No tactical knowledge, man management, or footballing ability! Perfect.

Gutted, never going to play football professionally again. What next? I guess I could work down uncle Ronnie's car wash again.. Maybe not. Tight git never paid me half the time last time. I hear Tesco has a few jobs going too. I think staying in football would be best, it's about all I know. Surely someone would take a gamble on me, after all I did play for Watford.. Once.. And I have an abundance of qualifications, I coached some under 5's to a semi final, and we did win that 5 a side tournament a few years ago. That's got to count for something, right?

Maybe not, I have applied for 6 jobs so far, and not one interview. This management lark might be a bit trickier to get into than I first anticipated. I'll apply for anything going, we all have to start somewhere eh? Until then, I'll watch the 5-1 over Germany, maybe I will be able to figure out how he got Heskey to play well.

So, after almost 3 months of applying for everything going, I finally found somebody stupid enough to hire me, but hey I'm not complaining. FC Zwolle, never heard of them in my life to be honest, apparently they've won a few things in their time, and they have decent facilities. Well, better than what my under 5's had on a school field anyway.

Well, going back to the chairman being stupid enough to hire me, he also expects me to reach the play off's. No chance I say, we're 15th in the league right now with an average squad at best, 1 coach and no assistant manager, plus we're over budget. I think I may be in too deep already but hey, it's experience, and I'm getting paid for it.

First things first then, I need to find an Assistant manager who has some experience, somebody needs to know what they're doing around here. Oh, and I need to learn Dutch.

After looking at the team in general, it looks like we have a few decent players, and the fact that 2-9th are the play off spots my target doesn't look as impossible as it first seemed, we are only 4 points off 9th following my first ever win (more on that soon). I found somebody as desperate as me to join at Assistant Manager and to be honest he has more skill than me.

So my first game as a manager came 2 days after my appointment, at home to the high flying Sparta. I was bricking it to be honest with 7000 fans showing up to see an under performing team I was feeling the pressure from day one. I decided to set up in a 4-4-2 simple yet effective I hoped. The fact I don't speak Dutch also didn't help whilst trying to put my points across with a series of hand signals my players probably thought I was having an seizure or something. Maybe they just thought I was a nutter. Either way me waving my arms around on the touchline like the guy from the Aviva advert seemed to work and we ran out 3-1 winners. We didn't play like world beaters, but it will do for now. Hopefully we can build on this and reach our target. Maybe I'll start throwing football boots at them and pretend to be crazy.

Oh, and I got a little star struck earlier today, I managed to persuade Edgar Davids to join our backroom staff. A man of his stature can only be a positive influence surely?

good luck mate

good luck mate

Thank you, I'll need it.

The chairman hasn't yet come to his senses and sacked me, which in my book is a good thing. We're still losing a shed load of money which is bad, and some of our over paid, useless greedy players won't leave. Maybe if I throw stuff at them they might get the picture. The main problem I had when I arrived was most of my first team was injured, and my reserves are terrible. No wonder the old manager got sacked with the steaming pile of turd of a squad we have.

As for the squad performance, they're kind of Jeckyll and Hyde. We either win big or lose big, there doesn't seem to be any middle ground, but we've won more than we've lost. We've won 7, lost 3 since I took over and I feel like I have learned a lot more about the squad. Well mainly two things - We can score, we can't defend. Luckily for us the quality of the strikers in this league isn't great or I am sure we would be in a lot more trouble. Hopefully we can push on, and keep my main 11 fit because they're not that bad, and look sharp in attack. We're holding sixth for now, maybe the chairman wasn't as crazy as I first thought.

I tweaked the 4-4-2 into a 4-2-2-2 and it seems to be working better, well by that we score more but still ship goals. Thankfully now most of my first team have returned from injury, because I literally can't sign anyone with our crap finances.

I have noticed we struggle a lot more at home than we do away, maybe because we have one of the biggest stadiums in the league our fans put more pressure on our players. Or maybe they're just bottlers. Not sure yet but I'm thinking it will turn out to be the latter.

Somehow I've managed to become a popular manager in my 80 days at Zwolle. Maybe it's because I don't speak Dutch yet. I'm sure that will change when I do. And apparently Fergie hates me, I'm more surprised he knows who I am.

Look at all those play-off places! At least you've won more than you've lost - Fergie's probably just worried you'll take his job

Look at all those play-off places! At least you've won more than you've lost - Fergie's probably just worried you'll take his job

Haha I doubt it! And yeah it was a weird place off system, I didn't understand it really, we got play off's but 3rd 5th,6th and 8th didn't?

Actually, I think I figured it out, there is 4 periods of 8 games, and it seems the team top of the period makes play offs. I think.

Well, what a first season in football management. It makes me wonder why people bother sometimes. All in all I did what I was expected to do by that fool of a chairman. The previous manager put us well over budget, left us in a terrible position with an injury ravaged side with average players on ridiculous wages. To add to the frustration of that, the fans and board were always finding something to moan over.

We were already out of all of the cups when I arrived so the league was my only priority, and I first thought we had a tall order when asked to reach play off's but it seems this league is nuts. Top teams losing to bottom teams, upsets, high scoring games. I think the teams in this league are quite even in terms of ability and although clichéd, every team can beat each other here. I did what I was expected to do it in the end, although we did suffer some really poor runs of form a burst of 6 wins and 2 draws put us in the play off's through the virtue of winning the period. As the season came to a close however my players became complacent and my strikers couldn't score in a brothel. We lost 4 of 5 of our last games going in to the play off's and then lost both legs of our play off against Fortuna Sittard, who beat us easily.

So that was that, I managed to cut the wages and replace a few poor quality big earners with brighter, cheaper prospects so hopefully then can push on with another at the helm. I'll keep an eye on them and wish them the best but with my relationship with the board strained, my contract ending and opportunities in England cropping up I thought it was time to leave and popped off an application to Blue Squad side Darlington. The board however caught wind of it and it upset them a little so I resigned from my first management post.

So I headed back to England in hope of an interview with Darlington but before they even got back to me the recently relegated Exeter offered me a contract. How can I refuse?

Pretty good start there.

One season in Holland and already jumping ship! Surely it cant be that bad, everything's legal over there!

Pretty good start there.

Thanks

One season in Holland and already jumping ship! Surely it cant be that bad, everything's legal over there!

Haha! There were some good things

Didn't enjoy the chairman complaining each month, the league was quite exciting though to be fair

New club, new challenges. This time I'm looking for play off's at minimum but I think we are good enough for automatic promotion. The media say 8th, I say first or second. Ambitious?

When I arrived there were no staff and half the first team were out of contract in the summer. The squad was threadbare and on high wages anyway so it looks like I can start with a clean slate. The only player I want to keep from leaving is my goalkeeper Artur Krysiak.

I have bought in 19 players in total, including 4 loan players to add some quality youth for free. 22 Players left on free transfers. Pre season went well with 4 wins, 1 draw and a narrow loss to Villa.

Looking through my team now I think I should tell you about my signings.

Salim Amerzgiou - Free signing from Dutch lower league side Spakenburg, not expected to do much but he is on cheap wages, has pace and will do for back up..

Richal Leitoe - Another free signing from a Dutch amateur side. Decent mentals and physicals, again bought in for back up.

Nikolay Krastev - Key player, left Bristol Rovers on a free and expected to be in the heart of my defence. Tall, powerful with good defensive skill I think he will be a big player for us.

Laurent Francis - Released by Lincoln, the French forward should provide some cover up front.

Oguzhan Ozyakup - On loan from Arsenal, to provide cover and some skill in midfield.

Loris Karuis - Young German goalkeeper, Hopefully can develop well in to our number one, but back up for now. 4 and 1/2 star potential.

Kevin Kerr - Midfield man from Ross county, expected to be our ball winner in the middle of the park. Good mentals and physicals.

Rob Kozluk - Probably my worst signing on paper, not great but cheap cover. Hopefully he'll step up when it matters.

Anton Jongsma - Looks a very good player for us, Curacao international midfielder. Good spread of stats will start most games providing he maintains form and fitness.

Glen Lowet - Released from Belgium third division side Tienen, young with room for potential but has decent defensive stats already. Rotation.

Jake Caprice - Free from Palace. Bit of pace and flair, should look to take advantage of tired legs.

Kyle Jacobs - Key man. Young hard working midfielder with a bit of pace. Should do well.

Darren Young - Veteran anchor man, bought in for excellent mental stats and experience. Free from Alloa.

Mark Marshall - Very good right winger, did well in pre season hopefully the Jamaican can make the right flank his own.

Christian Cabellos - Young Spaniard on loan from Spurs, excellent technical stats, very poor physicals. Hopefully he won't be bullied in this league.

Luke Freeman - Young and looking to make the most of first team action will lead the attack. On loan from Arsenal.

Stern John - Veteran striker, to lead the line with Freeman. Don't expect him to last a full game at 35 but his stats are still good.

Daniel Pappoe - On loan from Chelsea, cover in defence.

Jordan Bent - Promising youngster, can play at this level already so should do well for us long term. One for the future.

All in all it's looking like we have a decent size squad now, although if we get injuries up front it could hamper us badly. We still have £1200 p/w in the budget just in case..

The season draws near, i'll keep you posted

I'm not surprised you shipped goals with six of your ten outfield players in attacking roles!

I'm not surprised you shipped goals with six of your ten outfield players in attacking roles!

Haha, that is indeed true. The reason behind that being my defenders were so awful I thought attack is the best form of defence!

August was a good month for us, some cracking results so I hoped that the good form would continue.

On a transfer note, Coles has gone to Newport for one month on loan.

Exeter 0-1 Torquay United. Disappointing, a loss to rivals. We worked hard but Torquay were just better on the day. We didn't have anything about us up front and it showed as we couldn't hit the net.

Gillingham 1-0 Exeter. I thought we were unlucky here. Gillingham were 21st in the table whilst we were first. We dominated and had a lot of chances to score but once more couldn't score. We pressed more as the game wore on and Gillingham exploited the space we left behind as they hit us on the counter on the 79th minute.

Exeter 6-0 Accrington. We started the day in 8th, with Accrington 3 places above us. I think we must have saved all of our goals for this game as we tore them apart at will.Francis Laurent started on the wing and cut inside and scored two crackers. Duffy scored a tap in, as did Bent. Sercombe hit a worldy from 30 yards and Krastev scored from a corner late on to complete the route.

Hartlepoole 1-0 Exeter. We were poor here again, a Richard Duffy own goal early on set us back. Another game where we could not score.

Exeter 2-1 Plymouth. Winning against our fierce rivals is always good, but it should have been more. We dominated once more but wasted so many chances it's becoming frustrating. Lowet scored from a corner on the 21st minute and Kyle Jacobs finished from a tight angle on the hour mark. We need to work on our finishing.

So all in all not a good month really, despite a 6-0 win. We are still second but it's very tight right now. We need to be more consistent in front of goal.

September was quite poor but we remained in the play off positions, and finishing on a win against our rivals I hoped we could push on.

Exeter 1-0 Oxford. Much the better team, Oxford didn't ever look like scoring, but then again neither did we. An own goal saved our blushes.

JPT South second round Swindon 3-1 Exeter. Didn't expect much from this so I used some of my lesser used players. They didn't do too badly aside from Kozluk who got sent off after 22 minutes to put us under more pressure. Bent scored our consolation late on.

Dagenham & Redbridge 0-0 Exeter. Another game where we could not score. We are defending really well on the plus side but lack of goals is beginning to worry me.

Exeter 1-0 Yeovil. 3RD vs 4TH. Yeovil outclassed us first half, I changed things at half time and gave them a royal bollocking and we played far better in the second period. Bent scored a late goal for us to keep us chasing automatic promotion.

Port Vale 3-3 Exeter. What a game! We went 2-0 up early but threw away out lead. Laurent came off the bench to score what we thought was the winner but Port Vale drew level late on through some poor defending.

Another so,so month. We are still second though.

Hoping to rack up as many points as we can before the busy festive period begins to take it's toll on our squad. I don't think my back up players have the quality to keep our form up.

Stevenage 2-2 Exeter. A very close game between two teams closely placed in the league. We stormed to a very early 2 goal league thanks to Ceballos and Krastev but Stevenage pulled one back on 24 minutes. The rest of the game was back and forth, both of us having chances but Stevenage drew level through a Byrom 30 yard cracker on the hour mark.

Shrewsbury 0-2 Exeter.A very good win for us. We completely controlled the game early on with Sercombe scoring a cracker on 19 minutes. He only seems to score from outside the box! Ceballos picked up his second on the hour mark and I thought we would be in trouble. We pulled through and even attacked when in possession, leading to a second goal on 89 minutes scored by McNish.

FA Cup 1st Round AFC Wimbledon 1-7 Exeter. Where did this come from? 3 up with in half an hour courtesy of 2 Jordan Bent goals and a rocket from Jacobs. We outplayed them easily all game with Freeman scoring his first goal, Krastev prodding in from a scramble in the box and even Stern John scoring a penalty. Bent completed his hat-trick on the 88th minute to seal a solid performance from him. Wimbledon pulled one back on 74 minutes.

Exeter 3-0 Barnet. Total domination. 28 shots, 18 on target. It could have been a cricket score had we been able to finish our chances but 3-0 will do. Richard Duffy got injured early on and Glen Lowet replaced him at the back. Lowet scored our first goal with his first touch from a free kick. Laurent scored a tap in on 69 minutes and then Lowet scored his second from a scramble in the box. Good win.

So all in all a good month for us sitting top of the table by goal difference. I am confident that if we had a better striker we would have more points but fortunately for us the whole team has been scoring. Charlton up next in the FA cup second round. It was moved to a late kick off for TV, giving us 70K in TV rights! Awesome.

November went well for us with players coming back from injury and our strikers seeming to find a touch of form at last, I hoped things could carry on. But before we resumed league duty we had to take on Charlton at the Valley in the second round of the FA cup.

FA Cup second round Charlton 0-2 Exeter. Big result, big pay day. All together raking in around £100k. We started off with an early goal from Sercombe and continued to push for a second, whilst withstanding some pressure from the League One side. Glen Lowet tapped in after 69 minutes to seal the win. Fantastic victory for us and sets us up for another pay day in round 3.

Exeter 5-1 Northampton. An impressive win. I was expecting a tight game from play off hopefuls Northampton but we smashed them. Lowet opened the scoring early on, Freeman then curled one in, boosting his confidence. Bent ran clear on 53 minutes then Stern John scored from the spot on 85. Turnbull scored an own goal late on.

Bristol Rovers 0-4 Exeter. Lowet is on fire this month, scoring twice from free kicks. Bent also scored a double in a very easy game. Confidence is high and it's showing.

AFC Wimbledon P-P Exeter. Postponed due to heavy snow fall. Gives us a much needed rest too to be honest.

Exeter 3-0 Morcambe. Another easy win, Jordan bent scoring a hat-trick from right wing. Another good all round team performance.

Exeter 5-0 Fleetwood. Due to the Wimbledon game being postponed Fleetwood were top, we were second. A much tighter game than the scoreline suggests with Fleetwood actually having more attempts on goal. We just took our chances. Kerr scored a belter on 2 minutes, followed by Freeman scoring once more. Bent added 2 more after the break and then Jacobs sealed then win on 73 minutes. Top of the table.

So after a brilliant December we travel away to Cardiff on the 5th of Jan in the 3rd round of the FA cup. I am optimistic of a result with the form we are in to be honest.

On the transfer front we are signing Junior Agogo in Jan to boost our numbers up front with Amerziou and Bauza leaving for £16K between them. Hopefully I can shift a few more to free up some wages. Tully, Duffy and Goldbourne are all out of contract in July so I need to find extra funds to get them to sign on. Jamil Adam is also signing in the summer on a free.

Bring on January.

Great season, hope you can maintain this form. Good luck in the FA Cup, even if you don't win it's still a great payday

Thank you o JaY. See below for the FA cup run

I have decided to stop with the monthly updates because I just haven't had the time. Sorry.

All in all a truly wonderful first season for me at Exeter. We won the league with 20 points between us and second place Dagenham & Redbridge. I can honestly say it was a wonderful team effort, no one player carried us at all. 18 players scored in the league which I was impressed with considering my strikers didn't really do much until the second part of the season when Bent left and Agogo came in.

The league was a very close run race until January with us and Fleetwood fighting it out for first place but Fleetwood seemed to capitulate with 5 losses in Jan and another 2 in Feb. Yeovil seemed to step up towards then end but it was too little too late. I am a little surprised about Southend going down because they had some quality players who could probably perform in League One, so maybe I'll poach a few of those. AFC Wimbledon were awful all season and it they were miles off safety. We were consistent with our results and the others were not. I am looking forward to League One.

I also won Manager of the year, Sercombe and Tully in team of the year.

My surprise package of the season were Dag&Redbridge who were predicted to finish 18th but they amazed us all with automatic promotion. Well done to them.

League Cup - We went out in the first round to Millwall.

JPT - Went out in the second round to Swindon.

Now, the FA Cup run. This was amazing, both in term of our playing ability and in terms of financial reward. Following our win at Charlton on TV we then faced Cardiff, again on TV. We held them to a draw at their place and beat them 3-1 at ours, with a truly fantastic team performance. We then drew Norwich at home, again on TV so we made the most of this and even though we went down 4-2, we could have had more. This team has showed it could probably push on to championship level in time. Thanks to this cup run we have made a profit of £688K. Not bad considering we were losing around £100k most months.

Key Players

Steve Tully © - Fantastic all season from right back, devastating crossing made him lethal from both set pieces and in open play. Also our penalty taker. Finished the season with 5 goals, 26 assists and 5 MoM awards. Got him to sign on for 2 more years, hopefully his legs don't go.

Glen Lowet - Signed from the Belgian third division I expected him to be back up at most but this boy has done brilliantly. Young, athletic and a monster in the air this lad has always been a threat at set pieces (surprisingly he didn't score many headers but was always first to the ball in goal mouth scrambles). 8 goals in all competitions this boy has a bright future at Exeter.

Junior Agogo - Signed mid season he looked rusty as he hadn't played for 6 months but within a month he started banging them him. Finished as our top scorer on 17 (13 in league) so I have kept him on for a another season. His stats don't look great but he just seems to end up in the right place at the right time.

Nikolay Krastev - The big man from Bulgaria was a rock at the back. Scored a few goals too. Can't ask much more from my centre back. Signed on for another 2 years.

Scott Golbourne - Maurading left back, yet solid at the back. Chipped in with a few assists from the left he made the left flank his own.

Richard Duffy- The man I thought would lead my back line was out for a lot of the season, but when he played we were immense at the back. Signed on for another season hopefully he can stay injury free, but his place is under thread from Lowet.

Liam Sercombe- Transfer listed when I arrived, I decided to take a punt on him. He's been our best midfielder all season scoring some cracking goals and setting up a few. A very good passer of the ball he always seemed to find time on the ball. It looks like I will be losing him on a free though as he wants £3K per week to stay on and that's just too much for us to pay.

David Weatherston - £500 signing from Brentford this man made an immediate impact when he came. 5 Goals and 11 assists made him a big part of my plans next season.

I should also mention Jordan Bent, the youngster I signed at the start of the season. The kid abused defenders with his pace and scored his share of goals until December when Norwich poached him from us for £60k - rising to £150K depending on clauses.

Round The World.

Premier League Champions - Man Utd. ECC - Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City. Relegated - QPR, West Ham, Portsmouth.

Championship - Champions - Stoke. Promoted - Southampton, Burnley (Play off) Relegated - Middlesbrough, Peterborough, Preston.

League One - Champions - Sheffield Wednesday. Promoted - Watford, Charlton (Play off). Relegated - Wycombe, Bury, Oldham, Notts County.

League Two - Champtions - Exeter. Promoted - Dag&Red, Yeovil, Shrewsbury (Play off). Relegated - AFC Wimbledon, Southend.

BSP Champions - Stockport. Promoted - Luton. Relegated - AFC Telford, FC Halifax, Chelmsford, Droylsdon.

La Liga Champions - Real Madrid. ECC - Barcelona, Velencia. Relegated - Valladolid, Levante, Celta.

Serie A Champions - Napoli. ECC - Juventus, Fiorentina. Relegated - Siena, Livorno, Lecce.

Scottish Premier LeagueChampions - Celtic. ECC - Rangers. Relegated - Partick Thistle.

Belgian Pro League Champions - Club Brugge. ECC - Anderlecht. Relegated - KV Kortrijk, Antwerp.

Erdivise Champions - PSV. ECC - Ajax. Relegated - FC Den Bosch, Volendam.

Swiss Super LeagueChampions - Xamax. ECC - Young Boys. Relegated - Aarau.

Previous Club WatchFC Zwolle - Finished 14th overall. Poor season for them. Theo Bos was sacked in Feb and they still haven't improved. They also look financially unstable, they have yet again signed several average players on huge wages for that league.

So onwards and upward. I am confident we can maintain a place in League One next year, possibly look to promotion too providing I can bring in another goal scorer and some quality in midfield. I have signed another 1 year extension to my contract for a whopping £1300 per week. So far I have a total career earning on £95K over a year and a half. Not bad but the Aston Martin is still a way off..

A brilliant season,I had a season ticket at Exeter a couple of years back and Liam Sercombe is class and Tully is a veteran city great

A brilliant season,I had a season ticket at Exeter a couple of years back and Liam Sercombe is class and Tully is a veteran city great

Yeah Tully seems to be a legend in these parts. Thanks I am proud of the season, after losing most of the squad following relegation I feared the worst but we made this league our own and went the distance

Fantastic, while I never went myself, a lot of us at uni had a soft spot for them when we were there, especially during the failed BSP playoff push in 2007.

Fantastic, while I never went myself, a lot of us at uni had a soft spot for them when we were there, especially during the failed BSP playoff push in 2007.

Thanks.

So League One is the next challenge. The board thought I should be looking to avoid relegation, I opted to plump for a safe mid table spot. Optimistic? Perhaps. Last season was a very good one for us so I hope we can push on with a few new faces joining and morale still high. I have a whopping £35K P/W wage budget this season, compared to £24K last season and a £70K transfer kitty. We also have the highest sponsorship in the league somehow.

Ins and Outs

In -

Jamil Adam - Free from Forfar, I was tempted to not go for him but my scouts recommended him so I couldn't say no, cheap wages too.

David Ball - £35K transfer from Posh, hopefully will be a game changer for us when Agogo is out or not hitting the back of the net. Big money for us to spend so I hope he performs. Rated highly by my scouts.

Clayton Mcdonald - Free from Bristol Rovers, back up centre half. Rated as good as Duffy.

Matt Lund - Free from Stoke, tough tacking midfielder with an eye for a pass, should do well in League One.

Jimmy Ryan - Free from Scunny, versatile playermaker. Hope he controls the midfield.

Liam O'Brien - Free from Crawley. Hah poached their first choice keeper from them. Rated better than what I have, cheap wages and only young.

Fouad Bachirou - Free from Crawley, French tough tackling midfielder. Will be my main ballwinner but has an eye for goal it seems. Can pick a pass too.

Christian Cabellos - Back on loan from Spurs for another season. He improved as a player quite a bit last year so I thought I'd offer him more first team football.

Nathanial - Mendez - Liang - Loan from Wolves, pacey attacking winger. Hoping to lead the attack down the flanks.

Zak Ansah - Loan from Arsenal. Cover for the wings.

Jemal Johnson - Free from Walsall. Been trailing this guy from a while, I enquired and Walsall told me they didn't want a fee, so I snapped him up. Pacey winger who can finish. Star winger.

Outs -

Danny Coles - Free

Liam Sercombe - Free. Bit gutted about him, top player but too greedy.

Callum Mcnish - Free

Loris Karuis - £88K. He wanted game time, so I sold the youngster to Plymouth.

Laurent Francis - Free

Anton Jongsma - Free

Richal Litoe - Loan

I am still under wager budget so if we are struggling come January I can bring in reinforcements. Hopefully we can cope with what we have. I am hoping in my heart of hearts for a finish in the play offs, but I think mid table is more realistic. This league will be a step up and there are some very good sides here.

Boro up first in the league, and Cardiff in the LC. Hope we get past the first round this time.

Good luck this season Dejay!

Great first season with Exeter - League One is a bit of a jump in terms of quality from the BSP, but from experience, if you did so well in the BSP, you should expect to do reasonably well in the League One as well. Good luck!

Good luck this season Dejay!

Thanks mate, my first two games have been crazy!

We lost 2-0 to Boro away, we played well enough but Agogo had a stinker and we couldn't score.

Then in the league cup first round.. Exeter 8-3 Cardiff. What a result! Every time we went forward we looked lethal. Johnson scored a hat-trick, Lund set up 3 and scored two! I hope it's a sign on things to come

Jamil Adam is very much win at lower British levels in this game it seems.

Jamil Adam is very much win at lower British levels in this game it seems.

It seems so. Never had him before so was a little unsure about him but he does his part. Seems to be employed as a super sub type player for me.

My team also have an annoying habit of going 1-0 down early in games -.-

Also, it's nice to be noticed.

Just thought I'd show you all this guy, his agent offered him around just before the the transfer window closed. £60k from Gernika. I wouldn't normally pay over 48 months but thought this guy was too good to pass up and left back was a weak spot for us.

Look at his wages

This guy is a complete bargain! Sort of when I grabbed Ben Amos in similar circumstances

This guy is a complete bargain! Sort of when I grabbed Ben Amos in similar circumstances

Right? Couldn't believe it when he wanted wages so low.

In other news..

And another..

Decided to stay with Exeter for now. I don't think I will leave them unless something fantastic pops up, and even then it won't be until my contract runs out.

During the summer I bought in 12 more players and some youth. I expected it to take my team a while and thought we would be sitting top half of the table at best and after our 2-0 drubbing to Boro during the first game of the season I thought we may be in for a tough season.

I was wrong. We currently sit at the top of the pile, and in my (rose tinted) eyes we 100% deserve it at this point. Not once have we shut up shop we have attacked every team in this league thus far and took the game to them, although that is probably due to the fact that my defence is poor in comparison to our attack. We have made life tough for ourselves too, going 1-0 down in a lot of games before we kick in to gear and start playing. We've had goals galore, come backs, thrown wins away and had bust ups. This season has been anything but boring thus far.

Again, no one player has carried us it seems, especially in terms of goal scoring as once more the whole team has pretty much chipped in with goals. Tully has once more been the architect with 13 assists so far this term (this guy is lethal from set pieces, as I write this he just hit a 70 yard free kick straight on to Lunds bonce), which is brilliant considering he has been rotated with the younger Liam Marrs - who himself has set a few up! Jermal Johnson has been on fire from the left flank scoring 12 and setting up 7. Agogo has scored 12 too While Adam has 9.

The right wing seems to be our weak point up top as neither Nathanial - Mendez - Liang, Cabellos or Weatherston have shone. I have just started playing Ball there, even though he is a striker seems to be performing very well in the few games he has started there so maybe I will re-train him.

Matt Lund has been a revelation is the centre, primarily used as a play maker this lad has been the heart of most things we do offensively. 4 goals and 4 assists doesn't look like much, but he picks the pass that sets up the move. Jimmy Ryan has also been very good from the centre of the part too with his goals and assists.

Defensively we had been much weaker this year though, aside from Glen Lowet (who is now our best rated centre back and first name on the team sheet) Duffy, Krastev and McDonald have struggled a little. They have all had cracking games but all lack consistency and make too many mistakes for my liking. A point to look at in the summer, especially with Duffy's contract expiring then.

Goldbourne has been solid if unspectacular on the left as ever and while Koldo Elizondo started slowly he is slowly making the left back position his. Goldbourne is out of contract in the summer then, and with 20 year old Conteh - who has 21 caps for Sierra Leone on the books it may be his last season here.

Our cup runs have been quite good again thus far this year, with us reaching the quarter finals of the League Cup, beating Cardiff 8-3, Blackpool 5-1, Millwall 2-1 and Leeds 6-2 before losing to Blackburn 3-1 at home. Perhaps if we go up we may stay in the Championship looking at those results.

The JPT ended early once more, going out to Aldershot on pens, a bit disappointing but in all honesty a trophy I don't care about.

The FA run is still going with wins at Cheltenham and Mk Dons, we have premier league side Southampton up next on Jan 4th.

So all in all, a good first half of the season, I don't think I need to bring anyone in during the January window, but I will need to look at new faces in the summer, especially with Agogo retiring in June.

In other news, former Exeter misfit Kodlak who I signed last season and was utter dung has been re-singed as a pretty damn good coach. Who would have knew?

Going good so far mate. Keep up the good work .

Thanks mate, haven't been on much the last few days - slow progress =/

Slow & steady wins the race .

Another truly wonderful season, not only have we achieved back to back promotions, but back to back titles. We have had ups and downs and some fantastic results this year the team has gone above and beyond all expectations and clinched the title with 1 game to go. Towards the end of the season Johnson got injured and we had some poor results and our 10 point lead diminished to only 2 points with 3 to go, but a massive 6-0 win over Rochdale gave us renewed vigour and helped us push on to win the title.

In the JPT we once went out again early to Aldershot on penalties this time.

The League Cup was much better with us beating Cardiff 8-3, Blackpool 5-1, Millwall 2-1 and Leeds 6-2 before going out to Premier League Blackburn in the quarter finals. Blackburn we much the better side even with 10 men.

We also went on another money spinning F.A cup run this time beating Cheltenham 2-1, Premier League Southampton 2-1 in the third round, before once more losing to Blackburn in the fourth. They are becoming a pain in my arse.

Key Players:

By far our most consistant performer during the season has been Jemal Johnson, a revelation since leaving Walsall. I employed him cutting in from the left flank and he seems to have reveled in the role. 20 goals and 13 assists in all competitions MoM 8 times with an average rating on 7.52. Brilliant in League One but I don't think his ability is going to be good enough for Championship football..

Glen Lowet - Top defender this year, he has come on leaps and bounds since signing him 2 seasons ago. A beast in the air and consistently our best defender.

Steve Tully - Once again the marauding right back, although has played a little less this year due to his age he still has 3 goals, 24 assists and 8 MoM awards to his name. Another player that may struggle in the Championship but he is club captain and Exeter Legend now, he must stay on. Hopefully he will develop in to a nice back room role so I can keep him around.

Matt Lund - Our main play maker, been brilliant all season. 6 goals, 9 assists. His stats don't look fantastic but everything starts with him.

Jimmy Ryan - Has been our most attacking of the midfield 3, scored 9, 8 assists but he has more to his game than that. Hopefully he will impress when he makes the step up.

Junior Agogo - Must have saved his best until last. Declared he was retiring at the end of this season the man has been hot and cold, but when he was hot he was unstoppable. Our top scorer with 27 goals in all comps he was the second top scorer in the league and accumulated 4 hat-tricks during the season. Will be missed next year.

Koldo Elizondo - The £60k last minute purchase has made his mark, started slowly but has made the LB position his own and has helped me make the choice to not re-new Golbournes contract. Not as creative as Tully down the right but much more solid defensivly and a leader on the pitch. Future captain if he stays on. Contract has been extended to 2017 as interest in him is high.

Around the world

English Premier League: Winner - Man Utd. ECC - Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea. Relegated - Everton :o Southampton, Burnley.

Championship: Winner - Norwich. Promotion - Leicester, Birmingham. Relegated - Leeds, Barnsley, Coventry.

League One: Winner - Exeter. Promotion - Colchester, Hull. Relegated - Shrews, Crawley, Yeovil, Dag&Red.

League Two: Winner - Cheltenham. Promotion - Northampton, Hartlepool (Jeff stelling went mad) Accrington. Relegated - Macclesfield, Luton.

BSPWinner - AFC Wimbledon. Promotion - Darlington. Relegated - Eastleigh, Kettering, Boston Utd, Dover.

La LigaWinner - Barcelona. ECC - R Madrid, Villareal. Relegated - Athletico Madrid :o, Sporting, Getafe.

Serie AWinner - Juventus. ECC - Napoli, Inter. Relegated - Brescia, Chievo, Reggina.

SPLWinner - Rangers. ECC - Hearts. Relegated - Hamilton.

Some surprising relegations there..

So all in all another fantastic season, but one worrying issue for me is the fact the club has lost £691K during the course of the season, despite us being under wage budget and two decent cup runs. This will need to be addressed although I think end of year prize money is still to be given out I don't think it will be much.

Edit:Just found out where our money has gone - The board have had to spend £650K on stadium expansion and improvements to comply with League requirements. At least we didn't need a loan!

As I write this I am being linked with numerous jobs following the sackings of a lot of managers. I signed a one year extension with Exeter and I don't think I will leave, even with Belgian Pro League Lierse, Boro and Ipswich all interested in me.

Exeter in Championship!

Exeter in Championship!

At long last eh?

In other news I saw a little speculation about me.

Could that be the same Kirkland who played for Wigan?

Thats an odd place to end up.

Thats an odd place to end up.

That's what I thought..

My board know that it is all about the benjamins..

Massive financial boost.

As our first Championship season draws closer I am slightly pessimistic regarding our chances this year. I believe the Championship will be a big step up from League One. We have had a so-so pre season with some disappointing draws against Northampton, Cardiff and Coventry, an expected 3-1 loss to Arsenal and two thumping wins against minnows Tiverton and SPL side Inverness.

Our finances are back on track now too currently at £651K following our £650k outlay for a stadium expansion. I opted for the seasonal expectation of avoiding relegation, which the board set me budgets of £53K P/w wage budget and a £1.1M transfer kitty. I put it all in to wages because I felt it would allow me more flexibility and I don't want to be spending large amounts of cash on high profile players if I can't keep us up.

At the end of last season Leitoe, Agogo, Marshall, Duffy, Golbourne, Kerr, Campbell, Oshidi and Krysiak all left on free transfers. Kyle Jacobs was sold to Hull for £20k, Jamil Adam sold to Plymouth for £24K.

The incoming players look far more exciting..

Bill Farquharson - Top quality keeper with bags of potential apparently. Labelled as the next David Seaman I have no idea why Boro left him go. He will be my first choice keeper unless he is buckles under the pressure of being my number 1. Bargain of the year perhaps..?

Sander Bosch - Free from KV Mechelen. Looks a very very good young player, already with quality dribbling, finishing and free kick taking ability. Mentals need some work and his physicals can probably do with some improvement too he is still one of my best mid fielders even at 18. Will look to start this guy as an inside forward, right flank. I can see a big club coming him for him in the future.

Radoslaw Majewski - Free from Forest, not brilliant but better than what we had in the centre of the park, should keep things ticking over and provide competition for Lund.

Rohan Ricketts - £10k from Shamrock Rovers. Experienced at PL level, even with his age should be able to offer us something. Versatile too.

Ivor Watson - Free from Arsenal. Another teen who is highly rated, cannot understand why Arsenal would ship him out with his stats. One for the future but can play a part this season too.

Villyan Bijev - Free from Liverpool. They wanted to keep him but I think he would be my main man up front. Hope this guy can fill the void left by Agogo. A similar player to Agogo I hope he can fit straight in. Pacey and with an eye for goal did well on loan at MK Dons last year..

Alex-Ray-Harvey - Free from Burnley. Was at loan at Walsall last season and impressed. In to provide cover in midfield until he develops more.

Yaser-Kasim - Iraq International midfielder. Will be first choice if he performs well. Good range of stats and can pick a pass. Free from Brighton.

John Mcevoy - £26K from Cliftonville. Hot prospect.

Anton Ferdinand - A bit of a surprising one this. His agent offered him around towards the end of the window and he is rated as good a Lowet. He should provide experience at the back

Ilija Sivonjic - Free from Rijeka, a poacher with an average goal scoring record. I am not sure why because his stats suggest he is better than that. Will be a gamble but I think it should pay off.

So there we have it, a lot of new faces in and hopefully we can stay up. I really hope we can because we have invested quite heavily and would probably put usi n trouble if we went down. The media expect us to finish 24th, we are hoping to just stay up.

Exeter 4-1 Nottingham Forest - Bijev (9, 14, 30) Bosch (39) - Bothroyd (31)

LC Round 1. Barnet 0-2 Exeter - Weatherston (22) Ball (41)

Huddersfield 0 - 2 Exeter - Bijev (3) Lowet (65)

Exeter 0-1 Brighton - Barnes (17)

Burnley 2-0 Exeter - Hines (22) Stansislas (90+3)

LC Round 2. Exeter 4-6 Bristol City - Dunne (17) Bosch (54,56) Harvey (59) - Bartley (14) Phillips (75) Maynard (89) Campbell (90+5) Skuske (110) O'Brien (119)

Exeter 1-2 QPR Harvey (53) - Soria (40) Beausejor (56)

What a busy month, 7 games with the next coming on 1st of Sept! No wonder our form dipped towards the end of the month they're knackered! To be honest we have had a few injuries too. This is the sort of form I about expected from us, our start was fantastic but they our 4 match losing streak shattered confidence. The Bristol City result was hard to take as we were in control and then crumbled at the end.

Matt Lund has also handed a transfer request in because I didn't give him a new contract following interest from Leeds. I'd be dissappointed if he left because he has been very good for me, but he's now worth £350k so it would be a nice profit if he left..

Also after Bijevs early 4 goals, he now can't hit a barn door with a banjo, I told you he was just like Agogo

Currently sitting 16th in the table. Bring on September!

Reading 1-1 Exeter Sagbo (14) Bijev (47)

Exeter 2 - 1 Sheffield Wednesday Bosch (64) Bachirou (69) - James (45)

Charlton 1 - 4 Exeter Elinzondo (OG 66) - Bosch (16) Bijev (63,73) Harvey (89)

Exeter 3-0 Colchester Tuncliffe (OG 11) Bijev (30) Johnson (49)

A much easier month on the legs, and much better form from us which has propelled us into the play off spots. The shock result here came against league leaders Charlton who we outplayed all game long. Johnson returned from his Hernia to score and Bijev seems to have found his shooting boots. I am a little surprised with Harvey scoring as many as he has with him being my ball winner.

Elinzondo, Lowet, Tully and Rickets have all picked up knocks. Young John McEvoy has also put in a claim to be first choice right back with some impressive performances despite his tender age. He has also improved a bit this season so far due to his game time. Matt Lund also has his first international cap - Great now his head will get even bigger and demand more money.

Currently sitting 6th, we have also scored the most goals in the league, but have conceded quite a lot too.

A very good month for us was October, which sees us sitting atop the Championship by virtue of goal difference. We robbed Cardiff during that match, they were better but we nicked it in the 95th minute. Blackpool and Southampton were both very good performances from us, but Everton at home was our best performance of the season. He absolutely dominated the former Premier League boys, the scoreline should have been embarrassing for them.

As you also may have noticed our attendances are quite low, that's because we are temporarily ground sharing with Torquay until our Stadium has been converted to an all seater. That is expected to be finished 02/11/14.

Hopefully then we will take a bit more revenue on tickets on match day to boost our finances which are quite low right now - £220K in the black but losing cash monthly.

Going very well

Going very well

Thanks! I am a little surprised at it!

Tough choice here. I really am torn over this for the first time since joining Exeter. West Ham are a massive club in comparison to us, they are offering me almost 10 times the resources and 10 times the wage I am on.

I am really enjoying being at Exeter and the club is moving forward, we are in good form and topping the league right now - but how far can they go? Tough tough tough..

What do I do?

I would be inclined to stay. Your doing a great job at Exeter and you are top of the table. Would be a shame not to see the job through.

In my heart of hearts I want to stay with Exeter - but as I said West Ham are massive in comparison. Looking at their squad though there are players on big money who aren't doing much.

Just for the record, if I left for West Ham the first game would be against Exeter..

Coincidental or what!!! West Ham knew what they were doing .

If you are contemplating it and your half leaning towards it then you should go. West Ham would could be the catilist to your career.

Very tough choice indeed for me. I had to look at what is best for me really, and that was progression. West Ham are a much bigger club and are offering me £10.5K a week. It would be foolish to not accept really.

I leave Exeter with a heavy heart and wish them the best I really hope they can build upon what I started.