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#290535 FC Halifax - Blue Square to Europe
alexlloyd
Jordan Keegan was the hero in the second leg, 15 minutes before the end of the game he bagged two goals in three minutes.
A tough game against Rotherham stood between us and the Championship, Nathan Eccleston and Patrick Bamford have formed a great partnership in the second half of the campaign keeping Noble out the side and proved to be the deciding factor in the game both finding the net before Danny Green got Rotherham a consolation in added time. It's a great effort from the players, I really didn't expect another promotion and can now hopefully build a strong championship side over a couple of seasons before finally making it to the premiership!
Patrick Bamford's efforts were rewarded with the npower League One player of the season award!
#36095 FC Halifax - Blue Square to Europe
alexlloyd
#290534 FC Halifax - Blue Square to Europe
alexlloyd
On the basis of the last ten games we didn't really deserve to make it into the play-offs, but fortunately Hull's poor form meant we were able to beat them to sixth spot to face Leyton Orient in the semi-final.
#290533 FC Halifax - Blue Square to Europe
alexlloyd
Unfortunately we're now out of the F.A. Cup, I played a full strength team against Aston Villa but they absolutely dominated us the entire game and we suffered a 4-1 loss, but this marks the highest round I have taken the club in the F.A. Cup so far so I am pleased with the notable progress. We've put some impressive displays in against teams higher in the league getting victories against both Rotherham and Hull City. We've got some difficult games to close the season but I'm hoping we keep up the good form and reach the play-offs.
I made some changes in the January transfer window that I believe made a difference in our recent good form, Nathan Eccleston has been particularly impressive, I didn't need another striker but I've been after this guy for a while and at just £40,000 found it hard to turn down, he has now started four games, scoring two and we have won all four.
I'm expecting good things from Fries Deschilder in the close to the season, he is certainly one of our top central midfielders and provides competition for Matt Watson and Conor Newton who have formed an impressive partnership. Konstantin Engel is also an important addition, Minihan hasn't really impressed me this season at right back so I bought in Engel to hopefully provide a bit more stability in the defence.
I bought in two wingers for competition as well, Max Veloso isn't quite up to the standard of Keegan at the minute but has the potential to be a lot better than him and will be excellent cover as fatigue sets in towards the end of the season. Garath McCleary has also rejoined after helping us secure promotion last season in his loan spell, he'd been a free agent since the start of the season and offers good cover, will only be here until the end of the season though.
I also let go of three players who weren't quite doing it, Jonathan Douglas and Garry Thompson were released from their contracts while Joe Garner was sold for £20,000 after struggling to break past Bamford, Noble and Ameobi.
#290532 FC Halifax - Blue Square to Europe
alexlloyd
We had a pretty poor run during this period but seem to be getting back on track, disappointingly we lost to Aston Villa in the fourth round of the League Cup but are now on a run in the F.A. Cup and have made it to the third round, which equals the farthest I have taken the club in the competition, what's even more pleasing is that in the third round we meet Blue Square South side Basingstoke so I am hoping we can progress comfortably into the fourth round and finally get a big draw I've been waiting four seasons for! We only lost two of the twelve matches but drew six, which is where we are going to have to improve if we're going to make the play-offs.
Another player has joined the club, after a season of chasing I've finally managed to get Patrick Bamford, he was released by Chelsea in the summer and rejected me three times however when it got to the end of October and was still without a club he agreed to join the club, he is the highest paid player at the club but is proving value for money with seven goals in nine league games so far.
#290531 FC Halifax - Blue Square to Europe
alexlloyd
The three losses have been disappointing and I felt we could’ve got a draw out of a couple of them but the best performance was away at Shrewsbury where we got a 4-1 victory. We’ve also had a good run in the League Cup beating Wolves, our first Premier League opponent to line up a fourth round tie against Aston Villa. We’ve always done reasonably well in cups and have always wanted to see how the squad fairs up against one of the big clubs, hopefully we can get through but with Villa being yet another Premier League opponent it will definitely be a challenge.
One thing that’s been a challenge this season has been the congestion of fixtures, this is without doubt the busiest the squad have been and it’s been difficult keeping everyone fit, as well as this we’ve also had two injuries to key players.
#290530 FC Halifax - Blue Square to Europe
alexlloyd
Like I said I've wanted to make sure I always keep the finances at a good level and here is the total of my summer spending, since my last update I only bought in Joe Garner and Anton Forrester to bolster the strike force with leaves the total summer spending at £35,000
No major players left the club following my last update and the summer sales totalled £800,000
I don't remember what the clubs finances were like when I took over but they certainly didn't look this good, I now have a balance of over £1,000,000 which is projected to reach almost 2,000,000 by the end of the season, I'm now also being rewarded with 80% of the transfer revenue I make, which is double what it was last season.
It's hard to set any targets for this season so far, we've done pretty well considering we are new to the division and have managed to defeat both Leicester City and Barnsley in the League Cup. But clubs such as Charlton Athletic, Nottingham Forest, Hull City and MK Dons in the division, it certainly is going to be the biggest challenge so far. Right now making sure we can avoid relegation is the crucial aim to the season, and if that becomes like a realistic aim I'll look to how much further we could progress.
#290529 FC Halifax - Blue Square to Europe
alexlloyd
Some of the more stand out signings have come for the midfield, Jonathan Douglas joins on a free to offer another option in centre midfield while Jordan Keegan and Matt Watson became the only two singings of the summer I’ve spent money on.
Jordan Keegan is probably my favourite signing of the summer, after spending almost a month looking for a left midfielder and fearing to settle for a League Two quality player I found Jordan Keegan, who cost just £10,000 from TNS.
Although having options in centre midfield already I couldn’t turn down the chance to sign Matt Watson, he cost just £14,000 from Dundee United and spent last season making 41 appearances for Carlisle in League One, I believe he is the best centre mid at the club.
There were a couple more exits as well, Luke Williams was given a free transfer after his contract expired and Ryan Allsop was sold to Ipswich for £70,000. The goalkeeper started all 46 of our games in the Blue Square Premier but spent last season out on loan and wouldn’t challenge Leo Fasan for the starting spot.
I’m keen to make sure I keep the club in a good financial state and have always tried to work below budget, with the squad currently at my disposal I have spent just £24,000 and sold £800,000 worth of talent, as well as currently being £6,000 per week below our wage limit.
#290528 FC Halifax - Blue Square to Europe
alexlloyd
First to join was Brian Howard, I'm sure mosty will recognise with from his Sheffield United and Reading days and at 32 still has some quality to give, I'm hoping he will become a key man this season.
One of the key factors in our promotion was our excellent defence and I planned on keeping that the same this season, Leon Legge joins to fill the CB void on a free after making 31 appearances for Brentford last season as they gained promotion to the Championship, so I'm expecting him to be a leading man also.
I've added a few more players that I feel can add depth to the squad as well but the disappointment so far has been what happened in my previous game a couple of years ago (when I got Eastwood Town to the Championship), once you start doing well and signing decent players the bigger clubs come in with bids that are automatically accepted and this happened with Matt Pearson who joined Bolton for £375,000 which on the plus side is a huge profit on the 55k I paid Rochdale the season before.
This left a void at right back in a defence I'd considered to be complete so Sam Minihan who joins from Rochdale is going to be the starter this season, he played 41 league two games last season and has potential to play at Championship.
#30541 FC Halifax - Blue Square to Europe
alexlloyd
#290527 FC Halifax - Blue Square to Europe
alexlloyd
As you can see a number of the players left in the squad I believe are good enough to play at League One level and will remain at the club, the others will be used as back up unless I can find cheaper options in the free agency market. With only 11 players in the squad I’d estimate I’ll be bringing in at least 12 players, so it’s certainly going to be a busy transfer window.
#30277 FC Halifax - Blue Square to Europe
alexlloyd
#290526 FC Halifax - Blue Square to Europe
alexlloyd
With that magnificent end to the season we’ve managed to achieve the third title in three seasons winning the npower League Two, it’s an amazing achievement because even with the players I bought in I expected top half and maybe a promotion scrape at best, but to win a third title is more than I could have ever imagined.
Now that this season is complete I will be giving more in depth updates, expect a busy transfer window once again as loan players return to their clubs and I look for League One quality.
Npower League Two – 1st
F.A. Cup – 2nd Round (Preston)
League Cup – Preliminary Round (AFC Wimbledon)
Johnstone’s Paint Trophy – 2nd Round (York)
#30215 FC Halifax - Blue Square to Europe
alexlloyd
#290525 FC Halifax - Blue Square to Europe
alexlloyd
A few players left the club in January too, with the wages Paixao and Meite were on I couldn’t afford to keep them for back-up, and after replacing them with loan signings we’re currently performing at about £4,000 per week under budget.
We’re now 36 games into the season and completely caught up with my game, as you can see we’re doing better than I could ever expect currently sitting in second place in the table with ten games to go. Following back to back promotions there is a real possibility of a straight promotion to league one with the depth the squad currently has even injuries to players such as Conor Newton and Byron Moore haven’t been drastic with the likes of McCleary and Chaplow coming in who are far too good for this level.
#290524 FC Halifax - Blue Square to Europe
alexlloyd
A lot of positions needed to be replaced following the promotion and once again I was forced to hit the free agency market, although we now have a decent wage budget of around £17,000 which is over double what we started with two seasons ago.
Probably one of the biggest and most surprising acquisitions of the summer has to be Shola Ameobi, who after failing to make a single appearance for Newcastle United last season was released, he joins on a one year contract on player/head of youth development terms.
There are other stand out signings such as Conor Newton who is also joining from Newcastle after failing to make the cut to first team level, he will certainly be a leading centre mid for us this season. Ryan Noble is another impressive signing from Sunderland, he forms a lethal partnership with Ameobi, particularly at League Two level.
Dependant on injuries this is my ideal 11 to start the season, obviously it is a massive change from the squad that won the league last season, with only Don Guthrie and Alessio Bugno remaining in the starting 11 following Bugno’s loan move becoming permanent. The likes of Oscar Gobern, Matty Pearson and Leo Fasan are also massively important players for the team.
#29942 FC Halifax - Blue Square to Europe
alexlloyd
Update that takes you 36 games into the League Two campaign is coming up later, after that I'm caught up and after this season will do regular updates, possibly monthly or in a story format depending on preferences?
#290523 FC Halifax - Blue Square to Europe
alexlloyd
I'd say the most impressive signings were Abdoulaye Meite who some may remember from his Bolton and West Brom days not too long ago and Flavio Paixao, who had just been released from Hamilton after making 30 premier league starts for them last term.
With the aim to be for the club to jump up the first few divisions at the first time of asking it was key to be able to remove a large chunk of the squad after the campaign and bring in new ones (17 in summer, 5 in January) and after a tough season and a tough battle against AFC Wimbledon we were able to secure promotion to the football league for the very first time, winning the second title in a row.
One of the most impressive players of the campaign has to be Don Guthrie, who I bought in from Barrow on a free transfer and at just 17 years of age managed to cement a first team spot at centre back playing 38 games, with my scouts believing he has the potential to become championship quality. Flavio Paixao was the biggest disappointment, I made him the highest paid player at the club due to his Scottish Premier League experience the season before but in 36 games he only found the net 8 times.
Blue Square Premier - 1st
F.A. Cup - 3rd Round (Charlton Athletic)
F.A. Trophy - 3rd Round (Alfreton)
#290522 FC Halifax - Blue Square to Europe
alexlloyd
Looking back I'd say there were four key signings that season, first being Matthew Paterson who cost £5,000 from Burton Albion who managed to get 15 goals and 12 assists in his first season. The other money signing Jamie McGuire also proved useful, although not being his natural position was able to fill the void at right midfield, with the other two key signings being Joe Heath and Bradley Wood who did a great job at either full back position after coming in on loan.
After the new year it was always looking likely we would be going up and eventually finished 11 points clear of third place, 4 behind runners up Gainsborough with the key man being Gareth Seddon who I would recommend strongly for that level after he ended the season as the divisions top goalscorer with 26 goals and 6 assists in 41 games.
Heres how the top ten of the division looked come the end of the season.
League Finish - 1st
F.A. Cup - 1st Round Proper (Macclesfield)
F.A. Trophy - 1st Round (Stockport)
#290521 FC Halifax - Blue Square to Europe
alexlloyd
I've already got through my first two seasons and am now sure I'll be sticking with it through until I achieve my goals (which, as the title suggests is all the way to the top) so I'm going to be posting quick updates for the first two seasons tonight then more in depth updates from then more than likely monthly.
Hope you enjoy the career!
2012/13 - Blue Square North Champions
2013/14 - Blue Square Premier Champions
2014/15 - npower League Two Champions