Rugby Town: A New Sport in the Valley

Non League Football that I hope will take off without being a failure for me. Rugby Town are my local club, and a save like this seemed interesting.

About Rugby Town

Before you have any misconceptions, the sport is named after the town. It was made in Rugby School during a game of football. Rugby Town started off as New Bilton Juniors in 1955. A year later, it changed to Valley Sports, then to VS Rugby in 1973, again in 2000 to Rugby United, and for the most recent in 2005 to Rugby Town.
Easily the most prestigious award ever won by the Valley (the club's nickname) is the FA Vase in 1982.
Their best record in the FA cup is Round 2, missing out on a match against Tottenham in the next round. They have a total of 11 trophies under their belt, most of which were won after they joined the Southern League in 1983.

I don't know why they sell Irn-Bru in this town. Not that I'm complaining. I've given up coffee ever since I got married to a woman who is lactose intolerant. This will have to do to wake me up, I'll definitely need to be awake for this interview.

Rugby Town play in the 8th tier of football. This seems like a good place to start a managerial career, I'll take this club as far as I can. I am going down to Butlin Road today, Brian Melvin, the chairman, has invited me to an interview.

BM: Brian Melvin (chairman)
JD: James Donaldson (me)
Italics: My thoughts

BM: I'm glad you could make it today. Please take a seat.
JD: OK.
BM: I invited you to an interview today to include you among many candidates for the role of manager. This can't be the case, as all of the candidates have dropped out apart from you.
HOLY F%&*
JD: So you're going to offer me the job?
BM: Yes, if you're happy to work with a £1000 wage budget.
I guess this will have to do.
JD: Can I sign the contract now?
BM: Yes, this is it here. There's something I need to mention though, we only have one member of staff here. Ross is outside, waiting for you. He is a player/coach. He plays center back, but he doesn't mind being left out of your plans.
JD: OK, thanks for hiring me as manager of Rugby.

Whoa! I must be the only manager in Rugby! I guess that everyone is doing the egg-chasing around here!

Transfers

IN:
Danny Craddock - This awesome centre back is already one of the best players at the club, and he is 16! Rugby is his first club.
Adam Bezzina - Signed on a free transfer after being released from Altrincham, he isn't of first team quality (we have loads of strikers), but he will develope into the first team.
Mamadou Gomes - The left back position needed quality, and we certainly have it with this French 22 year old, released from Histon.
Adam Roberts - Our normal left winger plays on the right, so Roberts came to take that position to make our squad as strong as possible.
Graham Hinshelwood - Another player at his first club, Hinshelwood replaced our goalkeeper David Bevan, who left to join Hampton & Richmond.

OUT:
David Bevan - 5 stars, it is a shame that he left to a weaker side. He could easily play in the Skrill N/S.

Pre-Season

Authors notes:
It was an alright pre-season, the match against Mickleover was of course a disappointment, but it was nice to get one over our fierce rivals, Bedworth. In our other matches, we weren't really that bad.

Player of pre-season:
David Kolodynski
Scored three goals in pre-season for the Valley. I hope this carries on into the new season.

Debut Day

I have a full set of staff now and some good signings, all within my wage budget. It was all set for the first game against Royston. It will be tough, they're supposed to finish 3rd, we're supposed to finish 2nd. I hope that my team, led by my captain (and friend) Ellis Myles, would be up to the task.

I chose to walk to Butlin Road, I don't live too far away. I arrived about 9AM. My assistant was waiting for me outside the clubhouse.

Robbie Talbot is a Scouser, but he spent most of his playing days in Wales. He never played professionally. The season he retired, his club Morecombe were promoted into League 2.

RT: Robbie Talbot
JD: James Donaldson

RT - It's the big day, James!
JD - I'm just praying that we get a good result. Royston aren't going to be a walkover.
RT - I've got a friend of mine to film this match today. It'll be put on YouTube. I think you should assess the team from there.
JD - The match is going to get filmed? I don't see a camera, Rob...
RT - It couldn't be more obvious James! Look behind you.

And there I saw, a man sitting down with a coffee right next to a camera. A lot of the seated area around his camera were cornered off.

JD - You've put in lots of effort, Rob.

Two hours later

Ross Miller, our only coach, is setting up the warm up for our team. The first one of them to arrive was the captain, Ellis Myles. Since Bevvie (David Bevan) left to join some Cockneys, he is the only person in the squad from Ireland.

EM: Ellis Myles
JD: James Donaldson

JD - You better not cock up today, Ellis!
EM - Same goes to you, boss!
JD - Why isn't anyone here yet? I know Ross said that he wanted everyone to have a good warm up before the match.
EM - I can't blame him, this match may end up deciding the title, even though it's the first of the season! I think the players will...

A cute minibus turned around the corner. It included the team.

JD - What the hell is this?
EM - I honestly didn't know about this...
JM - Hey, lads, before you go in, I just need to say that this match is going to be filmed. Everything you do today will end up on the internet. I suppose none of you really want to play in the 8th tier, so I expect that you will show the internet how good you are today. Ross is ready, go and get warmed up.

The match

The teams took to the field, the fans cheering down the neck of the opposition goalkeeper. None of them seemed nervous at all.
Aaron Moses-Garvey is the only one in the team with international experience, he is from Saint. Kitts and Nevis. I had told him that he needed to make the difference on his debut for us.

15' - Kolodynski (nickname "Kolo") was put through by Moses-Garvey after a corner was only cleared to him. His shot from 12 yards was saved and pushed round for a corner.

33' - A defensive error by Blythe caused Royston to have a shot on goal from outside of the box. It hit the post, and some desperate defending caused it to go out for a throw in.

37' - After a goal kick went as far as Sam Belcher, some nice fluid play caused Aaron Moses-Garvey to break clear of the defence. His beautiful shot went flying into the top corner to give the Valley a 1-0 lead.

HALF TIME - RUGBY TOWN 1-0 ROYSTON

JD - I'll let you take this team talk, Rob.
RT - Sure. Things are going well out there, me and James are really enjoying this fluid football. You're playing like Barcelona! But apart from this, there are things that can be improved. It's mainly the defence. You aren't playing that badly, but I know that you can do even better.
Danny Craddock - Like how?
RT - I think it was you who got booked, Danny. You and Richard as well were going into silly tackles and getting frustrated with their work.
Richard Blythe - How was his yellow card a silly tackle? He jumped over Danny's...
JD - He has a point, Richard, don't argue with him. These strikers aren't that good, why do you think that they haven't scored, or had any good chances yet? Don't get frustrated with anyone, not their strikers, the ref or Rob. Just play calmly.
RT - Well said. Why do I have to take team talks?

Second Half
51' - A corner was headed by Danny Craddock on to Sam Belcher, who's header hit the bar and was cleared.

57' - A good challenge by Danny Craddock allowed him to play a through ball to Kolo, who hit the side netting with one hell of a shot.

76' - Another display of fast, accurate passing by Rugby town allowed Greg Kaziboni to get a shot on goal. When his shot was saved, the rebound was harsh, causing his second shot to just graze the top of the bar.

79' - After Rugby Town players flooded the box after a good cross from Kaziboni, Seb Lake-Gaskin played a wonderful pass to Aaron Moses-Garvey who had a sweaty goal at his mercy. 2-0 Rugby, both goals coming from Moses-Garvey.

FULL TIME - RUGBY TOWN 2-0 ROYSTON (MOSES-GARVEY 37, 79)

I had a press conference as well, but that was uneventful. Rob seemed more friendly than before the match, and the fans seem to like me as well, with many people wanting to shake my hand as I was walking down the tunnel. I might become to really like this club.

August Update

Results

Authors Notes:
We end our first month in the league top of the table, in the only automatic promotion place in this league. Our first match next month is the FA Cup.

Kettering were relegated into our league at the end of last season. They are favourites for the league. So how we managed to beat them 4-1 is beyond me, but I'm not complaining.

Potters Bar are predicted to finish mid-table, so that was a disappointing result, but at least we are undefeated in our first month.

Player of the Month:
Seb Lake-Gaskin
There are no player or manager awards in the Southern D1C, but he would have won it. He has scored the most goals, assists and he has the highest rating not only for us, but in the league as well.

September Update

Results:






League Table:


Authors Notes:
We're doing well, really well. There's nothing I can really say we can improve on, September has been an awesome month.

The only negative I can comment on is the two goals that we have conceded have both been from set pieces. I will have to start putting instructions on how to defend these.

Rico Gomes will be a big miss, he has been my star signing. However, it looks like our replacement winger, Greg Kaziboni, is finding form as well.

Player of the Month:
David Kolodynski
8 goals, 2 assists. Kolo has really been on form this month. I knew that he would be the star man from our first training session, I don't know how he still plays in the eighth tier of English football.

Today, I'm very annoyed. Whenever I open up the save that contains this story, I see a white screen for 15 minutes before my computer switches off.

I'll start a new story soon, I might even go into international management, but thanks to all who took their time to view this story.