Stay committed, stay resilient - The beautiful game.

Just five years ago, I passed my Continental A licence. I worked tirelessly, day and night to earn it, and when I did... I became quickly disappointed. I applied for jobs at various clubs, domestic, foreign, and even clubs in other continents.
Due to my inexperience as a player these clubs rejected my applications without even batting an eye. All motivation had left me, and depression was starting to kick in.

This didn't stop me. Every morning, I would get up, get dressed and apply for any and every job going. In the evening, I would sit down at my desk with a cuppa, and check my e-mails. As always, my applications were rejected, but one night...One cold, wet, Wednesday in Stoke, a message came through. At first glance, it looked like I had been rejected again...But no!

The previous week I had applied for the managerial position at Wolverhampton Wanderers. (Yeah, fat chance!) They quickly turned me down, however out of the 2379 clubs I sent applications to, they were the only one to reply with something helpful. They replied:

"Thank you for your application. Your CV shows you have the ability and skill to become a great manager. However we are in no position to be making risks at this club. We will be sure to look out for any smaller jobs going. Good luck with your job hunt."

So, anyway, back to the e-mail I had received...
It was in fact a a job offer from the Wolves themselves! A job offer to coach the u18s with a 1 year contract. I could not believe it, I had bagged myself a job at a Championship side! Not the most prestigious job, but it was a chance to prove myself. A chance to prove myself to the board, and the new manager Mick McCarthy.

I was ready for this! At the age of 35 I was ready...I knew I had the ability to take on the senior team, no sweat! But, I had to prove that first.

In five years at Wolves, I have helped developed some of the current senior players now! The likes of Kevin Foley, and David Edwards, both started out in the u18s, they did only play under me for about 2 years between the ages of 17-18, but there is no reason why I cannot take any credit for their development...
Wayne Hennessey is also another to come up through the ranks of Wolverhampton, having played under me between the age of 16-19.

This team have been on a bit of a roller coaster for these past five years. We experienced promotion in my first year at the club...But after 3 years, we suffered back to back relegations.

We will now play our football in the Sky Bet league 1, and yes...I proved myself. After McCarthy was sacked, I was offered the full time job. Apparently I had enough experience now to take over, and the faith the board had in me felt great...So I was ready to repay them, by taking the club to glory!

Never give up, never back down, follow your dreams. I did so, and look where I am! I will continue to do so, and take this club to massive heights. I was made, to take this club to glory.

Good Luck!

This was an amazing start! good luck

Madridsta: Cheers mate!

Arsenal: That's a reaction I was aiming for Cheers lad!

Nice start Aaron, good luck man!

Good start Aaron and good luck

A good start but the question is, are you going to stay committed to this one story?

Nathaniel: Cheers man!

Pompey: Also cheers!

James: Cheers mate! I know I have had a lot of stories recently and that's mainly due to me coming up with new ideas! But I am going to give it my best shot

I've only been here a few days. Just enough time to sort out what I am going to do! Enough time to make a plan, decide on my tactics and build this team.
My first day was obviously a bit hectic. I took training with the lads for the first time, and I had all sorts of e-mails from scouts, the chairman, our coaches...Thankfully they are dealt with now.

I have decided on a plan to take this team back to the Premier League, and that plan consists of hard work, and tenacity. Signing players, isn't my priority, Although we may have to strengthen quickly, and get in some other great talents from other great teams. I will be looking to take advantage of the transfer windows. I want to sell big, and buy small. I have one player on my mind, and that man is Sebastien Faure, a centre back from Rangers. The lad has all kinds of potential, and it could really strengthen our team in the long run.

I also think my plan 'A' for a tactic will be a 4-3-3. The first time I have ever used this formation, although I do believe it will benefit us. We haven't the depth on the wings to play with a wide formation, and that's why a 4-5-1 will be my plan 'B'.

To build this team, I want to get upgrading our facilities. From day one, all I have been able to do is develop youngsters, and I have learned a lot from doing so. It's not in my nature to go signing the biggest players out there. I want to develop my own players, so that when one worldie comes through, I can rightfully take the credit for bringing him into the footballing world. I don't want too take credit for others' work.

Our finances look stable. For now...If we want to keep them stable, or in fact become a top dog financially, we must get ourselves back to back promotions. It's up to me to ensure we do. If I work hard, it will rub off on the players and we should almost definitely see ourselves back in the Championship next year. Maybe even the Prem in two!

So, this season promotion is predicted as a certainty for us. According to the media, we'll easily become champions. But what do the media know? They're full of crap of course! This is football, and it will always be hard no matter what competition we are playing in and no matter what team we are playing. So let's get out on the field and bring the league trophy home!

Good Read, Good luck with this also should be a great Read and very enjoyable with Wolves.

Great update mate, I love the style!! Looking forward to the start of the season, league 1 should be a breeze. I finished on top by 26 points in my Wolves save. Keep it up

Love the start and good luck!
also like the quotes at the top, really inspirational

Our pre-season hadn't gone as planned. Of course I wasn't expecting to win every game, nor was I expecting our strikers to be thumping in 5 a game, but what I was expecting was a little more fight than we really got.

Don't get me wrong, the players were great all through the period, but there were a few players that at some points did fall below expectations. Danny Batth, and Jake Cassidy for instance. The two players weren't up to scratch in the six games that we played, at some points they looked great, but I need them to look great ALL the time.

Our first game was played against our reserves at the Molineux. We saw some decent solid defending for the first half, and also some quite brilliant passing moves. We kept most of the possession (as expected) throughout the game, however took until the second half to get the breakthrough. Michael Jacobs scored 2 of the 4 goals scored in the game, and our star striker Dicko scored the third of our goals to round off a good day at the office, before our reserves got themselves a penalty late on, and scored through Robert Parry.
Wolves 3-1 Wolves Reserves


Next to play, would be Championship team and former Premier League rivals Bolton Wanderers. Just like the first game, we dominated possession from start to finish, and kept ourselves a clean sheet. We took the lead in the first minute through Leon Clarke before Tim Ream scored an own goal to give us a 2-0 advantage. Late on, we scored another. A goal from David Edwards in the 71st minute made the score 3-0, then an 89th minute goal from winger Michael Jacobs secured an emphatic 4-0 win.
Wolves 4-0 Bolton


Our third, and fourth games were played against Almeria and Ross County respectively. There was nothing worthy to show of ourselves against Almeria, we averaged a 34% possession rating, and did almost absolutely nothing all game. We should have lost by quite a margin here.
Wolves 0-0 Almeria


We were then finally beaten, in the fourth game against Ross County. Once again we did almost nothing with the little possession we had, and were the victims of a 2-1 loss. Michael Tidster scored County's first goal, and then amazingly we got back in it and equalized in the 65th. But we lasted a whole 9 minutes before going behind again to a goal from Scott Boyd.
Ross County 2-1 Wolves


We played St.Mirren in our fifth game of pre-season, where we played out to a stale 1-1 draw. St.Mirren gave us the lead in the 84th minute, with an own goal from Mark Williams, but remarkably, just 2 minutes later, he had redeemed him self by hammering in a bullet header from a corner.
St.Mirren 1-1 Wolves


In our last game, we drove just up the road to play against Skrill North side Hednesford, where we got ourselves a third win of our pre-season. Jake Cassidy and Leon Clarke with both goals.
Hednesford 0-2 Wolves


So, an average pre-season. I will obviously be looking to get the lads fired up for our first game against Preston and I am confident I can do so! We can beat Preston, I am sure of it. I want to get some early momentum going so that we can hopefully be on our way to making a strong bid for the title.
We also made our only signing of the summer transfer. Like I said, Sebastien Faure. He joins for 250K + Installments.

An average pre season saw me head into the new season with a few nerves, but quite a bit of confidence came with that. We headed into our first game against Preston...A few moments before kick off was when the nerves really kicked in. But I had to stay calm, and collected.
The game kicked off and was all us! Fantastic, we had started well, and looked like we were about to score when Nouah Dicko got in on goal, he passed the ball to Cassidy who ripped apart the defense with a curling killer ball. Dicko reached it and went to knock it over the keeper, but the keeper got fingertips to it and parried it wide for a corner. Jamie O'Hara then whipped the ball in onto Leon Clarke's head as the striker nodded it down into the bottom corner.

Just 2 minutes later, we had scored again. This time David Edwards chipped the ball over Preston's centre back where it rolled just ahead of Clarke, who ran on to the ball and blasted it into the net!! Yes!! 2-0, what a start!

It was next to be us who let our performances slip, when a free kick was given to Preston on the wing. Poor marking cost us as an expected cross from Kevin Davis met the foot of Craig Davis who lifted it up into the roof of the net from 3 yards out, 2-1.

Then in the second half, we had the chance to put the game beyond reach for Preston. Jamie O'Hara stepped up to take a penalty in the 50th and made no mistake. He took 3 steps back and calmly netted the ball, into the right top corner. Cool as you like.

As the game started to run down, heads dropped, and fatigue kicked in. But for Nouha Dicko, it was almost as if the game had just started. He was played the ball on the half way line, and he brilliantly dribbled with the ball past 2 players, and then passed the ball to Cassidy. And yet again Cassidy made the pass, splitting the defense. Dicko ran, and ran but it seemed the pass was over hit as the keeper came to collect the ball. But all of a sudden, Dicko was gaining speed with every stride he took. The keeper needed to just reach out and pick it up but didn't see the striker coming. Dicko got his foot to the ball and knocked it past the keeper, then running onto it and making sure he'd scored. 4-1, in my first game! Wow!

On 90 minutes, the game was over. (Over in the fact we had won) But not in case of goals.
Craig Davis nicely lobbed the ball onto the wing, and a cross was beautifully curled in, Kevin Davis was waiting on the other end, and boom!! Preston had sealed another goal thanks to our sloppy defense.


What a game! 4-2! We were fantastic. Our defense could have done better, but it was only 2 mistakes all game. However that's what football does. It takes just 2 mistakes for a team like Preston to pounce. So we can't be doing that against bigger clubs.
Defensive training for the next few weeks possibly?
Preston 2-4 Wolves

Great updates Aaron and a great result in your first game!