Notts County Football Manager 2010 Story — August 2009

Hello my friends! After the busy pre season months searching for transfers and trying to adapt at Notts County the moment everybody was waiting for was about to arrive, our debut in the new League Two season. I felt that I had to get in a few more players until then and without any more transfer money to spend I had to go for free transfers. I signed five more players and now I am pretty confident that we have a solid squad. But let me introduce the new signings.

My brave goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel, got injured during a friendly game so I needed a good reliable backup goalkeeper. There were not too many choices available but I’m pretty satisfied with the result. His name is Balasz Raboczki, an experienced Hungarian keeper that played for FC Copenhagen and Vitesse Arnhem in the past.

Our friend Lye recommended Seyfo Soley and I must thank him for that, he’s a solid player that could be a good option both as a centre back and as a central midfielder. He played in England before, for Preston North End, and his experience and qualities could be beneficial for the club throughout the season.

I needed another centre back and the best option I could find was Mamadou Seck, an experienced  Senegalese player that had a few good seasons in France before coming to England at Sheffield United.

I also needed a good backup right/left winger and I think that Richmond Bossman could fit that role pretty well. Until now he played only in the Dutch second division but he could be a reliable player that might help us when needed.

I was prepared to conclude the transfers campaign but I decided to sign one more player, it was a bargain I couldn’t pass. His name is Francois Zoko and he’s a striker that played for several seasons in France. I think he will add something to our attacking power, he’s still young and ambitious.

OK, enough transfers, let’s get to the real deal, the matches! Our first game was a pretty tough one, at home with promotion contenders Bradford. We were 1-0 down after 13 minutes but the team was looking pretty good. We played well throughout the game and thanks to midfielder Ben Davies and striker Karl Hawley we managed to turn the game around and win it 2-1. It was a very important win that gave us confidence for the upcoming challenges.

We had a much more difficult game coming up, away at League One side Leeds United in the Carling Cup. I didn’t know what to expect and I must admit that I might have made a few tactical errors during the game. Anyway, Leeds completely outplayed us almost the entire game and they deserved to win it, even by a bigger margin. My regret is that we had two very good chances to score on counter attacks and we converted only one of them…

We had to recover from that defeat quickly and we had the perfect chance in the next league game, away at Macclesfield, one of the weakest teams in League Two. I was very pleased with our attacking display, we scored 5 goals and generally looked very well and creative upfront.

With our morale back on track again we had another away game to face, at Chesterfield. We played very well in the first half, solid in midfield and again very creative upfront. We were 3-0 up in the 65th minute but somehow we managed to concede two goals in three minutes and let Chesterfield back in the game. My players woke up just in time and scored another two goals before the final whistle.

The next game was at home with mid-table side Dag & Red, a game that we had to win to please our fans. We didn’t play particularly well, my players looked like they had too much pressure on them to deliver a good result. We dominated the game but we didn’t look as explosive upfront as we did in the previous games.

The last game of the month was a tricky one, away at 4th placed Barnet. Sabrin Sburlea produced an awesome display but what pleased me the most was that we didn’t concede any goals, it was our first clean sheet this season! I still can’t figure out a way to make the defense better but I guess I will find some solutions sooner or later. Anyway, we played very well in defense and had a lot of chances to score on counter attacks and the victory was well deserved.

With five wins out of five games we were in… 2nd place, Bury had a better goal difference. Considering that the top three teams will get promoted to League One at the end of the season I’d say «so far so good»…

Our best player in this first month of the season was undoubtedly Romanian youngster Sabrin Sburlea, he did very well although I used him both as a striker and a right winger. He scored four goals and made five assists, the fans love him already!

We won’t have any particularly difficult games in September but you never know at this level, things might turn against you when you least expect it.

That’s how the first month of the League Two season was, with five wins out of five and a deserved defeat in the Carling Cup. There’s still a long way to go until promotion but I feel we had a pretty good start and once the squad will begin to gel we should play better and better.

I have to tell you one last thing before closing the post. I opened a forum, a place where you could discuss about Football Manager and football in general. I am very interested in hearing your suggestions and thoughts about that and I’d be very happy to welcome you to the FootballManagerStory Forum!