Manager of the Month

I cannot complain whatsoever about the team’s first few games in the league. To come away with 8 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss is an excellent start. When you consider me being a new manager in the club and changing a winning formula (the team had got back-to-back promotions a season ago) then the results are even more impressive.

I have had a change in approach to this team. In previous LLM saves I had adopted the standard 4-4-2 approach to matches which saw you solid at the back but very little attacking prowess. Instead I have gone with the 4-2-3-1 formation. The two midfielders provide support to the attacking plays but then also get back and defend when needed. Seddon instead of being played up front has been moved into a attacking midfield position with the mentality of an inside forward which has helped us get more goals towards the end of the first 10 games. My only worry is that we do concede goals, especially late on; this was quite clearly evident in the match against Vauxhall Motors (we went 2-0 up and then gave away two late goals).

Is there a chance of us winning the league? Well the media are piping us to do so if we continue on this rich vein of form. I personally think it is way too early in the season to be even thinking about it. If we get to Christmas and we are still in first place however, I think the league title will probably be ours. Time will tell.


On a side note, David Lynch my summer signing injured his hamstring in the Vauxhall Motors game and with my physio department being minimal and abysmal they have predicted he will be out for 3 to 4 months...great!

Really nice start to the story, James!! Keep up this great work!

2012-12-02 21:51#70653 The FM Rookie : Really nice start to the story, James!! Keep up this great work!

Why thank you. High praise from yourself the next update will be soon.

p.s things are going well for FC Halifax.

2012-12-04 18:04#70897 Jamesg237 :

2012-12-02 21:51#70653 The FM Rookie : Really nice start to the story, James!! Keep up this great work!

Why thank you. High praise from yourself the next update will be soon.

p.s things are going well for FC Halifax.

High praise? I'm not God (yet)

Good start mate, keep going

2012-12-05 02:32#70960 Glenn T : Good start mate, keep going

Why thank you

My team’s form going into the Christmas is...mixed let’s say. Earlier in November by team had the chance to break away from the chasing pack (we are currently 1st in the league) and go 8 points clear of our nearest rivals. Did this happen? No. It definitely did not. Losing the games I had in hand did my team’s confidence absolutely no favours with the majority of them going from superb to fairly poor in a matter of minutes of game time.

The worst result came against Droyslden who were sitting in 13th place. The result was a humiliating 4-0 defeat...and we were playing at home! I couldn’t believe what I was watching. I played the same tactics but I had to make one change and that was to replace the suspended Gareth Seddon. I think this abysmal performance highlighted how my team rely on Seddon to get them the win. I will be hoping that over the next few months that he will remain feet and stop going in for rash tackles which saw him got suspended in an earlier match.

Christmas Matches: Results

First came Solihull Moors who were sitting in 19th place whereas my team were sitting in 1st place with us being four points above Gainsborough Trinity in second place. I didn’t make a change from the last game where we dismissed Guiseley in the league 2-0. Consistency and Gareth Seddon seem to be the key to winning games.
Again my team made hard work of a game against a much lesser team in Solihull Moors. However, a win is a win so we move onto the next one with confidence.

Worcester City were sitting in 8th place and not having too bad a season by all accounts. This was always set to be a difficult game especially as we had to travel to them. Our away form is shakey and with the players solely relying on Seddon it was going to be interesting to see if the main man could produce the goods for the team.
Well I was surprised by the result. I really thought that the team was going to struggle in this game, especially with our only source of goals appearing to be Seddon. Yes he did score two of our goals and set up the third but the players seemed to be a lot more up for the game. This may be a result of the team meeting I held before asking the players to push on and improve on our recent below par performances.

With Bishop’s Stortford sitting in 10th place we felt that this was going to be a game that we could win and win comfortably. We were back at our home ground and we hoped the fans would help encourage the team to get the ball in the back of the net more times than we have done recently. The surprising comfortable win against Worcester City will have done a lot for our confidence and the news that David Lynch (our young midfield maestro who has been out for a month or two) is back in light training will help to inspire the team.
Well that was humiliating and showed that we cannot put together a string of good performances and most importantly, wins. We were awful from start to finish and it seemed like no-one wanted to win. The only two positives from the whole game is that Rainford managed to get a consolation goal and end his goal drought and that we are still four points clear at the top.

Colwyn Bay was expected to provide no competition whatsoever. They had had an abysmal season with them sitting bottom of the league. They had absolutely nothing going in their favour. Predictions are simple...a confident dominating win by FC Halifax.
1-1!! I could not believe what I was seeing. 1-1 against the team who are bottom of the league! It has really made me think that the team needs a complete over-haul in the transfer window starting with the striker options. I need more choice than Seddon and the useless strikers who contribute nothing towards the team. How the team are still 4 points clear at the top of the league after this shocking period of the season I do not know. Changes will be coming.
Shortly after this I placed all three of my remaining strikers on the transfer list. The issue is that nobody is going to want to buy these three and I cannot afford to just release them with the clubs finances being so poor.

Gainsborough are the team who are going to be challenging for a place in the play-offs so really it was a must win game for both teams taking part. A win for Gainsborough could see them potentially going into the play-off spots whereas for my team it would help us stop this baron spell and get back us back to winning ways and winning consistently. We are desperate for a win and for the win to be a resounding one. I must admit, I don’t have much hope for my team...but I didn’t tell them this.
What is great is that not a single team below us is capatalising on my team’s shocking performances. We are yet to a confident streak since we went on an unbeaten run from 1.9.2012 to 30.10.2012. We need to get back to this way of playing and we need to do it fast.

The game against Corby is just another one added to the long list that I would expect my team to win and win well. It will be interesting to see if any of my transfer listed strikers, whoever I decide to play, grab this opportunity to show their worth.
What is the most frustrating thing about this defeat, yes another one, is that the other team’s have woken up to my team’s performances and have started to the close the gap. In fact they have closed the gap to within 2 points. Do my team look like improving in the near future? No. Am I confident that my team can get back to winning ways? No. Am I sure what to do about the recent poor form and how I can help to put a stop to it? No.

Current League Position

This poor run of form is going to be extremely difficult to undo and improve on. I am wanting to conduct drastic changes by getting rid of players who are underperforming and bring in new faces but lack of funds and interest in these players is hindering my chances of doing this. The teams below are closing in it is as simple as that. It is down to me in the next few matches to put a stop to their chances and get this team back to winning ways.

Unlucky with the results James but you are still on top so there is everything to play for!

2012-12-05 22:24#71070 The FM Rookie : Unlucky with the results James but you are still on top so there is everything to play for!

If only that was still true Rookie. Things have gone drastically down hill since my last post. Fighting to hold on to a play-off position now not won a game in 10-12 matches! Management is a cruel job!

January Transfer Window

James has been brought into to help add a bit of quality and youthfulness to the midfield. The majority of my midfielders are getting on and are not able to play at consistent high levels for a few games in succession. He is a young player who I feel could form a good partnership with David Lynch the other youngster who was brought in at the beginning of the season. James is on high wages, in fact he made me go into the red in regards to my wage budget. The board will not give me an increase on that so I took the decision to let Dale Johnson leave on a free transfer. He had only contributed 5 goals in 14 games and those goals had been a long time ago. He was in the middle of a serious goal drought and he didn’t look like he was coming out of it anytime soon.
After the poor performances during December it was clear to me that there was need for a change up front and I needed to try and do this without affecting the transfer and wage budget considerably. John-Lewis was not getting the games at Bury and the club were willing to let him come down a couple of divisions so he could get the game time he wanted. He has some great attributes and I will be looking to have him playing alongside Gareth Seddon and see if they can form a partnership that will start to get the club goals.
The two goalkeepers I currently had, Phil Senior and Matt Glennon, were highlighted at the beginning of the season as being the weak point of the team. I have decided to bring in Jason Mooney and he will be thrown straight into first team action. It has been a tough decision about which keeper to release on a free transfer but it was decided that Matt Glennon would be asked to leave the club. The decision was simply made that he was on higher wages than Phil Senior. It will be interesting to see how Mooney does in the next few games.
The money grabbing Matt Glennon demanded that he was paid £10k for him to terminate his contract willing fully. Thankfully the board were ok with this amount, he was paid and showed the door.

The team’s results have been far from impressive in recent games. I have tried various things to turn the season around and get back to winning ways but they don’t seem to be paying off. I decided to go to the board of directors and ask them simply for more time. The alterior motive to doing this was to see what they had to say; whether they had faith in me to complete the job or if they were losing confidence in me. The meeting actually went quite well and the board were accepting of the fact that the fixture list has been congested and not favourable. It was a reassuring meeting and I really am hoping that things start to change. I will be staying with the club until the end of the season but I do think that if the team don’t get promoted that I will be looking to step-aside.

The Rise to Greatness seems to have hit a brick wall at the moment...

Life is hard but you are harder, remember that!

The past few weeks have been the toughest I have ever experienced in football management. The recent weeks have seen my side slip from a comfortable position at the top of the Blue Square Bet North division with a 4 point advantage. The advantage had the potential to be increased to 10 points if my team managed to win the games we had in hand. This surely would have seen my team clinch the league title before we knew it. Confidence was soaring and the team loved their football; the fans and the board were not complaining either.

My team were on a nice 4 game winning streak which was cementing our 1st place position...what happened next could never have been predicted. 10 games with no win. I don’t think anyone at the club could have seen that coming.



This has been an extremely difficult time for everyone associated with the club. Morale of everyone involved was declining after every match. It was impossible to see the club coming out of this rut and the rut is still on going to this day. I admittedly thought about resigning from the club as I seemed incapable of getting the club’s confidence back up and choosing a squad and tactics which would get the club the win we desperately needed. What has stopped me doing that however is that despite us going on this baron run of games we are still in a play-off position. Admittedly we are curreltny in 5th place but I am sure no-one would’ve been surprised if we had slipped down the table. We just could not win hence me seeking confidence from the board that did a lot to reassure their faith in my ability.

The brick wall is firmly in the way at the moment but there has to be a light at the end of the tunnel surely?