Hello folks! After a busy pre season in which I went hunting for bargains and free transfers again my Blyth Spartans were ready for the biggest challenge yet: Coca-Cola Championship. Last season we achieved another fantastic promotion against all odds so the question that I’m facing is «could we do it again»? I have no answer to this question right now, we’ll just play game after game and we’ll see how the season develops.
We had a tough game right from the beginning, away at Leicester. They were close to grabbing a playoff place last season but they finished in 10th place. It was a tough game and honestly we didn’t have any chance of winning it. Leicester controlled the game and won it 1-0 as we just couldn’t create enough pressure on their defenders.
The next game was the Carling Cup first round, we were going to play a League One team, Carlisle. I expected a win and we finally got it after dominating the game. Despite the win I was a bit worried because we allowed them to create too many chances on counter attacks. Anyway, a good win for the morale.
The first home game of the season was against Blackpool, a team that finished 19th in Championship last season. It was another «must win» game and my players didn’t miss the opportunity to send the fans home with smiles on their faces. It was a good display of attacking football as we won 3-0 despite missing a penalty kick in the second half.
After the solid home win we were facing another difficult away game against Preston, a very good team that finished 9th in Championship last season. Unfortunately we didn’t begin the game with the right attitude and we were punished, Preston had the win in their hands right from the beginning. There was a good thing in the defeat, my young striker Christian Short scored again, his third goal in the last three games. We didn’t play too bad but our defensive errors in the beginning of the game proved to be quite expensive.
We were not very lucky in the Carling Cup draw as we were pitched against a Premier League team right from the 2nd round. Fulham were to be our opponents and I thought that it would be almost impossible to beat them. The game proved that I was right, despite the 4-3 scoreline the game was not a hard fought one, they controlled it almost entirely. The good thing was that we managed to create a few chances and score three goals, not bad against a way better team.
With one win and two defeats we were in 15th place in Coca-Cola Championship but it’s still too early to evaluate our perspectives. The next 5 — 10 games might give us a better picture of our strength.
I continued to monitor the transfer market for good players after the beginning of the season and since I didn’t find any experienced players interested in playing for Blyth I signed another promising youngster, Portuguese regen left winger Marcio Cavaleiro. He was released on a free by Boavista and although he won’t be a first team player soon I think that he has some potential.
So, that’s how our Championship season begun, with good things and bad things. The results were not great but we always began the seasons in 1st gear and got going along the way… What do you think about the start of the season? Anybody want to change their predictions? :)
Ahmed Shah
29 июля, 2009 at 06:31
Brought back to Earth big time, mate. No problem, I’m sure a great manager like you would’ve found a lot of positives from those defeats and you’ll get straight back up. :-)
Btw, what in the world is Nicolas Anelka’s West Brom doing in 24th position and they havent even scored a goal ?????
JohnnyKarp
29 июля, 2009 at 12:33
Hey Ahmed! It’s tough, these Championship teams punish you for every single error :( West Brom are having a rough time but I’m pretty sure they’ll climb up the table soon, they have a very good team.
curtkoz
29 июля, 2009 at 19:55
it looks like your going to finish maybe 13th 14th , you wil maybe win most of your home games and lose most away
Necdet Celal Güner
31 июля, 2009 at 17:25
Hi Johnny,
First of all, thanks a lot for your additions regarding my previous mail. Did you ever think to create your own tactics and regimes, in that way the game will be more challenging. Because I am always playing like your style (I mean with a slumteam), I start unemployed and wait for offers, it sometimes takes a whole season to obtain an offer from a club that I enjoy the colours. Because I am a poor unknown 33 years old manager. I never apply for a job at the begining, because I wish to generate a more realistic game. I never download a tactic or a training regime. Please don’t take it as a critisize but I think a FM lover in your expertise level must create and dictate his own style of play. On the other hand, I saw that you are not giving any special importance to your player’s determination. From my point of view; determination, workrate, acc. and pace are the most significant attributes. Those four are my primary set (to min. 10) while hunting all players for all positions. What is your view about player attributes? I don’t want to change my prediction about Blyth, it depends on your tactical skills. Because you dont have a team reputation «national». I guess your team’s reputation is «regional» now and I think you have to compete at least 7 or 8 teams with national reputation. Team reputation makes a lot sense in FM 2009.
JohnnyKarp
31 июля, 2009 at 18:15
Hey Celal, thanks for the feedback. Now I’m going to try answering your questions, one at a time :)
About the tactics, I always create my own tactics but I also like to test other people’s tactics to see how and why they work. Since I found the current tactic that I’m using I made a few tweaks here and there and kept it, it’s too good :) I also liked it because it replicates the style of play that I like and also the style that my favorite real life Romanian club plays. I don’t like training regimes though so I always prefer to use ready-made ones.
I like to play with small clubs but I also like to be faithful and I never accept offers from other clubs :)
Pace, acc. and workrate are important for me too, determination is important but not essential imo. I also tend to get players with good creativity and flair, at least the midfielders and strikers.
Yes, the team’s reputation is regional but I think that reputation is more important when you try to sign a player or a staff member and not too much in the actual games. I agree that tactics are very important when you have a weaker squad than the opponents, that’s why I tweak the tactic sometimes to face the specific dangers that some teams might create.