Newport County - Season 2 (2009)

In our inaugural season in the Blue Star Premier, we will tell the board that expectations are to avoid relegation. That gives us a transfer budget of 20k and a wage budget of 11.75k per week. This gives us about 4k per week extra to look for improvements and we will likely go the frugal route and continue to look for free transfers.

We're still a semi-professional team, so I'm having a hard time getting my current players to accept full-time contracts. I've gotten a handful to sign full-time so far, but not nearly as many as I'd like so they can make use of full-time training schedules! Quick list of full-timers:

Lewis Hamlin - imperative that we signed our 24 y/o top playmaker to a FT deal!
Scott Forrester - 25 y/o backup striker showed he could play on the first team if needed.
Craig Hughes - 30 y/o is getting older, but he played very well alongside Hamlin last season ( 16 goals, 5 assists, 5 MoM, 6.9 rating).
Marc Robinson - 17 y/o DR could be a building block in the future due to high work rate, so we signed him based on potential.
Paul Cochlin - started for us last season and showed his worth. Signed full-time to maximize the 25 y/o DC's growth.
Ryan Pendleton - 17 y/o DC looks like another defensive piece for the future like Robinson.

In the spirit of growth, I had also taken out adverts to fill the various coaching positions on Newport. The one member I like is a scout with decent ability to judge potential. Beyond that, I'll be looking to upgrade ASAP. The only problem is, the board feels we can get by with one coach... That means I can't hire anyone new even if I start terminating the coaches I'd like to replace. :no

This irritates me after I had this coach respond to an advert for a free-agent GK coach, willing to coach at Newport for only 5 p/w! I have a youth coach that I'm going to try and convince to be either our GK coach or just a coach in general because anything is better than the 1 star rating we currently have. Beyond that, I don't know that we'll be able to squeeze any more out of our current coaching staff.

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Friendlies

We accepted three invites from former Blue Square North/South members Southport, Redditch, and Merthyr and then went out to schedule some games against upper division foes to get some extra income. We were able to secure games against Coca Cola League 1 members Bradford City and Coca Cola Premier League members Birmingham. Both of these games netted us some nice gate receipts, with the game against Birmingham bringing in a cool 50k.

These games didn't come without a cost to our team, however, as we suffered some very irritating injuries. Danny Rose, one of our starting MCs, fractured his wrist and is out for 5-7 weeks. This prompted me to look at bringing in a replacement, and after looking at available free transfers, we brought in two new MCs. I think our style of play could definitely benefit from an upgrade to the middle of the field, so we brought in Mark Hughes and Darrell Clarke.

Clarke is more offensive-minded and will not only fill the void while Rose is injured; he should remain on the first team and help our attack even when Rose comes back.

Hughes was another MC I found while searching for a replacement for Rose. And while he isn't as offensive-minded, I couldn't pass up the chance to upgrade our DMC slot. I fully expect the competition to be stouter in the Blue Square Premier, and Hughes was a good value IMO.

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3.10.09
It didn't take long for the injury bug to bite again, and it bit hard. Ian Hillier, our starting DR, bruised a rib and looks to be out for two weeks. Craig Hughes, one of our starting STs, strained his groin and looks to be out for 3-4 weeks. Both of these injuries happened during our season opener, and we barely got away with a 0-0 draw. Hughes can be more easily replaced with ST Robert Duffy, but Hillier's injury concerns me because it greatly weakens our defense and I don't have a capable replacement currently on the roster.

On that note, I've put in some short-term (3 month) loan requests to bolster our defense. Not only am I looking for a replacement for Hillier, but after watching our first league match, it was evident that we need to upgrade our defense in order to be competitive.

3.11.09
After having so many defensemen reject various transfer and loan offers to Newport, we finally found someone willing to take our money! Robbie Rice, a young DR, comes over on a free and will help solidify our back line. With Ian Hillier on the mend, Rice will take over the DR duties permanently and Hillier will slide inside to a DC slot. Current standings: 0/1/2, - 4, 22nd position.

This comes at a perfect time, as MC Matt Pilkington was just lost during our last game and he looks to be out 3-4 weeks with a twisted knee. We just can't seem to catch any breaks on the injury front, as we now have four players out; two of them being regular first-teamers and one a valuable sub. We are still in the market for one more DC to shore up our defense as we begin to add more talent and cut some dead weight. Current standings: 0/2/2, -5 , 22nd position.

It didn't take long before we landed our next addition. DC Cedric Abraham comes over on a free after playing last season on Blue Square South regular season winner (and fellow promoted team) Weston-super-Mare. Abraham will bump stalwart Paul Cochlin to the bench. And in keeping the theme of one step forward, one step back - our starting GK just went down during training and it looks like he'll be out for 4 weeks. ARG!!! Let's find another transfer... Current standings: 0/3/2, -5, 21st position.

I'd like to welcome both our short-term and potentially long-term solution at GK - Martin Pearson. Pearson is 8 years younger (20 vs 28 ) than incumbent GK Glyn Thompson, but Thompson is more wily where Pearson is more athletic. It remains to be seen which player will be step to the forefront.

One final addition, hopefully for the remainder of the season, was ST Loick Pires. We are doing fine at ST, but a young talent like Pires was simply too good to pass on. He becomes the immediate starter while Craig Hughes gets back up to full strength and is arguably better than Hughes. Hughes is braver and more aggressive, but Pires is silky smooth in the final third and adds an element of speed that Hughes simply doesn't provide. Again, much like with our GK situation, it's nice to have two interchangeable players that can play two different roles (quick vs strong ST).

That makes six new faces on the team in two months, with four of them on the first team (Clarke, Hughes, Rice, Abraham) and the other two (Pires, Pearson) serious contenders for first team playing time. With potentially more than half of our first team being newcomers, we're done brining in players outside of a catastrophic injury or a ridiculous talent coming available. We finally got our first league win and are out of relegation for now! Current standings: 1/3/3, -4, 19th position.

3.12.09
After suffering through a drought to begin the season, we strung together a nice undefeated run yesterday. Our two biggest margins of victory were matching 3-0 victories; one over Droylsden and the other over Northwich. We also beat Weston-super-Mare to advance into the third round of the Conference League Cup.

Injuries continue to be a concern and I wonder if it's just a matter of time before our players get into proper shape. Remember, most of these guys were on semi-pro contracts and we're just now starting to see more players willing to sign full-time contracts. We have three current injuries - Matt Pilkington (still out, 4-6 weeks), Ian Hillier (6-9 days), Loick Pires (5-7 weeks).

The injury to Pires came just as he was beginning to flash some of his potential. He's tallied 3 goals, 2 assists, 1 MoM, and has a 7.10 rating in the 5 games before his injury. With Pires out, we're still in good shape with Craig Hughes at ST and have recalled Scott Forrester back from Reserves. And while the dropoff from Pires to Hughes isn't terrible, the dropoff from Hughes to Forrester definitely is.


Current standings: 6/8/3, +5, 12th position.

3.13.09
We had another rough patch of games yesterday that cost us 3 spots in the league table. Two of our three losses were to teams that I felt we were on par with, but the loss of Loick Pires proved to be more than our team could bear. Our third loss was to 2nd place Rushden and I don't think even a fully healthy squad would have contended with them.

We did well in cup competitions, however, as we advanced to the Quarterfinals of the Conference League Cup and advancing to the 1st round of the FA Cup before getting dismantled by Coca Cola League 2 member Yeovil.

The injury front is looking good - FINALLY - with Pires back to game form and Matt Pilkington ready as a sub. The return of Pires relegates Craig Hughes back to the bench and Scott Forrester back to Reserves. Forrester has already requested to be transferred even though I tried to split as much first team action between him and Hughes. The request was granted since he simply isn't more than a contingency plan at this point.

Current standings: 7/8/6, +2, 15th position.

3.14.09
We took a slight step forward yesterday, only losing one of three fixtures during league play. We also advanced to the 2nd round of the FA Trophy. With about half of the league games finished, it's looking highly likely that we will remain a midtable team. We are 13 points out of the 5th slot with 22 games remaining.

No injuries to report as we start the day's games!

Current standings: 8/9/7, +1, 13th position.

3.14.09
Slow day for games yesterday, as I only simmed two. We managed a draw in both of them and as a result have moved up one spot to 12th. We got knocked out of the FA Trophy, losing 0-3 to Barnet in the 2nd round and also got knocked out of the Conference League Cup in the Quarterfinals, losing a tough 3-4 matchup against Crawley.

No injuries to report as we start the day's games!
Current standings: 8/11/7, +1, 12th position.

3.15.09
We had quite the rollercoaster during yesterday's 7 game stretch. We lost two games early to Crawley and Oxford by a combined score of 2-7. We got one back against Burton at home, winning 3-2; but immediately lost again to Kidderminster. We finally got on a bit of a roll against some of the relegation candidates, beating the likes of Torquay, Droylsden, and Kettering by a combined score of 8-1.

We had one major injury, which was to MC Darrell Clarke. He's going to be out ~3 months with a torn hamstring but we won't be looking to sign even a temporary replacement. We've got a fairly deep MC group that should help ease the loss. That, and we're real close to our p/w budget and I don't want to go over that. We brought back Paul Cochlin from Reserves to take his place.

Current standings: 12/11/10, +3, 10th position.

3.16.09
We finished this season with a safe midtable finish, which I feel is a good accomplishment for our team. Click here to see the final standings, and here to see the season in review.

As you may recall, we floundered early and often while trying to bring in new talent capable of playing at a higher level of competition. Here is the final transfer information for the completed season.

Lastly, here are the final team stats and here is our best eleven for 2009.