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#306324 The Lower League Thread
Shedender
Are you not due to get injured soon fella?
#306215 Hell to Heaven: Diary of a Football Manager
Shedender
But on topic, good first season in charge of Loughgall and it'll be interesting to see how you fare in season two, whether you can make progression in the league and perhaps win a cup as well. KIU.
#306124 The Managerial Career Of Adam Boyd
Shedender
#306084 Saving Aston Villa!
Shedender
Are you paying him much p/w and can you please post a screenie of him? Cheers pal.
#306037 Oh I do like to be beside the Seaside
Shedender
Cheers for the comment Dan, I don't know about winning the league this forthcoming season - last season could have been a fluke? We'll see what happens though.
Bangor - Pre season round-up 2025/26
Last season we came oh so close to securing Premiership success, unfortunately failing on the final day but it was always out of our hands and needed to win while Linfield lost, sadly the latter didn't lose but we will come back and continue the quest for top flight success this season - I've once again told the players to qualify for the Europa League to avoid putting needless pressure on the (potential) title challenge.
For the first time in this career, I've decided to spend money on players as both nineteen year old central midfielder Matthew Magill and twenty four year old centre back Graham Wilson cost me £3.3k and £5.75k from Ballinamallrd United and Glenavon respectively while our other two signings, Sean Sheridan and Ciaran Kemp both arrived on free transfers after agreeing pre contracts from both Crusaders and Glenavon.
Seven players ended up departing Bangor Fuels Arena this summer with six of them being released as the club said 'goodbye' to Mark Haughey, Caolan McLaughlin, Marcio Soares, Mark Baker, David Healy and Michael Hynes while I let Jack Gault go out on-loan for another season, joining Championship Two outfit Islandmagee.
And finally, it turned out to be a mixed pre season schedule as we failed to win half of our eight games - losing against Queen of the South at home while we lost away games at Championship One duo Knockbreda and Coleraine, the side drew at home to Brentford's U21 squad. We did manage to win four games though as Ardoyne, Bryansburn Rangers, Bangor Swifts and Stirling Albion were defeated.
Please note: Once again friendlies weren't in order due to European participation.
#305736 Oh I do like to be beside the Seaside
Shedender
Bangor - End of season round-up 2024/25
My tenth season at Bangor has been concluded and with a third place finished predicted in pre season, the pressure was on me to maintain the clubs excellent few seasons in the top flight of Northern Irish football - come the end of the year, I agreed a two year contract extension and I didn't even hesitate signing the deal - could I end the season with some more silverware or would it be a trophy-less season?
Irish Cup:
I'm absolutely chuffed to have secured the Irish Cup in my tenth season at the football club as we beat Portadown in the final on penalties in front of the 'television cameras'. Our run to the final started with a single goal win away to Queens University Belfast before winning 2-0 at home to Annagh, we then needed a replay to see off fellow Premiership side Dungannon Swifts and Carrick were beaten in the semis thanks to two Jordan Stewart penalties.
League - Premiership:
We had a tremendous second part of the 2024/25 campaign as we lost just the two games as unfortunately Ballinamallard United and Crusaders beat at Ferney Park and Seaview respectively while we drew at home to Crusaders but we won every other game - the season ended with back-to-back victories against Linfield and Glenavon at Bangor Fuels Arena and (perhaps more importantly) five wins from our last six games.
Oh I'm devastated so I am, once again we have ended the season in the runners-up spot as the league title challenge went down to the final day of the season and sadly we couldn't win the league as despite us beating Glenavon 2-0, Linfield beat Glentoran 3-2 at Windsor Park despite being two goals down. Devastated but we'll hopefully come back stronger next season.
#305724 Saving Aston Villa!
Shedender
#305723 Gladiators...ready?
Shedender
#305463 New Year's Eve
Shedender
#305396 Oh I do like to be beside the Seaside
Shedender
Bangor - Mid season round-up 2024/25
In what is my TENTH season at Bangor Fuels Arena, I have reached the mid way point of the campaign and I didn't really know what to expect this time around as I decided to let two star players - Stephen Devine and Kevin Foster depart the club in the summer due to receiving big money for them and I struggled to replace them due to them being 'irreplaceable'.
Europa League:
It turned out to be another second qualifying round exit but we didn't disgrace ourselves against Belgian 'giants' Genk as we crashed out 6-3 on aggregate. Welsh Premier League side TNS were beaten in the first qualifying round, they finished third in the WPL last season, hence the reason they were in the Europa League.
County Antrim Shield:
Although the competition isn't deemed 'important', I'm still disappointed with our performance in the Co. Antrim Shield as we crashed out at the quarter final stages, losing by a single goal to nil at Taylors Avenue against Carrick Rangers. Bitter rivals Ards were beaten one nil in the first round in a game we dominated but just couldn't score more.
League Cup:
Our League Cup run ended at the quarter finals stage as Linfield beat us two one after extra time at Bangor Fuels Arena but I'm surprised we even reached the QF stage as we weren't great in the competition. We beat Championship Two side Islandmagee in the second round but needed extra time to beat them while the side needed penalties to beat holders Glenavon before Linfield dumped us out.
League - Premiership:
It's been another solid but mixed first part to the campaign but I really didn't know what to expect after selling Stephen Devine and Kevin Foster but I've been pleased, especially ending the year with four consecutive wins and three clean sheets from the last four as well, need to take that into the new year. The side have suffered seven defeats so far - against Crusaders x2, Ballinamallard, Linfield x2, Portadown and Glentoran.
And we will head into 2025 with the club lying up in third place and ten points behind leaders Linfield but it's currently tight as we are only four points clear of fifth placed Portadown who are on 41 points and then it's a big gap down to sixth placed Glentoran who are on 29 points, we need to maintain our good form and qualify for Europe once again.
Other News:
Last but not least, I have put 'pen to paper' on a two year contract extension which will now see my deal conclude at the end of June in 2026, I didn't need to think twice about signing a new deal as I want to be a 'one club' man in management, which I'm sure is either rare or impossible but I'm determined. They had to mention my Shield defeat to Carrick earlier in the campaign, like anyone is bothered . . .
#305241 Oh I do like to be beside the Seaside
Shedender
Indeed it does DNZY. You say "one more season", I'm not too sure how much longer it'll take.
Bangor - Pre season round-up 2024/25
It's time for another season at Bangor Football Club and this will end up being my TENTH at the helm and I still continue to enjoy it. I feel this season I'll want to add a trophy or two to the cabinet as it's been a few seasons since I won something - that being the League Cup when (I believe) we beat Ballinamallard United in the final.
I've brought in two players this transfer window as I found it hard to find 'talent' this time around - Jordan Stewart makes a return to Irish League football after spending time in England with Swindon, Crawley (loan), Barnet (loan), Birmingham and Carlisle following his departure from Glentoran while Willie Curran has joined from amateur side Distillery.
There was TWO major departures from Bangor Fuels Arena this summer as last seasons top goalscorer Stephen Devine went to English side Blackburn Rovers for half a million pounds - didn't want to sell him but the money was too good to turn down - Kevin Foster was also a 'big' departure as well, heading to Nottingham Forest for three hundred grand. Jack Gault was the third player to leave, heading to Donegal Celtic on loan.
It didn't turn to be a bad pre season on the field as seven friendlies were arranged by not just myself but my assistant manager as well, losing just the once to Scottish side St. Johnstone while we also drew away to Marine. Stranraer, Auchinleck, Kilroot, Tottenham U21s and Portmadog were beaten in the friendly games.
#305232 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
Shedender
RIP.
#305162 Oh I do like to be beside the Seaside
Shedender
One of those trophies Dan I feel I'll never be able to win no matter how hard I can try but c'est le vie and you can't win them all, when we do win it, it will be sweet because of those three straight failures. I'm usually guaranteed some big defeats due to my 'style' but I refuse to change it.
Bangor - End of season round-up 2023/24
One more season has been concluded as we looked to exceed expectations once more at Bangor Fuels Arena and qualify yet again for the Europa League. It hasn't been a terrible first part of the campaign although we did fail once again to win the Co. Antrim Shield, being runners-up for the third straight season but the club have a good chance of winning the League Cup as we'll 'entertaining' Glenavon in the final.
League Cup:
Scrap that! We have failed to win the League Cup for the second time in three seasons as Glenavon beat us in the 'show-piece' final by two goals to nil in a game that infruitated me as they had TEN MEN since the ninth minute - Chris Paul and Ciaran Kemp struck in the second half to give Lurgan Blues a deserved victory. Wakehurst, Dundela, Banbridge Town and Crusaders were beaten in the previous four rounds.
Irish Cup:
And we have failed in the Irish Cup as well, crashing out in the quarter final stage to Linfield who beat us deservedly three nil - Immaculata and Warrenpoint were beat in the two rounds previous.
League - Premiership:
Just three league defeats and two draws followed in the second part of the 2023/24 league season as our form was quite excellent - our three defeats came against Linfield, Glenavon and Crusaders while the draws came against Crusaders and Glenavon. The league campaign ended with three wins out of the last four games. For whatever reason, while in the Premiership, we always finish the season with three consecutive away games. Frustrating!
It's another runners-up spot for Bangor as we finished just four points behind the champions Crusaders in what turned out to be another excellent campaign for the club. In our thirty eight league fixtures, we won twenty four of them, drawing five and losing nine while we had a +33 goal difference. Stephen Devine was the main reason why we had such a remarkable campaign as we scored 40-odd goals, I'd be surprised if he's here next season.
#304833 Chard Town - A Rise To New Heights
Shedender
#304795 The Managerial Career Of Adam Boyd
Shedender
This!
#304794 Oh I do like to be beside the Seaside
Shedender
Cheers TheMazzeRunner, I'm expecting this to be another excellent campaign
Indeed it was Dan and bar a few players, I'm not one hundred percent sure on how many of them are going to be first choice, yeah I hope it doesn't upset the squad but they've had an entire pre season to gel. I've asked the board but they don't want to risk the financial future of the club, fair enough but I'll keep trying.
Bangor - Mid season round-up 2023/24
A busy but quite successful pre season has come and went and now it's time for another league season to kick off and this will be my ninth at Bangor Fuels Arena. Last season we ended up being runners-up, finishing ten points behind the champions Glenavon - I'm not sure what's going to happen this season but I'd like to launch another (potential) title challenge.
Europa League:
Our run in this seasons Europa League ended at the second qualifying stage, losing to Vardar which was frustrating as we missed out on a 'cash cow' in Dutch Eredivisie side Feyenoord. We beat Cypriot based club Apollon in the first qualifying stage (won 2-0 away, lost 1-0 at our 'home' venue) before our next stage exit.
County Antrim Shield:
"Always the bridesmade, never the bride". That's how I feel about us in the Co. Antrim Shield as for the third season running we have lost in the final, this time Cliftonville beat us by two goals to one and I feel this trophy will never be won. In the previous three rounds we seen off Ballyclare Comrades, Ballymena United and Crusaders (after extra time) before losing the final once again in front of the 'television' cameras.
League Cup:
We have had a much better run in this seasons League Cup as Bangor have reached the final for the second time in three seasons and we'll entertain defending league champions Glenavon in the third week of January. Wakehurst, Dundela, Banbridge and Crusaders were beaten in previous rounds.
League - Premiership:
Once again it's been an excellent start to the league season as we have suffered just six league defeats so far this season and to teams I 'expect' to beat us, bar Coleraine who beat us 2-0 but we were abject on the Ballycastle Road. The year ended with us keeping three clean sheets out of the last four games.
And we will head into the new year with the team lying in third place and just four points behind leaders Linfield as it's been another good season...to date. Bangor have won fourteen of their opening twenty three league fixtures, losing six times, drawing three and also have a positive goal difference which is excellent and needs to be maintained.
Other News:
Do not be alarmed folks, not only did I agree to sign a two year contract extension but I've also received a pay-rise in the process which I'm delighted with. I had seven months remaining so it's nice to see the board wasted no time in giving me a new deal. Of course they had to mention by Intermediate Cup defeat against Linfield Swifts, which again, no one cares about.
#304779 The Lower League Thread
Shedender
It's sad to see Yeovil are (potentially) dropping out of the Football League, it's been a terrible few seasons for the club. They'll probably survive though.
#304776 The Managerial Career Of Adam Boyd
Shedender
#304621 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
Shedender
#304555 The Brentford Project
Shedender
#304505 Succession Game
Shedender
#304467 Non-League Adventures
Shedender
#304418 Oh I do like to be beside the Seaside
Shedender
Cheers Dan, I 100% agree. As much as I'd love to win the league title, I don't want us to 'rush it'.
Bangor - Pre season round-up 2023/24
It's that time of year again, yes, it's time for another league season to begin and this'll be my ninth in charge of Bangor and I still continue to enjoy every single minute. Last season we ended up being runners-up in the Premiership, which I was absolutely delighted with but I also still feel we're quite a way off winning a league title.
We've had a very busy transfer window as I brought in ten players in an attempt to get the Gibson Cup to Bangor Fuels Arena. Conor McKendry became my first signing - signing from 'unattached' while Daniel Henderson, Conor Woods, Frankie McIlroy, Kevin Foster, Stephen Devine, Alan Millar, Paul O'Rourke and Uel Lafferty all agreed to join on the first day of the transfer window after agreeing pre-contracts.
Steven Toland became our last signing, joining after being released by Ballymena United.
Four players would end up leaving the club this summer - goalkeeper Ryan McBride and right winger Jack Upritchard both left when their contracts had expired and weren't interested in renewing them while Michael Doran joined Albert Foundry and Gerard McMullan headed to Armagh City on-loan for the season.
It turned out to be unbeaten pre season preperations as we ended up playing eight matches, winning seven of them and keeping three clean sheets in the process and they came against Clydebank, Holywood and Bryansburn Rangers. We also beat Groomsport, Workington, Liverpool's Under 21's and Bangor City while we drew away to Welsh side Airbus UK.
*Friendlies weren't in order due to our participation in the Europa League this season*
#304072 Oh I do like to be beside the Seaside
Shedender
Bangor - End of season round-up 2022/23
Another season has been done and dusted at Bangor Fuels Arena and once again we are on course to overachieve in the Premiership, much to my delight. For the second season running, we ended up being runners-up in the Co. Antrim Shield, losing to Linfield once again but I'd love to add some silverware this season - we've got just the league and Irish Cup remaining but that's still going to be tricky.
Irish Cup:
Runners-up! It was a nice run in this seasons Irish Cup but unfortunately we just couldn't get over the finishing line as Glenavon beat us in the final in front of the 'television cameras'. We beat Loughgall (via replay), Newry City, Crusaders (via replay) and Ballinamallard (after extra time) in the previous rounds before suffering a final defeat to the Lurgan Blues.
League - Premiership:
The second part of the league campaign was quite a successful one, bar the final three games in which we failed to win any of them but seven clean sheets in fourteen league games can't be sniffed at.
Another league campaign has been concluded and we ended the season as runners-up, which I'm absolutely delighted with even though we finished ten points behind eventual champions Glenavon, who finally sealed a league title after being favourites for the 'crown' the past few campaigns.
Other News:
Per the norm, I have signed a one year contract extension at Bangor Fuels Arena and once again it was a no-brainer as I've zero interest in leaving the club. The deal will now expire at the end of June in 2024 and the negotiations were handled by the clubs chairman, as usual. They mentioned me knocking out St. Pats as being 'famous' but no one really cares about that as it was on away goals iirc.
#303490 Saving Aston Villa!
Shedender
#303488 Newcastle Thread
Shedender
#303267 La Liga 2015/16
Shedender
Barcelona would've scored 11 though. #RafaOut.
#303214 The Night Thread Mk. IX
Shedender
Have a good day lad.
#303157 Oh I do like to be beside the Seaside
Shedender
Bangor - Mid season round-up 2022/23
So I've began my eighth season at Bangor Football Club and I'm still thoroughly enjoying it as we continue to exceed media expectations and I'm seriously hoping this season will be no difference for the club. They're predicted to finish mid-table (sixth place) but once again I'll be looking to better that and I'm confident that's achievable.
Europa League:
It turned out to be another short run in the Europa League but once again that's understandable as Greek giants Olympiacos dumped us out of the competition in the second qualifying round, winning seven nil on aggregate (6-0 in Greece, 1-0 in NI) - in the first qualifying round we saw off League of Ireland side St. Patrick's Athletic on away goals.
County Antrim Shield:
Do you ever get the feeling you'll never win a cup competition? Yes, that's how I feel about the Co. Antrim Shield. For the second season running we have ended up being runners-up in the Shield, losing to Linfield in the final, this time on penalties following a one all draw. In the previous three rounds we seen off Brantwood, Knockbreda and Carrick Rangers before losing the 'show-piece' final.
League Cup:
I'm very disappointed with how the side performed in the League Cup as they crashed out at the first hurdle, losing to fellow Premiership side Ballymena away from home. Just remember folks, we won this competition last season so to crash out in the second round (our first hurdle) is very disappointing.
League - Premiership:
But in the league it's been another fantastic first period of the campaign as we're yet again exceeding expectations, which once again I'm delighted with but it's also important that's maintained. Nine clean sheets have also been kept which I'm pleased with but we're also yet to beat last seasons Champions, Linfield as of yet this season.
And we will head into the new year in third place, ten points behind leaders Glenavon but also sixteen points ahead of our predicted sixth place finish. In the opening twenty four games the side have won sixteen, drew three and lost five and have quite an excellent goal difference too.
#303111 2015/16 Barclays Premier League Thread
Shedender
Good goal mind.