Welcome back my friends, things were looking great for my Notts County in my first Football Manager 2010 season. We had 88 points out of 34 games at the end of February, so we were very close to achieving promotion from League Two with a lot of games to spare, we just had to keep the good form and not become complacent.
The first game in March was away at 9th placed Accrington, a team that we defeated 2-0 in December. It looked like a difficult game before the first whistle but Zoko and Andreev made it very easy for us, they produced a great display of talent and cool finishing. Promotion was just one step away…
The next game was at home with 10th placed Bournemouth, we only drew 0-0 with them in December. The game was fairly even this time too, Bournemouth played pretty well but Zoko made the difference again, he scored with a powerful shot from inside the penalty area.
… and with that win promotion was ours with 10 games to spare!
We had to keep the good form a bit longer to secure the League Two title and we had a difficult game ahead of us, away at 3rd placed Crewe. We defeated them 2-0 in October and I certainly hoped that we could do that again. We had a very good first half, we were 2-0 up at the break but we could have scored even more goals. We tried to defend the lead in the second half and despite a good performance from Crewe we managed to win it.
And guess what, with those three points the League Two title was ours with 9 games to spare!
The last game of the month, at home with Rotherham, was just a formality but Zoko didn’t care much about that, he scored again to give us yet another win.
Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
Dave
27 ноября, 2009 at 00:01
Bloody good going mate, cant believe that 120pts.
Whats the cash side like at NC? Are any of your players attracting interest from teams further up the ladder?
JohnnyKarp
27 ноября, 2009 at 00:17
Thanks Dave. We have around 11 million euro in the bank right now and the chairman seems to be quite generous :) Yes, there is some interest for a few players, especially Mitea, Sburlea and Martis so far but I guess I’ll be receiving some offers once the transfer window will be open.
Lye
27 ноября, 2009 at 07:20
Seems like my prediction from the start becomes a reality, unbeaten for the whole season. Your team is the «invincible» of league 2. Like to see your transfer news soon as you always have an eye for talent.
JohnnyKarp
27 ноября, 2009 at 08:57
Thanks for the comment Lye. And for the prediction too :)
paine
27 ноября, 2009 at 12:43
Well done, a deserved promotion with a great record.
Do you think that your team will need several new faces for next season or are you planning to bring just few quality players in?
I think you already have a league 1 team, maybe 2-3 players would be enough.
JohnnyKarp
27 ноября, 2009 at 12:58
I agree with you Paine, just 2 or three good players should be enough. I will also try to build for the future, maybe bring a few 17 or 18 years old youngsters that could become first team players in a year or two. And I guess I’ll have to consider the opportunities too, if I see a good player with an expired contract it might be hard to resist :)
eddie eddie
27 ноября, 2009 at 23:51
Very good season there.
JohnnyKarp
28 ноября, 2009 at 00:16
Thanks Eddie. Just a quick statistical note, your short comment was the 1000th comment ever posted on this blog :)
eddie eddie
29 ноября, 2009 at 00:47
Hey everyone here I thought you might want to know I made a new blog and here is the link:
http://ultimatefootballmanagerblog.blogspot.com/
JohnnyKarp
29 ноября, 2009 at 17:21
Well done Eddie, I’ll keep an eye on your blog ;)
Elliott
6 декабря, 2009 at 00:21
Ive Done 7 Seasons With Notts County Won Premierleague,Uefa Cup,League Cup,Community Shield.
JohnnyKarp
6 декабря, 2009 at 11:29
Well done Elliott, I hope to achieve at least what you did… :)
Sonny
18 декабря, 2009 at 17:15
If i were you johnny buy expierienced players rather than younger players when you start league 1 if you avoid being relegated then start to buy ones for the future
Johnny Karp
18 декабря, 2009 at 20:19
Thanks for the advice Sonny but it came a bit late, the League One season is over now :)
Mariano
6 июня, 2010 at 06:54
Hi ,again,really like your blog though i discovered few days ago,i´m Rochdale and as i play i follow your Notts story parallel as my game to gain tips and advice since is the first time i manage a lower division english team.
Hopefully this will give me the experience to join the blog in the near future and post my stories:)
Many thanks
Mariano
6 июня, 2010 at 07:05
one question about your generous chairman…….
does he really gives you the money or is it you using genie scout?(no disrespect:)
Johnny Karp
6 июня, 2010 at 10:49
@Mariano
As you can see from the various screen shots, he really gave me all that money.