So after somehow claiming promotion from League Two last season in our first season in the League, I wasn't feeling very confident of our chances in League One, our expectations were to try and avoid relagation, which was about all I was hoping for aswell.
Any chance of avoiding relagation would depend on who I could attract to the club - and our chances took two early blows when both Chadwick and Petrucci had no intention of returning on loan - it appears that no striker is interested in signing for me atall.
We seemed to have hit the point where the reputation of the club was too low to attract the kind of players that could advance the club, it appears my managers reputation was the only thing that was attracting players to the club and that only affected a few young players.
Another problem I had was the fact that the Irish and Welsh teams are far more active in the Transfer market than previous versions, they seem to have a Championship level reputation - Bobby Zamora joined an Irish team for half the money I was offering him.
I did manage to bring in a few players - Spanish Midfielder Alfredo Serra joind from a free from Denia, however he didn't really impress and when FC Dallas offered £140K in April I snapped their hand off.
Signing of the season was Spanish Right Winger Jose Manuel Ramos who has a premiership potential that lead me to spend two seasons worth of transfer budget on him.
Transfers out saw me get rid of various players who weren't upto League One standard.
The board picked this season to have a fan day, which apparently didn't go down well, despite it being one of the few games we actually won this season.
In the end my new signings didn't prove to be enough, as we ended up getting relagated, and with relagation confirmed with a couple of games left we collapsed and ended up finishing bottom of the league :(
On the plus side we were never outclassed, defensively we were solid we just couldn't score and in the end that killed us - doesn't matter how well your defence plays if the best you can hope for is a 0-0 draw
Squad - Keeper Pedro had an impressive season him and my defence helped keep the scorelines down, with my captain ex-Portsmouth youngster Jean-Francois Christophe being the rock that kept my defence together, well when he was on the pitch that was - 18 yellow and 3 red cards amounted to a fair few suspensions.
In midfield new signing John Simpson (ex-Everton Youngster) struck up a good partnership with Sam Togwell - though the game doesn't seem to rate central midfielders very well (possibly due to them both being natural DM's rather than natural MCs?), whilst another Spanish youngster Jose Miguel provided cover (its weird that players from Wales, Ireland and Scotland won't join me, but Spanish players will?)
The Wings were where we were the strongest and most dangerous Scott Gilligan was solid on the left only let down by his finishing, whilst Jose Manuel Ramos was devasting on the right I just lack the players to turn in his crosses and claiming the Fans Payer of the Year Award at the end of the season. Providing cover were two new signings NIrishman Colin Coleman and Tamer Ross - another youngster with premiership potential.
One of the most interesting signings was Swedish midfielder Stefan Berglund - who was born in Sweden but generated in Ghana, who was signed on trial after he turned up unattached in my player serach screen, he then recommended Helsingborg Striker Rasmus Jonsson who arrived on a free after a trial.
Upfront was a real problem this season, I was unable to bring in a replacement for Davide Petrucci and it was left to Sendoa Guarrotxena to lead the line, with him ending up top scorer with six goals - finding a partner for him was a struggle neither Saganowski nor Kee impressed, on loan Utd Striker Joshua King was useless yet again (why Man Utd keep on extending his contract I have no idea) in the end I recalled Italian Striker Marcello Trotta from onloan and three goals in six games was a better return than my other strikers.
Best XI - putting my backup left winger upfront tells it all.
Overall XI - Ramos and SImpson join after one season, whilst Petrucci and Wilson don't even make the bench any longer.
Snapshot - The cups didn't go all that well, we beat Stockport in the First round of the FA Cup 1-0, but then went out to League Two Grimisby 1-0. The Carling CUp saw us somehow beat Championship Nottm Forrest 2-1, before losing to Premiership QPR in the Second Round, but at least that tie brought in some money. The Paint Trophy saw us beaten by rivals Bury in the First Round.
At least we made some money this season, though Christophe tried his best to lead each player stat.
Manager Profile - the board gave me a new contract at the start of the season, so at least I didn't have that to worry about at the end of the season, whilst my National reputation (compared to the clubs Local) may have something to do with me being linked to every Championship jon going. Manager Info - Ramos transfer my biggest transfer by a long way.
Club Info - Sendoa drops off the fav. personnel list, whilst we really need to get our reputation upto Regional to stand a chance of ever reaching the Championship.
Club Facts - The Average and Highest Wages show how much out of depth we were this season.
Club Stats and Facilities that are slowly being improved.
So the plan for next season is to try and get repromoted whilst attempting to find a decent striker who can score goals and then fill in the gaps left by any players that leave the club after our relagation.
Career Overview
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| 2009/10 | Blue Square North | 1st | Promoted - Champions |
| 2010/11 | Blue Square Prem | 5th | Playoff Final |
| 2011/12 | Blue Square Prem | 1st | Promoted - Champions |
| 2012/13 | League Two | 2nd | Promoted |
| 2013/14 | League One | 24th | Relegated |
