t-mase - Comments

Superb once more Dan. Assuming you are still playing at Gigg Lane for your home games and Bury haven't moved grounds it will mean that neither team has far to travel for their 'away leg'.

We shall see, I hold out little hopes to be honest. I refuse to sign a new deal with them until this request is granted otherwise we are going to be going no where fast. Sadly if I am to go out of a job then square one ensues and I imagine my choice in clubs will see me start from the bottom rung again. Fingers crossed I can stay with Torhout though, quite like this little Belgian club.

Absolutely awesome Dan, just caught up. Incredible journey!

Not a bad set of games to say the least.

And at least it gives us a chance of the play offs.



Actually it is completely in our hands. However we have three very tough games to end the season.



All of these sides are above me in the league, so it will be interesting to see what happens but in truth I hold out very little hope.

In fairness though whatever happens it will be one heck of a cracking season. When the end of the season arrives I will be asking for the club to upgrade the youth facilities, as they are poor at the moment.

Another decent set of results, delighted with the way that everything is running at the moment. Players seem to have started to really show some fantastic potential and the general play is excellent. On the whole we seem to be a tough team to break down.

The league position is more than healthy, in fact I would have snapped your arm off if I had been offered being in this position at the start of the season.

Thank you fella!



So the break started off on a sour note.



Young startlet Vandenbulcke was sold to my parent club. Sadly he wouldn't sign a deal with us and has chosen to step up a league.



Club could well profit in the future though, so I suppose it is a good deal for a club of our size.

I decided to strengthen a little, more for cover than a first team birth but have bought in the following players to help.

Superb Dan! Seriously hope you keep this up!

My issue is with still being a relatively small club it is hard to sign anyone in Belgium. Nobody seems to want to come to us and if they do they want huge wages that I refuse to pay. I have a month or so in game to find someone now, so I will see what happens.

First things first, an early Christmas present for me. The stadium expansion was complete and we could move home. 5,000 capacity, 1,000 of which seated.



Overall an average month at best but with us entering the winter break way above the expectations I had I have no doubt now we will stay in the league.



The 33 points that we have right now, I feel could be enough for us to stay up regardless of anything else. Now comes the challenge to see how many points we can put on the board.

Here is the team at the half way point.



The lack of goals in the side is probably the biggest concern that I have currently.

Still more than holding our own in the league. I couldn't be happier. I was contemplating leaving at the end of this season to go onto pastures new but as things stand my enjoyment in Belgium is still in full force.



What pleases me most isn't the wins but the competitiveness in the games we are losing which are not by big margins. That to me is the biggest plus point.




Sadly I have had to send this fella back to his parent club 5 months is just too long on the injury front for us to have to deal with.

I was thinking the same, just always gutting to go out the cup to a team in the division below.

Quite simply this has been a stunning start to the season for us. The new guys seem to have gelled nicely and quickly and it has culminated in this.



I am delighted to see only one loss against our name in the current crop of games. How we are doing this well is anyone's guess to be honest but we are doing it somehow. I am going to go with the element of surprise in being the new side in the league.

It isn't even like the results are particularly lucky either.



And on to our league position which is simply would not have been expected.



I am not worried how close we are to the top, I am more pleased with the fact that doubling our points total to 34 would probably see us safe and with well over half a season to do that I would suggest we are probably going to be safe in this league for another season.

Also, I am conscious you have not seen my stats as yet so here you go.

Just read this the whole way through, superb to say the least!

Super start to the season Dan.

The odds are more than slightly hilarious Dan. I have a tough ride on my hands it seems.



However with the above being said we have had one hell of a start to the season.



Two wins from three games is not something to be sniffed at. The cup is some what of a disappointment though.



The win against Virton as you can see was a game we dominated and could have won by more.

Good plan spending the budget on the facilities at the club, hopefully means more players like Kellett will come through the ranks.

This is the task we face for the upcoming season. Effectively we are given no hope in this league at all.

No wonder really when you look at the clubs recent history.



As you can see for almost 20 seasons the club has been a static feature in the Third Division other than a relegation and instant promotion back up.


Season ticket sales have increased by over 100 which is a positive too.

To even be 10 points clear of the drop zone is some achievement my friend. Keep it up.

So I have gone with the avoid relegation option. I can't see it being much better than this for us this term and to stay in the league in which we will be overwhelming favourites to go down would be an achievement in itself.



Big enough changes made to the side, a few loans thrown in allowed me to keep the wage budget down, well down that is.



Fingers crossed with the wage budget so low it will mean that our finances start to improve. However that doesn't look likely.



As you can see the projected bank balance is set to deteriorate at a rapid rate over the season. We need to get to a point where we are sustaining ourselves as it is not how I want this club to run. Hopefully when we move back to our own stadium and a semi decent season will see large crowds watching us enabling funds to roll in.

Back to the side anyway and this is how the depth of the team looks according to my assistant.



Personally looking at that I think we have a good chance of staying in the league and hopefully I will be in for a long and successful season.

I am also conscious I haven't shown you how the board feels about me.



Personally I think they like me . If you want to see attributes of any of the players let me know and I will screenshot.

Super season fella, congratulations on another promotion.

What a great fee for the keeper, superb stuff. Also whatever happens it has been a fantastic season with the cup win.

Thanks fella, was a great final superb from the players.

Thanks pal! Hopefully can continue this form over into a tougher league.

Fear not Dan, I have just this second played the final leg of the play offs. And..............





That is right folks, I managed to turn around a 1-0 first leg deficit and bring a bit of glory to this little side.



A 4-1 home leg win was enough for us to secure a 4-2 aggregate win and propel ourselves to the dizzy heights of the Second League. In truth as you can see from the stats the result never looked in doubt we actually did boss it.





Record Attendance and Gate Receipts were broken in this game. No real wonder it is the biggest game the club has had for years.



The board are also showing some ambition by expanding the capacity of the ground by 2,000 meaning we will have a 5,000 seater home which hopefully after a couple of seasons will be expanded further still. Interestingly it says it is just standing capacity that will be expanded but on the facilities page....



We are having a 600 seat terrace conversion too. You will notice that the facilities are relatively poor. I hope with a season or two in the Second League we will be able to expand these and make them much more adequate to our needs.

Here are the stats for the season also. The only players to not feature at all was goalkeeper Capelle who will leave this summer anyway. I hope to keep the majority of the squad in tact and only make a few changes.

Well I am more than a little gutted. I felt we were well in charge of the game but yet have fallen to a 1-0 defeat. I am more than happy in one way though as a 1-0 deficit I would have taken before the game.

I am frustrated at cracking the woodwork twice and having one dissalowed mind.



However it looks like the supporters will be out in force for the second leg. Hopefully they can roar us to victory.

Fingers crossed home advantage will come through.

Thanks fella, final will probably be tomorrow now. Unless I am up late on a night feed with my little one.

Well I asked for a big performance I more than got one. Superb 5-0 win over a tough side which to be honest was more than justified. We were rampant and again the lack of shots on target was a worry but scoring from almost all your shots on target is a nice thing to see.

The 7-3 aggregate win sees us progress to the two legged final where we play Antwerp of the Second Division





They were lucky to not have been relegated outright to be honest and for that reason alone I fancy my chances. Fingers crossed a decent result from the away leg will give us the platform in the home one.

Interestingly I have had home advantage all three times in the second leg. Certainly the way around I would prefer it.

Hopefully there is enough for you to hang on too. Good Luck.

The play off process seems a particularly long and stressful one to me. Oh well.



Well this is a minor stumbling block.



Two goals in the last 10 minutes of the game saw us fall to a 3-2 defeat in the first leg of the semi final. Disappointing to say the last but with that said it was a very even game.

I just really, really hope this doesn't come back and haunt us in the next leg. We need a big performance in the home game that is for sure.

Good luck for this one mate. Good to see a different side being used for a career.