[FM11] Woking FC - Efforts of a non-league virgin (career save)

**jaycar** · 29-03-2011 20:41

Welcome to my first ever non-league effort!

After years of playing in leagues no lower than league 1, I've started to feel my games were lacking something...reading threads from the likes of Crouchaldinho has made me want to give it a go myself..so here goes, hopefully at least one person will bother to read it...

This save is with the patch version 11.3, with the latest database. The only league added is the EPL, all the way down. its also off of the large database with all UK and Irish and all Scottish players added. I've chosen to make it a little club to big club save, the only club I will leave Woking for would be Liverpool. But I have to win the Champions cup first of course...

Club Information

Nation: England
Year Founded: 1889
Status: Semi-Professional
Reputation: Local
Chairman Status: Loves the club
Legends: None
Icons: Geoff Chapple, Colin Lippiatt, Neil Smith
Favoured Personnel: Chris Sharpling, Shwan Jalal, Tom Hutchinson, Clive Walker, Vince Matassa, Jon Boardman
Fierce Rivals: Aldershot
Other Rivals: Stevenage, Crawley, Farnborough
Finances: Okay
Average Ticket Price: £12.00
Average Season Ticket Price: £190
Season ticket holders: 475
Estimated Value: £475 (loan debt: £40K)
Continental Competition: None
Media Prediction: 2nd
Squad Personality: Fairly Ambitious
Captain: Mark Ricketts

**jaycar** · 29-03-2011 20:50

Shamelessly stolen from Wikipedia....

Woking Football Club is a football club from in Woking, Surrey, England, formed in 1889. They are playing in the Conference South in the 2010-11 season.

Isthmian League years

In 1911 the club joined the Isthmian League, maintaining their place in the top division for 72 years and finishing as runners-up to Wycombe Wanderers in 1956-57. That achievement was eclipsed in the following season when, in front of a 71,000 crowd, the Cards beat Ilford 3-0 in the last FA Amateur Cup Final to be televised live. The club then went into decline, culminating in a first-ever relegation in 1982-83. By the end of the 1984-85 season the club had fallen further down the football ladder, being relegated to Division Two South of the Isthmian League. It was during that season that former player, Geoff Chapple, was appointed as manager. Although he was not able to save the club from relegation, Woking just missed out on promotion at the first attempt, the club clinched the Division Two South title in 1986-87. After two third place finishes in Division One, they were promoted back to the Premier Division at the end of the 1989-90 season.

The following season saw Woking embark on a "giant-killing" FA Cup run. Entering the competition at the Fourth Qualifying Round, they beat Conference opposition in the shape of Bath City, Kidderminster Harriers and Merthyr Tydfil to set up a Third Round tie away to West Bromwich Albion, then in the second level of English football. Recovering from being a goal behind at half time, Woking won 4-2, with a hat-trick from Tim Buzaglo and another goal from Terry Worsfold. The Fourth Round saw the Cards draw a home tie against Division One side Everton. The game was switched to Goodison Park where Woking lost to a Kevin Sheedy goal.

Conference years

Promotion to the Conference

Promotion to the Conference was achieved in 1991-92. The Isthmian League title was clinched in early April, with seven games still to be played, 18 points clear of nearest rivals, Enfield. Few of the championship winning side were retained for the higher division and Woking finished the season in eighth position. The following summer saw Chapple sign former Chelsea, Sunderland, Fulham and QPR winger, Clive Walker, from Brighton & Hove Albion and he was to prove the catalyst in the most successful period in the club's history. The FA Trophy was won in 1994 when Runcorn were beaten on a waterlogged Wembley pitch. Twelve months later Kidderminster Harriers were beaten as Woking became only the second club ever to win successive finals. Wembley was revisited in 1997 and the FA Trophy was won for the third time, this time against Dagenham & Redbridge. The Cards also achieved five successive top five finishes in the Conference, including being runners-up in 1994-95 and 1995-96 when they finished below Stevenage Borough again, which has become somewhat a habit ever since. The club also continued to enjoy national prominence in the FA Cup. Barnet were defeated in successive seasons following draws at their Underhill ground. In 1996-97 a run in the FA Cup saw the club beat Millwall, then top of Division Two, and Cambridge United, who were challenging for promotion from Division Three. The Third Round saw Woking draw 1-1 away to Premier League side Coventry City, thanks to a last minute equaliser from the Cards' Steve Thompson, but Coventry won the replay at Kingfield 2-1.

At the end of the 1996-97 campaign, having just clinched the FA Trophy for the third time, Geoff Chapple and his coach, Colin Lippiatt, left the club and joined Kingstonian. This was the beginning of a much less successful period for the club. John McGovern and then Brian McDermott were given the position of manager, but neither achieved anything greater than a mid-table finish. After McDermott, Colin Lippiatt returned but fared little better. He was replaced by his former boss as Geoff Chapple too came back to Woking. Lippiatt departed in January 2002 and Glenn Cockerill joined as Chapple's assistant. This season ended with the club just one place above the relegation places. In the meantime very significant events had taken place off the field. The downturn in the club's fortunes had led to a financial crisis. With the club facing administration or worse, local businessman and long-time fan Chris Ingrim came to the rescue, becoming Chairman in February 2002 with an aim of trying to increase the club's income and to secure its long-term financial stability.

Club website Here

**jaycar** · 29-03-2011 21:08

Transfers

Some good transfers here I feel, never having manged at this level, to be honest it took a while to really get to grips with what was considered decent at this level, Danny Williams was a fail signing really, what I thought would be ok really wasn't..you live and learn...the signings made afterwards are far better and a couple of them are 4 and a half stars / five star rated.

Admir Softic is a solid left sided wide midfielder, Mark Leech is my poacher, Ronnan Finn is a decent central midfielder with decent determination, flair, pace and anticipation.

By the way, I've never read any of the lower league recommended player threads, so these are all found by searching and scout recommendations.

here are Finn and leech...

Ronan Finn

Mark Leech

**jaycar** · 29-03-2011 21:19

Staff wise, I sacked everyone then struggled to find a decent ass man

Pat Gardner was finally given the job.

I manged to snap up Steve Whitehall as my physio, I'm sure you all know about him..other than that I'm allowed two coaches only, so went with a strong fitness coach in Ben Stork, and a good goalkeeping coach in Huw lloyd.

tactics

Good old 4-4-2

**jaycar** · 29-03-2011 22:05

August Update:

Note: Manager Jason Carpenter was witnessed bagging his head while softly weeping against his desk after learning we only get 5 subs at this level...and whose bright idea is it to play games with 2 days in-between??!!

Woking 3 - Dover 1 (Blue Square South)

Great to start with a win, just as easy as it looked, Dover had a man sent off after 27 minutes, even before that though we were all over them and deserved the win.

Scorers: Hammond, Cooke, King - Marsh

Chelmsford 2 - Woking 2 (Blue Square South)

An annoying one this, a very even game really, maybe we edged it, we conceded a stupid pen after only 4 minutes, then conceded straight after half time to make it 0-2...we attacked more and scored 2 goals in the 71st and 74th minutes but could not get a winner. Still, unbeaten and a good comback tbf...

Scorers: Rainford, Ake - McNerney, Gilroy

Dorchester 1 - Woking 4 (Blue Square South)

Much more like it, domination pure and simple. Nuff said.

Scorers: Devlin - Finn, Cooke, Gilroy x2

Woking 6 - Lewes 0

Cannot stress what a thrashing this was, just murdered them! 27 efforts on goal vs 4.

Scorers: Gilroy, Cooke, Doyle x2, Leech, Softic

Surely we can't score 6 twice???!!!.....

Woking 6 - Maidenhead 1

Just as big a thrashing as the lewes game, very happy!

Scorers: leech x3, Finn, Gilroy, Cooke - Akurang

Boreham Wood 2 - Woking 2

Boo! Back down to earth, nothing to separate us in this game, very evenly matched.

Scorers: Noto, Sogbanmu - Fraser o.g., Hurrell

August table...

manager of the month

Havant and Waterlooville's manager Shaun Gale comes first, Thurrock's David Irving comes second, Woking's Jason Carpenter comes third. (Yay!)

**FM_Spurs** · 29-03-2011 22:13

made a few good signings for your level there mate and a great start to the season with two huge wins got a long way to go!

good luck!

**DamianJMcGrath** · 29-03-2011 22:32

Good start. Not strictly LLM, but that aside, decent start. Can you post your finance screens, it'd be interesting to know how much you're spending on wages.

**jaycar** · 30-03-2011 00:05

Here.

Maybe I need to stress that this isn't a llama career, its LLM in that its BSS and its the lowest level I've ever managed, so to me it IS LLM!

Other than that thanks for the kind words lads.

**jaycar** · 30-03-2011 00:06

last image, wouldn't let me post 4 in one post.

**jaycar** · 30-03-2011 06:33

Short signings update:

Shaun kelly, a right back rated as four and a half stars and Alan McDermott, a center back also rated as four and a half stars have signed to bolster the backline. Reiss Noel was released to balance the books.

Wage budget is now over the limit to the amount of £56! The youth squad may have to go....

**433tom** · 30-03-2011 06:57

Nice start.. And some great looking signings.

**jaycar** · 30-03-2011 08:24

Thank you

**jackripper** · 30-03-2011 10:31

with them signings you should be looking for promotion 1st season maybe?

**Sgt Kelly** · 30-03-2011 11:57

Heh, I'm managing Woking too.

It's my first ever FM game and I took over in november, having started unemployed, so I was a bit more tentative with the transfers. I overcame my hesitation in the second season and we went up as champions. I actually found the BSS quite easy with Woking. It's a big club in that league and you can attract top notch players for this level, as I see you have done.

I've been thinking about starting a career thread but haven't got around to it and now you've beaten me to it

. I probably play too slow to do that kind of thing anyway. I like to watch every game in full and I only get one or two in of an evening.

I'm in my 4th season now and into League 2, getting tougher now.

Good luck ! Up you Cards !

**jaycar** · 30-03-2011 13:11

Thank you, I'm kind of winging it, I have no idea what i'm doing at this low level

Keep me updated on how you are doing. Up the Cards!

@jackripper: Yeah, to be honest with this squad I really should be walking it at the end of the season, no idea how it will go if we get promoted however...

Just played St.Albans...Crouchy isn't going to be happy...

**jaycar** · 30-03-2011 21:10

September update:

St Albans 1 - Woking 5 (Blue Square South)

St Albans have been deducted ten points and they aren't helping themselves on the pitch, they haven't won a single game all season and we ripped them apart.

Scorers: Dinsmore - Leech, Softic x2, Cooke, King

Woking 1 - Basingstoke 0 (Blue Square South)

Tougher than it should have been, Basingstoke came to park the bus and we needed a 90th minute corner to get the winner. Better late than never...

Scorers: McDermott

Welling 3 - Woking 3 (Blue Square South)

Another annoying away game where we seem to forget how to defend....we went 3-1 up then let the lead slip. I went mental.

Scorers: Pugh x2, Parkinson - Leech x3

Tiverton Town 1 - Woking 3 (FA Cup, 2nd Qual. Rnd)

Harder than it should have been, motivation may not not have been the best with the team, thankfully they did just enough to go through.

Scorers: Nardiello - Gilroy, Leech x2

September table HERE

manager of the month

Woking's Jason Carpenter came first, Havant and Waterlooville's manager Shaun Gale came second, Eastleighs Iain Baird came third.

**Sgt Kelly** · 31-03-2011 13:04

Looks like Leech is really banging them in for you.

How are you liking Gilroy ? He's not the most skillful player but he doesn't half put in a shift. I had a bit of a soft spot for him but I had to let him go this season. Couldn't hack it in League 2.

Adam Doyle is still playing in every game for me though. I'm starting to look to replace him now but what a player he has been for me. Ruled supreme in the air and scored 20+ goals over the last 3 seasons. He's one of the club's favorites.

**jaycar** · 31-03-2011 20:47

yeah, he's a bit like Torres tbh, give him the ball and he will dribble through half the opposition and score! (Well, the old Torres...)

Gilroy is like you say, a pretty tidy player, i was going to go with Hammond and Leech, but Gilroy came in while Hammond needed a rest and scored 2...so he's been in ever since! I like to think of him as our Dirk kuyt...

Do you play Doyle as a CB? I must admit he hasn't played that much, we have a couple of higher rated lads at the back, Doyle has had a couple of games at FB Iirc....

**E.Gray** · 31-03-2011 21:46

I hate Woking FC, i wish you luck in your career.

**jaycar** · 31-03-2011 21:48

Lol, thanks....I think...

**jaycar** · 31-03-2011 22:19

October update:

Woking 4 - Braintree 0 (Blue Square South)

Another comfortable win, Braintree came to kick us off of the park, they picked up plenty of bookings, but no red cards, which was irritating. Pretty football ftw!

Scorers: Cooke, Leech x2, Alaile o.g.

Godalming 0 - Woking 2 (FA Cup, 3rd Qual. Rnd)

Domination, with little reward. We continue on, which I'm not to bothered about tbh, I would rather just concentrate on the league.

Scorers: Leech x2

Staines 1 - Woking 1 (Blue Square South)

Yet another away draw, its driving me nuts! We were the better team and deserved the win but that's football.

Scorers: Butler - Softic

Woking 2 - Carshalton 1 (FA Cup, 4th Qual. Rnd)

The games are coming thick and fast this month, yet another FA Cup win, yet another tale of domination of both chances and possession with a close scoreline. On we go however...

Scorers: Leech, McDermott - Ledgister

Woking 3 - Eastleigh 0 (Blue Square South)

A thrashing, nice to see us turn dominance into goals AND a clean sheet!!!! The fixture list is starting to take its toll now, the players are really starting to get tired.

Scorers: Cooke x2, Hammond

Hampton & Richmond 1 - Woking 2 (Blue Square South)

We rode our luck in this one, lack of condition meant multiple rotation and even then, a lot of our players were knackered at about the 65min...Hampton and Richmond played a back five with a sweeper which caused us a couple of problems, their forward Kraig Rochester was a bit of a pain in the arse and the last ten minutes we struggled to hang on even though the stats were heavily in our favor. there is now a seven day gap until the next fixture thank Fowler!

Scorers: Wells - Buari, Leech

October table HERE

Manager of the month

Woking's Jason Carpenter came first, St. Alban's manager Steve Castle came second, Havant and Waterlooville's manager Shaun Gale came third.

**Sgt Kelly** · 31-03-2011 22:22

Originally Posted by jaycar

Do you play Doyle as a CB?

Yeah. He's rubbish at the other positions he can supposedly play at but at CB he's been top class, even though his attributes aren't that special.

Like I said this is my first FM game and it took me a while to become aware of the possibilities in terms of transfers. I didn't know there are no transfer windows in non league for one thing, so I ended up playing with the players I found at the club for a lot longer than the typical FM player. To be honest I think it's a bit too easy to sign real quality players. I had to get used to that too. At the outset I was just happy to find anyone who was better than what I had, I didn't realize I could get A LOT better.

It's been tougher in League 2. Northampton snatched every player I made an offer for over the summer, including the loans I was trying to get from my parent club Fulham.

**jaycar** · 31-03-2011 22:30

Did you become a fully professional club with promotion to league 2?

I never liked the whole AI only being interested in players if you were thing, never seemed all that realistic. Bloody Northampton! Start targeting crap, that'll learn them!

**jaycar** · 02-04-2011 18:36

November update:

Swindon 2 - Woking 1 (FA Cup, First round)

Well, the cup run is at an end, annoyingly we went in front very early and just couldn't hold on. A very close game tbh, they just had more quality at the end of the day.

After the game Danny Wilson really thrashed me, so we proceeded to have a night little running slagging match in the press. He's a marked man now, I won't rest until he's sacked!

Scorers: prutton, Ferry - leech

Bromley 2 - Woking 3 (Blue Square South)

This game was barking mad, great for the neutrals, crap for the managers! I had one heart attack, Eddie Newton must have had at least 2. We deserved a draw from this game at the most, we went in front, went two done so I pushed the boys forward and we scored twice in the last seven minutes.

They had more chances, we had more CCC. That was the difference I guess.

Scorers: Brierley, patterson – Leech, hurrell, Hammond

Woking 1 - Chelmsford 1 (Blue Square South)

Nothing special about this game, apart from it was against my local team! Kinda wierd...

We deserved to win, didn’t.

Scorers: Leech – Townsend

Woking 2 - Thurrock 0 (Blue Square South)

Another dominant win, even if it was a while until the goals went in.

Scorers: Cooke, Ademola

Woking 2 - Maidstone 3 (FA Trophy, 3rd Qual. Rnd)

Victory to go through to the next round. Can’t I just do a Utd and resign from cups this year?!

Scorers: Doyle, Leech

Woking 3 - Dartford 0 (Blue Square South)

A great win, another clean sheet which is great, we made up ground on the leaders after this win, Havant finally losing, to the team lying in 21st place!

Scores: Leech, hurrell, gilroy (His first in thirteen hours of football!)

November table HERE

Manager of the month

St. Albans manager Steve Castle came first, Woking's manager Jason Carpenter came second, Chelmsford's manager Glenn Pennyfather came third.

**Luton Town** · 02-04-2011 19:33

Looking like a 2 horse race

**jaycar** · 02-04-2011 23:31

Yeah, starting to look that way...funny how that has happened in most of my saves, if we are strongly challenging for a title, there is always at least one AI team that pushes you right to the wire...

Still, plenty of work to do yet....

**FM_Spurs** · 02-04-2011 23:58

looking good JayCar! hope you keep up your good start to challenge for the title and the all important automatic promotion!

**Blue_magic** · 03-04-2011 08:29

What defensive line do you use? I play deep and concede a stupid amount and score even more than that

**jaycar** · 03-04-2011 16:54

All through the tactics creator, so whatever it sets the line to.

I usually start off with control at home, standard away and just decrease / increase depending on how the match is playing out.

**Blue_magic** · 03-04-2011 17:08

I have finally made a good formation unbeaten in around 20 games with Bromley.

**crouchaldinho** · 03-04-2011 18:09

I always love a good Non-League save, so consider me subscribed.

Nice start by your Cards team!

**jaycar** · 03-04-2011 18:21

Thank you sirs

If we do half as well as St. Albans Crouchy I'll be delighted!

**jaycar** · 03-04-2011 21:48

December Update:

Well, here we are...the month I dread on FM. A lot of games in a short space of time, very demanding on a squad, and it’s hard to keep results consistent. Well, for me anyway, you FM gods no doubt will disagree

Dover 2 - Woking 1 (Blue Square South)

Well, it had to happen eventually...one of those FM rules is that if you are on a long run you will lose against a team in the bottom three. And so it proved.

The mad thing is, they didn’t get lucky, they battered us. Go figure.

Martin Haynes, Dovers manager mouthed off in the press before the game, then after the game so as his job is at risk I am putting pressure on him every time they play. Me, hold a grudge? You bet.

Scores: Swann o.g., Wallis – King

Staines 2 – Woking 3 (FA Trophy, 1st. Rnd)

Another crazy game, we have 12 efforts on target and score 3, they had 2 on target and score 2. We dominated throughout. Ah well, a win is a win.

Scorers: Connolly, Brown – Gilroy, Leech x2

Woking 3 – St. Albans 0 (Blue Square South)

St. Albans recent good form comes to an end. They put up a good fight but we were just too strong in the end.

Steve castle is actually top of my ‘buddies’ list (Danny Wilson top of the haters list), and we shared some mutual support after the game. I look after my friends

Scorers: Smith o.g., leech, King

Well, this is the biggest game for us so far, against the league leaders ....do we have it in us to take the game and go top?

*Drumroll*

Woking 5 – Havant & Waterlooville 0 (Blue Square South)

You bet your ass we do!!!!

You can imagine how pleased I was with this, Havant came to kick us off the pitch, making a shocking amount of fouls, thankfully we kept our heads and our class won the game. It was an utter thrashing.

The weirdest thing was that Leech didn’t score...

Scores: Hammond x2, Softic, king, Finn

Maidenhead 2 – Woking 2 (Blue Square South)

Back down to earth, this game took place two days later and multiple rotations had to be made. It made for a very even game and we didn’t deserve to win really, so the draw was a fair result.

Annoyingly it means that Havant re-take the top of the table the bloody frauds...

Scorers: Fagan, Barney – Buari, O’Connor

December table HERE

Manager of the month hasn’t been announced yet. Will update it when it has happened.

EDIT: Chelmsford's manager Glenn Pennyfather came first, Bishop Stortford's Mark Simpson came second, Dartford's Tony Burman came third.

In a weird quirk of the fixture list, I play Havant & Waterlooville again in three days time...

**jaycar** · 03-04-2011 22:19

Cheeky bonus update:

Havant & Waterlooville 0 - Woking 2 (Blue Square South)

We overcome the leaders again, a closer game than before, but yet again Havant try and kick us off of the pitch with a couple of our players taking heavy knocks, the worst news being that Leech has to go off injured!

After the game he has to go and see a specialist about his shin splints, he's predicted to be out for between 5 & 6 weeks.

Scorers: Leech x2

We re-take top of the table.

**crouchaldinho** · 03-04-2011 22:59

Originally Posted by jaycar

In a weird quirk of the fixture list, I play Havant & Waterlooville again in three days time...

It's not so much a weird quirk as an attempt by FM to follow what happens in real life.

Basically, in Non-League football, the Boxing Day and New Year's Day fixtures are traditionally held against a local side. This is to aid with travel and to give Non-League clubs a good chance of getting a bumper gate during these two holidays. They play at home or away in the Boxing Day game and then play the reverse fixture on New Year's Day. For example, this season in real life my favourite club, St. Albans City, had local rivals Boreham Wood on their fixture list for Boxing Day and New Year's Day.

These fixtures are traditional and something most fans of Non-League clubs will look out for when the fixtures are announced and look forward to during the season. They are also important for the clubs financially, giving the opportunity for the clubs to 'get the punters in' as they say with some of the larger crowds of the season usually expected.

**Luton Town** · 03-04-2011 23:33

Correct crouchy this year Luton were meant to play Rushden on those dates and last year it was meant to be Histon.

**jaycar** · 04-04-2011 00:11

Ah...I stand corrected, thanks for that chaps

EDIT: We're fairly local I suppose, but I'm surprised they didn't get Eastleigh...

**Sgt Kelly** · 04-04-2011 10:01

Originally Posted by jaycar

Did you become a fully professional club with promotion to league 2?

Yep, went pro when we went up into League 2.

To be honest I really didn’t want the promotion. We made a stack of money (around £400K) in the BSP because our average crowd more than doubled but I was able to keep the wage bill down. Good cup runs and a play off final at Wembley helped a bit too. I was hoping for another season in the BSP to give us a chance of improving the facilities. Now in League 2 we get bigger crowds still, but not enough to offset the wage demands from the kind of players that I now need to attract. The wages themselves aren’t that bad, but players want better bonuses at this level. At best I’m going to break even this season, which leaves no room to make the necessary improvements. We need a better youth setup and scouting system as I’m finding it quite hard to find good players now.
“Unfortunately”, 15 games in and we’re sitting top again… I didn’t want to go up to League 2, let alone League 1. As such, I’m starting to look to leave the club. The Luton and Millwall jobs have come up (when I started this save I toyed with the idea of sticking to the London area, but I’m not set on it). I wasn’t named among the likely candidates for either job though and I didn’t want to upset the good vibe at Woking. So I’ll probably stay until the end of the season, hopefully with another promotion under my belt. I’m hoping that will be enough to land a job with an established Championship or League 1 side.

**jaycar** · 04-04-2011 10:15

Wow, good going...it really seems to be that you are a victim of your own success...

You say you are finding it hard to attract better players, are the ones you currently have playing way over your level?

**Sgt Kelly** · 04-04-2011 12:20

The outstanding player has been Marc Bridge-Wilkinson.

I normally don't like to sign players who only have one or two years left in them but he was exactly what I needed : good mentality and ability at set plays. I wouldn't be where I am without him. Him and Doyle have proved a lethal combination from corners, good for 10 goals a season. He then adds another 10 with belters from outside the box. And he always does it when we need it most. There were so many games where I had already settled for a draw and he'd pop up and score one of his screamers. He did it at Wembley too to win the play off final and send us into the league.
He was 34 by then and I was really hoping he would retire from playing after that cause his legs had gone completely and I finally wanted to replace him. It would have been a good high to go out on. But he didn't retire which is just as well cause I couldn't actually find a replacement. I've finally managed to sign Gary Taylor-Fletcher (of Blackpool fame) now after a tip off from my assistant manager but he can't play until january so MBW is still out there doing his thing. He's a player/coach now, has great coaching ability too. He only stays on the pitch for 60 minutes each game but so far he's got 6 goals and 5 assists in 15 games.

Taylor-Fletcher ought to be good though. He's got a double barrel name and he's 32, can't go wrong !

**jaycar** · 04-04-2011 13:08

I like it!

Just goes to show, at that level older players can still play a big part and shouldn't be ignored. I shall certainly be lookin at quality veterans if we are fortunate to get that far.

**433tom** · 04-04-2011 16:16

Nice wins over H&W. I chuckled a bit after seeing you thump then 5-nill and then see they were still top of the table. But second times a charm.

**Sgt Kelly** · 04-04-2011 21:45

I don't want to keep mucking up your thread but I just had to tell you about this.

I've just had the first ever derby with Aldershot. I didn't even realize we were in the same league now. Crowd of over 5,000 packed into the Kingfield. Evening kick-off, rain falling in sheets through the floodlights. Fifteen minutes in my best striker is stretchered off. I've only got one forward left in the squad, 18 year old Ryan Jerome, born and bred Woking lad. First half is a tight affair. We just about edge the possession but our whole forward line has been off colour of late and we can't score. And sure enough, on the stroke of half time Aldershot get a corner and score a freak goal off it (we clear the corner but it comes back in the form of a half-shot, half-cross that's creeping into the top corner. Goalie palms it away straight into the feet of the only Aldershot player left in the box...). A bad result had been coming for us. We only scraped a win by the smallest of margins at Yeovil last week, so I think 'Here we go, but does it have to be at home against Aldershot ?'.

Roll on the second half. Two minutes in Jimmy Keohane is clean through with only the goalkeeper to beat. He's fluffed the last umpteen chances. He fires it at the bottom corner, it hits the post, hits the keeper, hits the post again, bobbles along the line and... IN ! 1 - 1.

67th minute. We've got another player clean through and it's none other than Ryan Jerome. The crowd are going mental but can he keep his cool ? YES, it's in ! We've turned it around ! 2 - 1.

70th minute. Corner for Woking. Marc Bridge-Wilkinson (you already know him) floats it in and centre back Paul Wilson (another 18 year old who came in at half time with a rating of 5.9) powers a header inside the near post. Aldershot have a player on the line but it just creeps in between his leg and the post. 3 - 1.

90th minute. Northern Ireland bad boy Rory Patterson (think Joey Barton but with more tattoos), who's been rubbish all season, goes down in the box. Penalty. Our regular penalty taker MBW has long since hit the showers and to my horror Rory steps up to take it himself... and slams it in the top corner. 4 - 1.

Take that, you muppets !

**jaycar** · 04-04-2011 23:19

Ha ha..nice one! The cards fans must have loved that one!

**jaycar** · 05-04-2011 21:28

January and February Update:

Two months worth of updates, I got a bit carried away...

The Havant game has already been mentioned.

Woking 3 – Boreham Wood 0 (Blue Square South)

Boreham Wood let their fans down with their lack of ambition, they didn’t have a single effort on target and just seemed happy to go away with a loss. Strange.

Scorers: Hammond x2, Foy o.g.

Basingstoke 1 – Woking 3 (Blue Square South)

A close game really, it all came down to our better finishing.

Scorers: Thomas o.g. – Cooke, Gilroy, King

Woking 2 – Ebbsfleet 3 (Blue Square South)

Well, you can’t win them all. Another close game, this time it was one of those games where every Ebbsfleet shot on goal ended up in the back of the net. Sigh.

The manager was seen throwing his water bottle down in anger.

Scores: Gilroy x2 – Shakes, Carew, Ginty

Salisbury 0 – Woking 0 (FA Trophy 2nd Rnd.)

Just what I really didn’t want, the fixture list is bad enough without a replay. A nothing game, no chances for either side.

The replay...

Woking 3 – Salisbury 1 (FA Trophy 2nd Rnd.)

We got through, thank god for that...the players are getting tired now..

Scorers: Hammond x2, Ademola

Weston-super-Mare 0 – Woking 1 (Blue Square South)

Massive possession for us and better the chances. More comfortable than it looked really.

Scorers: O’Conner

Braintree 1 – Woking 4 (Blue Square South)

A mad game, not much of a difference regarding chances, our finishing was much better.

Scorers: Marks – Gilroy, Softic, Cooke, Turnball

Woking 1 – Dorchester 1 (Blue Square South)

Utter domination, I have no idea why we didn’t win this. Very angry about it. Grrrr...

Scorers: Gilroy – Coutts

Woking 1 – Crawley 0 (FA Trophy 3rd Rnd.)

They had far more chances than we did, a bit of a smash and grab really. On we go...

Scorers: Gilroy

Bishops Stortford 1 – Woking 2 (Blue Square South)

Very close game stats wise, we’re pushing our luck at times this season. Thank god we have a decent defence.

Scorers: Harris – Hammond, Hogarth o.g.

Woking 1 – Staines 1 (Blue Square South)

Livid. We thrashed them and yet didn’t add to the score line and they score from a set piece in the 90th minute. Its game like this you could live to regret at the end of the season.
The one piece of good news is that Leech is fit again after 5 weeks out and he won the pen that Gilroy scored. Good to have him back.

Scorers: Gilroy – Sterling

Lewes 1 – Woking 5 (Blue Square South)

We battered them. This game showed how much we have missed Leech, we have been winning without maybe getting the scores that we deserve. Hopefully his return will kick our season on.

Scorers: Leech x3, Softic, Hammond

Woking 0 – Hayes and Yeading 1 (FA Trophy 4th Rnd.)

Our keeper scored a stupid own goal after only 4 minutes and we couldn’t get past them. This was our 14th game in two months and it really is starting to get to the squad. Quite glad to be out of the competition really, now we can concentrate on the league.

My only other concern is morale has taken a bit of a hit after this game, so I have to be careful in the next game...

Scorers: Swann o.g.

Current table HERE

Manager of the month for January:
Short version = Me.

Manager of the month for February:
Thurrock’s David Irving won the award this month.

**Luton Town** · 05-04-2011 21:41

I think it's now a one horse race.

**jaycar** · 05-04-2011 22:56

Possibly

We need to keep our focus and not make any stupid mistakes.

**AK22** · 06-04-2011 08:20

You're in a great position to get promotion, don't mess it up!

**jaycar** · 06-04-2011 10:06

Tell my players that! This is not the time for lack of form or motivation

I will be sighing with relief when this season is finished, not really convinced by the 4-4-2, I will be looking to change to something a bit more solid in the summer if I can find the right players.

**jaycar** · 07-04-2011 21:08

March Update:

Can the players keep their focus?

Woking 3 – Farnborough 3 (Blue Square South)

I bloody knew it! We were 3 – 1 up by the 25th minute, I didn’t make any comment at half time (I never say pleased) and they just threw it away in the second half conceding 2 stupid goals. Not happy.

Scorers: McDermott, Gallagher o.g., Hammond – McCubbin, McMahon, McCann (Whats with all the Mc’s??!!)

Thurrock 2 – Woking 2 (Blue Square South)

More rubbish. We were 2 up within 5 minutes. 5 MINUTES!!!!! Another lead we just threw away. We were far superior and just threw it away. It makes me want to smash my head against the desk.
What made it worse is the fact that Leech was taken out in this game and will be out for the rest of the season. FML!

Scorers: O’Toole, King – Softic, Cooke

Woking 2 – Hampton and Richmond 0 (Blue Square South)

Much better, Hampton had a player sent of fairly early but we were one up already by then, a clean sheet also and we are back on track.
Thank god.

Scorers: Gilroy, Hammond

Woking 2 – Bromley 1 (Blue Square South)

This was a very even game. Still, we got the win, which is the important thing.
The limp over the finish line continues.

Scorers: Gilroy, Ademola – Brierley

Eastleigh 1 – Woking 3 (Blue Square South)

I’m tired of saying this myself, ANOTHER close game, our finishing was better. I’m just glad the players filling in for Leech are coming up with the goods.

Scorers: Garrod – Ademola, McDermott, Doyle

Current table HERE

Manager of the month for March:

Dover Athletic’s Paul Joynes came first, I came second, Farnborough’s Steve King came third.

Transfer update:

With one eye on swapping tactics next season to a 4-2-3-1, I started searching for a possible AMC and I found someone that I decided to sign straight away.

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/...JuiloRossi.jpg

Hopefully he will be a quality player in the premier...if we get up of course...

It's pushed us even further over the wage budget, which is a gamble but hopefully it will pay off.

**433tom** · 08-04-2011 03:26

Cruise control now. Well done. Your signing has some great attributes. However, at 34 hopefully he can stay healthy.

**jaycar** · 08-04-2011 06:15

Thank you, yeah, hard work well and truely done

I have big hopes for julio, like you say his physical stats are pants and will only get worse, but he'll do until I can sign Van Der Vaart from spurs

**jaycar** · 09-04-2011 14:55

April Update:

Well, this is it, the final straight...can we do it?

Woking 3 – Welling 0 (Blue Square South)

Welling gave us a good game but the finishing that has served us well all season saw us win comfortably.

Scorers: Kelly, Ademola, Cooke

CHAMPIONS!!!!!

This win makes us Champions, with plenty of games to go! Lets finish the season in style

Dartford 1 – Woking 2 (Blue Square South)

Cruise control ON!

A pretty close game, we did enough to win. Not really surprised that the incentive to put in 100% has left the squad.

Scorers: Shinn – Leech, Softic

Woking 2 – Bishop’s Stortford 0 (Blue Square South)

This game saw us try out the 4-2-3-1 for the first time, and it was certainly effective. 17 efforts on goal for us, ZERO for the opposition.
Another noteable fact was the return of Leech far earlier than was predicted by our medical staff.

Scorers: Leech, McDermott

Farnborough 2 – Woking 3 (Blue Square South)

Another run out for the 4-2-3-1. A great game, lots of chances for both sides, respect to Farnborough, they had a go at us.
This game also marked the debut of Rossi. A scoring debut!

Scorers: McCann, McMahon – Rossi, Leech, Hammond

Woking 1 – Weston-super-Mare 0 (Blue Square South)

back to the 4-4-2 for this game, Rossi is yet to reach peak fitness. A good win, nothing really special about it.

Scorers: Hammond

Ebbsfleet 1 – Woking 2 (Blue Square South)

A crazy game, we dominated, scored in the 82nd minute, they equalised on the 86th, we found a winnwer in the last minute. A good finish to the season!!!!!!

Scorers: Carew – Gilroy, McGrath o.g.

Final table HERE

Manager of the month for April:

I took first place, Havant & Waterlooville’s Shaun Gale came second, Dover’s paul Joynes came third.

And the Blue Square Manager of the season award goes to......

Boreham Woods Ian Allinson.

Lolwat??!!!

I never even got into the top 3. Thats what I get for locking horns with the vast majority of the managers in the league

All in all, a far better first season than I hoped it would be, on now to the summer break. Hopefully we can find some better quality players to suit the new 4-2-3-1 without breaking the bank.

**AK22** · 09-04-2011 17:32

Well done on the promotion, totally strolled it!

You'll do well in the BSP I'd have thought, not too much of a difference between the two leagues.

**jaycar** · 09-04-2011 18:46

Thank you sir

Finding player recruitment fairly difficult, decent players keep turning us down!

**FM_Spurs** · 10-04-2011 19:33

Well done in winning the BSS! i done the same with my Ebbsfleet save and went straight up as champions again with only a few changes, would be great for you to do the same!!

Looking forward to reading the next season! All the best!

**jaycar** · 10-04-2011 20:15

Thank you!

**Sgt Kelly** · 11-04-2011 10:12

Maybe you're aiming a bit high with the players you're looking to bring in. I'd be happy to sign the players you've signed for my League 2 side.

It looks like your defense needs strengthening the most. You scored bags of goals but you haven't kept many clean sheets.

With just two or three good signings you'll walk the BSP though.

**jaycar** · 11-04-2011 10:18

Yes, you probably have it about right tbh...I've looked to bring in a better keeper and failed, I've brought in a better CB & LB, hopefully they can do a job...

Switched back to 4-4-2, the 4-2-3-1 just wasn't really doing it in pre-season...first game away to newly relegated crewe...ouch :/

**Blue_magic** · 11-04-2011 16:39

Well done on promotion

**jaycar** · 15-04-2011 21:06

Apologies for no monthly updates, I found myself spending more time posting then actually playing...therefore I'll be updating a season in two parts.

This is the current table HERE

As you can see, its going well, only 2 losses, one of them was a beating, 4-1 at the hands of Burton. This was my biggest loss as Woking manager so far.

At the other end of the scale, our best result was winning 7-1 away at Hinckley.

In terms of the players, Leech is once again on fire, scoring to date 33 goals in 23 starts (3 more as a sub)

Hopefuly the charge for a second promotion can be kept up, however we are into December now and the fixtures are coming thick and fast...

**Sgt Kelly** · 17-04-2011 19:40

I've just beaten Burton 3-1 to clinch the League 2 title, making it 3 promotions on the trot, 2 as champions.

We crawled over the line rather than stormed it though. Dear oh dear did we bottle it. The last 10 matches or so of the season were sheer torture. We were incredibly lucky that the chasing pack were also struggling, with the team in second place changing every week.

I'll probably be leaving Woking now. I really don't fancy taking on League 1 with such a small club. I had a hard enough time finding players good enough for League 2 who were willing to sign for us. The Bournemouth manager looks to be on his way out and I might try for that job. I'd like to stay in the south and they were our parent club for a season, so there's a bit of a link there.

**jaycar** · 17-04-2011 23:18

Stay! make Woking great!

**Sgt Kelly** · 18-04-2011 09:08

I am somewhat torn. I’ve brought in almost every player that’s at the club now and it’s going to be a wrench to leave them behind. They’re a great bunch of lads and we’ve sure had a fantastic time.

It looks like the board don’t want Woking to be made great though. We made it through to the 4th round of the FA Cup and had a windfall tie at Villa Park (led them 1-0 for about an hour too…) so we’ve got over £ 1m sitting in the bank now. They won’t improve the youth facilities and they won’t allow a wider scouting range. Where am I supposed to get the better players we need from ?

Plus I’d like to make a little money myself. I’m not out to get filthy rich but 4 years at Woking have only earned me £ 90k. I could have stuck with my old job and done better than that.

**jaycar** · 19-04-2011 08:25

Wheels have come off of the season. My best three strikers have all got long term injuries and the form has crashed...got a nightmare injury list full stop tbh...fixture list didn't help, got to the FA trphy semi's, with a couple of extra time replays along the way, too much rotation of a knackered squad hasn't helped I'm sure.

The defence isn't good enough to prop the team up and luton look to be about to win the league..looks like play offs :/

Sgt, what tactics do you use? Really not convinced by the 442 anymore, just not solid enough.

**Sgt Kelly** · 19-04-2011 12:17

Crap. Double post.

**Sgt Kelly** · 19-04-2011 12:25

I'm using a 4-3-3.

Up front I have 2 poachers (the outside 2) and an advanced forward (the middle one). The poachers are actually AMs with good goal scoring ability. They play as wingers but with a lot of emphasis on coming inside and trying to score (I didn't fiddle with anything to get this out of them, they just do it naturally). Crosses from out wide were very ineffective for me and with this setup they either cut inside at the 18 yard line and try to shoot or if they get to the byline they get into the box first and then cut it back, which has worked a lot better for me.

In midfield I have 3 MCs, the outside ones on attack and the middle one on defend.

Defense is a bog standard flat back 4 with no frills out and out defenders, although I do like my fullbacks to get forward.

I play a very attacking style, both home and away. I use a high defensive line and closing down all over the pitch. If it's a tight game I'll try to get a 2 goal lead and then drop deeper and switch to countering. If we're outplaying the opposition I just leave them to it.

It's not without risk. We do get hit on the counter and I have to use all my substitutions to replace tired legs.

**jaycar** · 19-04-2011 13:06

Interesting...I've always been a 'score more than you' type of manager but I think a change is needed. I have one decent winger really, so may well end up going assymetric...

**AK22** · 19-04-2011 13:52

I find if results are hard to come by changing to a more rigid philosophy may help short-term, and maybe, play 5 in midfield. Still love 4-4-2 though but then I'm a traditionalist!

**jaycar** · 19-04-2011 15:22

Already on Rigid

I'm going to try balanced with a more defensive central midfield, the mentalities are lower than in that framework than in Rigid, we'll see what happens...

If its still fragile than it'll have to be that move to a five man midfield. Not mad on that idea though, getting the best out of Leech is the key to a good season. .

**jaycar** · 20-04-2011 20:15

Phew...well we did it, via the play offs...the final was an epic 5-3 win against crewe which was great for the neutrals...

The second half of the season was terrible, we lost three of our strikers to injuries so I had to go 451. As you can expect we couldn't hit a cows arse with a banjo and we suffered an extra 5 defeats.Thankfully with the return of some of our better players form picked up when it needed to, including beating luton with three games to go but it was too little too late. Also to blame was the fixture list...at least two games a week for the last three months took its toll.

Table:

Other news:

Somehow I won manager of the year, no idea how, at least half of the other managers in the league trash talked me every chance they got, which of course I rreturned tenfold!

Also Leech won the division golden boot, scoring 50 goals in all competitions

The club has also gone fulltime.

Onto League 2, where regular updates will return!

**jaycar** · 20-04-2011 20:20

Goals for this upcoming season:

Sort out our defence problems without losing the attacking potency, I'm toying with the idea of either 4-1-3-2, a 4-1-2-3 or a kind of lopsided 4-3-3....

Try and sign better players (Going to be difficult...)

Avoid relegation, obviously.

**Sgt Kelly** · 21-04-2011 08:30

Great job.

95 points would handily win you the championship most seasons, so a bit unlucky I think.

My Bournemouth move fell through because I still had a month left on my contract and they didn't want to pay the compensation

. I didn't want to become unemployed so ended up accepting Woking's third offer. Frantically trying to put together a team for League 1 now.

**jaycar** · 21-04-2011 10:21

Thank you sir

Yeah, Luton were pretty much relentless in the end but I can't help but wonder how the season could have gone if everyone were fit...

Good luck with league 1, I take it you are planning to jump ship at the nearest job offer or are you just going to see how it works out?

Also forgot to note that we finished up with a £300k profit, which was very nice indeed.

**AK22** · 21-04-2011 11:13

Congrats on the promotion, it'll get a bit tougher from now on though. Good luck in League 2

**jaycar** · 21-04-2011 13:11

Thank you

I'm under no illusions that League 2 will be tough, tbh if we avoid relegation I will be happy. Anything other than that will be a bonus.

It looks like the new formation will be a 4-3-1-2...hopefully it will be a bit tighter defensively...

**Sgt Kelly** · 21-04-2011 13:19

Originally Posted by jaycar

Thank you sir

Yeah, Luton were pretty much relentless in the end but I can't help but wonder how the season could have gone if everyone were fit...

Good luck with league 1, I take it you are planning to jump ship at the nearest job offer or are you just going to see how it works out?

Also forgot to note that we finished up with a £300k profit, which was very nice indeed.

I'm not expecting any job offers. Haven't had one so far and despite another championship and manager of the year award my reputation is still regional. I'm reluctant to apply for jobs myself once the season has started. I like to finish what I've started.

I managed to win League 2 with only 86 points. Should be a doddle for you. 3 automatic promotion places too.

**jaycar** · 21-04-2011 19:11

Feeling the pressure of expectancy here! Three automatic places would be a pleasant change however.

**jaycar** · 22-04-2011 21:42

First things first an update on Transfers:

Transfers

HERE

Six in, seven out..with a wage budget of just over 10k and with a lot of contracts that needed renewing a clear out was never on the cards.

Notable ins:

Vincent Pericard comes in on a free, hopefully with his power he will make a good deep lying forward.
Scott Wilson comes in on loan from our parent club for another year.
Other than that a couple of decent new CM’s and a new LB.

Notable outs:

Michael Gash lived up to his name and after only six months at the club is moved out on a free.
Everyone else was either pants or shipped out to balance the wages bill.

August and September update:

Well, due to getting carried away again I have 2 months worth of updates. I’m solely looking to stay up this season, if we achieve better than that it will be a bonus. Still, as Sgt.kelly pointed out there are three automatic promotion places so you never know...

So, without further delay...

Hartlepool 1 - Woking 0 (npower League 2)

Well, what a great start. We started the game using a 4-3-1-2 formation, hartlepool lining up in a 3-4-1-2. Despite it being a close game the majority of our chance were from range and we just couldn’t level the score.
And Leech goes off injured.

This could be a long season...

Scorers: Brown

Woking 0 - Cardiff 3 (league Cup 1st Rnd)

One word sums this up. Ouch. We were totally ripped apart by Cardiff, which probably wouldn’t be that much of a surprise. Chopra ran riot. Oh well..

Scorers: Keinan, Chopra x2

Woking 3 – Barnet 0 (npower League 2)

Much better. We bossed this and didn’t give them a sniff. Again we used the 4-3-1-2 and Scott Wilson had a great game.

Scorers: Wilson x3

Stockport 3 - Woking 2 (npower League 2)

A very annoying game. They had more chances, we had the better chances. Our forwards had a bit of an off day when one on one with the keeper. 3rd defeat in 4. Woohoo!

Scorers: Simon x2, McKay – Wilson, Smylie

Manager of the month for August:

Oxford united’s Andy Scott wins the award, Stevenage’s Graham Westley comes second, Dag & red’s john Still comes third.

Woking 2 – Gillingham 0 (npower League 2)

Better. We deserved this result, nothing more to say really.

Scorers: Hammond, kelly (pen)

Torquay 1 – Woking 2 (npower League 2)

I haven’t been too convinced by the 4-3-1-2, so I chse to go back to the 4-4-2 which brought us success.

Match wise, we stole this result. They were the better team and deserved all three points but hey, thats football!

Scorers: O’Connor – Smylie, Wilson

Woking 0 – Oxford 0 (npower League 2)

Further tinkering, the 4-4-2 has been adjusted, the wingers are now more addvanced and the CM’s are a double pivot. I’ve decided attack is the best form off defence.

Despite that this was a terrible game, hardly any chances and the snores filled the stadium.

Still, its a clean sheet...

Scorers: You must be kidding me...

Luton 2 - Woking 2 (npower League 2)

A tense game against last years big rivals, we did well to snatch a point in the 90th minute. The tactic needs tweaking as the forwards are not firing on all cylinders just yet.

Leech is back for this game...and goes off injured again. Pericard gets his first for the club.

Scorers: Cadamarteri, Yucel – Leech, Pericard

Biggest game of the season next, the derby against Aldershot! A must win for the fans!

Woking 3 – Aldershot 0 (npower League 2)

And the fans go home very happy

A well derserved thrashing, made even happier by the fact that Aldershot are dumped to the bottom of the table!

Scorers: Wilson x2, Rossi

Manager of the month for September:

Rochdale’s Keith Hill wins the award, Stevenage’s Graham Westley comes second, meself came third.

September table HERE

**Sgt Kelly** · 22-04-2011 21:57

Oh dear.

I had a short stint with Swindon to kick the tires before I started my Woking save and Pericard was an absolute donkey. You've brought him down a level of course, be interesting to see how he performs.

Can't believe you let Adam Doyle go. I've finally replaced him now but letting him go is going to be heartbreak. I hope somebody snaps him up and he doesn't end up retiring.

Good start again.

**jaycar** · 23-04-2011 09:49

Yes, oh dear just about sums it up tbh. For somebody with 16 strength he shows a shocking lack of ability to hold up a ball. I literally cannot work him out, he's crap in a partnership and crap in a solo role. One goal in five starts and five sub appearances sums it up tbh.

I wouldn't mind but Wilson has 10 in 10 and the other strikers seem to be phoning it in atm..I'm swapping partnerships like crazy to try and get some chemistry going.

League two is barmy, its a very forgiving league, my form is a bit crap but nobody is really pushing at the top.

**ShanghaiNugget** · 23-04-2011 15:28

Nice work. Me and my dad follow Woking in real life, but unfortunately can't attend too often, but very nice to see a 3-0 victory over the Shots.

**Sgt Kelly** · 23-04-2011 21:24

Originally Posted by jaycar

League two is barmy, its a very forgiving league, my form is a bit crap but nobody is really pushing at the top.

I've only played one game but League 1 may be where the magic wears off. So far it has felt like a big jump. The level of players you need won't join you with your non-league facilities (at least I'm hoping that's what it is). I've had to settle for players who are fairly mediocre for this league and they still cost me 30 to 50k. I managed to replace most of the defense and midfield but the front line is the same as last season. Don't think we'll be storming the league this year but I'm hoping to get safe.

**jaycar** · 24-04-2011 20:24

Originally Posted by ShanghaiNugget

Nice work. Me and my dad follow Woking in real life, but unfortunately can't attend too often, but very nice to see a 3-0 victory over the Shots.

Thank you sir, yes the fans did enjoy that little result

Originally Posted by Sgt Kelly

I've only played one game but League 1 may be where the magic wears off. So far it has felt like a big jump. The level of players you need won't join you with your non-league facilities (at least I'm hoping that's what it is). I've had to settle for players who are fairly mediocre for this league and they still cost me 30 to 50k. I managed to replace most of the defense and midfield but the front line is the same as last season. Don't think we'll be storming the league this year but I'm hoping to get safe.

Still, league 1 is a fine achievement...if I am lucky enough to get there i expect to be stuck in that league for a while.

**jaycar** · 24-04-2011 21:50

October and November update:

You can probably tell that I am taking advantage of the Easter holiday as yet again I have two months worth of updates!

First off, a view of the fixtures list HERE

Woking 1 – Crawley 1 (npower League 2)

Back down to earth a little bit, an even game but several players had off days, most noticeably Alan McDermott who decided to get himself sent off via a straight red in the 59th minute. We held onto the lead, and then blew it as they got a leveller in the 90th minute.

Water bottle thrown.

Scorers: Wilson – Noel-Williams

Dag & Red 1 - Woking 2 (npower League 2)

another red card! This time Rossi after a mere 35 minutes! Thankfully we were already ahead and added another before half time. In the second half hey absolutely battered us and they got one back, but we didn’t really deserve to win this one. Cooke got an injury.

Scorers: Marshall – Wilson, Smylie

Brighton 2 - Woking 0 (Johnstones Paint Trophy S 2nd Rnd)

Utter crap. We didn’t turn up and Brighton took full advantage. Notable only for the Debut of one of last year’s crop of youth players, Michael Martin (YP2) in place of Cooke. Other than that, dog poo.

The fans moaned about this one, probably rightly.

Scorers: Murray, Baz

Woking 3 – Cheltenham 1 (npower League 2)

Closer than the scoreline suggested, our finishing saw us through in the end. Another game that showed the last of domination from the 4-4-2...

Scorers: Osborne o.g., Softic, Wilson - Goulding

Lincoln 2 - Woking 2 (npower League 2)

My god...we got absolutely BATTERED. I just cannot explain how the hell we got a point from this game. We scored in the 80th and 84th minutes. Daylight robbery.
Getting fed up with the 4-4-2 again, just not solid enough.

Scorers: Scott, Corcoran – McDermott, Buari

Woking 0 – Morecambe 1 (npower League 2)

Karma kicks our ass. We had twice the chances they did but we couldn’t get the equaliser. Not happy.

Water bottle down again.

Scorers: Pivkovski

Manager of the month for October:

Torquay United’s Paul Buckle wins the award, Dag & red’s john Still comes second, Richard Money from Luton comes third.

The Morecambe game was the last straw, the 4-4-2 gets binned and the 4-5-1/4-3-3 from last season comes back in. Just call me the tinkerman...

Shrewsbury 1 - Woking 2 (npower League 2)

A deserved win, a good start for the new formation. Much more solid. Nuff said.

Scores: Thackray – Smylie, King

Rochdale 0 - Woking 1 (npower League 2)

Bit lucky this one, but the players are still getting 100% familiar with the new formation and it’s already showing solidity that the 4-4-2 didn’t. A nice clean sheet.

Scorers: Buari

Woking 1 – Hartlepool 0 (FA Cup 1st Rnd)

This game was noticeable for three things:
1) We battered them, I mean REALLY battered them
2) Hartlepool were the most thuggish team I have seen on FM for years..We conceded 5 fouls, they conceded 18. They had a man sent off for two yellow cards and it was a major surprise they only picked up a further two yellows.
3) Another clean sheet for us! Love it.

Scorers: Smylie

Woking 3 – Stevenage 0 (npower League 2)

This could have been a cricket score, our woeful finishing kept it respectable. Another clean sheet!
Youth product Michael Martin score his first ever goal for the club!

Scorers: Martin, King, Hamil o.g.

Woking 4 – Accrington 0 (npower League 2)

Close game chances wise, our attack took their chances and the defence is showing solidity. Another clean sheet. I am more than happy with the 4-5-1/4-3-3.

Scorers: Smylie, Leech, McDermott, moult (pen)

Macclesfield 0 - Woking 2 (npower League 2)

Another good win, our fifth clean sheet in a row! Also another team that tried to kick us off of the pitch. They had four players booked, should have been more tbh.

Scorers: Smylie, King

Manager of the month for November:

I won the award, Northampton’s Ian Sampson comes second, and Leyton orient’s Craig Short comes third.

November table HERE

**jaycar** · 24-04-2011 21:53

In other news:

I have discovered Pericards best position. On the bench or at home with his feet up watching Eastenders. basically, the guy is crap, and will probably be shipped out in the summer.

**Luton Town** · 24-04-2011 23:12

Looks like promotion this season.

**jaycar** · 25-04-2011 01:07

Possibly..if we can keep the key players fit. Bunch of thugs in league 2.

**jaycar** · 26-04-2011 21:11

December update:

December...I hate December...

First off, a view of the fixtures list HERE

Woking 2– Crewe 2 (FA Cup 2nd Rnd)

Anothe dog poo performance to kick of this horrible horrible month of up to the eyeballs fixtures. Crewe had more possession, more CCC and we were crap.

Scorers: Moult, Wilson – Donaldson, Vincent

Woking 1 – Bury 0 (npower League 2)

No idea how only scored the one goal, we tore them a new one.

Scorers: Moult

Crewe 2 - Woking 0 (FA Cup 2nd Rnd Replay)

Utter crap. Just didn’t turu up, yet again.

Water bottle thrown.

Scorers: Donaldson, Miller

Tranmere 0 - Woking 2 (npower League 2)

A fairly close game, we had the quality to take the 3 points in the end. The 4-4-2 with advanced wingers is back, yes the 4-5-1 has a great defence but we arent scoring enough for my liking.

Scorers: Softic, Wilson

Woking 5 – Leyton Orient 1 (npower League 2)

And the goals are back! It may produce some heart stopping moments but the 4-4-2 will stay for now. The league needs a brave heart to win it, so attack it is!

Scorers: McDermott, Moult x2, Martin, Cooke – Revell

Yeovil 2 - Woking 1 (npower League 2)

I am lost for words. We were simply blown away. Almost the whole team didn’t turn up. Furious.

Water bottle thrown.

Scorers: Williams, White – Moult

Woking 1 – Hartlepool 1 (npower League 2)

Hell the mother of crap did we only get a point from this??!!! We took them to the cleaners, they had two shots. TWO!!! Their goal was a thunderbolt from 30 yards.

The AI seems to score most of their goals against me via long shots. From guys with long shots stats of about 5...

Scorers: Rossi – MacDonald

Barnet 1 - Woking 3 (npower League 2)

Much better. We bossed it and deserved the win. I’m glad this damn month is over...

Scores: Kelly – Moult, Farah, Rossi

Manager of the month for December:

Shrewsbury Town’s Graham Turner came first , I came second, and Torquay’s Paul Buckle comes third.

December table HERE

**jaycar** · 27-04-2011 21:51

January update:

First off, a view of the fixtures list HERE

Woking 4– Northampton 0 (npower League 2)

A good start to the month, a close game really but our finishing was awesome. A nice hattrick from Softic.

Scorers: Softic x3, Leech

Woking 1 – Stockport 1 (npower League 2)

Another close game, neither team deserved to win this. Our defenders seem to be taking it in turns to be crap.

Scorers: Leech - Elding

With the transfer window open I decided to take a chance on signing SAMMY MORROW. He will take up the deep lying forward role alongside Leech.

Gillingham 1 - Woking 3 (npower League 2)

A well deserved win here, we wanted it more and we got the result. Morrow marked his debut with a goal.

Scorers: Agdsestein – Morrow, Moult, Martin

Woking 3 – Torquay 1 (npower League 2)

Another good win, we battered them and deserved the 3 points.

Scorers: McDermott x2, Softic – Kuduzovic

Oxford 3 – Woking 2 (npower League 2)

Absolute dog poo. One of those games when everything they hit ended up in the net. We found ourselves 3 down, thenhit 2 lat goals in replied when we went for it. Time ran out before we could get a third, but we didn’t reeally deserve a point.

Water bottle thrown.

Scorers: McAlister, Ajose, Deering – McDermott, Leech

Woking 5 – Luton 0 (npower League 2)

The players redeem themselves after I put a rocket up them and demanded a win. We battered them, created a host of chances and put quite a few of them away.
Much happier.

Scorers: Softic, Morrow x2, Rossi, Cooke

Manager of the month for January:

Oxford United’s Andy Scott came first , I came second, and Morecambe’s Sammy McIlroy comes third.

January table HERE

**ldjh1985** · 28-04-2011 06:25

dammn impressive, League 1 here you come :-)

**jaycar** · 28-04-2011 08:32

Hopefully

God knows what will happen if we get there however :/ We are due a stinker of a season at some point, the next season could be the one...

**AK22** · 28-04-2011 11:38

Running away with it. You've got a comfortable 12 point cushion over 4th place so even if you go through a dodgy spell, you should still get one of the three promotion places without too much trouble

**jaycar** · 28-04-2011 13:12

Yeah, signing Morrow has had a positive effect, He has the PPM's 'plays with back to goal' and 'trys through balls often' so I really intended for him to set Leech up, however, he has 4 goals in 5, so he clearly knows where the goal is himself!

Still just playing attacking football really, its getting the wins but I don't know how such a style will cope with league 1...I am rubbish at playing more defensive football

**Sgt Kelly** · 28-04-2011 16:06

I haven't had much time to play lately (I make a point of watching every game in full, which doesn't help...).

I haven't changed my tactics and so far my record is W2 D1 L4 in League One.

Do you have any house rules on signing players ? I don't use free player search. Only sign scouted and recommended players. I had 3 scouts working full tilt over the summer but I basically needed a whole new team so I had to set priorities. Decided the front line was least in need of improvement and it shows : really struggling to score.

**jaycar** · 28-04-2011 21:29

Ah I see...I always play on key highlights, just makes it quicker. It still takes me at least a week to get through a season, unlike the likes of Dafuge, who churn through a season a day

No house rules tbh, my scouts are pretty crap, if I left it to them i would probably not be signing anybody. I do manualy search, but dont use any editors. Apart from that, the only thing i did do was set past experience as 'semi pro' instead of 'sunday league'.

**jaycar** · 28-04-2011 22:00

February update:

First off, a view of the fixtures list HERE

Aldershot 2 - Woking 3 (npower League 2)

Great to do the double over our arch rivals, a very close game which probably should have ended in a draw, but I’m very happy we got the win.
The fans loved it.

Scorers: Alessandra, lenighan – Cooke, Leech, McDermott

Woking 5 – Dag & Red 1 (npower League 2)

A MASSIVE result for us against the 2nd lying placed team, a very even game match stats wise but our finishing was just immense! Very happy indeed as it widens that gap.

Scorers: Cooke, Morrow, Smylie (pen), Bond (o.g.), Leech - Green

Cheltenham 0 - Woking 4 (npower League 2)

The goals just keep flowing! Our firepower keeps the wagon rolling on; we bossed the game and took our chances.

Scorers: Leech x2, Softic, Morrow

Crawley 2 - Woking 2 (npower League 2)

Ouch. This was a nasty bad tempered game, 37 fouls conceded between us, we went 2 nil down, then went for broke and managed to level it. A point was fair enough, 2 players taken off injured however.

Could well be a bit of a patched up team soon, the injury list is getting longer and longer...

Scorers: kandol, Bignall – Cooke, Martin

Manager of the month for February:

Leyton Orient’s Craig Short came first, I came second (again!), and Stockport’s Peter Ward comes third.

January table HERE

**jaycar** · 29-04-2011 20:52

March update:

First off, a view of the fixtures list HERE

Woking 2 – Lincoln 2 (npower League 2)

This game was bad for my blood pressure, we took a nice 2-0 lead, then everyone switched off and they scored 2 in the last 10 minutes. Not happy.

Scorers: Morrow x2 – Carayol, O’Keefe

Morcambe 0 - Woking 1 (npower League 2)

A close game until their left back tried to remove Cookes legs with a two footed lunge and he saw red. After that we took control and got the win.

Scorers: Rowe-Turner

Woking 3 – Shrewsbury 1 (npower League 2)

A mad result nothing between the teams at all, but our finishing settled the game. Another good win

Scorers: Morrow, Smylie, Buari - Wright

Accrington 1 - Woking 1 (npower League 2)

Massive mind games before and after the match, john Coleman and myselfhave a nice simmering mutual hatrid going on. We were crap but leveled in the 90th minute. In your face Coleman.

Scorers: Fryers (o.g.) – Leech

Woking 0 – Rochdale 1 (npower League 2)

We were crap yet again. We went behind early and wouldn’t have scored if the game had lasted a week. If we didn’t have that lead i would be getting nervous. I may still.

Water bottle thrown.

Scorers: Kennedy, mcDougall

Manager of the month for March:

Northampton Town’s Ian Sampson came first, Bury’s Russell Slade came second, and Torquay’s Paul Buckle comes third.

March table HERE

**jaycar** · 30-04-2011 22:53

End of season update:

First off, a view of the fixtures list HERE

Well, here we are the last six games of the season. Please forgive me for being fairly brief

Stevenage 0 - Woking 0 (npower League 2)

Crap game, not many chances, both teams terrible.

Scorers: Nah.

Woking 1 – Macclesfield 0 (npower League 2)

A close game. Our keeper got man of the match after this one, Good to get back on track with a win.

Scorers: Muari

Bury 1 - Woking 3 (npower League 2)

Another weird game, although we went a man down after 31 minutes we kept it tight and counter attacked well. Very pleased with the lads after this one.

Scorers: McCord – burns, Dilo (o.g.), Morrow

Woking 1 – Tranmere 1 (npower League 2)

Bad game, not the best result. More injuries. Sigh.

Scorers: Rossi - Labadie

Leyton Orient 1 - Woking 4 (npower League 2)

This is more like it. After having no fit left wingers due to injuries and suspensions I dusted off an old favourite from fm10; A lopsided 4-3-3, which looks like THIS.

It worked a treat, we got a nice win.

Scorers: Whichelow – Leech, Burns, Morrow x2

Woking 3 – Yeovil 2 (npower League 2)

A far closer result than it should have been, a stupid own goal and a goal from a rare corner got them 2 goals, we could have had 6. A win is a win however...

Scorers: leech x2, Smylie – White, Anane (o.g.)

Northampton 0 – Woking 1 (npower League 2)

Thuggery of the highest order. We were kicked off of the pitch but kept our heads and got the win. A nice way to round off the season.

Scorers: Wilson

Manager of the month for April:

Shrewsbury’s Graham Turner came first, I came second, and Dag & Red’s John Still comes third.

End of season table HERE

Comments:

Well, the table tells the whole story...CHAMPIONS!!!

Very happy with how this season went, I really didn’t think we would get promoted at the first attempt, let alone win the whole thing! Still, a lot of work needs to be done now, the backroom staff need an overhaul, and key positions of the team need to be sorted out.

I’m delighted to have won the manager of the year award for npower league 2.

I also find myself FINALLY listed as one of the clubs favoured personnel HERE but gods knows what you have to do to be an icon...

Also, the club offered me another 1 year contract extension which I signed of course, this one for the princey sum of £1000 per week. I'm also untouchable apparently. Still no job offers at all, not that I would accept...

**Luton Town** · 30-04-2011 23:05

Well done on winning the League

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