Blyth Spartans Football Manager Story — November 2011 League One

Hello folks, welcome to a new episode of my Football Manager 2009 story, the Blyth Spartans fairytale! At the end of October we were just outside the promotion playoff positions, in 7th place with one game in hand. But the first game of November was very important for our finances, the FA Cup first round battle against League Two side York. We had no choice but to win the game and get some prize money in the bank because we were over 100K euro in debt.

The lads understood the situation and the importance of the game, they were fully focused and they didn’t give York any chance. We won the game 3-0 and our opponents got only one shot towards our goal! The good thing was that we got around 100K from this game, prize money and gate receipts included ;)

The next game was quite a difficult one, away at 5th placed Swindon. Although we had a better possession they were leading 3-1 with 10 minutes still to be played and it seemed that they were heading for victory. My lads fought right till the end, like true Spartans, and we pulled back and equalized a few seconds before the final whistle!

A tough game behind us, another one ahead of us. Barnsley were in 6th place while we were still out of the playoff positions, in 8th place. We couldn’t afford losing this game but in the 34th minute I was quite sure that defeat was impossible to avoid. Barnsley were leading 3-0 after a disastrous start from my team. Fortunately for us our striker was a bit enraged by the way the game was going and he scored twice before the first half was finished! He completed his hat-trick right after the break, it was 3-3! From that point on the game was absolutely crazy, with both teams missing clear chances to score. I guess that after these two last games my board should charge more for the tickets because we definitely are offering great entertainment for the crowd.

We were quite lucky with the FA Cup draw, we were going to meet Hucknall in the 2nd round, a team that was relegated from Blue Square North back in 2009 in my first season with the Blyth Spartans. It was a great opportunity to get an easy win and a morale boost for my players. The game was quite easy, we won it 4-1 without too many problems. But there were two great things besides the win. My right winger, Dimitriu Copil, had his first game after a couple of months away from the pitch due to a nasty injury and he managed to score our first goal. Secondly my young regen striker, Christian Short, finally scored his first goal after missing a whole lot of chances until now. I hope this will give him some confidence and that he will finally show what he’s worth.

The last game of the month was expected to be an easy one for us, against 14th placed Colchester. We had a lot of chances but our strikers missed all of them but and at the end it was our centre back, Daniel Sanchez Ayala, who saved us by scoring two goals, the first one from a penalty kick and the second with a powerful header from a corner kick.

After a great unbeaten run in November we finally entered the playoff positions, we were in 5th place with one game in hand!

Our Spanish centre back, Daniel Sanchez Ayala, was declared November League One player of the month! He is probably the best transfer I made last summer, he scored 5 goals and he is our main pillar in defense. He is tall and strong and if he could get some more pace through training he might become a great defender. He was even called up to the Spanish Under 21 team lately but he didn’t get the chance to gain his first cap. I hope to be able to keep him at Blyth, there are several teams that want him already.

That’s how November was, a good month for us that gives us high hopes for the future. In December we’ll have to consolidate our League One position and maybe get to the 4th round of the FA Cup, it would be great. I’ll also have to find a way to get some money in the bank for the club, maybe I’ll sell a couple of youngsters from the reserve team and also one or two of the first team players that didn’t play too well so far this season.