[FM 14] The Return of a Pilgrim

I started unemployed with all of the UK and Ireland leagues loaded as well as my native USA. I prefer to play in a LLM style. I will start unemployed and apply to openings at bottom level clubs. I will try to be as realistic in my personal career moves as possible. So here we go!

There were 3 teams that opened up at about the same time. Hednesford Town, Havant & Waterlooville and Boston United. I decided to apply to Havant and Boston.

I was offered an interview for each club in the same day, and both seemed to go well.

A couple of days later, they both offered me a job! It was a really hard decision to make though. Both organizations have some pluses and negatives. I think Havant & Waterlooville are a bit more ambitious while Boston has a larger current following, and seem to be a little more stable after they learned from their struggles of the past decade. I actually had to turn off my computer and sleep on it as something was pulling at me to take the salary cut and go to Havant.

Judging by the title though, I think it is obvious who I chose. Realistically, who would settle for £13k a year less, with no current emotional ties to either club? Strangely, Havant hired a new Manager a week later on £29.5k per year... so that would have been a bit tougher.

So here we are, an American manager, managing the team in the town that sent a small number of people to start life in a new land that would one day become the land I was born and raised in. Kind of Ironic for Boston with the Pilgrim nickname to bring an American in to manage.

Boston United

Club History

Club Stadium and Facilities Information

Home Ground: The Jakemans Stadium, Boston, England. 6,643 Capacity (1826 Seated).

Adequate training facilities, poor youth facilities, adequate junior coaching, basic youth recruitment.

Financials

Estimated Club Value: £130K

Current Balance: £69,256

Wage Budget: £147,004 (£158,184 Current Spending)

Season Tickets Sold: 500 (£160 average price)

Average Ticket Price: £12

Media Prediction: 7^th

Boston United

Skrill North 2013/14 Season

Board Expectations:

Skrill North: Respectable League Position

FA Cup: Won’t be judging this this.

FA Trophy: Reach the First Round

League Table as of my start date. (Though I forgot to grab it until after my first game. We were actually in 17th when I took charge.)

It's still very early in the season, so I am not worried about where we are at all. Anything can happen still at this point.

Here are the fixtures the team has had so far this season. As you can see, the firing of the previous manager was probably warranted

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Team Roster

This is a surprisingly strong team front to back I feel. I am surprised by how badly they have performed on the season so far. Their strikers have scored only 3 goals between them, and they should be much better than that. 7 matches held to 0 goals scored just wont be good enough.

Boston United

Skrill North 2013/14 Season

Transfer News

Well, I didn’t handle this situation as well as I should have.Marc Newsham has been a cornerstone for this team for a few years now, voted player of the year by the fans 2 of the past 3 years.He is still young, and a player to build around.Sadly, after a crap start to his season, he made a massive turnaround when I arrived, scoring or assisting on goals in every game.As such he wanted to move to a bigger club.Instead of trying to talk him into going, I allowed him to move on.Sadly, he took a move to a lower division club Lowestoft, who have bigger pockets than we do.He more than doubles his yearly salary by leaving.This is a big loss for the club just as we had things moving in a very good direction.

Boston United

Skrill North 2013/14 Season

November Update

Fixtures

With an agregate goal total of 12-3 for the month of November, you know things are going to go pretty well. I took the over the club as they were struggling with a 4W - 2D – 8L record to start the year. We changed to a basic 4-1-3-2 formation as the team really didn’t have much in the way of talented wingers, and they were trying to force a 4-3-3 for some reason. The results started coming. We fell behind by an early goal to both Altrincham and Brackley, but we managed a solid comeback in both matches. The Altrincham result really got the team’s moral a boost as we had knocked off the top team in the league at that point. Good performances at Colwyn Bay and then against lower division foe Northwich in the FA Trophy kept the momentum alive.

This is when our star attacking player Marc Newsham decided it was time for him to move on to a bigger club. We received offers right away, but I delayed them for a week as I needed the offense while I attempted to find a replacement.

We won a snoozefest at Bradford PA before completely embarrassing Hereford in the FA Trophy as they went down easy to us by 3 goals. We looked the better side throughout.

I was honestly shocked at how this month played out. I don’t think I have had a team just come together quite like that before. But it was a HUGE mistake to simply let Newsham leave. If I could have even bothered trying to convince him to stay, maybe we could have fought for promotion this season. As is, we are now in a good spot in the league table.

Skrill North Table

Boston United

Skrill North 2013/14 Season

December Update

Always nice to get the recognition. Pretty cool to get it after my first full month with the team. I feel it was a curse though after what happed to my team in December.

Fixtures

The 4-2 win over Workington was the last game featuring Newsham. The striker lead the way with a goal and 2 assists in his farewell performance, that lead to my immediate regret. But at this point, what was done was done, and we had to say goodbye. We had jumped to 3^rd place in the table after the Workington game.

Our next game is better described as a survival against Guiseley who just couldn’t break down our defense enough to hurt us. As the month dragged on though, and the goals had dried up, I started employing more aggressive tactics in order to create them, which just allowed our opponents to exploit our defense who were then left on an island. After getting bounced from the FA Trophy by the team who bought Newsham away from us (he was cap tied to us, so he didn’t play), we began giving up 2 goals a game, and just couldn’t produce enough. We fell behind Stockport twice before lucking into a draw after they gave us on own goal off of a corner kick late in the game. Histon and Telford though just walked all over us. This month we slipped down the table to 12th.

Skrill North Table

Transfers Out

Newsham turned out to be my biggest mistake at Boston to date. (I know, that doesn’t mean a lot after 6 weeks in charge. J) But I think it will hurt a lot as I already have seen what happened in December after he left. I guess at least I got £4,500 for him I suppose…

Galinski was a backup who never featured in a game for me. He was costing me more salary than I had in the budget to bother keeping him around for.

Transfers In

Ben Mills was brought in to be a direct replacement for Newsham. He is a big target forward with some decent mobility and distribution. He can also hit the back of the net too. I think he will be a great addition to the team.

Astbury and Bryan are 2 other strikers who were brought in for depth as my current backup Jake Wooley isn’t getting it done, and I was recently told off by his manager that I was playing him out of position. They want him in an attacking left winger spot to get experience. Sucks for them that my 4-1-3-2 doesn’t have a winger spot, so Wooley can catch a game or 2 in the stands instead. Both are solid advanced forwards who should be decent off the bench late in games.

Boston United

Skrill North 2013/14 Season

January Update

Fixtures

It was really fun playing Histon again just 5 days after they kicked our butts at our place, now we got to go through it again at theirs. We went back to keeping it organized and tight in the back, hoping to get a goal on the counter. We didn’t, but we did manage a respectable 0-1 defeat to the 2^nd place team in the league currently.

Vauxhall was the 2^nd game in a row where we failed to score. Although we kept them off the score sheet, I was getting nervous about where the goals would come from. Ricky Miller and Ben Mills up top were supposed to be pretty good. I was hoping that it was a matter of a lack of cohesion as Mills had just joined the team. Finally after about 6 weeks of sucking, we seemed to start figuring things out. It’s always nice to play a team that is just unable to win games sometimes, and that is what happened when we faced Hednesford. They had lost 4 of their last 5, not registering a win in 6 or more games. We did everything we could to lose the match, they were just better at losing then we were. The good news though is we left with a big confidence boost that we could actually beat someone. So when Solihull Moors came to town, we completely dismantled them as Miller finally found his scoring boots with a brace, and Mills popped up with one of his own. A win against 3^rd place Altrincham to end the month got us headed back in the right direction. Onward and upward.

Skrill North Table

Boston United

Skrill North 2013/14 Season

February Update

Fixtures

Just as we beat up on Gainsborough who were contending for a playoff spot by a 4-1 scoreline, I started to believe we were headed in the right direction. We were only a mere 1 point from 5^th place. We then traveled to Stalybridge who had been on a very hot streak of late, and the 0-1 scoreline doesn’t do us any justice. Stalybridge scored on a complete wonder goal, and otherwise didn’t get a sniff of goal. And their keeper had the game of his life. Really disappointing. Brackley and Colwyn Bay compounded the issue. We continued to create some great goal scoring opportunities, the opposition goal keepers though were playing out of their minds. Another freak goal from Brackley sealed our fate. We actually lead 1-0 against relegation fighting Colwyn Bay for about 2 minutes when my left back did a back pass to our keeper who calmly collected it at his goal line, and then calmly turned around and bumped it over the line like an idiot. That lead to Colwyn Bay gaining unnecessary confidence, and eventually winning the game.

We then headed out to Harrogate who sat in 21st place. Thankfully, their complete lack of passion lead to us breaking out of our funk and sealing a win that pushed us up from 11^th in the table back to 9^th, and still a tiny beacon of hope in catching that 5^th place spot. Though with our complete lack of consistency at scoring despite the ample chances we create, I doubt we will achieve that position.

Skrill North Table

Im disappointed that we can’t seem to find a run of form here and break into the elite teams. But there are still games to play, so well see.

Youth Intake

The group is rated much better than it really is. Unfortunately it is really striker friendly, and not balanced in any way. I signed all but the 2 wingers, as I don't use wingers. Really I only see 3 strikers and 1 midfielder and 1 defender as having any real shot in the next couple of years.

Boston United

Skrill North 2013/14 Season

March Update

Fixtures

I was excited after the Harrogate win as I looked at the upcoming fixtures. Both Workington and Hednesford were having miserable seasons, and were just the fixtures I needed to get some momentum going! Well, except that my team didn’t want to win the easy ones apparently. Workington simply out played us on their home turf as they fought to stay up another year. Hednesford was just a stupid showing by my team. It was Hednesfords only win in 23 matches… I just don’t have words for that. In front of our own fans, we gave up 4 goals to the worst team in the entire league. A team that is now 1-7-14 in the last 23 matches. Just pathetic. We had dropped back down to midtable yet again as we continue our yo-yoing between 7^th place and 12^th place in the table.

After those pathetic performances I was dreading having to face 1^st place Oxford City. Somehow we managed to keep a scoreless draw, only our 6^th draw in 37 matches. After that game somehow the floodgates opened against a couple of pretty solid outfits in Borrow and Gloucester winning 4-1 and 3-1 respectively. At this point I had benched Ben Mills, the guy who was suppose to replace Newsham, and replaced him with Astbury who had been killing it in the Under 21s games. Astbury took the opportunity for first team football by scoring in each of the 2 matches.

Skrill North Table

Up to 7^th place now, 4 points out of 5^th with 5 games to go.Everyone in front of us is very deserving of a playoff spot, hopefully we will find a way to steal it anyways.

My last 5 matches are against Solihull Moors, Stalybridge, Leamington, North Ferriby and Worcester.If we can play well in the first 3, we could set up a very important game against North Ferriby that might just determine who’s season will end first.As it will be a home match against a team that isn’t complete crap, I like my chances…But we have to stay close enough to strike them first.

Boston United

Skrill North 2013/14 Season

April Update

Fixtures

Crash and burn. Plain and simple, we sucked. We didn’t even show up against Solihull Moors or Stalybridge. The Stalybridge defeat was just embarrassing in front of our home crowd. We then faced off against Leamington who were already relegated at this point and we gave up 3 goals from corner kicks in the same game. Leamington ended the season with just 5 goals from corner kicks total… so yea, that was beautiful. Ironically, the 1 team we just had to beat this month to have a chance at the playoffs was North Ferriby, and we duely kicked them into the ground. It was a 4-0 route until we gave up a late consolation goal. Sadly, by the point we had won this game we had falled into the bottom half of the table. Worcester finished off our season in style beating us soundly 2-0.

Crappy way to finish off the season. Luckily, the club higher ups are still satisfied, though I am not sure why. I have a lot of work ahead of me going into the next season.

Skrill North Table

Finishing 14^th is a sour taste after being in the top half nearly my whole time at Boston.The lousy April pulled us down to the worst league position we have held since my first week in Boston.

Boston United

Skrill North 2013/14 Season

Offseason Part I

2014 Offseason

A disappointing end to the season will be a hard way to live out the offseason. We were able to create chances in most games, though we struggled to break down teams that were playing defensively, which is why we couldn’t beat the teams at the bottom of the table with any consistency. Our offense mostly came from quick breakaways from winning turnovers. It is also amazing the amount of good opportunities that we completely missed the target on, most of which came from Ricky Miller. He was our go to guy, who scored 26 goals in 40 starting appearances this season, which sounds great, but his Shots on Target % was a poor 37%, which was the worst by far of my strikers. His speed and positioning lead to many open looks at goal, and there were too many missed targets, or slow rollers right at the keeper. Not to mention he selfish need to force shots rather than lay off a pass to an open teammate in the box. As much as he is in the running for player of the year in the Skrill North, and he will probably be voted the Boston United player of the year, frankly, he left a lot to be desired.

The other goal scoring issue was that our Midfield and defense only supported the attackers with 15 goals all year. They were getting forward enough, but the finishing was pretty weak. We only managed 5 Goals from corner kicks and 1 from an indirect free kick all year.

There will be a lot of turnover this offseason. Not so much due to my wanting them to leave, as much as they are all wanting big wage increases, most wanting to double their salary. I cannot afford to bring them all back, so really only a select few will return, and we will have to retool the Squad. The backroom staff will all be cleared out as well since the guys I had were pretty sub par.

Never a good sign when you have just weeks left on your contract to be mentioned in the “Sack Race.”

Luckily for me, I survive to manage another year. As much as they can be upset by the league position, I did manage to put together a solid team who were on the verge of the playoffs before we crashed out at the last of the year. My record as a manager is 15W 4D 13L, that isn’t too shabby.

Boston United

Skrill North 2013/14 Season

Offseason Part II

Awards and Things

New sponsorship deals bringing in an extra£500 next year! Every dollar helps I suppose.

As I guessed, Ricky Miller wins it this season. His stats look good, but I really believe he did as much harm to our offense as good. He wants a big wage increase that would make him our highest paid player. I feel I can do better and will be letting him leave for different pastures. I will be looking to bring in a strike force who embrace ball movement and teamwork.

Pullen and Newsham played in the first half of the year. Otherwise, this was the team that got us where we needed to go. I hated to terminate Pullen, but he was only a minor upgrade over Lewis King, and frankly, he was making much more than he was worth at £18,000 a year. He was the highest paid player on my team.

Nice to get a £48K budget increase. I will probably keep my spending to around £150K at first so that I have room available if I need it. Plus, I want to keep this team in the black as much as possible, so I will only push the budget if I feel I have a good shot at things. As I am completely rebuilding the team this season, it would be unwise to take too many pricy risks at first.

World Cup

Argentina wins the World Cup by completely dismantling an over their heads Greek side. Greece were the surprise team of the tournament which took away from the fact that South Korea lost in the 3^rd place game. A couple of real crazy achievements.

In Group G, England and the USA advanced out of a group that also included Germany and Peru. After surviving probably the toughest group in the World Cup neither team would go much further in the tournament. England going out on Penalties as would be tradition.

Boston United

Skrill North 2014/15 Season

Offseason Part III

Offseason Transactions

Transfers Out

We lost a large part of our team here. Lewis King is the one that annoys me the most though. He was my starting Keeper. I had all intentions of keeping him, so when other teams came offering him deals, I decided to improve his non-contract, as he didn’t want a real contract from me. So I offered to pay him an extra £60 per game. He agreed, and days later I found out he had agreed to a contract with Exeter from League 2. Oh well, hopefully he can win over some playing time there, but I doubt it.

Ricky Miller leaves after I decide he was hurting my offense as much as helping it. It’s a risky move, but one I am comfortable taking. Ben Mills moves on after failing to be our new Newsham. Honestly, he did a pretty good job, he just had big shoes to fill, and I think I can find a better fit for what wages he’s demanding.

Steer and Marrs are both going to be tough to replace. They were my starting fullbacks and really both were solid last year. I knew Marrs wouldn’t be back as he had no interest in resigning months ago. Steer was snatched up out of nowhere and I didn’t want to pay the high price I would have had to in order to match Woking’s offer.

Lastly Ian Ross was probably my best midfielder last season. He will be missed, but I think we can find a better athletic person for his spot.

Transfers In

I brought in a lot this offseason to counter everyone that was leaving, and due to my none of my youth players being good enough for the first team yet at this point.

The guys I am most excited about is Charlie Collins and Aaron Wickman who will join Anton Bryan and Dean Astbury as my strike partnership. Matt Richards was a short term loan I picked up late last season who managed to play really well in his short stint with us. I was able to sign him away from his team Ilkeston.

Boston United

Skrill North 2014/15 Season

Offseason Part III

The Team

Goalkeepers

Atkinson joins us from League 2 side Mansfield where he managed only 6 appearances last season. He is probably about as good as King was, so I am hoping he can hold down the position. He didn’t want to sign for me early in the offseason, but that soon changed when the offers weren’t coming in.

Sam Vince is an 18 year old kid who one day could become a very good keeper for us. I will probably need to loan him out this season to get him some first team action so that he can be our go too keeper sooner rather than later.

Defense

This is probably the strength of our team, anchored by team captain 22 Year Old Carl Piergianni who was very strong last season. He is joined by Luke Ashworth who we picked up after he was released by Hyde where he started 45 games for the eventually relegated Tigers. He had a miserable year. But when a team is that bad, it is easy for each of its parts to look worse than they were. I am hoping the 24 year old can bounce back this season.

On the outside we have Marshall returning this season. He actually played in our DM position most of last season, but right back is his strongest position. On the left side we bring in 24 Year Old Jordi Gough from Solihull Moors. He only featured in 3 matches last season, and he will want to earn a starting spot here.

Our bench of Hammond and Coupe are both good enough to fight for a starting spot as well. So we should be in good shape this season at the back.

Midfield

A lot of new faces for us here, but in reality, the talent is about the same. This group is a little less technically gifted as last year’s team, but they are much better athletes and seem to be more team oriented. We return Jake Hall and Gary Mills from last season who did enough to earn another season in Boston. Mills has been named the Vice Captain for the team. They are joined by Matt Richards who we were able to pry away from Ilkeston after a good loan spell last season. He is a speedy guy who will probably feature in an attacking role more than at his favored DM.

Andreas Bianga and Jim Stevenson are 2 season long loans we have brought in this year. Bianga is a very crafty attacking midfielder who at only 17 years old will need to step up and help create chances for our team. Meanwhile the 22 Year Old Stevenson will be our primary DM this year if things go to plan.

Craddock and Young are our necessary depth players in the midfield. Both can be solid fill gaps, but probably won’t be counted on much outside of filling in during injuries.

Strikers

Charlie Collins come to Boston via Tamworth last season where he spent the year mostly coming off the bench for a team who was relegated. Collins should bring us what we have lacked since Newsham’s departure. He is a great all around attacker who can create for himself, or find his teammates when needed. I actually had a chance to bring Newsham back this offseason as his old team released him. After comparing Newsham and Collins, it was a tough choice but I had to go with Collins. He is the more talented of the 2, now I just hope he can prove it with results. His lower wage demands didn’t hurt his case either.

Aaron Wickman will take over the spot Ricky Miller had last season. Wickman is a better shooter and a much better team player than Miller. We sacrifice the breakaway speed that Miller had to bring in those qualities, but I think the way this team is built, Wickman could score more goals than Miller did last year, while also helping his teammates to score as well. We will have to wait a month though as he was hurt in a preseason friendly.

Bryan and Astbury return after each had a decent year last year, and they are low cost to have around. Both have performed well at times, so they will definitely be fighting for playing time with Collins and Wickman should they not jump out to a strong start.

Boston United

Skrill North 2014/15 Season

Board Expectations:

Skrill North: Respectable League Position

FA Cup: 4^th Qualifying Roung

FA Trophy: Reach the First Round

My Expectations:

Skrill North: Top 10 finish, challenge for a playoff spot.

FA Cup: 4^th Qualifying Roung

FA Trophy: Reach the First Round

Financials

Estimated Club Value: £150K (+£20K)

Current Balance: £88,586 (+£19,330)

Wage Budget: £198,224 (+£51,220) (£173,940 Current Spending)

Season Tickets Sold: 500 (£160 average price) (Same)

Average Ticket Price: £12 (Same)

Preseason Friendlies

We had a fairly successful preseason I’d have to say. We brought in a number of tougher opponents to really test this team and hopefully get them playing at a higher level. The added ticket sales were a nice addition too. Though you can see the last couple of home matches had poor turnouts. I think we burnt the fans out. J I’ll have to have more away matches next season.

We surprised a full squad strength Bolton with a 2-0 win to start things out. We didn’t really outplay the team currently plying their trade in League 1, but we did what we had to do to win.

The Sheffield United match was the crazy one. We not only had a huge turnout of just under 3,500 people, but we completely beat them down 3-0. They were playing their full strength squad as well. I guess they will regret offering to face us in a friendly again soon. They were the ones to come and ask me for a game.

After that the results got a bit flat, but it was a longer preseason than I normally run because of the high expected turnover. I wanted this team to gel before the season started.

So, here’s to another season in Boston!

Boston United

Skrill North 2014/15 Season

August Update

Fixtures

We got the new season off to a solid start. Only giving up 1 goal in 4 games. We are playing tactically the same as last season, but the new faces seem to be pretty organized and have gelled quickly. I noticed we were pretty solid at the back against the tough preseason opposition, it’s good to see it continue into the season.

We beat 2 of the newly promoted teams Cambridge City and Lowesoft who we welcomed nicely to their new league. Collins and Bryan were awesome up front with both collecting a goal and an assist as they set each other up really well. I was excited for how well they worked together. We continued our strong form as we tied the next 2 games. I was happy with the Lincoln result really as they were a tough team and had a sizable home crowd there. The Worcester game was disappointing though to not score a goal or 2 as we had our chances, but the strike partnership were both too hesitant in front of goal, and wouldn’t shoot until the defense had gotten in the way.

Skrill North Table

It’s still very early, but we are in the top 5! Hopefully we can start scoring again, and move our way up!

Boston United

Skrill North 2014/15 Season

September Update

Fixtures

Well, that was a lousy month, saved by a win at the end from being a complete disaster. We continued our poor scoring form, while keeping the defense tight during the Telford and Barrow matches. Both games we really dominated in creating goal scoring chances, but nothing came of it. As Bryan’s goal scoring form had dried up, Astbury couldn’t bury anything, I decided to throw Wickham in after just 1 week of rehab from his preseason injury. He was the guy I was going to count on for the goals. His lack of training over the past 2 months though meant that he wasn’t at peak form, and he couldn’t get on the score sheet either. Bryan broke our 4 game goal scoring drought with an absolutely beautiful shot from outside the box that just screamed passed the opposing keeper in the 20^th minute against Barrow, but we gave up a late goal to continue the streak of draws.

The loss at struggling Vauxhall then had me worried as we were outplayed, and the team moral was dropping fast. We lost our second game in a row as we went out at home in front of 1,391 fans against a team relegated last season during the FA Cup. Workington we did enough to earn a point again, and I have almost earned as many draws this season as I did all of last season, and it’s only September!

Wickham finally found his form to end the month as he had a hat trick in the first half against Gainsborough. We were desperate for a win, and he came up big, scoring 2 goals that looked so much the same, I thought the game had broken, and was repeating itself in the 42^nd and 45^th minutes. Both were distance shots outside the box from straight on where he caught the keeper napping.

Skrill North Table

As expected with the bad month, we drop down to 8^th. We had fallen to 11^th before our last win propelled us back up a bit. It’s still early, and with our defensive form I think we can mount a comeback, but we need to score goals!

Boston United

Skrill North 2014/15 Season

October Update

Fixtures

We found our goal scoring form in October thankfully. We completely dominated the games against Stalybridge, Colwyn Bay and Solihull Moors and the results were definatedly deserved. We took our strong form into a game against the Top of the table Chorley with a chance to catch 2^nd place if results went our way. They had been undefeated so far this season, and I would love to have changed that.

We went down a goal early, but managed to pick up 2 ourselved early in the second half. Our defense let us down late though and Chorley salvaged a draw to our disappointment. Still a good result on the road for sure.

Skrill North Table

13 games in and sitting in 3^rd place is nice. Sadly our goal scoring has been so inconsistant or we could be much better off. But the defense this year has been the best in the league to date. We just don’t give up anything.

Boston United

Skrill North 2014/15 Season

November Update

Fixtures

Well, our goal scoring didn’t last long. November started off with a win we squeaked out against Hyde as we managed to keep the clean sheet. We dominated in chances created, but Collins and Wickman seem to be kicking everything soft and right at the opposing keeper recently. We followed that up with a dominating victory against lower division opposition in Radcliffe Boro in the FA Trophy. It was a pretty comfortable win aside from the late consolation goal we gave up. Radcliffe never really threatened during the game. The real treat was playing in front of a hostile crowd of 91 people!

A tough match against Guiseley was up next. They seem to be my bogey team, as we just never really perform well against them. They were having a good year with the support of one of the leagues better goalkeepers who absolutely stood on his head in this game. We littered his box with about 20 shots, 10 on target, and 7 were clear cut chances. Of those, we managed 1 goal. Seriously gutted that we managed only a 1 goal victory, but I’ll happily take the 3 points.

Next was relegation candidate Bradford PA at home in front of nearly 1000 fans, and of coarse we would choke under the pressure of our growing success. We were sitting 2^nd in the table at this point, and trying to catch Chorley. Too bad the results dried up as we lost 0-1 against a pretty weak Bradford team. Then we were off to Promotion contenders Altrincham who we beat both times we faced them last season. They were out for revenge, and we were more than happy to ablige as we were beaten down 1-4. The score line completely does the match justice. We completely failed to show up, and I could see the team starting to slide as injuries to our wingback started to take their toll.

Skrill North Table

Still sitting in 4^th, but I am not as comfortable with the way things are going as I was a month ago.

Boston United

Skrill North 2014/15 Season

December Update

Fixtures

We started December pretty good with a solid victory over Barrow in the FA Trophy. To be honest though, they didn’t field a full strength side, which is probably what I should have done as well. But we did pick up the win and move on to the second round.

Playing with short rest against a fully rested AFC Fylde wasn’t the best situation though. We were down 0-1 for most of the game after conceding early. Luckily we snatched an 85 minute equalizer from a corner kick to tie up the game and earn a point. 3 days later after we had been chasing the Fylde game we went into our home match against Stockport pretty tired. Stockport had been struggling for a team with the second largest payroll in the league. (We are 17^th in payroll currently.) They showed no mercy in this one, and rolled right over us. We were never really in it.

We followed that disappointment with a lousy loss against Sutton United in the FA Trophy, taking us out of that competition, and now we have just the league to focus on.

We came out very aggressive against Histon as I knew I needed to chance our fortunes in the league, and they were challenging for a playoff spot. It was a 5^th vs 6^th game, and a chance for us to jump them in the standings. The game started as planned with a 5^th minute goal from Wickman. I decided to lay back for a bit and let the game play itself out feeling we could at the least keep it tight at the back and pull off the win. Sadly, a late equalizer from Histon sealed our fate with a draw. It was probably my fault for not going for the jugular while I had the chance.

Tamworth helped us continue our poor December form, beating us 0-1. Really disappointing though as we had 2 obvious penalty kicks turned down in this one. Lastly we found a way to win again for the first time in 3.5 weeks as we beat Cambridge City during a Fan Day that didn’t really bring many extra faces in, but the Chairman seems to think it was a success.

Skrill North Table

A poor month going 1W-2D-2L in the league sees us drop, but not as much as I would have expected. We hold 8^th place, but still have hopes of returning to the playoff chase if we can get our strikers hitting their spots in the coming games.

Boston United

Skrill North 2014/15 Season

January Update

Fixtures

After a pretty poor December, we wanted to get the ship righted in January. It would be a tough start though as we started off with 5^th placed Lowesoft. The newly promoted club had been in good form of late, this game was no different. We were fortunate to go ahead before the half with a goal from a corner kick. We couldn’t hold the lead until the end though as my counter attack plan was giving Lowesoft too much time to come at us. Eventually they found the equalizer, and although we didn’t get the win, a Draw on the road to a good team wasn’t a bad result despite that we deserved to lose the match.

Next up would be a home match against Lincoln. We had a huge crowd show up for this one with 1,243 coming to the game. That was the largest home crowd we have had to date in Skrill North play (we did have a good turn out for our FA Cup match.) We attacked relentlessly, and it paid off with Charlie Collins pushing us out to a 2-0 lead on a couple of great shots. Lincoln snatched a goal just before the half to keep things close. We continued to push on and found a 3^rd goal before giving up another to Lincoln in the 80^th minute. At that point we just did what we could to hold on. The game was exciting, but we completely deserved to win after out shooting our opponents 15 to 4, and controlling most of the possession.

Worcester was up next, and these guys were playing unbeatable as they climbed their way up the table. Seated right in front of them? Boston United, and they saw this match as a chance to pull ahead. The match was a very defensive affair with only 12 total shots being taken during the game, and it looked like it would end a 0-0 draw until Midfielder Andreas Bianga broke through the Worcester defense and scored the lone goal in the 88^th minute for us to seize victory on the day. It was great getting the goal, but somehow we were still stuck outside the playoff spots after collecting 7 points from 3 games. I was really nervous that our form would drop again too as I have been used too. We are a complete roller coaster of form.

Sadly, I was all too right about my feelings after we barely beat Worcester. Again, the goals dried up, and the defense that had been the best in the league all year gave up 3 goals in 2 straight matches for the first time all year and Barrow and AFC Telford beat us up. The Barrow match being really disappointing as they have been struggling all season long.

Then we after the 2 complete no show games, we face Vauxhall at home and completely dominate from start to finish in a 4-1 affair that could have gone much, much worse for the Motormen.

Skrill North Table

We gain just 1 spot in the playoff chase as we now sit 7^th, but only 1 point from 5^th still. We need consistency as always seems to be our issue.

Boston United

Skrill North 2014/15 Season

February Update

Fixtures

That’s a bit more like it! We have our first undefeated month that I can remember. 5 matches, only 1 goal conceded. If only our goal scoring could have been a little more abundant against Workington and Stalybridge.

After the Barrow and Telford matches, I had gotten annoyed with my starting keeper Atkinson, I forgot to bench him against Vauxhall, but I finally did when we went into February. The idea is I would give him a couple of games off to think about things, and then he would get his spot back. Little did I know that my 18 year old Sam Vince would perform so brilliantly. The kid was nervous in his first game against Gainsborough, after a few really good saves though he lightened up, and went on to push us through 4 straight clean sheets! It was hard to push him back to the U-18’s at that point.

Facing Chorley was a big match of #4 vs #5, and we were able to beat the promotion contenders through some great combination work between our starting strikers to each earn a goal and an assist. The defense also came up big allowing only 1 shot on target all game.

We finished the month against 22^nd placed Solihull Moors that I knew we had to beat, you just can’t drop points to relegation teams. We went into half time tied 1-1 though I was worried as we were being out played. Thankfully, the team talk seemed to have the desired effect, and we went on to grab all 3 points in a 3-1 win that seemed a fair result by the end of the match.

Skrill North Table

We go into the final stretch now with everything to play for. The 1 issue though is that we need to build up points fast as 4 of our last 5 games are on the road, giving me a bit more nerves for the end of the season. Also, 3 of our last 6 matches are against top 6 teams. Altrincham, Histon and Tamworth.

If I can make it through this, I will be very surprised.

Youth Intake

Doesn’t seem as deep as last years group. We pick up a future keeper in Jay Peel, but Sam Vince is only 18 and not going anywhere soon, so Peel might not get into the first team very soon. Tom Asher and Martin Birtles both seem to be future decent midfielders. The rest will need to work hard to have a shot at playing time in the future.

Boston United

Skrill North 2014/15 Season

February Update

Award News

Bianga had a great month, and this was deserved. He's been a great playmaker, and is raking up the assists recently.

Fixtures

It was nice starting the month off against the 21^st place team in the league after ending last month against the 22^nd place team. Colwyn Bay were in horrible form, and played like it as they bunked defensively the whole match. I was getting nervous though going into the 60^th minute without having scored, and though the game would be a massive let down until Poscha my left fullback came out of nowhere into the center of the box to nail in a cross from Collins. I have no idea why he was so far out of position, but screw it, it worked. We pulled another goal in extra time while Colwyn bay tried to level the match.

We then got to play Hyde, another relegation contender in a match that I felt could make or break our season. It was the last match of the year that we would face a poorly performing team, and we needed all 3 points to put some distance on the teams chasing us for a playoff spot. We played really well, and truly deserved the victory, but Hyde took their chances well and pulled off a lifesaving win to push them away from the relegation group. The defeat would be the first we had faced with Sam Vince in goal, and the first game all year that he had conceded 2 goals.

I worried at this point that we would have another one of our meltdowns, but the team powered on. We would go into our next 2 home matches and put up 4 goals in each match! Wickham scoring all 4 against Guiseley, a team we had struggled to score against in the last 2 seasons, to break out of his long goal scoring drought. Collins and Bianga came up big against 2nd place Altrincham, leading us to an unexpected 4-2 win.

Skrill North Table

Holding down 4^th place. I am not comfortable though yet. We finish the season with 4 of 5 matches away from home. We also end the season facing Histon and Tamworth the last 2 weeks. With only a 4 point lead, we need to keep earning points dispite the tough schedule. We fell apart this time last season, with so much to play for, we cannot afford to do that again.

Contract Offer

The board is so delighted with me that they want to offer me a deal for £20,000 when I am currently making £39,000 and started my first season on £35,500. I have made the team profitable while also putting a quality product on the field. Not sure where this lowball offer came from, but they were unwilling to negociate up. So I told them I will wait until the end of the season to discuss the contract situation.

Boston United

Skrill North 2014/15 Season

April Update

Fixtures

So here we go, the home stretch with everything on the line. We start off against lowly Bradford PA who have struggled this season, and are bottom feeders, but the way they beat us earlier, I didn’t feel they would go down easy. They played in a 3-5-2 with a sweeper and a flat midfield. For some reason, it was just a really tough formation for us to compete with. Probably mostly due to our inability to control the center midfield with our 4-1-3-2. This game played out crazy too. On the road, they went up early on us, and I figured we were doomed. But the second half we seemed to start finding space and controlling things a bit. I was happy when we leveled it up in the 60^th minute with Wickham collecting a beautiful through ball on a broken play where we were lucky to not give up a goal ourselves. I had succumbed to the fact the game would end as a draw. But Bradford had other plans. We drew a corner kick in the 92^nd minute (There were 2 minutes of added time, so this was the last play of the game.) Bianga puts in the cross right at the near post where a Bradford defender was standing. Somehow, the first defender misses the ball, the keeper bobbles it, and 4 Bradford players immediately surround the ball trying to keep the ball out, but they were all getting in each others way. This whole time my team is standing around expecting the game to end, and they were ready to go take their showers. Eventually, Bradford managed to push the ball into their own net after a solid 5-10 seconds of fighting with themselves, and we had managed a miracle victory! 3 needed points, I’ll take it!

We go into Stockport with hopes of defeating the poorly performing tough guys of the league. After snatching a goal in the 2^nd minute, we let off the gas, and tried to coast to the win. We almost made it too until conceding goals in the 80^th and 88^th minute to succumb to defeat, and find ourselves just 1 point ahead of 6^th place.

Our last home match of the year brought a very disappointing amount of fans out to the game. The match sucked though, so they probably made the right choice and instead hit the local pub. We did manage to keep the clean sheet though and pull off a goal in the 59^th minute in a game we dominated, but just couldn’t find the net.

Still just 1 point above 6^th place, we were on our way to face #2 Histon who were already playoff bound. We were happy to come away with a very important away victory, that would also lead us to the best news we could have received!

We were playoff bound, and sitting in 4^th place, looking to face off with Altrincham. We had a 3 point lead over Tamworth who would only miss the playoffs if Lowesoft could overcome the 9 goal differential in a win, and Tamworth went on to lose. I brought in all of my backups and rested my starters for the playoffs. I really wasn’t worried about facing Histon or Altrincham as we had beaten both this season at some point. I didn’t want injuries. The backups played toe to toe with Tamworth, but although we created chances, the quality infront of the goal just wasn’t there, and we succomed to defeat, and end the season in 5^th place.

Skrill North Table

Really a huge accomplishment. I really didn’t expect to make it this high up the table. Our consistancy came through finally in the last 2 months of the season. Now we just need to ride it a little longer, because losing one of the next 3 (hopefully) matches could make all of this great progress pointless if we just get to do it all again next season. Here goes nothing… Onward Boston United!

Boston United

Skrill North 2014/15 Season

End Of Season Stats

A few really good performances this season. Hard to choose between an MVP for the year. Really I would like to have an MVP for the first half of the season and second half of the season, because 2 guys carried us during different times. The first half would have to go to Charlie Collins. The striker created a lot both for himself as well as his strike partners during the early part of the year. He had big shoes to fill by taking over Newsham’s spot, and he stepped up notably. The 22 year old from Northern Ireland was a great offseason accusation who now wants the big bucks. Sadly his form declined in the second half of the year.

The second half of the year was Andreas Bianga. The 17 year old central midfielder from Bury was great at finding his teammates with perfectly weighted balls as well as 1 game where he pulled off 3 assists to Wickham which led to Wickhams 4 goal outing.

Also of note was the way the team started to really find consistency when I finally gave up on Atkinson between the posts, and moved 18 year old prospect Sam Vince into the starting spot. Atkinson’s redemption game was the final game against Tamworth where he conceded 3 times.

Let down of the season goes to Defensive Midfielder Jim Stevenson. He was supposed to anchor our midfield all season. Instead due to poor form most of the year he was relegated to the bench in favor of last year’s DM Conor Marshall.

Boston United

Skrill North 2014/15 Season

Playoffs – Skrill North Semi Final

Game 1 Altrincham @ Boston United

I may have put some added pressure on my team in the team talk right before the game saying we needed the win to set us up well. We came out flat, and conceded a goal in under 3 minutes as Altrincham’s striker Steven Tames broke through behind our defense and slotted home a goal on the one on one with Vince. I did what I could to remain patient, but I didn’t want to go into the half down a goal. I pushed the team to attack at will for the last 10 minutes of the half, and a breakthrough came with a beautiful shot from distance by Jake Hall who put his foot through the ball with real power to beat the Altrincham keeper.

Altrincham defended mostly the rest of the game, occasionally breaking forward, but we couldn’t break them down although we did try. We left with the draw, which didn’t make me comfortable at all, but it was better than a loss at home. We thanked our fans who showed up. 3,002 people in the stands looked insane! Half were chearing for the bad guys though.

Game 2 Boston United @ Altrincham

I told the boys before the match that there was no pressure on them in this one. We were the underdogs, and we just needed to play our game. They seemed a lot more relaxed this time around, and it showed! Within the first 10 minutes of the game we were heartbroken to see both Wickman and Hall hit the post on beautiful shots that beat the keeper. We continued play our counter attack strategy and the chances kept coming. On 16 minutes Collins broke through with a great goal on a one on one with the keeper, but was ruled offside. Finally Wickham put us ahead on 30 minutes, and you could just see the Altrincham players feeling the nerves. We hit the post 2 more times before the half which had me pulling my hair out as I knew that another goal could break their resolve. With just the 1 goal lead, still anything could happen.

We dominated the first 45 minutes! The pressure would turn up a notch going into the last 45 against a team who were in the Skrill Premier last season, who had more quality then us, and would be playing desperate for a goal.

We held our own for the first 10 minutes before Wickham who had seriously put our team on his back and carried us to the final himself pushed another past the Alrincham keeper, and our opponents visibly gave up at that point. They barely ventured into our defensive 3^rd the last 30 minutes, and we added insult to injury as Bryan broke lose with a 3^rd goal in the 84^th minute. We had another couple of chances late as well. And just like that, Boston United, the surprise package of the Skrill North were on their way to the final to face Histon! Histon had beat Tamworth on aggriage by a 3-0 margin, winning both matches.

Boston United

Skrill North 2014/15 Season

Playoffs – Skrill North Final

Boston United @ Histon

I was more stressed for this match then I think I have been all season. It all comes down to this, as we take on Histon on the road. We beat them at their place at the end of the season, so we knew we could do it again. I went into this game ultra-conservatively as I was afraid of having to chase this type of match, the last thing I wanted was a 3 minute goal like we gave up to Altrincham in our first playoff match.

I lined up the same 11 as we had in the second game at Altrincham as they had played quite well, and figured they could keep up form. The first half was the most boring 45 minutes of football ever played I think, as both teams were too nervous to venture forward. It ended with only 3 shots, non on goal between the 2 sides. Going into the second half I knew I couldn’t keep up the status quo as we would not be able to beat Histon in a penalty shootout with an 18 year old goal keeper, and a young unexperienced team.

So in the second half we went to our normal standard brand of football. We played much more balanced, and continued to keep Histon off our side of the pitch. But the goal wouldn’t come despite a couple of decent chances created for Wickham and Collins. So into extra time we would go, still tied up at 0-0.

My strategy was simple in extra time. I had a feeling that Histon would be playing for the PK’s as they knew they would be favored there. So we would play the first 15 minutes conservatively, and try not to exert ourselves too much. We would then go full on attack in the final 15 minutes and push people forward. I figured we had nothing to lose. These young guys would be too naive to think it was risky. While Histon had gotten so comfortable with things, they would never see it coming. The best part? If we were to score, it would give them too little time to try and react.

So after the first 15 minutes the score was still locked up at 0-0. We pushed hard in the final 15 minutes of extra time, and Histon was shocked. We started breaking them open from the first minute, and created a few half chances that just missed. Then with just 5 minutes to spare, our DM that had struggled all season until the playoffs has the ball drop to him after a failed corner kick. He is standing straight on from goal well outside the box. He lets it rip, and it deflects off of a Histon defender right in front of their keeper who had no time to react to the redirection, and the ball hit the back of the net. After holding off Histon for 6 more minutes, we had done it! We had beaten the #2 and #3 teams in the league during the playoffs, and we were headed for the Skrill Premier!

Boston United

Skrill North 2014/15 Season

Offseason I – State of the Club

Promotion!

Altrincham had little patience for losing in the playoffs after placing 2^nd in the Skrill North table, and the day after the final Lee Sinnott was shown the door. Glad I didn’t have the promotion or leave ultimatum.

If they like my performance so much… They better offer a contract worth more than half of what I am being paid now…

2015 Offseason

We had an unexpected run toward the end of last season that pushed us from the 8^th place spot that we found ourselves at midseason. It was great to see the team gel so well toward the end, but it was really the defense that pushed us to the playoffs in the 5^th spot in the league. We finished the 2015 season tied for 2^nd place in goals conceeded behind only AFC Telford who went on to win the league. Our goals scored was pretty middle of the road dispite having a pretty talented strike partnership. Like the 2014 season, we struggled to get more goal scoring production from our midfield and defense to support Collins and Wickman up top. It also didn’t help that my 2 backup strikers Astbury and Bryan didn’t really do much when they were brought into games.

I sent the team off for their vacations, letting them know we would be fighting for survival in the Skrill Premier next season. I also mentioned that we would try and keep the same team together as much as possible to do so. I felt that we could survive with the team we had…. Until I really researched the Skrill Premier, then I knew it was going to be tougher than first expected.

The budget I used last season of £173,000 would have been last place in the Premier last year. If I use the complete budget that I am expecting to get from the chairman (~£373,000) we would be placed in a solid 17^th place. Which ironically although it is nearly double last years budget, it would place us in 17^th in the Skrill Premier. In contrast, 7 teams spent over 1 Million Pounds! Luton as much as £1.8 Million!

My plan is to keep my strike partnership of Collins and Wickham as well as my centeral defense partnership of Piergianni and Ashworth. I will need to upgrade most of the midfield. Bianga has already made it clear he wont be signing with us after he was released from his parent club. Mills is getting older and a bit slow for my liking, so he will be coming off the bench. Hall is solid for this level and will probably be competing to keep his starting spot. Same goes for DM Marshall. So the midfield will be mostly rebuilt. Then we need to upgread the outside backs as they simply were not good enough last season in the Skrill North, so they will be even worse in the Skrill Premier. Lastly although GK Sam Vince had a strong season last year, I intend to bring in an upgrade, if he can out perform the guy I bring in though, then he can grab the #1 shirt.

So changes will be coming, I hope less than what I did last offseason though. Hopefully we can keep ourselves alive next year, because the 2 teams promoted from the Skrill North last season both failed in the Premier last season. Oxford City placing 22^nd with a 10W – 14D- 22L season. While little North Ferriby fared worse in the bottom 24^th spot with a 7W – 15D- 24L season. Oxford for having the leagues worst defense, North Ferriby for having the leagues worst offense. We will have to fight for every point next year.

Boston United

Skrill North 2014/15 Season

Offseason II – Awards and News

Awards

I was surprised to get this award. 4 teams finished with better records, but it was exciting to earn it. I think this is my first time ever winning the Manager of the Year award.

The Fans seem to want be back, I have yet to hear from the Chairman on a new contract though. We’ll see how that goes when it comes.

2 new jersey sponsorship contracts worth an extra £3K per season. It helps, but wont overcome our much smaller financial footing in the Skrill Premier.

We made £85K in profit last season! With hopefully increased ticket sales next season we should be able to break even still even with the increased wage bill. Though travel will cost a bit more too as the Skrill Premier covers the whole of England rather than just the north.

Bianga was a huge part of the second half of our season as we raised our game to push into the playoffs. His playmaking skills were on full display, and he managed to end the year in second place in the Skrill North with 16 assists to add to his 5 goals. His 7.21 Average Rating was better than anyone else in the Boston United squad as well. Well deserved.

A bunch of new names on the list this season. That is too be expected after last seasons turnover. I would have put Sam Vince in as the best 11 GK.

We apperantly have a parent club now in the form of Bury. They are a League 1 outfit, which could be beneficial. I am disappointed though in A) We don’t receive any yearly payout in the deal, and B) Bury doesn’t really fit well for us to take advantage of currently. Their youth players aren’t good enough to really help us, and their reserve players have no desire to play 2 leagues lower for a relegation fighing club.

Boston United

Skrill North 2014/15 Season

Offseason III – Transfer News

Transfers Out

Matthew Atkinson failed to hold down the starting GK spot as 18 year old Sam Vince took it from him over the last 3 months of the season that helped lead us to the playoffs. Atkinson had some good appearances, but was too inconsistent for a team trying to challenge for the playoffs.

Matt Richards did pretty well the first half of the season, enough to earn a starting spot. When we got the starting spot though, he performed pretty poorly, and soon found himself on the bench, and now out of the team as we look to improve our midfield.

MC Craddock and ST Astbury both leave the team after Forest Green swiped them up from their non-contracts with Boston United. Forest Green surprisingly chased 4 of my non-contract guys to help them in their bid to stay in League 2 this season. I find it strange because my non-contract guys really didn’t do much put eat up minutes when needed for me last season. In fact the only non-contract guy I have who is really worth anything is MC Jake Hall who they didn’t even make a move for. Anyways, both Craddock and Astbury got solid paydays that were beyond what I would have paid them, and they wouldn’t have seen much of the field this season anyways for me.

Transfers In

I am really excited of the group I have coming in this season. To compete at GK with Vince will be Kyle Merson who we steal away from Stains who we will be facing in the Skrill Premier this season. Merson only made 6 appearances for Stains last season, but looks capable as a starting keeper at just 22 years old.

On defense we signed an exciting right back Paul Smith from Matlock. He is versitale and can play on the left side of the field, or in central midfield as well. He is an upgrade in every category from what we had their last season, and is probably on par with Marrs who played DR for us on 2014. For the left side we bring back Kieran Coupe who we loaned in from Mansfield for the second straight season. He started performing better later in the season after a poor start. I was hoping to find something better, but after racking up a £15K scouting bill and Coupe being the best of the DL my scout could find, I decided to bite the bullet on the guy I knew rather than hoping for the best with on outsider.

Midfield is where we see the most activity this offseason. We bring in Stephen Crawley from Concord Rangers and Tony Stokes from Margate to bring some added attack to our midfield. Both guys have a talent for making things happen in the final third, and we need that out of our midfield. Adam Martin joins us from Chesham as a box to box or ball winning midfielder who will add a bit of a defensive bite for us. We also added Ben Whiteman on loan from Sheffield United who was suppose to push for the starting DM spot. After a bad injury in the preseason though, Whiteman has already been returned to Sheffield United.

Lastly up top we bring in Ben Clark on loan from Mansfield who heard from Coupe that it was be a good opportunity. Clark immediately becomes our #3 striker, and has the ability to work his way into a starting spot if he performs when he gets the chance.

Boston United

Skrill North 2014/15 Season

Offseason IV - The Team

Goalkeepers

There will be a good competition for the starting spot here. We bring in Kyle Merson who was the backup at Stains last season, and he will be fighting to take over the #1 jersey from incumbent Sam Vince. Both guys are young and need further development to be good at this level. GK is still a team weakness, but finding someone who can really dominate at this level has been an impossible task so far. With the amount of defending we might be stuck doing, this weakness could hurt.

Defense

We return nearly our whole back line from last season that managed to keep 14 clean sheets in last year’s league play as well as 2 clean sheets from 3 playoff matches! They were the 2^nd best defensive unit in the Skrill North, so I am hoping the step up won’t break them. Paul Smith is the only new comer who should really give us better support on the right side as well as adding something extra to our attack going forward. The Left side will be a position battle between Gough and Coupe who are both probably a step down from what we really need in that spot. Our defense will again be anchored by Piergianni and Ashworth who will be counted on to keep us in games. They both seem up to the task and really played well in preseason. Off the bench we have Hammond again who was a disappointment last season, and is only here still because he is a cheap non-contract option. I would like to bring in a better backup at some point.

Midfield

The midfield has a lot of new faces this season after being the least changed group last season. Conor Marshall will be our only returning starter to start off as he continues his duties at DM, as last years starters Jake Hall and Gary Mills will now be coming off the bench unless they can work their way back into the starting 11. Mills I might add is not only the Vice Captain again this season, but he has also be signed this season as a Player/Coach after our last coach retired. I needed to find a good replacement, and the 34 year old midfielder looked the part. It took some convincing, but he finally agreed to start his back office career this season with me. Realistically had it not been for the Coaching position, Mills probably wouldn’t have returned this season.

Stokes, Martin and Cawley should bolster our midfield as they are a step up from what we had last season. I expect Stokes to be our playmaker, taking over from Bianga last season. Cawley should be a good attacking striker taking Mills spot. While Martin and Hall will fight for the last central midfield spot in the starting 11.

Strikers

We retain most of the same guys as last season. Collins and Wickham will be counted on again to score goals, and they will need to improve over last season as we will be facing tougher competition week in and week out. To improve our attack I have added Ben Clark in on loan. He is as good as our starters and could see a lot of field time. Bryan will be injury cover as well as a good guy off the bench as he has some really good speed and can use that on the counter.

Boston United

Skrill Premier 2015/16 Season

Board Expectations:

Skrill North: Stay Clear of Relegation

FA Cup: 4^th Qualifying Roung

FA Trophy: Reach the First Round

My Expectations:

Skrill North: Anything that isn’t Relegation sounds good to me!

FA Cup: I don’t care.

FA Trophy: I don’t care.

Media Prediction: 24^th L

Financials

Estimated Club Value: £275K (+£125K)

Current Balance: £187,714 (+£99,128)

Wage Budget: £337,844 (+£139,620) (£275,340 Current Spending)

Season Tickets Sold: 524 (+24) (£202 average price) (+£42)

Average Ticket Price: £14 (+£2)

Preseason Friendlies

Not as prolific as last season when we beat a couple of higher league teams.This season the results pretty much played out the way they were suppose too.I was disappointed with the draw at Lincoln who is a league below us, but I was very happy with the draw against Liverpool Under 21’s.So I guess it all evens out.

We didn’t face any Skrill Premier teams, so I really have no idea what to expect this season.I know we have one of the lowest payrolls currently in the league, if not the lowest.The squad lacks star power this season, and instead last years stars are just solid players at this level.It will be a fight to keep away from the bottom 4 spots, and the Media seems to think we will finish bottom this season.My team has a couple of advantages though.1, our opponents will come in over confident. 2, we might just be one of the better “team” teams out there.These guys are not selfish, and will be determined to fight for eachother.I guess well find out soon enough if we were indeed ready for this.If not?Who cares, it will be fun playing at a higher level this season, and the guys deserve that.

Bring on Gateshead!