ACADEMIA

ACADEMIA

Managing: Cardiff Met Uni FC
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Nathan Washington is a recent graduate from Cardiff Met Uni, he has been friends with the footballers in the squad for the duration of his time at the university. Once there was an opening available to manage the side, it was the players that pushed him to apply for the position and he was fortunate to sign a deal with the Welsh Premier League debutants, Cardiff Metropolitan University. Formerly known as UWIC Inter Cardiff, the club were condemned to non league football after their relegation from the League of Wales in 2001. After that, they've struggled to make ground and were down as low as the Welsh Football League Division Three (fourth tier) in 2010. Luckily, their luck turned in 2012 when the club formed as Cardiff Metropolitan University F.C. and their rise began, with three promotions in four years to get them into the Welsh Premier once more.

Nathan Washington applied and got the job following a positive interview at first look he realized that the squad inherited needs... a lot of improvement...

Inherited Squad

• The Board has made very clear its requirements for prospects/staff/affiliates:
• All prospects for the university have to either be current students at other academic institutions or can be 17-18 year old academy graduates.
• In the case of transfer students from other academic institutions, the university is fully willing to cover the transfer expenses should the proper funding be available.
• There is also an exception for 33 and 37 year olds that can be brought in on 1 year contracts to pursue master's and doctorate degrees.
• Unattached athletes between the ages 17-28 with exceptional mentals can be brought in on a trial to evaluate their other areas and possibly receive admission into the university.
• Dropout (Released) athletes from other academic institutions can be offered a trial and if they show exceptional ability can be given a second chance at the university.
• The Board will only consider staff from other academic institutions, former graduates (played for 4 years+) of an academic institution, or former Cardiff Met Uni students for hire.
• The Board thinks highly of the university and will not consider a senior affiliate partnership.
• However, the university will gladly make feeder affiliate partnerships with other academic institutions.
• At any time an athlete who believes he is fit for a professional career else where is free to go, the university does not care for it's student's valuations and wants to see them go out into the world and be successful.
• Lastly, the university has a legacy system in place and can at any time pursue offspring of former students of Cardiff Met Uni.

In this first year the Board merely just wants to stay afloat in the Welsh Premier League, however is not yet willing to allocate money to the club until it sees that it can turn profit from it.

Preseason Recap
After a rollercoaster preseason the 22 new signings have had a difficult time gaining chemistry as well as gaining familiarity with the new tactics.
The one bright star that was consistent throughout the preseason was 17 year old Kim Wellman with 1 goal and 2 assists from the Center Attacking Mid position. Should his performances be any sign of the future he may just be Cardiff Met Uni's #7 for years to come.


It has now come time for Washington to make his competitive debut for Cardiff Met Uni at Cyncoed Campus. There is definitely added pressure in the fact that his debut is a cup competition. He knows that that squad isn't ready at all but hopes they can pull something out.
theWord Cup 1st Round
The time has come for theWord Cup 1st Round Draw of the 23 other clubs also in the competition, who will The Archers draw against? We will find out in just a few moments...

The Archers will be facing Carmarthen Town in the 1st Round! Betsson have deemed Cardiff Met Uni the favorites heading into this one but Washington knows it will be a hard fought battle. For this match Washington has had the squad focusing on Defensive training and set the match focus on Defensive Positioning, but will it be enough?



The Campus goes crazy after a great start! Kim Wellman chalks up another assist and 21 year old debutant Rhys James' breakthrough in the 26th minute was enough for The Archers to hold of the 2013 and 2014 winners and meet the board's expectations by moving on to the 2nd Round of theWord Cup. Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come as The Archers are predicted to finish at the bottom of the table.

Crash Dump Error

Sad new guys I had way to many leagues set playable for my laptops processor to handle (had about 240,000 player database and it can only handle 125,000)

So I had to restart, I got us back up to speed by making the same signings and results as close to the originals as possible.

Welsh Premier Competitions Begin



Following the surprise 1st Rnd theWord Cup victor the Archers have played another friendly and began Welsh Premier League play.

In that competition our first match of the year was against TNS so surely we knew that we were going to take a loss however surprisingly we scored twice. We took an early lead in the 3rd minute through a the new signing from Barry, 24-year old Troy Greening. The TNS home fans we absolutely shocked until in they doubled in 5 minutes in the 26th and the 31st minute. From that point on they continued to dominate for the rest of the match.

In the second match we managed to get a victory over Rhyl but did not come much as a surprise because they were projected to finish 12th, one place behind us, in the season preview. We took the lead in the 26th minute thanks to a Luke Fitzpatrick own goal, and new signing Dane Griffiths sealed the victory in the 83rd. We kept a clean sheet until the 90+3 minute off of an outside the box half-volley screamer from Rhyl's Rakim Newton, whom also took home player of the match honors

theWord Cup 2nd Round

Confidence has been riding high on campus since that first round shock victory against Carmarthen Town, can the Archers continue to ride this wave of confidence in the 2nd round of theWord Cup...


Another tough draw for the Archers!!! Bangor City, projected to finish 3rd in the Welsh Premier League. Our previous match was a Carmarthen Town that was projected to finish only 9th in the WPL. Will this challenge be three times a difficult as the last round? The Board only expected us to make it this far in the competition and surely with this opposition we may only meet the expectations.



Another absolute shock! The 28 students that came out to watch on the Tuesday night witnessed an absolute miracle. The Archers dominated from start to finish with the first goal coming from Dane Griffiths in the 4th minute. Jordan Prosser takes his man down the right wing before whipping the ball into Griffiths who wins the one-on-one battle against Bangor City's Jacques Kpohomouh. In only took 5 more minutes before Kyle McCarthy's corner finds Lewis Jones who beats City's Jordan Davies to the header and knocks it past the keeper, Antoni Sarnowski, and the man on the post, Henry Jones.

Heading into halftime with a 2-0 lead the squad was nervous, even though they defied the odds in the 1st round they didn't know how to cope with this much success. Washington simply told them to keep pushing and to not get complacent and told them that they were playing well but knew they could do even better.

With the halftime reassurances from the boss it only took 4 minutes into the second half that the Archers were able to find the back of the net once again. Another near post corner from Kyle McCarthy was actually initially defended well by City but McCarthy receives the clearance and plays a deadly through ball past 4 City defenders and finds a Dane Griffiths sitting all alone not the penalty spot. Griffiths' second goal and McCarthy's second assist.

The fourth goal coming in the 61st minute came off of a beautiful counter move started by, 28-year old, Peter Doran who found Dane Griffiths and played the over the top ball to Prosser running down the wing. Prosser had enough time and space to whip a cross far post to find an unmarked Josh Evans for his second assist of the match.

The skipper Kyle McCarthy took home player of the match honors after the remarkable victory with a 9.2 rating on the day.

Only a few matches in this is looking to be a remarkable season for the Archers hopefully they can carry over this form to their Welsh Premier League fixtures as they fight to survive the drop.

Welsh Premier League play continues



The Archers have continued their fine run of form into the league drawing one and winning two.

In the first of the three fixtures the Archers took the lead on a 64th minute own goal by Cefn Druids' Kieran Smith, but their lead was short lived as Joe Willams scored in the 68th minute.

Mathew Hurdman was the key man in the second match with a 9.0 rating, his superb vision led to the assists of both, Josh Evans' in the 39th minute and Dane Griffiths' in the 90+1 minute, goals.

In the third match the Archers we able to do the double over Carmarthen Town with a 2-0 victory. Josh Evans was Man of the Match with an assist to Jordan Prosser in the 39th minute and scoring off of a rebound in the 63rd minute.

theWord Cup 3rd Round

The Archers have been soaring as of late and are beating the odds on all fronts, the time has now come for the next match of theWord Cup. The Archers have been playing inspired football and are looking forward to whoever they get drawn against.


The Archers couldn't have gotten a better draw and although Haverfordwest is a Semi-Prossional side, they are no where near the same level of competition that the Archers have come used to. As long as the Archers do now underestimate their opponent and play the way that they have been in recent weeks, they are a shoe in for the Semi Final!



As stated in the build up, if the Archers executed there was no way they would be beaten on the day and their dream run continues into the Semi Final.

The scoring started in the 17th minute off a bad Haverfordwest clearance that after a series of short passes ultimately lead to Troy Greening finding Jordan Prosser just inside the top of the box, who takes one touch and fires it off of his left peg into the top left corner.

In the 41st minute an intercepted pass by Peter Doran led to a counter attack on the overexposed Bluebirds. Nyall Gray found Jordan Prosser who played an over the top ball from the right wing to find Iain Edmunds sprinting down the left wing with no defenders in sight. Edmunds took the pass in stride and the Haverfordwest keeper, Tom Morgan, didn't stand a chance one-on-one.

In the 81st minutes another quick succession of passes from Nyall Gray to Troy Greening to Mathew Hurdman who strikes it with his right foot into the top left corner from the penalty spot.

Jordan Prosser scoring the first goal and assisting the second finished the day with an 8.3 rating and took home Player of the Match honors.

In the other matches Newtown, Caernarfon, and holders TNS all won as well.

Welsh Premier League



Following that 3-0 thrashing of Haverfordwest, the Archers have found it tough sealing another victory and when they finally figured it out they ended up losing the next two, not a good sign heading into their first fixture of the Welsh Cup. On the bright side they have atleast been able to claim one point from each of those draws which they'd prefer rather then not getting any points at all, and with those points they are sitting at 4th in the league!

Dane Griffiths and Josh Evans were the only goal scorers over the stretch of games, Griffiths with three and Evans with two.

JD FAW Welsh Cup

Already excelling in the League Cup, the Archers are hoping that their performances can be replicated in the JD FAW Welsh Cup.


The Cardiff Met Uni players and supporters are very excited with this draw and are already looking ahead to the next round. Hopefully their confidence of this draw with Caldicot Town does not turn into complacency against the Welsh First Division side.



The Archers were able to celebrate nearly the same ease of victory today as they were able against last Welsh First Division side they faced.

The first goal came in the 37th minute off of the boot of Mathew Hurdman, the play started off of a throw in from Luke Jones and ended when Jordan Prosser found Hurdman outside the top of the box and hit it with blistering pace with his right to the bottom left corner.

In the 57th minute the assist man turned goalscorer as off another throw in play. Chris Thomas threw in the ball from the left side, received a quick pass back from Mathew Hurdman and had enough time to whip in a cross to a wide open Jordan Prosser on the penalty spot who head it into the top left corner.

The Archers rode the rest of the match out comfortably with 61% possession and 15 shots to Caldicot's 5. Mathew Hurdman took home Player of the Match honors.

Welsh Premier League



The Archers only had a one match rest until their semi-final fixture in theWord Cup so they played a rotated side and were still able to keep a clean sheet.

theWord Cup Semi-Final

The Archers have come farther than anyone could imagine and are just happy to be in the hat for the Semi-Final. At this point in the competition there is no more 'favorable' draws for the Archers and will have to be at their best no matter who they get matched against.


Cardiff Met Uni have only played against Newtown on one other occasion this season and it ended in a 1-1 draw, the Archers will be heading into this one without Dane Griffiths who scored last time out against the Robins due to a gashed head against Caldicot. Newtown have also had an easy run of fixtures in theWord Cup so this will be their first big test in the competition as well.

The Archers are heading to the FINAL!!!

Nyall Gray had big shoes to fill in his first cup start for the Archers and he certainly did netting the first goal in the 16th minute. Newtown wasn't prepared for the pace of the poacher and Anthony Finselbach's chip through ball lead Gray in behind with no one in sight but the keeper. Gray took the shot first time off of the bounce and was able to slide it into the bottom left corner under the keepers dive.

In the 32nd minute a charging Luke Jones down the right side was met by another over the top ball this time delivered by Peter Doran. Jones had enough time and space to whip in the ball to the opposite post to Josh Evans also on a run in and was able to steer it in.

In the 58th the Archers sealed the match on a rather comedic play as Josh Evans sent a low cross in from the left side to meet Nyall Gray at the penalty spot but was taken out Newtown's Steffan Edwards and was somehow not given the penalty, the ball continued to meet Jordan Prosser on the other side who crossed it back to Josh Evans and Evans crossed it right back to Prosser who rocketed the volley into the top right corner.

Luke Jones with an assist on the day took home Player of the Match honors.

Great start in to the season. If you can turn some of those draws in to wins...
Good luck