Next up, a home game with 18th placed Grimsby. We had to get back on track but it was difficult, Grimsby‘s overcrowded defense was tough to crack. We didn’t play well at all, I was beginning to feel a bit concerned about the way we played.
The last game of the year was away at 11th placed Burton, a team that we defeated 1-0 in September. We had to get a win to come out of the difficult situation and the lads gave everything they had to get the victory. We finally produced a solid performance and got the win that we deserved to finish the year on an optimistic note.
We had 62 points after 24 games and we were still unbeaten, I definitely hope to remain undefeated until the end of the season and maybe get more than 100 points.
Here is how the player stats look like at this point of the season, most of them played very well so far but there are a few that disappointed me and I will most probably let them go in January. And there is another thing that worries me, Brendan Moloney, our right back, will probably leave the team because the loan contract expires at the end of December. His team doesn’t want to renew the agreement so I will have to look for another right back.
Francois Zoko was undoubtedly a great factor for our performances, he scored 18 goals in 21 games for us! He started his career in France’s second division, then moved to Belgium but never had a great season so far. The most league goals scored in a season in his career was… 7, now he scored 11 in 16 league games! I guess that he finally found the place where he can shine.
January will begin with a beautiful game for us, Premier League side Bolton will come to Meadow Lane for the 3rd round of the FA Cup!
That’s how the first part of the season was, so far so good… I have some transfer money to spend in January, around 2 million euro, and I guess that I will use most of that money to bring some youngsters that could be important first team players in the next seasons. I also have to sell some of the players from the current squad, some of them proved that they can not be useful for the club’s future. But there will be more about the transfers in the next post, stay tuned to find out who will come and who will go :)
eddie eddie
23 ноября, 2009 at 20:32
Well done there when I was managing notts I got 105 points so it is possible good luck.
JohnnyKarp
23 ноября, 2009 at 22:18
Thanks Eddie, I hope to stay unbeaten at least, it would be a nice thing.
Mariano
5 июня, 2010 at 12:56
Hi,i´ve been reading your blog,really nice work,i´ve been playing CM FM since 1995,love the game.
I´m argentinian and usually play argentinian league first,then the mayor european leagues too.
But your blog inspired me to coach a lower team,i picked Rochdale,i´m in december 2009 league 2,so far so good,i already got kicked out the 3 cups,but i´second in the league and getting promotion.
The chairman isn´t generous at all so i have to struggle with the transfers.
Anyway what i wanted to do is to recomend the players who have been working good for me:
1.Cherno Samba 7.43 12 goals in 17 league matches
2.Ibrahima Thiam 7.31 7 goals in 12 matches
3.Will Buckley 7.27
and Cesar La Paglia argentinian AMC who i signed for free in mid novemver who is really good!
Thanks for your blog,i really enjoy reading it and can´t believe you signed Tinga to play league 2.
greetings
Johnny Karp
5 июня, 2010 at 16:54
@Mariano
Thanks a lot for reading the stories, I’m happy that you found them inspirational. Thanks also for the player suggestions, I remember having Will Buckley in my Blyth Spartans team and he did pretty well.