Notts County - The 3 year plan

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Taking a look at squad I know well there were some stand out players:
1) - Great player, affectionately known as the “Irish Messi” to Notts County fans
2) – Another great talent, pacey and technically gifted however his inability to speak much English may be a stumbling block.
But before I went crazy and spent all my £5000, I took a look at our current backroom staff. I decided to stay faithful the guys behind the scenes but wanted to add my own director of football. So I signed Pat Willett a scout turned Director of Football and another scout in Lee Maybury. Here’s the key staff:
Director of Football – Experienced Irishman, former Dundalk DoF.
Assistant Manager – Vast experience having a playing career that lasted over 20 years. Followed by 5 years of coaching and scouting. A great motivator.
Reserves Manager – Another seasoned pro having a 15 year playing career hoping his experience can rub off on the players.
Under 18’s Manager – If I’m honest, a fairly poor coach but I’ve stuck with him for the time being with his working with youngsters being quite high.
Head Scout – Not the best head scout ever but I’m remaining faithful to the backroom.
Scout – 41 years old, former Portsmouth scout who was desperate to join the club.
Coach – Former manager of Watford and Wolves to name just two of his previous employers. A well-travelled, wise head in the backroom.
Head Physio – A young 29 year old lass, her first job in football and his only just recently joined so I will be keeping her on board.

I’m happy with my staff so it’s time to search for some new playing staff! The team at the moment is fairly good with just a couple of additions needed.
Signing #1
£2.5k a week to rise to 3.5 after 10 games.
Appearance fee of £250
Expires: 30.06.2016
Signing #2
Loan
0% Wage Contribution
Expires 30.6.2013
Unfortunately he starts injured for 6 weeks but he is here till the end of the season.
Signing #3
£1k a week
Appearance fee of £100
Expires: 30.6.2013
Signing #4
£1.9k a week
Appearance fee of £210
Expires: 30.6.2013
Signing #5
Season long loan
0% Wages
Expires: 30.6.13
I’ve been given the odds of 25-1 to win with the league, I fancy putting a pound on that! On another note, I asked for a parent club and my board have hooked me up with Manchester United.

Here’s the big test, ready and eager to get underway I’ve decided to use two tactics in this save:
First tactic - http://i48.tinypic.com/34jbnyb.png
This is an attacking tactic and I will hope that it allows me to dominate in attack.

Second tactic - http://i45.tinypic.com/mk93b.png
Although this looks more attacking, it is actually a possession tactic and I will try to dominate possession and play defensively with a 5 man midfield.

I handed over control of the friendlies to my assistant manager Colin West whilst I travelled the length and breadth of the country attending trial days and scouting players.
No really exciting friendlies and not a lot of money made either, I just forgot to arrange friendlies really…
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I ended up drawing York City in the first round of the Capital One Cup, which on paper is an easy tie but I won’t be fielding a weakened side that’s for sure.

Last update: #70617
Next up: The start of my managerial career!

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Here we go, the seasons finally underway! Hopefully I can get off to a good start…Firstly, I’ll start with some additions that have come in during this time:
Former Notts and Ireland player has returned to where it all started as a coach.
My goalkeeping displays were horrendous and my first choice Bialkowski ended a game on a 3.1 so I had to bring in some fresh meat!
Another former Magpie returning on loan from QPR, a mere 34 years old has commanded the midfield since arriving.
A young tenacious midfielder on loan for the season; hasn’t starred yet but I’m willing to bet he’ll be a danger man.
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Well, I was wrong. We have started dreadfully in the league but how have fared in the cup? (Watch this space!!) So the first two months have been rather forgettable for example a 3-1 loss to Crawley had me yelling at the team for half an hour or more. Despite this we have started to improve slightly and we are losing the ball less, we’re just struggling to hit the net and hold the lead…So far the player that’s shone for me is Alan Judge bagging a cheeky 6 goals from the right hand side of midfield and 2 assists in 10 games, not amazing but my starts been awful.
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The league position at the moment isn’t ideal but it’s still early days and relatively close!

The Johnstone’s Paint Trophy saw me drawn against Port Vale in the first round. It was a fairly boring slow paced match with nothing really happening until the last 10 minutes of the half when Alan Judge fired in an unbelievable solo effect followed by a Port Vale own goal on the stroke of half time. We won the game 2-0.
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As I said before I drew York in the first round of the Capital One Cup. This clash was my no means an easy tie York were all over us for the first 20-30 minutes then we were lucky enough to hit them on the break and score just before half time in the 39th minute.
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The 2nd round drew me against Stoke, I wasn’t too upset because it would be a nice trip for the lads fairly close and playing against a premier league side. I thought we were going to lose horribly but how wrong I was! A fairly tasty encounter with several yellow cards and even a red for stoke! But after just 17 seconds Rob Hulse latched on to a mistimed back pass and slotted it past Thomas Sorensen. I was worried when stoke equalised because we’d played so well and really wanted to win! The game flew by I was on the touchline yelling instructions…3 minutes go up on the board I tell them to go all-out attack Bialkowski launches the ball forward for Jamal Campbell-Ryce who makes the defender look silly and slots in Piermayr who’s raced up from right back to fire home! It was an incredible feeling; I lost my mind and ran down the touchline to celebrate.
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3rd round: Birmingham Away I told the lads, we beat Stoke so why can’t we beat Birmingham! And we went out there and to coin the phrase of Chris Kamara we “defended like beavers” and gave Birmingham everything we had. Birmingham took an early lead just 19 minutes in through centre back Curtis Davies and I was worried we could be on the end of a hammering because Birmingham were on top. Step up Enoch Showunmi! The 30 year old giant, pacey forward step forward in the 26th minute to score an absolute screamer making it 1-1 our travelling fans were ecstatic! 3 minutes later, Alan Judge rifles one into the top left corner! I couldn’t believe it! We were hanging on at 2-1 but we were looking shaky! We grab a corner in the 37th minute its fired in and cleared to the edge of the box to Jeff Hughes who takes it past two defenders before firing into the bottom corner 3-1! Surely we could hold one! At half time they took of Nikola Zigic and brought on young Jake Jervis which utterly confused me because it seemed as if they didn’t want to win! How wrong I was. Jervis makes an instant impact taking it past 3 defenders before being denied by a great save from Bialkowski. Jervis looked sharp all game and got his reward in the 73rd minute when he struck a volley from just inside the area into the roof of the net. I was panicking so I brought on a couple more defensive players to hold out which paid off and we won the 3rd round.
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4th round: Arsenal Away (I’ve not been blessed with a home draw yet!)
Will the giant killing run continue?...

I brought in a new physio and managed to get a brilliant striker on loan on loan deadline day for 3 months:
Former Plymouth argyle physio and was highly recommended by my assistant manager
Adam Le Fondre has got a great record at this level and has premier league experience, unbelievable to think I was able to get him but he was desperate for first team football and hopefully he can bang in a few goals for me!
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I honestly couldn’t tell you what’s happened. I had a team meeting and everything seemed to change and we’ve lost just once in 11 league games so proud of the lads getting back into the swing of things after an amazing turnaround.
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Great league position right now and I can really see us being there or thereabouts at the end of the season! Really excited for the prospect of Adam le Fondre hitting the net from now on! My star player in the league has definitely been Joss Labadie who’s been dominant in midfield notching 6 assists and 3 PoM’s he has an average rating of 7.41

Firstly, I’ll start with the bad news. The dream is over, I was well and truly thumped by Arsenal away at the emirates 5-1 we Oxlaide-Chamberlain putting in a master class turning me inside and out the positive from this game is we actually scored a goal! But I’m still proud of the lads for getting us this far! There have been some great away days for the fans.
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The Johnstone’s paint trophy: A Nice 2-0 win over Hartlepool with Gary Liddle returning to Victoria Park for the first team since leaving I made him captain for the game and it paid off he was influential at the back and received the man of match. We were playing some great football in this match and we were unlucky only to score 2!
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Next up Fleetwood town!
The F.A cup: It’s been an amazing start to the F.A cup a 1-1 draw with Torquay meaning a long trip down south for a replay which we won 3-0 but this hasen’t been much good for my schedule and y players are starting to become very tired and some and getting injured.
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Unfortunately, I could only hold league 1 rivals Tranmere to a draw meaning I will have to play a replay against them which doesn’t help my already busy schedule for December! Very disappointing game where there were no highlights for 60 minutes it ended 0-0 so I won’t leave a screenshot!

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