Blyth Spartans FM 2009 Story – Third Season Part One

Here we go, my third season as manager of the Blyth Spartans is finally beginning, no more friendly games, no more transfers, we’re going for it! Ironically the first game of the season was against Histon, our rivals from Blue Square Premier last year. We finished first and they finished second but they had no trouble in winning the promotion playoffs. The fact that we won the away game 2-1 was a good indication that our team was much stronger than last year when we got beaten by Histon away from home.

Unfortunately we lost the next game quite heavily, 3-0 at the hands of League One side Port Vale. Although the scoreline doesn’t show it we dominated the game but we missed our chances to score and we gave them way too much space between our defenders. And that happened again in the next league game, against Stockport, a nightmare game that we lost 5-4 after leading 3-1. My central defenders seemed to be entirely new to professional football, they made absolutely incredible mistakes. I openly criticized them after the game, I couldn’t take something like that. As a result they played more responsibly in the next two games that we won without conceding.

Something wasn’t working in our defense from time to time. In the next month we gave our fans another highly entertaining game that we fortunately won 4-3 away at Tranmere. We were leading 2-1 at half time but then we conceded two goals after the break! We made a superb comeback after that and finally won the game but I thought that if we would continue like that we’ll produce a massive number of heart attacks among our older fans!

We faced League One side Bradford in the Johnstone’s Trophy 1st round and we played very well but unfortunately we lost the game on penalties, so we were out of another cup competition :( And that wasn’t too good for our finances.

In League Two things were going great. We got three straight wins and a draw and that pushed us to the 1st place in the league table! And of course I was awarded the Manager of The Month title ;)

The last game was the month was against my beloved Chester City, the team that I managed for so many seasons before starting the Blyth Spartans game. We drew the game 1-1 and I must say that I had very weird feelings during the game. For instance, when Chester scored and I saw that flashing text at the bottom of the screen saying «GOAL FOR CHESTER!!!» I felt happy for a second or two. Then I remembered that I was not with Chester anymore :) I guess the long hours and days that I spent before the screen waiting for the joy of a Chester goal left a mark in my brain. It’s like in a joke that I know that goes like this:

One day a wolf came to the sheepfold and killed a sheep. The shepherd took his rifle and went to the forest. In the evening he came back with a dead wolf.

The next day another wolf came to the sheepfold and killed a sheep. The shepherd took his rifle and went to the forest. In the evening he came back with a dead wolf.

The next day another wolf came to the sheepfold and killed a sheep. The shepherd took his rifle and went to the forest. In the evening he came back with a dead wolf.

The next day a sheep killed another sheep. The shepherd took his rifle and went to the forest. In the evening he came back with a dead wolf.

So that’s how it is, the power of what you do out of habit. But let’s get back to football.

Our Romanian striker, Laszlo Csongor, received the Player of The Month award after scoring three times in the four league games that he played in September. He was high on morale, and so was the rest of the team too.

Our solid run in League Two attracted some interest for my services from League One teams. Several rumors appeared in the newspapers and I also had a direct offer from Crewe. Obviously, I refused.

In October we continued our great unbeaten run in League Two with 4 wins and two draws! The team was playing very well indeed and we finished the month in 1st place, 3 points over second placed Bristol Rovers and with one game in hand!

In November we managed to get through to the second round of the FA Cup where we met League One team Norwich. We drew 1-1 although they played most of the second half in only 10 men after one of their players was sent off. We missed a golden opportunity to beat them because we conceded a free kick goal in the… 95th minute!

In League Two our run continued with a draw and a win, we were unbeaten in 15 games! The run ended when we played second placed Bristol Rovers away, they won the game 1-0 and they even dominated us. We went down to second place, 2 points behind Bristol Rovers but still with 1 game in hand.

In the first game that we played in December, away at Leyton Orient, I saw the dumbest goal ever! We were dominating the game, our opponents were unable to create chances to score, so my goalkeeper thought that it would be nice to test their strikers. After catching a weak corner cross he immediately kicked the ball right in our left back’s behind! What happened after that is easy to imagine, but I think it would be better to watch the video capture of the unfortunate event.

We drew that game 1-1 after chasing them down for the entire game. Next we lost 2-1 at home against 3rd placed Torquay, so we went down from 2nd to third place :( In the last three games of the year we struggled to get 2 wins and a draw, the players were tired and what was worse was that many of them were beginning to pick up injuries.

However, the highlight of the month was the FA Cup second round replay against Norwich. Although they managed to score first my lads played superbly and they finally won the game 3-2. It was also a game that set a new record for our club, the highest gate receipts ever: 85,000 euro!

We finished the year in 2nd place in League Two, 4 points behind the first but also four points above the third placed team. And last but not least, we still had one game in hand!

Our top goalscorer in the first half of the season was the Romanian striker that I bought last summer, Laszlo Csongor. Although he picked up some minor injuries along the way he scored 14 goals for us! I guess I couldn’t have asked for more from him but maybe he will be even better in the second half of the season.

Attacking midfielder Adam Clayton was another important player for us with his 8 assists and 6 goals. I brought him last summer from Hartlepool but he was a Manchester City player at the beginning of his career. He’s only 21 years old so maybe he can make some progress from now on.

Another important and successful addition to our squad was right back Jordan Collins, he put on solid performances throughout the 27 games that he played for us so far this season. I brought him for no fee from Gillingham last summer, but he was raised as a football player in the Aston Villa squad.

There you go, that was the first part of my third season at the helm of the Blyth Spartans in Football Manager 2009. I’m thrilled by how the things went so far although I’m a bit disappointed by the latest results that took us down from the 1st place in the league table. One thing is sure though, we are going to fight for promotion right till the end and I would be surprised if we wouldn’t get at least a playoff place at the end of the season. But you know what they say, in football you never know what you’re going to get, a run of bad results could throw us out of the battle. Stay tuned to find out how it will end!