turn it in Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 Background Watchet. A town in West Somerset slap bang between the twin Meccas of Taunton and Minehead situated on the coast of the Bristol Channel. A simple, quiet place where old people go to die and families go to visit for the day. Boasting a population of 4400 odd people its main attractions include the West Somerset Steam Railway, a popular carnival (well relatively popular) and a music festival every August where such luminaries as The Wurzels have played it seems like the perfect English country seaside town and to a point it is... and that's the problem. For the youth of the area things to do are few and far between with country pubs and publicans, who not only know how old you are (so no chance of getting in when you're 14) but were probably all present at your birth, and a park which, being situated on the top of a cliff, isn't the ideal place to go swigging cider in the cold May evenings. With the closest nightclub is 8 miles away in Minehead (and the only gig in town, unless you fancy a syphilitic trip to Butlins) and the only real life town 20 in the shape of Taunton the choice for the young people of Watchet and the surrounding areas is stark: drink homemade moonshine in a field and get trampled to death by errant cows or steal a boat and try and make for the glorious freedom of Barry across the water. That is until now... In July 2009 Turnitin, along with his wife, returned to her old hometown. Hearing the horror stories about life for the young of Watchet something stirred within in him. He needed to save these people and being at a crossroads at his life he needed a new challenge. Luckily for him Watchet (being the small close-knit community that it is) had an answer. Watchet Town football club, until that day a mild diversion for people walking their dogs on the Memorial Ground had a new chairman, a bold chairman, a man who wanted to make a difference: Paul Collins. And it was he who on that fateful day overhearing the loud conversation between Turnitin and his wife in The Bell pub decided to take the ridiculous gamble of offering him the job of manager... The brief was simple. Take Watchet Town first of all to regional dominance, then non-league dominance and after that take them into the Football League, Premier League and finally the Champions League using only youngsters that have come through the club and from the area. Turnitin, having drunk several pints of scrumpy, agreed immediately. The next day feeling horribly hungover Turnitin was paraded on the Esplanade between the two other legends of Watchet Lore: Samuel Coleridge Taylor and Yankee Jack Yankee Jack Samuel Coleridge Taylor (aka The Ancient Mariner) and declared in front of his Wife, the chairman and some tourists who were passing by that Watchet was about to change forever! The Team So with the background out of the way it is time for the important info. This career thread is following the rules of the "Give Youth a Chance" challenge so that means no player buying and no staff getting. You use what you start with and try and build all the way to Premiership and Champions League glory using your own youth products. I have used a small database and SuperBladesman's Build 97 English teams down to level 11. So the let's meet the new manager of Watchet Town in deepest Somerset. The squad looks "interesting" and I have been predicted 17th. According to my (absolutely rubbish) Assistant this gentleman is my best player: Lewington; while young Lee Morgan is my best youth prospect. As you can see the league is actually full of better teams' reserve sides. I will look to update every game month and for any other info people want. Wish me luck... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoham Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 Nice to see another save with SBs file, and always interesting seeing attempts at the youth challenge. Can see from your manager profile you're a Charlton fan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hrbfcrule Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 Good luck I am also doing the Give youth a chance challenge although I started before Sb's "down to level 11 file" came out so I started at lvl 10. Good to see you are going for monthly updates as well Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
turn it in Posted March 20, 2010 Author Share Posted March 20, 2010 Yes, I will be visiting the Valley when my season finishes to watch us not get promoted... Cheers hrbfcrule. You update system is pretty damn good so I'm going to "borrow" the style if you don't mind. Hope I can do as well as you have been. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hrbfcrule Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 Yes, I will be visiting the Valley when my season finishes to watch us not get promoted...Cheers hrbfcrule. You update system is pretty damn good so I'm going to "borrow" the style if you don't mind. Hope I can do as well as you have been. Thanks and yer of course you can borrow it Also due to you not being able to get new staff until your own players have retired, you have to hope you start with a good assistant, unfortunately mine seems to upset a fair amount of players. Lewington looks pretty good for that level unfortunately he will probably get nicked during your 1st season since you can't give him a contract. Its quite annoying as there is nothing you can do about it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
turn it in Posted March 20, 2010 Author Share Posted March 20, 2010 July 2009: The friendlies. A quick note about friendlies: I always play them in the same way. This method sees my first XI play the first half and my second XI play the second half. Obviously at the start of this challenge I’ve got no idea who my first XI should be but I’m taking the Assistant’s view on this one. With that said let’s get on with the action. Friendly: Watchet Town 0 -0 Watchet Town Reserves A wonderful start to life at the Memorial Ground with a game that won’t live long in the memory... oh except for the fact that Matt Lewington, my best player, fractured his wrist and is now out for two months. Bugger. Friendly: FC Tampa Bay 3-1 Watchet Town Not a great game. It took us 59 minutes to have our first shot at goal and my first-half backline looked leaky as which makes me wonder if my first choice XI is anything of the sort. Still we scored the first goal of my reign even if it was an OG in the 90th minute. Too many players enjoying the sun of Florida methinks! Friendly: Kickers (AFG) 3-1 Watchet Town Well I started well with a “no pressure” team talk which immediately hit the confidence of my strikers and made my defenders complacent. One penalty and some rubbish defending later and the first XI found out they were 2-0 down. Again. I thought it was going to be a cricket score when they went 3-0 up inside the first 15 of the second half, but we struck back three minutes later with the first goal ever scored by a Watchet player and that was that. The second XI outperform the first again and some changes will be made to the starting line-up for the next game. Friendly: AFC (AFG) 1-0 Watchet Town After the disaster of the “no pressure” team talk last time out I decided to ask the gang to “impress me”. I changed the goalkeeper, a CB, a CM and a ST and in my starting XI and it almost worked until Les Butler (the striker who had stepped up to the first XI) missed a header and they scored. Second half we were better and had a couple of chances but another defeat means we’re still to win in pre-season. Friendly: Watchet Town 0-0 Callington Not much to report here. Callington (of the Level 11 SWPLD1) were the better side with 16 shots to our 7 (although they only had 3 on target to our 2) but we held out and could’ve won it ourselves. The only other incident of note was an injury to my reserve left sided player who is out for 6 weeks. Summary: So July ends and it’s not easy to draw many positives from pre-season. It took just fifteen minutes for my best player to get injured and then several games later the reserve gets injured too. I suppose you could say I am undefeated at home, but the lack of goals (only 2 scored and one was an OG) and the flakiness of some of my players is a worry. I start the season with a derby match against Bishops Lydeard and I’m not holding my breath. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 Boasting a population of 4400 odd people Do any normal people live there? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Bladesman Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 Aye, good luck turn it in! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
turn it in Posted March 21, 2010 Author Share Posted March 21, 2010 August 2009 League: Bishops Lydeard 0-0 Watchet Town A solid start in the huge West Somerset derby. The Watchet fans travelled in their tens on the number 28 bus and the West Somerset Steam Railway to see a game of two halves. We dominated the first and they the second but neither side could score. League: Watchet Town 0-1 Winscombe Absolutely gutted. Had the better chances but couldn’t hit the proverbial cow with a banjo and then gave away a penalty in the 82nd minute. Game over. Bah! League: Paulton Reserves 3-2 Watchet Town Absolutely unbelievable as Alan Hansen would say. Was 2-0 down at half time, turned it around to 2-2 and then in the 92nd minute, THE 92ND BLOODY MINUTE, we give away a penalty. Still at least we’ve finally scored a goal. League: Watchet Town 2-0 St. George EiG And finally my first ever win in charge of Watchet Town and it only took two months. Started slowly and it took us a while to get into the game before two goals in three minutes a quarter of an hour from time sealed the win in front of 77 people. This game also marked the return of Lewington from the injury he sustained in my first friendly. Verdict: A tough month which saw a creditable draw away to our bitter rivals Bishops Lydeard and the two heartbreaking late penalty defeats but it ended well with our first ever win. The main point of interest this month is that I let RB Spencer Harvey go. He was at fault for two goals against Paulton Reserves including the penalty so I slated him afterwards and warned him for his 3.1 performance. He declared unfair treatment so I showed him the door. Not having no whinging RBs in my team! League Table Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
turn it in Posted March 21, 2010 Author Share Posted March 21, 2010 Septmeber 2009 League: Cheddar 1-1 Watchet Town A close game which either side could’ve won. They took the lead in the first half but Lewington won our first ever penalty and Morgan coolly dispatched it. League: Watchet Town 3-2 Backwell A home game against the pace-setters and we nearly blew it. We went 3-0 up, but in the last 10 minutes gave away 2 goals. Still a win’s a win and unbeaten in 3. League: Castle Cary 2-2 Watchet Town We looked doomed a minute into the second half at 2-0 down but a change to 3-4-3 reaped rewards as we fought back. The main problem was that I’d made all my subs so couldn’t shut up shop when they came back but we managed to hold out for a creditable point. League: Watchet Town 1-0 Cutters Friday A tight game which was decided by my centre-back smashing in a header from a corner. We just about deserved it. Verdict: A good month for Watchet with wins in the two home games and draws in the away games. We’ve looked a lot more solid at home but the team is suffering a fair few injuries at the moment. I’m starting to get a feel for who is good and who isn’t and at the moment we feel like a higher/mid-table side. League Table Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
turn it in Posted March 21, 2010 Author Share Posted March 21, 2010 Ha, well my harsh treatment of Spencer Harvey seems to have been greeted with agreement in the pubs and fields of Watchet Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
turn it in Posted March 21, 2010 Author Share Posted March 21, 2010 October 2009 League: Timsbury Athletic 2-0 Watchet Town We went behind early and chased the game but we were never really in it and conceded a late second to suffer our first defeat in six games. League: Watchet Town 0-1 Taunton Blackbrook Defeat leads to defeat. We were on top until a stupid challenge by my CB Cohen gave Taunton a penalty and a man advantage. After that we were never in it. League: Shirehampton 1-2 Watchet Town A tough away game against a side near us in the division started well when Dimitriou put us ahead. Shirehampton hit back and we went into the second half all square. My RM was rubbish first half but my “I have faith” talk spurred him on and he scored the winner to give us a good (and our first) away win. League: Watchet Town 0-0 Brislington Reserves We couldn’t keep the ball, we couldn’t pass the ball, we couldn’t hit the target. Luckily neither could they... Verdict: Not a great month with two defeats keeping us mid-table. We lack consistency in some key areas (CB and up front) and I think our season will probably follow this pattern. We play three reserve teams next month including current champs Bridgwater Reserves in the next game. Wish us luck... League Table Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hrbfcrule Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 Looks like your league form is starting to pick up Only one promotion spot Good Luck:thup: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
turn it in Posted March 21, 2010 Author Share Posted March 21, 2010 November 2009 League: Bridgwater Reserves 1-2 Watchet Town An excellent win against the reigning champions. Both sides traded penalties in the first half, but we came out the better side in the second half and Butler got the goal that sealed it. League: Watchet Town 1-0 Frome Reserves The best own goal I’ve ever seen. It was the sort of goal that if a user had scored they would’ve started fifty SORT IT OUT SI threads on the GD forum. Ball inside the box near the goal line close to going out for goal kick, defender under no pressure and easy to just boot out for a corner, turns it in from a tight angle. LOL. League: Watchet Town 0-2 Nailsea United And the inconsistency strikes again. Poor mistakes from my backline cost us and Nailsea who had won 5 on the bounce before facing us were not really troubled at all. League: Mangotsfield Reserves 0-1 Watchet Town I don’t know how upset Superbladesman will be as it was only the reserve team that lost but you could see why they were bottom of the league. A Dimitriou goal in the second half was enough to seal an otherwise dour encounter. League: Watchet Town 5-0 Glastonbury An excellent end to the month with our biggest win so far. We dominated from start to finish with a Dimitriou brace and a hattrick from Lee Morgan. It was an especially pleasing to see Morgan score playing up front after a few bad games up there. Verdict: An excellent month (the defeat to Nailsea notwithstanding) that saw us hit Glastonbury for five at the end of it. Personally I don't think we have what it takes to top the league but despite our inconsistency at times we're only four points off the top in what is proving to be a close old league and more months like this can only help. League Table Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
turn it in Posted March 21, 2010 Author Share Posted March 21, 2010 December 2009 League: Watchet Town 4-3 Bishops Lydeard Well the fans of Bishops Lydeard got on the 28 bus expecting something but after the first half most of them would’ve been wishing they could go straight back with an outstanding hattrick from my LB Harris and a goal from Dimitriou. Annoyingly for me they scored 3 in the second half so even though I should be happy with a cracking derby win I’m actually more than a little ****ed off. League: Winscombe 1-1 Watchet Town A good away point, but I feared the worst when Winscombe dispatched their first-half penalty, however, we fought back in the second-half and deserved the goal that Dimitriou grabbed. Verdict: Only two games this month and a home win and away point is okay enough but if we're going to push for the top we need to start winning these close games and cutting out the mistakes. League Table Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 Why do you have Pavarotti as your manager photo? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobatwal Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 Do you play in any cups? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
turn it in Posted March 22, 2010 Author Share Posted March 22, 2010 Why do you have Pavarotti as your manager photo? No particular reason. I though it was a funny photo. Do you play in any cups? Nope doesn't look like I've got any cups to play for this season. Looks like I'll have to get out of Level 11 to play in some... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Pavarotti was once a centre forward if memory serves. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
turn it in Posted March 28, 2010 Author Share Posted March 28, 2010 This is still going on by the way but work's gonna stop me from playing till Thursday. After that this challenge is going places! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 Going places... Tits up..? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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