[FM23] Notts landing

[Blarney]

FA Trophy Finals Results

Do The Double!

[Blarney]

2022/23 Season in Review

The Double!

Notts realizes their dream of getting back to the Football League by winning the Vanarama National League and the FA Trophy.

Notts Season Stats

What an offensive season it was.  First in expected goals, goals scored, fouls against, average possession, pass completion percnetage and dribbles per game in the league.

And most importantly.... first in total points!

Player Stats

Macaulay Langstaff is a beast.  Cedwyn Scott ain't so bad either.  And we have both of them signed for the next few seasons.... assuming some bigger club doesn't snatch them up.

Manager of the Year

Sirrel wins Manager of the Year in his first season.

Player of the Year

Back-to-back seasons where Langstaff is named Player of the Year.

Golden Boot

And back-to-back years in which he wins the Golden Boot.

Records are Made to be Broken

[Blarney]

Knock Knock

Who's there?

The Competition.

The Competition who?

The Competition that wants to take al your players away from you............

Say goodbye to:

Bostock

We really didn't want to move Bostock but a couple of different clubs started calling and he expressed interest in talking to them but the offer wasn't what we wanted.  So we ended up hiring an intermediary and getting the best price we could for him before he got upset.  Yeah, he's old so typically wouldn't bother me but he is a very good defensive-midfielder and we did want a bit of experience on the club in that area.  Now we'll pretty much be going very young.

Baldwin

Didn't want to lose him either but clubs started calling and he requested to talk to them.  Not much you can do other than anger them if you refuse.  We have plenty of depth here so I'm not overly concerned but much like with Bostock it would have been nice to keep him just to have experience at the position.

Adebayo-Rowling

He wasn't starting and wasn't even going to play much so we didn't care about this one.

Brindley

Wasn't going to be anything more than depth but we have youth here and he's not an exceptional player so we're okay with letting him go and trimming the squad.

Nemane

This one hurt also.  Nemane was a talented player that could fill many spots on the pitch.  We were talking to him about a new contract but clubs came calling and offering me more than I honestly thought he was worth.  Had to take it for a backup player on my squad.

Edited January 19 by Blarney

[Blarney]

Youth Facilities

Absolutely needed to be done so we're happy they agreed.

Our financial situation seems to have improved to where it's considered "secure" so I thought I'd take a chance and see if they'd improve something.

[Blarney]

Season Preview

Predicted Standings

Well they like us to stay up, in fact top half but just outside the playoffs.  Wrexham on the other hand is predicted to finish 2nd.

Golden Boot winner

We agree with this.

Top Player

A lot of Derby players on this list.... nobody from Notts.

We've proven them wrong before.

[Blarney]

Tactic

Despite the success we had with the 4-1-3-2 DM formation we used most of last season our squad this year fits this formation much better.... at least we think they do.

Langstaff stays up front. 

Scott goes back to his natural wing position rather than forward striker and he'll be joined by Davies who played more in the center-mid spot last year but is more suited for the wing.

Palmer and Hoti will be mostly starting in the center-mid position with Vincent, Roberts and M'Hand spelling them when they need a rest.

We're going to use 2 newcomers in Murray and McKnight in the wing-back position... they are both very athletic and quick and we're going to use that to push the ball up the pitch.

Then Francis, Hobson and Bajrami will sit on the defensive line with Robinson, Aljofree and Mellors spelling them.

We only have the 2 new players starting to mostly we're bringing back our starting 11 from last season.  Well Francis was more used as depth but he was used as much as most of my starters were.  So we shouldn't  have very many issues with gelling together, it'll just be getting used to the new formation that we hope to have as much success with as we did our old one from last season.

[Blarney]

Meet the Boys

Forwards

Attacking Mids

Center Mids

Defensive Line

Keepers

[Blarney]

Newcomers

Murray

One of our new first choice players.  Murray is only 18 but has great physicals, with good speed.  We think he will develop into a fine player at this level.

McKnight

Max will start on the opposite side from Murray and also has good physical ability, although not quite as good as Murray.  He is only 18 as well so still room to grow.

Aljofree

Aljofree will be used off the bench as a center-back.  His size along with his physical and mental ability should help him grow into a competent player at this level.  He is only 18 as well.

M'Hand

A center-midfielder that could probably use a loan spell if we can find him one.  Otherwise he'll get a lot of playing time off the bench here.  At 18 has a lot of room for growth.

Robinson

Robinson's best position probably isn't one he's been trained at yet.  We don't like him as a center-mid or defensive-mid.... just not enough technical ability to suit us.  He's also a little small with zero jumping reach to play center-back which is his "natural" position.  We think with this physicals he's better suited as a wing-back but we already have 2 starters there so he'll get time off the bench.  If his technical ability does grow then he'll get more time as a defensive-mid or center-mid as well.  He could turn into a super-sub type player.

[Blarney]

Here come the rumors

[Blarney]

Eddie Sirrel Press Snippets (Season Two)

So it was a successful campaign in your first season with the club?  What did you learn from your time in charge?

Managing is hard, but fulfilling.  I've really had a great time with the boys and the supporters but it's a lot of work.  That's not me complaining, just being honest.  I wouldn't trade it for the world though and I am really looking to this second season.

There has been a lot of turnover at Notts from a year ago, do you think this is a good or bad thing?

I mean the answer to that question is both and it sort of depends.  If you're making changes just to make changes that's probably not a good thing.  If you're making changes to improve things then that should be a good thing.  But any change means having to sort of start over or at least reconfigure - for lack of a better way to put it.  So you can create complications within a club by messing with the cohesion of it but you hope everybody is professional enough to get through it.

Any predictions for the season?

The same prediction for every season.  We're going to go out and give everything we have every match.  I think we're a strong club but there are others in this league as well, just like there were in the National League.  Honestly, I don't think there's a tremendous amount of difference in talent from both leagues, maybe a little more money spent here is all but the talent level isn't light years ahead of the National League talent.

You've won over most critics it would appear, do you have anything to say to the naysayers now?

Not really.  I haven't proven anything yet nor is it really my job to prove things per se.  I'm out here to win and people are entitled to their opinions.  If I spent my time worrying about what others thought I'd probably go crazy.  Have you seen social media?

As predicted some bigger clubs came calling after the season and you've lost a few players, yet did get Langstaff and Scott re-signed, are you worried that they may still go?

When you have success others are going to come sniffing around, everybody has to deal with that.  We were very happy to get the new contracts done with Caulay and Scotty and beyond that there's not much I can worry about.  We had to put a minimum release fee clause in there and if other clubs want to match it, then we will deal with that when the time comes.  What I can say is that both players knew that there was going to be a lot of interest from other clubs but decided to stay here anyway.  So for now, that's what we know.

Snippets from the Press

The County Blogger

Sirrel's no-nonsense approach to football seems to be working so far for our beloved County.  He teaches a team sport where no one player - no matter how great - is bigger than the team.  There have been quite a few changes but the core group remains and they did a fantastic job of bringing in a lot of youth to grow around from the past season.  There may be some growing pains in the club but if he can get out of them what he did last season, it wouldn't surprise me to see them push for a playoff run in their first season back in the Football League.

The Nottingham Post

It seems most of our questions were answered, now the only one that remains is can they do it 2 seasons in a row?

The Athletic

The lesson is never doubt a Sirrel?  We're sorry if we did.

BBC Radio Nottingham

We wouldn't go so far as to say that County has been saved, but getting back to the Football League is a good start.

Social Media Snippets

CallMeStevenB:  I still think he sucks, just lucky

RichieFromNottingham:  Great season, can they do it twice?

DanTheMan:  Maybe I was wrong but it was just one season. Love it though.

NattNottsFan:  Who needs a high profile manager when you have a Sirrel.  Did what he said he would.

BobbyFromBeeston:  Never got my tickets!!!

LisaLovesNotts:  On To League Two!  I can't wait!

Magpie4Lyfe:  I told you so, I told you so, I told you so!!!!

Edited January 20 by Blarney

[Blarney]

Sirrel Previews the Season

Great season which earned you promotion back to the Football League, what does this mean for Notts County?

I think almost everything to this point but let's not get ahead of ourselves because this is just the beginning.  The objective here wasn't to get back to the Football League, it was to continue progressing and getting better and making our way up the ladder.  So we accomplished a short-term goal with our promotion and now the long-term goals come into play.

Does that include winning promotion again this season?

Ummm, I think that we have a good enough club that we can definitely contend, but I don't think it would be the end of the world if we pushed for promotion but fell short this season.  Maybe that's not what the supporters want to hear and obviously we'd love to go up again, but if we're looking at realistic goals... we don't "have" to go up this year for us to feel the season has been a success.  And that's obviously as long as we're making advances and growing as a club.... meaning playing smart football and seeing our young players grow.

Most of the first choice starters are back again with a couple of exceptions, but you have signed a significant number of young players between last season and this.  Is that a particular point that you're pushing with the club to get younger or just a byproduct of making deals?

I'd lean toward it's something we want to do.  I think if you want to be successful, especially as a growing club, that you need to build a strong base.  We don't have the money right now to just go out and buy whatever player we want which means we need to grow from within and honestly I think that's a better course of action for most organizations regardless.  So we're always on the lookout for youth prospects that we feel can contribute and we want to bring them in here and teach them and hopefully have them become something for us down the line.  Even more important I think is our own youth academy and I've pushed very hard to spend more money there so that we can bring in more kids and work with them and make them better players.  In the end that can only be a good thing for our club.

How happy are you to be starting the season at home in front of the supporters?

We won the league last season while we were away from home but were able to come back our very next game in front of the home crowd and celebrate with them.  Now we have the chance to start the year with our supporters as the newest members of League Two.  I think it's the perfect opportunity to have them cheer for our boys and welcome them back to the Football League.  Hopefully we can go out there and give them a show.

[Blarney]

Match 1

Postgame Presser

Big win out of the gates for Notts.  Does this set the tone for the season?

It's always better to win than lose and it certainly lets the rest of the league know we're here to play.  I said before the match that we were happy to be at home in front of our supporters and it gave the boys a big boost to hear the cheers for what we did last season and what they hope we'll do this season.

Three goals from three different players including one from newcomer M'Hand must be nice.

It's definitely nice to see everyone get involved, it's what we're looking for.  Caulay is absolutely our go-to guy up front and we want our offense running through him but that doesn't mean that everyone else has to sit back and not take their shots when they're there.  It's good to see Izzy get one in there in his first game, the smile on his face lit up the room after the match.

[Blarney]

Carabao Cup First Round

Postgame Presser

Tough match against a Championship tier team, but your club showed well against them.  Do you take any sort of victory from this?

I think that question gets asked a lot and the response always has to be no, but with a caveat.  A loss is never a victory but you can take something from it.  We were up against a club 2 tiers up from us and we gave them a good fight.  If you want to take that as some sort of moral victory, I don't look at it that way, I think it's just something you learn from and build on.

Not a lot of shots really from either club.  You looked like you were making a concerted effort to prevent them from getting inside while your team struggled to crack them.

Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of managers look at how to stop bigger clubs from scoring more than they generally do in league games when you're up against teams that are more your quality.  You can call it parking the bus or bogging down, but we definltely put another man back to help prevent them from getting shots off and it worked, to a degree.  I think they only got off 7 or 8 shots, unfortunately most of them were on target and they got 2 past us.  We definitely struggled trying to get shots off as well, 5 I believe and only a couple were even on target.  That's not good enough but credit them for their defense because typically we know how to put the ball in the net.

 

[Blarney]

Match 2

[Blarney]

Match 3

[Blarney]

August Review

Schedule

After our final prep game for the season we opened with a 3-0 win at home and then 2 more wins in league play.

We lost our Carabao Cup match but I really wasn't that concerned about that competition anyway.

We've given up 1 goal in league.... and scored 11.

Table

We're one of three unbeaten teams in the league but hold the top spot on goal difference.

Attacking Data

Defending Data

 

[Blarney]

Deadline Deal

Matt Olosunde

He's costing us 8k per week which is our highest salaried player but the rest of the club was prepared to mutiny if we didn't sign another wing-back as they said our depth was horrible.... which is sort of was.  Despite that Olo is a pretty good looking player that maybe we turn into more cash later on since we signed him on a free transfer and hopefully his value will grow.

[Blarney]

Match 4

[Blarney]

Bad Pizza Trophy: Northern Section Group E

**Papa Johns is gross**

Match One

Not a bad draw for us.  I think we can get out of this section.

Nice win over Man City's U21s.

Edited January 21 by Blarney

[Blarney]

Match 5

Postgame Presser

Your first loss in League Two.  How disappointed are you?

I'm not as disappointed with the loss as I am with how we played.  Being beaten is one thing, beating yourself is quite another when you're not playing up to your standards.

You seemed to have quite the problem in front of their goal today, Langstaff didn't look himself and without Scott in there the play just wasn't quite as crisp as the supporters are used to.  Is this due to injuries?

Caulay is just coming back off his shoulder injury he suffered 2 games back so he wasn't 100% and we had to take him out early because he wasn't looking right.  I honestly almost kept him out today but after Scotty injured his hamstring in our last match and will probably miss a couple of weeks, Caulay said he wanted back in and I let him play.  Hopefully he didn't re-injure anything and that's on me for letting him go out there.  So I can't fault the heart, we just weren't ourselves today.

[theBlackPrince]

Congratulations on the Double and the way you destroyed everyone, was a joy to see. And then, oh you know the vultures circle around and just come in and snap up all the players you dont want to sell! However, looks like the reinforcements and the team are going to be strong enough to perform well this season!

[Blarney]

Match 6

[Blarney]

Match 7

[Blarney]

Match 8

[Blarney]

September Review

Schedule

2 wins, a loss and a couple of draws is better than we thought the season would go so we can't be too upset.

A nice win in the Pizza Trophy to give us the advantage in Group E.

Table

It's early in the season so you'd expect the table to be packed at the top and the bottom as the good teams separate themselves from the maybe not-so-good teams.

We're happy with our position right now.... and we'd imagine Wrexham is as well.

Player Attacking Stats

Have we said that Langstaff is a beast before?

Player Defending Stats

Data Analysis

Finances

[Blarney]

Match 9 Preview

You face off against Port Vale who sit #1 on the league table currently.  Is this a must win match?

I wuldn't say that necessarily but it's certainly one we want to win.

It's a big match then?

Big, yes.  They sit above us on the table and we'd hate to give them points, just like we would any team.  It's also a good early season test for the club.

You've faced a small rash of injuries early this season with several players going down for days or weeks at a time, how's the club doing?

Injuries are always a thing you hope you can avoid but they're pretty unavoidable.  That's why you have depth, that's why you train.  When someone goes down, somebody else needs to step up.

 

[Blarney]

Match 9

Postgame Presser

A good outcome for your club out there.  What did you see that gave you the advantage?

We just played our game, that's how we always approach these matches.  I've said it before but we rarely change up our game but instead try to force others to play ours.  Vale did a great job of limiting our attack but we held strong and got a couple through.  Our defense was very good today and we were able to harass their attackers and force some shots off target.  It was a good all-around performance.

[Blarney]

Pizza Trophy: Northern Section Group E

Match 2

Postgame Presser

You punched your ticket to the knockout round with this victory.  How are you feeling?

It's always good to get out of section play and to lock it up 2 games in means we get a chance to rest our boys in the last match, so it's a big win.

[Blarney]

Match 10

[Blarney]

Match 11

Postgame Presser

Wild match, yeah?

Yeah, pretty crazy.  Fun for those in attendance I imagine.  Sometimes it's good to see offenses go crazy.  Not so much for the managers but for the supporters.

A hat-trick for Langstaff and he seems to have picked up right where he left off last season.

Caulay is a star.  He goes out with a singular thought every match to put the ball in the net.  We're very lucky to have him here.

[Blarney]

Match 12

[Blarney]

Match 13

Postgame Presser

That's 2 losses in a row for your club and against a couple of teams that maybe most would have thought you should have beaten.  I know you don't want to make excuses but are injuries and depth hurting you here?

Without making excuses, yes a little.  Every club has injuries and every club has some depth problems at times, so you have to fight through those but facts are we are struggling a little right now with nagging injuries and some depth problems.  Caulay has been hobbled and I've had to limit his minutes at times, he had to sit out this game as did Cedwyn who was just exhausted.  I'm trying to find the right mix and match here and we'll work through it but maybe a little growing pains for some of our kids as well.

Edited January 22 by Blarney

[Blarney]

October Review

Schedule

We've settled in to this "take one step forward and one step back" pattern.

2 wins, 2 losses and a draw in league play.

Table

We're starting to slip a little as others in the league have been more consistent than we have.  It's obviously still very early and we're well within striking distance so we're not traumatized by any means, but we do need to solidy a few areas of our game.

Team Stats:  League

Player Stats:  League

Data Analysis

Finances

[Blarney]

Match 14

[Blarney]

Match 15

[Blarney]

Match 16

Postgame Presser

Tough match against a club that seems to be positioned to be your arch-nemesis at the moment.

Every match is tough but we do seem to be linked to Wrexham at the moment.  They're not exactly geographical rivals but the rivalry is definitely growing.

They are sitting atop the league table with your club a couple of spots down and got the better of you tonight, was this a missed opportunity?

I think every loss is a missed opportunity because the object is to win, but obviously when you're going up against a club above you on the table and you have a chance to gain points on them it makes it a bigger match.  But credit Wrexham, they are having an outstanding season and definitely got the better of us today.

You unveiled a new tactic and formation to start the season yet for the most part you've been playing the game you played for most of last year.  What changed?

Injuries and depth.  We don't have a lot of players that can play the way I want out on the wing.  Scotty and Davey were supposed to start out there with Caulay in the striker spot but with injuries to Caulay that kept him out a couple of games and then Scotty going down for a couple of weeks and the Davey missing a couple of games I just haven't had very many opportunities to get them all on the pitch together.  Then we started missing games in the center-mid spot and I really needed to have Davey play there, so we just rotated back to what we knew.

[Blarney]

FA Cup First Round

[Blarney]

Pizza Trophy: Northern Section Group E

3rd Match

Postgame Presser

You ran the table with 3 victories in 3 matches to get yourselves into the knockout stage.  How far do you think you can go?

More manager-speak here but the goal is to take things match by match.  We don't even know our next opponent yet but you know me and I'm never going to bet against my boys.  No matter who we face we'll have some good training sessions leading up to the match and we'll go out and give it everything we have.

[Blarney]

Match 17

Postgame presser

Is this a match that got out of hand or just one of those days?

As long as it doesn't become an everyday thing then I'd say it's just one of those days.  We were outstanding on the offensive side but unfortunately so were they and we couldn't stop them.

[Blarney]

Match 18

[Blarney]

Match 19

[Blarney]

Match 20

[Blarney]

November Review

Schedule

Busy, busy, busy month and it took it's toll on our players.  Our lack of depth is really hurting us at the moment but we just don't have the money to go out and get reinforcements.

However, it's only hurting us inasmuch as our players are tired.  They are still performing, but it's coming at a cost of minor injuries and unhappiness.  This is concerning.

All in all we had a good month.  4 wins, 2 draws and a loss in league play and 2 wins in trophy competition to advance.

Our defense has been porous which is also a sign of tired players.... but our attacking has been superb.

Table

Wrexham has really pulled away at the top spot but we don't need to finish first and we're holding tight to a promotion spot currently.

Attacking Stats

Defending Stats

Attacking Data

Defending Data

Finances

[Blarney]

New Contract

It's been awhile coming but we've finally agreed on a new contract.

We are here for 3 more years........ or until they fire me.

Edited January 22 by Blarney

[Blarney]

War of Words with Ben Garner

After your last match in October when you beat Garner's Colchester squad 2-0 he had some very unflattering things to say about you and Notts County.  You responded by suggesting that he concentrate on his club and was making excuses for the loss.  Garner fired back that you were overrated and that Notts County wasn't nearly as good as their record suggested.  You're meeting them in the 2nd round of the FA Cup and had this response when asked about the match.  Is this rivalry good for football or is this seemingly personal attack taking it too far?

It is personal.  Look things get said in the heat of the moment and sometimes you want to take them back.  And if you're man enough you admit to that and you let whatever the issue is go.  What you don't do is double down on your attacks, which is what Ben Garner did.  He got beat and however he wants to respond to that is on him.  If he wants to suggest I'm overrated or my club is overrated that's his personal opinion.  Mine is that we're going to beat Colchester like the 2nd class city and 2nd class club that they are when we meet them on the pitch.  And they can take that as personally as they want to.

[Blarney]

FA Cup Second Round

Postgame Presser

Before the match you guaranteed victory and said you were going to beat Colchester like the 2nd class club that they were.  Mission accomplished?

I'm very proud of my boys for how the responded.  Garner gave us bulletin board material before the match by talking down to us and suggesting we were overrated and we responded and showed them just how overrated we were.  Maybe he should think twice before opening his mouth next time or maybe his players should tell him to keep his opinions to himself.

Is this war over now?

Well we've thoroughly trounced them the last 2 times we've met, we do have one more match against them which happens to be later this month at their place and I'm sure we'll be met with a lot of enthusiasm from their supporters.  But we'll be ready for that as well.  If Garner wants to keep talking.... I'm sure we'll be listening.

[Blarney]

Langstaff might go?

Rumors have been swirling for a couple of weeks that a couple of teams are interested in signing Langstaff and with a minimum release clause in his contract there won't be much we can do about it.

He has a 2 million pound release clause so it's not like we wouldn't make something from it, but he's such a tremendous player and of such value to our club that losing him would be a huge loss to us right now.

[Blarney]

Pizza Trophy Northern Section Second Round

Postgame Presser

A big win for your club, how happy are you to be advancing?

It's important to the future of this club to be able to show we can be competitive in these competitions.  This is a big win for us.

How far do you think you can advance?

Day by day, match by match will always be our motto.

[Blarney]

Match 21

[Blarney]

Match 22