Countylife

[andychar]

Pre-Season 2027/28

Leamington FC

It wasn't my intention to stay another season with in Leamington Spa but I'd rather do that than be unemployed.

The current road map looks like this....

I need a job with Fisher. 100%. There are no other teams that will represent that County. Its Fisher or nothing.
I've had to open up Herefordshire. Hereford wouldn't even give me an interview which is a worrying sign. Luckily there are a few teams that I can join. It just means looking lower than I wanted to. I've even reloaded Tier 11 just in case we need to drop all the way back down.
Blyth Spartans are still my aim for Northumberland. I keep an eye on Berwick but they are still stuck in Lowland league so no point loading Scotland just yet. I'm going to keep my focus on Blyth for now.

We are predicted to finish 21st out of 22 teams. The board just want to reach the Relegation Playoffs which is 19th. Bottom 3 go down automatically and the 4th bottom hit the playoffs.

I mean as expectations go they aren't exactly the highest.

I've extended one loan and signed another. I've also added a little magic to the side.

I've not really added much else. Honestly I've used my wages to make sure we didn't lose anybody.

Couple of new loanees have been bought in, they will cost us absolutely nothing during their time here.

They will both add a nice bit of depth to the squad. 

We have been bumped upto being predicted 17th. I'd be delighted with that.

Mix bag as far as Friendlies go. Lets start a season I have no intention of finishing at this club!

[andychar]

How did I not spot this sooner?

Just take a look whose in our division this season...

You are going down! (Not literally of course)

[andychar]

Going to be a boring season if this keeps up.

On one hand we were 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 up so its disappointing to draw. On the oter hand we were down to ten men for the last 30 minutes so its a good point!

[andychar]

Update to let you know I haven't died

So I haven't played much since the last update so here's a mini update to keep the thread alive!

I expected this season (while I'm at Leamington at least) to be the first this save we could struggle.

The first game I posted before finished 4-4 in a brilliant game. It could be seen as 2 points lost or a point gained. I'm hoping its the latter come the end of the season.

We were rightly beaten at home. We went down to 10 men but we were already 2 down at the time. Bad day at the office. We bounced back well though and dominated Cambridge. We did everything but score. Even had time to miss a penalty. We finally won our first game of the season at the 4th time of asking.

I'm happy with the start. 3 points clear of the bottom 4 but only 2 points off playoffs! 

I'm not going to finish the season here (I really hope not anyway.) My goal and hope is to jump ahead of Hereford and maybe show them I belong so they want me! Only 1 point off them early doors. I will be keeping an eye on all Herefordshire teams and honestly I might end up back down to Tier 11.

[Mandy42]

That relegation playoff spot highlight really is a horrible colour

[lionel messi]

2 hours ago, Mandy42 said:

That relegation playoff spot highlight really is a horrible colour

I dont think the colour can be changed.

That Relegation Playoff is being removed anyway because with it on teams at that level dont create history and that level can not be scouted either for some reason.

[andychar]

On 01/04/2021 at 13:13, Mandy42 said:

That relegation playoff spot highlight really is a horrible colour

Its a fair reflection of how your season has gone I think.

[andychar]

Expanded Roadmap

Ok so you all know about the currently stage.

Stage 1 - Out of Box Leagues

I'm currently at Leamington but want to move ASAP really. Fisher represents the City of London as the closest team to that County. Bylth Spartans represent the current highest ranked team from Northumberland. I wanted to go to Hereford but seemingly out the picture at the moment so any team (maybe as low as Tier 11) will be needed for Herefordshire.

Those 3 counties round up Stage 1.

Stage 2 - Non-League

This stage deals with Counties where the best team is in either National League or National League North/South.

These include Durham where its either Hartlepool, Darlington Town or Spenneymoor

Kent where Gillingham have dropped to the National League, although they are jumping between the two leagues.

Northamptonshire where Northampton are now a National League team.

Surrey where its either Dorking Wanderers or Woking Town

Worcestershire where its literally Kidderminster Harriers or bust. 

So as you can see Stage 2 is going to be quite long just like Stage 1 has been.

Stage 3 - EFL Leagues

This stage covers anything between League 2 and the Championship and this will cover most of the save, too many Counties here to list but there are some Counties like East Ridings of Yorkshire that literally have Hull City which will unlikely reach the Premier League.

I will cover this stage in more depth when it comes to it. 

Stage 4 - Premier League

This is obviously the Final Stage and will cover Counties like Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Greater London. The obvious big teams such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea etc....

Right now I just wanted you to know about the first 2 stages. I reckon that's 15/20 seasons worth just there. Fingers crossed we can move on from Leamington sooner rather than later and start working towards the next County.

[andychar]

Hey look down there!

This next update is to show a significant achievement this season.

Its been a nice unbeaten run. We have only lost once this season so far. It also includes a nice Cup win. We have Church Stretton Town away in the next round of the Cup. Its a winable game I'd say.

This nice unbeaten run means the league table looks like this...

Would you look at that. Hereford in our dust! I'm really hoping they sack their manager and then see that I can actually do a job and at least give me an Interview!

We were expected to fight against relegation this season, we are 12 points clears of the s*** brown position. Delighted.

 

[andychar]

My 300th game will be in the FA Cup.

The season has caught up with us however so a lot of changes have been made. I'm not confident. (6 changes to be precise) FA Cup is so low on my list of priorites so its not the end of the World at all.

I always feared with this side this season that I've got a decent attack and not a great defence....

And this game is literally that thought in a nutshell.

300 up and these are the stats. Not to shabby I reckon. Onto the next 300.

 

[andychar]

Job is insecure so thought I'd stick my nose in.

I'm really hoping this is because somebody else is still in the job rather than because they think I'm toss.

Either way Leamington aren't happy with me and it looks like I've done nothing to dislodge him from his position so I think its in my best interest to be patient and actually wait for the jobs to become free first.

[andychar]

I don't want to be here. You don't want me here. Yet.....here I am!

Not many wins since the last update but we have proven hard to beat. I showed you the ridiculous stats from the FA Cup game. Once again in the league we had a man sent off and were left just picking up the pieces. Since then its been fairly solid. We had a wobble against Kings Langley and relied on a late goal just to force ET but showed we were made of stern stuff.

Its a bit of a misleading table. A lot of teams below us have a games in hand so I can see us sliding down the league without even kicking a ball.

The stat I'm still looking at is that 12 point lead we have over 19th. 

I am keeping an eye out on jobs but at the moment we carry on rolling with Leamington. Trying to increase my stock as much as possible before we have to nip back down to at least Tier 10.

[andychar]

Huge news. 

We have been taken over with no investment and absolutely no changes to the vision or expectation.

I'm still reeling.

[andychar]

That's enough FM for today me thinks.

[lionel messi]

37 minutes ago, andychar said:

That's enough FM for today me thinks.

Oh dear lol

[andychar]

Another Year in Warwickshire

So its January and I still find myself in Leamington. I have declared interest in 3 jobs and been laughed off all 3. Nobody is willing to give up on their current managers. Fools!

Its still been a good season so far. I don't know what curse I've been put under in regards to the Southern League Cup but it just never ends well! Not so surprising defeats against Lowestoft Town and Welling United. 

Generally speaking this season has been much more successful than I thought it would be, and it shows in the league table.

We are 4th! A full 19 points clear of relegation. That is no longer a thought, the thought now is, can we somehow find our way into a playoff place. That and, just how much longer am I going to be here.

Lets take a look at the lay of the land....

[andychar]

The Hereford job is insecure at the moment which is a no brainer considering their position in the league, before it was a case of "can we finish ahead of them". Now its a case of "just how far ahead can we finish?"

The Fisher job is also insecure (I've been laughed off). They won't go up this season. Surely this is my best chance to tick this one off the list.

Blyth Spartans is another job insecure. They are stuck between Playoffs and relegation and not close to either. Surely one of these jobs needs to come free sooner rather than later.

There are other jobs in Herefordshire but right now I fancy my chances at that Hereford FC job. 

[Mandy42]

There job is insecure, and now so are you because you've been laughed at some much!

Give the man a job not a complex!! 

[andychar]

Yep......still here

So we are 5 games away from the end of the season and still nobody has been fired and I'm still at the helm at Leamington.

So with 5 games to go where are we at?

We have maintained our strong "hard to beat vibe". The loss against Coalville was awful, easily the worst performance of the season. The 3-1 win againts Worcester away was easily the best and perhaps biggest.

We have a 5 point cushion over 6th. This has been an amazing season and if we can somehow hold on and get a playoff place then it will cement this season as maybe the greatest achievement this save so far. 

Still waiting for Hereford, Fisher and Blyth to man up and fire their managers!

I don't think I'm going to milk the end of the season because we have already completed this County so really it doesn't really matter what happens.

[andychar]

51% of Hereford fans need their head examining!

They were only predicted to finish 12th. They are currently 15th. So maybe that's why he's clinging on. Honestly I thought they were predicted higher.

[andychar]

No milking required

We had a great finish to the season. No suspense requried.

We went away to Rushall with them needing just 1 point to clinch the Title and Promotion. We turned up and spoilt their day...

And now I think they want sweet sweet revenge.

A fantastic season where we actually lost the least amount of games in the entire league. Too many draws but playoffs is brilliant.

However....

My head would be elsewhere....

[andychar]

Playoff Semi Final

A bit of Deja Vu. 

We start the playoffs as we ended the season. Fingers crossed its the same result! I think they will be angry.

What a start!

Volleyed home with force from a corner. Dreamland for the visitors. They went 1-0 up 4 days ago and were pegged back in seconds...

What's the ref done here! He's given a penalty. What on Earth is he thinking? Rushall have a chance to respond straight away but honestly that is the worst decision you'll see in a very long time.

Bottom right. No chance. Rushall have been absolutely gifted a goal here. What a start to the game.

10th minute - First attack without a goal. Leamington look to take back the lead. Lowe is baring down on goal but his shot is blocked by the defender. 

13th minute - Back to back shots from Leamington from long range. One straight at the keeper and one wide. 

43rd minute - Its been a quiet period. Leamington have had half chances but nothing to write home about. But this...this is the chance. Its a penalty. Once again its a soft one. You get the feeling the ref was looking to make up for his error.

SAVED! 

Ellis Edge fired straight down the middle and the keeper didn't move a muscle. Leamington have had their chance and have blown it!

46th minute - First save that the Leamington keeper has made. A shot from a tight angle and easily caught.

A tale of 2 penalties. One scored. One missed. Leamington look the most likely but its level at the break.

Tamworth currently lead in the other Semi with means if Leamington go through they would be the home side for the Final!

54 minute - Less than a half chance falls Leamington way. First shot of the second half. Long ranged shot blasted way over.

Lowestoft Town score 2 in 2 minutes to completely turn around the other Semi Final. Its 3-2 there. Still 1-1 here and its a bit flat.

68th minute - Leamington use all 3 subs at the same time. 3-3 in the other Semi. Both games on a knife edge.

A free kick is whipped in and a beautiful header finds the bottom corner.

But wait....the ref is blowing. He's indicating a push. The score stays level. Let off for Leamington.

74th minute - A half arsed header is blazed over and what could have been a good chance is wasted by Leamington.

Into extra time we go. Neither side did enough that second half to win the game. Lets see if another 30 minutes will make the difference.

The other Semi goes into Extra Time as well with that game finishing 3-3. At least both winners of this won't have an advantage regarding fitness.

Nothing really doing here. 2 shots 1 from each side blocked by the defender. 15 minutes to find a winner. Otherwise its penalties.

113th minute - Was that the chance for Rushall! A mistake in midfield and the home side burst forward, a great pass finds the striker in space, he fires and its saved, but its back in play and cleared by the defender for a corner. Huge moment.

And thats it! The drama of a shootout. The other game finished 4-3 to Lowestoft. Great game and the team who finished 3rd go into the Final.

Here we have played 120 and still haven't found a winner. Pure drama incoming.

Rushall will take the first penalty.

Bottom left. Keeper went the right way but had no chance. Cracking penalty.

Bottom right. Keeper stayed central. 2 good pens so far.

Left and another penalty out of reach. Keeper didn't stand a chance. High quality stuff so far.

The roof of the net is rippled and there will have been some Leamington fans who thought it was going over. Great penalty again. We now move into a best of 3 situation. How's your nerves?

Chance! He went for the corner and overcooked it. Wide. Huge chance for Leamington to put the pressure on.

Clinical. Keeper went the right way but had no chance. The first advantage of the shootout and its the underdogs!

Such a pressured penalty incoming...

He send the keeper the wrong way but couldn't beat the post!

Leamington have a penalty for a place in the Final.

Chamberlain-Gayle the CB steps up. 

HE MAKES NO MISTAKE!

What a game. What a story. Leamington are 90 minutes away from the 6th Tier.

 

 

[andychar]

I should hope so I'm about to take a team into the 6th Tier and you are Tier 10!

[andychar]

Play-Off Final

It what I'm hoping is my last game in charge of Leamington we have the small matter of a Play-Off Final. A completely surprising Play-Off Final I might add.

Away from home in the season we were rightly and soundly beaten.

A good win at home cemented our Play-Off place.

They will be the favourites. Home field advantage could take charge here. But sometimes it just feels like your name is on the trophy....

2nd minute - The ball is in the back of the net! But wait its being flagged offside. Host almost in dreamland. Leamington breath a sigh of relief.

24th minute - A great chance for the host but an even better block! Its not been a classic by any stretch. Chances few and far between.

31st minute - First real half chance for Leamington, long range shot blazed over. Not really clear cut but its a shot at least. 

You could cut the nerves and tension with a knife. Neither side really creating much.

38th minute - Whisker away! Leamington come forward and a shot hits the post. Keeper beaten but the post wasn't. That's the closest either side have got.

On the stroke of HT! Leamington are ahead. A wonderful floated cross is headed brilliantly into the back of the net. Keeper no chance. Leamington are going to take a lead into the break. What scenes here!

Ok....it appears in my excitement that I forgot to take the screenshot of the half time stats. Fairly even game.

46th minute - Oh how big will that miss be! Lovely worked ball and the cross comes in which finds Parsons all alone in front of goal. All he has to do is hit the goal and its in. But he smashes it wide. Huge change to double the lead. Could it be costly?

47th minute - It almost was costly straight away! A lovely run down the right, cut inside but the shot is blocked again by Leamington. Those boys are putting it all on the line out where tonight. Still a long way to go in this Final.

76th minute - Its not been a quality game really but this is a save of high class. A route one ball played long finds the striker in space and he finds the bottom corner only for the Leamington keeper to dive low and keep it out. What a save. Is that the save that sends Leamington up?

That's it! No late drama, no real late chances!

Lowestoft had plenty of chances but nothing really of note and amazingly its Leamington who are going up!

This is where a bit of tricky with this save comes into play.

I will save the game as a separate file and resign. If I then don't get the Fisher job for whatever reason I will reload and stay with Leamington. Its a bit cheaty I suppose but hey.....shoot me.

[andychar]

Jesus Katie. Not even subtle anymore.

[andychar]

Here we go. Without sounding big headed this feels like a formality. Its why I quit so there were no hurdles to get over.

Funny thing I've just noticed. I resigned that quickly after Playoff final I didn't get a season review.

Here it is......it went swimmingly.

[andychar]

They wasted no time and the next Chapter of the save can begin!

[abulezz]

Congrats on the new job!

[Mandy42]

Come to me Katie.... 

[andychar]

50 minutes ago, Mandy42 said:

Come to me Katie.... 

You get one guess as to the first thing I did when I went to Fisher 😂

[Mandy42]

3 hours ago, andychar said:

You get one guess as to the first thing I did when I went to Fisher 😂

filed a restraining order? 

[andychar]

Unprepared Fish Play on Words

You'd have thought with all the years chasing this job I'd be better prepared.

Just a 2 hour drive to the Heart of London. The 2nd time we will find ourselves in this neck of the woods during this save.

For those who have read it but have since forgotten. Fisher FC technically belong in the Greater London County which basically covers the entire of London. City of London is a small section within Greater London which doesn't have a team located inside. I could have disregarded it completely but decided the nearest team as the crow flies will represent it. Fisher FC!

The job started well. We were 3rd favourites to win the League so naturally I went into the Team Meeting saying I think we can challenge for the title, they chase me out the grounds with flames and pitchforks. Apparently I was beign too ambitious.....I'm starting to see why this team is stuck in the 10th Tier.

I bought 3 fresh faces into the side....whether they liked it or not.

This guy has played 1 game in League Two so much like me is probably regretting certain career decisions.

You learnt very quickly at this level that players aren't people and it's important not to get attached.

My strongest first XI isn't fantastic, but it looks very like Leamington, albeit the complete opposite way around. We look good at the back but look awful going forward.

I tried to do my usual and steal the entire Dream Team XI. Nobody wanted to come, they said that we couldn't match their ambition. They must have been the Team Meeting!

A few signings later we sit 2nd favourite. Although you'll not the lack of Dorking Wanderers Reserves. They sit N/A at the bottom so God knows what to expect from them. Top 2 go up. If we finish 2nd we will be promoted but it won't count towards finishing the County.

Expectations are fair without pushing the boat out. Obviously we need to look at the league and Combined Counties League Cup as our best chance at finishing City of London and look to move back to the 7th Tier.

Pre-Season went well. Good performance against Charlton. We can't bag anybody on loan for free from them which is a little disappointing.

Katie is settling in fine. Thanks for asking. 

Right lets get to it!

[andychar]

Mini Fish(er) update

So picture this...its the first game of the new season. The excitement is building. A new manager has come in and has actually shown some ambition. You stay quiet in the dressing room as everybody else slates his desire. You have seen managers come and go but something about this....it just feels different. You run out there, ready to hit the season, ready to finally take the next positive step in your career.

Its ok thought. It didn't feel that bad. Maybe a few weeks on the sideline. It won't be so bad. It will give the back up time to shine.

Picture this. You have been told you are going to be the back up. That's fine, you know you'll get some run outs but really what you wanted is first team football. Then despite not wanting it this way your competition goes down 12 minutes into the new season. You finish the game, you pick up the win, life is amazing. You find out the injury is a month long. That's a full month to impress, a full month to make that position yours. You started the season the back up but you know full well you are going to finish it as the Starter. The second game starts.

I mean you lasted 1 minute longer than your competition. Maybe the injury isn't that bad. It didn't feel that bad.

You know...as far as broken ankles go.

Orenuga currently sat in the dressing room before game 3 absolutely sh***ing himself.

[andychar]

Cupset

Well the chance of one anyway.

Tier 10 vs Tier 7 for a place in the FA Cup First Round.....Qualifying.

Its been a decent if not spectacular start in the league so this works as a nice distraction.

It wasn't meant to be. We played well, it Price's goal was chalked off then there's no way in the World Lever's should stand. I took it well though...

After a bit of a rocky start in the league things have picked up nicely. It leaves the very early table looking like this...

All tight as you can imagine. The win against Pitshanger Dynamo put us back nicely in the hunt, a loss and the gap about have been 8 already!

Steady as she goes.

Edited April 17, 2021 by andychar

[andychar]

Every cloud I suppose!

[andychar]

Is there such thing as a cursed position?

[andychar]

Tytherington Town played Wincanton Town today.

There were no survivors.

[andychar]

Now That's What I Call a Cup Defeat

Basically going to update you every time I get knocked out of a cup.

The FA Vase is another competition we didn't really have a chance of winning but it would be nice to hit the board target for it.

FM...

Nope.

2 penalties for them and a sending off for us. Basically the game telling me to know my place.

In the league we just haven't been able to get anything going really...

We had leads in all 3 losses here, including 2-0 up against AFC Royal Holloway. We just can't hold onto them and its starting get a little frustrating.

It means the league table looks like this..

We are 3rd on alphabetical order. Exactly the same everything with Canning Town. Obviously being 4 points off top isn't ideal but there's a long way to go yet. 38 game season.

See you in the next cup Exit!

[andychar]

This is frustrating. Its come at completely the wrong time. I'm not confident I'm going to be in a position to finish Fisher this season, therefore I don't want to apply and suggest taking over at the end of the season. I might need to be patient here.

[abulezz]

2 hours ago, andychar said:

This is frustrating. Its come at completely the wrong time. I'm not confident I'm going to be in a position to finish Fisher this season, therefore I don't want to apply and suggest taking over at the end of the season. I might need to be patient here.

Is that where you want to be heading next? 

[Mandy42]

28 minutes ago, abulezz said:

Is that where you want to be heading next? 

katie wants to be a Spartan 

[andychar]

4 hours ago, abulezz said:

Is that where you want to be heading next? 

It is. But I don’t want to leave before winning something with Fisher. So it’s just come a bit too early for me. 
 

4 hours ago, Mandy42 said:

katie wants to be a Spartan 

Oh she will be. Don’t you worry about that.