The Power of Kentucky Fried Chicken

Matchday 15

Home/Away to Hearts

Formation 4-5-1

GK: Murphy
RB: Fowler
CB: Pascali
CB: Kroca
LB: McKeown
CM: Harkins
CM: Kelly
RW: Dayton
AM: Shinnie
LW: Aluko
ST: Fierro

Subs:

GK: Antel
CB: Fisher
FB: Pursehouse
CM: Norwood
LW: Gardyne
RW: Silva
ST: Gros

Result

Draw 1-1

Another result that I am pleased with. Yes it was a home game and Yes maybe I should have played to win it, but my main focus just now is trying to get this team solid at the back as well as being able to score and that means playing gritty more often. We did that today and came away with the draw. Admittedly it doesn't push us up the table very much but I didn't think it would.

Monthly Update - November

November was a great month in my eyes. It saw the return to form for some of our key players which is a must for the forthcoming schedules over the december and january months. We got our first league wins in over a month and only suffered one loss.



Our good results in the league only moved us up 1 place in the league, but thats 1 place closer to where I want to be.....in the TOP 6! Our next target will be 6th place....Aberdeen who are only a point ahead of us and I believe we can take that point off them as well as the place.



Once again here is a look at this months training review:



Here is a look at our desperate finances which are still taking a beating which is nothing out of the ordinary during a season:

Mate, whenever i click one of your pictures, it gets me to 'Sign into Yahoo'

WTF?

yeh its cause i am having to use flickr to store them before putting them in the story thats why

Matchday 15

Home/Away to Celtic

Formation 4-5-1

GK: Murphy
RB: Fowler
CB: Pascali
CB: Kroca
LB: Hay
CM: Harkins
CM: Kelly
RW: Dayton
AM: Shinnie
LW: Aluko
ST: Fierro

Subs:

GK: Antel
CB: Fisher
FB: Pursehouse
CM: Norwood
LW: Gardyne
RW: Brady
ST: Gros

Result

Lost 3-2

This was a game that we really should have won. We had a goal wrongly chalked off in the first half, and as soon as that happened the game changed. Celtic took the lead in the first half then doubled it in the second. In the last 15 minutes however we pulled one back then in the 89th minute we scored again to make it 2-2. 2 minutes of added time went up and were gone seconds later....but the game continued...the clock 95minutes!!! Celtic clear the ball up the park...no whistle...and Stokes gets on the end of it and lays it of to a team mate who slots it home for the winner....But it shouldn't count! It ended 3-2.

Matchday 16

Home/Away to Motherwell

Formation 4-2-2-2

GK: Murphy
RB: Fowler
CB: Pascali
CB: Kroca
LB: Hay
CM: Harkins
CM: Kelly
RW: Dayton
LW: Aluko
ST: Fierro
ST: Gros

Subs:

GK: Bell
CB: Fisher
FB: Pursehouse
CM: Norwood
LW: Gardyne
RW: Silva
ST: Rhodes

Result

Lost 2-1

The game started relatively badly for us as Motherwell taking control of the pace and possession, and eventually the score as they went 1-0 ahead after 20 minutes. We equalised not long afterwards however and it looked like we were starting make some waves into the game. We continued to play well through-out the game and it looked to be a draw...until the ref awarded a penalty to Motherwell which looked soft. The scored it making the score 2-1 with less than a minute to play. We were unable to comeback and thats how it ended.

Matchday 17

Home/Away to Motherwell

Formation 4-2-2-2

GK: Bell
RB: Fowler
CB: Fisher
CB: Kroca
LB: Hay
CM: Harkins
CM: Kelly
RW: Dayton
LW: Aluko
ST: Fierro
ST: Gros

Subs:

GK: Murphy
CB: Ashcroft
FB: Pursehouse
CM: Norwood
LW: Gardyne
RW: Silva
ST: Rhodes

Result

Won 3-2

We took the lead in the first half thanks to a goal from Kroca. He then went off injured just before half time after injurin himself when trying to prevent St. Johnstone's equaliser. We then re-took the lead thanks to good 1-on-1 play from Gros. Fisher then extended the lead from another corner. St. Johnstone pulled one more back but they couldn't equalise again and the game ended with another win for us.

Matchday 18

Home/Away to Dunfermline

Formation: 4-2-2-2

GK: Bell
RB: Fowler
CB: Fisher
CB: Kroca
LB: Hay
CM: Shinnie
CM: Kelly
RW: Dayton
LW: Silva
ST: Fierro
ST: Rhodes

Subs:

GK: Murphy
CB: Ashcroft
FB: Pursehouse
CM: Norwood
LW: Gardyne
RW: Aluko
ST: Gros

Result

Won 3-1

This was a good result for us as it will help get the teams confidence back. We took the lead in the first half but we were immediately pegged back. We then took the lead again in the second half when Fierro scored in the 55th minute. Rhodes then added our third late on the the game to seal the deal and give us the much needed 3 points.

Matchday 19

Home/Away to Hibernian

Formation: 4-2-2-2

GK: Bell
RB: Pursehouse
CB: Fisher
CB: Angha
LB: McKeown
CM: Norwood
CM: Kelly
RW: Gardyne
LW: Aluko
ST: Fierro
ST: Gros

Subs:

GK: Murphy
CB: Kroca
FB: Hay
CM: Shinnie
LW: Dayton
RW: Silva
ST: Rhodes

Result

Draw 2-2

This is probably the fairest result as both teams deserved a point from the game. We went down 2-0 within an hour though if we had finished our chances it could have been a different story. We then pulled one back with 10 minutes left to play and just before the final whistle we scored again to draw the game at 2-2.

Matchday 20

Home/Away to Rangers

Formation: 4-2-2-2

Line-Up:

GK: Bell
RB: Pursehouse
CB: Fisher
CB: Angha
LB: Hay
RW: Gardyne
CM: Norwood
CM: Kelly
LW: Aluko
ST: Fierro
ST: Gros

Subs:
GK: Murphy
CB: Kroca
FB: Fowler
CM: Harkins
RW: Dayton
LW: Silva
ST: Heffernan

Result

Won 2-0

A great result that lifts the team up into the top 6. We will hopefully be able to build on the result after the Semi-Final match next weekend.

Personal Update

Due to other commitments in real life I will be cutting down the updates from Matchday and Monthly to just monthly as I am currently studying intensly for exams when my college starts again later this week.

I am sorry to those who have followed the story so far and have enjoyed the match reports but alas I am unable to do anything else until I get some more free time.

This does not mean I am stopping the story, not at all, just that I will be updating the story a little less often and when I do I will try to get as much detail in as I can.

Thank you for your continued support and I do hope that it continues because it is for you fellow fm scouters that I continue this story.

Monthly Update - January

This was a relatively good month for the club. We had a heavily congested fixture list and schedule with 7 games within the month. This could have been a game less but our inability to finish in the first match-up against Partick Thistle meant the game ended as a draw. In other games...we never really got into the game against Dundee United which could have been a heavier defeat than it was. The big win against Aberdeen the game after however did go a way in repairing the damage done by the DU loss.



With 3/4 wins in our league games, only defeat was against Dundee United we have moved up to 7th in the league, with only 2 points separating us and Motherwell. They have 2 games in hand however, while Aberdeen in 5th currently have a 3 point advantage over us with no games in hand.



Here is how the teams training summary from Malpas looks:-



We made two signings in the transfer window and allowed one player to leave the club:-

Keaghan Jacobs from Livingston for £120,000:-
= Current Ability
= Potential Ability


Lee Douglas from Queen's Park for free:-
= Current Ability
= Potential Ability


The one player to leave the team was the summer signing of Tom Barkhuizen, who was bought as a future prospect but started to complain as he didn't get first team football. He left for Bristol City for a fee of £575,000. There is also a clause that I will recieve 30% of his next sale.

Here is a round-up of the Scottish Transfers for January:-

Monthly Report - February and March

The month of February started off slowly for the squad as we lost our first game against Hearts. We did manage to create a spark however with an impressive comeback win against St. Mirren and a goal-less draw against Celtic. We then went on to pick up another impressive win against Motherwell to end the month. Our form carried on into March as we went on to a 6 game winning streak. This included an unbelievable win against Rangers in the League Cup Final. The streak came to an end however in the last game of the month against Rangers where we were unable to use our momentum to get a result.



The League Cup success was a historic moment for the club as it was the first time we had actually won the tournament, having finished runners-up 3 times previously. It was such a one-sided game as well due to my "contain" tactics that I used just to stop Rangers from scoring. Even the board was happy about the achievement which is always a good thing in my eyes.





Here's the important stats from the game:



With our 6 game winning streak, 4 in the league, we have moved up from 7th place to 6th. We are tied on points with 7th placed Dundee United while Motherwell are only 1 point ahead having played 1 game more than us.



Here is the training report for March:- (couldn't find the one for February)




P.S Tell me what you guys think of the story so far please, comments would really help in letting me know if your all interested in the story. Also, does the layout of this post look better than the previous ones? I've ran out of space on FMScout for file uploads so I've moved to Imageshack for the foreseeable future.

Monthly Update - April

This was a mixed month for the club in terms of success, results, and injuries. We played 5 games this month, 2 of which came before the league split into its two groups (championship and relegation) and 2 after the split. Before the games I would have thought we would need to win both to qualify for the Championship group by being in the top-6. As it turns out the 4 points that we earned, a 1-0 against Aberdeen and a 1-1 draw with Dundee United were enough to get us through thanks to Hibernian defeating Motherwell in the last game. Our first two games of the Championship group were Home to Rangers (lost 2-1) and away to Hibernian (won 3-0).



Our last game of the month was our Scottish Cup Semi-Final against Livingston with the winner going on to face Celtic in the Final. We ended up steam-rolling over them and winning 5-1, though it could and should have been more.

Despite picking up 3 points in our first to CG stage games, we still only occupy 6th, 1 point behind Dundee United in 5th and 6 points Hearts in 4th. We are also lucky that the split happened when it did as Motherwell have 56 points, 1 more than us. If the league hadn't split into the 2 groups, we would be below them as well.



After their victory over us, Rangers went on to be crowned champions, for the 5th time running, with 5 games left to play. I had a feeling they would win it again this year, but I am annoyed that we were the team they beat to comfirm the title.

Our team has been hit badly this month with injuries with 7 of our players out with varying severities in their injuries. Here is how things look:



Here is the monthly training review from Malpas:



Last but not least some transfer news. In the month of April we managed to pre-sign 7 players to contracts that will see them sign for us for free at the end of the current season. They are:

Greg Tansey - 24 - Inverness CT - Central Midfielder - CA = PA =
Michiel Kramer - 24 - Volendam - Striker - CA = PA =
Gareth Murphy - 19 - Ross County - Wide & Central Midfielder - CA = PA =
Henk Smit - 17 - Geldrop - Fullback - CA = PA =
Marcel Heij - 16 - SVBO - Wide Midfielder - CA = PA =
Samir de Geus - 16 - Hoogeveens - Central Midfielder - CA = PA =
Colin Anderson - 20 - Clifftonville - Wide & Central Midfielder - CA = PA =

End of Season Update

Well what can I say....

Like last year the team performed more than admirably and once again finished higher than the media predicted us to at the start of the season. We finished off the league strong with surprise wins against Hearts (3-1), Dundee United (4-0), and Celtic (2-1).



This helped us keep the pressure on Hearts as they needed to win their last game against rivals Hibernian to secure 4th spot ahead of us. Unfortunately that is what they did and we had to settle for 5th despite our good run of results.



We also had the Final of the Scottish Cup to play against Celtic a week after we beat them in the league.



I hope lightning would strike twice after the league victory and with a bit of luck, this year we would win the Cup instead of being runners up like last season.

Unfortunately.....


It wasn't to be. For the second year running Celtic had beaten us in the Final, but unlike last year we wouldn't qualify for Europe as runners up because Scotland had lost a qualification space.....booo!!!

As I've already said, I think the team performed very well this season, matching last seasons results in finishing 5th and finishing runners up in the Scottish Cup. We did however, go one better than last season as we won the League Cup for the first time in the clubs history.





Here is how the first team's stats for the season looked:



Our top goalscorer for the season and the man I would give my player of the season to is:



I am annoyed that Fierro signed a new deal at his parent club Chivas, as I would have very much liked to sign him to a long-term contract instead of on loan. However, we have secured players that hopefully will be able to take over from the youngster next season as another loan spell looks very unlikely.

Here is our end of season training overview...the longest I have personally seen so far:



It looks like I am starting to gather some dead wood in the squad like Garry Hay and el capitano Manuel Pascali is starting to hit the decline. This may mean that both players start to take a back-seat next season and allow the likes of Rory McKeown, Gary Fisher and Martin Angha to take a step up into the first team.

We had a very busy season on the transfer market, with a total intake of 18 players, not counting the youth players signed from the candidates squad. We also let go, loaned out, and sold 26 players through-out the season to free up wages and to generate a little income. Here is a look at most of the transfers from the season:



We already have 7 players signed for next season, they include:

Greg Tansey - 24 - Inverness CT - Central Midfielder - CA = PA =
Michiel Kramer - 24 - Volendam - Striker - CA = PA =
Gareth Murphy - 19 - Ross County - Wide & Central Midfielder - CA = PA =
Henk Smit - 17 - Geldrop - Fullback - CA = PA =
Marcel Heij - 16 - SVBO - Wide Midfielder - CA = PA =
Samir de Geus - 16 - Hoogeveens - Central Midfielder - CA = PA =
Colin Anderson - 20 - Clifftonville - Wide & Central Midfielder - CA = PA =

While we have this selection of players and prospects coming into the club, we also have a group of players leaving us. Those players are:

Zdenek Kroca - 32 - Defender - to Bari - £250,000
Paul Heffernan - 31 - Striker - to Millwall - £60,000
Micheal Gardyne - 27 - Midfielder - to Watford - £100,000
Russell Caldwell - 19 - Goalkeeper - to Charlton - £65,000

We also brought in and let go a handful of staff this season, here is a look at who came in and who left us:



Due to another relatively successful season, the club has once again gone into profit, with £1.5mil in prize money coming into the club through League and Cup success. Hopefully next season will be just as fruitful and hopefully the success of the past two seasons brings larger crowds to home games to boost our Gate Reciepts, which will definitely help the finances of the club.




In general, I believe this was another very good season for the club as we claimed our 3rd 5th place finish in 3 years, and had very good domestic cup runs. Hopefully next season we can continue to show promise and improve on the results from this season and this will definitely help the club grow in stature around the country and continent as well as make some more money.