Wavelberry

Pre-Season 2024 Update So after an underwhelming end to the last campaign posed several questions I spent pre-season looking for answers and despite the results I may have some. The more expansive tactic, played against Orkney and Halkirk is clearly suicide for this team. We can't do it. The Thurso, Golspie and keeping Morton honest (it was 2-2 at half time with the first XI) were done with the more pragmatic tactic so I think we're going to have to be sticking to that even in games we might expect to win because, as evidenced in the Orkney and Halkirk games, we can't ****ing defend when we play it. We can't ****ing defend anyway, but it's worse when we go for the more expansive tactic. We're not there yet. No shame in it. So my tinkering and tankering has led me to this First XI. The observant among you may have noticed that I have taken out both full backs who were stand out players last year and got a new youngster at CB too. His full name is but I couldn't fit kin the Youth Number on that name so had to change it to HM Steingy. He's Icelandic Scottish. How could I not play him? Dannie Ziglam is English and from Nuneaton apparently. Not sure how he ended up in my youth system but I'm taking it. Basically the backline alterations have been made with physicals in mind after last season's collapse in the face of headers. These boys jump better and I don't actually think I'm getting much worse output from them than their more storied counterparts from last year. I've decided to bite the bullet and stick Weir and Mackinnon S in DMs and see how we go and Jamie Mac goes to AM to allow Mark Macadie to play up top. Hughes and Gunn bring the experience and Gregor Burns is given an opportunity to learn and grow. The second XI sees basically last season's back 6 with my two promising wingers and Joe Thomson and Edwin Riddle up top. I have no idea whether this faith in youth will work or whether this Second XI will end up as the First XI but we have a plan anyway and we're going to try and make it work. The board don't expect much. Avoid relegation and cup vibes. I'll take the scaled back expectations if I am honest. This season is going to be a baptism of fire for a lot of these kids. The predictions agree with us at 700-1. I wonder who Strathspey sold to be at 1000-1. I'm gonna check this when the transfer window ends but fully expect us to keep dropping back. As far as the title race is concerned the press reckon it's a Buckie, Fraserburgh showdown but I could see any of that top 5 getting it but that could depend on how Elgin adjust to life in non-league. To the opening fixures where we play three games and have a three week break for some reason, probably for more North of Scotland Cup action but there we go. Anyways we start with a challenging trip to Turriff before a winnable cup tie against Lossiemouth. Huntley and Rothes at home before the twin nightmares (given last season) of Nairn and Inverurie, who will be licking their lips having put 10 goals past us last year. A Highland League cup game is in there too so that Inverurie game will move. It's going to be a long and difficult season but these kids can be brightness in the gloom. I just have to believe...

Youth Prospect Update 2024 Report card time. Let's cast our eye over the little cherubs shall we? 2023 Intake Seamus Mackinnon (YP 0.1): Didn't get many games at first but as both Jack Halliday and Ryan Campbell begun to stink the place out he got his chance. 22 games with a goal (of the season) and 3 assists isn't a bad return for him. Played mostly as a Regista but with the advent of David Weir he might move to the Segundo role. He'll definitely be a vital cog next season though. Edwin Riddle (YP 0.2): 16 starts and only 3 goals isn't particularly good and an average of 6.63 tells you how bang average he has been but still better than players ten years older than him which is a damning indictment of Wick's striking resources. He'll get chances next season but he's going to need to be a lot better if he's going to make it here. Joe Thomson (YP 0.3): One assist and no goals from 2 starts with 11 sub appearances doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. His versatility means he will get more chances next year but he's going to need to add end product or find himself quickly falling out of favour. James Lee Gillon (YP 0.4): 10 starts and 18 sub appearances playing in Gunn's role and he got 3 goals and assists. A promising debut season with hopes he will continue to make an impact next season. Lee Balfour (YP 0.5): 30 starts and a 6.96 average is pretty good. Settled in well at left back and got a goal and 2 assists as well. First choice for now and will continue to be next season. Ben Welsh (YP 0.6): As centre defence rotation happened as I looked for something, anything to stem goals Ben did not cover himself in glory. 11 starts, 9 sub appearances and an average of 6.67 doesn't bode particularly well. Will need significant improvement next season to avoid the door. Matthew Robertson (YP 0.7): He looks great but he's not played well. An average of 6.76 makes him one of the better CBs but I need him to improve. Ben Cummings (YP 0.8): A great season. A rating over 7, 4 goals, 4 assists and yet... that jumping reach worries me especially given the number of headed goals we're conceding. He's going to remain first choice, this was a good debut season after all, but I may need someone who is more physically imposing to stem the flow of goals. Connor Russell (YP 0.9): A 6.76 rating means he's the other 'good' CB and will have a chance to nail down the spot next season. I think he can improve. I hope he can improve. Gregor Burns (YP 0.10): Gregor got two cup games and three games at the end of the season and, yes, he conceded quite a few goals but I'm not going to hold it against him. He's got a chance next season to show me what he's got. Gregg Duncan (YP 0.11): A very solid back-up at LB and he'll have opportunities to make the role his own. A 6.88 rating from 13 starts is pretty decent. Certainly has a future here at the moment. 2024 Intake Euain McGhie (YP 1.1): A good debut and set up the goal against Strathspey too showing that he has end product too. Given Alan Hughes will often stink the place up he's going to get chances and I'm excited to see what he's got. David Weir (YP 1.2): Played the last two games as a Regista. got an assist and averaged 7. Feel he has to start there next season and see what he can do. James Mackinnon (YP 1.3): Slow start but did set up a Macadie goal against Banks. He'll start at AM next season as I move Mark Macadie up front so we'll see what he can do. Verdict Quite a bit of dross if I'm honest. The CBs do not bring joy but I can't complain about the FBs. Seamus and and James Lee are the other good stand-outs from the class of 2023 but I will be relying a lot on those 2024 boys if we're going to make next season an improvement on this one.

Around Scotland 2023/24 Brechin were Champions in the Highlands but what was going on in the Lowlands and beyond? East Kilbride marched to a title only Hearts B keeping within touching distance of them (whomst we drew with in Pre-season thank you very much), while Edinburgh Uni drop out to level 6. Albion Rovers didn't have a particularly good season after last year's relegation while former league sides Berwick and Cowdenbeath were the best of the rest. All this of course means EK vs Brechin for a chance at League 2... And Brechin secure the chance with a solid away win giving them the 3-1 aggregate victory. And they will no longer be haunting us next season as they ease past Elgin and back into the football league. Elgin are northern enough for it to be a straight swap into the Highland League. So Elgin are relegated to non-league and were solidly last. The promotion battle was a lot closer with Dumbarton prevailing ahead of Clyde and Peterhead by just 3 points but Clyde took the play-offs to join them on the way to League One. League One see Edinburgh and Annan drop (bad time for Edinburgh sides lower down, I wonder if we'll see that up the leagues) and they were quite clearly out of their depth. Hamilton arrest the slide of an awful few years and win the league quite handsomely from Falkirk but The Bairns absolutely shat it for a team 11 points clear in second in the play-offs and somehow Queen of the South grabbed an unexpected promotion to the Championship. Surprises abound in the Championship which, as always, continues to be the most mental league in Scotland. Dunfermline of all teams win the league by 3 points and will be playing Premiership football next year and, while Arborath were soundly last in the end, Airdrieonians will be wondering how they lost to a team that finished 4th in League One to be relegated. Edinburgh not having any issues in the top flight with both teams qualifying for the Europa League. St Johnstone get the conference league ahead of Motherwell who will be pretty happy with a top 6 finish. Rangers beat Celtic to the punch by just 2 points n what was a very close title race. At the bottom Livingston's time is over while any of Dundee, Ross County or Killie were a chance of the play-off on the final day with the Ayrshire side being given the extra assignment. They battered Dundee United over two legs though so live to fight another day. Celtic beat St Mirren to win the Scottish Cup and Hearts to win the League Cup to at least prevent any chance of double/treble talk in Govan but Brendon will not be pleased. Paul Clement has drawn first blood.

Wick Academy: Season 23/24 Review An up and down season where we started like a freight train and ended like a freight train derailing and smashing into an orphanage. We can be happy overall given the expectations but have the seeds been sown for a difficult second album? Perhaps they have. We just couldn't defend at the back end of the season with confidence gone and I feel the team is going to need major vibe change in order to get things on track next season. The best XI hilariously includes a striker on 6.63 which tells you everything you need to know. My whole back line is children so we're going to probably struggle defensively for a while yet but Ben Cummings and Lee Balfour at least put in decent shifts. Gunny our best player and Macadie is going to have to move up top. Halliday dropped off as the season progressed and Ryan Campbell always went missing in big games. Ross Gunn cleaned up in the end of season awards and unsurprisingly Seamus' goal against Inverurie was the goal of the season. Just a shame it came in a 6-2 shellacking. Billy Millar kept 14 clean sheets... somehow. Morale is clearly key for this lot. We did have the most possession and passes. So we won something at least. And here is the break down. You can see how everyone's form kinda went off a cliff. I am already of a mind just to go full kids with maybe Mark and Ross as the only non weans in the team. Jack Halliday is off and Campbell kept annoying me with his ***** performances towards the end of the season. It'll be a lot tougher next year I think.

Not all bad news!

April 2024 Update Okay, let's just end this. Goals galore with the defence just getting leakier and leakier. This is just gonna be a running theme for a few years while I wait for the children to mature I think. Such is the life of a youth only save. Moving Mark Macadie up front has worked though so there is that. What a rotten end to the season. 12th it is then. A real disappointing end but still not bad considering we were predicted dead last and previewed at 15th. Some tactical tweaks may be needed to keep the defence a bit sturdier but we'll see how we go.

March 2024 Update Oh well. The Formartine result sticks in the throat because Billy Miller threw in a 5.7 in goal. He's got a habit of doing this every seven or so games so I might just patch him and give it to a youth player next year. We were outclassed against Huntly and Brechin. Still, a run to a final in my first season is better than not. Brechin have breathing space in the title race. Four points with three games to go is probably enough over Brora. Our hold on the top ten is looking more and more tentative as both Starthspey and Inverurie are coming for us. I'm aiming for 50 points if we can. Let's see if the fixtures will be kind... But first Youth Christmas is here. The candidates lost 2-1 ina very even game but the U18s had the better individual performances as you can see. I signed them all and picked out 3 who are going straight up into the first team I had no youth candidate at right mid and he looks like he could be very good. He's already played two games and dropped a 7.3 off the bench against Formartine. David Weir could be my actual Regista bae. He'll be battling with big Seamus for that spot and will get a run out there before the end of the season. Jamie Mackinnon could develop well at AM. No real strikers but it may allow me to move Mark Macadie up front and solve the problem that way. He's already broken the youngest player records in the League Cup final and the Formartine League game. Not scored yet though. All in all a decent intake with a couple of others who might bloom in the U18s. Things will be re-evaluated when we have our Summer clear out and set out our stall for going forward. Before that though we've gotta finish this season. Not a particularly kind end to the season. That Strathspey game could be the 10th place decider. I just wanna get it done now.

If anything sums up my stupid ****ing team it's this friendly We just allow the stupidest things defensively. Seriously my defence has the attention span of ****ing childr...oh. Ohhhhhhhhhh.

February 2024 Update Would we be Len Goodman levels or are the wheels well and truly off? Seven points it is. Brora schooled us with three goals inside the opening fifteen minutes but we stemmed the tide and even got a goal back in the second half courtesy of Matty Robinson. We were absolutely toothless against Turriff and couldn't even muster a shot on target but we got that beautiful point to set us up for the home double header against Keith and Deveronvale. The board picked Keith for a fan day and my word did they get their money's worth from the first whistle as Ross Gunn immediately put us 1-0 up and we never looked back. Edwin Riddle even broke his hours long duck. It was a lot cagier and tighter against Deveronvale and took super-sub James Mackay to make an immediate impact. We still struggle up front to the point I've just stuck Edwin up front and am waiting for him to just eventually come good as the older more established strikers are *****. Might as well play the kid if that's the case. Back up to 8th and probably a guaranteed top 10 finish even if we do kinda **** up in the last five games. The title race is turning into a real doozy with any of the top six conceivably still in with a shout. March will tell us a hell of a lot. The battle at the bottom is even tastier as one point separates the bottom four. Is this the most exciting league in the world? Maybe. So it fits we're a boring mid-table side. Only two league games in March. By the time we play Huntley they could be bang in the title race and Formartine at home will be a tricky fixture. Both good warm ups for that cup final I'd forgotten about against the league leaders. We may be mid-table but it's certainly not a season that's fading into mediocrity yet. Especially as it's the Month of Youth! I'd take 2 points, a cup and a gifted striker in heartbeat this month.

January 2024 Update Oh dear... When you can't even win the morale boosting Friendly you're in issues. Inverurie were gifted two pelanties, Clach did us, the friendly was an absolute joke but we at least showed fight against Fraserburgh. We have to hope that's a corner turned. The weans are the ones keeping us ticking though with every goal except one this month coming from them and Seamus Mac getting his first goal for the club. Down to 10th, as I feared. We really lack a forward and it is hurting us bad. I know what I am praying for come Intake Eve... We're not out of touch of the teams above us though so we could still get a decent finish.... IF... Starting February at home to title chasing rivals doesn't help. They'll be looking for some real revenge given how we spawned wins over them earlier in the season. After that though we've got the bottom three which could be hilarious. I'm predicting 3 points against Brora and zip against the others because it feels like that kind of save. Realistically I want 7 points.

December 2023 Update I wanted a perfect 10 points from this month. Would I get them? Yes, but I didn't enjoy it. Functional Winter football. We were good enough to beat Strathspey but God awful against Nairn and when we conceded 2 first half corner goals to Buckie I absolutely feared the worse but from there we battled back well. We had the better of a nervy Rothes game, probably should've beat Forres and then delivered a fairly routine win against Lossiemouth to get the 10 points I desired. We've got some short comings though. Headed goals are a problem and all my strikers are pish. Apart from that we're not that bad. So I guess it's pretty good that we're 5th and only 6 points off of Brechin or a damning indictment on this league. Either way our arch nemeseses Brora have a chance to go top with their game in hand and Formartine have launched themselves towards contention too. I still think we can get top 10 but it is pretty congested in midtable. Things start to ease up now with only three games in January for us. We'll be looking for some revenge against Inverurie for that 6-2 drubbing at their gaff and away trips to Clach and Fraserburgh are absolutely must not lose games if we're to keep our noses ahead of the pack. Four points seems an optimistic ask but I'm gonna ask it anyways.

November 2023 Update Just call me Gavstrodamus... TBF it's not as bad as it looks. The 6-2 was one of those games where everything Inverurie did went in. The xG was 1.82-1.67 between the two teams but our goalie and defence had an absolute nightmare. The 2-0 vs Clach was a lot more concerning as we were comprehensively outplayed and I was starting to get a bit worried but we responded brilliantly away to second place Bankies to grab a 2-0 win and we were extremely unlucky to fall to a 79th minute freekick in the game against Buckie where we deserved a draw. We continued to show our mettle against Peterhead where we absolutely deserved the parity and had a couple of good chances in a nervy extra time. Pelanties though are a lottery and one we weren't going to win. A bit of chastening month all told but I'm not despairing because despite the reds we've recovered well from the Inverurie and Clach games. We have spirit at least even if we are little bit callow at times. Last unbeaten record in the league away in emphatic fashion then but we can still be pleased. I'm aiming for a top half finish this year so we'll need to get some wins in December. Brora have had a roaring month and are now right in the title race while Bankies lead the best of the rest with only two points separating them in 3rd from us in 7th/ A full December with six games. We do battle with Nairn and Buckie again, I'm as sick of they two as they are of us. We should be aiming for maximum points from our home games against Rothes and Lossiemouth and if we can get a point against Strathspey and Forres I'll call that a good month. Aiming for 10 points from the month to keep us on track.

I am expecting a slow down soon enough. I think it's helped with teams not taking us seriously and with the kids being full of vim and vigour but I am fully ready for a mid-season slump.

October 2023 Update A tough month ahead then. Could we keep the train rolling... Somehow, yes. But we could've and should've lost the games against Rothes, Huntly and Nairn in the cup. We didn't play particularly well in the game at home to Nairn at the beginning of the month in the first half but we battled back well to take the draw and had a very good chance to win it at the death. Formartine away was actually our best performance of the month as we battered them and nearly came away with only a draw before Edwin Riddle (YP 0.2) popped up with his first goal for the club to give us a deserved win. Conor Farquhar grabbed us the equaliser away to Rothes in a game we were hanging on in while Edwin Riddle rounded out the month in the league by getting the goal in the game against Huntly we were distinctly second best in. I will, however, note that a second XI played the Rothes and Huntly games in order to stay fresh for the cup games and it paid off as Ben Cummings became the youngest League Cup goalscorer to give us a tidy deserved win against Buckie and set up a final against Brechin in March. We were extremely leggy and second best against Nairn but kept it solid enough to progress through to pelanties and put them out. Nairn will be sick of us and looking for revenge when we come back in the league. The draws see us back in the pack a bit with the Bankies overtaking us for second. Brechin lose so we are now the only unbeaten team in the league but I feel that defeat is only a matter of time given the way we've been playing. Still, given we were predicted 15th and the board were expecting an 'establish yourself' season it's not to be sniffed at. If October was tough then November is even tougher with most of the month spent on the road with the exception of Clach's visit to Harmsworth. A tough mid-weeker at the Bankies followed by a trip to Buckie is a hell of a fixture run especially when it is followed by a trip to League 2's Peterhead in the Cup at the end of the month. I'll certainly learn a lot about the boys this month.

September 2023 Update A tough looking month with some difficult assignments meant that the unbeaten start was probably going to come to... Well. ****. I don't know how we're doing it but we're still running yellows and greens here. It looked pretty done when Brechin took an early two goal lead at Harmsworth in the beginning of the month but Jack's 3rd goal of the season and Ben Cummings (YP 0.8) first goal for the club capped off a much better second half and grabbed us a well deserved draw. Mark Macadie's brace saw us pick up a win against Deveronvale and then the Second XI took on the next two assignments with Wick stalwart Richard Macadie getting the only goal of the game to see us through the Highland cup against Fraserburgh and then leading the scoring in a 4-1 rout of Turriff in the league. Another goal for James Lee Gillon as well. The end of the month became the Ross Gunn show as he hauled us over the line with late goals. A ding dong cup affair against a difficult Rothes side was won in the 92nd minute while the Far North derby game against Brora was decided in the 88th as he kept his nerve to bury the second pelanty of the day. A tough month but a month that has shown our tenacity. I'm not expecting it to last and when we do lose the kids might take a lil mental step back but I'll keep the pressure off and see what we can do. All this means we're in a barely creditable second at the moment with Brechin four points ahead at the top. The only points they've dropped so far have been to us. The Bankies have taken a wee step back but Strathspey have shot up the table this month. What of October then? A Nairn sandwich as we entertain them in the league and then take them on in the second round of the Scottish cup. A trip to Formartine is always formidable and Buckie will be a tough assignment in the League Cup semi so this will be a month that either sees us show up as real contenders or fall back to earth.