Glory Hunter - A Journeyman adventure

Tough run, time for a big team talk and get this side into the playoffs, from there who knows!

On the field

We are like a bag of revels at the moment. You never quite know what you are going to get and it is certainly making the save interesting but also making that play-off spot even harder to get! We now have just 8 games to go and as you can see we need to play catch up if we want our season to extend into May.


The month started brilliantly as we beat Maidstone 2-1 a team that if you remember thumped us earlier in the season. It looked like it was going down to a draw but with 4 minutes to go they had not one but two men sent off. So seeing an opportunity i went to very attacking and luckily Zac McEachran popped up at the back post to prod one home late on to give us the victory. Bouyed i thought we would steamroller Tonbridge and we scored in the first minute but could still only muster a draw.

Then Bath royally thumped us 5-2 in another classic Oxford City collapse in defence and that threatened to derail us as we again struggled against Chippenham but somehow pulling out a 2-1 victory. The final match against Hemel Hempstead saw a Jekyll and Hyde performance. First half we were coasting to a 2-0 lead but we managed to concede against from the only two shots on target to come away with a disappointing point.


So 8 games to go and 3 points to catch up. Our fixtures see us play against current 7th place St Albans in what could be a play-off 6 pointer and will be the crucial fixture. The games against Slough and Chelmsford are the only other "difficult" games on paper with everyone else in mid table obscurity or struggling near the bottom. Our goal difference though is the real worry and it will mean we will need to go the extra step to finish in these play-off positions.

Consistency continues to be the issue, but a play-off place is still within the realms of possibility. It's all to play for! Good luck.

On the field

Another Month down and another month where we made hard work of it. Against Billericay it took a lucky own goal to give us the 1-0 victory in a game we should have won easily. St Albans was the big game of the month as we needed to catch them and we did just that with another lucky 1-0 victory. This time Nana Owusu cut in from the left and curled one in.

We were now in the play-off spots and it was ours to lose and we really struggled for a 3rd game on the trot to cut out some clear cut chances and this time we paid for it as Braintree scored two long range efforts to win the game 2-0. The month ended with our toughest game of the season against a Slough side who were looking to guarantee their own play-off spot. With that in mind, it was no surprise neither side carved out a single highlight and a scoreless draw was the end result.


Somehow we are still in a play-off spot but it is going to go down to the wire. Just 4 games to go, and what a four games it is. Both Wealdstone and Chelmsford are currently hunting us down and they are our last two away games of the season. Luckily the home games are a little more winnable but with the way we are playing, we could end up doing anything right now. I think we are going to need 8 points to get that spot, and we might get away with 6 especially if the 6 points are picked up against Wealdstone and Chelmsford.

Can we do it? Who bloody well knows

Far too tight to call. At least you're in control of your own destiny.

Youth Intake


Before i get to the business end of the season and the small question of whether we make the play-offs. I thought i would do a litlte update on the fruits of our first youth intake. Firstly it has to be the worst set of personalities i have ever seen as we are peppered with unambitious players which is a worry. There are at least a few that have some potential to be decent players but no one who is immediately ready to go into the first team.

The best of the lot for me is Welshman Lloyd White who has the best personality of the lot, high determination and probably could make it as a 4th choice centre half for us next season. Positioning and Concentration need work but the other stats should improve enough to make him half decent at this level.

Outside of that we have striker Joe Matthews who has pace but can't finish. To be honest i see him more as a winger and so ill look to retrain him as one. Shaun Rendall looks too short to be the centre back he is touted as but he could make it as a right back with a bit of luck.

They are the only three that i can see at this stage making it but i will sign a few others to bulk out numbers including Luke Sobalek and Ben Young.

Any tips on youth intake and what i should be doing to maximise the potential?

You snuck in, now time to put a run together.

Sad to see St. Albans miss out, one of my favourite lower league teams.

On the field


I said 8 Points would be enough and in fact it took just 6 points and 3 games to do it, but our season will end in either play-off ecstacy or play-off heartache. A 2-0 win over Wealdstone was hard earned but effectively knocked them out of the running and we could have had things wrapped up even earlier but a shock 3-2 defeat to 2nd from bottom Hungerford delayed what looked like the inevitable.

Instead a 2-1 victory over Hampton and Richmond secured our play-off spot before a dead rubber against Chelmsford saw the end of the regular season. A 1-1 draw was secured leaving us in 6th place going into the play-offs. Which of course means we needed to go through 3 rounds to get ourselves into the Vanarama National league. First up was Bath. A nightmare of a tie, as this team have beaten us 3-0 and 5-2 in the regular league campaign and were somewhat of a bogey team for us.

So i wasn't too surprised when this happened


It was an horrendous game for us as their wingbacks were rampant and a misssed penalty by Brown pretty much stopped any hope we had of getting back into the match. There was some terrible performances and we limped out of the play-offs at the first time of asking. However, 6th was still an incredible performance with a side predicted to come bottom and with the smallest budget in the league by far.



The board though seem a little less impresssed than i had hoped. I think my performances should have at least merited an A and i cant help but think there is a slight bug in the Club Vision side of things. I had agreed with them Mid table and i acheived play-offs and considering the actual expectation from them was to be in a relegation battle i should be performing better. We got to the correct round in the FA Cup and admittedlly we didnt go as far as they would have liked in the FA Trophy, from a competition standpoint i exceeded expectations. The wage budget at the end was not kept as under control as i would have liked but i had to renew some contracts otherwise there would be no players here next year and i did need to sign some of the youth intake. So i can only imagine it is that that has caused the problems. I did manage to get rid of youngster Bennett who joined Tamworth which freed up £95 per week but it was a lot tougher to get rid of the players than i had hoped.

End of season Awards

My name was touted as a contender for the Manager of the season but in the end i was not crowned or even in the top 3. Manager of the year was instead the Slough manager who guided his side into the Play-offs having been predicted 14th. We also had no individual player awards for the season which isnt that surprising when you look at the average ratings of most of the squad. Only man averaged over a 7.00 for the season and that was Josh Ashby who helped himself to 2 goals and 8 assists this season. So it was no surprise that he took home the clubs player of the year


As you can see it wasn't even close and that probably sums us up right now. We need to be better, more consistent and also less reliant on one person to perform week in and week out. I was delighted i managed to get him to talk about a new contract for the first time at the end of the season and i have secured his services for another year.

The future

Which brings us nicely to the future and what we are going to do. I have thoroughly enjoyed the season despite the heartbreak. There is something about LLM that makes it more enjoyable and i feel like i accomplished something here. The problem is my reputation is still virtually nothing (less than 1/2 a star) and i have only just got the board to agree to funding a coaching course which will help me in the future. The job market is also threadbare unless i fancied the Man City or Real Madrid jobs but for some reason i dont think they will come calling. There was just the one job that i applied for and that was for Havant & Waterlooville who had a terrible season this year finishing a lowly 14th having been predicted to be one of the promotion favourites. Their wage bill is 3x ours and i was lured in by the thought of having more wriggle room to make a promotion chasing squad but i wasnt even offered an interview and that put that to bed. So i signed a new contract and i will be here next year.


Budget wise that works out another £600 per week on wages but we were already overspending by that by the end of the season and it means i am going to have to look at cutting the squad down even further and trying to find some cheaper alternatives to the players that i have got whilst trying to take the club and myself to the next level. The club vision has now changed to being mid table for the next 5 years which is somewhat good news and depressing at the same time as there is a lack of ambition. They have also added being good at set pieces as a must after our impressive set piece goal tally last season. We will also be changing grounds which was a surprise to me.


So now we are going to be groundsharing with Maidenhead and also facing another cost to the club further hurting our resources. Things are going to get tougher before they get easier.

Heartbreak in the playoffs, I also forgot just how tough lower league wage budgets can be

A tough update, that's for sure. Play-Off heartbreak before getting that for a wage budget isn't great. Hopefully you can remain around the same space next season!

So before i get cracking and provide you an update on all of transfer business i should give you an update of what has been happening in the wider world of football and also look at how we are progressing against our own targets that were set in the very first post.

So Liverpool had a cracking season as in real life and won the Premiership and FA Cup double and fell just short in the Champions League final where they lost to Barcelona. Tottenham, Man City and Chelsea joined Liverpool in the Champions League finishing in the top 4 leaving Man Utd and Arsenal in 5th and 6th. So it all went to wire in the Europa League final where Man Utd beat Arsenal to secure a 5th champions League spot ofr English Clubs.

Meanwhile in Spain, Atletico Madrid won la liga with Barcelona 2nd. Real Madrid though could only come 5th in a terrible campaign where their only highlight was the Copa del Rey. Juventus were runaway league winners in Italy with PSG also winning Ligue 1 at a canter. However, neither side was able to get a domestic double with Napoli and Lille both winning the Cup competitions.

In Germany, it was a slightly surprising champion as Borussia Dortmund took home the Bundesliga title whilst Schalke won the DFB Pokal beating Werder Bremen in what must be a rare trophyless season for Munich.

Internationally Italy beat Spain in the final of the Euro's to be crowned champions of Europe

Our Progress


Career

2019/20: Oxford City, 6th Vanarama South, 4th Qualifying Round FA Cup, 3rd Qualifying Round FA Trophy

Bayern Munich have been poor in my save as well, not sure why they have been so bad in FM this year.

Wow, I think this is the most consistent I have seen you posting on here which is excellent to see. The story is going well and having struggled early on a playoff push was an excellent platform to build on for next year.A shame you had to go up against a side who have had your number all season Good luck for the next season, looking forward to seeing if you can push that step forward!

A great season, regardless. Interested to see how the next twelve months fair for yourself.

Transfers

It was time to pick ourselves up from last season and look at how we can improve this squad with very very limited resources. With the wage budget now just about covering the team we had i need to find a creative way to free up some budget. So i cut my scouting budget down to the minimum and moved that to the transfer budget and then transfered that to the wage budget. It doesn't add a lot but it is still better than nothing.


So starting with the outgoings. All three loanees (Hammett, Rawson and Fitzgerald) went bacl to their parent clubs whilst we released the above from their contracts. Ignore O'Hara and Nicholls who were purely here on trial when they decided to retire but the others all left. Kargbo was terrible and rightfully retired to become an awful scout. Kyran Wiltshere was billed as a top player but his wages were high for someone that barely performed all season, so i released him to free up £220 per week in wages. The fans are not happy on that one but i think it is the right move. Tarik Moore-Azile was our back up centre half who just didnt get enough games to warrant having someone on a contract and so he left whilst Rhys King was a youngster out on loan last season who is awful.


Joining them on the outgoings were three other players. Youngster Harry McDonnell was on a month to month contract and decided to join Slough rather than accept a minimal contract to keep him at the club. Striker Stefan Brown actually left for a little bit of money and became our record sale at £400. Whilst Reece Fleet was another player who was a back up and on a weekly contract so was allowed to leave to go to FC United.

With all of the outgoings we needed to rebuild. It was free transfers and loan deals central as i trialled what seemed like 200 odd players. It was clear we needed to rebuild the midfield as we were desperatly short in the center of the park and the wings needed a refresh as well. Up top we now had no strikers so that again was an area to look at as well as adding a full back or two. All of that for around £400 per week. Should be easy right?


A gruelling transfer window as i scrimped and saved everywhere where i could but i have still ended up £500 per week over budget so the board are not happy but i am going to make the gamble of performing better than their expectations. As they are expecting us to avoid relegation i am confident i can keep out of the firing line.

Terrique Anderson was the first man through the door as the winger/striker adds another option and more importantly versatility to the side. I see him more as a winger and he will have something to prove having not played for a club last season but he has decent enough physicals and mentals for this level. The loan market is a massive boost for clubs like Oxford City and so i was quick to add three new loan signings to the side from London clubs. James Vennings joins from Charlton and has great passing and vision for this level and i hope will be a creative force to go alongside Ashby this season. We are paying all of his wages which is the only downside as my other loan deals are better value for money. So welcome Aaron Drewe and Charley Kendall who join from QPR on loan and are costing around £80 per week each as QPR pick up most of the bill. Kendall looks a right find up top and should easily surpass the goal tallys we were getting last year whilst Drewe is a massive upgrade at right back.

After 3 loans came free central midfielders on free transfers, all for different reasons. Veteran Scott Shulton joins on a month to month contract so has no financial outlay and will be a reserve we will call on when needed. He knows this level and gives us some grit in the middle if needed. Lewis Bryon will be vying for a starting position and i cant work out if he will be a ball winner or an attacking midfielder as he seems very well rounded and more importantly versatile. Finally Tyo Carter joins as an U23 player who has some potential and more importantly costs nothing on the wage front.

We finished pre-season with two more loan signing as Connor Slack and Hayden Ravenscroft join from Forest Green and Blackpool. Slack will compete with Kendall for the striking position whilst Ravenscroft gives me another option in midfield. I definitely cant say my midfield isnt stacked right now.

Have i done the right thing?