O Flower of Scotland

---

Overwrote this update by accident.

I feel like my save is very bugged atm.. I'm not being considered for realistic jobs and teams are bringing in managers way above their rep. For example; Santiago Solari to Blackburn, Brendan Rodgers to Preston, Jonathon Woodgate to Mansfield, Stewart Downing to Yeovil and there's been some over the past two years that I can't remember. A couple of them that I've mentioned aren't a huge deal but Rodgers to Preston is as they're still in the Championship and at the bottom when he took over too. Finding some issues with game play as well with strikers scuffing 90% of their shots, literally just passing it to the goalkeeper when they are through on goal and still got wingers shooting instead of cutting back across goal, weren't those issues fixed or are they still there? If it's just me then fair enough, just curious to see if anyone else was the same. I'm also playing on my beta save still so not sure if that's an issue although I don't imagine so as my eighteen year save with Rangers last year was on my beta save.

Time for the final two World Cup qualifiers and with Scotland and Norway battling for top spot it was going right down to the wire. Switzerland and Russia were also hot on the heels of the top two. Scotland had to contend with a few of injuries as Callum Paterson, James Forrest and Callum McGregor missed out. Andrew Robertson, John Souttar and Ryan Fraser returned after injury. Stephen O'Donnell and Matt Ritchie made a return to the squad after some lengthly absences, Greg Taylor and Liam Lindsay were dropped. The squad was a little bit makeshift due to the injuries to players in key positions but it gives a couple of fringe players another chance to shine. David Turnbull also keeps his place after thoroughly impressing last time out. It's Switzerland and Norway up next for Scotland.

After being linked with several jobs these past couple of months Christopher Burns has taken the job at League Two side Oldham. With the team sitting ever so slightly above relegation in twentieth place you could say that this is uncharted territory for the Scotland manager as his new team aren't actually in the relegation zone. With Scotland going on a bit of a bad run recently and failing to qualify for the World Cup this could be just the tonic Chris needs as he looks to take his mind off of it. As usual, he has signed a contract until the end of the season. This is now his third club job in as many seasons and you being to wonder if starting afresh so many times is good for you. It almost inevitably means an intense turn around of players and staff in such a short space of time. Add in two games a week and a second job as international manager of your nation and you have a helluva workload. The question has to be asked; is taking the club jobs on the side detracting from Burns' position as Scotland manager?

It was nice to be back in club football management once again as it's something I've been chasing ever since stepping down from Scunthorpe. I don't regret leaving Scunthorpe as I honestly believe too much work was needed with them and it would've taken all of my focus to achieve that. Here at Oldham the club haven't got off to a great start but they actually have a fairly decent squad. The loanees at the club; Ryan Astley, Danny Perry, Josh Galloway and Tyrese Campbell are by far the best players in the squad so it is vital that we add some key players permanently when we got our chance in January. This is the earliest I've taken charge of a team so I'm having to wait a little longer before making any additions to the squad. The way the month played out we might not actually have to do too much in fairness. The first match off the month occurred just before I arrived as the club were held to a one all draw by Swindon in the FA Cup first round. We won the replay a few weeks later and it was a fairly pleasing and comfortable performance. Before that we played Crewe in the Leasing.com trophy and knocked them out with a two victory sending us top of our group and through to the next round where Tranmere lay in wait. Our first league game was a narrow one nil victory over Fleetwood and it was a late one too, Marvin Kokos scoring on the eight-ninth minute. Despite dominating our next match against Bradford City we lost the game and that was an indicator that we needed to get sharper. We lost the final game of the month in the FA Cup second round as Sunderland scored early on to secure a narrow win and knock us out of the competition. Again, we were the better team against a Sunderland team that plays a league above us so it was a pleasing month all in all. We just need to start taking our chances more but I'm confident that once we get the team used to our approach we'll start climbing the table.


I firmly believe that the most important thing to have as a football manager is a strong and supportive group of staff working towards the same goals as you. That's why the first thing I do when I get a new job is immediately rate the current staff and ship out anyone that doesn't fit in with my philosophy. I'm not afraid to completely overhaul the backroom staff or spend a huge chunk of my budget creating a structure that I feel is absolutely necessary. Without the backroom structure in place there is no stability, rhyme or reason. I put the feelers out with my contacts in the game as well as doing a bit of my own research and managed to build a staff in which I am confident in. We somehow managed to convince the legendary Arjen Robben to come in and coach the under twenty-three squad. He will be joined by new manager Zesh Rehman and assistant Mark Fotheringham, two players who had fairly decent careers in their own right. Former journeyman Paul Connelly was given the under eighteen managers job and he will be assisted by his right new right hand man Al Bangura and the iconic Jussi Jaaskeleinin who will be the goalkeeping coach. The first team will be coached by the superb coaching duo of Paul Wotton and David Lee. Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink's assistant Damian Matthew was one of the few staff to keep his job, alongside fitness coach Stuart Vance. The scouting department was also given a revamp and significant boost alongside the medical and sports science departments. Perhaps the most important acquisition was that of new director of football Alan Irvine. Irvine has had several key roles in the game and his experience and contacts in the game should help us out massively and give us a one up on signing players.

My second month of managing Oldham was a thoroughly pleasing one I have to admit it. When I took over I felt that the team had the potential to be playing better and they proved that this month. With a real focus on team bonding, attacking conversion, attacking creation as well as community outreach in training this month it really paid off. We went four nil up against Crawley before they attempted a comeback in vain and that was followed up by another rollercoaster game as we just got the edge over Gillingham thanks to Mohamed Maouche's ninetieth minute winner. With an eye on the league game two days after our Leasing.com trophy game we went with a rotated side against Tranmere and do you know what? They actually played really well and were unlucky not to get anything from the game. However, it wasn't a competition I wanted to play in at the moment as we were barely puttng together a bench so squad rotation wasn't something we'd be able to use consistently. The decision to rest key players ahead of the Cheltenham game proved inspired as we coasted to a three nil victory. Top of the table Luton were the first team to take points from us this month and they took all three. We were perhaps the better side on the day but just weren't clinical enough. We rounded off the month with an emphatic victory over Newport County. It wasn't all plain sailing though as they took the lead after fifteen minutes and had generally played better than us. That soon changed though when Tyrese Campbell equalised minutes later and we then went all out attack as I had a feeling we had them. We did.

Tyrese Campbell is the best player in this team and that proved when he got player of the month courtesy of his six goals in five games. Centre back Danny Perry was also named young player of the month. Marvin Kokos effort against Gillingham was named third best goal of the month and I was nominated third best manager of the month too. It was nice to get some recognition like that as it's a first for me. Going back to Campbell and Perry, both players loan deals were due to expire on the first of January as were the deals of Josh Galloway and Ryan Astley but thankfully we able to convince all four of the players to stay until the end of the season. Had we lost Campbell or any one of the two centre backs we would have really struggled the rest of the season. I truly believe that. We were also able to add a couple of players to the team this month and we were surprised to see Teddy Bishop as a free agent but delighted to snap him up. We also brought in Tommie Hoban who will be a great option as back up to Perry and Astley. We allowed Sean Reid, Harry Flowers, Kieran Hayes and David Wheater to leave the club this month too and all four were released from their contracts early. After bumping his gums about wanting to move to a bigger club on my very first day I was happy to allow Alex Iacovitti to leave for £100k to join Luton. We received bids for Mohamed Maouche, Marvin Kokos, Dylan Gage and Gevaro Nepomuceno ranging from £20k-£110k but as we intended to use these players we turned the offers down. With the january window now open it was time to see who else we could bring in to strenghten our squad.

After an impressive month in December we entered in to the transfer window knowing that we had the players capable of fighting their way to a higher position in this league. That being said, it would've been silly not to have added to anyone to the squad. So we brought in four players in key positions that I felt we needed a bit of quality and depth in. With Alex Iacovitti leaving we filled the void at left back with Josh Wilson-Esbrand who we signed on loan from Southampton. Josh has pace for days and was slotted straight in to the starting eleven. Adria Bernabe was brought in on loan from Manchester City but I was in two minds whether to confirm the deal or not due to the maximum amount of five loan players in a match day squad rule. In the end it was best to have the option should we need him. We splashed a bit of cash on Rory Hale and faced a bit of a backlash from people saying we over spent on him. He will be starting alongside new fellow new boy Teddy Bishop and that verdict will be saved for the end of the season. Gary Madine was the final addition and having had him on trial for almost two months it was great to finally get the deal done as he was going to slot right into the team alongside Tyrese Campbell. Marvin Kokos had been playing alongside Campbell and although he had done well, signing Madine allowed Kokos to switch to his favoured position on the right wing.

It wasn't the best of starts to the month on the pitch as we went down 2-0 to Leyton Orient and we never really looked like getting anything from that game. A scoreless draw was played out with Walsall next as we went two games without a win for the first time in my short spell to date. Thankfully, we got things back on track in our next game though. Gary Madine got his first goal for the club in the one nil win over Morecombe. After a scoreless first half in the Crewe match The Railwaymen came out flying in the second half as the scored two goals inside five minutes to go two up. As previously mentioned though, this team had fight! Danny Perry nodded a goal in with nine minutes of normal time remaining to give us hope and then Tyrese Campbell only went and equalised in the last minute of the game. A superb fightback but with only one win in four games it wasn't the greatest in terms of results.

Really not an ideal month for you there. Interesting also to see Bolton finally digging themselves out of those relegation spots.

It was back to pure day to day management in February as we set about improving our position in the league now that our squad was settled for the season. We got off to the best possible start as we trounced Stevenage four one with a great help by centre back Danny Perry who scored a double. Carlisle give is a bit more of a test as each time we took the lead they fired back immediately but that was to end when Rory Hale fired us ahead for the third time and then Gary Madine sealed the win late on. When Rochdale equalised in our match with just fifteen minutes to go I felt shattered by it but another centre back, Ryan Astley, proved our never say die attitude when he popped up with the winner with seven minutes to go. Swindon took the lead against us after five minutes but early in the second half we managed to put ourselves ahead in the game only to be undone by a cruel ninety-third minute equaliser. That goal cost us our fourth win on the bounce and the chance to move up to eighth in the league, one place below the playoffs. That month of results means that we have now gone seven games without defeat which has helped us soar up the table. We are in tenth place now with just three points separating us from the playoffs. If this form continues then we could be in for a hell of an end to the season. Danny Perry was named the third in the player of the month and second placed young player of the month. I am delighted to have also been named the League Two manager of the month.

---

Jack;
It wasn't ideal but wasn't the worst either as it allowed us the platform to go on an unbeaten run as you'll see with the latest update there. Is it bad that I really want Bolton to go down? Not for any other reason than the challenge it'd be to try take charge of them and climb the leagues. Would be even better for them to be relegated even further from the National League so that I could get the bottom to the top achievement.

We were brought crashing back down to earth in March as our optimistic hopes of sneaking in to the playoff spots took a blow. We played out an end to end, hard fought match against Luton but ultimately the league leaders were too strong for us. It was in the next game that affected us the most though as we lost to a struggling Cambridge side after taking the lead early on and dominating the whole match. We missed Tyrese Campbell in that game though as he was ruled out for three to six weeks after the Luton game. I honestly thought that we were going to have a month of losses in his absence. We didn't though as we managed to pull off a narrow win against Plymouth that lifted the spirits ever so slightly. We were due to play Grimsby on the twenty-sixth but as we had three players on international duty we were allowed to postpone the match. I was glad we able to do so as it allowed us time to get Campbell back for the next game and also allow us to get the focus back in training. Speaking of training, it's clear that our attacking focus is helping us big time as we made it ten games in a row in which we've scored in our next game. Campbell returned against Grimsby but it was Teddy Bishop who was the match winner here as his thunderous drive from outside the box stunned everyone. Those back to back wins at the tail end of the month gave us a fighting chance of reaching the playoffs but we really couldn't afford anymore slip ups.

We fought tooth and nail this month as we battled our way into the playoffs in the final run in of the season. After a mixed month last time it was imperative that we got as many points as possible this month and we certainly done our damnedest. Gary Madine, Rory Hale and Tyrese Campbell contributed to an emphatic victory over bottom of the table Northampton. We followed that up with another resounding three nil victory as Campbell continued his goal scoring form whilst Teddy Bishop and Marvin Kokos got the other goals. After blowing a two nil lead against Notts County with fifteen minutes to go it was looking like we were going to struggle to make it in to the playoffs. Up stepped midfielder Rory Hale who's scorching eighty-second minute strike saved our skins and ensured we would enter the playoff positions for the first time this season. We knew that we didn't have to win our last game of the season against Bolton but really had to hope that the teams below didn't manage to win either. Despite bombarding the Bolton goal we couldn't find the late equaliser that we needed but in the end we didn't need it. We have taken Oldham Athletic from near relegation to a fifth place finish and playoff semi final!

---

Wow! Incredible work with Oldham to get them into the playoffs, good job!

After overhauling the club upon his arrival at Boundary Park Christopher Burns led the side to the playoffs, a career first for him. His Oldham Athletic side go into this match as underdogs as they are the away side in the first leg. Burns didn't face The Rovers in the league this season as they had already played twice prior to his arrival but they did meet each other in the Leasing.com trophy in which Tranmere knocked his side out. With a second string side narrowly being beaten in that match though the manager might be quietly confident of his sides chances. There are no shocks to the line up as the side remains unchanged from the last game against Bolton.

---

10 mins: It has been a poor start to the match here as neither side seems willing to overly committ in fear of the first blow to their playoff chances.

15 mins: We have the first real piece of action here as Zak Mills plays a long free kick down the right hand side which finds Tyrese Campbell, Campbell takes the ball in his stride now, he shoots, he scores! Oldham Athletic take the lead.

16 mins: Their manager is highly animated on the sidelines as he looks to be demanding more from his side immediately after their goal.

19 mins: Oldham are dealt with a big blow here as Marvin Kokos goes down clutching his foot and will have to be substituted.

20 mins: Kokos makes way for Josh Galloway.

25 mins: Galloway gets in about the action quickly as he runs down the wing here and crossed the ball in for Campbell... He shoots just past the post. A let off for Tranmere that.

30mins: Zak Mills has the ball on the right here, Galloway goes inside and receives the ball here he's going to hit it... But Christoffer Mastoufi tips the shot over the bar.

Half time: As the sides go in at the break Oldham Athletic have the clear upper hand here as they've dominated the match thus far.

55 mins: This game has fairly gone stale as both teams now appear to be holding back.

62 mins: Bolton are looking to make a change here and it's Tom Morrison who comes on for Ben Davis.

68 mins: Attacking midfelder Kane Crichlow comes on for the disappointing Jordan Roberts as Bolton continue to try and get something from this game.

75 mins: It's Gary Madine with the free kick here, he looks like he'll try float this one into the box. He does float it and the ball reaches Danny Perry who's header goes just over the goals.

81 mins: Defender Tommie Hoban is coming on for Ryan Astley here as the on loan centre back is looking tired out there.

84 mins: Sub number three has been made by Oldham and it's Teddy Bishop who will make way for Mohamed Maouche. Bolton also made their final change as Luke Leahy comes on for Harvey Gilmour.

Full time: It's all over here and it's Oldham Athletic who go in to the second leg with the upper hand over Tranmere. This was a bit of a boring game here at Prenton Park but then, most first leg games tend to be that way.

---

TheLFCFan;
Thank you very much mate, I have really enjoyed the climb up the table it's been an enjoyable season.