off on a high though, against high flying Bradford, and a goal from young MacKenzie, and one from a set piece by Batth saw us to a crucial 3 points.



We still sit atop the league, although the gap has been cut drastically due to some poor results this month, and could be down to goal difference alone or I could even be in 2nd depending on how Bristol City's game in hand goes. Some vital games in the next month against Brentford and Tranmere...

Also, was drawn against Hereford, from the Conference, in the FA Cup, and Shrewsbury in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, so hoepfully should progress in both of those.

November

Main news was that I managed to get all 3 of my signings from summer tied down onto longer contracts, until the end of 2017, along with Danny Batth, who has probably been my best player this season until 2015. Richard Stearman earned his first cap for the Republic of Ireland this month, and Aaron Taylor-Sinclair earned his first cap for Scotland. The board also agreed to improve the level of Junior coaching which should hopefully help my ability to bring through youth players long term, so that's excellent.

Results



Started the month with the visit of Stevenage, and two goals from corners were enough to do the damage in this one and see us take all 3 points. Then came the FA Cup tie, and we were facing considerably weaker opponents in the form of Hereford. 2-0 just about covers this one, got ourselves in front and then just saw the game out without ever being threatened, wrapping up the victory near the end The only real disappointment of the month was crashing out of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, but we were outplayed and lucky to even get to penalties at which point it becomes a lottery. Bounced back by winning against Brentford, which was a weird game. Despite being 2-1 in the end, it was 0-0 until the 90th minute before it went mad. On the balance of play a draw would have been fairer so delighted to win this one. We made light work of Tranmere, and rounded up the month with another convincing display against Peterborough.



We are still top of the league, and a 92nd minute winner for Leyton Orient against Bristol City means that the lead is now 3 points, rather than being on goal difference as it had for most of the month. Looking likely that it'll be a 2 horse race this season, and since 2 teams go up that suits me just fine.

We were also drawn against Bury from League 2 in the FA Cup.

Sorry for the mammoth post lads, forgot to do one at the end of December so have had to do two busy months in one go.

December/January

Well, the January transfer window came around and with it, came a rather pleasant surprise from the board…



With these funds at my disposal, I was able to complete a couple of transfers, and I finally made a transfer that wasn’t from Scotland. That transfer was the signing of 19 year old Ryan Coclough for £3.2million from Crewe Alexandria.



A winger, Coclough has bags of potential, and indeed could become “a good Premier League left winger” in the future if allowed game time, which is exactly what I intend to give him. He can also play on both wings, which now means I have 3 or 4 options on either wing which is very useful. Like MacKenzie, he could use some work on his crossing, but again I see him as one for the future, and he can become a very useful addition to the team.

Also joining was 18 year-old centre back Mark O’Hara, who came from Kilmarnock for £3.2million, and indeed has been loaned back to Kilmarnock until the end of the season.



This boy is, in my opinion, one of the brighter prospects coming through Scottish football, and with a bit of work, and game time, he could be a great player for us for years to come. Obviously my main concern when he comes back from loan will be working on his heading, but that can all wait till next season, for now I just want to see him getting regular game time for Killie, which will do him a lot of good and he won’t get that just yet here as arguably my 2 centre backs have been my 2 best players this season.

I also brought in Stuart Armstrong from Dundee United for £3.3million.



A very talented player who can play central midfield or attacking mid, as well as on right wing or up front. At 21 years old, he has time to improve and gives me another option alongside McGowan to play in the whole, although with McGowan’s performances this season I’ll probably play him in centre midfield. His mental stats in particular are very good, and I feel he’ll be a very good addition to the squad.

Some of you might be wondering why the vast majority of my signings are coming from Scotland. It’s because I don’t watch a lot of English football out with Match of the Day occasionally, whereas I do watch a lot of Scottish football, so I know the better players and prospects from this league much more than the English leagues. That and you can get a couple of absolute bargains (such as McGowan, who so far has 10 assists and 4 goals in all competitions for 190k which isn’t bad) which I don’t seem to be able to find as much in the English leagues. So yeah, hope that explains it.

I also let Kevin McDonald and Matt Doherty leave for £195k and £145k respectively as they were both out of contract in summer and neither were willing to sign new deals, so I thought best to cash in on them now rather than see them leave for free in the summer. Neither player was first team anyway, so no big loss in that respect.

Results



Started with a loss against Notts County, didn’t really deserve to win but nor did they, the difference between the teams was a dodgy penalty so a bit annoyed by this one. Next up was the FA cup tie, and despite being outplayed by a team from the division below, we managed to get the replay which frankly was a relief considering the fact that we were poor in this game. A hat trick by Leigh Griffiths saw us win the next game, and beat MK Dons who are a right up there at the top of the table, so this was an important win. Another hat trick, this time from McGowan, saw us through in the FA Cup, where were drawn against Bournemouth. We were, however, unable to continue this good form in the next game, to record our second loss this month against Rotherham where a shocker from Wayne Hennessy in the 91st minute handed them the win. A poor game followed against Crewe, but we were able to get the 3 points which is all that matters in the end. For the 3rd time this month, however, we were defeated, this time by Leyton Orient, and frankly once again, we deserved to lose. Can’t complain about this one, Orient turned up on the day and we did not. The New Year’s Day game saw us have double the amount of shots as Tranmere and the bulk of the chances, so it wasn’t ideal to just scrape the win with a late penalty but again, ultimately it’s better than not getting them at all. We were dumped out of the FA Cup by Bournemouth, an even game and although we lost, we performed well so some definite positives from this. We bounced back with 2 Griffiths inspired wins, the one against Preston particularly satisfying as they equalised in the 83rd minute before we regained the lead in the 89th. Crawley then really took the game to us, and fair play to them they deserved to win that game, becoming a bit of a worrying trend that we just haven’t turned up to a number of games as we definitely have a better team than these sides. Our next game was massive. Bristol City, who have been in amongst us at the top, at home. A poor game was decided by Aaron Taylor-Sinclair’s first goal for the club, which delighted me, as it gives us a bit of room at the top of the table. We rounded off the month by beating struggling Oldham and new signing Stuart Armstrong got his first for the club, which I was naturally very pleased about. Young Jake Cassidy also got only his second goal of the season, which is good to see. All of that leaves the table looking like this.



Top of the table, with a lead which is bigger than at any stage of the season so far, absolutely excellent at this stage of the season. Also 10 points ahead of being outside the playoff spots, so automatic promotion is looking more and more likely, which was always the minimum aim.

We have 26 goals from set pieces in the league this season, which I’m delighted about. A very healthy return, and at least 5 more than any other team in the league.

Excellent work mate !! Still doing well enjoying the detailed posts ! And very good signings from Scotland !

Great start mate. Surprise to see you pull away over dec/jan with a few losses. Bristol City must have had a nightmare.

Cheers guys, very pleased with how its going. And yeah sean, they lost 6 of 14 games in those months, not the type of form you want when chasing the title!

February/March



The month started off with a disappointing loss to a Bradford side who are still well in the hunt for promotion. This disappointment, however, was nothing when compared to my next match against a struggling Stevenage side where 2-2 was the result. The reasons why this draw was so frustrating are apparent if you look at the picture below and that's really all I want to say on the matter. We did manage to bounce back from these setbacks by beating Notts County when a hat trick by Leigh was enough to see us through, along with another Danny Batth goal, taking his tally for the season to 8, not bad for a centre back. A poor February was rounded off when we lost to Brentford, who with Bristol City struggling had surged into second place. They were 2 up within 20 minutes and although we had the bulk of the game after then, we never really managed to create a clear cut opportunity for ourselves as the usual creative outlets let us down. However, though February was poor, March more than made up for it as we shot to wins out 5 of 7 games to put ourselves within touching distance of the title. Our biggest crowd of the season turned up to watch us face Port Vale (think the board organised a fan day to promote the club or something) and the masses were not to be disappointed, with Leigh Griffiths on hand to net a double to see us home comfortably against the leagues bottom side. Our next game saw us away to the leagues second bottom side, and local rivals, Walsall (although for some reason Walsall list us as fierce rivals and they aren't even on our rivals section. Small teams always do care about the giants more ) Again, we comfortably saw them off, this time young winger Rory MacKenzie doing the damage, with young striker Jake Cassidy taking advantage of a rare opportunity and grabbing himself a goal. Next up were Swindon, and another Griffiths hat trick saw us through this game, with Stuart Armstrong also getting a goal. Armstrong saw us through against Shrewsbury in a poor game where we just about deserved to win, and against Sheffield United, where we were certainly second best for much of the game but took our chances and were more clinical, seeing us to a crucial 3 points. The last two games were poor. Against Colchester I think I underestimated them, and took the opportunity to rest a few key names. This backfired and we were soundly beaten on the day. MK Dons could count themselves lucky, as we hit the woodwork several times and had 2 goals ruled out (correctly to be fair), but again the 3 points is what counts, and they got them.



All of that means that the league table looks like this...



Still top, almost there, and at the very least even if we have a total collapse and lose all of our remaining games the worst that can happen is we get into the playoffs, which is always comforting. Hopefully that won't happen and we can pick up the points needed to see us to the title. 3 wins and a draw will do it, assuming Brentford win all their games.

Just as an aside, I feel genuinely bad for Jake Cassidy, as he has 4 goals from 11 appearances (all from the bench) and genuinely looks quite a good player, but I only play one up front and its difficult to drop someone who has 30 league goals for the season Might have to try and look at loaning him out next season to get some game time.

April - Matchday 41



A poor result for us gave the teams in the chasing pack a chance to close the gap. Getting anything at all from this game is a blessing however, as we were outplayed and kept just 39% possession throughout the whole match. Stuart Armstrong came to the rescue in the second half by scoring a well placed finish after, you guessed it, a corner. But while the point is nice, we really have to up the performance level. We did not keep the ball well at all in this game, and Peterborough could have really made us pay if they had finished their chances better. We were, however, done a massive favour in west London as this happened...



Bristol City also lost, and MK Dons were held at home meaning all of the teams with any shot at the title left dropped points. It leaves the top of the table looking like this...



Almost there. If Brentford take less than 3 point from their next game and I win, then I'll be champions (depending how Bristol City's game in hand goes. MK Dons are still in with the faintest hope of winning the title, but require me to lose all my games, win of theirs and have a considerable swing in goal difference... seems unlikely but stranger things have happened.

Bristol City's game in hand came along, and they faced a Rotherham side with nothing left to play for, sitting comfortably mid table with no chance of relegation, but equally with no chance of reaching the playoffs. They were, however, able to do me a favour and mean that it could all be wrapped up in my next game.

If I win, I'll be promoted. If I win and Brentford lose, then I'll be Champions. If Bristol City lose, then I'll be promoted regardless of my result.

April - Matchday 42

April - Wolves v Rotherham

April - Matchday 43 continued...

Well done mate, even if you are managing the inbred mutts.

April - Matchday 44

Cheers Rick! I didn't even realise Walsall were rivals until it asked me about playing rivals in a press conference, is it a pretty big rivalry?

April - Matchday 45

May

Yeah it's a pretty heated thing, I'm sure they would rather beat West Brom or Villa but since their relegation to League one we've renewed our hatred of them. Beating them at Molineux back in September which led to someone in the backroom staff posting this on twitter;

hahaha, that's quality Rick!

Season 2013-14 Summary

Great work on winning the league thankfully your bad run of form didn't cost you which was great due to the start of the season! Also loved the update best of luck in the transfer window and next season!

Cheers George, hopefully it goes as well as last season! Yeah I have a couple of targets in mind to strengthen the team.

Season 2014-15

Pre-season is just about to begin, and as such I thought I'd give you a quick look at the transfers which have already been made:

Leaving the club were...



Margreitter simply didn't have the quality to play at this level, he had spent the season on loan at Kobenhavn, and they took the opportunity to sign him for the agreed release clause. Not a big loss to me, and 500k is a very healthy return for a player whom I was only ever going to use in an emergency, so overall quite pleased with this deal.

Doumbia was actually quite a good player, and probably would have been good enough to get a game for me, but as I have stated, I only want British and Irish players in my team and, being Malian, he did not fit this requirement and as such I felt it was time for him to leave.

Ward was my 3rd choice left back, had spent the season before on loan and I was unlikely to give him a game. I decided to cash in since sitting in the reserves for a season would only negatively impact his value.

Forde was a bit of a difficult one, as he had the potential to be a useful player for me, but given thought I decided that he was unlikely to be able to make the step up as there were a number of players above him in the pecking order. I am sad to see him go, as he undoubtedly played his part last season, but I decided it was best for him and the club since he wouldn't be getting as much game time for me, and I'm not bothered with players complaining about lack of game time.

There were also a number of players whose contracts expired, most notably George Elokobi, who I would have kept if he had filled the criteria of being British or Irish, or indeed filled the criteria of being good enough.

Now, onto the more exciting news that we have a new arrival at the club, from guess where? Yeah, got it in one, Scotland! Makes a nice change signing someone from there!



Very excited by this signing, although it does now mean that my first team squad has more Scottish players in it than English! But yeah, Tony Watt, as I'm sure you're aware, was at Celtic prior to me, best known for scoring their winner against Barcelona in the Champions League last season. he spent a season on loan in Belgium playing for Lierse to get more game time (and also apparently to keep him away from the Glasgow nightlife). Felt that although the goals were spread throughout my team last year, only Griffiths managed to get double figures, and another striker to help carry the load and also be a proper alternative when Griffiths isn't on form was a must.



My main targets for the rest of the window are a right back, as although Kevin Foley is a decent choice there, I don't have any real cover without disrupting another area of my squad, and Foley isn't the youngest and will soon be past his best, and a goalkeeper to replace Hennessey since Hennessey wants to leave, and I think if I can get a suitable replacement in I will let him. I'm also looking at a central midfielder since this happened...



Davis was likely to be one of my first choice centre mids, so this is disappointing and leaves me lacking proper cover here with Forde leaving (I would have kept Forde had Davis suffered this injury before the transfer offer).

Great signing in Tony Watt we had him on loan on Ross County Succession game and he was quality grabbing the top scorer award for the SPL ! Also good work getting money in!

Yeah George, really pleased with that one! Seen some of the goals he's been scoring for Lierse and it's clear that the boys got ability to be a really good striker. Hopefully he develops properly, a Scottish strike force of Steven Fletcher, Tony Watt, Jordan Rhodes and Leigh Griffiths would be quality!

Pre-Season



As you are aware, I don't take charge or organise the friendlies myself, and I don't read too much into them, but if you're wondering, these were my results.

I had several more arrivals to the squad before the season kicked off...



First off was Stuart Bannigan, a 21 year old Scottish centre midfielder from Partick Thistle. Bags of energy, good passing range, and good defensively, he'll be rotated in and out of the first team this season but will definitely be given the chance to prove that he can make it at this level and get a game for Wolves. At 250k, this is a relatively cheap transfer (compared with signings of Tony Watt, etc), and hopefully he can prove, like Paul McGowan did, that it is possible to get a bargain who can go on to be a good player for me. Several other Championship teams were interested in him as well, so I was naturally delighted he came here.



The next player was the goalkeeper I wanted, in the form of 21 year old ex-Manchester United youth product Sam Johnstone, whom I landed on a free transfer. A very competent goalkeeper, he has the potential to play at a higher level than the Championship, and I'm planning on having him split game time with Hennessey fairly evenly (assuming Hennessey is still at the club come the end of the transfer window). In seasons, to come Johnstone should become my number 1, depending how he develops, and on a free transfer this is absolutely ideal.



Another United Youth product joined my ranks in 19 year old Scottish right back Donald Love. Again on a free transfer and on quite low wages, I thought Love was worth the gamble and signed him up. He will spend the season on loan at Swindon, in League 2, as he is not currently ready to play a role in the first team, but hopefully when he returns he'll be able to play an active part in my first team.



Jake Cassidy also went on loan to Hibernian for 5 months, should be a good move for him as he'll play regularly and can hopefully come back and challenge for a place in the first team

We were drawn against Cheltenham in the League Cup first round, a winnable tie so we should progress to the next round there. Its away from home which is the only thing that complicates it slightly, but we should still have enough to beat them.

In other news, this happened...



Yup, you are reading that. Switzerland won the 2014 world cup, beating Germany, Belgium and Uruguay on route to the final....

August



We kicked off the month, and our campaign, with a game against local rivals Birmingham City, in front of a capacity crowd at Molineux. Though we led for much of the game, we were on the back foot for long periods, however, it looked like we were going to be able to hold them off and gain a valuable 3 points to kick of our season. However, with just 5 minutes of normal time left, a Nikola Zigic pass cut the defence wide open and allowed City right back Paul Caddis to sneak in and score a late equaliser. On the balance of play it was probably deserved, but it was still gutting having led for so long. Next up were Cheltenham in the league cup, and having taken a 3 nil lead we almost lost it as we lost our focus allowing them to grab two goals before full time to make the game look much closer than it had been. We next faced Derby County and then Nottingham Forest, and were comfortably beaten in both games, although we did cause both sides some problems, a good sign for upcoming games. Middlesbrough were next, and a superb second half performance saw us race home 3-0 winners after a fairly even first half. We were then dumped out the League Cup by Millwall in a game of few chances, but this does not really matter at this point. The League is the important thing for us this season. We rounded off the month with a trip to Leeds, where we led twice but were ultimately undone by a Noel Hunt double, and survived a late scare to claim a valuable point.

At the end of the month, the Championship table looks like this...



The bottom 2 are Doncaster, on 1 point and Middlesbrough, on 0. A solid but unspectacular start, but all that I'm expecting this season is to manage to stay up comfortably and at this rate, we should be on course to do that. Also worth noting that we have already played 3 of the teams who were in the hunt for the play offs last season.

We also recieved a healthy addition to the banks when Matt Jarvis made his move to Benfica from West Ham...

September



Due to the international break, we had to wait until the second weekend of September to build on our draw away to Leeds against a Doncaster side who had 1 point from their first 5 games. However, we simply did not turn up, and were soundly beaten by a side who just seemed to have a bit more fight in them. We followed this up against high flying Burnley, and again we were beaten although less comprehensively, and the match could have gone either way for long periods before they got a second goal in the final 10 minutes to kill it off. We managed a draw at Ipswich, thanks to a late goal from Kevin Doyle who was only in the squad due to injuries to other players. The months only win came against the Millwall side who had dumped us out of the League cup a month earlier, and there was a slice of luck about it with a controversial penalty deciding the game. Millwall only had their indiscipline to blame as they gave away 15 fouls in the game in comparison to the 2 we gave away, and as our goals included a penalty and an indirect free kick volleyed in, you can see this cost them. We rounded off the month by losing to Sheffield Wednesday, where a draw would have been a fairer result but they were that bit more clinical and it proved vital as we left with nothing.



A frankly shocking month leaves us near the foot of the table, hopefully we can improve in coming months and move away from this precarious position, I don't fancy a relegation dogfight.