Foreword:
Ok so, this will be a similar story to my first attempt but this time my game save didn't mess up and lose all of my data >.< I'm a little bit ahead with it and will be posting my introduction and first few results tonight, with more to follow tomorrow if I have time.
Please bare with me as this is technically still my first attempt at a story so any advice or tips you can offer me would be fantastic.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy
A Stepping Stone to Success
A blisteringly cold Saturday morning in October and the beginning of what I thought would be another failed week in finding my first job as a football manager. A dream I have had ever since my leg injury back in my teens ended my promising playing career prematurely.
I had finished my final coaching badges earlier that year, in time for the new season. Yet despite the many clubs I sent my C.V. to no one offered me a chance. I thought I would have to wait another year in my search for my dream job. That was, until I came home with my Saturday paper and saw this story in the sports section.
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CHESTER SACK YOUNG!
Neil Young has been sacked by Chester Chairman Chris Pilsbury.
During his time with The Blues, Young’s team lifted the English Northern Premier League First Division N in 2011 and won the English Northern Premier League Premier Division in 2012. Chester have been disappointing in the Blue Square North so far this season and find themselves in 19th place. Chester have only won one of their last five games in the league.
Chester will now be looking for a new manager.
Speculation as to Young’s replacement at Chester is certainly keeping everyone guessing, with Gerry Taggart, Gary Simpson and Tony Ford being linked to the vacancy. The favourite however remains Paul Buckle, who the bookies believe could well make the move to the Deva Stadium in the near future.
I immediately opened up my laptop and pinged an Email over to the board at Chester with my C.V. attached and prayed to the skies above that this would be my chance.
It was.
About a week later, just as I was feeling down over another failed application. I received the offer for an interview in the post. I was ecstatic! After Dancing around the house I rang to confirm I would attend and then straight away booked my train tickets to Chester.
The interview was the next day and to be honest the whole experience was a blur. I had arrived and before I knew it I had signed a one year contract to take charge of the club and was being shown around the ground, and introduced to the staff and the playing squad. In the last exchange between myself and the board I was given one simple objective.
Turn our fortunes around and achieve a respectable mid-table league position.
“Right!” I said. “Bring it on”
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CHESTER APPOINT NEW MANAGER
Chester bring in unknown manager Warren Fairbairn to turn their fortunes around. The pressure is on for this young manager as Chester have been in poor form in the first few months of the season and he will have a hard time proving himself early on in his management career.
We tried to get a quick interview with the new fresh faced manager, but he insisted with his first game only two days away, he needed to go straight to work.
I realised then, after looking at my assistant managers team report, that this squad needs some added quality, but with the wage bill already so high it was going to be a challenge. I didn’t really have time to think about new signings just yet though, as we had an FACup 4th Qualifying Round match at Tamworth in two days and I needed to get this team to pull together and motivated for the challenge ahead.
Well, not a bad first week. A disappointing loss in the FACup to Tamworth. We got off to an absolute flyer and scored an early goal, but faltered in the second half and allowed them to equalise in the final minutes, taking the tie to extra time. Unfortunately they showed slightly more desire and scored the winning goal to send us out of the competition.
I wasn’t too upset though as the lads really pulled together and showed some real quality that if I’m honest I did not expect based on my first evaluations of the team. We then went on to win the two remaining league games of the month and the defence really battled hard for those clean sheets. Especially in the Vauxhall game, which was a hard fought victory and I could not have been prouder of this group of players.
In between preparing for these games I also managed to make two great signings to bolster my current squad.
My first capture was young goalkeeper Ross Durrant from Nottingham Forest. Who, at the tender age of 17, shows great promise and looks to be a great prospect for the future, and could possibly give current first team goalie John Danby some competition straight away.
Finally I managed to convince Vincent Pericard to join Chester over a host of other top clubs fighting for his signature. I had to break the bank to sign him, but when I approached the board asking if they could increase my wage cap to accommodate the demands of this proven striker, they happily obliged and we secured his services in swift negotiations.
So after some great results and with these new signings I am confident I can take this Chester team and finish as high up the league table as we can. The pressures may be piling up early in my management career but this is my dream, I thrive in this pressure and I will prove myself and make the nation take notice.
Next update coming tomorrow. with all the results of my second month in charge of Chester.
I will also be changing my writing style, I don't want to keep changing it up because I feel that could break up the story too much. But bear with me as I'm still trying to find my feet in this storytelling lark!
Any feedback would be appreciated
With a busy November coming up I knew it was going to be a tough test to keep our form consistent. As always when a new manager takes charge at a football club there are a few good results mostly followed by a dip in form. I was determined not to let that happen.
Things were looking good on the training ground though and all the players looked really up for it and there was a buzz of belief now that we could pick up some vital points to climb further up the table.
Wednesday 7th November 2012 Chester v Corby
Starting XI - R Durrant, M McGinn, P Linwood, G Horan, W Baynes, A Williams, S Brown, S Phelan, A Sarcevic, D Hankin, V Pericard SUBS – Powell, O’Connor, L Turner, N Turner, Jarman
In our first match of the busy month I decided to give my two new signings a nod in the starting line-up, and what a performance from both players. The 17 year old Durrant was a rock between the sticks making some vital saves and clearences from set pieces, and Pericard? Well what a strike for his first goal of his Chester career, a sweet volley from 25 yards out gave their keeper no chance. Brown put in a man of the match performance running Corby ragged and chipping in with two goals of his own in each half. The only downside to this game was Paul Linwood suffering a hamstring injury and being out for 3-4 weeks.
Final score – Chester 3-0 Corby.
Saturday 10th November 2012 Chester v Colwyn Bay
Starting XI - R Durrant, M McGinn, Collins, G Horan, W Baynes, A Williams, S Brown, S Phelan, A Sarcevic, D Hankin, V Pericard SUBS – Powell, O’Connor, L Turner, N Turner, Jarman
For this cup game I stuck with the team that beat Corby with the only change being Dominic Collins coming in for the injured Linwood. It was a disastrous start as we conceded an early goal but the team stuck to the game plan and came back from behind to eventually win the tie.
Final score – Chester 2-1 Colwyn Bay
Wednesday 14th November 2012 Chester v Harrogate
Starting XI - R Durrant, M McGinn, Collins, G Horan, W Baynes, A Williams, S Brown, S Phelan, A Sarcevic, D Hankin, V Pericard SUBS – Powell, O’Connor, L Turner, N Turner, Jarman
A nothing game really. We started brightly with Pericard showing his quality for being in the right place at the right time to tap in a superb low cross by Brown. However our tiredness showed and we let that lead slip just before half time.
I switched things around at half-time and put on some fresh legs and encouraged the team to go out and get that one goal we needed to win the game. In the end we were disappointing up front and were lucky to come away with the draw.
Final score Chester 1-1 Harrogate
Sunday 18th November 2012 Gloucester v Chester
Starting XI - R Durrant, M McGinn, Collins, O’Connor, N Turner, L Turner, S Brown, S Phelan, Powell, D Hankin, T Gray SUBS – Sarcevic, G Horan, Williams, Baynes, Jarman
Five changes to the line-up that drew with Harrogate on Wednesday. With Pericard not even making the bench as he suffered bruised ribs in training a few days before. So I gave a first start to Tony Gray who was upset about being in the reserves and wanted first team football. This was his chance to prove himself.
As it turned out he had quite a good game, scoring our only goal of the game and making himself a nuisance to Gloucester’s back four.
Final score Gloucester 1-1 Chester
Liking this so far mate
2013-05-15 17:49#101137 Blue :
Liking this so far mate
thanks! I have been typing up some future updates tonight. It's hard to do cause I just want to play the game haha. But enjoying my time at Chester atm. I'm on a mission to manage a top club in the future but may end up becoming too attached to Chester to bring myself to leave should I get an offer elsewhere.
Saturday 24th November 2012 Chester v Hyde FATrophy 1st Round Proper
Starting XI - R Durrant, M McGinn, Collins, G Horan, W Baynes, A Williams, S Brown, S Phelan, A Sarcevic, D Hankin, V Pericard SUBS – Powell, O’Connor, L Turner, N Turner, T Gray
In this huge game against the Blue Square Premier team Hyde, I fielded my strongest team with the hopes of progressing to the next round. We had a week’s break after this game so I felt we could afford to play our best squad without affecting their fitness too much.
And what a game it was. End to end with both teams having chances to score four or five goals each. In the end with all the ability Vincent Pericard possesses our only goal of the game came from right back Wes Baynes with a beautiful header from a set piece.
At half time I put Tony Gray on the pitch in place of pericard and told him to grab a second goal to put the tie to bed, unfortunately it was Hyde who had the final say as they pulled one back in the 79th minute to set up a grandstand final ten minutes. I urged my team forward and to pump the ball into the box but in the end the game finished as a draw resulting in a replay away at Hyde in four days. Adding an unwanted game; in an already congested fixture list.
Final score Chester 1-1 Hyde
Wednesday 28th November Hyde v Chester FATrophy 1st Round Proper Replay
Starting XI - R Durrant, M McGinn, P Linwood, G Horan, W Baynes, Powell, S Brown, S Phelan, A Sarcevic, D Hankin, Jarman SUBS – Williams, O’Connor, L Turner, N Turner, Pericard
The replay against Hyde was upon us and I made three changes from the team that drew against them four days ago; with Powell and Jarman starting ahead of Williams and Pericard respectively.
I had the added boost of my star centre back Linwood being able to play after recovering from his injury three weeks ago.
Just like the last, it was a great game. The lads started fantastically and in the 15th minute right winger Dave Hanking made a magnificent run down the flank, cut into the box and with his weaker left foot curled a beautifully place shot into the top corner of the net. We were absolutely in awe on the touchline and we were sensing that this would be our day.
The start of the second half was a different story altogether. With one of Hyde’s early crosses being put in the back of the net by our own defender George Horan. He didn’t let it get to him though, as he and the returning Paul Linwood put in a fantastic shift providing some vital tackles to stifle Hyde’s assault on our box after the goal. I could see them scoring though and I had to shake things up.
I made a triple substitution in the 70th minute, taking off Powell, Sarcevic and Jarman, and replacing them with Williams, L Turner and Pericard respectively. 15 minutes past and even though my subs provided us with a bit more possession it looked like we just wouldn’t get that winning goal and we were heading into extra time.
However, in an inspired three minutes of football, Pericard netted two goals in as many minutes in a brace that went on to see us through to the 2nd round of the FATrophy! We celebrated long after the final whistle blew, as this was our first scalp along the way to what I hoped would be a successful run in this cup competition.
Final score Hyde 1-3 Chester
Good stuff mate! Very good story so far
One bit of advice don't spam post otherwise we will struggle to keep up to date with it! Apart from that very intresting story. Good luck!
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Managers Movember review
November was a good month in terms of results. I was a little disappointed that we couldn't pick up at least one more win against either Harrogate or Gloucester, although both teams played well and the results were a fair reflection on the games. We managed to pick up 5 points climbing three places up to 16th in the table; and I am sure they will prove a vital 5 points towards achieving a good position come the end of the season.
Ross Durrant did really well in this run of games I started him in this month since signing him from Nottingham Forest although with a massive month coming up in terms of important league games I think I will turn to experience rather than potential and slot John Danby back between the sticks.
The highlight of the month for me personally was beating Hyde away from home to reach the 2nd round proper of the FA Trophy. If I could guide the team all the way and win this cup then that would be a great way to start proving my potential to manage at a higher level. But by no means am I taking my eye off the ball here. I've been given a fantastic chance here at Chester and now that I have had time to settle in this new city I will be fully committed to doing the best I can for the team and the fans.
On a final note the lads here at Chester FC on and off the pitch took part in the charity fundraising event of the month: Movember, even me, although compared to some of the other guys (cough…a certain Michael Powell…cough..) my tash was a tad embarrassing, it was a great event to get involved in as it created a really good atmosphere in the dressing room with everyone having good banter about their Mo Bro efforts. With the fans getting involved too, with a big donation drive at the home game against Hyde, we managed to raise an impressive £5,000 for Men’s Health.
Player of the Month
Vincent Pericard
It was a tough choice for my player of the month, but ultimately it had to go to new signing Vincent Pericard. With five goals out of five appearances he is proving a real asset to the team and I am sure it will be due to his efforts that we finish in our target position in the top half of the table.
Well, it has been a great start so far, I really feel like the clubs fortunes are turning and we can push on to make this a really successful season after their disappointing start under previous manager Neil young. Make no mistake, it will be hard work and the players will have to dig deep to keep picking up these vital points, but I’m sure if we stick to the new style I've introduced to the team then we will achieve everything we want and more.
Ahead of this weekend’s Blue Square North fixtures we managed to get a quick interview with Chester FC’s new manager Warren Fairbairn who took over after previous manager Neil Young was sacked in October.
The newly appointed manager suffered a defeat in the 4th qualifying round of the FA Cup against Tamworth in his first game in charge of the club. Since then he has guided Chester to an impressive eight game unbeaten run picking up 11 points and climbing three places to 16th in the league table and progressing to the 2nd round of the FA Trophy.
Could this be the turning point in an otherwise disappointing start to Chester’s season? Reporter Andy White asked the man himself in this exclusive first interview:
AW: So, Warren, you sit with us now after eluding all press interaction when you first took charge a month and a half ago.
WF: Yes, when I first took over I knew I had some hard work to do in order to get the team in decent shape to pick up some vital points to climb up the table.
AW: The hard work seems to be paying off, but with such a busy schedule do you think your team will be able to stay fit and keep up these battling performances?
WF: Absolutely! We have had a brilliant month in terms of results and the squad is buzzing. If they carry on putting in the type of performance you’ve seen so far, I have the strong belief that we will finish in a strong position, and that is my promise to the fans.
AW: If your results in December are as good as last months, then there might be rumours of a play-off spot. Do you think that is a realistic target for Chester FC?
WF: I think if we keep picking up points anything is possible, but to challenge for the play-offs we may need to add some more depth to the squad. There is still a long way to go, and our involvement in the FA Trophy we will have many games to play as I hope to go as far as possible in the run in.
AW: Well good luck in your endeavours and I’m sure this isn’t the last we will hear of you.
WF: Thanks a lot Andy. Take care.
So the new man in charge at Chester is optimistic about turning their season around, but only time (and results) will tell and all of us here at the Non-League Paper will be keeping a close eye on this young managers progress.
A good start keep it up. Try to only post so many times a day, but most frequently on days so everyone can read your story easily. Also, I sense a bit of MCFCDAP's style in your match reports?
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2013-05-15 21:16#101279 Devil. :
A good start keep it up. Try to only post so many times a day, but most frequently on days so everyone can read your story easily. Also, I sense a bit of MCFCDAP's style in your match reports?
Thanks a lot mate, appreciate it.
And yes, I was originally going to lay it out in monthly match reports but I have been following MCFCDAP's story the past few days and really like his match report layout, I asked him if I could
steal borrow a bit of his writing style and he said it was ok. Like I said, still finding my feet with this story business
Nice start mate and anyone here would support you using their style if it helps you. Keep it up
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