A Highlands & Islands Journey

[Stuniverse]

Untouchable! A+! 

Great start to the season, @phnompenhandy. 

I won't mention Ness. 

Oooops! I just did.

[phnompenhandy]

Initially, my intention was to tweak tactics after the cup tie, but noting Beattie was our worst player in the demolition of Nairn, and we had the midweek training sessions to prepare, I risked introducing the changes i mentioned. This then, was my proposed strongest XI -

It looked to me like a mightily powerful attack, and a defence that only conceded more than one goal in one match so far. The front two were both trialling new roles and duties, however - that was chancy, but they're both smart guys, so I thought they could adapt.

We arrived, fresh after a mere ninety-minute flight, at New Pebble Park in Annbank

 

We were confident, we were playing well, but we soon realised we were in a game. This was serious opposition, the likes of which we hadn't met. We pretty much controlled the first half, but they looked dangerous on the break and indeed they opened the scoring in such a way to lead at half time.  Allan was working hard to drop deep and find himself feeding Syrjanen the inside right, who was a furthest-forward attacker. The combined for Allan to equalise. It looked like the game was going to end level until Gresham took a late chance to grab a winner.

This was a really pleasing victory. We fought hard for it; we earned it.  The new sponsors are delighted, the Shetlanders as a community are delighted, and the Lowlands knows our name.

[Jimbokav1971]

On 27/12/2023 at 11:25, phnompenhandy said:

https://community.sigames.com/forums/topic/580505-fm24skin-mustermann-iconic-v11-updated-231223/

This one (with a few minor alterations, as I always faff around to get things just right for me).

No attributes. Our staff are capable of classifying players into 4 level – excellent, good, poor and abysmal. Otherwise, the only way to judge players is by observing and analysing their performances. We do things old-fashioned here – play every game, pour over every stat. I don’t have the genius chops of _Ben_, but I’ll try in my own small way.

A random tier 13 player profile

I can't decide if I love this or hate it. 

When it separates things into 4 levels, is it 1-5, 6-10, 11-15. 16-20? (In which case players at Shetland will likely only be separated into 2 categories ), or are the ratings relative to other squad members? So for example if the best passer at the club had a passing attribute of 10 in the game, then would it go more like 1-2, 3-4, 5-7, 8-10? I suppose the correct answer to that is that not only do you now know, but you also don't want to know because you're trying to train yourself to no longer think in terms of 1-20. 

Great effort you have put into this. 

[phnompenhandy]

 

Oh dear, nasty one.  Hopefully the Clickimin Centre have insurance for him. I feel bad that I dissed him recently, but to be pure evil about this, he's the one player (along with 3rd keeper) that is expendable. Given our financial situation, I'm not going to fork out for the specialist, and given I can't lie, I'm avoiding speaking to him about it. I'll send Father Dougal - it fits with his vocation

 

The rest of October involves playing teams from the Western Isles. We start with a flight to  Stornoway and bus ride over to Westside in the second round of the Billy Turner.

[phnompenhandy]

2 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I can't decide if I love this or hate it. 

When it separates things into 4 levels, is it 1-5, 6-10, 11-15. 16-20? (In which case players at Shetland will likely only be separated into 2 categories ), or are the ratings relative to other squad members? So for example if the best passer at the club had a passing attribute of 10 in the game, then would it go more like 1-2, 3-4, 5-7, 8-10? I suppose the correct answer to that is that not only do you now know, but you also don't want to know because you're trying to train yourself to no longer think in terms of 1-20. 

Great effort you have put into this. 

Yes to all of the above! The 4 attribute levels are merely the SI ones with the colour balls replacing the colour numbers. But not seeing the numbers does make you think about the players in a different way, as you can see from my post-game analyses. By the way, the skin I'm using is a mash-up. I wanted the Mustermann player profile stuff and other stuff, but didn't want to lose the graphics of Flut skin, so I've combined the best of both.

[phnompenhandy]

Westside

No-nonsense Gaelic crofters, a hardy bunch, we knew Westside to be a tough nut. With the rain howling in from the Atlantic, the elements were tricky even for Shetlanders. And man, the game could have gone either way.

It was a good game for the neutrals, not that there were any, and we again relied on a late winner, a header from not aforementioned Dean Cowie, our main centre back. I was planning on making decent progress in this tinpot, but we only just squeezed through this round.

[Stuniverse]

1 minute ago, phnompenhandy said:

I was planning on making decent progress in this tinpot, but we only just squeezed through this round.

A win is a win. Don't knock it. 

[phnompenhandy]

 

Our captain and best player - no sweat. The next match, at Carloway, is in three days; however, I'm giving some of the fringe players a start, including Calderwood and Beattie up top.

Donning our LoganAir jerseys again, we whooshed over to Lewis and rocked up at Carloway.

 

Despite recently struggling at Westside, I misjudged what was needed against their fellow windswept Atlantic hard-nuts. Despite coming back from a long injury, being unfit and playing out of position, Gillion popped up with two first half goals; however, Carloway had already knocked three past us with us being outmuscled for forty minutes. We continued to dominate the second half once we'd sussed out their brawny approach, but our woeful front two kept missing chances, and we ended up losing a second match.

Despite this shower losing us our last two games, Ness somehow construed to draw two in a row, rendering us still in top spot. This inadequate starting side will have to play at least three times next month if we stay in the cups. It's beginning to be a worry.

 

 

Edited December 30, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

We planned to get back in the saddle by preparing to host Harris FC, undefeated in the league in eight games. Plans were disrupted

Willie and Dean Cowie are our mainstay central defenders. Their backups have already proved their inadequacy, yet one would have to be drafted in. I found myself having to bo**ock Mackintosh here before telling him he was in the first team.

[phnompenhandy]

By now we realise these Western Isles Gaels are really tricky customers, and with Harris being undefeatable, it was no surprise we drew 1-1. We came on strong throughout the second half, but they defender very well. On the balance of play, I'd have to say rescuing the game with a late penalty was a relief.

It's beginning to dawn on me that my extra preseason work gave us an initial boost, but now we're resorting to the mean

not a good look in the league this month,

and yet ,,,,

Draws for everyone! Strange league.

[phnompenhandy]

As you can see above, every team in this league is drawing into stagnation, with one exception. Sinking like a stone is our rival 'superclub', Lewis & Harris. The fourth of our five matches against Western Isles opposition would be to host them.  Like ourselves, the club was formed just this year in order to join this league. However, they don't have a project to animate them or give them purpose. So while the best players from around Shetland joined Shetland FC this summer, the same did not happen in Lewis and Harris; players feel a stronger bond with their local clubs and since those local clubs have joined this league (unlike the other Shetland clubs), they struggle to recruit players.

We ought to turn them over; however, the game was on a Wednesday night due to another cup tie at the weekend, so we'd have to use the woeful seconds, who have lost their last two matches. Surely even they could beat this unloved lot?

My oppo's not 'Lewis Harris', then?

Well, that's a relief. Read the small print, and you'll realise all four goals came from defensive howlers, but who reads the small print? Between the players and 18 fans watching, we can keep that secret.

 

I'm beginning to doubt what I'm being told. Jack passed this onto me:

How can they give 50% of our results the thumbs down and rate me A+? He must have got himself into some echo chamber on social media.

[phnompenhandy]

Brief 'housekeeping' post: I might have to rethink my long term plans for this career, as outlined in the opening thread. I got a news message informing me of the Top 10 football academies in the world - Barca in 6th, other unexpected suspects in PSG, AZ and RB Saltzburg, and six from Ireland

I'd realised that the creator of the 9-tier league I was using had supercharged the clubs, and I had spent hours in the pregame editor fixing the clubs reputations and what I thought were the changes to their finances. Too late, I've noticed the upgrades to facilities (to all 20s in the above cases) and also millions in sponsorship money. He's adjusted upwards those elements of every team in Ireland

I don't have the patience to go through every single team, so I downgraded the facilities of the clubs in the top two leagues, and wiped out the sponsorships so that they won't be able to afford to maintain them -- or meet their massively inflated wage budgets. I left things as they were in the 4th tier downwards. I'm in October of 2023 which is the close of the Irish season, so they have the close season and preseason to look forward to. I'll dip in in a few months' gametime to see if there are any obvious immediate disruptions, but hopefully chaos will ensure, top clubs will be devastated and smaller lower league clubs will rise. Or the game might find some conceit like restoring finances to keep the phony status quo.

I also spotted that the creator of the Scotland Fantasy database has been tweaking finances too - maybe facilities and more - I didn't look further than NW Skye and Johnstone Burgh, but those two have been enhanced - not by a great deal, but it does explain some surprising movements for those of us using the database.

I have time - I was considering applying for lower league jobs in Ireland after about six seasons, so I'll just monitor until then, but if the clubs still look overpowered, I'll have to skip it, maybe expunge the nation and stick with the Great Britain three. I'm hoping for utter chaos, though!

[phnompenhandy]

My strongest XI returned to play the last of the Western Isles opponents in this sequence, Stornoway United – this was in the Third Round of the Billy Turner. They were doing well enough, level in Division Two with Harris FC in 6^th place, but my scouting team didn’t rate them the same threat and felt we could play the same team the same way and achieve a better outcome than they did in their match with Harris.

The performance and result were right and proper; they never got a sniff of goal and we cruised to a 3-0 victory.

I was shoved in front of the hack before and after the game; I'm getting the hang of spouting platitudes

Empty questions require empty answers.

The next match was trickier – the second of four October Wednesday night encounters. We agreed to play this “home” game at our opponent’s ground, neighbours (if a team 125 miles and 8 hours away can be considered neighbours) Kirkwall Thorfinn. Our seconds had demolished Lewis & Harris the previous week, but we knew to give Thorfinn far more respect. They were level with Carloway, who had beaten the seconds in their previous match. A tweak to the instructions of the front two is all I could change given the lack of personnel to choose from, but I did advocate being more balanced in our mentality to shore up the defending.

This is what the scout and the fans were thinking, but they didn't account for the drop in quality of the team I had to put out.

 

And the outcome was as I feared. Despite playing against ten men for an hour, our two forwards just weren't good enough. The next two Wednesday matches are against considerably better opposition, too.

[Stuniverse]

Oh...

Sounds like a much different footballing world with these databases. I hope you can still get out of it what you are looking for.

Let chaos ensue...

[phnompenhandy]

1 minute ago, Stuniverse said:

Oh...

Sounds like a much different footballing world with these databases. I hope you can still get out of it what you are looking for.

Let chaos ensue...

I like 'different', and I like 'chaos'. What I don't like is 'easy' but some of these league modders are motivated by their desire to promote their teams or nations. To be fair, the guy who did Wales played it straight.

[phnompenhandy]

Saturday saw the firsts sail to John O’Groats for an Alba Amateur Cup third round clash.

The Groats were midtable, a point behind Stornoway United whom we routinely despatched the Saturday prior – I simply asked for business as usual.

 

We’d sewn up business by half-time and rather coasted the second, which was needed to conserve energy. Syrjanen got two inside the opening 15 minutes, and Allan bagged a hat-trick.

With this relentless two-games-a-week schedule, right-winger Kieran Syrjanen has played 11 of the last 12 without a break due to the MacKenzie injury. I need to give him a rest before he hurts himself. Given Balfour covers right wingback very well and Williamson prefers starting higher up, this should be no problem -the question is whether either can manage two games in a week. My plans to rest and rotate has been hampered by another injury

 

Walker is our key playmaker and he misses a probably four games. Robbie Rydings has been an able backup, but he’s never played more than once in a week either.

 

Now things get tricky. Our schedule for the rest of November

Staxigoe are also our opponents in the next round of the Alba Cup. I sense our seconds are going to struggle in their two Wednesday matches. The bigger picture is the teams behind us aren't putting together a string of wins, so dropping points is unlikely to prove disastrous, but I'm apprehensive.

Edited January 1 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

[phnompenhandy]

How the hell was that post let through when I've been blocked from posting anything meaningful for the last 5 hours????

[Stuniverse]

8 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

How the hell was that post let through when I've been blocked from posting anything meaningful for the last 5 hours????

Yeah, this site has been up and down all day.

[phnompenhandy]

Oh, here it comes

This 18-year-old muppet thinks he should be playing every game. Let's take a look

 

He's a bog-standard no-nonsense clogger, but that's not the point. His endurance levels are adequate - stamina, fitness in particular. I'm trying to protect him by rotating him out of midweek games, but if he wants to run himself into the ground, that's fine by me.

 

And, yeah, that match at Annbank in the West of Scotland region has alerted southron scouts, as I'd feared.

Edited December 31, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Actually, Urquhart’s moan prompted me into a bit of a rethink. Our back-to-back matches with Point are both league games, and it’s three weeks before we have our next cup tie.

 

So I figured we had a little room to manoeuvre as I pushed some players to start three games in ten days. The players who most obviously did not have the stamina for it were Williamson – but Gillon can fill in on either flank, and, ironically, Urquhart.

As it was, Urquhart made himself persona non grata anyway – step up Alasdair Mackintosh.

In the first, away, encounter with Point we didn’t have control of the game and lost the xG, but were fortunate to take the points in a 2-1 victory.

The defence, midfield and elderly Gresham are creaking by being overplayed. It was only at this point that I realised I’d misread the schedule, and we had ten, not three days before the rematch!

As I was planning how to rotate players through bi-weekly matches in December, the player least capable of playing every game, Williamson, came to me with the same complaint as Urquhart. This is a concern.

Far more of a concern was our first half in the home tie. Our captain Allan got injured very early on, and Beattie hadn’t been tactically prepared to play his role. Gallacher had an awful time in goal as we conceded three in the first half. It took radical tactical adjustments and a heroic second-half hat-trick from Gow to salvage a point.

Losing John Allan for the next six weeks is going to be a real problem now. The cause was basically playing too much. This is why I’m so disappointed with Urquhart – he could have waited until the summer as he knows we can’t recruit until May and each player not available to us puts risk on the others.

This awareness meant I had to make wholesale changes for the trip to Westside for a match 72 hours later. Fortunately, Walker was ready to return in midfield, but I had to play leftback Martin as an inside forward, which meant switching Gillon to the right flank. The front two couldn’t be the dreadful pair of Calderwood and Beattie, so I threw Syrjanen up top. Gallacher was dropped too. With fatigue being an issue, I adjusted the tactics to reduce the tempo and pressing.

Jack brought me the December balance sheets and was compus mentus enough so explain how we’re almost breaking even, and that if we look like winning promotion and have progressed further in the alba Cup, our sponsors will be presenting us with cheques in addition to shirts. Intriguing!

 

Later, Magnus brought me some bittersweet data – we’ve just lost our best forward to a serious injury.

 

You can be sure December's graph will look different.

Edited January 1 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Sorry, the posting today is a bit of a mess due to the site blocking me earlier.

Let me remind you what I said ahead of the game:

51 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

Walker was ready to return in midfield, but I had to play leftback Martin as an inside forward, which meant switching Gillon to the right flank. The front two couldn’t be the dreadful pair of Calderwood and Beattie, so I threw Syrjanen up top. Gallacher was dropped too. With fatigue being an issue, I adjusted the tactics to reduce the tempo and pressing.

It was a real heavy game

As you can see, despite us having plenty of possession, with Allan we really struggled to look dangerous. They scored early, but our defence did a decent job of keeping them out after that. Walker wasn't fit, and even more bent out of shape was Williamson. I buckled to his whines and started him, but it was a big mistake - he really was tired and totally off the pace. Starting Martin on the left wing and Gillon on the right - positions neither had ever played, was a mistake. My only experimental semi-success was Syranjanen up top - he was poor too, but tapped in an equaliser in the 80th minute. The hero, however, was Liam Balfour, who I should have started. Replacing Williamson once he'd agreed to come off, he raced up the wing and nutted in a late winner. It was totally undeserved, but very much welcomed.

Kirkwall Rovers, the league's in-form team are up next, and I really will have to put out a very weak side.

[phnompenhandy]

We don't have enough fit players to rotate everyone when we play twice a week. If I change the tactics to use less energy, the quality of football suffers. We have been very fortunate to (a) salvage points out of matches we didn't deserve to, and (b) see our rivals drop a lot of points. Neither of these scenarios is sustainable. I might be a raw new manager, but I'm smart enough to see the obvious solution - throw the two cup competitions, since playing only on Saturdays will see us gain promotion. Anything else is a risk.

But I can't do that as the chairman has just indicated to me that financially, our fledgling project depends on success in all three competitions. So, we've just got to do all we can to win every game. Starting this weekend against Rovers, we will press higher and use more energy, not less. Players who need to will sit out training sessions and simply turn up for pre-match tactical instructions and play the games. Dougal and the coaching staff  don't like it. Too bad. It might kill us, but we'll go down fighting.

First v third: let battle commence:

That one tactical alteration made all the difference. 63% possession - Rovers never got any passing moves together; we were utterly dominant. The defence was more comfortable with the forwards starting the press, although our goalkeeper taking the Player of the Match award tells you they were penetrated a few times. I even got Beattie playing well in a new role we hadn't practised - defensive pressing forward.

We'll definitely keep to this tactic as much as we can. Trouble is, the game did take a lot out of the players. I am going to need fresh players for the next game in 72 hours' time, away at Staxigoe. It's the Alba Cup fourth Round - we must get through the tie. Strategically, i should have kept our best players back for it, or at least conserved energy in this last one. Not long to find out if I've been foolish or not.

Edited December 31, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

A closer look at our squad made me change my mind. I couldn't risk starting our poorest players, and being reminded that Williamson is suspended tipped me to deciding to put out the same team.

I just hope we can strike early and put this one to bed. If we get through the next 90 minutes, we get seven days to recover. We're a determined lot - we can do this.

Our scouts had warned me that Staxigoe were much improved from the last time we played them. They played a good possession game, and we'd need to break that up. So we went in hard and aggressive. That was only partially successful - they did control the game and ran us to the point of exhaustion, but thanks to Gallacher in goal again, we kept the match scoreless until somehow Calderwood poked in a scrappy chance on 85 minutes. With Staxigoe chasing the game, we broke and bagged a second in the 92nd minute. Luck was with us again - we're through.

Our reward? A third successive tie against a team in our division - this time Thorfinn.

Now to sail for home to rest our weary bones.

Edited January 1 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

We’ve come through a very congested period, not quite intact, but with points on the board. We now have a succession of five Saturday league fixtures with no midweek interruptions until mid-January of 2024. We begin away to second-placed Ness FC and then four easier ones. The Ness game will come too soon for Allan, but he should be back for the others. Hopefully, we have time to recover and work on tactical tweaks before congestion rears its ugly head again.

Ness are a good side; they inflicted our first defeat in September. I’d be more than happy with a point in order to maintain our margin over them. On the other hand, other than Allan, we had our strongest line-up available, fit and rested, able to employ my high-intensity tactic; could we go one better?

I'd a couple of meetings on Wednesday. First, Amy with early news of likely recruits in the spring:

The good news is that our weakest area, central defence, is likely to be strengthened. That's where the good news ends. It doesn't look like we'll have any other positions strengthened. What we can't predict or plan for, however, is if any players join Urquhart in leaving us.

An hour later

I really didn't need to be reminded, Kyle. Your line  manager Caitriona has kept me well appraised of our empty coffers. It seems Jack made me privvy to information the others don't yet have - well, it's not information really, more speculation, but he seems certain that sponsorship money is on the way, and there will be enough to invest in enhancing our youth setup. Or at least, the money will be available if we win our cup matches in January.

[phnompenhandy]

The match at Ness felt like a very important one.

With Rovers and Harris FC starting to put out some good form, a loss would have narrowed the gap to the chasing pack to a level that would be uncomfortable. As I said previously, my decision was to take a calculated risk and go for the win, nevertheless.

We got the result. It was earned, it was hard-fought, it wasn't easy. We needed Gallacher to be on top form in goal, and he was, and we needed the midfield to control the game, and they did. We needed these because out front line is not performing well. We were, therefore, very grateful for this:

Having said that,

That knock happened late in the game, and Beattie had been dreadful. With us being two up at half-time, I didn't need to risk bringing Allan, back on the bench, on too early. But my goodness, we need that Allan-Gresham combo to be back and firing. They should be re-united in the next game.

 

Edited January 1 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

The next game, just before Christmas was a home tie against Carloway – the other team that has beaten us this season. They had previously magnanimously agreed to come to Lerwick sour home supporters could cheer us on at Christmas, but given the weather – snow, hail and gale force winds, they might have regretted it.

We went with reinforcing what we knew although with John Allan starting, I wanted him focussing on attack as a pressing forward, and he opened the scoring and earned himself Player of the Match.

We closed out 2023 with a game against Stornoway Athletic. We flew to Stornoway so we could be back for Hogmanay. This game was the opposite of many others; we should have won comfortably yet the result was very close. Allan put us in front very late on, then in the last minute of normal time they equalised with their only shot in the game, only for Syrjanen to steal a winner in added time.

As you can see, when we're not compromised by cup competitions, we chalk up wins in the league. Too many are too close for my liking, but I suppose that suggests we do have more in the tank. Our situation is, however, quite healthy.

The cup will intrude again in January, but I'd say we have a healthy enough lead to make it odds on we gain promotion and probably the title, even if we slip up here and there.

The accounts are out for the year's end

No sign on the balance sheet of subsidised travel costs - yet. Jack has yet again refused all requests for coaching courses util the coffers are filled, but won't say when that will be.

Talking of subsidised travel, there was no such thing for Billy Urquhart - a handful of us nursing hangovers gathered to say our insincere farewells - I mean, from the day he got that proposal, he lost all interest in us and i couldn't trust him to take the field. He travels on his way to Glasgow steerage followed by a long, slow bus. A few fans arrived to express their views. I couldn't make head nor tailof the eejits - can you?

 

So, here we are on January 1st, 2024. A happy new year to you all!

[phnompenhandy]

Our opening fixture of 2024 was to host managerless Pentland United, stuck at the foot of the table, a side we’d thrashed 4-0 in our first ever league match. Training injuries were the last thing we needed with cup and midweek games due later in the month, but we lost three key players and it didn’t stop there.

Amy doesn't usually come to our games, but she was here for the Pentland game.

 

Nah, she wouldn't ...

 

Oh dear. I did not see this coming. Unhappy new year

Why Amy? Why? Why? I mean, congrats on the step up - but to the team at the very bottom of the Scottish pyramid? You could have done so much better!

The UN and diplos choose who gets the gig -  I don't get a say. I don't think Jack does, either.

 

 

Edited January 1 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

We rolled over Pentland ahead of Amy's switch. Here's what's in store over the rest of January

Those two cup ties are jammed together (and never mind playing at Kirkwall Thorfinn twice in a week!) I'm going to have to put out some odds and sods for the Billy T quarter-final, a match we really need to win.

I'm having to start an unfit goalkeeper, and that's not all. Would you believe that with this tiny squad, one player is yet to make his debut? Our central defenders have been poor, and I didn't want to risk starting one who was worse than the rest, but lately Mackintosh has been such a disappointing stand-in for the departed Urquhart, that I'm taking the plunge. Seize the moment, Quate.

Edited January 1 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

In our first encounter with Thorfinn, again we were the better side but didn’t get the rub of the green.

Against very physical opponents, Allan failed to press at all, and both centre backs – not just Quate – very visibly scared of their oppos. We cruelly lost to a 96th minute goal when the referee had signally three added minutes. We need to do better in the next match-up, in the Alba Cup.

I planned a few changes for that next match, particularly in central defence. As I put the pair to play through their paces, this:

Poor lad. He's only started eight games for us. He probably will never play a ninth.

 It's not just injuries. I've got a very bad feeling about this

Edited January 1 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Or, could this keep him here?

I have nothing at right back.

 

 

John John John, you're the club captain. Support me here, I don't need extra problems now! 

Edited January 1 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Can you believe we were 4-0 up at half-time, and lost!!

For 45 minutes we were great, but Thorfinn spent the break working out targeting Bruce who, at right back, was all at sea when put under pressure. They began to terrorise our defence again, but scared and exhausted, I couldn't spare them as I had no fit defenders on the bench. Let's be clear - I had no fit substitutes at all! We thought we'd still salvaged a 5-5 draw in time added, but there was still time for them to find a winner.

I'm trying to tell myself going out of this competition will relieve the fixture congestion as players come back from injuries. I can't help fearing the wheels are coming off.

[phnompenhandy]

Will somebody please close the window - there's a terrible draught in here

[phnompenhandy]

We stayed in Orkney for the next couple of days, put up in a dorm by the grammar school as we had a game in Firth on the Wednesday – the Billy T pot versus Rendall. We didn't do any rigorous training, and Mollie was joined by Chris, our new head physio in giving the boys rub-downs and massages to get their muscles working smoothly. Another visitor was our new Head of Youth Development Kieran - he and the physio are both Caithness men and seem personable and competent.

 

Maybe Chris can carefully explain to Rory Williamson the flaw in his complaint

Edited January 1 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

"Just enough" is exactly right - they had us on shots, xG and possession. Rendall didn't quite have enough quality to get the better of our out-of-position and walking wounded troops. We're still in the game of chasing a double.

[phnompenhandy]

The state of the team that kicked off the game at Goats Hill against Lewis & Harris:

Fortunately, Allan had enough energy to come on as a sub and win it for us 3-2 again.

Note the kick-off times. One o'clock because it's dark by 3 pm. And the weather !

We may be broken, but we're still good

Dear Amy got Pentland off the floor with that isolated victory. Didn't last.

 

Edited January 1 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

As expected

 

But to great relief

The man's a legend. We would have collapsed had he left us.

As soon as we were back from Stornoway, preparations for midweek began in earnest. Another match? No, the biggest day in the Shetland year. January 30th - Up Helly Aa!

On the last Tuesday of January each year, a series of grand marches and processions take place, ultimately leading to a ceremonial burning of a 9-meter-long galley – a traditional Nordic longboat.

I just watched from the sidelines whilst most of our players got dressed up; all the participants must meet a stringent set of prerequisites, including having lived in the islands for at least 5 years.

I could live here 50 years and still go crazy when I hear their god dam awful song, through

Up Helly Aa - The Up Helly Aa Song (with lyrics)

[phnompenhandy]

I'm in - let the dogs loose. I'm taking over general training - now!

Let me remind you how the path to being a qualified coach in Scotland goes -

My first badge is Level 1.2. Now I've got it, the SFA Adult Coaching Certificate, I’m assured I can take general team training (i.e. use the General schedules and Match Prep only). After the second badge (Adult Coaching Award), I’ll be let loose on team training however I like, assuming our coaching staff have the appropriate skills. With the third badge (Adult Coaching Licence), I’m in charge of the youth/reserves general team training. With the fourth badge (UEFA B Licence), I can set individual training. Once I've been at a club at least a full year AND have 3+ badges AND a promotion, I get a say in staff appointments, including junior coaching and youth recruitment. We'll almost certainly still be an amateur club, unable to offer contracts to players or improve facilities at the club.

[phnompenhandy]

What does the beginning of February bring?

Signs of broken promises and Jack back on the sauce?

 

Very surprising data from Magnus

The best defence? Are you mad? Never mind no one's conceded fewer than us!

January has passed. Turns out the window didn't close until the next day. And on that next day ... the WORST

I thought we were good. What we gonna do now???

[Stuniverse]

Ouch. Ouch! and OUCH!

Do you have enough players left to field a team and full subs bench?

[phnompenhandy]

1 minute ago, Stuniverse said:

Ouch. Ouch! and OUCH!

Do you have enough players left to field a team and full subs bench?

There was one game when I didn't. At the moment I have a few players who have overcome their injuries but are extremely unmatch-fit. I'm going to have to manage starting players who are very unfit, so I have fit players to cover upcoming injuries. It's tricky, and of course, no reinforcements will arrive until the academy intake, which is ages away!

[phnompenhandy]

Blimey, Elvis here was only with us 5 minutes. What are we, a transit lounge?

More to the point, we have a full squad of 21 to get us through to intake day. Six of them are so poor, I wouldn't want to call on them unless it was a dire emergency. This is a dire emergency, so all will get a couple of games this month.

Another consequence is I'm having to rush players back after injuries. Risky.

 

As I've said, I'm organising the general training sessions now. I'm drilling these until the end of the season

Despite what Magnus says, I'm not satisfied with our defensive organisation - we need regular drills in pressing and marking, and any forward not named Gresham (new club captain, by the way) needs more coaching on the basics they're supposed to do. About that, I'm simplifying the roles of the front two to poacher and attacking forward only.

Edited January 2 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

 

Our fatigue couldn't be more evident. We were second everywhere across the pitch. Our normally deadly inside forward pair were anonymous. Even more troubling, look at the run of form the chasing pack are on - our lead is looking precarious. I think we've banked enough points to guarantee third place or better, but I'm a bit less certain unless our performances pick up. I can't risk starting the most useless, unfit players against Lochs now.

Edited January 2 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Oh boy did we need this! What was significant is that it was an all-round good performance. I was beginning to forget what those looked like.  Some of our best players had been so over-played that they were knackered and just couldn't move - our inside forwards Gow and Syrjanen were the clearest examples. What I did was praise their recent form, despite their poor last two matches, and give rests to all the starters, regardless of them being able to physically recover enough for this game. If that works again, I'll make a regular habit of it. Mental health is important too, people.

I'm sorry Cian, we don't have a grand for a specialist. You're going to have to take it up with the Clickimin Centre.

I feel even more awful bare-faced lying to him, but my arm-around-the-shoulder insincere assurance that his playing time would not be affected once he's back to fitness was a necessary white lie, in the circumstances. Wasn't it?

 

Edited January 2 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Okay, Lochs was a blip. We were back to truly awful, and that's not even the bad news.

It's not the three lost points that kills me; it's the three lost players

That's our attack gone. Caput. Could things be any worse?

[phnompenhandy]

We take this squad to the mainland to play Staxigoue in the crucial Billy T semi-final

Two unfit keepers and two empty seats on the bench. I'm not convinced Jack hasn't been BS-ing me all along, but I still half-believe there's serious sponsorship money at hand if we can win a trophy we're two shots away from.

 

Oh that helps. T'riffic. Thanks

 

And another one out for the semi-final

Edited January 2 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

We performed tactical open-heart surgery for the match, and Calderwood dragged himself limping off the bench to bag Player of the Match (which indicated how poor both sides were), but with 28% possession, what could we do? Staxigoe had clocked how broken we were and ruthlessly exploited that.

 

 

I fear that defeat could be very costly, literally.  The faces on the crew of the Northlink ferry when we got to Kirkwall were grim.

Edited January 2 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

An awful month, but surely we've done enough early door to limp over the line? Actually, is that the root of our current problems? Did we over-extend ourselves in preseason and early on in all those bi-weekly games so that the players later broke due to being overplayed? Is that on me, or is it on the board for giving me a small squad and demands to win every competition?

We've got seven games to hang on. Two wins will guarantee us promotion. How many games will raw, clueless academy kids be available? Two? Three? I'll have to sign them up, however rubbish they are, just to provide squad depth. Given we lost of our Head of Youth Development and Chief Scout, what kind of intake will we get now?

Tiny sliver - if you look closely, you'll see we're on a mini-late-winter break now. A chance to rest weary bones and brains, and hopefully have Gresham and Syrjanen back for the next match.

Edited January 2 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

No friendlies, just rest and recuperation, and the hope this lot can take to the field at Tongue.

[phnompenhandy]

Uh oh, scrap that. Staxigoe get to play North West Skye in the final - damn, I'd love to face them. It means our league game against them has been rearranged.

This is bad.

 

Something's brewing - Caitriona passed on details of a meeting with Kieran.  Plans for an upgrade in youth recruitment is on the cards, 'when' money becomes available. It turns out that If Wick Groats (currently bottom of Division One) are relegated, and we’re promoted, we’ll be higher than any amateur team in Orkney, Caithness and north Sutherland other than Lochinver in the Premier League, and Helmsdale and Halkirk (we’ll be with them in Division One). The only sides from the Western Isles will be those promoted with us. So there’s a broad field in the far north where we might appeal to prospective youth players. Kieran is working with the refugee people to persuade them that putting up any such youths in accommodation in their refugee community would be great for helping the asylum-seeking youths settle into the local environment. Caitriona is also working on the board, who've been complaining we have too many coaching staff, to have them spend a few hours every week going around Shetland schools taking after-school football training as an enhancement in junior coaching. Money will be found providing we get promoted.

Down to me, then.

Actually, not really. Are Westside and Lochs really going to win all their last seven matches? They only need to draw one and us draw one of our games for us to secure promotion. We'll do it.