Glory Hunter - A Journeyman adventure

So there you have it as i leave Oxford to go upto the Vanarama National league and take on the famous Notts County FC. So here is a quick update of what the club have been up to

History

Notts County (aka The Magpies) are the oldest Professional football club in the world having been formed in 1862. Since 1910 their home ground has been Meadow Lane which has a capacity of around 20k and historically they hold fierce rivalry with both Nottingham Forest and in later years Mansfield Town. Despite the long history, Notts County have a bare trophy cabinet when it comes to top honours with just the FA Cup win in 1894 to shout home about. There are a couple of 2nd flight league wins with the last been in 1923 with their last trophy being League 2 in 2009-10.

However, in May 2019 the club were relegated from the English Football League for the first time in their 157 year history to the Vanarama National. The club was then sold in July 2019 to Danish Businessmen Alexander and Christoffer Reedtz. However, instead of getting instant promotion to the Football League the club have like myself had play-off heartbreak finishing 3rd and 5th in the last two seasons. In game they have gone through two managers with Neal Ardley and James Beattie both being fired, which then takes us to right up to ourselves.

The Situation


So here i am taking over after 9 league games with the club in 19th place having had a Media prediction of 7th before the season started. To be honest, it sounds worse than it is as we sit just 5 points away from the play-offs and with some good form we can be right back in contention. The 1-0 victory over high flying Macclesfield before i joined at least means Morale is in a better place but we have a tricky start with Yeovil, Wrexham and Dag & Redbridge my first 3 games.

The squad was massive when i took over, partly due to the fact we dont seem to have an U23 side so i have trimmed it right down and added a tonne of players to the transfer list. We have £100k to spend on new players but just £275 on the wage budget which sits at £47k per week (Just the 10x Oxford City budget). So i want to sell a bit to free it up but also give me some time to assess the squad. We do seem to be stronger in the attacking areas. Enzio Boldewijn is the star player and the Dutch Winger has great Physicals and in particular pace. Spaniard Raul Uche looks to be a good striker for this level but for some reason hasn't been played. His stats lead me to think a pressing formation could be the way to get the best out of him. I also like Tom Crawford and Regan Booty in the middle of the park as they look to be good allrounders and will form part of the midfield for sure.

Staff wise, we have virtually nothing as it looks like alongside Beattie, a tonne of the backroom team went with him so that will be another area for us to rebuild. Formation wise, i think will be a fairly standard 4-5-1 with a DM, with wingers in the AML/R slots and probably with a pressing formation that holds possession so a vertical Tiki-Taka is probably where i will start. That could be a little risky for Non-League football but i need to take risks if i am to meet the clubs vision.


Signing young players and developing youth are going to be two easy ones and i am more than happy to keep people in contract. Selling for a profit is also a given whilst i am 100% not going to go over this wage budget so all of the club culture and ongoing ones will be a breeze.

Hitting the performance ones will be interesting as it looks like they are expecting play-offs and more importantly get promoted with next season's aims all around League 2. I dont mind the ambitions and with it being so early in the season, lets give it a go

Enzio Boldewijn is a really good player for this league, came to the club from Crawley Town when Harry Kewell was manager from memory. I expect you will make play-offs, a capable and deep squad should see you be able to keep fitness levels up and pick up points in a few games you usually wouldn't.

Some difficult tasks in there for Notts County! That being said, they are a team that simply doesn’t belong in the fifth tier.

A nice short little update as we finish off the month of September with 3 games - Away to Yeovil, Away to Wrexham and Home to Dag & Redbridge

On the field

With the first team trimmed down to what i will actually use, it was time to play some football and see if we can change the fortunes of this historic club. I had just 2 days before my first match and looking through the team report and comparison reports on the league, we had some of the fittest, most technical players on the field and that has what has led me to the Vertical Tiki-Taka style of play. I will do a full tactical review after October's games but the idea is to get the ball from front to back quickly whilst remaining in possession. So less long ball but certainly quick and high intensity. As our wingers are some of our stronger players i have also decided to try and get the ball wide as part of this. Stretch the opposition to make some more space for the team to score.

So how has it gone? Pretty well to be honest as we picked up 7 points from 9 and have scored 6, conceded 0, leaving the table like this


Against Yeovil, you could see we were still trying to get used to the new style and it was a solid if unspectacular 0-0 draw. However, against Wrexham and Dagenham & Redbridge, the team hit a new gear as we beat both sides 3-0 with everything clicking. Tom Crawford is looking superb in the centre of the midfield as a Mezzala scoring goals and getting past the Striker time and time again. A real threat.

Now for the hard work to begin

A big move from when I last read this story. FINALLY out of that league and I think with Notts County we will start to see some real progress through the leagues soon. Good Luck.

A good start to life with your new club. The squad you have at your disposal certainly has the capabilities to, at least, obtain a playoff spot come the end of the season. With plenty of games ahead of you, there's lots of time to pick up points. Alternatively, there's lots of time to do the opposite!

A decent enough start for a manager trying to implement fresh ideas. Lots of time to go here to push forward - we know how much you like the play-offs at the end of the day

In a good spot here, keep building!

On the field

What a move this is turning out to be. Bar a couple of hiccups we have been superb, scoring goals like no one's business and more importantly racking up the clean sheets as we sky rocket ourselves up the league table.


Straight into the play-off positions and we have given ourselve a great chance of meeting the boards goals this season. Automatic promotion is unfortunately looking a little far off with both Chester and Cambridge someway ahead but this is turning into a nice opening spell for me. So how did it go down?

Well we started October with a hiccup as we couldn't break down Maidenhead in my return to York Road (Oxford City's temporary home ground) as they nicked and i mean nicked a 1-0 win. However, that disappointment was turned into something positive as we took York to town smashing them 4-0 with Tom Crawford continuing his good form to score 2 goals with Raul Uche getting his first of the season. Then league leaders Cambridge were blown away 2-0 with two goals midway through the first half.

A small foray into the FA Cup broke up the league fixtures and Bradford Park Avenue were dominated in another comfortable 2-0 victory before a late late goal against Woking gave us a 2-1 victory over the Cards. It was Tom Crawford with the goal against as the central midfielder bagged 5 in the month of October alone. He has been superb.

In the next game it was our turn to lose to a late goal as i pushed too hard for a winner in a 2-1 defeat to Dulwich Hamlet but we were back to our defensive best against Torquay as we sealed a 1-0 win thanks to that man Tom Crawford again.

Obviously the Tiki Taka football is working a treat and when we are in the groove we are superb. I am loving a Mezzala this year and Tom Crawford has been a hit. Enzio Boldwijn is lightning and every time he gets the ball and runs you can see defenders panicing and it is causing a lot of free kicks and also penalties. Defensivelty we dont have the best players but i cant argue with the clean sheets we are picking up. Squad wise we could do with some beefing up as in a few positions we are desperately short of quality past the first 11 (Central Midfield, Central Defence and Right back) but i need to get rid of the mass of poor young players the club has picked up over the years.

Expect some exits over the next month or so but the good times are starting to come back for the Magpies!

On the field

Hmmmmm.... The cracks have started to show a little as it is clear there is a bigger project here than i first thought. It isn't that we are losing games, in fact we were unbeaten in November, it is just that we dont have a lot of alternatives to the first 11. Once you get past our starters we are really thin in quality. We have some ok players on the bench but they are past their prime and more annoyingly on big money so it is proving impossible to free up wage budget to make changes.


Still in the play-off spots and realistically we are looking at 4th place as the highest finish we can do and that is if we win our games in hand. Games in hand i hear you say? How come? Well because we are on an FA Cup run that is why. In the 1st Round of the FA Cup we had League 1 Peterbrough, a rival nonetheless and in two epic ties which both ended 2-2 we finally overcame them 9-8 on penalties. We threw away 4 other opportunities in the penalty shoot out to win, missing each time they missed, and in both ties we were 2-1 with just minutes to go but we became a giant killer.

I was happy there, but the boys came out in the 2nd Round and this time beat an even bigger giant. The giant of Middlesbrough who find themselves in League 1 and this time it was a 2-1 victory that sees us go into the 3rd Round. A home tie awaits against Premiership side Southampton.


Some rebuilding is needed and i might have a familiar face or two lined up to come kick this project into 5th gear. See you soon

The FA Cup run is fantastic to see and you never know what the magic of the cup can do! Hopefully you can report back with some good news in regards to adding more depth to a shallow squad pool.

Still in the playoffs and with two games in hand over the two sides ahead of you. A massive tie against Southampton could bring in some much important funds that could help to improve the quality past the starting 11.

Must be frustrating ending up in the same position on the table in every division you manage in haha

That FA Cup game is massive for the money and maybe even the chance to cause an upset....

Transfers

So my first two signings at Notts County are familiar faces with Oxford City selling me both playmaker Josh Ashby and striker Charley Kendall. Neither are world beaters but i know both of them and they will be useful subs to come off the bench as the games come thick and fast. It took a combined £20k in transfer fees but their wages are comparitively cheap compared to the rest of the squad. A couple of players have managed to be moved on including veteran left back Damien Mcrory who went off to St Pats in a £9.5k deal but more importantly helped me shift over a £1k in wages per week.


It was also time to get our first glimpse into a youth intake which at this stage looks like it is going to be thin but if i can get just 1 player good enough to be a back up i will be happy as i continue to try and bring down the wage expenditure.

On the field

On the field it was another solid month but we are in no danger of catching the league leaders and we will be in the play-offs for a 3rd straight season. It started off well enough as we beat Maidenhead 2-0 but we were pegged back late against Halifax in the very next game in a 1-1 draw.

Next up we had the FA Trophy and Kidderminster of the Vanarama National North. Unfortunatley a rotated side could not get rid of Kidderminster at the first time of asking with a 0-0 draw leading to a much unneeded replay where we beat them 2-0 with a stronger side. Still it is worth it as we will take on Oxford City in the next round and a chance to play my old side already.

In the final 4 games of the year we were a little up and down as we lost to Wrexham 1-0 and Harrogate 2-1. In the middle of them two games there was a 4-1 destruction of a struggling St. Albans and a 1-1 draw with high flying Cambridge. It left the table like this as 2022 started.


Time to get ourselves ready for another play-off fight