HappyNoodleBhoy Posted March 7, 2008 Author Share Posted March 7, 2008 Can I make it from the worst team in Wales to managing my beloved Glasgow Celtic in a realistic career? A story thread to keep me interested in a career game I've started. This is a reboot thread from http://community.sigames.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/97319217/m/6982098383 due to my laptop breaking and losing the save. Will be interesting to compare seasons, especially considering the massive mistakes I made which I obviously won't do again. Notice changes to manager background/history which will account for said experiences. Technical Details: Large database All leagues from England, Ireland, N.Ireland, Scotland & Wales loaded. All players from England, Ireland, N.Ireland, Scotland & Wales loaded. Game begins on the 15th of January '08. Manager: Robb Jayne (Scottish/Irish) Uncapped 24/03/1978 (29 yo) Rep: National (Sunday League Footballer) Favourite team: Celtic Playing Career/History: [Through the Years] March '78 Born in Rottenrow Hospital, Glasgow. May '88 Watched Celtic win the double in their Centenary year. (10yo) March '90 Signed as a youth with Partick Thistle. (12yo) March '94 Saw Celtic saved from the creditors by Fergus McCann. (16yo) June '94 Signed on a pro contract with Greenock Morton. (16yo) May '95 Saw Celtic win the Scottish Cup, beating Airdrie 1-0. (17yo) July '96 Passed Level 1 coaching course, taking 3 weeks. (18yo) May '98 Watched Celtic stop 10 in a Row. (19yo) Febuary '99 Passed Level 2 coaching course, taking 6 months. (20yo) May '00 Released from Greenock Morton making 0 first team apps in 6 years. (22yo) September '00 Signed with amateur side, Maryhill Juniors. (22yo) December '00 St. Blaines Primary School coach. (22yo) May '01 Watched Celtic win the Treble under Martin O'Neill. (23yo) December '02 St. Gregory's Primary School manager. (24yo) January '03 John Paul Academy XI manager. (24yo) May '03 Watched Celtic reach the UEFA Cup Final in Seville. (25yo) June '05 Gained UEFA B license. Announced as Maryhill Juniors Assistant Manager. (27yo) December '06 Saw Celtic qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time. (28yo) January '08 Announced as Llangefni Town FC's part-time manager. (29yo) In Detail Robb Jayne started his professional career at Greenock Morton, signing as cover for their goalkeeper in the 94/95 season but he made no appearances for the club and was eventually released in May 2000 due to financial reasons. He found it hard to get a full-time contract in the Scottish leagues and after coming home fruitless from England and Ireland he decided to pursue a career as a teacher, playing part-time football between the sticks with Maryhill Juniors as he studied. Through the years Robb divided his time between his studies/eventual full-time job as Modern Studies teacher with playing for Maryhill Juniors and coaching/managing local school teams (St. Gregory's, St. Blaine's and John Paul Academy respectively). Early on in his career he took advantage of Greenock Morton's coaching policy and gained whatever coaching badges he could in his spare time, it paid off and throughout the years Robb enjoyed the adulation of the parents of Maryhill and the West end of Glasgow as he lead their kids to silverware after silverware. Eventually he found himself as assistant manager at Maryhill Juniors which allowed him to understand not only the importance of tactics and morale but of balancing the books and finances. Although he did enjoy the free pints and the respect among the pubs along Maryhill Road he wanted something more, and he got it when his dream came true in mid-January '08 as a job offer as a full-time scout for his beloved Glasgow Celtic found it's way through his letterbox. As Robb picked up the phone ready to call his family with the news he flipped through the junk-mail and what he found in amongst it changed his life forever. As he sat on hold with the phone wedged between his shoulder and his head he found himself holding a plain brown envelope with his name and address written in cursive, Welsh stamps on the front and a return address to Mr. Gwynfor Jones, Cae Bob Parry, Talwrn Road, Llangefni, Angelesey, Wales ...after opening it he saw the letter inside started with three simple little letters. S.O.S. ……… Although I had already dialled the number I was put on hold as usual, that's when I found myself opening the plain old brown envelope in my hands, my smile fading... The letter started S.O.S. then went on to explain the situation that a small Welsh Premier League football club named Llangefni Town has found themselves in. Without a manager or a foothold in the Welsh Premier League they have a real possibility of dropping back down and into the pits of the Welsh amateur leagues. With a bad wage structure the club were bleeding money and there was a reality of the football team dying. The thought made me shiver, it's been a long time since I took part in the Sack the Board campaign in Glasgow when Celtic were on the brink of oblivion and the opportunity to have actual control and not just be an errand boy running with cups of tea and selling fanzines really made me sit-down and think. In one hand I have the opportunity to remain in Glasgow, work for my boyhood heroes and retain the adulation of the local people... in the other is a challenge to save a small football team in Wales from oblivion...and if I can't do that? Oblivion for myself and my careers, all 3 of them. There was only one choice. A voice on the other end of the phone started speaking, I almost forgot I was on hold. "Hello, mum? I'm moving to Wales." http://s206.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/residentidlenet...t=LlTInformation.jpg http://s206.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/residentidlenet...¤t=LlTHome.jpg http://s206.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/residentidlenet...w¤t=LlTWPL.jpg [Arriving - Tue, 15th January 2008] I arrived in the small town of Llangefni in a manner a lot different from the way I left Glasgow. Glasgow Central Station had around 30 people there to wave me off, Maryhill Junior Ultras had managed to avoid the security and hang a bed sheet painted with "Good Luck Noodles" from one of the hotel windows that make part of Central Stations walls. I always hated that nickname but in this case it made me smile, well, until one of those nutballs set off a flare and ended up being huckled into a Strathclyde Police van whilst wearing a big stupid grin!, gotta love 'em! But the car that drove me into the small North Wales town was older than I was, the streets were deserted and the darkness ate up most of the scenery. The frost in all the windows reminded me of home but within a few minutes I was at my unwelcoming lodgings at a stingy B&B, later I discovered to be spit-distance away from the local slaughterhouse which was the reason for me not catching a wink of sleep that first night as the night-shift worked harder than they ever must have. The next day I met chairman Gwynfor Jones at the local pub 'The Dazzler' (the nickname of the team, I always knew I was justified in hating nicknames) and was introduced to the history and culture of the team as well as the culinary delight of North Wales, he made it clear that it was my ability and commitment working in a small local area with local people and kids that made me the ideal candidate for the job. Something didn’t sit quite right about the old man but within an hour I had signed the relevant paperwork which officially made me manager of Llangefni Town Football Club. I was congratulated with a pint of local ale, on the house. It tasted terrible, which prepared me for meeting the staff, the squad and the training sessions to come. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyNoodleBhoy Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 Can I make it from the worst team in Wales to managing my beloved Glasgow Celtic in a realistic career? A story thread to keep me interested in a career game I've started. This is a reboot thread from http://community.sigames.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/97319217/m/6982098383 due to my laptop breaking and losing the save. Will be interesting to compare seasons, especially considering the massive mistakes I made which I obviously won't do again. Notice changes to manager background/history which will account for said experiences. Technical Details: Large database All leagues from England, Ireland, N.Ireland, Scotland & Wales loaded. All players from England, Ireland, N.Ireland, Scotland & Wales loaded. Game begins on the 15th of January '08. Manager: Robb Jayne (Scottish/Irish) Uncapped 24/03/1978 (29 yo) Rep: National (Sunday League Footballer) Favourite team: Celtic Playing Career/History: [Through the Years] March '78 Born in Rottenrow Hospital, Glasgow. May '88 Watched Celtic win the double in their Centenary year. (10yo) March '90 Signed as a youth with Partick Thistle. (12yo) March '94 Saw Celtic saved from the creditors by Fergus McCann. (16yo) June '94 Signed on a pro contract with Greenock Morton. (16yo) May '95 Saw Celtic win the Scottish Cup, beating Airdrie 1-0. (17yo) July '96 Passed Level 1 coaching course, taking 3 weeks. (18yo) May '98 Watched Celtic stop 10 in a Row. (19yo) Febuary '99 Passed Level 2 coaching course, taking 6 months. (20yo) May '00 Released from Greenock Morton making 0 first team apps in 6 years. (22yo) September '00 Signed with amateur side, Maryhill Juniors. (22yo) December '00 St. Blaines Primary School coach. (22yo) May '01 Watched Celtic win the Treble under Martin O'Neill. (23yo) December '02 St. Gregory's Primary School manager. (24yo) January '03 John Paul Academy XI manager. (24yo) May '03 Watched Celtic reach the UEFA Cup Final in Seville. (25yo) June '05 Gained UEFA B license. Announced as Maryhill Juniors Assistant Manager. (27yo) December '06 Saw Celtic qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time. (28yo) January '08 Announced as Llangefni Town FC's part-time manager. (29yo) In Detail Robb Jayne started his professional career at Greenock Morton, signing as cover for their goalkeeper in the 94/95 season but he made no appearances for the club and was eventually released in May 2000 due to financial reasons. He found it hard to get a full-time contract in the Scottish leagues and after coming home fruitless from England and Ireland he decided to pursue a career as a teacher, playing part-time football between the sticks with Maryhill Juniors as he studied. Through the years Robb divided his time between his studies/eventual full-time job as Modern Studies teacher with playing for Maryhill Juniors and coaching/managing local school teams (St. Gregory's, St. Blaine's and John Paul Academy respectively). Early on in his career he took advantage of Greenock Morton's coaching policy and gained whatever coaching badges he could in his spare time, it paid off and throughout the years Robb enjoyed the adulation of the parents of Maryhill and the West end of Glasgow as he lead their kids to silverware after silverware. Eventually he found himself as assistant manager at Maryhill Juniors which allowed him to understand not only the importance of tactics and morale but of balancing the books and finances. Although he did enjoy the free pints and the respect among the pubs along Maryhill Road he wanted something more, and he got it when his dream came true in mid-January '08 as a job offer as a full-time scout for his beloved Glasgow Celtic found it's way through his letterbox. As Robb picked up the phone ready to call his family with the news he flipped through the junk-mail and what he found in amongst it changed his life forever. As he sat on hold with the phone wedged between his shoulder and his head he found himself holding a plain brown envelope with his name and address written in cursive, Welsh stamps on the front and a return address to Mr. Gwynfor Jones, Cae Bob Parry, Talwrn Road, Llangefni, Angelesey, Wales ...after opening it he saw the letter inside started with three simple little letters. S.O.S. ……… Although I had already dialled the number I was put on hold as usual, that's when I found myself opening the plain old brown envelope in my hands, my smile fading... The letter started S.O.S. then went on to explain the situation that a small Welsh Premier League football club named Llangefni Town has found themselves in. Without a manager or a foothold in the Welsh Premier League they have a real possibility of dropping back down and into the pits of the Welsh amateur leagues. With a bad wage structure the club were bleeding money and there was a reality of the football team dying. The thought made me shiver, it's been a long time since I took part in the Sack the Board campaign in Glasgow when Celtic were on the brink of oblivion and the opportunity to have actual control and not just be an errand boy running with cups of tea and selling fanzines really made me sit-down and think. In one hand I have the opportunity to remain in Glasgow, work for my boyhood heroes and retain the adulation of the local people... in the other is a challenge to save a small football team in Wales from oblivion...and if I can't do that? Oblivion for myself and my careers, all 3 of them. There was only one choice. A voice on the other end of the phone started speaking, I almost forgot I was on hold. "Hello, mum? I'm moving to Wales." http://s206.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/residentidlenet...t=LlTInformation.jpg http://s206.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/residentidlenet...¤t=LlTHome.jpg http://s206.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/residentidlenet...w¤t=LlTWPL.jpg [Arriving - Tue, 15th January 2008] I arrived in the small town of Llangefni in a manner a lot different from the way I left Glasgow. Glasgow Central Station had around 30 people there to wave me off, Maryhill Junior Ultras had managed to avoid the security and hang a bed sheet painted with "Good Luck Noodles" from one of the hotel windows that make part of Central Stations walls. I always hated that nickname but in this case it made me smile, well, until one of those nutballs set off a flare and ended up being huckled into a Strathclyde Police van whilst wearing a big stupid grin!, gotta love 'em! But the car that drove me into the small North Wales town was older than I was, the streets were deserted and the darkness ate up most of the scenery. The frost in all the windows reminded me of home but within a few minutes I was at my unwelcoming lodgings at a stingy B&B, later I discovered to be spit-distance away from the local slaughterhouse which was the reason for me not catching a wink of sleep that first night as the night-shift worked harder than they ever must have. The next day I met chairman Gwynfor Jones at the local pub 'The Dazzler' (the nickname of the team, I always knew I was justified in hating nicknames) and was introduced to the history and culture of the team as well as the culinary delight of North Wales, he made it clear that it was my ability and commitment working in a small local area with local people and kids that made me the ideal candidate for the job. Something didn’t sit quite right about the old man but within an hour I had signed the relevant paperwork which officially made me manager of Llangefni Town Football Club. I was congratulated with a pint of local ale, on the house. It tasted terrible, which prepared me for meeting the staff, the squad and the training sessions to come. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyNoodleBhoy Posted March 7, 2008 Author Share Posted March 7, 2008 Llangefni Town - Team Analysis Staff Nicky Stewart as assistant manager is a bit of a joke, he’s got no people skills at all and thinks he’s Vinnie Jones. He could be a semi-decent defensive coach though, nothing like turning a hindrance into an asset. Gareth Evans however is a kind of jack-of-all trades, master of none. I’d rather this coach see the exit door sooner rather than later but the finances are strained enough. Derek Roberts is a semi-decent veteran goalkeeper that is also a damn fine goalkeeping coach, I can see him sticking around for a while after he retires from football. Finishing off the staff is physio Stuart Brown, this guy doesn’t know his arse from his elbow and the sooner we get him replaced the better. I don’t want Father Dougal taking the magic sponge to any of my players during a relegation dogfight. So it looks like I’ll need a scout, maybe 2 if I can afford it. A new physio, a fitness coach, a technical coach and last but not least a trusty and dependable assistant manager. The wage budget might have to get a little worse before it gets any better. Goalkeepers Liam Ewing (£70 p/w until 2008) Darren Fuller (Youth Contract - £25 p/w until 2011) Farai Jackson (£50 p/w until 2008) Derek Roberts (£40 p/w until 2009) Simon Williams (£35 p/w until 2009) The goalkeeper situation at the club was rather awkward, with 5 on the books including one youth-contract it was obvious this was the place to start trimming down the wage budget. The veteran Derek Roberts doubled as a rather good goalkeeper coach so saved me the worry of whether he should stay or go. Unplayed and unproven Farai Jackson was another thing altogether, although he wouldn’t have to perform miracles to better the performances of no.1 Simon Williams this season. Conceding 26 goals in 15 starts wasn’t too healthy and although his aerial ability was excellent the rest of his game was worse than the rest of the batch. After a few hours training with the squad I could tell that youngster Darren Fuller was the most well rounded and promising keeper in the squad but with 5 starts and 8 goals conceded already at the tender age of 16 he was not going to be my first-choice between the sticks this season. With my unwillingness to go with the usual blunder-keeper the eccentricity of Liam Ewings’ weighed against Farai Jackson’s impressive fitness and considering Farai had maintained that fitness without playing a first-team game for the squad I decided to go with the determined and professional Welshman. Defenders John Boardman (£100 p/w until 2008) Danny Carrington (Youth Contract - £25 p/w until 2011) John Francis (Youth Contract - £25 p/w until 2011) Craig Hogg (£55 p/w until 2008) Mark Jones (£60 p/w until 2008) Steven Kehoe (£65 p/w until 2009) Caerwyn Roberts (£50 p/w until 2008) The small amount of defenders at the club left little to really be decided, the two youth prospects still being too young to make a mark at the club the only decision I had to think about was who to pair with solid centre-back Steven Kehoe and who to shoe-horn into the right-back spot. Eventually I decided that John Boardman would partner Kehoe mainly thanks to his comfort on the left side, it will be interesting to see how Craig Hogg reacts and whether he will really push for that place back. Right-back had to be filled in by Mark Jones, some back-up will need to be brought in soon in case of emergency. Midfielders Graham Austin (£65 p/w until 2008) Ywain Gwynedd (£40 p/w until 2009) Richard Hughes (£35 p/w until 2009) Caerwyn Roberts (£50 p/w until 2008) Paul Rowlands (£80 p/w until 2008) Richard Williams (Youth Contract - £25 p/w until 2011) A very average midfield here, with no spark or grit in there I really worry about where the team will create chances from for the rest of the season. The wingers Graham Austin and Paul Rowlands seem to have been playing relatively okay however, I’ll need to start scouting for attacking and defensive midfielders before the transfer market closes. Youngster Richard Williams has been picked to start for now, teaming with Richard Hughes to try and control the middle of the park. Strikers Matthew Henderson (Youth Contract - £25 p/w until 2011) Chris Jones (£80 p/w until 2008) Dylan Owen (£90 p/w until 2008) Jay Peters (Youth Contract - £25 p/w until 2011) Danny Glyn Roberts (£80 p/w until 2008) Jason Sadler (£60 p/w until 2008) Darren Thomas (£30 p/w until 2009) Adam Winterton (Youth Contract - £25 p/w until 2011) There’s way too many strikers at the club to support, even worse than the goalkeeper situation. Top goalscorers Chris Jones and Jason Sadler picked themselves but Matthew Henderson looks like a great prospect and could be in with a shout of dislodging one of the two hit men if they have a bad run of performances. Dylan Owen and Danny Glyn Roberts should be out of the club as soon as possible, especially considering their relatively high wages. Steven Kehoe - Llangefni Town FC Captain Finally I decided on defender Steven Kehoe to replace Graham Austin as captain, with Austin taking up the vice-captaincy if anything should happen to the solid centre-back. http://s206.photobucket.com/albums/bb14/residentidlenet...ent=LlTFormation.jpg Wanted In: Assistant Manager Fitness Coach Scout Technique Coach --- Defensive Midfielder Attacking Midfielder Right-Back Wanted Out: GK. Simon Williams GK. Liam Ewing RW. Ywain Gwynedd CF. Danny Glynn Roberts CF. Dylan Owen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
macca69 Posted March 8, 2008 Share Posted March 8, 2008 Shame about what happened but hopefulyl you'll be able to take them to the coveted mid table position! Good luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyNoodleBhoy Posted March 9, 2008 Author Share Posted March 9, 2008 [The Rest of January] I managed to convince fitness coach Ben Stork, tactician Jeff Thorpe and scouts John Richards & Stuart Morgan to sign up with the club. All four guys are good at what they do and can hopefully give my team the edge very quickly. I’ve short listed a number of unemployed staff members I’d like to see here but coaxing the chairman around to allowing more personnel onto the wage budget will be difficult. 26 year old club captain Steven Kehoe has expressed an interest to help out the club by also taking on coaching duties, which I hope to take full advantage of. Looks like he’s doing everything he can to impress me which is nice to see. Steve Whitehall has also arrived at the club to provide the necessary physio duties that I was so concerned about when I first arrived. Nicky Stewart accepted to change his role from assistant to defensive coach so now a suitable assistant manager will need to be brought in and I already have an idea of who I‘d like to join me. New training regimes were drawn up to maximise the potential of the team and focus on each individual position and what that job entails. Simple tactical instructions were also drawn up but could take a couple of weeks to perfect. After the initial training session I decided to begin drafting up my plans for the futures of everyone in the squad, I consider myself quite a good judge of player (Celtic did want me as a scout after all!) so after weighing up the options I decided that the squad would be trimmed as soon as possible. Factors brought into it would be wage, competition for places, age and ability - which instantly I could see indicating that no less 3 players would definitely be heading out the exit door. As far as new players coming in went I was already aware of a young Scottish midfielder named Paul Munro who was on the brink of turning amateur, poised to sign with Maryhill Juniors (which surprised me as the lad has ability and his last club were Inverness CT) but I moved quickly to sign him up along with an exciting attack-minded Welsh midfielder named Liam Maloney. Both players were initially no-where near being match-fit so wouldn‘t expect to make their debuts for a week or so. I’m also looking to bring in a few veterans who can double up as coaches, Michael Heathcoat is on his way down to North Wales already to fulfil that very duty. Saturday 19th January Newtown - 1 Tommy Mutton (80) Llangefni - 2 Chris Jones (71) Graham Austin (90) [MotM - Graham Austin] A fairly boring first-half was only acceptable due to the good defending on display from the team and the clean-sheet that went with that. Chris Jones finished a nice attacking move in a rejuvenated second half but Newtown drew back and looked to go on to win the match as the put the pressure on late, especially in injury time as centre-back Jonathan Boardman got a second yellow and was sent off. A silly tackle set up my side with a free kick just outside the box in the last few seconds of injury-time and aggravated ex-Captain Graham Austin stepped up to slam it into the top corner and give us the win, sending a message to the fans and myself in the dugout that he was no-where near giving up on the jersey or the armband. An old friend who used to work for Falkirk as a scout and youth coach has decided to make it down to the North of Wales and join me at Llangefni as my assistant manager, Willie Irvine might not be the best at understanding who is on form at the moment but he can really spot a future talent and his people skills are outstanding. But before he made it down I managed to wrangle a few more staff into the club onto minimal contracts - Chris Scott & Mo Hopkins signing up as coaches to complete my back-ground staff (with players Roberts, Heathcoat and Kehoe completing my coaching team). My scouts found a few free-agents worthy of stepping into the first team as soon as they get their match-fitness up so full-backs Ray Michael (left) and Peter Borrowman (right) signed up with the club and I asked aging centre-back Steven Davies in for a trial. I was very tempted to sign up ex-Cefn Druids centre-forward Geraint Williams as he looks like a lad who can stick the ball in the net but as much as I wish I could add more to the squad my options are very limited until pre-season when I can hopefully add to it after saving the club from relegation. I did offer him a trial though, just incase. I have reduced the wage budget significantly, releasing 2 players (Ewing & Roberts), the 2 useless members of staff (Evans & Brown) and offering an extension of a year to all players I don’t consider a sap on the club’s resources; cutting most of their wages or at least their bonuses at the same time. Jonathan Boardman and Paul Rowlands have proven difficult to please however, especially since they look like they haven’t been putting the work in to earn their hefty payouts this season, they could be candidates to leave soon if they don’t change their attitudes. The wage budget now sits £171 over but with Simon Williams, Ywain Gwynedd and Dylan Owen all still to leave and a month of media-friendly, lucrative exhibition matches organised between famous German anti-fascist side St. Pauli and my youth team that deficit in the finances will soon disappear. Saturday 26th January Llangefni - 2 Richard Hughes (32) Jason Sadler (37) Caernarfon - 0 [MotM - Jason Sadler] I can’t say Caernarfon's Luke Carding being sent off for an elbow in the 2nd minute didn’t help but you have to take advantage of the breaks when they come to you and this one couldn’t have come at a better time. My first home match at Cae Bob Parry and a great clean sheet, we dominated the match and with this result we went above Caernarfon and found ourselves out of the relegation zone, with 3 teams beneath us thanks to other results. All this without even playing a newly signed player! Willie Irvine finally arrived so I could hand over the Reserves and Under 19's squad duties to him and concentrate on the first-team, his assistance and advice day-to-day will come in handy as every one of my carefully weighted decisions now has someone to triple-check them and ensure every move we make is towards making the club stronger. With the Winter tranfer-window slamming shut not really meaning all that much (considering I have still to sign a player from another club) the fans prepared themselves for a new month and a new page in the history of their club. With the first two games going so well, the team begining to become organised and the right background staff in place the Dazzler's fans will hope it possible to push even further out of the relegation battle and start competing for a respectable position in the league. But this could just be the calm before the storm... the month of February will make it all clear as we take on fellow relegation candidates Connah's Quay and Airbus as well as impressive Port Talbot. January Summary Start Position - 17th (Joined club on 15th) End Position - 15th (2 games in charge) Form: LLWW Best Player: Jason Sadler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyNoodleBhoy Posted March 12, 2008 Author Share Posted March 12, 2008 [February 08] We went into February knowing that we had a great chance of pushing further out of the relegation battle with just 2 wins against other teams odds-on to drop out of the Welsh Premier League, these matches sandwiched a game against 7th placed Port Talbot which will be a real test of our ability. There was some pretty bad news at the very start of the month though as first-teamer and anchor to the midfield Richard Hughes suffered a broken pelvis, putting him out for the rest of the season and perhaps even lucky to make the start of next. At 32 years old that is a career-threatening injury, lucky this is only his part-time job and his full-time job is working behind a desk. Chairman Gwynfor Jones was not concerned however and as he was too busy talking about the Port Talbot game on the 16th which he saw as a money-maker, whether he was too bothered about a win or not I was anxious to see but on his commands I stirred up some controversy in the press a few weeks beforehand and began my first attempts to outwit rival managers through the medium of the media as I tried to unsettle Nicky Tucker’s squad with a few negative comments. Then I informed Paul Munro he would be making his debut against Connah’s Quay, replacing the injured Hughes and expected to continue the aging defensive-midfielders good form. Saturday 2nd February Connah’s Quay - 1 Adam Dickinson (52) Llangefni - 3 Chris Jones (7) Jason Sadler (29, 61) [MotM - Jason Sadler] A battling midfield display with Paul Munro getting stuck in saw us keep the good form going and although the teams were fairly matched in terms of chances created our strikers had the deadly touch and secured our win with style. I’m really pleased with Jason Sadler’s form, he’s scoring for fun but we’ll need to be wary of those goals drying up. With our chances few and far between we could find ourselves back into the relegation dog-fight within a few games if we don’t have someone capable of slotting them home as regularly as he does. Saturday 16th February Llangefni - 2 Jason Sadler (10) Paul Rowlands(42) Port Talbot - 1 Martin Rose (87) [MotM - Paul Rowlands] This populour home match was all about Port Talbot striker Martin Rose not being able to find the back of the net until the last few minutes, not to take anything away from our defenders especially since full-backs Peter Borrowman and Ray Michael made their debuts today. To keep such a high-placed team such as Port Talbot at bay for so long is no mean feat but this guy Rose had a howler of a game and on a different day PT could have run a cricket score up on us. Luck is on our side for now, but for how long? Saturday 23rd February Airbus - 1 Paul Tait (90) Llangefni - 3 Chris Jones (01, 72) Jason Sadler (22) [MotM - Chris Jones] Chris Jones scoring in 37 seconds didn’t really set the right tone of the match as I modified my tactics against the team rooted to the bottom of the table, looking for more from the wings and a better percentage of chances created. Tactis I hoped to help us dominate chances but the two first-half goals were aided by defensive errors by Airbus and the second was down to good vision by keeper Farai Jackson and magnificent individual skill by Jones. With my team failing to really string their passes together or whip in good crosses I’ll have to depend on some great defending and even more luck for the next match against second-placed (but my personal pick as WPL Champs this year) TNS. February Summary Start Position - 15th End Position - 11th Form: WWW Best Player: Jason Sadler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyNoodleBhoy Posted March 12, 2008 Author Share Posted March 12, 2008 [February 08] We went into February knowing that we had a great chance of pushing further out of the relegation battle with just 2 wins against other teams odds-on to drop out of the Welsh Premier League, these matches sandwiched a game against 7th placed Port Talbot which will be a real test of our ability. There was some pretty bad news at the very start of the month though as first-teamer and anchor to the midfield Richard Hughes suffered a broken pelvis, putting him out for the rest of the season and perhaps even lucky to make the start of next. At 32 years old that is a career-threatening injury, lucky this is only his part-time job and his full-time job is working behind a desk. Chairman Gwynfor Jones was not concerned however and as he was too busy talking about the Port Talbot game on the 16th which he saw as a money-maker, whether he was too bothered about a win or not I was anxious to see but on his commands I stirred up some controversy in the press a few weeks beforehand and began my first attempts to outwit rival managers through the medium of the media as I tried to unsettle Nicky Tucker’s squad with a few negative comments. Then I informed Paul Munro he would be making his debut against Connah’s Quay, replacing the injured Hughes and expected to continue the aging defensive-midfielders good form. Saturday 2nd February Connah’s Quay - 1 Adam Dickinson (52) Llangefni - 3 Chris Jones (7) Jason Sadler (29, 61) [MotM - Jason Sadler] A battling midfield display with Paul Munro getting stuck in saw us keep the good form going and although the teams were fairly matched in terms of chances created our strikers had the deadly touch and secured our win with style. I’m really pleased with Jason Sadler’s form, he’s scoring for fun but we’ll need to be wary of those goals drying up. With our chances few and far between we could find ourselves back into the relegation dog-fight within a few games if we don’t have someone capable of slotting them home as regularly as he does. Saturday 16th February Llangefni - 2 Jason Sadler (10) Paul Rowlands(42) Port Talbot - 1 Martin Rose (87) [MotM - Paul Rowlands] This populour home match was all about Port Talbot striker Martin Rose not being able to find the back of the net until the last few minutes, not to take anything away from our defenders especially since full-backs Peter Borrowman and Ray Michael made their debuts today. To keep such a high-placed team such as Port Talbot at bay for so long is no mean feat but this guy Rose had a howler of a game and on a different day PT could have run a cricket score up on us. Luck is on our side for now, but for how long? Saturday 23rd February Airbus - 1 Paul Tait (90) Llangefni - 3 Chris Jones (01, 72) Jason Sadler (22) [MotM - Chris Jones] Chris Jones scoring in 37 seconds didn’t really set the right tone of the match as I modified my tactics against the team rooted to the bottom of the table, looking for more from the wings and a better percentage of chances created. Tactis I hoped to help us dominate chances but the two first-half goals were aided by defensive errors by Airbus and the second was down to good vision by keeper Farai Jackson and magnificent individual skill by Jones. With my team failing to really string their passes together or whip in good crosses I’ll have to depend on some great defending and even more luck for the next match against second-placed (but my personal pick as WPL Champs this year) TNS. February Summary Start Position - 15th End Position - 11th Form: WWW Best Player: Jason Sadler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyNoodleBhoy Posted March 12, 2008 Author Share Posted March 12, 2008 [March ‘08] As March rolled in I was informed that my teams performances in the three games we had in the month before was good enough to bring two awards to Cae Bob Parry. February WPL Player of the Month - Jason Sadler February WPL Manager of the Month - Robb Jayne I couldn’t help but try and be modest about winning the award to the media on the morning of the biggest match of my career so far, against The New Saints. To be honest I’d rather my team pick up a precious away point today then have a piece of metal I can stick on my B&B bedside cabinet, still I posed for a load of photos with Jason at the insistence of Mr. Chairman - Gwynfor Jones. That guy really is coming across as desperate for publicity now but with a quick look at the finances I can’t really blame him. Calculating it all up I realised the shock of how much wages the backroom staff I’ve assembled are taking. We need more fun-days and friendlies to generate income, St. Pauli were fantastic to have over for a month so I’ll see if I can use my connections again just to top the funds up a little more - but first of all… Saturday 1st March TNS - 2 Michael Wilde (45) Scott Ruscoe (45) Llangefni - 0 It could have been a lot worse. My first management career defeat coming away from home, against the best side in the league, thanks to two goals in half-time injury time…injury time which was added because on the 45th minute the rock in my defence and club captain Steven Kehoe was knocked out. If we converted a few of our own chances we might have made TNS doubt themselves but to be honest they dominated the match from start to finish, with more shots off target than we had passes. As long as we all keep calm, don’t get ideas above our station and realise that 11th place is more than good enough for us right now then the team will be fine for the rest of the season. My initial aim was to take control of a team in a vicious dog-fight and that’s what I’m still doing for this season anyway. Saturday 8th March Llangefni - 1 Jason Sadler (90) Neath Athletic - 0 [MotM - Jason Sadler] A very boring game, just horribly dull until injury time when Sadler bundled an Austin cross over the line. With club-captain Kehoe out of the squad Mark Jones started alongside John Boardman to shore up the defence and make sure Neath didn’t get a sniff, unfortunately the two centre-backs saw too much of the ball due to the negative mentality of the squad and wasted long balls all day. I also really need to have a look at our set-pieces because the amount we wasted today was woeful, but at the end of the day it was nice to get back to winning ways and a clean-sheet on the board. I’m really worried about my tactics, no matter what I tell the squad to do they seem to be wasting ball’s far too regularly. I think I’ll give the team until the end of the month and then look for a real overhaul of my tactical instructions, if we can garner enough points in to ensure we will not be relegated this season I can start exploring with some more attacking formations. Hmm, what was that I was saying earlier about not getting ideas above our station? Saturday 15th March Welshpool - 0 Llangefni - 3 Chris Jones (02, 36) Jason Sadler (45) [MotM - Chris Jones] The best performance of my entire career, all 8 games of it. It was so good we were actually pushing forward to try and help Chris Jones complete his hat-trick but 3 goals and a clean sheet are all we achieved, sadly. My tactics were implemented to perfection today and we created bucket loads of chances in front of goal, we are yet to score from a corner or a long-range free kick though so I’m going to have to get the big guys training on headers and set-pieces. Welshpool fielded slightly injured midfield captain Chris Venables and we took advantage of it, hitting him hard all throughout the match and making sure he couldn’t pull any strings. With this result Llangefni Town have risen to 10th spot and there’s 12 points between us and relegation….two wins in our last six games would surely see us avoid the drop by a good distance and have a good foundation to work on for next season. On the 16th I managed to make it up to Glasgow to see Celtic win the Scottish League Cup against Rangers, Paul Hartley getting the only goal of the game. No-one in the capacity crowd recognised me but that’ll be different in ten years from now. I got a little bit drunk in the Glasgow Barrowlands later on and then finally embarked on my trip home for the last two games of March, which if won could see definitely avoid the drop even if we lost every other match of this season. Saturday 22nd March Llangefni - 1 Chris Jones (48) Aberystwyth - 1 Luke Jones (14) [MotM - Chris Jones] Aberystwyth are no mugs, occupying 3rd place and beating The New Saints a week before, they came to Cae Bob Parry on a high. They left with a point, their title challenge damaged despite their relentless attack on our defence throughout the match. Chris Jones stood out for my team and made all the difference with his second-half goal as well as his endless running and ability to keep the ball, helping to relieve the pressure on our defence. People were actually standing for this match - breaking our attendance records. The attendance was 291, a good bit over the average for the season at 231. I’m glad to see that Gwynfor Jones’ tactics to attract more to the game are working and the teams performances are garnering a little more interest. Still, we’re a long shot away from filling our stadium at 3500 (250 seated). Saturday 29th March Bangor City - 3 Peter Hoy (pen 22) Karl Noon (56) Anthony Loughrey (81) Llangefni - 1 Jason Sadler (87) A tough game which we never really looked interested in at all. Bangor City went into sixth gear and never came out of it after they converted their penalty early on in the match, launching themselves over us in the league table. We changed tactics after Bangor scored their 2nd and starting trying to push the ball up the park and create chances for ourselves but Chris Jones missed a sitter and young Liam Maloney never made a mark in his starting debut. With Cefn Druids also winning we drop down from 10th to 12th place, 10 points away from relegation with 4 games left! All to come in April, starting with an away game against a team one point below us - Caerswys. Gwnynfor Jones is still walking around with a smile on his face however as profits for the club look to be an all time high thanks to some good fund-raising which brought in almost £8,000 making our profits exceed £15,000 for all my time in charge and seeing us in good steed to continue our growth as a club. March Summary Start Position: 11th End Position: 12th Form: LWWXL Best Player: Chris Jones Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyNoodleBhoy Posted March 15, 2008 Author Share Posted March 15, 2008 Saturday 5th April Caersws - 3 Sion Meredith (20) Graham Evans (54) Eoin Quigley (64) Llangefni - 0 A terrible match for us with none of our paltry three shots on target and with Connah's Quay drawing at Cefn Druids they close the gap on us a small amount. The odds are still stacked against them with us needing to lose our last 3 games for Connah's Quay to have any chance of trading places with us. Saturday 12th April Llangefni - 0 Carmarthen - 0 [MotM - John Boardman] The result that made it mathematically impossible for us to go down this year. It might have been a dull 0-0 draw but it meant a lot, now we can fully concentrate on building something next season and becoming a force to be reckoned with in the WPL. I fancy seeing what the team would be like if put in full-out attacking mode and will test it in the last home game of the season, coming next. Saturday 19th April Llangefni - 3 Chris Jones (05, 81) Jason Sadler (46) Llanelli - 0 [MotM - Chris Jones] Chris Jones was outstanding and showed he is more than capable when made the focus of the team in a more attack-orientated formation. The team was slightly dissapointed to only have around 150 people to see them off this season so I'm pretty pleased we were able to motivate ourselves this much against one of the better teams of the season. Their manager Peter Nicholas was sacked after this match after leading Llanelli AFC to a dissapointing 9th position. Saturday 26th April Porthmadog - 6 Keith O'Halloran (02) Carl Owen (07,11, 43) Mark Cook (17) Johnny Kenny (67) Llangefni - 3 Jason Sadler (28) Chris Jones (30) Danny Brown (90) I decided to continue the all-out attacking formation and see what we could do against one of the top-side teams in the division whilst away from home. Their counter-attacking style ripped our defence apart almost a dozen times but the game was very entertaining and both teams played in good spirit, hopefully we can continue playing nice attractive football but end with the result in our favour next season. April Summary Start Position: 12th End Position: 12th Form: LXWL Best Player: Chris Jones So the 07/08 season ends with us in 12th place, 5 places better off than when I joined in January. I'm dissapointed with how inconsistant we were and especially with how hard we found it to create chances and shots on goal but pre-season should be enough time for me to work with the backroom staff and figure out how to make the team work like a well-oiled engine. The finances are eventually out of the red and into the black, we're gaining about £2k a month thanks mainly to fund-raising but I'm still wary of my large backroom staff, they're draining a lot of money from the club and although they are talented enough to deserve their wages the training ground and equipment we have to work with is woeful. Depending on finances this season it looks like I'll probably have to release a few coaches and maybe that extra scout come April 2009. Chris Jones was voted Llangefni Town FC's Player of the Season 07/08 thanks to his massive contributions up front. During pre-season relegated Airbus released a few players that my scouts recommended to me during the season, goalkeeper Tommy Crowther and promising centre-back Jamie Laird both accepted contracts within a few days of being released. Whilst scouring the bargain basement attacking midfielder Kevin Street and striker Yola Bolasie stood out for me from the little I could see from them, after 4 week trials both were highly recommended to be signed up and duly did which left our wage budget £10 under, nice. Our pre-season prep included more money-spinning friendlies (which gained us around £10k) and a tour of Ireland, we finished with a 3-2 win over my old side Maryhill Juniors to bring us into our first WPL game against Rhyl now with 57 season tickets sold and a strengthened team ready for the new season ahead. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
macca69 Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 KUTGW! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyNoodleBhoy Posted March 18, 2008 Author Share Posted March 18, 2008 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by macca69: KUTGW! </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Cheers buddy, currently half-way through the next season. I'm just going to do season reports from now on until something interesting happens. Lower League Management is killing me right now, I just want to fix what Strachan is doing to the club IRL! =(! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
macca69 Posted March 19, 2008 Share Posted March 19, 2008 Haha, to be honest you had plenty of chances last night!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyNoodleBhoy Posted March 20, 2008 Author Share Posted March 20, 2008 So the season of 2008/2009 was upon us and I had the challenge of achieving a respectable position in the Welsh Premier League with my first ever club. With my contract due to expire at the end of the campaign and the chairman showing from day one all he was interested in was making money the chips were down on this being the make or break year for my management career. With Gwynfor Jones unwilling to give me any transfer funds or bring in a parent club the season would be a toughie even if I didn't make a move that created the first drama of the season, a move which would upset a lot of people and make backpage headlines in the Llangefni Town Times - due to financial constraints I had not sanctioned the Under 19 squad to compete this year. Gwynfor Jones made a statement in the article that he made it clear to me on my arrival that the reason he hired me was the ability to work with local youngsters and bring them through, he said it was out of his hands as I had already filled out the forms and sent them back to the Welsh FA. Saving himself from the scandal and delivering me on a plate to the local media, the fans, the players and not to mention the parents of the young guys I had to release. "It's the best for the club Mr. Jayne, the board realise your position right now and appreciate that you will deal with it in an appropriate manner." said Gwynfor Jones' secretary. Huh, "the board", considering there's only one guy on it the decision to save himself and leave me to the wolves must have been an easy one. Thanks to the unprofessional way this was handled the morale was rock bottom, worse than when I orginally took over the club. As a way of making it up I kept the most promising youngsters and offered to look around for clubs for the guys I was forced to release. The team got a small boost when Richard Hughes came back 100% fit in time for the new season, the veteran had lost his midfield role to young Scot Paul Munro but he was a good personality to have around and considering he's made it back into contention after having such a bad injury which could have ended his career there was some positive stories to report from our stadium - Cae Bob Parry. Unfortunatly the bad press allowed our head scout John Richards to leave us for Reading, a team I couldn't see combing through Wales looking for scouts so I only could assume he had been flaunting his C.V. around. We got £6k compensation which went straight into Gwynfor Jones' pocket, typical. Before our first game of the season against Rhyl they offered £1,000 for our no.1 Farai Jackson - I asked for £10,000 which scared them off but upset Farai no end. I ended up having to replace him with one of my new signings in young Tommy Crowther and place him on the transfer list. Farai had pleased everyone last season with his performances between the sticks, I had to think long and hard but it ended up that his personality would not allow him to be part of the squad. He was moody and abusive and the sooner I could get rid of him the better. Transfers IN GK - Tommy Crowther DC - Jamie Laird AM - Kevin Street ST - Yola Bolasie The season started off a mixed bag, by the end of September the morale was steady but we were only a few positions off the drop-zone. New goalkeeper Tommy Crowther had excelled in his first-team status, Kevin Street was a geniunely good buy and bosman signing Yola Bolasie proved himself a great acquisition as he slotted home 7 goals in his first 12 matches, he was already gaining interest from the bigger teams in the division and would most likely leave as the club was most definetly a selling one. Chairman Jones was still hassling me about the wage budget despite making a profit of £40,000 as the team slumped and went through a horrible patch which saw us prop up the other teams in the division at Christmas but only 9 points seperated us from 8th position as the league was a tight one - I was sure that with a few new faces we could force our way to a respectable mid-division spot. I managed to bring in attacking midfielder Gregg Coombes on a free transfer who had been in good form for Carmarthen that season and I completed a coupe for the future of the club as exciting forward Ashley Stott signed a pre-contract agreement from Bangor City. The lad was a perfect replacement for Yola Bolasie who headed to Rhyl for £20k plus 50% of any future fee but it was a shame we wouldn't see him until the summer. January Transfers IN LB - Andy Legg AMR - Gregg Coombes ST - David Duffy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyNoodleBhoy Posted March 20, 2008 Author Share Posted March 20, 2008 As the new players settled into the squad the team began to pick up wins and really compete, with the new vein of good quality football we leapt up the league to 10th place and it was realisticly possible for us to achieve something as good as 6th place. During March I was warned that I only had 3 months left on my contract but an increasingly agitated Gwnfor Jones refused to speak with me and that is when I began looking around for my new team, unless I made it impossible for him to let me go then I would most definetly be gone from the managers office at Llangefni Town. Luckily for me a young kid named Jay Peters forced his way in to replace Bolasie and began regularly hitting the back of the net, whilst another youngster named Danny Carrington partnered club captain Steven Kehoe in the centre of defence and became a rock, winning a couple of Welsh U21 caps in the process. Both became a darlings of the club and the town as they pushed the team into a magnificent end of season place - 7th, suddenly the whole U19gate scandal had been forgotten about. Season Summary: Bettered expectations, filled long-term aspirations 2 years early. Expected Finish: 12th Actual Finish: 7th Fans Player of the Year: Chris Jones The Whole Squad Inducted into Llangefni's Best Ever XI!: GK: Tommy Crowther LB: Ray Michael RB: Peter Borrowman CB: Steven Kehoe CB: Danny Carrington LW: Graham Austin RW: Liam Maloney CM: Paul Munro CM: Kevin Street CF: Chris Jones CF: Jay Peters As the last game ended Gwynfor Jones took the opportunity to offer me an extended 2 year contract at the club on my current wages, with the press photographers waiting he stood there with his hand out waiting for me to shake it... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
macca69 Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 Cliffhanger! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
elf_30 Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 Awesome work man, but the suspense is kill me, lol. KUTGW Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyNoodleBhoy Posted April 8, 2008 Author Share Posted April 8, 2008 I heard one of the press photographers stifle a laugh as Gwynfor sneakily added in the "same wages as you're getting just now" stipulation to the 2 year contract and I couldn't help grinning myself. With his fat old hand swaying in the air for what felt an eternity and the photographers from the local papers (which he had obviously called up) waiting in anticipation I recalled a conversation I had a few weeks before (a time when it looked like I was going to be leaving Wales after the last game of this season). I was talking to an old friend from Scotland, Brian McLaughlin. The guy had a good career mostly playing in the lower leagues of Scotland after a few years playing for Celtic and had all his coaching badges with a squeeky-cleen reputation and great work-ethic to boot - he had been applying for years to manager positions in the Scottish Third Division & the Blue Square Premier with absolutely no luck at all. "You're lucky to have the job at Llangefni mate" was his exact words. With the knowledge that young Llangefni Town players like Jay Peters, Danny Carrington and Danny Brown were going to be joined by a quality striker in Ashley Stott and midfielder Graham Hopkins I finally reached out and grasped mister Jones' hand much to his relief. He grinned for the cameras and the flashes lit, it wasn't necessarily a proud moment for me and I can't say I was particulary pleased with how things were going despite just finishing a record-breaking season as far as Llangefni Town is concerned. My ambitions are a little more extravagent than struggling to 7th place in the Welsh Premier League whilst constantly being hassled for money and to reduce the squad/staff. I decided that in these two years I would need to over-achieve with my team and make such an impact that teams from the lower echelons of Scotland and England would not be able to ignore me. The pre-season knocked my team off balance as Jay Peters damaged his cruciate ligaments in our first friendly and found himself ruled out for 4 months, the dream striking partnership I had designed for the past 6 months was ruined and the very basic plans I had of at least using this season as a building block for the next was potentially going to be ruined. This team has developed a habit of starting off extremely poor and building up good results slowly over the course of the season and this fashion continued in Season 09/10. A few months of absolutely devestating results almost certainly saw us throwing away a challenge in the top half, yet again we threw it away along with the cups. I began questioning the wiseness of my intitial acceptance of the job alomost 2 years ago. Then the promising centre-back Danny Carrington broke his leg on the training field, the backroom staff and myself cursed our luck. January Transfers IN RB - Lewis Dark on a Free Transfer The finances began to really slow down and suffer as winter season set in and attendances dropped, once again Gwynfor Jones called me into his office. I assumed it was to warn me about wages but I will never know as I launched in first - demanding that the training grounds be repaired and upgraded then storming out before I could get an answer. Slamming the door so loud Mr. Jones' secretary dropped her cup of tea down the back of the photocopier. What the hell does a football club need a photocopier for anyway? I like to think I excel under pressure and that I did, pushing up from our relegation position in January we managed to eventually grab 10th spot which was great considering the injury-hit, disaster of a season. Unfortunatly we lost a lot of finances and Gwynfor Jones tried calling me into his office again, Willie Irvine advised me it would probably be in my best interests to play ball... an hour later I wish I hadn't. Gwynfor Jones had arranged the sale of Ashley Stott, Richard Williams, Darren Fuller, Danny Carrington, Jay Peters & Kevin Street. After half an hour of screaming and shouting I managed to save the contract of Stott but I was still to lose a few players who were massive in the teams efforts this season, some might have suffered some long-term injuries but were major parts of my plans as far as my last season at Llangefni Town was considered. Oh, and the funds raised from selling half the team were to "be invested in the financial stability of the club". Sigh, roll on 10/11. My last year staying in Wales. Ever. Season Summary: Injury-filled season which hampered what could have been our best season so far. Expected Finish: 10th Actual Finish: 10th Fans Player of the Year: Ashley Stott Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wegason Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 This is a good story, keep plugging away and I am sure a decent club will come in for you (if you apply for the vacancies at clubs you fancy your chances at). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
macca69 Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 Wow back from the death!! KUTGW mate, this is a good read!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyNoodleBhoy Posted April 9, 2008 Author Share Posted April 9, 2008 Wales is absolutely soul-destroying work, this story is the only reason I've had the patience to keep plugging away there. Been especially bad since my RAM had to be replaced with half the bloody power! Takes hours to get through 1 month. =( Not to mention me hating football right now due to obvious reasons *cough*GordonStrachan*cough*... Thanks for the kind words guys! *thumbsup* Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyNoodleBhoy Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 My Last Season at Llangefni Town - 2010/2011 - Pre-Season So I had to inform the team that due to financial strain a few key lads would be heading out the door and clubs had already been found for them. The solemn looks on their faces said it all, a few of them muttered something about our esteemed chairman but the reaction which stood out was Ashley Stott's who just stared at the ground. I decided to inform him that although a lot of our top assets were being sold I had managed to convince the chairman to offer him a new longer contract which saw him being paid a fair amount for what he does for the team. Ashley was really a quality player and even now I could see he had more potential than what he was showing, it was obvious to everyone who saw him play. He's the kind of player you build your team around. And that's why my heart dropped into my stomach when he informed me he had been talking to other clubs with Gwynfor Jones's blessing. He had signed with Queen's Park Rangers. 4-4-2 Magazine had featured him in a WPL Future Talent article, along with Tommy Crowther and Liam Maloney. I had heard of the bids for these two lads and roundly rejected them but to be honest I should have sensed something was up when all interest in Stott disappeared off my radar. Idiot. Gwynfor Jones's office was in my sights as the red haze glared over, on my way I loosened my tie, undid my top button and rolled my sleeves up. My last season at Llangefni Town was ruined and now all I wanted was to go out with a bang, mainly the chairman’s head banging off the walls in his office... but as I charged past his secretary and flew his office door almost off it's hinges I was greeted with a fruit basket sitting on his desk, a card sticking out of it with my name on it. Gone Fishin' in the Bahamas, enjoy your pre-season Mr. Jayne. Regards, Your Chairman... Gwynfor Jones. P.S. Mr. Stott has been sold to QPR for £200k. You have 10% of our transfer funds to play with and I will allow you to retain the services of Jay Peters. I had to admit that amount of money was unbelievable. It could really go towards building us a good training ground and helping Llangefni cement itself as a full-time club. If it was any other chairman other than Mr. Jones then I would be happy with that, as it is I hope he hauls a shark onto his boat and it chomps his arm off. But now Fuller, Williams, Dennis, Carrington, Street, Wilkinson, Beevers & Walters all left along with Stott which left my team pretty short in most positions before we had even started our pre-season, a pre-season I was not going to have the time to enjoy. My scout Stuart Morgan had been working for 3 years without me being able to spend money on his recommendations so now was the time to do it. Funnily enough the players he highly recommended were out of contract. We had played against two of them in some pre-season tournament - young Scott Lynas of Ballymoney Utd who was a quick, pacey striker with excellent finishing and a veteran left back named Robert Sawyers from Raceview. Brett Johnson of Aberstywth was a centre back I had my eye on for a few seasons and I managed to get him signed up on a pre-contract. The other two quickly followed. I didn't have much luck as I searched for a back-up left winger and a centre-mid throughout the pre-season with no less than 8 players all reusing to ply their trade in the Welsh Premier League. First day of training in pre-season Llangefni Town FC's Youth Academy churned out 10 prospects, with left winger/striker Lee Varney the most promising of a pretty good bunch. Day one of the 10/11 campaign saw the regular fight between myself and Mr. Jones who refused point blank to invest any funds in the training grounds, even though I offered to sacrifice my £50k transfer booty to achieve it. The pre-season again dealt mainly with bringing funds to the club as our anti-fascist friends St. Pauli holidayed here in what was becoming a traditional pre-season party. The Dazzler pub was doing good business so the owner of that wasn't complaining (the owner so happens to be Gwynfor Jones FYI) and the attendances were good for these fun matches, even though they usually ended with us being soundly beaten we won our first ever match against them this year - a great 3-2 win in an entertaining match. As the season loomed closer and closer we were dealt 2 blows one after the other, fitness coach Ben Stork was leaving to join Aberdeen and the season ticket sales had dropped by 25 - a significant amount in Chairman Jones's eyes and another excuse to throw at me regarding funds throughout this season. Never mind that the main reason for the drop in attendance was his insistence on selling our top asset. Bangor City away was our first match and it was a tough one, with young Scott Lynas under pressure to fill Ashley Stott's boots he buckled in his debut - his strike partner David Duffy got injured early on and at the back Steven Kehoe argued with his new defensive partner Brett Johnson. We were trounced 3-1 in a match that continued the theme of my stay at Llangefni Town - a hard season was upon us but surely I was due a good run and a Welsh fairytale story? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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