[FM15] Down the Rabbit Hole

Hey guys, I'm a recent inductee into the mad world of FM, but after some mild success with Eastleigh in FM14 I've become well and truly hooked on the series

With that in mind, and seeing some of the great careers written in this forum, I thought I'd record one of my own, and while my skill pales in comparison to many of those who's threads I've read so far, hopefully with a little experience (and a lot of luck!) I can manage to achieve something remarkable too

I've decided that in this save, I want to take charge of Stockport, and stay there for the duration of my career. They're a team in the Conference North who have seen much, much better days. 16 years ago, The Hatters achieved a respectable mid-table finish in the Championship after having been promoted from League 1 the previous season. Relegation in 2002 and 2005 however saw Stockport drop to League 2, and the 2006 season almost saw them suffer back-to-back relegations and drop out of the Football League entirely, but they managed to just about survive with a 22nd place finish. Promotion to League 1 in 2008 signaled that the dark times had passed, but it was not to be: 3 relegations in 4 seasons saw Stockport fall like a stone from the Football League, and even from the Conference itself. They now occupy the Conference North, four tiers below the heights they used to grace, and are expected to finish mid-table. The club, and its supporters, deserve so much more.

I'm going to set a list of goals that cover everything from the relatively easy to the nigh-on impossible. I don't realistically expect to achieve most of the things I've outlined here, but you never know until you try!

Database: Large

• 
  England - Lowest Playable Division: Conference Regional
  

Goals:

Easy:

• Baby Steps: Win promotion to the Conference Premier - Achieved on 09/05/2015
  
• The Manager: Win a Manager of the Year Award
  
• Bragging Rights: Do the double over a league rival
  

Medium:

• Toddler Steps: Win promotion to Football League Two
  
• The Boss: Win three Manager of the Year Awards
  
• Cup Glory: Win any domestic cup competition
  
• League Glory: Win any league title
  
• Teenage Steps: Win promotion to Football League One
  

Hard:

• Big Boy Steps: Win promotion to the Championship
  
• The King: Win five Manager of the Year Awards
  
• Who Are Ya?: Win a game against our fierce rivals - Manchester City
  
• Big Boy Strides: Win promotion to the Premiership
  

Very Hard:

• Playing With the Big Boys: Qualify for Europe
  
• Top of The League (Cup): Win the League Cup
  
• Where Were You When You Were S**t?: Do the double over Man City
  
• Here To Stay: Stay in the Premiership for three consecutive seasons
  

Extremely Hard:

• Playing With the Biggest Boys: Qualify for the Champions League
  
• The Legend: Win ten Manager of the Year Awards
  
• Sweet FA: Win the FA Cup
  

Harder Than Hard:

• Champions of England: Win the Premiership
  
• Champions of Europe: Win the Champions League
  

Nintendo Hard

• Back-to-Back: Retain the Premiership or Champions League title
  
• Double Trouble: Win two major trophies in the same season (Premiership, CL, League Cup, FA Cup)
  
• Oh Baby A Triple!: Win three major trophies in the same season (Premiership, CL, League Cup, FA Cup)
  
• Forever In Our Shadow: Become a more famous club than Man City
  
• Famous: Become immortalised on the Hall of Fame
  

Seriously?

• Invincible: Go unbeaten in the Premiership for a whole season
  
• 4X4: Win all four major trophies in the same season (Premiership, CL, League Cup and FA Cup)
  
• The Immortal: Win twenty Manager of the Year Awards
  
• Mad Hatters: Become the most famous club in the world
  
• Knocked Off His Perch: Become the greatest manager the world has ever seen
  

| Season  | Division             | Pos  | Achievements                                           |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2014/15 | Vanarama Conf North  | 3rd  | Promoted via Playoffs. Manager of the Year runner-up.  |
| 2015/16 | Vanarama Conf        | 12th |                                                        |

Club Honors:

2014/15 Conference North Playoff winners

Managerial Honors:

2014/15 Conference North Manager of the Year Runner-Up

Loving the challenges you have set yourself mate.

Good luck in your career, will be following with great interest.

My first follower! Thank you very much

Predicted Finish: 11th - This shouldn't be too tough an ask actually, going into this game I was expecting our squad to be fairly poor, and while there are a couple of areas that could do with strengthening (fullbacks and another decent DM spring to mind) my first team is actually decent across the board, with my centre backs and keeper being particularly strong. The downside though, as with most teams in this division, is our squad depth is somewhat lacking. While we're lucky in some regard in that we actually have a few reserves, most of them a significantly worse than the players who make up my best 11, so injuries will definitely be felt.

Board Expectations:

• Respectable league position
  
• FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round
  
• FA Trophy First Round
  

If I've interpreted correctly, we start from the FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round, and the FA Trophy Third Qualifying Round, so two wins and a win respectively in these competitions will see my achieve my expectations. Barring nasty draws against Conference or top Conference regional sides, this shouldn't be too difficult an ask, and the league position I've already covered and think is definitely doable.

Personal Goals:

• Compete for a Playoff place
  

As I said earlier, I believe my squad is relatively strong for a mid-table side and with some reinforcements and a few good loan deals, I think we could make a playoff push. If we fail to make the Playoffs but we were in the running for it, I will consider this goal achieved, but if we don't end up being one of the teams competing for it I will regard it as a failure.

Budgets:

Transfer Budget: £0

Wage Budget: £4559 (£250 under budget)

Not a whole lot of wiggle room, although considering the club has a full bench + 2 there are a decent amount of players for the budget we're on. Loans are going to be high priority for me to strengthen my squad, although with some good scouting and negotiating I might just be able to sign one or two players too.

Finances:

Initial Balance: £54K

Projected Balance: £732K (+£678K)

The club is absolutely set financially, one of the benefits or a massive fanbase in relation to the other teams in the league. We made ~250K from season ticket sales alone! Maybe if I get off to a good start the board would be happy to let me increase the wage budget slightly? We'll have to wait and see

I thought they'd be in a bad financial state which would have made them a lot tougher than you'd think but looks like you've got a potentially comfortable start.

I thought they'd be in a bad financial state which would have made them a lot tougher than you'd think but looks like you've got a potentially comfortable start.

Yeah I thought the same thing, the key thing seems to be the fact that they're semi-pro when they probably would have been professional a couple of years ago, that will have driven down the operating costs significantly but not done a lot to reduce the fanbase. That's my theory anyway! XD

Results

Results went pretty much as expected in a vacuum, with wins against the lesser sides and defeats against the better ones. The 7-1 and 6-1 demolitions were encouraging, although the latter flattered us greatly, and only losing by one goal vs better sides was encouraging. That being said, our result vs Monmouth was somewhat lacking, the fixture congestion likely exasperated this but it's a problem that we may have to tackle in the competitive season too so fitness is going to be a high priority. In addition, we let a 3-1 lead over Bristol Rovers turn into a 4-3 defeat, which I was furious about.

Positives:

+ Defeats were only vs better sides, and only by one goal

+ 7-1 and 6-1 demolitions of smaller sides

+ 21 goals in 5 games, 8 in 3 games vs stronger sides

+ Very nearly held on to a 3-3 draw with Liverpool Under 21s, lost due to a last minute goal

+ Kolo Toure is surprisingly realistic

+ Most of my goals were conceded by my backup keeper after subbing him on in the second half, this won't happen in competitive games

Negatives:

- No clean sheets

- 15 goals conceded in 5 games, 11 in 3 games vs stronger sides

- Goytre United created way too many chances

- Monmouth victory wasn't very convincing

- A 3-1 lead over Bristol Rovers turned into a 4-3 defeat in the space of 25 minutes

- Monkhouse's freak first goal for Bristol City, I wasn't able to upload it (because it's in beta I guess?) but if I get the chance I will

Stats:

Stockport vs Stockport U21s

Stockport vs Motherwell

Goytre United vs Stockport

Stockport vs Liverpool Under 21s

Monmouth vs Stockport

Stockport vs Bristol Rovers

Transfers:

In:

Liam Darville - Free Transfer (Free Agent)

James Lawrie - On Loan Until End of Season (Altrincham)

Jake Moult - On Loan For 3 Months (Altrincham)

Out:

Jordan Lazenbury - On Loan Until End of Season (Cheadle)

Results:

An unbeaten start to the season bodes very well and has had a positive effect on team morale. We rode our luck at times, especially in the Guiseley game which we didn't deserve to get anything out of, but performances have been generally good from a team expected to finish smack bang in the middle of the table. It's somewhat disappointing that despite going unbeaten for our first 6 we're not even in a playoff place, but having said that we're only 2 points off the leaders so it depends how you want to look at it

On the flipside, our defence remains as leaky as a broken sieve and we're still yet to record a clean sheet in 12 games, which is almost an achievement in its own right! As long as we keep winning games by banging in more goals then I guess I can stomach it, but it's something that could definitely do with fixing.

Board Confidence

Positives:

+ Unbeaten start to the season

+ Scored at least 2 goals in every game

+ 17 goals in 6 games

+ Crushing performance against Bradford PA, even though the scoreline didn't reflect it

+ On target to compete for a Playoff spot

+ Getting into a good habit of scoring goals right at the end of games

Negatives:

- Still no clean sheets

- Conceded 11 goals in 6 games, and can't blame my backup keeper this time

- Lack of match fitness in some of the more congested games had a negative impact on our performances, in fact our two draws were games played within 2/3 days of our last game

- Despite the good scoreline, our performance against Tamworth wasn't good enough given they spent most of the second half with 10 men

- Got hammered against Guiseley and didn't deserve to snatch a point

- Almost did 'a Bristol Rovers' against Lowestoft, as a 3-0 lead got cut down to 3-2 in the last 20 minutes

Stats:

Stockport vs North Ferriby

Guiseley vs Stockport

Tamworth vs Stockport

Stockport vs Bradford PA

Stalybridge vs Stockport

Stockport vs Lowestoft

Transfers:

None

Injuries:

Danny Gregson - Twisted Ankle (2-4 weeks)

Scott Spencer - Strained Knee Ligaments (4-5 weeks)

good start i think i need to do one as well once goes live

On the flipside, our defence remains as leaky as a broken sieve and we're still yet to record a clean sheet in 12 games, which is almost an achievement in its own right! As long as we keep winning games by banging in more goals then I guess I can stomach it, but it's something that could definitely do with fixing.

I believe SI has said they're aware that goalkeepers are letting in a lot, especially in the lower leagues. So that could be fixed by the time the game goes gold.

Nice start, looking forward to seeing how you progress.

I believe SI has said they're aware that goalkeepers are letting in a lot, especially in the lower leagues. So that could be fixed by the time the game goes gold.

You're definitely on to something, it's not just me. That's over 10 games. In fact, the number of goals conceded by teams in the league so far ranges from 12 to 32, that would definitely point to defences being about as solid as a rich tea biscuit post-dunk. I'll keep at it but hopefully keepers will learn how to save soon

Great achievement names

Keep up the good work, will be following

Results:

Ah, so near and yet so far to 4 league wins in 4 We made a mountain out of a molehill vs Hednesford, who were propping up the table on one point from six games, and I was unhappy to only scrape a win. The following game against Boston United however saw us make an excellent second half comeback, and the 4-0 win against Worcester was a comprehensive win and our first clean sheet in 15 games, so I went into our last league game of the month looking to make it 4/4; another late collapse saw us concede three goals in 6 minutes after having been 2-0 up, and we couldn't get back into the game. I tend not to switch my tactic mid-game, but with the number of goals we're conceding in the final 30 mins, I'm intending to switch to a more defensive formation if we're in the lead and I decide it's time to start making subs in the second half, my original intention was to keep blasting goals in but they tend to dry up if we're ahead and I need to go about protecting our leads better.

I was looking to bounce back with a win in the cup, but we could only scrape a draw and we really didn't deserve to get anything out of the game. Thanks to the replay, we're playing 4 games within an 11 day window, 5 in 15 if we win the replay, so we're going to be stretched for the first couple of weeks in October. Still, better to still be in it! I'm generally happy with our performances this month, and I'm delighted to be sitting in 2nd and 6 points clear of dropping out of the playoffs at this early stage. Hopefully with the necessarily tactical changes during matches, we'll stay throwing away less leads in the second half

Board Confidence

Positives:

+ CLEAN SHEET

+ 6 points clear in a playoff place, 1 point off 1st

+ Dominating performance vs Worcester

+ Fantastic late comeback vs Boston United

+ Still in the FA Cup despite a poor performance

+ 15 goals in 5 games

+ Almost injury-free

Negatives:

- First loss

- 9 conceded in 5 games

- Istanbul-style collapse vs Solihull Moors

- AFC Fylde (1st) and Solihull Moors (3rd) have our goal difference smashed to bits

- Cup replay has caused serious fixture congestion

Stats:

Hednesford vs Stockport

Stockport vs Boston United

Stockport vs Worcester

Solihull Moors vs Stockport

Barrow vs Stockport

Transfers:

None

Injuries:

Chris Churchman - Hernia (5 days-2 weeks)

Good start to life at Stockport and a clean sheet! Almost unheard of in lower leagues at the minute.

Results:

It was bound to happen sooner or later, I was just hoping that it would be later. The loss in the cup stung a bit because we were pretty evenly matched, but they managed to sneak it on the day. This put us on two losses and a draw in our last three games, morale was starting to take a hit, so I was very happy with the way we bounced back with a win vs Gloucester, although it was only 1-0 (clean sheets!) we absolutely dominated the game and could have easily won by a landslide if it wasn't for their keeper being in form. Then we went and did the polar opposite against Oxford City, we were ripped to shreds and the scoreline flattered us. I think a combination of sketchy morale and bad tactics on my part contributed to that one.

Then Leamington. Oh boy this game was frustrating. They set up a brick wall at the back and we stuggled to create decent chances, and the game looked like it was petering out to a bore draw, so I made a couple of subs to see if I could shake things up in attack. 68th minute one of my defenders gets injured; no worries, I still have a defender on the bench. 5 minutes later... another defender gets injured. Really. I groan and shift my mentality to contain, surely we can survive 15 minutes against one of the teams fighting relegation?

[video=youtube;gvdf5n-zI14]

6 points from my last five league games isn't the end of the world for a team that is predicted to finish mid-table mind you, but it looks like my honeymoon period is well and truly over now. We're playing the league leaders away next, who are also predicted to top the table, the first in a series of five games within 15 days, our morale is suffering and our fitness is going to be well and truly tested. It's shaping up to be a tough month ahead!

Board Confidence

Positives:

+ ANOTHER CLEAN SHEET

+ Great performance vs Gloucester

+ Completely injury-free!

Negatives:

- Back-to-back competitive losses for the first time

- 3 goals in 4 games

- Woeful performance vs Oxford City

- Leamington performance was also poor before the unfortunate double injury

- Heading into 5 games over 15 days with sketchy morale, picked a bad time to start losing!

Stats:

Stockport vs Barrow

Stockport vs Gloucester

Oxford City vs Stockport

Leamington vs Stockport

Transfers:

In:

Jake Moult - Loan Extended Until End of Season (Altrincham)

Out:

None

Injuries:

None

Not a bad start to your time at Stockport. Obviously gutting to be out of the cup so early but plenty of time to focus on the league now.

its amazing, i will follow.

Looking pretty good.

Results:

WE'RE TOP OF THE LEAGUE, WE'RE TOP OF THE LEAGUE, WE'RE STOCKPORT COUNTY, WE'RE TOP OF THE LEAGUE!

What a month! With the toughest league game of the season upon us, I feared the worst, but we took the league leaders apart in their own stadium. Given the stature of our opponents I would say it was our best performance of the season so far. We continued our positive momentum with a win against AFC Fylde, leapfrogging them in the process. The draw against Brackley was disappointing after we threw away a 2-0 lead in the ast 20 minutes, although our performance overall was solid and I think on paper we edged it. Apparently this was enough for the media to get on my back, because a mid-table team sitting 2nd in the league is performing below expectations, right? Maybe I should thank them, because we went on to demolish Chorley, and sneak a win in a close-fought game with Hednesford, in which none of my players got on the scoresheet.

Losing our last league game of the month has been a running theme, and we continued the trend as we got thoroughly outplayed by AFC Flyde on our return trip, can't really explain this one, we went into the half time break pretty much deadlocked in terms of the score and stats, but we just fell apart in the second half. Luckily we had an FA Trophy fixture against minnows Burscough to round off the month, and I took the opportunity to field a few players who were lacking match fitness. We bossed the game, but a dodgy penalty awarded to them cancelled out our early opener, and things looked to be heading to a replay which I really didn't want. Fortunately, a late surge saw us score 3 in the last 10 minutes, a nice way to end an extremely good month

Things are tight at the top, if Solihull Moors and AFC Fylde win their games in hand, we'll have 4 teams all on 39 points Great position to be in right now though, we're got a 9 point cushion between us and dropping out of the playoffs, hopefully we can continue to widen that gap. Bring on December!

Board Confidence

Positives:

+ NOT ONE, BUT TWO CLEAN SHEETS

+ 20 goals in 7 games

+ Top of the league

+ Embarrassed the league leaders in their own backyard

+ Destroyed Chorley

+ Virtually injury-free

Negatives:

- Outplayed vs AFC Fylde away, our heaviest defeat so far

- Threw away a 2 goal lead against Brackley

Stats:

Harrogate vs Stockport

Stockport vs AFC Fylde

Stockport vs Brackley

Chorley vs Stockport

Stockport vs Hednesford

AFC Fylde vs Stockport

Burscough vs Stockport

Transfers:

None

Injuries:

Chris Sharp - Concussion (1 day)

Results:

A mixed month. We started with edging a win against Guiseley in a very close game, and another close fought game saw us run out winners against Stalybridge in the FA Trophy after extra time, it was shaping up to be another solid month. Unfortunately the game seems to be able to sense my real-life complacency, and punished me against North Ferriby, where poor finishing and defending resulted in an embarrassing scoreline. We fought back in an 8-goal thriller against Colwyn Bay, where every shot on target resulted in a goal, before another poor performance saw us yield to Bradford PA, and the be honest we were fortunate to grab the 2 goals we did because our finishing was poor again.

My concern about the performances in our losses aside, it was still a decent month, we're still in our last cup and while we didn't really dominate any of the games we played this month we still notched up three wins out of five, and our place in the playoffs is still looking pretty comfortable, even if we have fallen behind in a speculative title push

Board Confidence

Positives:

+ 14 goals in 5 games

+ Managed to grind out results in close games

+ Still alive in the FA Trophy

+ 8 point playoff cushion just over halfway through the season

Negatives:

- 15 conceded in 5 games, our worst record so far in competitive matches

- Performances in our defeats were very poor

- We seem to be struggling in away games

Stats:

Stockport vs Guiseley

Stockport vs Stalybridge

North Ferriby vs Stockport

Stockport vs Colwyn Bay

Bradford PA vs Stockport

Transfers:

None

Injuries:

None

It has been a great season for us so far. We're exceeding expectations in the league, looking set for a playoff place, and we've also exceeded expectations in the FA Trophy by reaching the second round. In addition, our signing and two loaned players have all been excellent, particularly James Lawrie, who is actually our top scorer! I'm definitely going to look into either signing him or loaning him again for next season because he has been absolutely immense for us. Hopefully we can ride out the end of the season, a title push I feel is too ambitious and I think we're too inconsistent to still be challenging come the last 10 games, but I feel that we should be able to hold on to this playoff spot now after a very good first half of the season

League Position:

Predicted: 11th

Current: 3rd

FA Cup:

Expectation: Fourth Qualifying Round

Current: Knocked out in Second Qualifying Round (Barrow)

FA Trophy:

Expectation: First Round

Current: Second Round

Results:

Another mixed bag, but positive overall I would say Colwyn Bay must consider me the bane of their existence after sweeping 11 goals past them over 2 games! Of course, next game we 'did a Stockport', although in fairness we were dominated throughout the game and a loss was a fair result for us.

One of our best performances of the season saw us beat Gateshead in the FA Trophy in a close game and I was delighted with the result, and we carried on that good form against Barrow where we deserved to win, but their solid goalkeeping let them escape with a point. Unfortunately, in the FA Trophy Third Round, we crashed out to Boston United despite having beaten better competition a fortnight earlier, c'est la vie. We got our revenge against them in the next league game though, grinding out a nice win to end the month. 5 points and a game in hand over 5th, 5 and 2 games over 4th, three months to go!

Board Confidence

Positives:

+ 18 goals in 6 games

+ Excellent performance to upset Gateshead

+ Another solid performance vs Colwyn Bay

Negatives:

- 12 conceded in 6 games

- Poor performances vs Tamworth and the FA Trophy game vs Boston

Stats:

Colwyn Bay vs Stockport

Stockport vs Tamworth

Gateshead vs Stockport

Stockport vs Barrow

Boston United vs Stockport

Boston United vs Stockport

Transfers:

None

Injuries:

None

Results:

Rough month. To be honest there's little point in going into details with any of the games because for each one the result ended up being what we deserved, and most of the time we deserved to lose. Both Worcester and Hyde grabbed injury time goals to deprive me of a precious win, but on the balance of play a draw was a fair result in each. Getting smashed 4-1 by a team in the drop zone is disconcerting, it's imperative that we bounce back in March, we've been lucky that other teams around us have dropped a fair number of points too, but if we continue in this kind of form then we have no chance of keeping hold of this spot. The hard work begins in earnest now.

Board Confidence

Positives:

+ No injuries

Negatives:

- 5 points from 6 games

- 17 conceded in 6 games

- Sub-standard performances in every game bar Leamington

- Playoff cushion has been cut to 3 points

- Morale is in the toilet

Stats:

Stockport vs Leamington

Stockport vs Stalybridge

Stockport vs Hyde

Gainsborough vs Stockport

Worcester vs Stockport

Brackley vs Stockport

Transfers:

None

Injuries:

None

Results:

Excellent time to turn things around, the playoffs are within touching distance now. 10 points out of 15 will guarantee us a spot, but realistically I'm expecting the cutoff to be at around 70 points so even another month like February might see us crawl over the finish line. I'd like our morale to be as high as possible though come the big games, so I'm aiming to get another set of good results in April regardless of whether or not we end up needing the points.

As for our performances, all of the games played were pretty close, we didn't really dominate any of them, but we also we're outplayed in any of them either, I'm extremely happy with 10/12 points and two clean sheets. If we're playing our best I think feel like we can take on anyone on the day My challenge now is to make sure this morale we have now is still here come the end of April, regardless of the results.

Oh, and I also finally bagged one of these!

Board Confidence

Positives:

+ 11 goals in 4 games

+ 3 conceded in 4 games

+ Unbeaten month

+ Two clean sheets

+ No injuries

Negatives:

None

Stats:

Stockport vs Solihull Moors

Lowestoft vs Stockport

Stockport vs Chorley

Hyde vs Stockport

Transfers:

None

Injuries:

None

Results:

That'll do it! We secured our spot in the second to last game of the season, we had a 3 point lead over 5th placed Solihull Moors and so we needed to better their result to wrap it up and we did just that, beating Gloucester while they lost against Boston United. We had little to play for in our last game, against the confirmed champions Harrogate, as 2nd placed AFC Flyde were 4 points clear of us, and 5th placed Tamworth were 4 points behind us, the only change in position possible in the top 5 would be us swapping places with Bradford PA if we won and they lost in our final games, which would ultimately make no difference. Nonetheless, I fielded a heavily rotated team and we managed to pull off a narrow win to send us into our playoff semi-final with morale sky high

Do I think we'll win the playoffs? Probably not, the teams that have made it are all solid and I fancy AFC Fylde to take the honors, not just because they finished 2nd, but also because they were running away with the league until they spectacularly bottled it, losing 4 of the last 5 league games including a loss to Harrogate in the second to last game of the season. I expect them to sweep Tamworth aside, as for me Bradford PA have been tough to play against, the fact that our ex-manager is now their manager will add some spice to this big fixture, that's for sure! As the saying goes though, you've got to be in it to win it, my squad's morale is high and I'm going to make sure we give it all we've got I'll put up the semi-final legs in separate posts to add tension

Positives:

+ Playoffs!

+ 12 goals in 5 games

+ Good performances vs Oxford and Gloucester

+ No injuries

+ Most of first 11 rested for the first playoff semi

Negatives:

- 9 conceded in 5 games

- Poor against Gainsborough

Stats:

Barrow vs Stockport

Stockport vs Oxford City

Stockport vs Gainsborough

Gloucester vs Stockport

Stockport vs Harrogate

Transfers:

None

Injuries:

None

Nothing could have prepared me for this. I went into this game with the mentality to play a counter-attacking game, to try to hold out for a draw or scrape a small win given that it was the away leg and our home form has been a lot better than our away form this season. Instead, my players rose to the occasion magnificently and we played them off the park, Lawrie's second in the 86th minute likely putting the tie to bed already. What a result. AFC Flyde look poised to make it to the final after an away leg win of their own. I know I said I regarded them as favourites for promotion, but if we play this well against them if they get to the final... we could be in with a real chance!

It was almost a formality really, but while we didn't enjoy the same domination as we'd enforced in the first leg, we ground out another solid victory and we're going to the final! I really, really hope that whatever happens in the next game, Lawrie gets Player of the Season, he's been utterly fantastic and I'll bite Altrincham's hand off for him if they're willing to sell him next season.

As predicted, AFC Fylde have made it to the final also. We play away since they finished higher than us, it's going to be a tough game but anything can happen in matches like these, as we've already seen! Something of note: we haven't won 5 games in a row at any point so far this season. We're now sitting on 4 consecutive wins. You know what they say... records are made to be broken. Bring it on!

"This playoff final today sees AFC Fylde play Stockport for the right to play in the Conference next season. What's your prediction Steve?"

"This is a really tough one to call Bob. AFC Fylde look like the better side on paper, but they know that they should have won the league and I think they're still shell-shocked from their late collapse in the title race, while they did win both of their semi-final legs they looked a shadow of the side that were running away with the league a few months ago. Stockport on the other hand have defied the odds to get here and have been on a very good run, their humiliation of Bradford over the semi-final matches shows just how good Stockport can be when they play with confidence. I think if Stockport score first, they'll go on and win it, but if Fylde take the initial lead then they'll have the quality to close out the game."

"I have to say I agree with that analysis Steve, Stockport have shown that confidence can play a huge part in getting results, both in a positive and negative way. This should be a cracking game!"

KICK-OFF: The referee blows the whistle, and the match gets under way.

2': Chance missed, Woolfe (Stockport) fires high and wide from halfway inside the box.

4': Lawrie (Stockport) wins a corner.

4': Chance missed, Woolfe (Stockport) wins the header from a corner but heads very wide of the far post.

6': Chance missed, Duxbury (Stockport) hits the ball on the half-volley just outside the box, shot sails a yard over the crossbar.

7': Chance saved, Boothe (AFC Fylde) heads the ball goalward from just inside the box after a corner, saved and held by Hurst towards the lower middle of the goal.

7': Woolfe (Stockport) wins a corner.

8': Chance saved, Baker (Stockport) hits a shot that lacks power from just outside the box, saved and held by Dootson towards the lower left of the goal.

10': Free kick to AFC Fylde from just outside their own box, Woolfe (Stockport) is caught offside.

12': Allen (AFC Fylde) wins a corner.

13': Chance saved, Scott (AFC Fylde) heads the ball goalward from the right of the penalty spot, saved by Hurst towards the middle left of the goal.

13': Sumner (AFC Fylde) wins a corner.

"It's been end to end stuff so far, Stockport are enjoying more of the ball, but AFC Fylde have tested Hurst more than his opposite number."

16': Moses (Stockport) wins a corner.

18': GOAL (AFC Fylde 0 - Stockport 1), Baker (Stockport) hits a shot from just outside the 6-yard box on the left at a tight angle into the top left corner of the goal. Assisted by Lawrie.

"It's an ambitious effort from Baker from such a tight angle, but he's placed it perfectly in the far corner. Great start for Stockport."

19': Free kick awarded to Stockport just outside the box for a foul on Woolfe by Lloyd.

20': Chance blocked, shot by Milligan (Stockport) from a free kick just outside the box hits the wall.

20': Free kick to Stockport, just outside the far left corner of their box for a foul on Lawrie by Sumner. Sumner is shown the yellow card.

23: Free kick to Stockport, Allen (AFC Fylde) is caught offside.

23': Chance saved, Baker (Stockport) crosses the ball in from the edge of the box, the ball is goalbound but saved and held by Dootson in the middle left of the goal.

25': Chance saved, Duxbury (Stockport) crosses the ball in from the edge of the box, the ball is goalbound but saved and held by Dootson in the middle right of the goal.

25': Chance saved, Lloyd (AFC Fylde) crosses the ball in from the outside the box, the ball is goalbound but saved and held by Hurst in the centre of the goal.

26': Free kick to AFC Fylde, Woolfe (Stockport) is caught offside.

26': Duxbury (Stockport) wins a corner.

28': Chance saved, Sharp (Stockport) curls in a shot from 30 yards near the sideline, saved and held by Dootson in the bottom left corner of the goal.

29': Chance missed, Allen (AFC Fylde) has a shot from a tight angle just outside the 6-yard box, the ball sails way, way wide of the far post.

"That's a bad miss from there, it's a tough angle but he needs to work the keeper."

33': Free kick to AFC Fylde, Lawrie (Stockport) is caught offside.

35': Chance saved, Baker (Stockport) blasts a shot from 25 yards towards the top right corner, saved by Dootson. Stockport win a corner.

37': Penalty to Stockport for a foul on Lawrie by Sumner.

37': Sumner is sent off for a second yellow card.

38': GOAL (AFC Fylde 0 - Stockport 2), Baker (Stockport) converts the penalty, firing into the top right corner of the goal.

"Stockport are in dreamland right now, 2-0 up and playing 11 against 10. I really can't see AFC Fylde getting back into the game here."

40': Chance missed, Sharp (Stockport) shoots just over the bar from a very tight angle halfway inside the box.

41': Free kick to AFC Fylde, Lawrie (Stockport) is caught offside.

41': Chance missed, Lawrie (Stockport) hits it wide of the far post from just inside the box on the right side.

42': Free kick to AFC Fylde just inside their own half for a foul on Allen by Darville.

44': Free kick to AFC Fylde, Lawrie (Stockport) is caught offside.

45+1': HALF TIME (AFC Fylde 0 - Stockport 2)

"What a game so far, chances galore but it's Stockport who've managed to turn their chances into goals. 2-0 up and a man up, do you think there's any way back for AFC Fylde now?"

"Football is a funny game and you can never rule anything out, but it would take something miraculous for AFC Fylde to come out with a win from this position, even with Sumner on the field Stockport seemed to be edging the game, and that gap will only widen as the second half progresses. As for the penalty, it's stonewall and the referee has no choice but to give the second yellow."

"Completely agree with you Steve, it's an extremely poor decision for him to have made given he was already on a yellow card and he may ultimately have caused his team to crash out of it here."

KICK-OFF: The referee blows to start the second half.

46': Free kick to AFC Fylde, Woolfe (Stockport) is caught offside.

47': Free kick to AFC Fylde in their own half for a foul on Hannigan by Lawrie. Lawrie is shown the yellow card.

49': Lawrie (Stockport) wins a corner.

51': Free kick to AFC Fylde to the left of the box for a foul on Lloyd by Belezika.

53': Free kick to AFC Fylde just outside the box for a foul on Langley by Moses.

53': GOAL (AFC Fylde 1 - Stockport 2), Rowe (AFC Fylde) rockets the free kick into the top corner at the near post.

"A cracking free kick from the first real chance of the second half so far. Stockport look visibly shaken and we have a game on our hands now!"

54': Free kick to Stockport to the left of the box for a foul on Lawrie by Hannigan.

55': Free kick to AFC Fylde 40 yards out for a foul on Rowe by Fagbola.

56': Chance missed, Lawrie (Stockport) shoots wide of the far post from outside the box.

57': Free kick to Stockport, Rowe (AFC Fylde) is caught offside.

59': Free kick to AFC Fylde, Woolfe (Stockport) is caught offside.

"Stockport haven't really settled so far this half and haven't created any good chances, you'd have thought it would be game, set and match but AFC Fylde could actually get back into this."

60': Free kick to Stockport, Blinkhorn (AFC Fylde) is caught offside.

61': Sharp (Stockport) wins a corner.

62': Duxbury (Stockport) wins a corner.

67': Chance missed, Sharp (Stockport) hits a shot from just right of the penalty spot and hits the crossbar.

"Stockport's best chance of the half, that goes in and you can start carving their name on the trophy."

70': Lawrie (Stockport) wins a corner.

70': Chance missed, Woolfe (Stockport) heads the ball just over the bar from outside the 6-yard box after a corner.

71': Free kick to Stockport, Blinkhorn (AFC Fylde) is caught offside.

74': Chance saved, Woolfe (Stockport) hits a shot from just inside the box towards the top corner of the near post, saved by Dootson. Stockport win a corner.

75': Free kick to Stockport by the left sideline 30 yards out for a foul on Woolfe by Cooper.

76': Milligan (Stockport) wins a corner.

76': Free kick to Stockport just outside the box for a foul on Woolfe by Allen.

76': Chance missed, Milligan (Stockport) hits the free kick a couple of yards over the bar.

"Stockport are starting to exert their authority on the game now and AFC Fylde are looking worse for wear, although I'm sure that Stockport would like to grab another goal to put the game beyond doubt."

78': Chance missed, Rowe (AFC Fylde) scoops the ball over the bar from just outside the box.

80': GOAL (AFC Fylde 1 - Stockport 3), Sharp (Stockport) hits a first-time shot from just inside the box into the top corner at the near post. Assisted by Woolfe.

"Game over. Stockport have been worthy winners today, but you can't help but wonder how the game would have played out 11v11."

81': Chance saved, Rowe (AFC Fylde) hits a shot from the left of the penalty spot, saved by Hurst toward the middle left of the goal.

82': Free kick to Stockport halfway into the opposition half for a foul on Moses by Blinkhorn.

83': Chance saved, Wolfe (Stockport) has a shot halfway into the box aimed at the top right of the far post, saved by Dootson.

83': Woolfe (Stockport) wins a corner.

83': Chance missed, Baker (Stockport) heads the ball wide of the near post from outside the 6-yard box following a corner.

84': Free kick to AFC Fylde, Woolfe (Stockport) is caught offside.

85': GOAL (AFC Fylde 2 - Stockport 3), Rowe (AFC Fylde) smashes a free header from just inside the 6-yard box into the middle right side of the goal. Assisted by Lloyd.

"Sloppy defending from Stockport there, Hurst gets a hand to it but can't keep it out, and you'd never expect any keeper to do so there. Is there a late twist in this tale?"

86': Chance saved, Moult (Stockport) heads to ball goalwards from just inside the box, saved and held by Dooston in the middle of the goal.

89': Woolfe (Stockport) wins a corner.

89': Chance saved, Lees (Stockport) fires a shot from just inside the box towards the top and centre of the goal, saved by Dooston.

90+2: FULL TIME (AFC Fylde 2 - Stockport 3)

Stockport are promoted to the Conference

"A brilliant game. I think most people would agree that this was a fair result, Stockport have been sensational this season against the odds and their manager has worked wonders with them over the course of a single season."

"Definitely, the players and the manager have really outdone themselves to win promotion here and they deserve all the praise they get. Credit to AFC Fylde who fought until the final whistle despite being a man down for most of the game, while losing out on promotion will sting, they've performed well this season and they should be right up there again next season."

I'm extremely happy, we've surpassed all expectations this season. I honestly wasn't expecting we'd go up at the first time of asking, I was thinking it would be a two/three season job but the players really have outdone themselves

The board have offered me a new contract and it looks like they want us to be ambitious; my expectation for next season is a mid-table finish. However, the wage and transfer budgets have been boosted massively to compensate:

They're not overreaching either, our finances are good enough to push for this. If I were to convert the transfer budget into wage budget and max out wages, we'd burn through around an additional 250-300k over the year, but we made ~900k last year and our gates will undoubtedly go up next season too. I'm very pleased with the level of ambition being shown by the Chairman so I happily accepted this contract!

Board Expectations:

League Position:

Predicted: 11th

Current: 3rd (Promoted via Playoffs)

FA Cup:

Expectation: Fourth Qualifying Round

Current: Knocked out in Second Qualifying Round (Barrow)

FA Trophy:

Expectation: First Round

Current: Knocked out in Third Round (Boston United)

Personal Goals:

• Compete for a playoff place
  

Finances:

Initial Balance: £54K

Closing Balance: £967K (+£913K)

Signings:

Liam Darville - Free Transfer (Free Agent):

Darville has been an absolute monster at the back for us, with an average rating of 7.20, way higher than any other defender and the third highest in our whole team. His work rate is fantastic, covering an average of 13.7km per game, and he's also notched up 3 goals and 10 assists over 38 games, not too shabby for a full back! He is the highest rated player in our team in terms of current ability and at the age of 24 he still has some potential left in him too.

James Lawrie - On Loan Until End of Season (Altrincham):

Lawrie has absolutely torn up the Conference North; 36 goals and 14 assists over 49 games with an average rating of 7.60, what's not to love? Did I mention that he's an attacking midfielder, not a striker? He topped the Conference North table for average rating by some distance (0.11) and was second top goalscorer (33), one behind the 34 goals of AFC Fylde's Ritchie Allen. I'm happy to say that his performances earned him his just reward.

Like Darville, he's rated highly for my current squad and still has some potential left, being 24 years old also. Incredibly, after asking Altrincham for a price, they're willing to let him go a free! I'm getting pen on paper as soon as humanly possible!

Jake Moult - On Loan For 3 Months (Altrincham):

While not in the same league as our other two transfers, Moult was a solid central midfielder and saw a lot of playtime as part of my rotation squad, starting 24 games and being subbed on for an additional 14, and scoring a respectable average rating of 7.08. Moult usually played in an advanced playmaker role in CM, with a 79% pass completion rate, as well as 5 goals and 9 assists to his name. A solid backup for times when either of my two first choice CMs couldn't play. As dependable as he is, and the fact that he's a Liverpool fan (), his skill is starting to fall away a bit in comparison to the new league we'll be in and so it's unlikely that I'll be renewing the loan deal, but I'd like to thank him for his contribution in our great season and wish him the best for the future

Personal:

The one part of my season that I'm annoyed about: missing out on Manager of the Season. Don't get me wrong, Harrogate won the league, fair play, but a) they only won it because AFC Fylde absolutely bricked it in the last month and b) they were predicted to finish top of the league, they effectively met expectations by winning it. On the other hand, I took a team predicted to finish 11th to 3rd, and won the playoffs too, and I come up second? Yes I'm really wound up about this! I'll just have to put Simon Weaver in his place next season

Changes:

Rep: Local -> Regional

Atk Coaching: 4 -> 5

Tac Coaching: 3 -> 4

Teq Coaching: 2 -> 3

Player Knowledge: 5 -> 6

Youngster Knowledge: 5 -> 6

Man Management: 7 -> 8

Motivating: 8 -> 9

On an unrelated note, check out that title race.

Well done to go up.

So who won the Premiership then?

Great work going up.

Thanks for the encouraging words! Hopefully we can do decently next season too.

All three of the teams in contention won their last game of the season, so Arsenal won it on goal difference, on 78 points along with Man City and Man Utd. Intense stuff!

Good work on winning the Play-Off's. Looking forward to seeing what happens next year at a higher level.

Predicted Finish: 24th - Ouch, our predicted finish is rock bottom! The break between seasons hasn't gone as swimmingly in the transfer market as I'd hoped; although we've got money to burn, most decent players at this level aren't really interested in playing for us. I've released about half of our squad who won't be able to cut it at this level and brought in some new faces so it's a mix of old and new at the moment, while this prediction is pretty grim I'm fairly confident we can stay up, although mid-table is starting to look a bit beyond us. Fortunately the board asked for me to set an expectation for the season, so I chose avoid relegation. If we can establish ourselves this season, we might be able to get some good players in over the course of the next year and push on from there.

Board Expectations:

• Avoid relegation
  
• FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round
  
• FA Trophy First Round
  

The cup expectations are exactly the same as last season. Should be doable!

Personal Goals:

• Avoid relegation
  
• FA Trophy Cup run
  

As we may well be in a relegation scrap this season, the fans will want something to shout about. What better than a run in a cup that we actually have an outside chance of winning? Third Round or better will be considered success for this one OR Second Round KO by a Conference team who are above me in the league, I'll forgive that

Budgets:

Transfer Budget: £34,142

Wage Budget: £9,995 (£6,564 under budget)

So much wage budget, so few players! In all honesty our bill will be bumped up a fair bit before the season begins, we've just released a lot of players and I'm currently in negotiations with 4 players (including the irreplaceable James Lawrie )

Finances:

Initial Balance: £967K

Projected Balance: £1.69M (+£723K)

Should be another season of pure profit, although if this projection is based on our current wages I'd expect to see that slashed by a couple of hundred thousand once we sort our transfers out.

Transfers:

In:

Lloyds Allinson - On Loan Until End of Season (Huddersfield)

Jason Dobbs - On Loan Until End of Season (Chester)

Ronan Coughlan - On Loan Until End of Season (Huddersfield)

Out:

Chris Sharp (Released)

Danny Hurst (Released)

Jordan Lazenbury (Released)

Mark Lees (Released)

Kristian Dennis (Released)

Stephen O'Halloran (Released)

Matt Todd (Released)

Danny Gregson (Released)

Results

Generally pleased by the performances in these games, starting with the annihilation of smaller teams. We then got hammered by Newcastle, but the scoreline was incredibly harsh on us and I wasn't annoyed at all. A bore draw against Huddersfield U21s was a good result for us as we were the underdogs, and we were the better team throughout. We looked to be getting another decent result against Tranmere as it was 1-1 in the 65th minute, but a quickfire double saw us crash out of the game, but again, they're a much better team than us so I don't resent the loss at all, in fact on the balance of play a draw would have been much fairer, we put in a solid performance. So overall, bar the Newcastle game we gave good performances, and even vs Newcastle we weren't battered as badly as the scoreline made out.

Stats:

Stockport vs Cheadle

Stockport vs Flixton

Stockport vs Newcastle

Stockport vs Huddersfield U21s

Stockport vs Tranmere

Transfers:

In:

Paul Turnbull - Free Transfer (Free Agent)

James Lawrie - Free Transfer (Free Agent)

Peter Winn - Free Transfer (Free Agent)

Steve Williams - Free Transfer (Free Agent)

Ryan Higgins - Free Transfer (AFC Telford)

Navid Nasseri - Free Transfer (Free Agent)

Jake Wholey - Free Transfer (Free Agent)

Matthew Cassidy - Free Transfer (Stalybridge)

Arnaud Mendy - Free Transfer (Free Agent)

Nicky Walker - Free Transfer (Free Agent)

Joe Wright - Free Transfer (Free Agent)

Out:

Nathan Woolfe (Released)

Chris Churchman (Released)

Bobby Lofthouse (Released)

Tunji Moses (Released)

Jamie Milligan (Released)

Results:

I'm still adjusting to the fact that we're predicted to finish bottom, not pushing for a playoff place, so a draw is generally a good result now A mixed bag of a first month, but an okay points tally to beat the drop (51 from 48 games was the cutoff last season) and a lot of positives. We were unlucky not to get anything against Aldershot, they scored with the last kick of the game to rob us of a point. Against Grimsby, I'll hold my hands up and say we deserved to lose, we just didn't create anything in the game. The draw vs Ebbsfleet was pretty fair, the next one against Torquay was somewhat lucky for us as we didn't play well, I considered it karma for the Aldershot game At Altrincham we played our best competitive game of the season so far and fully deserved the victory, it could have been a bigger scoreline too in all honesty. We also grabbed a hard fought draw away against Bristol Rovers, who are predicted to finish 4th, so that's a nice result for us

6 from 6 is okay given our stature in the league, and I'm optimistic that our performances will get better as we get further into the season as we still have a fair number of players who are not fully match fit, and naturally with a load of new faces people are still integrating themselves into the team, our cohesion will be fairly poor at the moment but will get better and better as we play more games. In addition, I've noticed that my strikers aren't utilising their full potential due to the roles I've set in my tactics, so I've made a couple of small alterations to try to help unlock their potential. Fingers crossed it doesn't backfire!

In short, a decent start, and reasons to be optimistic as the season rolls on

Board Confidence

Positives:

+ One month down and we're not in the drop zone

+ Only truly bad performance was vs Grimsby

+ Unbeaten 4 game run to end the month

+ 12 goals from 6 games

Negatives:

- Injury time goals robbed us of 4 points

- 12 goals concede in 12 games

- Grimsby performance was... well, grim

Stats:

Aldershot vs Stockport

Stockport vs Grimsby

Ebbsfleet vs Stockport

Torquay vs Stockport

Stockport vs Altrincham

Stockport vs Bristol Rovers

Transfers:

None

Injuries:

Scott Spencer - Gashed Leg (5-9 days)

Ryan Higgins - Stained Knee Ligaments (5-6 weeks)

Just getting your sea legs.

If you score 12 goals in every 6 games across the season, you're probably going to do quite well. I can't see you continuing to both score and concede at this ridiculous rate, something's got to give

Results:

Do not adjust your set, we really are sitting in a playoff place!

It's amazing the difference that a 'small' change can make. Last season I played with a (lone) false nine and two AMs with attack duties, this season however our two main strikers suck in the false nine role. With this in mind, I've switched the lone striker role to that of a poacher, and to compensate for losing a support role I changed on of my AMs to have a support role. The change has been two-fold, firstly we now have two players capable of putting away chances who are both solid at their roles, and secondly my support player is no longer crap, so we're creating a lot more chances, and ones of better quality. Lawrie, who's my go to guy in the AM attacking role, went from 4 goals in 6 games last month to 7 goals in 7 games this month, bagging player of the month, and is currently the top goalscorer in the league, and I genuinely believe that this change has greatly increased his effectiveness in front of goal. Oh yeah, and my striker(s) went from 0 goals in 6 games to 4 goals in 7 games, not too shabby given how many Lawrie is putting away

Another great thing that I can say with absolute honesty is that we deserved to win every game that we won, and the games we lost we played well enough to get a draw from, we weren't dominated in any game and we crushed the opposition ourselves in a few of them. Woking needed a dodgy penalty to beat us in an otherwise even game, and Kidderminster could easily have drawn on another day on the balance of play, given that they're also top of the league I'm pleased to have matched them in terms of our performance.

I'm wary that our morale and performances could sink if we hit a few rough results, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to enjoy our good form while it lasts! And take the plaudits of course

Board Confidence

Positives:

+ Playoff places - round 2

+ 5 wins from 7

+ No bad performances whatsoever

+ Deserved to go unbeaten

+ 17 goals in 7 games

+ Crushed Sutton and Wycombe

+ Almost injury-free

Negatives:

None

Stats:

Wrexham vs Stockport

Stockport vs Dover

Woking vs Stockport

Stockport vs Lincoln

Wycombe vs Stockport

Sutton United vs Stockport

Stockport vs Kidderminster

Transfers:

None

Injuries:

Ryan Higgins - Stained Knee Ligaments (1-3 weeks)

Results:

A hit and miss month, but not for lack of trying. The Macclesfield game was the only concerning performance, we dominated possession and had a lot of shots, but only 1 on target for each team so a draw was fair. The AFC Wimbledon came was pretty close with a lot of chances for each side, the kind of game that would usually be a draw but could go a goal either way, a 4-1 loss was a total smack in the face.

The other four games? Dominated all of them but ended up with a loss and a draw in two which was annoying, can't fault the players, just the luck this time. If we can continue playing most of our games like this though I'll be extremely happy.

Board Confidence

Positives:

+ Mostly dominating performances

+ Another fabled clean sheet

+ Injury-free

Negatives:

- Poor finishing vs Macclesfield

- Didn't get the results that our play merited

Stats:

Stockport vs Dartford

Harrogate vs Stockport

Stockport vs AFC Telford

AFC Wimbledon vs Stockport

Stockport vs Prescot

Stockport vs Macclesfield

Transfers:

None

Injuries:

None

Results:

You ever have those months where it feels like SI have a personal vendetta against you? That's what this was like We dominated Alfreton but only got a point for it, we then edged the game vs Grimsby, notching a whopping 5 CCCs, but only one goal to show for it and our keeper decided to go on holiday. Our misery was compounded against Barnet, as we went 2-0 down inside half an hour from two nothing chances, only for our left back to get sent off and naturally we fell to pieces after that, although even 4-0 was over the top given that we defended decently in the second half but hey ho. We then slumped to a 4-3 loss to Eastleigh after having taken the lead 3 times and finally went behind in the 88th minute, in a close game that impressively saw Eastleigh score 4 goals from 3 shots on target, absolutely no luck for us whatsoever.

Can't get much worse, right? Don't be silly, we went into the second half against Braintree with the score at 1-1 after a tight game with few chances created, and then the same player who'd been sent off against Barnet got sent off AGAIN, in his first game back, and naturally we capitulated once again. The sun finally looked to come out from the clouds as we dominated Halifax and FINALLY earned the win that we deserved from a good performance, although as per their one shot on target went in. In fact, we conceded 18 goals from 24 shots on target, 9 CCCs, with a goalkeeper rated 3 star for the league. Bit of a joke but what can you do

So yeah, tl;dr: Bad month, two red cards let to big defeats, three good performances and one tight game saw us only take one win and one draw, quite frustrated as I just felt helpless to change these games. Here's hoping December picks up and we start getting the results we deserve before morale completely bottoms out.

Board Confidence

Positives:

+ Generally good performances despite a poor points haul

Negatives:

- Two red cards in the space of three games

- 18 goals conceded in 6 games

- 4/15 points and a cup exit vs a team we had a decent chance against

Stats:

Stockport vs Alfreton

Stockport vs Grimsby

Barnet vs Stockport

Stockport vs Eastleigh

Braintree vs Stockport

Stockport vs FC Halifax

Transfers:

None

Injuries:

James Lawrie - Strained Neck (3-6 days)

Richie Baker - Broken Toe (7 weeks-2 months)

Just catching up on this thread. Loved the match commentary for the playoff final. Its ceratinly not something I'd like to read (or to do) every match; but for that one game, excellent.

At least you got that win against Halifax at the end of the month. That might provide some buffer against morale dropping too far. And you have a small, but handy, buffer on the drop zone - if you need it. But one poor month doesn't mean much given what came before, so I think you'll be fine.

Just catching up on this thread. Loved the match commentary for the playoff final. Its ceratinly not something I'd like to read (or to do) every match; but for that one game, excellent.

At least you got that win against Halifax at the end of the month. That might provide some buffer against morale dropping too far. And you have a small, but handy, buffer on the drop zone - if you need it. But one poor month doesn't mean much given what came before, so I think you'll be fine.

Thanks for the positive feedback I think the commentary is something I might do for cup finals/playoff finals and last games of the season that could make or break winning the title/avoiding relegation.

I agree completely, we should be totally fine and I'm confident we'll do better than this in future months. I just wish we were picking up the results that our performances deserve

Results:

Better I'll admit that Aldershot edged the game against us, and while we didn't play badly per se I think their win was deserved. We bounced back against North Ferriby in an open game in which we not only recorded 6 CCCs, but actually managed to put most of them away (for once)! We then battered Ebbsfleet in a game that saw us restrict them to 0 shots on target, extremely proud of the defensive work in that game We managed to edge out Grimsby in our final competitive game of 2015, a game we didn't dominate, but were the better side on the day. All in all, an excellent bounce back from a poor previous month

Board Confidence

Positives:

+ 11 goals in 4 games

+ 3 wins from 4 is great considering last month's results

+ Marching on in the FA Trophy

+ Clean sheet vs Ebbsfleet after they failed to get a shot on target

Negatives:

- Could have done more vs Aldershot

Stats:

Stockport vs Aldershot

Stockport vs North Ferriby

Stockport vs Ebbsfleet

Stockport vs Cheadle

Grimsby vs Stockport

Transfers:

None

Injuries:

Richie Baker - Broken Toe (8 days-3 weeks)

Nicky Walker - Hernia (3-4 weeks)

Ronan Coughlan - Torn Hamstring (3 months)

A great first half of the season given that we were anticipated to finish bottom. Our performances on the pitch have been generally solid and we could arguably be a few places higher with a little more luck That being said we're still proving the punters wrong, with an 11 point cushion plus a game in hand between us and the drop zone. Barring a second-half season catastrophe we're looking good!

League Position:

Predicted: 24th

Current: 13th

FA Cup:

Expectation: Fourth Qualifying Round

Current: Knocked out in First Round (Grimsby)

FA Trophy:

Expectation: First Round

Current: Second Round

Results:

I think the players have gotten sick of playing well and not winning games as a result (they're not the only ones!) and the wheels are starting to come off a little now, as we put in a couple of genuinely bad performances this month for the first time in quite a while, namely against Altrincham, Braintree and Wrexham. Pretty worrying to lose 4-1 to the team propping up the table. We crushed Torquay but couldn't win, which sucked, and went pretty much even against Bristol Rovers, Dover and Woking, walking out with one win, one draw and one loss from them, which was actually completely fair all things considered.

Made a couple of signings this month too, I was thinking about getting a better striker in early December once the transfer window reopened, and as if on cue one of my strikers pick up a 3 month injury, so I went ahead and splashed out 40k on Tom Peers of Chester, he's 4 1/2 star current, only 19 years old and has the potential to be a solid League 2 striker, worth the investment imo because he has fantastic stats for this level and we should get a lot of seasons out of him. I also picked up a new goalkeeper, Ben Smith (4 star rated) and cancelled the loan deal on my current first choice goalkeeper, he's just been awful in recent months and I'm hoping that this will help stop us from absolutely hemorrhaging goals. I completed the deal just before the Dover game so Smith played in the last two games of the month, and we went from 3 losses on the bounce to a win and a draw. Have these signings helped turn the corner for us? I hope so!

So yeah, no moral victory for me this month as we played badly in a few of our games and deservedly lost in them (although it would help if we were allowed to win the games we played well in COUGH COUGH ), Torquay game was BS and the rest were fair. Morale is pretty meh but a couple of results at the end of the month stopped us from completely tanking, and I'm optimistic that these two new signings will give us the boost we need to get us out of this lull in form.

Board Confidence

Positives:

+ Good performance vs Torquay

+ New GK signing seems to have made an immediate impact

Negatives:

- 17 conceded in 8 games

- Bad performances for the first time in several months

- Bounce back needed or morale will tank

Stats:

Bristol Rovers vs Stockport

Stockport vs Torquay

Stockport vs Kendal

Stockport vs Wrexham

Altrincham vs Stockport

Braintree vs Stockport

Dover vs Stockport

Stockport vs Woking

Transfers:

In:

Tom Peers - 40K (Chester)

Ben Smith - Free Transfer (Free Agent)

Out:

Callum Keeling - 5K (MK Dons)

Injuries:

James Lawrie - Strained Ankle Ligaments (6 days-2 weeks)

Ronan Coughlan - Torn Hamstring (4-7 weeks)

A season of consolidation in mid-table wouldn't be the worst thing.

Results:

Seems like February really isn't my best month, I was thankful for the fact that we only had 3 competitive games and could sandwich some friendlies in between to help build morale back up a little after picking up 1 point from 9. The Lincoln game was pretty tight and I'd argue we edged it since we hit the woodwork twice and created more notable chances, but all I got for my efforts was a slap in the face as we conceded 5 and all of a sudden it looked like no matter who I put between the sticks they'd play like total s**t. We then played Wycombe who's specialty seems to be taking 25-30 yard potshots and watching the opposition's terrible goalkeeper repeatedly flail their arounds around and palm the ball into the net. Seriously, sure they had 6 shots on target to our 2, but 5 were outside the box and it's reflected as such in that they had NO CCCs and only one half chance. I can accept maybe one wonderstrike getting in, but their goals were all easily savable and I shouldn't have to think we're going to concede every time I see a shot come our way from 30 yards out.

We rounded off the month by at least picking up a point against relegation-threatened Dartford, a fair result on the balance of play really. While this month has sucked, since we essentially only played 3 games it fortunately hasn't had a huge impact, but we need to get it together for March as we have 7 games lined up, with 3 consecutive games against teams in 20th or below. Getting results in these should pretty much guarantee survival, but losing them could see us with a battle on our hands.

Board Confidence

Positives:

None

Negatives:

- 1 point out of 9

- 9 goals conceded in 3 games

Stats:

Stockport vs MK Dons

Stockport vs Flixton

Lincoln vs Stockport

Stockport vs Wycombe

Stockport vs Cheadle

Dartford vs Stockport

Transfers:

None

Injuries:

Paul Turnbull - Twisted Ankle (4-5 weeks)

Glenn Belezika - Back Strain (?)

Ronan Coughlan - Torn Hamstring (4-9 days)

A season of consolidation in mid-table wouldn't be the worst thing.

Definitely true, I think the good start we had gave me unrealistic expectations, although tbf we've generally played well so far this season so it's partly that too. My only worry (after Feb) is that we've gone from a comfortable cushion to possibly having to scrap a bit if our form doesn't pick up, I knew that it was likely but I still want to try to avoid it if at all possible

Results:

It's official: Stockport have beaten the drop! We mathematically secured safety in our last game of the month with 4 matches left to play, now the only thing left to battle for is our league place. If we can finish in the top half I'd be very happy with that

We started badly, with a close loss against Kidderminster that could have gone either way and then got battered by second-to-bottom Sutton United thanks to a terrible performance, and the month looked to be going to the dogs. However, deserved victories in 5 straight games (okay, the Macclesfield one was debatable but the rest were good!) catapulted us to the top half of the table and away from the danger of an April relegation battle. Morale was really shot going into the Harrogate game so I'm immensely proud of the team for pulling this off and taking the pressure off me

Our next two games are against sides fighting for playoff places and are essentially dead rubber to us now, so it could be tricky to motivate the team for them, but hopefully the high we're on from our winning streak will spur them on to grab results in these too! Whatever happens though, we've done well this season

After securing safety, the board offered me a new deal, this time I've bumped up the expectations; if we've managed to finish mid-table/respectable position this season, we should really be doing it next season too, maybe a little more than that. The wage budget has been bumped up a little, but as with last season I think the numbers will shoot up again in the post-season when the figures are formally set.

Board Confidence

Positives:

+ Beat the drop

+ 17 goals in 7 games

+ Two clean sheets

+ Five game winning streak

Negatives:

- Very poor against Sutton United

- No manager of the month, what is this BS?

Stats:

Kidderminster vs Stockport

Stockport vs Sutton United

Stockport vs Harrogate

AFC Telford vs Stockport

Stockport vs AFC Wimbledon

Macclesfield vs Stockport

Alfreton vs Stockport

Transfers:

None

Injuries:

None