http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/Leyton%20O/TYA_zpsd9c34ca5.jpg
“The summer before you play your first season in the top flight—is there any more thrilling or terrifying time to be the manager of a little club? On the one hand, everything starts happening at once, there’s good news everywhere you look, and you can practically see the club growing every day.”
Brian Phillips - Pro Vercelli manager
I knew exactly how Brian had felt.
My head was spinning from everything going on around me.
The club was certainly growing. Between the new sponsor deals, the start of the new stadium construction, agents looking for new and better deals for their clients, planning of friendly matches and much more I was afraid if Leyton Orient had the infrastructure to cope with everything happening at once.
And while all this was pulling me in different directions my most important job was to build a team that could fight for survival next season.
I was also still had to try to figure out who was sending me text messages every morning with the three words:
ARE YOU READY?
With the huge loan for the new stadium now on the books the ante had been raised as we could probably not afford to be a one-and-done and move right back down.
But to make money you will have to spend money and I now got money to spend. My transfer budget had just increased by more than 2500% and now i had to figure out how to spend my £17M wisely.
£17M was a lot of money for a team that had spent £120K buying new players over the last two seasons but at the same time it was not enough money to go out and buy a completely new team that could compete in the Barclays Premier League.
I would need to maximize what I already had and use the money to fill out the most glaring holes in the starting lineup. What was perhaps an even bigger concern was our complete lack of depth.
If I was also able to add a future prospect for cheap that would be an added bonus.
I quickly found out that with the maximum salary allowed by the board for a key player being no more than £13.500 p/week, the kind of players I could afford to sign was severely limited. Most of the players with experience from the top division I could afford to buy had absolutely no interest in signing a deal with that low a base salary. And if they would accept our salary they were in most cases so old or flawed that they would not help us much.
I did try to convert some of the £17M from the transfer budget into salary but without much effect.
We also finally got the green light from the board to scout the entire world. The same day as the news arrived a new scout was hired and sent off to America to kick off my secret project “The young Americans” I had waited more than two years to start.
I had now used the 4-1-1-2-2 formation for two seasons with great success. In addition I had developed a less attacking variant of that formation I used against stronger teams or when defending a lead.
My plan was now to add a defensive 4-1-2-2-1 formation to my repertoire to be used against the absolute top teams.
I would have to look for players that could fit into all three formations.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/Leyton%20O/formations_zpse49bcbc0.jpg
I had read “The Numbers game” (http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2013/06/how-spreadsheet-wielding-geeks-are-taking-over-football)
“Perhaps the book’s most remarkable finding is that football is a “weakest-link game” – although it’s nice to have great players in your team, it’s more important not to have rubbish players.”
Leyton Orient didn't have a lot of rubbish players when looking at the team in a vacuum. Shaun Batt and Mathieu Baudry had been the standout players the year before with the rest of the team all performing on an above average level. But when you started to compare the team to our upcoming opponents in the Barclays Premier League, one could argue that Leyton Orient was one big weak link.
The breakdown of the team looked something like this:
Strikers:
Shaun “The Batt 6.0” Batt and David Mooeny had done an outstanding job last season combining for 45 goals and 18 assists. I just had to hope that they could keep it going even at the next level if we were to stand a chance of survival.
Ettore Mendicino had done a decent job when called for in relief but behind them it was scary empty. I would have to find a striker that could compete for a spot in the starting lineup and a hot prospect to groom would also be a nice thing to have.
Midfield:
Dean Cox was a huge question mark. After winning the Sky Bet League 1 Player of the Year Award the year before, the 2013-14 season had been a huge disappointment for the attacking midfielder. I needed him to bounce back. If not I would have to go with Tom Lawrence and Moses Odubajo at AML and AMR.
The coaches kept praising Moses and former Manchester United player Tom Lawrence also kept performing whenever he got the chance. The question mark was if they were good enough for the Barclays Premier League.
George Baldock would have a key-role as the man-in-the-middle of the midfield. That could be a lot of pressure to put on the shoulder on a player that just a few months ago played for MK Dons in the Sky Bet League 1.
Behind Baldock Italian Davide Bottone would have the routine and be the link between offense and defends. Jody Morris and Romain Vincelot would both be looking over his shoulder for a spot in the starting lineup.
Defends:
Defends was my biggest concern. We had allowed more goals (36) than any other team in the top-15 of the Sky Bet Championship last season.
In the left back I had Ben Gordon. He had started out bad but his performance had picked up during the season. His backup Luke Giverin had not improved last season and was a question mark.
In the middle Mathieu Baudry had played fantastic. Nathan Clark was getting old and his lack of speed was a liability. I would need a starting central defender (with speed).
On the right side I had used both Elliot Omozusi and Romain Vincelot but like with the rest of the team, the question was if they were good enough to play in the Barclays Premier League.
You are the weakest link
“The summer before you play your first season in the top flight—is there any more thrilling or terrifying time to be the manager of a little club? On the one hand, everything starts happening at once, there’s good news everywhere you look, and you can practically see the club growing every day.”
Brian Phillips - Pro Vercelli manager
I knew exactly how Brian had felt.
My head was spinning from everything going on around me.
The club was certainly growing. Between the new sponsor deals, the start of the new stadium construction, agents looking for new and better deals for their clients, planning of friendly matches and much more I was afraid if Leyton Orient had the infrastructure to cope with everything happening at once.
And while all this was pulling me in different directions my most important job was to build a team that could fight for survival next season.
I was also still had to try to figure out who was sending me text messages every morning with the three words:
ARE YOU READY?
With the huge loan for the new stadium now on the books the ante had been raised as we could probably not afford to be a one-and-done and move right back down.
But to make money you will have to spend money and I now got money to spend. My transfer budget had just increased by more than 2500% and now i had to figure out how to spend my £17M wisely.
£17M was a lot of money for a team that had spent £120K buying new players over the last two seasons but at the same time it was not enough money to go out and buy a completely new team that could compete in the Barclays Premier League.
I would need to maximize what I already had and use the money to fill out the most glaring holes in the starting lineup. What was perhaps an even bigger concern was our complete lack of depth.
If I was also able to add a future prospect for cheap that would be an added bonus.
I quickly found out that with the maximum salary allowed by the board for a key player being no more than £13.500 p/week, the kind of players I could afford to sign was severely limited. Most of the players with experience from the top division I could afford to buy had absolutely no interest in signing a deal with that low a base salary. And if they would accept our salary they were in most cases so old or flawed that they would not help us much.
I did try to convert some of the £17M from the transfer budget into salary but without much effect.
We also finally got the green light from the board to scout the entire world. The same day as the news arrived a new scout was hired and sent off to America to kick off my secret project “The young Americans” I had waited more than two years to start.
I had now used the 4-1-1-2-2 formation for two seasons with great success. In addition I had developed a less attacking variant of that formation I used against stronger teams or when defending a lead.
My plan was now to add a defensive 4-1-2-2-1 formation to my repertoire to be used against the absolute top teams.
I would have to look for players that could fit into all three formations.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/Leyton%20O/formations_zpse49bcbc0.jpg
I had read “The Numbers game” (http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2013/06/how-spreadsheet-wielding-geeks-are-taking-over-football)
“Perhaps the book’s most remarkable finding is that football is a “weakest-link game” – although it’s nice to have great players in your team, it’s more important not to have rubbish players.”
Leyton Orient didn't have a lot of rubbish players when looking at the team in a vacuum. Shaun Batt and Mathieu Baudry had been the standout players the year before with the rest of the team all performing on an above average level. But when you started to compare the team to our upcoming opponents in the Barclays Premier League, one could argue that Leyton Orient was one big weak link.
The breakdown of the team looked something like this:
Strikers:
Shaun “The Batt 6.0” Batt and David Mooeny had done an outstanding job last season combining for 45 goals and 18 assists. I just had to hope that they could keep it going even at the next level if we were to stand a chance of survival.
Ettore Mendicino had done a decent job when called for in relief but behind them it was scary empty. I would have to find a striker that could compete for a spot in the starting lineup and a hot prospect to groom would also be a nice thing to have.
Midfield:
Dean Cox was a huge question mark. After winning the Sky Bet League 1 Player of the Year Award the year before, the 2013-14 season had been a huge disappointment for the attacking midfielder. I needed him to bounce back. If not I would have to go with Tom Lawrence and Moses Odubajo at AML and AMR.
The coaches kept praising Moses and former Manchester United player Tom Lawrence also kept performing whenever he got the chance. The question mark was if they were good enough for the Barclays Premier League.
George Baldock would have a key-role as the man-in-the-middle of the midfield. That could be a lot of pressure to put on the shoulder on a player that just a few months ago played for MK Dons in the Sky Bet League 1.
Behind Baldock Italian Davide Bottone would have the routine and be the link between offense and defends. Jody Morris and Romain Vincelot would both be looking over his shoulder for a spot in the starting lineup.
Defends:
Defends was my biggest concern. We had allowed more goals (36) than any other team in the top-15 of the Sky Bet Championship last season.
In the left back I had Ben Gordon. He had started out bad but his performance had picked up during the season. His backup Luke Giverin had not improved last season and was a question mark.
In the middle Mathieu Baudry had played fantastic. Nathan Clark was getting old and his lack of speed was a liability. I would need a starting central defender (with speed).
On the right side I had used both Elliot Omozusi and Romain Vincelot but like with the rest of the team, the question was if they were good enough to play in the Barclays Premier League.
