Blarney

LEAGUE TWO PREVIEW Budget No worries here. Plenty of wage budget with the youngsters I've signed not costing me a lot. And we actually have some transfer budget to work with even though we don't really plan on spending it. It at least gives us room to maneuver around and do things. What do the bookies think? Well they like Wrexham to make the playoffs. And they like us to survive mid-table at least. That's better than predicting we're going to fight for relegation. They do love Langstaff and that I'm happy about. But they don't love him enough to pick him as the top player... something hopefully he'll make them regret by the end of the season.

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE LIVE Will Sirrel - the manager of the newly promoted Notts County Football Club - recently sat down for an interview with Nottinghamshire Live to discuss the past season and what the promotion back to the Football League meant to the club and to him personally. Here's some of the comments he made. Let's start off with how you're feeling now that the season is behind you and you're getting ready to lead Notts County into League Two. I assume one of these days I'll come down off this high. It's truly a dream come true. It was a magical season for the players and for the supporters. Honestly I feel as happy for them as I do every player on the team. We put in the work but the supporters have been there willing this to happen for the past 4 seasons. Is this any vindication to some of the comments made about your hiring at the start of the season? From my viewpoint no, because I never cared about any of that. You can't take this job and have doubts so worrying about what anybody else was saying about me or my ability was never on my mind. That's not to say that I never care what anybody has to say, for instance I care what the fans have to say, I read what they're saying... but reading it, taking it in and sometimes agreeing with them, is different than letting it affect you or believing what they say at times. So no statues at the front gate yet? I think it's a bit early to be talking about that. But maybe down the line? *smiling* If we're talking hypothetically then obviously I hope that I'm here long enough to earn something like that. My grandfather did and it's obviously something in the back of my mind. Not necessarily a statue or anything like that... but the opportunity to be mentioned in the same breath for what he did for this club. Because if we get to that point then that means I've accomplished everything I set forth when I signed here. I told the fans then and I'll say it again now... this was the first step. We accomplished that. We are back in the Football League. We're in League Two. They should be excited, we're excited. But this is only a step and there's a long way to go. I would suggest that some fans already think you've earned that, but we'll move on. So will we be seeing anything different from the club this season? New faces? New tactics? I'd say so. I won't go into too much detail obviously but yes. Part of our growth is getting better in every aspect of the game and as we go up the ladder we obviously need to make changes. Some will work, some probably won't... that's the game. Last season we were all about attacking. We pushed the ball up the pitch and we took it to our opponents every chance we could. And I guess you could say it worked. We're here now, so it worked. Do I think that same attitude or tactic will work this season? Probably not. Does that mean we go back to the drawing board and change everything that worked last year... not really. It's more of learning to flow to something different. Make small changes. And some of those changes may be the personnel on the field. We're always looking to improve. And we're always looking to give opportunities to people to make us force a change. Every person on that pitch understands that. Nothing is given. It's earned. Well congratulations on a great season and good luck going forward. Thanks.

NEW FORMATION/TACTIC I don't even know what to call this... it's a 5-1-2-2. No idea if it's something anybody uses but we're going to try it. So my thinking is that we may be slightly outclassed moving up a tier. Last season in the National League I was playing a pure, fast-paced all-out attack. And it worked. I very seriously doubt that will fly this year but I don't necessarily want to "park the bus" either. I made quite a few moves in the off-season to bring in more defenders and actually consider it somewhat of a strength to the club - or at least hopefully it will be if some of these lads work out. But it was a concerted effort because I knew I was going to have to play more guys back and be better on the defensive side. Dinzy, Robby and Cully will be my mainstay on the line with newcomers Linton and Bryan-Waugh in the wing-back positions. Bryan-Waugh is slightly out of position as he's a right-defender but we're going to use him there and see how it works. Baj will move back to his more normal position as a defensive-midfielder where he excels. Aryeetey was outstanding in the midfield last year and will hold that spot this season and Gower is a newcomer that will be at his side trying to push the ball forward to Langstaff and Scott. I don't foresee scoring the same number of goals that we did last year obviously but I think out attack will be 'okay' and out defense should be well improved. I just want to stay in the game and see if we can just manage to push a few more goals in over our opposition over the course of the season and hope for a mid-table finish at worst. I can see a way through to be even better given the talent at the club but on the other hand things could go horribly wrong and we're fighting to stay up. That's the fun of going up a level. So let's play the games and see what happens.

I honestly felt bad that it came against your club, but it was going to happen regardless. I think in real life (realizing this is fantasy but still) Chesterfield and a couple of other clubs are good clubs, with some talented players. But anything other than Wrexham or Notts winning this league even in a fantasy setting just isn't realistic barring some major injuries. Both clubs were/are just stacked... especially at this level. I was a little irked today watching the broadcast when one of the announcers though made reference to the other teams in the league wanting Notts to go up alongside Wrexham if for no other reason than to get them out of the league so it would be more competitive and said it was due to the money being thrown around. Notts hasn't thrown money around. Wrexham has thrown money around... but they have it to throw around so crying about it is stupid. Notts made some shrewd transfers in bringing in guys like Langstaff and Scott on top of the other talent they already had there, they're not spending any more money than most other clubs are. And then brought in Jones and Mair on loans to help out. Langstaff was brought in for a transfer fee of 50k and makes less than 1k a week compared to Mullin making somewhere around 4.5k... and Langstaff is arguably better. He certainly was this season. It just seems sour grapes to whine about the other clubs not being able to compete because of the money being thrown around... to the point of several clubs wanting to implement a salary cap. Ridiculous.

GOALS GOING INTO THE NEW SEASON Get a new contract... duh. Get rid of dead weight. We signed quite a few young players that we need to give playing time to. We weren't necessarily "old" to begin with but we did have/do have quite a few "bad" contracts with some older players that aren't quite up to EFL standards. So my main goal this season besides staying employed is to lose the dead weight and tread water in League Two while I navigate through these young players I signed and see who has a future with the club or not. Stay afloat. Like I said we have to navigate some rough waters here. I do not want to go down but I need to build up the future here. We can't go forward with the way the club is right now. Many changes need to be made. So while I'm testing out new players and see who's potentially here long term.. we need to make sure we're winning enough to keep the supporters and ownership happy. Get better facilities. Our facilities are terrible, especially our youth facilities. These have to improve. The board is going to have to put money into the club and these facilities. We will never improve if our facilities don't improve. Our youth intake this season was horrible. Fortunately I was able to make other moves in free transfers to bring in some "hopefully" quality players.. but going forward we need to develop internally.

END OF SEASON We made a little money this season, I don't know why the owners are pinching pennies and crying poor. Give me a new contract!!!! 100 goals is a nice number. Our attacking was obviously good. Leady by superstar Macaulay Langstaff. First in average rating. First in Player of the Match awards. First in goals. Top 3 in Shots on Target and Conversion Rate percentage. And winner of the Golden Boot and Player of the Year awards. Some exciting news. We managed to sign Mair and we got Langstaff to sign a new contract with us as well... albeit with a 250k release clause.

RECORD BREAKING SEASON 2 losses is a new team low and National League record 114 points is a new team and National League record 52 goals in league play. (He scored 42 in real life which is amazing btw) Wrexham can sing "we've got Mullin, super Paul Mullin" all day long.... Notts has Langstaff and I'd rather have him. 59 total goals is obviously a new Notts record... that will probably never be broken. AND DULY-EARNED AWARDS A clean sweep. Player of The Year. Golden Boot. Manager of The Year. Now, if only I could get a new contract. Seriously? If they don't give me a new contract I'm going to give up.

MARCH AND APRIL (and MAY) THE SEASON ENDS It was basically wrapped up before the final 2 months... but you still have to play the games. We had already earned a spot in the playoffs and after the Scunthorpe game we were crowned Vanarama National League Champions. We had little to play for at that point other than pride and a chance to set records. We also still were in the FA Trophy hunt. Honestly, we had sort of skated through the competition, having a relatively easy schedule against lower level opponents. Even in the Quarter-Final match I sat almost all my big name players since we were playing Brackley (who?). It almost cost us as we went to penalties but we pulled it out. Losing to Altrincham was disappointing as it broke our unbeaten streak but I had to rest Langstaff and Scott and other key players as we were up against Wrexham just a few days later in the semi-finals of the FA Trophy. And I wanted that win. So we lost the unbeaten streak but we won against Wrexham and then we won in the finals as well, so it all was for the best. We got the double. And then Wrexham rightfully earned promotion by winning the playoffs. I imagine that Chesterfield and others will be happy to see both those teams gone next year just as they will be in real life.

FA TROPHY: THE FINAL EASTLEIGH VS NOTTS COUNTY @ WEMBLEY

This is a wild formation.

Definitely a tough month but a draw is better than a loss and it didn't cost you much in the standings. Still holding very strong there.

MATCH FORTY-SIX NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS YORK CITY (4) @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH FORTY-FIVE MAIDSTONE (13) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ GALLAGHER STADIUM

MATCH FORTY-FOUR NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS WOKING (15) @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH FORTY-THREE WREXHAM (2) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ THE RACECOURSE GROUND

MATCH FORTY-TWO NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS WEALDSTONE (18) @ MEADOW LANE

FA TROPHY: SEMI-FINAL NOTTS COUNTY VS WREXHAM @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH FORTY-ONE ALTRINCHAM (5) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ MOSS LANE

MATCH FORTY NOTTS COUNTY (1) VS SCUNTHORPE UNITED (24) @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH THIRTY-NINE BARNET (18) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ THE HIVE

FA TROPHY: QUARTER-FINAL NOTTS COUNTY VS BRACKLEY TOWN @ MEADOW LANE

MATCH THIRTY-EIGHT ALDERSHOT TOWN (14) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ THE RECREATION GROUND

MATCH THIRTY-SEVEN BROMLEY (11) VS NOTTS COUNTY (1) @ HAYES LANE

Back to the fun stuff.... let's finish the season!

REAL LIFE. Omg what a match. Omg. Unbelievable. Welcome back Notts County!