[FM17] The Seagulls are trying to nick my chips again...

[noikeee]

I told you this was going to be back-to-back promotions.  Fantastic achievement.

[oliverdykes]

2 hours ago, King Costly said:

Weston-super-Mare AFC 

National League Champions 2017-18

For the first time in the club's history, Weston-super-Mare will be a Football League side! We won it in style (well, kind of!). We played really well against Dover, missed a couple of sitters and hit the post before late sub O'Sullivan nicked us a goal in the 81st minute. Mansfield and Gateshead both lost at home so even a defeat would have seen us lift the title but it was nice to do it with a victory! 

We've now got three games left and despite us already having promotion in the bag, I'd like to win all three. I'll give a couple of the bench players a start just to see if they can impress and I may even give a first team debut to a youngster or two.

Talk about a WAR CHEST! Ok, maybe not... We're currently spending £6k a week, the lowest in the division, so it's a 50 per cent increase. It still won't be anywhere near the average League Two budget, though, so we're going to need to be very smart in our summer recruitment.

 

Great achievement, well done 

[King Costly]

6 hours ago, Deisler26 said:

Yessss. Congratulations!

 

5 hours ago, arranlester12 said:

Well done cocker

 

5 hours ago, MadCatPT said:

@King Costly Congrats, Seagull FTW!

 

4 hours ago, Crispypaul said:

Great work!

 

4 hours ago, noikeee said:

I told you this was going to be back-to-back promotions.  Fantastic achievement.

 

3 hours ago, oliverdykes said:

Great achievement, well done 

Cheers guys! Every time we looked like we may be starting to slow down, we went on another run. I didn't expect us to struggle but anything more than a late play-off run was a pipe dream at the start of the season!

We drew 0-0 with Braintree before ending the season in the best possible way, Dayle Southwell scoring a 92nd minute winner at Southport - a season review will be up next!

[Nobby_McDonald]

Well done Costly.

[King Costly]

Weston-super-Mare AFC 

National League Season Review 2017-18

National League: Another fantastic season of overachievement saw us secure back-to-back promotions meaning Weston-super-Mare will become a Football League club for the first time after amassing 101 points. We were 1000-1 in pre-season to win the league and predicted to finish rock bottom - just call us the Non-League Leicester City! We also had by far the lowest budget, spending £181k on player salaries over the season. North Ferriby were second bottom with an outlay of £246k while the biggest spenders, Ebbsfleet, splashed out a whopping £1.66m.

FA Cup and FA Trophy: We had a great run to the third run of the FA Cup, beating Aldershot (just) and Weymouth before somehow overcoming League One outfit Wigan Athletic on their own patch. Our journey ended in round three at home to fellow Somerset club Yeovil. Our stay in the Trophy was much briefer and we were knocked out by Bath in the second round after we saw off Chelmsford.

Team Awards: This was our most used starting XI and boy did they perform well. Elliot Richards picked up the fans' player of the year with the Welshman scoring 17 (nine more than in season one) and assisting 11 from midfield. I would, however go with Dayle Southwell. Without his goals, all 26 of them, there's no chance we would have finished where we did. My young player of the season was Mason Watkins-Clark as the centre-half established himself as our most dependable defender. Soukouna's winner against Gateshead was rightly chosen as our Goal of the Season although the Youtube uploader on Mac doesn't seem to work so you won't be able to appreciate its beauty unfortunately.

Squad Stats: It's no surprise seeing Richards and Southwell top the charts for average rating - they were our two main attacking weapons.

Finances: We end the season with a healthy balance considering the precarious position we found ourselves in just 12 months ago. The FA Cup run was the big factor, raising close to £100,000 in total.

Club News: As expected, our promotion to the Football League means the club will now become a professional outfit, no more just Tuesday and Thursday night training! I'm not sure if current part-time contracts continue the way they are until they are renewed or are automatically changed to pro deals. Regardless, more coaches will be extremely helpful! We've also increased our junior coaching budget which will hopefully help us in the long run.

Another thing promotion has caused us to think about is the ground and the Woodspring Stadium will be undergoing a bit of a facelift over the summer. A total of 1,390 seats will be added in order to comply with League Two regulations at a cost of £171k. Our scouting range has been upgraded (could we not already scout the UK and Ireland?!) and I've personally signed a new two-year contract extension fresh off being named the National League Manager of the Season! Now let's get started on this busy summer...

[deltablue]

Well done on getting out of the Bananarama leagues so easily.

[CityAndColour]

Congrats on the promotion. Unless it has changed this year you will need to manually offer new full time deals, although you can keep some players on part time contracts (you just can't renew them as part time).

[King Costly]

5 hours ago, deltablue said:

Well done on getting out of the Bananarama leagues so easily.

 

4 hours ago, CityAndColour said:

Congrats on the promotion. Unless it has changed this year you will need to manually offer new full time deals, although you can keep some players on part time contracts (you just can't renew them as part time).

Cheers guys. I've completed the off season and I'm on the eve of the first game of the new campaign. It was a pretty frustrating summer with me being either priced out of a number of my targets or a lot of players just simply not wanting to join us.

It's meant I've had to bring in players in a position or two who probably will get caught out a little in League Two but hopefully the rest of the team can make up for that. I'd also forgot about the horrible new EFL Trophy schedule meaning we're going to have a lot of games early in the season - the squad will definitely be tested fitness wise!

[MadCatPT]

Good luck for the new season.

Use the time honoured practice of bringing all the seagulls to the opponents stadium, they let you win the league so they don't have to face the seagulls again. 

[King Costly]

Weston-super-Mare AFC 

League Two Season Preview 2018-19

As you can see, we didn't go crazy with an overhaul of players but I had to add some quality with the step up being quite a harsh one. In terms of outgoings, Fortune retired while Williams, Soukouna, Ingram and Singh were all let go as I didn't think they would cut it in League Two. Osborne, who was our starting right-back, was only sold to offset the signing of Laucys.

Key Signings: Dayle Southwell joined us permanently on a free after scoring 27 times last season, Amadeusz Skrzyniarz becomes our number one keeper and Oliver Rathbone gives us more quality in the middle of the park

Other Signings: Audrius Laucys cost us £9k in compensation but I was desperate for what I considered an upgrade at right-back. His fellow Lithuanian Edvinas Jasaitis will fill in on the left-hand side of midfield and while his stats don't look too great, I have been tracking him for a while and his performances have always been impressive. Jason Akiotu isn't up to the standard I would like but I struggled massively to find a left-back so hopefully he can do well while youngsters Tariq Uwakwe (free) and Tristan Jumeau (loan) offer us some depth with a pretty hectic fixture list. We've also been able to re-sign central midfielder Rob Evans on loan from Wrexham although he doesn't show on the transfers because it was a renewal rather than a new signing.

Expected Lineup: We're going with pretty much the spine from last season. Skrzyniarz takes over the number one shirt and Rathbone enters the middle of midfield. We've got two new full-backs, who I'm not entirely convinced about, and a new left-winger. Hopefully the continuity factor will help us along.

Season Aims: To stay up, pure and simple. We haven't been able to bring in real quality due to the budget limitations but if we can keep the team spirit from the first two seasons, hopefully we can survive. We've been handed a tough trip to relegated Oldham on the opening day of the season while we then host Championship side Ipswich Town in the EFL Cup on TV. In the EFL Trophy we've been drawn in a group with League One clubs Bristol City and Shrewsbury as well as Watford U23s, oh the glamour... 

The board really has no expectations of me this season. In the league they want me to fight bravely against relegation. In the FA Cup, EFL Cup and EFL Trophy they just want me to reach the rounds we enter at anyway so I think we could possible lose every single game this season and not get sacked. Let's hope it goes a bit better than that though!

[King Costly]

Weston-super-Mare AFC 

EFL League Two 2018-19 (August update)

A bit of a mixed start for us in the Football League. We kicked off with a trip to recently relegated Oldham, went 2-0 down but fought back and got a point. We played quite well and were extremely lucky to be two behind so a decent point all told. Jasaitis got his first for the club against Hartlepool and despite being the better side, they scored a screamer to nick a draw. We then travelled to Dagenham and were beaten by a free-kick from 25-yards but the worst thing was Dayle Southwell going down for two months after breaking his toe. Jonathan Nixon was left as our only remaining striker and he scored the second in our first win as a Football League club, taking advantage of ten-man Colchester.

EFL Cup

We managed to break our attendance record in front of the TV cameras as a crowd of over 3,000 saw us beat Championship club Ipswich. They had a man sent off in the first half and from that moment on we dominated and the 3-2 scoreline was very flattering for them. We had League One side Southend in the next round but were well and truly humbled 4-0 - a very poor performance all round. We also picked up another injury, to our only fit striker Nixon, who will be out for three weeks with a twisted knee.

That game took us to the transfer deadline and with all of our wage budget taken up, we weren't in a position to splash the cash. I needed to bring in a striker of some description and we just about got the loan signing of Harvey Bradbury from Portsmouth over the line in time. In my mad rush I seem to have missed an important fact: He's injured too! Our strikers seem to be enjoying the physio room a bit too much...

The only other additions at the deadline were young defender Geraldo Bajrami on loan from Birmingham and free agent veteran midfielder Simon Walton who has joined on a pretty small wage and brings some much needed steel and experience. It's certainly going to be an interesting few weeks and injuries have already really tested our small squad. As long as we don't get any more...

[arranlester12]

Youre already doing better than what i was with rovers

[danmcconnell1]

Congrats on the promotion mate, decent start in the Football League too, KUTGW and KRO!

[King Costly]

10 hours ago, arranlester12 said:

Youre already doing better than what i was with rovers

 

7 hours ago, danmcconnell1 said:

Congrats on the promotion mate, decent start in the Football League too, KUTGW and KRO!

Haha, cheers guys. It's been a tough start but that was to be expected really. The biggest thing I've noticed is that teams are scoring much better goals against us due to the increased quality of players. We're not defending badly on the whole but we've conceded a few 25-yarders and a couple of direct free kicks - not many of those went in during our Non-League stint!

[King Costly]

Weston-super-Mare AFC 

EFL League Two 2018-19 (September update)

We kicked off September with a 2-0 defeat at Exeter. We defended really well until the final ten minutes and then conceded two sloppy goals although we didn't deserve anything from the game in all honesty. We managed to bounce back from that defeat with victory over bottom side Barnet despite going behind early on - some poor defending from them helping us out. On-loan Portsmouth striker Harvey Bradbury scored his first for the club in a decent draw at Notts County before we ended the month with two big wins at home.

We went behind in both games (I'm sensing a pattern here...) but showed great spirit to fight back on both occasions. Oliver Rathbone got his first in a Seagulls shirt and a wonderful Elliot Richards hat-trick helped us down Wimbledon fairly comfortably and we finished September with victory against Luton. They had a man sent off on the hour mark so we went two up top and the returning Jonathan Nixon got the winner to move us up to... third?! Our home form will be crucial this season and so far, so good!

EFL Trophy

With our EFL Cup journey over, we only have the EFL Trophy to worry about until we enter the FA Cup. Luckily you only play each team in your group once, meaning we only play one Trophy game per month which shouldn't affect our squad too much.

Still, I don't care much for the competition and made several changes for the trip to League One side Bristol City. We had to withstand quite a bit of pressure but came away from Ashton Gate with an excellent 2-1 victory which surely rivals our win at Wigan Athletic last season in the FA Cup. We also picked up £10,000 for the result so maybe I will treat this competition with a tad more respect going forwards...

[King Costly]

Weston-super-Mare AFC 

EFL League Two 2018-19 (October update)

On the face of it, not a bad month. But considering we threw away quite a lot of points, I wasn't too happy with how October went. We took an early lead at Accrington and then a terrible error from Walton allowed them to equalise. It's a pattern than I've noticed - some of the players just aren't good enough at this level, especially the defenders. We're really struggling to keep clean sheets and some of the goals we're conceding are horrific. We were 2-0 up against Cheltenham with five minutes to go and then threw it away. A 90th minute 30-yarder meant we had to settle for a point.

We've also had a ton of bad luck, hitting the underside of the bar at Forest Green in a game we absolutely dominated - I still don't know how we didn't win it. The same could be said for the Ebbsfleet match. We hit the post twice, missed a penalty and threw away the victory as we drew once again against the side that earned promotion alongside us last season.

The final game of the month was a, you guessed it, draw! We fought back from a goal down to take the lead but then more sloppy defending allowed them to equalise and I was left cursing our defensive play. It didn't particularly help that our only natural left-back Akiotu got injured for a month with Uwakwe the only other player that can kind of play that position.

EFL Trophy

I rotated most of the team and we narrowly lost out to a strong Watford side. We couldn't handle one of their strikers, who got a hat-trick, and it turns out he's actually a first team player they signed for £5.5m! What a great competition the EFL Trophy is... At least we have the FA Cup to look forward to soon and we've been handed a decent home draw against league rivals Chesterfield that we really should get through. We could do with the cash so it's one I'll be wanting to win.

[King Costly]

Weston-super-Mare AFC 

EFL League Two 2018-19 (November update)

The story of our season continues - sloppy defending and individual errors are really costing us. We started the month in the worst possible way as Rathbone got himself sent off seven minutes into the Stevenage game. We battled on and they also had a man red carded but they nicked the win at the end, countering from our own corner. In poor form, playing the leaders away from home is not what you want but we actually played really well at Plymouth and Watkins-Clark's error saw us lose the game in the 87th minute.

We finally got another win on the board, but not after we had conceded early on to Fleetwood. A free-kick from 30-yards took a massive deflection off our wall and flew straight into the corner of the net summing up our luck in the last couple of months. We did well, however, to come back and three great goals in eight minutes secured our first victory in seven games. Southwell scored two after returning from injury before twisting his knee in the Leyton Orient defeat and he's out for another month. Sigh.

We didn't show much attacking intent at Orient but dealt with them fairly comfortable until my keeper decided to come out for a long ball over the top, completely miss it and gift them the victory. These silly mental errors keep costing us points and teams are punishing us. Following a decent start to the season, we've really struggled and safety is 100 per cent the objective this term. In other injury news, Elliot Richards has a damaged heel and is out for two weeks so December should be great fun!

EFL Trophy/FA Cup

Well that's that then! We were awful against Chesterfield and didn't deserve to win although it was disappointing to go out of the FA Cup to a long throw. Following the heroics of last season, we've fallen at the first hurdle and the finances will most certainly not be getting a boost this year! We also exited the EFL Trophy a few days later, losing 2-1 to League One side Shrewsbury although I wasn't too fussed about that. I know it's a cliché but at least we can now focus completely on staying up.

[MadCatPT]

It seems they use falcons in these stadiums. 

Let's hope you can survive and renew the team or if some critical signings can make you go up in the table again.

[King Costly]

4 hours ago, MadCatPT said:

It seems they use falcons in these stadiums. 

Let's hope you can survive and renew the team or if some critical signings can make you go up in the table again.

Yeah, we're not scaring many teams this season! I forgot only two teams get relegated which is good news for us. I'm approaching January and would love to strengthen the defence but there is hardly any spare cash in the wage budget. I'll try and get some loans in but the quality of loan players available before the start of the season was pretty poor

[Nobby_McDonald]

At least you stopped drawing games.

[MadCatPT]

Send the prospects some booze so they lower there standards. 

[King Costly]

11 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

At least you stopped drawing games.

Haha, very true! Despite the defeats, our morale seems to be holding up which is good. I guess it's because we're underdogs for most/all games anyway.

9 hours ago, MadCatPT said:

Send the prospects some booze so they lower there standards. 

I think my defenders have been nicking all the booze judging by some of their performances! 

[MadCatPT]

3 minutes ago, King Costly said:

Haha, very true! Despite the defeats, our morale seems to be holding up which is good. I guess it's because we're underdogs for most/all games anyway.

See the bright side, on the return game you have the option of shouting revenge and lead your lads to the field.

Don't know if it's the club name Spartans, the names the fans are called Spartans and/or Green Army but I find it a successful motivation tactic.

Have bigger problems motivating them when we are winning and drawing and can't shout revenge and go to the field.

[King Costly]

Weston-super-Mare AFC 

EFL League Two 2018-19 (December update)

Well at least we aren't drawing games anymore! It now seems to be feast or famine for us but winning two of five games is better than drawing all five so we'll take the positives from that. We started December with a terrible showing against Yeovil. The 4-3 scoreline doesn't tell the whole story as we were 3-0 down after half an hour. We fought back but never really looked like getting anything from the match. A big game against struggling Bristol Rovers was up next and despite falling behind, we came back to pick up a huge three points thanks to Bradbury and a comical own goal - they must have been watching my defenders a bit too much!

Two poor performances saw us lose to Oldham and Cambridge - the latter was a bit of a thumping and our heads seemed to drop. We need to beat the teams around us and the trip to Crawley gave us the opportunity to do just that. We took an early lead through O'Sullivan before they equalised with a goal that was at least three or four yards offside - a shocking decision. Thankfully it didn't matter too much as Southwell, back again from injury, scored two good headers towards the end of the game to give us a much deserved victory.

That win moved us up to 16th and while that doesn't sound great, we are somehow closer to the play-offs than the relegation zone in terms of points. January is now here which means the transfer window is open once again. We don't have much room in the wage budget but we desperately need some fresh faces. I think the loan market will be our best bet so I'm hoping there are some better options on the list now than there were in the summer because we could really do with some decent reinforcements.

[arranlester12]

1 hour ago, King Costly said:

Weston-super-Mare AFC 

EFL League Two 2018-19 (November update)

Well at least we aren't drawing games anymore! It now seems to be feast or famine for us but winning two of five games is better than drawing all five so we'll take the positives from that. We started December with a terrible showing against Yeovil. The 4-3 scoreline doesn't tell the whole story as we were 3-0 down after half an hour. We fought back but never really looked like getting anything from the match. A big game against struggling Bristol Rovers was up next and despite falling behind, we came back to pick up a huge three points thanks to Bradbury and a comical own goal - they must have been watching my defenders a bit too much!

Two poor performances saw us lose to Oldham and Cambridge - the latter was a bit of a thumping and our heads seemed to drop. We need to beat the teams around us and the trip to Crawley gave us the opportunity to do just that. We took an early lead through O'Sullivan before they equalised with a goal that was at least three or four yards offside - a shocking decision. Thankfully it didn't matter too much as Southwell, back again from injury, scored two good headers towards the end of the game to give us a much deserved victory.

That win moved us up to 16th and while that doesn't sound great, we are somehow closer to the play-offs than the relegation zone in terms of points. January is now here which means the transfer window is open once again. We don't have much room in the wage budget but we desperately need some fresh faces. I think the loan market will be our best bet so I'm hoping there are some better options on the list now than there were in the summer because we could really do with some decent reinforcements.

i think you mean decmeber update brother

[King Costly]

Weston-super-Mare AFC 

EFL League Two 2018-19 (January update)

A month of improvements for us as we started with a, gasp, clean sheet! We played really well and looked more like the Weston of the past two seasons. We followed that up with a big win at Hartlepool despite going behind after 23 seconds. Two goals in two minutes from Richards and O'Sullivan won us the game against a potential relegation rival. Dagenham & Redbridge visited the Woodspring Stadium next and we returned to our old selves, playing really poorly. We scored two late goals but it wasn't a good game for us at all.

We bounced back and finished the month strongly with a win and a draw. We dominated Colchester in another fantastic away performance and should have scored four or five. We kept missing chance after chance and I was worried it would come back to bite us. Fortunately Jasaitis scored a beautiful second and me managed to withstand a late barrage after they got one back in the last five minutes. We ended January with another good display against Exeter, really putting them on the back foot from the first whistle and once again our finishing really let us down. We went behind to a sloppy goal but Simon Walton equalised late on from 25-yards to get us a deserved point to move us 11 points clear of danger.

January Transfer Window Deals

Scott Cuthbert (DR) - Rob Atkinson (DC) - Darragh Leahy (DL) - Savvas Mourgos (MC)

Although the defending has improved, I wanted to bolster my options and have done so with some decent signings. Scott Cuthbert played in League Two in the previous two seasons for Luton and Bristol Rovers and can play either centre-half or right-back so he gives us options. Rob Atkinson was released by Guiseley but I think he looks very solid and brings in some much needed experience - both have signed reasonable deals until the end of the season. Darragh Leahy has only come in to offer us depth at left-back as we only have one player, Jason Akiotu, who can play there. The final signing is Greek midfielder and ex-Arsenal youngster Savvas Mourgos who I am quite excited about and he compliments our other central midfielders well.

I didn't have much room in the wage budget so I had to try and be creative to bring in some funds. Luckily young midfielder Tariq Uwakwe took one for the team (literally!) and came to me asking for more first team football. He wasn't interested in a loan move so I offered him out for over double his value and we got a bid from Championship strugglers Oxford United. We managed to negotiate them to £55,000 up front with 30% profit from next sale in case he becomes a star. He was looking like a promising young player but he had only started five games for us and wasn't going to get much more playing time this season. The opportunity to break our club record sale was too good to turn down but we wish him well.

[King Costly]

Weston-super-Mare AFC 

EFL League Two 2018-19 (February update)

Our improvement continued in February as we climbed further and further away from trouble and up towards the play-off places - we couldn't, could we? We kicked off with a 2-2 draw at strugglers Barnet although we didn't really deserve anything from the game and needed a late own goal to give us a point. Our performances from then on were terrific, including a really solid 1-0 win against a decent Notts County side who have plummeted down the table since our meeting.

We then travelled to Wimbledon and Luton and came away with four points. A draw was the fair result against Wimbledon, we didn't really do enough to warrant the victory before we put in a top showing at Luton to come away with a comfortable 2-0 win. We defended really well after two first-half goals and never really looked in danger.

We ended February with a comeback win over Accrington, yet another club who have crashed down the table in recent weeks. A beautiful Southwell header and Birmingham loanee Bajrami's first goal for the club ensured we climbed up to eighth. It's nice to see Southwell returning to his best following two injury lay-offs although he has lost a touch of pace which is something we'll have to monitor. We're only outside the play-off places on goal difference now but I don't think this brilliant form will last. We had a pretty easy month on paper with tougher fixtures coming up in March.

Youth Intake

Dave Daws (AMC) - Connor Kennard (ML) - Aidan Garton (CM) - Thomas Mustoe (MR)

With the club's finances seemingly getting worse and worse by the day, I was hoping we would strike lucky with the intake but unfortunately that wasn't the case. Dave Daws, as well as having a fantastic name, looks decent on paper but his low determination and bad personality will hold him back I feel. He's definitely a project for us though and we will look into the possibility of tutoring him.

The other three, again, are solid without being anything special. They probably won't ever break through to the first team but we've given them youth contracts to see how they develop. With youth deals now costing us £100 a week per player, and with money being very tight, these were the only players kept on from the youth candidates. Let's hope for better luck next year...

[King Costly]

 

Proud day for the football club as Kevin Sammons becomes the first player that has come through the youth ranks under my management to score in a game. Left winger Sammons was in last season's youth intake and has warmed the bench for most of this campaign, featuring a few times as a late substitute.

Well, with our only left-sided midfielder Jasaitis getting injured for a few weeks, I thought I'd see if Sammons would be able to handle filling his boots. The early signs are good as despite his average stats he claimed two assists and a goal in his full debut - let's hope it continues! 

[BoxToBox]

Always a lovely thing!

[Nobby_McDonald]

Climbing the table.

[King Costly]

15 hours ago, BoxToBox said:

Always a lovely thing!

Yup, especially when we're as low on cash as we are! A decent youth player coming through now and again will definitely ease the pressure on the finances.

10 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Climbing the table.

Yeah, I don't think we're going to have enough to get into the play-offs but at least there's no late season relegation battle to worry about. Interesting to note that Ebbsfleet, who got promoted alongside us in the last two years, look to be going straight back down despite having the second largest budget in the division.

[King Costly]

Weston-super-Mare AFC 

EFL League Two 2018-19 (March update)

As you can see, March was a very busy month and we just about remain in the play-off chase. We only lost one game in the month but we could, and really should, have won a couple of those drawn matches which will probably come back to haunt us. We kicked off with a big win at Cheltenham, going 2-0 up early on before they fought back to 2-2. An own goal and Kevin Sammons' first ever strike for the club ensured we took home the points. We played poorly against Forest Green and let in two sloppy goals. Rob Evans got sent off on the hour mark so I didn't expect us to get anything but Elliot Richards popped up right at the death to earn us an undeserved point before Callum O'Sullivan nicked a late winner at struggling Ebbsfleet.

Noticed the odd one out? The Chesterfield game was just one of those that I knew we would lose as soon as we kicked off. Every time they attacked they tore us to shreds and were 5-0 up inside half an hour - I have no idea what went wrong. Goals from long punts over the top, goals from throw ins, my keeper flapping at shots straight at him... it was just ugly and has really killed our goal difference. We then had to travel to second place Stevenage with my frustration still ringing in the players' ears. Well, it worked as we defended superbly to come away with a goalless draw. Football, bloody football!

We ended the month with two more draws although we should have won both. How Plymouth are top of the league I'll never know, we've been the better team in both games against them. Richards missed an early penalty before putting us 1-0 up but they equalised with a goal from a cross we should have dealt with. They are so negative that we somehow had 70% possession and chance after chance but we fluffed our lines and had to settle for a point. We were then leading at Fleetwood thanks to Sammons again and centre-half Johnson before Simon Walton decided to bring down one of their players in the penalty area straight from a throw-in in the 89th minute despite the fact he was going nowhere. Fantastic. Needless to saw that Walton was released on a free to National League side Morecambe straight after the game. Certainly made me feel better! 

There are six games left and on paper, they are a tad easier than the run we had in March. The goal difference is a big problem for us now and I think we've left it a little too late to sneak into the play-offs. Still, to be even thinking about them at this stage of the season is a huge positive!

[MadCatPT]

Hope you get more luck than me chasing playoffs.

Fly high seagulls!

[King Costly]

54 minutes ago, MadCatPT said:

Hope you get more luck than me chasing playoffs.

Fly high seagulls!

Thank you! It's certainly going down to the wire... 

[King Costly]

Weston-super-Mare AFC 

EFL League Two 2018-19 (April update)

Yes, I know a game from May has sneaked into the April update but I thought our season was over so was just going to cover all the remaining games in one post but it's going down to the wire! We started April in the best possible way, scoring in the first minute against Orient before proceeding to lose 3-1. We bounced back from that with two comfortable victories over Carlisle and Crawley, keeping two clean sheets in the process. That really put is a great position but I thought we had ruined the good work against Yeovil.

We led thanks to Richards' first-half goal and missed two or three really good chances with Southwell also hitting the inside of the post. Of course, that came back to bite us as Yeovil scored twice from corners to steal the win. We travelled to Cambridge, who still had very slim play-off hopes of their own, and put in a fantastic performance to come away with a 2-0 win that has put us back up to seventh. That means the last two remaining play-off places will be decided on the final day of the season.

Final Day

The best thing about it is that it's in our own hands - we know that if we win we'll be in the play-offs. I'd rather be at home but we've actually put in some really good away performances of late so hopefully that will continue at Bristol Rovers, who have nothing to play for. Oldham are currently sixth and they host mid-table Wimbledon while the two teams hoping to leapfrog us into seventh are both away.

Chesterfield face a tough trip to fourth place Leyton Orient and Forest Green will fancy their chances at strugglers Crawley Town. Our goal difference isn't great so we will most likely have to win to secure seventh and Bristol Rovers won't be an easy game. Even if we did get into the play-offs, I would consider us complete underdogs but it would be a nice bonus! 

[King Costly]

Yeah, that went well... To be honest, we would have got battered in the play-offs anyway, this squad just isn't good enough to compete at the top of this division. Think it's going to be a busy summer!

[oakesypvfc]

Just caught up with this, great couple of promotions and your first year in the Football League was certainly one to remember. Good effort at getting the playoffs, I thought it may have been a struggle to stay up!

Roll on next season, just a bit of strengthening might see you into League One.

[King Costly]

19 minutes ago, oakesypvfc said:

Just caught up with this, great couple of promotions and your first year in the Football League was certainly one to remember. Good effort at getting the playoffs, I thought it may have been a struggle to stay up!

Roll on next season, just a bit of strengthening might see you into League One.

Thanks very much! I did think we would struggle when we went on that poor run just before Christmas but we managed to turn it around - we certainly overachieved! 

I'm hoping so. With three automatic promotions, it's the easiest league to get out of. I've got lots of players on my radar it's just a bit of a waiting game as our reputation is still pretty low.

[King Costly]

Weston-super-Mare AFC 

EFL League Two Season Review 2018-19

League Two: Considering we went into the season with 'fight bravely against relegation' as our expectations, we greatly overachieved. We had some dodgy spells but that was to be expected with a squad of players who, all in honesty, are probably not cut out for this level. Still, we kept it interesting and only missed out on a play-off spot on the final day of the season. Our fellow promoted side, Ebbsfleet, finished rock bottom.

FA Cup, EFL Cup and EFL Trophy: We couldn't emulate our FA Cup run of last season, losing to Chesterfield in first round while we also fell at the first hurdle in the EFL Trophy. We did, however, pick up a decent win at Bristol City in the group, as well as an impressive win against Championship side Ipswich in the EFL Cup first round but that was as good as it got.

Team Awards: Our talisman Elliot Richards was rightly named the fans' player of the season as he once again made the step up with relative ease, playing every single league game. He is the first name on the teamsheet and one I hope we keep hold of for a very long time. Club captain Dayle Grubb shouldn't have been anywhere near the top three as he didn't play that much and missed the last four months of the season with injury. Oliver Rathbone, signed last summer, came third and he had a promising debut season with us. Walton's screamer against Exeter was rightly called goal of the season while Rathbone was also named signing of the season and young player of the season.

Squad Stats: Richards led by example and was our only consistent attacking force really. Southwell also got into double figures but two long injury lay-offs really put him back and his physical attributes have suffered as a result. Rathbone and Evans did well in central midfield but it looks as if we won't be getting Evans back for a third season from Wrexham which is a blow.

Finances: The finances are looking a lot rosier now after we picked up £525,000 from the League Two solidarity payment. The wage budget has been increased again for next season so the money in the bank will most likely be drained by that.

Club News: For a second straight season, our junior coaching budget has been increased although the board turned down my request to improve the youth facilities - we just don't have the necessary cash at the club just yet.

The club has put off the required upgrade to the Woodspring Stadium for a year but this will have to be completed next season and this will come at a great cost. I've got another year to run on my contract but hopefully that will be extended at some point. Here's to another season of progression!

[MadCatPT]

[King Costly]

Weston-super-Mare AFC 

League Two Season Preview 2019-20

We really needed to improve the quality of the whole squad, as well as the first XI and I feel we did ok in our summer recruitment. There was nobody we let go that we couldn't keep hold of so I was pleased on that front and we somehow got £60,000 for Tom Roskelly from Oxford - the same side that gave us £55,000 for Uwakwe to beat our previous transfer record. We got him two seasons ago on a free from Brackley and his stats looked decent but he had been fined a couple of times for missing training due to clubbing - I think he likes the booze a bit more than football and to get £60k was great business.

Key Signings: We desperately needed to improve the defence and I feel that Connor Essam can be a big part of that. He has experience of this level and pretty decent stats to boot. Daniel Trickett-Smith will become our new attacking midfielder - a huge upgrade on Callum O'Sullivan while striker Franck Betra will be our biggest goal threat. I really struggled to bring in a striker due to our low reputation so we'll have to make do with Betra, on loan from our league rivals Fleetwood, who will be backed up by the injury-prone Southwell.

Other Signings: We've had to use the loan market a lot more this season with permanent deals tough to complete with our low budget and low rep. Fortunately, the loanees on offer were of a decent standard. Bournemouth's Aidan Barlow and Stoke's Jake Twyford give us options in the middle of the park and both can play just behind the striker too. At the back, right-back Barry Todd joins us on loan from MK Dons while Juanma, who can play at left-back or in the centre of defence if needed, arrives from Oldham. Stuart Coleman is arguably the pick of the loanees and the Wolves defender should really shore things up for us at the back.

We did make some other permanent signings in the shape of central midfielder Ben Whiteman, left-sided player Thomas Grant and experienced central defender Scott Doe. Whiteman looks very good mentally and I'm hoping he can be our anchor in midfield while Grant will battle with Jasaitis to play wide left. Doe adds another option to central defence alongside some of our other younger options.

Expected Lineup: We're going for a similar shape to last season although the personnel has changed somewhat. Our success this season will mainly be down to how well the new defenders perform and whether we can get Betra firing. I'm happy with the midfield and that has a more familiar look than the rest of the team.

Season Aims: Our board expectations are still 'fight bravely against relegation' and we didn't even get the option to suggest we'd do better! The media, meanwhile, expects us to finish 21st. We've been handed a tough trip to Dagenham & Redbridge on the opening day of the season while we then host the team I support in real life, Birmingham City, in the EFL Cup. In the EFL Trophy we've been drawn in a group with our league rivals Bristol Rovers, Oxford United of League One and the West Brom U23s.

I'm not surprised that our expectations are so low as we're still a tiny club at this level. I'm disappointed we didn't manage to bring in a bit more quality over the summer although it wasn't for a lack of trying. Most players just didn't want to join us which meant we were forced to use the loan market a lot more than I would like. You always want to improve season on season so another run at the play-offs has to be the aim.

The only other bit of news is that I'll be doing updates every two months now rather than monthly. I think this is going to be a long journey to the top and I don't want to spam you all!

Up the Seagulls!

[BoxToBox]

To be honest, I think at this level, unless the player has massive potential or is clearly a level beyond the squad, loans are actually better than full time deals. Better to borrow a lad that'll do a job for now, than to be stuck with one who's not good enough for a step up if you continue to progress.

[King Costly]

3 hours ago, BoxToBox said:

To be honest, I think at this level, unless the player has massive potential or is clearly a level beyond the squad, loans are actually better than full time deals. Better to borrow a lad that'll do a job for now, than to be stuck with one who's not good enough for a step up if you continue to progress.

Yes I think you're absolutely right. I've always opted for one-year deals unless the player will only sign for two years or has plenty of potential to improve. 

In my first three seasons, the quality of players available to loan, especially younger ones, was pretty poor. I've been lucky that the loans available to me this season are much better, or at least I hope they will be! 

[King Costly]

Weston-super-Mare AFC 

EFL League Two 2019-20 (August/September update)

A very solid start so far without really hitting our stride. Still, we've only lost one game and that can only be a positive. We played well at Dagenham but needed a late goal to take a point home before Trickett-Smith's first for the club saw us beat Luton. Our only loss of the month came at Forest Green, they were more clinical than us and just about deserved to win. We were leading 2-0 against Gateshead in the next game before we crumbled, conceding two goals from corners as they took the lead. Jasaitis popped up in stoppage time to give us a point before we ended August with a goalless draw at Leyton Orient - a really good defensive performance.

September has seen us improve as our new faces get used to each other. We held on to beat Cambridge United in the first game of the month before Betra's late goal saw us pick up all three points at Bristol Rovers. We were really good against AFC Wimbledon but were left fighting an uphill battle after a sloppy early goal we conceded. Fortunately Betra scored to give us a deserved draw and the French striker then netted two more in the thrashing of Rochdale. We were absolutely brilliant, I don't think Rochdale knew what had hit them!

EFL Cup/EFL Trophy

No heroics in the EFL Cup like last season as we went out at the first hurdle against my beloved Birmingham City. I made a couple of changes and we actually played quite well, hitting the woodwork late on, but ultimately we didn't do enough to win the game and I'm not too fussed about going out. We started our EFL Trophy campaign against Oxford, who have almost become our parent club with their purchases from us in the past two seasons. Richards scored early on and we were really solid throughout, securing the three points.

[King Costly]

Some bad news as Brexit was confirmed and we got the worst scenario possible - every player without a UK passport will have to apply for a work permit. It means we look set to lose arguably our best player in Savvas Mourgos and keeper Amadeusz Skrzyniarz as they have no senior national team experience and it's going to really affect us. I may as well try and sell them in January and at least get something for them.

In more positive news, I've signed a new two-year contract extension and after three years of asking, we've finally managed to get ourselves a senior affiliate. Hopefully Arsenal will send us some decent youngsters and the £65,000 will come in handy too!

[noikeee]

I can't believe you failed to get a 3rd promotion in 3 years. Rubbish season. 

Interesting to see someone getting a harsh Brexit, might make things particularly interesting when you arrive at the Premier League.

[Crispypaul]

Hard Brexit will make this save interesting - how is your youth development?

[Nobby_McDonald]

A very good season and I look forward to how the hard Brexit pans out.

[King Costly]

8 hours ago, noikeee said:

I can't believe you failed to get a 3rd promotion in 3 years. Rubbish season. 

Interesting to see someone getting a harsh Brexit, might make things particularly interesting when you arrive at the Premier League.

I know, I should have just quit while I was ahead   I don't think it would affect the top Premier League clubs much as most foreign players they sign will be internationals anyway. However, below the PL, most clubs will be forced to go primarily UK-based.

8 hours ago, Crispypaul said:

Hard Brexit will make this save interesting - how is your youth development?

Not great. We've increased the junior coaching budget a couple of times but nothing more than that. The youth side of things will definitely be the number one priority if/when we get enough cash to plough back into the club.

1 hour ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

A very good season and I look forward to how the hard Brexit pans out.

Thanks Nobby. I imagine it will be frustrating at times but it will definitely add another layer to the save, that's for sure!  

[King Costly]

Weston-super-Mare AFC 

EFL League Two 2019-20 (October/November update)

A very solid run of games for us again and we've only picked up the one defeat - we've got to be very happy with that. We started October with two 1-0 wins with Southwell starting to return to his former self with two well taken goals. We then had a crazy game against Accrington which saw us take the lead in the 72nd minute, again in the 85th before we needed a stoppage time goal to win it! Our bogey team Chesterfield came back to haunt us as they completely dominated us for the entire 90 minutes with a flat 4-5-1 I've tried and failed to get to work in the past. They're rubbing it in! We ended October with a comfortable 3-1 win over Shrewsbury - Trickett-Smith netting twice on his return from injury.

We were unbeaten in November and kicked off the month with a hard-fought draw at Carlisle before a slender victory over Northampton as Elliot Richards really started to hit top form again. We were unlucky not to beat Yeovil but were brilliant at Eastleigh and should have won by a bigger margin in all honesty. Blackpool visited us at the end of November for a top-of-the-table clash and they made things difficult for us. Despite having more of the ball, we countered well and goals from Richards and Grant, who has performed really well on the left-hand side of midfield in recent weeks, saw us pick up a huge three points. 

With a busy December coming up, I made two signings on free transfer deadline day. Former Birmingham City and Bolton midfielder Charlee Adams gives us another option in the middle of the park while veteran goalkeeper Adam Legzdins will back up number one Skrzyniarz as Luke Purnell has really struggled in the Cup games he has played in. Savvas Mourgos, who was denied a work permit for his contract extension, has interest from his homeland of Greece so I may look to cash in before he walks away for free in the summer. 

FA Cup/EFL Trophy

Despite winning our first EFL Trophy game, we went out at the group stages again after losing to Bristol Rovers and West Brom U23s. I made quite a few changes for both games and we were awful. Luke Purnell, our sub keeper had ratings below 6 in both games and it showed some of our fringe players aren't quite up to it.

Slightly more promising news in the FA Cup as we narrowly saw off National League side Tranmere Rovers in the first round. We have been rewarded with another home tie against League One strugglers Stevenage. The big bonus for us is that the game has been chosen for live TV coverage, although I'm not sure why! Regardless, that's another £70,000 in the bank!